Closing summary
Israeli airstrikes on al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone” in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 19 people and injured a further 60, according to witnesses and medical officials. “Entire families disappeared in the Mawasi Khan Younis massacre, under the sand, in deep holes,” the Gaza civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal said.
Prosecutors at the international criminal court are looking into the reported death of Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif and will withdraw their case against him if they can confirm it, legal filings showed. Deif, 58, was believed to be one of the masterminds of the 7 October Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.
During a joint press conference with the British foreign secretary, David Lammy, in London, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said more than 90% of the issues in the hostage release talks with Hamas have been agreed, adding that the remaining issues are resolvable.
The Israeli military said Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, an American activist killed in the occupied West Bank, was likely unintentionally shot by Israeli forces, following an inquiry into the incident. Blinken said the killing was “unprovoked and unjustified” and shows that the Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in their rules of engagement.
At least 41,020 Palestinian people have been killed and 94,925 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said. The toll includes 32 deaths and 100 injuries in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said Hamas’s military capabilities had been severely damaged after more than 11 months of war, claiming the Palestinian militant group no longer existed as a military formation in Gaza.
The third phase of an ongoing campaign to vaccinate children in Gaza against polio began today. From 10 September to 13 September, children in northern Gaza will receive vaccines, according to the UN.
We are closing this blog now, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here.
Updated
Gaza health ministry updates death toll from Israeli airstrike on al-Mawasi
First responders had earlier said that 40 people were killed by an Israeli strike on al-Mawasi, a crowded tent camp in southern Gaza designated as a “humanitarian zone” housing people displaced by the war, in the early hours of Tuesday. The health ministry in Gaza has now said the death toll stands at 19, though this number could rise. The Israeli military had disputed the earlier casualty figure.
Updated
