Live: Palestinian death toll in Gaza nears 26,000

Good morning Middle East Eye readers.

It's just after 7 am in Palestine and Israel. Here are the latest developments: 

• Heavy Israeli shelling continued near Nasser hospital in Khan Younis and in Rafah, where 16 people, mostly women and children, were killed overnight in an air strike that a family home.

• Israeli forces continue a large-scale raid of Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank for a second day running. Troops also wounded several Palestinians in separate raids in Ramallah and Qalqilya. 

• The US bombed Yemen for the third time in days, with the military saying it struck 14 Houthi missiles. No casualties were reported. 

• Pakistan said it attacked "terrorist targets" in Iran, killing three women and four children, according to Iranian media. The attack comes two days after Tehran carried out strikes against "a terrorist group" inside Pakistan, which killed two children. 

Hello Middle East Eye readers. The tensions in the Red Sea continued to rise on Wednesday, after a Houthi drone targeted and damaged an American shipping vessel.

Earlier on Wednesday, the US officially designated the Houthis as a terrorist organisation, slapping the group with sanctions. The group responding by dismissing the announcement, and said that it would continue to attack any vessels in the Red Sea that were headed to Israel.

From the start of the war in Gaza, the US said it was focused on making sure that the conflict does not escalate beyond the enclave. But with US ships now being in the line of fire, and with Iran now conducting ballistic missile attacks on numerous sites including one near the US consulate in Erbil, Iraq, the conflict is only seeming to spread wider.

Here's what you need to know from today:

• A surgeon inside Nasser hospital, who works with Doctors Without Borders (MSF), said that when Israeli forces heavily bombed the area close to the hospital on Tuesday night, it did so with no prior evacuation order.

• Israel's military said that it killed more than 30 Palestinian fighters in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis over the past 24 hours, but also faced some casualties of its own.

• Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said that the creation of a Palestinian government is solely a Palestinian affair, and that the US and other western governments should not interfere.

• Palestinian news outlets reported that more than 80 Palestinians were arrested since Israel launched an early morning raid on the West Bank city on Wednesday. The city is continuing to face an intense military raid.

The NBC news network reported, citing US officials, that Washington is promoting a plan for the rehabilitation of Gaza, to be spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, once Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is no longer in power.

The report states that Saudi Arabia and four additional Arab countries have agreed to be part of rebuilding post-war Gaza, along with a "revitalised Palestinian Authority". The plan includes Saudi Arabia normalising relations with Israel if Israel agrees to the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.

The report builds upon a previous report from the Huffington Post, which states that White House senior official Brett McGurk is pursuing a plan in which reconstruction aid from wealthy Gulf countries would be used as an incentive to pressure both Israel and the Palestinians.

A spokesperson for the Houthi movement in Yemen said that they carried out a missile attack on an American ship, Genco Picardy, which resulted in a direct hit on the vessel.

"The Yemeni armed forces will not hesitate to target all sources of threat in the Arab and Red Seas within the legitimate right to defend dear Yemen and to continue supporting the oppressed Palestinian people," the spokesperson said.

The US military confirmed the strike, saying it was from an unmanned drone and said that there were no injuries aboard the ship.

Israel's military detonated more than 300 mines on the Palestine University of Gaza.

Ramy Abdu, the executive director of Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, said it was the last university still standing in the enclave.

"Israel has destroyed all universities and about 70% of schools in the Gaza Strip," Abdu said on X.

"If this is not genocide, then what is genocide?"

The Israeli bombing targeted a house in Rafah, in southern Gaza near the Egyptian border.

Sources told Palestinian news agency Wafa that Israeli forces targeted the house of the Zamili family.

The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since 7 October, is now at least 24,450, according to Wafa.

The spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry said the aid reached Gaza in "the past few hours".

“Qatar, along with its regional and international partners, continues mediation efforts at the political and humanitarian levels,” Majed al-Ansari wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The Charity Commission is investigating Boys Clubhouse, a London charity that provides support to vulnerable young Jewish men.

The probe was prompted after the charity announced an event marking the return to the UK of a British man who has been fighting for the Israeli army in Gaza.

The furore surrounding Wednesday's event also prompted London Mayor Sadiq Khan's office to distance itself from its previous funding for the organisation after it was revealed that it was listed among the charity's supporters on its website.

A spokesperson told MEE the mayor's office had awarded it a £9,300 ($11,800) grant in 2020 "to help young people keep fit and maintain their mental health during the pandemic".

The spokesperson said: "The Mayor is appalled by the catastrophic loss of life in Israel and Gaza which is why he continues to support a ceasefire.

"The Mayor does not control or input into the charity’s programme of events.”

To read the full story, click below.

UK regulator investigating charity over event with British-Israeli soldier

A surgeon inside al-Nasser hospital, who works with Doctors Without Borders (MSF), said that when Israeli forces heavily bombed the area close to the hospital on Tuesday night, they did so with no prior evacuation order.

The bombing caused the displacement of patients and thousands of civilians living near the hospital.

After Israel bombed, laid siege to, and raided several hospitals across Gaza, al-Nasser is now one of the largest remaining hospitals left functioning in the enclave.

MSF said it is extremely concerned about the safety of the hospital, its staff and its patients.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats are currently discussing possible conditions that could be imposed on US aid for Israel.

This comes after an overwhelming majority of senators voted against a bill that would have required a State Department report on possible Israeli rights abuses using American weapons, which could have prompted a suspension of military aid to the country.

The US Senate overwhelmingly rejected a resolution introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders that would have required the State Department to report to Congress any evidence of human rights violations by Israel in Gaza, potentially curtailing US military assistance to Israel.

The vote on Tuesday night is one of the clearest signals yet that despite widespread public criticism of Israel, US lawmakers in both parties are unwilling to censure Israel.

The Senate voted 72 to 11 to kill the resolution which was forced to a vote on the Senate floor by Sanders.

Read more here.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and British maritime security firm Ambrey said they received reports of a ship being attacked near the port city of Aden.

The "vessel has been hit on port side by an uncrewed aerial system," the organisation said. It added that the vessel and crew are safe and are continuing the journey.

Israel's military said that it killed more than 30 Palestinian fighters in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis over the past 24 hours.

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces have expanded their operations toward a Hamas regiment in southern Khan Younis, adding that there were Israeli casualties as well.

The comments, made by senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan, were in response to comments from US officials that the only way forward in a post-war Gaza is to have a revitalised Palestinian Authority.

"Palestinian people are the masters of their decisions on their land, and are capable of managing all their affairs, in defence of themselves, their land, their rights, and their sanctities," Hamdan said.

"Regarding the talk about America and western countries’ efforts to form a Palestinian government, we reiterate that forming a Palestinian government and managing the Palestinian situation is a national Palestinian matter," he added.

"We manage it with our brothers and sisters from the Palestinian forces and factions, and America or others have nothing to do with it."

Palestinian news outlets are reporting that more than 80 Palestinians have been arrested since Israel launched an early morning raid on the West Bank city on Wednesday.

In addition to the arrests, Israeli forces killed at least five Palestinians there, according to the health ministry.

Israeli forces have been launching near-daily military raids across the West Bank since the war in Gaza began on 7 October.