Live: Gaza death toll nears 50,700

A 41-year-old Palestinian man died from wounds sustained after Israeli forces shot him on Tuesday evening near the town of al-Eizariya, east of the occupied West Bank city of Jerusalem, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa. 

The man was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. 

Hamas issued a statement on Tuesday condemning Israel's attack on Daraa in Syria.

“This fascist aggression represents a serious escalation of Zionist violations against the Syrian Arab Republic and its brotherly people, and a new war crime,” Hamas said on Telegram. 

“This Zionist aggression targeting civilians in Syria confirms that the occupation is expanding its aggression to include all the peoples of the region, and is no longer limited to Gaza and the West Bank, which calls for a serious stand from the Arab and Islamic nations," the statement added. 

Israeli artillery and tanks are shelling the town of Abasan, east of Khan Younis, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. 

The shelling comes as Al Jazeera reported at least 16 people were killed across Gaza on Tuesday by Israeli strikes. 

At least 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting. 

Israel is ramping up its attacks across the enclave. 

The Financial Times reported on Monday that Israel is preparing plans for a long occupation of the enclave. 

Syria condemned on Tuesday the latest Israeli attacks on its territory and called on Syrians to reject any attempts to displace them or enforce any new realities on the ground.

The Syrian foreign ministry's statement came after Israeli shelling killed six people in southern Syria earlier on Tuesday. Israel's military said its troops had clashed with militants there who had opened fire on them.

- Reporting by Reuters

Tributes have poured in for Mohammad Mansour and Hossam Shabat, two Palestinian journalists killed by Israel in separate attacks on Monday. 

Mansour, a correspondent for Palestine Today, was killed in an Israeli air strike north of Khan Younis which targeted his home. His wife and son were also killed.

Hours later, Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent Hossam Shabat was targeted in his vehicle in Salah al-Din Street, north of the enclave.

Lamis Deek, a Palestinian-American lawyer, wrote: "Beloved Mohammad Mansour, our daily unshakeable companion whose name and voice is etched in our souls, what world or words are left without you... irreplaceable angels."

Hind Khoudary, a reporter in Gaza, posted a picture of Mansour and said: "Israel continues to kill Palestinian journalists."

"That Hossam reported on the killing of Mohammad Mansour, just an hour or two before he was killed by the same murderers is the gruesome, devastating reality for Palestinian journalists in Gaza," Sana Saeed, a former Al Jazeera reporter, wrote on X. 

READ MORE: Tributes pour in for Hossam Shabat and Mohammad Mansour

Palestinian Oscar-winning director Hamdan Ballal has been freed, co-director Yuval Abraham said on X.

"After being handcuffed all night and beaten in a military base, Hamdan Ballal is now free and is about to go home to his family," Abraham said.

At least five people were killed  on Tuesday in Israeli shelling of the southern Syrian province of Daraa, local authorities said,

Provincial authorities, in a statement shared on Telegram, reported a provisional toll of five people killed in the bombardment of the town of Kwayya, west of Daraa, adding that residents had fled Israeli tank shelling.

Officials also said that Israeli troops were seen taking up positions in the area.

The statement by the Syrians came after Israel announced air strikes on Syrian air bases near the city of Palmyra in the Homs province.

Following the reports of bombings in Daraa, the Israeli army said that it carried out air strikes on Syria in response to incoming fire from across the demarcation line.

Read more: Israel launches deadly attack on southern Syria amid troop build-up

Save the Children says over 270 children have been killed in a week since Israel resumed its war on Gaza, marking some of “the deadliest days for children since the war began”.

“Bombs falling, hospitals destroyed, children killed [and] the world is silent,” Rachael Cummings, Save the Children’s humanitarian director in Gaza, said. “No aid, no safety, no future.”

The organisation said in a statement the war’s resumption is “a death sentence for Gaza’s children”. Over 50,000 people, including more than 17,900 children, have now been killed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.

Oxford City Council has passed a motion supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, citing International Court of Justice (ICJ) rulings.

In January last year, the ICJ delivered an interim ruling saying that it was plausible that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.

The court called on Israel to refrain from impeding the delivery of aid into Gaza.

It also ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent acts of genocide in the besieged enclave and to punish incitement to genocide, amongst other orders.

On Monday, Oxford councillor Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini said councillors had "unanimously passed a boycott and divestment motion citing the ICJ rulings on Palestine".

Read more: UK: Oxford council passes Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions motion

The United Nations is cutting its international staff in Gaza by around a third, a UN spokesperson said on Tuesday, citing safety concerns.

"We are trying to reduce the number of international staff by about one third and this is really because the Secretary-General (Antonio Guterres) doesn't have the power of guaranteeing the safety of UN staff," UN spokesperson Alessandra Vellucci told a Geneva press briefing, saying that the cuts would affect around 30 of 100 international staff.

The agencies affected included the World Food Programme, the World Health Organisation and the UN children's agency, she added.

The health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday that 792 people had been killed in the week since Israel resumed bombardments on the Palestinian territory, including 62 in the past 24 hours.

The ministry said in a statement that it recorded "792 martyrs and 1,663 injuries" since strikes resumed, bringing the total death toll since the war started on 7 October 2023 to 50,144.

The Israeli military has expanded "evacuation orders" to tens of thousands of residents across the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported.

On Tuesday, the Israeli army told residents in all northern border towns to evacuate, saying Palestinian rockets were fired towards Israel from the area.

The Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah anti-tank unit commander on Monday in air strikes on southern Lebanon's Nabatieh, Al Jazeera reported.

Hassan Kamal Halawi was “responsible for numerous terror attacks against the state of Israel”, it said in a statement.

“He facilitated the movement of operatives and the supply of weapons into southern Lebanon. In recent months, Halawi continued to engage in terrorist activity against Israeli civilians.”

At least five people were killed Tuesday in Israeli shelling of the southern Syrian province of Daraa, said local authorities, who also reported an Israeli incursion.

Provincial authorities, in a statement posted on Telegram, reported a provisional toll of five people killed in the Israeli bombardment of the town of Koya, west of Daraa, adding that residents had fled Israeli tank shelling. 

The statement came after Israel announced air strikes on the Syrian air bases near the city of Palmyra in Homs.

Omar Alhariri, an independent journalist based in Daraa, said on X that the Israeli army’s ongoing troop mobilisation on the town’s outskirts and intense shelling of the area on the town has so far killed over seven people and injured dozens.

"The claims circulated by Israeli military media about an attack on their forces in Koya town, western Daraa countryside, are false," Alhariri said.

"The truth is that they initiated the aggression by attempting to arrest youths from Koya, who resisted this patrol."

The journalist added that the army has also ordered all residents to evacuate the town immediately.