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

The remains of a 92-year-old Palestinian woman with dementia were found in Gaza on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch's Farida Deif reported. 

Middle East Eye reported two weeks ago that Naifa Rizq al-Sawada, who suffers from Alzheimer's and is unable to walk or speak, was in her home in the vicinity of the al-Shifa Medical Complex in the west of Gaza City on 21 March when the Israeli military invaded the area post-midnight and forcibly evicted its residents at gunpoint.

The army stormed her home and ordered her family to evacuate, leaving her behind. 

Her daughter Maha al-Nawati told MEE at the time: "My mum cannot move, eat, or drink alone. When she slept, we used to turn her on her left and right sides so that her body does not develop ulcers. She cannot go to the bathroom alone, we used to assist her. She even cannot speak now; if they ask her what her name is, she will not be able to answer."

"I don’t know what the army wants to do with her? She is an elderly woman who cannot do anything in life, why would they take her? Why didn’t they let her leave with her son and his wife to evacuate to the south?"

In his latest opinion piece for Middle East Eye, columnist Jonathan Cook argues that Israel's killing of aid workers is part of a wider plan to destroy Gaza. 

He writes: "World Central Kitchen, which has been building a pier off Gaza’s coast, was expected to be an adjunct to Washington’s plan to eventually ship in aid from Cyprus - to help those Palestinians who, over the next few weeks, do not starve to death.

"Until, that is, Israel struck the aid convoy, killing its staff. WCK has pulled out of Gaza for the time being, and other private aid contractors are backing off, fearful for their workers’ safety.

"Goal one has been achieved. The people of Gaza are on their own. The West, rather than their saviour, is now fully complicit not only in Israel’s blockade of Gaza but in its starvation too."

You can read the full column below. 

Opinion: Israel's killing of aid workers is no accident. It's part of the plan to destroy Gaza

Israel has for the first time used a seaborne missile defence system to shoot down a drone which had approached from the Red Sea and set off sirens in the Israeli port city of Eilat.

Eilat has been targeted several times by Yemen's Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, who have attacked Israel as an act of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. 

"Overnight, for the first time ever, an IDF Sa'ar 6-class corvette missile ship successfully intercepted [an unmanned aerial vehicle] that had approached from the east and had crossed into the area of the Gulf of Eilat," the Israeli military said on Tuesday.

Israeli forces have killed at least 33,360 Palestinians and wounded 75,993 others in Gaza since 7 October, the Palestinian health ministry said on Tuesday. The majority of those killed are women and children.

The new death toll comes after 153 were killed and 6o wounded over the past 24 hours, the ministry added. 

Germany has denied that it was aiding genocide in Gaza by selling arms to Israel, in response to a case filed by Nicaragua at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). 

Germany is one of Israel's biggest arms suppliers, sending 326.5m euros ($353.70m) in military equipment and weapons in 2023, according to its economy ministry data.

Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, legal adviser for the German foreign ministry, told ICJ judges that arms exports were scrutinised to ensure compliance with international law.

"Germany is doing its utmost to live up to its responsibility vis-a-vis both the Israeli and the Palestinian people," she said, stating that Germany was the largest individual donor of humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

Von Uslar-Gleichen said Israel's security was a priority for Berlin due to the history of Nazi crimes against Jews in the Holocaust. "Germany has learned from its past, a past that includes the responsibility for one of the most horrific crimes in human history," she said.

On Monday, lawyers for Nicaragua asked the ICJ to order Germany to suspend arms sales to Israel and resume funding of Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, as emergency measures.

They argued that Germany had violated the Genocide Convention and international humanitarian law by continuing to arm Israel despite becoming aware there was a risk of genocide being committed in the Gaza Strip.

The ICJ is expected to issue provisional measures on Nicaragua's case in the coming weeks, however a final ruling could take several years.

Israel's foreign minister said that Turkey has "unilaterally violated" trade agreements after it decided to restrict exports to Israel.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan "is again sacrificing the economic interests of the people of Turkey in order to support Hamas, and we will respond in kind".

Katz added that Israel would respond to the move with its own trade restrictions on products coming from Turkey.

Israeli bombardment resulted in the deaths and wounding of scores of Palestinians in Gaza overnight on Tuesday, according to Wafa news agency.

At least five Palestinians were killed by Israeli shelling on al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza. 

In central Gaza's Deir al-Balah, an air strike on a house killed one and wounded at least 20. 

In Gaza City, another Palestinian was killed and several injured after Israeli shelling targeted teams securing aid distribution south-east of the city, Wafa's correspondent reported. 

Israeli bombardment was also reported in the Tannour neighbourhood of Rafah, in southern Gaza, as well as several areas north of the Strip. 

In Khan Younis, where Israeli forces withdrew from earlier this week, health sources reported that the bodies of 84 people - some of them decomposed - had been recovered. 

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne told French outlets France 24 and RFI radio that the international community should pressure Israel to open more land crossings and increase the amount of aid it allows into Gaza.

"There must be levers of influence and there are multiple levers, going up to sanctions to let humanitarian aid cross checkpoints," he said.

"France was one of the first countries to propose European Union sanctions on Israeli settlers who are committing acts of violence in the West Bank. We will continue if needed to obtain the opening of humanitarian aid."

Turkey has halted the export of some products to Israel in response to its invasion of Gaza, as announced in a statement on Tuesday.

The Turkish trade ministry said that Israel continues to "flagrantly violate international law", ignoring calls for ceasefires and the uninterrupted provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza. These calls include decisions by the UN Security Council and judgements by the International Court of Justice.

"The decisions of the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice are legally binding," the ministry's statement said. "Turkey has repeatedly stated that it will monitor the implementation of all these decisions."

Effective immediately, the ministry has restricted the export of 54 products to Israel, including items such as aluminium wires, steel, cement, construction materials, granite, chemicals, pesticides, granites, engine oils, jet fuel, and bricks.

READ MORE: Turkey imposes export restrictions to Israel over Gaza invasion

Human Rights Watch said that the Israeli government has been using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, referring to it as a war crime in its latest report.

The report mentions that 32 people, including 28 children in the Palestinian enclave, have been dying from starvation-related complications.

"Concerned governments should impose targeted sanctions and suspend arms transfers to press the Israeli government to ensure access to humanitarian aid and basic services in Gaza, in accordance with Israel’s obligations under international law and the recent International Court of Justice order in South Africa’s genocide case," the organisation said.

Speaking to the conservative Real America’s Voice network, former US President Donald Trump said that "any Jewish person that votes for Biden does not love Israel and, frankly, should be spoken to".

He added that he does not understand "how a Jewish person can vote for Biden or a Democrat because they are on the side 100 percent of the Palestinians".

Trump also said that he was “more pro-Israel than any other president by far with Golan Heights - throw that one in there by the way… nobody even asked for it, and I got that for them”, referring to his recognition of Israel's annexation of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. 

The former president also highlighted his decisions to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the US embassy there.

"Frankly, it’s incredible that historically Jewish people vote for Democrats," he said. "I don’t understand that."

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

• An Israeli strike on a council building in Gaza's Maghazi refugee camp killed several people, including the mayor
• Israeli strikes on Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, Rafah and various areas of northern Gaza killed scores of Palestinians at dawn
• Hamas said Israel's truce deal proposal was "intransigent" and did not meet any of the group's demands. It will, however, study the proposal and deliver its response to mediators
• Israeli raids across the West Bank led to the arrest of 10 Palestinians, according to the Wafa news agency. Seven were arrested in and around Tulkarem and three near Jericho

Hello MEE readers. On Monday, another round of negotiations was held between Hamas and Israel regarding a potential ceasefire. However, there has been no progress made on those talks, according to several news reports.

Hamas rejected the latest Israeli proposal for a ceasefire, however, the movement said that Israel is unwilling to agree to its main demands, which include a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Meanwhile, in Khan Younis, the wreckage left behind by Israeli forces began to fully be discovered by Palestinian rescue workers. At least 84 dead bodies were recovered on Monday after Israeli forces withdrew from the city.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has set a date for an Israeli invasion of Rafah. The US said it was not made aware of such a date, and publicly urged Israel against such an operation.

Here's what else you need to know from today's developments:

• After opening a new building for consular services in Damascus following an attack that destroyed Iran's consulate there, Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian said the US bears responsibility for last week's strike.

• Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Turkey had requested to be involved in airdrops of humanitarian aid into Gaza. He added that as a result, Ankara would take a series of steps against Israel.

• Israel is buying 40,000 tents in preparation for the evacuation of Palestinians from Rafah, according to a report by the Associated Press.

• The UN Security Council has referred the Palestinian Authority's membership application to the committee that deals with the admission of new member states.

• The US chapter of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (Unrwa) announced it would provide $5m to Unrwa after several countries including the US halted their funding.

• The presidents of France and Egypt, along with the king of Jordan, have issued a warning to Israel against launching an invasion of Rafah and called for an "immediate" ceasefire.

• US Senator Elizabeth Warren, a former presidential candidate, said that she believes Israel's war in Gaza will legally be considered genocide.

More than 1,500 academics across over 270 higher education institutions in North America have signed a letter condemning Israel's attacks on education facilities and academics.

The academics' letter opposes Israel's war in Gaza, and accuses the country of committing "scholasticide" in the enclave.

“Denying access to education through the widespread and systematic destruction of educational infrastructure, along with deliberate and indiscriminate killing of educators and students, is an essential attribute of the collective punishment Israel is inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza,” the letter said.

Read the letter here.