Biden administration officials reported as saying terms emerging for prospective deal involving release of hostages
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Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis. I’m Adam Fulton, it’s 8.35am in the Gaza Strip and Tel Aviv and here’s a rundown on the latest news to this minute.
US negotiators are making progress on a potential agreement under which Israel would pause military operations against Hamas in Gaza for two months in exchange for the release of more than 100 hostages, Associated Press reports two senior Biden administration officials as saying.
The decision by the US, UK and other western nations to freeze funding for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees will significantly worsen the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians have warned. Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Finland joined the US, Australia and Canada in pausing funding after UNRWA, the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine, revealed that an investigation had been launched into 12 members of staff who allegedly took part in the 7 October attack led by Hamas that killed 1,140 people.
Israel’s foreign minister said his country would seek to stop the UNRWA from operating in Gaza after the war. Israel was aiming to ensure “UNRWA will not be a part of the day after”, Israel Katz said on Saturday.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has increased public pressure on Qatar to help secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza. Asked about his closed-door remarks, an audio recording of which was leaked to Israeli TV this week, that he was refraining from thanking Qatar for its mediation and deemed it “problematic”, Netanyahu told reporters: “I take back nothing.”
Palestine’s foreign ministry has reiterated its condemnation of “the ongoing genocide against our people for the 113th consecutive day”. It also condemned the “clear Israeli determination to continue destroying the Gaza Strip and turning it into an inhabitable place”.
The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, pressed China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, to use China’s influence to help rein in Iran’s support for Houthis after their attacks on Red Sea shipping. According to a US official, Beijing has told Washington that it is raising the issue with Tehran. Washington is waiting to see whether China does so and how effective the outreach will be, the official added.
Crews extinguished a fire onboard the tanker Marlin Luanda, after the vessel was struck by a Houthi anti-ship missile in the Gulf of Aden on Friday, the commodities trader Trafigura says. It adds that the firefighting effort was supported by Indian, US and French navy vessels. No casualties or injuries were reported onboard the fuel tanker.
Hamas said in a statement that Israel is on a “campaign of incitement” against UN agencies delivering aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. A statement by the group highlighted an Israeli accusation of “collusion” between the World Health Organisation and Hamas, which the UN agency rejected on Friday. The statement also referenced recent the allegations that some UNRWA staff had participated in the 7 October Hamas attack.
The Palestinian foreign ministry said an immediate ceasefire is “the only way” to implement Friday’s international court of justice interim ruling. On Friday, the ICJ stopped short of ordering a ceasefire in Gaza but demanded Israel attempted to try to contain death and damage in its military offensive.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society on Saturday condemned the siege and targeting of al-Amal hospital and its branch headquarters in Khan Younis for the sixth consecutive day. The “siege and its consequences”, the PRCS said, were a “blatant violation of international agreements, especially the provisions of international humanitarian law that require the Israeli occupation to respect the Red Crescent emblem”.
