Live: Gaza death toll nears 50,700

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says the number of recovered bodies has risen to 14, including eight emergency medical technicians (EMTs), five Palestinian Civil Defence personnel and an employee from the United Nations agency.

“Efforts are still ongoing to search for additional bodies,” it said.

🚨 Palestine Red Crescent – Update: The number of recovered bodies has risen to 14 so far, including eight EMTs from the Palestine Red Crescent teams, five Civil Defense personnel, and an employee from the United Nations agency. Efforts are still ongoing to search for additional…

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) March 30, 2025

Seven Palestinians, including three children, were killed in an Israeli air raid targeting a house in the Tuffah neighbourhood of northern Gaza City, Al Jazeera reported.

Several others were also wounded.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that 11 more bodies have been found in southern Rafah, according to Al Jazeera.

Six have been identified as members of the organisation, while four belonged to the civil defence agency.

The identity of the 11th victim is still being determined. The ambulance service said three of its medics and one civil defence responder are still missing

A new Israeli attack on Khan Younis, southern Gaza, killed at least two people, Al Jazeera has reported.

Ten other people were injured, the report added.

As Palestinians prepared to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Israeli air strikes on Gaza killed at least nine people - including five children.

The dawn attacks struck as families were either asleep or getting ready for Eid celebrations, witnesses told Middle East Eye.

"We were safe in our homes, preparing to welcome Eid despite the pain, the bombs, the destruction, death and displacement," Mohammad al-Qadi, who lost his sister, nephew and two young cousins in the attack, told MEE.

"The entire world is preparing for celebrations and joy, except us. The people of Palestine, and the people of Gaza in particular, we are welcoming Eid with shrouds to wrap around our children."

READ MORE: Israeli air strikes kill nine Palestinians as Gaza prepares for Eid al-Fitr

Amid increasing local pressure from protests over his government's handling of the war on Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet that "military pressure is working".

"It works because it acts simultaneously," he said. "On the one hand, it crushes Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities, and on the other hand, it creates the conditions for the release of our hostages."

Netanyahu added that his government voted on Saturday to increase pressure on Hamas.

The initial ceasefire deal would have led to the release of the remaining Israeli captives during the second phase - a stage Israel reportedly refused to enter, preferring a military approach.

Netanyahu said that his government will continue negotiations but "under fire", claiming this method will make talks more effective.

For the final stage of the truce, the Israeli leader says Hamas will have to lay down its arms and leave, allowing Israel to help implement US President Donald Trump's mass expulsion plan for Gaza.

"Hamas will lay down its weapons," Netanyahu said. "Its leaders will be allowed to leave. We will ensure general security in the Gaza Strip and enable the implementation of the Trump plan, the voluntary immigration plan."

The Israeli army has announced plans to change the layout of the Palestinian refugee camps in the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm as part of a large-scale military operation in the northern occupied West Bank that has been ongoing since late January.

The plans aim to completely wipe out the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams refugee camps, transforming them into neighbourhoods within the two cities, with the goal of preventing them from serving as "incubators for terrorist organisations," the military was quoted as saying by Israeli media.

On the ground, demolition operations are being carried out daily, with the Israeli military issuing repeated warnings to hundreds of Palestinian families about the impending destruction of their homes. These families have been unable to legally challenge the orders, as the target is stated as purely military.

READ MORE: Israel seeks to erase refugee camps from Jenin and Tulkarm

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit Hungary on Wednesday for a four-day trip.

Netanyahu is expected to meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a right-wing populist and staunch supporter of Israel.

Orban previously stated that he would disregard the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant against Netanyahu should he visit Hungary, which the latter thanked him for.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

• As Palestinians mark the first day of Eid, celebrating the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Israel continues its deadly bombardment across Gaza.
• The Israeli army said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen.
• The Yemeni missile attack came after the Houthis said they had engaged with US warships in the Red Sea three times over the past 24 hours.
• Israeli forces shot and killed a 22-year-old Palestinian man in the town of Tammun in the occupied West Bank.

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

• Top Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said the group “dealt positively” and “accepted” a proposal by Egypt and Qatar to stop the fighting in the territory, according to Al Jazeera.

• Israel confirmed night that it had received the proposal by Egypt and Qatar and it had made a counteroffer on Saturday afternoon.

• Israeli settlers have raided a village in the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta, following days of settler attacks on Palestinian communities.

• Houthi rebels in Yemen reported dozens of air strikes they blamed on the United States, including in the capital Sanaa, saying several people were wounded.

• Israeli attacks have killed at least 24 people across Gaza since dawn, Al Jazeera Arabic, citing medical sources, reported.

• The Palestine Red Crescent Society said that the fate of nine crew members in the Gaza Strip remains unknown nearly a week after Israeli forces had hit ambulances.

• The Israeli army has acknowledged firing on ambulances and fire trucks in southern Gaza last Sunday, saying they were deemed "suspicious vehicles".

Israeli settlers have raided a village in the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta, following days of settler attacks on Palestinian communities.

Five Palestinians have been injured so far in what has been reported as a major destruction of property.

According to local Palestinian activists, settlers arrived accompanied by Israeli soldiers and deliberately damaged security cameras.

Locals were arrested, vehicles were damaged and the gates to animal pens were breached, allowing sheep to escape.

The attack follows another major one on Friday, during which settlers beat Palestinians with iron bars, resulting in at least two major head injuries. 

Israeli forces arrested 22 Palestinians - but no settlers.

Read more: Israeli settlers raid Masafer Yatta following days of increased attacks

Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, played down the effect of the US attacks on the Yemeni group’s military capabilities, Al Jazeera reported.

“From the first strike until today, the Americans have achieved nothing except killing children, women and civilians and targeting civil officials,” al-Mashat said.

Houthi rebels reported dozens of air strikes in Yemen on Friday they blamed on the United States, including in the capital Sanaa, saying several people were wounded.

The rebels' Al-Masirah TV channel reported "American aggression" south of Sanaa, as well as in Saada and Jawf provinces in the north, which had been targeted earlier in the day.

Earlier, Al-Masirah reported overnight US strikes on  Sanaa airport and parts of the city centre.

It also reported strikes in Amran, Saada and Jawf provinces, as well as in Hodeida on the Red Sea coast and Marib in the east.

A health ministry spokesman said seven people, including two children, were wounded.

Israeli attacks have killed at least 24 people across Gaza since dawn, Al Jazeera Arabic, citing medical sources, reported.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said Saturday that he could not accept continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon, a day after the first strike on Beirut since a November ceasefire.

"This aggression must end. Israel... bombed Beirut's southern suburbs for the first time since the truce... we cannot allow this to continue," Qassem said in a televised address. 

Iran also condemned the Israeli strikes on Beirut, calling it a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire.

“The excuses made by the Zionist regime for justifying the aggression against Lebanon are totally baseless and unjustifiable,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement.