Live: Gaza death toll nears 50,700

A young Palestinian man was shot and wounded by Israeli forces during a raid on the Askar refugee camp, in Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to Wafa news agency.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that an 18-year-old sustained a gunshot wound to the chest after being shot by Israeli troops during the raid. 

Jonathan Reynolds, the UK's trade minister, was interrupted by two pro-Palestinian protesters opposing arms sales to Israel who stormed the stage during a think-tank event on Thursday.

London for a Free Palestine, one of the campaign groups which organised a rally outside Chatham House where Reynolds was speaking, said the on-stage protest was intended to keep pressure on the government to halt all arms exports to Israel - especially of parts for F-35 fighter jets.

"They have not stopped the trade in F-35s," one protester shouted. Another protester accused the UK government of complicity in genocide.

Reynolds responded by stating that the UK had suspended arms exports to Israel.

In September, the government suspended 30 of its 350 arms export licences to Israel.

It said at the time that parts for F-35 fighters would be mostly exempted because it was not possible to suspend these exports without prejudicing the jets' entire global programme.

Reynolds told the protesters: "We haven't suspended F-35s because they're integral to our national security and particularly the defense of Ukraine."

BREAKING: The business and trade secretary, Jonathan Reynolds has just been interrupted by pro-Palestine protesters while speaking at Chatham House

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Independent MP Iqbal Mohamed has condemned Sky News after a presenter falsely suggested he had been suspended from Labour for alleged antisemitism.

Sky News interviewer Sophy Ridge apparently confused him with a former Labour councillor named Mohammed Iqbal, with whom the parliamentarian has no connection.

Speaking in an interview with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Ridge said Mohamed had been suspended from Labour for allegedly making antisemitic comments.

"The ease with which the mainstream media throw around baseless allegations of antisemitism against those critical of Israel’s genocidal actions against the Palestinians is deeply concerning and shameful," Mohamed told Middle East Eye on Thursday.

The incident took place during an interview on Sky News on Tuesday with Corbyn, who led Labour from 2015 to 2020.

Read more: UK lawmaker attacks Sky News for false antisemitism accusation

Hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza are at risk of severe hunger and malnutrition once again, as Israel's blockade on aid and resumption of war severely disrupted food assistance operations, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has said.

"WFP and partners from the food security sector have been unable to bring new food supplies into Gaza for more than three weeks," WFP said on Thursday, adding that its remaining food stocks would support operations for a maximum of two weeks.

An Israeli air strike has killed Abdel Latif al-Qanoua, a spokesperson for Hamas, in northern Gaza.

He was killed when his tent was targeted in Jabalia refugee camp at dawn on Thursday, Al-Aqsa television reported. Several others were wounded in the attack. 

The Palestinian movement confirmed the death and said that the attack would only strengthen its resistance. 

"The occupation's targeting of the movement's leaders and spokespeople will not break our will, but will only increase our determination to continue on the path of liberation," it said. 

Qanoua is the latest high profile Hamas figure to be killed since Israel resumed the war last week, in what appears to be a targeted assassination campaign. 

Read more: Hamas defiant after Israeli air strike kills another high profile figure in Gaza

The latest US air strikes against Yemen’s Houthis have ramped up significantly, according to an Associated Press review, with attacks now targeting not just launch sites but also urban neighbourhoods and high-ranking Houthi figures.

Dozens have been killed, including civilians and children, as the intensity of the strikes increases.

This shift marks a stark departure from the more restrained approach of the Biden administration, which limited operations while Arab allies sought peace with the Houthis.

The escalation comes as the Houthis vowed to resume attacks on Israeli targets, responding to Israel’s blockade of aid to Gaza and the ongoing onslought.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has reported the spread of contagious diseases at the notorious Megiddo Prison in northern Israel and warned of a "health disaster" there.

The advocacy group said it had documented reports from detainees of outbreaks of scabies and other contagious diseases.

Scabies is caused by mites, which burrow under the skin and lay eggs, which causes rashes, irritation and further complications.

PPS stated that most of the detainees "suffer from health problems and face difficult and tragic detention conditions".

It accused Israeli prison authorities of denying detainees "necessary resources that could help limit the spread of the disease", including nutritious food, clothing, personal hygiene items and adequate exposure to light and ventilation.

Read more: Advocacy group warns of 'health disaster' among Palestinian captives in Israeli prison

At least 11 people have been pulled from the rubble of the Al-Balli family home in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, following an Israeli airstrike at dawn. Al Jazeera reported that the victims were rushed to the Indonesian Hospital.

Yemen has launched two ballistic missiles at Israel, triggering air raid sirens across central Israel and the Jerusalem area.

The Israeli military says it is investigating the incident, the Times of Israel reported. 

The Houthi group has repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what it has described as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. It has said it would stop such attacks if Israel halted its war on Gaza. 

Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national on a student visa, is currently being held in detention in Louisiana, according to her lawyer, Middle East Eye can reveal.

A Massachusetts judge ordered her not to be removed from the state, but it is unclear whether she was moved before or after the order was delivered. 

Masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents approached and physically restrained the Tufts University doctoral student while on the street in Somerville, Massachusetts, on Wednesday before taking her into custody for “pro-Palestine” views. She is being held at the South Louisiana Processing Center.  

Chilling video footage of the incident on Tuesday shows a man approaching Ozturk, while she was on the phone with her mother, and grabbing her wrists. Five other agents surrounded her, removed her backpack, and placed her in handcuffs before escorting her away.

Ozturk, looking terrified, could be heard screaming that she had done nothing wrong.

Read more: US: Tufts University student detained for pro-Palestine views transferred to Louisiana

The Palestinian Red Crescent says it has lost contact with nine of its crew members after Israeli forces targeted them in Rafah five days ago.

Their fate remains unknown, as Israel’s assault on southern Gaza intensifies, turning even humanitarian workers into targets.

Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza has killed 25 Palestinians and wounded 82 in the past 24 hours, as hospitals struggle to cope with the endless influx of casualties.

Since March 18, Israeli attacks have claimed 855 lives and left 1,869 injured.

The overall death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza has now surged to 50,208, with 113,910 wounded since 7 October 2023.

The Israeli military is grappling with a growing crisis in its reserves as it prepares to intensify operations in Gaza, Haaretz reports.

Tens of thousands of reservists are set to be called up, but a rising number are refusing to serve, citing exhaustion, frustration with government policies, and uncertainty over the war’s objectives.

A senior reservist commander told Haaretz that brigade and battalion leaders are dealing with numerous cases of troops refusing to report, with many blaming the government’s failure to secure the release of captives. Others are protesting plans to exempt ultra-Orthodox men from military service and concerns over judicial reforms.

Reservists, already drained from hundreds of days in service, are finding it increasingly difficult to commit to further deployments. 

Military officials insist the reserves remain operationally capable, but cracks in morale are becoming harder to ignore.

Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza has killed at least 20 Palestinians overnight and into the morning, with many more wounded, reported Al Jazeera Arabic.

Among the dead are at least two people who succumbed to their injuries after Israeli air strikes targeted tents sheltering displaced families in az-Zawayda, a town in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah governorate, our team on the ground reports.

They walk barefoot through the wreckage - children carrying children, small arms wrapped around younger siblings, holding on to what’s left of their family.

In Gaza, there is no safety, no silence, no pause. There is only motion: fleeing, burying, fleeing again. Bombs chase them through the territory. Tanks stalk them in alleys. Drones hum overhead, watching, waiting to strike.

We’ve seen their faces. Some are covered in ash, too stunned to cry; others scream names into the dust - names that no longer answer. Children, entirely alone, wander from one grave to the next. 

Many no longer even have names, just markers - a number, a label scrawled in pen on their arm so that if they die, someone might know who they were.

And still, they are hunted.

Read more:  Palestinian children are the future. That’s why Israel is killing them