Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was quoted by media as saying he does not believe the Palestinian militant group Hamas will leave Qatar, where it is based, adding he had seen no such signs from Doha either.

Speaking to reporters on a return flight from Iraq, the Turkish leader also said the full capture of Gaza by Israel would “open the door” for further invasions of Palestinian territories, according to broadcaster Haberturk and other media outlets.

Erdoğan met the head of Hamas’ politburo, Ismail Haniyeh alongside key members of his cabinet and Sameh Shoukry, the Egyptian foreign minister, on Saturday to discuss Israeli attacks on Gaza and efforts to calm tensions across the region, according to the Turkish presidential office.

Qatar’s prime minister said last week that his country was re-evaluating its role as mediator in ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel, citing concerns that its efforts are being undermined by politicians seeking to score points.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who is also foreign minister, said there was a “misuse of this mediation for narrow political interests, and this necessitated Qatar to undertake a full evaluation of this role”.

UN rights chief ‘horrified’ by mass grave reports at Gaza hospitals

Here are some of the latest images coming out from the newswires:

Rights groups have flagged numerous incidents of civilian harm during Israel’s war on Gaza, as well as raising the alarm about rising violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Palestinian health ministry records show Israeli forces or settlers have killed at least 460 Palestinians since the Hamas attack on 7 October.

The state department in its 2023 human rights report about Israel said the war has had “a significant negative impact” on the human rights situation in Israel, and cited allegations of numerous incidents such as arbitrary or unlawful killings, enforced disappearance, torture and unjustified arrests of journalists among others.

However, so far the Biden administration has said it has not found Israel in breach of international law.

Advocates have raised questions of double standards saying Washington has been quick to condemn the actions of, for example, Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, but the Biden administration has been careful not to go too far in its criticism of Israel.

Ireland’s foreign minister, Micheál Martin, has welcomed the conclusion of the Colonna report into the UN relief works agency for Palestinians (Unrwa), which found that Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of its claims that employees of the agency are members of terrorist organisations.

The Colonna report, which was commissioned by the UN in the wake of Israeli allegations, found that Unrwa had regularly supplied Israel with lists of its employees for vetting, and that “the Israeli government has not informed Unrwa of any concerns relating to any Unrwa staff based on these staff lists since 2011”.

Allegations of the involvement of Unrwa staff in the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel led major donors in January to cut their funding to the agency, the main channel of humanitarian support not only to Palestinians in Gaza but to Palestinian refugee communities across the region.

Speaking in Cairo ahead of a meeting with the Egyptian foreign minister and a visit to the Rafah crossing into Gaza, Martin said the report had vindicated Ireland’s response to the allegations made by Israel.

He was quoted by RTÉ as saying:

We were very clear from the word go that you could not replace or undermine Unwra’s role in terms of giving vital aid, teaching, education.

Half a million children in Gaza have been without education, and the only credible organisation that can deliver education is Unrwa.

We took an opposite view to most countries, we actually increased our aid at that time, and I’m hoping now as a result of the publication of this report that some countries who have paused their support will now allow their support.

Death toll in Gaza reaches 34,183, says health ministry

EU sanctions announced after Iran’s attack against Israel are “regrettable” because the country was acting in self-defence, Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, has said.

Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles on Israel in what it said was retaliation against a suspected Israeli bombing of its embassy compound in Damascus.

On Monday, EU foreign ministers agreed in principle to expand sanctions on Iran by agreeing to extend restrictive measures on Tehran’s weapons exports of any drone or missile to Iranian proxies and Russia.

“It is regrettable to see the EU deciding quickly to apply more unlawful restrictions against Iran just because Iran exercised its right to self-defence in the face of Israel’s reckless aggression,” Amirabdollahian wrote on X, before calling on the EU to apply sanctions on Israel instead.

Tensions flared between pro-Palestinian student protesters and school administrators at several US universities on Monday, as in-person classes were cancelled and demonstrators arrested.

The protests, which began last week at Columbia University with a large group of demonstrators establishing a so-called “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on school grounds, have spread to other campuses, including Yale and MIT.

Some Jewish students at Columbia have reported intimidation and antisemitism amid the days-long protest, which is calling for the prestigious New York institution to divest from companies with ties to Israel.

Classes were moved online on Monday, with university president Nemat Shafik calling for a “reset” in an open letter to the school community.

You can read more about the student protests at Columbia University here.

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