Live: Israel kills more than 430 Palestinians on Tuesday

Israeli army vehicles are targeting the Bedouin village of Umm al-Nasr in northern Gaza with heavy gunfire, Al Jazeera is reporting. 

Good morning MEE readers, 

Here are some of key developments from the last few hours:

• • Israeli army’s assault on Jenin continues, with at least one house targeted

  • Israeli soldiers have forced Palestinian families to leave their homes in an eastern neighbourhood in the city, Aljazeera is reporting

  • Israeli settlers also attacked and set fire to “several vehicles” in the Palestinian village of Umm Safa, north of Ramallah in the West Bank

  • Adam Boehler's direct meetings with Hamas on the release of captives in Gaza was a "one-off situation" and as of now "hasn't borne fruit", US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday

  • The arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student who has played a prominent role in pro-Palestinian protests at New York's Columbia University, will be followed by others, US President Donald Trump said 

  • The lawyer representing Khalil, said he was “chosen as an example” by the Trump administration to “stifle entirely lawful dissent”

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

• • Gaza's death toll reached 48,467

  • At least two Palestinians were killed and others wounded by an Israeli air strike near al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza on Monday afternoon local time

  • The Israeli military fired at a group of Palestinians in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City and targeted three others with an air strike in the Nuseirat area in central Gaza,  Al Jazeera reported on Monday

  • There is a risk that Gaza experiences another hunger crisis if Israel continues to block aid from entering, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Palestinian relief agency (Unrwa) said on Monday

  • Hamas said on Monday that it is showing flexibility in talks with mediators and is awaiting the outcome of efforts from Egypt, Qatar, and the United States in negotiations with Israel, Reuters reported

  • The German government said on Monday that Israel's decision to halt aid deliveries and cut off the electricity supply to Gaza could prompt a fresh humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory

  • US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student who has played a prominent role in pro-Palestinian protests at New York's Columbia University, will be followed by others

  • A Palestinian man was killed on Monday evening in a ramming attack by an Israeli army vehicle in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, Wafa news agency is reporting

  • The Jordanian foreign ministry condemns “in the strongest terms” Israel’s decision to cut off electrical power to Gaza, calling the move a “scandalous violation” of international law

Israeli negotiators on Tuesday are set to resume talks on the Gaza ceasefire in the Qatari capital of Doha, along with the US envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

The first phase of the deal expired on 1 March, and Israel has since resumed sporadic air strikes on Gaza, killing dozens of Palestinians. It is refusing to move on to the second phase of the agreement, which includes a complete withdrawal from the enclave. 

But that’s likely not what makes this particular round of discussions all the more pressing. 

Hanging over the meetings is the fact that the US now comes to the table having had direct talks with Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organisation in the US since 1997. 

Washington - as it has always publicly maintained - does not negotiate with terrorists.

“I think it was a very helpful meeting. It was very helpful to hear some back and forth,” Adam Boehler, President Donald Trump’s hostage affairs envoy, told CNN. He said he had to seize the opportunity because there is a living captive held in Gaza who is an American citizen, as well as four bodies of Americans.

“But I think Israel knows walking out of that, you know, it's not like Hamas got the world because I thought there were a bunch of nice guys.”

The Israelis were reportedly furious about the meeting - and Boehler, while “sympathetic”, he said, seemed to double down with a remarkable statement that hasn’t been heard from a US administration in decades. 

“We're not an agent of Israel,” Boehler said in that CNN interview.

“We have specific interests at play, and we did communicate back and forth. We had very specific parameters by which we fell. And the reality is, what I wanted to do is jumpstart some negotiations that were in a very fragile place. And I wanted to say to Hamas, ‘What is the end game that you want here?’”

Later speaking to Israeli media, Boehler said Hamas introduced fresh elements toward the ceasefire negotiations: a five to ten year truce instead of a demand for a permanent ceasefire, the offer to lay down its arms, and even have its vast tunnel network demolished. 

Read more: Why did the US break with tradition and hold talks with Hamas?

A US judge on Monday set a hearing for later this week to consider Palestinian Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil's challenge to his detention as part of US President Donald Trump's crackdown on pro-Palestine protestors.

US District Judge Jesse Furman said in court papers that the hearing would occur in New York City's borough of Manhattan in federal court on Wednesday, 12 March, at 11:30am local time.

The Jordanian foreign ministry condemns “in the strongest terms” Israel’s decision to cut off electrical power to Gaza, calling the move a “scandalous violation” of international law.

The ministry added in a statement that the Israeli decision represents a doubling-down on “the policy of starvation and siege that Israel is imposing on Palestinians, especially with the continuation of the blockade on humanitarian aid to the strip”.

Yemen's Houthis said on Monday that they would take military measures as soon as a four-day deadline for lifting Israel’s blockage of aid into Gaza ends.

On Friday, the leader of the Houthis said the group would resume its naval operations against Israel if Israel did not lift a blockage of aid into Gaza within four days.

A Palestinian man was killed on Monday evening in a ramming attack by an Israeli army vehicle in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, Wafa news agency is reporting.

Fathi Ahmad Salah, 32, was driving his motorbike in the city, when an Israeli army vehicle rammed him, inflicting severe wounds across his body, according to local sources.

Salah was rushed to the Ibn Sina Hospital and was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival.

President Donald Trump's hostage envoy Adam Boehler's direct meetings with Hamas on the release of captives in Gaza was a "one-off situation" and as of now "hasn't borne fruit", US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday.

"That was a one-off situation in which our special envoy for hostages, whose job it is to get people released, had an opportunity to talk directly to someone who has control over these people and was given permission and encouraged to do so. He did so," Rubio told reporters en route to Saudi Arabia.

"As of now, it hasn't borne fruit. Doesn't mean he was wrong to try, but our primary vehicle for negotiations on this front will continue to be Mr Witkoff and the work he's doing through Qatar," Rubio said, in reference to Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

A senior Hamas official on Sunday told Reuters that the meetings between Hamas leaders and Boehler in recent days focused on the release of an American-Israeli dual national being held by Hamas in Gaza.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student who has played a prominent role in pro-Palestinian protests at New York's Columbia University, will be followed by others.

"This is the first arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it. Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country - never to return again," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Khalil is a legal permanent resident in the US.

There is a risk that Gaza experiences another hunger crisis if Israel continues to block aid from entering, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Palestinian relief agency (Unrwa) said on Monday.

"I think the more we go ahead (with aid blockages), the more we will see the impact increasing on the population. And obviously, the risk ... is that we go back to the situation we experienced months ago about deepening hunger in the Gaza Strip," Lazzarini said during a press briefing in Geneva.

He also described Unrwa’s financial situation as "critical and precarious".

The Israeli military fired at a group of Palestinians in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City and targeted three others with an air strike in the Nuseirat area in central Gaza,  Al Jazeera reported on Monday.

Israel has been regularly violating the ceasefire agreement which came into effect on 19 January.

Israeli forces have detained three Palestinians near Tulkarm refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency reported on Monday. 

Israeli troops rounded up a father and son at the northern entrance of the camp, and detained a man north of Tulkarm from his vehicle. 

At least two Palestinians were killed and others wounded by an Israeli air strike near al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza on Monday afternoon local time. 

It marks the latest Israeli violation of the ceasefire agreement which came into effect on 19 January. 

The British government has called on Israel to restore electricity to Gaza, warning that it could be in violation of international law.

"We're deeply concerned by these reports and urge Israel to lift these restrictions," Prime Minister Keir Starmer's official spokesman told reporters on Monday.

"We're clear that a halt on goods and supplies entering Gaza, including basic needs such as electricity, risks breaching Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law."

Israel’s energy minister Eli Cohen signed an order to cut off Gaza’s already meagre electricity supply on Sunday, after a week long blockade of aid.