ISRAEL bombed the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza without warning early today, killing at least 33 people including 13 children.

Its bombers killed a further 23 people in the Lebanese village of Aalmat, north of Beirut, a day after a bombing raid over the ancient port of Tyre left at least seven dead, including five siblings, three of whom were deaf and mute. Other Israeli bombing over Lebanon killed a further 31 people on Saturday, according to health officials.

The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, which Israel has banned, said famine is already taking grip in northern Gaza, where Israel’s invading forces continue to deny access to humanitarian aid.

Israel was forced to deny comments from a commander on the ground, Brigadier Itzik Cohen, last week that no aid would be allowed to enter the north because “there are no residents [ie, non-combatants] left there,” as well as that his declaration “No-one is returning to the northern area. There is no return to the north, and there will not be” reflects a policy of ethnic cleansing in the north — as openly advocated by Israeli ministers including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — saying instead it represented a tactical position based on ongoing fighting.

Its media reported that the US has frozen delivery of bulldozers being used to flatten residential structures in Gaza, though this was not confirmed by the US. 

But a ceasefire seemed distant, with Qatar, which has been hosting talks, saying it was suspending mediation efforts.

Qatar said there was no point in mediating “as long as there is a refusal to negotiate in good faith” and hinted the Hamas political office there would be expelled, saying it “no longer serves its purpose.” 

Though Israel has repeatedly scuppered ceasefire negotiations by adding new demands and assassinating Hamas leaders, anonymous diplomatic sources in Qatar briefed that Hamas was being blamed. This could reflect a reorientation of Qatar in anticipation of a Donald Trump presidency in the US, though US diplomats said Washington had told Qatar to kick Hamas out two weeks ago, before the election.

The official death toll from Israel’s invasions of Gaza and Lebanon is now over 46,000. A UN study of Palestinian victims published last week found 44 per cent of the dead were children, with those aged between five and nine the largest single category.