Live: Gaza death toll nears 50,700

According to government media in Gaza, Israeli forces have killed 490 children in just 20 days, pushing the overall death toll to 1,350 since Israel broke the ceasefire on March 18.

The shocking figures highlight the horrific toll on Gaza’s civilian population, as the death and destruction continue with no end in sight.

The death toll from Israeli strikes on Gaza since dawn has climbed to 43, as relentless bombardment leaves more bodies buried under the rubble.

Among the latest victims, one person was killed in an attack on az-Zawayda, while three others lost their lives in an earlier strike on Jabalia.

For more than a month, Israel has blocked life-saving aid from reaching Gaza, leaving the territory on the brink of catastrophe. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, says it is still distributing what little remains—but supplies are vanishing fast.

“The siege must end, and humanitarian aid must be allowed back in,” the agency declared on X, warning that stocks are “getting low and the situation is becoming desperate.”

Israeli strikes have killed at least 39 Palestinians in Gaza since dawn, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

In Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood, ten people were killed in the latest wave of attacks. Khan Younis has borne the brunt, with 19 people killed. Eight more were killed in Deir el-Balah, while two others died in the Zeitoun district.

The bloodshed continues as Israel ramps up its assault, leaving entire neighbourhoods in ruins and pushing hospitals to breaking point.

Two British parliamentarians have said they are "astounded" to have been briefly detained and deported by Israel.

On Saturday afternoon, Labour MPs Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang arrived in Israel as part of a parliamentary delegation but were refused entry on the grounds that they intended to "spread hate speech" against the country and "document the security forces", according to Israel's Population and Immigration Authority.

But British Foreign Secretary David Lammy slammed the Israeli government on Saturday night, saying the move was "unacceptable, counterproductive and deeply concerning".

"I have made clear to my counterparts in the Israeli government that this is no way to treat British parliamentarians, and we have been in contact with both MPs tonight to offer our support."

In an interview with Laura Kuenssberg, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she supported Israel's decision,  arguing that "every country should be allowed to police its own borders".

Read more: UK Labour MPs 'astounded' to be detained and deported from Israel

The Israeli military has said its initial account of the incident where its forces killed 15 Palestinian emergency workers in southern Gaza last month was "mistaken".

On 23 March, 15 paramedics and emergency responders were shot dead while on a rescue mission and their bodies were later discovered in a shallow grave a week later by officials from the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS). 

Initially, the military claimed that soldiers opened fire on vehicles approaching their position in the dark without emergency lights or markings, deeming them "suspicious". The Israeli military claimed the PRCS vehicles were being used by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

However, video footage recovered from the mobile phone of one of the victims and released by the PRCS contradicted this account. The video showed emergency workers in uniform, operating clearly marked ambulances and fire trucks with lights on, being fired upon by soldiers.

Red Crescent and UN officials have said 17 paramedics and emergency workers had been dispatched to respond to reports of injuries from Israeli air strikes.

Read more: Israeli military changes initial account of Gaza medics killings

Gaza's government media office has said that Israeli attacks on southern Gaza's Rafah have produced a "comprehensive humanitarian disaster and massive destruction that has affected all aspects of life".

In a statement, the office said that the Israeli military "continues to commit horrific massacres against defenceless civilians, causing the systematic and comprehensive destruction of infrastructure, vital facilities, and residential homes, rendering the city uninhabitable".

According to the office, Israeli forces have razed over 90 percent of homes in the governorate, as well as 22 out of 24 water wells, over 85 percent of the sewage network, and eight schools and educational institutions. It added that 12 medical centres are no longer operational.

It further said that, following the military's creation of the Morag Corridor, the city is completely cut off from the rest of the enclave, and that "dozens" of deaths were recorded in recent days of civilians attempting to return to their homes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Budapest on Sunday to head to the US to talk tariffs and Iran with President Donald Trump after wrapping up a multi-day-visit to Hungary. 

Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban hosted his long-standing Israeli ally in Hungary this week, despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant. 

Netanyahu's visit came as Hungary announced its withdrawal from the tribunal.

"I have just concluded a very important visit to Hungary," Netanyahu said in a statement adding that cooperation in the production of munitions among other issues was discussed.

Netanyahu is headed straight to the United States, where he is set to discuss a range of issues including tariffs, Iran and the ICC with US President Donald Trump on Monday.

The Israeli leader arrived in the Hungarian capital early on Thursday.

Both Orban and Netanyahu slammed the ICC at a joint press conference, with the Israeli premier expressing hope that Hungary "would not be the last state" to exit the "corrupt organisation".

The ICC last year issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes -- including starvation as a method of warfare -- in Israel's war on Gaza.

Reporting by AFP

The Palestinian National and Islamic Forces have called for a global general strike

on Monday to protest Israel's ongoing war on Gaza, Wafa news agency is reporting

In a statement, the forces said the strike is needed to highlight the renewed Israeli assault on Gaza, and the resulting surging death toll from Israeli attacks.

It further emphasised the importance of uniting local and international efforts to end the war and to demand accountability for Israeli war crimes in Gaza and the violations of Palestinian rights.

Israel's barring of the entry of vaccines into Gaza is putting 602,000 children at risk of "permanent paralysis, and chronic disabilities" the enclave's health ministry said today.

In a statement, the ministry warned that the current situation is a "time bomb that threatens to spread the epidemic".

It added that the move could have "serious and catastrophic repercussions" that will put yet more pressure on an already exhausted health system.

A relentless incitement campaign spearheaded by far-right Israeli media has thrust Palestinian journalist Saeed Hasanein into a legal battle with the state of Israel, with the 62-year-old facing charges after giving an interview to a Gaza-based television channel.

Israel's state attorney on Wednesday filed an indictment against Hasanein after he was interviewed by Al-Aqsa TV, a channel owned by Hamas.

The indictment charges him with incitement, stating that the mere act of giving the interview to this channel constitutes "contact with a foreign agent" - referring to the person who conducted the interview.

Hasanein, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, was arrested on 25 February following his appearance on Al-Aqsa TV, and he has been in detention since then.

Before his arrest and as a result of the incitement campaign led by Channel 14, Hasanein was dismissed from his roles as an editor and sports anchor at Al-Nas Radio Station in Nazareth, as well as from his position as an announcer for the Israeli football club Bnei Sakhnin.

Read more: Inside Israel's legal case against Palestinian journalist Saeed Hasanein

The Israeli military has changed its initial account of its killing of 15 medics and civil defence workers near southern Gaza's Rafah on 23 March.

Last week, the humanitarian workers went missing after responding to a distress call from civilians wounded in an Israeli attack in Rafah. All contact was lost with them and the medics were found days later in a mass grave, two to three metres deep, with their bodies riddled with gunshots, according the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza. 

New video evidence emerged on Saturday that contradicted the Israeli military's claims that soldiers had opened fire on vehicles that approached their position "suspiciously" in the dark without lights or markings

The footage, which was retrieved from a phone belonging to one of the medics who was killed, shows the Israeli army attacking clearly marked Red Crescent ambulances that had their emergency signal lights on, and emergency medical workers wearing reflective vests.

An Israeli military official said on Saturday that the initial report was likely "mistaken," adding that the investigators were examining the video and conclusions were expected to be presented to army commanders on Sunday.

Israeli media briefed by the military reported that troops had identified at least six of the 15 dead as members of militant groups, without providing evidence for this claim.

"According to our information, there were terrorists there but this investigation is not over," the official told reporters at the briefing late on Saturday.

The U.N. and Palestinian Red Crescent have demanded an independent inquiry into the killing of the paramedics.

Two people have been killed in an Israeli attack targeting an engineering vehicle which was travelling towards the southern Lebanese town of Naquora in the Tyre area, the country's National News Agency is reporting.

The Israeli military said in a statement that the victims were "attempting to rebuild Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites."

The death toll of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 2023 has reached 50,695, as another 26 people were killed in the last 24 hours, the enclave's health ministry has said.

It added that another 113 people have been admitted to hospital, bringing the number of people wounded in the war to 115, 338.

Al Jazeera is reporting, citing medical sources, that at least 46 people were killed in Israeli attacks in the last 24 hours.

Israeli forces have killed at least 13 Palestinians in Gaza since dawn, Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting, citing medical sources.

Of that figure, at least nine were killed in escalating Israeli bombardment of southern Gaza's Rafah, while another two Palestinians were killed by Israeli artillery shelling targeting the Ezbet Abd Rabbo area in Jabalia, northern Gaza.