Israeli defence minister issues final warning for Gaza City residents to flee
Israel’s defence minister has said the military would tighten its encirclement of Gaza City, issuing a final warning for residents there to flee south.
“This is the last opportunity for Gaza residents who wish to do so to move south and leave Hamas operatives isolated in Gaza City,” Israel Katz said in a statement shared with Israeli media on Wednesday.
Those who remain… will be considered terrorists and terrorist supporters.”
Key events
As a reminder, here is what is in Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza:
Killing of aid workers is ‘cruel affront’ to humanitarian principles, says Prince William
The Prince of Wales has condemned the killing of aid workers in regions such as Gaza as a “cruel affront” to humanitarian principles, reports the PA news agency.
Speaking at the launch on Wednesday of the first, global memorial for humanitarian workers in west London, William paid tribute to their “courage and sacrifice” and honoured those who had died. The prince addressed guests including staff from aid organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Mines Advisory Group, as well as bereaved families and survivors of attacks.
William called for better protection and recognition for aid workers. He said:
We are witnesses to the appalling suffering of those who are victims of war and violence; from Ukraine to Sudan, from Myanmar to Haiti and, indeed, throughout much of the Middle East. And, alas, in so many other places.
Yet, the presence of humanitarian aid workers, like those in Gaza, runs like a thread of shared humanity through even the grimmest of environments.
Rather than running away from danger, discomfort and hunger, these incredibly brave men and women stay behind to bring whatever respite, compassion and care they can to those who need it the most.
We must champion and fight for their access to people in the most desperate of circumstances.
He added:
We must do more to recognise their service, and more to protect them.
William has long supported aid workers, and met representatives from the British Red Cross and Palestine Red Crescent Society last year to hear about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the wider region – and the impact on staff.
In 2023, William and the Princess of Wales met rescuers from the Disaster Emergency Committee to thank them for their efforts after an earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
The United States will regard “any armed attack” on Qatari territory as a threat to Washington and will provide the Gulf Arab state with security guarantees, the White House said, after an Israeli strike on the country last month.
“In light of the continuing threats to the state of Qatar posed by foreign aggression, it is the policy of the United States to guarantee the security and territorial integrity of the state of Qatar against external attack,” said an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump on Monday.
In the event of an attack on Qatar, the US will “take all lawful and appropriate measures – including diplomatic, economic, and, if necessary, military – to defend the interests of the United States and of the state of Qatar and to restore peace and stability,” the order said, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The agreement comes after an Israeli strike on the key US regional ally on 9 September, targeting officials from the Palestinian armed group Hamas who were discussing a US peace proposal for the war in Gaza.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Qatar’s prime minister from the White House on Monday, apologising for strikes and promising not to do so again, the US said. Netanyahu was in Washington to meet Trump, and had until then been defiant since ordering the 9 September strikes.
Qatar is a key US ally in the Gulf and hosts the largest US military base in the region at al-Udeid, which also includes a regional headquarters for elements of US Central Command.
Here are some more images coming in via the newswires:
On Wednesday, Egypt’s foreign minister Bader Abdelatty said US President Donald Trump’s proposal for ending the nearly two-year war in Gaza requires more negotiations on certain elements, echoing remarks made by Qatar a day earlier.
Hamas has said it would study the plan, both within the group and with other Palestinian factions, before responding.
The comments by Qatar and Egypt, two key mediators, appeared to reflect Arab countries’ discontent over the text of the 20-point plan that the White House put out after Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced they had agreed on it Monday.
The plan, which has received wide international support, requires Hamas to release hostages, leave power in Gaza and disarm in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners and an end to fighting. The plan guarantees the flow of humanitarian aid and promises reconstruction in Gaza, placing it and its more than 2 million Palestinians under international governance. However, it sets no path to Palestinian statehood.
According to the Associated Press (AP), the Palestinian government in the occupied West Bank said earlier it welcomed the plan, as did the governments of Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The Israeli army said sirens sounded in communities near the Gaza Strip on Wednesday afternoon, after “two projectiles” crossed from there into Israel. No injuries were reported, it added.
Carter Sherman
The Trump administration has filed a first-of-its-kind civil rights lawsuit against pro-Palestinian groups and activists, accusing the advocates of violating a law that has traditionally been used to protect reproductive health clinics from anti-abortion harassment and violence.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday by the justice department’s civil rights division, alleges that two advocacy groups and six people broke the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (Face) Act when they protested against an event at a West Orange, New Jersey, synagogue in November 2024. The event at the Ohr Torah synagogue promoted the sale of property in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are widely considered illegal under international law. Similar events have sparked protests in the years since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, but this event escalated into violence.
One man, a pro-Israel counterprotester, pepper-sprayed a pro-Palestinian demonstrator, while another counterprotester bashed the same demonstrator in the head with a flashlight, according to a local news outlet. Local New Jersey prosecutors ultimately filed charges against the two counterprotestors on multiple counts, including aggravated assault. (The pair have denied the accusations against them.)
The lawsuit filed by the Trump administration portrays the pro-Palestinian advocates as the aggressors. It alleges that some of the advocates physically assaulted at least one pro-Israel protester, effectively used vuvuzelas “as weapons” – arguing that the horns are “reasonably known to lead to permanent noise-induced hearing loss” – and ultimately disrupted both a memorial service and a lecture on the Torah.
“These violent protesters meant their actions for evil, but we will use this case to bring forth good: the protection of all Americans’ religious liberty,” Harmeet K Dhillon, an assistant attorney general in the justice department’s civil rights division, said in a press conference on Monday.
The Trump administration is asking a court to fine the pro-Palestinian demonstrators more than $30,000 for their first violation of the Face Act, and roughly $50,000 for each subsequent violation.
One of the groups named in the lawsuit, American Muslims for Palestine-New Jersey, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The national branch of another group, the Party for Socialism and Liberation-New Jersey, also did not immediately respond. The other defendants could not be immediately reached for comment.
Iranian authorities on Wednesday approved a bill toughening penalties for those convicted of spying on behalf of Israel and the United States, months after the 12-day war between the foes.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that the bill was presented to parliament on 23 June, as Iran and Israel were engaged in a war that saw unprecedented Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic, which the US briefly joined.
Iran’s president must sign off on the bill before it goes into effect. It comes after dozens of people were captured by authorities on suspicion of spying for Israel and the US in the aftermath of the war.
The text approving “tougher sanctions for spying and collaborating with the Zionist regime [Israel] and hostile countries, including the United States, on security and national interests” was approved, said the Guardians’ Council, the body responsible for overseeing legislation.
It did not specify which other countries were considered “hostile”, according to state news agency IRNA, but said “all deliberate assistance is condemned as corruption on Earth” – one of the most serious charges in Iran, punishable by death.
The previous, existing law did not specify particular countries, and espionage was not necessarily considered a capital offence.
The new bill sets a penalty of up to two years for “using, transporting, buying or selling unlicensed internet devices such as Starlink”, which is often used to access restricted online content, reports AFP.
It also outlaws sending videos and images to “hostile or foreign channels that … could undermine national security”, an offence punishable by up to five years in prison, according to IRNA. The bill moreover bans “all illegal marches and gatherings during wartime”.
On Monday, Donald Trump and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, stood together as they unveiled their plan to end the war in Gaza. But it was a 20-point proposal with precious little detail, drawn up with no involvement from Hamas or other Palestinians.
The Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief, David Smith, speaks to Reged Ahmad on whether this proposal is a roadmap to peace or just theatrics by the US president in the latest episode of Guardian Australia’s Full Story podcast:
Israeli defence minister issues final warning for Gaza City residents to flee
Israel’s defence minister has said the military would tighten its encirclement of Gaza City, issuing a final warning for residents there to flee south.
“This is the last opportunity for Gaza residents who wish to do so to move south and leave Hamas operatives isolated in Gaza City,” Israel Katz said in a statement shared with Israeli media on Wednesday.
Those who remain… will be considered terrorists and terrorist supporters.”
The World Health Organization has warned that more than 40% of pregnant women in the Gaza Strip are malnourished. Here, Nour Ziad al-Batsh, who is expecting her third child in March, describes her daily struggle to find food and healthcare:
This pregnancy is not like my others. I have not been allowed to feel the joy I felt last time, to plan for the future and dream about where my child will go to school and how to decorate his room. In Gaza these days, I can only wonder whether I can find food to keep my baby healthy and how it will be to give birth in a tent.
The natural joys I felt for the births of my daughter and son have been overwhelmed by depression, fear and anxiety because of this continuing genocide.
Displacement has made us bankrupt. I have run out of food. My health condition is critical because of pregnancy. I have bleeding due to blood formation inside the uterus as a result of extreme fatigue. I went to Doctors Without Borders and was classified as a malnourished patient. I was transferred to a specialised clinic to examine my pregnancy. The result was they say my pregnancy is high-risk. I will most likely lose my baby.
I need to stay in the hospital. But the hospital does not have the capacity for me to stay.
I constantly have questions for myself about where I will give birth and whether the baby will be healthy. Will I find healthcare when I need it and will there be food for the baby? If I cannot find a home to live in, then will the baby be able to stay alive in a tent?
I feel dizzy all the time due to lack of food and weakness. I sleep most of the time and suffer from tremors due to hunger.
Read on here:
Hamas officials want amendments to clauses in US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan including on disarmament, a Palestinian source close to the group’s leadership told Agence France-Press (AFP) on Wednesday.
Hamas negotiators held discussions on Tuesday with Turkish, Egyptian and Qatari officials in Doha, the source said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters and adding that the group needed “two or three days at most” to respond.
Trump’s plan, backed by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for a ceasefire, the release of hostages by Hamas within 72 hours, the group’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
But the Palestinian source told AFP:
Hamas wants to amend some of the clauses such as the one on disarmament and the expulsion of Hamas and faction cadres.
Hamas leaders also want “international guarantees for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip” and guarantees that no assassinations attempts will be made inside or outside the territory.
Six people were killed in an Israeli attack last month on Hamas officials meeting in Doha to discuss an earlier ceasefire proposal.
The source said Hamas was also in touch with “other regional and Arab parties”, without giving details.
