Israeli cabinet approves deal for pause in fighting – as it happened

Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting for Al Jazeera from Khan Younis in Gaza, has told the network: “In the last hour, new airstrikes targeted a residential building in the Nuseirat refugee camp, where several Palestinians were wounded. The same camp was targeted this morning in an attack that killed 20 Palestinians. In the north, attacks continued in the vicinity of the Indonesian hospital and Kamal Adwan hospital.”

Israel is again telling residents in northern Gaza to move to the south of the territory, saying that it is opening up a corridor via the Salah Al-Din Road until 4pm local time (2pm GMT).

The Israeli military Arabic spokesperson has also said that “a temporary tactical suspension of military activities” will operate until 2pm local time (noon GMT) in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood area, west of Rafah.

UN agencies estimate that 1.7 million Palestinians have fled their homes since Israel began its campaign against Hamas on 7 October. A small number of foreign nationals have been able to exit Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, but the vast majority remain internally displaced while the entire Gaza Strip is bombarded by Israel’s air force and resources are blockaded.

German authorities on Tuesday raided the homes of 17 people in the state of Bavaria accused of spreading antisemitic hate speech and threats targeting Jews online.

According to the Bavarian criminal police, the suspects were 15 men and two women, aged between 18 and 62, German news agency dpa reported. Police questioned the suspects and confiscated evidence from their homes, including mobile phones and laptops, the agency said.

The suspects were said to have celebrated the attacks by Hamas on Israel on 7 October, and were accused of spreading hate speech against Jewish people on social media, using symbols of banned terrorist organisations, AP reports.

The police operation focused on Bavaria’s capital city of Munich.

“Unfortunately, antisemitism has an impact on the daily life of many Jews in Germany,” Michael Weinzierl, the Bavarian police commissioner against hate crime said, “the terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel also has an impact on their lives in Germany”.

It is noon in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here are the latest headlines …

• Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said early on Tuesday morning that Hamas is “close to” a truce agreement with Israel. “We are close to reaching a deal on a truce,” Haniyeh said, adding that the group has delivered its response to Qatari mediators.

• Hamas official Izzat el Reshiq told Al Jazeera that ongoing talks were for a truce that would last “a number of days” and include arrangements for the entry of aid in to Gaza, and a swap of hostages taken by Hamas for people imprisoned by Israel.

• Two sources familiar with the truce talks told AFP a tentative deal includes a five-day truce, comprising a ceasefire on the ground and limits to Israeli air operations over southern Gaza. In return, between 50 and 100 prisoners held by Hamas and Islamic Jihad – a separate Palestinian militant group – would be released. They would include Israeli civilians and captives of other nationalities, but no military personnel.

• Qatar’s prime minister said on Sunday that a deal to free some of the hostages in return for a temporary ceasefire hinged on “minor” practical issues.

• Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir issued a statement Tuesday morning warning against a deal.

• Israel’s air force has posted to social media to claim that in the last 24 hours it has “struck approximately 250 Hamas terror targets”. The Israeli military also issued a video of its troops in action within the Gaza Strip, claiming that “division 162 completed the encirclement of Jabalia tonight and is ready for the continuation of the attack”.

• Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesperson for the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, has claimed this morning that Israeli airstrikes targeted the house of the deputy undersecretary of the health ministry, with at least 17 people killed.

• Israel’s military has issued a statement to say that fire is again being exchanged over the UN-drawn blue line boundary between Israel and Lebanon. There are unconfirmed media reports that two journalists and one other person have been killed in the region.

Reuters has a quick snap that Lebanese state media is reporting two journalists and one other person have been killed in southern Lebanon near the UN-drawn boundary between Israel and Lebanon.

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has already produced the deadliest month for journalists since statistics began more than three decades ago.

More details soon …

Interfax reports that the Russia’s ministry of emergency situations says it has delivered more humanitarian aid to Egypt for Gaza, with a plane departing for El-Arish airport at 6.20am Moscow time.

The ministry said it had sent seven previous shipments, including “mattresses, pillows, personal hygiene products, food and baby food.”

Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesperson for the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, has spoken to Al Jazeera. It reports he told them:

Israeli airstrikes targeted the house of the deputy undersecretary of the health ministry this morning. There were 56 of his relatives in the house who were displaced from different areas of Gaza. Rescue teams managed to find 17 bodies while the rest are still under the rubble.

The claims have not been independently verified.

Israel’s military has issued a statement to say that fire is again being exchanged over the UN-drawn blue line boundary between Israel and Lebanon.

On the Telegram messaging app it wrote:

A short while ago, IDF aircraft identified and struck three armed terrorist cells in the area of the border with Lebanon. In addition, IDF fighter jets struck a number of Hezbollah terror targets, including military infrastructure and structures used for directing terrorist activity. A short while ago, terrorists fired mortar shells at an IDF post in northern Israel. No injuries were reported. IDF artillery is currently striking the source of the fire.

Toby Fricker of Unicef has spoken to the BBC, saying the agency would act to bring in aid to Gaza if there was a deal on a truce. He told the broadcaster from Amman:

If there’s an immediate humanitarian ceasefire which Unicef and many others have been calling for, then yes, then we need to bring in the supplies as quickly as we can and to get them to shelters, to get them to people wherever they are inside the Gaza Strip, wherever they are in need, which is pretty much everywhere.

A newly formed group made up of senior officials from several Muslim countries will visit the UN security council’s five permanent members and others to urge an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, a Turkish foreign ministry source told Reuters on Tuesday.

The group will meet British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and French president, Emmanuel Macron, during visits to Britain and France on Wednesday, the source said.

The group includes foreign ministers and representatives from Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, the Palestinian Authority, as well as the Organisation of Islamic cooperation (OIC) secretary general.

“The primary goal of the contact group is for a ceasefire to be announced as soon as possible and for humanitarian aid to be sent to Gaza,” the source told Reuters.