Closing summary
It has gone 5pm in Gaza, Tel Aviv and Beirut, and 6pm 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:
The aid ship, the Spanish-flagged Open Arms, which left Cyprus yesterday, is expected to reach Gaza’s shores tomorrow morning – about 48 hours after it departed Larnaca, the Mediterranean island’s southern port. The vessel is towing a barge with up to 200 tonnes of water, food and vital medicines. Cyprus, the EU, the United Arab Emirates, the US and UK are expected to make a joint statement “on what comes next,” a well-placed insider told the Guardian.
The UK should join the EU in considering whether to suspend its trade agreements with Israel in light of breaches of humanitarian law, a group of human rights NGOs including Amnesty International UK, Global Justice Now and ActionAid UK urged on Wednesday. The intervention by the group of eight UK NGOs is one of the first times any question has been raised by campaigners over the future of UK-Israel trade relations.
Violent clashes overnight have left multiple Palestinians dead in the West Bank. Israeli police said a Palestinian stabbed and wounded two people at a checkpoint near Jerusalem before being shot on Wednesday. Official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli forces killed two Palestinians during a raid in the occupied West Bank earlier the same day, bringing to five the number of Palestinians killed in different incidents within several hours.
Israeli forces shot dead a 13-year-old Palestinian from a refugee camp on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Tuesday night, and killed two others at a checkpoint, Israeli police said. The police said the boy was shot after aiming fireworks at forces stationed in an observation post.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell criticised the lack of aid entering Gaza as a “manmade” disaster on Tuesday, telling the UN security council that hunger was being used as a “war arm”. “This humanitarian crisis … is not a natural disaster, is not a flood, is not an earthquake, it is manmade,” said Borrell at UN headquarters in New York.
The Hamas-run government in Gaza said on Wednesday that sending an aid ship from Cyprus to the besieged territory was an inadequate response to the needs of its 2.4 million people. “According to what was announced, the ship’s cargo does not exceed that of one or two trucks, and it will take days to arrive,” Salama Marouf, spokesperson for the government press office, said in a statement. He said some logistical questions about the operation were unanswered and raised concerns about Israeli inspections.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said one of its aid warehouses in the Gaza Strip was “hit” on Wednesday, injuring “scores” of people. An AFP photographer saw victims of the incident arriving at al-Najjar hospital in Rafah, at least one of whom was identified by other people at the hospital as a UN employee.
Four US army vessels departed a base in Virginia on Tuesday carrying about 100 soldiers and equipment needed to build a temporary port on Gaza’s coast to facilitate aid shipments. The new facility – which will consist of an offshore platform and a pier to bring aid ashore – is expected to be up and running “at the 60-day mark”, US army Brig Gen Brad Hinson told journalists.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday that it had delivered its ‘first successful’ aid convoy to northern Gaza since 20 February. In a post on social media platform X, the WFP said it had “delivered enough food for 25,000 people to Gaza City early Tuesday”, but called for “deliveries every day” and “entry points directly into the north”.
88 Palestinians were killed and 135 injured in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, said the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. According to the statement, at least 31,272 Palestinians have been killed and 73,024 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), said on Tuesday, that “the number of children reported killed in just over four months in Gaza is higher than the number of children killed in four years of wars around the world combined” and described it as “staggering”. In a social media post on X, Lazzarini wrote: “This war is a war on children.”
The Israeli army on Tuesday night announced a pilot project for delivering aid directly into the north, saying six WFP aid trucks had entered through a new crossing. The WFP did not specifically mention the new overland route in its post on X about Tuesday’s delivery.
Turkey views the airdrop of humanitarian aid to Gaza and a plan to deliver aid via a maritime route as positive developments, but thinks they fall short of resolving the core problem, the foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday. Foreign ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli told a media briefing in Ankara that Turkey had sent 9,000 tons of medical equipment and aid for infants, as well as many parachutes to Jordan for the airdrops, but added these were not enough to alleviate the struggle of Palestinian people in Gaza.
An Israeli drone strike on a car outside the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Wednesday killed a member of Hamas from the nearby Palestinian camp of Rashidieh. The Israeli military confirmed it had killed Hadi Mustafa in southern Lebanon and called him a “significant” Hamas operative. Hamas’s Al Aqsa television said Mustafa was a leader of the group’s armed wing.
The father of an Israeli soldier killed during the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October said has called for a hostage deal to ensure his son’s body is returned home. Itay Chen was serving as a soldier when Hamas carried out its surprise cross-border rampage through southern Israeli towns and military bases. The dual US citizen was believed to be have been held hostage but the military confirmed his death on Tuesday.
US officials are preparing for a pause on funding for Unrwa to become permanent due to opposition in Congress, even as the Biden administration insists the aid group’s humanitarian work is indispensable. The US – which is Unrwa’s largest donor, providing $300-$400m (£235-£313m) annually – said it wants to see the results of an inquiry into Israeli allegations against Unrwa and corrective measures taken before it will consider resuming funding.
Germany said on Wednesday it was joining an air bridge operation along with several other countries to drop desperately needed humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The operation, initiated by Jordan, already has the participation of several other countries including France and the US.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II met Spain’s foreign minister José Manuel Albares Bueno on Wednesday. In a message posted to social media, Jordan’s royal household said that during the meeting, the king “stressed that the tragic humanitarian conditions in Gaza require international action to prevent further deterioration”, adding that Jordan appreciated Spain’s position on resuming Unrwa funding, the two-state solution and in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
A Palestinian citizen of Israel has been granted UK asylum in a case said to be unprecedented. “Hasan”, whose real identity is not being disclosed for his own protection, claimed he would face persecution in his home country on the grounds of his race, his Muslim faith and his opinion that Israel “is governed by an apartheid regime”.
Irish artists including Soda Blonde and Mick Flannery have withdrawn from South by Southwest (SXSW) over opposition to the US army being a sponsor, citing US support for Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip. Irish Culture minister Catherine Martin has said she will still go, despite the boycott by Irish artists. Martin has said she respects musicians’ freedom of expression and will use the visit “to make clear her revulsion at the devastation that has been unleashed on Gaza”.
British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Wednesday it was aware of a missile-related sighting in the Gulf of Aden. The security firm advised vessels in the vicinity of Socotra “to minimise bridge manning and stop all crew deck movement”.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images on the newswires:
Unrwa say one of its aid warehouses has been hit, resulting in 'scores injured'
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said one of its aid warehouses in the Gaza Strip was “hit” on Wednesday, injuring “scores” of people, reports AFP.
“We can confirm that an Unrwa warehouse/distribution centre in Rafah [southern Gaza] has been hit,” agency spokesperson Juliette Touma told AFP, adding there were “scores injured”.
“We do not yet have more information on what exactly happened nor the number of Unrwa staff impacted,” she said. “Unrwa uses this facility to distribute much-needed food and other lifesaving items to displaced people in southern Gaza.”
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said four people were killed in the “bombing of the warehouse”.
An AFP photographer saw victims of the incident arriving at al-Najjar hospital in Rafah, at least one of whom was identified by other people at the hospital as a UN employee.
As of 4 March, a total of 162 Unrwa employees had been killed since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war.
Updated
The father of an Israeli soldier killed during the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October said has called for a hostage deal to ensure his son’s body is returned home, reports Reuters.
Itay Chen was serving as a soldier when Hamas carried out its surprise cross-border rampage through southern Israeli towns and military bases, sparking the now five-month-old war in Gaza.
The dual US citizen was believed to be have been held hostage but the military confirmed Itay’s death on Tuesday.
“We know that they were in some sort of a battle and we lost contact with him, or the army lost contact with him, after a few hours,” Itay’s father, Ruby Chen, told Reuters. “The analysis after a couple of days was that he was kidnapped by Hamas. And he is still, as we speak, in Gaza.”
“Even though we were given intelligence that provides an understanding that Itay is not alive, we still need a hostage deal, because that’s the basic human requirement that I think any viewer can relate to, is that we want a funeral site,” he said.
Ruby Chen said the family had received a condolence call from US president Joe Biden, who earlier had made his own announcement about the 19-year-old’s death.
“It meant a lot to us to have him talk to us as a human being and talking about understanding pain and losing a loved one,” Chen said of the call. “I do not think we could have found a more friendly, compassionate, sympathetic administration than the Biden administration.”
More than 130 Israeli hostages are still being held in Gaza. Some have been declared dead in absentia by Israeli authorities. Ruby Chen appealed to Hamas to return Itay.
“As a father, as a parent, you want to have your son back and be able to mourn for him,” he said. “And I call to Hamas again – are you humans? Or do you wish to continue to cause suffering, just for the case of suffering?”
Aid ship, Open Arms, is expected to reach Gaza's shores tomorrow morning
The Gaza-bound aid ship, the Spanish-flagged Open Arms, which left Cyprus yesterday, is making steady progress towards the coastal strip. The Guardian has learned that the vessel, towing a barge with up to 200 tonnes of water, food and vital medicines, is expected to reach Gaza’s shores tomorrow morning – about 48 hours after it departed Larnaca, the Mediterranean island’s southern port.
The EU’s most south easterly member state, Cyprus is about 210 nautical miles away from the Palestinian territory.
The boat, whose journey is considered a pilot mission, is the first vessel to ply the newly opened humanitarian sea corridor established between Cyprus and the war-ravaged enclave.
All the actors involved – Cyprus, the EU, the United Arab Emirates, the US and UK – are expected to make a joint statement “on what comes next,” one well-placed insider told us.
“It should be released about 8pm local time,” said the source in Nicosia, the island’s capital. “It will make clear what the EU [and others] plan to do next.”
Updated
Further to an earlier report (10.19 GMT) that an Israeli drone strike on a car outside the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Wednesday had killed a member of Hamas from the nearby Palestinian camp of Rashidieh, the Israeli military have now confirmed it, reports Reuters.
The Israeli military confirmed it had killed Hadi Mustafa in southern Lebanon and called him a “significant” Hamas operative, alleging he was responsible for attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world.
Hamas’s Al Aqsa television said Mustafa was a leader of the group’s armed wing.
Updated
The Hamas-run government in Gaza said on Wednesday that sending an aid ship from Cyprus to the besieged territory was an inadequate response to the needs of its 2.4 million people, reports AFP.
“According to what was announced, the ship’s cargo does not exceed that of one or two trucks, and it will take days to arrive,” Salama Marouf, spokesperson for the government press office, said in a statement.
He said some logistical questions about the operation were unanswered and raised concerns about Israeli inspections. “It is still unknown where it will dock and how it will reach the shores of Gaza,” Marouf said. “Moreover, it will be subject to inspection by the occupying army.”
A former salvage vessel run by Spanish charity Open Arms set off from Cyprus early on Tuesday towing a barge loaded with 200 tonnes of aid in a trial run for the maritime corridor.
On Wednesday, reports AFP, the vessel had yet to complete the nearly 400 kilometre (250 mile) crossing of the eastern Mediterranean to Gaza, where US charity World Central Kitchen said work was under way to build a makeshift jetty.
Echoing a point made repeatedly by UN agencies in recent days, Marouf noted that a maritime aid corridor was far less efficient than overland routes, and called for international pressure on Israel to let aid trucks through its border crossings.
An average of 112 trucks a day have been able to enter Gaza since the first checkpoint, in Rafah on the border with Egypt, opened on 21 October, according to figures from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa). Before the war, nearly 500 trucks a day entered Gaza, humanitarian sources have told AFP.
Cumbersome Israeli security checks on all cargoes entering the territory slow down the process, and some trucks are sent back when they are found to contain forbidden items, aid workers say.
Israeli authorities say bottlenecks are caused by aid piling up on the Palestinian side as there are not enough trucks to distribute it.
Gaza’s dire food shortages after more than five months of war have resulted in 27 deaths from malnutrition and dehydration, most of them children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Eight NGOs urge UK to reconsider trade links with Israel in light of ICJ provisional findings on genocide
Patrick Wintour is the Guardian’s diplomatic editor
The UK should join the EU in considering whether to suspend its trade agreements with Israel in light of breaches of humanitarian law, a group of human rights NGOs including Amnesty International UK, Global Justice Now and ActionAid UK urged on Wednesday.
The intervention by the group of eight UK NGOs is one of the first times any question has been raised by campaigners over the future of UK-Israel trade relations. The UK and Israel late last month completed its fourth round of talks on a new free trade agreement, updating one signed in 1995, that will lift barriers in the areas of services innovation and digital trade.
The NGOs claim the UK has to review this stance in light of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) provisional findings that it is plausible that Israel is committing genocide. They argue that the ICJ has made clear in previous genocide rulings that signatories to the genocide convention such as the UK have a duty to help enforce the orders made against states, and in the case of Israel to prevent crimes against humanity.
They call for the suspension of “trade privileges, agreements and negotiations with Israel, particularly as these agreements are premised on upholding human rights and international law, and they involve trade, investment and cooperation with sectors of the Israeli economy involved in human rights and international humanitarian law violations”.
The NGOs argue “These are important points of leverage that the UK could and should utilise to try to bring an end to the ongoing serious violations of international law”.
The NGOs including Trade Justice Movement, War on Want, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights and Action for Humanity also asked what assessment had been made by the trade department in light of the ICJ’s interim ruling and the conduct of Israeli authorities since the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October.
Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now said:“We cannot maintain a normal trading relationship with a country which, according to the highest court in the world, is plausibly engaged in acts of genocide, most especially when that relationship places a focus on security, technology and even the military. The British government is complicit unless it takes all means at its disposal to end these war crimes.”
UK ministers said this week its legal advice remains that Israel is not in breach of international humanitarian law.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II has met today with Spain’s foreign minister José Manuel Albares Bueno.
In a message posted to social media, Jordan’s royal household said that during the meeting, the king “stressed that the tragic humanitarian conditions in Gaza require international action to prevent further deterioration”, adding that Jordan appreciated Spain’s position on resuming Unrwa funding, the two-state solution and in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
His Majesty King Abdullah II receives Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, in a meeting attended by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein, and stresses that the tragic humanitarian conditions in #Gaza require international action to prevent further deterioration pic.twitter.com/6bqTuX2tMR
— RHC (@RHCJO) March 13, 2024
Updated
British maritime security firm Ambrey has said it is aware of a missile-related sighting in the Gulf of Aden.
Reuters reports the security firm has advised vessels in the vicinity of Socotra “to minimise bridge manning and stop all crew deck movement”.
More details soon …
Turkey views the airdrop of humanitarian aid to Gaza and a plan to deliver aid via a maritime route as positive developments, but thinks they fall short of resolving the core problem, the foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Reuters reports foreign ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli told the media at a briefing in Ankara that Turkey had sent 9,000 tons of medical equipment and aid for infants, as well as many parachutes to Jordan for the airdrops, but added these were not enough to alleviate the struggle of Palestinian people in Gaza.
“We view the US searching for a solution to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza as the result of the pressure imposed on it by the global public. On the other hand, we say that the real source of the problem needs to be solved,” he said.
“Attempting to send aid via air, sea is admirable in a way. But focusing on such palliative solutions rather than focusing on the real issue seems, to us, as seeking to escape from the root of the issue,” he said
You can view the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, addressing the UN’s security council members in the video below. In it, Borrell tells the UN security council that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is ‘man-made’ and that starvation is being used as a tool of war.
Borrell also reiterated the EU’s condemnation of the Hamas attack that took place on 7 October and stressed Israel’s right to defend itself. But he said this must be done in full respect of international law and humanitarian law.
Updated
WFP say it has delivered its 'first successful' aid convoy to northern Gaza since 20 February
The World Food Programme (WFP) wrote on social media platform X on Tuesday that it had “delivered enough food for 25,000 people to Gaza City early Tuesday in [the] first successful convoy to the north since 20 February”.
“With people in northern Gaza on the brink of famine, we need deliveries every day, and we need entry points directly into the north,” it added.
𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 | WFP delivered enough food for 25,000 people to Gaza City early Tuesday in first successful convoy to the north since 20 February.
— WFP Media (@WFP_Media) March 12, 2024
With people in northern #Gaza on the brink of famine, we need deliveries every day + we need entry points directly into the north. pic.twitter.com/RGxymQXlR9
The Israeli army on Tuesday night announced a pilot project for delivering aid directly into the north, saying six WFP aid trucks had entered through a new crossing. The WFP did not specifically mention the new overland route in its post.
Israel has maintained strict control over supplies entering the Gaza Strip, and aid workers have blamed cumbersome screenings for the severity of the current shortages. Israel blames problems on the Palestinian side for inadequacies in aid delivery.
Irish artists including Soda Blonde and Mick Flannery have withdrawn from South by Southwest (SXSW) over opposition to the US army being a sponsor, citing US support for Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip, reports the Press Association (PA).
An Enterprise Ireland-led delegation is taking part in the arts festival, which is being held in Austin, Texas, this week. Culture minister Catherine Martin has said she will still go, despite the boycott by Irish artists.
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said it is “deeply disturbing” that the minister plans to attend the festival, while People Before Profit teachta dála (TD) Paul Murphy said it is “nothing short of shameful”.
Martin has said she respects musicians’ freedom of expression and will use the visit “to make clear her revulsion at the devastation that has been unleashed on Gaza”, reports the PA.
Kneecap member Mo Chara said the band’s decision to boycott the event was made after it emerged the US army is a “super” sponsor and that talks by companies which manufacture weapons are among the events.
“I think it was a no brainer once the information started coming to light, and we just made the decision, because it’s good to be on the right side of history as Irish people,” he said on RTÉ Radio.
“I was very, very proud to see a lot of bands follow suit and that the Irish people will always be in solidarity with the Palestinian people, said Chara. He added: “If I know my fans like I think I do, I think they’ll be very much supportive of our decision.”
Head of Unrwa says the number of children killed in Gaza over past four months is 'staggering'
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), said on Tuesday, that “the number of children reported killed in just over four months in Gaza is higher than the number of children killed in four years of wars around the world combined” and described it as “staggering”.
In a social media post on X, Lazzarini wrote: “This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future. Ceasefire now for the sake of children in Gaza.”
He also posted a chart that presented data from the UN and Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, which showed that more than 12,300 children were reported killed in Gaza between October 2023 and February 2024. This was compared to 12,193 children killed in four years of wars around the world combined, said Lazzarini.
Staggering. The number of children reported killed in just over 4 months in #Gaza is higher than the number of children killed in 4 years of wars around the world combined.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) March 12, 2024
This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future.#ceasefireNow for the… pic.twitter.com/tYwSNHecpy
Updated
Here are some of the latest images on the newswires:
88 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, says health ministry
The latest figures from the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 88 Palestinians were killed and 135 injured in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours.
According to the statement, at least 31,272 Palestinians have been killed and 73,024 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October.
The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
Hamas member killed in Israeli strike on car in south Lebanon, says Hamas source
An Israeli drone strike on a car outside the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Wednesday killed a member of Hamas from the nearby Palestinian camp of Rashidieh, a source from the faction told Reuters.
The source identified the member as Hadi Mustafa but said he was not a senior figure.
Two security sources said a Syrian man who was passing by on his motorcycle was also killed in the strike, after earlier saying that the two fatalities had been in Mustafa’s car.
All three sources said the drone, which they identified as Israeli, hovered in the air above the site of the strike for several minutes after it was carried out.
Hamas, the Palestinian faction which carried out a deadly incursion into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on 7 October, also has a political and military presence in Lebanon, largely based out of camps where Palestinian refugees have lived for decades.
Lebanese armed group Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in October in support of Hamas. Since then, Israel has been carrying out strikes in Lebanon, mostly confined to the border region but increasingly spreading farther north and east.
US officials are preparing for a pause on funding the main UN agency for Palestinians to become permanent due to opposition in Congress, even as the Biden administration insists the aid group’s humanitarian work is indispensable, reports Reuters.
The US, along with more than a dozen countries, suspended its funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa) in January after Israel accused 12 of the agency’s 13,000 employees in Gaza of participating in the deadly 7 October Hamas attack.
The UN has launched an investigation into the allegations, and Unrwa fired some staff after Israel provided the agency with information on the allegations.
The US – which is Unrwa’s largest donor, providing $300-$400m (£235-£313m) annually – said it wants to see the results of that inquiry and corrective measures taken before it will consider resuming funding.
Even if the pause is lifted, only about $300,000 (£234,735) – what is left of already appropriated funds – would be released to Unrwa. Anything further would require congressional approval.
Bipartisan opposition in Congress to funding Unrwa makes it unlikely the US will resume regular donations anytime soon, even as countries such as Sweden and Canada have said they will restart their contributions.
A supplemental funding bill in the US Congress that includes military aid to Israel and Ukraine and is supported by the Biden administration, contains a provision that would block Unrwa from receiving funds if it becomes law.
According to Reuters, US officials say they recognise “the critical role” Unrwa plays in distributing aid inside Gaza.
“We have to plan for the fact that Congress may make that pause permanent,” state department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday.
Washington has been looking at working with humanitarian partners on the ground, such as Unicef and the World Food Programme (WFP), to continue giving aid.
But officials are aware that Unrwa is hard to replace.
“There are other organisations that are now providing some distribution of aid inside Gaza, but that is primarily the role that Unrwa is equipped to play that no one else is due to their longstanding work and their networks of distribution and their history inside Gaza,” Miller said.
Updated
US citizen thought to have been taken hostage in Hamas attack reported dead
Joe Biden has said he was devastated to learn that a dual US-Israeli citizen thought kidnapped and held in Gaza had actually been killed during Hamas’ 7 October attack.
Itay Chen, 19, was about one year into his military service in the Israeli Armoured Corps when his base near the Gaza border was attacked.
On Tuesday the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that Chen, whose name is also spelled Hen, “fell on October 7” and his body taken to the Palestinian territory.
Biden, who had met Chen’s father and brother at the White House in December, expressed his condolences.
“Jill and I are devastated to learn that American Itay Chen was killed by Hamas during its brutal terrorist assault,” Biden said in a statement.
“I reaffirm my pledge to all the families of those still held hostage: we are with you. We will never stop working to bring your loved ones home.”
Palestinian citizen of Israel granted UK asylum in case said to be unprecedented
A Palestinian citizen of Israel has been granted asylum in the UK after claiming he would face persecution in his home country on the grounds of his race, his Muslim faith and his opinion that Israel “is governed by an apartheid regime”.
“Hasan”, whose real identity is not being disclosed for his own protection, has attended pro-Palestinian protests in the UK, and his lawyers also argued that his activism would place him at increased risk of hostile attention on his return.
His lawyers said on Tuesday they believed the Home Office decision was unprecedented in the case of a Palestinian who held an Israeli passport.
The 24-year-old is understood to have spent most of his life in the UK. He had claimed asylum to avoid being sent to Israel, and a first-tier tribunal hearing had been due to take place today. However, the Home Office unexpectedly caved in on Monday and granted Hasan asylum, so avoiding a hearing in which his legal team were intending to argue that Palestinian citizens of Israel were unsafe, and in particular those that were willing to speak out.
It was Hasan’s belief, his lawyers said, that Israel was governed by “an apartheid regime that engages in systematic and pervasive discrimination, persecution and violence touching on all aspects of Palestinian life”.
You can read Dan Sabbagh’s full piece here:
Germany joins operation to airdrop aid into Gaza
Germany said on Wednesday it was joining an air bridge operation along with several other countries to drop desperately needed humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, reports AFP.
The operation, initiated by Jordan, already has the participation of several other countries including France and the US.
The defence ministry said it would deploy the German part of a joint German-French air transport squadron to participate in the mission. The team is equipped with C-130J Hercules transport planes, said the ministry, adding that Germany’s operation could begin as soon as the end of this week.
“The people in Gaza are lacking the most basic necessities. We want to do our part to ensure that they get access to food and medicine,” said defence minister Boris Pistorius.
After one parachuted airdrop turned lethal on 8 March, the minister sought to allay fears. “The truth is that airdrops are not without danger. The crews responsible are trained for the relevant procedures and highly experienced,” he said.
Israeli forces kill two Palestinians in West Bank raid after deadly night
Violent clashes overnight have left multiple Palestinians dead in the West Bank, and Israeli police say a Palestinian stabbed and wounded two people at a checkpoint near Jerusalem before being shot on Wednesday, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Reuters reported that Israeli forces killed two Palestinians during a raid in the occupied West Bank early on Wednesday, citing the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, bringing to five the number of Palestinians killed in different incidents within several hours.
According to Reuters, a witness, Yousef Nimer, said that Israeli forces began firing at people he was sitting with outside a hospital in the city of Jenin as they were finishing Suhur, the final meal before sunrise during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
“I told them, look, there is something coming towards us. We ran away, then a sniper started to shoot at us. Some crawled and some ran away. The people who ran away got injured and those who crawled were saved,” said Nimer, who was wounded in the incident and pointed to a hole he said had been made by a bullet in one of the hospital’s walls.
In a separate incident on Wednesday, Israeli police said an armed civilian guard shot and “neutralised” a suspect in a stabbing attack at a military checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Reuters said the condition of the suspect, whom police identified as a 15-year-old Palestinian, was not immediately clear. Israel’s ambulance service said two security personnel who sustained mild to moderate stab wounds had been taken to hospital.
Israeli forces shot dead a 13-year-old Palestinian from a refugee camp on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Tuesday night, and killed two others at a checkpoint, Israeli police said. The police said the boy was shot after aiming fireworks at forces stationed in an observation post.
In the checkpoint incident, the police said five people were seen igniting explosives and intending to hurl them at the road, prompting Israeli forces to open fire and arrest the suspects. It did not confirm any deaths and said there were no casualties among its ranks.
Israel has stepped up raids in the West Bank since the Gaza war began in October. UN records show at least 358 people in the Palestinian territory have been killed since 7 October, a quarter of them children.
Israeli-Palestinian tensions often soar during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on Sunday, over access to a major holy site in Jerusalem.
Updated
Hunger being used as a 'war arm' in Gaza, says EU foreign affairs chief
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell criticised the lack of aid entering Gaza as a “manmade” disaster on Tuesday, telling the UN security council that hunger was being used as a “war arm”, reports AFP.
“This humanitarian crisis … is not a natural disaster, is not a flood, is not an earthquake, it is manmade,” said Borrell at UN headquarters in New York.
The EU official has repeatedly criticised Israel over its conduct during the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
With aid entering Gaza by land far below prewar levels and relief agencies warning of famine, foreign governments have turned to airdrops and are also trying to set up a maritime aid corridor.
“When we look for alternative ways of providing support, by sea or by air, we have to remind that we have to do it because the natural way of providing support through roads is being closed, artificially closed,” said Borrell, a former Spanish minister.
“Starvation is being used as a war arm,” he said, adding that “when we condemn this happening in Ukraine, we have to use the same words of what’s happening in Gaza.”
Updated
Four US army vessels departed a base in Virginia on Tuesday carrying about 100 soldiers and equipment needed to build a temporary port on Gaza’s coast to facilitate aid shipments, reports AFP.
The new facility – which will consist of an offshore platform and a pier to bring aid ashore – is expected to be up and running “at the 60-day mark”, US army Brig Gen Brad Hinson told journalists.
Aid groups have been warning of the risk of famine in besieged Gaza for weeks, and the UN has reported particular difficulty in accessing the territory’s north for deliveries of food and other humanitarian supplies.
Spanish ship en route to Gaza with desperately needed aid
A Spanish aid boat was en route to Gaza on Wednesday, opening a new maritime corridor intended to allow deliveries of desperately needed food to the Palestinian territory ravaged by months of war between Israel and Hamas, reports AFP.
In a sign of worsening humanitarian conditions, the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry says 27 people have died of malnutrition and dehydration, most of them children.
A weeks-long diplomatic push had sought to bring about a ceasefire and increase aid deliveries before the start of the holy month of Ramadan, but key mediator Qatar said on Tuesday that the warring sides were not close to striking a deal.
With land shipments into the territory severely curtailed, the international community has sought to diversify routes for delivering aid, including via airdrops and the new Cyprus maritime corridor.
According to AFP, the Open Arms ship that left the port of Larnaca on Tuesday is towing 200 tonnes of relief goods roughly 400 kilometres (250 miles) across the Mediterranean to Gaza, with US charity World Central Kitchen saying work was “under way” on a jetty to unload the shipment.
Cyprus said a second vessel was also being prepared.
Palestinian boy killed by Israeli police during clashes in East Jerusalem
A Palestinian boy has died after being shot by Israeli border police at a refugee camp in East Jerusalem in the first such fatality in the Israeli-annexed territory during Ramadan.
The child – who was variously reported as being 12 or 13 years old and named as Rami Hamdan al-Halhouli by local media – suffered a fatal gunshot wound during clashes between residents of the Shuafat refugee camp and police.
In a statement, Israeli border police said violent riots broke out in the camp for the second consecutive night and that during the unrest, a single shot was fired by an officer towards a suspect “who endangered the forces while firing aerial fireworks in their direction”.
“The suspect was apprehended, arrested, and transferred for medical treatment,” the statement said. Police later told the AFP news agency that the boy had died from his wounds.
Images on social media showed teenagers launching fireworks in narrow streets in Shuafat amid clouds of teargas. The Palestinian Red Crescent said it treated five people wounded by Israeli fire.
Israel’s border police units were already deployed in the camp, which sits between East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Ben Gvir, Israel’s far-right minister of national security, said he backed the police and saluted the officer who fired the fatal shot. “This is exactly how you should act against terrorists – with determination and precision,” he said.
You can read Jason Burke’s full article here:
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Opening summary
It has just gone 9.30am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. This is our latest Guardian live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has criticised the lack of aid entering Gaza as a “manmade” disaster, telling the UN security council that hunger was being used as a “war arm”.
“This humanitarian crisis … is not a natural disaster, is not a flood, is not an earthquake, it is manmade,” said Borrell at UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The EU official has repeatedly criticised Israel over its conduct during the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
“Starvation is being used as a war arm,” he said, adding that “when we condemn this happening in Ukraine, we have to use the same words of what’s happening in Gaza.”
More on that story in a moment, but first, here are the other latest developments:
A Palestinian boy has been killed by Israeli border police at a refugee camp in East Jerusalem in the first such fatality in the Israeli-annexed territory during Ramadan. The child – who was variously reported as being 12 or 13 years old and named as Rami Hamdan al-Halhouli by local media – suffered a fatal gunshot wound during clashes between residents of the Shuafat refugee camp and police.
A Spanish aid ship was en route to Gaza on Wednesday, opening a new maritime corridor intended to allow deliveries of desperately needed food. In a sign of worsening humanitarian conditions, the territory’s health ministry says 27 people have died of malnutrition and dehydration, most of them children.
The US may urge partners and allies to fund a privately run operation to send aid by sea to Gaza that could begin before a much larger US military effort, three people familiar with the planning and a US official told Reuters. If funding is secured, the plan could bring ashore large amounts of aid in a matter of weeks and could be faster than the US military’s floating pier system that the Pentagon says could take up to 60 days to become operational.
More children have been reported killed in the war raging in Gaza than in four years of conflict around the world, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Tuesday. “Staggering. The number of children reported killed in just over 4 months in Gaza is higher than the number of children killed in 4 years of wars around the world combined,” Philippe Lazzarini said on X. UN numbers figures show that 12,193 children were killed in conflicts worldwide between 2019 and 2022.
Fresh bombardments could be heard in southern Gaza, an AFP journalist said early on Wednesday, and the territory’s health ministry reported another 70 people killed in overnight strikes.
EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, warned that the starvation of people in Gaza cannot be allowed to happen, amid reports of children dying of malnutrition and mothers giving birth to underweight babies because of a lack of food. “The situation on the ground is more dramatic than ever, and it has reached a tipping point. We have all seen the reports of children dying of starvation. This cannot be,” she told the European parliament in an address.
Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon killed two people on Tuesday, a security source said, in escalating tit-for-tat fire with the powerful Hezbollah group that has raised fears of spiralling violence. A Lebanese security source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, said two people were killed and 12 others wounded in the latest strikes. The raids destroyed a building in Sarain, less than 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Baalbek, a key Hezbollah bastion near Lebanon’s border with Syria, while another hit a building in the nearby town of Nabi Sheet, the source added.
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