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October 7, 2023: Israel begins bombarding Gaza in retaliation to Hamas attacks
Israel resumes massive attacks on March 18, killing over 400 in a day — two months after ceasefire ending 15 months of relentless attacks began
Future governance of Gaza remains unclear as Trump suggests US takeover but Arab countries propose alternative plan, which UK, others back
Hamas and Israel exchange 25 hostages, bodies and 1,700 detainees in seven swaps
Over 50,000 Palestinians, 400 Israeli soldiers dead; nearly all of Gaza displaced
Multi-billion dollar challenges ahead to reconstruct decimated enclave
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Palestinian civilians are bearing the brunt of the dire situation in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.
“More than an entire month has passed without a drop of aid into Gaza. No food. No fuel. No medicine. No commercial supplies,” he said in New York.
“As aid has dried up, the floodgates of horror have reopened. Gaza is a killing field — and civilians are in an endless death loop.”
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that the world body’s ability to deliver humanitarian supplies to Palestinians in Gaza “has been strangled”, Al Jazeera reports.
“No humanitarian supplies can enter Gaza. Meanwhile, at the crossing points, food, medicine and shelter supplies are piling up, and vital equipment is stuck,” Antonio Guterres said.
He explained that Israel — as an occupying power — has obligations under international law to ensure food and medical supplies for the population under occupation.
It must also maintain health services in the occupied territory, he added.
“I want to say a special word about those humanitarian heroes in Gaza. They are under fire and yet doing all they can to follow the path they choose to help people,” Guterres said.
“Let me be clear: We will not participate in any arrangement that does not fully respect the humanitarian principles: humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality. Unimpeded humanitarian access must be guaranteed.”
Caspar Veldkamp has summoned the Israeli ambassador in the Netherlands over the situation in Gaza, the Dutch government said, according to Al Jazeera.
In a statement, the government said the meeting will be held on Wednesday.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has called on Hamas to stop giving Israel “excuses” to keep up its devastating offensive in Gaza, AFP reports.
In a statement, the Ramallah-based Palestinian presidency called on Hamas to “cease making any irresponsible decisions to spare our people the consequences of [the Israeli] aggression”.
The statement pointed to the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. “Stop giving the occupation any excuses to continue its genocide,” it said.
It called on Hamas to “adhere to the official Palestinian position and the Arab initiatives”.
In its statement, the Palestinian presidency also denounced a newly established Israeli corridor in south Gaza as a violation of international law.
French President Emmanuel Macron has visited the Egyptian city of El-Arish, a key transit point for Gaza-bound aid, to call on Israel to lift its blockade of aid deliveries to the battered Palestinian territory, AFP reports.
Alongside his Egyptian host Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Macron toured a hospital in the port city, 50 kilometres west of the Gaza Strip, and met with medical professionals and sick and wounded Palestinians evacuated from Gaza.
Carrying a bouquet of red roses to give to patients, the French president visited several wards as well as a play area for children.
His office said the trip was aimed at piling pressure on Israel for “the reopening of crossing points for the delivery of humanitarian goods into Gaza”.
Dutch Foreign Affairs minister Caspar Veldkamp has summoned the Israeli ambassador in the Netherlands over the situation in Gaza, Reuters reports.
The government said in a statement that the meeting will be held on Wednesday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the killing of the 15 first-responders by Israeli forces in an attack last month was an “execution” and a “war crime.”
Erdogan also warned that “fanning the flames and pursuing new maps with expansionist intentions will benefit no one”, in what appeared to be a reference to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stated goal of taking security control over Gaza.
“Everyone must know and understand that we will never turn our backs on our brothers and sisters there while Israel openly tramples the dignity of humanity in Gaza,” said Erdogan, in comments shared by his country’s communications directorate.
At least 58 Palestinians have been killed and 213 injured in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said, according to Al Jazeera.
A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, unable to be reached by ambulances and Civil Defence crews, the ministry statement said.
Israel killed 1,449 people and injured 3,647 others since breaking the ceasefire on March 18, the announcement added.
The latest figures raised the total number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s war on Gaza to 50,810, the ministry said. At least 115,688 people have also been injured since October 7, 2023, it added.
Ehud Olmert, who was Israel’s prime minister from 2006-2009, has blamed Netanyahu for not doing more to rein in the Hilltop Youth, a group of far-right Israeli settlers that have been sanctioned by many Western countries, including the US, for their attacks against Palestinians, Al Jazeera reports.
“Netanyahu, as prime minister, is giving a hand to the atrocities committed by the Hilltop Youth in the West Bank — and the government is turning a blind eye,” said Olmert in comments carried by Israel’s Army Radio.
Israel, which is responsible for collecting Palestinian import taxes and making monthly transfers to the Palestinian Authority (PA), is holding back about $1.8bn in tax revenue, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said, according to Al Jazeera.
In a statement, the ministry described Israel’s withholding of the funds as a “colonialist, racist political schemes, part of the broader strategy of genocide, displacement and annexation”.
Israel has repeatedly used its control of Palestinian finances to exert pressure or punish the PA.
Breaking the Silence, an Israeli veterans’ organisation that opposes Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, has published a collection of testimonies from soldiers involved in creating a “buffer zone” in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.
The anonymous testimonies, compiled in a publication titled The Perimeter, describe how soldiers were instructed to raze large areas of Gaza and fire upon Palestinians who approached.
“Residential buildings, greenhouses, sheds, factories; you name it — it needs to be flat. That’s the order,” said one sergeant major who fought near Khan Younis.
Another sergeant stationed in northern Gaza, described how Israeli bulldozers destroyed agricultural fields, including olive groves and crops. “A very large excavator just comes through and takes out all the soil, kind of rolls it up, flattens it,” said the soldier.
A captain stationed in southern Gaza explained that areas around the military-designated security zone effectively became “kill zones” for Palestinians. “Anyone who crosses a certain line, that we have defined, is considered a threat and is sentenced to death,” they said.
Israeli occupation forces continued the aggression against the city of Tulkarem and its camp for the 72nd consecutive day, and for the 59th day against the Nur Shams camp, amid raids and attacks targeting several areas inside and around the city, Wafa reports.
The occupation forces dispatched military reinforcements to the city and its two camps, Tulkarem and Nur Shams, and deployed infantry units within their neighborhoods.
They raided and vandalised homes, converting several into military outposts. This was accompanied by the use of live ammunition, and occasional explosions were heard in the Tulkarem camp, especially after midnight.
Gaza’s Government Media Office said that Israel’s onslaught in Gaza has killed 211 journalists, urging global support for Palestinian journalists following Israel’s deadly raid on a media tent, Al Jazeera reports.
Ahmed Mansour, who died from severe burns sustained in the attack, is the 211th media worker killed during Israel’s incursion in Gaza, according to the office.
“We call on the International Federation of Journalists, the Federation of Arab Journalists, and all journalistic bodies in all countries of the world to condemn these systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip,” the office said.
Gaza’s Government Media Office has issued a statement urging global support for Palestinian journalists following Israel’s deadly raid on a media tent early yesterday morning, Al Jazeera reports.
Ahmed Mansour, who died from severe burns sustained in the attack, is the 211th media worker killed during Israel’s war on Gaza, according to the office.
“We call on the International Federation of Journalists, the Federation of Arab Journalists, and all journalistic bodies in all countries of the world to condemn these systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip,” the office said.
A lawyer representing a pro-Palestinian protester has been detained by federal agents when he attempted to re-enter the United States after visiting the Dominican Republic with his wife and two daughters, Al Jazeera reports.
The Detroit Free Press reports that Amir Makled, a US citizen, was stopped by authorities at Detroit Metro Airport, detained, asked about his clients and asked to hand over his phone that contained privileged information.
Makled, who represents a demonstrator arrested at the University of Michigan last year during a wave of pro-Palestinian student protests, said he was asked for a list of thousands of texts. When he refused, a 90-minute standoff began that ended after he allowed the agents to review his contacts.
“This current administration is doing something that no administration has done — they are attacking attorneys,” Makled said.
“This is a different type of threat to the rule of law that I see. They are now challenging the judiciary, or lawyers, they’re putting pressure [on them] to dissuade attorneys from taking on issues that are against the government’s issues.
“We have an obligation as lawyers to stand up to this stuff,” Makled added.
Gaza’s civil defence agency has said that Israeli strikes overnight killed at least 19 people and wounded dozens more across the Palestinian territory, AFP reports.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that “19 civilians including several children were martyred” in Israeli raids during the night and earlier today.
Microsoft has fired two employees who interrupted the company’s 50th anniversary celebration to protest its work supplying artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military, according to a group representing the workers, Associated Press reported.
Microsoft accused one of the workers in a termination letter of misconduct “designed to gain notoriety and cause maximum disruption to this highly anticipated event.” Microsoft says the other worker had already announced her resignation, but yesterday it ordered her to leave five days early.
Read more here.
Israeli forces have bombed a house in northern Gaza City, killing at least five people, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.
The attack comes as medics announced that Israeli forces have killed at least 60 Palestinians in Gaza yesterday alone.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi hosted his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and Jordan’s King Abdulla in Cairo for talks on the “grave situation in Gaza”, calling for Palestinian Authority to govern the enclave in the future, Al Jazeera says.
The three leaders “underlined that governance as well as maintaining order and security in Gaza, as well as in all Palestinian territories, shall come solely under the authority of an empowered PA, with strong regional and international support”, a joint statement read.
“They called for an immediate return to the ceasefire, for the sake of the Palestinians to be protected and receive immediate and full humanitarian aid.”
The statement further said: “The leaders expressed alarm at the increasingly deteriorating situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and urged to stop all unilateral measures that undermine the viability of the two State solution and increase tensions.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen has responded to reports that Trump and Netanyahu spoke about their “plan to have Palestinians ‘voluntarily’ leave” Gaza during their meeting at the White House, Al Jazeera reports.
“Let’s be clear: nothing about this is voluntary — it would mean the coerced deportation of 2 million people from Gaza and US taxpayers should have nothing to do with it,” Hollen wrote on X.
Hamas and rescuers have said an Israeli strike on southern Gaza killed one journalist and wounded nine others, while the Israeli military reported it targeted a fighter posing as a reporter, AFP reports.
An air strike hit a tent used by journalists in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, killing two people, said civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal. Nine journalists were wounded in the strike, Bassal added.
The Hamas government media office said journalist Hilmi al-Faqaawi, who worked for a local news agency, was killed in the attack.
The Israeli military meanwhile said its forces had “struck the Hamas terrorist Hassan Abdel Fattah Mohammed Aslih in the Khan Younis area” overnight, without specifying whether he had been killed.
The military claimed Aslih operated “under the guise of a journalist and owns a press company.”
US President Donald Trump has said he would like the conflict in Gaza to stop, as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Reuters reports.
Trump said work was ongoing to free hostages held by Hamas, but said securing the release of all the hostages was “a long process.”
Asked if he would deliver on his promise during his campaign for president to end the conflict in Gaza, Trump said: “I’d like to see the war stop, and I think the war will stop at some point, that won’t be in the too-distant future.”
The Israeli military has said that an initial investigation into the killing of 15 emergency workers in south Gaza last month showed that the incident occurred “due to a sense of threat”, Reuters reports.
It said it had identified six Hamas fighters as being in the vicinity during the incident in the city of Rafah.
In a statement, the military said it was conducting a more in depth investigation but the preliminary “inquiry indicated that the troops opened fire due to a perceived threat following a previous encounter in the area”, and that six of the individuals killed “were identified as Hamas” fighters.
