Israel-Palestine live: Unicef says over 13,000 children killed in Gaza

The death of an Indian worker in northern Israel this week has brought into the spotlight the risk faced by agricultural labourers - many of whom are migrants - on both fronts of Israel's war on Gaza. 

On Monday, an Indian man was killed and several other migrant workers were seriously wounded by anti-tank missiles fired from Lebanon, while cultivating an orchard in the northern town of Margaliot.

The man killed was identified by Indian media as Patnibin Maxwell. He had arrived in Israel from Kerala just two months ago. India has since urged its citizens to move to safer areas of Israel. 

It was not the first incident of migrant agricultural workers being caught up in the conflict: 32 Thai farmers were killed and 23 taken captive during Hamas's surprise attack on southern Israel on 7 October.  

Since October, a mass exodus of Thai workers and a suspension of contracts for Palestinian farm labourers has left Israel's agricultural sector in its worst-ever crisis, according to officials. New workers have arrived from other countries, like India, in an attempt to make up the shortfall. 

Campaigners and experts on migrant workers in Israel have told Middle East Eye that labourers continue to work dangerously close to rocket fire, and in poor working and living conditions. 

Read more: Asian migrant workers are caught along both fronts of Israel’s war 

A Hamas delegation has left Cairo after days of talks with mediators to find a ceasefire agreement with Israel. 

The group said in a statement that efforts to reach a deal will continue. 

The statement came shortly after several reports said negotiations hit a deadlock with Israel refusing to agree to a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of troops from Gaza and the unconditional return of displaced families to their homes.  

However, some media reports said another Hamas delegation will be in Egypt Sunday for another round of talks. 

Norway has issued formal advice against any trade or business activities with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Norwegian foreign minister said the new advice was being issued against the backdrop of escalating settlement expansion, as well as "increased settlement violence against the Palestinians."

"For many years, Norway has been clear that the settlement policy in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is in violation of international law, including humanitarian law and human rights, and undermines the possibility of a future Palestinian state and a peaceful solution to the conflict," said Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide.

"Norwegian industry has requested guidance from the Norwegian authorities - with this clarification, we make it clear that Norwegian businesses should be aware that, through economic or financial activity in the Israeli settlements that violate international law, they risk contributing to violations of international humanitarian law or human rights."

Read more: Norway issues formal advice against trade with Israeli settlements

The UK government won't say whether it has revoked licences for the export of arms to Israel flagged in an internal review as “most likely” to be used by the Israeli army in its Gaza offensive.

The Department for Business and Trade also declined to say if UK companies holding those licences had actually sent any items to Israel, including components for combat aircraft, since the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October.

Department officials said they could not provide information on individual licences or applications to be able to answer MEE's questions, and that they don't publish detailed information about actual exports that are sent.

Concerns over the licences were first raised by a coalition of NGOs who called on the UK government last week to explain how it knows that British-made weapons have not been delivered to Israel in the past five months.

The groups said the lack of answers this week once again leaves the public in the dark about the role that UK-made arms may be playing in the war in Gaza.

Read more: UK won't say if arms export licences to Israel flagged over concerns were revoked 

Talks aimed at reaching a ceasefire in Gaza before Ramadan are ongoing between all parties, an official source told Egypt's Al-Qahera News state-affiliated TV channel.

A delegation from Hamas has left Cairo for the time being for consultations, but talks will resume next week, the official said.

Reporting by Reuters

A senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, said on Thursday that Israel had "thwarted" all mediators' efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement.

He told Reuters that Israel was rejecting Hamas' demands to end its offensive in the enclave, withdraw its forces, ensure freedom of entry for aid and the return of displaced people.

Reporting by Reuters

A chaplaincy service used by British universities to provide pastoral support for Jewish students requires its chaplains to be pro-active advocates for Israel, Middle East Eye can reveal.

The University Jewish Chaplaincy (UJC) is a registered charity that operates in dozens of universities across the UK. It provides chaplains and chaplaincy couples and says they are “there for Jewish students of all backgrounds and affiliations”.

The UJC is also currently advising ministers on new guidelines the government has promised to deliver on tackling antisemitism in higher education.

But in job descriptions on its website for vacant chaplaincy posts in Brighton, Bristol and Glasgow the UJC listed being a "pro-active Israel advocate" among essential requirements for candidates.

A “job opportunities” page on the UJC’s website appears to have been removed since MEE contacted the organisation. The UJC did not respond to repeated requests for comment about why it required its chaplains to be advocates for Israel.

Read more: Jewish chaplains at UK universities recruited to be ‘advocates for Israel’

Israeli forces have killed at least 83 Palestinians and wounded 142 more over the past 24 hours in nine "massacres", according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

This brings the Palestinian death toll in nearly five months to more than 30,800, with nearly 73,000 wounded and at least 7,000 missing, believed to be dead and buried under rubble.

More than 70 percent of the victims are women and children, according to health officials.

As the starvation crisis in Gaza worsens, more and more malnourished children are arriving at the strip's depleted hospitals in a desperate search for help. 

According to health officials, at least 20 people have died in hospitals from malnutrition and dehydration in recent days.

A trade bloc of East African countries called for intervention to "avert looming ecological disaster" in the Red Sea following the sinking of a ship carrying fertiliser from a Houthi attack. 

Rubymar, the UK-owned vessel, went down over the weekend carrying 21,000-tonnes of fertiliser and fuel. 

The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) said Thursday it was "extremely concerned" about the potential damage marine life.  

"The IGAD region and the entire Red Sea arena would need a very long period of time to address the fallouts of marine pollution. While, the Red Sea ecology would need more than 30 years to recover from the resulting dire consequences of the fuel leakage," IGAD said.

"IGAD calls upon all the stakeholders to invest in peaceful options to address the looming environmental disaster in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The attacks on ship must cease forthwith."

Israeli bombing in the central Gaza Strip overnight has killed at least 35 people, health officials have told local media. 

The air strike targeted homes in the Nuseirat refugee camp and Deir al-Balah. 

Elsewhere, Al Jazeera reported heavy clashes were heard in Juhor al-Dik south of Gaza City, an area in which Israeli troops have been stationed since the start of the ground invasion in late October. 

Three crew members of the True Confidence dry bulk carrier were killed in a missile attack off Yemen on Wednesday, the owners and manager of the ship confirmed in a statement on Thursday.

Two other crew members sustained serious injuries, they said.

The ship is drifting away from land and salvage arrangements are being made, they added.

Reporting by Reuters

Israeli authorities returned the bodies of 47 people to the Gaza Strip through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing, the Palestinian crossings authority said on Thursday. 

The bodies were taken to Abu Yousef El-Najar Hospital in Rafah for identification and preparation for burial. 

It was not immediately clear whether the bodies belonged to Palestinians killed or exhumed by Israeli forces during the ongoing ground invasion of Gaza.

Sweden has initiated a meeting with Israel's foreign ministry and several European Union member states as well as others "to convey the urgent need to improve humanitarian access to Gaza", Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Thursday.

"The life and health of children in Gaza must be protected," Kristersson said on social media X without providing more detail.

Aid delivery in the Palestinian enclave has collapsed, with only a fraction of the food needed getting in and very little reaching the northern areas where hospitals say children have started dying of malnutrition.

Reporting by Reuters

The Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid renewed criticism for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to prevent the Hamas attack in October last year and refusing to take responsibility.

"He is responsible, he is guilty and he cannot continue to be prime minister," Lapid said Thursday on X.