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

Israeli forces have unleashed intense artillery and air strikes on eastern Khan Younis since the early hours of the morning, according to Al Jazeera reporters on the ground.

The occupation army carried out at least four large-scale demolition operations east of Khan Younis, with further destruction reported on the outskirts of Gaza City, part of Israel’s ongoing campaign to obliterate what remains of Gaza’s infrastructure and civilian life.

Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper has reported that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has built or approved around 48,000 settlement housing units since taking office, a figure expected to rise to 50,000.

The figures expose the regime’s relentless expansion of illegal settlements across the occupied West Bank, deepening the theft of Palestinian land in defiance of international law and repeated global condemnation.

A Palestinian man has died from injuries he sustained in an earlier Israeli air strike that hit a tent sheltering displaced families in Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

The victim had been critically wounded in the strike, which targeted one of the few areas Israel had previously labelled a “safe zone”.

A 15-year-old Palestinian boy has died after Israeli soldiers shot him and blocked medics from reaching him in the occupied West Bank town of Silwad, east of Ramallah.

Witnesses told the Palestinian news agency Wafa that the child, Yamin Samed Hamed, was left bleeding on the ground for a long time as Israeli forces refused to let ambulances approach.

He was eventually taken to a government hospital in Ramallah but succumbed to his injuries soon after.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates from Israel's war on Gaza, now in its 755th day:

• The Palestinian group Hamas has returned the bodies of two Israeli captives, saying they died in detention. The handover comes just a day after Israel shattered the fragile truce with a new wave of deadly air raids across the besieged Gaza Strip.

• Israeli forces carried out fresh attacks on four locations in southern Lebanon, wounding several people, according to Lebanese media. The newspaper Al Akhbar reported that an Israeli tank briefly crossed into Lebanese territory near the town of Aitaroun.

• Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has ordered troops to be deployed along the southern border to “defend Lebanese sovereignty” from ongoing Israeli incursions, Al Mayadeen reported.

• In the occupied West Bank, two American Jewish women are facing deportation from Israel after joining an interfaith delegation for the annual olive harvest, which has seen settlers violently attacking Palestinians under the protection of Israeli forces.

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Germany of turning a blind eye to what he called Israel’s “genocide” and “deliberate starvation” of Palestinians in Gaza. Speaking alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Ankara, Erdogan condemned Berlin’s continued support for Israel despite the mounting civilian death toll.

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

- The Red Cross has handed over the bodies of two Israeli captives to the Israeli army and Shin Bet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has confirmed.

- A Red Cross spokesperson said that Israel must allow access to all Palestinian prisoners in its custody, Al Jazeera reported. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz has officially barred the International Committee of the Red Cross from visiting Palestinians held under Israel’s so-called “unlawful combatants” law, a legal category that does not exist under international law

- The Washington Post on Thursday said it has obtained a classified US government report that points to "many hundreds" of Israeli human rights violations in Gaza, but that the backlog of these incidents is so great that it would take the State Department “multiple years” to review each one.

- A French team of military and civilian personnel has been sent to Israel to help plan Gaza's post-ceasefire phase, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has announced.

- Israeli forces have shot dead a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in the town of Silwad in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, local reports said. The victim has been identified as Yamen Samed Hammad. 

- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised Germany over what he said was its ignorance of Israel's genocide, famine and attacks in Gaza, at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Ankara.

- The Lebanese health ministry said on Thursday that three people have been wounded after Israeli air strikes targeted Shaba'a in southern Lebanon. Just hours prior, a municipal worker was shot to death by Israeli soldiers who stormed a local government building in Blida. 

Israeli forces have shot dead a 14-year-old Palestinian boy on Thursday in the town of Silwad in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, local reports said. 

The victim has been identified as Yamen Samed Hammad. 

US Republican Senator and staunch ally of President Donald Trump, Lindsey Graham, suggested on Thursday that the killing of Lebanese civilians by Israel is necessary collateral in the fight against Hezbollah.

"To my friends in Lebanon, I understand being upset when innocent people are killed or harmed by Israeli military operations designed to suppress Hezbollah, a historical threat to the State of Israel," Graham wrote on X.

"However, I firmly believe that Israel’s military incursions into Lebanon are designed to suppress the reemergence of Hezbollah - a radical, Islamic terrorist organization tied to Iran that has been threatening and attacking Israelis, Americans, and Lebanese for decades," he added.

"If Hezbollah were disarmed, Israel’s military actions would cease. There have been encouraging statements coming from Lebanon about the desire to disarm Hezbollah, turning over all weapons to the Lebanese military. These statements need to be acted upon in a real way. The idea of the Lebanese military joining forces with Hezbollah to combat Israel would put in jeopardy everything that I and many others are trying to do to help Lebanon move forward". 

The Washington Post on Thursday said it has obtained a classified US government report that points to "many hundreds" of Israeli human rights violations in Gaza, but that the backlog of these incidents is so great that it would take the State Department “multiple years” to review each one.

The two unnamed officials who spoke to the Post said it wll be difficult to hold Israel accountable as a result, and that the review process itself is "deferential to the Israel Defense Forces". 

Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox men filled Jerusalem on Thursday in a demonstration against the Israeli state's demand to enlist them into the army and the arrest of draft dodgers.

The protest, described earlier this week as the “demonstration of the million”, was a rare show of unity from all of Israel's ultra-Orthodox factions but was marred by the death of a 15-year-old, who fell from a construction site.

Yesterday, rabbis of Chabad, an ultra-Orthodox faction with no clear political identification, issued a “call to participate in the prayer and cry rally in Jerusalem”.

“Today, all the ultra-Orthodox factions have come together,” Yehuda Hirsch, 20, told Middle East Eye at the demonstration. “We will not enlist in the army under any circumstances.”

Read more: Jerusalem rocked by huge ultra-Orthodox demonstration against army conscription

Local reports in Gaza indicated on Thursday evening, local time, that Israeli air strikes and tank fire are targeting Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.

This comes as Israel has insisted it is still upholding the US-guaranteed ceasefire, but with the caveat that it can fire in self-defence at any time. 

The Lebanese health ministry said on Thursday that three people have been wounded after Israeli air strikes targeted Shaba'a in southern Lebanon. 

Israel "raided terrorist infrastructure, a rocket launch platform, and a tunnel entrance affiliated with the terrorists Hezbollah," Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesperson, said on X earlier in the day, while sharing a video of the strikes.

"The presence of this infrastructure in the area constitutes a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon," he added.

Just hours prior, a municipal worker was shot to death by Israeli soldiers who stormed a local government building in Blida. 

During the nearly year-old ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, Israel has mounted attacks on Lebanon more than 5,100 times, Lebanese media reported. 

A French team of military and civilian personnel has been sent to Israel to help plan Gaza's post-ceasefire phase, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has announced.

Barrot told French LCI television that France is among several countries contributing to the US-led coordination centre set up in the wake of the ceasefire.

He said that France and the US are pushing for a United Nations resolution to deploy an International Stabilisation Force in Gaza once the ceasefire is fully secured.

The Red Cross has handed over the bodies of two Israeli captives to the Israeli army and Shin Bet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has confirmed.

It added that the remains will be transferred to Israel’s national forensic institute for identification.

“The effort to return our abductees continues and will not stop until the last abductee is returned,” the statement reads.