The disclosure that so many of the remaining hostages may actually be dead, and with a higher number than previously disclosed, seems certain to intensify scrutiny of the Netanyahu government’s controversial handling of the months-long hostage crisis, which has provoked fury among many hostage families.
While about half of those taken captive during the attack were subsequently released last year after a hostages-for-ceasefire deal, in which Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails were also released, negotiations for a second deal have dragged on for weeks.
The issue has been complicated by the piecemeal emergence of information about those taken hostage on 7 October in the intervening months, with the families of some of those who had been understood to have been taken alive being informed later that they had been killed.
It remained unclear, however, whether the Israel Defense Forces review meant that Hamas was holding the bodies of all of those 32 understood to be dead to bargain with in the future.
Under the ongoing negotiations for a second lengthy ceasefire, being conducted via mediators Qatar and Egypt, women, the sick, children and elderly captives would be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners with human remains slated for exchange later if the first phase is successful.
More than 240 hostages were initially believed captured by Hamas last October, however, the precise number of those believed to be held in Gaza has been constantly adjusted.
Israel has informed the families of 32 hostages held in Gaza since the 7 October attack that their relatives are dead, it has been reported.
More than a fifth of the remaining hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza are dead, according to available intelligence collated by the Israeli military.
The confidential internal review, leaked to the New York Times, reportedly concluded that a minimum of 32 of the remaining 136 hostages captured by Hamas have died, with their families being informed.
The fate of a further 20 is also in question, amid unconfirmed intelligence they may also have died during their captivity.
The claims emerged as it was disclosed that the Israeli military has begun investigating dozens of incidents where Israeli soldiers may have broken the IDF’s own rules of conduct or violated international law governing conflict, mostly in incidents involving significant civilian casualties or the destruction of civilian infrastructure.
The circumstances of the hostage deaths remained unclear with the Israeli authorities suggesting to the paper that many of those deaths had occurred on 7 October during Hamas’s deadly mass incursion into southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed.
Javier Milei, was warmly welcomed by Israeli officials as he announced plans to move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem during a trip to Israel.
Milei, on his first official visit since taking office besides a brief stop at the Davos economic forum in Switzerland, arrived in Israel on Tuesday.
Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, embraced him on the tarmac at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv.
Gracias a usted, señor presidente @JMilei por su afirmacion sobre el translado de la embajada de Argentina en Israel a Jerusalem, la Capital 🇮🇱🇦🇷
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) February 6, 2024
Viva La Libertad Carajo! pic.twitter.com/h1VO2kNuAs
After his arrival, Milei headed to the Western Wall in Jerusalem – the holiest place where Jews can pray. His trip will also see him visit a kibbutz and meet families of hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October.
“My plan is to move the embassy to west Jerusalem,” Milei said. A statement from Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, welcomed the announcement, adding:
The prime minister spoke about this with President Milei after his election, and welcomes the fact that the president has kept his promise.
Argentina would become one of only a handful of countries to have its main diplomatic mission in Jerusalem, rather than Tel Aviv.
In response, Hamas said it “strongly condemns” the move, saying it viewed the move as “an infringement of the rights of our Palestinian people to their land, and a violation of the rules of international law, considering Jerusalem as occupied Palestinian land”.
About 8,000 displaced Palestinians have been evacuated from a besieged hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis where they had been sheltering, the Red Cross has said.
An estimated 100 elderly, wounded and disabled patients along with about 100 staff and volunteers remain at Al-Amal hospital, an International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) spokesperson said.
The hospital, run by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), had been under siege for more than two weeks, surrounded by heavy shelling and fighting.
“The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is beyond catastrophic,” IFRC spokesperson Tommaso Della Longa told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
Even before the evacuation on Monday, Al-Amal had faced immense challenges, including dire shortages of medicines, food and water, he said.
Israeli forces have detained the hospital’s general manager and the administrative director, PRCS has said.
Summary of the day so far...
At least 32 of the 136 remaining Israeli hostages captured by Hamas are dead, according to an internal assessment conducted by the Israeli military seen by The New York Times. Four military officials who spoke to the newspaper also said there is unconfirmed intelligence indicating that at least 20 other hostages may also be dead.
The US secretary of state Antony Blinken arrived in Cairo to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. It’s a day after Blinken started his latest tour of the Middle East by meeting with the Saudi crown prince in Riyadh. Blinken and crown prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed “regional coordination to achieve an enduring end to the crisis in Gaza”, according to the state department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees expects its preliminary report into Israeli claims that a dozen of its employees took part in the 7 October attack on Israel to be ready by early next month. Dorothee Klaus told reporters in Lebanon that the agency expects donors who suspended their funding after the claims emerged to review their decisions based on the probe. The US and UK were among those who pulled funding for the agency after Isreal’s claims.
The US military says it’s carried out more strikes in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, hitting what it describes as “explosive uncrewed surface vehicles or USV’s”, which Reuters says are explosive-laden drone boats.
A UK ship travelling through the southern Red Sea has been attacked by a drone but no one has claimed responsibility as yet. The British military’s United Kingdom maritime trade operations says the attack happened west of Hodeida, Yemen, and caused “slight damage” to the ship’s windows on the bridge. A small vessel had been nearby the ship before the attack, it added.
Six allied Kurdish fighters were killed late Sunday by a drone attack on a base also housing US troops in eastern Syria in the first significant attack in Syria or Iraq since the US launched strikes over the weekend against Iran-backed militias. The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Monday the attack hit a training ground at al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, where the forces’ commando units are trained. No casualties were reported among US troops. Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibilty.
In its latest operational update the Israeli military claims it has killed “dozens of terrorists” in the central and northern Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours. Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli bombardment continues in Khan Younis, with large areas east of the city of Deir al-Balah also being targeted. At least 20 Palestinians were killed over the weekend in Israeli strikes on Rafah, the city previously designated a safe zone by the Israeli military and to where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had fled, according to the UN agency humanitarian agency Ocha.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported on social media that Israeli forces have detained the general manager and the administrative director of the Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis.
A 14-year-old Palestinian child was shot dead by Israeli security forces near occupied East Jerusalem after what they claimed was an attempted stabbing attack.
Spain will send the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA an additional €3.5m (£3m / $3.8m) in aid, foreign minister José Manuel Albares told lawmakers on Monday. The agency has warned of a significant funding shortfall after several large donors suspended funding after Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees of participating in the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel.
Russia summoned Israel’s ambassador in Moscow over comments Simona Halperin made in an interview. She had criticised Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for playing down the importance of the Holocaust and said Russia was being too friendly with Hamas.
Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, has issued an apology after his son suggested US president Joe Biden had Alzheimer’s disease.
In a deleted post on X, Shuvael Ben Gvir said: “In these tough times, it is important to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s, a degenerative disease of the brain that is the most common cause of cognitive decline, and dementia in old age, a serious disease that affects human function and ability. #JOEBIDEN“
On Tuesday, his father, Itamar, said: “Shubal my son, my favourite of all. Tonight he made a grave mistake in a tweet that I deeply disapprove of. The US is our great friend and president Biden is a friend of Israel.
“Even if I have a disagreement with his conduct, there is no room, God forbid, for a disparaging style. Respect for humanity is A and B, this is how I educate my children. I apologise for my son’s words.”
שובאל בני, אהוב לי מכל. אבל הלילה הוא עשה טעות חמורה בציוץ שאני מסתייג ממנו עמוקות.
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) February 6, 2024
ארצות הברית של אמריקה היא ידידתנו הגדולה והנשיא ביידן הוא ידיד ישראל. גם אם יש לי מחלוקת עם התנהלותו, אין שום מקום חלילה לסגנון מזלזל.
כבוד לבריות זה א׳ ב׳, כך אני מחנך את ילדיי.
מתנצל על דברי…
Ben Gvir has been critical of the US and Biden. On Sunday, Ben Gvir suggested to the Wall Street Journal that Donald Trump would be better for Israel than Biden.
“Instead of giving us his full backing, Biden is busy with giving humanitarian aid and fuel [to Gaza], which goes to Hamas,” he said.
“If Trump was in power, the US conduct would be completely different.”
Israel's evacuation orders cover two-thirds of Gaza strip, UN says
The AP reports that Israel’s evacuation orders in the Gaza Strip now cover two-thirds of the territory, or 246 square kilometers (95 square miles), UN humanitarian monitors said Tuesday.
More than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people is now crammed into the town of Rafah on the border with Egypt and surrounding areas, the UN Office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said. A quarter of Gaza’s residents are starving and 85% of the population has been driven from their homes, with hundreds of thousands surviving in makeshift tent camps.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said the known Palestinian death toll is at 27,478 people after nearly four months of war.
The New York Times reports that there is unconfirmed intelligence indicating that at least 20 other hostages may also be dead, according to four military officials who spoke to the newspaper.
The fate of the hostages captured by Hamas has been a deeply emotional issue in Israel and there has been fierce political debates in the country about how to deal with the situation.
Potential deals to free some of those captured are seemingly at odds with the views of key allies of president Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he relies on to prop up his government in the Knesset.
Our international security correspondent, Jason Burke, last month outlined the political dilemma’s Netanyahu faced regarding the hostages:
Netanyahu could gain a boost in the polls – albeit potentially a short-term one – if he agreed a deal with Hamas that freed the hostages, analysts suggest. But even agreeing a short pause to the offensive in Gaza could lose Netanyahu the support of the far-right politicians who are important to his coalition government. This would not end his rule, but would seriously undermine it.
There are multiple scenarios for what plays out over coming months. Many lead to the 74-year-old veteran leaving office.
Some analysts think early elections are likely. Others say no politician would risk a wartime poll but admit the parliamentary maths of a successful no-confidence vote does not currently add up. Netanyahu’s opposition is hopelessly divided too. Even if elections were called tomorrow, it could take six months before a new government formed.
“[Netanyahu’s ouster] is not inevitable and definitely not immediate. He is in a different league from anyone else in the current political scene and he thrives on pressure,” said one political insider.
Israeli public opinion is fragmented, however. Protesters, including demobilised veterans of the fighting in Gaza, are calling for firmer commitment to the offensive, which has killed 25,000 Palestinians in the territory, mostly women and children. Hostages’ families have differing views too.
“Netanyahu’s decision is to not make a decision and to drag things out in the hope something will turn up,” said Mairav Zonszein, an Israel analyst at the International Crisis Group. “There is still a consensus that the war is justified but increasingly people want someone else at the wheel and think that Netanyahu has to go, not at some unclear later date but now.”
Updated
What we know about the hostages so far:
During the 7 October attacks carried out by Hamas, about 250 people were taken hostage from Israel.
Just over half were Israeli citizens and the remaining were foreign nationals.
Both IDF soldiers and civilians were taken hostage, though the number of each is unknown.
110 hostages have been released so far, 105 in a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas last November.
In December, the IDF admitted to killing three Israeli hostages who were topless and held white flags, in an attempt to show they were not armed. The incident caused domestic disquiet in Israel.
Report: Israel believes more than a fifth of remaining Hamas hostages are dead
The New York Times is reporting that at least 32 of the 136 remaining Israeli hostages captured by Hamas are dead, according to an internal assessment conducted by the Israeli military.
The figure amounts to more than a fifth of the remaining hostages behind held by Hamas.
Updated
The leader of Yemen's Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said on Tuesday that the group "will further escalate" if the Israeli attack on Gaza does not stop, Reuters reports.
The Houthis have been targeting commercial vessels with drones and missiles in the Red Sea since mid-November, in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
UK lawmakers told strikes on Houthis will be counter-productive
Patrick Wintour is the Guardian’s diplomatic editor
Three prominent British-based experts on Yemen have told the UK foreign affairs select committee that UK-US strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen will be counter-productive, build Houthi support and not deter the Houthis from mounting further attacks.
None of the trio of experts are sympathetic to the Houthis, but they all said they believed the attacks were, as the Houthis insisted, largely designed to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, a claim that British ministers repeatedly reject as Houthi propaganda that British MPs should not swallow.
They also warned to different degrees that Britain was weakening its standing internationally by being the only other country apart from the US prepared to take offensive military action against the Houthis. The assessment appeared to shock some MPs on the all party select committee.
Helen Lackner, former Visiting Fellow, European Council for Foreign Relations and author of Yemen in Crisis said “The airstrikes are incredibly counterproductive from every possible point of view that you might be able to imagine. The Houthis are largely unpopular for the millions who are living under their rule. The impact of [the airstrikes] has been to improve their popularity by a million per cent. Their popularity has risen”.
Dr Elisabeth Kendall, Mistress, Girton College, University of Cambridge, said she understood the motives behind the airstrikes but added “It is counterproductive, because it increases Houthi popularity at a time when the Houthis needed to increase their popularity”.
Farea Al-Muslimi, a research fellow at the Chatham House Middle East programme said “I have seen too many countries operating under the illusion that they can bomb the hell out of something or someone in Yemen. I have seen it with the US drone strikes, with the Saudis and, most recently, with the UK and the US.”
Lackner insisted “Houthi support for Palestinians in Israel is a genuine ideological position; it is probably their only really genuine one”. She added “End the war in Gaza, and the Houthis will stop”.
Kendall also warned the UK risks losing “very valuable allies in the region, such as Oman, which we really must keep on side if we are ever to get a lid on the Yemen problem more generally. We also feed into narratives of Russia or China of the UK as world police interfering with sovereignty”.
Haaretz reports that Argentina’s president Javier Milei was greeted on arrival in Israel by foreign minister Yisrael Katz, and announced his intention to move the Argentinian embassy to Jerusalem. The embassy is presently located in Tel Aviv.
The Royal Navy has said that HMS Richmond has taken over responsibility for the UK’s contribution to protecting shipping in Red Sea. PA Media reports the Type 23 frigate replaces HMS Diamond, which has come under fire from Iran-backed Houthi forces on three occasions during its time on duty in the region.
Argentina’s recently elected president Javier Milei has arrived in Israel for a visit.
Vessel and crew safe after Greek-owned bulk carrier targeted southwest of Aden
Private security firm Ambrey said that a Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier was targeted while heading through the Maritime Security Transit Corridor southbound about 53 nautical miles southwest of Aden. The vessel was travelling from the US to India.
The vessel and crew were safe, both Ambrey and UKMTO, who earlier reported the incident, said.
Updated
Lebanon’s foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib summoned the British ambassador and handed him a note of protest regarding British foreign minister David Cameron’s visit to Beirut, the Lebanese state news agency (NNA) said on Tuesday.
There were no further details on the reason for the note of protest.
Updated
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Tuesday it had received a report of an incident 50 nautical miles south of Yemen's Aden, Reuters reports.
UKMTO added that authorities were investigating the incident and no further details were provided.
Here are some images from a tent camp in Rafa, southern Gaza taken on Tuesday. Many of those living here fled their homes due to Israeli strikes.
Antony Blinken in Egypt for talks on Israel-Gaza war
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has landed in Egypt. He met with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi and US ambassador to the country Herro Mustafa Garg.
Updated
UNRWA expects report into Israeli claims staff were involved in 7 October attack to be ready early next month
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees expects its preliminary report into Israeli claims that a dozen of its employees took part in the 7 October attack on Israel to be ready by early next month, its representative in Lebanon said on Tuesday.
Dorothee Klaus told reporters in Lebanon that the agency expects donors who suspended their funding after the claims emerged to review their decisions based on the probe. The US and UK were among those who pulled funding for the agency after Isreal’s claims.
Channel 4 News obtained Isreal’s dossier outlining the claims that UNRWA staff were involved in the October Hamas attacks but concluded it ”provides no evidence” to support them.
At least 27,585 Palestinians have been killed and 66,978 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday.
127 Palestinians were killed and 143 wounded in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken landed in Cairo on Tuesday for his meeting with Egyptian president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi as the US works to advance a Gaza truce and hostage deal mediated by the Egyptians and Qataris, Reuters reports.
Blinken departed Riyadh shortly after sunrise for what is set to be a marathon day visiting Egypt and Qatar before flying to Israel to discuss hostage negotiations, postwar Gaza plans and the prospect of Israel and it's neighbours normalising ties.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have said they fired naval missiles at two ships, Star Nasia and Morning Tide, in the Red Sea, Reuters reports.
According the news agency, the group’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech that the ships targeted were US and British flagged.
However, records from shipping trackers show they are flagged to the Marshall Islands and Barbados.
Here are some of the latest images coming through from Gaza and Israel:
Summary of the day so far
It’s currently 9:09am in Gaza, Tel Aviv and Cairo. Here are the latest events so far in the Middle East crisis:
The US secretary of state Antony Blinken is heading to Cairo next to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. It’s a day after Blinken started his latest tour of the Middle East by meeting with the Saudi crown prince in Riyadh. Blinken and crown prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed “regional coordination to achieve an enduring end to the crisis in Gaza”, according to the state department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
The US military says it’s carried out more strikes in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, hitting what it describes as “explosive uncrewed surface vehicles or USV’s”, which Reuters says are explosive-laden drone boats.
A UK ship travelling through the southern Red Sea has been attacked by a drone but no one has claimed responsibility as yet. The British military’s United Kingdom maritime trade operations says the attack happened west of Hodeida, Yemen, and caused “slight damage” to the ship’s windows on the bridge. A small vessel had been nearby the ship before the attack, it added.
Six allied Kurdish fighters were killed late Sunday by a drone attack on a base also housing US troops in eastern Syria in the first significant attack in Syria or Iraq since the US launched strikes over the weekend against Iran-backed militias. The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Monday the attack hit a training ground at al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, where the forces’ commando units are trained. No casualties were reported among US troops. Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibilty.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia on his fifth visit to the region since October in the coming hours. He will visit Israel as well as Egypt and Qatar. Speaking Monday after meeting in Washington with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Blinken said there was “real hope” for success of a “good, strong [ceasefire] proposal”. Jake Sullivan, president Joe Biden’s national security adviser, said Blinken would press Israel to allow more food, water, medicine and shelter in to Gaza, which has been left in rubble by nearly four months of bombardment.
In its latest operational update the Israeli military claims it has killed “dozens of terrorists” in the central and northern Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours. Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli bombardment continues in Khan Younis, with large areas east of the city of Deir al-Balah also being targeted. At least 20 Palestinians were killed over the weekend in Israeli strikes on Rafah, the city previously designated a safe zone by the Israeli military and to where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had fled, according to the UN agency humanitarian agency Ocha.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported on social media that Israeli forces have detained the general manager and the administrative director of the Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis.
A 14-year-old Palestinian child was shot dead by Israeli security forces near occupied East Jerusalem after what they claimed was an attempted stabbing attack.
Spain will send the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA an additional €3.5m (£3m / $3.8m) in aid, foreign minister José Manuel Albares told lawmakers on Monday. The agency has warned of a significant funding shortfall after several large donors suspended funding after Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees of participating in the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel.
Russia summoned Israel’s ambassador in Moscow over comments Simona Halperin made in an interview. She had criticised Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for playing down the importance of the Holocaust and said Russia was being too friendly with Hamas.
A former French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, is to lead an independent review of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees after accusations by Israel that at least 12 staff members were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October. The review was ordered by Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), last month before the publication of the Israeli allegations and a subsequent mass exodus of donors led by the US and UK.
Israel has given some further detail on Hamas’ Gaza chief, Yahya Sinwar.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant says that Sinwar is “moving from hideout to hideout” and no longer leading the group’s military actions, reports Agence France-Presse.
“He has now become a terrorist on the run from being the leader of Hamas” in the Palestinian territory, Gallant told a televised briefing Monday, but did not elaborate on Sinwar’s presumed current location.
Israel accuses Sinwar of masterminding the 7 October attack on Israel that triggered the war, nearing its fifth month.
UK-owned ship attacked in Red Sea
A UK ship travelling through the southern Red Sea has been attacked by a drone but no one has claimed responsibility as yet.
The British military’s United Kingdom maritime trade operations says the attack happened west of Hodeida, Yemen, and caused “slight damage” to the ship’s windows on the bridge. A small vessel had been nearby the ship before the attack, it added.
The private security firm Ambrey identified the vessel as a Barbados-flagged, United Kingdom-owned cargo ship.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but since November, Yemen’s Houthis have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea, saying it is over Israel’s offensive in Gaza against Hamas. But the group has frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for trade among Asia, the Mideast and Europe.
US military carries out more strikes in Yemen
The US military says it’s carried out more strikes in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, hitting what it describes as “explosive uncrewed surface vehicles or USV’s”, which Reuters says are explosive-laden drone boats.
US central command (Centcom) posted on X a few hours ago that:
U.S. forces identified the explosive USVs in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined they presented an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region. These actions will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy vessels and merchant vessels.
The US military also said they had carried out airstrikes against five missiles in Yemen on Sunday – one designed for land attack and the others for targeting ships.
Late Saturday, US and UK forces carried out their third wave of joint strikes, which hit 36 Houthi targets across 13 locations, according to a statement by the United States, Britain and other countries that provided support for the operation.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the next day that “these attacks will not deter us from our … stance in support of the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” Agence France-Presse reports.
CENTCOM Self-Defense Strikes
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 6, 2024
On Feb. 5, at approximately 3:30 p.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces conducted a strike in self-defense against two Houthi explosive uncrewed surface vehicles (USV).
U.S. forces identified the explosive USVs in Houthi-controlled areas of… pic.twitter.com/WMntzJOnw6
US secretary of state heads to Egypt for talks
The US secretary of state Antony Blinken is heading to Cairo next to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
It’s a day after Blinken started his latest tour of the Middle East by meeting with the Saudi crown prince in Riyadh.
Blinken and crown prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed “regional coordination to achieve an enduring end to the crisis in Gaza”, according to the state department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
They also spoke of “the urgent need to reduce regional tensions”, Miller said, referring to a surge in attacks across the region that’s triggered counterattacks by the United States and its partners.
Blinken did not answer reporters’ questions as he returned to his hotel, says Reuters.
The talks come as the US military confirms that it’s struck explosive uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) operated by Houthi rebels in Yemen – what Reuters describes as “essentially explosive-laden drone boats”.
Blinken’s diplomatic push has been given fresh urgency with Israeli forces pressing farther south towards Rafah, a Palestinian city on the southern border with Egypt where more than half the population of the Gaza Strip has taken shelter. Reuters says Palestinians are hoping the meetings will put in place a truce before a threatened Israeli assault on Rafah.
It’s Blinken’s fifth trip to the region since the 7 October attacks by Hamas and Blinken is later expected to visit Israel as well as Qatar.
Updated
Welcome and opening summary
It’s 7:48am in Gaza and Tel Aviv and Cairo. I’m Reged Ahmad and welcome to our latest blog on the Middle East crisis. I’ll be with you for the next while.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken is due to fly to Egypt on his next stop as he continues his fifth tour of the region since the 7 October attacks by Hamas. In Cairo, Blinken is scheduled to met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
The US secretary of state Antony Blinken started his visit in Riyadh where he has held talks with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. They discussed “regional coordination to achieve an enduring end to the crisis in Gaza”, said state department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
They also spoke of “the urgent need to reduce regional tensions”, Miller said, referring to a surge in attacks across the region that triggered counterattacks by the United States and its partners.
Meanwhile, the United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (Ocha) has reported in its latest update an “increase in strikes in Rafah on 4 and 5 February” as well as an increased influx of internally displaced people into the area.
More on that in a moment but first, a summary of the latest developments so far:
Six allied Kurdish fighters were killed late Sunday by a drone attack on a base also housing US troops in eastern Syria in the first significant attack in Syria or Iraq since the US launched strikes over the weekend against Iran-backed militias. The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Monday the attack hit a training ground at al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, where the forces’ commando units are trained. No casualties were reported among US troops. Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibilty.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia on his fifth visit to the region since October in the coming hours. He will visit Israel as well as Egypt and Qatar. Speaking Monday after meeting in Washington with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Blinken said there was “real hope” for success of a “good, strong [ceasefire] proposal”. Jake Sullivan, president Joe Biden’s national security adviser, said Blinken would press Israel to allow more food, water, medicine and shelter in to Gaza, which has been left in rubble by nearly four months of bombardment.
In its latest operational update the Israeli military claims it has killed “dozens of terrorists” in the central and northern Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours. Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli bombardment continues in Khan Younis, with large areas east of the city of Deir al-Balah also being targeted. At least 20 Palestinians were killed over the weekend in Israeli strikes on Rafah, the city previously designated a safe zone by the Israeli military and to where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had fled, according to the UN agency humanitarian agency Ocha.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported on social media that Israeli forces have detained the general manager and the administrative director of the Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis.
A 14-year-old Palestinian child was shot dead by Israeli security forces near occupied East Jerusalem after what they claimed was an attempted stabbing attack.
Spain will send the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA an additional €3.5m (£3m / $3.8m) in aid, foreign minister José Manuel Albares told lawmakers on Monday. The agency has warned of a significant funding shortfall after several large donors suspended funding after Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees of participating in the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel.
Russia summoned Israel’s ambassador in Moscow over comments Simona Halperin made in an interview. She had criticised Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for playing down the importance of the Holocaust and said Russia was being too friendly with Hamas.
A former French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, is to lead an independent review of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees after accusations by Israel that at least 12 staff members were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October. The review was ordered by Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), last month before the publication of the Israeli allegations and a subsequent mass exodus of donors led by the US and UK.
