Israel Gaza war live news: Three-quarters of child patients near Rafah ‘safe zone’ have blast injuries, says charity

A Canadian man “of Jewish Israeli descent” has been shot dead in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in a suspected criminal case, a security source said, while a previously unknown militant group said it carried out the attack in reaction to the war in Gaza.

The Egyptian security source said the man had been killed “with the motive of robbery” and made no link between the shooting and the victim’s ethnic background.

But a message on Telegram by a previously unknown group called “Vanguards of Liberation” claimed responsibility for the attack as a reaction to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and its move to seize control of the Rafah crossing on Egypt’s border with the enclave. It named the victim as Ziv Kipper, accusing him of working for Israeli intelligence.

Recap: United Nations officials have warned that vital aid is being “choked off” after Israeli forces and tanks seized control of the main aid crossing in Rafah:

A student encampment protest at Trinity College Dublin is to end after management agreed to the demands of protesters wanting the university to cut all ties with Israel.

Visitors have been unable to access the historic Book of Kells since action began on Friday evening when the activists set up tents inside the campus of the prestigious institution.

University management met student representatives on Wednesday to discuss the situation.

In a statement, Trinity said it would complete a divestment from investments in Israeli companies that have activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and appear on the UN blacklist in this regard.

This process is expected to be completed by June.

It said it would “endeavour” to divest in other Israeli companies, noting that its supplier list contains just one Israeli company which will remain until March 2025 for contractual reasons.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN called has called Washington’s decision to delay a shipment of powerful bombs to Israel “very disappointing”.

But Gilad Erdan said he did not believe the US would stop supplying arms to Israel.

Washington said it had held up the shipment to prevent Palestinian civilian casualties.

A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington had carefully reviewed the delivery of weapons that might be used in Rafah and as a result suspended a shipment of 1,800 2,000lb (907kg) bombs and 1,700 500lb bombs.

This would be the first such delay since the Biden administration offered its “ironclad” support to Israel after Hamas’ October attack.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the decision was taken in the context of Israel’s plan to invade Rafah, which Washington opposes without civilian safeguards.

Police began to clear a Pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University early Wednesday, hours after dozens of protesters left the site and marched to President Ellen Granberg’s home.

“Officers gave their third and final warning to demonstrators to move at about 3:30 a.m., saying all who remained in U-Yard and the stretch of H Street in front of the plaza would be arrested,” according to GW Hatchet, the university’s independent student-run newspaper.

The main maternity hospital in the Gaza Strip’s crowded southern city of Rafah has stopped admitting patients, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has reported.

The UNFPA told Reuters that the hospital, Emirati Maternity Hospital, had been handling some 85 out of a daily total of 180 births in Gaza prior to an escalation of fighting between Hamas and Israeli troops on Rafah’s outskirts.

Around half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been crowded into Rafah after fleeing other parts of the enclave during seven months of war.

Emirati Hospital has only five delivery beds. But following the mass influx of people into Rafah that began in December due to Israeli airstrikes and fighting further north, the hospital became the main place for women to give birth in Rafah, Dominic Allen, the UN’s top official for the occupied Palestinian territories.

Other hospitals in the city, like Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital, have for months been admitting war wounded and directing women in labour to Emirati.

There is only enough fuel to run health services in the south of Gaza for three more days, the World Health Organization has said.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge in the south of Gaza from combat further north in the Palestinian enclave. Israel has threatened a major assault on the southern city of Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are holed up there, and its troops are now battling the Islamist group on Rafah’s outskirts.

The WHO said a delivery of fuel to the area had been denied on Wednesday. It also said that Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah was already no longer functional, one of three hospitals in the city. Some of its equipment has been moved to field hospitals, WHO said.

“WHO has pre-positioned some supplies in warehouses and hospitals, but without more aid flowing into Gaza, we cannot sustain our life-saving support to hospitals,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, adding that WHO would remain in the area to provide health services.

Having expected Hamas to reject – not accept – a ceasefire deal, the Israeli prime minister was primed to launch his long-planned offensive on Rafah. Will he now bow to pressure from the US and the families of Israeli hostages and hold off the assault? Kim Sengupta reports