Israel-Hamas war: IDF denies deliberately driving over Palestinian's dead body

Israel’s military has denied allegations its troops deliberately ran over the dead body of a Palestinian fighter killed in a West Bank gun battle, saying the incident was “unintentional”.

Palestinian officials accused Israel of committing a “brutal crime” after CCTV footage showed a military vehicle running over a corpse in the city of Tulkarem late on Monday.

The footage, shared widely on social media, shows two men in dark clothing falling to the ground and accompanying audio carries the sounds of several shots.

An armoured vehicle then drives up to the two unmoving bodies and rolls over one, coming to rest with its rear wheel on top of the body.

Images apparently recorded later show one body having been moved to the side of the road, while another vehicle backs over the other body. It then manoeuvres over it twice more.

Other footage seemingly taken from the same CCTV camera shows an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters just moments before.

“The operational vehicle that is seen in the video was dispatched in order to extricate the force that was caught under heavy fire and unintentionally ran over the terrorist’s body,” the Israeli military said on Wednesday.

It added it would review what had happened and said the video “does not show the incident in its entirety”.

04:00 PM GMT

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03:58 PM GMT

Palestinian Red Crescent says Israeli strike on Gaza ambulance kills 4

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said an Israeli strike on an ambulance in the central Gaza Strip killed four medics.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident when contacted by AFP.

Salah al-Din Street is a highway running north-south through the Gaza Strip, which has in the past been used by thousands of Palestinians fleeing the Israeli military advance.

03:44 PM GMT

Pictured: Palestinians protest during a visit by Antony Blinken in Ramallah

03:38 PM GMT

Shapps pledges to stop Red Sea missiles after British warship attacked

Grant Shapps has pledged to stop missile attacks in the Red Sea after a Royal Navy warship was attacked by Houthi rebels.

The Defence Secretary said it was thought that HMS Diamond had been deliberately targeted by the Iranian-backed rebel group in its latest missile and drone barrage in the region, the largest of its kind to date.

“My understanding is that both the ship itself potentially was targeted ... but also that there’s a generalised attack on all shipping (in the region),” Mr Shapps told reporters.

HMS Diamond and US warships downed 21 drones and missiles fired by the Yemeni group during Wednesday’s attack, British and American officials said.

The Houthis have vowed to continue striking merchant vessels in the area until Israel halts the conflict in Gaza, and threatened to attack US warships if its own fighters were targeted.

Mr Shapps said there was no doubt whatsoever that Iran was guiding the Houthis on the attacks, dozens of which have been carried out in the region since mid-November.

“Enough is enough,” he said. “This cannot continue and we won’t allow it to continue so watch this space.”

03:30 PM GMT

Blinken and Abbas discussed efforts to minimise civilian harm in Gaza

03:08 PM GMT

WHO cancels sixth aid mission to Gaza over security concerns

The World Health Organisation cancelled another planned medical aid mission to Gaza on Wednesday over security concerns, the sixth such cancellation in two weeks.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said it was the sixth mission to northern Gaza cancelled by the UN agency because requests to visit had not been approved or assurances over security provided since its last visit, on 26 December.

“Intense bombardment, restrictions on movement, fuel shortage and interrupted communications make it impossible for WHO and our partners to reach those in need,” he told a virtual press conference from Geneva. “We call on Israel to approve requests by WHO and other partners to deliver humanitarian aid.”

02:31 PM GMT

Watch: IDF footage of 'room to room fighting in Gaza'

01:58 PM GMT

Doctors Without Borders condemns strike that killed five-year-old girl

Doctors Without Borders has condemned a strike on one of its shelters in Gaza, which led to the death of the five-year-old daughter of a staff member.

They said a shell broke through the wall of the building where more than 100 of Doctors Without Borders’, also known as Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), staff and their family members were seeking shelter in Khan Younis, near the south of the Gaza Strip.

The five-year-old girl was critically injured by the strike and underwent surgery at the Gaza European Hospital. However, she later died of her injuries on January 9. Three other people were slightly injured in the strike.

Thomas Lauvin, MSF project coordinator in Gaza, said: “We are outraged and deeply saddened by the death of yet another family member of our MSF staff.”

“This strike on civilians is unacceptable and, once again, goes to show that it doesn’t matter where you are in Gaza, nowhere is safe.”

“The shell did not detonate on impact, otherwise many more of our staff and their families would have most likely been killed,” Mr Lauvin added.

01:44 PM GMT

Better to 'burn Gaza down' than for Israeli troops to die, MP says

A far-Right Israeli MP said it was better for Gaza to “burn” than for Israeli troops to die, claiming there are “no innocents” in the besieged enclave.

Nissim Vaturi, of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, made the comments ahead of Israel’s hearing in the Hague, where it faces accusations of committing genocide in Gaza.

“It is better to burn down buildings rather than have soldiers harmed. There are no innocents there,” he told Hakol Baramah radio.

“Whoever stays there should be eliminated, period. I don’t even have a doubt.”

The deputy speaker of the Knesset’s remarks came after he called for the Israeli military to “Burn Gaza now” late last year. Mr Vaturi’s comments sparked widespread condemnation and led to him being temporarily banned from Facebook.

“I stand behind my words,” he told Hakol Baramah radio.

01:25 PM GMT

Blinken meets Palestinian president

Antony Blinken and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, discussed US efforts to address extremist violence in the West Bank and minimise civilian harm in Gaza in their meeting on Wednesday, the US State Department said.

The two officials also discussed “administrative reforms, which if implemented, would benefit the Palestinian people,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller

01:07 PM GMT

Shapps: British warship in Red Sea may have been targeted

The Royal Navy warship HMS Diamond was potentially targeted in an attack by Yemen-based Houthi militants in the Red Sea, Grant Shapps has said.

The Defence Secretary said: “My understanding is that both the ship itself potentially was targeted ... but also that there’s a generalised attack on all shipping [in the region].”

Mr Shapps previously said it was the “largest attack from the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date”.

12:43 PM GMT

Pictured: HMS Diamond in the Red Sea

12:26 PM GMT

UK and US warships stop largest Houthi attack in Red Sea

US and UK forces shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels toward international shipping lanes in the Red Sea, the US military said.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement: “Iranian-backed Houthis launched a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs... anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into the Southern Red Sea.”

The force said no injuries or damage were reported, adding that this was the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the region since November 19.

Grant Shapps, the British defence secretary, said it was the “largest attack from the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date”.

The incident came ahead of a scheduled vote at the United Nations Security Council on a resolution that would demand an immediate halt to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

The Houthis have vowed to continue attacks until Israel halts the conflict in Gaza, and warned that it would attack US warships if the group itself was targeted.

Various shipping lines have meanwhile suspended operations in the region, instead taking the longer journey around Africa.

11:57 AM GMT

US backs 'tangible steps' for Palestinian state, Blinken tells Abbas

Antony Blinken told Mahmud Abbas, Palestinian president, that Washington supports “tangible steps” towards the creation of a Palestinian state.

Mr Blinken reiterated Washington’s longstanding position that a Palestinian state must stand alongside Israel “with both living in peace and security”, Matthew Miller, US State Department spokesman, said in a statement.

The US Secretary of State mentioned “increased volatility” in the territory, where hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in raids by the Israeli military or attacks by Jewish settlers in recent months.

11:54 AM GMT

Protest march against Blinken in Ramallah

11:36 AM GMT

Red Sea security must be achieved without a new war, Italian minister says

Yemen’s Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping must be stopped without triggering a new war, the Italian defence minister said, as the Iranian-backed militia steps up attacks on commercial vessels.

US and British forces shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by the Houthis on Tuesday towards international Red Sea shipping lanes, the U.S. military’s Central Command said, adding it was the 26th such Houthi attack since November 19.

In a reference to current conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, Guido Crosetto told Reuters: “It is a huge problem, it is a consequence of other [war] outbreaks. I would not like to open a third front of war at this time.”

The Houthis have vowed to continue the attacks until Israel halts the conflict in Gaza and has said that it would strike US warships if the militia group itself was attacked in Yemen.

10:37 AM GMT

Blinken to make surprise visit to Bahrain

Antony Blinken will make a surprise visit to Bahrain, a State Department official said, in the latest leg of his crisis tour of the Middle East.

Mr Blinken will fly to Bahrain, home of the US Fifth Fleet, for talks with King Hamad on preventing a regional escalation of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

It comes after he met Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority president, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Wednesday, after pressing Israel’s leaders to offer a pathway to a Palestinian state.

10:13 AM GMT

UN: Colleagues require greater access to help people in need

09:23 AM GMT

Pictured: Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike

08:52 AM GMT

Lord Cameron: Israel may have broken international law

Lord Cameron has said he is “worried” Israel may have breached international law during the conflict in Gaza, as he called for an immediate pause in the fighting.

The foreign secretary said that “of course” he had concerns about the Middle East crisis in Gaza but added it was not his job to make a “legal adjudication”.

In his first lengthy period of scrutiny by MPs since returning to Cabinet, the former prime minister also told the Commons Foreign Affairs committee that two British nationals were still being held hostage by Hamas.

Asked if it was known if the two people were alive, he said: “I just don’t want to say any more. We don’t have any information to share with you.”

Read more here

08:39 AM GMT

Blinken to meet with head of the Palestinian Authority

Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, was set to hold talks on Wednesday with the head of the Palestinian Authority, which Washington hopes could govern Gaza after Israel’s war with Hamas ends.

The authority currently exercises limited rule in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.

“Israel must stop taking steps that undercut Palestinians’ ability to govern themselves effectively,” Mr Blinken said on Tuesday, emphasising the importance of progress towards a two-state solution.

“The Palestinian Authority also has a responsibility to reform itself, to improve its governance - issues I plan to raise with president Abbas,” he added.

However, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has shown no interest in reviving negotiations towards a Palestinian state and a post-war plan outlined by Yoav Gallant, the country’s defence minister, envisions local “civil committees” governing Gaza after Israel has dismantled Hamas.

Mr Blinken declined to say whether Mr Netanyahu’s views had shifted in their discussions.

08:34 AM GMT

Shapps: UK and US repel 'largest Houthi attack in Red Sea to date'

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