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

Five Palestinians were wounded overnight after Israeli settlers attacked the village of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency reported.

Two of the five were transferred to hospital, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

Sources told Wafa the settlers rode vehicles bearing Palestinian licence plates and assaulted several people. They also fired bullets towards Palestinians and their homes, though there were no reports of gunshot wounds.

Earlier on Friday evening, a Palestinian citizen was wounded during another settler attack on Abu Falah, during which several vehicles and greenhouses were burned.

Elsewhere, a group of 1,500 Israeli settlers launched an attack on al-Mughayyir on Friday, another Palestinian village northeast of Ramallah, killing one man and wounding 25 others. 

Hello MEE readers. On Friday, Israeli forces engaged in another devastating bombing campaign across Gaza, killing dozens of Palestinians.

Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, a group of 1,500 Israeli settlers launched an attack on al-Mughayir, a Palestinian village northeast of Ramallah, killing one man and injuring more than a dozen others. Israeli settlers also attacked another nearby village, Khirbet Abu Falah, setting fire to cars.

Amid the rising Palestinian death toll in Gaza and the West Bank, the US has appeared to shift focus to Iran, warning it against conducting a strike on Israel, which Washington says would be an escalatory move.

Iran has vowed to respond to Israel after an air strike earlier this month targeted the Iranian consulate in Syria, killing three top Iranian military commanders.

When asked on Friday what his message to Iran is, US President Joe Biden said: "Don't."

Here's what else you need to know from today's developments:

• Ghassan Abu Sittah, a British-Palestinian doctor who spent more than a month operating in Gaza's hospitals last year, was detained at an airport in Germany while attempting to enter the country for a conference on Palestine. German police later stormed that conference, shutting down the livestream and the electricity.

• The UN warned that the lack of clean water combined with rising temperatures is increasing the spread of waterborne diseases in Gaza.

• A cameraman for Turkish state TV channel TRT was badly wounded in an Israeli strike in Gaza on Friday.

• Gulf monarchies are urging the US not to use American military bases on their territories to strike in response to any potential Iranian attack on Israel, sources told MEE.

• A group of graduate students at Yale University launched a hunger strike in protest against the institution's investments in companies providing Israel with military weaponry.

• Hezbollah said it fired dozens of rockets at “enemy artillery positions in Zaoura".

• An Israeli bombing of a residence belonging to the al-Assi family has killed five people in central Gaza City.

• Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said that it launched a barrage of rockets towards the Israeli city of Sderot, east of Gaza.

US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib was visited on Friday by Palestinian photographer Motaz Azaiza, who rose to prominence documenting Israel's war on Gaza, with a copy of the congressional record documenting his coverage of the war and the Palestinian people.

"We pray for your healing and the end of the genocide in Gaza," Tlaib said.

Azaiza spent 100 days documenting the war before announcing he was leaving Gaza in late January. He has since travelled to Qatar, Turkey, and the US.

Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said that it launched a barrage of rockets towards the Israeli city of Sderot, east of the Gaza Strip.

Sirens were sounded in Sderot, according to Israeli news reports.

Germany warned its citizens to leave Iran, saying that there was a risk of a sudden escalation following Tehran's vow to respond to Israel after an air strike attack on its consulate compound in Syria.

Germany further warned its citizens that they might be at risk of being arrested in Iran.

"In the current tensions, especially between Israel and Iran, there is a risk of a sudden escalation," the foreign office wrote in a new travel warning.

"German citizens are at concrete risk of being arbitrarily arrested and interrogated and being given long prison sentences. Dual citizens with Iranian and German nationality are especially at risk."

In an exclusive interview with Middle East Eye, Ghassan Abu Sittah, a British-Palestinian doctor who has become known for his work in Gaza's hospitals, detailed how he was detained at an airport in Germany and subsequently denied entry.

Abu Sittah wanted to attend a conference where he would present evidence on the war in Gaza and his witness statement as a doctor working in its hospitals.

"I was told that I will not be allowed to enter German soil, that I will and that this ban will last the whole of April," he said.

"And not just that, if I were to try to set to link up by Zoom or FaceTime with the conference, even if I was outside Germany, or I were to send a video of my lecture to the conference in Berlin, then that would constitute a breach of German law and I would endanger myself to having a fine or even up to a year of prison."

Watch the video below.

An Israeli bombing of a residence belonging to the al-Assi family has killed five people in central Gaza City, Al Jazeera reported citing the Gaza Civil Defence.

US President Joe Biden told reporters that his message to Iran, which has threatened to retaliate against Israel for an air strike on Tehran's embassy in Syria, is "don't".

"We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed," Biden said.

Ireland's new prime minister said the country is close to formally recognising a Palestinian state and would like to do so in concert with Spain and other like-minded countries.

"Let me this evening say our assessment is that that point is coming much closer and we would like to move together in doing so," Harris said after meeting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Dublin.

"When we move forward, we would like to do so with as many others as possible to lend weight to the decision and to send the strongest message. The people of Israel deserve a secure and peaceful future, so do the people of Palestine. Equal sovereignty, equal respect."

Reporting by Reuters

A group of armed Israeli settlers have attacked another West Bank village northeast of Ramallah, injuring at least four Palestinians.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that settlers attacked the village of Khirbet Abu Falah, where settlers also set several vehicles on fire.

Hezbollah released a statement saying it fired at “enemy artillery positions in Zaoura with dozens of Katyusha rockets”, adding that the attacks are both in support of Palestinians in Gaza and also a response to ongoing Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon.

Sirens were turned on in parts of northern Israel, and the sound of missiles could be heard intercepting sockets in south Lebanon.

A group of graduate students at Yale University launched a hunger strike on Friday in protest against the institution's investments in companies providing Israel with military weaponry.

Students argue the university is profiting off of what a growing number of Americans say is a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza being carried out by Israel.

The hunger strike was launched after students with the group, Hunger Strikers for Palestine, sent a letter to Yale president Peter Salovey on Wednesday, demanding that the university divest from its investments in companies providing Israel with military technology.

"We demand that by the morning of this Friday, 4/12/2024, you make a public statement committing to divest from all weapons manufacturing companies contributing to Israel’s assault on Palestine," said the letter, which was shared with Middle East Eye.

Read the full story by clicking below.

Yale students launch hunger strike to demand divestment from Israel's war

Palestinian news outlets are reporting that the bodies of ten Palestinians were recovered from various areas in the southern city of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip.

Gulf monarchies are urging the US not to use American military bases on their territories to strike in response to any potential Iranian attack on Israel, sources told Middle East Eye.

The US's Gulf allies are working overtime to shut down avenues that could link them to a US reprisal against Tehran or its proxies from bases inside their kingdoms, according to a senior US official who spoke with MEE on condition of anonymity. 

As tensions flare, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and Kuwait have raised questions about the intricate details of basing agreements that permit tens of thousands of US troops to be stationed across the oil-rich peninsula.

They are also moving to prevent US warplanes from flying over their airspace in the event the US conducts a retaliatory strike on Iran.

Read the exclusive story by clicking below.

Gulf states warn US not to launch strikes on Iran from their territory or airspace