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Aid officials and people in territory describe erosion of civil order and gangs filling power vacuum after months of warGaza is facing deepening anarchy as the last remnants of civil order break down, leaving a vacuum increasingly filled by armed gangs, clans, powerful families and criminals, dozens of interviews with senior aid officials, experts and people in the territory reveal.The interviewees described the continuing...

Truce talks had been set to begin again in Cairo on Sunday; Israel PM to be fully sedated after hernia discovered during examination. This live blog is closedTalks aimed at brokering a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip will reportedly resume in Cairo today, days after Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, gave the green light for fresh negotiations. “An Egyptian security...

Civilians and military personnel killed and injured in strike targeting Hezbollah weapons depots, says Syrian Observatory for Human RightsHere are some of the latest images from the news wires:At least 32,623 Palestinians have been killed and 75,092 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October the Gaza health ministry said. Continue reading...

Judges issue unanimous decision and say Palestinians are in urgent need of humanitarian assistanceThe international court of justice has ordered Israel to allow unimpeded access of food aid into Gaza, where sections of the population are facing imminent starvation, in a significant legal rebuke to Israel’s claim it is not blocking aid deliveries.A panel of judges at the UN’s top court, which is already...

Israeli PM had cancelled officials’ US visit to discuss planned offensive in southern Gaza after the US refused to veto a UN security council vote on a ceasefireSee all of our Israel-Gaza war coverage here32,552 Palestinians have been killed and 74,980 injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gazan health ministry said.Australian officials scrambled to “understand what the allegations are”...

Moves come despite growing international pressure for an immediate ceasefireSee all our Middle East coverageThe Israeli prime minister’s handling of relations with the Biden administration, which led the US on Monday to decline to veto a ceasefire resolution at the UN security council, has been greeted by sharp criticism by Israeli commentators.After the US abstention, prominent columnists across the Israeli media condemned Benjamin Netanyahu’s...

Australian and UK stress ‘urgency’ over need to allow aid into Gaza and for hostages to be released; US draft resolution calls for an immediate truce as part of a hostage dealThe Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that “hundreds of worshipers” were “blocked” from reaching the al-Aqsa mosque compound by Israeli forces on Friday.According to Wafa: “Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli forces significantly increased their...

Findings come as UN secretary general calls on Israel to give unconditional access to Gaza for aid reliefHalf the population of the Gaza Strip is at imminent risk of famine as food shortages approach catastrophic levels for more than a million people, the World Bank has warned.Almost six months after the war between Israel and Hamas began, the Washington-based Bank said urgent action was...

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Issa had been killed last week in an Israeli operationSee all our Israel-Gaza war coverageAt least 31,819 Palestinians have been killed and 73,934 injured since 7 October in Israel’s military offensive on the Gaza Strip, the territory’s health ministry said on Tuesday.About 93 Palestinians were killed and 142 injured in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-led...

Retaking of Shifa complex shows Hamas militants, despite heavy losses, are still operational in northern GazaThe latest raid on al-Shifa hospital reveals that the Israeli military’s hold on the areas of Gaza supposedly cleared of Hamas militants is considerably more tenuous than the country’s political leaders have claimed – and suggests the region’s military superpower is facing its own “forever war” in the territory...

'Gaza is in ‘state of famine’ and Israel is using starvation as weapon of war, says Josep BorrellSee all our Israel-Gaza war coverageIn an operational update, Israel’s military has said that it “struck a Hezbollah military structure and an observation post” in Ramyeh inside Lebanon. The village is situated just north of the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon.Israel is provoking famine...

PM acknowledges international pressure is increasing but says it will not stop Israel achieving its goalsBenjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead with sending Israeli troops into Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, rejecting deep international concerns over the risks to more than a million Palestinians who have sought shelter there.The prime minister said no amount of international pressure would stop Israel from realising all...

Syria’s state news agency reports airstrikes coming from Golan Heights led to ‘material losses’ and wounding of a soldierIsraeli forces arrested eight Palestinians in overnight raids across the occupied West Bank, local news sources said, according to Al Jazeera.The arrests reportedly took place in Qalqilya, Hebron and Jenin after Israeli troops raided Palestinian homes. Continue reading...

World Central Kitchen says 200 tonnes of food is ready for distribution as second boat prepares to leave CyprusSee all our Israel-Gaza war coverage hereThe Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its fighter jets had struck a building used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon’s Tayr Harfa and another infrastructure in Labbouneh overnight, according to the Times of Israel.A US charity said on Saturday that its...

Hamas seeks scaled-back release it can portray as victory as Israeli government weighs conflicting pressures over hostagesIn a cafe on a dusty roundabout in the small West Bank town of Silwad, men sit and play cards, one eye on the large TV screen showing the latest news from Gaza. When there is any mention of a possible ceasefire deal – and so the release...

The Open Arms, towing barge with 200 tons of food for Palestinians threatened with famine, said to be five kilometres off Gaza coastReuters has a breaking news line about the Gaza aid ship, the Open Arms, that set off from Cyprus on Tuesday. According to the news agency, witnesses have reported that the ship is close to Gaza’s coast now.More details soon … Continue...

Israel claims it targeted fighters who had launched a rocket towards Israel; highway blocked in Tel Aviv by early morning protestLebanon’s National News Agency reports Israeli planes have overflown Jezzine in southern Lebanon. There are unconfirmed images circulating social media appearing to show airstrikes have been carried out. Israel and anti-Israeli forces in Lebanon have repeatedly exchanged fire since 7 October.The aid ship from...

Vessel expected to leave ‘as soon as possible’, aid group says as start of Muslim holy month overshadowed by warSee all our coverage of the Israel-Gaza warHaaretz reports that the IDF has issued a disciplinary note to a top commander after he ordered the destruction of a university compound in southern Gaza City without the approval of his superior.Al-Asraa university building was blown up...

In MSNBC interview US president says Rafah offensive would be a ‘red line’ but he would not cut off weapons fundingAt least 31,045 Palestinians have been killed and 72,654 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.Most of the casualties have been women and children, the ministry has said, and thousands more bodies...

Pentagon says planning for military port to deliver aid is in early stages; Swedish government says aid agency had agree to stronger internal controlsThe latest figures from the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 82 Palestinians were killed and 122 injured in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours.According to the statement, at least 30,960 Palestinians have been killed and 72,524...

Gili Roman recalls ‘worst days of my life’ while sister was missing and relief after her release in NovemberFor five days, Gili Roman waited for a phone call to bring news of his sister’s release among the first group of hostages freed from Gaza in November, after weeks of relentless violence in the war between Israel and Hamas.When the call came at two in...

Hamas, Qatar and Egypt are holding discussions in Cairo, while Israel’s absence is reportedly due to the militant’s inability to provide a list of hostagesThe Times of Israel reports that Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, has instructed diplomats to push calls for the UN to declare Hamas a terrorist organisation in the wake of a UN report on sexual violence occurring during and after...

Departure of longtime leader would pave way for new elections and much needed reform of Palestinian AuthorityLast month the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, flew to the Qatari capital, Doha, for talks on securing a ceasefire in the war in Gaza. That in itself was unusual; the West Bank-based Abbas, who is also chair of the Fatah party and the Palestine Liberation...

The US president says the deal is ‘in the hands of Hamas right now’; Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump expresses support for Israel’s war in Gaza The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday that hunger and malnutrition were on the rise among children, breastfeeding women, and pregnant women in Gaza.In a post on X, the UN’s health agency, said that the only paediatric...