Closing summary
Israeli air strikes have killed more than 60 Palestinians in southern and central Gaza, including one that hit an Israeli-declared “safe zone” crowded with thousands of displaced people. The day’s deadliest strike came on Tuesday afternoon, hitting near a fuel station outside the southern city of Khan Younis in Muwasi, a coastal region that is part of the humanitarian “safe zone” where the Israeli military has told Palestinians to take refuge to escape offensives elsewhere.
An Iranian television presenter, who was attacked in London by men believed to be acting for the Tehran regime, has fled to Israel saying that he no longer felt safe in the UK. Pouria Zeraati said the UK’s approach to the threat posed by Iran on British soil could not guarantee his safety.
Tehran remains open to resuming negotiations with Washington on restoring their participation in a nuclear agreement, Iran’s acting foreign minister told Newsweek magazine in an interview published on Tuesday. Ali Bagheri Kani’s remarks come as he prepares to address the United Nations Security Council in New York.
At least eight Palestinians were killed and several were wounded in an Israeli air strike on a school in central Gaza on Tuesday, Gaza health officials said. The strike hit Al-Awda school in Al-Nuseirat camp, the ministry said.
Israeli forces battled Hamas-led fighters in several areas across Gaza on Tuesday, while Palestinian health officials said at least 13 people were killed in Israeli bombardments in its southern and central areas. In Rafah, a southern border city where Israeli forces have been operating since May, five Palestinians were killed in an air strike on a house, while in nearby Khan Younis, a man, his wife and two children were killed, they said.
Several Palestinians were killed and wounded in an Israeli air strike which was targeting a car in Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Tuesday, Gaza health officials said. The air strike hit near a tented area housing displaced families in Attar Street, the ministry said.
At least 38,713 Palestinians have been killed and 89,166 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has used a meeting with two senior Israeli officials to voice concern over the recent deadly strikes by Israel in the Gaza Strip, his spokesperson has said. Blinken held a meeting with Israeli strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer and National Security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi “to express our serious concern about the recent civilian casualties in Gaza,” state department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.
Israeli police said officers shot and killed a Palestinian after he stabbed a police officer in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. Police said the officer was slightly injured in the attack and identified the Palestinian as a 19-year-old from the Gaza Strip. It was not immediately clear what he was doing in the West Bank, AP reported.
Israeli air and naval strikes continued to pummel Gaza as the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, reiterated his demand for a ceasefire during a visit to Jerusalem. Strikes on central Gaza followed two days of particularly deadly attacks including one in a humanitarian zone in southern Gaza that killed at least 90 people when Israeli forces targeted the head of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammed Deif.
In Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, the municipality issued an urgent statement saying it was no longer able to provide 700,000 people in the area with drinking water after running out of fuel.
In the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the main focus of Israel’s offensive since May, residents reported renewed fighting on Monday. The military also reportedly intensified aerial and tank shelling in central Gaza in the al-Bureij and al-Maghazi historic refugee camps.
David Lammy called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during his first visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories as the UK’s foreign secretary.
Gaza’s health ministry updated the death toll from an Israeli airstrike on a school in central Gaza on Sunday, saying it had increased from 15 to 22. The Abu Araban school was run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, and housed “thousands of displaced people”, civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Yemen’s Houthis targeted three vessels, including an oil tanker, in the Red and Mediterranean seas with ballistic missiles, drones and booby-trapped boats, on Monday, the militant group reported. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the latest Houthi military operations were a response to the Israeli airstrike on the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis on Saturday, an attack that killed at least 90 Palestinians and wounded 300 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
That’s all from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the Middle East crisis live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
Israeli air strikes have killed more than 60 Palestinians in southern and central Gaza, including one that hit an Israeli-declared “safe zone” crowded with thousands of displaced people.
The day’s deadliest strike came on Tuesday afternoon, hitting near a fuel station outside the southern city of Khan Younis in Muwasi, a coastal region that is part of the humanitarian “safe zone” where the Israeli military has told Palestinians to take refuge to escape offensives elsewhere.
Officials at Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital said 17 people were killed. Nearby areas are packed with tent camps, AP reported.
It occurred in the same area where Gaza health officials said more than 90 Palestinians, including children, were killed by a strike on Saturday that Israel said was targeting Hamas’s top military commander, Mohammed Deif. His status remained unclear.
The new air strikes came as Israel and Hamas continued to weigh the latest ceasefire proposal. Hamas has said talks meant to wind down the nine-month war would continue even after Israel targeted Deif.
