Israel's blockade leaves Gaza hospitals 'dangerously low' on medicine

Summary

• Gaza's health ministry has issued an urgent plea for medicine, saying Israel's more than month-long blockade of the Strip has left hospitals with 'dangerous' and 'unprecedented' low stocks
• Multiple Israeli strikes on residential buildings in Gaza City's Shujayea neighbourhood kill at least 35 Palestinians and wound a further 55 while 80 people remain missing under the rubble
• Shujayea attack witnesses say Israeli bombing was "a massacre with the full meaning of the word" as an overwhelmed hospital appeals for blood donations to treat dozens of badly injured survivors
• Israeli forces have carried out a major raid on the Balata refugee camp and nearby Nablus in the occupied West Bank
• Gaza's Health Ministry says at least 50,810 Palestinians are confirmed dead and 115,688 wounded in Israel's war on Gaza. The Government Media Office updated its death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead
• At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks and more than 200 were taken captive

10:20pm - Al Jazeera

Today's Gaza death toll rises

Medical sources tell us that 21 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn today – up from an earlier death toll of 19.

The figure includes 13 people who were killed in Gaza City.

06:30pm - Al Jazeera

17 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza today: Medical source

Medical sources in Gaza tell us that 17 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since dawn today.

The sources reported to Al Jazeera that 45 Palestinians were killed yesterday, including 35 in a bombing of a house on Baghdad Street in the Shujayea neighborhood, in the east of Gaza City.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said Israeli attacks have killed 1,523 people and 3,834 wounded in the territory since Israel broke a ceasefire with Hamas on 18 March.

04:45pm - Al Jazeera

Gaza Health Ministry issues plea for medicine

The Health Ministry says stocks of essential medicines in Gaza hospitals and medical centres have reached "dangerous and unprecedented levels".

Israel has blockaded the Strip for more than a month, cutting off the besieged enclave from food, fuel and medicine among other vital supplies.

Here are some data points shared by the ministry:

• 37% of the essential drug list has zero stock.
• 59% of the medical supplies list has zero stock.
• 54% of cancer and blood disease medications have zero stock.
• Surgery, intensive care and emergency departments are operating with depleted stocks of life-saving medications and supplies.
• 80,000 diabetic patients and 110,000 hypertensive patients are unable to receive care.
• The closure of crossings to medical supplies and medications exacerbates the crisis and adds catastrophic challenges to the provision of healthcare to patients and the wounded.

03:45pm - Al Jazeera

'Extremist fringe group': Netanyahu slams reservists calling for war to end

The letter signed by about 1,000 Israeli current and retired reservists calling for an end to the war in Gaza is causing an uproar in Israel.

As we reported earlier, the Israeli military chief of staff said they would be fired from service. Now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a harsh statement calling the signatories "an extremist fringe group that is trying again to break Israeli society from within".

"This noisy fringe group is mobilized for one goal – to overthrow the government. It does not represent the fighters or the public. The IDF is fighting – and we are all behind it," he said in a statement published by his office on X.

According to Israeli media, the letter does not call for a general refusal to serve, but urges Israeli officials to prioritise the release of captives rather than pursuing the war in the Strip which, they say, "serves mainly political and personal interests, not security interests".

12:45pm - Al Jazeera

Hamas urges UK court to remove terrorist group designation

Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk on Wednesday submitted a formal legal application on behalf of the Palestinian group to UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, calling for her to remove its designation as a terror group.

Marzouk, the head of international relations and the legal office for Hamas's political bureau, wrote in the filing that Hamas is a "Palestinian Islamic liberation and resistance movement whose goal is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project".

The more than 100-page filing – which draws on 20 scholars, including former ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice John Dugard – argues that proscribing Hamas represents a violation of the UK's obligations under international law not to be complicit in genocide.

The filing also argues that the UK's proscription stands in breach of the group's rights to freedom of expression and assembly and is disproportionate.

The legal team representing Marzouk, Riverway Law, argued in its own court filing that while Hamas's actions may fit the definition of "terrorism" under UK law, so do the Israeli military's actions, as well as those of Ukraine's army and the UK military.

"The client's application situates the significance of bringing such an application in the UK due to the historic and continued role the British government has played in the dispossession of the Palestinian people," the firm said in a post on X.

12:30pm - Al Jazeera

Israeli army blows up Palestinian prisoner's home in West Bank

That was the house of Mohammed Shahrour in the eastern neighbourhood of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, according to sources who spoke to Al Jazeera.

The Palestinian Information Center published a video showing smoke billowing into the sky coming from what it said was the house of Shahrour.

This is at least the third punitive home demolition in two days by the Israeli army. On Wednesday, Israeli troops inspected for demolition the house of Barakat Mansour, a slain Palestinian fighter, west of Ramallah, and packed explosives into the home of prisoner Zaid al-Junaidi in Hebron.

Demolishing the homes of Palestinians "suspected of carrying out attacks" on Israelis is a long-held practice of Israel. Thousands of Palestinians have lost their homes to demolitions in what human rights groups say is a policy by Israel of "collective punishment" that may amount to war crimes.

12:15pm - Al Jazeera

Israeli reservists sign letter opposing war on Gaza: Report

Yesterday, we reported that senior commanders in Israel's air force had, according to Israeli media, been calling and meeting with reserve officers and soldiers to threaten them with dismissal if they do not withdraw their signatures from a letter calling for an end to the fighting in Gaza.

Today, Haaretz has released some details of the letter, saying it was signed by nearly 1,000 reservists.

The newspaper says the signatories stated that the war on Gaza now serves political, not security interests, and warned it risks more deaths, including captives, soldiers, and civilians, while wearing down the Israeli military's reserves.

The letter also stated, "As has been proven in the past, only a deal can bring back the hostages safely, while military pressure mainly leads to the killing of the hostages and the endangerment of our soldiers."

The signatories urged all Israeli citizens to demand an end to the war, warning, "Every day that passes puts their lives at risk."

Haaretz said only 25 retracted their signatures after pressure from Air Force commander Tomer Bar, while eight more signed in protest.

11:15am - Al Jazeera

Health Ministry says Gaza death toll hits 50,846

The Health Ministry in Gaza has revised upwards to 50,846 the total number of Palestinians killed in Israel's war on the territory since October 7, 2023.

A further 115,729 people have been injured in Israeli attacks on the enclave during the same period, the ministry said.

Over the previous 24-hour reporting period, 36 people were killed and transferred to hospitals in Gaza and 41 wounded people were also admitted for treatment.

The latest deaths bring to 1,482 the number of people killed in Gaza since Israel broke a ceasefire on March 18 and renewed attacks on civilians across the Strip.

A further 3,688 people have also been injured in Israeli attacks since the scuttling of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, the ministry said.

10:30am - Al Jazeera

Israeli medics demand prosecution of soldiers over killings of Red Crescent staff in Gaza

Israel's Haaretz news outlet reports that around 360 Israeli medical professionals , half of them doctors, have signed a letter demanding an investigation and prosecution of Israeli troops involved in the killing of 15 Palestinian emergency workers in Gaza.

"Killing rescue and medical personnel is a blatant violation of international law," the letter states, according to the Haaretz report.

There has been international outcry and calls at the United Nations for a full and independent probe into what the Palestine Red Crescent Society said was the deliberate and targeted killing by Israeli forces of eight of its staff as well as six Palestinian Civil Defence workers. A ninth paramedic was taken prisoner.

The Israeli forces who opened fire on the PRCS's clearly marked ambulances and emergency vehicles , buried the evidence of their crimes – along with the bodies of the slain paramedics – in shallow pits.

10:15am - Al Jazeera

Footage shows Israeli forces arresting Palestinian journalist

Earlier, we reported that the Israeli military had arrested well-known Palestinian reporter Samer Khuwaira from his home in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

The Quds News Network has now published footage of the arrest, showing a handcuffed Khuwaira being led out of his apartment complex by more than a dozen armed Israeli soldiers.

8:45am - Al Jazeera

Israeli police arrest 7 demonstrators protesting war on Gaza

Israeli police have arrested seven demonstrators protesting Israel's war on Gaza near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem, The Times of Israel reports.

Several dozen antiwar protesters gathered in Jerusalem's Paris Square holding signs and banners demanding an end to Israel's offensive on the Palestinian enclave and calling on Israelis to refuse military service.

In one clip, a protester wearing a Pikachu costume can be seen holding a banner reading "stop the massacre" before a plainclothes police officer tears it away.

8:30am - Al Jazeera

Gaza hospital director should be 'revered' not detained by Israeli military: UN envoy

Francesca Albanese, the UN's special rapporteur on Palestine, has drawn attention to the fate of the former director of Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was detained without charge by Israeli forces in December.

As the Kamal Adwan Hospital was destroyed in Israel attacks late last year, Hussam Abu Safia remained at his post and with patients until he was taken to Israel's notorious Sde Teiman military detention camp in Israel's Negev Desert.

Not charged with any crime, the doctor was later transferred to Ofer Prison, located near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

"This Doctor should have been safe by now, under protected status, and [revered] by international leaders as an icon of Ethics," Albanese wrote on social media.

"Instead he is still a hostage of Israel, which has abducted him without ever charging him," she said.

Abu Safia's lawyers told Al Jazeera in February that their client was been tortured and treated brutally in Israeli military prison.

8:00am - Al Jazeera

Who is Mike Huckabee, the next US ambassador to Israel?

The US Senate has confirmed Huckabee as Washington's next envoy to Israel.

Here's what AL Jazeera knows about this controversial appointment:

• Huckabee is a 69-year-old evangelical Christian who was the governor of the southern US state of Arkansas between 1996 and 2007.
• After launching unsuccessful bids to be the Republican presidential candidate during the 2008 and 2016 primary seasons, he switched his support to Donald Trump.
• Huckabee is a staunch supporter of Israel and claims to have visited Israel dozens of times.
• He is against a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and notoriously claimed that there is "no such thing as a West Bank". He also said on another occasion: "There's really no such thing as a Palestinian."
• Huckabee describes himself as an "unapologetic, unreformed Zionist".
• Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich welcomed Huckabee's appointment in a post on social media where he described the incoming US ambassador as "a true friend of the Jewish people", and said, "President Trump's choice of Huckabee is wonderful news for the people of Israel."
• US activist group Jewish Voice for Peace Action said Huckabee is "an anti-Palestinian racist and antisemitic extremist who hopes to help usher in the End Times".

7:30am - Al Jazeera

North, south Gaza under predawn artillery attack by Israeli forces: Reports

Local Palestinian media report that Israeli forces have begun intense and continuous artillery shelling in northern areas of Rafah in southern Gaza.

Heavy Israeli artillery fire has also started in areas to the west of the city of Beit Lahiya in the north of the Palestinian territory.

7:00am - Al Jazeera

Israeli military strike in southern Gaza kills at least 2 people

We have been reporting on the Israeli military's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed dozens of Palestinians over the past 24 hours.

The Quds News Network now reports that Israeli fighter jets have bombed al-Teenah Street, west of al-Qarara in Khan Younis, killing at least two people and injuring others.

6:45am - Al Jazeera

Gaza Civil Defence says lack of equipment hampering Shujayea search and rescue

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza, said emergency crews are "doing their best" amid a lack of specialised tools needed to rescue trapped survivors after Israel's destruction of a residential block in Gaza City's Shujayea area.

"Dozens of people are still trapped under the rubble. We can't reach them because we lack the necessary tools. They were destroyed by the Israeli forces," Basal said.

"Israel doesn't want to allow equipment arrive into Gaza. Our suffering will continue as long as this equipment is not allowed to come in," he said.

At least 80 people are still missing and believed to be trapped under the debris of the block of residential homes in the Shujayea neighbourhood that was attacked by Israeli forces yesterday, killing at least 35 people, including children.

More than 55 people are being treated in hospital for injuries.