Live: Trump envoy urges Netanyahu to reach ceasefire deal

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said they "will hunt down" the leaders of the Houthi movement following air strikes across Yemen on Friday.

"The Israeli strike today in Yemen sends a clear and sharp message to the leader of the Huthi terror organisation, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, and the leaders of the Houthi terror organisation in Yemen: there will be no immunity for anyone," he said in a video statement.

A senior member of Hamas's military wing, the Qassam Brigades, has confirmed that most Israeli captives held in northern Gaza are now "missing" due to Israel’s ongoing military assaults.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic, the source emphasised that the Qassam Brigades had repeatedly warned of the risks posed by Israel's actions and laid the blame squarely on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli military for the current situation.

"[Qassam Brigades] once again holds the enemy government and its army fully responsible for the lives and fate of their prisoners," the source stated, pointing to Israel's reckless approach to its military strategy as the key factor in this escalation.

The number of Palestinians killed in the first eight months of the Israeli war on Gaza is estimated to exceed 64,000, nearly 40 percent higher than the official death toll, a new study has found.

The report, published by The Lancet medical journal on Thursday, draws on data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, its online survey and social media obituaries.

The study estimates that between 7 October 2023 and 30 June 2024, between 55,298 and 78,525 Palestinians died from "traumatic injuries".

By 30 June, the ministry had reported a death toll of 37,877.

The study’s best estimate puts the number of deaths at 64,260 by that date, representing nearly 3 percent of Gaza’s pre-war population.

Read more: Palestinian death toll in Gaza estimated to exceed 64,000, study finds  

Media outlets linked to the Houthi movement have confirmed that Yemen was struck by coordinated attacks from the United States, Israel and the UK, targeting several locations across the country.

In a twist, Israeli Channel 14 later reported that, following the coalition’s assault, Israel proceeded to target its own sites. 

Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, the region's last remaining operational medical facility, is on the brink of collapse, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

With an overwhelming influx of patients, the hospital is critically low on both fuel and essential supplies, pushing it to breaking point.

Despite efforts to reach the facility and provide much-needed resupplies, the UN health agency has been unable to navigate the destroyed roads and bureaucratic blockages that make safe access impossible.

“Immediate action is needed to clear the roads and facilitate access to keep Al-Awda running,” the WHO urgently stated.

Israel’s ongoing military campaign continues to cripple Gaza’s vital infrastructure, leaving hospitals like Al-Awda struggling to cope with the humanitarian disaster its actions have caused.

Israeli security sources, as reported by the magazine Epoch, claim that Hamas has resumed producing rockets in Gaza and is firing them into Israel. This, they argue, demonstrates the group’s military arm is regaining strength.

According to the report, Hamas has allegedly constructed hundreds of new rockets. 

According to the Israeli source Hamas is intensifying its assault on Israeli troops, aiming to demonstrate to the Israeli government that its occupation of the northern Gaza Strip will come at a severe cost.

Mahmoud Abu Shahada, the chief of orthopaedics at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, has been released following an appeal to Israel's Supreme Court, his lawyer Khaled Zabarqa confirmed to Al Jazeera Arabic.

Abu Shahada endured torture and brutal treatment during his detention by Israeli forces, who arrested him during a raid on the hospital. Despite clear evidence that he had no involvement in combat activities, he remained in custody since his arrest on 17 February last year, according to the Institute for Palestine Studies, which monitors the targeting of medical personnel in Gaza.

A video shared by the Palestinian Information Center shows Abu Shahada's emotional reunion with his mother after his release.

Israeli shelling has killed and wounded several Palestinians in Al-Bureij camp, located in the central Gaza Strip, according to an Al Jazeera Arabic.

The attack targeted a gathering of Palestinians, leaving five dead and others wounded.

Israeli air strikes have killed at least 16 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since this morning, according to medical sources.

Al Jazeera Arabic reports indicates that 11 Palestinians were killed in attacks targeting various areas of the besieged territory.

Meanwhile, separate airstrikes in the Shuja'iyya neighbourhood, east of Gaza City, claimed the lives of five more Palestinians.

Israeli artillery has targeted the Lebanese town of Aita al-Shaab, located in the Bint Jbeil region, as reported by Lebanon's official news agency in the latest ceasefire violation. 

Israeli soldiers also launched an assault in the town's neighbourhoods using firearms, according to the National News Agency.

Despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah reached in November, Israeli forces have remained in southern Lebanon, demolishing homes and infrastructure, while blocking residents from returning to their properties.

Israel was supposed to withdraw its troops from the region within 60 days of the November 27 agreement, with the UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army stepping in.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has stressed the urgency of shifting tactics in Gaza to eliminate Hamas and bring the war to an end. 

Katz asked the Israeli army to present him with a plan for a "decisive victory" against Hamas which it has not been able to achieve so far, Haaretz reported. 

"We must not be dragged into a war of attrition in Gaza," Katz warned adding that "a political solution for Gaza is not relevant…because no Arab nation or other authority will take responsibility for managing the Strip's civilian life as long as Hamas has not been completely crushed," the statement concluded.

Katz's words reflect a deep unease in Israel that more than 15 months after Israel's war on Gaza the military has not decisively defeated Hamas. 

Israeli forces launched multiple raids across the occupied West Bank overnight, intensifying their crackdown on Palestinian towns and villages. These are some of the raids reported by Wafa news agency:

• In Nablus, several young Palestinians were arrested during military incursions.

• Israeli forces detained dozens of men in Deir Istiya, northwest of Salfit.

• In al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, Israeli troops fired tear gas and sound bombs at Palestinian homes and shops.

• Israeli soldiers seized two vehicles in Nilin, west of Ramallah, with no reports of arrests or injuries.

• Raids also took place in Hajjah and Baqat al-Hatab, east of Qalqilya, where Israeli forces used tear gas and sound grenades.

• The Jalazone refugee camp, north of Ramallah, was stormed by Israeli forces in another violent raid.

A recent study published in the medical journal The Lancet exposes alarming discrepancies in the reported death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza, suggesting the true number of Palestinians killed by Israel may be 40 percent higher than the official figures provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health.

The study, which relied on ministry data, an online survey, and obituary posts on social media, estimates that the actual death toll between the start of the war and the nine-month mark ranges from 55,298 to 78,525.

Startlingly, the research indicates that one in every 35 Gaza residents was killed during this period, underscoring the catastrophic human toll of the ongoing violence.

These findings cast serious doubt on the accuracy of official records and further highlight the devastating impact of Israel’s relentless military campaign on the besieged population of Gaza.

A scathing new report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) lays bare the devastating impact of Israeli violence and the severe restrictions imposed on aid missions in Gaza, leaving the humanitarian situation in the enclave at breaking point.

Key findings from the report include:

• Targeting aid workers: At least 369 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, with 263 of them from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (Unrwa).
• Essential supplies blocked: Out of 220,000 cold weather clothing kits needed for Gaza’s population, only 19,000 have been distributed. Aid workers cite “severe challenges” in bringing critical supplies into the territory due to Israeli-imposed restrictions.
• Access denied: Israeli authorities blocked 149 of 165 UN attempts to deliver aid to northern Gaza, an area under a crippling military siege for over three months. Sixteen other attempts were obstructed by the Israeli military.
• Hospitals on the brink: Hospitals across Gaza face catastrophic shortages as fuel needed for generators has been completely blocked, putting patients and newborns at “grave risk.”

This damning report further highlights Israel’s brutal treatment of Gaza’s civilian population and its deliberate targeting of humanitarian operations, intensifying the already dire conditions in the besieged territory.

The Israeli military has confirmed the death of Hamza Ziyadne, 22, who was reportedly held in Hamas captivity.

In a statement, the army said Hamza's family had been notified after forensic teams identified his body. His remains, along with those of his father, Youssef Ziyadne, 53, were retrieved from an underground tunnel in Rafah, located in southern Gaza.

It is unclear whether Israel killed its own captives, as it has done on several occasions by indiscriminately bombing large parts of Gaza.