Summary of the day …
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will enter the city of Rafah in southern Gaza to eliminate Hamas, with or without a ceasefire and hostage release deal. He added that the notion of ending the war before Israel has reached its objectives is not an option.
Hamas officials have left Cairo after talks with Egyptian officials on a new ceasefire proposal in Gaza, according to Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News satellite channel. The channel, which has close ties with Egyptian security agencies, said a Hamas delegation will return to Cairo with a written response to the ceasefire proposal, without saying when. Israeli media has reported that Israel will not be sending a delegation to Cairo for ceasefire talks until it has a reply from Hamas on the latest proposal.
The UK’s deputy foreign secretary, Andrew Mitchell, has told lawmakers in parliament in London that in the present circumstances, it was “not easy to see” how an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip could be “compliant with international humanitarian law”.
The top UN court has rejected a request by Nicaragua to order Germany to halt military and other aid to Israel and to renew funding to the UN aid agency in Gaza. The International Court of Justice said that legal conditions for making such an order weren’t met. However, it did not throw out the case entirely, as Germany had requested. The court said it remained deeply concerned about conditions in Gaza.
More than 34,535 Palestinians have been killed and 77,704 have been wounded during the Israeli military offensive in Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-led Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. The Gaza Civil Emergency Service has estimated that the bodies of a further 10,000 Palestinians were under the rubble of hundreds of destroyed buildings. It said those figures had not been included in the updated health ministry death toll, which only registers bodies that are taken to hospitals.
An Israeli police officer has been “moderately wounded” in a stabbing incident in near Herod’s Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City. The suspect, believed to be a Turkish national who had entered Israel as a tourist, was shot and killed.
Unrwa commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini has said that Unrwa staff who have been interrogated by Israeli security forces are being “pressured to state that the agency is politically affiliated”.
In the wider region, it has been announced that Rafael Mariano Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will visit Iran on 6-8 May.
UN court rejects Nicaragua case over German arms exports to Israel
The top UN court has rejected a request by Nicaragua to order Germany to halt military and other aid to Israel and to renew funding to the UN aid agency in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice said that legal conditions for making such an order weren’t met. However, it did not throw out the case entirely, as Germany had requested.
The court said it remained deeply concerned about conditions in Gaza.
Nicaragua had alleged that Germany is enabling genocide by sending arms and other support to Israel. The Central American country established direct diplomatic relations with Palestine in 1980.
The ICJ has ruled against issuing emergency measures over Germany’s arms exports to Israel.
More details soon …
If you are interested in finding out more about the crisis in the Middle East and the Guardian’s reporting on it, we have an event later today which might help.
Guardian Newsroom: Crisis in the Middle East is a livestreamed event which will be chaired by Devika Bhat, the Guardian’s deputy head of international news, and will feature contributions from Peter Beaumont, the Guardian’s senior international reporter, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Guardian reporter, and Emma Graham-Harrison, senior international affairs correspondent.
The event takes place on Tuesday 30 April 2024, from 7pm-8:15pm BST. You can book tickets online, and find out more details here …
Here is a video report on the blockading of Columbia University in New York by students protesting about Israel’s war in Gaza.
UK deputy foreign secretary: 'not easy to see' how Israeli offensive on Rafah could be compliant with international humanitarian law
The UK’s deputy foreign secretary, Andrew Mitchell, has told lawmakers in parliament in London that in the present circumstances, it was “not easy to see” how an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip could be “compliant with international humanitarian law”.
Answering a question about the prospect of Israel launching a ground assault on Rafah, where an estimated 1.5 million people are sheltering, Mitchell said:
Given the number of civilians sheltering in Rafah, it’s not easy to see how such an offensive could be compliant with international humanitarian law in the current circumstances.
He said the British government was doing everything it could to prevent an assault on Rafah while it was sheltering civilians.
Mitchell reiterated the words of the foreign secretary, David Cameron, yesterday, telling MPs that “Hamas should accept the deal that has been put on the table”, while accepting that “these negotiations are fluid at the moment”.
Shadow foreign secretary, the opposition Labour MP David Lammy, said:
More than 30,000 Palestinians are dead, more than 100 Israeli hostages are still unaccounted for and Gaza is facing famine. The war must end now with an immediate ceasefire; that needs both sides to agree.
It was Hamas, not Israel, which rejected the last internationally brokered ceasefire deal. Now a new offer is on the table. Hamas has the power now to stop the fighting.
Updated
Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported that ten people have been detained by Israeli security forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank during raids today.
The vehicle of a member of German diplomatic staff was hit by stones thrown by crowds during his visit to University of Birzeit north of Ramallah, Haaretz reports.
רכב של האיחוד האירופי מותקף באוניברסיטת ביר זית שמצפון לרמאללה, היום. שימוש לפי סעיף 27 א' pic.twitter.com/3Nz0DcpeCX
— הארץ חדשות (@haaretznewsvid) April 30, 2024
Updated
Israeli police said today that a Turkish national stabbed an Israeli border policeman officer in Jerusalem and was then shot dead by officers, Reuters reported.
The Israeli prime minister’s office has shared his comments on Rafah.
Prime Minister Netanyahu:
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) April 30, 2024
"The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question. We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there – with or without a deal, in order to achieve the total victory." pic.twitter.com/1d7SCYWJIP
Haaretz reports that Netanyahu made the comments during a meeting with representatives of hostage families, and quotes him saying “the idea that we will end the war before achieving all of our objectives is unacceptable. We will enter Rafah and obliterate all the Hamas battalions there – with or without a deal, to achieve total victory.”
Netanyahu: Israel will enter Rafah with or without deal
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will enter the city of Rafah in southern Gaza to eliminate Hamas, with or without a ceasefire and hostage release deal. He added that the notion of ending the war before Israel has reached its objectives is not an option.
More details soon …
Unrwa commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini has said that Unrwa staff who have been interrogated by Israeli security forces are being “pressured to state that the agency is politically affiliated”.
He also said that people in Gaza who had been denied by Israel had been subjected to “inhumane treatment” by Israeli forces.
He said:
People have told us that they … were routinely rounded up, stripped to their underwear and loaded into trucks, blindfolded, and bombed. Most of the time, once arrested, these detainees remain incommunicado and they are subjected to shocking inhumane treatment. They have described to us waterboarding, severe beatings, attacks by dogs, being forced to hold stress positions for hours, sometimes 12 hours, 24 hours, and being forced to wear a diaper instead of accessing the toilet.
Israel has repeatedly denied that it acts outside international humanitarian law.
Unrwa commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini has again criticised Israel for the way it is handling the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, and denied Israeli claims that it is UN and NGO logisitics that are holding it up.
He said “Whenever we ask for a convoy going from the south to the north, our convoys are systematically denied. So we still have no access. Whenever permission is given to deliver anywhere else in the strip, the process is always complicated and very cumbersome.”
The Unrwa commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini, in a press conference in Geneva has said “there is a extraordinary deep anxiety prevailing right now in Gaza, because the question everybody is asking is whether yes or no there would be a military offensive.”
He said his colleagues on the ground have not been asked to evacuate from Rafah yet, but that anticipate it will happen soon if there was no ceasefire agreement.
Lazzarini said his colleagues described the people in Gaza as not so much suffering from the condition not of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) as what they call CTSD or “continuous traumatic stress disorder”.
He reported there is more food in the market in northern Gaza, but there is no cash circulating and still a “looming famine” there.
Philippe Lazzarini of Unrwa has begun his delayed press conference.
Israeli media is reporting that an Israeli police officer has been “moderately wounded” in a stabbing incident in near Herod’s Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City. The suspect was shot and killed.
A police source has told Haaretz that the suspect “is a Turkish citizen who arrived in Israel in the last 72 hours, most likely as a tourist”.
More details soon …
In issuing new casualty figures earlier this morning of 34,535 Palestinians killed and 77,704 wounded, the Hamas-led health ministry in the territory said that Israeli military strikes across Gaza in the past 24 hours killed 47 people and wounded 61.
In addition, Reuters reports, the Gaza Civil Emergency Service estimated that the bodies of a further 10,000 Palestinians were under the rubble of hundreds of destroyed buildings.
It said those figures had not been included in the updated health ministry death toll, which only registers bodies that are taken to hospitals.
“In light of the lack of heavy equipment, efforts to search for the bodies of the martyrs will remain insufficient and will not be enough to recover the bodies of thousands of them,” it said.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini is about to give a press conference about the situation in Gaza. You can watch it here.
Representatives of Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah made “encouraging progress” in recent talks in the Chinese capital on promoting reconciliation, China’s foreign ministry said Tuesday.
AP reports ministry spokesperson Lin Jian gave few details at a daily briefing, saying the two groups were invited by China and “recently came to Beijing to have an in-depth and candid dialogue on promoting Palestinian reconciliation.”
Lin said “The sides agreed to continue this dialogue process so as to achieve Palestinian solidarity and unity at an early date. They highly appreciated China’s firm support for the just cause of the Palestinian people in restoring their legitimate national rights, thanked the Chinese side for its efforts to help strengthen Palestinian internal unity and reached an agreement on ideas for future dialogue.”
The Hamas 2007 takeover of Gaza ended a brief unity government between the two groups. China recognised Palestine as a state in November 1988.
The Times of Israel reports that an unnamed Israeli official has told it that Israel will not be sending a delegation to Cairo for ceasefire talks until it has a reply from Hamas on the latest proposal.
It quotes the official saying “We will wait for answers on Wednesday night and then decide.”
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that seven Palestinians have been killed and 32 injured by Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip today, saying the strikes occurred in Nuseirat refugee camp and in the Gaza City neighbourhood of Zaitoun.
It also notes that “search and rescue teams recovered six decomposed bodies from al-Amal neighbourhood, west of Khan Younis, as search operations are still underway to recover other bodies from under the rubble.”
It reports “at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.”
The claims have not been independently verified. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Al Jazeera is carrying a quote from Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan. It quotes him saying:
It’s clear from the Israeli paper that they are still insisting on two major issue: they don’t want a complete ceasefire and they are not talking – in a serious way – about the withdrawal from Gaza. In fact, they are still talking about their presence, which means they will continue to occupy Gaza. We have serious questions for the mediators. If there are positive answers, I think we can move forward.
Hamas delegation reported to have left Cairo after ceasefire talks
Associated Press reports that Hamas officials have left Cairo after talks with Egyptian officials on a new ceasefire proposal in Gaza, according to Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News satellite channel.
The channel, which has close ties with Egyptian security agencies, said a Hamas delegation will return to Cairo with a written response to the ceasefire proposal, without saying when.
While details of the proposed deal have not been made public in full, it is thought the outline involves Hamas initially returning between 30 and 40 vulnerable hostages including women, children and those aged over 50, and Israel releasing scores of Palestinian detainees, accompanied by a pause in fighting for forty days.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with far-right interior security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir later today. Ben-Gvir is thought to be against a deal and in favour of Israel’s military launching an assault on Rafah instead.
Updated
More than 34,535 Palestinians have been killed and 77,704 have been wounded during the Israeli military offensive in Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-led Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
In addition, in an update last week, the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said that since 7 October “469 Palestinians have been killed and 4,974 injured in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with at least one-third of the injuries sustained by live ammunition”. The figure includes people killed by Israeli security forces and Israeli settlers.
During the same period, Israel says that 263 of its troops have been killed and 1,592 wounded in battle inside the Gaza Strip.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us from Gaza over the news wires.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has left Saudi Arabia and is next headed to Jordan, where he will meet King Abdullah II and foreign minister Ayman Safadi as well as the UN humanitarian aid and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag. Blinken will head to Israel later in the day.
In the US, protesting students at Columbia University have occupied one of the campus buildings, Hamilton Hall. Social media pictures appear to show they have hung a sign from the window renaming it Hind’s Hall, after 6-year-old Hind Rajab.
In February, Rajab was found dead inside a car surrounded by her dead relatives in the Tel al-Hawa area of Gaza City days after an ambulance crew had been dispatched to her aid after she had managed to make a phone call pleading for help.
In a statement posted to social media by the protest group, they say:
Columbia community members took back Hamilton Hall just after midnight. This escalation represents the next generation of the 1968, 1985, and 1992 student movements which Columbia once repressed yet celebrates today.
Protesters have voiced their intention to remain at Hind’s Hall until Columbia concedes to Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD)’s three demands: divestment, financial transparency, and amnesty. We reiterate that CUAD’s encampment is a peaceful form of protest as demonstrated over the last 12 days.
Hebrew language news site Ynet is reporting that far-right interior security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is set to meet prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu later today. Alongside finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, Ben-Gvir is believed to be opposed to a hostage release deal, instead favouring a ground offensive on Rafah. Ben-Gvir is recovering from a car crash on Friday in which he sustained broken ribs.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that a worker has been killed in the town of al-Dhaheriya, south of Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, after being “detained and assaulted” by Israeli security forces.
In its latest operational update, Israel’s military has claimed to have killed “numerous terrorists” in the central Gaza Strip, as well as destroying “operational tunnel shafts, an anti-tank missile launch post and terror infrastructure.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
Biden urges Egypt and Qatar to ‘exert all efforts’ over release of Israeli hostages as part of ceasefire talks
Welcome to our latest blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis. I am Martin Belam and I will be with you for the next while.
US President Joe Biden has urged the leaders of Egypt and Qatar to “exert all efforts” towards securing the release of hostages held by Hamas as part of negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire, the White House said.
Biden made the request in phone calls to the leaders saying that the release of hostages is “now the only obstacle to an immediate ceasefire and relief for the people of Gaza,” the White House said.
It comes as Hamas studies Israel’s offer of a 40-day truce in the war in exchange for the release of scores of hostages.
Returning to Qatar after the latest talks in Cairo, the Hamas delegation said it would “discuss the ideas and the proposal … we are keen to respond as quickly as possible,” a Hamas source told Agence France-Presse on condition of anonymity.
Washington, Doha and Cairo have been mediating for months to achieve a truce in Gaza which has endured relentless bombing by Israel in response to the deadly attack by Hamas against Israel on 7 October.
Representatives from Egypt, Qatar and Hamas met Monday in Cairo, with the Palestinian group expected to respond to a proposal for a second truce in Gaza, coupled with a fresh release of hostages.
More on that in a moment but first, here’s a summary of the latest developments:
The US secretary of state Antony Blinken has said that “the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire” is Hamas, ahead of what are seen as last-chance talks to salvage a diplomatic solution before a threatened Israeli ground invasion in Rafah. Speaking at a World Economic Forum meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday, Antony Blinken said: “Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel. “They have to decide and they have to decide quickly … I’m hopeful that they will make the right decision and we can have a fundamental change in the dynamic.”
The British foreign secretary David Cameron has urged Hamas to agree to a deal for a sustained 40-day ceasefire in Gaza and the release of potentially thousands of hostages and prisoners. The foreign secretary also challenged Arab states to accept that the Hamas military leadership responsible for the attack on 7 October must leave Gaza.
Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry said on Monday that his country was hopeful about a proposal for a truce and hostage release in the Gaza Strip. France’s foreign minister Stéphane Séjourné, visiting the region, said “Things are moving forward but you always have to be careful in these discussions and negotiations. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic and we need a ceasefire.
At least 34,488 Palestinians have been killed and 77,643 were injured during Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, a statement by Gaza’s Hamas-led health ministry said on Monday. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israeli airstrikes killed dozens of Palestinians on Monday, reports Reuters. Bombs hit three houses in Rafah and in Gaza City, in the north of the strip, Israeli warplanes struck two houses, killing at least six people and wounding several others, health officials said. With nightfall, an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed three Palestinians, including a journalist and medics, Hamas media said.
The armed wing of the Hamas-allied Islamic Jihad said it fired rockets into Israel on Monday, signalling the group was still able to launch rocket attacks after nearly seven months of the Israeli air and ground offensive.
The US military has released pictures it says show that a pier to help bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip is now under construction. The images show what appears to be a large metal construction with workers in military uniform dotted along the floating platforms. The US central command posted the images on X saying “pier-building begins” and that “construction of the floating JLOTS pier in the Mediterranean is underway”. JLOTS stands for Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore.
Updated
