Israel Gaza live: Biden warns against occupation as Egypt reopens border

The wife of Scotland’s first minister has called on world leaders to “give the children of Gaza a chance of life” as she spoke of her “complete despair” at the situation in the region.

Nadia El-Nakla said she fears the city where her family has a home is being “obliterated” as Israel seeks retaliation for an attack by the Palestinian terror group Hamas.

Her parents are currently trapped in Gaza after travelling there from Scotland recently to visit family, and Ms El-Nakla spoke about the situation as the start of the SNP conference in Aberdeen on Sunday.

The World Health Organisation has warned that Israel’s order to evacuate north Gaza could be a “death sentence” for the more than 2,000 patients, including babies in incubators, in hospitals across the besieged strip.

Israel has ordered the population of the north of the 42km-long territory to move south ahead of an expected ground invasion: a move that could amount to the war crime of forcible transfer, according to some rights groups.

The order has piled panic on the population of more than two million people, who are already struggling under a “total siege” imposed by Israel, in response to a deadly attack by Hamas militants that has killed over 1,000 people.

Doctors in the evacuation zone said because they couldn’t relocate patients safely, they decided to stay as well to care for them.

Read the full report from Bel Trew in Tel Aviv below.

Responding to the rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, multiple UN agencies are preparing to deliver life-saving stocks including food and medical supplies.

Yet the Israeli authorities have linked access for humanitarian assistance with the release of hostages held by Hamas since the militant group launched its deadly 7 October terror attack, Lynn Hastings, the UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told UN News.

“They have said they want to destroy Hamas, but their current trajectory is going to destroy Gaza,” Ms Hastings said in an interview with UN News on Sunday.

Calling for the unconditional and immediate release of hostages being held by Hamas, she also urged “immediate unconditional access” into Gaza for the delivery of lifesaving aid.

She warned: “We are anticipating that there won’t be any more water left, if not tomorrow, at the very latest by Tuesday.”

The Israel Defence Forces have denied attacking civilians in Gaza.

“We strike Hamas, we strike their infrastructure and we are hunting their commanders,” said IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus in his morning update. “Categorically we are not trying to strike civilians.”

He also denied responsibility for strike on a civilian convoy of evacuees that was hit by a deadly airstrike, killing 70 on Friday.

An Israeli occupation of Gaza would be a “big mistake”, US president Joe Biden said in an interview with 60 Minutes on CBS on Sunday.

“I think it’d be a big mistake. Look, what happened in Gaza, in my view, is Hamas and the extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people. And I think that it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy Gaza again,” he said.

A six-year-old Palestinian-American boy was fatally stabbed and his mother was wounded by their landlord in an anti-Muslim hate crime linked to the Israel-Hamas war, police in Illinois say.

The boy, named by his father as Wadea Al-Fayoume, was stabbed 26 times and his 32-year-old mother, Hanaan Shahin, more than 12 times in the shocking attack at a property in Plainfield Township, outside Chicago, on Saturday morning.

“Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the on-going Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” Will County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

The Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza will open at 9am local time today, said the US Embassy in Israel.

“We anticipate that the situation at the Rafah crossing will remain fluid and unpredictable and it is unclear whether, or for how long, travelers will be permitted to transit the crossing ,” the embassy said on Monday.

“If you assess it to be safe, you may wish to move closer to the Rafah border crossing – there may be very little notice if the crossing opens and it may only open for a limited time.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday announced that “Rafah will be open” after meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

Police want to find two women who were seen wearing images of paragliders at a pro-Palestine march in London on Saturday.

Thousands of people attended the demonstration in the capital, marching in solidarity with Palestinians trapped in Gaza as the Israeli army bombards the territory.

Pictures and footage of two people attending the event were shared on social media after it appeared they had images of paragliders taped to their shoulders, reports Lydia Patrick: