Live: UK halts trade deal talks with Israel, summons ambassador over Gaza

A senior Israeli defence official has told Reuters that there is a "window of opportunity" for a deal involving the Israeli captives held in Gaza during US President Donald Trump's visit to the region next week, but that if not agreed, Israel will begin a new offensive in the enclave.

"If there is no hostage deal, Operation 'Gideon Chariots' will begin with great intensity and will not stop until all its goals are achieved," the official said.

The comments came after a decision by Israel's security cabinet to approve an expanded offensive.

Israel's scaled-up offensive in Gaza, approved early on Monday, could go as far as seizing the entire enclave, according to an Israeli official.

Israel's Kan reported that security cabinet minister Zeev Elkin said that rather than launching raids in specific areas and then leaving them as the military had done so far, the Israeli forces will now hold the territories they seize until Hamas is defeated or agrees to disarm and leave Gaza. Hamas has ruled out such calls.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed 52,567 people and wounded 118,610 others since 7 October 2023, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

At least 2,459 Palestinians were killed and 6,569 others wounded since Israel broke the ceasefire on 18 March this year, the ministry said in a statement on Telegram.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said there will be no withdrawal from the areas Israel controls in Gaza "when the ground incursion into Gaza begins," not even in exchange for the captive soldiers, according to media reports.

Israel's security cabinet, meanwhile, approved the expansion of military operations in Gaza, including the occupation of the Palestinian territory, an official said Monday, after the army called up tens of thousands of reservists for the offensive.

It comes as the United Nations and aid organisations have repeatedly warned of the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground, with famine again looming after more than two months of a total Israeli blockade.

The plan, approved by the cabinet overnight, includes maintaining control over parts of the besieged Gaza Strip, the official said. It comes amid growing concerns over Israel’s efforts to forcibly displace Gaza’s population from the territory.

Israeli forces have carried out a new attack in Gaza City, targeting a residential building on the main Omar al-Mukhtar Street in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.

The attack killed at least two people and injured others, bringing the total number of people killed in Gaza today to 28, the report said.

Before his death, Pope Francis donated one of his "popemobiles" to be converted into a children's clinic in war-torn Gaza, Catholic charity Caritas said on Monday.

The iconic open-sided vehicle, designed to allow the pontiff to greet crowds of well-wishers, has been transferred to Caritas Jerusalem and will head to Gaza if and when Israel opens a humanitarian corridor.

The car, a converted Mitsubishi, was used by the pope during a 2014 visit to Bethlehem and has been on display ever since, gathering dust and rust. It has now been repaired and refurbished as a mobile clinic.  

"With the vehicle, we will be able to reach children who today have no access to healthcare - children who are injured and malnourished," said Peter Brune, secretary general of Caritas Sweden.

It will be fitted with medical equipment and a fridge for medicines and be assigned a driver and a team of doctors.

The State of Palestine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the news, saying that Pope Francis was a true messenger of peace and justice "at a time when the world failed to protect the children of Gaza".

Pope Francis’ final gift : Pope Francis requests that his popemobile be turned into a health clinic for the #children of Gaza.

With his passing, humanity has lost an extraordinary man, and Palestine has lost a loyal friend and a steadfast supporter of our people's rights , and a… pic.twitter.com/1yHjx4hPJm

— State of Palestine - MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) May 4, 2025

Israeli captive families said in a statement that the plan approved by the cabinet to occupy Gaza meant Israel is choosing territories over the captives, which they said is against the will of over 70 percent of Israelis.

"Now, a war is being waged out of a desire for revenge and occupation, not saving lives. Not according to the will of the people, not according to the Jewish spirit," Anat Angrest, mother of Israeli captive Matan Angrest, told Haaretz in a separate interview. 

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The voices of Gaza’s youth have been palpably missing in the ongoing war. 

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This book, which started as an online platform, is the ultimate corrective, featuring a constellation of stories, poems and essays from 59 young Palestinians in Gaza. 

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Read more: We are Not Numbers: The Voices of Gaza’s Youth

Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas said on Monday a new Israeli framework for aid delivery in Gaza amounted to "political blackmail" and blamed Israel for the war-ravaged territory's "humanitarian catastrophe".

"We reject the use of aid as a tool of political blackmail and support the UN's stance against any arrangements that violate humanitarian principles," Hamas said in a statement, adding Israel's "continued obstruction of aid entry" since 2 March made it "fully responsible" for the "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza.

Israel's scaled-up offensive in Gaza, approved early on Monday, could go as far as seizing the entire enclave and it includes a new plan for aid distribution, though supplies will not be let in yet, according to an Israeli official.

Israel's Kan reported that security cabinet minister Zeev Elkin said that rather than launching raids in specific areas and then leaving them as the military had done so far, the Israeli forces will now hold the territories they seize until Hamas is defeated or agrees to disarm and leave Gaza.

Hamas has ruled out such calls. Israel has yet to present a clear vision for post-war Gaza as it faces international pressure to end a campaign that has forcefully displaced most of Gaza's 2.3 million population and left it depending on aid supplies that have been dwindling rapidly since the blockade.

Israeli singer Dudu Tassa and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's performances in the UK next month have been cancelled following pressure from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

"Palestinians welcome the cancellation of Jonny Greenwood and Dudu Tassa’s concert, which was due to take place in Bristol, UK on the 23rd June and would have whitewashed Israel’s genocide against 2.3m Palestinians in Gaza and underlying settler-colonial apartheid regime," the BDS movement said in a post on X on Friday.

The movement said Jonny Greenwood, guitarist with Radiohead and The Smile, had performed in Tel Aviv along with Dudu Tassa in May 2024 on a night that "genocidal Israeli forces massacred displaced Palestinians in their tents in Rafah, burning them alive, just a short drive away".

The movement also noted that Tassa has repeatedly performed for Israeli soldiers, "willingly acting as a cultural ambassador for apartheid Israel," and called on the Hackney Church to cancel its scheduled 25th June concert with the pair.

Palestinians welcome the cancellation of Jonny Greenwood and Dudu Tassa’s concert, which was due to take place in Bristol, UK on the 23rd June and would have whitewashed Israel’s genocide against 2.3m Palestinians in Gaza and underlying settler-colonial apartheid regime. pic.twitter.com/PE12H1ohVL

— PACBI - BDS movement (@PACBI) May 1, 2025

Israeli forces on Monday prevented dozens of Palestinian teachers and students from reaching schools in the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, Wafa reported, citing Palestinian education officials.

Azmi Balawneh, director of education in Tubas, said that the Israeli forces are currently preventing approximately 130 teachers in the northern Jordan Valley and 150 students in the central and southern valley from passing through the Hamra military checkpoint.

The checkpoint, located at a key crossroads linking West Bank governorates with the Jordan Valley, has seen increased military reinforcements and repeated closures of public transportation over the past two years.

A large number of residents depend on the checkpoint to access their workplaces and schools, particularly as the Tayasir checkpoint east of Tubas remains closed for most of the day and subject to heightened security restrictions.

Yemen's Houthi administration on Monday blamed Washington for around 10 strikes in and around the capital Sanaa after a missile fired by the group struck the area of Israel's main airport.

The Ansar Allah-run Saba news agency said the strikes included two targeting Arbaeen street in the capital as well as one on the airport road, blaming them on "American aggression".

The rebels' health ministry said 14 people were wounded in the Sawan neighbourhood, according to Saba.

The Houthis, who control much of Yemen including the capital Sanaa, have imposed a naval blockade using missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they act in solidarity with Palestinians.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are some of the latest key developments:

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet have approved an expansion of the offensive in Gaza, according to Israeli public broadcaster Kan.

• Israeli air strikes on Monday killed at least 15 people in the al-Karama area of Gaza City, according to Gaza Civil Defence. Four more people were killed and five others injured in the al-Sultan area of Beit Lahiya, the agency said. Al Jazeera reported that an additional three people were killed in an Israeli air strike in northwest Gaza, while several others were killed in separate strikes on Khan Younis since dawn.

• A group of UN and non-government organisations working together to coordinate humanitarian assistance to Gaza has issued a statement rejecting Israel’s plan to shut down humanitarian organisations after it blocked all aid from entering Gaza for over two months.

• Israeli attacks killed 24 people in Gaza on Sunday, Al Jazeera reported, citing medical sources.

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• Gaza's health ministry is reporting that at least 40 Palestinians have been killed and another 125 wounded in Israeli attacks across the enclave in the last 24 hours.

• At least 13 Palestinians, including seven women and a child, have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza on Sunday morning, Wafa news agency reported, citing medical sources.

• Over 35,000 children under the age of five in Gaza face imminent death by starvation, the enclave's Government Media Office said in a statement.

• A Palestinian detainee has died in Israeli custody following months of medical neglect, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society are reporting.

• Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for the bombing of Gaza’s food and electricity supplies, as the security cabinet prepares to debate the next stage of the war.

• Yemen's Houthis have claimed responsibility for the missile launched at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, the group's military spokesperson has said.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel is "acting against [the Houthis] in coordination with the US" following today's missile launch targeting Ben Gurion Airport.

• Yemen’s Houthi group has announced it is enforcing a full air blockade on Israel.

• The United States has stepped up its military campaign against Yemen, with a White House official confirming that more than 1,000 strikes have so far been carried out.

• Iran has warned it will launch a military response if the United States or Israel initiates an attack.

The United States has stepped up its military campaign against Yemen, with a White House official confirming that more than 1,000 strikes have so far been carried out.

James Hewitt, spokesperson for the US National Security Council, said Washington remains focused on dismantling the Houthis ability to disrupt maritime routes in the Red Sea.

“The [US President Donald] Trump administration remains committed to ending the Houthis’ capabilities to hijack freedom of navigation in the Red Sea,” Hewitt said.

He added that coordination with Israel continues through diplomatic channels.

This comes after a Houthi missile reportedly struck a road near Israel’s main international airport on Sunday. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged retaliation.

The Houthis, aligned with Gaza’s resistance, said they would keep targeting Israeli airports as long as the military campaign in Gaza continues.