Live: Gaza death toll nears 50,700

The United Nations said on Tuesday that Israel's forcible displacement orders now encompass 15 percent of the Gaza Strip, roughly the same size as Manhattan in New York City. 

"Families are forced to move - again. Resources are running out, and nowhere is safe," the UN said. 

The UN said earlier that at least 142,000 Palestinians have been displaced since Israel resumed its attacks on Gaza. 

Hamas on Wednesday said Israel's decision to resume its war on Gaza was a "premeditated" decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sabotage the January ceasefire and win support from far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben Gvir.  

"Netanyahu bears full responsibility for the failure of the agreement. The international community and mediators must pressure him to halt the aggression and return to negotiations," Hamas said. 

Ben Gvir left Netanyahu's coalition after the January ceasefire was reached, but rejoined and became national security minister again after Israel resumed attacking the Gaza Strip. 

Israeli artillery shelled on Wednesday the towns of Beit Lahia and Rafah in the Gaza Strip, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. The strikes come after Israel bombed central Gaza earlier on Wednesday, killing at least 11 people who were sheltering in tents for displaced people.

An Israeli attack on Wednesday on tents sheltering displaced people in central Gaza killed at least 11 people, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. 

The death toll has risen quickly. 

Several Palestinians have been killed and wounded by Israeli strikes on tents housing displaced people west of al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. 

Israel is ramping up its strikes across the Gaza Strip. 

Yuval Abraham, a journalist and filmmaker who recently won an Oscar for No Other Land, said the awards' American organisers refused to publicly support his Palestinian co-director who was arrested and abused earlier this week. 

"Sadly, the US Academy, which awarded us an Oscar three weeks ago, declined to publicly support Hamdan Ballal while he was beaten and tortured by Israeli soldiers and settlers. The European Academy voiced support, as did countless other award groups and festivals," said Abraham.

"Several US Academy members - especially in the documentary branch - pushed for a statement, but it was ultimately refused. We were told that because other Palestinians were beaten up in the settler attack, it could be considered unrelated to the film, so they felt no need to respond."

Ballal's whereabouts were briefly unknown after Israeli soldiers seized him from the ambulance that arrived to treat him, Abraham said earlier this week. The Palestinian director was released on Tuesday.

Ballal said he was clearly targeted for making the film, and recalled soldiers joking about the Oscars while they physically assaulted him. 

"Even now, issuing a statement condemning the attack on Hamdan and the Masafer Yatta community would send a meaningful message and serve as a deterrent for the future," wrote Abraham. 

Sadly, the US Academy, which awarded us an Oscar three weeks ago, declined to publicly support Hamdan Ballal while he was beaten and tortured by Israeli soldiers and settlers.

The European Academy voiced support, as did countless other award groups and festivals. Several US…

— Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham) March 26, 2025

Israel's army has continued to forcibly displace thousands of Palestinians in several areas of the Gaza Strip to other parts of the enclave. 

On Wednesday it issued expulsion notices centred on Gaza City.

The military called on those in the neighbourhoods of western Zeitoun, Tal al-Hawa, and Sheikh Ajlin to leave immediately and move south via Rashid Street. 

It comes days after thousands of people were expelled from Tel al-Sultan in Rafah, as Israeli ground forces encircled the area.

Those who remained were left trapped with little access to food and water, as MEE reported. 

Israeli forces have detained at least 20 Palestinians, including former detainees, in the occupied West Bank during the last 24 hours.

The figure was reported by the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission and the Palestine Prisoners Society, which said that Israeli troops had engaged in widespread abuse, destruction of homes and threats during recent arrest raids. 

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has told journalists that no one in Lebanon wants normalisation with Israel, and everyone is opposed to it.

He said that diplomatic pressure from the international community and Arab nations on Israel to halt its attacks had not yet been exhausted. 

He dismissed the strategic value of five areas Israel insists on holding in southern Lebanon, stating they serve no military or security purpose other than to put pressure on Lebanon. 

Salam also strongly opposed Israeli rhetoric which has called for Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to be displaced, and rhetoric proposing establishing a Palestinian state outside historic Palestine.

He stressed the importance of mobilising Arab and international support to counter such plans.  

Israeli forces detained at least 20 Palestinians, including former prisoners, in the occupied West Bank over the past 24 hours, Wafa news agency reported.

The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission and the Palestine Prisoners' Society (PPS) said the escalating operations are often accompanied by abuse, attacks, threats and home destruction.

The latest arrests have raised the total number of Palestinians detained by Israeli forces in the West Bank to more than 15,700 since 7 October 2023, according to the PPS.

Under pressure from Israel’s top court to improve conditions at Sde Teiman, a prison in the occupied West Bank notorious for abuse of Palestinian detainees, the military transferred hundreds of detainees to newly opened prisons, the Associated Press reported.

HaMoked and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel say that instead of correcting the abuses against Palestinians held without charge or trial - including beatings, excessive handcuffing and poor diet and healthcare - Israel’s military just moved them to Ofer and Anatot prisons where the conditions are as bad.

“What we’ve seen is the erosion of the basic standards for humane detention,” said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked, one of the rights groups petitioning the Israeli government.

Several investigations by Middle East Eye, CNN and The New York Times, as well as testimonies by former Palestinian detainees and eyewitnesses, have repeatedly described incidents of torture and sexual abuse at Sde Teiman since the establishment of the facility after 7 October when the war on Gaza broke out after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.

An Israeli court has upheld a six-month detention order for docor Hussam Abu Safia, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza.

Tuesday's decision by the Beersheba District Court reportedly made based on a secret file submitted by the Israeli Attorney General, alleging that Abu Safia poses a threat to "state security."

During the court session, Abu Safia's lawyer denied the allegations made against the doctor, stating that Abu Safia had been performing his professional duties as a director and treatment advisor within the hospital. 

The prosecution refused a request to disclose their evidence, a decision the court upheld.

Read more: Israeli court upholds six-month detention order for Hussam Abu Safiya

Hamas accused the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “lying to the families of the [captives] when he claims that the military option is capable of bringing them back alive”.

“Whenever the occupation tries to recover its [captives] by force, it returns them dead in coffins,” the Palestinian group said in a statement, according to Al Jazeera.

The group said Netanyahu's breach of the ceasefire and returning to war was a premeditated decision driven by pressure from far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

“Netanyahu bears full responsibility for the failure of the agreement, and the international community and mediators must pressure him to halt the aggression and return to the path of negotiation,” the statement said.

The statement came as Netanyahu threatened Hamas with intensifying its "pressure" if the group refused to release captives still held in Gaza.

"I say this to my colleagues in the Knesset, and I say it to Hamas as well: This includes the seizure of territories, along with other measures I will not elaborate here," Netanyahu told parliament, as reported by AFP. 

The health ministry in Gaza said on Wednesday that at least 830 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since Israel resumed large-scale strikes on 18 March.

According to the ministry's statement, the figure includes 38 people killed in the past 24 hours. It also reported that the overall death toll has reached 50,183 since the war began on 7 October 2023.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in a statement warned that another tactic of war is unfolding as Israeli authorities effectively block access to water by preventing the entry of electricity and fuel into Gaza.

“With a new onslaught of bombings that have killed hundreds of people in just a few short days, Israeli forces continue to deprive people in Gaza of water by shutting off electricity and blocking fuel from entering – resources that are necessary for water infrastructure including the running of water pumps,” said Paula Navarro, MSF water and sanitation coordinator in Gaza.

"For those who have endured relentless bombings, the suffering is made worse by a water crisis - many are forced to drink unsafe water, while others don't have enough."

The statement also warned that if fuel runs out, the remaining water system will completely collapse, and all but cut off people’s access to water, leading to inhumane consequences for the millions of people in Gaza.

Chiara Lodi, MSF medical team coordinator in Gaza, said, "the sheer number of children with skin conditions is a direct result of Gaza’s destruction and blockade."