Closing summary
In Nasser hospital, southern Gaza’s main health facility, authorities are reported to have recovered a further 35 bodies in the past day from what they say is one of at least three mass graves found at the site, taking the total found there to 310 in the past week.
UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “horrified” by the destruction of the Nasser and al-Shifa medical facilities in Gaza and the reports of mass graves discovered there. Turk, addressing a UN briefing via a spokesperson, also decried Israeli strikes on Gaza in recent days, which he said have killed mostly women and children. He also repeated a warning against a full-scale incursion on Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, where more than 1 million people are sheltering, saying this could lead to “further atrocity crimes”.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it had launched a drone attack against Israeli military bases north of the city of Acre, in its deepest strike into Israeli territory since Israel’s war in Gaza began in October. The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of any of its facilities being hit by Hezbollah, but had said earlier on Tuesday that it intercepted two “aerial targets” off Israel’s northern coast. Hezbollah said it acted in retaliation for an earlier Israeli attack killing one of its fighters.
Israel bombarded northern Gaza overnight in some of the heaviest shelling in weeks, residents said. Shelling was intense east of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia and continued on Tuesday morning in areas such as Zeitoun, one of Gaza City’s oldest suburbs, with residents reporting at least 10 strikes in a matter of seconds along the main road. Just west of Beit Hanoun in Beit Lahiya, medics and Hamas media said strikes had hit a mosque and a crowd gathering on the coastal road to collect aid dropped from the air.
At least 34,183 Palestinian people have been killed and 77,143 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement.
Qatar said there was no reason to end the presence of an office for Hamas in Doha while its mediation efforts continued amid Israel’s war in Gaza. It came after the US state department said Hamas “moved the goalpost” and changed its demands in negotiations with Israel. But it’s not clear what exactly has shifted in the details of the talks, which are being mediated by Egypt and Qatar.
A Palestinian rights group’s legal challenge to try to stop British arms exports to Israel over allegations of breaches of international law in the war in Gaza will be heard in October at London’s high court, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
We are closing this blog now, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here.
Updated
The high court has granted permission for a judicial review hearing challenging the UK government’s decision to continue granting arms to Israel which organisations say risk being used in violation of international law in Gaza.
The legal challenge against the UK Department for Business and Trade by the Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq and the UK-based Global Legal Action Network (Glan) has been revived after the court first dismissed the case urging the suspension of UK arms sales to Israel in February.
The organisations, who first launched the case in December, made their case for a judicial review of the government’s arms sales in a “rolled-up” hearing at the high court in London on Tuesday. The hearing of the legal challenge will take place in early October.
Speaking before the court, Victoria Wakefield KC for Al-Haq mentioned the “strength of feeling” of those she represents, citing the overwhelming scale of civilian harm in Gaza, the catastrophic food insecurity and ground offensive in Rafah. More than 34,000 Palestinians – mostly civilians – have been killed during Israel’s military campaign, which was sparked by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7 October.
“Its frankly difficult to conceive,” said Wakefield. “The bodies are mounting up and it will get worse and worse and worse.”
The case comes as the UK government faces ongoing pressure to disclose the official legal advice on the government’s reasoning for continuing to export arms to Israel. Earlier this month, more than 600 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges warned that the UK government is breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel.
In January, court documents revealed that Foreign Office legal advisers were unable to conclude that Israel was in compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL) in its bombardment of Gaza. On 18 December, the government decided to continue arms sales licenses despite serious concerns expressed by Foreign Office officials about aspects of the Israeli assault against Hamas.
Since 18 December, there have been 5 legal assessments of the situation in Gaza. Court documents reveal that a new decision was made on 8 April, with the decision to continue arms sales licenses.
In written submissions, Sir James Eadie KC for the secretary of state for Business and Trade said the issues have been considered “with conspicuous care and thoroughness”.
“The secretary of state’s position is that those decisions have at all times been lawful and, in particular, rational,” said Eadie.
Glan said that “in a last-minute strategic shift” the government refrained from asking the Court to find the claim is inarguable, and argued that relevant documents can only be shared in closed, secret proceedings due to national security.
“The UK government has stretched legal reasoning to the point of absurdity in order to arm a country that is committing grave violations of international humanitarian law,” said Dearbhla Minogue, a senior lawyer at Glan after the hearing.
“The government seems to be making this process as painstakingly slow as possible. Given the urgency of the situation in Gaza the government should listen to the international legal consensus and halt weapons sales now.”
