Summary of the day so far
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has rejected Hamas demands for a ceasefire in Gaza and vowed to press ahead with Israel’s military offensive in Gaza until achieving “total victory”. Israel was within reach of achieving total victory “in a matter of months”, Netanyahu said at a news conference shortly after meeting US secretary of state, Antony Blinken. “The day after is the day after Hamas. All of Hamas.”
Hamas laid out a detailed three-phase plan to unfold over four and a half months late on Tuesday via Qatari and Egyptian mediators, responding to a proposal drawn up by the US, Israel, Qatar and Egypt. The plan stipulates that all hostages would be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including senior militants, and an end to the war.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said “a lot of work” remained to be done to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas on terms for a new ceasefire and hostage-release deal. Blinken met with Netanyahu and Israeli president Isaac Herzog on Wednesday, during which he reiterated US support for “the establishment of a Palestinian state as the best way to ensure lasting peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike and greater integration for the region”, according to a US State department readout.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said he is “especially alarmed” by reports that the Israeli military intends to focus next on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. His comments came amid concerns of an “imminent” Israel ground invasion of Rafah as Israeli gunboats reportedly fired on the main coastal road to the west of the city on Wednesday morning. “Such an action would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences,” Guterres warned.
At least 27,708 Palestinians have been killed and 67,147 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, according to the latest figures by the Gaza health ministry on Wednesday. The figures includes 123 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes and 169 injured in the past 24 hours.
Saudi Arabia has said there will be “no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognised”. A Saudi foreign ministry statement on Wednesday reiterated “its call to the permanent members of the UN security council that have not yet recognised the Palestinian state, to expedite the recognition of the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital”.
Israeli protesters have prevented trucks carrying humanitarian aid from entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing on Wednesday, according an Israeli defence body. The group behind the protests has demanded freedom for the Israeli hostages in Gaza before further aid is allowed into the besieged Palestinian territory.
Israel’s military has said it discovered and destroyed a tunnel used by senior Hamas leaders and to hold hostages in southern Gaza’s main city of Khan Younis. Israeli special forces unearthed what they said was a “strategic underground tunnel” stretching more than one kilometre (just over half a mile) in a “targeted raid”. The city has been the focus of intense bombardment in recent weeks.
Human Rights Watch has urged EU donors to restore funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) amid warnings that it could cease operations across the Middle East by the end of the month. The rights group said it was “unconscionable” to consider shutting down the UN agency amid a “desperate” humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has called the 7 October attacks by Hamas on Israel the “biggest antisemitic massacre of our century” as he led a ceremony paying tribute to the French victims. The ceremony, the first major international memorial event outside Israel since the Hamas attacks four months ago, remembered the 42 French citizens killed in the attacks and the three others still missing, believed to be held hostage.
Updated
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians crammed into the small southern Gaza border city of Rafah are being forced to contemplate being displaced once more as an Israeli offensive looms.
Those who fled to the border city, almost half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, face a terrifying choice: stay in overcrowded Rafah – once home to 280,000 people – and wait for the attack, or risk moving north through an area of continued fighting.
Large areas are occupied by tented encampments, which have encroached even on some of Rafah’s cemeteries. Aid officials have described the city as a “pressure cooker of despair”, warning that a full-scale Israeli offensive on an area so overcrowded could cause large-scale loss of civilian life, and could be a war crime.
While Rafah has been hit by Israeli strikes throughout the war, the bombing and Israeli troops have been edging ever closer to the city, whose southern boundary is delineated by the mainly closed border with Egypt.
Fears of an imminent Israeli assault have been increased by strikes closer to Rafah, including by Israeli gunboats that shelled the western road into the city on Wednesday.
Describing the mood this week, Raed al-Nims, the media director of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Gaza, said: “Everyone is afraid of the expanding of the ground operation in Rafah.”
The growing sense of desperation has been underlined by the fact that some of the few who have tried to leave the city for areas such as Nuseirat, central Gaza, in recent days have lost contact with family members.
Most families who spoke to the Guardian this week indicated they would wait for an Israeli military evacuation order in the hope it would designate a safe exit route in the event of a full-scale assault.
Read the full story here: ‘Our last stop is Rafah’: trapped Palestinians await Israeli onslaught
A Hamas delegation, headed by senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya, will travel to Cairo on Thursday to pursue ceasefire talks with Egypt and Qatar, a Hamas official has said.
A senior Hamas official has responded to Benjamin Netanyahu’s news conference, saying the Israeli prime minister has showed that he intends to pursue conflict in the Middle East.
Netanyahu’s comments were “a form of political bravado, indicating his intention to pursue the conflict in the region”, Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
Hamas was “prepared to deal with all the options”, he added.
Updated
Netanyahu rejects Hamas ceasefire proposal, vows to fight until 'total victory'
Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Hamas demands for a ceasefire in Gaza and vowed to press ahead with Israel’s military offensive in Gaza until achieving “total victory”.
The Israeli prime minister, in a news conference shortly after meeting US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Israel was within reach of achieving total victory “in a matter of months”.
Netanyahu pledged to destroy Hamas, and ruled out any arrangement that leaves the Palestinian militant group in full or partial control of Gaza.
Israel is the “only power” capable of guaranteeing security in the long term, he said, adding:
The day after is the day after Hamas. All of Hamas.
Hamas put forward its own far-reaching proposal for a permanent end to the fighting late on Tuesday via Qatari and Egyptian mediators, detailing a three-phase plan to unfold over four and a half months.
The plan, in response to a proposal drawn up by the US, Israel, Qatar and Egypt, stipulates that all hostages would be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including senior militants, and an end to the war.
Updated
Netanyahu says no peace deal without 'beating Hamas'
Netanyahu says Israel must bring “absolute victory”, which means eliminating Hamas, a complete dismantling of all their battalions, and destroying the entire underground tunnel network.
He says he has “grappled with a number of prominent peace agreements”, and that he believes there will be a deal.
But we will not manage to reach those agreements and those peace treaties and normalisation without beating Hamas.
Updated
Netanyahu also calls for the replacement of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
He says Israel believes that up to 60% of humanitarian aid going into Gaza is being taken by Hamas, and that he has instructed officials to find a solution that would prevent that from happening.
Netanyahu: Israel 'not committed' to Hamas demands for prisoner-hostage exchange
Asked about demands put forward by Hamas to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages, Netanyahu says Israel has not “committed to anything”.
We haven’t committed to … really enormous numbers that they’re talking about … of terrorists that we are to release. There are supposed to be some kind of process of negotiations with the mediators, but from what I’ve seen after the response of Hamas, I don’t know what is happening.
Updated
Netanyahu says he told the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, that Israel will ensure that the Gaza Strip will be demilitarised forever after Hamas is eliminated.
Not part of Hamas, not half of Hamas, but the entire Hamas.
Israel Defense Forces will act “wherever and at any time that is necessary” in Gaza, the Israeli prime minister says.
Netanyahu says Israel's 'complete' victory 'a matter of months'
Benjamin Netanyahu begins his news conference by saying that Israel is on its way to a “decisive” victory, adding that it is “in our hands … in a matter of months”.
The Israeli prime minister says the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are working systematically and will achieve all the objectives of the war: to release all the hostages and eliminate Hamas. He says the IDF’s achievements have been “unprecedented”.
“We do not come back until we win,” he says, adding:
I would like to emphasise once again – there is no other solution other than complete and decisive victory.
Updated
Israel’s prime minster, Benjamin Netanyahu, is expected to hold a news conference in Jerusalem in the next few minutes.
It comes after Netanyahu held talks with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, after Hamas put towards its proposal for a new ceasefire and hostage-release deal.
Updated
Israeli protesters have prevented trucks carrying humanitarian aid from entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, according to Cogat, an Israeli defence body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs.
No trucks were able to enter through the crossing on Wednesday, Cogat said, although the Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza was working as normal.
New round of Gaza ceasefire and hostage talks in Cairo on Thursday – report
Egypt and Qatar are sponsoring a new round of negotiations aimed at a new ceasefire and hostage-release deal to start on Thursday in Cairo, AFP reported, citing an Egyptian official.
Hamas has agreed to the talks, with the goal of “a ceasefire, an end to the war and a prisoner exchange deal”, a Hamas source confirmed.
Egypt has urged “both parties to show the necessary flexibility” to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas on terms for a new deal, the Egyptian official said, after Hamas’s demands for a lengthy ceasefire and conditions for a prisoner exchange. The official added:
Egypt is undertaking intense and persistent efforts to reach a truce agreement in the Gaza Strip.
Updated
Human Rights Watch has urged EU donors to restore funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) amid warnings that it could cease operations across the Middle East by the end of the month.
In a letter addressed to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, the rights group warned that withholding funds from UNRWA could have “dangerous consequences, both immediately and longer term.”
Multiple countries, including the US and the UK, paused funding for the agency after accusations that 12 of its staff took part in the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel. UNRWA supports more than 5.6 million Palestinians in the occupied territories, including Jerusalem, and refugees and their descendants in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
In Gaza, where the UN has warned of an imminent famine affecting 2 million people, UNRWA delivers flour to make bread, and fuel for desalination plants, and runs networks of warehouses and lorries for aid. UNWRA-run schools have transformed into shelters housing tens of thousands of people.
HRW said it was “unconscionable” to consider shutting down the UN agency amid a “desperate” humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The letter continued:
We urge all EU member states that already announced a halt of their funding to UNRWA to reverse their decision, continue funding the agency and for the EU collectively to express commitment to continue supporting the agency in fulfilling its vital role.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has met with Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Wednesday killed a man identified as a civilian and wounded two others, according to the man’s family and a local hospital.
The strike hit the town of Khiam, AP reported. The man was identified by his family as Mohamad Awada.
Israel and Hezbollah ave been engaging in low-intensity but deadly fighting since the start of the war in Gaza.
During that time, 228 people have been killed in Lebanon, 173 of them identified by Hezbollah as fighters. Israeli authorities have said nine soldiers and nine civilians have been killed in attacks by Hezbollah.
UN chief 'alarmed' by reports of imminent Israeli ground invasion in Rafah
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said is “especially alarmed” by reports that the Israeli military intends to focus next on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
“I am especially alarmed by reports that the Israeli military intends to focus next on Rafah – where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been squeezed in a desperate search for safety,” Guterres told the UN general assembly on Wednesday.
Such an action would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences.
The UN chief reiterated calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and unconditional release of all hostages.
The situation in Gaza is “a festering wound on our collective conscience” that threatens the entire region, he added.
Nothing justifies the horrific terror attacks launched by Hamas against Israel on 7 October. Nor is there any justification for the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
Yet, Israeli military operations have resulted in destruction and death in Gaza at a scale and speed without parallel since I became Secretary-General.
The US state department has published a readout of the meetings between secretary of state Antony Blinken and Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and president Isaac Herzog earlier today.
Blinken and Netanyahu “discussed the latest efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages and the importance of increasing the amount of humanitarian assistance reaching displaced civilians throughout Gaza,” it said.
Blinken reiterated US support for “the establishment of a Palestinian state as the best way to ensure lasting peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike and greater integration for the region,” the statement said.
The US secretary of state also “reaffirmed the United States’ support for Israel’s right to ensure the terrorist attacks of October 7 are never repeated and stressed the importance of taking all possible steps to protect civilians in Gaza”.
Meanwhile, Blinken and Herzog “discussed the United States’ vision for a more durable peace and security for Israel fully integrated within the region and a two-state solution with security guarantees for Israel.”
Israeli officials are “looking intently” at a new Gaza truce proposal presented by Qatari negotiators, a government spokesperson has said.
Israeli government spokesperson Avi Hyman told reporters:
We have received an update, we have received notification from the Qatari negotiators. We are looking at them. The Mossad is looking intently at what was presented to us.
Summary of the day so far
It’s currently just after 5pm in Gaza and Tel Aviv. Here are the latest events so far in the Middle East crisis:
Hamas has proposed a ceasefire of four-and-a-half months, during which all hostages would go free, Israel would withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip and an agreement would be reached on an end to the war, according to a document seen by Reuters. The group’s proposal is a response to an offer sent last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators. The Hamas offer, in a document seen by Reuters and confirmed by sources, appears to include Hamas’s longstanding demand for a full end to the war as a pre-condition before releasing hostages it seized on 7 October. The plan details three phases.
Muhhamed Nazzal, a senior member of Hamas’s political bureau said no counterproposal details can be “compromised”. Nazzal told Al Jazeera that Hamas fear that the Israelis are “not seriously committed to this deal”. He said the inclusion of the permanent ceasefire in the second stage of the agreement has been put there to test whether they are.
The Times of Israel reports that on Channel 13 in Israel an official source told the network that the question being debated now is whether to reject Hamas demands entirely, or to enter into further negotiations in an effort to soften them. It did not specify which Hamas demands they were referring to. Haaretz reports that a political source told it that among the Hamas demands, as part of the proposed ceasefire and hostage release deal, is that changes are made to access arrangements for the Temple Mount complex and al-Aqsa mosque.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Wednesday in Israel that more work was needed on a hostage deal but voiced hope for success, as he also pleaded for greater aid to war-battered Gaza. Blinken met Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu a day after talks in Qatar, which mediated the reportedly phased deal in which Israel would suspend military operations in return for the release of hostages from Gaza and Palestinian prisoners from Israel.
French president Emmanuel Macron described the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel as the “biggest antisemitic massacre of our century” as he hosted a ceremony paying tribute to the French victims on Wednesday. The ceremony at the Invalides memorial complex in Paris paid tribute to the 42 French citizens killed in the attack on Israel by Hamas and the three others still missing, believed to be held hostage. It is the only such state event held outside Israel so far to mark the 7 October attack.
The French presidency said this week that France will provide an opportunity to remember French citizens killed in the Israeli bombardments of Gaza that followed the attack by Hamas, without giving a date.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said there will be “no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognised”.
Concerns are growing in Rafah of an ‘imminent’ Israeli ground invasion, reported Al Jazeera journalist Hani Mahmoud. He reported sounds of explosions in Rafah as Israeli gunboats fired on the main coastal road to the west of the city on Wednesday morning. In an update to the news organisation, he said: “There was a massive airstrike just a few blocks from where we’re reporting. Eleven people have been killed in intense attacks overnight. Among those were a journalist and his mother and sister. It looks like a targeted killing in his flat.” Mahmoud warned that the situation in Rafah was “very serious and getting more intense by the hour”. He added: “Concerns are growing that an Israeli ground invasion is imminent.”
The latest figures from the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 123 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes and 169 were injured in the past 24 hours.
A 77-year-old patient died due to oxygen shortage at the PRCS al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis on Wednesday morning, according to an update on the Palestine Red Crescent Society’s X account.
Israel’s military said on Wednesday that its troops killed dozens of Palestinian militants in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis over the past 24 hours, reports Reuters. Soldiers also located large quantities of weapons and uncovered more tunnel shafts in the area, the military said in a statement.
Israel’s military on Wednesday said it had discovered and destroyed a tunnel used by senior Hamas leaders and to hold hostages in southern Gaza’s main city of Khan Younis. Special forces unearthed what they said was a “strategic underground tunnel” stretching more than one kilometre (just over half a mile) in a “targeted raid”.
The UN special representative Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, called for restraint and said the Middle East is at “a critical juncture” in a speech to the security council on Tuesday.
The UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday that a humanitarian convoy led by the organisation had been hit while carrying food to people in northern Gaza, saying it was the third such instance of Israeli forces firing on its trucks carrying aid.
A group of 19 students at Brown University have gone on hunger strike, calling for the school to divest from “companies which profit from human rights abuses in Palestine”.
Israeli airstrikes over the central city of Homs and nearby areas killed and wounded civilians, reports AP citing the Syrian state news agency Sana on Wednesday. There was no immediate comment from Israel. The Israeli jets reportedly struck the Syrian city and the countryside from over the Mediterranean Sea near the Lebanese coastal city of Tripoli.
In London, in the UK parliament, opposition Labour MP Fleur Anderson asked prime minister Rishi Sunak if the UK government would consider bringing forward the moment when the UK might recognise a Palestinian state, as foreign secretary David Cameron has implied in recent comments. Asked if Sunak had signed off on those comments, he told lawmakers in Westminster that the longstanding position has been that the UK will recognise a Palestinian state when that is most conducive to the peace process.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the Eurovision song contest, has told Al Jazeera that Israel will not be excluded from this year’s contest. There have been multiple calls for Israel to be banned due to its aggression against Gaza, in the same way that Russia was excluded for its invasion of Ukraine.
Displaced Palestinian teenager Hussam al-Attar, has been nicknamed “Gaza’s Newton” after creating his own source of electricity to light up the tent where he and his family are living after being displaced by Israel’s assault on Gaza, reports Reuters.
Blinken hopes for deal to free Gaza hostages but says ‘a lot of work to be done’
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Wednesday in Israel that more work was needed on a hostage deal but voiced hope for success, as he also pleaded for greater aid to war-battered Gaza, reports AFP.
Blinken met Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu a day after talks in Qatar, which mediated the reportedly phased deal in which Israel would suspend military operations in return for the release of hostages from Gaza and Palestinian prisoners from Israel.
“We’re looking at it intensely, as is, I know, the government of Israel,” Blinken said afterwards as he met Israeli president Isaac Herzog. “There’s a lot of work to be done, but we are very much focused on doing that work, and hopefully being able to resume the release of hostages that was interrupted,” he added.
Blinken also made a new plea for aid into Gaza, where an Israeli retaliatory campaign has killed more than 27,700 people, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, and raised UN fears of famine.
“There are so many innocent men, women and children who are suffering as a result of the attacks perpetrated by Hamas and are now being caught in the crossfire of Hamas’s making,” Blinken said.
“We all have an obligation to do everything possible to get the necessary assistance to those who so desperately need it, and the steps that are being taken – additional steps that need to be taken – are the focus of my own meetings here.”
Updated
Gaza diary part 45: ‘I can’t believe I am in a car – I ask the driver what he uses for fuel’
As he has to rehome their pregnant cat, Ziad, a 35-year-old Palestinian, thinks of all the other painful ‘decisions’ he has had to make, and a night-time trip to the toilet reveals an unpleasant surprise.
You can read the full Gaza diary part 45 here:
Students on hunger strike call for Brown University to divest from pro-Israel companies
A group of 19 students at Brown University have gone on hunger strike, calling for the school to divest from “companies which profit from human rights abuses in Palestine”.
The move follows months of protests and sit-ins at universities around the country, which have seen students arrested as they protest against Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza.
The strike at the Ivy League university, which began on 2 February, will continue until Brown University considers a proposal on divestment, the students said. It comes amid a growth in protests calling for colleges and local governments to divest from assets linked to Israel and the Israeli military.
Here are some of the latest images that have come in on the newswires from Gaza and Israel:
My colleague, Adria R Walker who is a reporter on the Guardian US’s race and equity team, has written a piece on the Safe Birth in Palestine Project. The US organisation is trying to help pregnant women in Gaza from afar. You can read the piece here:
‘‘I’m overdue.”
“I just delivered and I have no baby clothes or diapers for the baby.”
“I’m bleeding, I’m a pregnant woman.”
“I’ve been drinking salt water for three days straight.”
These are just a few of the messages that Ferhan Güloğlu, a co-founder of the group Safe Birth in Palestine Project, has received on the organization’s Instagram account from women in Gaza. The group, which launched shortly after the Israel-Gaza war began, aims to provide long-distance medical care and advice to pregnant and postpartum women in the besieged region.
Thus far, Safe Birth in Palestine Project has provided Arabic language videos that give emergency unassisted birth instructions, and it is collaborating with local midwives on the development of an antenatal clinic. The group has also facilitated online consultations via Whatsapp between doctors who are members of the project and Gazan women. Additionally, it has shepherded some medical supplies, including necessary vitamins, to Egypt’s border with the territory.
Updated
Hostage tunnel found and destroyed in south Gaza city, says Israel's military
Israel’s military on Wednesday said it had discovered and destroyed a tunnel used by senior Hamas leaders and to hold hostages in southern Gaza’s main city of Khan Younis, reports AFP.
Special forces unearthed what they said was a “strategic underground tunnel” stretching more than one kilometre (just over half a mile) in a “targeted raid”.
The city – home to Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar – has been the focus of intense bombardment in recent weeks. The Israeli military claims senior Hamas figures have retreated to the tunnel system, which it dubs the “Gaza Metro”, with entrances deliberately built in and around civilian infrastructure.
AFP said that images circulated by the army showed what it said was a “hostage holding cell”, with tiled walls and steel bars from floor to ceiling.
“This tunnel held approximately 12 hostages at different times; three of them have been returned to Israel, and the rest are still being held in Gaza,” a statement read. The army did not offer details of which hostages were held there.
The tunnel, built “under the heart of a civilian area”, also included a bathroom, kitchen and a rest area for captors, and was part of an “intricate and interconnected underground labyrinth”, it added.
It was used “to hide high-ranking members of the Hamas terrorist organisation and to hold hostages” and was linked to another recently discovered tunnel where other captives were held, it said.
According to AFP, special forces were seen in an army video entering a small outer entrance in an apparent crater surrounded by debris and mangled concrete and near an apartment complex, it added.
The military also showed off hand grenades and rocket propelled grenades that it said it had found and disabled.
Israel says 132 hostages remain in Gaza, of whom 29 are believed to have died.
Updated
123 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, says health ministry
The latest figures from the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 123 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes and 169 were injured in the past 24 hours.
According to the statement, at least 27,708 Palestinians have been killed and 67,147 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October.
The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
Emmanuel Macron condemns ‘antisemitic’ Hamas attack on Israel, as he pays tribute to French victims
French president Emmanuel Macron described the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel as the “biggest antisemitic massacre of our century” as he hosted a ceremony paying tribute to the French victims on Wednesday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Images of those killed or taken hostage by Hamas were held up by members of Macron’s guard as their families looked on, in the only such state event held outside Israel so far to mark the attack.
Macron described the attack by Hamas as “barbarism … which is fed by antisemitism and propagates it”, vowing not to give in to “rampant and uninhibited antisemitism”.
The ceremony at the Invalides memorial complex in Paris paid tribute to the 42 French citizens killed in the attack on Israel by Hamas and the three others still missing, believed to be held hostage.
It was the biggest single loss of life of French nationals since the 14 July 2016 truck attack by an Islamist radical in the southern city of Nice that left 86 people dead.
Macron said France would work “every day” for the release of the remaining French hostages. “Their empty chairs are there,” he said at the ceremony. “Nothing can justify or excuse terrorism,” he said.
There has been controversy over the ceremony, with many families of French citizens who died in Hamas’s attack emphasising they do not want to see figures from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party in attendance, accusing it of failing to sufficiently denounce the attack and term Hamas a terror group.
A presidential official said that according to protocol, all members of parliament were invited to the ceremony and it “is up to everyone to assess the appropriateness or not of their presence, given families have spoken out and expressed strong emotion”.
Key figures from the LFI, including coordinator Manuel Bompard and parliamentary chief Mathilde Panot, were both present, with members of the public gathered outside booing them as they appeared on the big screen.
Far-right leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, who rushed to emphasise solidarity with Israel in the after the 7 October attack, were also present.
The presidency said this week that France will provide an opportunity to remember French citizens killed in the Israeli bombardments of Gaza that followed the attack by Hamas, without giving a date.
“All lives are equal, are invaluable in the eyes of France,” said Macron, describing war as a “tornado of suffering”. He also vowed that France would “never allow the spirit of revenge to prosper” and that “in these challenges nothing should divide us”.
He said that France would do everything to “respond to the aspirations of peace and security for everyone in the Middle East”.
Updated
Further to the previous post on the proposal by Hamas for a 135-day truce with complete Israeli withdrawal, Reuters have further details on the document it has seen and additional quotes from sources.
Reuters say that the second source which said Hamas still wanted guarantees from Qatar, Egypt and other states that the ceasefire would be upheld and not collapse as soon as hostages go free, also said: “They want the aggression to stop and not temporarily, not where (the Israelis) take the hostages and then the Palestinian people live in a grinder.”
The news agency said Ezzat El-Reshiq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, confirmed the offer had been passed via Egypt and Qatar to Israel and the US. “We were keen to deal with it in a positive spirit to stop the aggression against our Palestinian people and secure a complete and lasting ceasefire as well as provide relief, aid, shelter and reconstruction,” he told Reuters.
According to the document, during the first 45-day phase, all Israeli female hostages, males under 19 and elderly people and the sick would be released, in exchange for Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails. Israel would withdraw troops from populated areas.
Implementation of the second phase would not begin until the sides conclude “indirect talks over the requirements needed to end the mutual military operations and return to complete calm”.
The second phase would include the release of remaining male hostages and full Israeli withdrawal from all of Gaza. Bodies and remains would be exchanged during the third phase.
“People are optimistic, at the same time they pray that this hope turns into a real agreement that will end the war,” Yamen Hamad, a father of four sheltering in a UN school in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip told Reuters via a messaging app.
Hamas proposal is 135-day truce with complete Israeli withdrawal – reports
Hamas has proposed a ceasefire of four-and-a-half months, during which all hostages would go free, Israel would withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip and an agreement would be reached on an end to the war, according to a document seen by Reuters.
The group’s proposal is a response to an offer sent last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
The Hamas offer, in a document seen by Reuters and confirmed by sources, appears to include Hamas’s longstanding demand for a full end to the war as a pre-condition before releasing hostages it seized on 7 October.
A source close to the negotiations said the Hamas counterproposal did not require a guarantee of a permanent ceasefire at the outset, but that an end to the war would have to be agreed during the truce before final hostages were freed.
A second source said Hamas still wanted guarantees from Qatar, Egypt and other states that the ceasefire would be upheld and not collapse as soon as hostages go free.
Earlier Israel’s Channel 13 cited a senior official as saying some of the demands presented by Hamas were not acceptable to Israel, without providing details. Israel has previously said it will not pull its troops out of Gaza until Hamas is wiped out.
The report quoted the unidentified official as saying Israeli authorities would debate whether to reject Hamas’s proposals outright or ask for alternative conditions.
More details soon …
The Times of Israel reports that on Channel 13 in Israel an official source told the network that the question being debated now is whether to reject Hamas demands entirely, or to enter into further negotiations in an effort to soften them. It did not specify which Hamas demands they were referring to.
Haaretz reports that a political source has told it that among the Hamas demands as part of the proposed ceasefire and hostage release deal is that changes are made to access arrangements for the Temple Mount complex and al-Aqsa mosque.
Jews have been allowed to visit the site, without oversight from the Waqf which administers the mosque, since 2003. Israeli authorities in Jerusalem have been restricting access to the mosque for Friday prayers since 7 October.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the Eurovision song contest, has told Al Jazeera that Israel will not be excluded from this year’s contest.
There have been multiple calls for Israel to be banned due to its aggression against Gaza, in the same way that Russia was excluded for its invasion of Ukraine.
“As a member-led organisation, our governing bodies … did review the participants list for the 2024 Contest and agreed that the Israeli public broadcaster KAN met all the competition rules for this year and can participate as it has for the past 50 years,” the EBU told Al Jazeera.
The EBU said that the difference between Israel and Russia was that “Russian broadcasters themselves were suspended from the EBU due to their persistent breaches of membership obligations and the violation of public service values.”
Reuters has a quick snap that Israeli media, citing senior officials, is reporting that some Hamas demands in hostage deal cannot be met. The comments were made on Israel’s Channel 13.
More details soon …
In London, in the UK parliament, opposition Labour MP Fleur Anderson has asked prime minister Rishi Sunak if the UK government would consider bringing forward the moment when the UK might recognise a Palestinian state, as foreign secretary David Cameron has implied in recent comments.
Asked if Sunak had signed off on those comments, he told lawmakers in Westminster that the longstanding position has been that the UK will recognise a Palestinian state when that is most conducive to the peace process.
Speaking during a visit last Thursday to Lebanon, Cameron had said no recognition could come while Hamas remained in Gaza, but that it could take place while Israeli negotiations with Palestinian leaders were continuing.
This Guardian graphic shows the extent of damage to areas in Gaza between 7 October 2023 and 29 January 2024.
Patient died due to oxygen shortage at hospital in Khan Younis, says PRCS
According to an update on the Palestine Red Crescent Society’s X account, a 77-year-old patient died due to oxygen shortage at the PRCS al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis on Wednesday morning.
The PRCS said: “The hospital has been suffering from a severe oxygen shortage for days, affecting the intensive care unit and hospitalised patients.”
A 77-year-old patient just passed away due to oxygen shortage at PRCS Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis. The hospital has been suffering from a severe oxygen shortage for days, affecting the intensive care unit and hospitalized patients. #NotATarget ❌#IHL #Gaza #AlAmalHospital
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) February 7, 2024
France pays tribute to French victims of 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas
A national ceremony is being led by French president Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday to pay tribute to French victims of the 7 October attack in Israel by Hamas, reports AP.
The ceremony will pay homage to 42 French citizens who died in the attack and three hostages still believed to be held by Hamas and other militants in Gaza, Macron’s office said. Four French hostages have been previously released.
Photographs of the victims were displayed in the Invalides’ monumental courtyard in central Paris and the republican guard’s orchestra played the ‘Kaddish’ by French composer Maurice Ravel, written in 1914 based on a traditional Hebrew melody.
Families of victims were also due to attend the ceremony, many having come from Israel on a special flight chartered by France.
Yashay Dan, a relative of French-Israeli hostage Ofer Kalderon, told AP that he hoped the ceremony could “resonate all around the world, not only in France.” “I think from this perspective that France is showing a great gesture by being with those that have suffered an enormous blow,” he said.
Ayla Yahalomi Luzon, the sister of French-Israeli hostage Ohad Yahalomi, said: “We don’t need people to hope for us. I have hope. We need help. Ohad is a French citizen and I ask France to make all efforts to release him and everyone.”
AP said prior to the ceremony that Macron’s speech is expected to address a sharp rise in antisemitic acts in France. Data from the interior ministry and the Jewish community protection service watchdog showed that 1,676 antisemitic acts were reported in 2023, compared to 436 the previous year.
The ceremony also comes after France’s new foreign minister Stéphane Séjourné made his first trip to the Middle East, including Israel and the Palestinian territories, where he pushed for the release of hostages.
Updated
Reuters have a story on a displaced Palestinian teenager who has been nicknamed “Gaza’s Newton” after creating his own source of electricity to light up the tent where he and his family are living in Rafah.
The news agency report: Using two fans he picked up from a scrap market and rigged to some wires, teenager Hussam al-Attar has created his own source of electricity to light up the tent where he and his family are living after being displaced by Israel’s assault on Gaza.
In recognition of his ingenuity, people in the surrounding tent camp have given him a nickname: Gaza’s Newton.
“They started calling me Gaza’s Newton due to the similarity between me and [Isaac] Newton,” said al-Attar, who looks and sounds young for his 15 years. “Newton was sitting under an apple tree when an apple fell on his head and he discovered gravity. And we here are living in darkness and tragedy, and rockets are falling on us, therefore I thought of creating light, and did so.”
More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are now crammed into Rafah, on the southern edge of the strip by the fence separating it from Egypt. The al-Attar family have attached their tent to the flank of a one-storey house, allowing Hussam to climb on to the roof and set up his two fans, one above the other, to act as tiny wind turbines capable of charging batteries.
He then connected the fans to wires travelling down through the house, and used switches, lightbulbs and a thin piece of plywood extending out into the tent to create a bespoke lighting system for his family.
He said his first two attempts failed and it took him a while to develop the system until he got it to work on the third try. “I started developing it further, bit by bit, until I was able to extend the wires through the room to the tent that we are living in, so that the tent will have light,” he said.
“I was very happy that I was able to make this, because I eased the suffering of my family, my mother, my sick father, and my brother’s young children, and everyone here who is suffering from the conditions that we live in during this war.”
Amid the despair, Al-Attar was still holding on to his dreams and ambitions.
“I am very happy that people in this camp call me Gaza’s Newton, because I hope to achieve my dream of becoming a scientist like Newton and creating an invention that will benefit not only the people of the Gaza Strip but the whole world.”
Updated
Concerns are growing in Rafah of an 'imminent' Israeli ground invasion, reports Al Jazeera journalist
Hani Mahmoud, an Al Jazeera journalist in Rafah, southern Gaza reported sounds of explosions in Rafah as Israeli gunboats fired on the main coastal road to the west of the city on Wednesday morning. In an update to the news organisation, he said:
“There was a massive airstrike just a few blocks from where we’re reporting. Eleven people have been killed in intense attacks overnight. Among those were a journalist and his mother and sister. It looks like a targeted killing in his flat.”
Mahmoud warned that the situation in Rafah was “very serious and getting more intense by the hour”. He added: “Concerns are growing that an Israeli ground invasion is imminent.”
Updated
'No diplomatic relations' with Israel without recognition of Palestinian state, says Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia have said there will be “no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognised”, reports Reuters.
The Saudi foreign ministry statement said:
Kingdom has communicated its firm position to the US administration that there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognised on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
It reiterated “its call to the permanent members of the UN security council that have not yet recognised the Palestinian state, to expedite the recognition of the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital”.
The Gaza war has put renewed focus on the idea of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even though negotiations have been in decline for years, says Reuters.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will not compromise on full Israeli security west of the Jordan River and that this stands contrary to a Palestinian state.
Countries including the US and the UK have reiterated their support for the two-state solution. British foreign secretary David Cameron said last week there would be a time when Britain would look to recognise a Palestinian state, including at the UN.
According to Al Jazeera, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) expressed its appreciation to Saudi Arabia for its position. Hussein al-Sheikh, the PLO secretary general posted on X: “We thank Saudi Arabia for its firm position and efforts to stand with the Palestinian people and their just cause.”
The Middle East is 'at a critical juncture', UN Iraq chief tells security council
“With the conflict raging in Gaza, as well as armed action elsewhere, the Middle East is at a critical juncture, and the same is true for Iraq.”
— United Nations (@UN) February 7, 2024
— @UNIraq chief warns the Security Council. https://t.co/RplmrBbBsO
The UN special representative Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, called for restraint and said the Middle East is at “a critical juncture” in a speech to the security council on Tuesday.
“With the conflict raging in Gaza, as well as armed action elsewhere, the Middle East is at a critical juncture, and the same is true for Iraq,” said Hennis-Plasschaert, who is the head of the UN Mission in Iraq (UNAMI). She added:“With Iraq cloaked in an already complex tapestry of challenges; it is of greatest importance that all attacks cease.”
Hennis-Plasschaert told ambassadors that “an enabling environment” will be essential for Iraq to continue on the path of stability, which requires restraint from all sides. “Yes, indeed, from Iraq’s armed actors, and, as might be expected, restraint from Iraq’s neighbours and other countries is just as crucial,” she said.
The envoy recalled that she has repeatedly said that “messaging by strikes only serves to recklessly heighten tensions, to kill or injure people and to destroy property.”
Hennis-Plasschaert concluded her briefing by noting that it could be the last time she addressed the Council as she is expected to leave office in May after serving for five years.
Briefing (As Delivered) by the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq and Head of UNAMI, Ms. Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, at the 9543rd meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation concerning Iraq.
— UNAMI (@UNIraq) February 6, 2024
6 February 2024https://t.co/Gq06jDYldd pic.twitter.com/nHfnDO6ZCa
Hamas responds to Israel plan with three-stage proposal to end Gaza war
Hamas has responded to a US-backed Israeli ceasefire plan for the war in Gaza with its own far-reaching proposal for a permanent end to the fighting.
It is a position Israel is almost certain to reject, but which mediators are viewing positively, as it appears the group is willing to engage in further negotiations.
Hamas put forward its three-stage plan late on Tuesday via Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Under the plan Palestinian militants would exchange Israeli hostages they captured on 7 October for 1,500 Palestinian prisoners, secure the reconstruction of Gaza, ensure the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and an exchange of bodies and remains, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.
Hamas say no counterproposal details can be 'compromised', reports Al Jazeera
Muhhamed Nazzal, a senior member of Hamas’s political bureau has been speaking with Al Jazeera. He said Hamas had received the proposal sent last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators and backed by the US and Israel, and that the group’s counterproposal was “more specific” and “provided deadlines”. “These timelines were specified by Hamas itself,” Nazzal told Al Jazeera.
He added: “Among these details, none can be compromised. The Israeli killing machine must be brought to a halt. We wish to see Israeli occupation forces’ withdrawal from the Gaza Strip entirely. Our response is realistic and our demands are reasonable.”
Nazzal told Al Jazeera that Hamas fear that the Israelis are “not seriously committed to this deal”. He said the inclusion of the permanent ceasefire in the second stage of the agreement has been put there to test whether they are.
He also added that five parties have been chosen to act as “guarantors” if a truce deal with the Israelis comes to fruition: Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, Russia and the UN.
“We expect a negotiation to start. Once it starts, any obstacles can be ironed out along the way to reach a final agreement whereby we can dot the i’s and cross the t’s,” Nazzal told Al Jazeera.
The Qatar-based news organisation asked Nazzal about US president Joe Biden’s comment that his group’s counterproposal was “a little over the top”. Nazzal responded:
We do not expect the American president to come up with a better statement. He is totally biased and was part of the war waged on Gaza. He provided the political and legal cover for the Israelis and has supported all of Netanyahu’s moves. They worked hand in hand, providing military and financial assistance.
We expect the US administration to come up with a final decision: Are they willing for the war to continue? Or do they want a permanent ceasefire?”
Here are some of the latest images coming through from Gaza, Israel and France on the newswires:
Hamas draft three-stage ceasefire plan details, according to Reuters
The Reuters report on the draft Hamas ceasefire plan has some more detail on what the organisation is proposing. The plan is in response to a proposal sent last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators and backed by the US and Israel.
According to the draft document seen by Reuters, the Hamas counterproposal envisions three phases lasting 45 days each. Here are the details of those 45-day phases, according to the news agency:
All Israeli female hostages, males under 19, elderly people and the sick would be released during the first 45-day phase in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails.
Remaining male hostages would be released during the second phase.
The bodies and remains of those killed in fighting would be exchanged in the third phase. By the end of the third phase, Hamas would expect the sides to have reached agreement on an end to the war.
Reuters report that the proposal would also see the reconstruction of Gaza beginning and Israeli forces withdrawing completely.
Hamas, which governs Gaza, said in an addendum to the proposal that it wished for the release of 1,500 prisoners, a third of whom it wanted to select from the a list of Palestinians handed life sentences by Israel.
The truce would also increase the flow of food and other aid to Gaza’s desperate civilians who are facing hunger and dire shortages of basic supplies.
Updated
Israeli military say its troops killed dozens of Palestinian militants in Gaza in past 24 hours
Israel’s military said on Wednesday that its troops killed dozens of Palestinian militants in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis over the past 24 hours, reports Reuters.
Soldiers also located large quantities of weapons and uncovered more tunnel shafts in the area, the military said in a statement.
Syria says Israeli airstrikes over Homs have killed and wounded civilians - reports
Israeli airstrikes over the central city of Homs and nearby areas killed and wounded civilians, reports AP citing the Syrian state news agency Sana on Wednesday. There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Sana quoted an unidentified military official as saying the strikes late on Tuesday damaged both private and public property, without giving additional details. The Israeli jets reportedly struck the Syrian city and the countryside from over the Mediterranean Sea near the Lebanese coastal city of Tripoli.
The pro-government Sham FM radio station said the areas struck included the affluent al-Malaab neighbourhood and Hamra street. It said Israel hit farmland in al-Waer, causing fires but no casualties there, says AP.
Britain-based pro-opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Humanitarian Rights said at least six civilians were killed, among them a woman and a child, as well as two militants from the Lebanese Hezbollah group. The casualties were all in a building on Hamra street that was apparently targeted in one of the strikes, it said. Search efforts were ongoing, the Observatory added.
It said at least nine explosions were heard in Homs and its outskirts, where Hezbollah is reportedly present.
Israel rarely acknowledges its actions in Syria, but it has said it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups such as Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian president Bashar Assad’s forces. It has also targeted members of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards in Syria, including a high-ranking general last December.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken was set to meet Israeli leaders on Wednesday as Hamas suggested it was open to a new ceasefire and hostage release deal, but both sides remain dug in on thus far elusive goals as the war enters its fifth month, reports news agency the Associated Press (AP).
The US, Israel, Qatar and Egypt have proposed a ceasefire of several weeks in return for a phased release of hostages taken by Hamas during its 7 October attack in Israel. Hamas responded to the offer late on Tuesday in what it said was a “positive spirit” while reiterating its core demands for an end to the Israeli offensive and the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, which US president Joe Biden said were “a little over the top.”
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war will continue until “total victory” over Hamas and the return of all the remaining hostages.
Blinken, who is on his fifth visit to the region since the war broke out, is trying to advance the ceasefire talks while pushing for a larger postwar settlement in which Saudi Arabia would normalise relations with Israel in return for a “clear, credible, time-bound path to the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
But the increasingly unpopular Netanyahu is opposed to Palestinian statehood, and his hawkish governing coalition could collapse if he is seen as making too many concessions, say AP.
Blinken acknowledged “there’s still a lot of work to be done.” But he said he still believed an agreement on the hostages was possible. At a press conference in Qatar on Tuesday, he said a pathway to more lasting peace was “coming ever more sharply into focus” but would require “hard decisions” by the region’s leaders.
Israeli forces have hit UNRWA trucks carrying food, says humanitarian organisation
The UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday that a humanitarian convoy led by the organisation had been hit while carrying food to people in northern Gaza, saying it was the third such instance of Israeli forces firing on its trucks carrying aid.
"This was the third time a humanitarian convoy led by @UNRWA has been hit"@JulietteTouma confirms to @AJEnglish that yesterday an @UNRWA led convoy was hit while carrying food to people in northern📍#Gaza - where there are the highest levels of starvation among the population. pic.twitter.com/69NW4PyHhs
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) February 6, 2024
Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s director of communications across all areas of operation, told Al Jazeera: “This was the third time a humanitarian convoy led by UNRWA has been hit”. She was referring to an incident on Monday.
UNRWA have also published before and after images on its X account, that show the level of destruction to its health centre in north Gaza. The organisation say 84% of health facilities in Gaza have been affected by attacks and only four out of 22 UNRWA health facilities are still operational.
Shocking before & after images show level of destruction to our health centre in north📍#Gaza
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) February 6, 2024
84% of health facilities in #Gaza have been affected by attacks.
Due to continued bombardment & access restrictions, only 4 out of 22 @UNRWA health facilities are still operational. pic.twitter.com/YMu74B0F87
Several major donors suspended funding to the UN body after Israeli allegations that a number of UNRWA staff were involved in the 7 October Hamas attacks in Israel. UNRWA responded by saying it had severed ties with the staff members accused and was launching an investigation.
My colleague, the Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent Bethan McKernan has written an analysis piece on a rumoured split in the Hamas leadership. You can read it here:
When the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, launched his devastating assault on Israel on 7 October, the militant group’s exiled leadership, like the rest of the world, was apparently caught unawares.
From plush penthouses in Beirut, Doha and Istanbul, they watched the carnage that killed 1,200 Israelis unfold, as well as Israel’s retaliatory campaign on the Gaza Strip. In the past four months Israel has killed an estimated 27,600 people, displaced 85% of the 2.3 million population and razed more than half of the besieged Palestinian territory’s infrastructure.
In the early days of the war, while Sinwar’s cadre was calling on Arab peoples across the Middle East to join the fight against Israel, the Doha-based chair of Hamas’s political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, appeared to focus on damage control. Talks mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US resulted in a ceasefire and hostage and prisoner swaps at the end of November that lasted seven days before collapsing.
Hamas proposes three-stage ceasefire plan
Hamas has proposed a three-stage ceasefire plan in response to Qatari and Egyptian mediators in which the group would exchange Israeli hostages it captured on 7 October for Palestinian prisoners, secure the reconstruction of Gaza, ensure the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and an exchange of bodies and remains, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators are preparing a diplomatic push to bridge differences between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire plan for Gaza.
On Tuesday Hamas responded to a proposal for an extended pause in fighting and hostage releases.
More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main news.
At least 31 of the 136 remaining Israeli hostages captured by Hamas are dead, according to an internal assessment conducted by the Israeli military seen. There are unconfirmed intelligence reports indicating that at least 20 other hostages may also be dead.
The US military said Houthi militants had targeted shipping in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with six ballistic missiles. Centcom said a Marshall Island owned bulk carrier received minor damage, but there were no injuries reported.
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.
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.
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.
