Israel-Gaza war live: Norway says it will recognise Palestinian state; Ireland and Spain expected to follow | Israel-Gaza war

Ireland, Spain and Norway are expected to announce plans to formally recognise a Palestinian state on Wednesday, according to multiple reports, amid warnings from Israel that recognition will “fuel extremism and instability”.

The three Irish government leaders – premier Simon Harris, deputy premier Micheál Martin and minister Eamon Ryan – are due to hold a press conference on Wednesday morning. They had earlier signalled the government would make the move to recognise Palestinian statehood by the end of May.

National public broadcaster RTÉ and the Irish Times both reported it was understood the decision to do so would be announced at the news conference.

The Guardian understands that Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, will also reveal a date for formal recognition on Wednesday, after announcing his intention last week to do so.

Sánchez has been one of the most outspoken European leaders when it comes to criticism of Israel’s offensive in Gaza. He has also repeatedly said that the two-state solution remains the only answer to the crisis in the Middle East.

Norway’s public broadcaster and the daily Aftenposten meanwhile reported, citing unnamed sources, that the government would announce on Wednesday that the Nordic country recognises an independent Palestinian state.

It ihas gone 9am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. This is our latest Guardian live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.

Ireland, Spain and Norway are reportedly to announce a date for the formal recognition of a Palestinian state on Wednesday, according to reports from all three countries.

The three nations have been among the most outspoken critics of Israel’s campaign in Gaza and have been holding negotiations with other European states about making a joint declaration on recognition of Palestine.

The Israeli foreign ministry pre-empted a potential announcement, releasing a video claiming that recognition of a Palestinian state would “lead to more terrorism, instability in the region and jeopardize any prospects for peace”.

“Don’t be a pawn in the hands of Hamas,” it warned.

More on that in a moment. Here is a summary of the latest developments:

• The UN has suspended food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where Israel launched an intensified assault earlier this month, due to lack of supplies and insecurity. It also said no aid trucks have entered the territory in the past two days via a floating pier set up by the US for sea deliveries, and warned that the $320m (£250m) project may fail unless Israel starts providing the conditions humanitarian groups need to operate safely.

• Fighting raged around the far southern city of Rafah, the last area to face a ground invasion, on Tuesday but fierce combat was also reported again in the northern Jabalia area where Hamas forces have regrouped. The World Health Organization said northern Gaza’s last two functioning hospitals, al-Awda and Kamal Adwan, were besieged by Israeli forces, with more than 200 patients trapped inside both.

• Israeli missiles struck the emergency department of Kamal Adwan hospital, medics said, prompting panicked medical staff to rush patients on hospital beds and stretchers to the rubble-strewn street outside. “The first missile when it hit, it hit the entrance of the emergency department. We tried to enter, and then a second missile hit, and the third hit the building nearby,” Hussam Abu Safia, the head of the hospital, told Reuters.

• The health ministry in Gaza said that 35,647 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israel’s military action since 7 October, with 79,852 wounded. Thousands more are believed to be buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

• Israel urged what it called “nations of the civilised world” to refuse to implement any international criminal court (ICC) arrest warrants issued against its leaders. “We call on the nations of the civilised, free world – nations who despise terrorists and anyone who supports them – to stand by Israel. You should outright condemn this step,” government spokesperson, Tal Heinrich, said.

• The Biden administration is willing to work with Congress to potentially impose sanctions against ICC officials over the prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders over the Gaza war, Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, said. Joe Biden as well as his political opponents have sharply criticised the ICC announcement, arguing the court does not have jurisdiction over the Gaza conflict and raising concerns over process.

• The Republican leader of the US House of Representatives said on Tuesday he was close to inviting Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address lawmakers even if the Senate’s Democratic leader did not go along. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters at the Capitol he had given Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer until Tuesday to sign a letter inviting Netanyahu to address a joint meeting.

• Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said the court’s move was an “attempt to deny the state of Israel the right to defend itself”. Gallant said the “prosecutor’s parallel between the terrorist organization Hamas and the state of Israel is despicable and disgusting.”

• Israeli officials seized a camera and broadcasting equipment belonging to the Associated Press in southern Israel on Tuesday, before reversing course in the face of widespread condemnation from media groups and criticism from its closest ally, the US. Officials had accused the US-based wire service, which has subscribers around the globe, of violating a new media law by providing images to Al Jazeera, which it has banned from the country.

• Individual members of Israel’s security forces are tipping off far-right activists and settlers to the location of aid trucks delivering vital supplies to Gaza, enabling the groups to block and vandalise the convoys, according to multiple sources. Settlers intercepting the vital humanitarian supplies to the strip are receiving information about the location of the aid trucks from members of the Israeli police and military, a spokesperson from the main Israeli activist group behind the blockades told the Guardian.

• The British government is preparing to publish a summary of its legal advice stating there are no clear risks that selling arms to Israel will lead to a serious breach of international humanitarian law (IHL). The government has so far rigidly insisted it will not publish any legal advice or any summary but on Tuesday the deputy foreign secretary, Andrew Mitchell, said he would “look to see what more detail we could offer” due to the “strength of feeling in the IHL assessment process”.

• A surgeon, a teacher and a schoolchild riding a bicycle were among eight Palestinians killed in an Israeli raid on the West Bank refugee camp in Jenin on Tuesday, while 20 others were wounded including photojournalist Amr Manasra, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. The office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the raid in a statement on Wafa, saying Israel was “killing innocent people, doctors, and destroying the infrastructure of Palestinian hospitals, cities and villages”.

• The Israeli military, which said it was carrying out a “counter-terrorism operation”, also bulldozed and destroyed infrastructure near Jenin governmental hospital, Wafa reported. At least 513 Palestinians have been killed in the territory by Israeli troops or settlers since the Gaza war broke out, according to Palestinian officials.

• Israel has addressed many of Biden’s concerns over its long-simmering plan to carry out a widescale military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas, a senior Biden administration official said Tuesday. The official, who was not authorised to comment publicly and requested anonymity, said that in talks over the weekend with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Israeli officials incorporated many changes into their planning that seem to meet concerns about deepening an operation in an area that has been flooded with Palestinian refugees during the seven-month war.

• The US and Saudi Arabia have reached a near final set of arrangements for a bilateral defence pact that includes a security component and a civil nuclear component, a senior administration official said on Tuesday. The official said the deal was “more or less complete,” but cautioned that certain elements, including a credible pathway to Palestinian statehood and steps on stabilising Gaza, still needed to be completed.