Live: Gaza death toll nears 50,700
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Israel said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen on Monday.
Aircraft alerts sounded in several areas of Israel, the military said, adding that the missile was shot down before it entered Israeli territory.
Hossam Shabat, a Palestinian journalist killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, who spent 18 months documenting Israel's war on Gaza, left a pre-written message to be shared after his death, urging his readers to "keep fighting, keep telling our stories - until Palestine is free".
“If you’re reading this, it means I have been killed - most likely targeted - by the Israeli occupation forces," Shabat's message read.
He goes on to detail how his college life and dreams were shattered by the war and explains his decision to document Israel's war as he slept on the streets and endured hunger and Israeli shelling.
"By God, I fulfilled my duty as a journalist. I risked everything to report the truth, and now, I am finally at rest - something I haven’t known in the past 18 months," he wrote.
"I did all this because I believe in the Palestinian cause. I believe this land is ours, and it has been the highest honor of my life to die defending it and serving its people," he added.
The message was shared on X by "Hossam's team."
The United Nations is reducing its footprint in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israeli attacks across the enclave, a UN spokesperson said on Monday.
"The Secretary-General has taken the difficult decision to reduce the United Nations footprint in Gaza, even as humanitarian needs soar, and our concern over the protection of civilians intensifies," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
"We are not leaving Gaza. I repeat, the United Nations is not leaving Gaza," he added.
At least 31 percent of Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip are children, according to statistics released on Monday by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Israeli strikes killed at least 15,613 Palestinian children between 7 October 2023 and 23 March 2025.
At least 33,900 Palestinian children were injured.
Almost 37 percent of the Palestinian children killed were between the ages of six and 12 years old. Roughly 26 percent were between the ages of one and five.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday that the bloc rejects any role for Hamas in the future governance of the Gaza Strip.
Kallas backed an Arab League plan for Gaza's reconstruction but said more details needed to be revealed about cost-sharing and the future of Gaza's government.
“We see no role for Hamas in the future governance of Gaza,” she said.
“We definitely need to discuss how the governance of Gaza is foreseen, … and the European Union is ready to participate in those discussions," she added.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its office in southern Gaza's Rafah was targeted by an "explosive projectile".
In a statement, the ICRC said on Monday that the building was damaged by the projectile "despite being clearly marked and notified to all parties".
It said that despite no staff being injured, the attack "has a direct impact on the ICRC's ability to operate", adding that the organisation "strongly decries the attack against its premises".
Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement group, has said approvals for settler homes in the occupied West Bank have accelerated since US President Donald Trump came to office.
The group reported that plans for 10,503 housing units received approval since the start of 2025, while just 9,971 were approved in all of 2024.
Trump backed Israeli settlements throughout his first term. Among the many executive orders he signed following his inauguration was the lifting of sanctions imposed on over 30 Israeli settler groups by former President Joe Biden's administration.
Israel has established over 100 settlements, where over 700,000 people with Israeli citizenship reside.
Palestinians at the scenes of a deadly Israeli attack on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, recall the horrifying moment when a missile struck the surgery department, killing five people.
The attack wounded several patients and medical staff and destroyed a large portion of the hospital, forcing the evacuation of an entire department, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Um Hassan Zorob, a medical staff member at the hospital, told Middle East Eye that she was in an adjacent building when the attack occurred.
"We were just going about our day when the bomb hit the second floor," she said, crying.
"All of them were just patients, lying on the floor, just patients."
At least 51 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn, Al Jazeera is reporting on Monday, citing medical sources.
Dorgham Qareqa, 28, was a big fan of Van Gogh. He shared the same passion for art and life struggles that the Dutch master experienced, said fellow artist and close friend, Mohammed al-Haj. This earned him the title of "Van Gogh's grandson", said al-Haj.
But an Israeli attack on 4 March killed the Palestinian artist along with his wife, siblings and 13 members of his extended family.
His death is the latest to target members of Gaza's arts community, many of whom have been killed since Israel's devastating war on Gaza began in October 2023.
Qareqa was a multi-talented artist skilled in handicrafts, visual arts, applied arts, blacksmithing and painting.
He had a talent for using art to beautify reality and alleviate people's suffering under the blockade of the Gaza Strip, al-Haj said.
"He had always envisioned a long life dedicated to his art, a life where he could continue to create, inspire, and share his passion for beauty and resistance," he added.
Read more: Dorgham Qareqa: Another Palestinian artist killed by Israel
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam made diplomatic contact with France and the US to avert an Israeli attack on Beirut, the AFP news agency reported on Monday.
According to the report, the calls were made following intensive Israeli attacks on the country over the weekend and were done to "achieve de-escalation following Israeli threats to target Beirut".
Israel killed two Palestinian journalists in separate attacks in Gaza on Monday, bringing the total number of press workers killed in the Palestinian territory since October 2023 to 208.
Palestine Today correspondent Mohammed Mansour was killed in an air strike north of Khan Younis, while Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent Hussam Shabat was hit in his car on Salah al-Din Street in the north of the enclave.
The Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip said it condemned "in the strongest terms the targeting, killing, and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation".
The deaths come as Israeli forces continue to press their renewed ground assault in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces have encircled the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood in Rafah, southern Gaza, leaving 50,000 Palestinians trapped with little access to food and water, and the wounded "left to bleed to death".
Read more: Israel kills Al Jazeera and Palestine Today journalists in separate attacks in Gaza
Palestinian journalist and contributor to Al Jazeera's Mubasher, Hossam Shabat, was killed in an Israeli attack on his car in northern Gaza.
This follows the killing of another journalist, Mohammad Mansour, a reporter for Palestine Today TV, who was killed in an Israeli air strike targeting a house in the Al-Batin Al-Sameen area, south of Khan Younis, earlier on Monday.
At least 208 journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since October 2023.
Wafa news agency is reporting that eight Palestinians, including a journalist and two women, were killed in Israeli air strikes across Gaza this afternoon.
Citing medical sources, the agency said that four people were killed and six others wounded in an Israeli attack targeting a group of civilians in central Gaza's Nuseirat camp.
Health sources also confirmed the killing of Mohammad Mansour, a reporter for Palestine Today TV, in an Israeli air strike targeting a house in the Al-Batin Al-Sameen area, south of Khan Younis.
Another two women were killed in a separate attack on a house south of the city.
In northern Gaza, an Israeli attack on a civilian vehicle in Jabalia killed one person and injured others. Several others were injured in another attack on the Bir al-Na'aja area.
The agency also reported that 16 members of the Civil Defence and Red Crescent remain missing after being trapped in Rafah yesterday amid an Israeli incursion on the area.
مراسل قناة فلسطين اليوم الصحفي محمد منصور الذي قتله الاحتلال باستهداف منزل جنوب مدينة خانيونس. pic.twitter.com/nQgueBhrrd
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) March 24, 2025
Israeli ground forces have encircled the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood in Rafah, southern Gaza, leaving 50,000 Palestinians trapped with little access to food and water, and the wounded "left to bleed to death".
It said that communications had been completely cut in the area, with the fate of residents unknown.
Read more: Israeli troops encircle parts of Rafah, leaving wounded 'bleeding to death'
