Summary
It is 4:34am on Tuesday in Gaza and Tel Aviv and this blog is now closing. You can read the full report of our coverage for more. But here is a summary of the latest developments:
A UN official has warned on Monday that “an even more hellish scenario” looms in Gaza in which humanitarian aid simply grinds to a halt. Agence France-Presse has reported that “The conditions required to deliver aid to the people of Gaza do not exist,” said Lynn Hastings, UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories. Since the end of a seven-day truce, Israeli forces have pushed into southern Gaza, “forcing tens of thousands … into increasingly compressed spaces, desperate to find food, water, shelter and safety,” Hastings said. “Nowhere is safe in Gaza and there is nowhere left to go.”
Israel’s military expanded ground operations deeper into southern Gaza, with dozens of Israeli tanks, armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers entering the Gaza Strip near Khan Younis. Witnesses said Israeli military vehicles were on the southern section of the main north-to-south road in Gaza, “firing bullets and tank shells at cars and people trying to move through the area”. Israeli military issued fresh orders to Palestinians in about 20 areas of central Gaza to move farther south, posting maps online.
The Israeli army has denied telling the World Health Organization to empty an aid warehouse in southern Gaza within 24 hours before ground operations in the area render it unusable. The Israeli defence ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, COGAT said on X “The truth is that we didn’t ask you to evacuate the warehouses and we also made it clear (and in writing) to the relevant UN representatives”. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X on Monday: “Today, WHO received notification from the Israel Defense Forces that we should remove our supplies from our medical warehouse in southern Gaza within 24 hours, as ground operations will put it beyond use… We appeal to Israel to withdraw the order, and take every possible measure to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and humanitarian facilities,” he wrote.
The White House said Hamas broke an agreement to release more women hostages, and its refusal to do so was the cause of the collapse of the week-long truce with Israel on Friday. In a briefing at the White House on Monday afternoon, US national security advisor Jake Sullivan said “it is that refusal by Hamas that has caused the end of the hostage agreement, and therefore the end of the pause in hostilities”. He it was “too soon” to judge if Israel provided enough notice, or done enough to inform Palestinian civilians where it would be safe as it moved into southern Gaza, but said the US warned Israel civilians must be protected.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Israel has assembled a large system of pumps that may be used to flood tunnels used by Hamas under the Gaza Strip in a bid to drive out fighters.
The paper is citing US officials as the source, but says the plan could threaten Gaza’s water supply.
The Wall Street Journal also said an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) official declined to comment on the flooding plan but was quoted as saying: “The IDF is operating to dismantle Hamas’s terror capabilities in various ways, using different military and technological tools.”
