Closing summary
Iran has urged the US to end its support for Israel’s continuing strikes on Yemen, claiming Israel is trying to use its conflict with the Houthi-led government to drive a wedge between Iran and the US in the negotiations over the future of Tehran’s civil nuclear programme. The strikes have been criticised by the UN-recognised Yemen government based in Aden, which said it had not been consulted and airstrikes alone were not an integrated plan to remove the Houthis from power. Yemen has been divided between the Houthis and the official government since the Houthis captured the capital, Sana’a, in 2015.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she told Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar in a telephone conversation that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is untenable. “Humanitarian aid must resume immediately and should never be politicised. The new aid delivery mechanism should run through humanitarian actors,” she added in a statement on X.
Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the Gaza Strip should be “entirely destroyed” and its inhabitants “leave in great numbers to third countries” after the war, in what would effectively amount to ethnic cleansing.
Smotrich’s comments came after Israel’s security cabinet approved plans for an expanded offensive which could see the forced displacement of most Palestinian people in Gaza and occupation of the territory on an indefinite basis.
In response, Hamas said there was no sense in truce talks (for a temporary ceasefire agreement) with Israel and urged the international community to halt Israel’s “hunger war” against Gaza, a reference to the total blockade on aid deliveries to Gaza.
However, a senior Hamas official said the Palestinian militant group would be open to a five to seven year truce with Israel if certain strict conditions were met.
Israel is reportedly planning to take control of the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza, using private American security contractors, as a condition for lifting its two-month aid blockade into the territory.
The UN has condemned the Israeli proposal to fundamentally alter the aid system in Gaza, which the UN’s humanitarian office said is “designed to further control and restrict supplies” flowing into the Strip.
The Israeli military said it fired on Yemen’s main airport on Tuesday, a day after Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on Hodeidah port in Yemen in response to a Houthi missile landing near Israel’s main air hub on Sunday.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she told Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar in a telephone conversation that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is untenable.
“Humanitarian aid must resume immediately and should never be politicised. The new aid delivery mechanism should run through humanitarian actors,” she added in a statement on X.
Iran has urged the US to end its support for Israel’s continuing strikes on Yemen, claiming Israel is trying to use its conflict with the Houthi-led government to drive a wedge between Iran and the US in the negotiations over the future of Tehran’s civil nuclear programme.
The strikes have been criticised by the UN-recognised Yemen government based in Aden , which said it had not been consulted and airstrikes alone were not an integrated plan to remove the Houthis from power. Yemen has been divided between the Houthis and the official government since the Houthis captured the capital, Sana’a, in 2015.
Israel claimed 20 of its warplanes on Monday had completely destroyed the Houthi-held port of Hodeidah, as well as a nearby cement factory. The Houthis said four people had been killed. On Tuesday, Israel struck Sana’a international airport, warning civilians to leave the area.
In launching the attacks, probably more extensive than those mounted by the US, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been highlighting Iran’s role in arming the Houthis. The Shia group mounted an attack on Ben Gurion airport on Saturday that the Houthis said was an act of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel was shocked that its air defences were penetrated by a single Houthi missile, but Iran believes Israel is escalating the crisis in an attempt to disrupt the negotiations between the US and Iran over its nuclear programme. The talks are due to resume on Sunday.
The Houthis have responded to the Israeli military attacking Yemen’s main airport in the capital Sana’a.
Israel’s military said earlier that its warplanes struck the capital, “fully disabling the airport”, after three civilian planes, the departures hall, the runway and a military air base were reportedly targeted in the strikes (see post at 15.04 for more details). There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Israeli “aggression will not pass without a response, and Yemen will not be discouraged from its stance in support of Gaza”, the Houthi political bureau said in a statement.
Summary of the day so far...
Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the Gaza Strip should be “entirely destroyed” and its inhabitants “leave in great numbers to third countries” after the war, in what would effectively amount to ethnic cleansing.
Smotrich’s comments came after Israel’s security cabinet approved plans for an expanded offensive which could see the forced displacement of most Palestinian people in Gaza and occupation of the territory on an indefinite basis.
In response, Hamas said there was no sense in truce talks (for a temporary ceasefire agreement) with Israel and urged the international community to halt Israel’s “hunger war” against Gaza, a reference to the total blockade on aid deliveries to Gaza.
However, a senior Hamas official said the Palestinian militant group would be open to a five to seven year truce with Israel if certain strict conditions were met.
Israel is reportedly planning to take control of the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza, using private American security contractors, as a condition for lifting its two-month aid blockade into the territory.
The UN has condemned the Israeli proposal to fundamentally alter the aid system in Gaza, which the UN’s humanitarian office said is “designed to further control and restrict supplies” flowing into the Strip.
The Israeli military said it fired on Yemen’s main airport on Tuesday, a day after Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on Hodeidah port in Yemen in response to a Houthi missile landing near Israel’s main air hub on Sunday.
Israeli military says it struck Yemen's main airport in Sana'a
The Israeli military has said it has struck Houthi targets in Yemen, including the airport in the capital Sana’a, along with several major power stations.
Israel had earlier warned people to leave the area around Sana’a international airport, one day after Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on Hodeidah port in Yemen in response to a Houthi missile landing near Israel’s main air hub on Sunday.
Sources told Reuters that Tuesday’s airstrikes targeted three civilian airplanes, the departures hall, the airport runway and a military air base under Houthi control. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The IDF wrote in a post on X:
The airport served as a central hub for the Houthi terrorist regime to transfer weapons and operatives, clearly underscoring the Houthi terrorist regime’s brutal exploitation of civilian infrastructure.
Furthermore, several central power plants were struck in, and surrounding, the Sana’a area. These plants were exploited by the Houthi regime for energy infrastructure and for the construction of underground tunnels.
Updated
Bezalel Smotrich is one of the far-right leaders on whom Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fragile coalition depends.
The finance minister is among those in Israel who considers the West Bank the biblical heartland of the Jewish people.
He called the annexation of the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, “one of the most important challenges” for the Israeli leadership.
Excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to three million Palestinian people, and around 490,000 Israelis living in settlements that are illegal under international law.
Smotrich told Channel 12 during a conference organised by the right-wing Besheva newspaper yesterday that Israelis should start to embrace the word “occupation”.
It came after the Israeli security cabinet approved an expansion of its war on Gaza, which an Israeli official said would entail “the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories” (see post at 08.50 for more details).
Far right Israeli minister says 'Gaza will be entirely destroyed'
The far-right Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has been speaking at a conference in the occupied West Bank settlement of Ofra.
“Gaza will be entirely destroyed, civilians will be sent to... the south to a humanitarian zone without Hamas or terrorism, and from there they will start to leave in great numbers to third countries,” he said.
Smotrich, who has recently said that Israel will not withdraw from Gaza even if there is another hostage deal, expressed his hope that the territory would be formally annexed during the current government’s term, which could last until late next year.
Annexation and the acquisition of territory by military conquest is forbidden as one of the founding principles of international law including the UN charter.
Updated
Israel’s plan to expand its Gaza offensive, displace people within the territory and take control of aid distribution has horrified Palestinians in Gaza who have already suffered multiple displacements and food shortages during 19 months of conflict.
Israel has been blocking all aid from entering Gaza since 2 March, when a two-month ceasefire with Hamas that had improved access to food and medicine in Gaza and allowed many Palestinians to go home, fell apart.
Reuters reported:
For Aya, a 30-year-old Gaza City resident who returned home with her family during the ceasefire after months in the southern part of the strip, Israel’s announcement on Monday raised fears of being killed or indefinitely displaced.
“Are we going to die this time?” she said in a message on a chat app.
“Are they going to displace us again? Are we going to end up in Rafah, and will this be the last time, or are they going to force us out of Gaza after Rafah?” she said, referring to the Rafah area in southern Gaza, next to Egypt’s border.
Attending a funeral on Monday for several people killed in an Israeli air strike on a building in Gaza City, Mohammed al-Seikaly said things were so dire it was hard to comprehend Israel’s plans to intensify its assault.
“There is nothing left in the Gaza Strip that has not been struck by missiles and explosive barrels, and there are still threats to expand the operation,” he said.
“I’m asking in front of the whole world, what’s left to bomb?”
Updated
Israel’s military on Tuesday warned people to leave the area around the main airport in Yemen’s capital Sana’a, a day after it struck the port of Hodeidah in response to a Houthi missile that landed near Israel’s main air hub.
Tensions have escalated between Israel and Yemen’s Houthis as the Iran-aligned group continues to launch attacks in response to Israel expanding operations in Gaza.
“Not evacuating puts you in danger,” the military said. It published a map of the area surrounding Sana’a International Airport.
Israel carried out strikes in the vicinity of Yemen’s port of Hodeidah on Monday which killed four people and injured 39, according to the South-run health ministry.
'Palestinians in Gaza are desperate for food and water but are getting bombs instead' - UN
We have some more quotes from Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA), who has been speaking to reporters in Geneva.
“The bottom line is that there’s no aid to distribute anymore because the aid operation has been strangled... There’s no more to give,” he said after news broke that the Israeli cabinet had approved a plan to deliver aid through private companies.
In Gaza “there’s a desperate need for food getting in; they’re getting bombs”, he said. “They need water, they’re getting bombs. They need health care, they’re getting bombs.”
Israel needs to allow border crossings to reopen and for life-saving aid to go through to alleviate the suffering, Laerke said. “We have aid pre-positioned outside of Gaza, ready to go in,” he added.
UN condemns Israeli plan to shut down current aid system in Gaza
Israel is planning to take control of the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza, using private American security contractors, as a condition for lifting its two-month aid blockade into the territory, according to reports and officials.
The UN’s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) has responded to the plans, condemning the Israeli proposal to fundamentally alter the current aid system in Gaza.
“We do not accept a proposal and a plan that does not live up to the core fundamental humanitarian principles of impartiality, neutrality, and independent delivery of aid,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said in Geneva.
Israel’s plan is “designed to further control and restrict supplies, which is the opposite of what is needed,” Laerke said.
Humanitarian officials say the territory is on the brink of catastrophe as food and fuel runs out due to a total Israeli blockade imposed on 2 March, which has also cut off critical vaccines and medical supplies.
Updated
Humanitarian aid restrictions may violate American law, US Democrats say
A group of mainly Democratic US senators wants Congress’ watchdog agency to investigate whether controls on humanitarian aid deliveries by Israel and other foreign governments violate American law, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
Here is some of the Reuters report:
The six senators - Chris Van Hollen, Dick Durbin, Jeff Merkley, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Peter Welch - wrote to comptroller general Gene Dodaro asking him to launch an investigation by the nonpartisan government accountability office of the US government’s implementation of laws regarding the delivery of humanitarian assistance…
“In Ethiopia, Sudan, Ukraine, Burma, Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Gaza, vital humanitarian assistance such as food, medical equipment, water purification systems, and other lifesaving goods have been blocked or restricted, directly and indirectly, by state and non-state actors,” they said in a letter, dated Monday and seen by Reuters, referring to Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act and the Leahy Laws.
The Leahy Laws prohibit the supply of US assistance to any foreign security force unit implicated in gross violations of human rights, including torture and extrajudicial killing. Section 620I bars assistance for countries that impede delivery of humanitarian aid.
Much recent concern has focused on Gaza. The United Nations and Palestinian representatives at the international court of justice have accused Israel of breaking international law by refusing to let aid into Gaza, after Israel began on 2 March to cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of the Palestinian territory.
Israel has defended its blockade against aid entering Gaza, alleging that Hamas steals supplies intended for the civilian population and distributes them to its own forces, an allegation that Hamas denies.
Key event
As my colleague Jason Burke notes in this story, France’s foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot has called Israel’s plan for an expanded offensive in Gaza “unacceptable”, and said its government was “in violation of humanitarian law”.
Barrot was also quoted in an interview with France’s RTL Radio as saying that Paris was “working towards the recognition of a Palestinian state” (for context: Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognised a Palestinian state last year, provoking outrage in the Israeli government).
He said:
France’s voice is heard when it speaks on these issues. We want other countries to act alongside France, for commitments to be made and for France to help create the conditions for the very existence of the Palestinian state – which is far from guaranteed…
The urgent priority is a ceasefire and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid… The risk of famine is real. Humanitarian access must be opened immediately.
Updated
Houthi rebels say four people killed in latest Israeli airstrikes on Yemen
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have said four people were killed and 39 others injured in Israeli air raids that followed a missile strike by the group on Israel’s main airport.
“Three citizens were killed and 35 others wounded” at a cement factory in Bajil, while one person died and four were injured at Hodeida port, the Houthis’ al-Masirah TV station said, quoting the health ministry.
On Sunday, the Houthis launched a missile from Yemen that struck an access road near Israel’s main airport, briefly halting flights and commuter traffic. Four people were lightly injured. It was the first time a missile had struck the grounds of Israel’s airport since the start of the war.
The Houthis have targeted Israel throughout Israel’s war on Gaza in solidarity with Palestinians. The Trump administration has launched an intensified campaign of daily airstrikes targeting the Houthis since 15 March 2025 but many civilians are reported to have been killed in the attacks.
Updated
Hamas is open to a long-term truce with Israel, lasting five to seven years, official says
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan has given an interview to Drop Site News. Here are the main takeaways from what he said:
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, will reject any temporary ceasefire deal that does not feature a plan for the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and the end to Israel’s continuing assault on the territory.
“What the Israelis are offering is: We will give you a ceasefire for a short while and then we will come back to kill you again. So what’s the idea of giving you food for 12, 40 days, two weeks or three weeks, and then coming back to kill you? It means that you endorse the genocide and you accept that for your own people,” Hamdan said.
Hamas would be open to a five to seven year truce with Israel, known as a hudna in Arabic, if certain conditions were met. “The main goal for this long term hudna is that each side has to believe that he will not be attacked by the other side, which can at least generate a kind of security. And it’s a chance to build trust that there may be a chance for a kind of stability and security,” he said.
Hamas, which has been the sole ruler in the Gaza Strip since 2007, would be willing to hand power over to an independent body of Palestinians or a technocratic committee after the war. “There was a suggestion from the Egyptian side to have a committee of leaders, independent leaders, from Gaza, to take control in Gaza for a while and then we can go to general elections. We’ve said yes, because if they were nationalist and they are working for Gaza’s benefit and the people’s, why not have them?,” Hamdan said.
Palestinians have a legal right to armed resistance. “You can’t talk about de-weaponizing the nation who is under occupation, while they are occupied by the most powerful army in the region,” Hamdan said.
Updated
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, said Beijing is “highly concerned about the current Palestine-Israel situation”.
“We oppose Israel’s ongoing military actions in Gaza, and hopes all parties continuously and effectively implement the ceasefire agreement,” Jian said.
China, which has long called for a two-state solution and has cast itself as a mediator in the war, has previously said Israel’s deadly military conduct in Gaza has gone “beyond self-defence”.
The Guardian’s international security correspondent, Jason Burke, has written some analysis on why details around the Israeli war expansion plan have been released now. Here is an extract from his piece:
The government of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, hopes that the Israel Defense Forces’ call-up of tens of thousands of reservists, the threat of the new offensive and the prospect of Israel seizing swaths of territory will force Hamas’s leaders to make concessions.
If it fails to do so, then physical possession of terrain will offer useful leverage in future negotiations and allow Hamas to be squeezed further in the meantime…
Trump is due to visit the Middle East in 10 days, and Israeli officials said the offensive would start after the leader of their country’s most important ally had enjoyed the hospitality of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar.
Images of destruction and death from Gaza would make the president’s stay that much more diplomatically delicate. In reality, the complex logistics necessary to move and mobilise additional troops in Israel is likely to mean an even longer delay.
Updated
What is in Israel’s Gaza occupation plan?
We mentioned in an earlier post that Israel has approved plans to seize the Gaza Strip and to stay in the territory for an unspecified amount of time.
Let’s look at what was agreed in Sunday’s vote by Israeli cabinet ministers in a bit more detail.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his security cabinet had decided on a “forceful operation” to destroy Hamas and rescue its remaining hostages, with Palestinians in Gaza moved “for their own safety” in the process.
So the new plan calls for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to move to Gaza’s south, in what would effectively amount to their forcible displacement.
Netanyahu, accused of prolonging the war for his own political survival, did not say how much territory would be seized by soldiers, but said Israeli troops would not go into Gaza, launch raids and then retreat quickly. “The intention is the opposite of that,” he said, suggesting a sustained presence in the territory.
The plans approval came hours after the Israeli military chief said the army was calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers. It could be a tactic to gain leverage in the faltering ceasefire negotiations with Hamas.
The cabinet also agreed to a proposal to deliver aid through private companies, which would end Israel’s devastating two-month aid blockade which rights groups have condemned as a “starvation tactic” and a potential war crime.
Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday that “we are finally going to conquer the Gaza Strip”, confirming Palestinian’s fears that Israel annexing the territory is a possibility.
Updated
At least one person has been killed by an Israeli drone attack on the town of al-Fukhari, east of Khan Younis, according to Al Jazeera.
At least three other people were reportedly killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza launched early this morning.
Updated
In this picture of Gaza taken this morning smoke can be seen rising after an Israeli airstrike.
Israel’s military has said it is today carrying out exercises at the Tel Hashomer base in central Israel, and in the area of the northern city of Nahariya, which will lead to road closures and the sound of explosions being heard.
Israeli forces are reported to have arrested one man and assaulted three others during a raid near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.
France’s foreign ministry has said it strongly condemns the announcement by Israel of a new plan to control territory in the Gaza Strip and forcibly relocate the Palestinians there.
The plan, which was unanimously approved at an Israeli security cabinet meeting late on Sunday, goes beyond any aims so far outlined by Israel for its offensive in the devastated Palestinian territory.
Senior official: Hamas says there are no sense in truce talks after Israel's new Gaza plan
A senior Hamas official told AFP on Tuesday the group was no longer interested in truce talks with Israel after Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday announced a new “intensified” offensive in Gaza that will involve Israeli troops holding on to seized territory and significant displacement of the population.
“There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip,” Basem Naim told the news agency, urging the international community “to pressure the Netanyahu government to end the crimes of hunger, thirst, and killings” in Gaza.
His comments come a day after Israel’s military said expanded operations in Gaza would include displacing “most” of its residents, and amid Israeli strikes on Yemen and Lebanon.
After a fragile ceasefire in Gaza collapsed in mid-March, Israel renewed its bombardment of the territory, and more than 70% of Gaza is under Israeli control or covered by orders issued by Israel telling Palestinian civilians to evacuate specific neighbourhoods.
Hamas is still believed to be holding dozens of Israeli hostages who were seized and abducted from southern Israel during the Hamas surprise attack on 7 October 2023. Many of the hostages are thought to be dead.
Updated
Welcome and opening summary …
Welcome to the Guardian’s rolling coverage of the conflict in the Middle East. Here are the headlines …
A senior Hamas official told AFP on Tuesday the group was no longer interested in truce talks with Israel after Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday announced a new “intensified” offensive in Gaza that will involve Israeli troops holding on to seized territory and significant displacement of the population
Israel’s security cabinet approved the plan on Sunday night for “conquering” the Gaza Strip and establishing a “sustained presence” there. The plan, which was unanimously approved, goes beyond any aims so far outlined by Israel for its offensive in the devastated Palestinian territory
Israel’s military has carried out a fresh round of airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen’s Red Sea city of Hodeida, a day after the Iranian-backed rebels launched a missile that hit Israel’s main airport
Israel has also carried out airstrikes on Lebanon, where it claimed to have identified Hezbollah rebuilding a weapons manufacturing facility
Warning sirens that sounded earlier today in Netiv HaAsara, a moshav in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip, have been determined to have been a false alarm
