Key events
Israeli delegation leaves ceasefire talks in Cairo
A delegation led by Israeli intelligence chief David Barnea left Cairo on Tuesday, Israeli and US media reported.
Barnea met CIA director William Burns in the Egyptian capital for talks on a Qatari-brokered plan to temporarily halt fighting in Gaza.
The Wall Street Journal citing officials familiar with the talks, reporting that Barnea’s delegation had departed the Egyptian capital “without closing any of the major gaps in the negotiations”.
Egyptian state-owned television channel Al Qahera reported citing a senior Egyptian official that the talks would continue for another three days.
The same official said the talks had been mostly “positive”, the television channel reported.
US national security council spokesperson John Kirby called the negotiations “constructive and moving in the right direction”.
“Nothing is done until it is all done,” he told reporters at the White House.
Opening summary
It has just gone 9am in Gaza and Tel Aviv.
The Israeli delegation has left talks in Cairo that aimed to agree on terms for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict, Israeli and US media reported.
The negotiations, which also involved CIA director William Burns, Qatar’s prime minister and Egyptian officials, were part of an intensifying effort to secure a ceasefire before Israel proceeds with a full-scale ground incursion into the southern city of Rafah, where more than half of the territory’s population has fled.
More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main news.
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Israel is in breach of international law as the occupying power if it fails to provide food and water to the people of Gaza, the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, has said. He also said it was simply not possible for people in Rafah to leave as proposed by the Israel Defense Forces: “The people who are in Rafah on many occasions have already moved three, four or five times … That is why it’s so important, the Israelis stop and think before going ahead with any operations.”
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The US said it was reviewing reports that Israel had harmed civilians in Gaza, under a set of guidelines aimed at ensuring countries receiving US arms conduct military operations in line with international humanitarian law.
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South Africa has made an urgent request to the UN’s international court to consider using its power to intervene in Rafah. The country’s presidency asked the court to consider whether Israel’s decision to extend its military operations in Rafah requires it to use its power to prevent further breach of the rights of Palestinians in Gaza.
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The UN said it would not participate in any forced evacuation of Rafah. Jens Laerke, spokesperson for UN Office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (Ocha) said it had not received any Rafah evacuation plans from Israel. “Regardless, the UN does not participate in forced, non-voluntary evacuations. There is no plan at this time to facilitate the evacuation of civilians,” he said.
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Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen have carried out their first attack in the Red Sea in six days, firing at an Iran-bound grain cargo ship, the US military has said, in a strike that raises questions about the group’s targeting.
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The US Senate voted in favour of sending Israel $14bn as part of a wider $95bn aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The package would also provide $9.15bn in humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank and other conflict zones around the globe. US senator Bernie Sanders was among the no votes, calling the bill “unconscionable”. The bill heads to the Republican-controlled House next, where its fate is uncertain.
