Middle East crisis live: Israeli attack on tents housing journalists in Gaza kills at least two, say Palestinian medics | Israel
Israeli attack on tents housing journalists in Gaza kills at least two people, medics say
Welcome to our live coverage of the latest developments in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Israel’s continuing war on Gaza.
Israel struck tents outside two major hospitals in the Gaza Strip overnight, killing at least two people, including a local reporter, and injuring nine, including six reporters, Palestinian medics said.
One of the Israeli airstrikes hit a media tent outside Nasser hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, setting it ablaze, killing Helmi al-Faqawi of Palestine Today TV, and another man. Two of the six reporters injured in the airstrike are in a critical condition, with one suffering from severe burns and the other with a head injury, according to reports.
Under international law, journalists are protected civilians who must not be targeted by warring parties. But more than 200 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.
Israel also targeted tents on the edge of the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in central Gaza, which said two people were killed and three injured in an Israeli airstrike on a home in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
Aftermath of Israeli airstrike on a tent housing journalists in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: Hatem Khaled/Reuters
In some other developments:
At least three people were killed by Israeli attacks on the Zeitoun district of Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.
US airstrikes on Sana’a yesterday killed at least four people and injured over 20 others, including women and children, according to health officials and local reports.
Hamas said yesterday it had fired rockets at cities in Israel’s south in response to Israeli “massacres” of civilians in Gaza. Israel’s military said about ten projectiles were fired, but most successfully intercepted. Israeli emergency services said they were treating one person for shrapnel injuries.
A war crimes complaint against 10 Britons who served with the Israeli military in Gaza is to be submitted to the Met police by one of the UK’s leading human rights lawyers.
Key events
Russia, China and Iran will hold consultations at expert level on the Iranian nuclear programme in Moscow on Tuesday, Russian’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has been cited as saying.
Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Iran unless it comes to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear programme, and the Kremlin said earlier today that Russia was ready to do all it could to help resolve tensions between the Washington and Tehran.
Trump has reinstated a “maximum pressure” policy against Iran, mirroring his approach during his first term which saw the US unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, after accusing Tehran of pursuing nuclear weapons.
Iran has repeatedly denied these allegations, though it has scaled back its commitments under the agreement and has reportedly increased uranium enrichment levels to 60 percent.
As my colleague Patrick Wintour notes in this story, the US has been divided over whether to simply demand Iran expose its civil nuclear programme to fuller international inspection, or make a wider set of demands including a complete end to its nuclear programme and an Iranian commitment to stop bankrolling resistance groups in the Middle East such as Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen.
French President Emmanuel Macron has met his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during a visit to Cairo.
Here are some of the highlights of what Macron said after the talks:
Macron said he strongly opposed any displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. “We are firmly opposed to the displacement of populations and to any annexation of both Gaza and the West Bank,” Macron told journalists. “This would be a violation of international law and a serious threat to the security of the entire region, including Israel,” he said.
Macron said Hamas, which has run Gaza since 2007, should have no part in governing the strip after the war and reiterated his support for a reconstruction plan for the territory endorsed by the Arab League. “I salute here the crucial work of Egypt on this plan, which offers a realistic path to the reconstruction of Gaza and should also pave the way for new Palestinian governance in the enclave led by the Palestinian Authority,” he said. “Hamas must have no role in this governance, and must no longer constitute a threat to Israel.”
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi welcomes Emmanuel Macron at the Egyptian presidential palace in Cairo. Photograph: Blondet Eliot/ABACA/REX/Shutterstock
In a symbolic move, Macron will reportedly go tomorrow to the Egyptian port city of El-Arish, located about 50km (31 miles) from Gaza where humanitarian aid is gathered.
For over a month Israel has shut off all sources of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies for the Gaza Strip’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians. It’s the longest blockade yet of its 17-month war on Gaza, with no sign of it ending.
Aid workers have stretched supplies, but warn of a catastrophic surge in severe hunger and malnutrition.
Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah after deadly Israeli attacks in the area:
Aftermath of an Israeli strike on a house in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Photograph: Ramadan Abed/ReutersCitizens and relatives of the Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks pray after the bodies were taken from the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital for burial in Deir al-Balah. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesResidents in damaged houses after the Israeli airstrike on a four-story house belonging to the Garab family located on Akile street of Deir al-Balah. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
Number of journalists killed in Gaza in Israeli attacks rises to 210 - media office
Gaza’s government media office has said the number of journalists killed in Israeli attacks on the territory since October 2023 has risen to 210 after Palestinian journalist Hilmi al-Faqawi was killed earlier today when an Israeli airstrike hit a tent used by local media in southern Gaza (see opening post for more details). At least nine others were reported to have been injured in the attack.
In a statement posted to Telegram, Gaza’s government media office said:
The Government Media Office condemns in the strongest terms the targeting, killing and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the “Israeli” occupation, and we call on the International Federation of Journalists, the Federation of Arab Journalists, and all journalistic bodies in all countries of the world to condemn these systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip.
We hold the “Israeli” occupation, the American administration, and the countries participating in the crime of genocide, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. We hold them fully responsible for committing this heinous and brutal crime.
We call on the international community, international organizations, and organizations involved in journalism and media work in all countries of the world to condemn the crimes of the occupation, deter it, and prosecute it in international courts for its ongoing crimes, and bring the criminals of the occupation to justice. We also call on them to exert serious and effective pressure to stop the crime of genocide, to protect journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip, and to stop the crime of killing and assassinating them.
Journalists gather in front of Nasser hospital in Khan Younis to protest against the targeting of their colleagues in airstrikes by the Israeli military. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
Dozens of protesters have gathered outside Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem to call for an agreement to release the remaining hostages held captive by Hamas in Gaza.
About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 taken hostage in the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in October 2023.
According to reports, there are 24 hostages believed to still be alive of the 59 total hostages that remain in captivity in Gaza. The rest have been released in hostage and detainee swaps.
“Now the moment of truth has come,” said Varda Ben Baruch, grandmother of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, addressing Netanyahu. “You are in the United States and you have to sit there with President Trump and close a deal so that everyone will be released home.”
Netanyahu, under pressure on both the domestic and international front, has been accused of manipulating Israel’s war on Gaza to achieve his own political ends. The Israeli leader is on trial for corruption charges and his opponents say he is deliberately finding reasons to prolong the assault so he can cling on to power as prime minister.
This includes shattering the January ceasefire deal with Hamas by launching a deadly wave of airstrikes on the territory last month, which families fear makes the return of Israeli hostages (alive) less likely.
Ahead of his meeting with Trump, Netanyahu met with US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and US trade representative Jamieson Greer, according to his office.
What will be discussed at the Trump-Netanyahu meeting at the White House today?
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to visit US President Donald Trump at the White House later today.
The close allies will meet on Monday to “discuss tariffs, efforts to bring back Israeli hostages (from Gaza), Israel-Turkey relations, the Iranian threat, and the fight against the international criminal court”, which has accused the Israeli leader of war crimes, his Jerusalem office said in a statement.
Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, travelled to the US in February when Trump vowed that America would “take over” Gaza and “own it”, effectively endorsing the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.
Netanyahu, who relies on US weapons to continue the assault on the strip, will be the first leader to meet with Trump after the US imposed global tariffs, which Israel is keen to be exempt from. The Israeli leader is on trial for corruption charges, which he denies.
The Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, Bethan McKernan, writes that the meeting, likely to focus on Iran, underscores the close relationship between the two leaders. Here is an extract from her story:
Trump has pressed Tehran for a new deal on its nuclear programme, although little progress has been made. There is widespread speculation that Israel, possibly with US help, might launch a military strike on Iranian facilities if no agreement is reached.
Al Hadath, a Saudi television channel, reported on Saturday that the US transferred a second THAAD battery and two Patriot batteries to Israel amid rising tensions. Flight tracking websites showed that a C-5M Super Galaxy, a large US air force transport plane, landed at an airbase in southern Israel on Saturday for about eight hours, the Times of Israel reported.
The Biden administration sent one THAAD battery, an advanced anti-missile system, to Israel in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack in October 2023. It has been used since to intercept missile attacks from Iran and the Tehran-allied Houthi group in Yemen.
Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump hold a joint press conference at the White House on 4 February 2025. Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/UPI/REX/Shutterstock
Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli airstrike in Taybeh, a border-village in the country’s south, killed one person on Monday.
The official national news agency (NNA) said the airstrike hit “in front of a motorcycle repair shop”.
The November ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, brokered by France and the US, brought an official end to Israel’s assault on Lebanon last year but it remains extremely precarious.
Under the agreement, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January while Hezbollah had to end its armed presence south of the Litani river along the border with Israel. But each side accuses the other of not living up to those terms.
Israel delayed a promised troop withdrawal in January and continues to occupy several so-called “strategic” hilltops in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military has also carried out frequent attacks on the country, claiming it is targeting Hezbollah fighters and weapons, but many civilians have been killed in the airstrikes.
As we mentioned in the opening summary, ten Britons have been accused of committing war crimes while fighting for Israel in Gaza. Here is some more of the story, written by the Guardian’s legal affairs correspondent Haroon Siddique:
Michael Mansfield KC is one of a group of lawyers who will on Monday hand in a 240-page dossier to Scotland Yard’s war crimes unit alleging targeted killing of civilians and aid workers, including by sniper fire, and indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas, including hospitals.
The report, which has been prepared by a team of UK lawyers and researchers in The Hague, also accuses suspects of coordinated attacks on protected sites including historic monuments and religious sites, and forced transfer and displacement of civilians.
For legal reasons, neither the names of suspects, who include officer-level individuals, nor the full report are being made public…
The report, which has been submitted on behalf of the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and the British-based Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), covers alleged offences committed in the territory from October 2023 to May 2024 and took six months to compile.
Each of the crimes attributed to the 10 suspects, some of whom are dual nationals, amounts to a war crime or crime against humanity, according to the report.
One witness, who was at a medical facility, saw corpses “scattered on the ground, especially in the middle of the hospital courtyard, where many dead bodies were buried in a mass grave”. A bulldozer “ran over a dead body in a horrific and heart-wrenching scene desecrating the dead”, the witness said.
Israeli attack on tents housing journalists in Gaza kills at least two people, medics say
Welcome to our live coverage of the latest developments in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Israel’s continuing war on Gaza.
Israel struck tents outside two major hospitals in the Gaza Strip overnight, killing at least two people, including a local reporter, and injuring nine, including six reporters, Palestinian medics said.
One of the Israeli airstrikes hit a media tent outside Nasser hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, setting it ablaze, killing Helmi al-Faqawi of Palestine Today TV, and another man. Two of the six reporters injured in the airstrike are in a critical condition, with one suffering from severe burns and the other with a head injury, according to reports.
Under international law, journalists are protected civilians who must not be targeted by warring parties. But more than 200 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.
Israel also targeted tents on the edge of the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in central Gaza, which said two people were killed and three injured in an Israeli airstrike on a home in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
Aftermath of Israeli airstrike on a tent housing journalists in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: Hatem Khaled/Reuters
In some other developments:
At least three people were killed by Israeli attacks on the Zeitoun district of Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.
US airstrikes on Sana’a yesterday killed at least four people and injured over 20 others, including women and children, according to health officials and local reports.
Hamas said yesterday it had fired rockets at cities in Israel’s south in response to Israeli “massacres” of civilians in Gaza. Israel’s military said about ten projectiles were fired, but most successfully intercepted. Israeli emergency services said they were treating one person for shrapnel injuries.
A war crimes complaint against 10 Britons who served with the Israeli military in Gaza is to be submitted to the Met police by one of the UK’s leading human rights lawyers.
