Photograph: Khaled Elfiqi/EPA
Closing summary
It has gone 6pm in Gaza, Tel Aviv and Beirut, and 7pm in Sana’a. We will be closing this blog soon, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here.
Here is a recap of the latest developments:
UN secretary general António Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire and for Gaza to be flooded with aid, during a visit to the Rafah border crossing on Saturday as part of his annual Ramadan solidarity visit to the region. Stood near a long line of waiting trucks, Guterres declared it was time to “truly flood Gaza with life-saving aid,” calling the starvation inside Gaza a “moral outrage”. Guterres also described Palestinians in Gaza as being “stuck in a non-stop nightmare” and said the world the world has seen enough of the horrors in Gaza.
Guterres said it was time for Israel to give an “ironclad commitment” for unfettered access to humanitarian goods throughout Gaza. Speaking during a visit to the Rafah border crossing, he also called for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and said the UN would continue to work with Egypt to “streamline” the flow of aid into Gaza.
During his visit to the Rafah border crossing on Saturday, Guterres also said there was a clear international consensus that any ground assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population has taken refuge, would cause a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel said on Friday it would send its troops to fight Hamas in the nearby city of Rafah, even without US support.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa), said on Saturday “for the second time this week, a food convoy has been denied to northern Gaza” in a post on X. He wrote: “Today, the Israeli authorities denied another Unrwa convoy with much needed food supplies from going to the north where people are on the verge of famine. The last time Unrwa was able to send food aid to the north was nearly month ago.”
Five of the injured Palestinians at the Gaza Strip’s al-Shifa hospital, which is being besieged by Israeli forces, have died, Gaza’s health ministry said in a statement on Saturday. The medical facility is under siege for the sixth day in a row with no water, food nor health services, the ministry added.
Hamas expressed gratitude for the stances taken by Russia, China, and Algeria in vetoing the US draft resolution that failed to pass during the recent UN security council vote on Friday. In a statement published on its Telegram channel, Hamas criticised the resolution for its “misleading language that aligns with the interests of Israel,” allowing Israeli forces to “sustain their aggression” and providing cover and validation for the “extermination campaign” against Palestinians in Gaza.
A vote at the UN security council on a new text calling for an “immediate” ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war was postponed to Monday, diplomatic sources told AFP.
Israeli forces said on Saturday that more than 170 gunmen were killed during a prolonged operation at al-Shifa hospital. However, according to Hamas representatives, the deceased individuals identified in Israeli reports were not combatants but rather patients and displaced individuals. Hamas have accused Israel of war crimes.
At least 72 Palestinians were killed and 144 injured in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, said the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas. According to the statement, at least 32,142 Palestinians have been killed and 74,412 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
Nearly 600 relatives of 81 hostages have appealed to US president Joe Biden to urge Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate a deal for their release. In a letter sent to the US president, families expressed their disappointment with the Israeli government’s perceived lack of commitment to finalising the agreement.
“Never before have so many of Gaza’s children needed medical care,” said Unicef spokesperson, James Elder, in a video posted on social media, which showed him visiting Nasser hospital in Khan Younis and reflecting on the children he met the last time he was there. Local and UN health officials said fighting, fuel shortages and Israeli raids put Nasser hospital completely out of service in February.
The Israeli army arrested 15 Palestinians in the West Bank overnight, reports Al Jazeera citing an update by the Palestinian Prisoners Club. According to the update, the arrests took place in the governates of Hebron, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Tubas, Nablus, and Jerusalem.
Tens of thousands of people have taken part in a major pro-Palestinian demonstration in Dublin. Organisers called for an end to Israel’s action in Gaza and for the Irish government to “take action to hold Israel accountable”. The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) said it was the fifth such national mobilisation.
Hezbollah claimed to have targeted an Iron Dome battery on Saturday, situated close to the northern village of Kfar Blum, in the Hula Valley in Israel, using two drones loaded with explosives, the Times of Israel reported. The Israeli publication said local authorities had confirmed that the impact ignited a fire but that no casualties or damage resulted from the attack. The incident could not be independently verified.
US fighter jets from the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier struck three underground storage facilities in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen late on Friday. The official, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss a military operation not yet made public, said the ship is in the Red Sea.
In a statement late on Friday, US Central Command (Centcom) said its forces also destroyed four unmanned aerial vehicles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
Centcom also said Houthis fired four anti-ship ballistic missiles toward the Red Sea, but no injuries or damage were reported by US, coalition or commercial ships.The Indian navy handed over 35 Somali pirates to the police in Mumbai on Saturday, after 100 days of anti-piracy operations east of the Red Sea, where piracy has resurfaced for the first time in nearly a decade. Somali pirates have taken advantage of western forces’ focus on protecting shipping from attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthi militants, by making or attempting more than 20 hijackings since November.
The shadow UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, urged David Cameron to publish the Foreign Office formal legal advice on whether Israel is breaching international humanitarian law in Gaza. Lammy’s move came as two human rights groups were given permission for an oral hearing to seek a judicial review of the government’s refusal to ban arms exports to Israel.
Updated
Tens of thousands of people take part in a major pro-Palestinian demonstration in Dublin
Tens of thousands of people have taken part in a major pro-Palestinian demonstration in Dublin, having travelled from across Ireland to take part in the event in the centre of the Irish capital, reports the Press Association.
Organisers called for an end to Israel’s action in Gaza and for the Irish government to “take action to hold Israel accountable”. The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) said it was the fifth such national mobilisation.
According to the Press Association, crowds gathered at Parnell Square before a procession across the city centre to the Department of Foreign Affairs at St Stephen’s Green, where there were speeches and performances of Irish and Palestinian music.
Speakers at the rally included IPSC chairwoman Zoe Lawlor and independent senator Frances Black. Lawlor said: “It’s crucial that we keep up the pressure on our government to sanction Israel for its crimes.”
