Evening recap

Good evening Middle East Eye readers,

"If I must die, you must live to tell my story, to sell my things, to buy a piece of cloth and some strings... If I must die, let it bring hope. Let it be a tale".

That was a poem written by Refaat Alareer, one of the founders of the We Are Not Numbers project and professor at the Islamic University of Gaza. On Thursday, he was killed by Israeli forces.

Today marked the 62nd day of the Israeli war in Gaza. The Palestinian death toll since 7 October has been increasing.

The total number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks since 7 October is now 17,177, Gaza’s health ministry said on Thursday, with the majority of those killed women and children.

More than 46,000 Palestinians have been wounded. 

Here are some of the  updates from the past few hours: 

• The “extremist” march at Al Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem on Thursday evening was aborted after police asked participants to leave.
• At the request of the US, Israel has agreed to open the Kerem Shalom border crossing exclusively for screening and inspecting humanitarian aid entering Gaza through the Rafah crossing.
• The son of Gadi Eisenkot, the Israeli war cabinet minister, was killed in northern Gaza, the Israeli army announced on Thursday.
• A new report by the United Nations World Food Programme found that at least 97 percent of households in northern Gaza have "inadequate food" to meet their needs.