Israel-Palestine live: US and Israel air differences over Gaza strategy

Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said on Tuesday that civilian deaths in Gaza “are a stain on Israel and its allies”.

In a statement, he said: “The pulverising of Gaza now ranks amongst the worst assaults on any civilian population in our time and age. Each day we see more dead children and new depths of suffering for the innocent people enduring this hell.”

Egeland added that many NRC staff members now live on the streets. One of them does so with her two-month-old baby.  

“Countries supporting Israel with arms must understand that these civilian deaths will be a permanent stain on their reputation. They must demand an immediate ceasefire in Israel and Gaza. Only a cessation of hostilities will allow us to ensure effective relief to the two million who now require it,” he added. 
 

British MP Jeremy Corbyn addressed the foreign secretary on Tuesday demanding “urgent clarification” on whether or not British soldiers were being deployed on the ground in Gaza. 

“I asked the [foreign office] minister if he could assure the House that there are no British soldiers on the ground in Gaza. The minister refused to answer,” he wrote in the letter. 

“The minister’s failure to provide this assurance is extremely alarming. More than 15,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including 6,000 children.” he continued. 

“The UK government already provides ample political support to an Israeli army that is committing war crimes in front of our eyes. Could you confirm whether the UK government is providing military personnel too?” he adds. 
 

The United Nations said on Tuesday that it has now become “impossible” to create safe zones for civilians seeking shelter inside Gaza, amidst ongoing Israeli bombing. 

“The so-called safe zones… are not scientific, they are not rational, they are not possible, and I think the authorities are aware of this,” James Elder, spokesman for the UN children’s agency Unicef, told reporters in Geneva via video-link from Cairo.
 

The UK is considering sending the RFA Lyme Bay, a military support vessel, to Gaza to provide medical and humanitarian aid, Defence Minister Grant Shapps said on Tuesday.

"I'm considering whether RFA Lyme Bay can support medical and humanitarian aid provision," Shapps told lawmakers.

Several officials in Gaza have warned about the “catastrophic” situation on the ground in Gaza and have said the minimal aid trickling in is not enough to cater to the needs of people. 

UN chief Martin Griffiths said: “Every time we think things cannot get anymore apocalyptic in Gaza, they do…nowhere is safe in Gaza, not hospitals, not shelters, not refugee camps.” 
 

From the moment Farah first opened her eyes, she was living in the world’s biggest open-air prison. 

Having lived through three previous Israeli assaults on Gaza, the 12-year-old knows more about war than peace.

She follows the news, knows the names of Palestinian and Israeli politicians, and has studied the Fourth Geneva Convention and laws of war. The scenes she describes should rightly fill any child with fear and sadness - but not Farah anymore. 

Today, she seems indifferent to the ongoing horrors. For many children in Gaza, these scenes have become frighteningly normal. 

The following is Farah’s account of the current war, from the bombing of her home to her family’s decision to flee to southern Gaza.

Read more: 'A young girl died in front of us': The Gaza war through the eyes of a 12-year-old

Israeli forces stormed the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank after the discovery of special forces by residents, according to local media. 

Exchanges of fire were reported shortly after the raid was launched, as more armoured Israeli vehicles were spotted rushing to the camp. 

Israel is investigating claims that investors may have known in advance that Hamas was planning to attack southern Israel on 7 October.

Research by law professors Robert Jackson Jr from New York University and Joshua Mitts of Columbia University found significant short-selling of shares leading up to the attacks.

"Days before the attack, traders appeared to anticipate the events to come," the researchers wrote, citing short interest in the MSCI Israel Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that "suddenly, and significantly, spiked" on 2 October based on data from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra).

"And just before the attack, short selling of Israeli securities on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) increased dramatically," they added in a 66-page report, as reported by Reuters. 

Short-selling involves profiting from securities you don’t own. It is the process where if you are confident that a company’s shares are going to fall, you borrow them from somebody, sell them and later buy them on the market at a lower price. Profit is made in the difference after giving it back to the lender. 

Read more: Israel investigating whether traders knew about Hamas attack in advance

The so-called "safe zones" that the Israeli army claims exist in southern Gaza are a "dangerous false narrative", according to Unicef spokesperson James Elder. 

Speaking to the BBC, Elder, who is currently in Gaza, said the areas Israel had asked Palestinians to evacuate to are "patches of barren land" that have "no water, no facilities, no shelter from the cold, no sanitation". 

Elder also said that Israeli-made maps with QR codes purportedly showing these "safe areas" won't be accessible to many people due to internet and power outages.   

"If you are going to forcibly evacuate people, you cannot send hundreds of thousands of people to places where there is no water and no toilets. I genuinely mean no toilets. Every corner I had turned to, there were another 5,000 people who would appear overnight. They don’t have a single toilet, they don’t have a drop of water," Elder told the BBC.

"The only safety in Gaza now is for hell to stop raining down from the sky," he added. 

Save the Children said on Tuesday that the ongoing crisis in Gaza is leading to the eradication of children’s rights caused by the Israeli-led blockade and climate change. 

The charity group said the Strip's population have suffered from "unequal access to natural resources" for years under the Israeli air, land and naval blockade.  

Those issues have been exacerbated amid the ongoing Israeli offensive, particularly the lack of access to clean drinking water that is now affecting the entire population, including over one million children. 

“The current crisis in Gaza is both a violent conflict, and a slow-burning eradication of children’s rights, fuelled by international neglect, a failure of leadership, and the climate crisis," Mohamad Al Asmar, advocacy and resource mobilisation director for Save the Children in the Middle East, said. 

"The over a million children with their lives on the line in Gaza were already on the frontline of the climate crisis. If you are a child in Gaza, you will have no memory of a life without water shortages, created by political action - the blockade - and inaction on climate change," Asmar, who is currently in Dubai attending the Cop28 summit, added. 

“The health and environmental impacts of climate change cannot be contained within specific territories or across borders, and are likely to impact across the region, including in Israel.

“Again and again, more than one million Palestinian children have been deprived of their basic rights. We need an immediate ceasefire and an end to the blockade as the only way to keep children safe and preserve their future.”

A student union at one of the UK’s leading universities has suspended elected student officers after they released a statement expressing their support for Palestine.

King’s College London Students Union (KCLSU) suspended three officers from its five-person team after they collectively released a statement on Instagram showing their support for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The union represents 30,000 student members at King's College London who elect officers each year to represent their interests to the university and serve as trustees of the union. 

The three elected officers suspended by KCLSU include the vice president of welfare and community, Hassan Ali; the vice president for education in the arts and sciences, Sadaf Abbas Cheema; and the vice president for postgraduate students, Alizeh Abrar. 

In a statement, the three suspended officers said they had faced "verbal threats" from senior managers at KCLSU and "scare tactics" to force them to take down their statement of solidarity for Palestine. 

Read more: Student officers at King's College London suspended 'for supporting Gaza'

A World Health Organisation official in Gaza said on Tuesday that the situation is "getting worse by the hour", according to Reuters.

Speaking to reporters via video link from Gaza, Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, said Israeli bombing has intensified all around, including in the southern areas of Khan Younis and Rafah.

"I want to make this point very clear that we are looking at an increasing humanitarian disaster," Peeperkorn said.

Peeperkorn said WHO had complied with an Israeli order to remove supplies from warehouses in Khan Younis a day earlier. He said WHO had been told the area would "most likely become an area of active combat in the coming days".

"We want to make sure that we can actually deliver essential medical supplies," he said.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday appealed to Israel to withdraw the order. Israel denied asking for the evacuation of warehouses.

The Israeli military has announced the death of two additional soldiers who were killed on Monday during clashes with Palestinian fighters in Gaza, hours after saying three troops were killed earlier. 

At least 80 Israeli soldiers have been killed in over one month of ground operations in the Gaza Strip.  

Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani criticised Israel for its ongoing assault in Gaza on Tuesday, urging the United Nations Security Council to force it back to the negotiating table to reach a ceasefire.

Speaking at the opening session of the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Doha, Al Thani accused Israel of committing "genocide" and said the principles of self-defence do not apply to its ongoing occupation of Palestinian territories. 

"It is shameful that the international community is allowing the heinous crime to continue in Gaza," he said. 

"The issue that Palestinian people are facing cannot be marginalised, and security is not possible without a lasting peace and a just solution to the Palestinian issue."

The emir renewed his "condemnation of targeting civilians of all nationalities, religions, and ethnicities" and called for an international investigation into the "massacres committed by Israel".

He added that temporary truces were not an alternative to a permanent ceasefire. 

"The Gaza issue is not separate, nor is it an Israeli security matter, and the solution is to end the occupation and solve the Palestinian issue," the emir said. 

"The conflict in Palestine is neither religious nor related to war on terrorism, but in essence, it is a national issue and a conflict against occupation." 

Fighting in the "second stage" of war is expected to be difficult, the Israeli government spokesperson said on Tuesday.

According to Reuters, he added that Israel sees eye-to-eye with US on the strategic objectives of war. 

When asked about reports that Israel is considering flooding Gaza tunnels with seawater, he said the military was employing a range of engineering measures but did not provide further comment. 

Morning recap

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Today we entered the 60th day of Israel's relentless campaign of bombing, invasion and siege of the Gaza Strip.

Overnight, telecommunications were shut down across the Palestinian enclave as Israeli fighter jets launched heavy air strikes, particularly in east and northeast of Khan Younis and Gaza City. 

Internet connections were partly restored on Tuesday morning as residents began to assess the extent of damage caused by what some described as one of the most violent nights in the Israeli offensive so far. 

It is now 10:45 am local time. Here are some of the  updates from the past few hours: 

• Israeli air strikes hit a school sheltering displaced families in Khan Younis, killing at least 30 people 

• Israeli tanks are encircling and shelling Kamal Adwan hospital, one of the last remaining operational health facilities in Gaza's north

• Fierce clashes between Palestinian fighters and Israeli troops are ongoing on the outskirts of Gaza City and Khan Younis 

• Three Israeli soldiers were killed in battles on Monday, taking the death toll of troops to 80 in over one month of ground operations

• Palestinian death toll in Gaza since 7 October reached nearly 15,900 on Monday night, with an additional 250 killed in the West Bank

• Israeli forces raided Jenin, Ramallah and Bethlehem overnight, killing at least one Palestinian

• Following American accusations that Iran is enabling Houthi attacks, Tehran denied playing any role in actions against the US 

For more updates throughout the day, follow Middle East Eye's live blog and pages on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.