Israel-Gaza war live: Palestinian state should be realised through negotiations, White House says, as Norway, Ireland and Spain say they will recognise it | Israel-Gaza war

Reuters has a breaking news line from a White House National Security Council spokesperson saying that US president Joe Biden believes a Palestinian state should be realised through negotiations not unilateral recognition.

More details soon …

At least 35,709 Palestinians have been killed and 79,990 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Hamas-run health ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.

My colleagues, Peter Beaumont in London and Sam Jones in Madrid, have put together this explainer on the significance of Spain, Norway and Ireland’s recognition of a Palestinian state.

The Israeli military has approved permission for Israelis to return to three former West Bank settlements they had been banned from entering since an evacuation ordered in 2005, the defence ministry said on Wednesday.

The three settlements, Sa-nur, Ganim and Kadim, are located near the Palestinian cities of Jenin and Nablus, both of which are strongholds of armed militant groups in the northern West Bank, reports Reuters.

According to Reuters, a fourth settlement, Homesh, was cleared for entry last year after parliament passed an amendment to the so-called “disengagement law” of 2005. Permission from the military, which has overall control of the West Bank, was required for any return to the other three former settlements.

The military announced the move on the day three European states said they would formally recognise the State of Palestine. It took the decision despite international pressure on Israel to curb settlement expansion in the West Bank, which Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state alongside Gaza.

“The Jewish hold on Judea and Samaria guarantees security, the application of the law to cancel disengagement will lead to the development of settlement and provide security to residents of the area,” defence minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement, using the biblical names for the West Bank that are often used in Israel.

Reuters said was no immediate comment from the Palestinian Authority.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan have praised the decision by Ireland, Norway and Spain to recognise a Palestinian state, AFP reports.

The Saudi foreign ministry “expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s welcome of the positive decision taken by the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Spain and the Republic of Ireland to recognise the sisterly State of Palestine,” according to a statement posted on X.

“The kingdom appreciates this decision issued by friendly countries, which affirms the international consensus on the inherent right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and calls on the rest of the countries to quickly make the same decision.”

Jordan hailed the coordinated move as an “important and essential step towards Palestinian statehood”.

“We welcome the decisions taken by friendly European countries today to recognise a Palestinian state,” Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi told a joint press conference with his Hungarian counterpart in Amman, AFP reports.

“We value this decision and consider it an important and essential step towards a two-state solution that embodies an independent, sovereign Palestinian state along the July 1967 borders.”

Here’s a Guardian explainer on the significance of Spain, Norway and Ireland’s announcements.

France said on Wednesday that recognising a Palestinian state was not “taboo”, but Paris considers that now is not the right moment for it to do so, AFP reports.

The comments came after Norway, Ireland and Spain announced they will recognise a Palestinian state from 28 May.

In a statement to AFP, French foreign minister Stéphane Séjourné, wrote:

“Our position is clear: the recognition of a Palestinian state is not a taboo for France.

This decision must be useful, that is to say allow a decisive step forward on the political level.

France does not consider that the conditions have been present to date for this decision to have a real impact in this process.

For decades, the formal recognition of a Palestinian state has been seen as the endgame of a peace process between Palestinians and their Israeli neighbours, AFP reports.

The US and most western European nations have said they are willing to one day recognise Palestinian statehood, but not before agreement is reached on thorny issues like final borders and the status of Jerusalem, according to AFP.

Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry headed on Wednesday to Tehran to participate in the funeral of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash on Sunday, reports Reuters citing a foreign ministry statement.

“Shoukry’s visit is the first visit by the Egyptian foreign minister to Iran,” Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said.

Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who also died in the crash, had met his Egyptian counterpart earlier this month in the Gambia on the sidelines of a summit for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

The two ministers had discussed efforts to promote bilateral relations and the latest developments in the region, especially the ongoing situation in Gaza, according to Reuters.

Reuters also reported that China’s vice premier Zhang Guoqing would attend the memorial service for Raisi, citing a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday.

The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and the prime minister and foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani headed to Iran on Wednesday to attend the funeral of late Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, Reuters reports citing the emiri diwan, or royal court.

Iran’s supreme leader led prayers in Tehran on Wednesday at the funeral of the late president Ebrahim Raisi, reports Reuters.

According to Reuters, state TV showed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leading prayers as tens of thousands of mourners thronged streets at the funeral in Tehran, which will move to the cleric’s eastern home city of Mashhad for burial on Thursday.

Raisi’s coffin, as well as those of foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and other officials who were killed alongside the president in Sunday’s crash near the Azerbaijan border, were passed over the heads of weeping mourners.

Reuters reports that a resident in Tehran said many people had received a text message on their phones, calling on people to “attend the funeral of the martyr of service”.

Iran proclaimed five days of mourning for Raisi, who enacted the hardline policies of his mentor Khamenei aimed at entrenching clerical power, cracking down on opponents, and adopting a tough line on foreign policy issues such as nuclear talks with Washington to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact.

More than 40 high-ranking foreign delegations at the levels of head of state, foreign ministers, and heads of parliament will take part at the commemoration ceremony in Tehran on Wednesday afternoon, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said.

Iran-backed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah’s deputy chief Naim Qassem joined the funeral in Tehran.

Here are some of the latest images on the newswires today:

The Israeli military said it had killed a number of fighters in targeted operations in Khan Younis just north of Rafah, and in the northern Gaza Strip where its troops have returned in a major operation in an area where they said they had dismantled Hamas months ago.

According to Reuters, the Israeli military said it had killed a person it identified as Ahmed Yasser Alkara and described as a key Hamas operative, along with two other militants, in a strike in Khan Younis.

“Alkara took part in the 7 October massacre in communities in southern Israel and was a significant anti-tank missile operative who carried out attacks on IDF troops during the war,” said the military statement.

According to Reuters, the statement also said five other militants were killed and had been operating from inside a school.

In the central Gaza Strip town of Zawayda, an Israeli airstrike killed seven people in one house, medics said.

On Gaza’s northern edge in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historical refugee camps, Israeli forces pressed on with a ground offensive that has carried on in parallel with the Rafah assault for two weeks, reports Reuters.

According to the news agency, health officials and residents say entire residential districts have been destroyed and dozens of people killed in the operation, in an area where Israel withdrew its forces after claiming to have “dismantled” Hamas in January.

Israel says it has had to return to prevent Hamas from re-establishing there.