Closing summary
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is to convene his war cabinet on Sunday to discuss the latest efforts towards a Gaza truce and hostage release deal, a senior official told AFP. An official told AFP that “the war cabinet is expected to meet in Jerusalem tonight at 2100 (1800 GMT) to discuss a hostage release deal”. A member of the Hamas political bureau, Izzat al-Rishq, however, said on Sunday that “regarding the rumours about negotiations, we have not received anything from the mediators” so far. He insisted on Hamas’s longstanding demand for a permanent cessation of hostilities in all of Gaza as “the foundation and the starting point for anything”.
Israel prepared on Sunday to allow about 200 aid trucks into Gaza through Kerem Shalom at the south-eastern edge of the Palestinian enclave, bypassing the main Rafah crossing that has been blocked for weeks. Khaled Zayed, an official from the Egyptian Red Crescent, told Reuters 200 trucks of aid, including four fuel trucks, were expected to enter today through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
It came as 70 organisations called on all relevant authorities and international institutions to officially declare a famine in the Gaza Strip, where there is a rapid spread of famine, according to the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. It said that food insecurity is increasing across the enclave because of Israel’s use of starvation as a “weapon of war” against the Palestinian people – something the organisations say is part of a genocide. The organisation said food security levels have significantly declined due to the Israeli army’s offensive in Rafah which began in early May.
Hamas armed wing al-Qassam Brigades said it launched a “big missile” attack on Tel Aviv on Sunday as the Israeli military sounded sirens in the central city warning of possible incoming rockets. In a statement on its Telegram channel, al-Qassam Brigades said the rockets were launched in response to what it called “Zionist massacres against civilians”. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage in what appeared to be the first long-range rocket attack from Gaza since January.
At least 35,984 Palestinian people have been killed and 80,643 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement.
Israeli troops continued their assault on Rafah, reportedly killing several people in the Khirbet al-Adas area. The Wafa news agency reported an attack on the Yabna camp in Rafah city. Fighting also continued on Sunday in the northern Gaza area of Jabaliya, a heavily built up area which saw weeks of intense combat earlier in the war.
We are closing this blog now, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here.
Updated
A “strong” Palestinian Authority is needed to bring peace in the Middle East, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said, alongside Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Mustafa.
“A functional Palestinian Authority is in Israel’s interest too, because in order to make peace, we need a strong Palestinian Authority, not a weaker one,” Borrell was quoted by Al Jazeera as having said.
Borrell has previously said he is determined to pursue a two-state solution in the Middle East, whether Israel is ready to participate or not.
In a carefully choreographed move that followed weeks of discussions, the Norwegian, Spanish and Irish governments said last week they intend to recognise the state of Palestine.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has sought to obstruct the establishment of a Palestinian state throughout his political career.
