Closing summary
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
At least 35,233 people have been killed in Gaza by Israeli attacks since 7 October, according to the latest figures by the territory’s health ministry on Wednesday.
Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel must do “what is required” in Rafah despite disagreements with its longtime ally the US. The Israeli prime minister, in an interview with CNBC, acknowledged a “disagreement” with Washington over his country’s military offensive in the southernmost Gaza city, but he stood firm that the operation would be necessary.
The Israeli leader said that it is pointless to “talk about the day after while Hamas is still intact.” “There is only one substitute for victory – defeat. My government will not agree to this,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday, according to Reuters. Netanyahu also repeated his claim that there is not a humanitarian crisis in southern Gaza.
Netanyahu said his government unanimously rejected the UN decision to promote the recognition of a Palestinian state, his office said. “We will not let them establish a terror state from which they can attack us even more,” he said on Wednesdau. “Nobody will prevent us, Israel, from exercising our basic right to defend ourselves – not the UN general assembly and not any other entity.”
The US state department has moved a $1bn package of weapons aid for Israel into the congressional review process, two US officials said on Tuesday. The latest weapons package includes tank rounds, mortars and armored tactical vehicles, according to multiple sources in US media.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Israel must have a clear and concrete plan for the future of Gaza. Blinken, in a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday, said that the US “do not support and will not support an Israeli occupation”, adding that “we can’t have a vacuum in Gaza that’s likely to be filled by chaos.”
Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, told his US counterpart, Antony Blinken, that Israel’s attack on the Gazan city of Rafah is unacceptable, according to a Turkish diplomatic source. In a call on Wednesday, Fidan also told Blinken that it was important to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza as soon as possible.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, called on the Israeli government to make a decision about postwar governance in Gaza. Gallant, in comments carried by Haaretz, said he would not agree to a military regime in Gaza and claimed he had promoted a plan for a new Palestinian administration not linked to Hamas but “got no response” from various Israeli cabinet forums.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said the country’s relationship with the US is “essential, strong and stable”.
The European Union has urged Israel to end its operation in Rafah immediately as the operation disrupts the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza and is leading to more internal displacement, famine and suffering, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell said on Wednesday.
Israel’s military confirmed that it has pulled some troops out of the Zeitoun area in northern Gaza, but says that it continues to operate there, and has intensified its operations in Jabaliya refugee camp as well as carrying out what it described as “targeted operations in specific areas of eastern Rafah”.
A senior Hezbollah commander, Hussain Ibrahim Mekky, has been killed by an Israeli strike inside Lebanon. Lebanon’s emergency responders said the strike also wounded two people who were taken to a hospital. Israel’s military described him as being “responsible for the planning and execution of numerous terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and territory since the start of the war.”
Israel and Egypt are embroiled in a growing diplomatic row over the Rafah border crossing after Israel’s takeover of the Gaza side of the crossing, amid warnings Cairo may be planning to downgrade relations.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has said it faces “significant disruptions” to its humanitarian operations due to Israel’s recent ground operations in Rafah. In a statement, the organisation said “the closure of the Rafah crossing and a blockade on entry of humanitarian workers and aid, including fuel, [is] critically hindering our ability to deliver essential services and aid to those in desperate need.”
Palestinian officials said Israeli troops killed a man on Wednesday as clashes broke out after a West Bank march commemorating the mass displacement of Palestinians in the Nakba of 1948. Ayser Muhammad Safi, a 20-year-old student at Birzeit University, was shot in the neck during a confrontation between a group of young men and Israeli forces, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said.
Ireland’s foreign minister, Micheál Martin, said his country will recognise Palestine as a sovereign state by the end of the month. In March the leaders of Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Malta said in a joint statement that they stand ready to recognise Palestinian statehood, and last week, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell mooted 21 May as the date.
The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has been accused of acting as “a bystander” to the “horror” of deaths of Palestinians in Gaza. Labour MP Dr Rosena Allin-Khan told the Commons on Wednesday: “Can the Prime Minister tell me why he allows Israel to get away with it unchallenged? And why he continues to act as a bystander to such horror?”
Israel's defence chief calls on Netanyahu to reject military rule in Gaza
Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in a press conference on Wednesday, also called on the Israeli government to make a decision about postwar governance in Gaza.
Gallant said that soon after the 7 October attacks, he had promoted a plan for a new Palestinian administration not linked to Hamas but “got no response” from various Israeli cabinet forums, according to a Reuters report.
He added that this effectively meant a military regime in Gaza, which he said he would not agree to, according to comments carried by Haaretz. The Israeli minister was also quoted as saying:
Soon, we will be required to make a decision on how to return [Israelis] to their homes in the north – through an agreement or through military action.
Israel's relationship with US 'strong, and stable' despite disagreements, says defence chief
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said the country’s relationship with the US is “essential, strong and stable” despite “differences of opinion”.
Gallant, in a televised news conference on Wednesday, said he wanted to “make it clear that the US was the first to stand with us in actions, not in words”, the Times of Israel reported.
“We resolve the disputes in the closed rooms, not in interviews or in tweets,” Gallant added, in veiled remarks at other politicians.
The Israeli minister’s comments come amid reports that the US is moving forward with a $1bn package of weapons aid for Israel that includes tank rounds, mortars and armored tactical vehicles, just a week after Joe Biden said he had delayed a weapons shipment to Israel over concerns they might be used for a major invasion of Rafah.
Updated
Egypt, whose general intelligence directorate has long acted as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, could withdraw from ceasefire negotiations, according to Israeli media reports on Wednesday.
Egypt’s leadership has been forced into a complex balancing act by the war in Gaza. On the one hand, there is widespread sympathy for the plight of Palestinians among ordinary Egyptians and the political elite.
Set against that, however, is Egypt’s determination not to be complicit in what it sees as Israeli efforts aimed at displacing Palestinians out of Gaza into Egypt – a long-term concern in Cairo. Nor does Egypt want to be seen as accepting a new situation in which Israel fully controls all of Gaza’s borders, including with Egypt.
“At government level sentiment is pretty closely aligned with popular feeling,” HA Hellyer, an expert on Middle East security at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Royal United Services Institute, told the Guardian.
“There is a great deal of anger. Whereas in 2014 there was a lot of public expression of antipathy towards Hamas that is not visible in this conflict,” said Hellyer, who is in Cairo.
If there is a quandary it is because Egyptians want to help Gaza but the overwhelming political consideration is that Egypt does not want to be seen as complicit in ethnic cleansing or complicit in putting to bed the Palestinian cause, which is what would happen f the population of Gaza is cleared out.
Israel’s capture of the Rafah crossing on 7 May is widely seen as being in breach of the Philadelphi accord, which was added to the Israel-Egypt peace treaty in 2005 after the evacuation of Israeli settlements in Gaza and was designed to regulate the border between Gaza and Egypt.
Prior to Israel’s takeover of the crossing, Egyptian officials warned publicly that any such move was a red line that would put the peace treaty at risk. Israel’s foreign affairs minister, Israel Katz, said in comments released by his office:
The key to preventing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now in the hands of our Egyptian friends.
Katz said he had spoken with his British and German counterparts about “the need to persuade Egypt to reopen the Rafah crossing”.
Egypt has said the crossing has remained open from its side throughout the conflict that began between Israel and Hamas on 7 October. Cairo has been one of the mediators in stalled ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas. But its relationship with Israel has come under strain during the conflict, especially since the Israeli advance in Rafah.
Israel and Egypt are embroiled in a growing diplomatic row over the Rafah border crossing after Israel’s takeover of the Gaza side of the crossing, amid warnings Cairo may be planning to downgrade relations.
In recent days Egypt has announced it will no longer participate in allowing the transit of aid into Gaza and said it planned to join the genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel at the UN’s top court.
Israel’s largest Arab neighbour has been growing increasingly angry over its conduct in the Gaza war, which has brought relations to a point of friction unprecedented since a peace treaty signed in 1979.
The Rafah crossing between Egypt and southern Gaza has been a vital route for aid to the coastal territory, where a humanitarian crisis has deepened and some people are at risk of famine. On 7 May Israel seized control of the crossing as it stepped up its military campaign around Rafah. Since then aid has accumulated on the Egyptian side.
Israel said it was up to Egypt to reopen the crossing and allow humanitarian relief into Gaza, prompting Cairo to denounce what it described as “desperate attempts” to shift blame for the blockage of aid.
Benjamin Netanyahu told Israel’s security cabinet that the country is “not a vassal state” of the US a day after Joe Biden warned that a major attack on Rafah would cross a “red line”, according to a report.
The Israeli leader went on a long rant during a meeting with his security cabinet, Axios reported, in which he compared his clash with the US president over Rafah to Israel’s prime minister, David Ben Gurion, declaring independence in 1948 over the objections of US secretary of state George Marshall.
Netanyahu told cabinet members that he knew how to push back against pressure from Washington and would do it again if necessary, the report says, citing an aide to the Israeli prime minister. Netanyahu also reportedly said:
When is comes to threats to our security we will do whatever it takes.
Netanyahu says Israel has to 'do what we have to do’ on Rafah offensive despite US 'disagreement'
Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel must do “what is required” in Rafah despite disagreements with its longtime ally the US,
The Israeli prime minister, in an interview with CNBC, acknowledged a “disagreement” with Washington over his country’s military offensive in the southernmost Gaza city, but he stood firm that the operation would be necessary. He said:
Yes, we do have a disagreement on Gaza. Rather, on Rafah. But we have to do what we have to do … Sometimes you have to ... you just have to do what is required to ensure your survival and your future. We cannot continue into the future by having Hamas retake Gaza.
Netanyahu said he hoped he could “see eye to eye” with the US, but insisted that “ultimately we do what we have to do to protect the life of our nation.”
More than 35,200 Palestinians killed since start of war - Gaza health ministry
At least 35,233 people have been killed in Gaza by Israeli attacks since 7 October, according to the latest figures by the territory’s health ministry on Wednesday.
At least 79,141 have been wounded, the latest figures show.
Some images have come through from the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza. Earlier Israel’s military announced it had pulled out some troops from the area.
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan told his US counterpart Antony Blinken in a call on Wednesday that Israel’s attack on the Gazan city of Rafah is unacceptable, a Turkish diplomatic source has told Reuters.
Fidan also told Blinken that it was important to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza as soon as possible, while emphasising that obstacles to the access of humanitarian aid into the territory must be removed, the source told the news agency.
Emanuel Fabian, military correspondent for the Times of Israel, reports that the Lebanese branch of Hamas has claimed a barrage of rockets fired at western Galilee inside Israel.
Netanyahu says pointless to discuss 'day after' until Hamas is destroyed following Blinken call for 'concrete plan'
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have delivered a rebuke to US secretary of state Antony Blinken about Israel’s plans for the future of Gaza.
Reuters reported that Blinken said on Wednesday that Israel needs “a clear and concrete plan for the future of Gaza,” adding that “we can’t have a vacuum in Gaza that’s likely to be filled by chaos.”
Blinken also said that “at the very time Israel was taking important steps to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza, Israel’s limited operation in Rafah has had negative impact,” and that “restoring operational capacity of the Rafah Crossing into Gaza is an urgent problem.”
However, Netanyahu has just said that it is pointless to “talk about the day after while Hamas is still intact.”
“Contrary to what has been said, we have been engaged for months in various attempts to bring about a solution to this complex problem,” he said. “ Some of the attempts are hidden and that’s good. This is part of the war goals we defined and that we are determined to achieve.”
“In any case, there is no substitute for military victory,” he continued. There is only one substitute for victory – defeat. My government will not agree to this.”
Earlier Netanyahu’s office said his government unanimously rejected a UN general assembly decision to promote the recognition of a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu also repeated his claim that there is not a humanitarian crisis in southern Gaza. He said “The humanitarian catastrophe that was talked about hasn’t materialised, nor will it materialise.”
In its latest update on Monday, the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs reported:
About 20 per cent of Gaza’s population have been displaced again in the past week. Fuel shortages are threatening the continuity of health services and limited access to Wash facilities (water, sanitation, health care waste management) continues to drive a rise in infectious diseases. Recent evacuation orders and intensified military activity in Rafah have forced a reversal in the scale-up of nutrition services while the number of children suffering from acute malnutrition continues to increase.
Earlier the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has said it faces “significant disruptions” to its humanitarian operations due to Israel’s ground operations in Rafah. It said “the closure of the Rafah crossing and a blockade on entry of humanitarian workers and aid, including fuel, [is] critically hindering our ability to deliver essential services and aid to those in desperate need.”
Updated
Palestinian officials said Israeli troops killed a man on Wednesday as clashes broke out after a West Bank march commemorating the mass displacement of Palestinians in the Nakba of 1948.
“A young man was killed by occupation bullets at the northern entrance of the city of al-Bireh,” an Israeli checkpoint at the outskirts of Ramallah, AFP reports the Palestinian health ministry said.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said the man killed was 20-year-old Ayser Muhammad Safi, a student at Birzeit University, reporting that he was shot in the neck during a confrontation between a group of young men and Israeli forces.
Witnesses on site told AFP they had seen a group of male students from Birzeit University gather a short distance from the Al-Bireh entrance, where they were preparing to begin protesting when Israeli troops moved in.
After the confrontation, AFP saw the body of a young man, his head in bloody bandages and his body wrapped in a blue sheet, being carried from a Ramallah hospital to the nearby morgue, as dozens of people crowded around.
At least 499 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the Israeli-occupied territory since 7 October, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request from AFP for comment.
Unrwa, the Palestinian refugee agency, has said video released which Israel said showed armed men at one of its facilities was most likely taken in a warehouse the agency had been forced to abandon after Israel issued evacuation orders.
An Unrwa spokesperson said the agency could not verify the authenticity or content of the video nor the exact timing or location, but it was likely that the video showed an Unrwa warehouse in Rafah that staff left in the week of 6 May.
She said flour and some U.N marked vehicles were left in the facility when it was abandoned following Israeli evacuation orders issued prior to the seizure by Israeli forces of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing into Egypt.
“Unrwa condemns the use of UN facilities by any party to the conflict for military/fighting purposes,” Unrwa spokesperson Juliette Touma said in a statement, calling on all parties to respect the neutrality of UN installations.
“Under no circumstances should anyone have or use weapons in a UN facility,” Reuters reports she said.
An IDF statement has said that on Saturday Israeli troops had identified fighters in the central logistics compound east of Rafah. Israel has repeatedly criticised Unrwa and accused a number of its staff of participating in the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel.
Hamas rejected the suggestion that the men were fighters as “false allegations and lies”. “This is a police force tasked with securing aid centers against acts of theft and looting,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
Yemen's Houthi rebels claim attack on US destroyer and commercial vessel in the Red Sea
Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Wednesday claimed targeting a US Navy destroyer and a commercial ship in the Red Sea, but there was no immediate confirmation that any attacks took place.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the rebels targeted the USS Mason with missiles and launched an attack on a ship he identified as the Destiny. AP reports. Multiple vessels have that name in shipping registries.
The US Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Mason, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, has been in the Red Sea and the wider region as part of a US-led coalition trying to prevent Houthi attacks on shipping.
The Houthis say their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are aimed at pressuring Israel to end its war against Hamas in Gaza, which has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians there, according to local health officials. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sunk another since November, according to the US Maritime Administration. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat.
Sunak accused of acting as 'a bystander' to the 'horror' of deaths of Palestinians in Gaza
The British prime minister has been accused of acting as “a bystander” to the “horror” of deaths of Palestinians in Gaza.
Labour MP Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (Tooting) told the Commons:
In Gaza, Israel has attacked hospitals, it’s attacked refugee camps, and it has killed aid workers. Israel has blocked vital aid, turned off water supplies and denied access to food.
“Israel have killed thousands upon thousands of innocent civilians, as the world watches, trampling all over international humanitarian law. No other country would be allowed to act with such impunity.
“So can the Prime Minister tell me why he allows Israel to get away with it unchallenged? And why he continues to act as a bystander to such horror?”
Rishi Sunak replied:
I do support Israel’s right to defend itself and remove the threat that Hamas, the terrorist organisation, poses to its people. But I am also deeply concerned about the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and I’ve consistently made that point at this despatch box, and to Prime Minister Netanyahu, we must see further action to ensure more aid gets to people who desperately need it.
“The Rafah and the Kerem Shalom crossing must be open to allow more aid in, we’re doing everything we can, trebling our investment, trying to get aid in by land, air and sea and currently working with allies to build a temporary pier.”
Updated
Here are the latest images coming across the wires from Gaza:
Israel needs a clear and concrete plan for the future of Gaza where it faces the potential for a power vacuum that could become filled by chaos, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.
Israel’s limited operation in Rafah has had a “negative impact” just as it was taking steps to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza, Blinken said during a press conference in Kyiv.
Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to present a highly contested bill that seeks to conscript ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military to a ministerial committee on Thursday.
The prime minister’s office said on Wednesday that Netanyahu sought to bridge societal and political divisions and that he was calling on all parties that had supported the proposed law in the previous parliament to back it once more.
The issue is especially sensitive this year amid an open-ended war in Gaza and related fighting on other fronts that have exacted the worst Israeli casualties – mostly among secular teenaged draftees and reservists – in decades.
Netanyahu’s coalition includes two ultra-Orthodox parties that regard the exemptions as key to keeping their constituents in religious seminaries and away from a melting-pot military that might test their conservative values.
The issue has prompted protests by ultra-Orthodox Jews, who make up 13% of Israel’s 10 million population – a figure expected to reach 19% by 2035. Their refusal to serve in wars they generally support is a long festering schism in Israeli society.
Economists argue that the conscription waiver keeps some of the ultra-Orthodox community unnecessarily out of the workforce, spelling a growing welfare burden for largely secular, middle-class taxpayers.
Israel’s 21% Arab minority is also largely exempted from the draft, under which men and women are generally called up at the age of 18, with men serving 32 months and women 24 months.
The European Union has urged Israel to end its operation in Rafah immediately as the operation disrupts the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza and is leading to more internal displacement, famine and suffering, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell said on Wednesday.
“The EU is calling on Israel to refrain from further exacerbating the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and reopen the crossing point of Rafah. Should Israel continue its military operation in Rafah, it would inevitably put a heavy strain on the EU’s relationship with Israel,” Borrell said in a statement posted on X.
Borrell also said that under International Humanitarian Law, Israel must allow and facilitate unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians, citing International Court of Justice (ICJ) orders.
He added that, in this regard, the EU also condemns the attack by Hamas on the Kerem Shalom crossing, which has further obstructed the delivery of humanitarian relief.
Palestinians in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank have been holding a demonstration to mark the 76th anniversary of the Nakba.
Zein Basravi, reporting from Ramallah for Al Jazeera, said that sirens were set off for 76 seconds, and “everyone fell silent and raised two fingers in the air”.
15 May is the anniversary of the start of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war which lead to the newly independent Israel seizing lands that had been proposed by the UN to constitue an Arab state, and a huge displacement of the Palestinian Arab population.
Ireland's foreign minister confirms Ireland will recognise Palestine as a state this month
Ireland’s foreign minister has said his country will recognise Palestine as a sovereign state by the end of the month.
Speaking to the Newstalk radio station, Micheál Martin said “We will be recognising the state of Palestine before the end of the month. The specific date is still fluid, because we’re still in discussions with some countries in respect of a joint recognition of a Palestinian state.”
He said “I will look forward to consultations today with some foreign ministers in respect of the final specific detail of this.”
AFP notes that in March the leaders of Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Malta said in a joint statement that they stand ready to recognise Palestinian statehood, and last week, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell mooted 21 May as the date.
Martin said the plan was intended “to send a signal to the Palestinian population at large that we support their right to self-determination and the idea of a two state solution as ultimately the only way that Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace.”
Palestine is already recognised as a sovereign state by 143 out of 193 member states of the UN.
Martin ruled out meeting Israeli officials during a trip to the region he has planned which will include a stop in Lebanon, and also was critical of the US funding new arms shipments for Israel.
He was also asked about calls to fly the Palestinian on government buildings today to mark the anniversary of the Nakba, and said that “I’m not as focused on flags and emblems to be frank in terms of public buildings … this week alone there are two significant days that reflect the complexity of the Middle East and Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You had Israeli Independence Day on the 14th and Nakba day on the 15th. And that, you know, goes back right to the origins of this complex conflict.”
Summary of the day so far …
Israel’s military has confirmed that it has pulled some troops out of the Zeitoun area in northern Gaza, but says that it continues to operate there, and has intensified its operations in Jabaliya refugee camp as well as carrying out what it described as “targeted operations in specific areas of eastern Rafah”. It claims to have destroyed a “terrorist cell that fired toward the city of Sderot” and to have targeted “a Hamas training compound” in Rafah.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday his government unanimously rejected the UN decision to promote the recognition of a Palestinian state, his office said. “We will not let them establish a terror state from which they can attack us even more,” he said. “Nobody will prevent us, Israel, from exercising our basic right to defend ourselves – not the UN general assembly and not any other entity.”
Israel has said that one of its soldiers was killed in the south of Gaza on Tuesday. The military now says that 273 soldiers have been killed since ground operations began inside Gaza on 27 October. Local media has reported multiple civilian casualties inside Gaza during continued strikes by Israel on Wednesday.
A senior Hezbollah commander, Hussain Ibrahim Mekky, has been killed by an Israeli strike inside Lebanon. Lebanon’s emergency responders said the strike also wounded two people who were taken to a hospital. Israel’s military described him as being “responsible for the planning and execution of numerous terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and territory since the start of the war.”
Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for a barrage of rockets fired at Biranit army base in northern Israel.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has said it faces “significant disruptions” to its humanitarian operations due to Israel’s recent ground operations in Rafah. In a statement, the organisation said “the closure of the Rafah crossing and a blockade on entry of humanitarian workers and aid, including fuel, [is] critically hindering our ability to deliver essential services and aid to those in desperate need.”
Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant is to hold a press conference at 6pm local time today (4pm BST).
A London surgeon who provided testimony on Israel’s war in Gaza after operating during the conflict has successfully overturned a Schengen-area travel ban issued by the German authorities last month. The successful legal challenge comes after Prof Ghassan Abu-Sitta, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon was denied entry to France and Germany in recent weeks.
The US state department has moved a $1bn package of weapons aid for Israel into the congressional review process, two US officials said on Tuesday. The latest weapons package includes tank rounds, mortars and armored tactical vehicles, according to multiple sources in US media.
Here are some of the latest images from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
Haaretz reports that Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for a barrage of rockets fired at Biranit army base in northern Israel.
More details soon …
Israel’s military has said that its earlier report that it had successfully intercepted a rocket launched at Sderot was not true. In a statement on its official Telegram channel, the IDF said:
Earlier today, a report was received regarding a launch toward the city of Sderot that was successfully intercepted. An announcement regarding the incident was released. It later turned out that the launch was not intercepted. As a result of the launch, damage was caused to a structure in the city. No injuries were reported, and the incident is under review.
Netanyahu says Israel rejects UN decision to promote recognition of Palestine as a state
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday his government unanimously rejected the UN decision to promote the recognition of a Palestinian state, his office said.
“We will not let them establish a terror state from which they can attack us even more,” Reuters reports Netanyahu’s office said. “Nobody will prevent us, Israel, from exercising our basic right to defend ourselves – not the UN general assembly and not any other entity.”
Palestine is already recognised as a sovereign state by 143 out of 193 member states of the UN, and since 2012 has had non-member observer status at the UN.
Associated Press is carrying a little more detail on the killing of Hezbollah commander Hussain Ibrahim Mekky in Lebanon. He was killed by an Israeli drone strike on a car in the south of the country.
Lebanon’s emergency responders said the strike also wounded two people who were taken to a hospital. They said a fire that broke out as a result of the strike was extinguished and that the body of one person was recovered at the scene.
Israel’s military described him as being “responsible for the planning and execution of numerous terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and territory since the start of the war.”
Nearly 400 people, many of them fighters, have been killed by Israeli airstrikes and shelling of Lebanon since 7 October, with Israel and anti-Israeli forces frequently exchanging fire. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from both southern Lebanon and northern Israel due to the fighting. At least 15 soldiers and ten civilians have been killed on the Israeli side. About 70 civilians and non-combatants have been killed inside Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a speech on Monday reiterated his group’s stance that it would keep up its strikes until Israel ends the war in Gaza.
Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant is to hold a press conference at 6pm local time today (4pm BST). He is expected to take questions.
A London surgeon who provided testimony on Israel’s war in Gaza after operating during the conflict has successfully overturned a Schengen-area travel ban issued by the German authorities last month.
The successful legal challenge comes after Prof Ghassan Abu-Sitta, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon was denied entry to France and Germany in recent weeks, where he was due to speak about his 43 days in Gaza in October and November, which he has described witnessing a “massacre unfold” and the use of white phosphorus munitions, which Israel has denied.
Last week, Human Rights Watch called on the German government to explain the legality of the visa ban that became known after Abu-Sitta was denied entry to France where he was due to speak about the war to the French parliament’s upper house. In April, after Abu-Sitta was refused entry to Berlin to participate in the Palestine Congress forum, where he was denied entry by authorities because they “could not ensure the safety of attendees in the conference”, he said. Without his knowledge, German authorities placed an administrative visa ban on him for a year, meaning he was banned from entering any Schengen country.
Abu-Sitta told the Guardian at the time that he felt criminalised as he was put in a holding cell in Paris, stripped of his possessions and taken by armed guards to his deportation flight. “The only reason the Germans would want a European-wide ban is to stop me from getting to The Hague,” said Abu-Sitta.
Most recently, he was prevented from entering the Netherlands, where he was due to speak on 17 May to civil society organisations, Dutch MPs and the University of Amsterdam. Since returning from Gaza, Abu-Sitta has provided evidence to Scotland Yard and the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague.
His lawyer, Alexander Gorski, said the decision is “significant turning point” challenging the “hostile environment” that Palestinian human rights advocates have faced in recent months.
“It is remarkable that it even got this far. Prof Ghassan worked tirelessly to help Palestinians in Gaza, in dreadful conditions, and yet he has faced such unfair treatment on his return,” said Gorski.
“This decision means that Ghassan’s freedom of expression and freedom of movement are no longer under threat, and he can speak out about what he witnessed in Gaza. This victory cannot be overstated.”
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has said it faces “significant disruptions” to its humanitarian operations due to Israel’s recent ground operations in Rafah.
In a statement, the organisation said “the closure of the Rafah crossing and a blockade on entry of humanitarian workers and aid, including fuel, [is] critically hindering our ability to deliver essential services and aid to those in desperate need.”
Kiryn Lanning, IRC team lead there, said “I have recently returned from Gaza. Following Israel’s evacuation orders since 6 May, over 400,000 Palestinians have been displaced from Rafah and relocated to Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, drastically overburdening the already stretched shelter facilities. What we are witnessing in Rafah is nothing less than a humanitarian catastrophe.
“The Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah, the last functioning hospital in the area, has received an evacuation order. With no remaining health facilities to serve the trapped population of at least a million in Rafah, and other facilities underequipped and understaffed, the health care crisis is rapidly intensifying.”
Neha Gohil is community affairs correspondent at the Guardian
Fifty members of parliament in the UK have written an open letter to the home secretary demanding the creation of a Gaza Family Scheme to allow people trapped in Gaza to be reunited with their families in the UK.
The open letter, sponsored by Rachael Maskell MP, calls for the Home Office to introduce a scheme similar to the ones introduced to help those fleeing persecution in Ukraine and Hong Kong.
Maskell said: “It is crucial that Government acknowledges its duty to provide a visa route for families who have been caught up in this conflict. All families want, at this dangerous time, is to be together. There are simple solutions that can easily be found, government must heed our call and work with us to end the separation of family members.”
A spokesperson from the Gaza Families Reunited campaign added: “The situation in Gaza continues to rapidly deteriorate. As Israel escalates its bombardment and incursions in the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, the need for a Gaza Family Scheme could not be more urgent. There is currently no viable way for Palestinians in Gaza with family in Britain to reunite. At least two Palestinians have already died while waiting for the Home Office to decide their applications. The home secretary has the power to change this. He must listen to the voices of all of those urging him to act.”
The Guardian previously reported on the hundreds of GoFundMe campaigns set up after the Home Office refused visas or the introduction of a Ukrainian-style entry scheme.
Emanuel Fabian, military correspondent for the Times of Israel, has posted to social media some images showing damage in the Israeli city of Sderot after a rocket “struck an unoccupied building”.
One of the rockets launched from the Gaza Strip at Sderot a short while ago struck an unoccupied building, the municipality says.
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 15, 2024
The IDF says the Iron Dome downed two rockets fired at the city.
Damage is caused in the strike, but there are no injuries. pic.twitter.com/BTZ0Uuo7Le
Sderot, which was targeted by Hamas during the 7 October attack, is close to the border with Gaza.
Israel says it has intensified operations in Jabaliya refugee camp
Israel’s military has confirmed that it has pulled some troops out of the Zeitoun area in northern Gaza, but says that it continues to operate there, and has intensified its operations in Jabaliya refugee camp as well as carrying out what it described as “targeted operations in specific areas of eastern Rafah”.
In a message on its official Telegram channel, the IDF claimed that overnight it began “an operation against terrorist operatives and infrastructure in the center of the Jabaliya camp” and has “eliminated a large number of terrorists.”
It claims to have destroyed a “terrorist cell that fired toward the city of Sderot”. Israel claims to have intercepted another rocket fired out of Gaza this morning.
In Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, Israel’s military claims to have targeted “a Hamas training compound in the area, eliminating terrorists in close-quarters combat, and locating large amounts of weapons and equipment”. Earlier Israel released the name of a soldier that was killed during the operation in Rafah, bringing Israel’s total death toll from its ground offensive inside Gaza to 273.
The Nahal Brigade has pulled out from Zeitoun, it said, but the 2nd Brigade combat team remains there.
Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Tareq Abu Azzoum has told Al Jazeera that “Israeli fighter jets are continuing to hammer Jabalia and the Rafah district. In the Jabalia refugee camp, there are ongoing confrontations on the streets.”
He added that “Ten Palestinians have been killed in the city’s Sabra neighbourhood after a UN-run clinic was targeted by Israeli jets. Five Palestinians were also killed in overnight strikes in Bureij refugee camp.”
None of the claims have been independently verified, and media access to the Gaza Strip has been extremely limited while Israel continues its military operation. The Committee to Protect Journalists has recorded that at least 105 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war began.
On its official Telegram channel, Israel’s military has claimed that it “successfully intercepted a projectile fired from the area of Jabaliya”, which is in the north of the Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported. The claims have not been independently verified.
The Times of Israel is reporting that about 200 protesters, including some relatives of those being held hostage by Hamas inside Gaza, are staging a demonstration calling for the return of hostages which has blocked a highway near Ramat Hasharon in Israel.
תלמידי בית ספר "הכפר הירוק", בני משפחותיהם ונציגים משפחות חטופים חוסמים כעת הכביש הראשי והכניסה למוסד הלימודי על דרך 482. בין המפגינים בני משפחת יבלונקה וגת ממשפחות החטופים. (קרדיט גיל בארי) @N12News pic.twitter.com/bTYBscuXlT
— אור רביד | Or Ravid (@OrRavid) May 15, 2024
Al Jazeera is reporting that at least ten Palestinains have been killed in an Israeli strike on an Unrwa clinic in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood.
More details soon …
Israel has said that one of its soldiers was killed in the south of Gaza on Tuesday. The military now says that 273 soldiers have been killed since ground operations began inside Gaza on 27 October.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Overnight Israel’s military has claimed to have killed a senior Hezbollah commander inside Lebanon.
Posting a video of a strike to its official Telegram channel, the Israel Defense Forces claimed to have killed Hussain Ibrahim Mekky, describing him as “a senior field commander in the Hezbollah terrorist organization on the southern front, who was responsible for the planning and execution of numerous terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and territory since the start of the war.”
Al Jazeera reports that pro-Iranian channel Al Mayadeen has confirmed the death.
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the Israel-Gaza war.
The US state department has moved a $1bn package of weapons aid for Israel into the congressional review process, two US officials said on Tuesday. The latest weapons package includes tank rounds, mortars and armored tactical vehicles, according to multiple sources in US media.
The chairmen and ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations and the House Foreign Affairs committees review major foreign weapons deals.
The move comes after president Joe Biden said last week he had delayed a shipment of bombs to Israel over concerns they might be used for a major invasion of Rafah.
More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main events.
Israeli tanks have advanced further into eastern Rafah, reaching some residential districts of the southern border city in Gaza. A UN official said the most advanced Israeli positions were about 2km from his office. Between 360,000 and 500,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah in the past week after Israeli warnings to evacuate eastern and central neighbourhoods.
The international court of justice (ICJ), said it would hold hearings on Thursday and Friday to discuss a request by South Africa seeking new emergency measures over the Rafah incursion, which Qatar says has stalled efforts to reach a ceasefire. South Africa’s demand is part of a case it brought against Israel accusing it of violating the genocide convention in Gaza, and which Israel has called baseless.
Médecins Sans Frontières said that it had been “forced to stop providing healthcare at Rafah Indonesian Field hospital” as of Sunday. “MSF has seen a pattern of systematic attacks against medical facilities and civilian infrastructure since the beginning of the war. In light of this, as well as the advancing offensive, we have made the decision to leave Rafah Indonesian Field hospital,” the medical NGO said. It said the 22 patients who remained at the hospital have been referred to other facilities as MSF can “no longer guarantee their safety”.
The Biden administration has assessed that Israel has amassed enough troops on the edge of Rafah to move forward with a full-scale incursion on the southern Gazan city over the coming days, CNN reported. The two senior administration officials also told the outlet that US officials are unsure if Israel has made a final decision to carry out the full-scale invasion.
A pier built by the US military for Gaza aid deliveries will be operational “in the coming days,” the Pentagon said, after a week of bad weather delayed its installation. With a cost of at least $320m, the pier is aimed at boosting humanitarian access to Gaza, which has been ravaged by seven months of war between Israel and Hamas.
