🔴Live: UK govt under pressure to suspend arms export licenses to Israel

Palestinians inspect a vehicle with the logo of the World Central Kitchen wrecked by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, April 2, 2024. © Ismael Abu Dayyah, AP

The UK government faced growing pressure Wednesday to suspend arms export licenses to Israel, after an Israeli strike killed three Britons and four others all working for a food charity in Gaza. The news came as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez demanded more details into the deadly attack and said Israel’s explanation for the aid workers' killings was "insufficient and unacceptable". Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments in the Israel-Gaza war.

Summary:

• The UK government faced growing pressure Wednesday to suspend arms export licenses to Israel after Monday's air strike killed seven aid workers, including three Britons, in Gaza. 
• Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez demanded more details into the deadly attack and said Israel’s explanation for the aid workers' killings was "insufficient and unacceptable".
• Israel's defence chief said Wednesday the air strike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza was a "grave mistake".
• The United Nations says the Israel-Hamas war has left almost 200 aid workers dead, including more than 175 members of the UN's staff.
• At least 32,975 Palestinians have been killed and 75,577 wounded since Israel began its offensive on Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. Around 1,140 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.

 

Yesterday's key developments:

• Food aid organisation World Central Kitchen (WCK) said Tuesday an Israeli strike killed seven of its workers in the Gaza Strip as they delivered food aid that had arrived by sea earlier in the day. 
• Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Tuesday expressed his "deep sorrow and sincere apologies" for the air strike. 
• The Israeli military said that an independent, professional expert body would investigate the deaths of seven people working for the World Central Kitchen in Gaza.
• Poland's deputy foreign minister Andrzej Szejna on Tuesday said that Israel should "compensate" the families of the seven aid workers, including a Polish citizen, killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza.
• The World Bank says the Israel-Hamas war has caused damage of around $18.5 billion to Gaza's critical infrastructure, according to a new report published Tuesday.

About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:

Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.

The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. 

Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.

In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN's counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies. 

For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.

(FRANCE 24 with AP) 

For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)