Egypt’s president agrees to open the Rafah crossing – as it happened | Israel-Hamas war

Carrying signs including the words “I am not a threat”, classmates and friends of six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume stood on an Illinois basketball court on Tuesday night at an emotional vigil for the Muslim boy, who was stabbed to death in a hate crime at the weekend.

Hundreds of adults, including Dilawar Syed, the highest-ranking Muslim official in the Biden administration, joined the children in Plainfield to pay tribute to Wadea. The Palestinian-American boy died after he and his mother were stabbed by their landlord, whom authorities say was fuelled by rage over the Israel-Hamas war.

Joseph Czuba, 71, is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of a hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon for Saturday’s knife attack that killed Wadea and seriously injured his mother, Hanaan Shahin, 32, at their apartment. The suspect allegedly shouted “You Muslims must die!” during the attack.

On Tuesday, a succession of speakers paid tribute to a boy known for his smile and love of basketball, and who was born in the US to parents originally from a village in the West Bank.

“What you see is an all-American boy,” Juhie Faheem, a therapist and member of the Will county mental health board, said, according to CNN.

He didn’t wear a sign or necklace stating he was Muslim. He wore a smile on his face, stating he was a child, a child filled with love and not any hate.

The US will provide $100m (£82m) in humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, the White House said.

The assistance will be provided through “trusted partners” including UN agencies and international NGOs, a statement from the White House said.

The funding will help support more than one million people with clean water, food, hygiene support, medical care, and other essential needs, it said.

Civilians are not to blame and should not suffer for Hamas’s horrific terrorism. Civilian lives must be protected and assistance must urgently reach those in need.

We will continue to work closely with partners in the region to stress the importance of upholding the law of war, supporting those who are trying to get to safety or provide assistance, and facilitating access to food, water, medical care and shelter.

The UK family of Lianne and Yahel Sharabi, who were killed in the raid by Hamas on Be’eri kibbutz, have paid tribute to the mother and daughter. Bristol-born Lianne, 48, moved to Israel aged 19. Yahel was 13.

In a statement they said:

Yahel was a bundle of energy, rarely sitting still for long. From riding her bike at breakneck speed around the kibbutz to playing football, singing and dancing to TikTok and YouTube with sister Noiya and, on occasions, her British cousins.

Her sense of adventure never dulled as she got older, with skydiving, scuba diving and zip-lining in Thailand. She was a bright student and had a keen interest in the natural world. She had a telescope one year to look at space and the stars.

She loved animals and would pet any that crossed her path, even ants and other insects had her attention. She was funny, mischievous and a joy to be with. We will never know what she could have become – a vet, an entertainer, a naturalist, maybe even the first Israeli woman in space. All we know is that there is a Yahel-shaped hole in our lives that can never be filled.

They said Lianne was the light of the family’s life.

She had a wonderful caring nature. She would help anyone in trouble, be it physical, emotional or financial, she would be there for them. She was funny, with a dry sense of humour – sometimes irreverent, but never malicious.

She fully embraced the life on Be’eri and made many friends over the years. She was a wonderful mother to Noiya [who is missing] and Yahel and a great support for Eli [her husband]. Her love for her parents and the rest of the family here was always apparent. She never failed to keep in contact with us and we enjoyed hearing of her life in Israel and the adventures she shared with Eli, Noiya and Yahel.

We will miss our girl to the end of our days and keep her in our hearts for ever.

The US president, Joe Biden, and secretary of state, Antony Blinken, have boarded Air Force One after meeting Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The pair are travelling back to Washington from Tel Aviv.

US vetoes UN security council resolution on humanitarian pause

Patrick Wintour

A US veto led to the UN security council failing to agree to any resolution on the Middle East crisis after the US rejected a Brazil-sponsored proposal that called for humanitarian corridors, a pause in the fighting and a rescinding of the order by Israel requiring citizens in Gaza to leave the north of the territory.

The text supported by 12 of the 15 members of the security council including criticism of “heinous terrorist crimes by Hamas” and made no direct criticism of Israel. But it was opposed on Wednesday by the US ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, on the basis that it made no mention of Israel’s right to self-defence. The UK abstained.

The US ambassador said she was horrified and saddened by the loss of life, but added that it was Hamas’s actions that had brought about the humanitarian crisis. She also called for time to let Biden’s diplomacy play out.

Israel thanked the US for using its veto.

Two members of the G7 on the council, Japan and France, backed the Brazil motion.

China said it was in a state of shock and disappointed at the US veto, saying “it was nothing short of unbelievable”.

Russia’s two amendments to the Brazil resolution called for a durable ceasefire and an end to the indiscriminate attacks by Israel. Its amendments were vetoed by the US, but had only six and seven votes, insufficient for the required majority of nine and no vetoes.

Brazil, the current president of the security council, had spent the last three days trying to negotiate a balanced ceasefire resolution, and claimed its compromise was balanced, pointing out that it blamed Hamas for “henious acts of terrorism”.

The Brazil motion also called for “humanitarian pauses to allow full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access for
UN humanitarian agencies and their
implementing partners, the International Committee of
the Red Cross and other impartial humanitarian
organizations, and encourages the establishment of
humanitarian corridors and other initiatives for the
delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians”.

The UK said the draft resolution needed to be clearer on Israel’s right to self-defence and ignored the fact that Hamas was using civilians as human shields.

The outcome is unlikely to help western diplomatic efforts to woo the global south over Ukraine since the US and to a lesser extent the UK is likely to be accused of double standards in its calls for Russia to abide by humanitarian law.

Israel will allow Egypt to deliver limited quantities of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the office of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said.

The decision was approved in light of a request from the visiting US president, Joe Biden, a statement said.

In light of President (Joseph) Biden’s demand, Israel will not thwart humanitarian supplies from Egypt as long as it is only food, water and medicine for the civilian population in the souther Gaza Strip.

The statement made no mention of badly needed fuel. It is not clear when the aid will start flowing.

The statement continued:

Israel will not allow any humanitarian aid from its territory to the Gaza Strip as long as our hostages are not returned.

This is Léonie Chao-Fong in Washington taking over the live blog from Martin Belam. You can reach me at leonie.chao-fong@theguardian.com.

It is coming up to 6pm in Gaza and in Tel Aviv.

• The US president, Joe Biden, said that Pentagon intelligence suggests that the devastating explosion at a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday night was caused by “the other team” and not an Israeli airstrike.

• Gaza’s health ministry said in a statement that 471 Palestinians were killed and more than 314 wounded at the al-Ahli Arab hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip. Its spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qidra, called it an “Israeli massacre”. Palestinian officials have blamed an Israeli airstrike for the blast. Israel states that it was caused by a failed rocket launch from inside Gaza by Islamic Jihad, who have denied it.

• In a press conference, the Israel Defence Forces spokesperson denied Israeli culpability. He produced what Israel claimed was evidence of an intercepted conversation between Hamas operatives discussing the failure of an Islamic Jihad rocket, and aerial imagery which Israel claims shows the blast could not have been caused by IDF fire. He said that “radar system tracked rockets fired by terrorists from within Gaza at the time of the explosion”.

• Before leaving the country, Biden cautioned Israelis not to be consumed by rage, and said the vast majority of Palestinians were not affiliated with Hamas. The Palestinian people were suffering as well, he said. He said he would ask Congress for an “unprecedented” aid package this week, and also unveiled more aid for Palestinian citizens.

• The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has condemned the attack on the hospital in Gaza as “senseless” and “horrifying”, while the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, reiterated the strong need for Europe to condemn Hamas, but also to condemn any attack on civilians by Israel in the defence of its country that breaches international humanitarian law.

• Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has described the deaths at the hospital in Gaza as “an unjustifiable tragedy”, and repeated his plea for an international humanitarian intervention and a ceasefire in defence of Israeli and Palestinian children.

• The UK defence secretary, Grant Shapps, has said that misattributing responsibility for the hospital blast could “make things worse”, and the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, said in parliament that “rushed, inaccurate reporting costs lives”.

• Biden said in a joint appearance with Israel’s prime minister that Hamas was worse than Islamic State for its killings of Israeli civilians, which the president characterised as “slaughter”. He said Hamas “committed evils and atrocities that make Isis somewhat more rational”. Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the US for “your support and your steadfast commitment to provide us with the tools we need to defend ourselves,” saying it was the first visit to Israel “by an American president during a time of war”.

• Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian teenagers near Ramallah in the West Bank on Wednesday after protests against Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.

• France’s prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, has said that the number of French citizens killed in the attacks by Hamas in Israel has risen to 24.

• The US has issued new terrorism-related sanctions targeting nine individuals and one entity linked to Hamas.

• Turkey has said again that it is in talks with Hamas to secure the release of hostages it seized in Israel and took to Gaza. Israel has said it has identified 199 hostages, while Hamas has claimed to be holding between 200 and 250. The hostages include elderly people, women, and children.

• Egypt’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, said on Wednesday that Egyptians in their millions would reject the forced displacement of Palestinians into Sinai, adding that any such move would turn the peninsula into a base for attacks against Israel. He said: “Egypt rejects any attempt to resolve the Palestinian issue by military means or through the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land, which would come at the expense of the countries of the region.”

• Vladimir Putin has said he does not think the Israel-Hamas conflict will escalate into a wider war, as he has the impression “that there are practically no players ready to develop the conflict”. He said the hospital blast was “a terrible event”, and that he hoped it would act as a signal that “we need to end this conflict as soon as possible”.

• France is advising its citizens not to travel to Lebanon. Saudi Arabia has recommended its citizens leave Lebanon.

• Iran’s foreign ministry has urged countries to impose sanctions on Israel.

• The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said “antisemitism has no place in Germany” after an attack outside a synagogue in Berlin in which police say two molotov cocktails were thrown at the building.

• Pope Francis deplored the “desperate” situation in Gaza on Wednesday as he urged the faithful to take “only one side” in the Israel-Hamas conflict – “the side of peace”.