Middle East crisis live: Ceasefire deal possible within 24 to 48 hours if Israel accepts demands, Hamas official says

Local residents amid the rubble of an apartment building destroyed in Israeli attacks in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, on Saturday.

LIVE – Updated at 09:50

Senior Hamas official says if Israel accepts demand for military withdrawal from Gaza and increase in aid, it would pave way for agreement.

Most Palestinians killed near aid trucks died in stampede – IDF

09:50

Israel’s military has completed a preliminary review of the killing of over 100 Palestinian people near aid trucks last week, which determined that Israeli forces did not strike the convoy and that most Palestinians died in a stampede, the military spokesperson has said.

Palestinian authorities say, however, that Israeli forces carried out a massacre, opening fire on a crowd of people who had gathered in the hope that food would be distributed.

“The IDF has concluded an initial review of the unfortunate incident where Gazan civilians were trampled to death and injured as they charged to the aid convoy,” IDF spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari said on Sunday.

The review, he said, which gathered information from commanders and forces in the field, determined that no strike was carried out towards the aid convoy.

Hagari said:

The majority of Palestinians were killed or injured as a result of the stampede.

Following the warning shots fired to disperse the stampede and after our forces had started retreating, several looters approached our forces and posed an immediate threat to them. According to the initial review, the soldiers responded toward several individuals.

This account stands in stark contrast to that of Gaza health officials, who said last week that at least 112 people were killed and 280 injured after Israeli forces opened fire on the aid distribution point.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said it was an “ugly massacre conducted by the Israeli occupation army on people who waited for aid trucks at the Nabulsi roundabout”.

France’s foreign ministry said “the fire by Israeli soldiers against civilians trying to access food is unjustifiable”.

09:49

Gaza’s health ministry says that 15 children have died from malnutrition and dehydration at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza City.

Al Jazeera reports:

On Friday, the hospital director announced the death of seven children, noting that they suffered from severe dehydration and malnutrition.

The hospital has been out of service for months due to Israel’s attacks and lack of fuel and medicine.

Death toll in Gaza reaches 30,410, says health ministry

09:17

At least 30,410 Palestinians have been killed and 71,700 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Most of the casualties have been women and children, the ministry has said, and thousands more bodies are likely to remain uncounted under rubble across Gaza.

The health ministry in the Gaza strip said at least 90 Palestinians had been killed by Israel in the past 24 hours, including 14 family members whose house in the southern Rafah refugee camp had been hit.

Truce possible ‘within 24 to 48 hours’ if Israel accepts demands – Hamas official

09:15

A senior Hamas official told AFP that if Israel were to meet its demands – which include a military withdrawal from Gaza and stepped-up humanitarian aid – this would “pave the way for an agreement within the next 24-48 hours”.

Envoys from the US, Qatar and Hamas have reportedly already arrived in Cairo, as all sides have been scrambling to agree a truce before Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month that begins on March 10/11.

Opening summary

08:53

Welcome to our latest live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and wider Middle East crisis. Here’s an overview of the latest news.

A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, on Sunday to hold ceasefire talks on Gaza, a senior official told Reuters, after talks took place in Doha, the Qatari capital, on Saturday.

The delegation is being led by Hamas’ deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, the official said.

Israel is reported to be close to accepting a six-week ceasefire proposal for Gaza, a senior Biden administration official told several US news outlets on Saturday. The official said there was a “framework deal” and Israel had “more or less accepted” a ceasefire to allow for the release of Hamas-held hostages in Gaza and to allow aid into the territory that has been devastated by four months of bombardment, killing more than 30,000 people. However, the official said a “defined category of vulnerable hostages” had not yet been agreed – a sticking point to an agreement.

In the Red Sea, the US military confirmed on Saturday that the UK-owned vessel Rubymar had sunk after being struck by an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by Yemeni Houthi militants on 18 February.

“The approximately 21,000 metric tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer that the vessel was carrying presents an environmental risk in the Red Sea,” US Central Command said.

In other developments:

Israeli forces struck tents housing displaced Palestinians near a hospital in Rafah, killing 11 people and injuring dozens on Saturday, according to Gaza’s health officials. A paramedic was among those killed and children were also injured in the strikes, which occurred near the Emirati maternity hospital, a spokesperson for the Gaza health ministry said.

The US air force began airdrops of aid over Gaza on Saturday in a joint operation with Jordan in a last-resort attempt to get food into the besieged strip as mass starvation looms. US and Jordanian planes dropped 38,000 meals in the first of a series of airdrops that US President Joe Biden announced on Friday, US officials said.

Israeli forces arrested 14 members of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), the organisation said. In a tweet on Saturday, it said: “PRCS expresses deep concern for the safety of its detained teams, whose fate remains unknown, and calls on the international community to urgently intervene to pressure the Israeli occupation authorities to immediately release our detained colleagues.”

The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, will meet with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz on Monday, a White House official told Reuters. The meeting was expected to cover topics including reducing Palestinian casualties, securing a temporary ceasefire, hostage release and an increase in aid flow.

Hamas delegation arrives in Cairo for Gaza ceasefire talks

08:49

As we mentioned in our opening summary, Reuters has reported that a Hamas delegation has arrived in Cairo to hold sensitive ceasefire talks on Gaza.

The delegation is being led by Hamas’ deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, a senior official told the outlet.

A Palestinian official familiar with the truce talks told Reuters that they were not yet close to finalising a deal, when asked if one was imminent.

An Israeli delegation is also expected to arrive in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, to take part in the talks.

US officials have claimed that Israel has provisionally accepted a six-week phased hostage and ceasefire deal which would begin with the release of wounded, elderly and female hostages, but it was unclear on Saturday whether Hamas would accept it.

08:22

The Israeli military said on Sunday it intensified operations in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, with the air force and artillery hitting about 50 targets within six minutes, it said, in an attempt to “intensify operational achievements in the area”.

“During the strikes, the troops destroyed terrorist infrastructure and eliminated Hamas terrorists who were operating from civilian facilities in urban areas,” it said.