Live: Lawyers present genocide risk case against Israel at ICJ

Al Jazeera Arabic reports that Israeli forces have freed 10 Palestinian detainees.

They were transferred to the International Committee of the Red Cross and later arrived at the Gaza European Hospital.

The notion of "Greater Israel" represents a foundational goal of Zionism and the Israeli political elite.

For decades, Israel has worked to carry out the mass transfer of Arab populations from historic Palestine. 

For Israel's current leadership, as well as large swathes of Israeli society, the war on Gaza has presented what they see as a pivotal opportunity: the chance to remove Palestinians from Gaza once and for all.

Since the beginning of the war in October 2023, Israel has signalled its desire to rid Gaza of its Palestinian population. For most of the war, however, Israeli leaders have been hesitant to state the plan - which amounts to ethnic cleansing - explicitly.

As Israel moves closer to implementing its overarching goal, it is important to examine its path towards ethnic cleansing, which follows a comprehensive five-step programme.

Read more: The Gaza playbook: Israel's five-step ethnic cleansing strategy by Mohamad Elmasry

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz has said his country will continue blocking crucial humanitarian aid from entering the war-battered Gaza Strip.

"Israel's policy is clear: no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza, and blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population," Katz said in a statement Wednesday.

"No one is currently planning to allow any humanitarian aid into Gaza, and there are no preparations to enable such aid."

Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have cited military pressure as the only way to secure the release of the 58 hostages held in Gaza.

"Hamas will continue to suffer blow after blow. We insist that they release our hostages, and we insist on achieving all of our war objectives," Netanyahu told Israeli troops in northern Gaza on Tuesday.

For more than six weeks, Israel has refused to allow lifesaving supplies, including food, medicine, fuel, and cooking oil, from entering the strip.

On Monday, the United Nations warned that Gaza was facing its most severe humanitarian crisis since the war began in October 2023.

"The humanitarian situation is now likely the worst it has been in the 18 months since the outbreak of hostilities," said the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

At least 19 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the early hours of this morning, Al Jazeera reported, citing medical sources.

This includes an earlier attack on eastern Gaza City that killed at least 10 people, the report said.

Medical aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Wednesday that Israel's war and obstruction of humanitarian aid have turned Gaza into a graveyard for Palestinians and those trying to help them.

"Gaza has been turned into a mass grave of Palestinians and those coming to their assistance," said MSF coordinator Amande Bazerolle.

Last month, Israeli forces opened fire on ambulances in Gaza, killing 15 medics and rescuers in an incident that sparked international condemnation.

"We are witnessing in real time the destruction and forced displacement of the entire population in Gaza," Bazerolle added.

Reported by AFP

The Israeli army is reducing its on-the-ground deployment of reservists and scaling back the number of call-up notices, Haaretz has reported, amid mounting protests and calls from hundreds of reservists to end the war.

"Officers argue that the reservists' lack of faith in the army's current mission could undermine the implementation of its war plans at a time when it is already facing challenges implementing these plans in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank," the report said.

The Israeli army is also reportedly deploying more regular soldiers into Gaza in an effort to reduce reliance on reservists, many of whom are unable to report for duty for reasons unrelated to the protest movement.

Three people were killed and several others wounded in an Israeli air strike on a house in Tuffah neighbourhood's al-Shaaf area, east of Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera.

The Israeli military has claimed that a senior Hamas fighter was killed in a joint operation with the Shin Bet intelligence agency “a few days ago” in Gaza City.

In a statement, the military identified the fighter as the assistant to Qassam Brigades commander Mahmoud Abu Hasira. It said he had taken part in a Hamas raid into Israel through a tunnel in July 2014, in which five Israeli soldiers were killed and another injured.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

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

• Israeli air strikes have killed at least 23 Palestinians across Gaza since early Tuesday, Al Jazeera reported. In separate incidents, the outlet cited medical sources saying three were killed in Jabalia camp and six in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood. Meanwhile, Wafa reported that Israeli forces killed a Palestinian sheltering in a tent near Gaza City.

• Israeli forces have shot a Palestinian youth at the Qalandiya checkpoint, located north of occupied East Jerusalem, amid raids across the occupied West Bank.

• The New York Times reported that 14 of the 15 paramedics and rescue workers killed in Gaza last month were "executed" by Israeli forces - each shot in the head or chest.

• WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has once again called for the protection of health workers and demanded immediate humanitarian access to deliver medical supplies into and across Gaza.

• Jordan’s prime minister and minister of defence, Jafar Hassan, discussed “the situation in Gaza and the West Bank” with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the US State Department in Washington.

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 51,000 Palestinians and injured 116,343 since 7 October 2023, the Health Ministry in Gaza said in a statement on Telegram on Tuesday.

• At least 1,630 Palestinians have been killed and 4,302 wounded since Israel broke the ceasefire on 18 March, the ministry said, adding that at least 17 people were killed and 69 injured in the past 24 hours.

• Israeli forces have killed dozens of civilians in Lebanon since a ceasefire took effect late last year, including a number of women and children, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

• More than 1,400 medical workers have been killed during Israel’s assault on Gaza since October 2023, the territory’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has raised alarm over the dire state of Gaza, warning that “70 percent of Gaza” is now either under forced Israeli evacuation orders or designated as a military “no-go zone”.

• Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida has revealed that it has lost contact with the fighters holding Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, following what he said was a direct Israeli air strike on their position.

• The UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) has warned that "violence is surging" and "displacement is at record levels" in the occupied West Bank.

• A group of nearly 500 Israeli special forces veterans - including some currently serving as reservists - have issued a statement calling for an end to Israel's war on Gaza and the return of captives.

• The Maldives announced Tuesday it was banning the entry of Israelis from the luxury tourist archipelago in "resolute solidarity" with the Palestinian people.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has raised alarm over the dire state of Gaza, warning that “70 percent of Gaza” is now either under forced Israeli evacuation orders or designated as a military “no-go zone”.

“I’m very concerned as aid continues to be blocked, with devastating consequences. Civilians must be respected & protected at all times, and they must have the basic necessities to survive,” Guterres posted on X.

He also called for the “immediate & unconditional” release of Israeli captives and demanded that a ceasefire be restored “without delay”.

Since early March, aid convoys have been prevented from entering the besieged strip a move that had been widely condemned. 

An Israeli drone attack in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis killed a child late on Tuesday, according to Al Jazeera’s correspondent on the ground.

More US air raids have battered parts of northern Yemen, as Washington presses on with its campaign against the Houthis.

Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported that at least 13 strikes struck al-Salem and Kitaf districts in Saada province in the early hours. The area has been a frequent target of US attacks since the conflict intensified.

Meanwhile, the Harf Sufyan district in Amran province, just north of the capital, Sanaa, was also hit by US bombs. Separate strikes were reported on the outskirts of Sanaa, though details remain unclear.

The escalation comes as tensions continue to rise in the Red Sea, with the Houthis vowing to retaliate against what they call US and Israeli aggression against the Palestinians.

Harvard University has been hit with a $2.3bn federal funding freeze after the Ivy League institution took a stand against the Trump administration’s ongoing demands.

The freeze, representing 35.9 percent of Harvard's $6.4bn operating expenses, immediately followed a letter on Monday from Harvard University lawyers to the Trump administration, stating that it rejected the government’s demands.

The letter, issued by Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and LLP King & Spalding LLP, said that “The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”

University president Alan Garber also issued a public letter on Monday saying the university refused to capitulate to the Trump administration’s demands “to control the Harvard community” and threaten its “values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production and dissemination of knowledge”.

Harvard rejected the government’s demands, including reporting foreign students for code violations, reforming its governance and leadership, discontinuing its diversity, equity, and inclusion programmes, and changing its hiring and admission policies, especially for international students.

Read more: Harvard University punished with $2b funding freeze for defying Trump

More than 1,400 medical workers have been killed during Israel’s assault on Gaza since October 2023, the territory’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

In a statement posted on Telegram, officials confirmed: “More than 1,400 health workers have been martyred, while around 360 others from the health sector remain in Israeli detention.”