Qatar and Egypt, key mediators between Israel and Hamas, said on Thursday there was a need to boost joint efforts to implement the three phases of the Gaza ceasefire deal, a Qatari statement said, after Israel resumed military operations in the territory. Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani spoke with Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty in a phone call to discuss coordination efforts and the latest developments in Gaza, the statement added, according to Reuters. The Israeli military said on Thursday it had begun conducting ground activities in the northern Gaza Strip, along the coastal route in the area of Beit Lahia, reports Reuters. The military resumed aerial strikes on targets in Gaza on Tuesday and launched ground operations on Wednesday, in effect ending a ceasefire with Hamas that had held since January. Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday that a recent letter sent by US president Donald Trump calling for new nuclear talks was “actually more of a threat”, and that Tehran would respond soon, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). Araghchi told Iranian state television that while the letter purported to offer up opportunities, it was “actually more of a threat”, adding that Iran was now studying its contents and would respond “in the coming days”. On 7 March, Trump said he had written to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for negotiations and warning of possible military action if Iran refused. Khamenei said the US invitation to talks was aimed at deceiving world public opinion by portraying the United States as ready to negotiate and Iran as unwilling. Iran’s foreign ministry has said it will conduct a “thorough assessment” before responding to the letter which was delivered by a senior the United Arab Emirates diplomat on 12 March, reports AFP. Araghchi said the response “will be sent through the appropriate channels”, without elaborating. On Wednesday, US news website Axios, citing a US official and other sources, reported that the letter included a “two-month deadline for reaching a new nuclear deal”. Trump, who returned to the White House for a second term in January, has reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy of sanctions against Iran, mirroring his approach during his first term. At the time, Trump unilaterally withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, and reimposed sweeping economic sanctions. Tehran adhered to the 2015 deal for a year after Washington’s withdrawal, but then began rolling back its own commitments. There were brief efforts to revive the agreement under the Joe Biden administration but these went nowhere, according to AFP. Tehran has repeatedly ruled out direct talks with Washington while US sanctions remain in place. On Thursday, Araghchi reiterated that Iran “definitely will not negotiate directly while facing pressure, threats, and increased sanctions”. At least 58 Palestinians have been killed and many more injured in a third successive night of Israeli strikes across Gaza, according to medical officials at hospitals in the strip. The death toll is expected to rise, as further casualties are dug from rubble in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis and the northern town of Beit Lahiya. The timing of the strikes in the new Israeli offensive, which began on Tuesday, appears to have increased the proportion of women and children among the victims, with many sleeping when missiles strike. A first wave of airstrikes on Tuesday shattered a two-month pause in hostilities and killed more than 400, according to the health ministry in Gaza, in what may have been the single bloodiest day of the 18-month conflict. The dead included 183 children and 94 women, Palestinian officials said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the most recent overnight strikes. Israeli media have reported that the new air offensive is aimed at senior political and military Hamas officials, and have identified some killed. Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday that Israel had attacked “dozens of terror targets and terrorists in Gaza, including Hamas commanders, to weaken their military and governmental capabilities and remove threats to Israel”. Israel has also issued new warnings to Palestinians to evacuate areas in the north and east of Gaza to avoid being trapped by any fighting and has reoccupied the key Netzarim corridor, a strategic strip of land in the centre of the territory that divides it into northern and southern halves. Germany reopened its embassy in Syria on Thursday, marking a revival of diplomatic ties under a new leadership in Damascus that is facing humanitarian and security problems as it tries to rebuild the country after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock oversaw the official resumption of operations at the embassy during a visit to the Syrian capital, officials from her delegation said, according to Reuters. Germany is home to a large Syrian population after an influx of refugees in the last decade, and has sought to send a message of cautious engagement with the new rulers while also urging respect for minorities’ rights. The embassy has a small political team on the ground and will continue to expand its presence in line with the situation locally, the officials said. Due to security concerns and limited space, visa and consular matters would continue to be handled from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon, they added. Baerbock first met Syria’s new de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa at the start of the year. German officials said they could play more of a role in stabilising the country when located locally, adding that staff posted to Syria would develop diplomatic contacts and push for an inclusive political transition, reports Reuters. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that recent deadly US strikes on the Tehran-backed Houthis in Yemen was a “crime that must be stopped”. “This attack on the people of Yemen, on Yemeni civilians, is also a crime that must be stopped,” said Khamenei according to a video published on his website, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). Five staff members of the United Nations Palestinian relief agency, Unrwa, have been killed in the past few days, the agency’s commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini said on Thursday. “In the past few days another five Unrwa staff have been confirmed killed, bringing the death toll to 284. They were teachers, doctors and nurses: serving the most vulnerable,” he said in a statement posted on X. In his social media post on Thursday, Lazzarini said that the agency are “fearing the worst is yet to come given the ongoing ground invasion separating the north from the south”. He added that “Israeli forces bombardment continues from air and sea for the third day”. He described Palestinians, who face evacuation orders again after having previously been displaced, as being treated as “pinballs” since the start of the war. Lazzarini wrote: For nearly three weeks now, the Israeli authorities continue to ban the entry of any humanitarian aid or basic commercial supplies. Under our daily watch, people in Gaza are again and again going through their worst nightmare. An endless unleashing of the most inhumane ordeals. No time left, we need now: – A renewal of the ceasefire – A dignified release of all the hostages in Gaza – An unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid and commercial supplies.” The resumption of airstrikes has sent Palestinian residents again fleeing for their lives from homes they had begun to reinhabit among the ruins of the devastated territory. Some Palestinians who tried to use the Salahuddin road said they saw cars come under fire from Israeli troops advancing towards Netzarim, reports Reuters. The fate of the passengers in the vehicles was unknown. “Bulldozers protected by some tanks were heading to the west coming from the areas where they are stationed near the fence east of the Salahuddin road,” one taxi driver told Reuters, asking not to be identified for fear of reprisals. He said it had become clear the Israelis were advancing on Netzarim when Egyptian and foreign inspectors stationed there under the ceasefire abruptly withdrew. Some residents turned to social media to report the disappearance of some relatives, while others reported cases to the International Committee of the Red Cross, reports Reuters. Speaking to Reuters on Thursday, a Hamas official said mediators had stepped up their efforts with the two warring sides but added that “no breakthrough has yet been made”. Hamas has yet to make clear threats to retaliate in response to the Israeli escalation. Asked by Reuters why the group had not yet responded, the Hamas official said it was “giving a chance for things to be contained”. Some residents said there were no signs yet of preparations by Hamas on the ground to resume fighting. But an official from one militant group allied to Hamas told Reuters on Thursday that fighters, including from Hamas, had been put on high alert awaiting further instructions. “Fighters and leaders of the resistance were also advised to avoid the use of cellular phones as a means of precaution,” said the official, who asked not to be identified. The Israeli army has banned traffic on Gaza’s main north-to-south artery, a day after announcing renewed ground operations in the Palestinian territory, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Over the past 24 hours, IDF soldiers have begun a targeted ground operation in the central and southern Gaza Strip in order to expand the security zone between the northern and southern parts,” army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on X. Adraee added: For your safety, movement along Salah al-Din road between the northern and southern parts of the Gaza Strip, in either direction, is prohibited.” Iran will consider both the threats and opportunities contained in a letter from US president Donald Trump urging Tehran to reach a new nuclear deal, foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. Germany’s foreign minister has warned Syrian authorities to ensure peace and security for all Syrians, two weeks after violent clashes that killed at least 1,500 civilians, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). Speaking before a trip to Damascus, outgoing foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said the violence had undermined faith in the Syrian authorities. “Lots of them [Syrians] are scared that life in the future Syria will not be safe for all Syrians,” Baerbock said in a statement. She added: The appalling bouts of violence two weeks ago have cost a massive amount of trust.” Baerbock called for Syria’s transitional government, which took office after former president Bashar al-Assad fled the country in December, to ensure it controlled the “groups in its own ranks”. She added that it should put those responsible for the violence on trial and ensure peace and prosperity across Syria, which has been scarred by 14 years of civil war. “This is the mammoth task facing the Syria’s transitional government under Ahmed al-Sharaa,” she said, according to AFP. Baerbock said she would use her trip to tell Syria’s government that a “fresh start” between Europe and Germany on one side and Syria on the other was conditional on all Syrians enjoying freedom and security regardless of faith, gender or ethnicity. Hamas said that talks with mediators were ongoing on Thursday to halt the Israeli offensive on Gaza, which resumed two days ago, and to push Israel to abide by the ceasefire deal. Hamas reiterated its commitment to the deal that was signed in January, reports Reuters. Here are some of the latest images coming through from Gaza: Early on Thursday, Israel said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, as the Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed to have targeted Ben Gurion international airport. “A missile launched from Yemen was intercepted ... prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” Israel’s military said. In a statement, the Houthis said they had targeted Ben Gurion airport with a “hypersonic ballistic missile”, and again targeted an American aircraft carrier group in the Red Sea. As we briefly mentioned earlier, Israeli forces have launched a “limited ground operation” to retake the Netzarim corridor, a newly widened road protected by fortified bunkers that divides Gaza and is seen as essential to controlling the devastated Palestinian territory. Jason Burke has this report from Jerusalem: The move is a significant escalation of Israel’s new offensive in Gaza and came less than 36 hours after a massive wave of airstrikes that killed more than 400, including 183 children and 94 women, the health ministry there said. A series of Israeli evacuation orders telling about 150,000 people in the north and east of Gaza to leave their homes to avoid being trapped in a combat zone suggested ground assaults in coming days, but seizure of the Netzarim corridor is the first major move to retake territory in Gaza since Tuesday’s airstrikes, which shattered a two-month-long pause in the hostilities with Hamas. A private security company that had been securing checkpoints in the Netzarim corridor withdrew overnight and Israeli troops in armoured vehicles and tanks and on foot moved in at dawn on Wednesday, according to western aid officials. The Israeli forces are believed to have reoccupied four fortified bases there and closed off all access. Travelling from north to south Gaza is now impossible, the officials said. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has said the new offensive will continue until “total victory” is achieved over Hamas and the 59 remaining hostages held by the militant group are freed. As part of the ceasefire deal agreed in January, Israel had withdrawn from the Netzarim corridor. Across Gaza, ordinary Palestinians – men and women, old and young, ill and healthy – have described their fear, despair and confusion after Israel’s return to violence in the past two days. My colleagues Jason Burke and Malak A Tantesh have this report: “Our hopes rose but now we are back to square one,” Osama, a 40-year-old aid worker living in al-Mawasi, a coastal area designated as a “humanitarian zone” early in the conflict, which has since become known for severe overcrowding and poor sanitation. In a statement on Wednesday, Israel’s defence minister warned the military was preparing to intensify its new offensive. Israel Katz said: “Residents of Gaza, this is the last warning. Take the advice of the president of the United States. Return the hostages and remove Hamas, and other options will open up for you – including the possibility of leaving for other places in the world for those who want to.” It was not immediately clear which statement Katz was referring to. In al-Mawasi, tented encampments that had stretched along the entire shoreline emptied when the ceasefire was agreed. Almost half a million people headed back to the north of Gaza to try to rebuild their ruined homes. Many are now returning, pitching their tents once again on the dunes. “The worst thing is not the deprivation or the uncertainty. It is that the hopes we had with the ceasefire are gone. We thought our pains were over but it has just started again,” said Osama. Read the full piece here: Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Gaza and the wider crisis in the Middle East. Israeli strikes have killed at least 58 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip overnight, according to three hospitals. The Associated Press reports the strikes hit multiple homes in the middle of the night, killing men, women and children as they slept. Israel resumed heavy strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, shattering a ceasefire that had halted the war and facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages. Israel blamed the renewed fighting on Hamas because the militant group rejected a new proposal that departed from their signed agreement. More than 400 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday alone, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry. These latest strikes come a day after Israeli ground troops advanced in Gaza for the first time since the ceasefire took hold in January, seizing part of a corridor separating the northern third of the territory from the south. Israel, which has also cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians, has vowed to intensify its operations until Hamas releases the 59 hostages it holds — 35 of whom are believed dead — and gives up control of the territory. The Trump administration, which took credit for brokering the ceasefire, says it fully supports Israel. We’ll bring you the latest developments throughout the day.
Author: Amy Sedghi (now) and Hamish Mackay (earlier)