Gaza live: Biden moves ahead with military aid for Israel as it launches ground assaults on Rafah
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Al Jazeera reports that an Israeli strike on an Unrwa clinic in Gaza City's Sabra neighbourhood killed at least 10 displaced Palestinians.
The Biden administration told key US lawmakers it would send over $1bln in additional arms and ammunitions to Israel, three congressional aides told the AP.
It was unclear, however, when the arms would be delivered.
The major transfer of military aid, initially reported by the Wall Street Journal, comes a week after the White House paused a single transfer of 1,800 2,000-pound (907kg) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (227kg) bombs to Israel, citing concerns over the lives of civilians in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden had also said that we would stop sending offensive arms to Israel should it carry out a large-scale invasion of Rafah.
The congressional aides said the package revealed on Tuesday includes about “$700 million for tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles and $60 million in mortar rounds”.
In Gaza, six people were killed in two separate Israeli attacks on apartments in Gaza City, including a mother and her child overnight, as Israeli forces continue to carry out strikes across the Palestinian enclave.
The strikes come as the death toll from yesterday’s attack on a school and a home in Nuseirat, central Gaza killed rose to at least 40 people.
Additionally, Palestine’s Wafa news agency reported that the European Hospital in Khan Younis is now out of service as power generators ran out of fuel.
READ MORE: US to send $1bln more in weapons, ammo to Israel despite Rafah tensions
Good evening, Middle East Eye readers.
Our live coverage of Israel's assault on Gaza will shortly be closing for the evening.
Here are the day's key developments:
- Gaza death toll rises to 35,173
- In its latest report, Human Rights Watch documented at least eight Israeli strikes on aid workers' convoys and premises in Gaza since October, "even though aid groups had provided their coordinates to the Israeli authorities to ensure their protection".
- Almost 450,000 people fled Rafah: Unrwa
- Israel seeks to blame Egypt for humanitarian crisis in Gaza
- 100 artists pull out of music festival in the UK to support Gaza
- ‘Israel is engaged in genocide against Palestinians’: Human Rights Watch co-founder
- More than 190 UN workers killed in Gaza to date: UN
The Biden’s administration has informed Congress that it is moving ahead with sales of munitions to Israel potentially worth over $1 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The transfer includes up to $700 million in tank rounds, another $500 million worth of tactical vehicles and $60 million-worth of mortar shells, the report says. The munitions are intended to replenish stocks used during the war against Hamas.
Biden has faced pressure over his decision to freeze the transfer of large bombs to Israel over fears it could be used in the Gazan city of Rafah.
An Israeli drone strike on a car in the country’s south killed two people, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said earlier on Tuesday.
Two Lebanese security sources told Reuters that a field commander from Lebanon's Hezbollah was one of those killed.
Pentagon spokesman Major-General Pat Ryder told reporters that the $320 million pier in Gaza will be completed “in the coming days, I think you can expect to see it operational”.
The pier is aimed at boosting humanitarian access to Gaza, which has been ravaged by almost eight months of war and aid restrictions by Israel.
Poor sea conditions, however, have made it unsafe to anchor the pier off the Gaza coast.
An Israeli air attack on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza has reportedly killed at least 40 people, as increasing ground assaults from south to north were met with fierce Hamas resistance.
Children were among those killed and wounded after Israeli fighter jets bombed a three-storey house belonging to the Karaja family in Nuseirat camp on Monday night, according to Wafa news agency.
Al Jazeera reported that the building - which was completely flattened - was sheltering 100 displaced Palestinians. Among them were people newly displaced from Rafah in southern Gaza, where Israel has been threatening a major ground invasion.
Dozens of those killed and wounded in Nuseirat camp were trapped for several hours under the rubble of the destroyed building.
Al Jazeera said 40 people were killed in the attack on the Nuseirat building and a nearby school.
Read more: Israeli bombing kills 40 in Nuseirat as Jabalia and Rafah fighting rages
The European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell said that he was “outraged” by the “repeated” attacks conducted by “Israeli extremists” on aid convoys heading to the besiged Gaza Strip, including those coming from Jordan.
“Hundreds of thousands of civilians are starving,” he said in a post on X adding that "authorities must stop these operations & hold those responsible accountable."
An Israeli drone strike on a car in the country’s south has killed two people, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said on Tuesday.
Since October, Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with the Israeli military across Lebanon’s southern border in parallel with the Gaza war.
Hezbollah has reiterated over the last eight months that the rockets launched at Israel are to support its ally Hamas, and to deter Israel from launching an attack on Lebanon.
Top Republican Party donors have been contributing money to a far-right organisation that has been doxxing pro-Palestinian college students on US campuses across the country, according to the far-right group's tax return.
Accuracy in Media disclosed on its tax return, for the fiscal year ending 2023, a list of donors who combined gave a total of nearly $2m in donations to the group.
That list includes Republican megadonor Jeff Yass, the Milstein Family Foundation, the family foundation of shipping magnate Richard Uihlein, and the Adolph Coors Foundation.
Another donor was the Informing America Foundation, an organisation that was previously reported to be behind attempts to dox pro-Palestinian university students.
Read more: Republican donors funded doxxing campaign against pro-Palestinian university students
Israel’s invasion into the southern Gaza area “increases acts of genocide against the Palestinian people”, said Bruno Rodriguez in a post on X.
It is “a crime that is only possible due to complicity and military and logistical support from the US government,” he added.
More than 190 UN personnel have been killed in Gaza since the war began on October 7, the head of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund said in a post on X.
“Humanitarians must always be protected along with those they serve,” Catherine Russell said on Tuesday.
On Monday the Israeli army killed the first foreign UN staff member which was widely condemned.
Germany's travel ban against British-Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu Sitta has been overturned, according to a leading legal advocacy group in the UK.
The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) announced in a social media post on Tuesday that it, along with lawyer Alexander Gorski and the European Legal Support Centre, had successfully challenged the travel ban imposed on Abu Sitta by Germany.
"The travel ban put on me for the Shengin area countries has been lifted," Abu Sitta said on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday.
On 12 April, Abu Sitta was detained at an airport in Germany and was refused entry into the country. He was travelling there to attend a conference on Palestine that he had received an invitation for.
He was then slapped with a Schengen-wide travel ban for one year, which barred him from travelling to 29 countries across Europe.
Read more: Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sitta's Schengen-wide travel ban overturned
Israeli security officials speaking anonymously to Haaretz criticised National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for his comments made during the right-wing march calling for the resettlement of Gaza on Tuesday.
"Want humanitarian aid?... Want food for the children in Gaza? Then they should return [the young Israeli hostages] Ariel and Kfir Bibas. Want women in Gaza to have a roof over their heads? Then they should return [Israeli hostage] Shiri Bibas and all the other hostages," Gvir said at the rally where he rejected calls for humanitarian aid to be delivered to Gaza.
Speaking to the Israeli daily Haaretz, the security source said that the minister's statements at the march "encourage Monday's riots that resulted with setting fire to aid convoys and the destruction of aid, and beyond - cause enormous international damage. His behavior is childish and irresponsible."
