Israel lambasts UK's 'shameful' arms sale ban, as WHO trumpets polio vaccine rollout

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the UK's decision to suspend some arms sales to Israel as "shameful" and "misguided".

In social media posts, Netanyahu blasted: "Instead of standing with Israel, a fellow democracy defending itself against barbarism, Britain's misguided decision will only embolden Hamas." 

UK foreign minister David Lammy said on Monday that the government had suspended 30 of 350 British arms export licenses with Israel due to a risk the equipment could be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law. Lammy told parliament the UK still supported Israel's right to self-defense, in accordance with international law.

UK defense minister John Healey insisted on Tuesday that the revocation "will not have a material impact on Israel's security." 

But Britain's chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis reacted angrily, saying on social media platform X: "It beggars belief that the British government, a close strategic ally of Israel, has announced a partial suspension of arms licenses."

Israel imports around one percent of its arms from the UK – dwarfed by the U.S., its biggest defense supplier.

WHO: Polio vaccination ahead of target

The World Health Organization said that it was ahead of its targets for polio vaccinations in Gaza on Tuesday, day three of a mass campaign, and had inoculated about a quarter of children under 10.

The campaign, which was hastened after the discovery of the first polio case in a Gazan baby last month, relies on daily eight-hour pauses in fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in specific areas of the besieged enclave.

Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territories, told reporters that it had vaccinated more than 161,000 children under 10 in the central area in the first two days of its campaign, compared with a projection of around 150,000.

That amounts to about a quarter of the total population targeted in the campaign to stop the spread of the disease, which can cause paralysis and even death in young children.

The World Health Organization says that at least 90 percent of Gazan children need to be vaccinated in order for the campaign to work and to prevent the spread of polio both within Gaza and across borders.

Netanyahu: We must control Philadelphi corridor

Netanyahu has rejected calls to soften his demand to keep troops in the southern Gazan border area as the price for a ceasefire deal, saying it was vital for Israel to control a key lifeline for Hamas.

The issue of the so-called Philadelphi corridor, on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt, has been a major sticking point in efforts to secure a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and return Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Hamas has rejected any Israeli presence, while Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will not abandon the corridor, where Israeli troops have uncovered dozens of tunnels they say have been used to smuggle weapons and ammunition into Gaza.

"The axis of evil needs the Philadelphi corridor, and for that reason we must control the Philadelphi corridor," he told a news conference in Jerusalem.

If Israel were to pull out of the corridor, international pressure would make it difficult to return, he said.

Netanyahu's stance on the negotiations, which have been continuing for weeks while showing little sign of a breakthrough, has frustrated allies, including the United States and widened a rift with his own defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

More protests in Israel

Israeli protesters took to the streets for a second day on Monday and the largest trade union launched a general strike to press the government to reach a deal to return hostages still held by Hamas, after six more captives were found dead in Gaza.

The strike disrupted transport and medical services in several Israeli districts and many shops and businesses were closed after the head of the Histadrut union, which represents hundreds of thousands of workers, called a national stoppage.

Following an intervention by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's Labour Court ruled the general strike must end at 2:30 p.m., saying the strike had no economic basis. Histadrut accepted the ruling and called off the strike.

Israelis hand over dead Palestinian arrested hours earlier

Israeli troops handed the body of a Palestinian man arrested hours earlier in the occupied West Bank to Palestinian health authorities on Monday, as a major operation in the flashpoint city of Jenin continued for a sixth day.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had received the body of 58 year-old Ayman Rajeh Abed from the village of Kafr Dan, just outside Jenin after he was arrested around dawn on Monday. The director of the Wissam Bakr hospital in Jenin said the body bore signs of beatings and torture.

The Israeli military said Abed had been detained during counterterrorism operations and experienced a "cardiac event" on arrival at a detention facility. He was given initial treatment by medical staff from the military, before being evacuated to the hospital in Jenin.

Arabic news site Al Quds News Network on Wednesday accused the Israeli army of deliberately targeting a group of civilians at the entrance of Al Fakhoura UNRWA school in the Jabalia refugee camp.