Closing summary
Hamas said on Saturday it was reviewing a new Israeli proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, AP reports. It comes as Egypt stepped up its efforts to secure a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the war and prevent an Israeli ground offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said the Palestinian militant group was evaluating Israel’s proposal, and “upon completion of its study, it will submit its response.” He gave no details of Israel’s offer but said it was in response to a proposal from Hamas two weeks ago. Negotiations earlier in April focused on a six-week cease-fire proposal and the release of 40 civilian and sick hostages in exchange for the liberation of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
At least 34,388 Palestinians have been killed and 77,437 others injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Saturday. Some 32 have been killed and 69 others wounded over the past 24 hours, the ministry said.
An infant girl has died from extreme heat in Rafah as rising temperatures exacerbate the sanitation crisis for more than 1.7 million internally displaced people lacking adequate shelter and essentials, it has been reported. The update was provided by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) amid growing concerns for the conditions of people living in Gaza.
British troops could be sent to Gaza to assist with delivering aid via a new sea route, BBC News has reported. While the US has previously said its forces would not go ashore, the UK is understood to be considering sending British troops when the aid corridor opens next month. No decision had been made, Whitehall sources are reported to have said.
Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian gunmen who opened fire at them from a vehicle in the occupied West Bank, the military said on Saturday. The military released a photo of two automatic rifles that it said were used by several gunmen to shoot at the soldiers, at an outpost near the flash point Palestinian city of Jenin.
Three people have been killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, including two members of Hezbollah, AFP reports, citing statements from the militant group and official media. Hezbollah released statements mourning the deaths of two fighters from the villages of Kafr Kila and Khiam, saying they had been “martyred on the road to Jerusalem”.
Ballistic missiles fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels caused “minor damage” to a Panama-flagged oil tanker travelling through the Red Sea on Friday, authorities said. The attack follows an uptick in assaults launched by the Houthis in recent days after a relative lull in their campaign over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, AP reported.
Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters have begun marching in central London calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The march, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, set off from Parliament Square shortly before 1pm GMT and will pass through Whitehall before ending at Hyde Park. Former Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn was among those holding banners at the front of the crowd. Large numbers of Metropolitan Police could be seen around the square.
Iraqi Kurdish ministries of electricity and natural resources said on Saturday that they are working with their partners to restore operations at the Khor Mor gas field in Iraq’s Kurdistan region after output was suspended due to a deadly drone attack. At least four Yemeni workers were killed and two other workers injured in the attack late on Friday, the Kurdish regional government said on X. It said gas supplies to power plants were also halted, resulting in a reduction of approximately 2,500 MW of power generation. So far no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, Reuters reported.
Lebanon has moved towards accepting the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction to prosecute violations on Lebanese territory since October, in what Human Rights Watch said on Saturday was a “landmark step” towards justice for war crimes. Lebanon has accused Israel of repeatedly violating its sovereignty and committing breaches of international law over the last six months, during which the Israeli military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have traded fire across Lebanon’s southern border in parallel with the Gaza War, Reuters reported.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and several international officials will be in Riyadh this week for talks aimed at pushing for a peace agreement in Gaza to be held on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum meeting, the WEF’s president said on Saturday. “We do have the key players now in Riyadh and hopefully the discussions can lead into a process towards reconciliation and peace,” Børge Brende said at a news conference in Riyadh, adding that Gaza’s humanitarian crisis would be on the agenda.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the Middle East crisis live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
