Middle East crisis live: Israeli military says it did not strike vehicle carrying UN observers near Lebanese border | Israel

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said five people were killed and dozens injured by gunfire and a stampede during an aid delivery on Saturday in Gaza.

AFP video footage shows a convoy of trucks moving quickly past burning debris near the distribution point in pre-dawn darkness as people shout and gunfire echoes – some of which was warning shots, witnesses said.

The PRCS said it happened after thousands of people gathered for the arrival of around 15 trucks of flour and other food, which was supposed to be handed out at Gaza City’s Kuwait roundabout, in the territory’s north.

The roundabout has been the scene of several chaotic and deadly aid distribution incidents, including one on 23 March in which the Hamas-run government said 21 people were killed by Israeli fire – a charge Israel denied.

The PRCS said three of the five killed early Saturday had been shot.

Eyewitnesses told AFP that Palestinians overseeing the aid delivery shot in the air, but Israeli troops in the area also opened fire and some moving trucks hit people trying to get the food. AFP contacted the Israeli military for comment.

A UN-backed report warned on 19 March that half of Palestinians are experiencing “catastrophic” hunger, with famine projected to hit the north of the territory unless there is urgent intervention.

The report estimated that 1.1 million people – half the population, according to UN data – were facing catastrophic conditions.

The situation is particularly dire in the north of Gaza, where the UN says there are about 300,000 people – and where the report said famine was “imminent… projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May”.

Israeli military say they did not carry out an airstrike on a vehicle carrying UN observers in southern Lebanon on Saturday, according to Reuters.

“Contrary to the reports, the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] did not strike a Unifil vehicle in the area of Rmeish this morning,” the military said.

Earlier (see 09:20 GMT) two security sources told Reuters that an Israeli strike on Saturday had hit a vehicle carrying UN observers outside the southern Lebanese border town of Rmeish

Reuters repoted that there was no immediate comment from the UN peacekeeper mission in southern Lebanon Unifil, which accompanies technical observers monitoring the Blue Line, which delineates the border between Lebanon and Israel.

We will update with further information as it comes in on the newswires.

An Israeli strike on Saturday hit a vehicle carrying UN observers outside the southern Lebanese border town of Rmeish, two security sources told Reuters.

There was no immediate comment from the UN peacekeeper mission in southern Lebanon Unifil, which accompanies technical observers monitoring the Blue Line, which delineates the border between Lebanon and Israel.

The US has welcomed the formation of a new Palestinian autonomy government, signaling it is accepting the revised cabinet lineup as a step toward Palestinian political reform, reports the Associated Press (AP).

The Biden administration has called for “revitalizing” the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority in hopes that it can also administer the Gaza Strip once the Israel-Hamas war ends.

In a statement late on Friday, the AP reports that US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US looks forward to working with the new group of ministers “to deliver on credible reforms.”

“A revitalized PA is essential to delivering results for the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza and establishing the conditions for stability in the broader region,” Miller said.

The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It is headed by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who has not faced an election in almost two decades.

The United States sees the Palestinian Authority as a key part of its preferred plans for post-war Gaza. But the authority has little popular support or legitimacy among Palestinians, with many viewing it as a subcontractor of the occupation because of its security cooperation with Israel in the West Bank.

Earlier this month, Abbas tapped Mohammad Mustafa, a US-educated economist, as prime minister. According to the AP, on Thursday, Mustafa named his new lineup. It includes relatively unknown technocrats, but also Abbas’ interior minister and several members of the secular Fatah movement he leads. Several of the ministers are from Gaza, but it’s not clear if they are currently living there.

The Islamic militant group Hamas, a rival of Abbas, drove his security forces from Gaza in a 2007 takeover. The US wants a reformed Palestinian Authority to return and administer Gaza, an idea that has been rejected by both Israel and Hamas.

The US in recent days authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, two sources familiar with the effort said on Friday, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah.

The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK-84 2,000lb bombs and 500 MK-82 500lb bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post.

Washington gives $3.8bn in annual military assistance to Israel, its longtime ally.

The package comes as Israel faces strong international criticism over its continued bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza and as some members of Joe Biden’s party call for him to cut US military aid.

The US has been rushing air defenses and munitions to Israel, but some Democrats and Arab American groups have criticized the Biden administration’s steadfast support of Israel, which they say provides it with a sense of impunity.

Biden on Friday acknowledged “the pain being felt” by many Arab Americans over the war in Gaza and over US support for Israel and its military offensive.

Still, he has vowed continued support for Israel despite an increasingly public rift with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

The White House declined comment on the weapons transfers.

The Israeli embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Fighting raged unabated in Gaza on Friday, including around its few functioning hospitals, despite a binding UN security council resolution earlier this week demanding an “immediate ceasefire”.

The news agency, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry said dozens of people were killed overnight.

Among them were 12 people killed in their home in the southern city of Rafah, which has been bombed repeatedly ahead of a threatened Israeli ground operation.

Men worked under the light of mobile phones to free people trapped under the debris, AFPTV images showed.

The Israeli army said on Friday it was “continuing precise operation activities in Shifa hospital”, where it began a raid early last week.

Troops first raided al-Shifa hospital in November, but the army claims Palestinian militants have since returned. About 200 militants were killed during the latest al-Shifa operation, it said.

In north Gaza’s Shati refugee camp, Amany, a 44-year-old mother of seven, described how it felt to live under relentless Israeli bombardment.

She said:

Explosions and airstrikes go on throughout the night, it’s petrifying. I feel like I’m living a continuous nightmare that doesn’t want to end.

It has just gone 10.30am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. This is our latest Guardian live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.

The US has authorised the transfer of billions of dollars’ worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, two sources said on Friday, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in the southern city of Rafah.

The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK-84 2,000lb (900kg) bombs and 500 MK-82 500lb bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post.

The White House declined to comment.

Meanwhile, fighting raged on unabated in Gaza on Friday, including around its few functioning hospitals. The Hamas-run ministry of health in Gaza said dozens of people were killed overnight, including 12 killed in their home in Rafah.

In other key developments:

• The Palestinian death toll in Israel’s offensive on Gaza since 7 October has risen to at least 32,623, with 75,092 injured, according to the strip’s health ministry.

• Famine is already probably present in at least some areas of northern Gaza, while other areas are in danger of falling into conditions of starvation, the US state department said on Friday, a day after the world’s top court ordered Israel to admit food aid into the territory. More trucks distributing aid were needed, a department official said.

• Israeli strikes on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo killed dozens of people, including five members of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, early on Friday, two security sources told Reuters. The Israeli attack targeted an area near Hezbollah rocket depots, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

• The Israeli military said it had killed Ali Abed Akhsan Naim, deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missiles unit, in an airstrike in Lebanon’s Bazouriye area.

• The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has agreed to send delegations to Egypt and Qatar for a new round of talks to secure the release of Israeli hostages as part of a possible Gaza ceasefire deal, his office said. Those talks appeared deadlocked in recent days despite a major push by the US and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar to secure a truce in time for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, now more than halfway through.

• The US state department said it welcomed the nomination of a new Palestinian Authority cabinet. A “revitalised” Palestina Authority was essential to delivering results for Palestinians and “establishing the conditions for stability in the broader region”, it said. Separately, the US pushed back against claims it has eased sanctions against seven Israeli settlers and two farming outposts in the West Bank after pressure from Israel’s finance minister.