Gaza live: Israel to build 'different government' in Gaza, says defence minister

A spokesperson for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, Jens Laerke, said that the limited aid entering Gaza does not reach those most in need.

He called upon Israel to fulfil its legal obligation to ensure humanitarian assistance is delivered, citing Israel's control of the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing.

“The aid that is getting in is not getting to the people, and that’s a major problem,” said Laerke.

Egyptian authorities have detained a group of students who expressed support for Palestine and the boycott movement against Israel, Reuters reported.

The students were reportedly among a group of demonstrators arrested in connection with anti-Israeli protests that took place in October.

Earlier this month, Egypt arrested three students for attempting to set up a group named "Students for Palestine", Nabeh el-Ganadi, a human rights lawyer representing two of the students, told Reuters.

At least 125 people have been arrested since the war broke out in Gaza, with 95 of them held in pre-trial detention, according to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, an independent Cairo-based group.

The Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) has ended a 20-year partnership with asset management firm Baillie Gifford following pressure from activists over its ties to Israeli technology and military companies, as well as the fossil fuel industry.

In an announcement on Thursday evening, EIBF’s board cited security concerns and said that “threats of disruption” had “compromised” their ability to deliver a “safe and successful” event.

“The pressure on our team has simply become intolerable,” EIBF's chief executive, Jenny Niven, said.

The announcement follows the Hay Festival's decision last week to suspend its arrangements with Baillie Gifford after a series of cancellations by speakers and performers - including Charlotte Church, Nish Kumar, Labour Party peer Shami Chakrabarti and MP Dawn Butler - over the sponsorship.

Read more: Edinburgh book festival ends investment firm sponsorship over Israel ties

Head of Hamas's political bureau Ismail Haniyeh said the group will remain as it is after the war.

"Those who speak of ‘the day after’ must understand, the Palestinian people won't have Hamas replaced," he said in a statement.

He added: "A national Palestinian plan must be promoted based on a unified leadership under the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's institutions which will rule both Gaza and the West Bank."

Yemen's Houthis claim to have hit a US aircraft carrier in the Red Sea in response to American and British raids on their country.

In a statement, the Iran-allied movement said that the "missile force and the naval force of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a joint military operation targeting the American aircraft carrier 'Eisenhower' in the Red Sea".

"The operation was carried out with a number of winged and ballistic missiles, the hit was accurate and direct, thanks to Allah," they said.

They said the earlier strikes on the Yemeni city of Hodeidah had left 16 people dead.

Read more: Yemen's Houthis claim attack on US aircraft carrier in Red Sea

Israel's bloody operation in Jabalia has laid much of the city in ruins, including more than 1,000 homes, civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal told Al Jazeera. 

Israel Foreign Minister Israel Katz rejected Spain’s request to end restrictions on its consulate in Jerusalem, which were imposed after Madrid recognized Palestinian statehood.

"The State of Israel will not remain silent in the face of the Spanish government’s unilateral decision to recognize a Hamas-led Palestinian state @sanchezcastejon and the antisemitic statements by @Yolanda_Diaz_ to destroy Israel and replace it with a Palestinian state from the river to the sea,” Katz wrote X. 

“Any connection between the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem and individuals in the Palestinian Authority poses a threat to Israel’s national security and will be completely prohibited. We will strictly enforce these guidelines — if violations occur, additional measures will be taken, up to the closure of the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem,” Katz warns.

Israel's blockade of Gaza has resulted in more than 98 per cent of Gaza’s bakeries being forced to close cutting off a critical food source for ordinary Palestinians, said said Gaza’s Government Media Office on Friday. 

More than 700 water wells have also stopped functioning, said the media office.

A severe shortage of fuel, propane and medicine, is further compounding the suffering of Gaza’s sick and hungry the media officer added.

The death toll from joint US-UK strikes in Yemen have risen to 16, with at least 35 wounded, according to the Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV.

In a post on X, senior Houthi official Mohammed Abdulsalam, described the attacks as a “brutal aggression on Yemen” and was “punishment” for their support of Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel started withdrawing from Jabalia refugee camp yesterday, Israeli forces have begun to move out of more areas of northern Gaza, including Tall az-Zaatar, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoon, according to reporters on the ground.

Palestinian rescuers and civilians are now beginning to assess the sheer level of devastation left in the wake of Israels brutal assault on Jabalia. 

Israel said it killed hundreds of fighters, however, this claim could not be independently verified. 

Israeli forces killed three men volunteering to cook food for the hungry in central Gaza on Friday, said Ramy Abdu from the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. 

The Spanish foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, said on Friday "we sent a ’note verbale’ to the Israeli government in which we reject any restriction on the normal activity of the Spanish consulate general in Jerusalem, as its status is guaranteed by international law. This status cannot therefore be changed unilaterally by Israel".

Israel has attempted to place restrictions on the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem in response to Madrid’s recognition of a Palestinian state earlier this month. 

Alexander Smith, a contractor for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), resigned from his private sector position on Monday, saying he could no longer perform contract work for the Biden administration after a presentation he was preparing on Gaza’s humanitarian crisis was cancelled.

Smith claimed that USAID gave him a choice between resigning or dismissal after he attempted to give a presentation on maternal and child mortality among Palestinians, according to The Guardian.

USAID material online shows that Smith has worked on projects including gender and global health and development and the economic cost of gender-based violence.

“I cannot do my job in an environment in which specific people cannot be acknowledged as fully human, or where gender and human rights principles apply to some, but not to others, depending on their race,” Smith wrote, according to a resignation letter referenced by The Guardian.

Smith worked for the Highbury Defense Group, which has a government contract with USAID.

Read more: USAID contractor resigns after claiming work on Palestine was censored

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedics killed on Thursday were directly targeted by Israeli forces the organisation has said. 

Ashraf Abu Labda was the first paramedic on scene that killed two of his collegues. 

“We received a signal about the presence of martyrs and wounded at the Abu Saeed Crossroads in Tal as-Sultan, Rafah,” Labda said in a video interview.

“Two PRCS ambulances were dispatched to the scene. One of the ambulances was directly targeted. Later, we received a signal from the other ambulance prompting us to head to the location to support them,” he said.

“We found the ambulance on fire. My colleague and I attempted to extinguish the fire, but we were heavily targeted by the shooting of the [Israeli forces]. Given the gravity of the situation, we were forced to withdraw from the area,” he said.

“Despite the immense difficulty and danger, we managed to evacuate the martyrs,” he added.

Social media users have accused the UK's Labour Party of purging candidates who are critical of Israel, after Faiza Shaheen was deselected for liking several social media posts, including ones which touched upon Israel and Palestine.

Shaheen, who was due to stand for Labour in the London seat of Chingford and Woodford Green, revealed on Wednesday that she was in a state of shock after receiving an email saying her candidacy had been blocked. 

Speaking to BBC’s Newsnight programme, she said that she received an email  informing her that she was be barred from running for the party just an hour before the show because her running would “frustrate Labour’s purpose”.

"I'm out campaigning and my phone's blowing up, they’ve briefed the press. They briefed the press before they even had the decency to call me and talk to me," she said.

She went on to say that the tweets in question were from about a decade ago - some about the Green Party and one about her "experiences of Islamophobia within the party".

Read more: Labour drops 'pro-Palestine' candidate Faiza Shaheen, sparking backlash