Israel-Gaza war live: Israel to contest genocide accusation in The Hague

Gaza will not be governed by Hamas or Israel after the conflict is over, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday as he presented his plan for the post-war administration of the enclave.

Under the plan, Israel's assault will continue until it has secured the return of the remaining hostages taken on October 7, dismantled Hamas's “military and governing capabilities” and removed any military threats.

Mr Gallant is to submit his plan for the “day after” the war to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet, which has been divided in recent weeks over the future of Gaza.

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Nada AlTaher reports:

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has submitted his resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas amid reports of an imminent cabinet reshuffle, state news agency Wafa reported on Monday.

The resignation is in light of the "political, security and economic developments" of the Israeli war in Gaza and "unprecedented escalation" in the West Bank, Mr Shtayyeh said.

Israeli air strikes were reported in Rafah on Monday morning, with Palestinian news outlet Wafa reporting casualties in the densely populated town on the border with Egypt. The Israeli army said it had struck the Shaboura area of the city, which is now home to an estimated one million Palestinians sheltering from months of fighting.

While Rafah has been bombed many times as violence has raged across the densely populated enclave since October, Israel has said it will launch a full scale ground attack on the city.

Hamas said such an eventuality would end any negotiations on hostage releases or a truce. Middle Eastern countries including Egypt, the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have warned against the attack, saying it will cause massive civilian casualties. The UK and EU have expressed similar concerns while President Joe Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to urge the rapid evacuation of civilians from the area before a ground attack.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Britain "will not hesitate to respond again" if Houthi attacks on shipping continue.

British fighter jets joined US strikes in Yemen for a second time overnight in response to a "persistent threat" in the Red Sea, Mr Sunak told the House of Commons.

"We did so because we continue to see, including in intelligence, an ongoing and imminent threat from the Houthis to UK commercial and military vessels, and to those of our partners in the Red Sea and wider region," he said.

While the UK is not "seeking a confrontation" in Yemen, it "will not hesitate to respond again in self-defence", MPs were told.

Sunniva Rose reports:

Israel does not have the a “veto right” on Palestinian statehood, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said in a joint press conference with Egypt’s Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry in Brussels.

“Israel cannot have the veto right of the self determination of the Palestinian people,” said Mr Borrell. “The UN has recognised the right to self-determination of Palestinian people. Nobody can veto it.”

The EU will continue pushing for a Palestinian state despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition, said Mr Borrell.

Mr Shoukry said the proposal would be studied to “create synergies” with ideas developed within an Arab contact group that has been touring world capitals to discuss the Gaza conflict in the past months.

Coverage of the Israel-Gaza war on this blog has ended. Follow the latest developments at our new live story here.

A Syrian military statement said an Israeli air strike early on Tuesday that came from the direction of the Golan Heights targeting positions in the outskirts of Damascus caused some material damage, Syrian state media reported.

Israeli aircraft and tanks stepped up strikes in southern Gaza overnight, residents said, after the military announced plans to pull back some troops.

An Israeli official said on Monday that forces inside Gaza would be drawn down this month and shifted to a months-long phase of more "mopping up" operations.

Washington has been urging Israel to reduce the intensity of its military operation, amid international calls for a ceasefire as the killing of Palestinian civilians continues.

But residents said Israeli planes and tanks stepped up bombardment of the eastern and northern areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Residents of Sheikh Radwan district in Gaza City, in the northern part of the enclave, said tanks had withdrawn after what they described as the most intense 10 days of warfare since the conflict began.

Tanks also pulled out of Gaza City's Al Mina district and parts of Tel Al Hawa district, while retaining some positions in the suburb controlling the enclave's main coastal road, residents said.

Pro-Palestine protesters converged on New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport for the second time in a week on Monday.

Videos posted online show heavy traffic and a slow-moving line of cars, some flying Palestinian flags and featuring text on the windows such as “Stop the genocide.”

Police directed a line of cars around a checkpoint.

Entry into JFK's Terminal 4 was temporarily restricted on Monday afternoon to ticketed passengers, employees and people with what authorities consider a valid reason to be there, such as passenger pick-ups, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the region's airports.

Similarly, AirTrain access was temporarily restricted to ticketed passengers and employees.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey did not report arrests.

City officials had warned people flying out of JFK on Monday, a busy travel day, to get to the airport early because of the protests.

Police said the caravan of cars was later headed to protest outside LaGuardia Airport, which is also in Queens.

- AP

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group said on its Telegram account on Monday that four of its fighters had been killed in southern Lebanon.

The statement gave no detail about how the four were killed but said they "were martyred on the road to [liberate] Jerusalem".

Hezbollah initially said three were killed before updating the number to four later in the day.

Security sources said the first three were killed in an Israeli raid on two houses in the Lebanese village of Kafr Kila near the border where Hezbollah maintains security control.

Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, has been exchanging near-daily fire with Israel across Lebanon's southern frontier since the eruption of the war in Gaza in early October.

The Israeli military said on Monday it had struck a series of targets in Lebanon, including "military sites" where Hezbollah was operating.

Israeli air strikes and shelling have killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters and nearly two dozen civilians, including children, elderly and several journalists, according to Hezbollah and security sources.

- Reuters

The USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier strike group will be heading to the US after providing protection for Israel, the US Navy said on Monday.

The aircraft carrier and its flotilla will be replaced by the amphibious assault ship the USS Bataan and its accompanying warships, the USS Mesa Verde and the USS Carter Hall. The three vessels had been in the Red Sea and have been sailing towards the Eastern Mediterranean over the past few days.

The Ford will sail for home “in the coming days”, said the US 6th Fleet, the European-based US naval command that is responsible for ships sailing in the Mediterranean.

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A Palestinian prisoner has died in an Israeli jail in unexplained circumstances, the prison service said Monday.

Officials were looking into the inmate's death.

The prison service said the 23-year-old man from Nablus in the occupied West Bank died in Meggido prison, in northern Israel.

He was arrested in June 2022 and later sentenced to jail time for "security offences", the statement said without naming the prisoner.

"As in all such incidents, the circumstances [of his death] will be examined," it said.

The Palestinian Authority's detainees commission confirmed a prisoner had died but was unable to verify further information.

The prison service said the inmate was affiliated with Fatah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's movement.

- AFP

Israeli settlers killed at least 10 Palestinians and torched dozens of homes in the occupied West Bank in 2023, making it the most violent year on record for attacks by illegal settlers, an Israeli watchdog said on Monday.

Numerous West Bank attacks were carried out by Israeli settlers and the violence surged after Hamas's October 7 attacks in Israel, said Yesh Din, a human rights group.

"At least 10 Palestinians were killed by settlers and dozens of homes and vehicles were set on fire" last year, it said.

"This was the most violent year in settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank in both the number of incidents and their severity."

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The Israeli military said on Monday it had attacked Lebanon, including "military sites" where Hezbollah was operating.

It said that earlier five soldiers had been wounded by cross-border fire from Lebanon.

The military said that its troops and aircraft "struck a series of targets in Lebanon, including terrorist infrastructure, military sites in which Hezbollah terrorists were operating, and launch posts".

- Reuters

Some of the Israeli communities north of the Gaza Strip that were evacuated in the wake of the October 7 attacks will be able to go back in the near future as military operations progress, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday.

Mr Gallant said some of the evacuated communities in areas within a range of 4km to 7km north of the enclave would be able to return home soon, according to published remarks from a briefing.

- Reuters

Holly Johnston reports from Abu Dhabi:

Several thousand Israeli troops will withdraw from Gaza in the coming weeks for “rest and training”, the army said on Monday.

Five brigades in Gaza will be returned to Israel, the army said. The decision was cited as “smart management” of the war by officials.

“The objectives of the war require prolonged fighting and we are preparing accordingly,” military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters on Sunday.

The Israeli military “must plan ahead, understanding that we will be required for additional tasks and warfare throughout this year”, he added.

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Nada AlTaher and Nagham Mohanna report:

Thousands of doses of vaccines against childhood diseases have begun entering the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Monday.

Health Minister Mai Al Kaila said the inoculations were to protect against diseases such as polio, measles, rubella and mumps.

An estimated 16,854 children have missed one or more routine vaccinations since Israel launched its military offensive on the Palestinian territory on October 7, increasing the risk of outbreaks of "deadly but preventable diseases, such as measles and polio", the UN said.

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Several thousand troops will withdraw from Gaza in the coming weeks, the Israeli army confirmed on Monday. 

Five brigades will be moved out of Gaza “for training and rest”, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

Reservists from at least two brigades are expected to withdraw this week, according to reports, in the first drawdown since the ground invasion in late October.

“The objectives of the war require prolonged fighting, and we are preparing accordingly,” added Admiral Hagari. 

Almost 22,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began on October 7. 

Thousands more are missing and almost two million people have been displaced from their homes amid Israeli air strikes and a widening ground invasion.

The death toll in Gaza has reached 21,978, according to health authorities in the enclave, with 156 people killed in the past 24 hours. 

Another 57,697 have been wounded by Israel air strikes.

Most of the victims are women and children, the Health Ministry has said, with more than 9,000 children killed.