Iranian official warns that none of Israel’s embassies are safe anymore
A senior Iranian official has warned that none of Israel’s embassies were safe any more, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, was quoted as saying that Tehran viewed confrontation with Israel as a “legitimate and legal right”.
Iran’s semi-official ISNA new agency published a graphic on Sunday that it said showcased nine different types of Iranian missiles it says are capable of hitting Israel.
It comes after Iran vowed revenge after an airstrike destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing at least 11 people last week, including a senior commander in the al-Quds force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Israel has not confirmed it was behind the strike on Damascus. Though its leaders have said in more general terms that they are operating against Iran, which backs militant groups Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both of which have been in combat with Israel for the past six months.
Key events
Later in the same cabinet meeting marking six months since the beginning of the war prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Israel was “one step away from victory” in the war with Gaza.
“We are one step away from victory,” Netanyahu said. “But the price we paid is painful and heartbreaking.”
Speaking as truce talks were expected to resume in Cairo with international mediators, he reiterated “there will be no ceasefire without the return of hostages. It just won’t happen.”
He stressed that “Israel is ready for a deal, Israel is not ready to surrender”.
“Instead of international pressure being directed at Israel, which only causes Hamas to harden its positions, the pressure of the international community should be directed against Hamas. This will advance the release of the hostages.”
Israel will not agree to ceasefire unless hostages in Gaza are released, says Benjamin Netanyahu
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would not agree to a ceasefire after six months of war against Hamas in Gaza until the hostages being held in Gaza are released.
His comments, made at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting, came as a new round of truce talks in Egypt are set to begin.
Netanyahu said that, despite growing international pressure, Israel would not give in to “extreme” demands from Hamas, the militant group which runs Gaza, which sparked the war on 7 October with its deadly attack on southern Israel.
As we reported earlier, the Israeli military has withdrawn more ground troops from the southern Gaza Strip, leaving just one brigade there six months after the start of its war in Gaza.
Palestinian residents of the southern city of Khan Younis, which has come under Israeli bombardment in recent months, said they had seen Israeli forces leaving the centre of the city and retreating to the eastern districts.
Summary of the day so far…
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Six months on from the start of the war, negotiators plan to meet in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, later to try to reach a ceasefire deal, which has so far remained elusive despite several high-level attempts. According to some media reports, CIA director Bill Burns and Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani will join negotiators from Egypt, Israel and Hamas.
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A senior Iranian official said on Sunday that none of Israel’s embassies were safe anymore, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, was quoted as saying that Tehran viewed confrontation with Israel as a “legitimate and legal right”. He was speaking after a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on 1 April for which Tehran has vowed retaliation. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said earlier today that preparations had been completed to handle any scenario that may develop with Iran. The minister’s office made the statement after he held an “operational situation assessment” with senior military officers.
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At least 33,175 Palestinian people have been killed and 75,886 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said. There have been 38 Palestinians killed and 71 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.
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The Israeli military has withdrawn all ground troops from the southern Gaza Strip except for one brigade, a military spokesperson said. The military did not immediately provide further details, and it was unclear whether the withdrawal would delay a long-threatened incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Geneva Abdul
Prof Nick Maynard was operating on a patient with abdomen and chest bomb injuries when an Israeli missile struck the al-Aqsa hospital’s intensive care unit in the adjacent building, forcing his medical emergency team to withdraw from Gaza days earlier than scheduled.
“I’ve witnessed with my own eyes an attack by the Israel Defense Forces on the intensive care unit there,” said Maynard, who works as a surgeon in Oxford and has been travelling to Gaza since 2010.
The Guardian spoke to volunteer healthcare workers from the UK who have travelled to Gaza with aid organisations since 7 October who claimed the Israeli military was deliberately targeting healthcare infrastructure. They also expressed concerns about continuing their humanitarian work in Gaza after seven international aid workers, including three Britons, were killed by an Israeli airstrike.
You can read the full story here:
Unrwa, the UN Palestinian refugee agency, which is the main UN agency in Gaza, said that six months of Israel’s war in Gaza meant “6 months of never-ending displacement” for the Palestinians in the enclave.
It said on X that “around 1.7 million people have been forced to flee their homes”, with it providing shelter for thousands of families with nowhere else to go.
The war in #Gaza: 6 months of never-ending displacement.
Around 1.7 million people have been forced to flee their homes.
Since the onset of the war, @UNRWA facilities have been transformed to provide emergency shelter for thousands of families seeking safety with nowhere to go pic.twitter.com/fFheV488NJ
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) April 7, 2024
Famine is “projected and imminent” in the northern half of Gaza, a UN-backed report said last month, and according to Oxfam, since December, the number of people in the Palestinian territory facing “catastrophic levels” of hunger has nearly doubled.
The vast majority of the population has been displaced by Israel’s war and much of the healthcare infrastructure in the besieged enclave destroyed.
Iranian official warns that none of Israel’s embassies are safe anymore
A senior Iranian official has warned that none of Israel’s embassies were safe any more, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, was quoted as saying that Tehran viewed confrontation with Israel as a “legitimate and legal right”.
Iran’s semi-official ISNA new agency published a graphic on Sunday that it said showcased nine different types of Iranian missiles it says are capable of hitting Israel.
It comes after Iran vowed revenge after an airstrike destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing at least 11 people last week, including a senior commander in the al-Quds force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Israel has not confirmed it was behind the strike on Damascus. Though its leaders have said in more general terms that they are operating against Iran, which backs militant groups Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both of which have been in combat with Israel for the past six months.
Preliminary hearings open on Monday at the UN’s top court in a case that seeks an end of German military and other aid to Israel, based on claims that Berlin is “facilitating” acts of genocide and breaches of international law in Israel’s war in Gaza.
Nicaragua has asked the court to hand down preliminary orders known as provisional measures, including that Germany “immediately suspend its aid to Israel, in particular its military assistance including military equipment in so far as this aid may be used in the violation of the Genocide Convention” and international law.
“We are calm and we will set out our legal position in court,” German foreign ministry spokesperson Sebastian Fischer said ahead of the hearings.
“We reject Nicaragua’s accusations,” Fischer told reporters in Berlin on Friday.
“Germany has breached neither the genocide convention nor international humanitarian law, and we will set this out in detail before the International Court of Justice.”
The international court of justice (ICJ) will probably take weeks to deliver its preliminary decision and Nicaragua’s case will probably drag on for years.
In January, the ICJ imposed provisional measures ordering Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and acts of genocide in Gaza. The orders came in a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of breaching the Genocide Convention.
Israel strongly denies its military campaign amounts to breaches of the Genocide Convention.
Israeli military reduces troops in southern Gaza – spokesperson
The Israeli military has withdrawn all ground troops from the southern Gaza Strip except for one brigade, a military spokesperson has said, according to Reuters.
An Israeli brigade is typically made up of a few thousand troops.
The military did not immediately provide further details, and it was unclear whether the withdrawal would delay a long-threatened incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the last refuge for more than a million Palestinians sheltering in the territory near the border with Egypt.
The White House has said it will not support a Rafah operation without the Israelis presenting a credible plan to ensure the safety of Palestinian civilians.
Israeli officials have said that Rafah is Hamas’ last major stronghold in Gaza.
Death toll in Gaza reaches 33,175, says health ministry
At least 33,175 Palestinian people have been killed and 75,886 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
There have been 38 Palestinians killed and 71 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry statement added.
Most of the casualties have been women and children, the health ministry has said, and thousands more bodies are likely to remain uncounted under rubble across Gaza.
At least two Israelis have been injured in a shooting near the town of Nabi Ilyas in the northern occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera has cited the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation as having reported.
The army reportedly said it dispatched forces near the site of the attack “on Route 55 near the Nabi Ilyas junction in the Ephraim Brigade”.
Simon Harris, who is set to become Ireland’s youngest ever prime minister, has spoken to Sky News about Israel’s war in Gaza.
“What we’ve seen happen in Gaza and the actions of the Israeli government, is utterly reprehensible,” he said.
He described the Israeli attack that killed seven aid workers, including three people from the UK, as “callous and chilling”.
Harris said Ireland stood ready to play its part in a “political process that brings about a two state solution” to the conflict, adding that Ireland understood a lot about political solutions.
Israel prepared to handle any developments with Iran, defence minister says
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said that preparations have been completed to handle any scenario that may develop with Iran.
The minister’s office made the statement after he held an “operational situation assessment” with senior military officers, according to Reuters.
“Upon completing the assessment, minister Gallant emphasised that the defense establishment has completed preparations for responses in the event of any scenario that may develop vis-a-vis Iran,” his office said.
It comes after Iran vowed revenge after an airstrike destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing at least 11 people last week, including a senior commander in the al-Quds force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Israel – which has not claimed responsibility for the attack – subsequently suspended leave for combat units and heightened its air defence command to deal with a possible retaliatory missile or drone attack from Iran.
Britain is not giving the IDF “carte blanche”, the UK’s deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, has said.
Dowden told Sky News:
We are not giving carte blanche and we have robust conversations with Israel. Indeed both our prime minister had conversations with prime minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu and the foreign secretary had conversations with his opposite number…
The manner in which some people are seizing on this issue and trying to hold Israel to incredibly high standards, of course it is right that we hold Israel to high standards, but I just think there is a bit of relish from some people about the way in which they are pushing this case against Israel.
Dowden said he would not go so far as to suggest this was coded antisemitism, but said people needed to remember the “trauma” Israelis are suffering.
“Of course Israel has made mistakes, and made big mistakes, and we should hold them to account for that, but we are holding them to a very high standard,” he added.
His comments come after the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, warned that Britain’s support for Israel is “not unconditional”, and as the UK government comes under intense pressure to end arm sales to Israel.
A missile has reported to have fallen near a ship southwest of the Yemeni port city of Aden.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said a “missile impacted the water in close proximity” to the ship. “No damage to the vessel reported and crew reported safe,” it said.
Security firm Ambrey also reported a “projectile” hitting the water near the ship, advising vessels in the vicinity to “exercise caution”.
The attack comes hours after two missiles targeted a ship southwest of the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, according to both the UKMTO and Ambrey.
One missile was intercepted by US-led coalition forces and the second missed the ship, UKMTO said.
Houthi rebels have launched dozens of missile and drone strikes on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November, saying their actions are in solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war.
Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, travelled to Oman on Sunday on the first leg of a regional tour, his ministry said, almost a week after Israel’s strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
Iran has vowed revenge after an airstrike destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing at least 11 people, including a senior commander in the al-Quds force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Iran’s leaders in Tehran described the targeting of a diplomatic mission as unprecedented and promised a harsh response.
While Israel has not officially acknowledged its involvement, the incident has the potential to further destabilise the already volatile region.
New round of ceasefire negotiations expected to be held in Cairo today
Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that runs Gaza, said on Saturday that they would send a delegation to Cairo for a new round of mediated talks beginning on Sunday.
Hamas reiterated its demands issued in a 14 March proposal before a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that was passed on 25 March.
The demands include a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, a return of the displaced, and a “serious” exchange deal of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages being held in Gaza, the statement said.
According to Israeli figures, about 250 Israelis and foreigners were taken during the Hamas attacks. About 129 hostages remain unaccounted for after being kidnapped.
Israel has repeatedly vowed that it will fight on in the Palestinian territory until Hamas is destroyed.
As refenced in our opening summary, the CIA director Bill Burns is reportedly expected to attend Sunday’s talks, along with the Qatari foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and possibly an Israeli delegation.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is under mounting pressure from the relatives of hostages who are being held captive in Gaza and from world leaders, including the US president, Joe Biden, his most powerful ally.
Biden last week called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza following the news of the Israeli airstrikes killing seven employees of the international food charity World Central Kitchen.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
It has been six months since Israel launched its war on Gaza in response to the 7 October Hamas attacks on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 240 taken hostage.
On Sunday, negotiators plan to meet in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to try to reach a ceasefire deal, which has so far remained elusive despite several high-level attempts.
According to some media reports, CIA director Bill Burns and Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani will join negotiators from Egypt, Israel and Hamas.
More on that in a moment. Here is a summary of some of the day’s other main events:
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The Israeli military has published the names of four soldiers killed in Gaza, bringing its losses in ground fighting to 604. The four commandos died on Saturday in southern Gaza, the military said in a statement. Hamas had claimed an ambush against Israeli forces in the southern town of Khan Younis on Saturday.
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Israel launched airstrikes on eastern Lebanon early on Sunday, hitting what it said were Hezbollah infrastructure sites after the armed group downed an Israeli drone over the country. The Israeli army said fighter jets struck a military complex and three other infrastructure sites belonging to Hezbollah in the eastern city of Baalbek. It said the latest attack was in response to Iran-backed Hezbollah’s downing of a drone in Lebanese airspace.
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UK support for Israel is “not unconditional”, the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, wrote in the Sunday Times, after the killing of seven World Central Kitchen staff by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. “Of course our backing is not unconditional,” he writes. “We expect such a proud and successful democracy to abide by international humanitarian law, even when challenged in this way.”
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Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Saturday to protest against Benjamin Netanyahu. Organisers said about 100,000 people converged at a Tel Aviv crossroads renamed, Democracy Square, since mass protests against controversial judicial reforms last year.
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Israel’s war in Gaza has escalated into a “betrayal of humanity”, the UN’s humanitarian chief said. In a statement on the eve of the six-month anniversary of the war, Martin Griffiths, the outgoing under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, called for a “collective determination that there be a reckoning for this betrayal of humanity”.
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Iran has threatened retaliation for the deaths of seven Revolutionary Guards in a strike on Damascus, with the army chief saying his country’s enemies will “regret” the killings. Tehran has vowed to avenge Monday’s airstrike on the Syrian capital it blamed on Israel.
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Israel’s army said on Saturday its troops recovered the body of a hostage abducted by Palestinian militants during the 7 October attack on southern Israeli communities. “The body of the abductee Elad Katzir, who according to intelligence was murdered in captivity by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation, was rescued overnight from Khan Younis and returned to Israeli territory,” the army said in a statement.
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The sister of Elad Katzir has blamed Israeli authorities for his death, saying he would have returned alive had the authorities agreed to a new truce deal. “Elad was kidnapped from his home in Nir Oz in one piece,” Carmit Palty Katzir, his sister, wrote on her Facebook page. “Our leadership is cowardly and driven by political consideration, which is why this deal has not happened yet,” she wrote.
