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

Gaza's health ministry said on Friday that 89 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza over the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 33,634 since 7 October.

An additional 120 were wounded, bringing the total injured to 76,214 since the war began.

A second Palestinian has been killed during Israel's raid on the West Bank city of Tubas today after Israeli forces opened fire on the vehicle he was in, Palestine's Wafa news agency has reported.

Israel's bombing of the Tabatibi family home in Gaza City's Daraj neighbourhood killed at least 25 people, Al Jazeera reports.

Quoting "a person familiar with the matter", the Wall Street Journal reports that Israel is preparing for an Iranian attack on southern or northern Israel that could take place "as soon as the next 24 to 48 hours".

Another source, reportedly a person "briefed by the Iranian leadership", said that while plans are being discussed, no final decision has been been made yet.

The attack would be a retaliation for the reported Israeli bombing of Iran's consulate in Damascus, Syria, which killed several Iranian officers, including top military commanders.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

• One person has been killed and several injured during an Israeli strike on a school in Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza
• Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in their raid on al-Faria refugee camp south of Tubas, occupied West Bank
• Palestine's bid to secure full UN membership has failed, and efforts for a potential other vote next week may be vetoed by the US at the UN Security Council
• The US said it predicts that Iran's retaliation against Israel for the Damascus consulate strike will not be big enough to drag Washington into war
• USAID chief Samantha Power said it was "credible" to assess that famine had already begun in Gaza. The White House took a softer stance, saying it was "imminent" instead.

Hello MEE readers. On Thursday, the fallout continued over Iran's threat to retaliate against Israel over the air strike that targeted Tehran's embassy compound in Damascus, Syria earlier this month.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called his Turkish, Chinese, and Saudi counterparts about the need to make sure there is no escalation in the Middle East as a result of Israel's war in Gaza. Iran has vowed to retaliate over the strike, which killed three senior Iranian military commanders.

Israel, meanwhile, said that if an Iranian strike takes place on Israeli territory, it will respond "appropriately", signalling that Israel could launch a direct attack on Iran.

Iran's foreign minister also said that the US bore responsibility for the strike, to which Washington has repeatedly said it had no involvement in the attack.

A day after Israel killed the children and grandchildren of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh said that Hamas would continue to pursue negotiations for an end to the war.

"The interests of the Palestinian people are placed ahead of everything," he said.

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

• At least six people were killed in an Israeli bombing of the Firas market in Gaza City.

• The US Central Command conducted another humanitarian aid drop, dropping around 6,000 pounds of food into northern Gaza.

• Zaher Jabarin, a member of Hamas' political bureau, has called on Arab countries to expel Israeli ambassadors from their countries.

• Haniyeh, Hamas' political leader, denied that his sons killed in an Israeli strike this week were fighters for the group.

• The United States has issued a notice to its employees in Israel that they should not travel outside the greater Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Be'er Sheva areas amid Iran's threats to retaliate against Israel.

• Over 250 rights groups and humanitarian organisations have signed their names to a statement urging countries around the world to halt the sale and transfer of arms to Israel.

• Samantha Power, the director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said during a congressional hearing that in parts of northern Gaza, famine is already occurring.

The NGO Anera announced that it is immediately resuming its humanitarian operations in Gaza, more than a week after it put a halt to its services there.

The organisation paused operations after the Israeli air strike that killed seven workers with charity World Central Kitchen, an incident that led to outrage in the US and Europe.

The resumption of services comes after the organisation said it received "specific assurances" from Israeli authorities, Anera said without elaborating.

"We are cautiously hopeful that the assurances we have received will match the demands for the full safety and security of aid workers in Gaza. We will remain vigilant for any indications that that safety is compromised," Anera said in a statement.

The US Central Command (Centcom) announced that it conducted another humanitarian aid drop into Gaza on Thursday.

Centcom said it dropped around 6,000 pounds of food into northern Gaza, and added that it is contributing to "efforts to alleviate human suffering".

On Wednesday, the director for USAID Samantha Power said that famine was occurring in parts of northern Gaza.

Ghassan Abu Sittah, the Palestinian doctor who operated out of Gaza during the first few months of Israel's war, gave an address to the University of Glasgow after he was officially installed as the school's rector.

Abu Sittah dedicated the honour to his colleagues in Gaza who were killed by Israeli forces while working as doctors in hospitals across Gaza.

"Our revenge will be the laughter of our children," he said during his address.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken to the foreign ministers of Turkey, China and Saudi Arabia in phone calls where the top US diplomat said an escalation in the Middle East is not in anyone's interest.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters that Washington continues to be concerned about the risk of escalation in the region, specifically after threats made by Iran toward Israel in response to an air strike that targeted the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus.

Reporting by Reuters

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would be required to respond directly to any attack by Iran.
“A direct Iranian attack will require an appropriate Israeli response against Iran," Gallant told his US counterpart Lloyd Austin, according to remarks issued by his office.

On 1 April, an air strike targeted the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing three senior Iranian military commanders. Iran blames Israel for the strike and said it would retaliate against the strike.

Israel told reporters that it did not comment on "foreign press" but four unnamed Israeli officials acknowledged that Israel carried out the attack in Damascus, according to a New York Times report.

Over 250 rights groups and humanitarian organisations have signed their names to a statement urging countries around the world to halt the sale and transfer of arms to Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

The statement says "Israel continues to use explosive weapons and munitions in densely populated areas with massive humanitarian consequences for the people of Gaza".

"World leaders have urged the Israeli government to reduce civilian casualties, yet Israeli military operations in Gaza continue to kill people at unprecedented levels," the statement said.

The groups, including Oxfam, Center for Civilians in Conflict, Save the Children, and Amnesty International, also called on countries to stop arming Palestinian armed groups.

The White House said that it conveyed a message to Iran that Washington was not involved in the air strike that targeted the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

That attack killed three top Iranian military officials.

"We communicated to Iran that the US had no involvement in the strike that happened in Damascus and we have warned Iran not to use this attack as a pretext to escalate further in the region or to attack US facilities or personnel," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

Iran vowed a response to the attack and also said that the US bore responsibility for the strike, which Tehran blamed on Israel.

Palestinian media reports are saying that Israeli forces have bombed several parts of northern Gaza.

The reports say that some of the bombings occurred in the Zaytoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, while a mosque in central Gaza City was also targeted.

Israeli forces also bombed a vacated residence in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. Earlier, Al Jazeera reported that six people were killed after Israeli forces bombed the Firas market in Gaza City.

Zaher Jabarin, a member of Hamas's political bureau, has called on Arab countries to expel Israeli ambassadors from their countries.

Jabarin made a pointed criticism of Arab countries which have normalised relations with Israel, without naming any specific countries.

"We call on the Arab countries to expel the occupation ambassadors from their capitals," Jabarin said, using the word occupation to describe Israel.

The countries of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco normalised relations with Israel in 2020 under a Donald Trump administration-brokered agreement, breaking a longstanding policy in the Arab world of not establishing relations with Israel without major concessions for Palestinians.

Major pro-Palestinian protests, however, have been taking place in Jordan and Egypt, two Arab countries that border Israel and have long-established relations with the country.

In Jordan, protesters have for weeks been demonstrating in the capital Amman, and protesting outside the Israeli embassy in Amman.