Closing summary
It has gone 6.15pm in Gaza, Tel Aviv and Beirut, and 7.15pm in Sana’a. We will be closing this blog soon, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here.
Here is a recap of the latest developments:
A three-ship convoy left a port in Cyprus on Saturday to deliver 400 tons of food and other supplies to Gaza. International charity, World Central Kitchen said the vessels and a barge are carrying enough to prepare more than 1 million meals. It also has a shipment of dates provided by the United Arab Emirates. Dates are traditionally eaten to break the daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
Three UN observers and a translator were injured on Saturday when a shell exploded near them as they were carrying out a foot patrol in south Lebanon. The UN peacekeeping mission said it was investigating the origin of the blast. Two security sources told Reuters that the observers were injured in an Israeli strike but the Israeli military denied involvement in the incident. Unifil said in a statement the targeting of peacekeepers was “unacceptable”.
Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati condemned on Saturday the “targeting” of UN forces in southern Lebanon that injured three UN observers and a translator.
On Saturday Israel’s military said it was continuing operations around Gaza’s largest hospital al-Shifa in Gaza City for a 13th day and that troops continued to operate in the al-Amal area of Khan Younis. Hamas said that in addition to the ongoing al-Shifa operation, Israeli troops continued “aggression” against Nasser hospital and “besiege” al-Amal hospital in the same city. Most of the Palestinian territory’s hospitals are not functioning and its health system is “barely surviving,” the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) said.
The US in recent days authorised the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, two sources familiar with the effort said on Friday, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah. The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK-84 2,000lb bombs and 500 MK-82 500lb bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post.
The Hamas press office has reported more than 50 Israeli airstrikes over the past day, with “civilian houses” targeted across the coastal territory, as well as tank fire in the Gaza City area and southern Gaza. Israel’s military on Saturday said it had struck dozens of targets, including militants and their compounds in central and northern Gaza.
At least 82 Palestinians were killed and 98 injured in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, according to the latest figures from the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas. It said that at least 32,705 Palestinians have been killed and 75,190 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said five people were killed and dozens injured by gunfire and a stampede during an aid delivery on Saturday in Gaza. The PRCS said three of the five killed early Saturday had been shot. The humanitarian organisation said it happened after thousands of people gathered for the arrival of about 15 trucks of flour and other food, which was supposed to be handed out at Gaza City’s Kuwait roundabout, in the territory’s north.
Hamas-run territory’s health ministry said dozens of people were killed overnight – among them were 12 people killed in their home in the southern city of Rafah. Men worked under the light of mobile phones to free people trapped under the debris, AFPTV images showed.
Airdrops of humanitarian aid are leading to fatal fights in Gaza. Eyewitness accounts, images and interviews with aid workers in Gaza suggest the high-profile airdrop operations are of limited help, and have contributed to growing anarchy there.
The US has welcomed the formation of a new Palestinian autonomy government, signaling it is accepting the revised cabinet lineup as a step toward Palestinian political reform. In a statement late on Friday, the US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US looks forward to working with the new group of ministers “to deliver on credible reforms.”
About 9,000 patients in the Gaza Strip require evacuation for emergency care, with the war-torn Palestinian territory down to just 10 barely functioning hospitals, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday. ““Around 9,000 patients urgently need to be evacuated abroad for lifesaving health services, including treatment for cancer, injuries from bombardments, kidney dialysis and other chronic conditions,” the WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
Cancer patients from Gaza, including children, are living in a state of limbo in a hospital in East Jerusalem after Israeli authorities threatened to send them back. The Guardian was given access to the Augusta Victoria hospital, where at least 22 patients from Gaza in urgent need of advanced cancer treatment are living in fear of deportation.
Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi said on Saturday that “famine” in Gaza can be dealt with in a short time if Israel opened the land crossings for aid to enter. Safadi made the comments at a press conference with his Egyptian and French counterparts in Cairo.
Famine is already probably present in at least some areas of northern Gaza, while other areas are in danger of falling into conditions of starvation, the US state department said on Friday a day after the world’s top court ordered Israel to admit food aid into the territory.
The death toll from the presumed Israeli airstrikes in Syria near the Aleppo international airport has risen to 52, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday. Of those killed, 38 were members of Syrian government forces, seven were Hezbollah fighters and seven were Iran-allied militia fighters.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is facing one of the most serious threats yet to his coalition government after the country’s supreme court ordered an end to government subsidies from Monday for many ultra-Orthodox men who do not serve in the army. The ruling follows a series of delays by the government in presenting a proposal to the court aimed at enhancing the military enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men, who have historically been exempt from conscription.
In an incident under review by the Israeli military, Israeli forces shot dead a 13-year-old Palestinian boy during a raid in the occupied West Bank, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. Fawaz Hammad, director of Al-Razi Hospital in Jenin, confirmed the teen’s death, according to Wafa.
More than 50 men have been arrested in Pakistan after a crowd chanting anti-Israel slogans picketed and set fire to a restaurant belonging to US fast food chain KFC, police said on Saturday. The incident took place on Friday evening in the north-eastern town of Mirpur, in the Pakistan-administered region of Kashmir, after protesters gathered on the town’s main thoroughfare after Ramadan evening prayers.
Tehran’s Revolutionary Guards have been targeting the broadcaster Iran International, a spokesperson for the channel said after a leading journalist was stabbed in London. The Persian-language news television channel that employed Pouria Zeraati, who was attacked outside his Wimbledon home, had received an increased level of threats beforehand, Adam Baillie told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on Saturday.
Schools in England are closing down legitimate debate about the Israel-Gaza conflict because teachers feel ill-equipped and are concerned about political impartiality, the government’s independent adviser on social cohesion has said. Dame Sara Khan said that if schools continued to shut down debate they risked “fuelling further anger, hate and polarisation”.
Updated
Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters arrested in Pakistan
More than 50 men have been arrested in Pakistan after a crowd chanting anti-Israel slogans picketed and set fire to a restaurant belonging to US fast food chain KFC, police said on Saturday, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The incident took place on Friday evening in the north-eastern town of Mirpur, in the Pakistan-administered region of Kashmir, after protesters gathered on the town’s main thoroughfare after Ramadan evening prayers.
Videos circulating on social media show men chanting anti-Israel slogans, carrying a banner inscribed with “free Palestine”.
Nearly 400 protesters gathered at the height of the demonstration and clashes broke out with the police, Mirpur police chief Kamran Mughal told AFP.
“We had told them that they can only protest in a certain area. But, when their numbers started growing, they made their way over to KFC,” said police superintendent Mughal.
AFP report that other videos from inside the restaurant showed smashed windows, broken furniture and damaged equipment. The news agency added that the crowd set fire to the building, but it did not completely burn down.
Nine police officers were injured by stones thrown by the demonstrators and more than 50 men were arrested, said Mughal.
Restaurant owner Chaudhary Saeed told AFP that a week ago he had sent the administration a video showing a group of about 10 mostly young men planning the attack.
“We are here because our mission is to shut down KFC next Friday. Our brothers and sisters [in Gaza] are being subjected to cruelty,” one of the men could be heard declaring in the video, reported AFP. It also said another man loudly chimed in, saying “No Israeli products, no Coke” to loud applause.
Most of the demonstrators were not affiliated to any group, but police confirmed that some belonged to the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a radical political party behind violent anti-French protests in 2020 and 2021.
Islamist parties in Pakistan have called for a boycott of Israeli products, and criticised the US and other western countries for their support of Israel in its war against Hamas militants in Gaza.
Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi said on Saturday that “famine” in Gaza can be dealt with in a short time if Israel opened the land crossings for aid to enter, reports Reuters.
Safadi made the comments at a press conference with his Egyptian and French counterparts in Cairo.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is facing one of the most serious threats yet to his coalition government after the country’s supreme court ordered an end to government subsidies from Monday for many ultra-Orthodox men who do not serve in the army.
The ruling follows a series of delays by the government in presenting a proposal to the court aimed at enhancing the military enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men, who have historically been exempt from conscription.
The court has previously ruled the current system discriminatory and given the government until Monday to present a new plan, and until 30 June to pass it. Netanyahu, whose government includes parties supportive of and opposed to ultra-Orthodox enlistment, on Thursday asked the court for a 30-day extension to find a compromise.
Israel has mandatory army service, but for decades made an exemption for ultra-Orthodox Jews, also known as Haredi, who are allowed to continue full-time Torah study and live on government stipends.
You can read the full story by Lorenzo Tondo in Jerusalem here:
Updated
‘Death at any moment’: fights break out as Gazans compete over airdropped aid
Airdrops of humanitarian aid are leading to fatal fights in Gaza as the desperate and hungry battle to reach parachuted food and essentials, amid fears that little of the much-needed assistance is reaching those most threatened by a looming famine.
Eyewitness accounts, images and interviews with aid workers in Gaza suggest the high-profile airdrop operations are of limited help, and have contributed to growing anarchy there.
Yousef Abu Rabee, a strawberry farmer in northern Gaza before the conflict, said he had given up trying to reach aid drops to provide for his family after being shot at by unidentified armed men during a recent chaotic struggle around one parachuted pallet of assistance.
“Since then, I have stopped going as it is not worth all this risk, as a person is vulnerable to injury and death at any moment,” Rabee, 25, said.
Others have reported deaths by stabbing, as well as in stampedes. Twelve people drowned trying to get to aid dropped by plane off a Gaza beach last week, Palestinian health authorities have said. Earlier last month, five were killed near the coastal refugee camp known as al-Shati, one of the most devastated parts of Gaza, after a parachute failed to deploy properly and aid fell on a group of waiting men, teenagers and younger children.
You can read the full report by Jason Burke in Jerusalem and Malek A Tantesh in Gaza here:
WHO says 9,000 patients need emergency evacuation from Gaza
About 9,000 patients in the Gaza Strip require evacuation for emergency care, with the war-torn Palestinian territory down to just 10 barely functioning hospitals, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday.
“With only 10 hospitals minimally functional across the whole of Gaza, thousands of patients continue to be deprived of health care,” the WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
Before the war, Gaza had 36 hospitals, according to the WHO.
With only 10 hospitals minimally functional across the whole of #Gaza, thousands of patients continue to be deprived of health care.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 30, 2024
Around 9,000 patients urgently need to be evacuated abroad for lifesaving health services, including treatment for cancer, injuries from…
“Around 9,000 patients urgently need to be evacuated abroad for lifesaving health services, including treatment for cancer, injuries from bombardments, kidney dialysis and other chronic conditions,” he said.
That is up from 8,000 in the WHO’s previous assessment at the beginning of March, reports AFP.
Tedros said that “so far, over 3,400 patients have been referred abroad through Rafah, including 2,198 wounded and 1,215 ill. But many more need to be evacuated. We urge Israel to speed up approvals for evacuations, so that critical patients can be treated. Every moment matters.”
Before the war, 50 to 100 patients a day were transferred to East Jerusalem or the West Bank, half of them for cancer treatment.
Updated
The Associated Press (AP) has some more detail on the three-ship convoy that has left a port in Cyprus to deliver 400 tons of food and other supplies to Gaza.
International charity, World Central Kitchen said the vessels and a barge are carrying ready-to-eat items like rice, pasta, flour, legumes, canned vegetables and proteins. The charity said that is enough to prepare more than 1 million meals.
According to the AP, it also has a shipment of dates provided by the United Arab Emirates. Dates are traditionally eaten to break the daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
A ship inaugurated the direct sea route to the Palestinian territory earlier this month with 200 tons of food, water and other aid.
Famine is already probably present in at least some areas of northern Gaza, while other areas are in danger of falling into conditions of starvation, the US state department said on Friday a day after the world’s top court ordered Israel to admit food aid into the territory.
“While we can say with confidence that famine is a significant risk in the south and centre but not present, in the north, it is both a risk and quite possibly is present in at least some areas,” a state department official told Reuters.
The US comments add to a growing and powerful consensus that Israel’s military offensive in the Palestinian coastal territory has triggered a famine.
The number of trucks distributing aid in south and central Gaza had nearly reached 200 a day, an increase on a month ago, but more were needed, the state department official said.
“You need to address the full nutrition needs of the population of Gaza of all ages. That means more than just that minimal survival level feeding,” the official said, adding that malnutrition, and infant and young-child mortality was a significant, growing problem.
“It has to be addressed by additional assistance coming and the right kind of assistance coming in,” he said.
You can read the full piece by Peter Beaumont here:
Second shipment with almost 400 tonnes of food for Gaza leaves Cyprus port
A second shipment of aid carrying almost 400 tons of food for Gaza left Cyprus’s Larnaca port on Saturday, a Reuters witness said.
A cargo vessel already anchored outside the port carrying aid was joined by a salvage vessel and a platform also carrying aid and which had previously been moored in port, the witness said. The salvage vessel will be towing the aid.
It will be the second dispatch of aid via Cyprus, where Cypriot authorities have established, in cooperation with Israel, a maritime corridor to facilitiate pre-screened cargoes arriving directly to Gaza.
Updated
Aid workers in Gaza – as well as eyewitness accounts and images – are suggesting that the airdrops of humanitarian aid are of limited help, and have contributed to growing anarchy there.
Some of the airdrops are leading to fatal fights, with some reporting deaths by stabbing, as well as in stampede. Last week, 12 people drowned trying to get to aid dropped by plane off a Gaza beach, and last month, five were killed near the coastal refugee camp known as al-Shati after a parachute failed to deploy properly and aid fell on a group of waiting men, teenagers and younger children.
Read more here:
Death toll in Israeli strikes on Syria rises to 52
The death toll from the presumed Israeli airstrikes in Syria near the Aleppo International Airport has risen to 52, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday.
Of those killed, 38 members of Syrian government forces, seven fighters of the pro-Iranian Lebanese Hezbollah movement and seven Iran-allied militia fighters.
Friday’s strikes had been targeting a missile depot belonging to Hezbollah in northern Syria, said the Observatory, which has been documenting violence in Syria since the civil war erupted there in 2011. So far this year, there have been 28 attacks that killed 114.
Report: 13-year-Palestinian boy killed in West Bank raid
In an incident under review by the Israeli military, Israeli forces shot dead a 13-year-old Palestinian boy during a raid in the occupied West Bank, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting.
Confrontations with Israeli forces broke our during a pre-dawn military raid on the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin city, with the Israeli military saying that a number of Palestinian gunmen had shot at its troops, the Wafa report said. The Israeli military said a number of Palestinian gunmen had shot at its troops, who returned fire.
“The circumstances of the incident are under review,” the Israeli military said in a statement to Reuters.
Fawaz Hammad, director of Al-Razi Hospital in Jenin, confirmed the teen’s death, Wafa said.
Violence in the West Bank had already been on the rise before the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began in October, and it has since escalated with frequent Israeli raids and Palestinian street attacks.
Iran International targeted by Tehran, says channel after London stabbing
Tehran’s Revolutionary Guards have been targeting the broadcaster Iran International, a spokesperson for the channel said after a leading journalist was stabbed in London.
The Persian-language news television channel that employed Pouria Zeraati, who was attacked outside his London home, had received an increased level of threats beforehand, Adam Baillie told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on Saturday.
Iran International has been under “heavy threat for the last 18 months”, Baillie said. “Families [in Iran] have been taken in for questioning. The scale of that has increased dramatically over the last few months and the scale of questioning has been more aggressive: ‘Tell your relatives to stop working for this channel.’”
On Friday, a group of men reportedly attacked Zeraati, a presenter for the channel, as he left his home in Wimbledon. Metropolitan police officers responding to a call to the address said they found a man in his 30s who had sustained an injury to his leg. Zeraati was taken to a hospital, where he is in stable condition, Baillie said. No arrests were made.
You can read the full story by Vivian Ho here:
Lebanese PM condemns 'targeting' of UN forces in southern Lebanon
Reuters reports that the Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati condemned on the “targeting” of UN forces in southern Lebanon on Saturday that injured three UN observers and a translator.
Updated
Three UN observers and a translator wounded in south Lebanon, peacekeeping mission confirms
Reuters have published an update on the number of injured UN observers in south Lebanon on Saturday.
Previously, it was reported that four UN observers had been injured (see 10:34 GMT), but Reuters say it was actually three UN observers and a translator who were injured today when a shell exploded near them as they were carrying out a foot patrol in south Lebanon.
The UN peacekeeping mission said it was still investigating the origin of the blast. Unifil said in a statement the targeting of peacekeepers is “unacceptable”.
UNIFIL Spokesperson @Tenenti Statement: This morning, three OGL (UNTSO) military observers and one Lebanese language assistant on a foot patrol along the Blue Line were injured when an explosion occurred near their location.
— UNIFIL (@UNIFIL_) March 30, 2024
Two security sources had earlier told Reuters the observers were injured in an Israeli strike but the Israeli military have denied involvement in the incident.
“Contrary to the reports, the IDF did not strike a Unifil vehicle in the area of Rmeish this morning,” the military said in a statement.
The security sources told Reuters the incident occurred outside the border town of Rmeish. One of the security sources said the car carried three UN technical observers and one Lebanese translator.
The mayor of Rmeish, Milad Alam, told Reuters that he had spoken with the translator and confirmed his condition was stable.
“From Rmeish, we heard a blast and then saw a Unifil car zipping by. The foreign observers were taken to hospitals in Tyre and Beirut by helicopter and car,” Milad said, without providing details on their condition.
Israel has been trading fire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon for nearly six months in parallel with the war in Gaza.
Israel’s shelling of Lebanon has killed nearly 270 Hezbollah fighters, but has also killed about 50 civilians – including children, medics and journalists – and hit both Unifil and the Lebanese army.
The UN technical observer mission, which is unarmed and known as Untso, monitors the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel. Unifil is an armed peacekeeping mission.
Updated
On Saturday Israel’s military said it was continuing operations around Gaza’s largest hospital al-Shifa in Gaza City for a 13th day, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Most of the Palestinian territory’s hospitals are not functioning and its health system is “barely surviving,” the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) said.
Israel’s military accuses Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group of hiding inside medical facilities, using patients, staff and displaced people for cover. Hamas have denied this and said that Israeli forces have killed patients and displaced people during their raids on hospitals.
On Saturday Hamas said that in addition to the ongoing al-Shifa operation, Israeli troops continued “aggression” against Nasser hospital and “besiege” al-Amal hospital in the same city.
The Israeli army said troops continue to operate in the al-Amal area of Khan Younis.
The Hamas press office has reported more than 50 Israeli airstrikes over the past day, with “civilian houses” targeted across the coastal territory, as well as tank fire in the Gaza City area and southern Gaza, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Israel’s military on Saturday said it had struck dozens of targets, including militants and their compounds in central and northern Gaza.
According to AFP, video released by the Palestinian civil defence agency on Friday showed a vehicle splayed open after a strike on a street in Gaza City and men carrying two wrapped bodies to an ambulance afterwards.
Here are some of the latest images on the newswires:
82 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 82 Palestinians were killed and 98 injured in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours.
According to the statement, at least 32,705 Palestinians have been killed and 75,190 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October.
The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
Four UN observers hurt when shell exploded nearby in south Lebanon, peackeepers say
Four UN observers were injured on Saturday when a shell exploded near them as they were carrying out a foot patrol in southern Lebanon, the UN peacekeeping mission said, adding it was still investigating the origin of the blast.
According to Reuters, the Unifil statement said the targeting of peacekeepers is “unacceptable.” Two security sources had told Reuters the observers were wounded in an Israeli strike but the Israeli military denied striking in the area.
Schools in England are closing down legitimate debate about the Israel-Gaza conflict because teachers feel ill-equipped and are concerned about political impartiality, the government’s independent adviser on social cohesion has said.
Dame Sara Khan said that if schools continued to shut down debate they risked “fuelling further anger, hate and polarisation”.
She said the conflict, which has prompted huge demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters across London and elsewhere, has had a marked impact on schools, where pupils want to talk about events in Gaza.
Days after the publication of her review into threats to social cohesion, Khan repeated her assertion that teachers were avoiding addressing controversial issues because of fears of being targeted by campaigns of intimidation and harassment.
She also said teachers felt there was too little guidance on teaching controversial issues in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) lessons and were worried about a lack of support from the Department for Education (DfE) when difficulties arose.
You can read the piece by Sally Weale, the Guardian’s education correspondent, here:
Five killed during Gaza aid delivery, say PRCS
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said five people were killed and dozens injured by gunfire and a stampede during an aid delivery on Saturday in Gaza.
AFP video footage shows a convoy of trucks moving quickly past burning debris near the distribution point in pre-dawn darkness as people shout and gunfire echoes – some of which was warning shots, witnesses said.
The PRCS said it happened after thousands of people gathered for the arrival of about 15 trucks of flour and other food, which was supposed to be handed out at Gaza City’s Kuwait roundabout, in the territory’s north.
The roundabout has been the scene of several chaotic and deadly aid distribution incidents, including one on 23 March in which the Hamas-run government said 21 people were killed by Israeli fire - a charge Israel denied.
The PRCS said three of the five killed early Saturday had been shot.
Eyewitnesses told AFP that Palestinians overseeing the aid delivery shot in the air, but Israeli troops in the area also opened fire and some moving trucks hit people trying to get the food. AFP contacted the Israeli military for comment.
A UN-backed report warned on 19 March that half of Palestinians are experiencing “catastrophic” hunger, with famine projected to hit the north of the territory unless there is urgent intervention.
The report estimated that 1.1 million people - half the population, according to UN data – were facing catastrophic conditions.
The situation is particularly dire in the north of Gaza, where the UN says there are about 300,000 people – and where the report said famine was “imminent … projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May”.
Updated
Israeli military says it did not strike a Unifil vehicle in south Lebanon
Israeli military say they did not carry out an airstrike on a vehicle carrying UN observers in southern Lebanon on Saturday, according to Reuters.
“Contrary to the reports, the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] did not strike a Unifil vehicle in the area of Rmeish this morning,” the military said.
Earlier (see 09:20 GMT) two security sources told Reuters that an Israeli strike on Saturday had hit a vehicle carrying UN observers outside the southern Lebanese border town of Rmeish
Reuters repoted that there was no immediate comment from the UN peacekeeper mission in southern Lebanon Unifil, which accompanies technical observers monitoring the Blue Line, which delineates the border between Lebanon and Israel.
We will update with further information as it comes in on the newswires.
Updated
My colleagues, Lorenzo Tondo and Sufian Taha in Jerusalem, have the following report on children being among cancer patients that fear being sent back to Gaza by Israel:
Cancer patients from Gaza, including children, are living in a state of limbo in a hospital in East Jerusalem after Israeli authorities threatened to send them back.
The Guardian was given access to the Augusta Victoria hospital, where at least 22 patients from Gaza in urgent need of advanced cancer treatment are living in fear of deportation. As with numerous others, they received authorisation prior to Hamas’s 7 October attack to receive medical care outside the strip, due to the inadequate facilities in Gaza.
Following the outbreak of war, however, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for overseeing civilian affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories, Cogat, has urged hospital officials to provide a list of patients deemed fit for discharge to be returned to Gaza.
You can read their full piece here:
Israeli strike hits car carrying UN observers near south Lebanon border, security sources say
An Israeli strike on Saturday hit a vehicle carrying UN observers outside the southern Lebanese border town of Rmeish, two security sources told Reuters.
There was no immediate comment from the UN peacekeeper mission in southern Lebanon Unifil, which accompanies technical observers monitoring the Blue Line, which delineates the border between Lebanon and Israel.
The US welcomes the new Palestinian government following its repeated calls for political reform
The US has welcomed the formation of a new Palestinian autonomy government, signaling it is accepting the revised cabinet lineup as a step toward Palestinian political reform, reports the Associated Press (AP).
The Biden administration has called for “revitalizing” the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority in hopes that it can also administer the Gaza Strip once the Israel-Hamas war ends.
In a statement late on Friday, the AP reports that US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US looks forward to working with the new group of ministers “to deliver on credible reforms.”
“A revitalized PA is essential to delivering results for the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza and establishing the conditions for stability in the broader region,” Miller said.
The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It is headed by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who has not faced an election in almost two decades.
The US sees the Palestinian Authority as a key part of its preferred plans for postwar Gaza. But the authority has little popular support or legitimacy among Palestinians, with many viewing it as a subcontractor of the occupation because of its security cooperation with Israel in the West Bank.
Earlier this month, Abbas tapped Mohammad Mustafa, a US-educated economist, as prime minister. According to the AP, on Thursday, Mustafa named his new lineup. It includes relatively unknown technocrats, but also Abbas’ interior minister and several members of the secular Fatah movement he leads. Several of the ministers are from Gaza, but it’s not clear if they are living there.
The Islamic militant group Hamas, a rival of Abbas, drove his security forces from Gaza in a 2007 takeover. The US wants a reformed Palestinian Authority to return and administer Gaza, an idea that has been rejected by both Israel and Hamas.
Updated
US reportedly approves transfer to Israel of bombs and jets worth billions
The US in recent days authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, two sources familiar with the effort said on Friday, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah.
The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK-84 2,000lb bombs and 500 MK-82 500lb bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post.
Washington gives $3.8bn in annual military assistance to Israel, its longtime ally.
The package comes as Israel faces strong international criticism over its continued bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza and as some members of Joe Biden’s party call for him to cut US military aid.
The US has been rushing air defenses and munitions to Israel, but some Democrats and Arab American groups have criticized the Biden administration’s steadfast support of Israel, which they say provides it with a sense of impunity.
Biden on Friday acknowledged “the pain being felt” by many Arab Americans over the war in Gaza and over US support for Israel and its military offensive.
Still, he has vowed continued support for Israel despite an increasingly public rift with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.
The White House declined comment on the weapons transfers.
The Israeli embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
You can read the full piece here:
Fighting rages unabated in Gaza despite UN security council demanding 'immediate ceasefire'
Fighting raged unabated in Gaza on Friday, including around its few functioning hospitals, despite a binding UN security council resolution earlier this week demanding an “immediate ceasefire”.
The news agency, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry said dozens of people were killed overnight.
Among them were 12 people killed in their home in the southern city of Rafah, which has been bombed repeatedly ahead of a threatened Israeli ground operation.
Men worked under the light of mobile phones to free people trapped under the debris, AFPTV images showed.
The Israeli army said on Friday it was “continuing precise operation activities in Shifa hospital”, where it began a raid early last week.
Troops first raided al-Shifa hospital in November, but the army claims Palestinian militants have since returned. About 200 militants were killed during the latest al-Shifa operation, it said.
In north Gaza’s Shati refugee camp, Amany, a 44-year-old mother of seven, described how it felt to live under relentless Israeli bombardment.
She said:
Explosions and airstrikes go on throughout the night, it’s petrifying. I feel like I’m living a continuous nightmare that doesn’t want to end.
Opening summary
It has just gone 10.30am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. This is our latest Guardian live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.
The US has authorised the transfer of billions of dollars’ worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, two sources said on Friday, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in the southern city of Rafah.
The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK-84 2,000lb (900kg) bombs and 500 MK-82 500lb bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post.
The White House declined to comment.
Meanwhile, fighting raged on unabated in Gaza on Friday, including around its few functioning hospitals. The Hamas-run ministry of health in Gaza said dozens of people were killed overnight, including 12 killed in their home in Rafah.
In other key developments:
The Palestinian death toll in Israel’s offensive on Gaza since 7 October has risen to at least 32,623, with 75,092 injured, according to the strip’s health ministry.
Famine is already probably present in at least some areas of northern Gaza, while other areas are in danger of falling into conditions of starvation, the US state department said on Friday, a day after the world’s top court ordered Israel to admit food aid into the territory. More trucks distributing aid were needed, a department official said.
Israeli strikes on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo killed dozens of people, including five members of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, early on Friday, two security sources told Reuters. The Israeli attack targeted an area near Hezbollah rocket depots, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Israeli military said it had killed Ali Abed Akhsan Naim, deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missiles unit, in an airstrike in Lebanon’s Bazouriye area.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has agreed to send delegations to Egypt and Qatar for a new round of talks to secure the release of Israeli hostages as part of a possible Gaza ceasefire deal, his office said. Those talks appeared deadlocked in recent days despite a major push by the US and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar to secure a truce in time for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, now more than halfway through.
The US state department said it welcomed the nomination of a new Palestinian Authority cabinet. A “revitalised” Palestina Authority was essential to delivering results for Palestinians and “establishing the conditions for stability in the broader region”, it said. Separately, the US pushed back against claims it has eased sanctions against seven Israeli settlers and two farming outposts in the West Bank after pressure from Israel’s finance minister.
