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

At least 32,142 people have now been killed in Gaza, as Israel continues its bombardment of the besieged enclave. 

While Qatar is hosting truce talks, the Hamas movement has warned against "misinformation" being released regarding progress. 

Hamas’s political bureau official Bassem Naim said that the Israelis have insisted on focusing only on the release of captives and have been unwilling to discuss Hamas’s three demands – a permanent end to the war, "total withdrawal" from Gaza and the return of displaced people to their homes.

Naim said that because of Israel’s inflexibility, the group is “not ready to discuss any further proposals”. 

“There are talks between the Israelis and the negotiators. There are no talks with us. It is up to the superpower Americans and Europeans to exercise more pressure on Netanyahu not endanger the whole region and undermine any chance of long-term stability, security and prosperity,” Naim said. 

Meanwhile, at least 19 people were killed in an Israeli attack on an aid convoy earlier on Saturday, the local health ministry said. 

Israeli forces have now killed at least 560 and injured 1,523 other Palestinians in incidents involving aid trucks in Gaza, according to a new report by the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.

Other updates from today include:

• Israeli forces set fire to residential buildings near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City

• A 34-year-old Israeli captive held in Gaza died due to "lack of medicine and food", according to the Hamas movement's armed wing. 

• Thousands of anti-government demonstrators gathered in Tel Aviv calling for elections. 

• Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he would travel to Washington on Sunday for an official visit, where he will meet with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

Israeli forces have killed at least 560 and injured 1,523 other Palestinians in incidents involving aid trucks in Gaza, according to a report by the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.

Aid workers as well as those attempting to receive aid have been targets, the group said.

"Israel uses hunger as a standalone war crime," the rights group said.

Earlier on Saturday an Israeli attack on people seeking aid killed at least 19 people, according to the local health ministry. 

The Hamas movement has warned against "misinformation" being released regarding the ongoing Qatar-hosted truce talks, Al Jazeera reports. 

Hamas’s political bureau official Bassem Naim said that during the talks the Israelis have insisted on focusing only on the release of captives and have been unwilling to discuss Hamas’s three demands – a permanent end to the war, "total withdrawal" from Gaza and the return of displaced people to their homes.

"Hamas has clearly told the mediators that we cannot accept negotiating any prisoner deal unless the Israelis give these guarantees,” Naim told Al Jazeera.

'It is up to the superpower Americans and Europeans to exercise more pressure on Netanyahu'

- Bassem Naim, Hamas’s political bureau official

Naim said it was "shocking" that the latest Israeli proposals retract points previously agreed on at prior talks, the news agency reported. 

"Now suddenly, the Israelis are rejecting these. We believe it is not about a ceasefire, it is about Netanyahu using the negotiations as a cover to gain more time to continue his plans for the complete bombardment of the rest of the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, and to relieve international pressure," said Naim.

"We told the negotiators tonight we’re not ready to discuss any further proposals. There are talks between the Israelis and the negotiators. There are no talks with us. It is up to the superpower Americans and Europeans to exercise more pressure on Netanyahu not endanger the whole region and undermine any chance of long-term stability, security and prosperity."

A Canadian student from McGill University who has been an indefinite hunger strike for the past 34 days was admitted to hospital after she fainted on Saturday, student organisers have told Middle East Eye.

Rania Amine, an undergraduate student at McGill, who began an indefinite hunger strike on 19 February, is understood to be stable and under observation. MEE was scheduled to speak with Amine on Saturday before she was admitted to hospital. 

Organisers told MEE that Amine went to the hospital for IV fluids when she fainted and doctors advised she be hospitalised. The students declined to disclose the name of the hospital for Amine's safety.

Amine is one of two students currently on an indefinite hunger strike to demand that the university both divest from defence companies directly or indirectly supporting the Israeli military as well as end its associations with four Israeli universities.

Around 15 other students have been engaged in a hunger strike on a rotational basis since 19 February.

Read More: Canadian student hospitalised after 34 days of hunger strike for Palestine

Israeli forces have set fire to residential buildings near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, according to the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. 

"In several incidents, Israeli forces set fire to homes while occupants were inside, preventing evacuation or fire extinguishing," it said in a statement on X.

"We urge the Secretary-General of the UN and the Commissioner of the EU to intervene immediately, demanding that Israel cease its serious violations against civilians in Gaza City, including burning residential buildings and forcibly displacing residents towards southern Gaza."

A 34-year-old Israeli captive held in Gaza has died due to "lack of medicine and food", according to the Hamas movement's armed wing. 

At least 19 people were killed in the Israeli attack on an aid distribution point earlier Saturday, according to the latest death toll released by the local health ministry in Gaza. 

"They were waiting for aid trucks at the Kuwait roundabout" when they were hit by "Israeli occupation army tank fire and shells", the ministry said in a statement. 

The deaths are the latest in a series of attacks on Palestinian civilians attempting to receive food and other desperately needed relief supplies.

Thousands of anti-government demonstrators have gathered in Tel Aviv calling for elections. Protests have been ongoing for months, as Israelis have become increasingly frustrated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the war on Gaza and the situation with the Israeli captives held in the beseiged enclave.

Today, some of the protesters blocked a major highway. 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will travel to Washington on Sunday for an official visit, where he will meet with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. 

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it was aware of a new security incident near Yemen, where Houthis have been launching attacks on cargo and military vessels. 

UKMTO says that the incident took place 23 nautical miles (42km) west of Mocha in Yemen. 

The Palestinian Health in Ministry in Gaza said Israeli fire on Saturday killed nine people and wounded dozens more as they waited for aid in the northern part of the besieged enclave. 

"At least nine martyrs and dozens injured by Israeli occupation army tank fire and shells. They were waiting for aid trucks at the Kuwait roundabout" on the outskirts of Gaza City, a health ministry statement said.

Israel's military said it was looking into the report.

Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz labelled the United Nations an 'anti-Israel' body after the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited the Rafah crossing on Saturday. 

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Katz accused Guterres of blaming Israel for the ongoing humanitarian situation in Gaza and said the UN Chief did not condemn Hamas for allegedly stealing aid going into the besieged enclave. 

Heavy artillery shelling and aerial bombardment have continued to rock the area near al-Shifa Hospital in west Gaza City as Israeli ground forces continue a deadly military raid there for six days. 

Homes in the vicinity of the hospital have been raided by troops and later set ablaze after residents were either arrested or forced to flee south. 

Smoke was seen rising from several buildings on Saturday, as captured by MEE correspondent Mohammed al-Hajjar. 

Israel's continuing war on Gaza has devastated the territory, exceeding even the 1948 Nakba in terms of the numbers of dead, injured and missing. 

But while the Nakba shaped Palestinian identity, today, people across historic Palestine are not acting accordingly. While Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are clearly outraged by the scenes coming out of Gaza, I believe they have more to contribute to stopping the current conflict. 

Ending this war and rebuilding the Gaza Strip's social and physical infrastructure is not just about Gaza; it is about all Palestinians. If Gaza is gone, there will be no Palestine. 

Before the war, some people rightly argued that the Nakba had never ended. Israel has been gradually ethnically cleansing Palestinians in the occupied West Bank through illegal evictions, home demolitions, arrests, settler violence and army raids. Today, all of these things are happening at an accelerated pace.

Historically, Gaza has been at the epicentre of uprisings and disruptions to the status quo in Palestine. Israeli leaders' desire to see Gaza "sink into the sea" reflects this, as does Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish's musing that Gaza is "the most capable among us of disturbing the enemy’s mood and his comfort". 

Gaza has been more resistant to ethnic cleansing than the occupied West Bank due to its unique location, population density and the absence of a direct Israeli presence, beyond the siege. But on 7 October, Israeli leaders saw an opportunity to get rid of Gaza forever - and they are doing it. 

Read more:  If Gaza is gone, there will be no Palestine by Mohammed Mourtaja

A long line of blocked relief trucks on Egypt's side of the border with the Gaza Strip where people face starvation is a moral outrage, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said during a visit to the Rafah crossing on Saturday.

It was time for Israel to give an "ironclad commitment" for unfettered access to humanitarian goods throughout Gaza, said Guterres, who also called for the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza.

The UN would continue to work with Egypt to "streamline" the flow of aid into Gaza, he added.

Reporting by Reuters