Live: Lawyers present genocide risk case against Israel at ICJ
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At least two Palestinians have been killed on Tuesday evening and several others wounded after Israeli forces shelled an apartment block near the Saraya intersection in central Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera’s correspondent on the ground.
Israel’s military has begun scaling back its reserve forces, with fewer troops deployed in combat areas and limited new call-ups, Haaretz reported on Tuesday, citing military officials that said the move comes amid growing internal unrest, as reservists protesting against the Gaza war face dismissal under political pressure.
"The reserve protest crisis is much bigger than what is being announced," one military source told Haaretz.
The shake-up follows a petition by reserve soldiers demanding an end to the war, triggering a backlash from Israel’s political leadership. The army’s decision marks a rare public fracture within Israel’s security establishment.
Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 15 Palestinians since early Tuesday, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
The strikes targeted multiple areas across the besieged enclave, with casualties reported in central and southern Gaza.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun touched down in Doha on Tuesday night, beginning an official visit to Qatar for high-level talks with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.Aoun said his visit reflects ongoing efforts to deepen ties with “brotherly and friendly nations”.
He hopes Qatar will play a stabilising role in Lebanon’s recovery and in asserting state authority, including over the armed forces.
In a separate interview with The New Arab, Aoun said 2025 must be the year only the state holds weapons. He suggested integrating Hezbollah into the Lebanese army through regular training - while rejecting any Iraqi-style militia model.
The visit comes as a fragile ceasefire with Israel remains under pressure, with more than 1,440 reported Israeli violations since November
Amid widespread pro-Palestinian protests across the country, Bangladesh’s interim government has decided to bring back a passport restriction that effectively bans travel to Israel.
On 7 April, the Ministry of Home Affairs directed immigration authorities to reintroduce a clause stating that Bangladeshi passports are valid for travel to all countries except Israel.
Nilima Afroze, a deputy secretary at the ministry, told the Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha news agency on Sunday that authorities issued a directive to restore the inscription, “THIS PASSPORT IS VALID FOR ALL COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD EXCEPT ISRAEL.”
The country’s adviser for home affairs, Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, approved and signed the order on Monday, officially implementing the decision.
Many on social media celebrated the decision, saying that the country is taking a stance against Israel and its ongoing war on Gaza, which has killed over 51,000 people, including more than 15,000 children.
Read more: Bangladesh restores ‘except Israel’ disclaimer on passports, barring travel
The United States has openly criticised UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, accusing her of promoting “antisemitic hatred” and “bias against Israel” for her work on Palestinian rights under Israeli occupation.
In a statement, the US Mission to the UN condemned Albanese’s role, saying it “continues to strongly denounce” her mandate. Washington expressed outrage over the Human Rights Council’s backing of her work, using it to justify its withdrawal from the council under President Donald Trump.
Albanese, who has frequently criticised Israeli abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories, has faced repeated backlash from pro-Israel states for highlighting systemic violations.
Critics say the US is attempting to silence scrutiny of Israeli policies by smearing UN officials. The accusations come amid Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza and heightened repression in the West Bank, where rights groups warn of "deepening apartheid".
The Maldives has banned Israelis from entering the country in protest against Israel's war on Gaza and in "resolute solidarity" with the Palestinian people.
President Mohamed Muizzu signed the legislation on Monday after it was passed by the People's Majlis, the Maldivian parliament.
Muizzu's cabinet initially decided to ban all Israeli passport holders from the idyllic island nation in June 2024 until Israel stops its attacks on Palestine, but progress on the legislation stalled.
A bill was presented in May 2024 in the Maldivian parliament by Meekail Ahmed Naseem, a lawmaker from the main opposition, the Maldivian Democratic Party, which sought to amend the country's Immigration Act.
The cabinet then decided to change the country's laws to ban Israeli passport holders, including dual citizens. After several amendments, it passed this week, over 300 days later.
Read more: Maldives bans Israelis from entering country, in protest against Gaza's 'ongoing genocide'
Far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has led another provocative incursion into Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque, accompanied by a group of Israeli settlers under heavy security, sources told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.
The ultra-nationalist politician used the visit to speak about internal Israeli disputes, including pressure to remove Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar as tensions grow within the government.
The controversial minister has made repeated appearances at religious sites throughout Israel’s war on Gaza, often under the protection of armed security forces.
His presence at the Ibrahimi Mosque follows a series of incursions by Israeli settlers at another key holy site. Over the past three days, hundreds of settlers have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in moves widely condemned by Palestinians as deliberate provocations.
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.
In a letter, 472 former members of elite units said the return of those held in Gaza must take priority over all else, Haaretz reported.
Bringing the captives back "is the most important moral imperative today, and it takes precedence over any other goal or value,” the letter reads.
The veterans warned that allowing the captives to remain in Gaza for 556 days was not only a humanitarian failure—it was corroding Israel’s very core.
“The fact that soldiers and civilians have been held captive in Gaza for 556 days undermines the moral foundations of the state, the principle of mutual responsibility, and the military values on which we were raised and continue to uphold.”
Hezbollah has condemned Israeli “aggressive acts” after hundreds of Israeli settlers - backed by soldiers and lawmakers - forced their way into Al-Aqsa Mosque’s courtyards over the past three days.
In a statement, the Lebanese armed group condemned what it described as “Zionist settlers desecrating the sanctity of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque,” accusing them of provocative actions under the protection of Israeli forces.
“This brazenly aggressive act aims to create a new and dangerous reality within the context of its settlement and Judaisation project aimed at altering the Arab and Islamic identity of Jerusalem and its holy sites,” the group said.
A second American aircraft carrier has entered Middle Eastern waters, just as Washington and Tehran prepare for yet another round of nuclear talks.
Satellite images confirmed by the Associated Press noted that the USS Carl Vinson and its strike group are now patrolling the Arabian Sea.
It came hours after suspected US air strikes rocked Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen.
Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar is set to visit the UK this week, five sources told Middle East Eye.
The sources said Saar's trip will be unannounced before his arrival in the United Kingdom.
MEE earlier reported that Saar was expected to visit Britain in March, but the trip did not go ahead after Israel renewed its assault on Gaza.
The visit this week by such a high-ranking Israeli minister will be seen as controversial given warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Saar himself recently attempted to justify Israel’s decision to cut off aid to Gaza, claiming without evidence that humanitarian assistance fuels Hamas.
Read more: Exclusive: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar to visit UK this week
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.
“We lost contact with the group capturing soldier Edan Alexander after a direct bombardment targeted their location,” Abu Obeida said in a statement.
He accused the Israeli military of using these attacks to deflect attention from sensitive ceasefire negotiations, suggesting it was part of a broader strategy: “We estimate that the occupation army is deliberately trying to relieve the pressure of the dual-citizen prisoners’ file in order to continue its war of extermination.”
On Saturday last week Hamas released a video showing signs of life from Edan Alexander, a US-Israeli held captive in Gaza.
Alexander, a 21-year-old, was serving as a lone soldier near the Gaza frontier when the war erupted on 7 October 2023.
Israeli forces shot and injured a young Palestinian man and arrested another during a raid on eastern Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency is reporting.
Security sources told Wafa that Israeli military vehicles stormed the area firing live ammunition and tear gas. The sources identified the arrestee as Zaid Fatayer but the identity of the injured man is not known.
Wafa previously reported that Israeli forces raided homes in southern Nablus early in the morning, including the Odeh family home, where they shot and detained a young man, Yazan Odeh.
The sources added that Israeli forces assaulted an elderly man during the same raid.
Israeli forces have escalated raids in Nablus and other West Bank cities in recent months. According to Palestinian NGO Addameer, Israeli forces arrested 762 Palestinians in the West Bank in February 2025 alone.
The Trump administration is freezing $2bn in federal grant money to Harvard University, according to a statement issued by the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism.
This comes after university president Alan Garber announced that “the university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” in response to a Friday letter from the Department of Education calling for the dismantlement of pro-Palestine student groups, an overhaul of diversity practices and increased restrictions on protest.
In a social media post following the president’s announcement, the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidary Committee (HUPSC), one of the pro-Palestine groups named in the Department of Education’s letter, denounced the university for “repressing and prosecuting its own students” for 17 months.
The post stated that Garber’s announcement “rightfully rejects Trump’s heightened demands” but “makes no tangible commitments” towards the protection of at-risk international students and organisers. On 3 April, HUPSC was banned from hosting events on Harvard’s campus until July.
Garber’s announcement comes amid an unprecedented crackdown by the university on a number of academic departments. This included the removal of the leadership of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the suspension of the Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative at the Divinity School, and the suspension of a research partnership between the School of Public Health and Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank.
