Gaza live: Netanyahu says he will invade Rafah 'with or without a deal'
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On Tuesday, United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths cautioned that despite worldwide appeals for Israel to refrain from targeting Rafah in the Gaza Strip, "a ground operation there is on the immediate horizon."
He also said in a statement that Israeli improvements to aid access in Gaza "cannot be used to prepare for or justify a full-blown military assault on Rafah."
On Tuesday, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres voiced concern over reports of mass graves unearthed in Gaza, which included sites at two hospitals.
He also raised allegations that those buried may have been unlawfully killed, stressing the need for an independent investigation.
"It is imperative that independent international investigators with forensic expertise are allowed the immediate access to the sites of these mass graves to establish the precise circumstances under which the Palestinians lost their lives and were buried or reburied," Guterres said.
State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Tuesday that the United States has yet to receive a credible Israeli plan for a military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah that would adequately address its concerns.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to proceed with the operation despite international apprehension regarding the fate of over 1 million Palestinians seeking shelter there.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would present a list of further actions required from Israel's leaders to facilitate the increased delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza, ahead of scheduled meetings in Israel on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters at a warehouse of the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization, Blinken announced that aid shipments from US-based charities were being assembled.
He also said that the initial aid shipments directly from Jordan to the Erez crossing, also known as the Beit Hanoun crossing, in northern Gaza would depart on Tuesday.
According to a French diplomatic source, France’s foreign minister said to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that launching an offensive in Rafah is a "bad idea" and would not lead to any resolution to the war in Gaza.
"It is a bad idea to do it. There are too many uncertainties over the humanitarian issues", Stephane Sejourne told Netanyahu during a meeting at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, the source with direct knowledge of the conversation said.
In a statement released by the White House, President Biden condemned the ongoing protests that have sweeped college campuses across the country.
The president said that he "respects the right to free expression", but went on to say that "forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful - it is wrong".
On Monday night, student protesters at Columbia University occupied Hamilton Hall, after the demonstrators had a stand off with administration over their encampment raised in solidarity with Gaza.
Biden also condemned the use of the word "intifada", which has often been used during pro-Palestinian rallies on college campuses.
"[President Biden] condemns the use of the term 'intifada', as he has the other tragic and dangerous hate speech displayed in recent days," the White House statement said.
The intifada refers to two different Palestinian uprisings against Israel's occupation, and has been characterised by mass protests, civil disobedience, as well as well-organised strikes.
In an interview with Time, former US President Donald Trump didn't rule out a withdrawal of military aid to Israel over its ongoing war on Gaza.
In the interview, Trump was asked: "Would you consider withholding aid?"
Trump responded: "I think that Israel has done one thing very badly: public relations. I don't think that the Israel Defence [Forces] or any other group should be sending out pictures every night of buildings falling down and being bombed with possibly people in those buildings every single night, which is what they do."
He was then asked whether he would rule out withholding or conditioning aid, to which he said: "No."
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The White House said that Israel will open a new crossing into northern Gaza this week after a request from US President Joe Biden.
Biden made the request during a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The White House added that more than 200 aid trucks are entering Gaza each day.
The International Court of Justice ruled against issuing emergency orders to stop German arms exports to Israel, however, the court didn't grant Berlin's request to throw out the case.
This leaves room for the case to still potentially move forward.
Germany's foreign ministry welcomed the ruling, saying on X: "Nobody is above the law. This guides our actions."
Lawyers acting on behalf of Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Dutch city of The Hague are worried arrest warrants against Israeli officials may have been issued secretly, according to Israeli media.
A report by Ynet says lawyers are concerned that Israeli officials may only find out about the warrants without warning after arriving in European countries.
The report said that the basis of such warrants could be statements made by many Israeli leaders during the course of the ongoing war on Gaza, in which they warned Palestinians in the besieged territory that they would be denied food and aid.
A source who spoke to the media outlet said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is apparently using "threatening" tactics against the ICC's prosecutor Karim Khan, comparing his behaviour to an "elephant in a china shop".
READ MORE: Israeli officials worried about 'secret ICC arrest warrants'
French Foreign Minister Stephane Serjoune said French officials are presenting the proposals made to Lebanese officials to calm tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
"A number of proposals that we made to the Lebanese side have been shared [with you]," he said ahead of a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz in Jerusalem
"We have a relationship with Lebanon, 20,000 citizens there and the war in 2006 was particularly dramatic for them," he added.
Sejourne was in Lebanon on Sunday where he met with several Lebanese officials, including some close to Hezbollah. He said he saw progress in the responses from Lebanese authorities.
The proposals are based on UN Resolution 1701, says Sejourne. The resolution calls for Hezbollah to disarm south of the Litani River and for Israeli to fully withdraw from Lebanese territories. Lebanon accused Israel in the past of violating the resolution on thousands of occasions.
The American fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has been forced to close over 100 of its Malaysian outlets amid a month’s long boycott campaign over US support for Israel's war on Gaza.
According to Chinese media, QSR Brands, which owns the fast-food franchise, KFC, had to temporarily shutter 108 of its 600 outlets across Malaysia, most of them in the Muslim-majority Kelantan state.
In a statement, QSR Brands cited “challenging economic conditions” for the closures and that employees had been offered the opportunity to relocate to busier stores, saying that the company contributes “positively to the Malaysian economy through job security for 18,000 team members in Malaysia, of which, approximately 85 percent are Muslims.”
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement is a global, pro-Palestine movement promoting boycotts, divestment and economic sanctions against Israel.
READ MORE: KFC Malaysia closes over 100 outlets amid Gaza boycott
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will invade Rafah, the southern Gaza city sheltering over a million displaced Palestinians, "with or without a deal".
Ceasefire and hostage release talks are ongoing between Israel and Hamas, as the latter is expected to send a written response to the latest offer soon.
Israeli authorities said security forces shot and killed a Turkish man who allegedly stabbed a police officer in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The Times of Israel say the stabbed officer is in "moderate condition".
