Closing summary
In the UK, Keir Starmer, the Labour party leader, said the “fighting must stop now” in Gaza, warning Israel not to extend its military offensive to the southern city of Rafah.
Israel formalised its opposition to what it called the “unilateral recognition” of Palestinian statehood, and said any such agreement must be reached through direct negotiations. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, brought the “declaratory decision” to a vote in cabinet, which unanimously approved the measure, according to a statement.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the situation in the Israel-occupied West Bank posed a major obstacle to finding a long-term solution for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
A total of 28,985 Palestinian people have been killed and 68,883 others injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement. At least 127 Palestinians have been killed and 205 others injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in Gaza is no longer functioning due to the Israeli army’s “week-long siege followed by the ongoing raid”. The Gaza Strip’s second-largest hospital still sheltered many patients suffering from war wounds and Gaza’s worsening health crisis, but there was no power and not enough staff to treat them all, health officials said. “It’s gone completely out of service,” Gaza health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra told Reuters. “There are only four medical teams – 25 staff – currently caring for patients inside the facility,” he said.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it killed dozens of Palestinian militants and seized a large amount of weapons in fighting throughout the Gaza Strip over the past day.
The UN security council is likely to vote on Tuesday on an Algerian push to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza, diplomats told Reuters.
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Earlier on Sunday, Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, also condemned the suspension of humanitarian aid to the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), urging an investigation into errors without cutting off funding to help those affected by what he called a “genocide.”
The agency is facing a financial strain after a number of donors suspended funding to UNRWA after the Israeli government alleged that as many as 12 of its staff members were involved in the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 Israelis.
UNRWA is the only UN agency that is mandated to work in Gaza to distribute aid to the two million people currently trapped and starving in the besieged enclave. With 40,000 staff, including 13,000 in Gaza, it is facing a funding shortfall after the exodus of donors.
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