Israel-Hamas war live: IDF defends Jabalia refugee camp strike

Qatar has mediated an agreement between Egypt, Israel and Hamas, in coordination with the US, to allow for the movement of foreign passport holders and some critically injured people out of besieged Gaza, a source briefed on deal told Reuters today.

House Republicans are proposing paying for an aid package to Israel by slashing money from the Internal Revenue Service from Democrats’ signature climate, taxation and health care law passed last year.

The proposal will come after Hamas engaged in a deadly attack on Israel on 7 October that left 1,400 people dead with another 230 taken hostage.

Congress hopes to pass an aid package to assist Israel. Republicans’ proposed aid package would provide $14.3m in assistance to Israel. But it would come at the expense of slashing money from the IRS that’s included in the Inflation Reduction Act, the climate and health care law that Democrats passed last Congress along party lines.

The Israeli Defence Forces has shared images proving it has deployed missile boats in the Red Sea.

The warships arrived the day after Israeli military said it intercepted a surface-to-surface missile and “hostile targets” in the Eilat region.

They shared footage of the boats on patrol after claims of an attack by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, as fears rise the conflict could widen across the Middle East.

General Yahya Saree, a spokesperson for the Houthi forces, said that ballistic missiles and drones had been launched against targets in Israel in the third operation in support of the Palestinian people.

He added that there were plans for more strikes until the “Israeli aggression” ceased.

Israel accused Bolivia on Wednesday of “capitulation to terrorism and to the ayatollah regime in Iran” after the South American nation cut ties in protest at civilian casualties from Israel’s war with Tehran-backed Palestinian militants in Gaza.

A statement by the foreign ministry in Jerusalem also sought to play down yesterday’s decision by Bolivia, saying “relations between the countries had been devoid of content anyway” since a government handover there.

Muslim American leaders are threatening to mobilise their supporters to withhold votes and donations for president Joe Biden’s presidential campaign unless he pushes for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The National Muslim Democratic Council, a coalition of Muslim community leaders and activists within the Democratic Party, announced in an open letter that it would “withhold endorsement, support, or votes for any candidate who endorses the Israeli offensive against the Palestinian people.”

The letter criticised the Biden administration’s “unconditional support, encompassing funding and armaments” to Israel, which it argued has “played a significant role in perpetuating the violence that is causing civilian casualties and has eroded trust in voters who previously put their faith in you.”

Following the attack by Hamas on 7 October, president Joe Biden sent extra military support to Israel, the largest recipient of US foreign aid.

“We’re going to move a stand-alone Israel funding bill this week in the House — I know our colleagues, our Republican colleagues in the Senate, have a similar measure,” Mr Johnson told Fox News on Sunday.

Mr Biden “reiterated the importance of protecting civilian lives and respecting international humanitarian law, as Israel defends its citizens and combats terrorism”, it said.

My colleague Alisha Rahaman Sarkar has more:

Pakistan’s interim prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar today denounced the latest Israeli airstrikes on a refugee camp near Gaza City, urging the international community to play its role in ending such strikes.

“Yesterday’s air raid on Jabalia camp, where hundreds of lives were lost, including women and children, was a stark reminder of ongoing Israeli brutalities and war crimes in Gaza,” Mr Kakar said in a statement.

He said that “such reprehensible acts can never be condoned or forgotten. The world must act now to end this carnage.”

Three Arab states have strongly criticized Israel’s airstrikes on a refugee camp near Gaza City as its war on Hamas rages.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates each issued statements denouncing the strikes on the Jabaliya camp. The exact number of casualties was not immediately clear in the strikes, though one doctor said hundreds were killed and wounded.

Qatar, which as been mediating talks with Hamas over the more than 200 hostages it holds from its 7 October attack on Israel, described the strike as “a new massacre against the defenseless Palestinian people, especially women and children”.

The country warned that “the expansion of Israeli attacks in (the) Gaza Strip is a dangerous escalation in the course of confrontations, which would undermine mediation and de-escalation efforts.”

Communication has again been cut in Gaza, two providers said early today. Paltel and Jawwal reported a “complete disruption” of communications and internet services in Gaza, the second major cut in five days. Humanitarian aid agencies have warned that such blackouts severely disrupt their work in an already dire situation in Gaza.

A deluge of Israeli airstrikes yesterday on a refugee camp near Gaza City demolished apartment buildings, leaving gaping holes where they once stood, while ground troops battled Hamas militants across northern Gaza. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for a cease-fire. Though more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have fled their homes, several hundred thousand remain in the north, where Israeli troops and tanks have reportedly advanced on multiple sides of Gaza City.

The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 8,525, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 122 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.