Brussels was starting work on expanding sanctions against Iran after Tehran's attack on Israel, said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Tuesday. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also warned of further sanctions targeting Iran following its unprecedented attack on Israel over the weekend, saying she expects Washington will take added action "in the coming days". Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
This blog is no longer being updated. For more coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, please click here.
Summary:
- Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday said he was urging countries to place sanctions on Iran's missile programme and proscribe its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation. Israel's armed forces chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi had on Monday vowed a military response to Iran's weekend attack.
- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has warned Israel it will face a "painful response" if it takes the "slightest action" in response to Tehran's weekend attack on Israel. Iran says its first-ever direct attack on Israel was a response to the strike on its consulate in Damascus, Syria, which killed seven Revolutionary Guards including two generals.
- US House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing towards action this week on aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, unveiling an elaborate plan to break a package into separate votes to squeeze through the House's political divides on foreign policy.
- At least 33,843 Palestinians have been killed and an estimated 76,575 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks that sparked the war and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
Yesterday's key developments:
- Israeli settlers killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Monday, Palestinian officials said.
- Pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge on Monday, with aerial footage showing the entire span packed with traffic in one direction while lanes in the other direction were empty. The protest appeared to be part of a coordinated day of direct action taking place in various cities around the world calling for a ceasefire in Israel's war in Gaza.
- French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said France would do all it can to avoid a further escalation in the conflict in the Middle East.
- The Israeli army confirmed Monday that four Israeli soldiers were wounded in an explosion hundreds of metres inside Lebanese territory after earlier saying the soldiers had been injured in an explosion from an unknown source during activity along the northern border.
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.
The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.
In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN's counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.
For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)
