6m ago  (23:15 GMT)
- Hamas releases a video of captives demanding a prisoner swap and criticising the Israeli government for failing to protect people during Hamasâs October 7 attack. Israel calls it âpsychological propagandaâ.
- An Israeli soldier is âreleasedâ in a military operation in Gaza, a joint statement by the Israeli military and Shin Bet says.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects any calls for a ceasefire with Hamas and says it is part of an âaxis of evilâ with Iran.
- Palestinians in Gaza City report receiving threats from the Israeli army over the phone telling them to evacuate as bombing continues and there are no safe escape routes.
- At least 8,306 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in Israeli attacks since October 7. More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel.
Deaths, injuries reported in Israeli air strike in southern Gaza
At least three people were killed and several others were wounded after an Israeli air strike on a house west of the city of Rafah, according to the Palestinian news agency, Wafa.
Wafa also reported that a separate Israeli air strike targeted a residential building in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood southwest of Gaza City.
An Israeli aircraft was also reported to have struck homes in the vicinity of al-Quds Hospital, which is affiliated with the Red Crescent Society and located west of Gaza City.
There were no immediate reports on casualties on both strikes.
Homes will take years to rebuildâ: Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says âthe human suffering is shockingâ in Gaza amid Israelâs continued bombardment.
âHospitals are near collapse. Hospital corridors are full of wounded & displaced,â the agency said
Global public opinion stands with Gaza: Analyst
Speaking from Washington, DC, Palestinian political analyst Omar Baddar says people around the world are âwatching these massacres [in Gaza] in complete and total horrorâ.
âThey see that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is utter devastation, and not by accident as a result of the war, but by design,â Baddar told Al Jazeera.
âIsraeli politicians have been quite explicit about the fact that they have deliberately cut off water, food and electricity to the entire civilian population. This is a war crime,â he said.
âThey [the Israeli government] are intent on proceeding as if nothing is happening as long as they have the backing of the US. And unfortunately, that looks like it remains intact
How many more days will you wait to say enough?â Palestine UN envoy asks Security Council
The 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza are âenduring suffering that no human beings should endureâ, Riyad Mansour has said.
âThey are besieged and bombed with nowhere safe to go,â the Palestinian UN envoy said during the emergency meeting on the situation in Gaza.
âHow many more days will you wait to say, âenoughâ? Paralysed, not acting, not carrying out your duty to maintain international peace and security and to stop that war,â Mansour said to the council members, urging an immediate ceasefire.
Biden administration trying to send âunified messageâ, not supporting calls for ceasefire
Itâs quite clear that all across the administration, theyâre trying to send a unified message.
First, when it comes to the mounting civilian casualties â the spokespeople coming out and saying this is not Israelâs fault, theyâre doing all they can to avoid civilians. They blame Hamas, saying Hamas hides among civilian targets.
On aid, they donât talk about the absolute desperate situation that the millions of Palestinians find themselves in. Instead, they are choosing to promote their efforts. They say they were able to get the Israelis to lift the blackout on communications, that theyâve been able to get the Israelis to reopen one line of freshwater into Gaza.
They say theyâre working on trying to get up to 100 aid trucks into Gaza through Egypt a day, so theyâre trying to focus on that.
But on the question of [a] ceasefire, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby made clear just hours ago that there is absolutely no daylight between the US and Israel on this
Destroyed buildings in Gaza Cityâs western Tal al-Hawa district [Khoder al-Zaanoun / AFP
Palestinian rights groups urge ICC to issue arrest warrants
Three Palestinian rights group have called on International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan to issue arrest warrants âfor Israeli authorities and military personnelâ.
The call by al-Haq, al-Mezan, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights comes a day after Khan visited the Rafah border crossing and urged Israel to make âdiscernible effortsâ to ensure civilians access to food and medicine.
Shawan Jabarin, al-Haqâs general director, said Khanâs visit to Rafah contributes to maintaining what âlittle hope is left in the Palestinian people and signals a commitment on the Prosecutorâs part to take action, which we hope will be expeditiously undertaken without any further delays
What is the UAEâs position on Gaza at the UN Security Council?
The United Arab Emirates, which called for todayâs emergency UN Security Council meeting on Gaza, is working on another draft resolution pushing for a ceasefire in the besieged Palestinian territory.
The Gulf country is a top United States ally in the region and has been improving its ties with Israel over the past several years, including by bolstering communications and security ties. In 2020, the UAE signed a so-called ânormalisationâ deal with Israel, known as the Abraham Accords â and has worked to grow ever closer to Israel.
But amid the war in Gaza, the UAE has been taking an increasingly critical line at the UN, as Arab public opinion hardens against Israel in light of the civilian suffering in Gaza.
âIt is interesting that the UAE is taking this position, but the UAE is not just acting as the UAE,â Al Jazeeraâs diplomatic editor, James Bays, explained.
âThe UAE is the current Arab member of the Security Council, so they are the one acting on behalf of the Arab countries in this regard.â
Last week, Abu Dhabi voted in favour of a Russia-led Security Council resolution urging a ceasefire in Gaza while voting against a competing, US-led resolution that had called for a humanitarian pause in the fighting
Putin says US is source of chaos in the Middle East
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to cast the United States as the root cause of the Middle Eastâs problems, saying that Washington was responsible for the âdeadly chaosâ in the Middle East.
âWho is organising the deadly chaos and who benefits from it today, in my opinion, has already become obvious ⌠It is the current ruling elites of the US and their satellites who are the main beneficiaries of world instability,â said Putin, whose own Russian forces have been involved in bombing Syrian opposition forces for years.
He added that the death of innocent people could not be justified, and that the key to resolving the conflict was the creation of a Palestinian state.
Putin also blamed Ukraine and Western nations for the storming of an airport in the Russian republic of Dagestan on Sunday by protesters, after a flight from Israel was scheduled to land.
WHO unable to resupply Shifa and al-Quds hospitals, says official
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has not been able to resupply two hospitals in northern Gaza, Shifa and al-Quds, because the UN deemed the level of risk unacceptable.
âItâs a disaster on top of a disaster. Health needs are soaring and our ability to meet those needs is rapidly declining,â said Rick Brennan, WHOâs regional emergencies director, adding a ceasefire was needed to enable a larger humanitarian operation.
A third of Gazaâs hospitals and 71 percent of clinics are nonfunctioning, he said.
WHO is continuing to resupply hospitals and clinics in southern Gaza, but relief delivered so far overall in the Strip is a âdrop in the oceanâ, Brennan added
