Israel's War on Gaza Live: Israel pounds Rafah in overnight strikes

Al Jazeera's correspondent, along with other Palestinian media outlets, are reporting heavy Israeli air strikes on central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp and Wadi Gaza area.

Al Mayadeen's correspondent said five people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a school and a residential building in Nuseirat.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

• Israeli forces conducted overnight raids across the West Bank, arresting five people in Tulkarem
• Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said his country will "streamline security checks" to "flood" Gaza with humanitarian aid, planning to reach 500 trucks a day
• The US government's Gaza humanitarian envoy, David Satterfield, said that "the majority, if not all, the 2.2 million population of Gaza" face imminent famine
• Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth reports that Indonesia may normalise ties with Israel in exchange for the latter supporting Indonesia's entry into the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
• UK police arrested five people accused of spraying red paint on the defence ministry's London headquarters to protest the UK's arms sales to Israel

Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency has deleted a report saying that all air traffic over Tehran has been suspended because of “military drills”.

Mehr denied publishing the report which was widely carried by other news outlets earlier today, as Israel and Iran gear up for a potential escalation following a strike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus last week that killed several senior Revolutionary Guard commanders.

Iran has suspended all air traffic over the capital Tehran from midnight local time, citing "military drills", the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted the defence minister as saying on Wednesday.

The announcement is the latest sign that Iran and Israel are inching closer to a potentially serious escalation, as Tehran grapples with how to respond to a strike blamed on Israel last week that killed several senior Revolutionary Guard commanders at its consulate in Damascus.

Earlier on Wednesday, Germany’s Lufthansa airlines said it had suspended flights to Iran, citing “the current situation in the Middle East”.

The top commander of the US military in the Middle East, known as Centcom, is expected to arrive in Israel on Thursday to coordinate defence against a potential Iranian attack, Axios has reported.

General Erik Kurilla will meet senior Israeli army officials and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, the report said.

Israel has been girding for an Iranian attack in response to a strike it has been blamed for that killed top Iranian Quds Force General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, and other Revolutionary Guard commanders inside Iran’s consulate in Damascus.

US President Joe Biden said earlier Wednesday that he made an “ironclad” commitment to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to defend Israel against Iran.

A fourth grandchild of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has died as a result of an Israeli strike on his family in Gaza, according to Hamas. 

The death toll for Haniyeh’s family now stands at seven people, including three sons whom an Israeli military spokesperson confirmed as being Amir, Hazem and Mohammad, and four of the 62-year-old Hamas leader’s grandchildren, identified by Hamas as Mona, Amal, Khaled and Razan.

Germany’s Lufthansa airline has suspended flights to Iran, citing “the current situation in the Middle East” amid rising fears of direct confrontation between Israel and Iran.

“We are constantly monitoring the situation in the Middle East and are in close contact with the authorities. The safety of our guests and crew members is Lufthansa’s top priority,” a spokesperson for the company told Reuters.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday that Israel “must be punished” for attacking Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing several senior Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders.

Iran accidentally shot down a Ukrainian commercial airliner in 2020, killing all 176 people on board after its forces were on high alert for a US strike following the killing of Commander Qassem Soleimani.

Israel has not made any preparations to prepare for humanitarian aid deliveries for Gaza to be received at Ashdod port, according to an Israeli media report.

US President Joe Biden claimed that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to allow aid to arrive at Ashdod after a tense phone call last week.

But the Israeli military, the coordinator of government activities in the territories, and the Ashdod Port authorities have not received any instructions to prepare the port, according to the Hebrew language Channel 12’s political correspondent, Yaron Avraham.

US ambassador to Israel Jack Lew met Netanyahu yesterday to clarify how Israel plans to follow through on its promise to Biden.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his condolences to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a phone call Wednesday after an Israeli strike killed three of his sons and grandchildren.

Erdogan told Haniyeh that Israel will definitely be held accountable for the crimes against humanity it committed, according to a Turkish readout of the call.

A video posted on social media showed Haniyeh sitting down and on the phone with Erdogan. His voice could be heard on the phone with an aid translating the Turkish to Arabic.

An Israeli military spokesperson confirmed the killing, identifying the three children as Amir, Hazem and Mohammad, and calling them “military operatives.”

Haniyeh has also received condolence calls from Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister and President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.

US President Joe Biden said it is “up to Hamas” to move on a proposal for a truce and hostage deal in Gaza, even as he said Israel was not doing enough to surge aid into the besieged enclave.

The US has delivered a proposal for a six-week truce in Gaza that would see some Palestinian civilians return to the enclave's north, and the release of hostages in Gaza and some Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Biden also reaffirmed support for Israel amid concerns about Iranian retaliation for a strike attributed to Israel that killed senior Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders in Damascus.

 “I said to [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, US commitment to Israel’s security in the face of Iranian threats to launch an attack against Israel is ironclad.”

“Any Jewish person that votes for a Democrat or votes for Biden should have their head examined", former US President Donald Trump said Wednesday.

Trump said that Biden had “totally abandoned Israel”.

Trump forcefully supported Israel during his time in office. His remarks on Wednesday showed that he appears to be actively courting pro-Israel voters and potentially lobbying groups as he falls behind Biden in raising campaign cash.

Yemen’s Houthis said they targeted four ships in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, according to the group’s military spokesperson, Yahya Sarea.

The vessels targeted included two Israeli ships and two American ships, including warships. MEE could not independently verify the claims.

The US and the UK have been conducting strikes against Houthi forces and safeguarding commercial vessels.

On Monday, US Central Command said it destroyed a Houthi air defence system with two missiles ready to launch, along with a drone.

CIA chief Bill Burns is in direct contact with Hamas - a US designated terror organisation - as part of the US’s efforts to secure a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Burns presented the US’s recent ceasefire proposal for Gaza to officials from Hamas, Qatar and Egypt in Cairo, according to a Wall Street Journal report. 

US officials rarely meet with members of US-designated terror organisations. For example, the US says publicly it doesn’t have direct contact with Hezbollah, another Iran-aligned group deemed a terror organisation by the US, which the US relies on mediators to communicate with. 

The US also relies on third countries like Oman and Qatar to ferry messages to Iran, which it doesn’t have diplomatic relations with.

Qatar and Egypt have been mediating months-long talks between Israel and Hamas to secure a hostage deal and pause fighting in Gaza.

The report that Burns has taken his proposal directly to Hamas underscores the urgency Washington feels to strike a deal.  

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday praised the "martyrdom" of his three sons and three grandchildren on Wednesday after they were killed in an Israeli strike. 

"All our people and all the families of Gaza's residents have paid a heavy price with the blood of their children, and I am one of them," Haniyeh told Al Jazeera.

Haniyeh, who is based in Doha, Qatar, said the killing of his sons and grandchildren would not impact Hamas's position in ceasefire talks. 

The top Democratic lawmaker on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said he wants "assurances" on how F-15 fighter jets and munitions will be used by Israel, before signing off on the arms transfer. 

Congressman Gregory Meeks told CNN on Tuesday that he would go into a classified briefing with the Biden administration to see what weapons systems the US was preparing to send to Israel and how they will be used. 

The Biden administration recently sent an informal notification to Congress for an $18bn arms sale to Israel that includes dozens of F-15 fighter jets. 

“I don't want the kinds of weapons that Israel has to be utilised to have more deaths,” he said.

“I want to make sure that humanitarian aid gets in. I don't want people starving to death, and I want Hamas to release the hostages. And I want a two-state solution."

Meek's words carry weight because he is one of four lawmakers, along with the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Republican chair and the senior Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that can block arms sales.