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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
The health ministry in Gaza has announced that the death toll from Israel’s military campaign has risen to at least 52,243 people, after accounting for hundreds of individuals previously listed as missing whose deaths have now been confirmed, AFP reports.
“An additional 697 martyrs have been added to the cumulative statistics after their data was completed and verified by the committee monitoring missing persons,” the health ministry said in a statement, adding the overall toll stood at 52,243.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said that talks with Hamas in recent days had shown that the group would be more open to an agreement that goes beyond a ceasefire in Gaza and aims for a lasting solution to the crisis with Israel, Reuters reports.
Speaking in Doha, Fidan said talks showed Hamas would be more willing to sign a deal that also addresses the issue of the occupied Palestinian territories and other issues, adding that the crisis could be turned into an opportunity to implement the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Two pro-Palestine demonstrators and supporters of the Youth Demand group have been arrested after throwing red powder paint during the London Marathon to protest against Israel’s military offensive and blockade on Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.
An image shared by the group shows two people standing in the middle of the road wearing t-shirts that say: “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel.”
In a statement, Youth Demand said: “Gaza is running out of food. Arming genocide crosses the line. We won’t be bystanders.”
Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters and the race passed unobstructed, the Metropolitan Police said, adding that the paint appeared to be chalk-based and was not expected to present a hazard to the runners.
Gaza mediator Qatar has said that there has been some progress in talks in Doha this week aimed at securing a new truce in the Israel-Hamas conflict, AFP reports.
Speaking at a news conference, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani reported “a bit of progress”, in response to questions about reports of a Thursday meeting in Doha between Israel’s Mossad chief and the Qatari prime minister.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, has called for an end to arms transfers to Israel, Al Jazeera reports.
“Seriously, how many children, along with their parents and grandparents, we must witness being starved, burned alive, or gathered into plastic bags after Western-manufactured bombs have shattered them?” she said in a social media post.
Several Western countries have continued to supply lethal weapons to Israel despite the enormous human toll caused by its military offensive on the Palestinian enclave.
“Israel must be stopped, and so [should] the states supplying it with weapons,” Albanese wrote.
Gaza’s civil defence agency says Israeli strikes have killed at least eight people, including a 17-year-old who died in an attack on a southern town.
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that “at least eight people have been killed and dozens injured in Israeli air strikes since dawn.”
Bassal said three people were killed when a group of civilians was struck in Gaza City’s Zeitun neighbourhood, and three more in a strike that hit a residential building in the central Bureij refugee camp.
“Two people died in the southern Khan Younis area”, Bassal said, including a 17-year-old boy in a strike on the town of Khuzaa and another person killed when Israeli forces hit fishing boats off the coast.
In a separate incident near Khan Younis, a strike wounded at least 12 people, most of them children, in Al-Mawasi, the civil defence spokesman added.
The Wafa news agency reports that the Palestinian worker collapsed during a chase by Israeli forces near in town of Al Ram, near occupied East Jerusalem.
It said the man, identified as Arafat Qadous, was later pronounced dead.
The agency added“ “Almost every day, Israeli occupation forces harass and pursue Palestinian workers attempting to access jobs within Israel. Thousands of Palestinian workers are often blocked from reaching their workplaces, with many subjected to detention or physical harm.”
“It has been a devastating morning in Gaza as the Israeli military’s aerial and ground attacks have continued since the early hours,” Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reports from Deir el-Balah, Gaza.
“It seems that Israel and Hamas are still locked in a prolonged war of attrition, and the Israeli airstrikes continue to overwhelm heavily built-up neighbourhoods.
“Last night, the Israeli military targeted a residential building in al-Bureij refugee camp, and earlier this morning, civil defence members managed to pull three Palestinians from the building who had been killed and were stuck under the rubble after long hours overnight,” he said.
In the early hours of this morning, there have been heavy bombardments on the eastern side of Deir el-Balah and on the city of Khan Younis.
“We also heard from Gaza’s health ministry of the killing of one Palestinian and the wounding of 11 others in an airstrike that took place overnight on a makeshift tent in the al-Mawasi area that has been designated as a safe humanitarian zone.”
Three Palestinians, including two children, were killed and several others were injured this morning in an Israeli airstrike targeting the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City, Wafa reports according to local sources.
Wafa correspondents, citing medical sources, confirmed that two young girls and one adult male were killed, while others were wounded when Israeli forces launched an airstrike on Al-Sikka Street in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood.
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.”
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.”
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.
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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.
