Middle East crisis: Israel withdraws from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza as Hamas-run media office says hundreds of Palestinians killed – as it happened

Israeli warplanes have destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing several people including a senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Among those killed was Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Iranian state media reported. Iranian state television said several Iranian diplomats had been killed.

We’ll bring you more updates as they come – in our live blog below:

• Senior US and Israeli officials planned to hold a virtual meeting on Monday to discuss the Biden administration’s alternative proposals to an Israeli military invasion of Rafah, a US official told Reuters. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called off a planned visit to Washington last week by a senior Israeli delegation after the US allowed passage of a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the United Nations on Monday. Two days later Israel asked the White House to reschedule a high-level meeting on military plans for Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, officials said, in an apparent bid to ease tensions between the two allies. An American official told the Associated Press that the US anticipates that “expert teams” will follow up on the talks in person.

• The Hamas-run Gaza media office said Israeli forces killed 400 Palestinians around al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, including a female doctor and her son, also a doctor, and put the medical facility out of function. “The occupation destroyed and burnt all buildings inside al-Shifa medical complex. They bulldozed the courtyards, burying dozens of bodies of martyrs in the rubble, turning the place into a mass graveyard,” Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the media office, was quoted as saying by Reuters. “This is a crime against humanity.” Israeli forces said earlier they had withdrawn from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City after a two-week operation. Residents described scenes of “total destruction” at the site, saying Israeli troops had “destroyed all sense of life” there. The Israeli military said it had killed and detained hundreds of gunmen in clashes in the area of the hospital, and seized weaponry and intelligence documents.

• Benjamin Netanyahu revived moves to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel, saying through his party spokesperson that parliament would be convened in the evening to ratify the necessary law. Thereafter, Netanyahu “will take immediate action to shut down Al Jazeera in accordance with procedure set out in the law”, the Likud party statement said.

• Netanyahu will be discharged from hospital on Tuesday afternoon after a hernia procedure, a statement from his office said. Earlier, the Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem said he was conscious and conversing with family, and that he was recovering. It did not specify how long that might take.

• At least 32,845 Palestinians have been killed and 75,392 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement. There have been 63 Palestinians killed and 94 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.

• Israeli police said on Monday they had arrested the sister of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as part of an investigation in southern Israel. Police told AFP that Sabah Abdel Salam Haniyeh, who is an Israeli citizen, was taken into custody in the town of Tel Sheva as part of an investigation also involving Israel’s security agency, Shin Bet.

We are closing this blog now, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here.

Here are some of the latest images coming out from the newswires:

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Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will be discharged from hospital on Tuesday afternoon following his hernia procedure, a statement from his office said.

“The prime minister is feeling very well, and he continues to carry out his daily routine from the hospital,” it said.

Earlier, the Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem said Netanyahu was conscious and conversing with family after undergoing a successful hernia operation, adding that he was recovering. It did not specify how long that might take.

Netanyahu, 74, was fully sedated yesterday while undergoing surgery for a hernia doctors discovered during a routine examination.

Israel’s deputy prime minister and justice minister, Yariv Levin, temporarily served as acting prime minister.

A second shipment of food aid arrived by sea on Monday in the latest test of a new maritime route from Cyprus.

One of the three boats could be seen off the coast, and Cyprus’ foreign minister, Constantinos Kombos, said they had received permission to offload, the Associated Press reported. The precise mechanism of delivery was not yet clear.

Israel has faced accusations, including from the UN’s top rights official, Volker Türk, that it is potentially committing “a war crime” by continuing to obstruct food aid to Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.

Aid groups say only a fraction of the supplies required have been allowed in since October, when Israel placed Gaza under near-total siege.

Israel has tried to blame shortages on the Palestinian side, namely a lack of capacity to distribute aid, while humanitarian groups say that Israel is not allowing enough trucks in to make deliveries.

As we mentioned earlier, there are reports that the US and Israel were due to hold a virtual meeting on Monday over the planned offensive in Rafah, which Benjamin Netanyahu has come under pressure to abandon.

“The meeting is scheduled for today. It will be online. There may be a meeting in person later this week,” an Israeli source told AFP.

An American official, meanwhile, told the Associated Press that the US anticipates that “expert teams” will follow up on the talks in person.

Israel had agreed to send a delegation to Washington for discussions on the plans, but cancelled the trip after the US failed to veto a UN security council ceasefire call, abstaining instead.

The Hamas-run Gaza media office said Israeli forces killed 400 Palestinians around al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, including a female doctor and her son, also a doctor, and put the medical facility out of function.

“The occupation destroyed and burnt all buildings inside al-Shifa medical complex. They bulldozed the courtyards, burying dozens of bodies of martyrs in the rubble, turning the place into a mass graveyard,” Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the media office, was quoted as saying by Reuters. “This is a crime against humanity.”

These claims are yet to be independently verified. The Israel Defense Forces have been approached for comment.

Israel’s military announced earlier that it had pulled out of al-Shifa hospital after a two-week raid that left most of the major medical complex in ruins.

The Israeli military said it had killed or detained hundreds of Hamas militants in the hospital area, seized weaponry and intelligence documents, lost two soldiers in fighting, and claimed to have sought to prevent harm to civilians, patients or medics.

Hamas and medics deny any armed presence in hospitals.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under considerable pressure from families of Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza, has reportedly revived a push to close down Al Jazeera in Israel.

Netanyahu urged his coalition government to pass legislation in the Knesset that would allow senior ministers to shut down foreign news networks deemed a security risk, according to the Qatar-owned media network, Al Jazeera.

He promised to “immediately act to close Al Jazeera” following the law’s adoption, according to a statement from his Likud party, with officials told to ensure the Israeli parliament passes a second and third reading of the bill tonight.

Al Jazeera has previously accused Israel of systematically targeting its offices and personnel.

An Israeli supreme court decision on the divisive issue of military draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews has gone into effect.

Reuters has filed this report:

The court decided last week to freeze funding to Jewish seminaries whose students have not turned up to be drafted into the military.

Monday was also the last day for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to submit a bill that would address the mass draft exemptions granted to the ultra-Orthodox, which it was not expected to do on time.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel enjoy a system of broad exemptions to Israel’s compulsory military service and the issue has long divided the nation.

Secular Israelis say the ultra-Orthodox should share in the burden of protecting the country, a demand that has sharpened during the war against Hamas in Gaza. The ultra-Orthodox, meanwhile, say drafting them into the military would compromise their pious way of life.

They say they share the burden of service by praying and being observant Jews. The supreme court ruled that the current system of conscription exemptions is discriminatory.

You can read more about the military exemption here:

At least 32,845 Palestinians have been killed and 75,392 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday.

There have been 63 Palestinians killed and 94 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry statement added.

Most of the casualties have been women and children, the health ministry has said, and thousands more bodies are likely to remain uncounted under rubble across Gaza.

• Israeli forces have withdrawn from al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City after a two-week operation, the Israeli military said on Monday, leaving behind a wasteland of ruined buildings, and, according to Gaza’s health ministry, dozens of bodies. Footage circulated on social media – and not yet verified by the Guardian – showed the bodies of dead Palestinian people, some covered in dirty blankets, scattered on the ground. It showed the grounds heavily ploughed up, and numerous buildings outside the facility either flattened or burned down. Residents described scenes of “total destruction” at the site, saying Israeli troops had “destroyed all sense of life” there. The Israeli military said it had killed and detained hundreds of gunmen in clashes in the area of the hospital, and seized weaponry and intelligence documents.

• Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has undergone a “successful” hernia surgery, according to a statement from his office. He had entered surgery yesterday to treat a hernia discovered during a routine check-up, as thousands of Israelis joined the latest anti-government protests in Jerusalem. Demonstrators, including relatives of those being held captive in Gaza, criticised the failure to free the Israeli hostages and called for new elections.

• Israeli police said on Monday they had arrested the sister of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as part of an investigation in southern Israel. Police told AFP that Sabah Abdel Salam Haniyeh, who is an Israeli citizen, was taken into custody in the town of Tel Sheva as part of an investigation also involving Israel’s security agency, Shin Bet.

• The US and Israel are expected to hold a virtual meeting later to discuss the Biden administration’s alternative proposals to an Israeli military invasion of Rafah. Israeli officials have said that Rafah, located on the Egyptian border, is Hamas’ last major stronghold in Gaza. An estimated 1.5 million Palestinians – over half of Gaza’s population – have taken refuge in Rafah after fleeing Israeli bombardment elsewhere in the territory. Netanyahu has been warned that launching a ground invasion of the southern city would have devastating humanitarian consequences and would result in many more civilians being killed. The White House has said it will not support a Rafah operation without the Israelis presenting a credible plan to ensure the safety of Palestinian civilians.

In Wisconsin, in the US, a campaign by anti-war voters to abandon Joe Biden during the Democratic primary has found an ally in the labor movement – but not from its traditional leaders.

Instead, the Listen to Wisconsin campaign, an effort inspired by the Michigan campaign to reject Biden during the primary over his military support for Israel, has earned the support of rank-and-file trade unionists and a statewide coalition of low-wage workers and immigrants angry about the president’s handling of the war.

“Individuals in labor have been very active,” said Janan Najeeb, a Wisconsin organiser spearheading the Listen to Wisconsin campaign.

Israel’s war on Gaza has laid bare a divide within the labor movement – which has played out largely between union leaders in the AFL-CIO, the largest US labor federation, and the movement’s rank and file, many of whom have vocally opposed the war and turned to their unions as an avenue for political action.

You can read the full story by my colleague, Alice Herman, here: