Live: Israel kills more than 430 Palestinians on Tuesday

US immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University's pro-Palestine encampment movement, his lawyer told the Associated Press.

Mahmoud Khalil was arrested at his home on Columbia's Manhattan campus by several Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, who informed his lawyer that they were acting on a State Department order to revoke Khalil's student visa.

When Khalil's attorney, Amy Greer, informed the agents that he held a green card, they said they were revoking that too.

Khalil has been transferred to an ICE facility in New Jersey. His wife, who is eight months pregnant, has not been informed about the reasons for his arrest.

Khalil's arrest comes after the Trump administration threatened to crack down on pro-Palestinian protests in the US, vowing to deport foreign students and imprison "agitators".

On Friday, the administration announced it would slash $400m in grants and contracts to Columbia University, accusing the institution of failing to crack down on antisemitism.

Newly appointed Israeli military chief General Eyal Zamir visited troops in southern Syria, the army has said.

Israeli troops pushed further into Syrian territory and have illegally occupied the buffer zone between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and the rest of Syria since the fall of  President Bashar al-Assad

Israeli war planes have also repeatedly targeted military sites throughout the country.

Eli Cohen, Israel's energy minister has confirmed in a post on X that he has cut off electricity in Gaza, effective immediately.

"I have now signed an order to cut off electricity to the Gaza Strip immediately. Enough with the talk, it's time for action!" he wrote. 

A week ago, Israel cut off all supplies of goods and humanitarian aid to the enclave.

The Trump administration's hostage envoy Adam Boehler said his recent meetings with Hamas leaders were designed to pinpoint what the group's end game was, and aim to bring the war to a close.

"I think it was a very helpful meeting. It was very helpful to hear some back and forth," Boehler said in an interview on CNN's "State of the Union."

Boehler said he understood concerns by Israeli officials about his direct contact with Hamas, but said he had a clear goal in his talks.

"We're the United States. We're not an agent of Israel," Boehler said. "We have specific interests at play, and we did communicate back and forth.

"What I wanted to do is jump start 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?"

The discussions broke with a decades-old policy by Washington against negotiating with groups it has designated as terrorist organisations.

Boehler said he believed something could be achieved on the Israeli captives within weeks, but did not elaborate. He said he believes that a deal can be made in which all of the captives can get out.

Hamas told US officials that it is open to releasing American-Israeli captive Edan Alexander as part of talks to end the war in Gaza, Al-Aqsa TV reported, citing senior Hamas official Taher Al-Nono. 

Israel's energy minister has ordered the stoppage of electricity transmission to Gaza, Israeli public broadcaster Kan said on Sunday.

Israel's defence ministry has said it will allow Druze communities in Syria to enter the occupied Golan Heights for work.

The ministry did not give a timeline for when the permits would be issued.

Syria's Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967, is mostly inhabited by members of the Syrian Druze community. 

The Trump administration's hostage envoy Adam Boehler said on Sunday that US meetings with Hamas on the release of captives held in Gaza were "very helpful".

He did not rule out additional meetings with the Palestinian group.

Boehler said in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he believed something could come together on Gaza within weeks, but did not elaborate further.

Israeli forces raided al-Ahli hospital in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, on Sunday, confiscating camera recording devices from the hospital's security department.

The Palestinian health ministry strongly condemned the raid.

"This violation is part of the ongoing and escalating daily attacks on the Palestinian healthcare system," the ministry said.

"Such actions are a clear violation of international law, which mandates the protection of civilian sites, including hospitals, as per the Fourth Geneva Convention and Additional Protocols I and II of the Geneva Conventions of 1977, as well as The Hague Convention of 1954."

It called on the international community and human rights organisations to provide urgent protection for all components of the Palestinian healthcare sector from Israeli violations.

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that the government is planning to create a "Migration Directorate" in connection to US President Donald Trump's plan to forcibly eject Palestinians from Gaza.

"We are establishing a Migration Directorate, we are preparing for this thing headed by the prime minister and the defence minister. The budget won't be an obstacle for this," Smotrich said.

"There are preparations for a large Migration Directorate within the Defence Ministry. If we take out 5,000 [Palestinians from Gaza] a day, it would take a year. The logistics are complicated, because you need to know who is going to what country."

Trump's ethnic cleansing plan has been roundly ejected by Arab countries, including Egypt and Jordan - the countries where the US president suggested Palestinians would end up. 

In response, Arab leaders put forward their own proposal for the reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave and future governance in the territory. 

Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in the past 24 hours across the Gaza Strip, marking the latest ceasefire violation, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported on Sunday.

This brings the death toll since 7 October 2023 to 48,458, with over 111,000 more wounded.

The true death toll is likely much higher, with at least 10,000 Palestinians estimated to have been killed and buried under rubble.

Meetings have taken place between leaders of Hamas and US hostage affairs envoy Adam Boehler, a senior Hamas official has told Reuters.

"Several meetings have already taken place in Doha, focusing on releasing one of the dual-nationality prisoners. We have dealt positively and flexibly, in a way that serves the interests of the Palestinian people," Taher Al-Nono, a political advisor to Hamas' leadership, said.

He said the two sides had discussed how to implement the phased agreement aimed at ending the war.

"We informed the American delegation that we don't oppose the release of the prisoner within the framework of these talks," Nono told Reuters.

The Trump administration said earlier this week that Washington was engaging in direct talks with Hamas on the Gaza ceasefire.

The US had refused direct contact with Hamas since proscribing it as a “terrorist” organisation in 1997.

A Palestinian man was wounded on Sunday after being struck in the head by a tear gas canister during an Israeli military raid on the town of al-Ram, north of occupied East Jerusalem.

Wafa news agency reported that Israeli forces stormed the town, firing stun grenades and tear gas canisters into residential areas.

The man was hit directly in the head by a gas canister while attending a car exhibition in the area, and transferred to hospital.

Good morning MEE readers, 

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

•  Two Palestinian were killed and several others wounded on Sunday morning by Israeli gunfire in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City

• The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, said on Saturday night that mass forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza was "pure fantasy" and would be considered "one of the greatest violations of international law in recent centuries"

• A man who scaled Big Ben's Elizabeth Tower at London's Palace of Westminster early on Saturday holding a Palestine flag came down after 16 hours and was subsequently arrested

• Several meetings have taken place between leaders of Hamas and US hostage affairs envoy Adam Boehler, an adviser to Hamas' leader told Reuters on Sunday 

• Israeli forces detained at least 13 people in fresh raids across Hebron, al-Bireh, and Ramallah in the occupied West Bank

• The Trump administration's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, will fly to Doha on Tuesday evening to attempt to “broker a new hostage-release and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas”, Axios reported 

Our liveblog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

• Israel will send a delegation to Qatar's Doha on Monday to advance ceasefire negotiations after accepting an invitation from the mediators, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Saturday. 

• Hamas said that it sees ‘positive indicators’ over ceasefire talks, as a high level delegation remains in Cairo to advance efforts to prolong the ceasefire.

• A high-level Hamas delegation is still in Cairo Friday to advance efforts to prolong the fragile ceasefire in Gaza. The group

• Hamas said in a statement that Israel’s renewed aid blockade on Gaza is tantamount to the “war crime of collective punishment” and said that it would also impact the Israeli captives still held in the enclave.

• Several Palestinians were wounded in attacks by armed settlers in the Masafer Yatta area in the occupied West Bank.

• In Lebanon, an Israeli air strike targeting a vehicle near the town of Beit Jbeil in the south killed a Lebanese civilian and injured another.

• France, Germany, Italy and the UK issued a joint statement welcoming the proposal for Gaza's reconstruction adopted at an Arab League summit earlier this week.