Live: Lawyers present genocide risk case against Israel at ICJ

Gaza’s Government Media Office has sounded the alarm, warning that the besieged enclave is spiralling into a “phase of complete humanitarian collapse” as Israel continues to choke off aid.

In a statement released on Wednesday, officials said hospitals could shut down entirely within two weeks. Fuel and flour shortages have already forced bakeries to close, and water and desalination plants are no longer operating.

“Due to this reality … there is a real concern that at any moment a phenomenon of mass death from hunger, disease, and the consequences of lack of medical treatment may develop,” the statement read.
The crisis is hitting children hardest. More than 1.1 million are now suffering from severe malnutrition, the office said.

“This is not a temporary emergency,” it continued. “It is a deliberate act of starvation - a war crime - carried out by Israeli forces, with the silent approval and complicity of the international community.”

An arrest warrant is being urgently sought in Britain for Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who secretly met British Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Tuesday.

Middle East Eye revealed on Tuesday afternoon that Saar was visiting the UK on a private trip this week, and then reported on Tuesday evening that he had met British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London.

The secretive nature of Lammy's meeting with a representative of a government accused of widescale human rights abuses has drawn heavy criticism from opposition MPs and politicians in Britain.

Now, MEE understands that the UK-based Global Legal Action Network (Glan) and the Hind Rajab Foundation have formally submitted a request to the UK's attorney general and director of public prosecutions.

They are seeking consent from the senior British legal officers to apply for an arrest warrant targeting the Israeli foreign minister.

Read more: Arrest warrant sought for Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on visit to UK

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, has welcomed a powerful statement by French journalist groups backing their Palestinian counterparts under siege in Gaza.

“What does it take for other journalists to oppose the slaughter of their colleagues?” she asked.

Since Israel's war on Gaza began in October 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has recorded the deaths of at least 175 journalists across Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon and Israel.

The government media office in Gaza puts the toll even higher, at at least 211. In a joint letter published in Le Monde, French media unions accused the Israeli military of deliberately targeting journalists in Gaza.

“The Israeli army is enforcing a media blackout to silence those witnessing what growing numbers of UN bodies and rights groups are now calling genocidal acts,” they warned.

Israel has allowed 180 Jewish worshippers to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque, the largest number ever permitted by the authorities.

On Wednesday, dozens of worshippers were seen entering the site, referred to as Temple Mount in Judaism, flanked by Israeli security services.

The move marks a departure from Israel's previous policy of allowing no more than 30 Jewish Israelis at a time into the site, which was conquered by Israel in the 1967 war and is recognised as occupied territory internationally.

Israeli police said that "officers safeguarded visits to the Temple Mount in accordance with visitation regulations and group size limitations, which are determined by circumstances such as overall visitor numbers and the police's ability to ensure public safety and order".

Thousands of Jewish worshippers could be seen dancing and celebrating at the Lions' Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. Muslim worshippers were prevented from entering the mosque.

Read more: Israel allows 180 Jews to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque for first time

At least 1,233 Israeli settlers forced their way into the Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard on the fourth day of Passover, in yet another provocative act that risks inflaming tensions in occupied East Jerusalem, reported Al Jazeera Arabic.

This latest incursion, carried out under heavy police protection, is part of a growing pattern during Jewish holidays, when far-right Israeli groups storm Muslim places of worship in the occupied West Bank.

The Trump administration has lobbied Turkey and Israel to establish a deconfliction mechanism in Syria to prevent potential accidents, a US official and a regional source told Middle East Eye. 

Tensions between the two countries have escalated since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria in December. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials have repeatedly voiced concerns over the permanent Turkish military presence beyond northern Syria, calling it a red line - particularly if it grants Ankara control over parts of Syrian airspace. 

Earlier this month, Israel carried out several strikes in Syria, targeting military installations such as the Hama airbase and Tiyas airbase (also known as T4), where Turkey had been planning to deploy.

Read more: US lobbied Turkey and Israel to hold military deconfliction talks on Syria

An Israeli air strike targeted the family home of Palestinian journalist Fatima Hassouneh in al-Tuffah neighborhood, Gaza City, killing her alongside 10 members of her family, Wafa news agency reports. 

According to the International Federation of Journalists, Hassouneh was a freelance photojournalist and a member of the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate (PJS). 

A report by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs revealed that 232 journalists have been killed during Israel's war on Gaza, as of early April. 

British politicians have slammed Foreign Secretary David Lammy for holding an unannounced meeting with the Israeli foreign minister on Tuesday. 

Middle East Eye revealed on Tuesday afternoon that Israel's Gideon Saar was visiting the UK on a private trip this week, and then reported on Tuesday evening that he had met the British foreign secretary in London. 

The secretive nature of the meeting with a representative of a government accused of widescale human rights abuses has drawn heavy criticism from opposition MPs and politicians. 

Independent MP Ayoub Khan told MEE that "it is utterly disgraceful and profoundly disappointing" that Lammy met Saar, especially "at a time when Israel is carrying out one of the most devastating and brutal military campaigns in recent history."

Read more: UK politicians slam Lammy over secret meeting with Israeli foreign minister

Palestinians across the occupied West Bank are participating in demonstrations to mark National Palestinian Prisoners' Day, the Wafa news agency reported. 

While the official commemoration is on Thursday, activists are holding rallies ahead of the date.

According to reports, hundreds participated in a rally and vigil at Martyrs' Square in Nablus, holding images of Palestinian detainees and expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza. Prisoner movements held similar demonstrations in Tubas, Bethlehem, Qalqilya and Ramallah.

The director of the Prisoners Club in Qalqilya, Lafi Mansoura, mentioned in a speech that the number of prisoners in the West Bank has doubled since the start of the war on Gaza, from approximately 5,000 to over 10,000 today. 

Wafa also reported that Israeli forces arrested a child in Hebron today, firing tear gas canisters to disperse Palestinians while settlers stormed the city centre. In Anabta, Tulkarm, a young man identified as Laith Mazid was also arrested by Israeli forces.

Israel has allowed 180 Jews to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque for worship, the largest number ever permitted by the authorities. 

On Wednesday, dozens of worshippers were seen entering the complex, known as the Temple Mount by Jews, flanked by Israeli security services. 

It marks a break from Israel's previous policy of only allowing 30 Jewish Israelis at a time to enter the site, which was conquered by Israel in the 1967 war and is recognised as occupied territory internationally. 

The police said that "officers safeguarded visits to the Temple Mount in accordance with visitation regulations and group size limitations, which are determined by circumstances such as overall visitor numbers and the police's ability to ensure public safety and order."

Read more: Israel allows 180 Jews to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque for first time

The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health reported the killing of one citizen as a result of an Israeli drone strike in Wadi al-Hujeir. 

The ministry also reported that the death toll of the Israeli military's Tuesday strike on the southern Lebanese city of Aitaroun had risen to two, including a 17-year-old boy.

The Palestinian health ministry said on Wednesday that 25 people were killed and 89 wounded in the Gaza Strip over the last 24 hours.

According to the report, 1,652 people have been killed and 4,391 have been wounded by Israeli air strikes on Gaza since Israel unilaterally ended the ceasefire on 18 March.

Israeli troops will remain in the "buffer zones" established in Gaza even after any settlement to end the war, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday.

Israeli military “will remain in the security zones as a buffer between the enemy and [Israeli] communities in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza, as in Lebanon and Syria”.

Since resuming the war last month, Israeli forces have carved out a broad so-called "security zone" extending deep into Gaza, squeezing more than two million Palestinians into ever smaller areas in the south and along the coastline.

In southern Gaza alone, Israeli forces have seized about 20 percent of the enclave's territory, taking control of the border city of Rafah and pushing inland up to the so-called "Morag axis" - a stretch running from Gaza's eastern edge to the Mediterranean Sea, between Rafah and Khan Younis.

Last year’s Israeli war on Lebanon has left Hezbollah in a precarious position.

Weakened by a relentless bombing campaign, a ground invasion and targeted strikes that killed much of its senior leadership - including its influential leader Hassan Nasrallah - the group has been facing mounting internal and international pressure to fully disarm.

The United States, which helped broker the November ceasefire that halted the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, has long insisted that the Lebanese government be the sole authority in control of weapons within the country.

In an interview with Lebanese broadcaster LBCI, US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus said that “we continue to press on this government to fully fulfil the cessation of hostilities, and that includes disarming Hezbollah and all militias”.

Read more: Hezbollah at a crossroads as Lebanon pushes for arms monopoly

More than 200 former Israeli police commissioners have called for the return of the captives and an end to Israel's war in Gaza, joining a growing protest movement led by military reservists, Haaretz reported.

The letter, published on Wednesday, said the signatories - who served for most of their lives in service of Israel's security alongside the Israeli military, Shin Bet internal intelligence service and other security organisations - support the letter signed by Israeli Air Force reservists and veterans published last week.

Eight former police commissioners were among the signatories, including a former head of the Israel Prison Service.

Over the past week, thousands of soldiers, reservists, academics and security agency officials have signed similar letters after around 1,000 Israeli Air Force reservists called for an end to the war in Gaza.