- Israel carries out at least 30 air strikes within an hour in Gaza’s south, killing at least 70 Palestinians across the war-battered enclave since dawn.
- Israeli military has issued forced displacement orders for Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, as its assault escalates.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says it will allow a limited amount of aid into Gaza, but it’s not clear when the supplies will enter the enclave.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 53,339 Palestinians and wounded 121,034, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
- The Government Media Office updated the death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.
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Here’s a recap of the most recent developments:
- Israeli authorities allowed several UN aid trucks into Gaza, the first to do so since Israel began a total blockade of the Strip in early March that cut off access to food and water and led to accusations of starvation as a weapon of war.
- UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said the decision was a “drop in the ocean” compared to the need in Gaza, adding the siege must be fully lifted so humanitarian operations can resume.
- Twenty-two nations issued a joint statement demanding the full resumption of aid into Gaza and pledged support for established humanitarian organizations.
- Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said allowing in aid trucks will help allies of Israel to “continue providing us with an international protection umbrella at the Security Council and The Hague”.
- The United Kingdom, Canada, and France released a joint statement warning they could take action, including “targeted sanctions”, against Israel if its expanded attack on Gaza moves forward.
Measure targeting pro-Palestine organizations disappears from US tax bill
A measure termed a “nonprofit killer” that activists warned could be used to target pro-Palestine organizations has been removed from a large tax bill currently under consideration in the US Congress.
The provision would have allowed the administration of President Donald Trump to strip tax-exempt status from nonprofits it deemed supportive of “terrorism” – a term the administration has wielded broadly against pro-Palestine activists.
Read the full story here.
Western leaders denounce Netanyahu govt’s ‘egregious actions’
We’ve been reporting on the threat by the UK, France, and Canada to take “action” against Israel over its continuing attacks on Gaza and the occupied West Bank and blockade of aid as famine looms.
“We have always supported Israel’s right to defend Israelis against terrorism. But this escalation is wholly disproportionate,” Prime Ministers Keir Starmer, Mark Carney, and President Emmanuel Macron said in their joint statement.
The leaders added they will not stand by while Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government pursues “these egregious actions”.
They also stated their support for the efforts led by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and said they’re committed to recognising a Palestinian state.
EU countries taking stronger line on Israel amid public outcry over hunger in Gaza
A joint statement by foreign ministers from 22 countries demanding the unfettered entry of aid into Gaza and criticising a new Israeli mechanism for delivering humanitarian goods into the territory shows some governments are shifting to a more critical stance towards Israel, Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen says.
“The [risk of famine in Gaza] seems to really have led to a public outcry, especially here in Europe,” she said, speaking from Amsterdam.
“In the Netherlands, we saw around 100,000 people on the streets in The Hague on Sunday and many of them told me it was the images of people starving in Gaza that is really [angering them]. That is really putting pressure on governments.”
She said the Dutch government will ask the EU to review an important free trade agreement it has with Israel at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Tuesday while Sweden is calling for sanctions on Israeli ministers.
“So you see that this food situation is really leading to some kind of shift here, and many people here in the EU are hoping that their governments are going to go a step further than they have so far,” Vaessen said.
Gary Lineker leaves BBC amid anti-Semitism row, pro-Palestinian comments
Gary Lineker, a former England captain and the face of football on British television for more than two decades, will leave the BBC, the public broadcaster says in a statement.
Lineker, 64, had been due to cover the 2026 FIFA World Cup for the BBC, but his early departure comes after he apologised last week for sharing a social media post about Zionism that featured a picture of a rat, historically used as an anti-Semitic insult.
Lineker had already caused friction at the public broadcaster when he recently said Israel was to blame for the origins of the Gaza conflict because it turned the occupied territory into an “outdoor prison”.
Read the full story here.
Allies’ criticism follows Israel’s minimal resumption of aid to Gaza
There hasn’t been any reaction from Israel just yet. But it’s worth mentioning the flurry of statements that have come in just in the last hour.
The first was from the human rights chief of the UN saying while Israel has allowed a minimal resumption of humanitarian aid this is just “a drop in the ocean”.
But that’s not the main statement that’s causing a lot of buzz. The main one here is the UK, France and Canada saying they would take measures, including sanctions, against Israel if it did not stop military action in Gaza, did not lift the blockade on humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians and continued expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank – a topic many countries seem to have forgotten about.
Israel has been expanding these illegal settlements under the guise of war, passing these policies in the Israeli parliament while all the focus was on Israel’s war on Gaza. So it’s interesting to see how this is going to play out.
US congresswoman calls for sanctions on Israel
Palestinian American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib says Israel’s new round of expanded attacks on Gaza is an effort to ethnically cleanse the Strip and must be met with consequences.
“Israeli forces have begun a full-scale invasion to ethnically cleanse all Palestinians from Gaza. War Criminal Netanyahu announced plans to forcibly expel the entire population and permanently occupy the land,” Tlaib said in a social media post.
“This is the final stage of their genocide. World leaders must impose sanctions and a full arms embargo.”
‘Words are fantastic, but at this point, we need action’
UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory Francesca Albanese has welcomed a threat by the UK, France and Canada to take “action” over Israel’s military assaults against Palestine but noted it comes after 19 months of devastating war.
“This is the result of the enormous pressure ordinary citizens are putting onto power. Again, I’m afraid these statements are not supported by actions. Words are fantastic, but at this point, we need action,” Albanese said.
What’s needed immediately are sanctions and full arms embargoes by allies against Israel, she said.
“This is late. This should’ve happened before. Had it happened [earlier], Gaza wouldn’t have been turned into a meat grinder.”
Global experts have warned of famine in Gaza as a result of the total Israeli blockade. Israel cut off all food, medicine and other supplies on March 2 but today has allowed five aid trucks to enter the enclave, where 2.3 million people live.
US Muslim rights group slams trickle of aid into Gaza as ‘PR stunt’
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a US-based Muslim and Arab rights group, says Israel’s decision to allow a handful of aid trucks into Gaza after several months of blockade is an effort to buy goodwill as Israel continues its military campaign on the Strip.
“The Israeli government’s decision to let a trickle of aid into Gaza – reportedly only nine aid trucks in a day – will do nothing to relieve the threat of famine facing two million Palestinian men, women and children besieged in Gaza,” the group said in a statement.
“This is a completely insufficient, psychotic PR stunt by Netanyahu’s genocidal government, which is determined to occupy and flatten Gaza, and then expel any Palestinians who survive.”
At least 84 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn
The number of Palestinians killed in Israeli air attacks across Gaza since sunrise has risen to 84, medical sources tell Al Jazeera.
Israel to keep negotiating team in Doha to avoid ‘offending’ US: Report
Netanyahu has decided to keep the Israeli delegation at the Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha for another day, Israeli public broadcaster Kan reports.
The agency quoted an Israeli official as saying the decision was made “to avoid offending the Americans as long as the Hamas delegation remained there”.
Twenty-two nations demand ‘full resumption’ of aid into Gaza
Twenty-two countries have issued a joint statement saying Israel’s decision to allow a “limited restart” of aid operations in Gaza must be followed by a complete resumption of unfettered humanitarian assistance.
The statement said existing aid groups have both the will and capacity to resume humanitarian operations in Gaza and they won’t support a “new model for delivering aid into Gaza“.
“As humanitarian donors, we have two straightforward messages for the government of Israel: allow a full resumption of aid into Gaza immediately and enable the UN and humanitarian organisations to work independently and impartially to save lives, reduce suffering and maintain dignity,” it said.
It is signed by the foreign ministers of countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK.
UN has a ‘clear, principled and practical plan to save lives at scale’
Earlier we reported on comments by UN official Tom Fletcher on Israel allowing a few aid trucks to enter Gaza after an 11-week blockade.
He urged Israeli authorities to:
- Open at least two crossings into Gaza, one in the north and another in the south
- Simplify and expedite procedures and remove any quotas
- Lift access impediments within Gaza and do not conduct attacks in areas and times of deliveries
- Allow aid suppliers to cover the whole range of needs – food, water, hygiene, shelter, health, fuel, gas and beyond
- Reduce looting
- Allow a regular flow of aid and multiple routes into Gaza
- Allow commercial goods to complement the humanitarian response
- Protect civilians and resume the ceasefire
He also said captives held in Gaza must be released immediately and unconditionally.
“The UN has a clear, principled and practical plan to save lives at scale. … We are ready to do so much more,” Fletcher said in a statement.
Israeli soldiers given suspended sentences for refusing to fight in Gaza: Report
Israeli authorities have given three soldiers suspended prison sentences for refusing to fight in Israel’s new operation in Gaza due to exhaustion, Yedioth Ahronoth reports.
The Israeli newspaper reported 11 soldiers with the 50th Battalion of the Nahal Brigade refused to serve in Gaza again after completing 15 months of fighting in the territory and another three months in the occupied West Bank.
While eight of the soldiers later retracted their refusals, three continued to refuse to serve and were handed suspended sentences.
Israeli strike on hospital warehouse destroys 30% of supplies: WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) office in occupied Palestinian territory has called an Israeli attack on a hospital warehouse a “devastating blow that will cost lives”.
“This morning’s attack on Nasser Hospital severely damaged a WHO-built warehouse, according to the hospital director. Around 30 percent of the warehouse – and critical WHO supplies, including IV fluids and dialysis solutions – were reportedly destroyed,” a statement said.
“An assessment by hospital management is underway to determine the full scale of the loss. Amid critical shortages, escalating violence, and a rising number of casualties, this is a devastating blow that will cost lives. WHO reiterates: Health care must be protected. Hospitals must never be militarized or targeted.”
UN says 3 more UNRWA workers killed in Gaza
A spokesperson for the United Nations says three more workers with the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency have been killed in Gaza, continuing a trend of lethal Israeli attacks on aid workers throughout the war.
Al Jazeera correspondent Gabriel Elizondo reported two of the UN workers were killed in an Israeli strike on an UNRWA school.
Gaza’s Khan Younis latest focus of Israeli forced displacement, bombing
Israel’s military has issued another forced displacement order to residents of Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, threatening an “unprecedented” assault after launching a new ground invasion.
“From this moment, Khan Younis governorate will be considered a dangerous combat zone,” an army statement said.
Previous forced evacuation orders throughout Israel’s 19-month war have displaced the majority of Gaza’s population multiple times. Many Palestinians have been bombarded again after fleeing to Israeli-designated “safe zones”, including al-Mawasi.
Read the full story here.
UK, France, Canada threaten sanctions on Israel if Gaza war goes on
The leaders of Britain, France and Canada have warned Israel that their countries would take action if it does not stop a renewed military offensive in Gaza and lift aid restrictions.
“The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law,” a joint statement released by the British government said.
“We oppose any attempt to expand settlements in the West Bank. … We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions.”
After nearly three months of a total blockade, the World Health Organization issued a stark warning on the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Gaza Strip, saying “two million people are starving”.
UN aid chief says assistance entering Gaza is ‘drop in the ocean’
After 11 weeks of total blockade, Tom Fletcher says Israeli authorities have cleared nine aid trucks to enter Gaza, where harsh restrictions on food and aid have sparked accusations that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war.
Fletcher called the entry of the trucks a “welcome development” but said aid must be allowed into the Strip on a massive scale to deliver relief for Palestinians.
“Today, nine of our trucks were cleared to enter via the Kerem Shalom [Karem Abu Salem] crossing. But it is a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed, and significantly more aid must be allowed into Gaza starting tomorrow morning,” Fletcher said in a statement.
Given high levels of extreme hunger in Gaza, the risk of trucks carrying aid being looted is “significant”, he added.
“The limited quantities of aid now being allowed into Gaza are of course no substitute for unimpeded access to civilians in such dire need.”
‘Just as we levelled Rafah, we will level all of Gaza,’ Smotrich says
Israel’s far-right finance minister says Israeli forces intend to flatten all of Gaza as they did in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
“Just as we levelled Rafah, we will level all of Gaza,” Bezalel Smotrich said in remarks reported by Israeli Army Radio.
“The army’s operation aims to occupy and cleanse areas in Gaza, and every house we destroy is considered a tunnel in our view.”
First aid trucks enter Gaza after nearly 3 months of total Israeli blockade
The first aid trucks have entered Gaza after nearly three months of Israel’s complete blockade, according to Israel and the UN.
Five trucks carrying aid including baby food entered the territory of 2.3 million Palestinians via the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom in Hebrew) crossing, according to the Israeli defence body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza.
The UN called it a “welcome development” but said much more aid is needed to address the humanitarian crisis. Food security experts last week warned of famine.
Humanitarian chef says there is already ‘a system in place’ to aid Gaza
Chef Jose Andres, founder of the humanitarian food group World Central Kitchen, says a US- and Israel-backed plan to distribute aid in Gaza through a newly created group is an unnecessary effort that sidesteps existing methods being blocked by Israel.
“Will take weeks…this plan will leave Palestinians hungry,” Andres said in a social media post. “The new Humanitarian foundation members should be ashamed of themselves…We already have a system in place to feed all Palestinians with the help of Palestinians…creating jobs and systems in the process.”
Israeli forces wound two Palestinians, arrest 14 in occupied West Bank raids
Two Palestinians have been injured and 14 detained in Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank amid escalating tensions in the territory, medics and local media say.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said two Palestinians were hospitalised after being injured by live fire in the town of Sair near Hebron in the southern West Bank.
Two young Palestinians were taken into Israeli custody in the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus after a raid on their house, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
A 16-year-old Palestinian was also detained in Sair after clashes between residents and Israeli forces, witnesses said.
An ex-prisoner was also arrested in Tubas in the northern West Bank after Israeli forces raided his house, according to Kamal Bani Odeh, the local director of the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.
Ten more people were arrested in raids in the northern city of Qalqilya and Bethlehem in the southern West Bank, Wafa said.
The aid that will enter Gaza will be nowhere near enough
One Israeli official has said that in the coming days there will be “dozens of trucks entering Gaza with food”.
Remember, the Israeli prime minister has said that a very “basic” quantity of food would be allowed into the Gaza Strip so that the Israelis can continue with their military operations. That’s the real reason that he’s signed off on it.
It’s also worth mentioning that there’s been a lot of international pressure on the Israelis – from the Americans, from other allies in Europe and Canada – to try and bring back this humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
But there has been no mention of fuel, water, medical supplies – even given the fact that for nearly three months there has been a total blockade on all humanitarian assistance going into Gaza.
The Israelis say the current mechanisms in place like with the World Central Kitchen and the UN’s World Food Programme will be used to distribute the aid until this new US nonprofit called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation comes in and sets up shop for these distribution centres.
It’s still kind of unclear exactly how it’s all going to work out. But make no mistake, the aid that’s going to be entering Gaza is nowhere near enough.
Palestinian journalist says she is eating one meal per day
The Palestinian reporter Bisan Owda says the situation in Gaza has become increasingly intolerable as Israeli forces cut off access to food and water and issue continuous displacement orders, even as Palestinians have fewer options for seeking shelter.
“We feel it’s even harder because we do not have any place to go. At the beginning of the genocide, I fled my home and went to Al-Shifa Hospital. I was displaced there, living with my family in the garden for a month. Now I don’t have any idea where to go if the place I am staying is evacuated. The Israeli army is posting evacuation orders more than once a day sometimes,” Owda told Al Jazeera.
“For two weeks, I’ve been having one meal a day because of Israel’s prevention of any food from entering Gaza for 77 days now. Just imagine – the doctors, the nurses, the Civil Defence, all of the emergency response workers are all living with this. We’re overwhelmed. We’re so tired. We don’t have enough nutrition. Our families are displaced. We’re facing all of this with our empty hands,” she added.
Photos: Displaced Palestinians flee Khan Younis during Israeli attacks
