Gaza live: Israel continues bombing central Gaza

An off-duty Israeli reservist was wounded Sunday morning after he removed a Palestinian flag from the side of the road, which then exploded, according to Israeli media.  

The incident, which took place near an Israeli settlement northeast of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, was captured on video. 

The man was lightly wounded, Israeli media reported. 

Israeli forces have killed at least 48 Palestinians and wounded 79 more over the past 24 hours in four "massacres", according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

This brings the Palestinian death toll in over six months to more than 34,097, with at least 76,980 wounded and an estimated 7,000 missing and presumed dead.

More than 70 percent of the victims are children and women, according to health officials.

Palestinian civil defence teams continue to recover bodies of Palestinians believed to have been buried by Israeli forces in mass graves in the courtyard of Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. 

The Gaza government media office says two mass graves have been discovered so far. 

At least 170 bodies have been recovered, with the number of bodies found reaching nearly 400, according to civil defence workers. 

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

It's just after 11:30am (8:30am GMT) in Palestine and Israel. Here are the latest developments on day 198 of Israel's war on Gaza: 

• Nine Palestinian children were among 16 killed in yet another wave of early Sunday morning Israeli air strikes on homes in Rafah. 

• Civil defence teams discovered a mass grave with 50 bodies buried in the courtyards of Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, which was raided and attacked by Israeli forces in February. 

• In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces withdrew from Nur Shams refugee camp later on Saturday after a 50-hour-long assault, leaving 14 people killed and mass destruction to residential homes.

• On Sunday morning, two Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces near Hebron after they allegedly attempted to attack soldiers. 

• Israeli officials have slammed the US after it was reported that the Biden administration was slated to announce sanctions against an Israeli army battalion accused of human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank. 

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the move the "height of absurdity and a moral low" while war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said it was "a dangerous precedent". 

Good evening, Middle East Eye readers.

Our live coverage of Israel's assault on Gaza will shortly be closing for the evening

Israeli forces have killed at least 37 Palestinians and wounded 68 more over the past 24 hours in four "massacres", according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

This brings the Palestinian death toll in over six months to more than 34,049, with over 76,901 wounded and an estimated 7,000 missing and presumed dead. More than 70 percent of the victims are children and women, according to health officials.

In other developments:

• Five Palestinians, including a child, were killed and at least 11 others injured, amid the ongoing Israeli raid on the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
• Israeli forces have detained 30 Palestinians in two days of raids across the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoners Society has said. According to the group, half of the detainees were arrested at the Nur Shams camp.
• Israeli fighter jets bombed and destroyed the Gaza Strip's largest pharmaceutical factory on Saturday, according to the Deir al-Balah municipality.
• A volunteer paramedic for the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has been missing for 120 days since he was detained by Israeli forces, the society said.
• Three Hezbollah fighters were killed on Saturday in an Israeli strike on a house in southern Lebanon, according to a source close to the Iran-backed group. 
• The Palestinian Authority is reconsidering its ties with the US following an American veto of a Palestinian request for full United Nations membership, President Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview with Wafa news agency. He said the veto "constitutes a blatant aggression against the rights, history, land, and sanctities of the Palestinian people, challenging the will of the international community".
• A bipartisan majority of the US House of Representatives voted in favour of a bill allocating additional funds to Israel on Saturday, part of a package of bills worth $95bn in total that would send aid to key allies around the world.
• Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday met with Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was on his first official visit to Istanbul since the Israeli war on Gaza started in October.
• Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, discussed the "grave situation" in Gaza and how to step up humanitarian aid deliveries to the besieged enclave in a meeting on Saturday in Istanbul.
• China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, said that admitting Palestine into the UN would "rectify a prolonged historical injustice".
• Thousands of Israeli demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday in the latest round of protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Palestinian presidency said on Saturday that the US House of Representatives' approval of billions of dollars in new military aid to Israel marked "an aggression against the Palestinian people".

The money would "translate into thousands of Palestinian casualties in the Gaza Strip" and the West Bank, said Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, calling it a "dangerous escalation".

Israel will summon ambassadors of countries that voted for full Palestinian UN membership "for a protest talk" on Sunday, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

"The foreign ministry will summon for a protest talk the ambassadors of the countries that voted in the Security Council in favour of upgrading the status of the Palestinians in the UN," spokesman Oren Marmorstein said in a post on X on Saturday. 

Israeli forces have killed 13 Palestinians since beginning a raid on Tulkarm city and Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank on Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday.

Thousands of Israeli demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday to call for new elections and demand more action from the government to bring the hostages held in Gaza home, in the latest round of protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The protests have continued as the war in Gaza moves through its seventh month and amid growing anger over the government's approach to the 133 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas.

"We're here to protest against this government that keeps dragging us down, month after month; before 7 October, after 7 October. We kept going down in a spiral," said Yalon Pikman, 58, who attended a march in Tel Aviv.

Surveys show that most Israelis blame Netanyahu for the security failures that led to the devastating attack by Hamas fighters on communities in southern Israel on 7 October.

Israel's longest-serving prime minister has repeatedly ruled out early elections, which opinion polls suggest he would lose, saying that to go to the polls in the middle of a war would only reward Hamas.

Israel's foreign minister said on Saturday that the US House of Representatives' approval of billions of dollars in new military aid "sends a strong message to our enemies".

"The vote on the Israel aid package with an overwhelming bipartisan support proves the strong ties and strategic partnership between Israel and the US, and sends a strong message to our enemies," Israel Katz posted on X (formerly Twitter).

"I hope it passes the Senate soon with strong bipartisan support."

A bipartisan majority of the US House of Representatives voted in favour of a bill allocating additional funds to Israel on Saturday, part of a package of bills worth $95bn in total that would send aid to key allies around the world.

The legislation will now proceed to the Democratic-majority Senate, which passed a similar measure more than two months ago.

US leaders from Democratic President Joe Biden to top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell have been urging embattled Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring it up for a vote.

The Senate is expected to pass the measure next week, sending it to Biden to sign into law.

Three Hezbollah fighters were killed on Saturday in an Israeli strike on a house in southern Lebanon, a source close to the Iran-backed group told AFP. 

"Three Hezbollah fighters were killed and two others seriously wounded in an Israeli air strike on a house in the area of al-Jebbayn," the source, who asked to remain anonymous, said. 

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported earlier on Saturday that "enemy aircraft carried out a strike targeting a house in al-Jebbayn, and rescue teams were headed to the area".

Hezbollah said it had fired on several Israeli targets, including soldiers and spy equipment.

Anti-government protests are set to take place across Israel, including in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva, Caesarea and Haifa on Saturday night, according to Israeli media.

Thousands of Israelis have been protesting over the past few weeks calling for elections and demanding the government secure a ceasefire deal that would free Israeli captives held by Hamas.

Dr Ahmed Abdel Aziz temporarily closed his clinic in Egypt's Cairo to volunteer in the Gaza Strip.

The 74-year-old orthopaedic surgeon arrived in the war-torn Palestinian territory with a team of doctors from Egypt, Jordan, Germany and France working with the Rahma Worldwide relief group. 

But nothing could prepare him for what he has seen so far. 

"When I arrived, I didn't see any sign of life in Gaza," Abdel Aziz said. "It's impossible to describe the situation. You can't imagine it unless you see it."

Speaking to Middle East Eye from Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, the surgeon said he witnessed flattened homes as far as the eye could see. 

In hospitals, the scale and type of injuries he witnessed were "indescribable". 

One of the cases that moved him the most was a wounded girl who was the lone survivor of her family. 
 
"One of her arms was amputated, a leg broken and almost her entire body burned," Abdel Aziz said. "She was constantly asking where her father, mother and siblings were." 

Her case was not unique, Abdel Aziz said. 

"The number of wounded orphans is beyond imagination. They will need a massive effort by NGOs to help them recover and rehabilitate." 

Despite the dire conditions in hospitals, one thing stood out: the dedication of the local medical teams. 

"They are doing incredible work. They address the injuries they see with great dedication, professionalism and skill. 

"They work around the clock, and at the end of the day, many of them go sleep in tents with their family because their homes have been bombed."

But while their efforts are commendable, he said, the limited resources at their disposal make it imperative for outside help to arrive urgently. 

"I urge everyone to pay attention to the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza," he said. "The world needs to wake up, end the war and come to help." 

Reporting by Mohammed al-Hajjar in Gaza City 

The Palestine Red Crescent Society posted video footage of Israeli forces obstructing an ambulance carrying casualties from Israeli raids on the Nablus town of Beit Furik.

Towns across the occupied West Bank have been raided by Israeli forces on Saturday, as a two-day Israeli assault on Nur-Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm caused unprecedented damage to the camp, killing two Palestinians, including a 15-year-old, and injuring 11 others.