Summary of the day so far
We’ll be closing the blog now, thank you for following. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said he will not accept any ceasefire deal that requires the departure of Israeli troops from Gaza or the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners. Netanyahu poured cold water on any deal that required Israeli soldiers to leave Gaza permanently without a clear military victory, saying the war in Gaza was not “another round” with Hamas and he would not end it without achieving Israel’s goals.
The Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said he was willing to travel to Cairo to discuss proposals for a potential new deal. Haniyeh said the group’s aim remained to end Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and secure a full pullout of Israeli forces from the territory. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad secretary general, Ziad al-Nakhala, ruled out the group engaging in any ceasefire that does not involve the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip.
Egypt, Qatar and the US are hoping to see if the two sides can be persuaded to accept a ceasefire lasting at least a month, which would offer the chance for almost all the hostages to be released. The proposal, described as a framework, was hammered out during talks in Paris. Leaks suggest the first phase of the proposed ceasefire would include the release of about 35 hostages including civilian women, older men and hostages who are ill or injured, in return for a six-week pause of the fighting. The second stage would be focused on male and female soldiers, and the third stage would see the release of the bodies of dead hostages.
Joe Biden has said he has decided how to respond to a drone attack on a US service base on Sunday that killed three US service personnel and injured dozens in Jordan. The US president did not elaborate on his decision but said he wasn’t looking for a wider war in the Middle East. The US could opt for a tiered response involving “multiple actions”, the White House’s national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said Israel intends to retain military control of Gaza after the war and run it in the same way it runs the occupied West Bank. Addressing members of the Knesset on Tuesday, Gallant said the work inside the Gaza Strip, where Israel claims to be clearing out Hamas terror infrastructure, was “finite” and was making progress despite challenges.
Israeli forces dressed in doctors’ scrubs and women’s clothes killed three Palestinian militants in an undercover operation in a hospital in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. The units entered Ibn Sina hospital on the outskirts of the city’s refugee camp early on Tuesday, CCTV footage of the aftermath of the operation showed. The hospital’s medical director said the three killed were “executed in cold blood”.
The Israel Defense Forces denied reports that its forces stormed al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, or that it ordered people inside to evacuate at gunpoint. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) on Tuesday said Israeli forces had demanded displaced people and its teams to evacuate the building “under the threat of arms”. A later update said Israeli tanks were stationed in the front yard of the hospital as Israeli forces were firing live ammunition and smoke grenades at displaced individuals and its staff. The PRCS said a woman was killed and nine others injured by shrapnel from Israeli tank fire near al-Amal hospital and its headquarters.
The Israeli military said it had channelled seawater into Gaza’s tunnels in an effort to destroy the sprawling underground network used by Hamas militants. An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) statement said it was “part of a range of tools deployed by the IDF to neutralise the threat of Hamas’s subterranean network of tunnels.” Israeli officials have said Hamas’s underground system has been key to its operations on the battlefield.
A total of 26,751 Palestinians have now been killed and 65,636 wounded by Israeli military action in Gaza since 7 October, according to the latest figures from the Gaza health ministry on Tuesday. The figures include 114 Palestinians killed and 249 injured in the past 24 hours. Israel claims it has killed about 9,000 enemy combatants while losing 221 of its own forces in the ground campaign inside the territory.
Israel has handed over to Palestinian authorities the bodies of dozens of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in recent weeks, health officials in the Palestinian territory have said. The bodies, which had been held in Israel, were handed over on Tuesday through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing and would be buried in mass graves in the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, the officials said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged donors not to suspend funding to the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA after Israel accused some of its workers of taking part in Hamas’s 7 October attack. “Cutting off funding will only hurt the people of Gaza who desperately need support,” the WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said at a briefing in Geneva on Tuesday. International aid agencies have said they are “deeply concerned and outraged” at the “reckless” decision by major donors to cut funding to a UN Palestinian aid agency, which provides aid to more than 5.6 million Palestinian refugees across the Middle East.
Protesters gathered at the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza for the seventh consecutive day aiming to block trucks carrying humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. The group, including family members of some of those being held hostage, said “no aid should pass until the last of the hostages returns”.
Britain will consider recognising a Palestinian state as part of concerted efforts to bring about an “irreversible” peace settlement, the foreign secretary, David Cameron, has said. Cameron will this week make his fourth visit to the Middle East since being appointed foreign secretary in November as he presses for a de-escalation of tensions. The UK government has not changed its policy on the best timing to recognise Palestine as an independent state but wishes to give Palestinians a sense of a political horizon by highlighting the possibility is part of UK thinking, the Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell said after Cameron’s comments.
The UK said it was “alarmed” by a conference held in Jerusalem on Sunday calling for Israeli resettlement of the Gaza Strip and “voluntary migration” of the Palestinian population elsewhere, which was attended by several Israeli cabinet ministers. “The UK’s position is clear: Gaza is occupied Palestinian territory and will be part of the future Palestinian state,” the UK Foreign Office said on Tuesday.
Yemen’s Houthis are ready for a “long-term confrontation” with the US and UK, a commander has said. “The Americans, the British and those who coordinated with them must realise the power of the sovereign Yemeni decision and that there is no debate or dispute over it,” Mohamed al-Atifi said.
Updated
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the offices of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Beirut on Tuesday after more than 10 western countries said they would suspend funding after Israel accused some of its workers of taking part in Hamas’ 7 October attack.
“We are afraid for the future of UNRWA,” Abu Mohammed, 65, a Palestinian refugee, told AFP as he urged countries to “reverse their decision”.
All our children study in UNRWA schools and most of our medical care is covered by the agency … The suspension of aid would be catastrophic from a social and humanitarian perspective.
UNRWA, formed in 1949 after the creation of Israel, supports more than 5.6 million Palestinians in the occupied territories, including Jerusalem, and refugees and their descendants in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
Lebanon hosts an estimated 250,000 Palestinian refugees, most of whom live in poverty.
“Even though I have a job, UNRWA helps me pay my rent and buy food,” said Dima Dahouk, 40, the sole breadwinner for her four children. “The situation is terrible,” she added.
Updated
