Middle East crisis live: Israel intensifies strikes on southern Gaza
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said he told the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, that “only a decisive victory will bring to an end of this war”. Gallant, whose Washington talks went ahead despite Israel’s cancellation of separate US talks on the planned Rafah offensive, added that Israel would not cease operating in Gaza until the return of all the hostages.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said early Wednesday that 66 people had been killed overnight, including three killed in Israeli airstrikes in and around Rafah.
Israel has recalled its negotiating team from Qatar, ending immediate attempts to negotiate a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said: “Israel will not cave to Hamas’s delusional demands”, after Hamas rejected the latest deal offer. Netanyahu’s office said the Hamas position was “clear proof it is not interested in continuing talks, and a sad testament to the damage caused by the UN security council resolution”.
Late on Monday, Hamas had said Israel was not responding to its core demands of a “comprehensive ceasefire, an withdrawal from the [Gaza] strip, the return of displaced people and a real prisoner exchange”.
Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz said Hamas had been emboldened to reject a deal by the UN security council vote, and had been sent the message: “You don’t have to hurry” because international pressure was being bought to bear on Israel.
The Biden administration’s policy on Gaza has been widely criticised as being in disarray with the defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, describing the situation as a “humanitarian catastrophe” the day after the state department declared Israel to be in compliance with international humanitarian law. “Gaza is suffering a humanitarian catastrophe and the situation is getting even worse,” Austin told Gallant in remarks in front of the press on Tuesday, calling for a significant expansion in aid deliveries by land. On the same day, the state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, insisted the US had no reason to dispute Israeli assurances that it was complying with humanitarian law in Gaza.
Twelve people drowned at a Gaza beach trying to recover airdropped crates of aid that fell in water after their parachutes malfunctioned, Palestinian health authorities have said. Video of Monday’s airdrop showed crowds running towards the beach, in Beit Lahiya in north Gaza, as crates with parachutes floated down, then people standing deep in water and bodies being pulled on to the sand.
The UN humanitarian office urged Israel on Tuesday to revoke an apparent ban on food aid to north Gaza by agency Unrwa, saying people there were facing a “cruel death by famine”.
At least seven people were killed in an Israeli strike in Southern Lebanon, two security sources told Reuters early on Wednesday. The strike on Nabatieh appeared to target a Hezbollah emergency and relief centre in Hebbariyeh village in southern Lebanon, the sources said. On Tuesday, Israeli airstrikes near two towns in north-east Lebanon killed three Hezbollah militants, the group posted on Telegram. Israel confirmed the strikes.
Netanyahu has been heavily criticised inside Israel for his handling of crucial relations with the US after it declined to veto a ceasefire resolution at the UN security council. In the Hebrew-language newspaper Ma’ariv, Ben Caspit described the approach of the Israeli prime minister as “delusional”, “madness” and “terrifying”. The lead editorial in the left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz described Netanyahu as “Israel’s agent of destruction” who “has become a burden for Israel”.
A released Israeli hostage recounted sexual assault at gunpoint during her captivity in Gaza, in the first such personal account. Amit Soussana, 40, was taken hostage on 7 October from kibbutz Kfar Aza, and told the New York Times she was attacked about two weeks later by the man guarding her after washing in the bathroom. The Times said her account was consistent with what she told two doctors and a social worker shortly after she was freed on 30 November. Soussana said she had decided to speak out now to raise awareness about the plight of the hostages still in Gaza. At least three released hostages have spoken publicly about incidents of sexual abuse against fellow captives.
A planned cabinet discussion in Israel on a proposed bill to extend compulsory military service to ultra-Orthodox students has been postponed at the last minute.
At least 32,414 Palestinians have now been killed in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-led Gaza health ministry said on Tuesday. On 7 October, Hamas killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify all casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Parliamentary pressure is building on the UK government to ban arms sales to Israel. A letter signed by more than 130 parliamentarians to the foreign secretary, David Cameron, highlights action taken by other countries, most recently Canada, which last week announced it would halt all arms exports to Israel.