Israel Gaza news: Hamas releases video of Israeli-American hostage as IDF unleashes ‘extreme force’

Hamas released a hostage video showing a well-known Israeli-American man who was among scores of people abducted by the militants in the attack that ignited the war in Gaza.

The video was the first sign of life of Hersh Goldberg-Polin since Hamas’ 7 October attack on southern Israel, and its release ignited new protests in Jerusalem calling on the government to do more to secure the captives’ release.

Britain has still not seen a plan for Israel’s expected ground offensive in Rafah and the operation would “not work” without one, foreign secretary Lord David Cameron has said.

Lord Cameron, who met with Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu last week, echoed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as he insisted “we need to see a plan” to protect civilian life, as the Israeli military seemingly prepares for a long-expected offensive on the southern city, where hundreds of thousands of people have taken refuge during the war.

Asked about his talks with Mr Netanyahu last week, Lord Cameron told the PA news agency: “He has made a series of commitments in terms of flooding Gaza with aid. My main message was that we want to work with you to make sure all of these things really happen.

“That we get to 500 trucks a day, open Ashdod port, we open a new crossing near Erez, we have proper deconfliction inside Gaza so aid can move around, we switch back on the water, we make the Jordan corridor work properly.

“These are all things that we discussed and I said how important it was that we really progress them, and that was really the heart of the conversation we had.

“It doesn’t work unless there’s a proper plan to safeguard people in Rafah. That’s the most important thing … as the Americans would say, we haven’t yet seen a plan. We need to see a plan.”

Student protests over Israel’s war with Hamas have popped up at an increasing number of college campuses following last week’s arrest of more than 100 demonstrators at Columbia University.

The students are calling for universities to separate themselves from any companies that are advancing Israel’s military efforts in Gaza — and in some cases from Israel itself.

Protests on many campuses have been orchestrated by coalitions of student groups. The groups largely act independently, though students say they’re inspired by peers at other universities.

A look at protests on campuses in recent days:

President Joe Biden met with Abigail Edan, the 4-year-old American girl who was held hostage in Gaza for several weeks at the start of the war.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the White House meeting with Abigail and her family was “a reminder of the work still to do” to win the release of dozens of people who were taken captive by Hamas in a 7 October attack on Israel and are still believed to be in captivity in Gaza.

The European Union has joined the UN in calling for an independent investigation of mass graves discovered at two Gaza hospitals destroyed in Israeli operations.

“This is something that forces us to call for an independent investigation of all the suspicions and all the circumstances because indeed it creates the impression that there might have been violations of international human rights committed,” EU spokesperson Peter Stano said yesterday.

Earlier, Palestinian authorities said 300 bodies were discovered at two different burial sites outside the Nasser and al-Shifa hospitals.

The Israeli military said the claim was “baseless and unfounded”.

Israel’s foreign ministry has criticised Germany’s decision to resume cooperation with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) as “regrettable and disappointing”, insisting that Israel had shared detailed information about “many hundreds” of UNRWA employees who were members of Hamas.

Berlin said on Wednesday it would resume cooperation UNRWA after a review said Israel had yet to provide evidence to support accusations made on the basis of an UNRWA staff list given to it in March that a significant number of UNRWA staff were members of what it called Gaza terrorist groups.

The review found that UNRWA had “a more developed approach” to neutrality than other similar UN or aid groups, although “neutrality-related issues persist” such as staff publicly expressing political views.

The United Nations is investigating the accusations against the 12 employees accused of participating in Hamas’s attack on 7 October. After these allegations surfaced in January, UNRWA said it had sacked 10 of those named, and that the other two were dead.

Israel stepped up its accusations in March, saying that more than 450 UNRWA employees were fighters in what it termed terrorist groups in Gaza.

Riot police arrested a number of students at campuses across the US yesterday as protests over the Israel-Hamas war continue to grow.

Police arrived at the University of Texas, Austin’s campus on horseback and detained at least 20 people participating in the protest, which was organised by the university’s Palestinian Solidarity Committee, according to The Texas Tribune.

The students were demanding that the institution divest from manufacturers supplying Israel weapons in attacks against Palestine, a call that’s been echoed on campuses nationwide. The students gathered at a gym with plans to march through the university and hold a sit-in. By lunchtime around 200 students had banded together.

“We recognize Israel’s right to protect itself. We reject the policy and the practice of Netanyahu — terrible. What could be worse than what he has done in response?” Ms Pelosi told Ireland’s national broadcaster RTE, during a visit to the country on Monday.

My colleague John Bowden reports:

The UNRWA employs 32,000 people in the Palestinian territories and nearby countries, including 13,000 in the Gaza Strip, where it is by far the biggest aid agency, running schools and social services for the refugees who make up the majority of Gazans.

Hailing Germany’s decision to resume cooperation with UNRWA, its communications director Juliette Touma said UNRWA was “so grateful”. “Germany has been a very committed donor to the agency,” she added.

Funding to the agency was frozen after Israel accused 12 UNRWA staff of participating in the Hamas-led 7 October attack.

A review led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna into the accusations said Israel had yet to provide evidence to support allegation made on the basis of an UNRWA staff list given to it in March that a significant number of UNRWA staff were members of what it called Gaza terrorist groups.

The review found that UNRWA had “a more developed approach” to neutrality than other similar UN or aid groups, although “neutrality-related issues persist” such as staff publicly expressing political views.

The United Nations is investigating the accusations against the 12 employees. After these surfaced in January, UNRWA said it had sacked 10 of those named, and that the other two were dead.

Israel stepped up its accusations in March, saying that more than 450 UNRWA employees were fighters in what it termed terrorist groups in Gaza.

Israel’s foreign ministry spokesperson called Germany’s decision “regrettable and disappointing”. He said Israel had shared detailed information about “many hundreds” of UNRWA employees who were members of Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs Gaza, and another group, Islamic Jihad.

Accepting the recommendations of the review on Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all countries to support UNRWA as a “lifeline for Palestine refugees in the region”.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on Tuesday that UNRWA currently has enough funding to pay for operations until June.

Germany yesterday said it would resume cooperation with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), signalling a resumption of funding that was frozen after Israel accused 12 UNRWA staff of participating in the Hamas-led 7 October attack.

The allegations prompted 16 donor states, including the biggest, the United States, to freeze some $450m of funds, a blow to UNRWA’s operations as it grapples with the humanitarian crisis unleashed by Israel’s assault on Gaza.

A review led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna into UNRWA’s procedures for ensuring adherence to principles of neutrality was published on Monday.

In a statement, the German foreign and development ministries urged UNRWA to swiftly implement the report’s recommendations, including strengthening its internal audit function and improving external oversight of project management.

“In support of these reforms, the German government will soon continue its cooperation with UNRWA in Gaza, as Australia, Canada, Sweden and Japan, among others, have already done,” it said. Germany is UNRWA’s second-biggest donor.