Middle East crisis live: Egypt in touch with Hamas and Israel to restart ceasefire talks, says report

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Egypt was in contact with senior Hamas and Israeli figures as well as other mediators on Sunday in an effort to restart negotiations for a truce in the Gaza Strip during Ramadan, which begins on Monday or Tuesday, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters. Egypt’s contacts with Hamas and Israeli intelligence agency, the Mossad, on Sunday were reportedly carried out under a mandate from the Egyptian presidency in a bid to bring the two sides’ divergent positions together.

A ship carrying tonnes of food for Gaza remained docked in a Cyprus port on Sunday as preparations were under way to launch a yet untested maritime aid route to the enclave. The Open Arms, a salvage vessel, plans to tow a barge with 200 tonnes of food on. Packing the cargo was completed on Saturday evening, but a source told Reuters that the departure was partly dependent on creating a makeshift jetty in Gaza to facilitate deliveries since the strip has no port infrastructure. Israel’s war in Gaza has displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million people and led to critical shortages of food, water and medicine. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said on Sunday that hunger is “everywhere” in Gaza and described the situation in the north of the enclave as “tragic”, saying that aid via land is “denied despite repeated calls”.

The US and Jordan carried out a new airdrop of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, parachuting in more than 11,500 meals, the US military said. The American military’s central command said that the latest airdrop took place over northern Gaza and included rice, flour, pasta, and canned food.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it had fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel after Israeli strikes the day before killed five people in southern Lebanon, including three of the group’s members. Hezbollah said it had launched “dozens of katyusha-type rockets” in the morning on the Israeli village of Meron, eight kilometres (five miles) from the border.

At 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.

Egypt in touch with Hamas and Israel to restart ceasefire talks - report

Egypt was in contact with senior Hamas and Israeli figures as well as other mediators on Sunday in an effort to restart negotiations for a truce in the Gaza Strip during Ramadan, which begins on Monday or Tuesday, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters.

Egypt’s contacts with Hamas and Israeli intelligence agency, the Mossad, on Sunday were carried out under a mandate from the Egyptian presidency in an effort to bring the two sides’ divergent positions together, the sources said.

Qatar, Egypt and the US have been trying to negotiate a deal for a ceasefire during Ramadan in return for the release of Israel hostages captured in Hamas’ 7 October attacks. The latest round of talks, not attended by Israel, broke up in Cairo this week.

Israel has previously demanded that Hamas present a list of 40 elderly, sick and female hostages who would be the first to be released as part of a truce.

Hamas has reiterated its position that all Israeli forces leave Gaza, large-scale humanitarian aid should be allowed in, and that Palestinians displaced from their homes in the north of the coastal territory be allowed to return.

Ship carrying food for Gaza remains docked in Cyprus as preparations continue for new maritime aid route

A ship carrying tonnes of food for Gaza remained docked in a Cyprus port on Sunday as preparations were under way to launch a yet untested maritime aid route to the enclave, where the UN estimates a quarter of the population faces starvation.

The Open Arms, a salvage vessel, plans to tow a barge with 200 tonnes of food on, mostly funded by the UAE (see earlier post at 11.12).

The supplies were sourced by charity World Central Kitchen (WCK), which is working with Spanish non-governmental organisation Proactiva Open Arms.

WCK said it has another 500 tonnes of supplies in Cyprus, which will be dispatched in future missions.

However, the timing on the departure for the aid was unclear. Packing the cargo was completed on Saturday evening, but a source told Reuters that the departure was partly dependent on creating a makeshift jetty in Gaza to facilitate deliveries since the strip has no port infrastructure.

The Palestinian foreign ministry has welcomed the decision by Canada and Sweden to reinstate funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), calling it “a necessary step to secure a lifeline for Palestine refugees”.

They were among countries that suspended aid to UNRWA after Israel accused about 12 of its employees of involvement in the 7 October Hamas attacks, in which Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis, mainly civilians, and abducted another 250 in southern Israel.

In a post on X, the Palestinian foreign ministry wrote that:

The decision affirms the indispensability of UNRWA for ensuring the wellbeing, protection and basic rights of millions of Palestine refugees and providing regional and international stability. It is also a testament to the impartiality, humanity and neutrality of UNRWA.

UNRWA is at the centre of efforts to provide humanitarian relief in Gaza, where the UN has warned repeatedly of looming famine after months of Israeli bombardment.

UNRWA employs about 30,000 people in the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria – with about 13,000 staff in the Gaza Strip.

US and Jordan carry out airdrop of humanitarian aid in Gaza, says US military

The US and Jordan carried out a new airdrop of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, parachuting in more than 11,500 meals, the US military said.

Israel’s war in Gaza, which is supported by the US, has displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million people and led to critical shortages of food, water and medicine.

The American military’s central command said that the latest airdrop took place over northern Gaza and included rice, flour, pasta, and canned food. The US has dropped about 135,000 meals in airdrops this month, according to Pentagon data.

The US president, Joe Biden, has also ordered the US military to build a temporary port system to bring aid into Gaza by sea.

The Pentagon said on Friday it could take up to 60 days to be up and running, a timeline that aid groups say is too long given the imminent risk of famine.

Here are some of the latest images coming out from the newswires:

Israelis and Palestinians are bracing themselves for a tense and ­potentially violent week, with no sign of a ­ceasefire likely in Gaza and calls from Hamas for protest marches around the Islamic world to mark the start of Ramadan on Monday.

Earlier this month, a halt to hostilities before the Muslim holy month looked possible, but hopes have dimmed since indirect talks in Cairo ended without progress last week.

On Friday, President Joe Biden said a deal between Hamas and Israel was now “looking tough”, and when asked if he was worried about violence in Jerusalem, said, “I sure am.”

You can read the full story by the Guardian’s international security correspondent, Jason Burke, here:

Dutch King Willem-Alexander officially opened the country’s first Holocaust Museum on Sunday, as demonstrators opposing Israel’s war in Gaza protested against the Israeli president, who also addressed the ceremony.

Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said the museum sent “a clear and powerful statement: remember, remember the horrors born of hatred, antisemitism and racism and never again allow them to flourish”.

“Unfortunately never again is now, right now. Because right now, hatred and antisemitism are flourishing worldwide and we must fight it together,” the president said.

He called for the “immediate and safe return” of hostages taken by Hamas in the 7 October attacks and urged the congregation to “pray for peace”.

Less than one kilometre away were protests against Herzog’s appearance at the ceremonies, organised by, among others, Jewish groups urging an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Hundreds gathered waving Palestinian flags and banners, and shouting “Never Again Is Now”, a reference to their belief Israel is committing genocide in the Palestinian territory. Many reportedly booed and shouted slogans as the dignitaries arrived at the museum.

The Israeli army is deploying 24 battalions, 20 MGB companies and two special units in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as 5,000 reservists already stationed in the Palestinian territories, Al Jazeera has cited the Israeli army radio as saying.

It also said that a total of more than 15,000 soldiers will operate in the area.

Israeli authorities have stopped issuing new visas or renewing old ones for foreign employees of international NGOs, most of whom occupy senior positions, according to three senior humanitarian officials and a body representing more than 80 groups.

As of Thursday, 57 aid workers’ visas had expired since the war broke out on 7 October, while 42 more “will expire in the coming few weeks”, said Faris Arouri, director of the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), whose members work in the Palestinian territories.

At least 50 requests for new visas – for staffers ramping up the response to worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza and the West Bank – have gone nowhere, Arouri said.

“The total is close to 150 positions that we urgently need as of two months ago, not tomorrow,” Arouri said.

“We see it as part and parcel of a larger-scale Israeli blockade on aid operations and humanitarian aid both in the West Bank and Gaza.”

The United Nations has also been affected, with scores of visa applications currently “unanswered”, a UN official told AFP, requesting anonymity given the sensitivity of the issue.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat told AFP there was “a change of procedures … regarding the issuing of visas to the NGOs” and that the issue “will be resolved in the near future”.

Thousands of police have been deployed around the narrow streets of the Old City in Jerusalem, where tens of thousands of worshippers are expected every day at the al-Aqsa mosque compound, one of the holiest sites in Islam.

Reuters reports:

The area, considered the most sacred place by Jews who know it as Temple Mount, has been a longstanding flashpoint for trouble and was one of the starting points of the last war in 2021 between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza.

That 10-day conflict has been dwarfed by the current war, which is now in its sixth month. It began on 7 October when thousands of Hamas fighters stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, by Israeli tallies.

Israel’s relentless campaign in Gaza has drawn increasing alarm across the world as the growing risk of famine threatens to add to a death toll that has already passed 31,000.

After some confusion last month when hard-right security minister Itamar Ben Gvir said he wanted restrictions on worshippers at Al Aqsa, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the numbers admitted would be similar to last year.

“This is our mosque and we must take care of it,” said Azzam Al-Khatib, director general of the Jerusalem Waqf, the religious foundation that oversees Al Aqsa. “We must protect the presence of Muslims at this mosque, who should be able to enter in big numbers peacefully and safely.”

Reuters has spoken to Palestinians in the southern Gaza City of Rafah, which has become the last refuge for more than half of the strip’s population of 2.3 million.

“We made no preparations to welcome Ramadan (which will begin on Monday or Tuesday this week) because we have been fasting for five months now,” said Maha, a mother-of-five.

“There is no food, we only have some canned food and rice, most of the food items are being sold for imaginary high prices,” she said via chat app from Rafah, where she is sheltering with her family.

A Spanish charity ship carrying food aid was expected to soon set sail from Cyprus to help alleviate the suffering in the Gaza Strip.

The non-governmental group Open Arms said its boat would carry 200 tonnes of food, which its partner the US charity World Central Kitchen would then unload on the shores of Gaza where it had constructed a basic dock, according to AFP.