Middle East crisis: Israel intensifies strikes on southern Gaza as eight killed in fighting on Lebanese border – as it happened

Attacks around Rafah come despite growing pressure for ceasefire. This live blog is closed

The UK is facing legal action over its pause in funding for Unrwa, after Israel’s allegations that 12 staff at the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees were involved in the 7 October attacks against Israel.

London-based law firm Bindmans has sent a pre-action letter, the first stage in a legal claim, on behalf of a British-Palestinian man whose family are in Gaza and reliant on humanitarian aid provided by Unwra.

The UK government’s strategy for international development sets out four priorities, including to: ‘provide life-saving humanitarian assistance and work to prevent the worst forms of human suffering’.

Given the catastrophic situation in Gaza, including an impending, man-made famine, the ongoing decision to cease funding to Unwra is not only morally wrong but flies in the face of that strategy.”

The government knows that Unwra is the only effective means to deliver humanitarian aid, and it ought to know that it hasn’t given sufficient reason on how, or why, it decided to cut funding.”

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MPs and peers sign letter urging UK government to ban arms sales to Israel

Ministers under growing pressure to act amid signs Israel intends to ignore UN ceasefire resolution

Parliamentary pressure is building on the UK government to ban arms sales to Israel, amid signs that Israel intends to ignore the UN security council resolution passed this week calling on all sides to commit to a ceasefire.

A letter signed by more than 130 parliamentarians to the foreign secretary, David Cameron, highlights action taken by other countries, most recently Canada, which last week announced it would halt all arms exports to Israel.

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‘Madness’: Netanyahu’s handling of US relations under scrutiny after UN vote

Tone in parts of Israeli media borders on contempt, as prime minister’s growing friction with Biden linked to US abstention

The Israeli prime minister’s handling of relations with the Biden administration, which led the US on Monday to decline to veto a ceasefire resolution at the UN security council, has been greeted by sharp criticism by Israeli commentators.

After the US abstention, prominent columnists across the Israeli media condemned Benjamin Netanyahu’s growing friction with the US president, Joe Biden.

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Middle East crisis: Israel recalls ceasefire negotiators from Qatar, claiming Hamas ‘not interested’ in talks – as it happened

Netanyahu’s office said ‘Israel will not cave to Hamas’s delusional demands’, ending immediate attempts to negotiate a ceasefire and hostage release deal

Israeli media is reporting that the Israeli delegation has left Qatar, ending talks to try and reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

More details soon …

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Plan to end ultra-Orthodox students’ military exemption sparks row in Israel

For years Haredi men have been allowed to continue Torah study, but proposal could force some to enlist

A proposed bill to extend compulsory military service to ultra-Orthodox students, historically exempt from conscription, has ignited a fierce debate in Israel, with Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly warning that failure to pass the law could jeopardise the stability of the government.

Israel has mandatory army service but for decades made an exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews, also known as Haredi, who are allowed to continue full-time Torah study. The proposal, as Israel approaches six months since the 7 October Hamas attacks that began the war in Gaza, seeks to extend the duration of military service for conscripts and raise the age for reservists, while also urging an end to the customary exemptions granted to yeshiva students.

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Al-Mawasi: Palestinians fleeing to ‘humanitarian zone’ find little hope

Area offers desperate families in Gaza relative safety but conditions are dire and threat of Israeli attacks remain

A month ago Nariman Salman decided to finally flee northern Gaza and head for al-Mawasi, a narrow strip of coastline at the southernmost end of the territory designated as a “humanitarian zone” by the Israeli military.

The decision was reluctant but unavoidable. When Salman, 42, was reduced to sending her young son around neighbours to beg for a single piece of bread for her pregnant daughter, she knew the family had to leave. Days earlier, her eldest son had been stabbed to death for a bag of flour.

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Israel isolated as UN security council demands immediate ceasefire in Gaza

Israeli PM cancels White House visit by two ministers and says US ‘abandoned its policy in the UN’ after abstaining on vote

The UN security council has voted to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the first time since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, after the US dropped a threat to veto, bringing Israel to near total isolation on the world stage.

The vote result sets up the strongest public clash between the US president, Joe Biden, and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, since the war began.

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UN rights expert report to call for Israel arms embargo over ‘acts of genocide’

Special rapporteur will tell human rights council Israel’s actions ‘reveal an intent to physically destroy Palestinians as a group’

A UN human rights expert will deliver a report on Tuesday saying that Israel has carried out acts of genocide in Gaza and should be placed under an arms embargo.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, said in her report there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israel was carrying out three of the five acts defined as genocide: killing Palestinians, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, and “deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction” of the population in whole or in part.

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Israel-Gaza war: US says it will ‘find ways’ to warn Israel against Rafah attack despite cancellation of visit – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. For more on the UN security council vote, you can read our full report:

Unrwa’s planning director has said “more people will die” in the north of the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel barring the agency from delivering aid there.

Sam Rose is quoted by Al Jazeera saying:

An independent authority warned last week of an imminent famine and people are already dying of starvation up in the north. And this is essentially a death sentence on many of those people. The situation is particularly harsh in northern Gaza, where we estimate about 250,000 people have been trapped. More people will die.

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The security council vote is a significant moment – but the US says its Gaza policy is unchanged

Washington’s decision not to use its veto is an acknowledgement of its failure to lead the UN Gaza agenda

Diplomacy occasionally has the capacity to surprise, and when it does it often portends a deep shifting in the landscape.

Few as recently as the end of last week saw much chance that the UN security council would be able to put aside five months of division over Gaza and agree terms for an immediate ceasefire, yet on Monday that is precisely what happened, in no small part due to some British diplomatic persuasion and a significant American change of heart.

Guardian Newsroom: The unfolding crisis in the Middle East

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Medical crisis in Gaza hospitals at ‘unimaginable’ level, aid agencies say

Visiting medical team reported untreated open wounds, shortage of supplies to pin fractures and lack of food jeopardising treatment

The medical situation in Gaza’s hospitals has reached an “unimaginable” state of crisis in which large open wounds are being left untreated and medical staff are facing chronic shortages of the most basic medical items, including surgical gauze and material to pin fractures.

The description of conditions was delivered by an emergency medical team organised by three aid groups that spent two weeks carrying out surgeries and other care at the European hospital near Khan Younis.

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Israel will no longer approve Unrwa food aid to northern Gaza, agency says

Head of agency says military authorities told UN that convoys will no longer be approved amid ‘man-made famine’

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said on Sunday that Israel had definitively barred it from making aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest.

“Despite the tragedy unfolding under our watch, the Israeli Authorities informed the UN that they will no longer approve any @Unrwa food convoys to the north,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the agency, said on X.

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Kamala Harris says Israel assault on Rafah ‘would be a huge mistake’

Top Democrats urge Netanyahu to abandon planned assault days after Israeli leader rejected similar request by Antony Blinken

Senior US Democrats on Sunday increased pressure on Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abandon a planned offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering.

Two days after a similar call by US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was rejected by the Israeli leader, vice-president Kamala Harris said that the Joe Biden White House was “ruling out nothing” in terms of consequences if Netanyahu moves ahead with the assault.

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Medics trapped by Israeli gunfire at two Gaza hospitals, says Red Crescent

Aid group says one of its staff was killed when tanks pushed back into areas around al-Amal and Nasser hospitals

Israeli forces have besieged two more hospitals in Gaza, pinning down medical teams under heavy gunfire, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

“All of our teams are in extreme danger at the moment and are completely immobilised,” the humanitarian organisation told Reuters on Sunday, adding one of its staff was killed when Israeli tanks pushed back suddenly into areas around al-Amal and Nasser hospitals in the southern city of Khan Younis.

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UN calls for humanitarian ceasefire amid urgent efforts to avoid Gaza famine

António Guterres says Palestinian people ‘remain stuck in a non-stop nightmare’ as Israel stands accused of blocking aid

António Guterres, the UN secretary general, has again called for a humanitarian ceasefireduring a visit to Egypt’s border with Gaza amid urgent efforts to avert famine in the territory after more than five months of devastating war.

“Palestinians in Gaza – children, women, men – remain stuck in a non-stop nightmare,” Guterres said. “I carry the voices of the vast majority of the world who have seen enough.”

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls Israeli Gaza campaign an ‘unfolding genocide’

The progressive congresswoman also called on the White House to suspend aid to the Israeli military in House speech

Progressive US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the Israeli military campaign in Gaza an “unfolding genocide” in a scathing speech that demanded the Joe Biden White House suspend aid to Israel’s armed forces.

“As we speak, in this moment, 1.1 million innocents in Gaza are at famine’s door,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a speech on the House floor on Friday.

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Middle East crisis live: UN chief calls for immediate ceasefire during Rafah visit – as it happened

António Guterres, standing beside a queue of waiting aid trucks, warns against ground assault on border town

US fighter jets from the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier struck three underground storage facilities in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen late on Friday, according to a US official, reports the Associated Press (AP).

The official, who spoke to the news agency on condition of anonymity to discuss a military operation not yet made public, said the ship is in the Red Sea.

Strikes and explosions were seen and heard in Sana’a on Friday night, according to witnesses and videos, some circulating on social media. Footage showed explosions and smoke rising over the Houthi-controlled capital.

According to the AP, there was no official confirmation of the injured or the origin of the explosions. Yemeni TV station Al-Masirah, which is linked to the Houthis, reported strikes hitting the city.

In a statement late on Friday, US Central Command (Centcom) said its forces also destroyed four unmanned aerial vehicles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

Centcom also said Houthis fired four anti-ship ballistic missiles toward the Red Sea, but no injuries or damage were reported by US, coalition or commercial ships.

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Canadian students hunger-strike for college to divest from Israel-linked firms

Several McGill University students have spent more than three weeks demanding it divest $20m from various companies

A group of students at McGill University have spent more than three weeks on hunger strike in an effort to force the Canadian college to divest from “companies supporting the Israeli military”.

The move follows months of protests and sit-ins at McGill and at universities around the world, as students and faculty members have protested against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

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Israel-Gaza war: US condemns ‘cynical’ Russia and China veto of ceasefire deal; Israel to go into Rafah ‘with or without US support’ – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. For more on the US’s vetoed UN resolution, you can read our latest reporting:

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that “hundreds of worshipers” were “blocked” from reaching the al-Aqsa mosque compound by Israeli forces on Friday.

According to Wafa: “Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli forces significantly increased their military presence around checkpoints in Qalandia, north of Jerusalem, al-Zaytouna, east of Jerusalem, and Bethlehem to the south. The forces turned back hundreds of worshipers, citing a lack of necessary entry permits.”

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Candace Owens leaves Daily Wire site amid Israel and antisemitism tensions

Far-right commentator posts ‘The rumors are true – I am finally free’ following clashes with site’s co-founder Ben Shapiro

The far-right commentator Candace Owens left the rightwing Daily Wire website amid tensions over her alleged antisemitism and opposition to US funding of Israel’s war in Gaza.

“Daily Wire and Candace Owens have ended their relationship,” said Jeremy Boreing, co-founder of the site with the rightwing commentator Ben Shapiro, who has clashed with Owens and is a strong supporter of Israel and its actions.

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