Israel-Palestine live: Israel bombs Unrwa building in Gaza
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Israel has banned the UN's special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, from the country.
In a joint statement on Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel said she would be prohibited from entering their territory after comments in which she suggested the Hamas attack on 7 October came as a "response to Israel’s oppression."
Egypt's foreign minister has indicated that his country had no plans to break off the peace treaty with Israel that has been in effect since 1979.
"There is a peace agreement with Israel that has been in effect for 40 years, and we will continue this," said Sameh Shoukry, according to Sky News Arabia.
His comments came after Egyptian officials suggested that the treaty could be suspended if Israel were to launch a ground offensive on Rafah in Gaza, which is on the border with Egypt.
Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the Red Sea that was bound for their ally Iran, shipping analysts have said.
The vessel, identified by the Houthis as the Star Iris, was said to be American by the group's military spokesman, Yahya Saree.
Howerver, maritime-shipping trackers said the Marshall Islands-flagged ship was Greek-owned and had been transporting a corn cargo from Brazil to Iran.
"The Star Iris, like every Iran-bound bulker, had not diverted away from the Red Sea, perhaps unafraid of attacks from Iran-backed Houthis who could be considered 'friendly' given the vessel's destination," said Ishan Bhanu, lead agricultural commodities analyst at data and analytics group Kpler.
"It was carrying corn from Brazil. At a projected 4.5 million tonnes for this year, flows from Brazil make for the majority of Iran's corn imports."
A regional security official told Reuters that the attack appeared designed to "show Iran does not control the Houthis and they act independently."
They added that the Houthis had informed Tehran in advance, though so far Iranian officials are yet to comment.
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron has warned Israel to "stop and think seriously" before launching a ground assault in Rafah.
"We are very concerned about the situation and we want Israel to stop and think seriously before it takes any further action," Cameron told reporters during a visit to Scotland.
In a retelling of the Slavic folk tale, Baba Yaga, the indomitable hag gives Vasilisa the Brave three tasks to complete successfully or face death. One is to use a sieve to transport water to fill a bathtub.
This is what it feels like as a British Palestinian retelling the narrative of Palestine in the middle of a genocide.
This is what it feels like for anyone linked to the MENA region, or for many activists, old and new, in what we are witnessing to be the worst case of British-backed mass murder since the Iraq war. This time there is no pretence that civilians are not the target.
You flex every muscle as a storyteller, employing philosophical logic, historical fact, humanity, poetry, metaphor, simile, rhetoric, individuality. Each phrase is followed by a nod, the person I am talking to may have an MA, be well-versed in literature and culture, may read the Guardian.
Read more: Dear white liberals, genocide is not complicated
Britain imposed sanctions on four Israeli invididuals on Monday, saying they "threatened and perpetrated acts of aggression and violence" against Palestinians in the the Israeli occupied West Bank.
"There have been unprecedented levels of violence by extremist settlers in the West Bank over the past year. Some residents of illegal Israeli settlements and outposts have used harassment, intimidation and violence to put pressure on Palestinian communities to leave their land," the statement added.
"Two of the individuals designated today – Moshe Sharvit and Yinon Levy – have in recent months used physical aggression, threatened families at gunpoint, and destroyed property as part of a targeted and calculated effort to displace Palestinian communities. One illegal outpost, set up by Zvi Bar Yosef, has been described by local Palestinian residents as a 'source of systematic intimidation and violence,' it said.
Earlier this month the US imposed sanctions on the same individuals David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil, Moshe Sharvit and Yinon Levy.
The US President Joe Biden called the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an "asshole,” according to three of the people directly familiar with his comments, NBC News reported on Monday.
Biden has apparently expressed frustration at his inability to convince Netanyah to change Israel's military tactics in the Gaza Strip and is treating him as a major obstacle in trying to bring about a ceasefire, according to five sources that spoke with NBC News.
The sources are said to have first-hand knowledge of the statements and said Biden said he is trying to get Israel to agree to a ceasefire but Netanyahu is "giving him hell" and is impossible to deal with.
Despite the apparent harsh words being expressed by Biden, people familiar with the conversation told NBC News that the US president believes it would be counterproductive for him to be too harsh on Netanyahu publicly.
Administration officials speaking to NBC News said that Biden is not prepared to make any policy shifts regarding Israel and continues to believe that the approach of unequivocally supporting Israel is still the right one.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has said in a statement that “Israel’s declared ground offensive on Rafah would be catastrophic and must not proceed”.
“As aerial bombardment of the area continues, more than a million people, many living in tents and makeshift shelters, now face a dramatic escalation in this ongoing massacre,” it said on X.
“Nowhere in Gaza is safe, and repeated forced displacements have pushed people to Rafah, where they are trapped in a tiny patch of land and have no options,” it added.
MSF has said that its facilities have come “under fire from tanks, artillery, fighter jets, snipers and ground troops, or being subject to an evacuation order”.
More than a dozens of protesters are demonstrating at the Nitzana border crossing between Egypt and Israel with the aim of blocking aid trucks heading to the besieged Gaza Strip, the Israeli daily Haarets reported on Monday.
The Tzav 9 movement which is leading the protests at the site, played a speech by the military spokesman Daniel Hagari outlining their objectives: "We want you to know that we are very determined to return you home, and we will not miss any opportunity to do so. We will continue to make every effort to return all the hostages home."
Israel launched air strikes on Rafah in southern Gaza on Sunday night, killing scores of Palestinians and stoking fears of an imminent offensive on the area densely packed with displaced people.
The attacks targeted 14 homes and three mosques in Rafah, Palestinian officials said.
Hamas said around 100 people had been killed on the strikes, with the Palestinian health ministry saying at least 67 were slain.
The Israeli military said it had "conducted a series of strikes on terror targets in the area of Shaboura in the southern Gaza Strip".
It also said it freed two captives taken by Hamas in its 7 October attack in an overnight operation in Rafah. The captives were identified as Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Har, and are both in good condition, Israeli officials said.
Read more: Overnight Israeli strikes on Rafah kill scores of Palestinians
The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said he is "extraordinarily concerned" about threats made by Israeli Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu’s to launch attacks on Rafah with no evacuation plan and no prospect of refugee camps in Egypt.
"I am happy to know that two hostages have been liberated but also very much worried by the situation in the border with Egypt where new military operations seem to be taking place by the Israeli defence forces," said Borrell.
Netanyahu has called for the evacuation of more than 1 million people currently in Rafah without saying where these people could be evacuated.
A Dutch appeals court ordered the Dutch government on Monday to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel within seven days, upholding an appeal by human rights organisations.
“It is undeniable that there is a clear risk the exported F-35 parts are used in serious violations of international humanitarian law,” the court says.
The US-owned F-35 parts are stored in the Netherlands and then shipped to several partners, including Israel, via existing export agreements.
At least 28,340 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since 7 October according to Gaza’s health ministry.
More than 67,984 Palestinians have also been wounded the ministry added.
In the last 24 hours, Israeli forces killed at least 164 people and more than 200 have been wounded in Gaza, a ministry statement on Telegram said.
Israeli security forces have rescued two captives held by Hamas in Gaza overnight Sunday that also resulted in scores of Palestinians being killed.
The Israeli military has been working on the rescue of the two captives from Rafah "for a long time", according to Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari.
The two, Louis Norberto Har, 70, and Fernando Marman, 60, were taken from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on 7 October and were held in a second-floor apartment in Rafah.
They are reportedly in good condition and one Israeli soldier was injured in the operation.
"Conditions were not ripe to carry it out until now, and we waited for them to ripen," Hagari said. "Reaching the target in the heart of Rafah was very complex."
At least three of the captives' guards were killed in the operation, with Israeli forces breaking open the door to the apartment with an explosive device.
Palestinian health officials said at least 50 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed in Gaza during the operation from Israeli strikes.
Hagari said that the Israeli military arrived at the building located in Rafah’s Shabura neighbourhood at around 1 am and using explosive devices blew up the door. Gunfire was exchanged with gunmen in adjacent buildings when the captives were extracted.
"There was intense firepower from the air. Fire was opened from nearby buildings. The Air Force struck intensively there," said Hagari. "Many terrorists were eliminated tonight in this action," he added.
The death toll from Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah has risen to 67 Palestinians and wounded dozens, according to Ashraf al-Qudra, Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesperson.
Qudra had earlier said that 48 people were killed in the attacks. The death toll is expected to rise with many more people believed to be under the rubble.
