Middle East crisis: Israel to join Cairo talks on Gaza truce and hostage release, says official – as it happened

The Israeli military has withdrawn all ground troops from the southern Gaza Strip except for one brigade, a military spokesperson has said, according to Reuters.

An Israeli brigade is typically made up of a few thousand troops.

The military did not immediately provide further details, and it was unclear whether the withdrawal would delay a long-threatened incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the last refuge for more than a million Palestinians sheltering in the territory near the border with Egypt.

The White House has said it will not support a Rafah operation without the Israelis presenting a credible plan to ensure the safety of Palestinian civilians.

Israeli officials have said that Rafah is Hamas’ last major stronghold in Gaza.

At least 33,175 Palestinian people have been killed and 75,886 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

There have been 38 Palestinians killed and 71 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry statement added.

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

At least two Israelis have been injured in a shooting near the town of Nabi Ilyas in the northern occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera has cited the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation as having reported.

The army reportedly said it dispatched forces near the site of the attack “on Route 55 near the Nabi Ilyas junction in the Ephraim Brigade”.

Simon Harris, who is set to become Ireland’s youngest ever prime minister, has spoken to Sky News about Israel’s war in Gaza.

“What we’ve seen happen in Gaza and the actions of the Israeli government, is utterly reprehensible,” he said.

He described the Israeli attack that killed seven aid workers, including three people from the UK, as “callous and chilling”.

Harris said Ireland stood ready to play its part in a “political process that brings about a two state solution” to the conflict, adding that Ireland understood a lot about political solutions.

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said that preparations have been completed to handle any scenario that may develop with Iran.

The minister’s office made the statement after he held an “operational situation assessment” with senior military officers, according to Reuters.

“Upon completing the assessment, minister Gallant emphasised that the defense establishment has completed preparations for responses in the event of any scenario that may develop vis-a-vis Iran,” his office said.

It comes after Iran vowed revenge after an airstrike destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing at least 11 people last week, including a senior commander in the al-Quds force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Israel – which has not claimed responsibility for the attack – subsequently suspended leave for combat units and heightened its air defence command to deal with a possible retaliatory missile or drone attack from Iran.

Britain is not giving the IDF “carte blanche”, the UK’s deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, has said.

Dowden told Sky News:

We are not giving carte blanche and we have robust conversations with Israel. Indeed both our prime minister had conversations with prime minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu and the foreign secretary had conversations with his opposite number…

The manner in which some people are seizing on this issue and trying to hold Israel to incredibly high standards, of course it is right that we hold Israel to high standards, but I just think there is a bit of relish from some people about the way in which they are pushing this case against Israel.

Dowden said he would not go so far as to suggest this was coded antisemitism, but said people needed to remember the “trauma” Israelis are suffering.

“Of course Israel has made mistakes, and made big mistakes, and we should hold them to account for that, but we are holding them to a very high standard,” he added.

His comments come after the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, warned that Britain’s support for Israel is “not unconditional”, and as the UK government comes under intense pressure to end arm sales to Israel.

A missile has reported to have fallen near a ship southwest of the Yemeni port city of Aden.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said a “missile impacted the water in close proximity” to the ship. “No damage to the vessel reported and crew reported safe,” it said.

Security firm Ambrey also reported a “projectile” hitting the water near the ship, advising vessels in the vicinity to “exercise caution”.

The attack comes hours after two missiles targeted a ship southwest of the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, according to both the UKMTO and Ambrey.

One missile was intercepted by US-led coalition forces and the second missed the ship, UKMTO said.

Houthi rebels have launched dozens of missile and drone strikes on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November, saying their actions are in solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war.

Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, travelled to Oman on Sunday on the first leg of a regional tour, his ministry said, almost a week after Israel’s strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

Iran has vowed revenge after an airstrike destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing at least 11 people, including a senior commander in the al-Quds force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Iran’s leaders in Tehran described the targeting of a diplomatic mission as unprecedented and promised a harsh response.

While Israel has not officially acknowledged its involvement, the incident has the potential to further destabilise the already volatile region.

Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that runs Gaza, said on Saturday that they would send a delegation to Cairo for a new round of mediated talks beginning on Sunday.

Hamas reiterated its demands issued in a 14 March proposal before a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that was passed on 25 March.

The demands include a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, a return of the displaced, and a “serious” exchange deal of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages being held in Gaza, the statement said.

According to Israeli figures, about 250 Israelis and foreigners were taken during the Hamas attacks. About 129 hostages remain unaccounted for after being kidnapped.

Israel has repeatedly vowed that it will fight on in the Palestinian territory until Hamas is destroyed.

As refenced in our opening summary, the CIA director Bill Burns is reportedly expected to attend Sunday’s talks, along with the Qatari foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and possibly an Israeli delegation.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is under mounting pressure from the relatives of hostages who are being held captive in Gaza and from world leaders, including the US president, Joe Biden, his most powerful ally.

Biden last week called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza following the news of the Israeli airstrikes killing seven employees of the international food charity World Central Kitchen.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.

It has been six months since Israel launched its war on Gaza in response to the 7 October Hamas attacks on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 240 taken hostage.

On Sunday, negotiators plan to meet in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to try to reach a ceasefire deal, which has so far remained elusive despite several high-level attempts.

According to some media reports, CIA director Bill Burns and Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani will join negotiators from Egypt, Israel and Hamas.

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More on that in a moment. Here is a summary of some of the day’s other main events:

• The Israeli military has published the names of four soldiers killed in Gaza, bringing its losses in ground fighting to 604. The four commandos died on Saturday in southern Gaza, the military said in a statement. Hamas had claimed an ambush against Israeli forces in the southern town of Khan Younis on Saturday.

• Israel launched airstrikes on eastern Lebanon early on Sunday, hitting what it said were Hezbollah infrastructure sites after the armed group downed an Israeli drone over the country. The Israeli army said fighter jets struck a military complex and three other infrastructure sites belonging to Hezbollah in the eastern city of Baalbek. It said the latest attack was in response to Iran-backed Hezbollah’s downing of a drone in Lebanese airspace.

• UK support for Israel is “not unconditional”, the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, wrote in the Sunday Times, after the killing of seven World Central Kitchen staff by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. “Of course our backing is not unconditional,” he writes. “We expect such a proud and successful democracy to abide by international humanitarian law, even when challenged in this way.”

• Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Saturday to protest against Benjamin Netanyahu. Organisers said about 100,000 people converged at a Tel Aviv crossroads renamed, Democracy Square, since mass protests against controversial judicial reforms last year.

• Israel’s war in Gaza has escalated into a “betrayal of humanity”, the UN’s humanitarian chief said. In a statement on the eve of the six-month anniversary of the war, Martin Griffiths, the outgoing under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, called for a “collective determination that there be a reckoning for this betrayal of humanity”.

• Iran has threatened retaliation for the deaths of seven Revolutionary Guards in a strike on Damascus, with the army chief saying his country’s enemies will “regret” the killings. Tehran has vowed to avenge Monday’s airstrike on the Syrian capital it blamed on Israel.

• Israel’s army said on Saturday its troops recovered the body of a hostage abducted by Palestinian militants during the 7 October attack on southern Israeli communities. “The body of the abductee Elad Katzir, who according to intelligence was murdered in captivity by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation, was rescued overnight from Khan Younis and returned to Israeli territory,” the army said in a statement.

• The sister of Elad Katzir has blamed Israeli authorities for his death, saying he would have returned alive had the authorities agreed to a new truce deal. “Elad was kidnapped from his home in Nir Oz in one piece,” Carmit Palty Katzir, his sister, wrote on her Facebook page. “Our leadership is cowardly and driven by political consideration, which is why this deal has not happened yet,” she wrote.