Closing summary
A Hamas official told Reuters on Monday that no progress was made at a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo also attended by delegations from Israel, Qatar and the United States. “There is no progress yet,” he added. Earlier on Monday, Egypt’s state-affiliated Al-Qahera News TV channel quoted a senior Egyptian source as saying progress had been made in the talks, after a deal was reached among participating delegations on issues under discussion.
An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon early on Monday killed a field commander in the heavily-armed Lebanese group Hezbollah, as the United Nations warned that shelling was spreading and urged a halt to the violence. Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been exchanging fire across Lebanon’s southern frontier in parallel with the Gaza war, adding to fears of a wider regional conflict.
Nicaragua has called on the United Nations’ top court to halt German military and other aid to Israel, arguing that Berlin’s support was enabling acts of genocide and breaches of international humanitarian law in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. While the case brought by Nicaragua centres on Germany, it indirectly takes aim at Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following the deadly attacks when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, AP reports.
Israel is yet to provide a satisfactory explanation for the death of seven aid workers last week, prime minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday as Australia appointed a senior former military official to study Israel’s inquiry into the incident. Israel said on Friday its soldiers mistakenly believed they were attacking Hamas gunmen when air strikes killed the mostly international group of World Central Kitchen staff, including Australian “Zomi” Frankcom. Two officers have been dismissed and others reprimanded, Reuters reported.
Palestinians have begun returning to the devastated city of Khan Younis, a day after Israel’s unexpected withdrawal of forces from southern Gaza. Those returning to the city, which has been under a relentless Israeli military assault for the past four months, described widespread destruction and the stench of death from under the rubble.
A Palestinian official close to mediation efforts told Reuters that deadlock continued to reign over Israel’s refusal to end the war, withdraw its forces from Gaza, allow hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians to return to their homes and lift a 17-year-old blockade to allow speedy reconstruction. These steps take precedence over Israel’s prime demand for a release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Lebanon’s prime minister Najib Mikati and visiting Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides on Monday discussed the Syrian refugee crisis, Beirut said, as Nicosia pushes the Lebanese authorities to stem boat departures. Cyprus says the Israel-Hamas war since October, which has triggered a flare-up on the Israel-Lebanon border, has weakened Lebanon’s efforts to monitor its territorial waters and prevent migrant vessel departures, reporting a surge in Syrian arrivals.
The commander of a European Union naval mission in the Red Sea wants to significantly increase its size to better defend against possible attacks by Houthi rebels based in Yemen, as just four warships are patrolling an area twice the size of the 27-nation bloc. The EU mission — dubbed Aspides, from the Greek for “shield” — has escorted 68 ships and repelled 11 attacks since it was established less than two months ago, AP reported. It only defends civilian vessels and does not take part in any military strikes. The southern part of the Red Sea is deemed a high-risk zone.
Israel “abides by the rule of law”, a UK cabinet minister insisted as the government continued to refuse to publish legal advice on whether the offensive in Gaza has broken international humanitarian rules. Mel Stride said advice from UK government lawyers to ministers on the situation will remain confidential but stressed the UK’s support for Israel is not “unconditional”, PA Media reported.
An all-female group of charity volunteers from Birmingham, England, have sent gender-specific products to the women in Gaza to “give a little bit of dignity” to those living in the war-torn region. The team of eight women, working with the charity ISRA-UK, arrived in Cairo, Egypt, on 1 April, where they spent a week in a warehouse packing and loading around 3,000 hygiene kits onto a lorry which will be driven across the Rafah border into Gaza.
Downing Street has insisted the UK government is “completely united” over the conflict in Gaza despite claims of a Cabinet split, PA Media reports. Divisions appeared to have emerged over the weekend with the foreign secretary, Lord Cameron, taking a more strident approach to criticism of Israel than some of his colleagues, including deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden.
Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian left Oman to visit Syria’s capital Damascus a week after Iran’s consulate there was targeted in a suspected Israeli attack, state media reported on Monday. Iran has vowed to avenge the death of seven of its Revolutionary Guards commanders who were killed in the attack, with a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader saying on Sunday that Israeli embassies were no longer safe, Reuters reported.
CIA director Bill Burns and Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani will join the negotiators from Egypt, Israel and Hamas in Cairo, according to some media reports. An Israeli delegation will also take part in the talks, an Israeli official said. However, the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also said on Sunday that Israel would not agree to a ceasefire until the hostages being held in Gaza were released.
Three people were killed, including a field commander in Lebanon’s Hezbollah elite forces Al Radwan, in an Israeli strike on Al Sultanya village in southern Lebanon, two security sources told Reuters early on Monday.
None of Israel’s embassies was safe any more, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader said. Tehran viewed confrontation with Israel as a “legitimate and legal right”, Yahya Rahim Safavi was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency saying on Sunday. He was speaking after a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on 1 April for which Tehran has vowed retaliation.
That’s all from me, Tom Ambrose, and the Middle East crisis live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
The commander of a European Union naval mission in the Red Sea wants to significantly increase its size to better defend against possible attacks by Houthi rebels based in Yemen, as just four warships are patrolling an area twice the size of the 27-nation bloc.
The EU mission — dubbed Aspides, from the Greek for “shield” — has escorted 68 ships and repelled 11 attacks since it was established less than two months ago, AP reported. It only defends civilian vessels and does not take part in any military strikes. The southern part of the Red Sea is deemed a high-risk zone.
“Just a single transit of one of our ships between the two larger distances to the area might take about 10 days, and also to cross the high-risk area takes almost two days,” Greek navy rear admiral Vasilios Gryparis, the commander of the mission, told reporters in Brussels on Monday.
He said the high-risk zone “has seen multiple attacks in the past months” ranging from threats and intimidation to “complex attacks” using “shore, air and sea-based assets, drones and ballistic missiles.” No one has been hurt.
Nineteen of the 27 EU nations are involved in the mission but only four frigates are patrolling.
