US charges Hamas leaders over 7 October attack
As we just mentioned, the United States has announced criminal charges against Hamas’ top leaders over their roles in planning, supporting and perpetrating the 7 October attack in southern Israel.
The charges against Yahya Sinwar, the militant group’s chief, and at least five others accuse them of orchestrating the attack, which killed 1,200 people, including more than 40 Americans.
That attack triggered an Israeli assault on Gaza that has killed more than 40,800 Palestinians and laid waste to much of the territory.
The seven-count criminal complaint includes charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, conspiracy to murder US nationals and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, resulting in death.
It also accuses Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah of providing financial support and weapons, including rockets, and military supplies.
US attorney general Merrick Garland said:
As outlined in our complaint, those defendants – armed with weapons, political support, and funding from the government of Iran, and support from [Hezbollah] – have led Hamas’s efforts to destroy the state of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim.
The charges unsealed today are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas’s operations. These actions will not be our last,” Garland said. “Yahya Sinwar and the other senior leaders of Hamas are charged today with orchestrating this terrorist organisation’s decades-long campaign of mass violence and terror – including on October 7th.
The complaint names six defendants, three of whom are dead. The living defendants are Sinwar, who is believed to be in hiding in Gaza; Khaled Meshaal, who is based in Doha and heads the group’s diaspora office; and Ali Baraka, a senior Hamas official based in Lebanon.
Key events
As we reported earlier, the family of James Kirby, a World Central Kitchen aid worker killed in Gaza, have called for an independent investigation into his death and said neither British nor Israeli diplomats had been in touch, even though an internal Israeli inquiry said his death had been a tragic accident.
Our diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, has filed this fuller report on the situation:
18 aid groups call for UK to end all arms exports to Israel
Earlier this week, the UK government suspended 30 arms export licenses to Israel.
The Foreign Office said a two-month internal review had raised concerns about the way Israel had conducted itself in the conflict in Gaza and that the decision specifically related to concerns around the treatment of Palestinian detainees and the supply of aid to Gaza.
No definitive conclusion has been reached about whether UK arms export licences have contributed to the destruction in the territory. But the scale of the devastation and the number of civilian deaths caused great concern, the Foreign Office said.
Now, 18 charities are calling on the government to end all arms transfers to Israel.
In a statement, the group said:
The government’s recognition of the clear risk that Israel is using UK arms in serious violations of International Humanitarian Law is a welcome step forward. Given that recognition, and the clear and compelling evidence that the Israeli military is violating IHL, it is insufficient that the Government has failed to end ALL arms transfers to Israel.
The full statement is signed by:
The family of a British aid worker killed by an Israeli drone strike in Gaza have urged the UK government to hold an independent inquiry into his death.
James Kirby, 47, from Bristol, was one of seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) workers fatally injured in the attack, including two other Britons.
The group was travelling in a WCK convoy leaving one of its warehouses when Israeli armed drones fired munitions at their marked vehicles on April 1 this year.
The PA news agency reports that a memorial service for Kirby, who previously served with the Rifles, will take place in his home city today.
Speaking ahead of the service, his cousin Louise Kirby described how the family had been “touched” to receive personal letters of condolence from the King and Queen, and former foreign secretary Lord Cameron.
She said:
The murder of James and his fellow aid workers, for whom clearance had been given for their humanitarian work, is a diabolical tragedy.
Whilst we have had much support, we are still struggling to find answers and accountability for what happened
The state of Israel says the murder was an accident. So we were surprised not to have had any contact or condolence from Israel’s ambassador to the UK in London, nor from any Israeli official.
Any family of a loved one who has been killed needs closure. We need to understand how this disaster could have happened.
But this is not just about us. This is about how Britain looks after its own citizens and their families, when a British citizen has been unlawfully killed by another state.
There must be a proper, independent inquiry into this attack on innocent aid workers, and for the evidence to be assessed, if appropriate, in a relevant court of law.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others, calling it a “serious mistake”.
Here are some of the latest images coming through from photographers on the ground in Israel and Gaza:
Danish police have apprehended activist Greta Thunberg at a Copenhagen protest against the war in Gaza, a spokesperson for the student group organising the demonstration said.
Six people were detained at the scene at the Copenhagen University after some 20 people had blocked the entrance to a building and three entered, a police spokesperson told Reuters.
Police declined to confirm the identities of any of those arrested but a spokesperson for the Students Against the Occupation told the news agency that Thunberg had been held.
A picture of Thunberg published by daily Ekstra Bladet showed Thunberg wearing what the newspaper said were handcuffs.
Time for a peace deal, says US
The US has said it is time to “finalise” a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the Gaza war, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to bow to pressure.
Washington will work “over the coming days” with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar “to push for a final agreement,” said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
He was speaking after Netanyahu rejected “concessions” in indirect negotiations with Hamas, despite growing domestic and international pressure following the recovery by Israel’s military of six killed hostages from the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
“It is time to finalise that deal,” Miller added.
Bethan McKernan
In case you missed it last night, my colleague Bethan McKernan reported on the political row in Israel about the war:
Benjamin Netanyahu’s main political rival, Benny Gantz, has accused the Israeli prime minister of putting his personal interests before those of his country after he again insisted on the need for Israeli control of the Gaza-Egypt border on Monday, a position that has emerged as a key obstacle to a ceasefire deal.
Speaking in Tel Aviv at the Israel Bar Association’s annual conference on Tuesday, the centre-right National Unity party leader said Netanyahu had “lost his way” and “sees himself as the state … this is dangerous,” he said.
Netanyahu insisted on Monday night that Israel must retain control of the Philadelphi corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt, a stance that he has been warned jeopardises efforts aimed at brokering a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the war with Hamas.
As furious protesters take to the streets, Netanyahu may well have reached his political dead-end.
In a press conference on Tuesday evening, Gantz said that while the corridor was important to prevent Hamas and other Palestinian militants from smuggling weapons into Gaza, soldiers would be “sitting ducks” and would not stop tunnels.
He also rebutted Netanyahu’s assertion that if Israel were to withdraw from Philadelphi, international pressure would make it difficult to return. “We will be able to return to Philadelphi if and when we are required,” Gantz said, also calling for new elections. “If Netanyahu does not understand that after 7 October everything has changed … and if he is not strong enough to withstand the international pressure to return to Philadelphi, let him put down the keys and go home.”
Read the full report here:
US charges Hamas leaders over 7 October attack
As we just mentioned, the United States has announced criminal charges against Hamas’ top leaders over their roles in planning, supporting and perpetrating the 7 October attack in southern Israel.
The charges against Yahya Sinwar, the militant group’s chief, and at least five others accuse them of orchestrating the attack, which killed 1,200 people, including more than 40 Americans.
That attack triggered an Israeli assault on Gaza that has killed more than 40,800 Palestinians and laid waste to much of the territory.
The seven-count criminal complaint includes charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, conspiracy to murder US nationals and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, resulting in death.
It also accuses Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah of providing financial support and weapons, including rockets, and military supplies.
US attorney general Merrick Garland said:
As outlined in our complaint, those defendants – armed with weapons, political support, and funding from the government of Iran, and support from [Hezbollah] – have led Hamas’s efforts to destroy the state of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim.
The charges unsealed today are just one part of our effort to target every aspect of Hamas’s operations. These actions will not be our last,” Garland said. “Yahya Sinwar and the other senior leaders of Hamas are charged today with orchestrating this terrorist organisation’s decades-long campaign of mass violence and terror – including on October 7th.
The complaint names six defendants, three of whom are dead. The living defendants are Sinwar, who is believed to be in hiding in Gaza; Khaled Meshaal, who is based in Doha and heads the group’s diaspora office; and Ali Baraka, a senior Hamas official based in Lebanon.
Opening summary
Hello. We are restarting our rolling coverage of the Israel-Gaza war. The top line this morning is that the US has called for urgency and flexibility to finalise an agreement between Israel and Hamas for a truce in Gaza, after the recent deaths of six hostages.
“There are dozens of hostages still remaining in Gaza, still waiting for a deal that will bring them home. It is time to finalise that deal,” state department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.
Miller said that the US will work “over the coming days” with mediators Egypt and Qatar “to push for a final agreement.”
It comes as the US justice department announced criminal charges against Hamas’s top leaders over their roles in planning, supporting and perpetrating the 7 October attack.
More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main events.
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Benjamin Netanyahu’s main political rival, Benny Gantz, has accused the Israeli prime minister of putting his personal interests before those of his country after he again insisted on the need for Israeli control of the Gaza-Egypt border on Monday, a position that has emerged as a key obstacle to a ceasefire deal. Speaking in Tel Aviv at the Israel Bar Association’s annual conference on Tuesday, the centre-right National Unity party leader said Netanyahu had “lost his way” and “sees himself as the state … this is dangerous,” he said.
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Netanyahu insisted on Monday night that Israel must retain control of the Philadelphi corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt, a stance that he has been warned jeopardises efforts aimed at brokering a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the war with Hamas. The prime minister ruled out making any “concessions” in the stalled talks or “giving in to pressure” to end the war, which is approaching its 12th month.
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The World Health Organization said that its emergency polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has reached more children than expected, with 161,000 receiving their initial dose in the first two days. The WHO added that the first round of the vaccination drive would take another 10 days. After the first confirmed polio case in 25 years, a massive vaccination effort began on Sunday, with localised “humanitarian pauses” in fighting.
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Israeli forces killed three people, including a 16-year-old Palestinian girl, in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, as a major Israeli operation in the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm continued for a seventh day. The girl was killed in the town of Kafr Dan, just outside Jenin, where Israeli troops have been operating for days and where they demolished a house on Tuesday. The military gave no immediate details of the incident but said it was looking into the report.
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Two Palestinians, were also killed in the city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said. The armed wing of the Fatah faction claimed both as members. The Israeli military said Israeli forces surrounded buildings where the two were located and killed them in an exchange of gunfire after civilians were evacuated.
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Sources within Israel’s justice ministry believe the international criminal court will decide in the coming days on whether to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
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Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, described the UK’s government’s decision to suspend about 30 out of 350 export licences to Israel as “shameful”. But human rights groups have called for the suspension of all new and existing licenses to Israel, saying the new restrictions are full of loopholes.
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David Cameron, the former foreign secretary, sat on advice from Foreign Office officials in Israel and London that there was clear evidence of breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza for which the UK risked being complicit, a former Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) adviser said. The source, who contributed to the drafting of the advice, was speaking after the Labour government banned 30 of about 350 arms export licences due to a clear risk cited in a government memorandum published on Monday that they might be used in serious breaches of international humanitarian law.
