Live: Israeli forces withdraw from Netzarim Corridor

At least two rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip towards Jerusalem on Saturday, according to Israeli media. 

This is the first time long-range missiles have been fired from Gaza in months. 

Saudi Arabia has condemned Israel’s assault and forcible expulsion of patients and staff from the Kamal Adwan Hospital in central Gaza.

In a statement on X, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said it “expresses Saudi Arabia’s condemnation and denunciation in the strongest terms possible of the burning of a hospital in the #Gaza Strip by the Israeli occupation forces and the forced evacuation of patients and medical staff”.

Med Global, a medical charity that operates in Gaza and other parts of the Middle East, confirmed that Israel arrested Dr Abu Hussam Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital. 

The charity said that Safiya is the organisation’s lead surgeon in Gaza and described him as dedicating “his life to protecting the health and lives of children in Gaza”. 

“His arrest is not only unjust - it is a violation of international humanitarian law, which upholds the protection of medical personnel in conflict zones,” Med Global wrote on X.

“We urgently call for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr Abu Safiya.”

The Wafa News agency in Palestine is reporting that Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians in the occupied West Bank town of Silwad.

Pictures posted by Wafa showed three Palestinian farmers appearing bloodied after the settler attack with their cars also smashed by the settlers. 

Silwad Mayor Raed Nimer told Wafa that the settlers came from an outpost erected less than a month ago in the al-Burj area. 

Since the beginning of the war last October, the UN says there have been approximately 2,500 Israeli settler attacks.

Good afternoon,

It's just past 3 PM in Gaza and Tel Aviv, and here are the latest updates coming from the region as the war between Hamas and Israel enters its 449th day.

•  The Palestinian Health Ministry said the death toll in Gaza had risen in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 45,436. 
• The whereabouts of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Central Gaza, remains unknown after Israel arrested Safiya and his colleagues. Earlier on Friday, Israeli forces forcibly evacuated the hospital, including critical care patients. 
•  Oman and the United Kingdom both condemned Israel for forcibly evacuating the Kamal Adwan Hospital, demanding Israel “protect” citizens.
•  The Times of Israel gained rare access inside Gaza and revealed that Israeli forces were “vastly expanding” its operations in the centre of Gaza. The Israeli daily also reported that the army had destroyed hundreds of homes to make way for dozens of army bases in central Gaza, which it has dubbed the “Netzarim corridor”. 
• The UN’s World Food Programme reported that two million Palestinians in Gaza remain without food, shelter and water. The programme added that it was “impossible” to meet the desperate need in Gaza without proper access. 

The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Saturday that more than two million Palestinians in Gaza were without food, shelter and water.

The WFP said in a statement on Saturday that international aid organisations were unable to access the Strip and deliver aid for millions of Palestinians in Gaza.

The programme also reiterated its call for a ceasefire, saying it was “long overdue”. 

The Times of Israel is reporting that Israel has “vastly expanded” its army bases in the centre of Gaza and is preparing to stay in the strip indefinitely. 

Dubbed by Israeli forces as the Netzarim corridor, the Times of Israel said the army had established more than a dozen army bases and demolished whole villages in the area to create these bases. 

During an escorted visit with the Israeli army, army officials told the Times of Israel it was expanding its operations in the centre of Gaza and said it “necessary” to demolish hundreds of homes in the area.

The Israeli newspaper added that the military bases “featured everything one would expect at a well-entrenched position for troops to remain indefinitely, except that nothing seemed to be permanently attached to the ground.”

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the death toll in Gaza has risen in the last 24 hours.

Latest ministry figures show that Israeli forces have killed 48 Palestinians in Gaza and injured 52 across the besieged enclave. 

The new death toll in Gaza now stands at 45,436 Palestinians killed since 7 October last year. 

The ministry added that Israel’s war on Gaza had also injured at least 108,038 people. 

The British government has called on Israel to protect civilians after it forcibly evacuated the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

Hamish Falconer, the minister for the Middle East and North Africa, called out Israel for turning the hospital into a “battleground” as reports emerged of Israeli forces arresting the hospital’s staff. 

“Once again a hospital in Gaza has become a battleground. The IDF operation at Kamal Adwan hospital has forced the evacuation of patients in need of critical care,” Falconer said on X.

“Medical facilities and practitioners must be able to operate safely. Israel must ensure civilians are protected.”

Oman condemned Israel's decision to burn down the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza after the medical facility was forcibly evacuated by Israeli forces. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Oman said on Saturday that Israeli forces were "ignoring all international demands for a ceasefire, protection of civilians, and respect for international humanitarian law".

Muscat added that it remained committed to achieving just peace and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in accordance with the provisions of international law.

The Israeli army has arrested three members from the Gaza civil defence in northern Gaza. 

In a statement published by the civil defence on Telegram, the rescue force added its members were "forced to leave their work" by the military.  

Israeli forces have arrested the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, Hussam Abu Safiya, and dozens of staff from the medical facility in northern Gaza. 

In a statement, the Palestine Health Ministry in Gaza said Israeli forces had arrested Safiya and his staff and taken them for questioning in an undisclosed location.

Eyewitnesses also told Al Jazeera that the last time they saw Safiya was when Israeli forces took him. 

The arrests come after the Israeli army forcibly evacuated the medical facility in northern Gaza in a move that could signify Israel's plan to empty the area of its population. 

Good evening Middle East Eye readers. On Friday, after laying siege to the medical facility, Israeli forces stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital, emptying its premises by force, and set fire to sections of the building.

Several medical personnel were burned alive in the fires set by Israeli forces, according to Al Jazeera.

The Israeli military denied it set fire to parts of the hospital, saying a small fire broke out that was later contained.

The director of the hospital and dozens of staff were sent to an interrogation centre, after medical staff were stripped down and forced to leave the hospital on foot.

Israel has claimed that the hospital was being used as a military stronghold by Hamas. The Palestinian group vehemently denied this, saying that there was no armed presence from any Palestinian faction at the hospital.

Israel also called on residents in the surrounding areas to evacuate and threatened to bomb their buildings if they didn't leave.

Here's what else you need to know about Friday's developments in Israel's war on Gaza:

• Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan said in an interview with Al Jazeera that the Palestinian group had put forth an initiative for a “complete ceasefire and a full exchange, but Israel rejected it”.

• Israeli forces on Friday arrested Ahmed al-Kahlout, who serves as the director of Gaza's civil defence in the northern part of the enclave.

• A US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) anti-missile system was used in Israel to try to intercept a projectile for the first time since Washington placed the system in Israel in October, according to Reuters.

• New air strikes have struck Yemen's capital Sanaa for a second day, with the Houthi movement in Yemen blaming the US and UK for the attack.

• Satellite imagery obtained by Palestinian journalist Younus Tirawi shows Israel's military using the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza as a base of operations.

• Palestinian fighters within the occupied West Bank refugee camp Tulkarm detonated an explosive device underneath an Israeli bulldozer, causing the machine to catch fire.

• A Palestinian former informant for Israel’s interior security agency Shin Bet stabbed an 83-year-old woman to death in Herzliya in the northern Tel Aviv District.

• A worker at Gaza's European Hospital, al-Hakim Ahmed al-Zaharneh, died due to "severe" weather conditions, according to a statement from the Palestinian health ministry. The death comes after several Palestinian infants froze to death in recent days.

Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan said in an interview with Al Jazeera that the Palestinian group had put forth an initiative for a “complete ceasefire and a full exchange, but Israel rejected it”.

“Israel is delaying reaching a deal … we previously agreed to a gradual timetable for the withdrawal from Gaza, but Israel did not accept that,” he said.

Over the past week, Israel and Hamas have traded blame over the delays in reaching a possible ceasefire agreement.

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said that Israeli forces are sending dozens of medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital, including the medical director, to an investigation centre.

Al Jazeera is also reporting that the Israeli army is demanding Palestinians living near the hospital evacuate their buildings. If they don't, then the buildings will be blown up.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli troops stormed the hospital and set fire to certain parts, leading to the deaths of several medical staff who were burned alive.