And now for another recap on Putin's (lengthy) state of the nation address - focusing on some of the more unexpected announcements:
"Stop drinking, take up skiing," was Russian President Vladimir Putin's advice to Russians listening in, as he acknowledged health concerns across the population. In reference to the Soviet-era slogan, Putin pledged a drive for Russians to drink less alcohol and move more.
It's all part of a national project called a "Long and Happy Life", which he said would improve the health of the nation and increase life expectancy from 73 to 78 years.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has led to a surge in alcohol consumption in Russia, reaching 2.3bn litres in 2023 and mirroring Soviet-era trends, according to the US-based Jamestown Foundation think tank.
Putin also encouraged businesses to invest in Russia, despite many international brands leaving the country after it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin leader said "hundreds of new brands" had arrived and people "wanted to start a business, they believed in themselves and their country".
Turning his attention to technology developments, robots were high-up the agenda, as the leader argued industrial robots would make Russia one of the 25 leading countries in the field.
Across the nation, people could watch Putin's speech on screen displays stamped across large buildings and cinemas in 17 Russian cities opened their doors to those wishing to listen in, free of charge.
More than 30,000 Palestinians have now been killed in Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-run health ministry says.
That number equates to about 1.3% of the 2.3 million population of the territory - the latest grim marker of the awful toll of this war.
The ministry says that the majority of those killed were women and children.
Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters when identifying those killed.
In its daily update on Thursday, the ministry said 81 people had been killed in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 30,035.
The actual number of dead is likely to be far higher as the count does not include those who have not reached hospitals, among them thousands of people still lost under the rubble of buildings hit by Israeli air strikes.
More than 70,000 injured people have been registered by the Gaza ministry of health (MoH), which is the only official source for casualties. Its data is quoted by UN agencies and other international institutions.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has a "long-standing co-operation" with the Gaza body and that it has "good capacity in data collection/analysis". Its previous reporting has been considered credible and "well developed" by the UN agency.
The WHO notes that when the current breakdown of deaths is compared with previous data recorded by the UN from past conflicts in Gaza, "it clearly shows an increasing number of civilians being killed, with a higher proportion of children and women fatalities".
Asked about its assessment on the number of fatalities and the breakdown of civilians and fighters, Israel's military told the BBC only that "the number of terrorists killed stands at approximately 10,000".
For a Palestinian death to be registered in Gaza, a corpse or remains must be seen by hospital staff or medical workers. At the end of each day, hospitals send lists of all casualties including - where known - names, identity numbers, dates of injury or death, and details of injuries and condition to a centralised MoH system. Its operators are now based in Rafah.
The Palestinian Red Crescent also contributes data.
During this war it has been more difficult than ever to report figures because of overflowing mortuaries, fighting in and around hospitals and clinics, and poor internet and phone connectivity.
However, if and when a longer-term truce is agreed or the war ends, efforts to recover bodies and trace the missing should allow a clearer picture to emerge of numbers killed, including numbers of combatants. The UN and rights groups, as well as the Israeli military, can be expected to carry out their own investigations.
Getty Images
An ongoing criticism of the existing figures is that they do not give a sense of how Palestinians were killed - whether this was as a result of Israeli air strikes, artillery shelling or other means such as misfired Palestinian rockets. All casualties are currently counted as victims of "Israeli aggression".
In recent days, the Gaza MoH has highlighted more cases of what the WHO calls "indirect mortality" - that is people dying as a result of the war but not directly because of the fighting.
On Wednesday, it said six children had died from dehydration and malnutrition at hospitals in northern Gaza. Two were at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and four at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahia.
The UN is warning that a quarter of Gaza's population is now at risk of famine and that there has been a dramatic increase in infectious diseases compounded by a general shortage of medicines and lack of medical care.
The war began when thousands of Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Russian forces clear out abandoned military equipment after Ukrainian troops' retreat from Avdiivka
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Vladimir Putin will address both houses of Russia’s parliament this morning ahead of the presidential election in mid-March.
His speech, likely to include his propagandistic narrative on the war in Ukraine, will be broadcast across at least 20 cinemas in Russia to a wider audience. It is expected to last more than an hour.
It comes as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was accused of leaking sensitive information about British involvement in Ukraine.
Tobias Ellwood, the former chairman of the Commons defence committee, accused Mr Scholz of “a flagrant abuse of intelligence deliberately designed to distract from Germany’s reluctance to arm Ukraine”.
His comments were in response to remarks by Mr Scholz in which he said that German soldiers could not follow the lead of their British and French allies in “the way of target control and accompanying target control”.
Ukraine repels Russian attacks but situation is difficult, top general says
Ukrainian forces have pushed back Russian troops from the village of Orlivka, west of Avdiivka, but the situation on the eastern front remains difficult, Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi has admitted
Orlivka is less than 2 kilometres northwest of Lastochkyne, which was recently occupied by Russian forces.
Russian forces last week captured the strategic eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka after a months-long assault and are pressing on several other areas along the front line, Ukrainian authorities say.
Ukraine‘s military said this week it had withdrawn from two more villages near Avdiivka, losing more territory as support from its Western allies runs short.
“The enemy continues active offensive actions in many areas of the front line. The situation is particularly tense in the Avdiivka and Zaporizhzhia sectors,” Gen Syrskyi said on the Telegram messaging app.
He said Russian assault units were trying to break through the Ukrainian defences and capture the settlements of Tonenke, Orlivka, Semenivka, Berdychi and Krasnohorivka.
Syrskyi, who visited troops on the eastern front, said some commanders had revealed certain shortcomings in their “situational awareness and assessment of the enemy”, which directly affected the sustainability of defence in certain areas.
“I took all measures to remedy the situation on the ground, with the allocation of additional ammunition and material resources, as well as the necessary reserves,” Syrskyi said.
The Ukrainian military and President Volodymyr Zelensky have repeatedly said that troops are lacking military equipment and ammunition needed to repel Russian attacks because of a shortage of military aid from Western allies.
Ukraine’s military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi visits positions near the frontline in eastern Ukraine
Germany accused of ‘flagrant abuse of intelligence’ for revealing British help in Ukraine
On Monday, he said that German soldiers could not follow the lead of their British and French allies in “the way of target control and accompanying target control”.
Ukraine has downed another Russian fighter jet, the head of the Ukrainian Air Force has claimed.
“Today, February 29, is a date that occurs once every four years, but it is already a familiar day for Russians with the loss of another plane,” said Mykola Oleshchuk.
He said Ukraine shot down a Su-34 fighter jet in the eastern direction, without providing further details.
At least half a dozen Su-43s have been shot down in the past fortnight, according to claims made by Mr Oleshchuk.
David Cameron steps up pressure on Putin to free ‘heir’ to Alexei Navalny
David Cameron is to rachet up pressure on Vladimir Putin by meeting the wife of Russia’s most prominent opposition leader after Alexei Navalny for crunch Whitehall talks, The Independent can reveal.
In a marked escalation of political tensions between the UK and Russia, the foreign secretary will on Friday sit down with Evgenia Kara-Murza, whose Cambridge-educated husband, Vladimir Kara-Murza, is serving a 25-year sentence in a remote Siberian penal colony for spreading “false” information about the Russian army.
The high-level talks come as human rights figures warn the “heir to Navalny” is next on Putin’s hitlist.
Putin allies tell Macron: Any French troops you send to Ukraine will suffer fate of Napoleon's army
Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament and a close Putin ally, said Macron appeared to see himself as Napoleon and warned him against following in the footsteps of the French emperor.
“To maintain his personal power, Macron could not think of anything better than to ignite a third world war. His initiatives are becoming dangerous for the citizens of France,” Volodin said on his official social media feed.
“Before making such statements, it would be right for Macron to remember how it ended for Napoleon and his soldiers, more than 600,000 of whom were left lying in the damp earth.”
Napoleon’s 1812 invasion of Russia made rapid progress initially and captured Moscow. But Russian tactics forced his Grande Armee into a long retreat and hundreds of thousands of his men died as a result of disease, starvation and cold.
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a press conference at the end of the meeting in support of Ukraine
A Russian court sentences the co-chair of a Nobel-winning rights group to 30 months in prison
A Moscow court on sentenced a veteran human rights advocate who spoke out against the war in Ukraine to two years and six months in prison. He was taken directly into custody from the courtroom.
Oleg Orlov, 70, was convicted of “repeatedly discrediting” the Russian army in an article he wrote denouncing the invasion of Ukraine. He has rejected the case against him as politically motivated.
The prosecution demanded that he be sentenced to two years and 11 months in prison.
Navalny to be buried in Moscow on Friday amid protests
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny’s funeral will be held in Moscow on Friday, his wife Yulia announced, but she said she was unsure if it would pass off peacefully and that plans for a civil memorial service had been blocked.
Navalny’s allies accused the Kremlin of thwarting their attempts to organise a separate civil memorial service in a hall which could have accommodated more people, and of blocking plans to bury Navalny a day earlier. The Kremlin has said it has nothing to do with such arrangements.
“Two people - Vladimir Putin and (Moscow Mayor) Sergei Sobyanin - are to blame for the fact that we have no place for a civil memorial service and farewell to Alexei,” Yulia, his wife, wrote on X.
“People in the Kremlin killed him, then mocked Alexei’s body, then mocked his mother, now they are mocking his memory.”
The Kremlin denies any involvement in Navalny’s Feb. 16 death at age 47 in an Arctic penal colony and his death certificate - according to his supporters - says he died of natural causes.
Is it ethical to use Russia’s frozen assets to help Ukraine war effort?
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen underscored the urgency of moving forward together with Western allies to unlock the value of frozen Russian sovereign assets to help Ukraine, but said the U.S. had no “preferred strategy” for how to do so.
Yellen, speaking at a news conference ahead of meetings with her G7 and G20 counterparts, said the U.S. and its allies were evaluating different options for some $285 billion in Russian assets immobilized in 2022 and the associated risks.
G7 leaders have asked for solutions to be presented in June.
Yellen acknowledged there were risks involved, but downplayed concerns raised by some in Europe that confiscating Russian assets would undermine the role of the U.S. dollar, euro or Japanese yen as important global reserve currencies.
“I believe the G7 should work together to explore the number of approaches that have been suggested for unlocking their economic values. One would be, of course, seizing the assets themselves, but there are other ideas, such as using them as collateral to borrow from global markets,” Yellen said.
Erdogan calls for ‘just and lasting solution’ to war in Ukraine
Turkey supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, stands for a just and lasting solution to the war in Ukraine, and is ready to host “peace talks” between Russia and Ukraine again.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
“Türkiye’s support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity is well known to all. We are also making every effort to protect the rights and interests of our Crimean Tatar compatriots,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
According to him, diplomacy and dialogue should be given a chance for a “just and lasting solution” to the war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022.
“I’m of the opinion that joint efforts should be initiated, at least on determining general parameters of peace,” he added.
Qatar has accused Israel of facilitating “the deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people” in a weekly briefing given by foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari. He called on the international community to apply more pressure on Israel, and said it was “painful” that the delivery of aid was still an issue.
In a statement issued after the briefing, Al Ansari said:
The deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people cannot be tolerated and the international community must stand against this issue.
Any aid provided to Gaza Strip is a very small part of what the residents of the strip need. There are two and a half million people living in complete absence of health and emergency services. More than one million people live in tents in the south of the Strip.
Aid should be freely provided without restrictions, as the state of Qatar has always emphasised.
Al Ansari said that 80 planes of aid had been delivered via an air bridge Qatar had set up to deliver aid, but “the challenges of entering this aid are great and ongoing.”
He continued:
So far, we have not seen real pressure from the international community to allow full and unconditional entry of aid. The State of Qatar, in cooperation with its partners, seeks to stop the aggression before the holy month of Ramadan. It is painful that the entry of humanitarian aid is one of the issues on the table.
Organisers of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the UK have responded to recent government statements about protests with their own joint statement. The group, which includes Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Stop the War and the Muslim Association of Britain, said:
Since October, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets of London and their local areas calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, yet politicians have denounced these peace protesters as “hate marchers” for expressing the majority view.
Under intense political pressure from the government, political commentators, and a range of pro-Israel groups pushing to have the protests banned, the policing of the demonstrations has been increasingly aggressive and restrictive. It has been marked by unprecedented use of restriction orders, pressure on the organisers not to march, and violent arrests of protesters.
The groups are planning to host a press conference at parliament in London later today.
Earlier, home secretary James Cleverly said pro-Palestine protesters have “made their point” and questioned the value of continuing demonstrations, while UK policing minister Chris Philp said the government might consider increasing the amount of notice that protesters have to give to police when organising large-scale demonstrations.
Israel’s military has said it has carried out air raids on what it described as “a Hezbollah weapons storage facility” and “a Hezbollah weapons manufacturing site” in southern Lebanon.
In a statement published to its official Telegram channel, it said:
Following the sirens sounded in the area of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel earlier today Wednesday, approximately ten launches which crossed from Lebanon into northern Israel were identified. The IDF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted a number of the launches. In response, the IDF struck the sources of the fire in Lebanon.
A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility and military structures in the area of Ramyeh in southern Lebanon. Additionally, overnight, the IDF struck a Hezbollah weapons manufacturing site in the area of Khirbet Selm.
Earlier Israeli media reported that a building was damaged after rockets hit Israel’s northernmost city of Kiryat Shmona, and the Hamas Al-Qassam Brigades claimed in a Telegram message that it had launched 40 Grad missiles from southern Lebanon at military targets in northern Israel. Israeli authorities have not reported any casualties.
Families of people still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza are staging a protest march today calling for their return. The march starts at the site of the Nova music festival, scene of some of the worst atrocities during the 7 October attack inside Israel, and will go to Jerusalem.
Israel believes 134 hostages are still being held in Gaza, of which it believes 32 people have been killed.
In the UK, repeated protests calling for an end to the fighting in Gaza have become a thorny political issue, leading to a row in parliament last week over MPs voting for a ceasefire, and a renewed scrutiny on the security and safety of MPs, who claim they are being targeted by protesters.
Appearing on television this morning in the UK, policing minister Chris Philp said that protests would be allowed to continue, saying “We are a free country and people have the right to protest, so we will continue to police those protests,” however he indicated that the government might consider a change in the law so that organisers have to give authorities more advanced notice of the intention to stage a demonstration.
He told viewers:
For very, very large protests where we’re talking about tens of thousands, or possible even hundreds of thousands of people, it may make planning for the police easier if it’s more like a couple of weeks, but that’s just something the home secretary’s thinking about, and certainly nothing’s been decided.
Philp said that to date about 600 arrests have been made at protests over the Gaza conflict since 7 October.
The policing minister said there would be a meeting in Downing Street in London today including prime minister Rishi Sunak to discuss the police response to protests directly outside MPs’ houses. “We can’t cede an inch of territory to people who seek to intimidate our elected representatives,” he told broadcaster LBC.
Earlier the home secretary, the equivalent of an interior minister, James Cleverly, had questioned the value of the continuing demonstrations in the UK, saying pro-Palestine protesters have “made their point”.
“I’m not sure that these marches every couple of weeks add value to the argument. They’re not really saying anything new,” he told the Times newspaper.
Hamas has said it launched two missile salvoes consisting of 40 Grad missiles from southern Lebanon into northern Israel.
Reuters reports Al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement on its Telegram channel it had bombed the headquarters of the 769th Eastern Brigade and the airport barracks in Beit Hilal.
There have been frequent exchanges of fire over the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon since 7 October. Israel has evacuated some northern communities, and has repeatedly told Hezbollah and other anti-Israeli forces in the area that they must back-off and respect the UN mandated demilitarised zone between the blue line and the Litani river.
Yesterday the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, Unifil, described what it saw as “a disturbing shift” in the intensity of fire being exchanged.
Israeli media is also this morning reporting that a building was damaged after rockets hit Israel’s northernmost city of Kiryat Shmona.
Al Jazeera reports Gaza’s al-Awda hospital has had to suspend all surgical operations after its operating theatres were destroyed. Acting director Mohamed Salha told the news agency:
This means that all medical services related to obstetrics and gynaecology have stopped completely. We were the only hospital in northern Gaza for orthopaedic surgeries. There is no other alternative place in northern Gaza or Gaza City because the health ministry’s hospitals are out of service completely.
Overnight Israel’s military has announced that two further soldiers were killed druing the ground operation in Gaza. The IDF said they were killed in combat in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, and that seven soldiers were also wounded.
In its latest operational briefing, Israel’s military has claimed it struck “eight significant terror targets” overnight which it said had been responsible for rockets fired towards the Israeli city of Ashkelon.
In a message posted to its official Telegram channel, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) wrote:
During joint ground and aerial activity in the Gaza Strip, eight significant terror targets were struck in an area from which rockets were fired toward the city of Ashkelon last night. Terror tunnel shafts and infrastructure used by terrorist operatives were also struck.
The briefing went on to claim that “ground troops conducted targeted raids on compounds, and located weapons and military equipment” in western Khan Younis, and that “IDF paratroopers killed a number of terrorists with sniper fire” while separately in Khan Younis “an IDF fighter jet … struck terrorists in a military compound who were preparing to ambush the troops.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah for Al Jazeera has said that Israeli attacks on the city seem to be “more systematic right now”. He told the news network:
The Israeli military targeted a home and so far there have been two children who were pulled out from the rubble. There are more people under the rubble and volunteers from the civil defence, paramedics and locals have rushed to the area to help with the rescue efforts.
Someone on the ground told us that the houses were full of displaced families who had evacuated from Gaza City in recent weeks and also another displaced family who was evacuated from Khan Younis at the start of the ground invasion.
At the beginning of its campaign, Israel’s military repeatedly ordered the Palestinian population to move south to Rafah for their safety while it conducted an extensive aerial bombardment and ground operations in the north and central Gaza Strip. It has been estimated that at least 85% of Gaza’s population has been displaced, with some families being forced to move multiple times.
Qatar has accused Israel of facilitating “the deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people” in a weekly briefing given by foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari. He called on the international community to apply more pressure on Israel, and said it was “painful” that the delivery of aid was still an issue.
In a statement issued after the briefing, Al Ansari said:
The deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people cannot be tolerated and the international community must stand against this issue.
Any aid provided to Gaza Strip is a very small part of what the residents of the strip need. There are two and a half million people living in complete absence of health and emergency services. More than one million people live in tents in the south of the Strip.
Aid should be freely provided without restrictions, as the state of Qatar has always emphasised.
Al Ansari said that 80 planes of aid had been delivered via an air bridge Qatar had set up to deliver aid, but “the challenges of entering this aid are great and ongoing.”
He continued:
So far, we have not seen real pressure from the international community to allow full and unconditional entry of aid. The State of Qatar, in cooperation with its partners, seeks to stop the aggression before the holy month of Ramadan. It is painful that the entry of humanitarian aid is one of the issues on the table.
Russian media is reporting that representatives of Hamas and Fatah will meet in Moscow on Thursday to discuss the possibility of a united Palestinian government across both Gaza and the West Bank.
Citing the RIA state news agency, Reuters reports that Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov confirmed the meeting has taken place.
One of Israel’s stated war aims has been the dismantling of Hamas, and senior Israeli officials have repeatedly said Hamas can have no role in the governance of Palestinian territories the “day after” the war in Gaza.
The Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, said Hamas would have no members, but the fact that it would be consulted showed efforts were under way to see if Palestinian unity between Hamas and Fatah was achievable. The two factions have been divided since Hamas threw the Fatah movement out of Gaza in 2007.
Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, and his government resigned en masse on Monday.
Another rocket exploded without causing any damage late Tuesday night off the side of a ship traveling through the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, authorities said.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations reported the attack happened about 110 kilometers (70 miles) off the coast of the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida. The rocket exploded several miles off the bow of the vessel, it said.
“The crew and vessel are reported to be safe and are proceeding to next port of call,” the UKMTO said.
Associated Press reports the private security firm Ambrey said the vessel targeted appeared to be a the Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier in the area at the time.
Yesterday Yemen’s Houthis announced that they would not reconsider their attacks on shipping in the area until Israel had lifted its siege of Gaza. The group have issued a ban on ships with connections to Israel, the US and the UK passing through the Red Sea.
A group of more than 50 broadcast journalists have sent an open letter to the embassies of Israel and Egypt calling for “free and unfettered access” to Gaza for foreign media.
The letter, sent by correspondents and presenters from the main broadcasting outlets based in the UK, also appeals for better protection for journalists already reporting in the territory.
PA Media reports 55 journalists signed the letter from outlets including Sky News, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. It said:
Almost five months into the war in Gaza, foreign reporters are still being denied access to the territory, outside of the rare and escorted trips with the Israeli military.
We urge the Governments of Israel and Egypt to allow free and unfettered access to Gaza for all foreign media.
We call on the government of Israel to openly state its permission for international journalists to operate in Gaza and for the Egyptian authorities to allow international journalists access to the Rafah crossing.
The letter continued “It’s vital that local journalists’ safety is respected and that their efforts are bolstered by the journalism of members of the international media. The need for comprehensive on the ground reporting of the conflict is imperative.”
An unprecedented number of local journalists have been killed by Israeli military action since the conflict erupted on 7 October when Hamas launched its surprise attack inside Israel.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has found at least 88 journalists and media workers have been killed. Four journalists are missing and 25 have been reported arrested.
Sherif Mansour of the CPJ has said:
CPJ emphasises that journalists are civilians doing important work during times of crisis and must not be targeted by warring parties. Journalists across the region are making great sacrifices to cover this heart-breaking conflict. Those in Gaza, in particular, have paid, and continue to pay, an unprecedented toll and face exponential threats. Many have lost colleagues, families, and media facilities, and have fled seeking safety when there is no safe haven or exit.
Here are some more images of the stricken Belize-flagged Rubymar, which was en route from the UAE to Europe via the Red Sea when she was hit by a Houthi attack on 20 February.
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
UK-owned cargo ship, Rubymar, has begun to sink in the Red Sea after it was hit by a Houthi attack on 18 February.
The Rubymar is reportedly carrying 22,000 tonnes of fertiliser that. On Monday the owner of the vessel said it was looking at towing the vessel to Saudi Arabia once a leak can be fixed.
More on that in a moment, first here’s a round-up of the day’s other main events:
A Hamas official has told Reuters that US president Joe Biden’s words about a halt to fighting in Gaza are premature, and do not match the situation on the ground. Biden had seemed confident that a truce would be agreed by Monday, but as well as the words from Hamas, a senior Israeli official has also said that he does not understand where Biden’s optimism is coming from. Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson said the country remains “upbeat and optimistic” about the prospects for a deal.
Unifil, the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, has said it is witnessing “a disturbing shift” in the exchanges of fire between Israel and anti-Israeli forces across the UN-drawn blue line that separates northern Israel and southern Lebanon. On Tuesday morning Israel said it had struck several targets inside Lebanon in response to a barrage of 35 rockets fired at one of its military installations in northern Israel.
The formation of a new Palestinian technocratic government would be aided by both Qatar and Egypt and involves consultations with all Palestinian political factions – including Hamas, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, has said.
Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in clashes in the occupied West Bank early on Tuesday. At least 400 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers and settlers in the occupied West Bank since the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas.
Yemen’s Houthis said they could only reconsider their missile and drone attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea once Israel ends its “aggression” in the Gaza Strip. The US says it has targeted Iranian and Houthi commanders in a new round of sanctions, and the UK has also issued new sanctions against Iran and Yemen.
Israel is intentionally starving Palestinians and should be held accountable for war crimes – and genocide, according to the UN’s leading expert on the right to food. “There is no reason to intentionally block the passage of humanitarian aid or intentionally obliterate small-scale fishing vessels, greenhouses and orchards in Gaza – other than to deny people access to food,” Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, told the Guardian.
The UN humanitarian office has accused Israeli forces in Gaza of stalling a medical evacuation convoy in Khan Younis and forcing paramedics to strip for searches before detaining them. In comments made in Geneva, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA) appealed for the release of all detained health personnel.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said it is key for Europe's security to defeat Russia in Ukraine, amid urgent pleas for more weapons from Kyiv.
He was speaking in Paris where he said that European leaders had agreed to set up a coalition to give Ukraine medium- and long-range missiles and bombs.
He added that there was "no consensus" on sending Western troops to Ukraine, but that "nothing should be excluded".
Russian troops have recently made gains in Ukraine which faces arms shortages.
Kyiv is critically dependent on modern armoury supplies from its Western allies, particularly the US, to be able to continue fighting Russia - a far bigger military force with an abundance of artillery ammunition.
But the approval of a much needed $95bn (£75bn) US aid package - including $61bn for Ukraine - faces an uphill battle in the House of Representatives.
Last weekend, Ukraine's defence minister said half of all Western aid for Kyiv had been delayed, costing lives and territory.
In response to Mr Macron, a spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said his government had no plans for a large-scale military deployment to Ukraine, beyond the small number of personnel already training Ukrainian forces.
Germany, Sweden, Poland and the Czech Republic have also ruled out such suggestions.
On Friday, Hungary blocked a statement sent to EU member countries by the European Council President Charles Michel, pledging "unwavering" support for Ukraine.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban - the only EU leader who maintains warm relations with Russia's President Vladimir Putin - has been repeatedly at odds with the bloc over measures to help Kyiv since Russia's invasion.
On Tuesday, Hungary's foreign minister reiterated that Budapest is not willing to send weapons or troops to Ukraine.
Peter Szijjarto said: "The war in Ukraine must be finished, not expanded."
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called Mr Macron's suggestion "a very important new element" adding it was absolutely not in the interests of Nato members.
"In that case, we would need to talk not about the probability, but about the inevitability [of direct conflict]", said Mr Peskov.
Earlier, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg denied considering whether troops would be sent to Ukraine, although he insisted the alliance would continue to support Kyiv strongly.
As Kyiv struggles to secure more aid and weapons to continue fighting Russia, the Kremlin's need for extra ammunition has reportedly taken it to an unlikely player in this war.
South Korea says that North Korea has shipped as many as three million shells to Russia, for use in its war in Ukraine. Its defence minister, Shin Won-sik, said that in return, Moscow had sent thousands of containers of food.
Both Moscow and Pyongyang deny North Korea is supplying Russia with munitions.
A full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin is now in its third year, with no signs that the biggest war in Europe since World War Two could end soon.
Monday's crisis meeting in support of Ukraine was attended by heads of European states, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and top government officials like UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron.
Delegations from the US and Canada were also present.
EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
President Macron said: "We are convinced that the defeat of Russia is indispensable to security and stability in Europe."
Describing Russia as the "sole aggressor", he said, "We are not at war with the Russian people. We just don't want to let them win.".
Mr Macron announced that a coalition would provide Ukraine with "missiles and bombs of medium and long range to carry out deep strikes". He did not say when such weapons would be delivered.
And he did not rule out sending Western ground troops to Ukraine but acknowledged that differences remained among the allies.
"There was no consensus today to send troops on to the ground in an manner that's official, assumed and endorsed," he said. "But on the dynamic, nothing should be excluded. We will do everything so that Russia cannot win this war."
"We should not exclude that there might be a need for security that then justifies some elements of deployment," he added. "But I've told you very clearly what France maintains as its position, which is a strategic ambiguity that I stand by."
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala earlier said his country had no intention of deploying its forces to fight in Ukraine.
He was reacting to comments by his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico, who was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying: "I can confirm there are countries that are prepared to send their own troops to Ukraine, there are countries that say never, among which Slovakia belongs, and there are countries that say this proposal needs to be considered."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who also took part in Monday's meeting by video link, said that "everything we do together to defend against Russian aggression adds real security to our nations for decades to come".
Russia has repeatedly warned that any Western troop deployment in Ukraine would trigger a direct conflict between Moscow and the Nato military alliance.
Australian police say two bodies have been found during the search for missing Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.
"We are very confident that we have located Luke and Jesse," New South Wales (NSW) Police Commissioner Karen Webb said.
Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, a police officer who once dated TV presenter Mr Baird, was earlier charged with murder.
The bodies were discovered on a rural property in the town of Bungonia.
Police said that after initially refusing to cooperate with the investigation, Mr Lamarre-Condon finally disclosed where the two bodies were located on Tuesday morning.
Detective Superintendent Daniel Doherty said the remains were found "near the entrance to the property" and that attempts had been made "to cover the bodies with rock and debris".
He added that police believe two "surf bags" were used to transport the deceased couple in a white van from Mr Baird's inner city Paddington home, where it is believed they were killed.
Investigators found a bullet matching Mr Lamarre-Condon's work-issued gun there last week, along with a "significant" amount of blood and upturned furniture.
Mr Lamarre-Condon, who appeared in court on Friday and was refused bail, has not commented on the charges against him. He first joined the police force in 2019 and was previously a celebrity blogger.
Police began focusing their efforts on the Bungonia property - some two hours south of Sydney - after learning Mr Lamarre-Condon had visited it in the white van believed to be carrying the pair's bodies with an acquaintance last Wednesday.
After severing a lock on a gate, Mr Lamarre-Condon then left the female acquaintance there before driving the van on to the property and returning 30 minutes later, police say.
The case - which has gripped Australia - is believed to be the first suspected murder carried out by a New South Wales police officer in decades, and it has prompted a review into the out-of-hours access officers have to their firearms.
EPA
It has also led organisers of Sydney's iconic Mardi Gras parade to uninvite NSW police from this year's march, a decision which has sparked fierce debate online and disappointment from police, who allege the murders were a crime of "passion" not "gay-hate related".
Sydney's Mardi Gras parade has a complex history of both LGBTQ+ activism and police brutality, after the first march in 1978 resulted in dozens of people being beaten and arrested by local officers.
In the decades since though it has been a unifying event, with uniformed police taking part every year since 1998.
Tributes have flooded in for Mr Baird, a former presenter and red carpet reporter, and Mr Davies, who worked as a flight attendant for Qantas.
"Obviously Jesse and Luke were very much an active part of the community and I look at their photos online and know they had a great life," Commissioner Webb said.
