Key events
US says it rejects Israeli efforts to ‘starve’ Palestinians in northern Gaza – video
The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, has said the US “rejects any Israeli efforts to starve Palestinians in Jabaliya or anywhere else” and called on the Netanyahu government to tackle the “catastrophic humanitarian crisis” in Gaza.
You can listen to Thomas-Greenfield’s comments in the below video:
The UK Foreign Office (FCDO) has said “the Israeli government must let more aid in now” in reaction to the decision by Israel’s Knesset on Monday to ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa).
An FCDO spokesperson said on Tuesday:
This sobering report makes clear the stark reality that many people are facing the risk of famine. Access to basic services is becoming harder by the day. This dire situation cannot continue.
The UK government is playing a leading role in providing humanitarian funding, but aid is still not reaching those in need. The world will not tolerate any more excuses on humanitarian assistance – the Israeli government must let more aid in now.”
Opening summary
Israeli tanks entered the outskirts of the Lebanese village of Khiam in their deepest incursion yet into southern Lebanon in their ground operation, Lebanese media reported, while the health ministry said at least 14 people were killed in Israeli strikes on the south.
The official National News Agency on Tuesday reported the entry of a “large number” of Israeli tanks into the eastern outskirts of the town of Khiam, about 6km from the border with Israel.
It said Israeli forces carried out a series of air attacks on Khiam later on Tuesday and launched a large-scale sweep “using heavy and medium weaponry”, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Hezbollah said it destroyed two tanks using guided missiles and targeted Israeli troops south and south-west of Khiam with rockets and artillery.
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on the town of Sarafand in south Lebanon killed at least eight people, the Lebanese health ministry said late on Tuesday. It also reported six dead in an earlier strike on Haret Saida near the main southern city of Sidon.
In other developments:
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At least 93 Palestinians were killed or missing and dozens injured in an Israeli strike on a crowded block of flats in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, the Gaza health ministry said on Tuesday. The US state department called the incident “horrifying”. Medics said at least 20 children were among the dead. “A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defence crews cannot reach them,” the health ministry said.
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Israel is not addressing the “catastrophic humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, the US envoy to the United Nations told the UN security council. Linda Thomas-Greenfield’s remarks on Tuesday came as a Washington-imposed deadline looms for Israel to improve the situation on the ground in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid.
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Four Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in northern Gaza, with one officer severely injured, the Israeli military said. Separately, the military said another soldier died from wounds sustained in battle in southern Lebanon, bringing the total number of Israeli soldiers killed since October last year to 777.
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The UN said that if Israel put in place new laws cutting ties with the UN Palestinian relief agency Unrwa, the Israeli government would have to meet their needs under international law. Secretary general António Guterres said Unrwa would be prevented from doing work mandated by the UN general assembly if Israel implemented the laws, and called on it “to act consistently with its obligations”. He wrote in a letter to Benjamin Netanyahu about the “devastating impact” on Palestinians in the occupied territories if the legislation was implemented, the UN chief’s spokesperson said. The World Health Organization head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the Israeli parliament’s decision was “intolerable” and would have “devastating consequences”.
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Norway said it would seek clarification from the international court of justice over Israel’s aid obligations after the Israeli vote on Unrwa. The Israeli UN ambassador said Israel would facilitate humanitarian aid in Gaza but asserted that “Unrwa has failed in its mandate and is no longer the right agency for this job”.
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Two senior advisers to the US president, Joe Biden, will arrive in Israel on Thursday to try to close a deal that would end the war in Lebanon, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing three unidentified sources. The US news website quoted Israeli and US officials as saying the deal to end Israel-Hezbollah fighting could be achieved within a few weeks.
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At least 43,061 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and 101,223 injured in Israeli airstrikes since last October, according to the latest figures from the territory’s health ministry on Tuesday.
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The UN’s World Food Programme called for immediate action to avert famine in northern Gaza. It said north Gaza “continues to deteriorate, the likelihood of a larger group being impacted by famine will surely increase”. In Gaza’s two northern governorates, where about 300,000 people remain trapped, famine was expected to arrive between now and May.
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Hezbollah has elected its deputy secretary general, Sheikh Naim Qassem, as its new head, ending a month-long vacuum after the Lebanese militant group’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed by Israel. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, warned that Qassem’s appointment was “not for long”.
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A senior Hamas official has said the group is “open to any deal or ideas” from mediators to end the war in Gaza but insisted that these should include a complete Israeli military withdrawal from the Palestinian territory. The remarks from Sami Abu Zuhri, do not signal a change from Hamas’s outstanding conditions. Netanyahu has said the war can only end when Hamas is eradicated.
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Austria’s chancellor, Karl Nehammer, condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the “very serious” rocket attack on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon which led to eight Austrian soldiers being injured on Tuesday. The Israeli military said Hezbollah was responsible for the attack on the Unifil headquarters in Naqoura, while Unifil issued a statement saying the rocket was fired “likely by Hizbullah or an affiliated group”, and that it had opened an investigation.
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Germany has recalled its ambassador to Tehran and summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires in Berlin in protest over the execution of a German-Iranian dual national, Jamshid Sharmahd, accused of terrorism by Iran.
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The US has offered a $5m reward for information about a 1994 plane bombing in Panama blamed on Hezbollah that killed 21 people. Alas Chiricanas Flight 901 exploded midair after taking off in the Caribbean province of Colon. All those onboard – mostly members of the Central American nation’s Jewish community – were killed, including three Americans. The offer was welcomed by relatives of the victims.