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

Israeli air strikes late Sunday have killed nearly 50 people in Rafah and Deir al-Balah, cities that the Israeli military forced people to seek refuge in. 

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said on Monday that one of its correspondents has been killed in an Israeli air strike the along with his son. 

Saher Akram Rayan has worked with the agency for 20 years, Wafa said. 

He was killed with son, Anas, in Gaza City, as they tried to rescue their wounded neighbours. 

China said on Monday it supported a new draft resolution at the UN Security Council on an "immediate" ceasefire in Gaza, after it and Russia vetoed an earlier text proposed by the United States.

"China supports this draft resolution and commends Algeria and other Arab countries for their hard work in this regard," foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said, adding: "We hope the Security Council will pass it as soon as possible and send a strong signal for the cessation of hostilities."

Reporting by AFP 

Singapore made the Israeli embassy in the city-state take down an "insensitive" social media post about the Palestinians over the weekend after warning it could inflame tensions, the interior minister said Monday.

The post reportedly said Israel was mentioned 43 times in the Quran but Palestine was not, according to local media.

Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam said he asked Singapore's foreign ministry to tell the Israeli embassy to remove the post made on Sunday after learning about it, which the mission immediately did.

"That post on the Israeli embassy social media page is completely unacceptable. I was very upset when I was told about it," Shanmugam told reporters, according to a transcript.

"It is insensitive and inappropriate. It carries the risk of undermining our safety, security and harmony in Singapore."

Shanmugam said the post had been taken down.

"Posts like these can... inflame tensions, and can put the Jewish community here at risk. The anger from the post can potentially spill over into the physical realm," he added.

The Israeli embassy was not immediately available for comment.

Reporting by AFP

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a visit to Jordan on Monday that there is growing international consensus to tell Israel that a ceasefire is needed and that an assault on Rafah would cause a humanitarian disaster.

At a press briefing in the capital Amman, Guterres said the UN was "was relatively alone" in its call for a ceasefire at the start of the war, but now "more and more of the international community recognising the same".

He also added that a UN Security Council resolution expected later today calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli captives, but does not link the two issues together.

Reporting by MEE and agencies 

An Israeli air strike late Sunday in Deir al-Balah has killed 22 members of the Salman family, according to local media. 

Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip is a small city where many Palestinians have sought refuge based on orders from the Israeli military. 

Translation: The aftermath of an Israeli air strike that targeted a house belonging to the Salman family, west of Deir al-Balah in the middle of the Gaza Strip

UN chief Antonio Guterres said he met with humanitarian workers who face "extremely challenging environment" in Gaza. 

"Some of them, with decades of experience, said they have never encountered a situation as difficult as this," Guterres said. 

Israeli strikes in Rafah on Sunday have killed 27 Palestinians, including women and children, according to local media. 

The strikes targeted five homes in small town near the border the Egypt. 

The UN Security Council will vote Monday on a new draft resolution on an "immediate" ceasefire in Gaza, after Russia and China vetoed an earlier text proposed by the United States.

The Council has been divided over the Israel in war on Gaza, approving only two of eight resolutions, with both dealing mainly with humanitarian aid to the devastated strip.

Last Friday, the Security Council voted on a draft submitted by the United States that called for an "immediate" ceasefire linked to the release of hostages.

China and Russia vetoed the resolution, criticising it for stopping short of explicitly demanding Israel halt its campaign.

Reporting by AFP 

At least 32,226 Palestinians have been killed, among them 84 in the past 24 hours, and 74,518 injured in Israel's air and ground assault into the densely populated Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry. 

Today, Israel informed the United Nations today that it will no longer allow Unrwa food convoys into north Gaza, where 70 percent of people face the highest level of food scarcity.

UN chief Antonio Guterres denounced "horror & starvation" in Gaza during his humanitarian visit to Egypt, in a series of posts to X.

Meanwhile, the US announced that it sent an airdrop over north Gaza in cooperation with the Jordanian air force. 

The shipment is the 13th humanitarian aid airdrop to the area, however, the UN and other aid organisations have warned that airdrops cannot provide nearly enough aid to alleviate the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza. 

Other updates from today include: 

• In a joint statement, 14 NGOs came together to state that Israel is not in compliance with US President Joe Biden's national security memorandum that barred recipients of US weapons from obstructing humanitarian aid in conflict zones.

• The US Conference of Catholic Bishops called for a ceasefire in Gaza ahead of the Christian Easter holidays.

• French President Emmanuel Macron warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that forcible population transfer is a war crime that violates international law, condemning "Israeli announcements on settlements" in talks with the Israeli leader. 

• Riot police fired tear gas to push back hundreds of Jordanian demonstrators marching to the Israeli embassy in Amman on Sunday in protest at Israel's latest storming of hospitals in Gaza and mounting civilian deaths.

Riot police fired tear gas to push back hundreds of Jordanian demonstrators marching to the Israeli embassy in Amman on Sunday in protest at Israel's latest storming of hospitals in Gaza and mounting civilian deaths.

The authorities had earlier deployed riot police to disperse demonstrators gathered in the Kaloti mosque in the capital who were planning to march on the heavily fortified Israeli embassy nearby.

Several protesters were beaten and several arrested as they tried to break a heavy police cordon around the embassy, witnesses said.

Read more: Jordanian police clash with protesters near Israel embassy

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres denounced "horror & starvation" in Gaza during his humanitarian visit to Egypt, in a series of posts to X.

"Any further onslaught will make everything worse. Worse for Palestinian civilians, for the hostages, for all people of the region. It’s more than time for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire & the immediate release of all hostages," Guterres said in one post. 

While Israel has banned the United Nations from delivering aid to northern Gaza via crucial land crossings, the US has announced it has sent an airdrop over the area in cooperation with the Jordanian air force.

The shipment is the 13th humanitarian aid airdrop in north Gaza, however, the UN and other aid organisations have warned that airdrops cannot provide nearly enough aid to alleviate the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza. 

The US Central Command (Centcom) said in a post on X that today it dropped 13,080 meal equivalents, including rice, flour, milk, pasta and canned foods.

At least five people were killed, and 10 others injured on 8 March, by aid packages that had been air dropped from the sky. 

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that forcible population transfer is a war crime that violates international law, condemning "Israeli announcements on settlements" in talks with the Israeli leader. 

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has called for a ceasefire in Gaza ahead of the Christian Easter holidays.

"Thousands of innocent people have died in this conflict, and thousands more have been displaced and face tremendous suffering. This must stop," the group said in a statement.

"To move forward, a cease fire and a permanent cessation of war and violence is absolutely necessary. To move forward, those held hostage must be released and civilians must be protected. To move forward, humanitarian aid must reach those who are in such dire need."