Resolution is linked to ‘release of hostages’, says US secretary of state, as he continues tour of the Middle East
It has gone 10am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. This is our latest Guardian live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.
The US has circulated a draft UN security council resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire linked to the release of hostages” in Gaza, secretary of state Antony Blinken has said.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu again stated on Wednesday Israel’s intention to launch a ground offensive against Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, but cautioned that it will “take some time” for Israel’s forces to be ready. In a video statement Netanyahu said that he will soon approve a plan for the evacuation of Palestinian civilians from fighting areas after having green-lit the military’s operational plans for Rafah.
Hamas senior official Osama Hamdan said on Wednesday that the Israeli response to the group’s latest Gaza ceasefire proposal was negative after mediators handed it over. In a press conference in Beirut he claimed that Israel had retracted previous negotiation approvals in the latest talks.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken arrived on Wednesday in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia for talks. His sixth visit to the region since 7 October will also include Egypt, and he is expected in Israel on Friday.
Israeli diplomats have pre-emptively attacked the findings of two inquires into the role of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) in Gaza, on the day that one of the inquiries submitted its interim finding to the United Nations secretary general. Unrwa has come under heavy criticism since Israel accused 12 of its Gaza staff of 13,000 of being implicated in the 7 October Hamas attack on southern Israel. The agency denies the charge and says no solid evidence has been presented to support it.
Half the population of the Gaza Strip is at imminent risk of famine as food shortages approach catastrophic levels for more than a million people, the World Bank has warned. Almost six months after the war between Israel and Hamas began, the Washington-based Bank said urgent action was needed to prevent widespread deaths from starvation within the next two months.
A delegation of US and British doctors is in Washington DC to tell the Biden administration the Israeli military is systematically destroying Gaza’s health infrastructure in order to drive Palestinians out of their homes. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it has recorded over 400 attacks on healthcare infrastructure in Gaza between 7 October 2023 and 12 March 2024.
