Live updates on Israel's war against Hamas

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said Gaza continues to face "profound uncertainty" and "immense human suffering" despite a ceasefire announced eight months ago.

In a post on X, Guterres said it was time to "get serious" about what he called the only credible way forward.

He called for an end to the occupation and a two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side as independent, sovereign and democratic states.

Guterres said both states must be able to live in peace and security.

The UN Children's Fund (Unicef) has called on Israel "to take decisive action to protect Palestinian children" after a series of recent attacks killed and wounded several in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Edouard Beigbeder, Unicef's Middle East and North Africa director, pointed to a recent shooting near Hebron in the West Bank that killed a seven-month-old boy, as well as the killings of eight children in Israeli attacks on Gaza at the weekend.

"We cannot let this become the new normal – children losing their lives to violence should cause global outrage and must be condemned at every level," Beigbeder said in a statement.

"In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the killing and injuring of children and their families, forced displacement, and attacks on schools, homes, water and health infrastructure show a flagrant disregard for children's rights."

He urged the Israeli authorities to ensure "transparent, credible, and robust investigations, as well as accountability whenever children are killed or maimed".

Britain, Australia and Canada on Thursday launched a peace fund to complement broader efforts towards a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with each country contributing £1 million ($1.34 million) to the initiative.

Below are key details about the fund as set out by the British government:

The fund will focus on new and existing grassroots projects - particularly those that include youth groups, civil society organisations and women.

The £3 million fund will seek to scale up and attract additional donors once operational.

Fund announced ahead of meeting in Britain between UK foreign minister Yvette Cooper and her Australian and Canadian counterparts, Penny Wong and Anita Anand.

A child lost his life after sustaining injuries in an Israeli air attack on Gaza City earlier, a source at the al-Shifa Hospital said, Al Jazeera reported.

A group of Israeli settlers stormed into the Palestinian village of Burqa, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, and threw stones at a home, Al Jazeera reported citing Wafa news agency.

It is the latest of several Israeli settler attacks targeting Palestinians in the West Bank today, including one in which Israeli settlers set fire to a car in the village of Beit Imrin.

Israeli authorities are directly involved in settler attacks that have killed, injured and displaced Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, while Israeli security forces provide protection to settlers, a UN inquiry said on Tuesday.

The report by the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory found that Israeli authorities had enabled settler attacks through financial and military support, in a climate of impunity fostered by judicial and law-enforcement bodies.

The report said Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian villages and agricultural land had surged since 2023, rising by 130%, including incidents involving groups of masked assailants. Israeli security forces routinely accompanied settlers and acted as a shield for the violence, it said.

Britain and the foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, France and Norway said on Tuesday they had taken coordinated action to hold extremist Israeli settlers accountable in response to what they described as a deteriorating situation in the West Bank.

After issuing new sanctions earlier on Tuesday, the group of countries warned that they stood ready to take further measures if the Israeli government failed to take urgent steps to address the situation on the ground.

Britain has added seven new designations under its global human rights sanctions regime, targeting individuals and entities involved with Israeli settlers in the West Bank, a government notice showed on Tuesday.

Save the Children has criticised Israel's decision to shut border crossings into Gaza, arguing that humanitarian assistance should not be used for political purposes, Al Jazeera reported 

“Aid is not a political tool and should not be weaponised in this way,” Ahmad Alhendawi, the organisation’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, said in a statement. “The survival and needs of children in Gaza should not have to answer to airstrikes elsewhere.”

Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories announced on Sunday that the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) and Rafah crossings into Gaza would be closed, citing Iranian missile attacks. On Monday, it said the crossings would resume operations on Tuesday.

“Children in Gaza have already been starved by design. They should not now be denied water, medicine, shelter and the other essentials needed to survive. The Israeli authorities must re-open these crossings immediately, lift the siege and facilitate the safe delivery of humanitarian aid at scale.”

According to the organisation, at least 21,289 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.