Live: Israeli soldiers kill unarmed Palestinians as they surrender in Jenin

Gaza's health ministry confirmed in a statement on Telegram that Israel returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians on Friday via the International Committee of the Red Cross.

This brings the total number of returned bodies to 330, although the ministry noted that only 97 bodies have been identified so far, as many of them were so mutilated that their families could not recognise them.

A chartered flight carrying over 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa was facilitated by a controversial agency in close collaboration with the Israeli military, Al Jazeera is reporting. The evacuees arrived in Johannesburg on Thursday without proper documentation or coordination.

An Israeli military official told AP that an organisation called Al-Majd arranged for their transit. According to Al Jazeera, the organisation posted an advert promising safe passage to Palestinians out of Gaza.

The evacuees reportedly crossed the "Yellow Line" surrounding Gaza with the cooperation of the Israeli authorities. A  bus then transferred them to the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing and then to Ramon airport in southern Israel.

Despite initially denying them entry, South Africa granted a 90-day visa exemption for the evacuees.

The Palestinian foreign ministry commended the decision but warned that companies inciting Palestinians to relocate "will bear the legal consequences of their unlawful practices and will be subject to prosecution and accountability”.

It further stressed that human trafficking constitutes “a crime under international and national law that will not be tolerated”.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

• A plane carrying 153 Palestinians has arrived in South Africa via a controversial transit scheme. An Israeli official told AP that an organisation called Al-Majd arranged the journey. Activists say the scheme was closely coordinated with Israeli authorities as a way to encourage the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.

• Meanwhile, Gaza's civil defence teams are scrambling to assist displaced Palestinians whose tents have been flooded in makeshift camps in Gaza City and Khan Younis.

• Wafa news agency is reporting that Israeli forces conducted three attacks across Gaza: in Gaza City's Shujaiya neighbourhood and northern Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp, while in the south of the enclave, Israeli naval vessels also fired towards the coast of Rafah.

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

- Heavy rain flooded thousands of tents belonging to the displaced in Gaza on Friday. Citing devastation and "pools of mud," Hamas urged the ceasefire guarantors to push Israel to meet its aid commitments to Palestinians in the enclave. 

- The Israeli army said it had killed a Palestinian man after he crossed the so-called “Yellow Line” in southern Gaza - an area that Israel designates as under its control - and moved towards Israeli soldiers.

- Israel has transferred the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza, officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said, a day after the remains of Israeli captive Meny Godard were returned.

- The New York Times reported that Steve Witkoff, who is US President Donald Trump's peace envoy, is intending to meet directly with Hamas chief Khalil el-Hayya "soon" to discuss the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire. 

- Indonesia's defence minister has announced that its military has trained 20,000 troops for healthcare and construction efforts in Gaza. 

- Saudi Arabia condemned a series of attacks by Israelis on Palestinian holy sites, warning that silence from the international community is undermining the international order itself. 

As Israeli forces step up their raids across the occupied West Bank, Palestinian fighters in the Askar Camp on Friday targeted the soldiers with explosive devices, local media reported.

The Askar Camp is located east of Nablus. 

Israeli forces arrested one Palestinian man. There are no known casualties. 

A survey conducted by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) last month found that a wall built by the Israeli military crosses the Blue Line, the de facto border, a UN spokesperson said on Friday.

The Blue Line is a UN-mapped line separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN secretary general, said the concrete T-wall erected by the Israeli army has made more than 4,000 square meters (nearly an acre) of Lebanese territory inaccessible to the local population.

A section of an additional wall, which has also crossed the Blue Line, is being erected southeast of Yaroun, he said, citing the peacekeepers.

Dujarric said Unifil informed the Israeli military of its findings and requested that the wall be removed.

- Reporting by Reuters

Hamas on Friday called on the guarantors of the ceasefire deal to push Israel to meet its aid obligations after heavy rainfall turned parts of the enclave into "pools of mud", the group said.

Thousands of tents sheltering displaced Palestinian families have been destroyed. 

"The dire situation of the displaced underscores the urgent and immediate need for relief and shelter amid the occupier's continued delays in allowing aid, tents, and caravans to enter," Hamas said in a statement.

"We call upon the guarantors of the agreement, just as we call upon the United Nations, the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to take urgent action to deliver supplies to Gaza".

The New York Times reported on Friday that Steve Witkoff, who is US President Donald Trump's peace envoy, is intending to meet directly with Hamas chief Khalil el-Hayya "soon" to discuss the implementation of the Gaza ceasefire. 

No date or location was disclosed. 

Witkoff told the programme 60 Minutes on CBS that he and Hayya had found common personal ground during the early October negotiations because they were both fathers who had lost their sons.

Witkoff's son died of an opioid overdose in 2011.

Hayya's son was killed by an unprecedented Israeli air strike on the Qatari capital Doha, which Hayya himself survived. 

Saudi Arabia on Friday condemned a series of attacks by Israelis on Palestinian holy sites, warning that silence from the international community is undermining the international order itself. 

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s strong condemnation and denunciation of the continued violations perpetrated by the Israeli occupation authorities and extremist settlers against the Palestinian people, most recently the storming of the courtyards of al-Aqsa Mosque and the provocation of worshippers there, and the reprehensible attack on the Hajja Hamida Mosque in the Palestinian village of Kafr Haris," the statement said.

"The Kingdom affirms that the continuation of these attacks without deterrence undermines international and regional efforts to achieve peace and leads to an escalation of tension and the perpetuation of the conflict," the statement warned.

"International silence regarding these practices and the failure to activate accountability mechanisms in light of the continued Israeli attacks and violations weakens the foundations of the international order, and undermines the principles of international law". 

A Palestinian father has accused the British government of putting his family in Gaza "in constant danger" after it failed to evacuate them, despite promising to do so more than two months ago. 

Lawyers representing the Palestinian man, who is in the UK and wishes to remain anonymous to protect his family, said his wife, three children and adopted nephew remain stranded in the Zawida area of Gaza after being displaced by Israeli bombardment. 

The family lives in a flimsy tent with little access to food, clean water or medical care as they continue to wait for the British government to evacuate them. 

Read more: UK government faces legal challenge over broken promise to rescue family from Gaza

Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib on Friday introduced House Resolution 876 – Recognizing the Genocide of the Palestinian People in Gaza, according to a press release issued by the legislator. 

The resolution, cosponsored by 20 other Congressional representatives and endorsed by over 100 organisations, calls for a recognition of Israel’s crime of genocide, and urges the US government to act in accordance with the Genocide Convention to “prevent and punish” this crime. 

The resolution also calls for “the cessation of relevant arms and equipment transfers” to the Israeli government, as well as the “investigation and prosecution of individuals and corporations in the United States implicated in the crime of genocide”.

The election of a new president for a committee representing Palestinians in Israel has sparked debate about the need for reform amid a shifting political landscape.

On Saturday, voters from the two-million-strong Palestinian population within Israel will choose the next president of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel.

Formed in the early 1980s, the committee has long served as an umbrella body representing Palestinian citizens of Israel and advocating for their political and civil rights.

However, calls for reform have grown in recent years. 

Read more: Election for body representing Palestinian citizens of Israel sparks reform calls

Israeli forces stormed the town of Sarda, north of Ramallah, on Friday, Wafa news agency reported.

The military also raided a store selling food and farming supplies, according to the report. 

Earlier in the day, Wafa reported that Israeli forces raided a house near a town in Jenin, detaining several young men inside.

Twenty-five countries supplied Israel with crude oil and refined petroleum throughout its two-year genocide in Gaza, a new report has revealed.

An updated report by Oil Change International tracked a total of 323 shipments from 25 countries carrying nearly 21.2 million tonnes of crude oil and refined products to Israel between November 1 2023 and 1 October 2025.

Of those shipments, 171 carried 17.9 million tonnes of crude, with 70 percent of it from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

Read more: Twenty-five states funnelled oil to Israel during genocide: Report

Indonesia's defence minister has announced that its military has trained 20,000 troops for healthcare and construction efforts in Gaza, Reuters reported on Friday. 

According to the report, a timeline or mandate for the troops' deployment has not yet been established.