Middle East crisis live: UN chief says ‘unacceptable’ for Israel to reject two-state solution | Israel

• The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, on Tuesday said the “clear and repeated rejection of the two-state solution at the highest levels of the Israeli government is unacceptable”, as he appealed for more aid access throughout the Gaza Strip. “The entire population of Gaza is enduring destruction at a scale and speed without parallel in recent history,” Guterres told the UN security council. “Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

• He told the council that the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave was “appalling” and that “the people of Gaza not only risk being killed or injured by relentless bombardments, they also run a growing chance of contracting infectious diseases like hepatitis A, dysentery, cholera.” Guterres again appealed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

• US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that the United States was opposed to any permanent change to Gaza’s territory, but kept the door open to possible support for any “transitional arrangements” to resolve the conflict with Israel. “If there needs to be transitional arrangements to enable that to happen, that’s one thing. But when it comes to the permanent status of Gaza going forward, we’ve been clear, we remain clear about not encroaching on its territory,” Blinken told reporters in Abuja, Nigeria.

• Palestinian RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) fire was the likely cause of a blast that collapsed two buildings killing a group of Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip, a military spokesperson said on Tuesday. “A militant squad surprised the force with RPG fire. The first rocket hit one of the buildings in which explosives had been laid out. The hit apparently led to the explosion that caused the collapse of the building and the building next to it,” R Adm Daniel Hagari told reporters in Tel Aviv.

• The United States has destroyed or degraded over 25 Houthi missile launch facilities and more than 20 missiles in Yemen since it started strikes in the country earlier this month, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

• The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the Israeli army fired directly at a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, where civilians are caught amid heavy fighting. “Israeli tanks are firing heavily on the upper floors of the specialised surgery building and the emergency building of Nasser hospital, dozens expected wounded,” a ministry statement said.

• Whatever the future of a post-Gaza war looks like, it cannot include the leaders of Hamas, the US national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, said. In a press briefing at the White House, Kirby also said the US was involved in “active conversations” on the release of more hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, Reuters reports.

• The United States would support another “pause” – temporary ceasefire – in Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza, such as a 30, 60 or 90-day period, the White House has just said. The US national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, is briefing right now in the west wing at the regular media press conference with him and the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre.

• Aid trucks continue to have difficulty reaching people in southern Gaza, from Egypt and, via multiple aid agency reports, are not able to get to many parts of central and northern Gaza at all. Trucks are blocked for security checks and become severely backed up prior to reaching inside Gaza.

• Reports are trickling in that Hamas won’t accept the latest offer from Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza, lasting two months, to allow another exchange of hostages – held by the Islamist group since 7 October – for more Palestinian prisoners held in Israel as threats to security. The Times of Israel is reporting that an unnamed Egyptian official has told the Associated Press of the situation. These are early moments in this news development and we await more clarity and further details.

• Protest by international aid bodies about catastrophic hunger and the danger of “looming famine” among Palestinians in besieged Gaza continues with the latest warning this hour from the World Food Programme (WFP). The population of the Gaza Strip faces an increasing risk of famine as the Israel-Hamas war drags on, the United Nation’s WFP has declared anew, Agence France-Presse reports.

The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, on Tuesday said the “clear and repeated rejection of the two-state solution at the highest levels of the Israeli government is unacceptable”, as he appealed for more aid access throughout the Gaza Strip.

“The entire population of Gaza is enduring destruction at a scale and speed without parallel in recent history,” Guterres told the UN security council. “Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

He told the council that the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave was “appalling” and that “the people of Gaza not only risk being killed or injured by relentless bombardments, they also run a growing chance of contracting infectious diseases like hepatitis A, dysentery, cholera.”

Guterres again appealed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

The UN security council meeting to discuss unprecedented violence spreading across the Middle East has started.

The council is expected to hear calls for Israel to lift its restrictions on aid into Gaza and to accept that a future Palestinian state is necessary for its own security.

The US will resist renewed calls from the Arab League for the security council to demand that Israel accept an immediate ceasefire that would leave Hamas in power in Gaza.

The meeting is also likely to hear calls from China for the UN to recognise Palestine fully as a step towards a two-state solution.

Follow along with the video at the top of the blog, as well as all key lines here.

Two freed Israeli female hostages on Tuesday gave testimony to a parliamentary hearing on sexual violence on the abuse they experienced while being held captive by Hamas militants in Gaza, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.

I was there 51 days and there wasn’t a moment that we didn’t go through abuse of any kind,” said Aviva Siegel, who was taken hostage on 7 October.

Siegel, 62, told the hearing on sexual violence during the Israel-Hamas conflict that militants had turned both female and male hostages into victims.

They became:

Dolls on a string that they can do with them what they please, whenever they please. I saw it with my own eyes. I didn’t just see, I felt the women as if they were my daughters,” she said.

Chen Goldstein-Almog, another freed hostage, said she had seen fellow female hostages miss periods during their captivity.

She said this may have been due to:

The difficult conditions in captivity … [but] heaven forbid they get pregnant.”

Both women were freed during a seven-day humanitarian pause in late November that led to the release of 80 Israeli hostages in exchange for aid deliveries into Gaza and the freeing of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Whatever the future of a post-Gaza war looks like, it cannot include the leaders of Hamas, teh US national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, just said.

In a press briefing at the White House, Kirby also said the US was involved in “active conversations” on the release of more hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, Reuters reports.

The US Middle East envoy, Brett McGurk, is in Cairo today for these “active” discussions on ensuring the release of hostages – and securing a humanitarian pause in the conflict.

Kirby said the Biden administration would “absolutely” support a longer humanitarian pause, following brief breaks in the war last year.

He said McGurk was also discussing other issues, including getting an assessment of Israel’s military operations and its efforts to protect civilians, as well as continuing to explore the idea of a normalisation of Israel-Saudi ties.

Here is a file picture of Brett McGurk from last year, during a meeting with the foreign minister of Qatar.