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

An mass iftar in Cairo's Matariya region turned a big demonstration when attendees started chanting for Palestine and Gaza.

"With our soul, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, Palestine," they chanted at the annual iftar. "with our soul, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, Gaza."

This move allowed Egyptians to temporarily bypass the government's heavy restrictions on protests for Gaza.

The Gaza media office said in a statement that 18 people were killed due to faulty aid airdrop operations, including 12 people who died drowning in the sea while trying to reach aid boxes in northern Gaza.

The other six were crushed in the crowd trying to reach aid the office says was thrown "in a wrong way".

"The airdrop operations have become a real threat to the lives of hungry citizens," the statement read.

The Oversight Board, the body in charge of content moderation decisions for Meta’s social media platforms, found that the company’s censoring of the Arabic word “shaheed” has had a “discriminatory impact on expression and news reporting”.

In an investigation carried out at Meta’s request, the board found that the company’s highly restrictive approach regarding “shaheed”, the most censored word on Facebook and Instagram, has led to “widespread and unnecessary censorship affecting the freedom of expression of millions of users”.

“Shaheed” has several meanings but can roughly be translated to “martyr” in English. The board has found that Meta has struggled to grapple with the linguistic complexities and religious significance attached to that word.

As the word is also used as a loan word in other languages, many (mostly Muslim) non-Arabic speakers have had their posts censored on Meta’s platforms.

Prior to the release of the board’s advisory opinion, Human Rights Watch found that Meta was guilty of “systemic censorship of Palestine content” amidst the Gaza war, which it attributed to “flawed Meta policies and their inconsistent and erroneous implementation, over-reliance on automated tools to moderate content, and undue government influence over content removals.”

READ MORE: Meta oversight board finds censoring of word 'shaheed' discriminatory

The Israeli delegation left Qatar after saying Hamas refused the American proposal for ceasefire negotiations.

Hamas said Israel did not respond to their demands for a ceasefire accompanied by a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the return of displaced Gaza residents to the north.

An Israeli air strike on the Abu Hasira home near Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital killed at least 30 people, according to Al Jazeera's correspondent in the area.

Israel's foreign minister, Israel Katz, said that the US's decision to withhold its veto at a UN Security Council vote calling for a Gaza ceasefire will make it more difficult to free Israeli hostages held in the enclave.

Speaking to Israeli army radio, Katz said that Hamas will take advantage of the US not using its veto in order to reach a ceasefire without facing consequences, calling the American decision "a moral and ethical mistake".

He said that as a result, Israel will have to amp up its military pressure to show its commitment to freeing the hostages and defeating Hamas.

“In our view, there was a message, a no-good message, to anyone on Hamas’s side, that the US does not support Israel as much, and so we need to prove, militarily, that we will stand by our goals,” he said.

The UN Security Council resolution passed yesterday called for an "immediate" ceasefire for the remainder of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and setting the framework for a "lasting" ceasefire afterwards.

The US had previously vetoed three Security Council resolutions demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.

Al Jazeera reports that Israel has carried out several air strikes across the Gaza Strip today, one day after the passing of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire for the remainder of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The Times of Israel also reported that the Israeli army's operations in Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital are still ongoing.

The head of Hamas's political bureau Ismail Haniyeh will head to Tehran on Tuesday and meet with Iranian officials, Iran's state-owned Press TV reported.

Iran's IRNA News Agency says that Haniyeh's trip will include a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

• Despite US insistence on the UN Security Council Gaza resolution being "non-binding," countries across the world welcomed it, with UN chief Antonion Guterres saying it is, in fact, binding and must be implemented
• The Israeli army bombed a home in Rafah, killing at least 15 people, including four children
• Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, while Israeli forces conducted several arrests across the West Bank
• Meeting with Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated his country's opposition to an operation in Rafah, saying "alternatives exist" to the ground invasion

Hello MEE readers. Monday marked the 171st day of Israel's war in Gaza. The number 171 is also the number of Unrwa staff members killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

On Monday, the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire after the US abstained from the vote. The US used its veto power to reject several similar resolutions since October, but decided not to weigh in on Monday, allowing the measure to pass.

The decision was met with outrage by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who in response cancelled an Israeli delegation to Washington that was meant to discuss the options for an invasion of Gaza's southern city Rafah.

UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese also released a damning report on Monday, outlining how Israel had crossed the threshold of genocide in Gaza.

Here's what else you need to know from Monday's developments:

• The US State Department said the Israeli decision not to come for scheduled talks with American officials was "surprising and unfortunate".

• Hamas has informed mediators that the group will stick to its original position on reaching a comprehensive ceasefire rather than a temporary one.

• The US said it conducted another airdrop of humanitarian aid into northern Gaza on Monday.

• US presidential candidate Donald Trump said that Israel should "finish up" its war on Gaza, saying that it is losing international credibility.

• The military wing of Hamas, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said it fired rockets towards the southern Israeli city of Ashdod on Monday. It was the first such attack in weeks.

• Survivors of al-Shifa Hospital raid spoke to MEE about the torture and abuse that occurred. You can read that story here.

• The relationship between Israel and the Biden administration has hit its lowest point since the start of the Gaza war, after the US abstained from UN vote on Monday. Read the full analysis here.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, submitted a report to the UN Security Council on Monday, which states that "there are reasonable grounds to believe" that the threshold for genocide in Gaza has been met.

"Israel has de facto treated an entire protected group and its life-sustaining infrastructure as 'terrorist' or 'terrorist-supporting', thus transforming everything and everyone into either a target or collateral damage, hence killable or destroyable," says the report.

A necessary component to declare genocide is intent, which Albanese says has been met by Israel's actions in Gaza.

"In the latest Gaza assault, direct evidence of genocidal intent is uniquely present," the UN expert says.

"Vitriolic genocidal rhetoric has painted the whole population as the enemy to be eliminated and forcibly displaced."

In the report, titled Anatomy of a Genocide, Albanese also accuses Israel of using a "humanitarian camouflage" through the strategic use of international humanitarian law to "legitimise its genocidal violence in Gaza".

The relationship between Israel and the Biden administration has hit its lowest point since the start of the Gaza war, after the US abstained from a United Nations Security Council vote on Monday calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office lashed out at the US after it decided not to use its veto power, saying the move was a “clear retreat from the consistent position of the US" and that it “gives Hamas hope”, amid flagging negotiations in Doha, Qatar, to reach a hostage deal.

Analysts predict this could be just the start of greater US-Israel tensions, as Netanyahu vows to press ahead with an invasion of Rafah despite US warnings, amid a fight for his domestic political survival.

“This is very much Bibi-like,” Merissa Khurma, director of the Middle East programme at the Wilson Center, told Middle East Eye.

“He doesn’t like to be cornered and he will continue to push back.”

To read the full story, click below.

War on Gaza: Biden 'corners' Bibi at the UN, opening deep rift with ally

Hamas has informed mediators that the group will stick to its original position on reaching a comprehensive ceasefire rather than a temporary one.

The original deal includes the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, a return of displaced Palestinians and a "real" exchange of prisoners.

Najib Mikati said countries should pressure Israel to stop attacking southern Lebanon, after a UN Security Council calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza passed on Monday.

"When it comes to Lebanon, we renew our call to concerned countries to pressure the Israeli enemy to stop its continued aggression on southern Lebanon," the statement said.

The Israeli military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have been exchanging cross-border fire since the Gaza war began late last year.

Hezbollah has also said it would halt its fire into Israel if a Gaza ceasefire was reached. Israeli and US officials, however, have said a ceasefire in Gaza would not automatically extend to Lebanon.

US Central Command (Centcom) said it conducted another airdrop of humanitarian aid into northern Gaza on Monday.

Centcom said that planes "dropped over 46,000 US meals ready to eat" into the northern part of the enclave.