Live: 54 Palestinians killed, 831 wounded in 24 hours

Senior Christian figures are calling for an immediate ceasefire on Thursday after Israel launched an air strike on the Holy Family Church in Gaza, multiple media outlets reported. 

Pope Leo XIV said he was "deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack," and called for a ceasefire. 

Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols condemned the attack and also called for an immediate ceasefire.

“I condemn this appalling strike on the Holy Family Church in Gaza, pray for the dead and injured, and stand in solidarity with Father Gabriel Romanelli and the people sheltering in the compound - Christians and Muslims alike," the leader of Catholics in England and Wales said.

“For 20 months, the Church of the Holy Family has managed to be a place of sanctuary and spiritual support amidst the horrors of war, feeding and protecting hundreds of people.”

Three people were killed in the attack, and ten others were wounded, including the community's parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli.

The late Pope Francis spoke to Father Romanelli on a regular basis before his death.

Israel has charged a soldier with spying for Iran in exchange for money, the Shin Bet intelligence agency said on Thursday.

The soldier, who was not named, sent the Iranians videos of Israeli missile interceptions and sites hit by Iranian rocket fire in last month's 12 days of fighting between the two countries.

Shin Bet said while none of the information given had been classified, "this is considered a particularly grave incident involving direct contact between an [Israeli] soldier and hostile foreign elements".

The number of people killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip on Thursday reached at least 29 by the afternoon.

Medical sources told Al Jazeera that 23 of the victims were in Gaza City.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that a ceasefire in Syria's Sweida was "obtained by force" after government troops began their pull-out from the southern governorate.

"It is a ceasefire obtained by force. Not by demands, not by pleas - by force," he said in a statement.

Israel has struck numerous targets in Syria in recent months in what they claim is defence of the Druze minority.

Over 500 people were killed in southern Syria's Sweida province since last weekend, the Syrian Observatory on Human Rights (SOHR) said on Thursday.

The monitor counted 79 Druze fighters and 154 civilians from Sweida among the dead, including 83 people "who were summarily executed by members of the defence and interior ministries".

Some 243 government personnel were also killed, as well as 18 Bedouin fighters, in addition to three members of Bedouin tribes "who were summarily executed by Druze fighters".

Fifteen government personnel were also killed in Israeli air strikes.

Israel will raise defence spending by 42 billion shekels ($12.5bn) this year and in 2026, the finance and defence ministries said on Thursday, citing the country's security challenges.

The budget agreement will allow the Defence Ministry to "advance urgent and essential procurement deals critical to national security", the ministries said in a statement.

Turkey played a crucial role securing a ceasefire in Syria following Israeli air strikes on Damascus, Reuters is reporting, citing a Turkish security source.

Turkish intelligence officials have reportedly also held talks with Syria's Druze leader.

Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin had discussed Israel's strikes with US, Israeli and Syrian counterparts, as well as Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the source said.

Two women were killed and several injured following a strike on the Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip, doctors at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City said on Thursday.

The strike damaged the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic Church inside the Palestinian enclave.

Italy's Ansa news agency said six people were seriously injured, while parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli, who used to regularly update the late Pope Francis about the war, suffered light leg injuries.

Syrian government forces have withdrawn from Sweida province after days of deadly clashes in the heartland of the Druze minority, AFP is reporting.

The pullout comes after interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced in a televised address that "responsibility" for security in Sweida would be handed to religious elders and some local factions "based on the supreme national interest".

At least 18 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn today, Al Jazeera is reporting, citing medical sources. 

Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa gave a televised address on Wednesday night, saying that Syria has rejected all forms of division over its long history and would overcome attempts by Israel to tear the country apart, according to reports.

Israel "seeks to dissolve the unity of our people and to weaken our ability to progress in the process of reconstruction and revival," al-Sharaa said. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli air strikes targeted Syrian governmental buildings, including the army headquarters in the capital, Damascus, and other parts of the country. 

The Israeli attacks come after days of deadly clashes between Syrian government forces and members of the Druze minority in Sweida, a predominantly Druze province in southern Syria. 

Al-Sharaa vowed on Thursday that those behind violence against the Druze minority would be held accountable and that security responsibility would be returned to local authorities.

"We are keen on holding accountable those who transgressed and abused our Druze people, as they are under the protection and responsibility of the state," Sharaa said, adding that the Druze community "was a fundamental part of the fabric of this nation... protecting your rights and freedom is one of our priorities".

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza has published a list of every known death of a Palestinian killed as a result of Israel’s war on Gaza since 7 October 2023, Al Jazeera is reporting.

The 2,086-page document, published on Telegram, lists the name, age, gender, and ID number of 58,380 people.

The list features some 953 children less than a year old, with the first nine entries documenting children killed on the same day they were born.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are some of the latest updates from Israel's war on Gaza: 

• Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa vowed Thursday that those behind the violence against the Druze minority would be held accountable after deadly clashes in their southern heartland, saying security responsibility would be returned to local authorities. 

• Syria's leaders slammed Israel's 'wide-scale targeting' of civilian and government sites on Wednesday, including the army headquarters in the capital, Damascus, and other parts of the country.

• Syria’s Minister of Health Musab al-Ali said Israeli military aircraft are preventing a medical convoy sent by the government from entering the city of Suwayda, the state-run SANA news agency reports.

• UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory Francesca Albanese, has called on countries to cut all ties with Israel over its genocide in Gaza while speaking at a two-day conference in Colombia focused on ending Israel’s war on the territory

• The Israeli military’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip has continuing overnight, with four people killed during a strike on the Abu Halu School in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza and at least three people killed during a strike near the Imam Shafi’i School in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, northern Gaza, Quds News Network is reporting.

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

- Israel’s attacks across Gaza continued, killing at least 80 Palestinians since dawn, including least 25 people at a Gaza food distribution site die in a stampede near the US- and Israeli-backed GHF.

- The Unicef’s Executive Director Catherine Russell said that an average of 28 children are killed daily in Gaza since the war has broken out in 7 October 2023.

- The Syrian government announced a new ceasefire in Sweida, and said army troops have begun to pull out of the city.

- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the various parties involved in fighting in Syria had agreed on “specific steps” to end the clashes there.

- The Yemeni Houthi group said it launched several attacks in multiple locations in Israel, including Ben Gurion Airport, Eilat port, and a military site in the Negev region.

The Yemeni Houthi group said it launched several attacks in multiple locations in Israel, including Ben Gurion Airport, Eilat port, and a military site in the Negev region.

“The Houthi missile force launched a ballistic missile of the Zulfiqar type at Lod Airport [Ben Gurion] in the Tel Aviv area,” Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement.

The strike forced “occupying Zionist settlers into shelters and halted airport operations”, he added.

Earlier, the Israeli army said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen.