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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
Hamas has said that “barbaric Zionist aggression” is ongoing against Gaza while the international community remains silent, so people must rise up again, Al Jazeera reports.
Hamas called on all nations, especially Arab and Islamic ones, to participate in a global week of demonstrations under the slogan “Gaza cries out” to attract more attention to the plight of besieged Palestinians.
“We call for the mobilisation of all energies and means during the coming week to support Gaza’s steadfastness, condemn the aggression, and demand an end to the war of genocide by escalating all forms of solidarity action, including marches, sit-ins, and angry protests in capitals, cities, and squares around the world,” the group said in a statement on Telegram.
Jordan says it has arrested 16 people, thwarting a plot that threatened national security and involved manufacturing and illegally importing rockets, explosives and a drone production site, Al Jazeera reports.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s office said he called his Jordanian counterpart, Jafar Hassan, to say Lebanon refuses to be a launch point for any actions that would threaten the security of friendly countries.
He expressed readiness to cooperate with the Jordanian authorities as necessary regarding the information that “some of those involved in these schemes received their training in Lebanon”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will press on with its military offensive against Hamas to secure the release of hostages, as he praised troops during a visit to northern Gaza, AFP reports.
“They are striking the enemy and Hamas will continue to suffer blow after blow. We insist that they release our hostages, and we insist on achieving all of our war objectives,” Netanyahu told troops in Gaza, according to a statement from his office.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned intensifying Israeli attacks across Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and the “brutal massacre” of civilians, Al Jazeera reports.
Referring to recent reports by the UN and international aid organisations, spokesman Esmail Baghaei said in a statement that the destruction of vital infrastructure and the Israeli blockade on Gaza constitute “clear instances of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity” that must be prosecuted.
He called on all governments and international organisations, especially the UN Security Council, to take “decisive and immediate action to halt the ongoing genocide and massacre of innocent civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, and to facilitate the prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators of these horrific crimes”.
The Israeli military has signalled its intent to maintain intense attacks on Gaza, especially its northern parts. Al Jazeera reports.
Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir visited the battered Shujayea neighbourhood in the northern part of the enclave, according to a statement and footage released by the army.
He was accompanied by the head of the division leading the devastating ground assault on the region.
“The Chief of Staff approved the operational plans for the continuation of the fighting both defensively and offensively,” the military said in a statement.
Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) Chairman Dr Raghib Hussain Naeemi has strongly condemned the ongoing Israeli aggression in Gaza, highlighting the catastrophic humanitarian crisis that has unfolded over the past 18 months, APP reports.
Dr Naeemi said despite a ceasefire agreement reached two and a half months ago, Israel has resumed and intensified its bombardment of Gaza.
“This brutal campaign has resulted in the martyrdom of over 60,000 innocent Palestinians, with hundreds of thousands more injured or disabled,” he said adding that a majority of the casualties are women and children.
Dr Naeemi further noted that nearly 80 per cent of Gaza has been reduced to rubble. “The city is currently under a total blockade, with the supply of food, medicine, and essential items halted, while the power infrastructure has been almost entirely destroyed,” he added.
Calling on the global Muslim community, the CII chairman said Israel’s recent atrocities in Gaza have deeply shaken the conscience of the Islamic world. “It is the duty of all Muslims not only to condemn these crimes in the strongest possible terms but also to take practical steps, within their capacity, to stop this oppression.”
Dr Naeemi called for a boycott of all companies and products that support Israel either financially or through any form of assistance. “As Muslims, it is our religious and moral responsibility to withhold economic support from those contributing to the suffering of our Palestinian brothers and sisters,” he said.
The Israeli army and the Israeli Security Agency have said in a joint statement that Sunday night’s attack on Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood killed Muhammad al-Ajlah, who they claimed was a Hamas commander, Al Jazeera reports.
According to the agencies, al-Ajlah had succeeded Haitham Rizq Abd al-Karim Sheikh Khalil as commander of Hamas’s Shujayea battalion after the latter was killed last week.
“Khalil was eliminated last week … He was responsible for arming the battalion’s terrorists with weapons used to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and [Israeli] troops,” the statement on Telegram in English said.
“Al-Ajlah was the fifth commander of Hamas’ Shujaeya battalion to be eliminated since the beginning of the war, and the third since the start of the renewed operations in Gaza,” it claimed.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron has told Israel’s leader during a phone call that the suffering of Gazan civilians “must end” and that only a ceasefire in Gaza could free remaining Israeli hostages, AFP reports.
“The ordeal the civilian populations of Gaza are going through must end,” Macron posted on X after the call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He also called for “opening all humanitarian aid crossings” into the besieged Palestinian territory.
Macron said he told Netanyahu that “the release of all hostages” and the “demilitarisation of Hamas” were still an absolute priority for France.
He said he hoped for “a ceasefire, the release of all hostages, humanitarian aid and then finally reopening the prospect of a political two-state solution”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told French President Emmanuel Macron that the establishment of a Palestinian state would be a “huge reward for terrorism”, Al Jazeera reports.
The remarks were made during a phone conversation between the two leaders, according to a statement released by Netanyahu’s office.
Macron said last week that France could recognise a Palestinian state “in the coming months”.
At least 71 civilians, including 14 women and nine children, have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon since a ceasefire came into effect in November, according to Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Al Jazeera reports.
He said in a statement published on the UN website that “the violence must stop immediately” and called for “prompt, independent and impartial investigations into all allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian law”.
“Those found responsible must be held to account,” Al-Kheetan added.
The Maldives has announced it was banning the entry of Israelis from the luxury tourist archipelago in “resolute solidarity” with the Palestinian people.
President Mohamed Muizzu ratified the legislation shortly after it was approved by parliament.
“The ratification reflects the government’s firm stance in response to the continuing atrocities and ongoing acts of genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinian people,” his office said in a statement.
“The Maldives reaffirms its resolute solidarity with the Palestinian cause.” The ban will be implemented with immediate effect, a spokesman for Muizzu’s office told AFP.
At least one person has been killed and nine others wounded in an Israeli air strike that hit the northern gate of the Kuwaiti Field Hospital in al-Mawasi area near southern Gaza’s Khan Younis city, according to a spokesman for the hospital, Al Jazeera reports.
The killed man was a medic and other casualties were all patients and medics, spokesman Saber Mohammed added.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
According to Israeli media, about 350 writers, poets and editors have signed a letter calling on the Israeli leadership to end the onslaught in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.
The signatories accuse the prime minister of extending the conflict for a personal political calculus as the “war’s end would mean the end of his rule – and his freedom as a criminal defendant”, reads an extract of the letter reported by the Times of Israel newspaper.
“For the sake of his liberty, fearful of incarceration for his pending indictments, the prime minister continues to rob the hostages of their freedom, endanger IDF soldiers, and inflict disproportionate harm on Gaza’s civilian population — all while escalating a constitutional coup within Israel,” it added.
At least 17 Palestinians have been killed and 69 wounded in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, according to the enclave’s health ministry, Al Jazeera reports.
“A number of victims remain under the rubble and on the roads, unable to be reached by ambulances and Civil Defence crews,” the statement published on Telegram said.
The latest figures bring the toll since Israel broke the ceasefire on March 18 to 1,630 killed and 4,302 wounded, the ministry said.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 51,000 Palestinians and injured 116,343, it added.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “deeply alarmed” at Sunday’s strike by Israeli forces on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, his spokesperson said, Reuters reports.
“Under international humanitarian law, wounded and sick, medical personnel and medical facilities, including hospitals, must be respected and protected,” the UN chief’s spokesperson said.
He said the attack dealt “a severe blow to an already devastated healthcare system in the Strip”, adding there was strong concern that medical supplies are running low as well as food and water .
The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) points out that Palestinian mother Hanadi is just one of “hundreds of thousands in Gaza struggling to survive” as Israeli weeks of siege have blocked all aid supplies — food, medicine, clean water, fuel — from entering the conflict-torn territory, the organisation said in a post on X.
“I never expected I would go back to using it,” says Palestinian mother Hanadi in a video in the post, as she sorts through hard, stale pieces of mould-infested bread at her tent shelter in Gaza.
“But here we are eating it,” she said, in a video interview with the UN children’s agency, Unicef.
“I try to salvage some of it, the pieces with only a little mould. I remove the mould and dip it in tea to feed my children,” Hanadi said.
“I have no choice,” she said.
Pakistan has strongly condemned the bombing of the Baptist Hospital in Gaza by Israeli occupation forces, calling it a part of a pattern of targeting medical facilities in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, APP reports.
Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan, in a statement, said that the attack took place on Palm Sunday, a sacred occasion for Christians, which underscored Israel’s blatant disregard for religious sanctity and civilian lives.
“Pakistan demands an immediate end to Israel’s ongoing atrocities, which have resulted in the indiscriminate killing of innocent and unarmed Palestinians, including women and children, and the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure,” the spokesperson said.
He said that the Israels relentless assaults had crippled Gazas healthcare system, depriving critically ill patients of vital medical care. Coupled with the blockade on humanitarian aid, these actions reflect a deliberate strategy to prolong suffering and entrench conflict.
The Israeli military has claimed that it killed a Hamas fighter who participated in the release ceremony from Gaza of three Israeli captives in February.
The military said it cooperated with the Shin Bet intelligence service to target Hamza Wael Muhammad Asfa, of the Deir el-Balah battalion’s elite Nukhba forces in central Gaza, saying he was killed about two weeks ago.
“As part of his role in the organisation, the terrorist took part in the cynical release ceremony of returning civilians Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben-Ami, and Or Levy,” the military said.
Sally Kornbluth, the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has expressed concerns about the consequences of “unexpected visa revocations”, Al Jazeera reports.
In a letter to the MIT community, Kornbluth said nine MIT students, recent graduates and postdoctorates have had their “visas and immigration status unexpectedly revoked” since April 4. She said the revocations were causing alarm at the “possibility of future actions”.
She also warned that the uncertainty could “make it less likely that top talent from around the world will come to the US” and “damage American competitiveness and scientific leadership for years to come”.
More Israeli soldiers have signed a letter calling for an end to their state’s offensive in Gaza and immediate negotiations to return Israeli captives from the territory, Al Jazeera reports.
Israeli Army Radio reports that a group of 150 Golani Brigade members have joined the call to end the military campaign, adding their names to thousands of others in a sign of dissent that has alarmed the Israeli government.
Several petitions have been circulating within the Israeli military since last week.
The first was signed by 1,000 Israeli Air Force reserves and was followed by others circulated among veterans and officers serving within the armoured corps, navy and other military units. A separate petition was signed by 200 Israeli military doctors on Sunday, the report added.
Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq has said Israel’s recent attack on the al-Ahli Arab Hospital was part of a “pattern of genocidal attacks on health facilities, vehicles, equipment and staff”, Al Jazeera reports.
“This latest attack on a medical facility follows the demolition of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, the last cancer treatment centre in Gaza, on 20 March 2025,” Al-Haq said in a post on X.
“Less than half of Gaza’s hospitals are still partially functional, struggling to deliver care in damaged buildings and facing severe shortages of medical supplies due to Israel’s total blockade,” Al-Haq added.
“Not only is there no safe place in Gaza, but Israel… has also eliminated the means of survival for Palestinians facing daily aerial bombardment, ground attacks, starvation, disease, and exhaustion,” it added.
A US judge in Vermont has ordered the Trump administration not to deport a Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist who was arrested upon arriving for an interview for his US citizenship petition, Reuters reports.
District Judge William Sessions ordered US President Donald Trump and other senior officials not to remove Mohsen Mahdawi from the United States or take him out of the state of Vermont.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials did not immediately respond to a request for information.
Mahdawi, born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, was a Columbia University student who plans to return for a master’s degree in the fall of 2025, according to the request from his lawyers to keep him in Vermont.
“The government has made clear that it intends to retaliate and punish individuals such as Mr Mahdawi who advocated for ceasefire and ending the bloodshed in Gaza,” his lawyers said in a court filing.
Mediators Egypt and Qatar have presented a new Israeli proposal for a Gaza ceasefire to Hamas, Reuters says, citing Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV, but a senior Hamas official said at least two elements of the proposal were nonstarters.
Citing sources, Al Qahera said mediators awaited Hamas’s response.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that the proposal did not meet the Palestinian group’s demand that Israel commit to a complete halt of hostilities.
In the proposal, Israel also for the first time called for the disarmament of Hamas in the next phase of negotiations, which the group will not agree to, Abu Zuhri said.
“Handing over the resistance’s weapons is a million red lines and is not subject to consideration, let alone discussion”, Abu Zuhri said.
Israel did not immediately comment on the reported proposal.
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Hamas has said it is studying the proposal it received from mediators for a ceasefire in Gaza, adding it will submit its response “as soon as possible”, Reuters reports.
Egypt earlier received an Israeli proposal for a ceasefire in the enclave, the state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV cited sources as saying yesterday, after talks ended in Cairo without a breakthrough.
An unnamed senior official told Al Jazeera that Hamas had received a new ceasefire proposal from Egypt — but that the Egyptian side emphasised that no deal could be reached with Israel unless the Palestinian group laid down its arms.
“Our negotiating delegation was surprised that the proposal Egypt conveyed included an explicit text regarding the disarmament of the resistance,” the official said. “Egypt informed us that there will be no agreement to stop the war without negotiating the disarmament of the resistance.”
According to the official, Hamas stuck to its position that any agreement should be centred on an end to Israel’s offensive in Gaza and its withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave. The official added that Hamas’s weapons were “not subject to discussion”.
Israel has repeatedly insisted that Hamas must be defeated — including being disarmed — for the conflict to end.
