🔴 Live: Israel recalls Gaza truce negotiators, strikes Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

An explosion rises in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, March 26, 2024. © Ariel Schalit, AP

Israel recalled its negotiators from Doha after deeming mediated talks on a Gaza truce "at a dead end" due to demands by Hamas, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday. Lebanese official media said fresh Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon on Tuesday killed two people, after the deepest raid since cross-border hostilities erupted between Israel and Hezbollah amid the Gaza war. Follow our liveblog for the latest developments.

Summary:                                                               

• The UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) has sufficient funds to run its operations until the end of May, the agency's head said Tuesday. 
• Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh arrived in Tehran on Tuesday for talks with Iranian officials.
• The UN Security Council on Monday for the first time approved a resolution calling for an "immediate" ceasefire in Gaza during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends in two weeks. The US abstained from the vote.
• In southern Gaza's Rafah, a key flashpoint in the war, witnesses said Israeli jets pummelled the city on Tuesday.
• At least 32,414 Palestinians have been killed and 74,694 wounded since Israel began its offensive on Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. Around 1,140 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.

Yesterday's key developments:

• Israel will not end its war against Hamas until militants free hostages, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday in Washington after Israel cancelled another US-bound delegation over a UN Security Council ceasefire call.
• Hamas said on Monday it has informed mediators that the group will stick to its original position on reaching a comprehensive ceasefire, which includes the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, a return of displaced Palestinians and a 'real' exchange of prisoners.

• Britain's Royal Air Force airdropped more than 10 metric tons of food supplies into Gaza for the first time on Monday, Britain's defence ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

• White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday he had a "constructive discussion" with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

• A UN rights expert on Monday said there were "reasonable grounds" to determine that Israel has committed several acts of "genocide" in its war in Gaza, also evoking "ethnic cleansing".

About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:

Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.

The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. 

Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.

In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN's counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies. 

For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.

(FRANCE 24 with AP) 

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)