Israel-Palestine live: Biden urges Egypt, Qatar to press Hamas for hostage deal

Governor Gavin Newsom of California called for a ceasefire in Gaza last week in an open letter to his state's Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities. 

"I condemn the ongoing and horrific loss of innocent civilian life in Gaza. I support President Biden’s call for an immediate ceasefire as part of a deal to secure desperately needed relief for Gazan civilians and the release of hostages," he wrote.

"I also unequivocally denounce Hamas’s terrorist attack against Israel. It is time to work in earnest toward an enduring peace that will furnish the lasting security, autonomy, and freedom that the Palestinians and the Israeli people both deserve."

Several top Hamas officials have stated that Israel's claim that its military killed Hamas military leader Marwan Issa in a strike earlier this month has not been confirmed by the group.

Issa is a top official in al-Qassam Brigades, and if he is killed it would mean the death of the most senior Hamas official since October.

Hamas senior official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera that the political bureau hasn’t seen evidence of Issa's death.

“Everyone knows since day one, the Israelis have been saying they want to target Qassam Brigades and other commanders. However, in the absence of an official statement confirming the martyrdom, one cannot confirm such information,” Hamdan said.

“This information is not usually shared inside the movement. The safety and whereabouts of the commanders is not something exchanged internally. The information published by the enemy is not deemed confirmed. It could very well be part of the psychological war being waged by the occupation against the Palestinian people.”

Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas' political bureau, said that there "no confidence" in the claim made by Israel, and said that Issa's death needs to be confirmed by Hamas' military wing, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

US President Joe Biden was interrupted during a campaign event in North Carolina by demonstrators criticising his support for Israel's war in Gaza.

"What about the healthcare in Gaza?" demonstrators asked.

Biden responded by saying that the protesters "have a point" and that more aid needs to get into Gaza.

Both the headquarters of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in Khan Younis and al-Amal Hospital are no longer operating, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on X.

"We call on all parties to adhere to their obligations under International Humanitarian Law, ensuring the protection of civilians, healthcare workers, and facilities," IFRC said.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the Biden administration hasn't yet reached a conclusion on whether Israel has violated the international laws of war in its war in Gaza.

"These processes to assess their compliance with international humanitarian law are ongoing. They have not reached a definitive conclusion," Miller said.

"And the next step is we are due to provide Congress a report. It's the next thing that's required by this memo on May 8, where we will get into these issues in more detail."

Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah, who spent more than a month late last year in Gaza performing surgeries for wounded Palestinians, was elected as the new rector of the University of Glasgow.

Abu Sittah, a former student of the university, is a leading plastic and reconstructive surgeon. He received 80 percent of the first-choice votes, and will now serve a three-year term as rector.

The rector is the highest official of a university.

Abu Sittah spent 43 days operating out of al-Shifa hospital and al-Ahli Baptist hospital in Gaza.

An Israeli military spokesperson has said that the military confirmed a previous claim that it killed Hamas deputy military commander Marwan Issa in an Israeli strike earlier this month.

"We have checked all the intelligence," Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement. "Marwan Issa was eliminated in the strike we carried out around two weeks ago," he said.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

Reporting from Reuters

Two people were killed and one wounded near the city of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Service.

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro has threatened to cut diplomatic ties with Israel if the country doesn't comply with the UN Security Council resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Petro made the threat in a post on X, and it comes weeks after the president announced that Bogota would be suspending the purchasing of Israeli weapons.

The two countries have shown signs of deteriorating relations over Israel's war in Gaza. Israel and Colombia have been military and commercial partners, but ties began to sour after Petro was elected to office in 2022.

Petro, one of several leftist leaders in South America, is a longtime proponent of Palestinian rights and described Israel’s latest military offensive in Gaza as "genocide".

Yemen's Houthi movement said that it carried out six operations, including attacks on four ships and attacks on two US destroyers.

The armed group said the ships it attacked included Maersk Saratoga, APL Detroit, Huang Pu, and Pretty Lady, the last of which the Houthis said was headed towards Israel.

"The military operations achieved their goals successfully," the group said in a statement.

Maersk denied its ship was attacked.

“We can confirm that no such incident was reported by the vessel, which is currently safely continuing her normal journey far from the mentioned location,” the company said in a statement.

Israel has recalled its negotiators from Doha, deeming the Gaza truce talks "at a dead end" because of Hamas's demands, according to a senior Israeli official.

The official, who is close to the Mossad spymaster heading up the talks, accused Hamas's Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar, of sabotaging the diplomacy "as part of a wider effort to inflame this war over Ramadan".

Reporting by Reuters

A series of air strikes targeted the eastern province of Deir el-Zour in Syria on Tuesday morning, killing more than a dozen people, including an Iranian advisor and a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said the strikes killed 15 people. Of those killed included an advisor with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, two of his bodyguards, nine Iraqi fighters from a Tehran-backed group and two Syrians.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the strikes. However, Sana, Syria's state-run news outlet, reported that the US was behind the bombings.

The news outlet cited a military source, and added that seven military personnel were killed, and one civilian was also killed.

WHO said one of its team members, engineer Emad Shehab, was killed in one of the strikes. WHO said that Shehab worked on water, sanitation, and hygiene in the eastern province.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said at the start of a meeting with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant that protecting Palestinian civilians is a moral and strategic imperative.

Speaking with Gallant at the Pentagon on Tuesday, Austin called the situation in Gaza a "humanitarian catastrophe".

Amnesty International has applauded the new report by the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories which found that Israel has committed acts of genocide in its war on Gaza.

In a statement, Amnesty’s secretary general, Agnes Callamard, called on states to "uphold their obligations under the Genocide Convention and take concrete measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza today".

“The time to act to prevent genocide is now," she added.

Callamard urged states to apply political pressure to implement the UN Security Council resolution adopted on Monday, which demanded an immediate ceasefire.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called for unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza, describing the humanitarian situation there as "hell".

"International organisations must be able to provide vital aid unhindered," Baerbock said in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, adding that Germany had increased its funding to the World Food Programme by an additional 10 million euros.