Middle East crisis live: Palestine Red Crescent says ‘everyone is trapped’ as Israeli forces surround medical centres | Israel-Gaza war

• The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said the agency’s ambulances are unable to reach the injured in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, as Israeli forces are “besieging” the PRCS’s ambulance centre and “targeting anyone attempting to move in the area”. The PRCS also said that Israeli tanks were nearing al-Amal city hospital in Khan Younis and that it had lost all contact with its team in the area due to the ground offensive. In an update on the situation later on Monday, Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the PRCS, said: “We are extremely worried regarding the safety of our team at al-Amal hospital and the Palestine Red Crescent’s headquarters, along with our emergency medical centre in Khan Younis. The total area is under besieged … by Israeli occupation forces. Everyone is trapped inside our facilities. No one is able to get out. No one is even able to come in.”

• A group of relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas stormed a parliamentary committee session in Jerusalem, demanding that the lawmakers do more to try to free their loved ones.

• A total of 25,295 Palestinians have been killed and 63,000 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said. The toll includes 190 people killed and 340 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.

• The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip “could not be worse”, the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said ahead of an EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels. Ireland’s foreign minister, Micheál Martin, meanwhile, said Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence there will be no two-state solution is “unacceptable”. Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Hussein Abdullah Al Safadi, warned Netanyahu is dooming the Middle East “to more conflicts and more war” if he does not switch his stance on a two-state solution. He is one of several Arab leaders in Brussels today to try to hammer out a path to a peace conference.

Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), has told Al Jazeera that the agency is “extremely worried” about the safety of their team at al-Amal hospital and other facilities in southern Gaza (see earlier post at 07.34 for more details).

She said in video posted to X:

We are extremely worried regarding the safety of our team at al-Amal hospital and the Palestine Red Crescent’s headquarters, along with our emergency medical centre in Khan Younis.

The total area is under besieged … by Israeli occupation forces. Everyone is trapped inside our facilities. No one is able to get out. No one is even able to come in.

A group of relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas have stormed a parliamentary committee session in Jerusalem, demanding that the lawmakers do more to try to free their loved ones, Reuters reports.

One woman held up pictures of three family members who were among the 253 people seized in the cross-border Hamas attacks of 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed.

About 130 hostages remain held in Gaza after others were brought home in a November truce.

“Just one I’d like to get back alive, one out of three!” the protester cried after pushing into the Knesset’s finance committee discussion.

Other protesters held up signs reading: “You will not sit here while they die there.” “Release them now, now, now!” they chanted.

It comes after relatives and supporters of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza rallied outside Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem, pitching tents and demanding the Israeli government urgently strike a deal to secure their release (see post at 05.55 for more details).

A total of 25,295 Palestinians have been killed and 63,000 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said on Monday.

The toll includes 190 people killed and 340 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.

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

Netanyahu dooming Middle East ‘to more war’ if he does not reverse two-state solution stance, Jordan’s foreign minister warns

Lisa O’Carroll

Benjamin Netanyahu is dooming the Middle East “to more conflicts and more war” if he does not switch his stance on a two-state solution, Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Hussein Abdullah Al Safadi, has said.

He is one of several Arab leaders in Brussels today to try to hammer out a path to a peace conference and ultimately a two-state solution in which Israel and Palestine can live harmoniously.

He said:

The whole world is saying the only way out of this misery is the two-state solution. So the party who’s standing against the rights of all peoples of the region, including Israelis to have peace, cannot just be left unaccountable.

If the whole world says the only path forward is two-state solution, then the Israeli government says no to the two-state solution, so they’re defying the whole international community.

“We’ve been engaged in over 30 years of process. I think a moment of truth is upon us,” the minister said.

“The whole world has to decide: do we allow a radical racist agenda to dictate the future or do we all come together and say, the path is clear, we want peace for everybody in the region. And the two-state solution is the only path.”

“This war will not bring security to Israel this war will not bring peace. Israel cannot have security as long as Palestinians are denied their rights,” he added.

Lisa O’Carroll

The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, has asked how many Palestinian must be killed before the violence can stop as he headed into talks with foreign ministers in Brussels.

He has confirmed that Israel’s new foreign minister, Israel Katz, is in attendance along with foreign ministers of Jordan and Egypt and the secretary general of the Arab states.

“The humanitarian situation (in Gaza) could not be worse. It could not be worse. There are no words to explain how the situation is, with hundreds of thousands without anything – without shelter, without food, without medicines, and under the bombs.”

“And every day, there is a high toll of civilian people being killed. Many ministers have said that there are ‘too many’. Well, the question is: how many is ‘too many’? What does it mean ‘too many’? (Is) too many 25,000 people? For how long is this going to continue?”

He is hosting six hours of talks among EU foreign ministers to try to progress a peace solution in the Middle East, along with reinvigorating support for Ukraine including discussion of a €20bn peace fund over the next four years.

“From now on, I will not talk about the peace process, but about the two-state solution process. If we are serious about that, we have to study the underling causes that prevent this solution from being implemented,” he told reporters in Brussels.

In a 12 point paper Borrell has prepared for the meeting, he warns the peace process is imperative and urgent.

“In the absence of a peace process to achieve the two-state solution, any governance and security mechanism established in Gaza or elsewhere will be perceived as an extension of the occupation and a denial of Palestinian rights, and will therefore create further security risks,” said Borrell.

Lisa O’Carroll

Annalena Baerbock has called on Hamas to end its terror on Israel and on Palestinian people.

On her way into a summit, the foreign minister of Germany, which has been a stalwart supporter of Israel’s offensive on Gaza in its bid to eliminate Hamas, said:

We clearly see that the people of Israel and the entire region will not be able to live in peace if Hamas’ terror is not ended, if Hamas finally stops its brutal attacks not only on Israel, but also de facto against its own people, against the Palestinians.

In order to achieve peace in the region, in order to achieve security not only for the people of Israel, but also for the Palestinians in particular, it is crucial that the Hamas financial support network is finally dismantled.

As the European Union, we have therefore just initiated sanctions against the Hamas financial support network.

At the same time, it is crucial that the incredible suffering in Gaza is minimised and significantly reduced.

That is why the situation in Gaza is such a central issue for us here today, how we can get significantly more humanitarian aid into Gaza, but also how we can finally get back to humanitarian pauses.

This is something that has been on my mind around the clock in recent weeks. We urgently need humanitarian pauses to alleviate the situation in Gaza, to alleviate the incredible suffering, especially for children.

Baerbock also renewed calls on Hamas to release the hostages, warning this is a barrier to any peaceful solution.

She added:

I would also like to say at this point that, as urgent as it is that we alleviate the acute suffering, we must finally free all the hostages who are still alive.

It is also all the more important that we make it clear that Israel can only live in security if Palestinians can live in security with dignity, and Palestinians can only live in dignity, security and freedom if Israel lives in security.

That’s why the two-state solution is the only solution and all those who don’t want to know about it have so far failed to come up with any other alternative.

Netanyahu’s opposition to two-state solution ‘unacceptable’, says Ireland’s foreign minister

Lisa O’Carroll

Ireland’s foreign minister, Micheál Martin, said Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence there will be no two-state solution is “unacceptable”.

Speaking on the way into a six-hour meeting of foreign ministers, who Arab and Israeli foreign ministers will also meet, he said:

“Those remarks by prime minister Netanyahu are unacceptable and do not contribute in any way to the prospects of peace …(there is a) need to listen to the vast majority of the world who want peace and who want a two-state solution.”

He added Ireland will “again be calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and also absolutely the unimpeded access for humanitarian aid. Even as late as last evening, the reports we are getting are dire in respect to what is happening within Gaza in terms of starvation and in terms of the humanitarian consequences of this war.”

“There’s no excuse now, for any tardiness or for any delays in respect of getting vital aid into Gaza. And will be making those points very strongly, also the need for the unconditional release of hostages.” (You can read more of Martin’s comments in the post at 6.29)

Stéphane Séjourné, France’s new foreign and European affairs minister, described Netanyahu’s remarks as “worrying” on the way into a summit of EU foreign ministers.

He said France’s two main interests at today’s meeting were Ukraine and the Middle East, particularly humanitarian aid and the release of hostages.

“In this respect, Benjamin Netanyahu’s statements are worrying. We need a Palestinian state with security guarantees for all. Obviously, the release of the hostages will be a priority for us. Three of our nationals are still being held hostage.”

Lisa O’Carroll

Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s foreign minister, has said it is important for the EU to develop a peace plan for the Middle East but thinks that Israel is “not ready yet” because it still believes Hamas is a danger.

“But I think that this plan is the first step in the right direction not to organise now … we have a lot of peace conferences, but if Israel is not there at table there is no use of having peace conferences.”