Middle East crisis live: ‘not easy to see’ how Israeli offensive on Rafah could be compliant with international law, says UK minister | Israel-Gaza war

Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported that ten people have been detained by Israeli security forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank during raids today.

The vehicle of the German ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, was hit by stones thrown by crowds during his visit to University of Birzeit north of Ramallah, Haaretz reports.

Israeli police said today that a Turkish national stabbed an Israeli border policeman officer in Jerusalem and was then shot dead by officers, Reuters reported.

The Israeli prime minister’s office has shared his comments on Rafah.

Haaretz reports that Netanyahu made the comments during a meeting with representatives of hostage families, and quotes him saying “the idea that we will end the war before achieving all of our objectives is unacceptable. We will enter Rafah and obliterate all the Hamas battalions there – with or without a deal, to achieve total victory.”

Netanyahu: Israel will enter Rafah with or without deal

Unrwa commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini has said that Unrwa staff who have been interrogated by Israeli security forces are being “pressured to state that the agency is politically affiliated”.

He also said that people in Gaza who had been denied by Israel had been subjected to “inhumane treatment” by Israeli forces.

He said:

People have told us that they … were routinely rounded up, stripped to their underwear and loaded into trucks, blindfolded, and bombed. Most of the time, once arrested, these detainees remain incommunicado and they are subjected to shocking inhumane treatment. They have described to us waterboarding, severe beatings, attacks by dogs, being forced to hold stress positions for hours, sometimes 12 hours, 24 hours, and being forced to wear a diaper instead of accessing the toilet.

Israel has repeatedly denied that it acts outside international humanitarian law.

Unrwa commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini has again criticised Israel for the way it is handling the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, and denied Israeli claims that it is UN and NGO logisitics that are holding it up.

He said “Whenever we ask for a convoy going from the south to the north, our convoys are systematically denied. So we still have no access. Whenever permission is given to deliver anywhere else in the strip, the process is always complicated and very cumbersome.”

The Unrwa commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini, in a press conference in Geneva has said “there is a extraordinary deep anxiety prevailing right now in Gaza, because the question everybody is asking is whether yes or no there would be a military offensive.”

He said his colleagues on the ground have not been asked to evacuate from Rafah yet, but that anticipate it will happen soon if there was no ceasefire agreement.

Lazzarini said his colleagues described the people in Gaza as not so much suffering from the condition not of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) as what they call CTSD or “continuous traumatic stress disorder”.

He reported there is more food in the market in northern Gaza, but there is no cash circulating and still a “looming famine” there.

Philippe Lazzarini of Unrwa has begun his delayed press conference.

Israeli media is reporting that an Israeli police officer has been “moderately wounded” in a stabbing incident in near Herod’s Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City. The suspect was shot and killed.

A police source has told Haaretz that the suspect “is a Turkish citizen who arrived in Israel in the last 72 hours, most likely as a tourist”.

More details soon …

In issuing new casualty figures earlier this morning of 34,535 Palestinians killed and 77,704 wounded, the Hamas-led health ministry in the territory said that Israeli military strikes across Gaza in the past 24 hours killed 47 people and wounded 61.

In addition, Reuters reports, the Gaza Civil Emergency Service estimated that the bodies of a further 10,000 Palestinians were under the rubble of hundreds of destroyed buildings.

It said those figures had not been included in the updated health ministry death toll, which only registers bodies that are taken to hospitals.

“In light of the lack of heavy equipment, efforts to search for the bodies of the martyrs will remain insufficient and will not be enough to recover the bodies of thousands of them,” it said.

It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.

UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini is about to give a press conference about the situation in Gaza. You can watch it here.

Representatives of Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah made “encouraging progress” in recent talks in the Chinese capital on promoting reconciliation, China’s foreign ministry said Tuesday.

AP reports ministry spokesperson Lin Jian gave few details at a daily briefing, saying the two groups were invited by China and “recently came to Beijing to have an in-depth and candid dialogue on promoting Palestinian reconciliation.”

Lin said “The sides agreed to continue this dialogue process so as to achieve Palestinian solidarity and unity at an early date. They highly appreciated China’s firm support for the just cause of the Palestinian people in restoring their legitimate national rights, thanked the Chinese side for its efforts to help strengthen Palestinian internal unity and reached an agreement on ideas for future dialogue.”

The Hamas 2007 takeover of Gaza ended a brief unity government between the two groups. China recognised Palestine as a state in November 1988.

The Times of Israel reports that an unnamed Israeli official has told it that Israel will not be sending a delegation to Cairo for ceasefire talks until it has a reply from Hamas on the latest proposal.

It quotes the official saying “We will wait for answers on Wednesday night and then decide.”

Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that seven Palestinians have been killed and 32 injured by Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip today, saying the strikes occurred in Nuseirat refugee camp and in the Gaza City neighbourhood of Zaitoun.

It also notes that “search and rescue teams recovered six decomposed bodies from al-Amal neighbourhood, west of Khan Younis, as search operations are still underway to recover other bodies from under the rubble.”

It reports “at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.”

The claims have not been independently verified. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.