Greta Thunberg among 171 Gaza flotilla activists deported by Israel; ceasefire negotiations due to begin in Egypt – Middle East crisis live

Italy’s ITA Airways will extend the suspension of flights to and from Tel Aviv until the end of the year, it said on Monday.

The decision also concerns two flights scheduled for New Year’s Day 2026, the company, part of the Lufthansa group, said in a statement.

Iran acquitted French-German national Lennart Monterlos of espionage charges, the chief justice of the southern province of Hormozgan said on Monday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Monterlos is a young cyclist who was arrested in Iran in June during a 12-day-war between Iran and Israel.

The prosecutor could still raise objections to his acquittal, Tasnim added.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it was ready to act as a “neutral humanitarian intermediary” to help bring Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees back to their families.

“A lasting ceasefire is critical to saving lives and breaking the cycle of death and destruction,” the ICRC president, Mirjana Spoljaric, said.

Spoljaric added:

Our teams are ready to act as a neutral humanitarian intermediary to help bring hostages and detainees back to their families. We are also prepared to bring aid into Gaza and distribute it safely to civilians in desperate need.

In a press release, the ICRC said it has facilitated the release of 148 hostages and 1,931 detainees since October 2023, and has also facilitated the return of human remains.

Iran signalled its support for Trump’s Gaza plan, with the country’s foreign ministry saying it supports any initiative that brings an end to the genocide of Palestinian people.

Iran’s foreign ministry wrote in a post on X:

Taking into account the dangerous dimensions and aspects of this proposal, and while reiterating its warning about the repeated breaches and obstructionism by the Zionist regime in fulfilling its promises, especially in light of its expansionist and racist plans, the Islamic Republic of Iran considers any decision in this regard to be within the authority of the Palestinian people and resistance.

It welcomes any decision by them that guarantees halting the genocide of Palestinians, the withdrawal of the occupying Zionist army from Gaza, respect for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, the entry of humanitarian aid, and the reconstruction of Gaza.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas is a Hezbollah ally also backed by Iran.

Sam Jones is Madrid correspondent for the Guardian

The leftwing former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, said members of the flotilla had been subjected to “abuse and mistreatment” after they were “kidnapped” by the Israeli authorities.

Speaking on her return to Spain on Sunday night, Colau said: “The flotilla was illegally intercepted by Israel and we were kidnapped and all our fundamental rights were violated when we were put in prison where there were no guarantees whatsoever, and where we were mistreated.”

But such treatment, she added, was “nothing in comparison with what the Palestinian population is suffering”.

Colau, who was mayor between 2015 and 2023, said she and her fellow detainees were initially refused permission to leave the cells where they were held, adding that some flotilla members with chronic health conditions were also denied access to medications.

“When we asked for a doctor, we were told that that was for humans,” she said. The former politician also said they were deprived of sleep and that guards with dogs and guns came into their cells.

“The cell gave on to a patio with an enormous photo of Gaza bombed to pieces, and which had a message written in Arabic: ‘Welcome to the new Gaza’,” she said. “That is the prison of a fascist state.”

The last of the 49 Spaniards who sailed with the flotilla were expected to fly back to Spain on Monday.

Spain’s labour minister and deputy prime minister, Yolanda Díaz, welcomed them back and said they had shown “dignity and solidarity” through the flotilla.

“We won’t stop until the last of them are back home,” she wrote on Bluesky. “The genocide must stop. Palestine deserves justice and dignity.”

The UN commission of inquiry, several human rights groups and the world’s leading association of genocide scholars have concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.

Despite the evidence, Israel denies the accusation and says it has only acted in self-defence.

Tomorrow will be exactly two years since the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 taken hostage.

The Israeli military launched a war in Gaza in response, so far killing at least 67,139 Palestinian people, according to the territory’s health ministry, mostly civilians.

The death toll does not include the thousands of people buried under the rubble.

There are estimated to be 48 hostages still being held in Gaza by Hamas, only 20 of whom are thought to be alive.

Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has published some key statistics on life in Gaza amid the Israeli assault:

• Nearly 90% of water, sanitation, and hygiene resources destroyed or damaged

• Over 60% of families lack access to soap

• Over 40% live near uncollected waste

• Half a million women and girls lack sufficient menstrual hygiene materials

Unrwa has been the major distributor of aid in Gaza and has provided education, health and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region.

But an Israeli ban on the agency in Gaza and the occupied West Bank took effect earlier this year after Israel accused it of being infiltrated by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group. Unrwa denies this claim.

Palestinian Unrwa personnel in Gaza continue to provide services and assistance to the civilian population and staff do the same in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

In a post on X published yesterday, Unrwa wrote:

Unrwa continues to distribute water, hygiene kits, and collect solid waste. Unrwa has the teams and systems in place to deliver.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has praised Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, saying it could mark the start of a path towards stability in the region.

In an address to mark the 1973 war between Israel and Egypt that led to the end of Israel’s occupation of the Sinai peninsula, Sisi said on Monday:

I can only extend my praise and appreciation for US President Donald Trump for his initiative that seeks a ceasefire in Gaza after two years of war, genocide, killing and destruction.

A ceasefire, the return of prisoners and detainees, the reconstruction of Gaza and the launch of a peaceful political process that leads to the establishment and recognition of the Palestinian state means we are on the right path to lasting peace and stability.

Egypt and Qatar are working to convince Hamas to accept Trump’s ultimatum to end Israel’s war in Gaza. Both have both been key meditators between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations.

Trump’s plan requires Hamas to return all 48 hostages – about 20 of them thought by Israel to still be alive – give up power and disarm in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and an end to Israel’s assault.

However, the proposal, which has been accepted by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sets no path to Palestinian statehood.

Hamas has only agreed to three points: the release of all hostages, the surrendering of power and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

As to the immediate future, the plan provides for “full aid” to be sent to Gaza, parts of which are suffering from famine and regular deaths from starvation…

With Hamas banished, Gaza’s governance would be passed to a temporary transitional body in the form of a “technocratic and apolitical Palestinian committee”, which would in turn be overseen and supervised by an international “Board of Peace”, headed by Donald Trump. The board would include other heads of state and international officials, including the former British prime minister, Tony Blair.

That body would organise and set the framework for funding the redevelopment of Gaza while the Palestinian Authority, the political entity nominally in charge of Palestinian affairs in the West Bank, had undergone a process of reform.

A panel of experts will be convened to create what the plan calls a “Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize” the territory, which the US president has previously envisioned being transformed into a “riviera” with a string of hi-tech megacities.

Mention of the thorny issue of a future Palestinian state, which Netanyahu vehemently opposes, is left until the end of the plan, with “an interfaith dialogue process” to be set up to promote “the values of tolerance and peaceful coexistence”.