At least eight reported dead as Israeli tanks enter Deir Al-Balah
Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern areas of the Gazan city of Deir Al-Balah for the first time on Monday, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes some of the remaining hostages may be being held by Hamas, Reuters reports.
Gaza medics said at least three Palestinians were killed and several were wounded in tank shelling that hit eight houses and three mosques in the area, and which came a day after the military ordered residents to leave, saying it planned to fight Hamas militants.
The raid and bombardment pushed dozens of families who had remained to flee and head west towards the coastal area of Deir Al-Balah and nearby Khan Younis.
In Khan Younis, earlier on Monday, an Israeli airstrike killed at least five people, including a man, his wife, and their two children, in a tent, medics said.
There was no immediate Israeli comment on the Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis incidents.
Israel’s military said it had not entered the districts of Deir Al-Balah subject to the evacuation order during the current conflict and that it was continuing “to operate with great force to destroy the enemy’s capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area.”
Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out is that they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there.
At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to be still alive.
Families of the hostages expressed their concern for their relatives and demanded an explanation from the army of how it would protect them.
Key events
Between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area of Deir el-Balah when the Israeli military on Sunday ordered people to leave immediately as it was expanding operations, according to initial estimates from the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA, Agence France-Presse reports.
On Monday, Deir el-Balah resident Abdullah Abu Saleem, 48, told AFP that “during the night, we heard huge and powerful explosions shaking the area as if it were an earthquake”.
He said this was “due to artillery shelling in the south-central part of Deir el-Balah and the southeastern area”.
He added:
We are extremely worried and fearful that the army is planning a ground operation in Deir el-Balah and the central camps where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering,” he added.
The spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defence agency, Mahmud Bassal, told AFP that “we received calls from several families trapped in the Al-Baraka area of Deir el-Balah due to shelling by Israeli tanks”.
“There are a number of wounded, but no one can reach the area to evacuate them,” he added.
The Israeli military did not provide immediate comment when contacted by AFP.
Syria ceasefire remains in place, monitor says
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said on Monday that the ceasefire in the southern province of Sweida was holding, despite isolated gunfire in areas north of Sweida city with no reports of casualties, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
The agreement announced on Saturday put an end to the sectarian violence that has left more than 1,100 dead, most of them Druze fighters and civilians, according to the monitor.
The Associated Press (AP) previously reported that the monitor and activist groups heard what was claimed to be Israeli airstrikes and helicopters over villages late on Sunday where some skirmishes took place between the Bedouins and Druze militias.
The Israeli military said it was “not aware” of any overnight strikes in Syria.
An AFP correspondent outside the devastated provincial capital saw a convoy of buses and other vehicles enter Sweida and then exit again carrying civilians, including women and children.
They were headed for reception centres in neighbouring Daraa province and to the capital Damascus, in coordination with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.
State news agency SANA said 1,500 people from Bedouin tribes were to be evacuated.
A photo from Reuters shows the moment before a missile lands on a residential building in Gaza:
Geneva Abdul
Geneva Abdul is a reporter and feature writer for the Guardian who focuses on foreign policy and diplomatic affairs.
A senior Labour MP has said it is time for the UK to recognise a Palestinian state as some western countries are due to press ahead with their own recognition plans at an international conference this month.
Emily Thornberry, who heads the influential House of Commons foreign affairs select committee, said that without a ceasefire and a long-term political solution Israel’s war on Gaza – which has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians since 7 October 2023 – will continue.
“The only way through this is for there to be an Israeli state that is safe and secure, alongside a Palestinian state that is recognised,” Thornberry told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday.
The UK Foreign Office is under pressure to recognise a Palestinian state from Thornberry as well as nearly 60 other Labour MPs.
The calls from Labour backbenchers come after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, told British parliamentarians in a visit this month that a two-state solution was “the only way” to build peace and stability in the region.
Later this month, France and Saudi Arabia are co-chairing an international conference at the UN in New York where it plans to announce that it recognises Palestine. Recognition alone would not solve the conflict, Thornberry said, but it could give the issue political momentum.
You can read more of Geneva Abdul’s piece here: Senior Labour MP urges UK to recognise Palestinian state ahead of UN conference
At least 13 reported dead in Gaza since last night
Gaza health officials said on Monday at least 13 people, including two women and five children, were killed in Israeli strikes since the previous night, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
At least two people were killed on Monday morning when crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks were shot at in the area of Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, according to Dr Mohamed Abu Selmiyah, director of Shifa hospital in Gaza City where the dead were taken. He said Israeli forces had opened fire.
An Israeli strike overnight hit a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis, killing at least five people, according to the area’s health ministry. The dead include two parents, two of their children and a relative, it said.
Strikes also hit a residential building in Gaza City, according to health officials.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes. It blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the group operates from populated areas.
Barrack added that when it comes to the conflict between Lebanon and Israel, the US cannot compel Israel to do anything, Reuters reports.
He said in a press conference in Beirut:
The U.S. has no business in trying to compel Israel to do anything… America could only influence,” he said in a press conference in Beirut.
We are not going to have more boots on the ground in an adversarial nature anywhere.
A US envoy doubled down on Washington’s support for the new government in Syria, saying on Monday there is “no Plan B” to working with the current authorities to unite the country still reeling from a nearly 14-year civil war and now wrecked by a new outbreak of sectarian violence, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
Tom Barrack, who is ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria and also has a short-term mandate in Lebanon, took a critical tone toward Israel’s recent intervention in Syria, calling it poorly timed and saying that it complicated efforts to stabilise the region.
Over the weekend, Barrack announced a ceasefire between Syria and Israel, without giving details.
Syrian government forces have redeployed in Sweida to halt renewed clashes between the Druze and Bedouins, as evacuations of civilians began on Monday.
At least eight reported dead as Israeli tanks enter Deir Al-Balah
Israeli tanks pushed into southern and eastern areas of the Gazan city of Deir Al-Balah for the first time on Monday, an area where Israeli sources said the military believes some of the remaining hostages may be being held by Hamas, Reuters reports.
Gaza medics said at least three Palestinians were killed and several were wounded in tank shelling that hit eight houses and three mosques in the area, and which came a day after the military ordered residents to leave, saying it planned to fight Hamas militants.
The raid and bombardment pushed dozens of families who had remained to flee and head west towards the coastal area of Deir Al-Balah and nearby Khan Younis.
In Khan Younis, earlier on Monday, an Israeli airstrike killed at least five people, including a man, his wife, and their two children, in a tent, medics said.
There was no immediate Israeli comment on the Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis incidents.
Israel’s military said it had not entered the districts of Deir Al-Balah subject to the evacuation order during the current conflict and that it was continuing “to operate with great force to destroy the enemy’s capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area.”
Israeli sources have said the reason the army has so far stayed out is that they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there.
At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to be still alive.
Families of the hostages expressed their concern for their relatives and demanded an explanation from the army of how it would protect them.
Tehran on Monday accused the UK, France and Germany of failing to respect the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, after they threatened to reimpose sanctions over its atomic programme, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
The 2015 deal, reached between Iran and the UN security council’s permanent members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the US – plus Germany imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.
But it unravelled when the US in 2018, during Donald Trump’s first term as president, unilaterally withdrew from the accord and reimposed sweeping sanctions.
The Europeans had pledged continued support for the deal, but the mechanism intended to offset US sanctions never materialised effectively and many western firms were forced to exit Iran, which has since faced a deepening economic crisis.
“The European parties have been at fault and negligent in implementing” the nuclear agreement, said Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baqaei.
The International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran is the only non-nuclear-armed country currently enriching uranium to 60% – far beyond the 3.67% cap set by the 2015 accord.
That is a short step from the 90% required for a nuclear weapon.
A trilateral meeting between Iran, Russia and China will take place on Tuesday regarding Tehran’s nuclear programme and the United Nations snapback mechanism, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, Reuters reports.
The UN snapback mechanism refers to efforts to reimpose international sanctions on Iran.
