Summary of the day …
It is 5pm in Gaza and Tel Aviv. Here are the headlines …
Israel’s military has conducted what it called “precise operational activity” at the al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza. It claimed to have killed a senior Hamas figure – Faiq Mabhouh – during the attack. Israeli media has reported that 80 people were detained. Al Jazeera reports that Israeli forces detained one of its journalists, with witnesses saying Ismail al-Ghoul was beaten, and that a number of people were wounded during the assault on the hospital. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said he is “terribly worried about the situation” and that “hospitals should never be battlegrounds”.
A new report by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has said that famine is imminent in northern Gaza, and that 1.1 million – half the population – in the territory are facing “catastrophic” food supply conditions. Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy insisted on social media that “Israel is facilitating the delivery of unlimited quantities of aid by air, land, and sea.”
The EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell condemned Israel for creating what he said was a “man-made famine” in Gaza, and urged Israel to allow road deliveries of food immediately. He said European leaders have told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu they cannot stand by and watch Palestinians starve to death. “This famine is not a natural disaster. It is not a flaw. It is not an earthquake. It is entirely man-made” he said in Brussels. Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz, told Borrell he should “stop attacking Israel”.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) commissioner-general, Philippe Lazzarini has been refused entry to Gaza by Israel. He said his trip had been intended “to coordinate and improve the humanitarian response” in the territory, which he said is facing unprecedented levels of “man-made starvation”. Israel has accused members of UNRWA staff of participating in the 7 October attack by Hamas, although it is yet to hand over evidence to the agency.
Reuters and Axios are both reporting that US president Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu are expected to speak today.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has issued another call for Netanyahu to stand down, and asked the Knesset to vote no confidence in Israel’s war government.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has sent a telegram to Russian president Vladimir Putin congratulating him on his election victory.
Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters Monday ahead of an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels that they were planning to impose sanctions on Hamas and on Israeli West Bank settlers.
UN secretary general António Guterres on Monday said a report saying that famine is now imminent in northern Gaza was an “appalling indictment” of conditions on the ground.
“This is an entirely man-made disaster – and the report makes clear that it can be halted,” Reuters reports Guterres told the media at the UN headquarters in New York, calling on Israel to ensure access for humanitarian goods throughout Gaza.
