Live: Hamas agrees to release 10 Israeli captives

Two people have been killed and others injured in an Israeli shelling targeting a house in the Al-Karama neighborhood, northwest of Gaza City, Wafa news agency is reporting.

According to the report, several children were wounded, some critically, in the attack which struck an area near Al-Khalidi Mosque in Gaza City.

The report added that Israeli war planes also targeted a residential home in central Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teenager in the town of al-Yamoun, west of Jenin, Wafa news agency reported on Wednesday, citing local sources.

According to the sources, 15-year-old Rayan Tamer Hoshiyah was shot by Israeli soldiers during a military raid on the town. He was subsequently transferred to the al-Yamoun Medical Centre, where he was pronounced dead.

Israeli forces stormed the town earlier on Wednesday, firing live ammunition at residents.

Wafa said that Hoshiyah's death brought the toll of Palestinians killed in the Jenin governorate since 21 January, the beginning of the Israeli military incursion on Jenin city and its refugee camp, to 39.

62 percent of Israeli want their government to strike a deal with Hamas to secure the release of captives held in Gaza and an end to war in the enclave, according to a poll by Walla, an online media company owned by the Jerusalem Post.

However, 52 percent of those polled were opposed to the ceasefire deal with Iran.

The Israeli military said its air force intercepted a drone it claimed was fired from Yemen, adding that it did not cross Israeli territory and no alerts were issued.

At least 74 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the last 24 hours, with another 391 injured, Gaza's health ministry is reporting.

It added that emergency teams also recovered the bodies of five people killed in earlier strikes.

The latest casualties have pushed the overall toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza to 56,156 killed, with another 132,239 injured since October 2023.

Israeli forces raided a market in the centre of Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, Wafa news agency is reporting, citing local sources.

According to the sources, during the incursion, troops raided a shop and fired tear gas canisters near the city's Grand Mosque. Israeli military vehicles also stormed the city's industrial area and raided a residential home on al-Nasra street.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas applauded US President Donald Trump for his efforts to secure a truce between Israel and Iran, and offered to work with him on another agreement that will bring lasting peace and stability to Palestinians, according to the Wafa news agency.

In a letter, Abbas said he is ready to collaborate with the US and other Arab and international countries to negotiate a comprehensive peace deal that ends the Israeli occupation.

“We hope and trust in your ability to make a new history for our region that will restore to the region the peace lost for generations,” Wafa quoted the letter as saying.

"We are filled with hope and confidence in your ability to create a new history for our region, restoring the peace that has been lost for generations."

The largest body representing British Jews has suspended five of its elected representatives for two years after they criticised Israel's conduct in Gaza.

In April 36 members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews signed a letter published in the Financial Times in which they strongly condemned Israel’s assault on the Palestinian enclave and its withholding of food and aid, which has left hundreds of thousands on the brink of starvation.

“The inclination to avert our eyes is strong, as what is happening is unbearable, but our Jewish values compel us to stand up and to speak out,” they wrote.

The letter asserted that "Israel's soul is being ripped out" by the war on Gaza.

"We stand against the war … it is our duty, as Jews, to speak out."

Read more: Largest British Jewish body suspends members for criticising Israel

A senior Hamas official told AFP on Wednesday that talks for a Gaza ceasefire between Israel and the group "intensified in recent hours" with mediator countries.

"Our communications with the brother mediators in Egypt and Qatar have not stopped and have intensified in recent hours," Taher al-Nunu said, adding that the group had "not yet received any new proposals" to bring an end to the war now in its 21st month.

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he believed that "great progress" was being made to bring an end to Israel's war on Gaza.

"I think great progress is being made on Gaza, I think because of this attack that we made," said Trump, suggesting the US strikes on Iran could have a positive impact on the Middle East.

Australia's public broadcaster ABC unlawfully dismissed a radio journalist over a social media post related to the Israel-Gaza conflict, a court found Wednesday.

ABC apologised after being ordered to pay Antoinette Lattouf 70,000 Australian dollars (US$45,000) in compensation, with a further financial penalty yet to be decided.

The broadcaster broke employment law by terminating her "for reasons including that she held political opinions opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza", Federal Court Justice Darryl Rangiah said in his ruling.

Lattouf took legal action after being dismissed in December 2023, three days into a five-day casual contract with the ABC.

She had re-posted to Instagram a Human Rights Watch video report on the Gaza conflict with the comment: "HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war".

ABC senior management's consternation over the post turned into a "state of panic", the judge said, and a decision was made to take her off the air "within the hour".

At least 30 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip since dawn on Monday, according to medical sources cited by the Palestinian Information Center.

Among the dead were 10 people who were waiting for humanitarian aid, the report said.

An elderly woman was shot dead by Israeli forces at dawn on Wednesday during a raid on the Shuafat refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, according to the Wafa news agency.

The Jerusalem Governorate said that Zahia Joudeh al-Obeidi, 66, died from a gunshot wound to the head sustained during the raid.

The governorate added that Israeli intelligence had summoned al-Obeidi's husband for questioning.

Nine Palestinians were killed and several others injured while waiting for aid near the Netzarim junction in central Gaza, according to medical sources at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospitals, as reported by Al Jazeera Arabic.

The incident is the latest in a series of deadly attacks near aid distribution sites set up late last month by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a mechanism backed by Israel and the United States. The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has previously described the initiative as a “death trap”.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest developments from Israel's war on Gaza:

• Israel's army on Wednesday said seven of its soldiers were killed in Gaza, naming six of them on the army's website.

• An Israeli attack on a gas station killed three people in the Shuja'iyya neighbourhood, east of Gaza City, Al Jazeera Arabic reported, citing a medical source at the Baptist Hospital.

• At least 22 people were killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn today, including six aid seekers, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

• The UN’s humanitarian agency said a total of 18,741 children in Gaza have been admitted for the treatment of acute malnutrition since the beginning of this year.