Closing summary
Talks aimed at brokering a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip resumed in Cairo today, but Hamas, the militant Palestinian group, were reportedly not present as it waited to hear from mediators on whether a new Israeli offer was on the table. Egypt, Qatar and the US have mediated previous rounds of negotiations, but a workable agreement has remained elusive.
Thousands of people across Israel joined families of hostages to protest against the government and called for the removal of Benjamin Netanyahu, as the Israeli prime minister grappled with one of the most serious threats yet to his coalition. The protesters in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Be’er Sheva, Caesarea and other cities on Saturday demanded the release of those still held captive in Gaza and labelled the PM as an “obstacle to the deal”, vowing to persist until he leaves power. A statement from his office on Sunday said the Israeli prime minister would undergo surgery for a hernia during a routine examination. Deputy prime minister and justice minister Yariv Levin will serve as acting prime minister while he is sedated.
At least 32,782 Palestinians have been killed and 75,298 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement. In the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, Israeli forces continued to blockade the two main hospitals, and tanks reportedly shelled areas in the middle and eastern areas of the territory.
Israel’s military said it had carried out an airstrike against a command centre operated by the armed Islamic Jihad group in the courtyard of al-Aqsa hospital in the Gaza Strip. “The command centre and terrorists were struck precisely, intended on minimising harm to uninvolved civilians in the area of the hospital,” the military said. “The Al-Aqsa hospital building was not damaged and its functioning was not affected.”
A bomb exploded in a shopping area in a northern Syrian city held by pro-Turkish forces on Sunday morning, killing eight people and injuring more than 20 others, a war monitor said. At least “eight people were killed and 23 others wounded” when “a car bomb exploded in the middle of a popular market” in Aleppo province’s Azaz, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It is unclear who carried out the attack in the town which is run by pro-Turkish militias fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Rather than provide humanitarian aid in Gaza, the US should ensure it is subjected to atomic bombing the way that “Nagasaki and Hiroshima” were at the end of the second world war, Tim Walberg, a Republican congressman, said in shocking remarks that by all indications were recorded recently at a gathering with a relatively small group of his constituents.
We are closing this blog now, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here.
Updated
The Israeli military said it killed a senior Islamic Jihad militant in a strike on a command centre in the courtyard of the al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza. It did not mention his name or rank. These claims have not yet been independently verified.
Updated
