Palestinians mourn by the bodies of relatives who were killed in overnight Israeli air strikes on the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, at Rafah's Najjar hospital on February 27, 2024. Photograph: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images
Summary of the day …
It is 5pm in Gaza and Tel Aviv, and 6pm in Doha and Sana’a. Here are the headlines …
A Hamas official has told Reuters that US president Joe Biden’s words about a halt to fighting in Gaza are premature, and do not match the situation on the ground. Biden had seemed confident that a truce would be agreed by Monday, but as well as the words from Hamas, a senior Israeli official has also said that he does not understand where Biden’s optimism is coming from. Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson said the country remains “upbeat and optimistic” about the prospects for a deal.
Unifil, the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, has said it is witnessing “a disturbing shift” in the exchanges of fire between Israel and anti-Israeli forces across the UN-drawn blue line that separates northern Israel and southern Lebanon. On Tuesday morning Israel said it had struck several targets inside Lebanon in response to a barrage of 35 rockets fired at one of its military installations in northern Israel.
The health ministry in Gaza has issued updated casualty figures, reporting that in the last 24 hours, 96 Palestinians were killed and 172 were injured by Israel’s military actions in the territory. This brings the total death toll inside Gaza since 7 October from Israeli military action to a reported 29,878, with 70,215 injured. In its latest briefing, Israel’s military said it had “located a weapons manufacturing facility, rocket launchers, and systems used by Hamas in combat with the IDF” in Zaytun, and continued to operate in Khan Younis, where it said it was working to “to secure areas adjacent to the Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip”.
Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in clashes in the occupied West Bank early on Tuesday. At least 400 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers and settlers in the occupied West Bank since the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas.
Yemen’s Houthis said they could only reconsider their missile and drone attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea once Israel ends its “aggression” in the Gaza Strip. The US says it has targeted Iranian and Houthi commanders in a new round of sanctions, and the UK has also issued new sanctions against Iran and Yemen.
The UN humanitarian office has accused Israeli forces in Gaza of stalling a medical evacuation convoy in Khan Younis and forcing paramedics to strip for searches before detaining them. In comments made in Geneva, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA) appealed for the release of all detained health personnel.
Families of those being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza are staging a protest today at 134 polling stations during Israel’s municipal elections.
Jordan’s King Abdullah has said the international community must put more pressure on Israel to increase the flow of aid into Gaza. Oxfam has raised concerns about access to agricultural land in the north of the Gaza Strip, and said that “the risk of genocide is increasing in northern Gaza” because of Israel’s failure to facilitate access for humantiarian aid.
US treasury secretary Janet Yellen has told reporters in São Paulo that Israel has agreed to resume transferring tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority to fund basic services.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for today. We are pausing our live coverage. I will be back with you tomorrow. Here is Bethan McKernan’s report from Jerusalem on the latest developments: Hamas and Israel pour cold water on Biden’s hopes of imminent ceasefire
Yemen's Houthis: 'no halt' to Red Sea attacks until Israel's seige of Gaza ends
Yemen’s Houthis said on Tuesday they could only reconsider their missile and drone attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea once Israel ends its “aggression” in the Gaza Strip.
Asked if they would halt the attacks if a ceasefire deal is reached, Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam told Reuters the situation would be reassessed if the siege of Gaza ended and humanitarian aid was free to enter.
“There will be no halt to any operations that help Palestinian people except when the Israeli aggression on Gaza and the siege stop,” he said.
The Houthis have sent shipping officials and insurers formal notice of what they termed a ban on vessels linked to Israel, the US and Britain from sailing in surrounding seas.
Updated
