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Egypt says move comes in light of ‘worsening severity and scope of Israeli attacks’
Welcome to our latest live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza and the wider crisis in the Middle East. Here’s a snapshot of the latest key developments.
Egypt has announced its intention to formally support South Africa’s case at the international court of justice (ICJ), which alleges genocide by Israel in the war in Gaza.
Israel sent tanks into eastern Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday after a night of heavy aerial and ground bombardments, killing at least 19 people and injuring dozens of others, Palestinian health officials said.
There were clashes reported in the south of Gaza, where tens of thousands fled the city of Rafah on Sunday, following bombardment and warnings from the Israel Defense Forces to clear central and eastern neighbourhoods before planned offensives. Israel says it considers Rafah Hamas’ last stronghold. But its advance into the city has prompted global outrage and strained relations with the US, its staunchest ally.
The armed wing of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said their fighters attacked Israeli forces in several areas inside Gaza with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs, including in Rafah, previously the Palestinians’ last refuge where more than a million people were sheltering.
The UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, warned that a full-scale Israeli assault on Rafah “cannot take place”, saying it could not be reconciled with international law. He said a full-scale offensive could have a “catastrophic impact … including the possibility of further atrocity crimes”. The UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, said that it would be wrong for Israel to carry out a major offensive in Rafah “without a plan to protect people”.
Thousands of Israelis joined protests over the weekend calling for a deal to bring home hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas, early elections and the immediate resignation of Benjamin Netanyahu.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, delivered some of the Biden administration’s strongest public criticism yet of Israel’s war on Gaza. In interviews on Sunday, Blinken said the US has worked with Arab countries and others for weeks on developing “credible plans for security, for governance, for rebuilding’’ in Gaza, but “we haven’t seen that come from Israel”. “Israel’s on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left, or if it leaves, a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas,” Blinken said. He also said Israeli tactics have meant “a horrible loss of life of innocent civilians” while failing to neutralise Hamas leaders and fighters and could drive a lasting insurgency.
All 12 of Gaza’s higher education institutions have been destroyed or damaged, leaving nearly 90,000 students stranded, and more than 350 teachers and academics have been killed, according to Palestinian official data.
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