Haunted and uncertain: the story of one Gaza family’s exile in Turkey

Ahmed Herzallah, his wife and three children have been catapulted into the unknown after fleeing their destroyed home

In the darkened backroom of an Istanbul hotel packed with refugees from Gaza, the light from Ahmed Herzallah’s phone screen illuminates a picture of his destroyed home in Gaza City. The building, with its curved black-and-white striped exterior that wrapped around a street corner, used to be a place for celebration, where the family gathered together for birthday parties, graduation ceremonies or when his sisters visited home at the beginning of each summer.

The apartment building where Ahmed lived with his wife, children, parents, two brothers and their families was often filled with members of their extended family, the sound of singing, and the smell of homemade pastries and maftoul, a stew made of chicken and couscous. But the picture that he displayed on his phone was spliced with another, showing the entire block reduced to rubble. His extended family is now scattered around Gaza or exiled across the globe.

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Israel in effective control of entire Gaza land border after taking Philadelphi Corridor in south

The IDF says that it is in ‘operational’ control of the buffer zone on Egypt’s border, a move which risks complicating relations with Cairo, amid Rafah offensive

Israel is in effective control of Gaza’s entire land border after taking control of a buffer zone along the border with Egypt, Israel’s military has said, a move that risks complicating its relationship with Egypt.

In a televised briefing on Wednesday, chief military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces had gained “operational” control over the Philadelphi Corridor, using the Israeli military’s code name for the 14km-long corridor along the Gaza Strip’s only border with Egypt.

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How a single comma is allowing Israel to question ICJ Rafah ruling

Israel is among those arguing that international court of justice directive is ambivalent and far from a blanket order to halt its offensive

Israel has asserted that Sunday’s attack, which set ablaze a crowded refugee camp in Rafah and killed 45 Palestinians, is not in breach of last week’s International Court of Justice ruling – a directive widely seen to have instructed Israel to completely stop its military offensive in the southern Gaza city.

The apparent contradiction reflects a fierce and continuing debate over the ambivalent language of the ruling – and the placing of a single comma in a key sentence.

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‘Bodies everywhere’: the horrors of Israel’s strike on a Rafah camp

Sheltering displaced Palestinians describe the fear and grief caused by Sunday’s airstrike that killed 35 people

It took nearly half an hour for the first ambulances and firefighters to reach the stretch of blazing tents in the Kuwait peace camp in Rafah on Sunday night. The crowding and rubble that slowed the passage of emergency vehicles fuelled the spread of flames through the temporary homes of the displaced.

Zuhair, a 36-year-old lawyer, had been sitting on a road near his own tent, watching the news with friends as the last glimmers of twilight faded from the sky, when an explosion shook the area at about 8.45pm.

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Israeli campaign against ICC may be ‘crimes against justice’, say legal experts

International lawyers believe conduct of Israeli intelligence service should be investigated by prosecutor in The Hague

Efforts by Israel’s intelligence agencies to undermine and influence the international criminal court (ICC) could amount to “offences against the administration of justice” and should be investigated by its chief prosecutor, legal experts have said.

Responding to revelations about Israeli surveillance and espionage operations against the ICC, multiple leading international law experts said the conduct of Israeli intelligence services could amount to criminal offences.

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Israel-Gaza war: Turkey’s Erdoğan says ‘spirit of UN dead in Gaza’ – as it happened

President says ‘UN cannot even protect its own staff’ and hits out at fellow Muslim-majority countries for failing to agree a collective stance

See all of our Israel-Gaza war coverage

Bethan McKernan is Jerusalem correspondent for the Guardian.

The US state department has said that it opposes “threats or intimidation” against members of the international criminal court (ICC) in the wake of the Guardian’s reporting on Israel’s secret “war” of surveillance, hacking and threats aimed at sabotaging The Hague’s Israel and Palestine investigation.

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Dua Lipa denounces ‘Israeli genocide’ in Instagram post

Singer calls for 88 million followers to ‘show your solidarity with Gaza’ following Israeli attack on Rafah

Pop singer Dua Lipa has condemned the military operations in Gaza, describing them as “Israeli genocide” in an Instagram post to her 88 million followers.

Reposting a graphic from the group Artists4Ceasefire, along with the hashtag #AllEyesOnRafah that has trended in the days following Israel’s bombing of the Palestinian city, she wrote: “Burning children alive can never be justified. The whole world is mobilising to stop the Israeli genocide. Please show your solidarity with Gaza.”

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White House says Israel’s latest actions in Rafah do not cross US red line

Washington says it is also monitoring Israel’s inquiry into attack on Sunday that killed at least 45 people in Gaza camp

The Biden administration has said recent Israeli operations and attacks in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah do not constitute a major ground operation that crosses any US red lines, adding that it is also closely monitoring an investigation into Sunday’s deadly strike on a tent camp.

Speaking after Israeli tanks were seen near al-Awda mosque, a landmark in central Rafah, the national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, told reporters the US was not turning a “blind eye” to the plight of Palestinian civilians.

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Wednesday briefing: How Israeli intelligence spent nine years interfering with an international court

In today’s newsletter: a Guardian investigation details a ‘war’ on the international criminal court by the country – here’s what we know so far

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Good morning. “You should help us and let us take care of you. You don’t want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family.”

That is a terrifying message for anyone to hear from the head of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency. Even more astonishing is that this was a message to the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC).

Israel-Gaza war | The Biden administration has said recent Israeli operations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah do not constitute a major ground operation that crosses any US red lines, and that it is closely monitoring a probe into Sunday’s deadly strike on a tent camp it called “tragic”. The comments came as Israeli tanks were seen in central Rafah.

General election 2024 | Angela Rayner has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing by the Greater Manchester police, with the deputy Labour leader attacking the “desperate tactics” of Tory MPs that led to the investigation. Elsewhere, it has been reported that Diane Abbott has had the party whip restored – but will not be allowed to stand again for Labour at the next election.

Trump trial | Donald Trump’s secret plot to bury negative press ahead of the 2016 election deprived Americans of their right to choose a candidate at the ballot box, the prosecution said in closing arguments at the former president’s New York hush-money trial. Read the key takeaways as the jury begins its deliberations on Wednesday.

Georgia | Georgia’s parliament has voted to override a presidential veto on the controversial “foreign influence” law, a move that is poised to derail the EU aspirations of many Georgians in favour of closer ties with Moscow. The bill is now likely to become law in the coming days.

Ticket prices | Some of the most powerful ticket touts in the UK have discussed a secret plan to try to scupper a Labour crackdown on the industry via a lobbying campaign, footage filmed by the Guardian reveals. At a private event this month, one of the UK’s biggest ticket touts warned that “we are fucked” if Labour’s clampdown went ahead.

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US aid to Gaza stalls after temporary pier breaks apart in heavy seas

Crucial supply line for aid deliveries to starving Palestinians cut off and will take at least a week to repair, Pentagon says

US aid efforts for Gaza have suffered an embarrassing setback after the temporary pier built by the military broke apart in heavy seas, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

The $320m pier was intended to provide a crucial supply line for aid deliveries by sea to reach starving Palestinians and alleviate a humanitarian catastrophe. Now the effort is on hold for at least a week.

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Israel-Gaza war live: reports of new Israeli airstrike on area designated as a humanitarian space by IDF

This live blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

Medical workers in Gaza ‘exhausted’ and their message is not getting through, the MSF chief has said.

When asked about the types and extent of injuries arising out of an Israeli airstrike in Rafah that left at least 45 people dead, Dr Christos Christou, the Médecins Sans Frontières International president, says his organisation’s medical facility received more than 128 patients, some of whom, after being stabilised, have nowhere to turn for further surgical treatment.

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Spying, hacking and intimidation: Israel’s nine-year ‘war’ on the ICC exposed

Exclusive: Investigation reveals how intelligence agencies tried to derail war crimes prosecution, with Netanyahu ‘obsessed’ with intercepts

When the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) announced he was seeking arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders, he issued a cryptic warning: “I insist that all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence the officials of this court must cease immediately.”

Karim Khan did not provide specific details of attempts to interfere in the ICC’s work, but he noted a clause in the court’s foundational treaty that made any such interference a criminal offence. If the conduct continued, he added, “my office will not hesitate to act”.

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Revealed: Israeli spy chief ‘threatened’ ICC prosecutor over war crimes inquiry

Mossad director Yossi Cohen personally involved in secret plot to pressure Fatou Bensouda to drop Palestine investigation, sources say

The former head of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, allegedly threatened a chief prosecutor of the international criminal court in a series of secret meetings in which he tried to pressure her into abandoning a war crimes investigation, the Guardian can reveal.

Yossi Cohen’s covert contacts with the ICC’s then prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, took place in the years leading up to her decision to open a formal investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in occupied Palestinian territories.

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Israel-Gaza war: Netanyahu says deadly Rafah strike a ‘mishap’ as UN humanitarian chief warns ‘impunity cannot continue’ – as it happened

US urges Israel to take ‘precaution’ to protect civilians after trike that killed at least 45 people as EU calls for Israel to explain offensive

Lisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent

Germany’s foreign minister has said Germany supports the revival of a former EU security border security mission for border protection in Rafah.

We are all experiencing how terrible the situation is. This suffering cannot go on for another day. This has once again prompted the international court of justice to make urgent decisions, to initiate provisional measures to achieve a humanitarian ceasefire. For this humanitarian ceasefire is what we as Europeans, the German federal government [are calling for].

We will do everything we can to achieve this, however difficult the situation is at the moment. That also means thinking again about how humanitarian aid and the worsening situation in Gaza can come in. We now have the situation where Rafah is closed again.

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Hamas launches rocket attack on Tel Aviv for first time in months

IDF says Palestinian militant group fired salvo from Rafah area as Israel’s offensive in Gaza’s southernmost city continues

The Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Sunday that it had launched a barrage of rockets at Israel’s commercial centre Tel Aviv for the first time in months, in an apparent display of strength as Israel’s operation in Gaza targets the group’s last stronghold in the southern city of Rafah.

Air raid sirens sounded in the Mediterranean coastal city and across central Israel on Sunday afternoon for the first time since January after what the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said was a salvo of eight rockets were fired from the Rafah area. The group’s ability to fire rockets and drones towards Israeli territory has steadily diminished over eight months of war.

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Peter Dutton wrong to claim Australia was consulted on ICC pursuit of Israeli leaders, government says

Not ICC practice to consult all states before making application for arrest warrants, Dfat says

The Australian government has flatly rejected Peter Dutton’s claim that it was consulted by the international criminal court regarding the pursuit of Israeli leaders over their conduct of the war in Gaza.

The opposition leader has repeatedly urged the government to publicly condemn what Dutton has called the ICC prosecutor’s “terrible decision” to apply for arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and defence minister, Yoav Gallant.

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Israel-Gaza war: protesters in Tel Aviv demand end to war – as it happened

This blog has now closed. You can read our latest report on the Israel-Gaza war here and all our coverage on the conflict here

Al Jazeera are reporting that an Israeli military strike has targeted a family home in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood, killing a woman and injuring other people. It attributes the information to “colleagues on the ground”.

The publication, citing the Palestinian news agency Wafa, reports that “numerous other neighbourhoods of Gaza City have come under heavy artillery shelling … including Sheikh Ajlin, Tal al-Hawa and Zeitoun”.

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Israel-Gaza war: Netanyahu rejects genocide claims as ‘false and outrageous’; Palestinian Authority welcomes ICJ ruling – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest full report below:

Power outages have forced the shutdown of the generators at Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital in Deri el-Balah in the Gaza Strip. A hospital spokesperson, Khalil al-Deqran, told Al Jazeera that doctors are unable to use many of its facilities and are treating patients manually.

“This will lead to the death of so many sick and wounded people”, said al-Deqran, who said that some of the patients are being treated on the floor.

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US and UK to back Israel over ICJ ruling after blurring their Rafah red lines

Having initially vowed to oppose any offensive, Washington and London are showing signs of having backed down

The US and the UK will reject the international court of justice order directing Israel to end its offensive on Rafah after slowly blurring their red lines that once stated that they could not support a military offensive in Rafah.

The line was first adapted by saying they could not support a major ground offensive without a credible plan to protect civilians, but since then the definition of what constitutes a major offensive has become more flexible.

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UN’s top court orders Israel to immediately halt Rafah offensive

ICJ president says humanitarian situation in Gaza’s southernmost city is now classified as ‘disastrous’

The UN’s top court has ordered Israel to halt its assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah in a ruling that will ratchet up the pressure on the increasingly isolated country.

The president of the international court of justice, Nawaf Salam, said the humanitarian situation in Rafah had deteriorated further and was now classified as “disastrous”, meaning the ICJ’s previously issued provisional measures were insufficient.

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