Live: Israel and Hamas claim victory as fragile ceasefire holds
Live Updates
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had not seen any Israeli evidence that Hamas was operating in a media building that housed several international media outlets, including Middle East Eye and Al Jazeera.
“Shortly after the strike, we did request additional details regarding the justification for it,” Blinken said in Copenhagen.
"I have not seen any information provided… [and] will leave it to others to characterise if any information has been shared and our assessment of that information."
The Biden administration has approved the sale of $735m in precision-guided missiles to Israel, according to the Washington Post.
Official filings showed that the US Congress was notified about the sale on 5 May, as a small number of Democratic congressmen criticised the US government for its support of Israel.
Palestinian activists have called a general strike in Jerusalem, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Palestinian towns in Israel to protest ongoing Israeli human rights violations in Gaza and the rest of historic Palestine.
The planned strike will mean the closure of all commercial activities in opposition to the recent escalation of violence in Gaza and planned expulsion of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah, MEE correspondent Shatha Hammad reported.
Student unions in Palestine have also joined calls for a general strike and vowed not to attend their classes in solidarity.
This protest will be the first of its kind since the famous 1936 general strike in Palestine against oppressive policies imposed by the British Mandate.
A spokesperson for the power plant in Gaza said its stocks were "almost empty" after continued Israeli strikes damaged large parts of the electric network.
"We are at a point that we cannot repair because stocks are almost empty," said the spokesperson.
"Electricity workers are not able to reach the areas where they are needed. Our teams are trying as much as they can to help people in need and provide electricity to houses and hospitals."
The spokesperson added that the company was suffering from shortages of cash and fuel to run the plant.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the pope on Monday to back international calls to impose sanctions on Israel for committing crimes against humanity in Palestine.
A statement released by the Turkish presidency said that Erdogan and the pope discussed the "Israeli attacks against Palestine".
Erdogan told the pope that the world should come together against Israel's occupation and policies that violate the status of Jerusalem.
Good morning,
Here are the latest updates on the ongoing escalation in violence in Gaza as the Israeli bombardment of the strip enters its second week.
- Israel's air force launched its heaviest bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Monday morning, destroying a factory and government buildings, according to local news agencies.
- Gaza's electricity board confirmed on Facebook that Monday's air strikes destroyed the strip's power lines and left parts of the besieged territory without any power.
- Israel said its bombs were targeting underground tunnels used by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups.
- Gaza's health ministry on Sunday said that Israeli air strikes had killed at least 197 Palestinians, including 58 children and 34 women.
- Ten people have been killed in Israel, Israeli medical officials said.
- The US blocked a UN Security Council statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza for the third time this week after a meeting with the international body on Sunday.
The Israeli military conducted more than 100 air strikes on Gaza late on Sunday and in the early hours of Monday morning, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. The raids targeted houses and government buildings, including a four-storey home near al-Shifa hospital, Gaza's main medical facility.
Wafa cited its correspondent as confirming casualties, including women and children without specifying the numbers. It said medics faced difficulties reaching scenes of the attacks and transporting the wounded because the Israeli military had bombed many roads leading to hospitals.
The bombardment also damaged power lines leading to electricity cuts across large areas of Gaza.
The health ministry in Gaza reported earlier on Sunday that at least 197 Palestinians have been killed since Israel's offensive began.
As US President Joe Biden hosted a virtual White House Eid celebration on Sunday, Muslim groups hosted a separate event where they called on Muslim Americans to put an end to working with Zionist and pro-Israel groups that attack campaigns for Palestinian rights.
"No more normalisation or any kind of relationship with Zionist organisations. Interfaith, local work, political engagement. Nothing justifies it, no excuses anymore," said Raja Abdulhaq, a leader at the Majlis Ash-Shura: Islamic Leadership Council of New York.
"Today is the day we see no more normalisers in our circles, no more normalisers in our leadership circles, no more normalisation in any place in our communities."
The press freedom advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urged International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to probe Israel's bombing of a building that housed offices of foreign media outlets in Gaza.
"Deliberately targeting media outlets constitutes a war crime," RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said in a statement on Sunday.
"By intentionally destroying media outlets, the Israel Defence Forces are not only inflicting unacceptable material damage on news operations. They are also, more broadly, obstructing media coverage of a conflict that directly affects the civilian population. We call on the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor to determine whether these airstrikes constitute war crimes."
Israel had bombed the 12-storey tower on Saturday after giving journalists an hour to evacuate the building, which hosted the offices of the Associated Press, Middle East Eye and Al Jazeera amongst others.
The Israeli government has claimed - without evidence - that the building was being used by Hamas. Washington expressed concern for the safety of journalists on Saturday without denouncing the Israeli attack.
The United States blocked a joint statement from the UN Security Council calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas for the third time this week after a meeting for the international body on Sunday, The Times of Israel reported citing two diplomats.
Fourteen out of the 15 Council members supported issuing a joint statement after emergency meetings on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday. The statement cannot be put forth without unanimous approval. The statement can still be adopted on Monday.
The US dismissed the effort during the earlier two meetings and instead called for more time for its own diplomatic efforts to play out, several diplomats told the newspaper. The joint statement would have called for an immediate ceasefire, and would have also condemned both Israel and Hamas for the violence.
A US official told the Israeli newspaper that Washington "focused on the intensive diplomatic efforts underway" when asked whether the US will support the joint statement.
At Sunday's meeting, US envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield called on Hamas to immediately stop firing rockets at Israel.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier on Sunday called for an end to the violence, yet failed to issue an explicit a call for a ceasefire.
More than two dozen Democratic Senators have urged an "immediate ceasefire" in the Palestinian territories an Israel - a call that the administration of President Joe Biden has not made.
A brief joint statement signed by 28 senators led by Georgia's Jon Ossoff said: "To prevent any further loss of civilian life and to prevent further escalation of conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories, we urge an immediate ceasefire."
Legislators from across the political spectrum within the Democratic Party added their name to the statement, including former presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Amy Klobuchar.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suggested that Israel's offensive in Gaza will not conclude soon, saying on Saturday that the war will take "as long as necessary."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called three of his Arab counterparts - the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar - on Sunday and urged restoring "calm" and stopping the violence in Gaza, but he stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.
"The secretary reiterated his call on all parties to de-escalate tensions and bring a halt to the violence, which has claimed the lives of Israeli and Palestinian civilians, including children," said a State Department statement, describing the call with Egypt's Sameh Shoukry.
The Israeli military resumed air strikes on Gaza early on Monday morning local time after a brief lull in violence.
"Our fighter jets are currently striking terror targets in Gaza," the Israeli military said in a tweet.
Al Jazeera reported 50 Israeli air raids in the past 30 minutes.
Dozens of Palestinians were killed in a night of heavy bombardment on Saturday and early on Sunday.
Sally Buzbee, the Associated Press's top editor, has called for an independent investigation into Israel's attack on a building housing the offices of major international news outlets in Gaza.
An air raid by the Israeli military destroyed a 12-storey tower on Saturday that hosted the bureaus of AP, Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye, among others. Israel claimed that the building was being used by Hamas without providing evidence.
"We do not take sides in that conflict. We heard Israelis say they have evidence; we don’t know what that evidence is," Buzbee told CNN on Sunday.
"We think it’s appropriate at this point for there to be an independent look at what happened yesterday - an independent investigation."
Israel had given journalists an hour to evacuate the building. Despite outrage from press freedom advocates, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lauded the attack and tweeted a video of the building being levelled.
The administration of US President Joe Biden has expressed "concern" for the safety of journalists without denouncing or even criticising the Israeli attack.
The South African government has strongly condemned Israel's "shameful" and "unjust" violent assault against Palestinians in Jerusalem and Gaza and called for the Israeli government to be investigated by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
In a statement released on Sunday, the government of President Cyril Ramaphosa also urged Israel to halt the planned evictions of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem.
"The South African government strongly condemns the unjust attacks on civilians by Israel in Gaza and Jerusalem," the statement read.
"The continued escalation of attacks by Israel on Palestinians in Gaza is totally unjust and shameful, particularly the targeting of the most vulnerable section of the Palestinian community, children, women and the elderly.
"South Africa also urges Israel to stop all planned evictions of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah area. Disturbing images of Israel’s ongoing attacks on Palestinians, which violate UN resolutions, justifies an urgent call for the intervention of the international community and to have the Israeli government’s conduct investigated and referred to the ICC for crimes against humanity."
