Gaza live: Biden moves ahead with military aid for Israel as it launches ground assaults on Rafah

The United States has put on hold an ammunition shipment intended for Israel last week, Axios reported on Sunday.

Citing two Israeli officials, the news website said the move "raised serious concerns inside the Israeli government" and sent them "scrambling to understand why the shipment was held". 

This is the first time the US has taken such a step since the Israeli war on Gaza started. 

The White House declined to comment while the Israeli Prime Minister's Office didn't immediately respond to questions, according to Axios. 

The head of the US's Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns, is travelling to Doha for emergency talks with Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, with Gaza talks 'near to collapse', an official briefed on the talks has told Reuters.

"Burns is on his way to Doha for an emergency meeting with the Qatari prime minister aimed at exerting maximum pressure on Israel and Hamas to continue negotiating," the source added.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in telephone talks to reach a deal in negotiations with Palestinian group Hamas on a ceasefire in the Gaza war.

"The president encouraged Prime Minister Netanyahu to successfully complete these negotiations which could lead to the release of hostages, the protection of civilians through a ceasefire and regional de-escalation," the French presidency said in a statement.

Reported by AFP

A Hamas delegation has left Cairo after two days of talks with mediators over a Gaza ceasefire deal, the group said in a statement. 

The delegation will return to Doha to discuss the latest developments in the negotiations with the group's leadership. 

A source familiar with ongoing negotiations in Cairo said senior Palestinian leaders called on mediators to not include Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti in a potential prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas. 

The source told Middle East Eye that the request was made by Majid Faraj, director of Palestinian General Intelligence, and Hussein al-Sheikh the secretary-general of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation's executive committee. 

According to the source, the United States, one of three mediators involved in the indirect Gaza ceasefire negotiations, had reportedly agreed to remove Barghouti's name from any potential lists Hamas is expected to present.

The source added that senior PA leaders feared Barghouti's release would threaten the leadership of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. 

READ MORE: Palestinian Authority officials oppose release of Marwan Barghouti, source says

The United Nations Human Rights Office criticised Israel's decision to close Al Jazeera after the Israeli government voted to ban the news agency on Sunday. 

"We regret cabinet decision to close Al Jazeera in Israel. A free & independent media is essential to ensuring transparency & accountability," UN Human Rights Office said in a statement. 

"Now, even more so given tight restrictions on reporting from Gaza. Freedom of expression is a key human right. We urge government to overturn ban."

Israeli soldiers who recently returned from fighting in the Gaza Strip joined the raid on Al Jazeera's offices in Jerusalem on Sunday. 

Commenting on a photo of the soldiers outside the Al Jazeera offices, Shlomo Karhi, the Israeli minister of communications who led the effort to ban Al Jazeera, said on X: "Respect to our heroic warriors. No one can hurt you."

In an earlier post, Karhi said that inspectors from the Ministry of Communications, backed by police, raided the Al Jazeera offices in Jerusalem and confiscated the channel's equipment. 

Israeli police have raided the offices of Al Jazeera in Jerusalem and confiscated equipment, according to Israeli media. 

Footage posted online showed Israeli officers inside the rooms used by the Qatar-based network at Ambassador Hotel in Jerusalem.

Hamas condemned the Israeli decision to shut down Al Jazeera in its territory calling it a "blatant violation of press freedom".

In a press release, the Palestinian group said the move was repressive and retaliatory against Al Jazeera for its role in exposing Israeli crimes in Gaza. 

The closure "reveals the falsehood of the occupying entity's claim of freedom of the press" and "constitutes a grave violation and suppression of freedoms", Hamas said. 

"We strongly condemn this decision, and call on international rights and press institutions to condemn it and to take punitive measures against the Zionist entity, including cancelling its membership in international press institutions," it added. 

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant accused Hamas on Sunday of showing signs it was not serious about reaching a ceasefire, and said that if so Israel would launch military actions in Rafah and other parts of the Gaza Strip "in the very near future".

Meanwhile, Hamas has accused Israel of stalling on a deal by refusing to commit to end the war. 

Reporting by Reuters and MEE

At least seven Israeli soldiers were wounded on Sunday in a rocket attack that hit a military site in Kerem Shalom, a small town located across the fence from Rafah, according to Israeli media. 

The armed wing of Hamas said it fired 114mm short-range "Rajum" missiles at the military site. 

The Israeli military closed the Kerem Shalom crossing with Gaza after the attack and said it was bombing a location metres away from the fence from where the rockets were launched.

Qatar's Al Jazeera's network condemned on Sunday a move by Israeli cabinet to shut down its operations in Israel, calling it a "criminal action".

"Israel's suppression of free press to cover up its crimes by killing and arresting journalists has not deterred us from performing our duty," it said.

Reporting by Reuters

Civil defence workers and a security source told Reuters that an Israeli airstrike killed four civilians in a house in a border village in southern Lebanon.

The four civilians were killed in Mays al-Jabal, which has been caught in the crossfire between Hezbollah and Israel. 

Hezbollah on Sunday said it fired "tens" of Katyusha rockets at the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona in response to the Israeli strike in Mays al-Jabal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out ending the war on Gaza and said he was willing to pause the fighting for the return of captives held by Hamas.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu reiterated his rejection of Hamas's key demands to end the war in Gaza in exchange for the freeing of captives and said ending the war would keep Hamas in power.

His comments come as leaders from Hamas continue to meet in Cairo for a second day with Egyptian and Qatari mediators.  

New figures released by the Palestinian health ministry on Sunday showed the death toll in Gaza had risen to 34,683 Palestinians. 

Alongside the dead, the ministry said that Israeli strikes had injured 78,018 Palestinians since 7 October. 

The ministry also notes that most of the dead are women and children, with thousands more feared dead and trapped under rubble in Gaza.