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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
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says its teams on the ground has seen an increase in the number of patients with burn injuries since Israel resumed its war on Gaza on March 18, Al Jazeera reports.
Most of them are children.
But as Israeli authorities continue to maintains their siege on Gaza, blocking access to basic aid and medicine, including pain killers, many patients have been “left to endure excruciating pain with limited or no relief”, the group said.
“Children scream as we are forced to peel burned fabric from their skin,” said Dr Ahmad Abu Warda, an MSF medical activity manager working at Nasser Hospital.
“They beg us to stop, but if we don’t remove the dead tissue, infection and sepsis can lead to death. Without enough medical supplies, and with too many patients needing care for burn injuries, we are not able to provide proper care. We are merely delaying inevitable infections.”
In a post on X, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees says people in Gaza are experiencing “a cycle of deadly violence and deprivation”.
“Humanitarian aid and commercial supplies have been blocked from entering the Gaza Strip since 2 March by the Israeli authorities,” UNRWA said.
“Since the collapse of the ceasefire last month, intense military activities and hostilities have escalated”, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians. “The siege must be lifted.”
Al Jazeera reports that a child has died after sustaining injuries in an attack after Israeli forces bombed tents for displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis.
Israeli forces also opened fire on fishermen in Khan Younis, killing at least one and wounding another.
Hamas has issued a statement saying that its delegation, headed by Mujahid Muhammad Darwish, has left Cairo, Al Jazeera reports.
“The delegation presented the movement’s vision for reaching a comprehensive deal that achieves a ceasefire, prisoner exchange, relief and reconstruction. It was agreed to exert further efforts and continue communication to ensure the success of these efforts,” the statement said.
“The meeting also addressed the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip after two months of a total blockade, with the occupation preventing the entry of aid, food, and medical supplies into the Strip. The meeting also emphasized the need for urgent action to deliver aid and meet the needs of the Strip’s citizens,” it added.
The statement did not offer details on the group’s vision for a comprehensive deal.
Hamish Falconer, the British minister for the Middle East and North Africa, has expressed concern over the WFP’s announcement that its food stocks in Gaza have run out.
“Israel’s devastating aid block is putting civilians, including 1m children, at risk of starvation,” he wrote on X.
“The UK, France and Germany are clear – it must end,” he added, referring to a statement by the three countries on April 23 that called on Israel to lift the punishing blockade.
In a separate post, Falconer also called for investigations into all Israeli attacks that have killed aid workers.
Israel “must hold those responsible to account, and ensure this never happens again”, he added.
Al Jazeera Arabic reports that Israeli forces have bombed tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in southern Khan Younis and an apartment building in central Gaza.
Several people were wounded in the attacks.
Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground reported that Israeli forces are demolishing more homes in the city of Rafah, which they have encircled and cut off from the rest of the Strip.
The soldiers also carried out raids in the central Nuseirat refugee camp.
Jonathan Whittall, the head of the UN’s humanitarian agency (OCHA) in Gaza, says Israel’s “total and complete blockade” of the Strip, which is nearing the end of its second month, is causing “endless suffering”, Al Jazeera reports.
“The coming days in Gaza are going to be critical. Today, people are not surviving in Gaza. Those that aren’t being killed with bombs and bullets are slowly dying,” Whittall told journalists at a news conference in Gaza City.
“As humanitarians, we can see that aid is being weaponised through its denial,” he said. “There’s no justification for the denial of humanitarian assistance.”
Whittall also confirmed that the WFP’s stockpiles in Gaza are exhausted and said “there are no meaningful food distributions currently happening in” the Strip.
He warned that Gaza is on the verge of “full-scale famine conditions” but said such a declaration will need to be based on evidence. OCHA will be working with other organisations to determine whether the hunger crisis in Gaza constitutes a famine, he added.
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has appointed a close aide as the first ever vice president of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), AFP reports citing a member of the organisation’s executive committee.
“Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas appointed Hussein al-Sheikh as a deputy (vice president) of the PLO leadership,” Wasel Abu Yousef said, in a move that positions Sheikh as a potential successor to veteran leader Abbas.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa has met with Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide on the sidelines of the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican to discuss ceasefire efforts, Wafa reports.
During the meeting, Mustafa emphasised the urgent need to intensify international pressure on Israel to halt its ongoing operations in the Gaza Strip and to open the border crossings into enclave, warning that the ongoing closure exacerbates the risk of worsening famine.
Wafa adds that Mustafa stressed the critical need for the immediate entry of humanitarian aid amid severe shortages of food, medicine, and other basic necessities.
Read more here.
Hamas is open to a years-long truce with Israel in Gaza but is not willing to lay down its arms, an official said, as leaders of the Palestinian fighter group met mediators in Cairo for ceasefire talks, AFP reports.
Sources close to the talks told Reuters Hamas hoped to build support among mediators for its offer, adding the group might agree to a five to seven-year truce in return for ending the bombardment, allowing for the rebuilding of Gaza, the freeing of Palestinians jailed by Israel and the release of all hostages.
“The idea of a truce or its duration is not rejected by us, and we are ready to discuss it within the framework of negotiations. We are open to any serious proposals to end the war,” said Taher Al-Nono, the media adviser for the Hamas leadership, in the first clear signal that the group was open to a longer-term truce.
However, Nono ruled out a core Israeli demand that Hamas lay down its arms. Israel wants to see Gaza demilitarised.
“The weapon of resistance is not negotiable and will remain in our hands as long as the occupation exists,” Nono said.
Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 56 more Palestinians, bringing the death toll to 51,495 since Israel launched its military campaign in October 2023, Anadolu reports quoting the enclave’s health ministry.
A ministry statement said that 108 more injured people were transferred to hospitals in the last 24 hours, taking the number of injuries to 117,524 in the Israeli onslaught.
“Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney urged Israel to allow the World Food Programme (WFP) to work in Gaza, saying food must not be used as a ‘political tool’, hours after the UN agency ran out of stocks due to a sustained Israeli blockade on supplies, Reuters reports.
“The UN World Food Programme just announced that its food stocks in Gaza have run out because of the Israeli Government’s blockade, food cannot be used as a political tool,” Carney said on X.
The UN agency said no humanitarian or commercial supplies had entered Gaza for more than seven weeks because all main border crossing points were closed, the longest closure the Gaza Strip had ever faced.
Gaza’s civil defence agency has said Israeli strikes killed at least 17 people across the territory, while more trapped under the rubble after a family home was hit.
“Israeli air strikes in several areas killed 17 people since dawn,” civil defence official Mohammed Al-Mughayyir told AFP.
A strike on the house of Al-Khour family in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood killed 10 people, Mughayyir said, with witnesses reporting an estimated 20 victims trapped beneath the rubble.
At least 16 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip since early this morning, medical sources told Al Jazeera Arabic.
Most died in attacks on Gaza City, where some 13 of the 16 were killed.
Hamas seeks an agreement to end the Gaza conflict that would include the one-time release of all remaining hostages and a five-year truce, according to an official from the Palestinian group.
“Hamas is ready for an exchange of prisoners in a single batch and a truce for five years,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, as a delegation from his group was set to meet mediators in Cairo later in the day.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has condemned Israel’s more than seven week aid block on war-ravaged Gaza as “a man-made and politically motivated starvation”, AFP reports.
“The Government of Israel continues to block the entry of food + other basics,” Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X, hours after the World Food Programme said it had depleted its food stocks in Gaza.
“Nearly 2 months of siege. Calls to bring in supplies are going unheeded”, Lazzarini added.
Gaza’s civil defence agency has said an Israeli strike on Gaza City killed at least four people and left “more than 30” feared buried under the rubble of a house.
“Our crews were able to recover four martyrs and five wounded following the attack,” which hit a family home in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood at dawn, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Bassal said that “more than 30” people are presumed missing under the rubble of the targeted house in Gaza City, in the territory’s north, and “our crews cannot reach them because of the lack of the necessary machinery”.
The UN World Food Programme has warned that its food aid stocks are fully depleted in Gaza, where starvation looms as Israel continues a total blockade, according to Al Jazeera.
“To meet the basic needs of the population in Gaza, it is critical that we are able to resume food deliveries into Gaza immediately,” WFP’s Palestine country director Antoine Renard said in a post shared on social media.
WFP has more than 116,000 tonnes of food supplies already positioned and ready to enter Gaza through aid corridors, as soon as Israel reopens Gaza borders.
Michael Fakhri, the UN’s special rapporteur on the right to food, has spoken to Al Jazeera about Israel’s deliberate campaign to starve Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
“The United States is complicit in the genocide, in the starvation of civilians,” Fakhri told Al Jazeera.
“Let’s look at who controls the borders, who controls the flow of goods and humanitarian aid, who controls everything that goes in and out of Gaza. It is Israel,” he said.
“What we saw in the last month, one month alone, child acute malnutrition increased by over 80 per cent. So they are using children’s lives and the death of thousands in this negotiation process,” he said.
“Again, there is no condition, there is no political excuse to deny humanitarian aid to civilians, no matter what’s going on on the ground,” he added.
The Israeli army has said that a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory, Reuters reports.
Sirens sounded in a number of areas in Israel following the launch, the Israeli army added in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from Yemen’s Houthis, who have been launching attacks against Israel as well as ships they perceive as affiliated with Israel, in what they say is to support the Palestinians in Gaza against the Israeli offensive on the enclave.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has urged Israel to allow the World Food Programme (WFP) to work in Gaza, saying food must not be used as a “political tool”, hours after the UN agency ran out of stocks due to a sustained Israeli blockade on supplies, Reuters reports.
“The UN World Food Programme just announced that its food stocks in Gaza have run out because of the Israeli Government’s blockade — food cannot be used as a political tool,” Carney said on X.
“Palestinian civilians must not bear the consequences of Hamas’ terrorist crimes,” Carney said. “The World Food Programme must be allowed to resume its lifesaving work.”
“We will continue to work with our allies towards a permanent ceasefire and the immediate return of all hostages,” Carney added.
The WFP said yesterday it had delivered its last remaining supplies to kitchens providing hot meals in Gaza and that the facilities were expected to run out of food in the coming days.
United States President Donald Trump says he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “we’ve got to be good to Gaza”, pressing him to allow food and medicine to enter the battered enclave.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, the US president was asked about whether access to food was brought up during a recent meeting with the Israeli PM.
“Gaza came up and I said ‘we’ve got to be good to Gaza’. Those people are suffering … we’re going to take care of that,” he replied. “There’s a very big need for food and medicine, and we’re taking care of it.”
When asked if the US is pushing Israel, Trump responded, “We are.”
He added that Netanyahu “thought a lot about” the request.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud hosted his French counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot, holding discussions focused on several issues, including the situation in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.
“Regional and international issues of common interest were discussed, most notably the current situation in the Gaza Strip and the efforts being made for the conference to resolve the Palestinian issue and implement the two-state solution, scheduled to be held next June under the joint chairmanship of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the French Republic,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a post on X.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says “the situation is desperate” in Gaza as a result of Israel’s blockade, Al Jazeera reports.
“Humanitarian aid is being used as a bargaining chip and a weapon of war,” UNRWA said.
