A crossing between Gaza and Egypt has remained closed despite diplomatic efforts to open it and let in humanitarian aid.
The Rafah border had been expected to open hours ago to allow foreign passport holders to leave and aid to be brought in the besieged Palestinian enclave, where the humanitarian situation is worsening.
But the border, where lorries carrying the aid have been waiting for days, remained closed as Israel kept up its strikes in retaliation for the shock attack launched by the Hamas militant group on 7 October.
The Israeli military is expected to launch a ground offensive in the coming days.
On Monday it said 199 hostages were being held in Hamas-ruled Gaza – a higher figure than previously estimated.
In a speech to his cabinet, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied territory of the West Bank, Mohammad Shtayyeh, said: “We are people of a civilisation, we are not animals like they are painting us and our people will not surrender.
Speaking from his base in Ramallah he added: “We are appealing to the prime minister of Israel to stop the aggression.
“Our people will not migrate and will not leave their land.”
Other key developments include: • Hamas denies Israel’s claim it has resumed water supplies to Gaza • Israel evacuates 28 towns on Lebanese border after clashes with Hezbollah fighters appear to have escalated • US secretary of state Antony Blinken returns to Israel after completing six-country tour • The UN is warning fuel at all hospitals across the Gaza Strip will only last for another 24 hours • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to “demolish Hamas” during an expanded emergency cabinet meeting • The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) says it has killed a commander of the Hamas militant group in an airstrike • Sunak urges Netanyahu to ‘minimise impact on civilians’
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0:35
Palestinian PM: ‘We are not animals’
The Palestinian prime minister’s comments come after US President Joe Biden said in an interview that Hamas should be eliminated, but warned it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza, calling instead for a “two-state solution”.
The US president said Israel has “to go after Hamas” but said he would not support Israeli occupation.
“I think it’d be a big mistake,” he said.
A two-state solution would involve the creation of an independent nation next to Israel for five million Palestinians who live in Gaza and the West Bank.
“What happened in Gaza, in my view, is Hamas and the extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people,” Mr Biden said in an interview on CBS News’ 60 Minutes programme.
He added: “Going in but taking out the extremists, the Hezbollah is up north but Hamas down south. It is a necessary requirement.”
The president also warned Iran not to escalate the situation after the country’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, said “significant damages” would be inflicted upon America if the war expanded.
Image: A building destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, Gaza Strip
Pic:AP
Missing people believed to be buried under Gaza rubble
Gaza’s health ministry has said 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and another 9,700 have been wounded in Israeli attacks.
The figure is 80 more than the ministry’s previous update, when it said a quarter of those who died were children.
At least 1,000 people are missing and believed to be under rubble, according to the Palestinian civil defence team.
In Israel, more than 1,400 people have been killed – the vast majority in the series of attacks carried out by Hamas on 7 October.
Image: Palestinians with dual citizenship gather outside Rafah border crossing
Israel and Hamas deny reports of truce
On Saturday, the deadline passed for up to 1.1 million people in the Gaza Strip to be offered safe passage south of the Wadi Gaza river by the IDF.
The Israeli military said some 600,000 Gazans had left the northern half of the territory, ahead of what is expected to be an all-out offensive by land, sea and air.
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was expected to open today from 9am local time (7am UK time), allowing aid deliveries and the evacuation of foreign national Palestinians, according to Sky News’ US partner NBC.
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Kamel Khatib, the Embassy of Palestine representative for the Rafah border, told NBC that foreign nationals were expected to fly to Cairo from Al Arish airport, 30 miles from Rafah, and then on to their final destinations.
Dozens of foreign nationals have massed at the Rafah border after news spread that an agreement was reached to allow foreigners to exit Gaza via the crossing – but they were left stranded as it remained closed.
But after the deadline had expired and the border remained closed, Israel denied a humanitarian truce to allow foreigners out was under way.
Image: Israel has evacuated 28 towns along the Lebanese border
Hamas official Izzat El Reshiq has also said there was no truth to reports the border would open or a truce had been agreed.
It comes after Israel targeted Rafah with strikes on Sunday evening, with explosions seen across the border city during the attacks.
William Schomburg, the head of the sub-delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza, has said civilians in the territory lack the food, electricity and water needed to meet their basic needs.
He added: “Hospitals are rapidly running out of supplies and are facing increasingly difficult conditions under which they need to function.”
Speaking as the Rafah border remains closed, Mr Schomburg said: “The International Committee of the Red Cross, the ICRC, stands ready to meet the needs of Gazan communities. However, in order for us to be able to do this, we need safety, security, and supplies.”
Egypt doesn’t want the people of Gaza to become their problem
By Nicole Johnston, Sky News correspondent formerly based in Gaza
Rafah is Gaza’s only gateway to the rest of the world that’s not directly controlled by Israel. It is under the control of Egypt as part of an agreement with Israel and the European Union.
However, it has never been a normal fully open border crossing.
Over the years it has been closed for days, weeks and months at a time. When it does open it’s often intermittent and can suddenly close again.
The people of Gaza never know when it will open or for how long so it’s impossible for them to plan their lives.
If you are stuck outside Gaza when Rafah closes there is no chance to get back in again.
Even under the best of conditions the crossing is unreliable and unstable.
What always struck me when reporting from Rafah was the sheer despair and desperation of Gazans waiting to travel. When it was open the crossing would be packed with people, sometimes thousands, all unsure if they would actually make it.
Women would sit for hours on suitcases, children playing in the dirt, a cacophony of taxis, cars and donkey carts all jostling for space. And in the middle of it all the reunions and farewells of families who didn’t know when they’d see each other again. Never sure when the border would be open or closed.
Egypt tightly controls the Rafah crossing and Palestinians accuse it of being complicit in the siege on Gaza by refusing to keep the border permanently open 24 hours a day.
There is no incentive for Egypt to now open this crossing and allow hundreds of thousands of Gazans to escape from the war.
If it did, the people of Gaza would become Egypt’’s problem and that’s the last thing Cairo wants.
Israel ambassador denies there is a humanitarian crisis
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was working with Egypt, Israel and the United Nations to get assistance through the border.
Until now, a blockade had prevented fuel, food and water from entering Gaza and hundreds of tonnes of aid has also been stockpiling in Egypt, waiting for confirmation of its safe delivery into the area.
Image: Smoke billows from buildings in Rafah after Israel airstrikes. Pic: AP
But Mr Netanyahu said he had agreed with President Biden to resume water supply to parts of southern Gaza.
When asked by CBS if he wanted to see a humanitarian corridor that allows Gazans out of the area safely, President Biden replied “yes”.
He added that he thought Israel would “act under the rules of war” and he was “confident” innocent people in Gaza would be able to access medicine, food and water.
It comes after the United Nations humanitarian office warned on Monday that reserves of fuel at all hospitals across the Gaza Strip were expected to last only around 24 hours more, placing “the lives of thousands of patients at risk”.
Meanwhile, Israel’s ambassador to the UK has told Sky News there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Tzipi Hotovely said: “Israel is in charge of the safety of Israelis, Hamas is in charge of the safety of the Palestinians.
“This is the time that Hamas need to pay the price.”
She argued Hamas was now preventing its own people from evacuating, and that Palestinians had been given the chance to leave by Israel.
“When America started this fight against ISIS together with coalition forces, over 100,000 civilians got caught in the crossfire. Israel is trying to prevent that,” she added.
She said Israel was “better than any other army in the world” and had been alerting civilians in advance.
Israel is beginning a major expansion of its military operation in Gaza and will seize large areas of the territory, the country’s defence minister said.
Israel Katz said in a statement that there would be a large scale evacuation of the Palestinian population from fighting areas.
In a post on X, he wrote: “I call on the residents of Gaza to act now to remove Hamas and return all the hostages. This is the only way to end the war.”
He said the offensive was “expanding to crush and clean the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and capture large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel”.
The expansion of Israel’s military operation in Gaza deepens its renewed offensive.
The deal had seen the release of dozens of hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, but collapsed before it could move to phase two, which would have involved the release of all hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
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1:08
26 March: Anti-Hamas chants heard at protest in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had already issued evacuation warnings to Gazans living around the southern city of Rafah and towards the city of Khan Yunis, telling them to move to the al Mawasi area on the shore, which was previously designated a humanitarian zone.
Israeli forces have already set up a significant buffer zone within Gaza, having expanded an area around the edge of the territory that had existed before the war, as well as a large security area in the so-called Netzarim corridor through the middle of Gaza.
This latest conflict began when Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages.
The ensuing Israeli offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
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1:22
Bodies of aid workers found in Gaza
Aid group Doctors Without Borders warned on Wednesday that Israel’s month-long siege of Gaza means some critical medications are now short in supply and are running out, leaving Palestinians at risk of losing vital healthcare.
“The Israeli authorities’ have condemned the people of Gaza to unbearable suffering with their deadly siege,” said Myriam Laaroussi, the group’s emergency coordinator in Gaza.
“This deliberate infliction of harm on people is like a slow death; it must end immediately.”
“Liberation day” was due to be on 1 April. But Donald Trump decided to shift it by a day because he didn’t want anyone to think it was an April fool.
It is no joke for him and it is no joke for governments globally as they brace for his tariff announcements.
It is stunning how little we know about the plans to be announced in the Rose Garden of the White House later today.
It was telling that we didn’t see the President at all on Tuesday. He and all his advisers were huddled in the West Wing, away from the cameras, finalising the tariff plans.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the so-called ‘measured voice’. A former hedge fund manager, he has argued for targeted not blanket tariffs.
Peter Navarro is Trump’s senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing. A long-time aide and confidante of the president, he is a true loyalist and a firm believer in the merits of tariffs.
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His economic views are well beyond mainstream economic thought – precisely why he appeals to Trump.
The third key character is Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary and the biggest proponent of the full-throttle liberation day tariff juggernaut.
The businessman, philanthropist, Trump fundraiser and billionaire (net worth ranging between $1bn and $2bn) has been among the closest to Trump over the past 73 days of this presidency – frequently in and out of the West Wing.
If anything goes wrong, observers here in Washington suspect Trump will make Lutnick the fall guy.
And what if it does all go wrong? What if Trump is actually the April fool?
“It’s going to work…” his press secretary said when asked if it could all be a disaster, driving up the cost of living for Americans and creating global economic chaos.
“The president has a brilliant team who have been studying these issues for decades and we are focussed on restoring the global age of America…” Karoline Leavitt said.
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2:52
‘Days of US being ripped off are over’
Dancing to the president’s tune
My sense is that we should see “liberation day” not as the moment it’s all over in terms of negotiations for countries globally as they try to carve out deals with the White House. Rather it should be seen as the start.
Trump, as always, wants to be seen as the one calling the shots, taking control, seizing the limelight. He wants the world to dance to his tune. Today is his moment.
But beyond today, alongside the inevitable tit-for-tat retaliation, expect to see efforts by nations to seek carve-outs and to throw bones to Trump; to identify areas where trade policies can be tweaked to placate the president.
Even small offerings which change little in a material sense could give Trump the chance to spin and present himself as the winning deal maker he craves to be.
One significant challenge for foreign governments and their diplomats in Washington has been engaging the president himself with proposals he might like.
Negotiations take place with a White House team who are themselves unsure where the president will ultimately land. It’s resulted in unsatisfactory speculative negotiations.
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6:03
Treasury minister: ‘We’ll do everything to secure a deal’
Too much faith placed in the ‘special relationship’?
The UK believes it’s in a better position than most other countries globally. It sits outside the EU giving it autonomy in its trade policy, its deficit with the US is small, and Trump loves Britain.
It’s true too that the UK government has managed to accelerate trade conversations with the White House on a tariff-free trade partnership. Trump’s threats have forced conversations that would normally sit in the long grass for months.
Yet, for now, the conversations have yielded nothing firm. That’s a worry for sure. Did Keir Starmer have too much faith in the ‘special relationship’?
Downing Street will have identified areas where they can tweak trade policy to placate Trump. Cars maybe? Currently US cars into the UK carry a 10% tariff. Digital services perhaps?
US food? Unlikely – there are non-tariff barriers on US food because the consensus seems to be that chlorinated chicken and the like isn’t something UK consumers want.
Easier access to UK financial services maybe? More visas for Americans?
For now though, everyone is waiting to see what Trump does before they either retaliate or relent and lower their own market barriers.
A man inside Mandalay has told Sky News bodies remain under “collapsed and inclining” buildings after the Myanmar earthquake – as a woman was freed from rubble after 91 hours.
The local inside Myanmarsaid many of the structures in the city were wrecked or badly damaged after the 7.7 magnitude quake on Friday, adding: “There are some bodies, some dead bodies, that still remain and other destruction”.
Meanwhile, in a televised address, Myanmar’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing said the number of dead had risen to 2,719 and is expected to exceed 3,000.
Some 4,521 people have been injured, while a further 441 are missing.
More than 10,000 buildings are known to have collapsed or been severely damaged in central and northwest Myanmar, the World Health Organisation said.
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0:41
Before and after: Myanmar earthquake
Smell of dead bodies near destroyed buildings
In Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, which was close to the quake’s epicentre, 50 children and two teachers were killed when their preschool collapsed, the United Nations said.
The local in the city told Sky News that “a lot of local assistance associations like charity groups are still struggling with digging out the corpses, the dead bodies, from the destruction”.
He said that “when we pass near the destructions, the collapsed building or very damaged building, we can smell” dead bodies.
“The smell of the dead bodies after four days… it still remains,” he said, before adding: “For the social assistance association… they need permission [to give aid] especially from the government.
“If they don’t have permission, then they cannot do anything.”
Image: People sheltering in a makeshift tent camp in Mandalay. Pic: Reuters
He also said others in Mandalay are struggling after the earthquake, which followed the city being affected by cyclones, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the civil war in Myanmar – where a junta seized power in a coup in 2021.
“Some people, they say they have nothing at all,” the local added. “They have no more home, they have no more belongings, because its already damaged.”
Woman freed after 91 hours under rubble
It comes after the fire department in Myanmar’s capital freed a woman trapped under rubble 91 hours after the building collapsed.
The 63-year-old woman was freed early on Tuesday in Naypyidaw.
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As the country continues to recover, a worker from the International Rescue Committee said people fear aftershocks and are sleeping outside on roads or in open fields.
Communities are struggling to meet basic needs such as access to clean water and sanitation, and emergency teams are working “tirelessly” to locate survivors and provide aid, the UN said in a report.
Rescue efforts have been complicated by the civil war, as rebel groups say the junta has conducted airstrikes, even after the quake, while NGOs fear that certain areas could be denied vital supplies.
“Myanmar’s military has a longstanding practice of denying aid to areas where groups who resist it are active,” said Joe Freeman, a researcher with Amnesty Myanmar.
“It must immediately allow unimpeded access to all humanitarian organisations and remove administrative barriers delaying needs assessments.”