Live: Gaza death toll nears 50,700

US Senator Bernie Sanders said on Thursday that he plans to force votes to block an $8.8bn arms sale to Israel next week on the Senate floor. 

"Netanyahu's illegal war has killed 50,000 Palestinians. Now, Trump wants to force out 2 million more to build a billionaire's playground in Gaza. That is ethnic cleansing — and it’s a war crime," Sanders wrote on X.

"Next week, I will force votes to block $8.8 billion in new arms sales to Israel," he said. 

At least two people were killed and several more injured on Thursday by Israeli strikes on a tent sheltering displaced people in the western Mawasi area of ​​Khan Younis in Gaza, Al Jazeera Arabic reported. 

Thursday has been an especially deadly day for Palestinians in Gaza, with Israeli strikes killing at least 36 people, according to reports. 

US President Donald Trump withdrew on Thursday the nomination of Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador.

Stefanik is a stalwart supporter of Israel. She has said that Israel has a “biblical” right over the occupied West Bank.

Trump said his decision was based on concerns about the Republican's razor thin majority in the House of Represenatives. 

At least seven Palestinians were killed by an Israeli strike on a market in central Gaza on Thursday, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. 

Israel has escalated its attacks on Gaza throughout the day. 

Gaza is now enduring the longest siege by Israel since the war began on 7 October 2023, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees, or Unrwa, said on Thursday.

"During the ceasefire, 500–600 trucks arrived daily. Now, nothing," Philippe Lazzarini, the chief of Unrwa said on Thursday on X. 

He added that last week saw the single deadliest day in the past year and a half of war with more than 500 people reported killed, including women and children.

Lazzarini added that eight Unrwa staff were killed in the past week alone.

"People continue to search for safety. Over 140,000 people were forced to flee due to the Israeli authorities evacuation orders," he said. 

At least 36 Palestinians were killed on Thursday by Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, according to Al Jazeera.

Israel has attacked Khan Younis and the Nuseirat refugee camp. 

A market in Gaza City was also attacked, according to Al Jazeera. 

Israel is escalating its attacks on the Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to Arabic media reports. 

At least two Palestinians were killed and several wounded as a result of Israeli strikes on a house in the town of al-Fakhari, east of Khan Younis, Al Jazeera Arabic reported. Quadcopters firing into homes have been reported flying above Khan Younis, according to Al Jazeera. 

Meanwhile, according to reports, an entire neighbourhood in the Nuseirat refugee camp has been attacked by the Israeli forces.

Israeli forces raided the city of Dhahiriya in the occupied West Bank south of Hebron on Thursday, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. 

The raid comes as Israel ramps up its attacks on the occupied West Bank. 

At least 32 Palestinians have been killed since dawn in Israeli attacks across Gaza, Al Jazeera is reporting on Thursday, citing medical sources.

At least 19 people were killed in northern Gaza alone.

Israel has welcomed European far-right politicians at a conference for antisemitism.

Among those invited to the symposium, which kicked off on Thursday, is a member of Hungary's Fidesz party and France's National Rally (RN), whose co-founder was known for his anti-Semitic comments.

Addressing the conference, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar decried a "new antisemitism" stoked by "a disturbing alliance between the radical progressives on the far-left and Islamist fundamentalism".

"In the name of so-called 'human rights', the progressive movement fell captive to those seeking the destruction of the Jewish people," he said.

Netanyahu is later due to speak, as well as the current RN president, Jordan Bardella, capping an unprecedented trip to Israel by a leader of his party.

Several invitees cancelled their appearances at the conference to protest against the presence of the far right, including Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levi and Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, according to Israeli media.

- Reporting by AFP

Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Anas al-Sharif posted footage of the aftermath of an Israeli attack on civilians in  Gaza City.

He reported that four people were killed and others injured in the attack on al-Nafaq Street in central Gaza City.

عاجل | أربعة شهداء وعدد من الإصابات في غارة إسرائيلية استهدفت مجموعة من المواطنين في شارع النفق وسط مدينة غزة. pic.twitter.com/Gxg8BYXe7t

— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) March 27, 2025

A Palestinian boy was shot and injured by Israeli forces during a raid on the Askar al-Jadid refugee camp, east of Nablus in the northern West Bank, Wafa news agency is reporting on Thursday, citing medical sources.

Amjad Ahmed, the director of the Ambulance and Emergency Centre of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in Nablus, reported that the 18-year-old  was shot in the chest by Israeli soldiers.

He was promptly transferred to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli forces fired live ammunition as they stormed the camp in the afternoon.

Seven London School of Economics (LSE) students who were barred from campus after participating in a pro-Palestine protest are persisting with their claim that the university has violated their fundamental human rights.

The students were banned following a protest on 7 July 2024 calling on the university to divest from companies implicated in human rights abuses against Palestinians in line with a student referendum that passed with overwhelming support (89 percent) in favour of divestment.

In internal emails seen by the students, LSE's president Larry Kramer vowed the university would "expel" the protestors and suggested that future protests would require a police or security presence "who can restrain people".

The school dropped the ban against the students when human rights lawyers at law firm Leigh Day wrote to LSE on behalf of the students, arguing that the university had violated their rights.

However, the disciplinary process against the students is still ongoing, with the school issuing a formal warning to six of them, which the students are appealing.

In another internal email, senior LSE management described the students participating in the protests as being "dressed as terrorists", suggesting they should be expelled before any investigation had begun.

“All seven of us believe that the LSE is profiting from what is widely documented as genocide of Palestinians and we have sought to expose and denounce the university’s apparent complicity in these grave human rights abuses through protest. There are no universities left in Gaza. As students, we have a moral duty to uphold the principles of justice and accountability that higher education institutions are meant to represent," Emily, who used a pseudonym, said in a statement.

Israel's Knesset has passed a bill enabling greater political control over the appointment of judges, effectively diminishing the Supreme Court’s power.

The measure, which will come into effect after the October 2026 general elections, marks the first time in Israel’s history that the selection process for judges will be controlled by politicians.

It will change the composition of the nine-member committee that selects judges, comprising judges, lawmakers, and bar association representatives, overseen by the justice minister.

The bill will see representatives of the Israeli Bar Association replaced with lawyers appointed by the ruling coalition and the opposition, and give politicians veto power over lower court appointments.

It will also remove any influence of the three judges who sit on the committee overseeing appointments to the Supreme Court.

Read more: Israel parliament passes bill bringing judicial appointments under political control

An Egyptian security delegation has headed to Qatar for Gaza truce talks, Al Qahera News TV said on Thursday.

The Egyptian mediators will discuss the release of Israeli captives, the ending of Israel's aid blockade on Gaza and moving towards a second phase of a ceasefire.