Live Updates: Blinken travels to Saudi Arabia, Egypt for potential Gaza truce

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

06:48 GMT — Blinken travels to Saudi Arabia, Egypt for potential Gaza truce

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week to discuss efforts to secure a ceasefire in Israel's war on Gaza and increase humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory, a State Department spokesperson has said.

Blinken will hold talks with Saudi leaders in Jeddah on Wednesday before travelling to Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian authorities, spokesman Matthew Miller said in the Philippines.

05:38 GMT — Japan 'reviewing' decision to suspend UNRWA funding

Japan is reviewing its decision to suspend funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees [UNRWA], which came following Israeli allegations, the country's foreign minister said.

"You mentioned several countries already starting refunding of UNRWA, and I understand that each country has their own situation and considerations," Yoko Kamikawa told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

"Japan is also discussing and reviewing our response to the situation with a great sense of urgency," she added.

04:00 GMT — Israel's invasion of Gaza's Rafah must not be allowed — MSF

The secretary general of Medecins Sans Frontieres [MSF] or Doctors Without Borders has warned against Israeli plans to carry out a military invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

"A ground invasion of Rafah would be catastrophic and must not be allowed to happen," Christopher Lockyear said on X.

Lockyear's remarks came after he passed through the Rafah crossing to visit the MSF teams in Gaza.

03:38 GMT — Japan 'reviewing' decision to suspend UNRWA funding

Japan is reviewing its decision to suspend funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees [UNRWA], which came following Israeli allegations, the country's foreign minister said.

"You mentioned several countries already starting refunding of UNRWA, and I understand that each country has their own situation and considerations," Yoko Kamikawa told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

"Japan is also discussing and reviewing our response to the situation with a great sense of urgency," she added.

03:19 GMT — Israel bombs homes in Gaza, kills 20 besieged Palestinians

Twenty Palestinians have been killed in the early hours of Tuesday in Israeli air strikes on Rafah and central parts of Gaza, Gaza health officials said.

In the southern Gaza city of Rafah near the Egyptian border, where over 1 million Palestinians have sought shelter, 14 people were killed and dozens others wounded in Israeli strikes that hit several houses and apartments, Gaza medical officials said.

Six more people died in another air strike on a house in Al-Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, they added.

02:40 GMT — Trudeau expresses concerns to Gantz over Rafah invasion plan

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has expressed concern about Israel's planned invasion in the southern Gaza city of Rafah in a call with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz, Trudeau's office said in a statement.

"The Prime Minister shared his concern around Israel's planned offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and the severe humanitarian implications for all civilians taking refuge in the area," Trudeau's office said in a statement.

"He underscored the need to increase the volume of life-saving humanitarian aid for civilians and to ensure aid reaches all those in need, safely and without delay."

2:27 GMT — Israel denies responsibility for hunger, massacres in Gaza in filing to ICJ

Israel has vehemently denied allegations of genocide and responsibility for hunger and massacres in besieged Gaza in a legal filing to the International Court of Justice [ICJ].

Its response came after South Africa asked the ICJ to issue emergency orders for Israel to step up humanitarian aid to Gaza to address looming starvation.

Rejecting South Africa's claims that Israel was responsible for the starvation and massacres in Gaza, Israel labelled them as "completely unfounded in fact and law" and accused South Africa of distorting facts and abusing the authority of the Genocide Convention and the ICJ.

2:00 GMT — Israel was formed to serve interests of Western powers: Palestine's envoy

Israel is "a state formed through a regional project, serving the interests of Western powers, and the Palestinian people became its victims," the Ambassador of Palestine to Türkiye, Faed Mustafa, said.

Mustafa was speaking at the opening of a panel discussion titled "The Israel-Palestine Conflict and the Middle East Impasse" organised by the Center for Asian Studies Practice and Research [ASYAM] of Ankara Haci Bayram Veli University [AHBV].

He pointed out that the process initiated by the Balfour Declaration was not random, noting that these projects were "meticulously" prepared and studied.

For our live updates from Monday, March 18, click here.