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

In an Israeli parliament meeting early on Monday, families of hostages held in Gaza implored the Israeli government not to pass a law proposed by far-right minister Itamar Ben Gvir for the death penalty.

Ben Gvir said that he will bring for initial approval a bill on Monday mandating the use of the death penalty on "terrorists". 

"I expect all members of Knesset to support this important bill," he wrote on X. 

Israel has only used the death penalty twice in 75 years, one of which was to execute Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962.

Iran denied Israeli claims that it was involved in the seizure of a British-owned and Japanese-operated cargo ship in the southern Red Sea by Yemen's Houthis, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday at a press conference.

On Sunday, Israel said the incident was an "Iranian act of terrorism" with consequences for international maritime security.

"We have said multiple times that resistance groups in the region act independently and spontaneously based on their interests and that of their people," Kanaani said, adding that Israeli claims were aimed at diverting attention away from Israeli's "irreparable defeat" in the ongoing war. 
 

A 14-year-old Palestinian from Taybie was arrested on Sunday evening, for “expressing support for Hamas” on social media, according to Haaretz. 

The teenager reportedly posted a photo with the caption: “Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, whatever comes next will be difficult and more cruel."

Israeli police said that the teenager has been imprisoned and a hearing will be held today to request extending his detainment. 
 

Mohammad Zakkout, the general director of hospitals in Gaza, said that the situation in Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital is “catastrophic” on Monday morning. 

“What is happening here is worse than what happened in al-Shifa Hospital, because this is a much smaller hospital. It will be a bigger massacre here. What is happening is a death sentence to everyone in the hospital,” he said. 

• At least 12 people have been killed by Israeli forces 
• There are at least 700 patients and staff inside the hospital, in addition to displaced Palestinians sheltering. 
• Footage showed the destruction from Israeli attacks inside the hospitals, including collapsed ceilings. 
• Anyone trying to leave the hospital is being shot at.
• There is no electricity in the hospital, and it is being surrounded by Israeli tanks.
• Some patients inside the hospital are in critical condition, including women who need c-sections and dialysis patients. Children are getting fevers and high temperatures, which is being worsened due to the lack of water.  

Good morning MEE readers. The past several hours have been marked by fears that Israel will launch a military operation on Indonesia Hospital, similar to the one that it launched just a few days ago on al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical complex in Gaza.

Indonesia Hospital has been facing heavy Israeli bombardment on Monday morning, while tanks have recently been seen nearby. At least eight people have been killed inside the hospital, and two doctors have been injured.

In case you need to catch up, here are some of the latest developments:

• In a meeting in Beijing, a delegation of ministers from Arab and Muslim-majority countries called for a ceasefire in Gaza, and also stressed the urgent need for increased humanitarian aid to be able to enter the besieged enclave.

• In southern and central Gaza, Israeli bombardment has killed dozens of Palestinians. More than a dozen were killed in Israel's targeting of a residential area in Rafah, near Egypt's border. And on Monday morning, more than 30 bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli bombing of the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps were brought to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

• The rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now is calling on the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco to withdraw from their normalisation agreements with Israel.

• A 21-year-old Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces in Hebron.

Israel's military announced that two more of its soldiers have been killed during fighting in northern Gaza.

This brings the total number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of Israel's ground invasion of Gaza to 65, according to a tally reported by Israeli news outlets.

Israel's military has published the names of 387 Israeli soldiers who have been killed since 7 October.

The rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn) is urging the governments of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco to withdraw from the US-brokered normalisation agreement with Israel over its military campaign in Gaza.

"The UAE and other signatories to the Abraham Accords should take responsibility for emboldening Israel into believing that it can wantonly bombard and massacre Palestinians with no consequence to its standing in the region,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Dawn's executive director, said in a statement.

“Continued adherence to the Abraham Accords signals that the UAE and other Accords signatories are still supporting Israel and rewarding it with commitments for economic and trade development and, most shocking of all, military coordination."

The rights group also called those countries, in addition to Egypt and Jordan which normalised ties with Israel prior to the 2020 normalisation agreement, to end all military coordination with Israel.

Further, Dawn has called on all Arab countries hosting US military bases to "publicly declare that they will not permit the US to use these bases to supply weapons to or provide protection for Israeli forces" amid the war in Gaza.

Israeli forces shot dead a 21-year-old Palestinian man on Monday near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The man, identified as Muhammad Adel Muhammad al-Sarahin, was from the town of Beit Ula, located northwest of Hebron.

Sarahin was driving his vehicle near the Arroub refugee camp north of Hebron when Israeli forces opened fire at him and another person.

After firing on him, Israeli forces prevented medical workers from treating Sarahin, detaining him until he died and then handing him over to staff for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, according to Wafa.

Video footage shared by several news outlets is showing a number of Israeli tanks in the vicinity of Indonesia Hospital, which has been facing heavy Israeli bombardment over the past several hours.

At least eight people have been killed, and two doctors have been injured by shelling and live fire.

The bodies of more than 30 Palestinians killed by Israeli bombings in the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps have arrived at the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip on Monday morning, according to multiple Palestinian news outlets.

Gaza has been facing intense bombardment in the early hours of Monday, with dozens reported dead across the besieged enclave.

Currently, Israeli forces have surrounded the Indonesia Hospital in northern Gaza, stoking fears that the military will launch an operation similar to the one it conducted on al-Shifa Hospital just days ago.

Palestinian news outlets are now reporting that the death toll from Israel's bombing on a residential area in Rafah has increased to more than a dozen Palestinians.

Several reports have put the death toll at 17, while Al Jazeera Arabic has reported the death toll to be at more than 14, in addition to dozens more who have been injured.

Ministers from several Muslim-majority and Arab countries on Monday gathered in China's capital Beijing, where they held a meeting with the country's top diplomat and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The officials holding meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia, Palestine, as well as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

The trip to Beijing is the first leg of a diplomatic tour by the coalition to push for an end to Israel's war on Gaza and for humanitarian aid to be allowed into the enclave.

The delegation is set to meet with the permanent members of the UN Security Council.

The meeting in Beijing also comes after a joint Muslim-Arab summit in Riyadh this month, in which the countries urged the International Criminal Court to investigate "war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel is committing" in the Palestinian territories.

At least 11 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli bombardment in Rafah, located near Gaza's southern border with Egypt, according to Al Jazeera Arabic and Palestinian news outlets.

The bombing targeted homes near the Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital.

Several reports are saying that at least eight people have been killed at Indonesia Hospital, as Israeli forces have been bombing on and around the hospital and have also been surrounding the medical facility.