Three ministers responsible for arms exports to Israel have been summoned by parliament’s committee overseeing UK exports to explain possible loopholes in the rules. Liam Byrne, the chair of the business select committee has ordered the trade minister, Douglas Alexander, and the relevant ministers from the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence and to offer urgent explanations. MPs are concerned that arms companies may be using the partial nature of the arms export ban imposed last September by the UK to send weaponry to Israel for use in Gaza, in breach of an undertaking by ministers. In his letter, Byrne raises concerns about statistics published on Friday that showed that in the fourth quarter of 2024 – after Labour’s partial arms export ban to Israel was imposed – the UK government nevertheless approved licences for £127.6m of military equipment to Israel. This is greater than the combined total for 2020-23, according to Campaign against the Arms Trade. Challenged on these figures by the independent Labour MP Zarah Sultana in the Commons on Tuesday, the foreign secretary, David Lammy, said he did not recognise the number and accused her of sensationalising the issue. He assured MPs “arms are not getting to Israel that could be used in Gaza”. However, the latest figures show the government authorised more than £61m in single-issue licences for military goods with an end user in Israel. This included licences for goods categories covering targeting systems, munitions and military aircraft parts. In his letter, Byrne points out that ministers assured MPs that the ban covered “equipment that we assess is for use in the current conflict in Gaza, such as important components that go into military aircraft, including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones, as well as items that facilitate ground targeting”. Here are some of the latest images coming in via the newswires today: SOS Children’s Villages, a charity focused on supporting children and young people who do not have, or are at risk of losing, parental care, has just shared this update from its staff who are caring for children in a temporary camp in al-Mawasi. “We are seeing levels of food insecurity that are truly alarming,” says Reem Alreqeb, Gaza programme director for SOS Children’s Villages in Palestine. Alreqeb added: Our own food reserves have been depleted, and with major humanitarian providers like the WFP (World Food Program) and WCK (World Central Kitchen) unable to operate, families are left hungry and hopeless. We moved to al-Mawasi because it was one of the only remaining areas considered relatively safe. Now, thousands more people are arriving here under pressure, and conditions are worsening by the day. SOS Children’s Villages said its staff have reported that water scarcity has compounded the crisis. Drinking water is delivered to camps just once a week, while domestic water is pumped from a single well using dwindling fuel supplies, they said. “Hygiene and sanitation conditions in the camps are deteriorating fast, raising the risk of disease outbreaks. Fuel, already in short supply, is now also used for cooking, lighting, and transporting essential staff and supplies,” said SOS Children’s Villages, which has been operating in Gaza and the West Bank since 1968. A statement released on Wednesday on Emirati state media said the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had reached an agreement with Israel to allow the delivery of “urgent humanitarian aid” to Gaza. “The aid will address the food needs of approximately 15,000 civilians in the Gaza Strip in the initial phase,” it said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). It was not immediately clear when the UAE’s aid would be sent to Gaza. AFP has asked Israeli authorities for comment. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the volume of aid Israel had started to allow into Gaza was not nearly enough for the population of 2.4 million, describing it as “a smokescreen to pretend the siege is over”, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). “The Israeli authorities’ decision to allow a ridiculously inadequate amount of aid into Gaza after months of an air-tight siege signals their intention to avoid the accusation of starving people in Gaza, while in fact keeping them barely surviving,” said MSF’s emergency coordinator in the south Gaza city of Khan Younis, Pascale Coissard. Mahmoud Abbas, the chair of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the president of the Palestinian Authority, on Wednesday hailed international rejection of Israel’s “blockade” and “starvation” of Gaza, after the European Union ordered a review of its cooperation deal with Israel, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). Abbas said in a statement: We reiterate our welcome for the joint statement issued by the leaders of Britain, France, and Canada, as well as for the positions of the European Union countries, the joint statement of the donor countries and the statement of the Arab-Islamic ministerial committee on this matter. They all rejected the policies of blockade, starvation, displacement and land seizure. The IDF has issued a statement claiming to have killed a participant in the 7 October 2023 surprise Hamas attack inside southern Israel, who it named as Mohammad Shahin from Hamas’ East Jabaliya Battalion. Israeli forces claim that over the past 24 hours they have “struck over 115 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip” which they claim included “launchers, military structures, tunnels, terrorist cells, and additional terrorist infrastructure sites.” The statement, on the IDF’s official Telegram channel, said the Israeli navy had also been involved in “strikes on terror targets in northern Gaza”. Al Jazeera reports that Israeli security forces have detained 20 people in raids throughout the Israeli-occupied West Bank since last night. It cited the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society. Al Jazeera has been banned from operating inside Israel by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli strikes overnight and into Wednesday killed at least 45 people, including several women and a week-old infant, Associated Press reports. Palestinian news agency Wafa reported “the deaths of at least eight civilians and the injury of dozens more in an Israeli airstrike on the Jabalia bus station in the Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City.” It reported Israeli forces “blew up residential buildings east of Jabalia.” Here are some of the latest images from Gaza, where hospitals in Gaza City and Khan Younis have been receiving the bodies of Palestinians killed by Israel’s latest airstrikes on the territory. Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday appealed for Israel to resume allowing humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip after weeks of a blockade, calling the situation in the Palestinian territory “yet more worrying and saddening.” “I renew my appeal to allow for the entry of fair humanitarian help and to bring to an end the hostilities, the high price of which is paid by children, the elderly and the sick,” the recently elected pope said during his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square. Israeli police have detained at least one person at a demonstration attempting to prevent humanitarian aid being delivered at the Kerem Shalom crossing. Eden Solomon reports for Haaretz that the activists belong to Tsav 9, a pro-settler group Reuters has spoken to Mahmoud al-Haw at one of the soup kitchens in Gaza. The father-of-four says he has been regularly waiting in crowds for up to six hours to obtain food, and sometimes returns empty-handed. “I have a sick daughter. I can’t provide her with anything. There is no bread, there is nothing,” the 39-year-old told the news agency. “I’m here since eight in the morning, just to get one plate for six people while it is not enough for one person.” Israeli media reports that an IDF attack helicopter has launched missile that landed inside southern Israel near Gaza border. The IDF said the incident was under investigation. The amount of aid Israel has started to allow into the Gaza Strip is not nearly enough and is “a smokescreen to pretend the siege is over,” the MSF aid group said on Wednesday. AFP reports that Pascale Coissard, Médecins Sans Frontières emergency coordinator in Gaza’s Khan Younis said “The Israeli authorities’ decision to allow a ridiculously inadequate amount of aid into Gaza after months of an air-tight siege signals their intention to avoid the accusation of starving people in Gaza, while in fact keeping them barely surviving.” Overnight the state news agency in the UAW said in a phone call between UAE and Israeli officials, Israel had agreed to let in humanitarian aid that would supply 15,000 people. The population of Gaza was estimated to be about two million before Israel’s military campaign began. Al Jazeera is reporting, citing local medical sources, that 38 Palestinians have been killed since dawn by Israeli strikes on Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has banned Al Jazeera from operating inside Israel. Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza. A car has been struck by an Israeli drone in southern Lebanon near Tyre according to reports. Lebanon’s National News Agency said the attack happened on the Al-Hawsh-Ain Baal road. Israeli news service Kan reported that one person had been killed. The former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has said that what Israel “is doing now in Gaza, is very close to a war crime” during an interview with the BBC. Olmert, who was prime minister from 2006 to 2009, told the BBC that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government were waging “a war without a purpose – a war without a chance of achieving anything that can save the lives of the hostages.” He said that the “obvious appearance” of the campaign was that Israel was killing many Palestinians, and that “from every point of view, this is obnoxious and outrageous.” He said that the Israeli government had to be more clear that it was “fighting the killers of Hamas, we are not fighting innocent civilians.” Israel announced overnight that a member of service personnel was killed in combat in southern Gaza on 20 May. The IDF lists 858 service personnel who have been killed since 7 October 2023. Overnight the chief of staff of the Israeli forces, Eyal Zamir, issued a statement about the renewed military offensive in Gaza. Describing the months-long bombardment of Gaza, which, according to Palestinian medical services has cost over 50,000 lives, Zamir said “We are acting in self-defense.” In a passage directed to the Palestinian people, he said: I wish to address the residents of Gaza: We are not the ones who brought this destruction upon you. We are not the ones who started this war. We are not the ones who have deprived you of food, shelter, and money. We do not hide in hospitals or schools. We do not live in luxury hotels while you live in hardship. This is your leadership – the ones holding our hostages. Hamas is responsible for starting the war. It is responsible for the difficult situation of the civilian population – it brought destruction, and it will not be the one to rebuild. Zamir also claimed that it was “baseless” to accuse the Israeli forces of acting in any way other than in accordance with international law. Israel has imposed a near total blockade on humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip for nearly all of March so far, leading to starvation warnings. Zamir said: The IDF operates at all times in accordance with IDF values, Israeli law, and international law, while maintaining an uncompromising commitment to the security of the State of Israel and its civilians. Any statement that casts doubt on the integrity of our actions or the morality of our soldiers is baseless. Zamir also attempted to offer reassurance to the families of the remaining hostages in Gaza, who have been held by Hamas captive since 7 October 2023, and many of whom are thought to have been killed. Zamir said: I am fully aware of the concern and anguish experienced by the families of the hostages, and of the questions raised by the combination of these objectives. It is a complex challenge, but we possess the tools, wisdom, and responsibility to meet it. I, along with every soldier in the IDF, will continue to act tirelessly until all our hostages are brought home. Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East. Israel has rejected EU and UK criticism of its intensified campaign in Gaza, where rescuers said fresh attacks on Tuesday including strikes on a family home and a school-turned-shelter had killed scores of people, among them many children. Israel said that 93 trucks of aid – a fraction of what is needed – had entered Gaza from Israel on Tuesday but the UN said none of that aid had actually reached Palestinians. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that although the aid had entered Gaza, aid workers were not able to bring it to distribution points where it is most needed, after the Israeli military forced them to reload the supplies on to separate trucks and workers ran out of time. The UN announced on Monday that it had been cleared to send in aid for the first time since Israel imposed a total blockade on 2 March, sparking severe shortages of food and medicine. UN-backed experts said last week Gaza was at “a critical risk of famine”. The humanitarian crisis caused by Israel has prompted international anger, with the European Union saying it would review its trade cooperation deal with Israel over the blockade, while the UK suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel, summoned the Israeli ambassador and said it was imposing sanctions on settlers in the occupied West Bank in its toughest actions so far against Israel’s conduct of the war. The EU action “reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing,” Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said. Responding to Britain, Marmorstein said “external pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security.” The UK suspended trade negotiations with Israel over its Gaza blockade, the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, told parliament on Tuesday. He said the Israeli ambassador had been summoned. The UK’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, described the situation in Gaza as “horrific” and “utterly intolerable”. It comes after the UK, France and Canada on Monday issued their strongest condemnation yet of the way Israel is conducting its war on Gaza and repeated calls for a ceasefire. The European Union has agreed to review its trade agreement with Israel over alleged human rights abuses in Gaza, the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said on Tuesday. The decision comes almost 15 months after Irish and Spanish leaders called on the European Commission’s chief, Ursula von der Leyen, to make such a move. The change comes after a proposal from the Netherlands last week gained widespread support amid growing alarm about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank. The former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has said that what Israel “is doing now in Gaza, is very close to a war crime” during an interview with the BBC. No humanitarian aid has been distributed yet in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, according to a spokesperson for the United Nations, Stéphane Dujarric. Separately, Cogat, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, claimed 93 UN aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday. At least 87 Palestinians were killed and more than 290 injured by Israeli attacks in Gaza over the past 24 hours, Gaza’s health ministry said on Tuesday. At least 53,573 Palestinian people have been killed and 121,688 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the ministry said. Gaza City, Deir el-Balah, the Nuseirat refugee camp, the Jabalia refugee camp and the Bureij refugee camp were among the places targeted in deadly Israeli strikes on Tuesday, according to reports. Benjamin Netanyahu ordered part of his country’s delegation negotiating a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Doha to return to Israel, according to Israeli media reports. Separately, Qatar’s prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani said Israel’s continuing assault on Gaza had undermined peace efforts. “This irresponsible, aggressive behaviour undermines any potential chance for peace,” the Qatari leader said. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said Washington has not discussed the deportation of Palestinians from Gaza to Libya, but he said Washington had asked other countries in the region if they would be open to accepting Palestinians who want to move voluntarily. Rubio was testifying before the Senate foreign relations committee on Tuesday on Tuesday, when a pro-Palestine protester disrupted the hearing. Australia joined 22 other nations in condemning Israel over its decision to only allow limited aid into Gaza. 23 countries, including the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, urged Israel not to politicise humanitarian aid for the starving population. The Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli airstrike injured nine people in a drone attack on the coastal Tyre district in the south of the country. Three people are now in “critical condition”, the ministry said, adding that two children were among the injured.
Author: Amy Sedghi (now) and Martin Belam (earlier)