Israel-Gaza latest: Both sides 'very close' to agreement on US ceasefire plan, Trump says - as '27 killed' in Israeli airstrikes
Israel blocks meeting to discuss independent Palestinian state
Israel has blocked a meeting in the Palestinian administrative capital, in the occupied West Bank, from going ahead.
Arab ministers had planned to attend the meeting in Ramallah to discuss the establishment of a Palestinian state, according to an Israeli official.
The delegation included ministers from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
In order for the meeting to go ahead, ministers required Israel to consent to travel to the West Bank from Jordan. But they have been stopped from doing so.
An Israeli official called the proposed meeting "provocative" adding that the establishment of a Palestinian state would "undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the land of Israel".
The official said: "Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security."
It comes as an international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, is due to be held in New York from 17-20 June to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries, which favour a two-state solution, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
A Palestinian Authority official said that the issue of whether the meeting in Ramallah would be able to go ahead was under discussion.
Read more on what the two-state solution is here.
Last hospital in northern Gaza out of service
The last working hospital in northern Gaza is no longer functional according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) - a day after staff reported Israeli troops had surrounded the site.
The WHO said Al Awda Hospital went out of service on Thursday, and patients and health workers evacuated the same evening for fear of their safety.
It said that the hospital's closure is "severing a critical lifeline for the people" in northern Gaza, and pleaded "for the hospital's protection and staff and patients' safety".
Israeli authorities issued evacuation orders last week for large parts of northern Gaza ahead of offensives against Hamas, although the army did not order the hospital itself to evacuate.
Dr Rami al Ashrafi told the Associated Press that Al Awda Hospital had been encircled by Israeli troops and had come under fire in recent days.
Read the full story below:
Israel-Hamas 'very close' to agreement, Trump says
Donald Trump said he believed Israel and Hamas are "very close to an agreement" over a temporary ceasefire.
The US leader said Hamas is in a "big mess" and he thinks they "want to get out of it", when quizzed by reporters in Washington DC last night.
Asked if he was confident Hamas would approve the ceasefire deal that has been proposed by his envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump said: "They're very close to an agreement on Gaza, and we'll let you know about it during the day or maybe tomorrow.
"They're [Hamas] in a big mess. I think they want to get out of it."
Good morning
Welcome back to our live coverage, as Hamas continues to review a US-led ceasefire plan.
The group said yesterday it is holding consultations with Palestinian factions over the proposal it had received from US envoy Steve Witkoff.
Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he has accepted the proposal.
Details of the terms of the agreement have not been made public, but a Hamas official said it included the following: A 60-day pause in fighting;
Release of nine living hostages and half of the known hostages who have died, over the course of a week;
Guarantees of serious negotiations leading to a long-term truce;
Assurances that Israel will not resume hostilities after the release of hostages.
Uncertainty over the new proposal came as 27 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Friday, hospital officials in Gaza said.
A strike that hit a tent in the southern city of Khan Younis killed 13, including eight children, according to officials.
The bodies of 12 people, including three women, were also brought to Shifa Hospital yesterday from the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp.
The Israeli military has not commented.
Stay with us for the latest.
We're pausing our live coverage
Until our rolling updates resume, here's a brief recap of today's developments: Israel has approved a US-led ceasefire proposal, the White House said, but Hamas says the plan is "under discussion";
The militant group did, however, say the Israeli response fails to meet their demands;
Meanwhile, Israel continues to expand its offensive in Gaza, where aid distribution has resumed at a rate far below pre-war levels;
The situation is so dire that rights groups have accused Israel of genocide, with the UN's former aid chief telling us tonight that claim is justified;
And in the West Bank, Israel has said it will establish 22 new settlements - despite widespread criticism.
UK will 'seek to do more if it can' for Gaza's injured children, UK foreign secretary says
By Dominic Waghorn, international affairs editor
David Lammy has said the UK will do more to help injured children in Gaza if it can, following our reporting on their plight.
The foreign secretary was on a whistlestop tour of the Arctic when we asked him about our story on a charity calling for the UK to offer children in Gaza life-saving treatment - see our post at 16:52.
He said: "The scale of the medical catastrophe for children and the population of Gaza is horrendous, and that's why we increased our aid.
"What will end this suffering is a ceasefire, but if there is more that we can do to end the suffering, of course, we will seek to do that."
Watch: The paramedics risking their lives on Gaza's new frontline
Our team has spent several days filming with emergency crews based at Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
As we reported at 18.06, they say every shift could be their last in a war where medics are no longer spared.
Watch our Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall's report below...
Ben & Jerry's ice cream board calls war in Gaza 'genocide'
Top executives at popular ice cream firm Ben & Jerry's have labelled the war in Gaza "genocide".
It comes two weeks after the brand's co-founder was arrested for disrupting a Senate hearing with a pro-Palestinian protest.
Ben Cohen was one of seven people arrested at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on 14 May.
Furious ex-Netanyahu official denies genocide claim - adding Israelis are 'most humanitarian' people in Gaza
Reacting to Martin Griffiths's claim in the post below - that Israel is committing genocide - a former senior official for Benjamin Netanyahu has reacted furiously.
Jacob Nagel, who was the acting national security adviser for the prime minister, described the accusation as "nonsense".
It's Hamas "bringing genocide" on Gaza, he said, with Israelis the "most humanitarian" people in the territory.
When our lead world news presenter Yalda Hakim raised comments made by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - that his country is committing war crimes - Nagel interjected: "I don't want to hear quotes from people against Israel."
You can watch his tetchy exchange in the clip below...
Watch: Former UN aid chief accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza
Martin Griffiths was the UN aid chief at the start of this war.
He's accused Israel of genocide in Gaza - speaking to our lead world news presenter in the past few minutes, here's what his justification for that claim is...
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Sky News
40 minutes ago
- Sky News
IDF issues denial after reports of at least 31 people killed in Israeli attack near aid distribution site
At least 31 people have been killed near an aid distribution centre in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry. Earlier, a nearby hospital run by the Red Cross reported that at least 21 people had been killed. The hospital, which has been receiving bodies and the wounded, also said another 175 people had been injured. Witnesses said the deaths came after Israeli forces opened fire at a roundabout near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation hub, a new aid organisation backed by Israel and the US. However, Palestinian and Hamas-linked media have attributed the deaths it has reported on to an Israeli airstrike. It is not yet clear if eyewitnesses and Hamas-affiliated media are giving different accounts of the same incident. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said "false reports have been spread" in recent hours. The statement said: "[these include] serious allegations against the IDF regarding fire toward Gazan residents in the area of the humanitarian aid distribution site in the Gaza Strip. "Findings from an initial inquiry indicate that the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false." Witnesses tell of shooting The area where the reported shooting took place is controlled by Israeli forces. Ibrahim Abu Saoud, an eyewitness, said Israeli forces opened fire at people moving toward the aid distribution centre. "There were many martyrs, including women," the 40-year-old man said. "We were about 300 metres away from the military." Abu Saoud said he saw many people with gunshot wounds, including a young man who he said had died at the scene. "We weren't able to help him," he said. Mohammed Abu Teaima, 33, said he saw Israeli forces open fire and kill his cousin and another woman as they were heading to the hub. He said his cousin was shot in his chest and died at the scene. Many others were wounded, including his brother-in-law, he said. "They opened heavy fire directly toward us," he said as he was waiting outside the Red Cross field hospital for word on his wounded relative. Minister doesn't confirm reported attack In an interview on Sky News' Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Israel's deputy minister of foreign affairs Sharren Haskel suggested reports of the attack could be "Hamas propaganda". Asked about the alleged attack near the aid hub, she said: "The IDF said it's actually reviewing this issue right now... They didn't have any information to give me before [this interview]. "But I have to say that during the last week, we have heard so much propaganda coming from Hamas about the humanitarian distribution point that I wouldn't be surprised if that's another case like that." She added: "We've just heard about this case from your media, that was literally two minutes before I came online to your show." Controversial new aid system The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) operates as part of a controversial aid system which Israel and the US says is aimed at preventing Hamas from siphoning off assistance. Israel has not provided any evidence of systematic diversion, and the UN denies it has occurred. The foundation's distribution of aid has been marred by chaos, and multiple witnesses have said Israeli troops fired on crowds near the delivery sites. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to work with the new system, saying it violates humanitarian principles because it allows Israel to control who receives aid and forces people to relocate to distribution sites, risking yet more mass displacement in the territory. Before Sunday, at least six people had been killed and more than 50 wounded, according to local health officials. Aid distribution is a 'death trap' Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees, said the Rafah incident shows aid distribution in Gaza "has become a death trap". In a post on X on Sunday, Mr Lazzarini pointed to "mass casualties, including scores of injured and killed among starving civilians due to gunshots this morning", quoting international medics on the ground. Under the Israeli-American plan, an aid distribution point had been placed "far south in Rafah", forcing "thousands of hungry and desperate people to walk for tens of miles to an area that's all but pulverized due to heavy bombardment by the Israeli Army". It was "humiliating", he said, as he called for the delivery and distribution of aid to be "at scale and safe", something that in Gaza "can be done only through the United Nations, including UNRWA". The agency was banned by Israel from operating in Occupied East Jerusalem and Israel in January over alleged links to Hamas in Gaza, which the organisation denies. Israel must "lift the siege and allow the UN safe + unhindered access" to deliver and distribute aid, he said, adding it was "the only way to avert mass starvation, including among one million children," Mr Lazzarini said. 0:53 GHF says aid distributed 'without incident' The foundation says the private security contractors guarding its sites did not fire on the crowds, while the Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions. Following Sunday's allegations, the foundation said: "All aid was distributed today without incident. No injuries or fatalities as noted in our daily update sent out earlier. "We have heard that these fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas. They are untrue and fabricated." In an earlier statement, the organisation said it distributed 16 truckloads of aid on Sunday. It dismissed what it referred to as "false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos". Meanwhile, the UN's aid system has struggled to bring in aid after Israel slightly eased its total blockade of the territory last month. Those groups say Israeli restrictions, the breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it extremely difficult to deliver aid to Gaza's roughly two million Palestinians. Experts have warned that the Palestinian territory is at risk of famine if more aid is not brought in. 3:29 The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. They are still holding 58 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of the territory, displaced around 90% of Gaza's population and left people almost completely reliant on international aid.
The Guardian
43 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Greta Thunberg joins aid ship sailing to Gaza aimed at breaking Israel's blockade
Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and 11 other activists have set sail for Gaza on a ship aimed at 'breaking Israel's siege' of the devastated territory, organisers have said. The sailing boat Madleen – operated by activist group Freedom Flotilla Coalition – departed from the Sicilian port of Catania, in southern Italy on Sunday. It will try to reach the shores of the Gaza Strip in an effort to bring in some aid and raise 'international awareness' of the continuing humanitarian crisis, the activists said at a press conference on Sunday, before the vessel departed. 'We are doing this because, no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying,' Thunberg said, bursting into tears during her speech. 'Because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity. And, no matter how dangerous this mission is, it's not even near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the livestreamed genocide,' she added. Israel has vehemently rejected genocide allegations. In mid-May, Israel slightly eased its blockade of Gaza after nearly three months, allowing a limited amount of humanitarian aid into the territory but experts have warned that Gaza is at risk of famine if more aid is not brought in. UN agencies and major aid groups say Israeli restrictions, the breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it extremely difficult to deliver aid to Gaza's roughly 2 million Palestinians. Among those joining the crew of the Madleen are Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European parliament who is of Palestinian descent. She has been barred from entering Israel due to her active opposition to the Israeli assault on Gaza. The activists expect to take seven days to get to their destination, if they are not stopped. Thunberg, who became an internationally famous climate activist after organising massive protests in her native Sweden, had been due to board a previous Freedom Flotilla ship last month. That attempt to reach Gaza by sea in early May failed after another of the group's vessels, the Conscience, was attacked by two alleged drones while sailing in international waters off the coast of Malta. The group blamed Israel for the attack, which damaged the front section of the ship, in the latest confrontation over efforts to send assistance to the Palestinian territory devastated by nearly 19 months of war. 'We are breaking the siege of Gaza by sea, but that's part of a broader strategy of mobilisations that will also attempt to break the siege by land,' said activist Thiago Avila. Avila cited the upcoming Global March to Gaza – an international initiative also open to doctors, lawyers and media – which is set to leave Egypt and reach the Rafah crossing in mid-June to stage a protest there, asking Israel to stop the Gaza offensive and reopen the border.
The Independent
43 minutes ago
- The Independent
Saudi Arabia stops 269,678 Muslims without Hajj permits from entering Mecca
Saudi Arabia has stopped more than 269,000 people without permits for the annual Hajj pilgrimage from entering Mecca, officials said Sunday, as authorities crack down on illegal journeys into the city. The government blames overcrowding at the Hajj on unauthorized participants. It also says they made up large numbers of those who died in last year's searing summer heat. The number of expulsions highlights the scale of unauthorized pilgrimages — as well as the demand to perform the Hajj. There are currently 1.4 million Muslims in Mecca officially, with more expected to arrive in the days to come. There are fines of up to $5,000 and other punitive measures, like deportation, for anyone performing the Hajj without a permit. The policy includes citizens and those with Saudi residency. At a press conference in Mecca, officials said they had stopped 269,678 people without permits from entering the city. According to the rules, only those with permits are allowed to perform the pilgrimage, even if they live in the city year-round. Officials have also imposed penalties on more than 23,000 Saudi residents for violating Hajj regulations and revoked the licenses of 400 Hajj companies. Lieutenant General Mohammed Al-Omari told the media: 'The pilgrim is in our sight, and anyone who disobeys is in our hands.' The Hajj is the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca and involves a series of religious rituals. It's a once-in-a-lifetime obligation for every Muslim who can afford it and is physically able to do it. But it has been marred in recent years by concerns about extreme temperatures, with pilgrims performing their rituals outdoors in peak daylight hours. Historically, deaths are not uncommon at the Hajj, which has seen at times over 2 million people travel to Saudi Arabia for a five-day pilgrimage. It has also seen fatal stampedes and other accidents. Saudi Arabia's Civil Defense said Sunday that drones were being used for the first time at the Hajj. These can be used for surveillance and monitoring, as well as extinguishing fires.
