Live: UK halts trade deal talks with Israel, summons ambassador over Gaza

The UN's Children's Fund, Unicef, called for more aid to be allowed into Gaza on Tuesday.

" The supplies we have in Gaza to treat and prevent growing child malnutrition have declined rapidly since the aid blockade. They are almost gone," Unicef said on X.

"The initial delivery of aid in the last 24 hours is a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed," the UN agency added. 

The US private military contracting firm set to oversee Gaza aid distribution on Israel's behalf is actively hiring for positions on LinkedIn, according to job postings shared with Middle East Eye by current and former US officials.

The firm, Safe Reach Solutions, or SRS, says it is actively looking for “Humanitarian Liaison Officers” who will “serve as vital connectors between our operational teams and the broader humanitarian community,” according to one job description.

Another position on offer a week ago but has since closed is for a “Team Deputy/Manager” to support “day-to-day management, planning, and mission execution”.

A liaison officer position appears to be analytically focused. It says that hires will “advise on best practices for engaging with affected populations, local authorities, and community-based organizations” while monitoring developments that could impact “operational posture”.

The team deputy position is geared towards recruits with a background in operations. One of the requirements is “field experience in the Middle East, especially in conflict-affected or post-crisis settings”.

Read More: Mercenary firm set to oversee Gaza aid for Israel goes on LinkedIn hiring spree

More than 300 Palestinian deaths have occurred linked to malnutrition and lack of Medicine in Gaza, the besieged enclave's media office said on Tuesday.

At least 326 deaths have been linked to malnutrition and lack of medicine, the office said. While 300 miscarriages have occurred among pregnant women because of nutritional deficiencies.

Gaza needs at least 44,000 aid trucks to meet the minimum basic needs of the population, but Israel has allowed only a few dozen in. 

The UN said on Tuesday that no aid has been distributed in Gaza. 

Israeli soldiers stormed the village of Salfit, south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. 

Israel has ramped up its attacks across the occupied West Bank. 

Israeli settlers earlier on Tuesday wounded three Palestinians with gunfire in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. 

No aid has been distributed in the Gaza Strip, the UN said on Tuesday, despite Israel allowing some humanitarian aid to trickle into the besieged enclave. 

The UN said that Israel had allowed four trucks with baby food to enter the enclave, and a few dozen other trucks with flour, medicine, and nutrition supplies. However, the UN has not been able to distribute the supplies.

"Israeli authorities are requiring us to offload supplies on the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom crossing and reload them separately once they secure our team's access from inside the Gaza Strip,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

"Today, one of our teams waited several hours for the Israeli green light to access the Kerem Shalom area and collect the nutrition supplies. Unfortunately, they were not able to bring those supplies into our warehouse," he added. 

At least three Palestinians have been seriously wounded by a group of Israeli settlers who raided the Palestinian village of Beitillu on Tuesday, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. 

The settlers attacked several homes in the village and opened fire towards its residents with the protection of Israeli soldiers, the report said. 

The soldiers fired tear gas canisters and physically assaulted Palestinians who attempted to stop the attack. 

The EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said a "strong majority" of the bloc was in favour of reviewing its trade pact with Israel.

“The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The aid that Israel has allowed in is, of course, welcomed, but it’s a drop in the ocean. Aid must flow immediately, without disruption, and at scale, because this is what is needed,” Kallas said. 

“It is clear from today’s discussion that there is a strong majority in favour of review of article two of our association agreement with Israel. So we will launch this exercise, and in the meantime, it is up to Israel to unblock the humanitarian aid. Saving lives must be our top priority.”

The US has reached out to countries about accepting "voluntary" relocations of Palestinians, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday.

"There's no deportation," Rubio said. 

"What we have talked to some nations about is, if someone voluntarily and willingly says, I want to go somewhere else for some period of time because I'm sick, because my children need to go to school, or what have you, are there countries in the region willing to accept them for some period of time?" Rubio said.

Democratic Senator Jeff Merkely replied, if "there is no clean water, there is no food, and bombing is all around you, is that really a voluntary decision?"

Human Rights experts, Arab governments, and aid workers have refutted the premise that this process would be voluntary. Palestinians have been forcibly displaced by Israel's war on Gaza.

Arabic media is reporting that patients have been evacuated from Kamal Adwan field hospital amid intense Israeli shelling.

The shrapnel from the shells reached inside the hospital's wards, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. 

The 18 doctors remaining in the hospital face "harsh conditions", the reports added. 

Medical Aid for Palestinians welcomed the UK's decision on Tuesday to suspend trade talks with Israel, but called for more action amid Israel's assault on Gaza.

"These long overdue actions by the UK government are an important step in opposing Israel's abuses against Palestinians. However, they don't go far enough to end what international human rights organisations recognise as Israel's extermination and genocidal acts in Gaza," Rohan Talbot, MAP's director of advocacy and campaigns, said.

"Israel is mass killing Palestinians every day. Hospitals are being destroyed," he added.

"The UK must immediately suspend all arms transfers to Israel, and ensure those who are committing atrocities against Palestinians are held urgently to account."

European foreign ministers in Brussels are considering  suspending the bloc's trade cooperation agreement with Israel, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, the Netherlands is leading the push and has support in France. 

The EU is Israel's largest trade partner. 

Israeli settlers fired guns at several Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in the village of Beit Lilo, west of Ramallah, Al Jazeera Arabic reported. 

The settler gunfire injured several Palestinians, according to the report. 

Israel has been ramping up its attacks on Palestinians across the occupied West Bank. 

US President Donald Trump is "fustrated" by Israel's ongoing war on Gaza, Axios reported on Tuesday. 

“The president is frustrated about what is happening in Gaza. He wants the war to end, he wants the hostages to come home, he wants aid to go in and he wants to start rebuilding Gaza,” Axios reported, citing a White House official. 

The official added that Trump believes Gaza is the last roadblock to "prosperity" in the Middle East. 

Another official told Axios that the US agreed to a bilateral deal with Hamas for a dual US-Israeli captive, out of frustration with Israel. 

A former Israeli general and the leader of the country's left-wing opposition party has said Israel risks becoming a "pariah state" and that a "sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations".

“Israel is on the way to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa was, if we don’t return to acting like a sane country,” Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats party, told Israeli public radio in an interview on Tuesday.

Golan's words drew a heated response from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and centre-right opposition leader Yair Lapid, but come at a time of growing international criticism of Israel as it continues its war on Gaza and blocks deliveries of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave.

"A sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations," Golan said.

Read more: Israeli opposition leader condemns his country for 'killing babies as a hobby'

Israel’s new aid delivery scheme in Gaza could facilitate a war crime, the chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said in an interview with The Financial Times.

Philippe Lazzarini ruled out the UN's participation in the initiative that would potentially see Palestinians having to travel across the Gaza Strip to receive aid. 

The Unrwa chief said the plan weaponises and utilises humanitarian assistance for military and political purposes.

“It’s a tool which basically seems to tell us who can receive assistance and who will be sacrificed,” Lazzarini told the FT.

He added that the scheme would facilitate the forced displacement of people, which “may constitute a war crime”.