Middle East crisis live: Netanyahu says deaths of seven aid workers in Gaza is ‘tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people’

World Central Kitchen to pause operations immediately after deadly convoy strike by Israel; workers from UK, US, Australia, Poland and Palestine among dead

We’ve launched this video report on the Gaza strike, including footage of people being transported on stretchers as ambulances flash nearby.

Australia’s prime minister says the death of an Australian aid worker in Gaza is “completely unacceptable” and “beyond any reasonable circumstances”, saying the government will call in the Israeli ambassador and contact Israel’s government.

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‘Not a normal war’: doctors say children have been targeted by Israeli snipers in Gaza

IDF says it ‘completely rejects’ charge that its soldiers deliberately fired on any of the thousands of civilians killed in Israeli offensive

Dr Fozia Alvi was making her rounds of the intensive care unit on her final day at the battered European public hospital in southern Gaza when she stopped next to two young arrivals with facial injuries and breathing tubes in their windpipes.

“I asked the nurse, what’s the history? She said that they were brought in a couple of hours ago. They had sniper shots to the brain. They were seven or eight years old,” she said.

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Artists call on Manchester venue to reinstate event celebrating Palestinian voices

More than 300 artists and cultural workers write open letter to Home venue over cancellation of Voices of Resilience event

More than 300 cultural workers, theatre and film artists, including Maxine Peake and Asif Kapadia, have called for a Manchester arts venue to reinstate an event celebrating Palestinian voices.

Home Manchester last week cancelled the Voices of Resilience evening, scheduled for 22 April, citing “recent publicity” and safety concerns for audiences and artists.

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Seven Gaza aid workers including UK, US and Australian citizens killed in Israeli strike, charity says

Israeli military investigating after World Central Kitchen workers were in convoy struck in central Gaza

Seven people working with World Central Kitchen, a charity spearheading efforts to alleviate looming famine in Gaza, have been killed in an Israeli airstrike, the charity said, throwing humanitarian relief efforts in the Palestinian territory into chaos as the organisation said it would suspend operations.

The workers were travelling in two armoured vehicles branded with the charity’s logo, according to a statement released early on Tuesday. World Central Kitchen (WCK) said those killed were from the UK, Australia, Poland and Palestine, as well as a US-Canada dual citizen.

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Call for Ukraine-style visa scheme for Palestinians in Gaza with family in UK

Charities and law firms sign letter to home secretary saying existing immigration routes are not working

A letter signed by almost 60 charities, law firms and organisations will be sent to the home secretary calling for the creation of a Ukraine-style visa scheme for Palestinians trapped in Gaza who have family in the UK.

The letter, signed by the Refugee Council, Care4Calais and the Helen Bamber Foundation, says “existing immigration routes are insufficient and not working” and describes how a Gaza family scheme would “enable Palestinians in Gaza to reunite with their immediate and extended family members in the UK”.

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‘What harm could a firework do?’ Family of boy killed by Israeli police want justice

Rami Halhouli was shot in the chest from a watchtower as he held a firework in East Jerusalem

Rami Halhouli had just lit a firework in East Jerusalem to celebrate the end of another day of Ramadan when his life was cut short.

As the 12-year-old hoisted the firework in the air, he was shot in the chest by Israeli police standing on a watchtower overlooking Shuafat refugee camp. Rami fell to the ground as the firework exploded and painted the night sky with a flash of red stars.

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Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital after two-week raid

Palestinian organisations allege torture and ‘executions’ as video footage shows heavily damaged and charred buildings

Israeli forces announced their withdrawal from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza on Monday after a two-week raid, amid claims from Hamas that the Israel Defense Forces killed 400 people in the compound and allegations from the Palestinian Red Crescent of torture and “executions”.

According to the IDF, the facility – Gaza City’s main hospital before the war – was used to harbour Hamas fighters. The army described the operation as one of the most successful of the nearly six-month conflict and cited the killing of of 200 militants including senior operatives. The claim they were all militants could not be confirmed.

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Middle East crisis: Israel withdraws from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza as Hamas-run media office says hundreds of Palestinians killed – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. To read the latest news about the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, head to our new live blog:

Here is a video of the destruction left in the wake of the Israeli army’s withdrawal from the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City:

“During [the Israeli] siege inside al-Shifa hospital, we did not have the means to treat patients … We could not treat or bury them,” a nurse with the hospital told Al Jazeera.

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Fears grow that Gaza could become ‘Mogadishu on the Mediterranean’

Aid officials and people in territory describe erosion of civil order and gangs filling power vacuum after months of war

Gaza is facing deepening anarchy as the last remnants of civil order break down, leaving a vacuum increasingly filled by armed gangs, clans, powerful families and criminals, dozens of interviews with senior aid officials, experts and people in the territory reveal.

The interviewees described the continuing threat of famine and bombardment by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) but also a brutal new world in which guns, knives and intimidation often determine who gets desperately needed humanitarian assistance.

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Tens of thousands of Israeli protesters call for Netanyahu’s removal

Demonstrators join families of hostages in cities across country and vow to persist until he is ousted as PM

Tens of thousands of people across Israel joined the families of hostages this weekend to protest against the government and call for the removal of Benjamin Netanyahu, as the Israeli prime minister grappled with one of the most serious threats yet to his coalition.

The protesters in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Be’er Sheva, Caesarea and other cities on Saturday – and at a further demonstration outside the Knesset in Jerusalem on Sunday – demanded the release of those still held captive in Gaza after close to six months, and labelled Netanyahu an “obstacle to the deal”, vowing to persist until he leaves power.

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Israel lodges proposal with UN for dismantling of Palestinian relief agency

Exclusive: Aid officials warn that transferring Unrwa’s functions to other bodies with famine looming would be disastrous

Israel has given the UN a proposal to dismantle Unrwa, its relief agency in the Palestinian territories, and transfer its staff to a replacement agency to make large-scale food deliveries into Gaza, according to UN sources.

The proposal was presented late last week by the Israeli chief of the general staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, to UN officials in Israel, who forwarded it to the organisation’s secretary general, António Guterres, on Saturday, sources familiar with the discussions said.

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Middle East crisis live: Gaza ceasefire talks to resume, reports say; 75 Palestinians killed overnight by Israeli attacks – health ministry

Truce talks to begin again in Cairo on Sunday; most victims of overnight attacks were women and children, Gaza health ministry says

Talks aimed at brokering a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will reportedly resume in Cairo today, days after Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, gave the green light for fresh negotiations. “An Egyptian security source confirmed to Al-Qahera news the resumption of negotiations on a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Egyptian capital Cairo tomorrow,” an anchor for the channel, which is close to country’s intelligence services, said in a broadcast. Egypt, Qatar and the US have mediated previous rounds of negotiations, but a workable agreement has remained elusive.

The Gaza health ministry said 107 patients remained inside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, including 30 people with disabilities, and that the Israeli army had stopped attempts to evacuate them. Israeli military operations were also ongoing at two hospitals in the southern city of Khan Yunis – at Nasser hospital, according to the Hamas government press office, and at al-Amal hospital, according to the Red Crescent.

A bomb exploded in a shopping area in a northern Syrian city held by pro-Turkish forces on Sunday morning, killing eight people and injuring more than 20 others, a war monitor said. At least “eight people were killed and 23 others wounded” when “a car bomb exploded in the middle of a popular market” in Aleppo province’s Azaz, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It is unclear who carried out the attack in the town which is run by pro-Turkish militias fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Rather than provide humanitarian aid in Gaza, the US should ensure it is subjected to atomic bombing the way that “Nagasaki and Hiroshima” were at the end of the second world war, Tim Walberg, a Republican congressman, said in shocking remarks that by all indications were recorded recently at a gathering with a relatively small group of his constituents.

Rather than provide humanitarian aid in Gaza, the US should ensure it is subjected to atomic bombing the way that “Nagasaki and Hiroshima” were at the end of the second world war, a Republican congressman said in shocking remarks that by all indications were recorded recently at a gathering with a relatively small group of his constituents.

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Starvation in Gaza likely key to UK legal advice on war crimes

Accusations that Israel is committing war crimes mostly centre on failure to protect civilians or meet their basic needs

• UK government lawyers say Israel is breaking international law – leaked recording

Israel has faced questions about whether its war on Hamas inside Gaza broke international law ever since the first few days of the ­campaign, when it cut off all food, water and fuel shipments to the enclave.

As the scale of death, ­destruction and human suffering escalated, ­concerns hardened into warnings that Israel risked committing war crimes, including from key allies. In January, the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, said he was “worried” Israel may have breached international law.

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‘Death at any moment’: fights break out as Gazans compete over airdropped aid

Armed gangs take food and water from desperate locals, as critics say airdrops are dangerous and merely designed to divert public anger

Airdrops of humanitarian aid are leading to fatal fights in Gaza as the desperate and hungry battle to reach parachuted food and essentials, amid fears that little of the much-needed assistance is reaching those most threatened by a looming famine.

Eyewitness accounts, images and interviews with aid workers in Gaza suggest the high-profile airdrop operations are of limited help, and have contributed to growing anarchy there.

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Middle East crisis: second shipment of Gaza aid sets sail from Cyprus – as it happened

Cargo ship, salvage vessel and a platform carry 400 tonnes of food for region

Four UN observers were injured on Saturday when a shell exploded near them as they were carrying out a foot patrol in southern Lebanon, the UN peacekeeping mission said, adding it was still investigating the origin of the blast.

According to Reuters, the Unifil statement said the targeting of peacekeepers is “unacceptable.” Two security sources had told Reuters the observers were wounded in an Israeli strike but the Israeli military denied striking in the area.

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Children among cancer patients fearing being sent back to Gaza by Israel

Moves to deport those receiving care in East Jerusalem have been called ‘a deliberate risk to innocent lives’

Cancer patients from Gaza, including children, are living in a state of limbo in a hospital in East Jerusalem after Israeli authorities threatened to send them back.

The Guardian was given access to the Augusta Victoria hospital, where at least 22 patients from Gaza in urgent need of advanced cancer treatment are living in fear of deportation. As with numerous others, they received authorisation prior to Hamas’s 7 October attack to receive medical care outside the strip, due to the inadequate facilities in Gaza.

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US reportedly approves transfer to Israel of bombs and jets worth billions

Sources say weapons package authorized even as Washington expresses public concern over anticipated offensive in Rafah

The US in recent days authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, two sources familiar with the effort said on Friday, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah.

The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK-84 2,000lb bombs and 500 MK-82 500lb bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post.

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Schools in England accused of closing down debate on Israel-Gaza conflict

Government adviser says teachers feel ill-equipped to talk about controversial topics but avoiding debate risks fuelling anger

Schools in England are closing down legitimate debate about the Israel-Gaza conflict because teachers feel ill-equipped and are concerned about political impartiality, the government’s independent adviser on social cohesion has said.

Dame Sara Khan said that if schools continued to shut down debate they risked “fuelling further anger, hate and polarisation”.

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Famine is now probably present in Gaza, US says

State department assessment comes after world’s top court ordered Israel to admit food aid into territory

Famine is already probably present in at least some areas of northern Gaza, while other areas are in danger of falling into conditions of starvation, the US state department said on Friday a day after the world’s top court ordered Israel to admit food aid into the territory.

“While we can say with confidence that famine is a significant risk in the south and centre but not present, in the north, it is both a risk and quite possibly is present in at least some areas,” a state department official told Reuters.

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Middle East crisis: Israeli military says it has killed Hezbollah deputy commander – as it happened

IDF says Ali Abed Akhsan Naim, deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missiles unit, was killed in airstrike in Lebanon

The Guardian’s Kaamil Ahmed, Damien Gayle and Aseel Mousa have been investigating the scale of environmental destruction in Gaza.

Satellite analysis revealed exclusively to the Guardian shows farms devastated and nearly half of the territory’s trees razed. Alongside mounting air and water pollution, experts says Israel’s onslaught on Gaza’s ecosystems has made the area unlivable.

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