Israel-Palestine live: Thousands in state of panic as Israel continues to strike hospitals

The spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, Dr Ashraf al-Qudra, has announced the latest death toll in Gaza

• At least 10,569 people have been killed since 7 October
• Of those, 4,324 were children, 2,823 women, 649 elderly
• Another 26,475 people were wounded
• At least 2,550 people are missing, including 1,350 children. Most of these people are believed to have died and are currently buried under rubble

Ghassan Hagem, a Lebanese-Australian academic, says he risks losing an academic prize due to his views on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

In a series of tweets, Hagem explained that German academics were vetting his political views before deciding whether to award him the prize.

Germany has cracked down on Palestinian activism in recent weeks, with bookfairs cancelling events for Palestinian authors and the government threatening to deport those deemed to be critical of Israel.

A total of 41 journalists have so far been killed in the Israel-Palestine war which began on 7 October, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a statement on Wednesday.

Among them are 36 Palestinian reporters killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip.

“Nowhere is safe for journalists in the Gaza Strip,” the statement read.

“The Israeli authorities have repeatedly said that their armed forces are 'not targeting journalists', but they have not hidden their lack of interest in protecting them either,” RSF added.

More than 50 sites used by the media have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli strikes.

“What is happening in the Gaza Strip is a tragedy for journalism,” said Jonathan Dagher, head of RSF's Middle East desk.

“With their arbitrary air strikes, the Israeli armed forces are eliminating journalists one after the other without restraint, all while their unacceptable comments betray an open contempt for international humanitarian law,” Dagher said.

One journalist has been killed in Lebanon by Israeli air strikes, while four Israeli journalists were killed during the 7 October attacks by Palestinian fighters led by Hamas.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that a durable peace in the Middle East would include "no forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza".

Speaking from Tokyo after the G7 meeting, Blinken said such displacement will not happen now or after the war.

“No re-occupation of Gaza after the conflict ends. No attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza. We must also ensure no terrorist threats can emanate from the West Bank,” Blinken told reporters.

Blinken said postwar plans must include Gaza being unified with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.

He added that plans must also include a “sustained mechanism for reconstruction in Gaza" and a "pathway to Israelis and Palestinians living side by side" in two separate states.

Top diplomats from the G7 announced a unified stance on the Israel-Gaza war after meetings in Tokyo calling for “humanitarian pauses”.

“We support humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement, and the release of hostages,” the statement said. 

There was also condemnation of “the rise in extremist settler violence committed against Palestinians,” which the ministers said is “unacceptable, undermines security in the West Bank, and threatens prospects for a lasting peace”.

All bakeries in the north of Gaza have now closed due to “lack of fuel, water and wheat flour,” said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Access to bread in the south of Gaza has also become desperate. The only operating mill in Gaza remains unable to grind wheat due to a lack of electricity and fuel. 

Eleven bakeries have been hit and destroyed since 7 October. Only one of the bakeries contracted by the World Food Programme (WFP), along with eight other bakeries in the south, intermittently provides bread to shelters, depending on the availability of flour and fuel. 

People queue for long hours in bakeries, where they are exposed to airstrikes, added OCHA.

The United States opposes an Israeli military “reoccupation” of the Gaza Strip after the Israel-Hamas war ends, a White House spokesman has said.

Biden believes “a reoccupation by Israeli forces of Gaza is not the right thing to do”, the White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, told reporters on Tuesday.

The comments come after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel will take the "overall security responsibility" in Gaza for an "indefinite period".

Good morning MEE readers. On Wednesday morning, the second month of war in Gaza began with Israeli troops continuing to try to advance in northern Gaza against Hamas. One Israeli soldier was killed on Wednesday morning, while two others were wounded.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the Israeli air strike on a home in the Jabalia refugee camp has risen to at least nine Palestinians.

Here are some of the developments that you may have missed overnight:

• US Congress voted in favour of a resolution that censures Rashida Tlaib over her comments on the war in Gaza.

• Israeli forces stormed several West Bank towns, in what has become a nightly occurrence over the past month. These forces also stormed into Birzeit University.

• A situation report from Unrwa stated that another staff member for the agency was killed, bringing the total death toll to 89.

• Saudi Arabia said it's holding several summits in the next week, including one for Arab nations and one more for Muslim countries.

• Human Rights Watch said that the Israeli strike on an ambulance is "apparently unlawful" and that the incident requires a war crimes investigation.

Over the past month, we at MEE have been providing you with round-the-clock updates on what is going on in Gaza. We're going to continue to do just that and provide you with updates throughout the morning.

For up-to-date information, follow MEE's live blog and our social media platforms on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.

The foreign ministers for G7 countries are set to issue a joint statement on the war in Gaza on Wednesday, with expectations that they will call for temporary pauses in fighting to allow humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave.

"We hope to be able to present a united G7 position on the situation in the Middle East in the G7 Foreign Ministers' Statement, which we understand is currently being coordinated," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would consider "tactical little pauses" but has rejected calls for a ceasefire. Biden said on Tuesday that he held a phone with Netanyahu on Monday, where the US president called for a humanitarian pause.

Israel's military announced on Wednesday morning that one of its soldiers was killed in fighting in northern Gaza.

The military added that two soldiers were seriously wounded in overnight fighting.

Emily Callahan, an American nurse with Doctors Without Borders, spoke with CNN about her experiences working in Gaza during Israel's bombardment of the enclave.

"I want to remind people that the people who stayed behind [in Gaza] are heroes," Callahan said. "They know they're going to die, and they're choosing to stay behind anyway."

Germany’s foreign minister has said that more than 200 German nationals and their family members have left Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

“Many thanks to our partners in Egypt for their support,” Annalena Baerbock Baerbock wrote on X.

The minister added that Germany Germany work “until every German who wants to leave the country can do so”.

Earlier, Canada announced that nearly 60 of its nationals, residents and their families were able to leave Gaza.

At least four Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, multiple news outlets are reporting.

The death toll from Israeli overnight air strikes is continuing to rise on Wednesday morning, with bombings taking place all throughout the Strip.

The US House of Representatives has voted to censure Rashida Tlaib, the sole Palestinian-American lawmaker in Congress.

The measure, passed in a 234-188 vote, accuses Tlaib of "promoting false narratives regarding the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and for calling for the destruction of the state of Israel," and is the second attempt to formally punish Tlaib over her comments about the war.

One of the remarks she was condemned for explaining the chant "from the river to the sea", which she said was "an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate". Supporters of Israel claim the phrase promotes the destruction of Israel. To learn more about the chant and its origins, click here.

The same words got political commentator Marc Lamont Hill fired from CNN in 2018.

Speaking on Tuesday, Tlaib said that she would not be silenced.

“No government is beyond criticism. The idea that criticising the government of Israel is antisemitic sets a very dangerous precedent, and it’s been used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human rights across our nation," she said.

Israeli forces stormed the campus of Birzeit University on Wednesday morning, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The news agency reported that Israeli forces demanded that the university guards open their doors, as six military vehicles entered the campus.

Birzeit University is one of the largest educational institutions in the occupied West Bank and maintains its independence from the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Student activism at the university is hotly contested and often reflects trends in the wider Palestinian political life.

The university council switched to online learning on 9 October due to increased attacks by Israeli forces, according to Wafa.