Israel's War on Gaza Live: Israel pounds Rafah in overnight strikes

Tens of thousands of protesters calling for an end to Israel's war on Gaza marched through central London on Saturday.

They were confronted by a small group of pro-Israel demonstrators.

The protest began at 12pm at Russell Square, before proceeding towards Aldwych along the Embankment. It is set to finish in Parliament Square.

Around 1,000 police officers have been deployed across London.

Six Palestinians were wounded, one critically, by live ammunition in another attack launched by Israeli settlers on the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

Wafa news agency reported that a Palestinian sustained a critical injury to the head, and was rushed to hospital for medical treatment. Five others were shot with live fire by settlers in the village.

Israeli settlers also reportedly fired at the funeral procession of Jihad Afif Abu Alia, 25, who was killed in a settler attack on the village on Friday. No injuries were reported at the funeral.

Tarneem Hammad, an English language instructor based in Gaza, has written for Middle East Eye on her experience of living through the past six months of Israeli bombardment and siege. 

She writes: "There are so many Palestinians in Gaza dying slowly, uncounted, and unseen.

The first time I had ever seen my eldest brother cry was in the early days of the war. Two of our beloved neighbours' houses were bombed. My brothers and a few other men in our neighbourhood desperately tried in vain to rescue the children.

My eldest brother was known to have the biggest and most beautiful eyes in our family, and we always teased him that none of his children got his big eyes. That day, when he returned home, he wept in grief - his big eyes turning into an ocean of tears that drowned our hearts with him.

On 14 October, we mourned the loss of my uncle, who died protecting his four-year-old son from shrapnel that hit their parked car following an air strike nearby. My uncle was found dead with his arms wrapped around his little boy, who survived with burns on his head."

You can read the full piece below.

Gaza war diary: 'I'm shattered. My only comfort is my cat'

Iran is "conducting a pirate operation" and should be sanctioned for it, Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz has said, after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized an Israeli-linked vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.

"The Ayatollah regime of Khamenei is a criminal regime that supports Hamas' crimes and is now conducting a pirate operation in violation of international law," Katz said. "I call on the European Union and the free world to immediately declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guards corps as a terrorist organisation and to sanction Iran now."

The body of a missing Israeli teenager was found on Saturday in the occupied West Bank, Israel's police and military said.

The 14-year-old went missing on Friday. Israeli authorities described his killing as "a terrorist attack".

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the perpetrators would be found, and called on Israelis not to get in the way of security forces.

Hundreds of armed Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinian villages in the West Bank since Friday, killing at least one and wounding scores more Palestinians. 

Since the start of the war on Gaza, Germany has offered Israel unwavering support, refusing to condemn the atrocities committed in the besieged enclave even as other western allies, including the US, have become increasingly vocal against its military conduct.

Politicians from across the political spectrum have pledged unwavering support for Israel, promising that Germany "stands firmly at the side of Israel". 

Speaking up against the country's staunchly pro-Israel stance is rare amongst German public figures, but some politicians are challenging the status quo. 

Haluk Yildiz is one of them. The federal chairman of the Alliance for Innovation and Justice (BIG) party and member of Frankfurt's city council, Yildiz filed a request to remove the Israeli flag in front of Frankfurt's city hall during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting which ended this week.

The flag was put up last October as a "sign of solidarity", but it is unclear who mandated the move, Yildiz noted.

"The flag of a country comitting a genocide is hanging from our city hall. How are the Muslims and especially the Palestinians in Frankfurt supposed to celebrate Ramadan in peace?" Yildiz told Middle East Eye.

Read more: A small cadre of German politicians speaks out against Israel

Iran will bear consequences if it escalates violence in the region, an Israeli military spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday.

"Iran will bear the consequences for choosing to escalate the situation any further," spokesperson Daniel Hagari said. "Israel is on high alert. We have increased our readiness to protect Israel from further Iranian aggression. We are also prepared to respond."

The comments came shortly after the seizure of a vessel between the United Arab Emirates and Iran.

Barakat Dawabsha, a resident of Duma, south of Nablus, told Middle East Eye that more than 500 armed settlers attacked the village from the northern, western and southern sides, with full protection from the Israeli army.

He said that several people were wounded by live bullets, and dozens of homes and vehicles were burned. The settlers also attacked people with batons and stones, causing more injuries.

"The Israeli army is protecting the settlers. I saw with my own eyes one of the soldiers setting fire to a vehicle. The situation is very difficult and the people are trying to protect their homes and properties with their bodies," said Dawabsha.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Israeli soldiers prevented its crews from entering the village to provide treatment to the wounded. An ambulance was eventually allowed to enter after three hours.

According to Dawabsha, dozens of Palestinian residents of the village haven’t been able to return to their homes since Friday evening due to closures imposed by the Israeli army on several villages south of Nablus and north of Ramallah as part of the search for a missing settler.

Dozens of vehicles and buses carrying settlers are still arriving at the entrances to Duma to participate in the fierce attack.

Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians and their homes in the village of Duma, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency reported on Saturday.  

Several Palestinians were shot with live bullets, before settlers set fire to homes in the village.

Since this morning, Israeli settlers have also attacked the towns of Silwad, Turmus Aya, Sinjil, and Deir Dibwan, according to Wafa. 

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had seized the MSC Aries vessel, which it said was "linked to Israel", according to state news agency IRNA. 

The vessel was being transferred to Iran's territorial waters, the agency said.

A Guards navy special forces helicopter boarded the Portuguese-flagged vessel and seized it, IRNA reported.

Ghassan Abu Sittah, a British-Palestinian surgeon who spent weeks in Gaza treating victims of the war with Israel, has accused Germany of being an "accomplice to genocide" after he was refused entry to take part in a conference, which was later shut down by hundreds of German police officers.

Speaking exclusively to Middle East Eye upon his return to London on Friday, Abu Sittah described the circumstances of his deportation.

"This morning, at 10 o'clock, I landed in Berlin to attend a conference on Palestine, where I had been asked, along with many others ... to give my evidence of the 43 days that I had seen in the hospitals in Gaza, working in both al-Shifa and al-Ahli hospitals," he said. 

Abu Sittah said he was escorted from the passport office to the basement of the airport, where he was questioned for three-and-a-half hours. 

"At the end of three-and-a-half hours, I was told that I would not be allowed to enter German soil and that this ban will last the whole of April," he said. 

Read more: Ghassan Abu Sittah accuses Germany of 'genocide complicity' after being refused entry

One Palestinian was shot dead and dozens were wounded in a large-scale attack by Israeli settlers and soldiers on the village of al-Mughayyir in the central West Bank on Friday afternoon.

The attack, which lasted for hours, came after an Israeli teenager went missing from their settlement, with Israeli security forces and hundreds of volunteers forming a huge search party to look for him.

Around 1,500 Israeli settlers, many of whom armed, stormed the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, shooting at residents and setting houses and cars on fire, under the army's protection.

Kazem al-Hajj, one of the activists campaigning against Israeli settlements in the village, told Middle East Eye that the attack was the most horrific in recent years.

"As soon as the village residents heard of the settlers' attack, they tried to confront them by heading to the northern area. Jihad Abu Alia was one of them, but he was hit by settlers' bullets in the head and fell to the ground immediately," said Hajj.

Read more: One Palestinian killed, dozens wounded in settler attack on West Bank village

Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 33,686 Palestinians and wounded 76,309 since 7 October, the Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday.

At least 52 Palestinians were killed and 95 wounded over the past 24 hours, the ministry added.