Netanyahu vows to press ahead with Rafah offensive as ceasefire talks continue

Israeli prime minister says civilians will be allowed to leave ‘battle zones’ but does not specify where they could go

Negotiations involving multiple countries and high-level delegations on a Gaza ceasefire deal have entered a second day in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, as mediators struggle to make progress in the face of a threatened Israeli offensive on Rafah, the Palestinian territory’s last place of relative safety.

Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to press ahead with an offensive, but only after civilians are allowed to leave the “battle zones”.

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Middle East crisis: World Health Organization accuses Israel of impeding aid delivery in Gaza – as it happened

WHO says that fewer than half of its requested aid-delivery missions in Gaza have been approved by Israel

Militants from the Islamic State (IS) group attacked military barracks in central Syria this week, killing nine soldiers, an opposition war monitor said. The Syrian army and officials have not confirmed the attack, reports news agency The Associated Press (AP).

IS claimed responsibility for the attack on Monday near the town of Al-Sukhna, saying its fighters also seized weapons abandoned by fleeing soldiers and set fire to the barracks. The militants’ statement claiming responsibility was posted late on Tuesday, according to AP.

The attack was the latest in intensifying clashes in the desert in eastern Syria between the militants and the Syrian army, supported by Iran-backed militias. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, says IS has carried out 41 attacks so far this year there.

The Observatory said three Syrian troops were wounded in addition to the nine killed in Al-Sukhna.

IS militants have found refuge in the desert in remote areas in Syria and along the Iraqi-Syrian border, where they continue to stage attacks nearly five years after the group was defeated in Syria in 2019.

US troops in north-eastern Syria and US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have conducted numerous operations against the remaining IS militants. According to AP, the US has approximately 900 troops in Syria focused on countering the group’s remnants.

Since war erupted in Gaza on 7 October after Hamas’ surprise attack and incursion into southern Israel, US bases in eastern Syria and Iraq have come under regular attack by an umbrella group of Iran-backed Iraqi militias called the Iraqi Islamic Resistance.

The militias say the attacks are in response to Washington’s support for Israel.

Here are some of the latest images on the newswires from Gaza City, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Arish and Rafah:

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Ireland and Spain demand EU reviews Israel trade deal over rights obligations

Joint letters from prime ministers implore the bloc to act over ‘deteriorating’ situation in Gaza

The prime ministers of Ireland and Spain have implored EU leaders to take action over the “deteriorating” situation in Gaza, demanding an immediate assessment of whether Israel is complying with human rights obligations that are stipulated in a trade deal with the bloc.

The letter was sent amid mounting international calls for Israel to drop plans for a military assault on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than 1 million Palestinians from the north and centre of the territory have fled seeking safety. At least 74 Palestinians were this week killed in an Israel rescue mission in the city in which two hostages were freed.

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Israel in breach of international law if it denies Gaza food and water, says UK foreign secretary

David Cameron issues stark warning and implies UK will not back a Rafah offensive

Israel is in breach of international law as the occupying power if it fails to provide food and water to the people of Gaza, the UK foreign secretary, Lord Cameron, told peers on Tuesday in his clearest warning yet over Israel’s conduct.

He also said it was simply not possible for people in Rafah to leave as proposed by the Israeli Defense Forces, remarks that suggest the UK would not endorse any Israeli plan to mount a full-scale attack on the area containing more than 1 million people in crowded refugee camps. He also argued the US was beginning to shift on when Palestine might be recognised so Israel was no longer given a veto.

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Al Jazeera reporter and camera operator seriously hurt in Israeli airstrike in Gaza

Correspondent Ismail Abu Omar and photojournalist Ahmad Matar allegedly targeted by IDF

An Al Jazeera correspondent and a photojournalist working with him have been seriously injured in an Israeli airstrike that allegedly targeted the pair while they were working in Gaza.

According to the Doha-based news network, Ismail Abu Omar, one of its correspondents as well as his camera operator, Ahmad Matar, were in northern Rafah where they were documenting the living conditions of displaced Palestinian families when they were directly targeted by a missile fired by a drone.

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‘No Mardi Gras mask can hide genocide’: the pro-Palestine activism of this year’s carnival

New Orleans carnival attendees have long protested against injustice – this year, Palestinian solidarity is part of the picture

Carnival in New Orleans, a time of indulgence before the Lenten season, is known for its bright, boldly decorated parades and floats, and celebratory atmosphere. Mardi Gras Day, or Fat Tuesday, the last day of revelry, is a culmination of this indulgence. But, historically, carnival has also been an occasion for protesting against injustice and subverting political norms.

This year’s festival pushed that tradition forward with krewes – groups that host parades and balls – that incorporated demonstrations of Palestinian solidarity into their processions. Amid the Israel-Gaza war, hundreds of carnival participants have used the marches to bring awareness to the conflict.

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Biden joins international calls for Israel to halt planned Rafah offensive

Politicians say Palestinians sheltering in the southern city in Gaza have nowhere else to go

Joe Biden has added his voice to growing international calls for Israel to drop plans for an all-out military assault on the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, after a ferocious hostage rescue operation that killed dozens of Palestinians.

Speaking after talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah at the White House on Monday, the US president said: “A major military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible plan for ensuring the safety and support of more than 1 million people sheltering there.

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Open letter criticising PEN America’s stance on Israel-Gaza war reaches 500 signatories

Writers including Roxane Gay have called on the organisation to ‘wake up from its silent, tepid, self-congratulatory middle of the road and take a stand’

An open letter from writers and literary professionals to PEN America calling on the organisation to take a stronger stance on the Israel-Gaza war has reached more than 500 signatories, including writers Roxane Gay, Maaza Mengiste and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah.

The letter, dated 3 February but still open to signatures, condemns PEN America for being “silent” about “Palestinian journalists, writers, and poets murdered by Israel” outside of “press releases buried on its website”.

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Rafah’s 1 million refugees fear Israeli onslaught after night of bombardment

Population crammed into Gaza’s southernmost city dread IDF assault after at least 67 killed during hostage rescue

Panic and despair spread across Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah after a night of intense bombardment where more than 1 million people – at least half of the territory’s population – fled seeking shelter but now fear an Israeli ground assault.

“Last night was the heaviest night that we witnessed since we fled to Rafah. It reminded us of what we endured in the northern parts of Gaza, in Gaza City and again in Khan Younis,” said Yousef Hammash of the Norwegian Refugee Council, sheltering in Rafah with his family.

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Thin, pale, but happy: freed Israeli hostages reunited with family

Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Har’s family say they did not know about rescue before being told to go to hospital to see them

Emerging from captivity in Gaza after 129 days, Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Har appeared thin and pale but with happiness and relief in their eyes.

Their family said the two men are overjoyed at being reunited with their loved ones as they try to make sense of their four-month ordeal.

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UK places sanctions on Israeli settlers for ‘forcing’ Palestinians from their land

David Cameron says ‘extremist’ settlers responsible for human rights abuses against West Bank residents

The UK has imposed sanctions against four Israeli nationals, saying they were “extremist settlers” who had violently attacked Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The measures impose strict financial and travel restrictions on the four individuals, who Britain said were involved in “egregious abuses of human rights”.

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Two Israeli hostages freed in Rafah, says IDF, as Palestinians report dozens of deaths

Israel’s defence forces say hostages were freed during a special raid in Rafah as residents say two mosques and several houses were bombed

At least 37 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on the southern city of Rafah, according to Gaza health officials, as the Israeli military said it had freed two hostages during a raid by special forces on the city.

The bodies of 20 Palestinians were at the Kuwaiti hospital, 12 at the European hospital, and five at the Abu Youssef Al-Najar hospital, officials at the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza told Reuters. Residents said two mosques and several houses were bombed.

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Middle East crisis: international concern grows over looming Rafah offensive as death toll from airstrike reportedly rises

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Israel-Gaza, read our most recent report:

Hospital officials in Rafah say at least 50 people have been killed in the Israeli airstrikes that accompanied a hostage rescue operation, according to Associated Press.

Dr Marwan al-Hams, director of the Abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital, said Monday the dead included women and children. An Associated Press journalist also counted the bodies brought to hospital.

The Israeli military said it rescued two hostages held in the territory in a raid that was backed up by Israeli strikes.

This is a developing story and we will bring you more when we have it

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Cousin of Hind Rajab, 6, haunted by her last call after family car shot at in Gaza

Mohammed Hamada says he is devastated by death of Palestinian girl and relatives, whose bodies have now been recovered

The cousin of a six-year-old Palestinian girl who died in Gaza after her family’s car appeared to come under fire from Israeli tanks has told how he spoke to her as she waited to be rescued and said he was haunted by her last words.

Hind Rajab’s body was recovered on Saturday, alongside those of six of her relatives, and two Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedics, Yusuf Al-Zeino and Ahmed Al-Madhoun, sent to find her in Gaza City.

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Middle East crisis live: ‘Enough’ hostages alive to warrant war, says Netanyahu – as it happened

Israeli prime minister says country ‘will do our best to get all those who are alive back,’ ahead of expected ground invasion of Rafah

Israeli forces have discovered a tunnel network hundreds of metres long and running partly under the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine’s (UNRWA) Gaza headquarters, the military claimed, calling it new evidence of Hamas exploitation of the main relief agency for Palestinians.

In late January, Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Finland joined the US, Australia and Canada in pausing funding after UNRWA revealed an investigation had been launched into 12 members of staff who allegedly took part in the 7 October attack led by Hamas that killed 1,140 people.

Reporters on the closely escorted trip entered a shaft next to a school on the periphery of the UN compound, descending to the concrete-lined tunnel.

Twenty minutes of walking through the stifling hot, narrow and occasionally winding passage brought them underneath UNRWA headquarters, an army lieutenant-colonel leading the tour said.

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Netanyahu reiterates intent to press on with ground offensive on Rafah

Israeli PM brushes aside warnings that assault on Gaza’s southernmost town would be a ‘human catastrophe’

Benjamin Netanyahu appears determined to push ahead with a ground offensive against Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah but has claimed Israel will provide safe passage to the 1.3 million displaced Palestinians sheltering there.

Despite mounting warnings from aid agencies and the international community that an assault on Rafah would be a catastrophe, Netanyahu has reiterated his intention to extend Israel’s military operation against Hamas. Hamas stated that a new advance into Rafah would “blow up” ongoing negotiations to return hostages in return for a ceasefire.

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‘Hamas have held my son hostage for nine years’: father of detained Israeli Bedouin speaks out

Sha’ban al-Sayed, whose mentally ill civilian son entered Gaza in 2015, says he has found allyship among families of kidnapped Israelis

In Israel it’s impossible to miss the faces of the 130 or so Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip by Hamas: they are plastered across walls, hung from balconies, and digital versions are now screensavers on passport reading machines at the airport. “Bring them home now!” the posters say. The families’ rallying cry is repeated everywhere, chanted at demonstrations and printed on restaurant receipts and the shells of supermarket eggs.

The fate of the captives seized on 7 October has gripped Israeli society. One face that does not appear among the rows of missing people is that of Hisham al-Sayed, a 36-year-old Israeli Bedouin held by Hamas almost completely incommunicado for the last nine years.

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Middle East crisis: UN agency says Israel blocking food aid to Gaza as starvation fears grow – as it happened

This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Israel-Gaza war coverage here

Children are going without food for days and some people are resorting to grinding animal feed into flour to survive, says the BBC who spoke to people living in north Gaza. People also described digging down into the soil to access water pipes, for drinking and washing.

International charity ActionAid has said that food is becoming so scarce in Gaza that people are resorting to eating grass. “Every single person in Gaza is now hungry, and people have just 1.5 to 2 litres of unsafe water per day to meet all their needs,” said ActionAid in a statement published that warned intensifying attacks in Rafah would have “disastrous consequences”.

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‘I’m so scared, please come’: Hind Rajab, six, found dead in Gaza 12 days after cry for help

Girl who pleaded with Red Crescent to rescue her found dead along with several relatives and two paramedics who tried to save her

“I’m so scared, please come,” were some of the last words six-year-old Hind Rajab said in a telephone call to rescuers after her family’s car came under fire in Gaza City.

Trapped in the vehicle and surrounded by her dead relatives, for three hours she pleaded with the Red Crescent to save her.

But the aid agency lost contact with the ambulance dispatched to her aid on 29 January and its crew and Hind remained missing.

Now Hind’s family has said that she was found dead inside the car in the Tel al-Hawa area of Gaza City on Saturday morning.

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Dozens killed in Rafah airstrikes as full-scale Israeli ground offensive looms

More than a million civilians sheltering in Gaza’s last place of relative safety brace for all-out assault

Airstrikes on the Gaza Strip’s southernmost town of Rafah have killed at least 44 people as more than a million civilians sheltering in the area brace for the possibility of a full-scale Israeli ground offensive on the territory’s last place of relative safety.

As Israeli forces have expanded ground operations steadily southwards in their war against Hamas over the past four months, Rafah – situated on the border with Egypt, and home before the war to about 280,000 people – has become the last refuge for more than half of the strip’s population of 2.3 million.

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