Gaza live: Palestinian death toll passes 37,000 after brutal Israeli attack on Nuseirat

Speaking from a news conference in Beirut, Hamas official Osama Hamdan responded to the three-stage ceasefire plan put forward by US President Biden.

Hamadan questioned Israel's offer for a ceasfire which had not outlined a clear position on several key points important to Hamas, namely a “permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal from Gaza”.

Hamdan said statements by officials indicate Israel aims to secure the release of their captives during a temporary truce – outlined in stage one of the plan – before continuing the war.

“We cannot agree to an agreement that does not secure a final ceasefire,” said Hamdan.

Israel’s defence ministry has inked a deal with the United States to buy a third F-35 fighter jet squadron, in a $3bn deal that will bring the number of such aircraft in its air force to 75.

Israel is the first country outside the United States to acquire the F-35 and remains the only nation in the Middle East to have the advanced weapon in its arsenal.

The deal will be financed by US military aid to Israel, the ministry said. 

The Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz says hostilities on the northern border with Hezbollah will be dealt with by September “whether by [diplomatic] arrangement or [military] escalation”.

“I’ve been engaged for months in a struggle, with the prime minister and with everyone, so that by September 1, we’ll be done here and will be able to deal with something new. It will pass either by arrangement or escalation, but we can’t lose another year,” Gantz said on Tuesday. 

Gantz appeared to endorse reaching a ceasefire deal in Gaza and wants the military to shift attention to the north.

Israel’s far-right police and security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, called for war with the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

“All Hezbollah strongholds must be burned down and destroyed. War!” Ben-Gvir demanded in a video published on X.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has called on Israel, saying that it must abide by the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ’s) order to halt the offensive on Rafah.

The ICJ, based in The Hague, delivered its ruling on 24 May, but Israel has since only escalated its attacks on Gaza’s southernmost city and is operating in the heart of Rafah. 

During his call with Netanyahu, Rutte said he supported the need for an “immediate ceasefire in Gaza” and expressed support for the three-stage ceasefire plan outlined by Biden.

France's President Emmanuel Macron spoke on Tuesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and expressed his support for the Israeli proposal for a ceasefire presented by the US President Joe Biden, according to a statement by the Elysee Palace.

The French president added that the agreement should form the basis for reaching a two-state solution, which he said is "the only way in which Israel will be able to regain its security, and in which the Palestinians will receive a response to their legitimate aspirations".

The Israeli army has said its ground forces are operating in the Deir el-Balah area of central Gaza.

Before the war, a little more than 46,000 Palestinians lived in the camp, which spans about 0.5sq km, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa).

Seven Slough Labour councillors have resigned citing the party’s treatment of candidate Faiza Shaheen and MP Diane Abbott and the leadership’s stance on Gaza.

In an open letter to the party leader Keir Starmer on Monday, councillors Zaffar Ajaib, Sabia Akram, Haqeeq Dar, Mohammed Nazir, Naveeda Qaseem, Waqas Sabah, and Jamilia Sabah expressed “disillusionment and anger” at the Labour leadership.

The councillors pointed to the deselection of Faiza Shaheen as the candidate of Chingford and Woodford Green and the tussle over Diane Abbott’s candidacy as examples of the party’s “institutional racism”.

“The main issue is Gaza,” former councillor Haqeeq Dar told Middle East Eye. “But I think the breaking point was over the weekend - the treatment of long-serving Labour members like Diane Abbott and Faiza Shaheen.”

Read more: Seven Labour councillors quit party over Gaza stance and 'institutional racism'

The World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that it is being forced to provide "reduced rations" to residents fleeing Israel's bombardment of Rafah.

"Families that fled Rafah are now in areas with insufficient clean water, medical supplies, fuel, and limited food assistance," said the UN agency in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

"To reach as many people as possible with fewer resources, WFP is forced to provide reduced rations and is prioritising hot meals at community kitchens."

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that 7,000 to more than 11,000 Palestinian patients need immediate medical evacuations from the Gaza Strip.

“If you’re talking about leaving nobody behind, we are already leaving significant numbers behind from Gaza, but also, when there’s pressure on already fragile health systems in the neighbouring countries,” said Hanan Balkhy, World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, speaking Geneva.

“So we have a lot of work ahead of us...if we do not have peace, that’s going to be an extremely challenging situation. We need peace within the borders to open up.”

An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed one person on Tuesday, according to official media.

"The strike targeting a motorcycle in Naqura killed one person and wounded another," the National News Agency (NNA) said, after having earlier reported an "enemy drone strike" in the area.

US President Joe Biden has told Time magazine that people have "every reason" to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prolonging the war in Gaza for his reasons of self-preservation.

“There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion," he said in the interview.

He added that it was "uncertain" if Israel had committed war crimes during its assault on the enclave.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's biggest coalition partner said on Tuesday it would lend "full support" for a prospective deal to exchange prisoners with Hamas even if that would entails "far-reaching steps" in Gaza war strategy.

The statement by Shas, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish party that wields 11 of parliament's 120 seats, followed open opposition to such a deal by two far-right coalition partners.

Reporting by Reuters

"We're back bitches," read a banner hung up by the Columbia University Students for Justice in Palestine on Saturday. The group that helped spark the "student intifada" on university campuses worldwide to end the genocide in Gaza returned for alumni weekend and made it clear that they had no intention of backing down. 

Since the first encampment launched on 17 April, in tandem with the latest congressional hearing to suppress pro-Palestine student activism, observers everywhere have been watching the ever-changing developments within higher education.

Since 7 October, university administrators have instituted a number of repressive policies and taken disciplinary action against students, from suspension and eviction from their dormitories to surveillance and expulsion. Some have unabashedly invited security agencies and state and local police to interrogate, arrest and violently suppress protesters.

The responses have ranged from the blatantly brutal to the silent yet equally dangerous.

To find out why university administrators subjected their students to such treatment and to understand the nature of the encampments that have taken over the country, I travelled to multiple campuses both in my home state of California and in others across the country.

The interviews I conducted with student organisers and eyewitnesses from six universities revealed a story about the divide between administrators and their students shaping American academia. Most have asked to remain anonymous due to threats of doxxing and other professional repercussions.

Read more: As student protests persist, will universities allow another Kent State Massacre? - Opinion by Nour Taha

A South African man appeared in court on Tuesday accused of stabbing to death a mother and of wounding her husband and son because of the family's pro-Palestinian views.

Grayson Beare, 44, is charged with murder and two counts of attempted murder over the attack, which took place on Sunday in a suburb of the eastern city of Durban, prosecutors said. 

"The woman died, and her family members, who were also allegedly stabbed multiple times, were seriously injured," said Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, a spokeswoman for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). 

Beare was arrested at the crime scene - the home of the victims - in the early hours of Sunday "in possession of a blood-stained knife", police said. 

"The woman was declared dead at the scene and the two injured victims were rushed to a nearby hospital." 

Detectives initially said the motive of the violence was not clear. 

But a 10-year-old survivor - understood to be the woman's daughter - told investigators that "the suspect stated that he was stabbing them because they supported Palestine." 

In a video spreading online, Beare, who is seen in ankle shackles after his arrest in what appears to be a hospital, is heard saying he has family in Israel and linking the attack to his alleged victims' views on the war in Gaza.

The NPA said the court had remanded the matter to next week "for bail investigation and for Beare to undergo mental assessment".

Reporting by AFP