Live: Lawyers present genocide risk case against Israel at ICJ

The Israeli military has released 80 Palestinan detainees at the Israeli-controlled Kissufim crossing in eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Anadolu agency is reporting, citing local sources.

According to a medical source, at least 10 of the freed prisoners were transferred to the Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza's Deir el-Balah for treatment, as they were in such poor health.

The source reported that one of the detainees is "in a very critical condicion and unable to move," adding that his body bore "clear signs of torture".

In an interview with Al Jazeera, one of the freed prisoners reported "endless" abuse, with detainees forced to stand continuously from 7am until 11pm.

“Sometimes, they made us kneel for two or three hours straight. Anyone who moved was beaten. After that, they made us stand with our arms raised above our heads. If your arms dropped, they would beat you," he said.

“Every week, they would assault us and beat us with metal rods. Our chests and backbones are broken. Our knees too. The situation was unbearable – complete humiliation. There was no sitting, no sleeping, no food – nothing.

17 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn today, Al Jazeera is reporting, citing medical sources.

According to the sources, 45 Palestinians were killed in attacks yesterday, including 35 in the bombing of a house in the Shujayea neighbourhood, east of Gaza City.

The death toll of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks since the military resumed fighting in the enclave on 18 March 2024 has soared to 1,523 people, with another 3,834 wounded.

The overall death toll since October 2023 is nearing 51,000.

Wafa news agency is reporting that at least six Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza City and Rafah since dawn.

According to the report, five people were killed when Israeli fighter jets targeted a crowd of civilians outside the public services building in central Gaza City.

Meanwhile, in southern Gaza's Rafah, another was killed when Israeli forces opened fire on civilians in the Shakoush area of the city.

Al Jazeera is reporting that Israeli forces are heavily shelling the eastern area of Jabalia in northern Gaza on Salah al-Din Street.

Hospitals and medical centres in Gaza are facing “dangerous and unprecedented” shortages of essential medicines as Israel’s blockade continues, Gaza’s Health Ministry warned, according to Al Jazeera.

The ministry said 37 percent of essential drugs and 59 percent of medical supplies are completely out of stock, along with 54 percent of cancer and blood disease medications.

Emergency, surgery, and intensive care units are operating with severely depleted life-saving treatments. Around 80,000 diabetic patients and 110,000 with high blood pressure are no longer receiving care.

The ministry said Israel's siege that cut off Gaza from food, fuel and medicine, among other vital supplies, is worsening the crisis and creating “catastrophic” challenges for treating patients and the wounded.

The Muslim World League on Thursday condemned the Israeli government's decision to shut down six schools affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa) in occupied East Jerusalem, the Wafa news agency reported.

In a statement, the League said the move was part of “systematic violations” targeting UN agencies, humanitarian organisations, and international resolutions related to Palestinian rights.

Secretary-General Mohammed bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa reaffirmed the League’s support for Unrwa and its mission to provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.

“Every living conscience around the world calls for an end to the Israeli government's war machine and the implementation of international and humanitarian law in response to this brutal genocide being perpetrated against Palestinian civilians in full view of the international community,” the statement said.

More than a majority of Americans now have a negative view of Israel, according to a recent poll, underscoring the fallout from Israel’s war on Gaza.

According to a Pew Research poll published on Tuesday, 53 percent of Americans now express an unfavourable opinion of Israel, up from 42 percent in March 2022 - before the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel and Israel’s decimation of the enclave.

Democrats are still more likely than Republicans to express a negative opinion of Israel by 69 percent to 37 percent, respectively. But the number of Republicans who hold negative opinions on Israel has increased 10 percentage points since 2022.

Young Republicans, those under the age of 50, especially, are now more likely to have an unfavourable view of Israel, with 50 percent polling in that direction. That gap underscores the rise of popular alternative conservative media voices like Candice Owens and Tucker Carlson, who have become more open to challenging Israel.

Read more: Majority of Americans hold unfavourable view of Israel, Pew poll finds

Five Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip since dawn today, according to medical sources cited by Al Jazeera.

This brings the death toll from Israeli attacks on the Strip to 45 Palestinians, including 35 in a bombing of a house on Baghdad Street in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood east of Gaza City.

The longtime head of a film series at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, is suing the institution for firing her last year, citing her "legally guaranteed right to freedom of speech and expression" after she screened a film critical of Israel. 

Anna Feder, who worked at the famed arts institution for 17 years, told Middle East Eye that the Bright Lights Cinema Series, which she founded 12 years ago, had often shown boundary-pushing films, many of them made by former students.

"There were alumni making these really critical social justice films... No one ever told me that I couldn't show this. I couldn't show that," she said. "This was the first time internally I heard anything from anyone negative."

Emerson's student newspaper, the Berkeley Beacon, called the festival a "pillar of the community in large part due to the work put in by Head of Film Exhibition and Festival Programming Anna Feder". The article said the festival "introduced three generations of Emerson students to hundreds of independent films, highlighting social issues and marginalized perspectives".

Read more: She organised the screening of an anti-Zionist film. Then Emerson College fired her

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support for the Israeli Air Force chief's decision to dismiss any active reservists who signed a letter criticising Israel's war on Gaza, according to The Times of Israel.

“Refusal to serve is refusal to serve, even if it’s only hinted at in whitewashed language,” Netanyahu said in a statement, saying that statements that weaken the Israeli military and strengthen its enemies in a time of war are unforgivable.

The signatories to the letter said they are not calling for refusal to serve in the war but demanding the return of all captives and an end to the war, which currently serves "political and personal interests".

Netanyahu said the signatories "are a group of fringe extremists who are trying once again to break Israeli society from within".

France's recognition of the Palestinian state "would be a step in the right direction, consistent with the defence of the rights of the Palestinian people and the two-state solution," Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, the Palestinian Authority's minister of state for foreign affairs, told AFP.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar denounced French President Emmanuel Macron's announcement that Paris could recognise a Palestinian state by June.

"A unilateral recognition of a fictional Palestinian state, by any country, in the reality that we all know, will be a prize for terror and a boost for Hamas," Saar said on X late on Wednesday. 

For the first time in history, the Israeli government has deported two elected British members of parliament. While it has previously denied entry to politicians from other countries, including two members of the European Parliament in February, it had never before done so in the case of Britain, which is theoretically an ally of Israel. 

The Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) has organised and escorted dozens of British parliamentary delegations to the Middle East in recent decades, especially to the occupied Palestinian territories. It came as a shock to learn of the deportations. 

The delegation, organised jointly with Medical Aid for Palestinians, included two British Labour members of parliament, Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang. Elected just last year, neither had previously visited Israel or the occupied Palestinian territories. 

Their weekend ordeal of detention, interrogation and deportation was, of course, nothing in comparison to what Palestinians in the occupied territories endure on a regular basis.

Read more: Deportation of British MPs aims to hide Israeli crimes by Chris Doyle

Almost 1,000 Israel Air Force personnel published a letter on Thursday morning calling for the return of all captives and an end to the fighting in Gaza, Haaretz reported.

Reserve and retired aircrew fighters said in the letter that Israel's war currently serves mainly political and personal interests, not security interests.

"The continuation of the war does not contribute to any of its declared goals and will lead to the deaths of the hostages, Israeli soldiers and innocent civilians, and to the attrition of the IDF reserve forces."

The signatories to the letter added that "as has been proven in the past, only a deal can bring back the hostages safely, while military pressure mainly leads to the killing of the hostages and the endangerment of our soldiers".

The letter also called on all Israeli citizens to mobilise and demand an end to the war. "Every day that passes puts their lives at risk," they said.

Twenty-five people retracted their signatures after Israeli Air Force commander Tomer Bar threatened them with dismissal from the service, the report said.

US air strikes in Yemen overnight killed at least three people, while the death toll in an earlier attack rose to 13 dead, the Associated Press reported, citing Houthi rebels.

The Houthis say air strikes targeted the al-Sabeen District in the south of the capital, Sanaa - an area that is home to al-Sabeen Square and a major mosque that has been a gathering point for months for demonstrations against Israel's war on Gaza. 

At least 50,846 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on the territory since 7 October 2023, the Health Ministry in Gaza has said.

A further 115,729 people have been injured in Israeli attacks on the enclave during the same period, the ministry said.

Over the previous 24-hour reporting period, 36 people were killed and transferred to hospitals in Gaza and 41 wounded Palestinians were also admitted for treatment.

The latest deaths bring the death toll since Israel broke a ceasefire on 18 March to 1,482. A further 3,688 people have been injured since Israel renewed its attacks in the same period, the ministry said.