Gaza live: Israel continues bombing central Gaza

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that representatives from the rival Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, met in Beijing for "in-depth and candid talks on promoting intra-Palestinian reconciliation".

"Representatives of the Palestine National Liberation Movement and the Islamic Resistance Movement recently came to Beijing," he said, referring to Fatah and Hamas by their formal names and adding that they made "positive progress".

Gaza's health ministry said that 47 people were killed in the past 24 hours and 61 were injured, bringing the total to 34,535 Palestinians killed since the start of the war and 77,704 injured.

Over 50 tenured professors from top universities signed a letter calling on the New York Times to address questions about a major investigation that described a "pattern of gender-based violence" during the Hamas-led 7 October attack on Israel.

The professors, coming from universities such as the New York University, University of Pennsylvania, Emory and the University of Texas, amongst others, said they felt the need to raise this issue after seeing "compelling reports" challenging the integrity of the story.

The reports include the relatives of a woman killed in the attack, whose story was central to the investigation, casting doubts on reporting suggesting that she was raped. Other critics pointed out discrepancies in various accounts by an eyewitness cited in the story.

The Times themselves reported in March that new video evidence "undercut" some details in their story, but did not issue a correction or a retraction. The journalism professors called this an "unusual decision".

The professors ask the Times to "immediately commission a group of journalism experts to conduct a thorough and full independent review of the reporting, editing and publishing processes for this story and release a report of the findings".

Israeli army radio said that the plan to attack Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering, will be launched "in the coming days" if there is no ceasefire deal with Hamas.

Hamas are believed to be preparing their written response to a reported Israeli offer for a 40-day ceasefire.

The group's senior spokesman, Osama Hamdan, told Al Jazeera that is was clear Israel did not want a "complete ceasefire", which is one of Hamas's key demands.

Palestine's Wafa news agency reports that a Palestinian man, Hassan Rebhi Mansiya, was pursued, arrested and killed by Israeli forces in ad-Dhahiriya, 22km south-west of Hebron, occupied West Bank.

Mansiya was reportedly on his way to work when Israeli troops started pursuing him.

Columbia University students have taken over the university's Hamilton Hall building after the administration refused to divest from Israel and started reportedly suspending more students.

The building was previously occupied by student protesters in 1968 protesting the Vietnam War along with other causes.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

• An Israeli air strike on a family home in Rafah killed three people, while another one on Gaza City killed two
• Israeli forces are threatening to destroy the homes of wanted Palestinians in the Askar refugee camp, near Nablus in the West Bank
• US officials are reportedly threatening the International Criminal Court (ICC) should it take action against Israeli officials, with one one Republican lawmaker saying they are already working on a legislation to sanction the ICC
• ICC prosecutors reportedly interviewed al-Shifa and Nasser hospital staff about possible crimes committed in the Gaza Strip
• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is expected to deliver its order on the request for provisional measures submitted by Nicaragua against Germany over the latter's support for Israel today
• Columbia University started suspending pro-Palestine student protesters who did not leave the encampment by the given deadline

Good evening Middle East Eye readers,

Gaza's health ministry said that 34 people were killed in Israeli attacks on the enclave in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 34,488 since 7 October.

An additional 77,643 have been wounded since the start of the war.

Israel's overnight air strikes on Rafah killed 20 people, including five children, according to Al Jazeera's correspondent.

In other developments:

• Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said that bilateral agreements between his country and the US were "very, very close". 
• UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that the latest Israeli proposal for a truce deal in Gaza included a 40-day pause in hostilities and the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of Israeli captives.
• Columbia University has failed to reach an agreement with students organising the pro-Palestine encampment, the president has said.
• The Pentagon said that the construction of a temporary pier by the US military to enhance aid deliveries to Gaza with cost a minimum of $320m for Washington.
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Monday, a US official said.
• The US State Department said that it found five units of the Israeli military responsible for significant human rights violations in incidents occurring outside of Gaza before the war on Gaza began on 7 October.

Yemen's Houthis said they targeted two US destroyers in the Red Sea, along with the vessel Cyclades and the MSC Orion in the Indian Ocean, their military spokesman Yahya Sarea announced in a televised speech early on Tuesday.

For months, Houthi forces have conducted attacks on shipping lanes, in what they say is in support of Palestinians in the war in Gaza.

Late Monday, a Hamas delegation left Cairo, reported Egypt's state-affiliated Al Qahera TV, and they are expected to return with a written response to a Gaza ceasefire proposal.

The US State Department said that it found five units of the Israeli military responsible for significant human rights violations in incidents occurring outside of Gaza before the war on Gaza began on 7 October.

State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters that four of the units have successfully addressed the violations, whereas Israel has provided supplementary information concerning the fifth unit.

The US says it is presently engaged in ongoing discussions with the Israeli government regarding this matter.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Monday, a US official said.

Blinken is currently in Saudi Arabia as part of an extensive Middle East tour focused on engaging with Arab allies regarding post-war Gaza issues.

Additionally, he aims to urge Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to implement measures demanded by US President Joe Biden earlier this month to enhance the humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

The Pentagon announced on Monday that the construction of a temporary pier by the US military to enhance aid deliveries to Gaza will cost a minimum of $320m for Washington.

"That's about our rough estimate right now, approximately $320 million," deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists, adding: "That's an initial cost for the temporary pier."

On Thursday, the Pentagon announced that the pier's construction had begun, with expectations for it to become operational in early May.

Following its completion, aid will be transported through commercial vessels to a floating platform off the Gaza coast. From there, the aid will be transferred to smaller vessels, conveyed to the pier, and then transported to land by truck for distribution.

It took Naifa Rizq al-Sawada’s family an agonising two weeks to discover what had happened to their beloved grandmother following a raid by the Israeli army on her home. 

The 92-year-old Palestinian woman, who suffered from Alzheimer's, was found as a pile of charred bones on her granddaughter's burned bed, according to her daughter. 

Naifa had been separated from her family by Israeli soldiers during their assault on al-Shifa Medical Complex and its vicinity in mid-March in western Gaza City. 

After raiding the multi-floor residential building belonging to Sawada and her married children, troops separated men and women, who were forced to head south. For two weeks, the family did not know Sawada’s fate.

Naifa's daughter Maha al-Nawati told MEE that as soon as the Israelis withdrew, her brother, sister and their children rushed to the building to find any traces of Sawada. 

"[My brother and sister] entered my niece’s bedroom; her bed was charred, and the remains of mum's bones were there," Nawati said. 

Read more: Remains of Palestinian grandmother found after Israeli raid

Police forcefully cleared dozens of protesters camped out in Sorbonne University in Paris on Monday to protest against Israel's war on Gaza, a student there told Reuters.

It came three days after protests at Sciences Po university in the French capital. 

"We have every reason, like in Yale, in Columbia, in Sciences Po ... to condemn what we can see is happening," the student said outside the gates of the Sorbonne.

The university closed its buildings for the day during the peaceful protests.