Middle East crisis live: US steps up criticism of Israel over Gaza conditions amid threat of possible sanctions

A protest in Tel Aviv by relatives and friends of those still being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas has again blocked the southern Ayalon highway.

Haaretz quotes the protestors saying in a statement:

Netanyahu is sacrificing the lives of the 101 hostages in Gaza, who have been held there for nearly 400 days, and repeatedly endangering our security.

A government that conducts psychological warfare against its own people, while continuously forsaking them, has no mandate to continue a war. Only signing a hostage deal and ending the war in Gaza will bring everyone home.

Hamas seized about 250 hostages from Israel during the 7 October attack in 2023, of which about 100 are still believed to be held in Gaza. A significant number of them are believed to have been killed.

The National News Agency in Lebanon has reported fighting in the south of the country, near Halta, Kfarchouba and Chebaa, all of which are close to the blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon.

In its report, the agency says “some heights are witnessing movements of enemy [Israeli] infantry forces and vehicles … these movements are being targeted by [Hezbollah] rocket salvos, while the forested areas remain exposed to artillery shelling and airstrikes from time to time.”

Yesterday the Israeli military said it was “conducting limited, localised, targeted raids based on precise intelligence in thicketed terrain along the border fence in southern Lebanon, where the Hezbollah terrorist organisation has established itself.”

The death toll in Lebanon since Israel stepped up its campaign and began launching significant airstrikes has reached over 3,000 according to Lebanese authorities.

Tens of thousands of Israelis have been forced to flee their homes in northern Israel by near constant rocket fire from inside Lebanon, which itself has seen over a million people displaced by Israeli attacks.

Israel’s military says that following an “hostile aircraft infiltration” warning in Masada in southern Israel near the Dead Sea, its air force intercepted a UAV that crossed into Israel from the east. It also claims to have intercepted a separate drone that crossed into Israel from Lebanon this morning.

At least 29 Palestinians were killed early on Tuesday by Israeli airstrikess on Gaza, including on tents housing displaced people. Casualties were recorded in Beit Lahiya, Deir Al-Balah and the town of Al-Zawayda, Reuters reports, citing Palestinian news agency Wafa.

According to Wafa, 20 people were killed in a heavy airstrike on a home in Beit Lahiya, located in the northern part of Gaza, two people were killed when a tent in central Deir al-Balah was hit and four people were killed and others injured in a similar attack on a tent in al-Zawayda.

It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the conflict in the Middle East.

The Biden administration has stepped up criticism of Israel for not doing enough to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza as a 30-day deadline for Israeli officials to meet certain requirements or face potential sanctions looms.

State department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Monday gave Israel a “fail” grade in terms of meeting the conditions laid out in a letter last month to senior Israeli officials by secretary of state Antony Blinken and defense secretary Lloyd Austin. He said there were still roughly nine days until the deadline expires, but that limited progress thus far has been insufficient.

“As of today, the situation has not significantly turned around,” Miller told reporters.

It comes as Israel formally notified the United Nations of its intention to ban the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, in a move the country’s allies and aid workers warn will deepen the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 16 Palestinians in Gaza on Monday and residents feared new air and ground attacks were aimed at emptying areas of civilians in the territory’s north.

In other developments:

• More than 50 countries are urging the UN security council and general assembly to take immediate steps to halt arms sales or transfers to Israel, saying there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect the military materiel will be used in conflict-torn Gaza and the West Bank.

• Israel claims to have killed two senior Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon in two separate strikes, as it continues its attacks on what it calls terrorist infrastructure. Lebanese authorities have put the death toll from Israeli airstrikes in the country at over 2,800.

• Palestinian authorities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have said that a massacre was narrowly avoided after an arson attack attributed to Israeli settlers on a building and about 20 cars in Al-Bireh, near to Ramallah. Witness said ten people poured liquid on the cars to torch them. Israeli security forces say they are investigating the incident.

• The World Health Organization (WHO) says that 94,431 children under the age of 10 got a polio vaccine over the weekend, which represents 79% of the target in northern Gaza. At least 90% vaccination of a population is needed to stop the spread of the virus.

• Leaks from Netanyahu’s office may have compromised a peace deal, an Israeli court found. A breakdown in peace negotiations may have been caused by leaked and falsified documents involving a close aide to the prime minister, an Israeli court has said. The leaking of the documents – to Britain’s Jewish Chronicle and Germany’s tabloid Bild – came at a crucial time for hostage negotiations.