Israel-Hamas war: Cameron says Israel may have broken international law

Israel may have broken international law in Gaza, Lord Cameron has said, as he called for a humanitarian pause covering the enclave.

The Foreign Secretary said he had seen things regarding the conflict that have been “deeply concerning” and called on Israel to restore water supply to Gaza.

“Am I worried that Israel has taken action that might be in breach of international law, because this particular premises has been bombed, or whatever? Yes, of course,” Lord Cameron said as he took questions from parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

However, the former Prime Minister declined to say whether he had seen any Foreign Office legal advice stating that Israel has breached international humanitarian law in Gaza.

He declined to be drawn on whether the deprivation of water to the civilian population breached international humanitarian law.

When asked whether a major dismantling of Hamas might be an opportunity for a pause in fighting in northern Gaza, he said that was a “very good point,” adding, “it is more helpful to have a human pause covering the whole of Gaza ... but frankly anything would help.”

04:02 PM GMT

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04:01 PM GMT

Israel 'assassinates' Hezbollah drone chief

Israel has reportedly assassinated Hezbollah’s head of drone operations in a second high-profile killing within 24 hours.

Ali Hussein Barji, commander of the group’s aerial forces in southern Lebanon, was killed in a strike on a car in the town of Khirbet Selm, The Times of Israel reported.

The attack was said to have taken place moments moments before the nearby funeral of senior Hezbollah commander Wissam al-Tawil, who was killed by an Israeli strike on Monday.

Hours before the latest attack, Hezbollah launched explosive drones at a military base in northern Israel in a revenge strike for Monday’s assassination.

Barji was believed to be responsible for Tuesday’s attack on the site in Safed, some eight miles from the Lebanese border.

Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the Washington DC-based Middle East Institute, said his reported assasination was “another notch up the escalation ladder.”

The Israel Defense Forces has not yet commented on the strike.

03:45 PM GMT

Two British nationals remain as hostages, says Cameron

Two UK nationals remain hostage amid the conflict in the Middle East, the foreign secretary has said.

Lord David Cameron confirmed the figure during his first appearance before MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee since returning to Cabinet.

“There are two British nationals who remain as hostages. I don’t want to make any further comment on them,” he said.

Asked if it is known whether the two people are still alive, the minister said: “I just don’t want to say any more. We don’t have any information to share with you.”

03:15 PM GMT

'Assasination' of Hezbollah drone chief 'another notch up the escalation ladder,' says analyst

Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the Washington DC-based Middle East Institute, said:

02:55 PM GMT

Lebanon ready for talks on long-term border stability, says PM

Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, told a senior United Nations official on Tuesday that his country was ready for talks on long-term stability on its southern border with Israel.

Mr Mikati’s office said in a statement that he met with Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, in Beirut to reiterate “Lebanon’s readiness to enter negotiations to achieve a long-term process of stability in southern Lebanon” along the border with Israel.

“We seek permanent stability and call for a lasting peaceful solution, but in return we receive warnings through international envoys about a war on Lebanon,” Mr Mikati said.

“The position I repeat to these delegates is: Do you support the idea of destruction? Is what is happening in Gaza acceptable?”

His statement did not specify the type of negotiations to which Lebanon would be open, including whether they would be direct or mediated.

02:22 PM GMT

Avoid 'further civilian harm' in Gaza, Blinken tells Netanyahu

Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, told Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that his forces must avoid inflicting further harm on civilians in Gaza, the State Department said.

Matthew Miller, State Department spokesman, said of the talks between Mr Blinken and Mr Netanyahu: “The secretary reaffirmed our support for Israel’s right to prevent the terrorist attacks of October 7 from being repeated and stressed the importance of avoiding further civilian harm and protecting civilian infrastructure in Gaza.”

01:48 PM GMT

Mother of French Gaza hostage demands ceasefire

The mother of a French hostage held in Gaza has called for a ceasefire.

Marie-Pascale Radoux, 62, a painter living in southwest France, urged Israel and Hamas to reach “a ceasefire, or at least a truce, to allow hostages to be freed”.

Ms Radoux has been waiting for three months for news of her son, Orion, still believed held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip after their October 7 attack in Israel.

“There has to be a ceasefire, for the hostages, the civilians, the children, the families, all the hundreds and hundreds of innocent people,” the 62-year-old added in an interview with AFP.

“That’s what we’re asking [Prime Minister] Netanyahu.”

01:28 PM GMT

Air France to resume flights to Israel later this month

Air France will resume flights to Israel from January 24, an airline spokesperson said on Tuesday, the latest foreign carrier to end its suspension during Israel’s war with Palestinian group Hamas.

Air France will operate three weekly flights from Paris to Tel Aviv using Airbus A350 aircraft, they said.

Foreign carriers halted flights to Israel at the outset of the war that began on October 7. Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian resumed flights to Israel this week.

01:00 PM GMT

Pictured: Palestinians line up for free food in Rafah

12:37 PM GMT

Rising hunger in Gaza ‘turning children into skeletons’

Read more from Lilia Sebouai and Maeve Cullinan here

12:01 PM GMT

Blinken in Israel amid US push to stop war spreading

Antony Blinken is in Tel Aviv for talks with Israeli leaders amid US efforts to prevent the war in Gaza from spreading.

The US Secretary of State arrived late on Monday after two days of talks with Arab leaders to discuss ending the war.

Mr Blinken said he would press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “on the absolute imperative to do more to protect civilians” and to ensure humanitarian aid was reaching those in need.

11:55 AM GMT

Gaza health system 'collapsing at rapid pace,' warns WHO

World Health Organisation officials voiced concern about the possible collapse of hospital provisions in southern and central Gaza, with hundreds of medical staff and patients having fled facilities for their lives.

Sean Casey, WHO emergency medical teams coordinator in Gaza, told a Geneva press briefing: “What we’re seeing is really worrying around Al-Aqsa Hospital and [an] intensification of hostilities very close to European Gaza Hospital and very close to Nasser [Hospital].”

He said that patients were risking their lives to get to hospitals in the southern city of Khan Younis on Tuesday because of the ongoing fighting.

“We cannot lose these health facilities. They absolutely must be protected. This is the last line of secondary and tertiary health care that Gaza has - from the north to the south it’s been dropping, hospital after hospital,” he said.

“We are seeing the health system collapse at a very rapid pace.”

11:24 AM GMT

Nine more soldiers killed in Gaza, says Israeli military

The Israeli military said nine more soldiers had been killed in Gaza, bringing its total war losses there to 185.

Most of the latest fatalities were from engineering units operating against Hamas tunnels in south and central Gaza, where Israel has shifted the focus of its fighting.

Earlier on Tuesday, the military said four soldiers had been killed. The updated figure of nine, all killed on Monday, followed notification of families.

10:53 AM GMT

Israeli forces claim to locate 'largest' Gaza munitions factory

10:33 AM GMT

Reformed Palestinian Authority must play big role in post-war Gaza, says Germany

The international community has an obligation to organise security in Gaza after the war and a reformed Palestinian Authority must play a crucial role in future, Germany’s foreign minister said during a visit to Egypt.

Annalena Baerbock told reporters: “Egypt and Germany have agreed that Gaza and the West Bank belong to Palestinians.”

Berlin has called for an easing of the suffering of Palestinian people in Gaza. Ms Baerbock said Palestinians should not be driven away.

“We need to have concrete measures today and now. We need to make sure aid is getting to people in Gaza,” she said at a news conference with her Egyptian counterpart.

10:04 AM GMT

Blinken and Herzog held 'tangible' conversation on post-war Gaza

Anthony Blinken and Isaac Herzog held a “tangible” discussion on the future of Gaza after the war, according to the Times of Israel.

An Israeli official told the newspaper that the pair focused on the US Secretary of State’s recent conversations with Arab leaders.

The official said the two had a “tangible” conversation about post-war Gaza.

09:40 AM GMT

Hezbollah says it launched drone attack on north Israel in response to top commander's killing

Hezbollah said it launched a drone attack against an Israeli military command centre as part of its response to the killing of senior Hezbollah figure Wissam Hassan Tawil on Monday and the deputy chief of Hamas last week.

The group said it launched “a number of explosive attack drones” at the military headquarters in Safed, the first time it has targeted the site.

The Israeli military acknowledged the drone attack and said there was no injuries as a result of the strike.

09:19 AM GMT

Pictured: A man prays during sunset in Ashkelon, Israel

08:59 AM GMT

Blinken sees chance of regional integration for Israel after Gaza crisis

Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, told Israel that he saw opportunities for it to build closer ties in the region after the Gaza crisis.

The US Secretary of State arrived in Israel late on Monday after two days of talks with Arab leaders on ending the war.

“I know of your own efforts, over many years, to build much greater connectivity and integration in the Middle East, and I think there are actually real opportunities there,” he said in a televised meeting with his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz.

“But we have to get through this very challenging moment and ensure that October 7 can never happen again and work to build a much different and much better future.”

08:43 AM GMT

Blinken to discuss 'way forward' in Gaza

Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, will discuss the “way forward” in Israel’s war in Gaza as he meets with Arab leaders, including Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday after touring Israel’s neighbours.

Speaking alongside Isaac Herzog,  Israeli president, ahead of their meeting on Tuesday morning, Mr Blinken said he would share what he had heard from regional countries during a day of meetings with Israel’s government.

“There’s lots to talk about, in particular about the way forward,” said Mr Blinken, who has visited Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, as well as Turkey and Greece, since Saturday.

08:32 AM GMT

Gaza genocide claim at ICJ 'atrocious and preposterous,' says Israeli president

Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, has said that “there is nothing more atrocious and preposterous” than the lawsuit filed in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in its Gaza offensive.

The case, brought by South Africa, is due to begin hearings on Thursday. Proceedings

will focus on the civilians amongst the 23,000 people that Gaza health authorities say have been killed in the three-month-long war between Israel and Hamas.

Speaking to visiting Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, Mr Herzog accused South Africa of hypocrisy for bringing the case and thanked Washington for its support of Israel, which says it makes utmost efforts to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.

“Actually our enemies, Hamas, in their charter, call for the destruction of our nation, the State of Israel - the only nation-state of the Jewish people,” Mr Herzog said.

“We will be there at the International Court of Justice and will present proudly our case of using self-defence under our most inherent right under international humanitarian law.”

08:30 AM GMT

Pictured: An Israeli soldier looks through a hole in the wall

08:29 AM GMT

Fighting 'will continue through 2024,' says IDF

Israeli officials have said the operation is entering a new phase of more targeted warfare, but there was no respite in the fighting on Monday.

Rear-Adml Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said a “different mix of forces” was pursuing holdout Hamas fighters in the north, as “intense operational activity” focused on central Gaza and around the southern city of Khan Younis.

“Handling tough battles in both the centre and south,” he said. “The fighting will continue through 2024.”

08:27 AM GMT

Joe Biden heckled during speech on Israel

Joe Biden defended his stance on Israel during a major campaign speech by the US president, which was disrupted by hecklers calling for a ceasefire on Monday.

Mr Biden, 81, said he had been “quietly” working with the Israeli government to reduce their military action and “get out of Gaza”.

His speech at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, had been billed by the president’s aides as his second major event to kick off his 2024 re-election bid.

Read more here

08:25 AM GMT

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