Israeli warplanes have destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing several people including a senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Among those killed was Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Iranian state media reported. Iranian state television said several Iranian diplomats had been killed.
We’ll bring you more updates as they come – in our live blog below:
Closing summary
Senior US and Israeli officials planned to hold a virtual meeting on Monday to discuss the Biden administration’s alternative proposals to an Israeli military invasion of Rafah, a US official told Reuters. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called off a planned visit to Washington last week by a senior Israeli delegation after the US allowed passage of a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the United Nations on Monday. Two days later Israel asked the White House to reschedule a high-level meeting on military plans for Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, officials said, in an apparent bid to ease tensions between the two allies. An American official told the Associated Press that the US anticipates that “expert teams” will follow up on the talks in person.
The Hamas-run Gaza media office said Israeli forces killed 400 Palestinians around al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, including a female doctor and her son, also a doctor, and put the medical facility out of function. “The occupation destroyed and burnt all buildings inside al-Shifa medical complex. They bulldozed the courtyards, burying dozens of bodies of martyrs in the rubble, turning the place into a mass graveyard,” Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the media office, was quoted as saying by Reuters. “This is a crime against humanity.” Israeli forces said earlier they had withdrawn from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City after a two-week operation. Residents described scenes of “total destruction” at the site, saying Israeli troops had “destroyed all sense of life” there. The Israeli military said it had killed and detained hundreds of gunmen in clashes in the area of the hospital, and seized weaponry and intelligence documents.
Benjamin Netanyahu revived moves to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel, saying through his party spokesperson that parliament would be convened in the evening to ratify the necessary law. Thereafter, Netanyahu “will take immediate action to shut down Al Jazeera in accordance with procedure set out in the law”, the Likud party statement said.
Netanyahu will be discharged from hospital on Tuesday afternoon after a hernia procedure, a statement from his office said. Earlier, the Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem said he was conscious and conversing with family, and that he was recovering. It did not specify how long that might take.
At least 32,845 Palestinians have been killed and 75,392 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement. There have been 63 Palestinians killed and 94 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.
Israeli police said on Monday they had arrested the sister of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as part of an investigation in southern Israel. Police told AFP that Sabah Abdel Salam Haniyeh, who is an Israeli citizen, was taken into custody in the town of Tel Sheva as part of an investigation also involving Israel’s security agency, Shin Bet.
We are closing this blog now, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here.
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