Live: Lawyers present genocide risk case against Israel at ICJ
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At least 15 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since the early hours, Al Jazeera reported, citing medical sources.
Earlier on Saturday, the health officials announced the death toll has risen to 1,560 since Israel broke the ceasefire on 18 March. Women, children and old people make up the vast majority of those killed by the attacks.
The majority of Hezbollah military sites in southern Lebanon are now under the control of the Lebanese army, a source close to the Lebanese movement said on Saturday.
The withdrawal of the group's forces was agreed as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel in November, following months of violence that left thousands dead.
"Out of 265 Hezbollah military positions identified south of the Litani [River], the movement has ceded about 190 to the army," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in cross-border clashes for over a year since 8 October 2023, following the start of the war on Gaza.
Read more: Hezbollah withdraws from majority of military sites in southern Lebanon
The Israeli military announced on Friday evening that its forces expanded the Gaza offensive to the Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods in northern Gaza City, Haaretz reported.
Earlier on Saturday, Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, announced the country’s army has seized what it calls the "Morag Axis" and "encircled" Rafah.
Hamas's armed wing released a video Saturday showing Israeli captive Edan Alexander alive in Gaza, speaking to the camera and criticising the government for not securing his release until now.
The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades released a video just over three minutes long, showing the captive sitting in a cramped space.
Sigrid Kaag, the UN envoy for the Middle East peace process, voiced alarm over the worsening health conditions of children in Gaza and called on Israel to allow humanitarian aid into the territory.
“We now know that more than 60,000 children under the age of five are suffering from malnutrition in Gaza. Each of these statistics represents a human life and a fight to survive," Kaag told Anadolu Agency.
The UN envoy stressed that Israel is obligated to allow humanitarian access under international law and said aid must reach Gaza without delay.
Israeli forces briefly detained crew members from the local news outlet Palestine TV while they were reporting the ongoing military offensive in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
According to sources cited by Wafa news agency, journalist Amna Belalo and cameraman Tareq Abu Zaid were assaulted and detained during a live broadcast. Their equipment, both work-related and personal items, were seized.
Footage circulating online shows Israeli soldiers barring the journalists from filming in the area. The soldiers shout commands at them to hand over their belongings, even pointing their firearms at the crew.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate reported that shots were fired in the direction of the journalists and strongly condemned their detainment.
BREAKING: Israeli occupation soldiers assault Palestine TV crew while reporting from Jenin, where the ongoing Israeli offensive is continuing for the 82nd day in a row. pic.twitter.com/OCQPaNi2RR
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) April 12, 2025
The Israeli military continues intensive military raids across several cities and refugee camps in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli forces carried out arrests and opened fire, set off bombs, and caused mass destruction to infrastructure and Palestinian property.
Widespread demolitions and expulsions have also led to the displacement of thousands of families, with many reporting restrictions on their movement.
Some homes and residential blocks were seized to make way for military barracks.
Some 100,000 protesters rallied at Suhrawardy Park in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Saturday, condemning Israel’s war on Gaza.
Before October 2023, Rafah - a city covering nearly one-fifth of the Gaza Strip - was home to 350,000 residents. During the war, it gained international visibility as a supposed safe zone for one million displaced Palestinians.
My family and I had also experienced displacement and sought refuge near Rafah after losing our home more than 20 years ago. It was not my childhood home, but it became a place I grew to cherish.
Despite viral social media posts urging the world to keep "all eyes on Rafah" - in the belief that international scrutiny might deter Israel from targeting vulnerable families sheltering in tents - the world has chosen to turn a blind eye and leave Rafah to an unknown fate.
But the destruction of a place does not erase its memory or the traces of life left behind by those who called it home.
READ MORE: Rafah became my home after displacement. It is now being erased
The Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, has issued a threat to civilians in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, following reports that rockets were launched from the area.
Residents in several neighbourhoods were ordered to head towards al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, an Israeli-designated "safe zone". Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted the area throughout the war.
"This is a final advance warning before the attack," Adraee wrote in a post on X.
"We will attack with great force every area from which rockets are launched... Terrorist organisations, primarily Hamas, bear full responsibility for the displacement and suffering of civilians."
#عاجل ‼️ إلى جميع سكان قطاع غزة المتواجدين في مناطق خان يونس وفي الأحياء: قيزان النجار، قيزان ابو رشوان، السلام، المنارة، القرين، معن، البطن السمين، جورت اللوت، الفخاري وأحياء بني سهيلا الجنوبية
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) April 12, 2025
🔴هذا انذار مسبق وأخير قبل الهجوم!🔴
⭕️سنهاجم بقوة شديدة كل منطقة يتم إطلاق قذائف… pic.twitter.com/350ljlC0Wr
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is reportedly planning a tour of the Gulf, including a visit to Qatar, aimed at strengthening cooperation and holding talks on regional issues - particularly developments in Gaza.
According to The New Arab, Sisi is set to make his way to Doha on Sunday as part of ongoing efforts between Egypt and Qatar concerning the besieged enclave.
Hamas has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prioritising his political ambitions over the lives of Israeli captives held in Gaza alongside the Palestinian population in the besieged enclave.
"The blood of Gaza children and Israeli prisoners are victims of Netanyahu's ambitions to stay in power and to escape trial," Hamas said in a statement published in Arabic and Hebrew.
The Palestinian movement warned that delays in an agreement would result in the killing of more Palestinian civilians and "an unknown fate" for the captives.
"The equation is clear: the release of the prisoners in exchange for ending the war... the world accepts it and Netanyahu rejects it."
At least 21 people have been killed, with 64 others injured across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours.
Israel has killed upwards of 1563 people since it resumed its war on Gaza on 18 March.
"A number of victims remain under the rubble and on the roads, unable to be reached by ambulances and civil defense crews," the Gaza health ministry said in an update.
This brings the official death toll since 7 October 2023 to 50,933, with more than 116,045 people wounded.
Israel is deliberately depriving the 2.4 million population of Gaza of water through targeted attacks on water supplies and desalination plants, the Gaza government media office said in a statement.
It warned that Israel is "turning water into a tool of genocide and a weapon of slow killing", highlighting a severe humanitarian and environmental disaster looming over the besieged enclave.
"The occupation continues its deliberate deprivation of the population of the minimum amount of water necessary for survival by systematically targeting water infrastructure, halting supply lines, destroying water stations and wells, and cutting off electricity and fuel needed to operate water and sanitation facilities," it added.
Over 90 percent of Gaza's water and sanitation infrastructure has been systematically destroyed, the statement noted, resulting in over 1.7 million cases of water-related illness.
"We hold the 'Israeli' occupation, the US administration and countries complicit in the genocide - such as the United Kingdom, Germany and France - fully responsible for the lives of more than 2.4 million people in the Gaza Strip, including more than 1 million children. We affirm that the use of water as a tool of murder is a crime that does not expire with time," the statement concluded.
Rockets fired from Gaza struck nearby Kibbutz Holit, Yitzhak and Sufa, south of the besieged enclave's boundary.
According to the Israeli army radio, sources indicated that three missiles fired from Khan Younis were intercepted.
