Israel-Palestine live: Israel and Palestinians agree to truce, hostage deal

Good evening Middle East Eye readers,

As the number of fatalities crosses 11,300, thousands remain in the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli military vehicles are encircling al-Shifa hospital in Gaza from all directions, amid continuous artillery shelling and heavy gunfire, Palestinian authorities in Gaza have said.

Norwegian physician, Dr Mads Gilbert, speaking to al-Shifa staff gave an update about the dire state of al-Shifa tonight.

At least 82 dead bodies were buried in a mass grave on Tuesday with an additional 80 bodies awaiting burial, with hundreds of patients remaining in the hospital and unable to move. In other updates:

• The government of Belize effectively cut ties with Israel, according to a statement released on Tuesday.
• Labour opposition leader Keir Starmer is preparing to sack shadow ministers who vote in favour of backing a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict, the UK-based daily, The Telegraph reported.
• The White House on Tuesday repeated the Israeli government’s claim that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are using hospitals to hold hostages and store weapons, without providing any evidence
• “In the name of humanity, the secretary general calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on behalf of United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres
• The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has condemned “Israel’s systematic, widespread and growing trend of humiliating, torturing and ill-treating Palestinian detainees with impunity”
• Around ten French ambassadors to the Middle East and North Africa have criticised the pro-Israeli stance adopted by President Emmanuel Macron, in an unprecedented rebuke.

Norwegian physician, Dr Mads Gilbert, speaking to al-Shifa staff gave an update about the state of the hospital tonight.

• 82 dead bodies in a mass grave on Tuesday with an additional 80 bodies awaiting burial
• 45 patients received life saving haemodialysis, which is to help clean the blood when the kidneys don’t function
• 36 premature babies are still alive and every attempt is being to look after them
• 633 wounded patients in the hospitals
• 116 doctors remain at the hospital and an additional 500 staff
• Surgeries are being done without anaesthesia or oxygen

Dr Mads Gilbert is a Norwegian physician, humanitarian, activist, and politician. Gilbert also worked at al-Shifa Hospital during the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict.

Israeli military vehicles are encircling al-Shifa hospital in Gaza from all directions, amid continuous artillery shelling and heavy gunfire, Palestinian authorities in Gaza have said.

Dr Ahmad Mokhallalati, speaking from al-Shifa, told Al-Jazeera that Israeli forces have been attacking in the vicinity of the hospital for the last several hours. He described it as “continuous shooting, continuous bombing”.

Those taking refuge in the hospital have moved to the corridors of the hospital for protection, Mokhallalati said, adding that “we don’t know [where] the shooting is from… we don’t know [what] the bombardment is targeting,” he added.

There are around 633 wounded patients in al-Shifa, with 36 premature babies without incubators. The hospital has been forced to bury at least 80 Palestinians within the hospital while another 80 awaiting burial.

The government of Belize effectively cut ties with Israel, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

The Central American country withdrew its accreditation for Israel’s ambassador-designate, suspended activities at its consulate in Tel Aviv and that of the Israeli consulate in Belize, and withdrew its request for accreditation for its own consul to Israel.

Belize cited Israel's “unceasing, indiscriminate bombing in Gaza” which has resulted in thousands of Palestinians being killed, and Israel’s violation of international law for its actions.

“Since the 7th October 2023, Israel has consistently violated international law, international humanitarian law and the human rights of Gazans.”

Labour opposition leader Keir Starmer is preparing to sack shadow ministers who vote in favour of backing a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict, the UK based daily, The Telegraph reported.

As many as 10 of his shadow ministers could end up supporting an amendment for a ceasefire, if it ends up being put to a vote on Wednesday.

The Labour leader has said that a ceasefire would help Hamas, even as the death toll for Palestinian civilians killed by Israel has crossed 11,000.

Last month, Starmer faced a huge backlash when he said that Israel has a “right” to totally cut power and water supplies to Palestinians in Gaza.

“God knows that we’re dying of thirst so he lets rain fall from the sky,” says a young Palestinian boy in Gaza, seen collecting rainwater on a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

Palestinians in the besieged Strip are facing a humanitarian crises, including a shortage of water, food and fuel as a result of a complete Israeli siege that began on  7 October.

According to the United Nations, 95 percent of people in Gaza lack access to clean drinking water.

The White House on Tuesday repeated the Israeli government’s claim that Hamas and Islamic Jihad is using hospitals to hold hostages and store weapons.

They added that their information, referring specifically to al-Shifa hospital, comes from a “variety of US intelligence methods”, without providing any specifics.

“We have information that confirms that Hamas is using that particular hospital for a command and control mode” and probably to store weapons, national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters aboard Air Force One.

“That is a war crime.”He said that none of this lessens Israel’s responsibility to protect civilians.

The US State Department said on Tuesday that it supports an independent third party to conduct evacuations from Gaza hospitals.

“US doesn’t want to see any civilians, certainly not babies in incubators and other vulnerable populations, caught in a crossfire,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a briefing.

Miller also said there were pauses taking place during the war, but that they should be longer and they are continuing to engage with Israel on the issue.

The US still has just under 1,000 US citizens, permanent residents and their family members left in Gaza, according to Miller.

When asked about a debunked video from the Israeli government purporting that Hamas was using a hospital to hold hostages, Miller said, “We have no way of independently adjudicating the various claims coming our way”, adding that governments make mistakes “in the fog of war”.

“In the name of humanity, the secretary general calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on behalf of United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres.

Guterres is deeply disturbed by the “dramatic loss of life” in several hospitals in the Gaza Strip, his spokesman said.

Israel’s military is using the NSO Group’s notorious spyware Pegasus to find hostages held by Hamas, according to the US news site Axios.

Axios also alluded to the possibility that Pegasus might be using the current conflict to get its products off the United States' blacklists. Quoting an unnamed source, it said that a “war room” has been established with other tech firms to “track and unlock the phones” of people missing since 7 October.

“I think the people from the government — both in Israel and outside of Israel — and the public … now understand much better the value of these kinds of tools and why they are needed,” said the source.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has condemned “Israel’s systematic, widespread and growing trend of humiliating, torturing and ill-treating Palestinian detainees with impunity”.

It has called Israel’s actions towards Palestinian prisoners “appalling”, in a series of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Israel continues to publish footage that deliberately aims to degrade & humiliate Palestinians detained, tortured and ill-treated in the West Bank for war propaganda,” said the rights group.

“We have documented multiple similar incidents that violate the Geneva conviction about the treatment of detainees,” it added.

Increasing numbers of Turkish people are joining a boycott against US-based coffee company Starbucks over its alleged support for Israel.

Several videos have circulated on social media over the past week showing protesters outside Starbucks cafes in Turkey, calling on customers to stop buying coffee from the company.

The campaign began in response to the Israel-Palestine war, during which an Israeli air and ground attack on Gaza has killed more than 11,200 Palestinians, including over 4,600 children.

The assault followed a Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 Israelis, the majority of whom were civilians. 

One video from the Turkish port city of Izmir showing a protester spilling someone’s coffee has gone particularly viral.

Read More: Row brews in Turkey as Starbucks’ alleged Israel support leaves bitter taste

Around ten French ambassadors to the Middle East and North Africa have criticised the pro-Israeli stance adopted by President Emmanuel Macron.

The French daily, Le Figaro, which first reported the news, described it as an “unprecedented” rebellion in the recent history of French diplomacy in the Arab-speaking region.

Their note to Macron said: "Our position in favour of Israel is misunderstood in the Middle East and it breaks with our traditionally balanced position between Israelis and Palestinians."

The pro-Israeli position by France had resulted in a “loss of credibility and influence” for the country in the region largely due to Macron’s public statements, they said.

The crisis of trust between France and the Middle East is “serious” and risks being “long-lasting”, warned the authors of the note.

“We have experienced crises in the past with the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, but we were able to defuse them quite quickly,” said the diplomats.

“This time the distrust towards us is deep and likely to last. Our interlocutors feel that we are betraying ourselves; they believe that our discourse based on humanism is in contradiction with our new approach.

"For them, France with its alternative voice no longer exists,” they added.

Corpses of Palestinians are piling up inside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City with doctors electing to keep the bodies of the dead in its courtyard as anyone trying to bury them risks being shot by the Israeli army.

Eyewitnesses at the site painted an apocalyptic scene at the besieged Palestinian territory’s largest medical facility, which is besieged by Israeli forces who are not allowing anyone to move in or out of its buildings.

Palestinians say Israeli tanks, warplanes and snipers encircling the hospital have adopted a “shoot to kill” policy, which does not discriminate between medics, wounded Palestinians and those seeking refuge within the hospital's walls.

“Stray dogs and other animals bite at and eat the bodies,” Mustafa Sarsour, one of the last remaining journalists at al-Shifa, told Middle East Eye. 

“We watch them eat but no one can move because Israeli snipers and quadcopters shoot at anyone who walks out of the hospital’s buildings.”

Read MEE reporter Maha Hussaini's full report from the besieged Gaza Strip below: 

Bodies pile up as Gaza's al-Shifa Hospital becomes a no-go zone