Live: Hamas agrees to release 10 Israeli captives

A US judge on Friday ordered that pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil be released from custody.

Khalil was arrested by immigration agents in his Columbia University residence in Manhattan on 8 March for his pro-Palestinian advocacy against Israel’s war in Gaza during encampments that swept across the US last year. 

When the student protests began at Columbia University following the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel and the subsequent war on Gaza, Khalil functioned as an intermediary between students and university administrators over the student movement's demands for university divestment from weapons companies profiting from Israel's war on Gaza.

Khalil did not participate in the encampments himself, opting instead to negotiate with administrators and offer guidance to the students.

President Donald Trump has called the protests antisemitic and promised to deport foreign students who took part in them.

The Palestinian Action group, a pro-Palestinian protest group, could be banned in the UK and be defined as a "terrorist" organisation, according to the BBC.

The move comes shortly after the group said on Friday that two of its members broke into a UK RAF air base on scooters, and defaced two military aircraft with red spray paint, in a breach of security in a location used to park transport planes of the king and the prime minister.

The individuals fled the RAF’s Brize Norton air base in Oxfordshire without being arrested.

According to the BBC, the UK home secretary, Yvette Cooper, plans to bring forward a statement to Parliament on Monday. If passed, the group will be illegal in Britain.

Earlier, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer denounced the incident, describing it as "disgraceful and an act of vandalism".

The BBC has announced it has dropped a film about doctors working in Gaza after delaying its broadcast for months.

The documentary, Gaza: Medics Under Fire, was ready to broadcast in February but was pulled because of a scandal that erupted over another BBC documentary on children in Gaza, entitled How to Survive a Warzone.

Britain's public broadcaster said it would broadcast Gaza: Medics Under Fire after the review into the earlier documentary was concluded.

But on Friday, the BBC announced it would not air the film.

"We have come to the conclusion that broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC," the broadcaster said in a statement.

Read more: BBC drops film about Gaza doctors after delaying its broadcast for months

Headlines in recent days have been dominated by Israel's unprecedented attack on Iran, which has killed hundreds of people - including high-ranking commanders, prominent scientists and civilians - since last Friday.

However, even as the bombs rain down across Iran, Israel has continued its attacks on the Gaza Strip.

After 20 months, Gaza has been reduced to rubble, more than 55,700 Palestinians have been killed and the entire population displaced.

Some have raised concerns that the world's attention has been pulled away from the mounting destruction in Gaza by Israel's attack on Iran and the geopolitical fallout.

Middle East Eye takes a look at a week of war in the Gaza Strip.

Read more: Israel's war on Gaza: At least 265 Palestinians killed in less than a week

Over a fire fed by scraps of wood, Bilal Abuassi heats a large metal barrel filled with shredded plastic waste that is eventually converted into fuel.

Amid the ongoing Israeli war and strict blockade, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have improvised a new method to produce fuel used to power transportation and generators.

“We collect plastic materials, including barrels, plates, toys, and household items," Abuassi told Middle East Eye.

"Some of these are gathered from waste and the streets, and sometimes from bombed homes, where we find damaged water barrels and plastic fragments,” he said.

At other times, they buy these materials from residents at very low prices.

Read more: Israeli-besieged Gaza residents turn plastic waste to fuel

Israeli forces continued their ongoing offensive on Tulkarm and Nour Shams camp in the occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency reported.

The Israeli military has demolished over 50 buildings in Tulkarm in the last two weeks, according to Wafa. 

Wafa also reported that Israeli forces stormed surrounding villages at dawn, raiding homes and displacing residents.

Israel killed at least 25 Palestinians trying to receive aid in the Gaza Strip on Friday as hospitals warned shortages of essential supplies were threatining the lives of infants.

At least 42 people were killed across the Palestinian enclave, including those targeted as they sought humanitarian relief in central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp and Rafah in the south. Dozens were wounded, some criticially.  

According to reporters on the scene, the Israeli army directly shot at civilians who gathered at a US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) relief distribution point near the Netzarim corridor, which bisects the enclave.

Eyewitness accounts say that rescue crews were unable to retrieve bodies or save wounded victims due to the heavy shelling in the area. 

Read more: Israel kills 25 Palestinians seeking aid as hospitals warn of infant mortalities

An Israeli air raid targeting a residential building in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City killed a Palestinian man and his son on Friday, according to medical officials. 

The victims were identified as Abdul Majeed al-Sharafi and his son, Basem, WAFA news agency reported. 

Their deaths bring the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip since dawn to at least 48, as Israeli bombardment continues across the besieged territory.

At least five Palestinians were killed and several others wounded on Friday after Israeli forces shelled an area near an aid distribution point northwest of Rafah, according to medical staff at Nasser Medical Complex speaking to Al Jazeera Arabic.

The attack struck as people gathered in search of food in the southern Gaza Strip, where hunger continues to worsen amid ongoing bombardment and aid restrictions by Israel.

Medical sources in Gaza say at least 42 Palestinians have been killed since dawn on Friday in Israeli air strikes, including 25 people who were trying to receive humanitarian aid.

Hospitals across the besieged enclave are struggling to cope as the death toll continues to rise amid ongoing bombardment.

Pro-Palestine activists have damaged two Royal Air Force (RAF) planes after breaking into the largest airbase in Britain early on Friday morning on electric scooters. 

Footage shared by Palestine Action (PA) shows two protesters riding scooters towards the RAF planes on the runway at the Brize Norton airbase, where they used "repurposed fire extinguishers to spray red paint into the turbine engines" and "caused further damage using crowbars".

The activists then evaded security and escaped.

The group announced on its website on Friday that the airbase was targeted because flights leave daily from there "for RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, a base used for military operations in Gaza and across the Middle East".

"Red paint, symbolising Palestinian bloodshed, was also sprayed across the runway and a Palestine flag was left on the scene," Palestine Action said.

Read more: Pro-Palestine activists on electric scooters damage RAF planes and evade capture at UK air base

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has condemend a break-in at RAF Brize Norton, where pro-Palestinian activists reportedly vandalised two military aircraft.

In a post on X, Starmer called the incident “disgraceful,” saying: “The act of vandalism committed at RAF Brize Norton is disgraceful. Our Armed Forces represent the very best of Britain and put their lives on the line for us every day. It is our responsibility to support those who defend us.”

The airbase, located in central England, serves as a key hub for UK military operations.

Israeli forces once again closed all gates leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday, preventing worshippers from attending prayers for the second consecutive week, according to the Jerusalem Governorate.

Israeli security forces stationed themselves at every entrance to the mosque, including Bab al-Hatta and Bab al-Silsila, allowing only a limited number of people to pass under what they claimed was a quota-based entry policy.

Worshippers were also stopped at Bab al-Sahira, with their access to the Old City and Al-Aqsa blocked ahead of Friday prayers.

Since 13 June, Israel has imposed sweeping restrictions on Al-Aqsa, including a full closure for six consecutive days. On Thursday, only 450 people were permitted to enter for noon prayers before Bab al-Hatta was shut again. Waqf staff were granted access under heavy surveillance, while Bab al-Maghariba was opened to allow settlers to enter the mosque compound.

The Jerusalem Governorate condemned what it described as “unprecedented encroachment” on religious freedoms and warned the policy aims to alter the historical and legal status quo of the site.

Gaza is on the brink of a man-made drought, with its water systems collapsing under the strain of war, the UN children’s agency warned on Friday.

“Children will begin to die of thirst,” said UNICEF spokesperson James Elder, speaking to journalists in Geneva.

He noted that only 40 percent of Gaza’s drinking water production facilities are still operational, underscoring the severity of the humanitarian crisis.

Hamas has reiterated that the plight of Palestinian refugees cannot be resolved without a complete end to Israeli occupation and the right of return to their original homes.

“There is no solution to the Palestinian refugee issue except by ending the occupation and allowing them to return to the homes from which they were displaced,” the group said in a statement marking World Refugee Day.

The movement also condemned Israel’s ongoing military operations in West Bank refugee camps, calling them a “dangerous attempt to target the refugee issue through systematic destruction and displacement”.

Hamas further rejected what it described as Zionist efforts, backed by the United States, to “eliminate Unrwa’s role” in supporting Palestinian refugees