🔴 Live: France slaps travel bans on ‘extremist’ Israeli settlers

Summary:

• France on Tuesday said it would impose sanctions on Israeli settlers “guilty of violence” against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. “Twenty-eight individuals will be barred from entering French territory,” the foreign ministry said.
• At least 67 Palestinians were killed on Monday in Israeli air strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, according to Palestinian hospital officials. 
• The deadly strikes accompanied an Israeli raid in Rafah that rescued two hostages, Israel said on Monday.
• Senior officials from the US, Israel and Qatar met with Egyptian officials in Cairo on Tuesday to “to discuss a truce in Gaza”, Egyptian media reported.
• President Joe Biden on Monday said the US was working on a deal for the release of more hostages and a six-week “period of calm” in Gaza, with the aim of building “something more enduring”. 
• The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 28,473 people have been killed and 67,984 wounded in Israeli strikes on the enclave since October 7, the vast majority women and children. Israeli officials say about 1,140 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in southern Israel. Militant fighters took some 250 hostages during the attack and 132 are still in Gaza, according to Israeli figures.

• France evacuated 42 people from Gaza on Monday, including French nationals and staff of the French cultural institute, the foreign ministry said.
• The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court voiced deep concern Monday about a possible Israeli ground offensive into Rafah, warning anyone breaching international law would be held accountable.
• Hamas’s armed wing said Monday that three of eight Israeli hostages who were seriously injured following Israeli air strikes had died from their wounds.
• European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters on Monday that the international community may have to “think about” providing arms to Israel. “If the international community believes … too many people are being killed, maybe we have to think about the provision of arms,” he said.             
• Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), has said he has “no intention to resign” following allegations that some staff members participated in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, Reuters)