Live: Gaza death toll nears 50,700

Rosalia Bollen, a Unicef communications specialist, says Israeli displacement orders are worsening the “very deep suffering” of families in Gaza.

Speaking from al-Mawasi, she told Al Jazeera that even before today’s Israeli ground offensives in Tal as-Sultan, Rafah, and Beit Hanoon, some 125,000 people had already been forced to flee due to relentless violence and previous evacuation orders.

“These ground invasions are making an already dire situation even worse,” she said, adding that many displaced families are carrying little more than the clothes on their backs and are in “urgent need” of food and water.

Bollen also raised alarm over reports of civilians being killed or trapped despite so-called safe passage routes, with ambulances unable to reach the wounded and medics among the dead and injured.

“The situation is deteriorating by the day,” she warned, stressing that Gaza’s infrastructure has been devastated beyond recognition.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has called on Israel to end its military assault on Gaza and honour the prisoner exchange deal brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States.

“Israel must cease fire in Gaza and implement the exchange agreement,” Safadi said.

He also urged the international community to pressure Israel into halting its attacks on Lebanon and Syria, warning of the wider regional fallout

Israeli air strikes have killed at least 46 people across Gaza since sunrise, medical sources have told Al Jazeera Arabic.

The bombardment has targeted multiple areas, with casualties mounting as strikes continue. Hospitals, already overwhelmed, are struggling to cope with the influx of wounded.

Israel has intensified its assault on the besieged enclave, defying international calls for a ceasefire.

Israel's ambassador to Austria, David Roet, has suggested executing Palestinian minors involved in armed conflict, a secretly recorded video has revealed.

During a closed-door meeting with the local Jewish community in Innsbruck on Thursday, Roet said that "there should be a death sentence" for teenagers for "holding a gun" or a "grenade". 

He provided no evidence of children carrying weapons in Gaza.

The video was recorded two days after Israel broke the Gaza ceasefire on 18 March, by which time more than 500 Palestinians were killed, of which almost 200 were children.

Roet dismissed concerns over civilian casualties in Gaza, stating: "If you believe that there are no uninvolved [people] in Gaza… you're believing that Israel is targeting babies intentionally, which is not correct."

Read more: Israeli envoy to Austria suggests executing Gaza children in secret recording

A series of US air strikes in Yemen over the past week has taken out key Houthi leaders, including the group’s top missile expert, White House National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has claimed.

Speaking to CBS News, Waltz declined to name the missile specialist or provide details on other senior figures allegedly killed.

At least 53 people have died in the strikes, which have hit some of Yemen’s most war-ravaged areas.

“We’ve hit their headquarters, we’ve hit communications nodes, weapons factories, and even some of their over-the-water drone production facilities,” Waltz said, touting the operation as a significant blow to the Houthis.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned that blocking humanitarian aid, including food, would lead to "an acute hunger crisis".

Writing on X, Philippe Lazzarini, said "banning aid is a collective punishment for Gaza", and that Palestinians in the enclave rely on imports from Israel. 

"It's been three weeks since the Israeli authorities banned the entry of supplies to Gaza. No food, no medicine, no water, no fuel," said Lazzarini.

"A tight siege longer than what was in place in the first phase of the war. The people of Gaza depend on imports via Israel for their survival. 

"Everyday that passes without the entry of aid means more children go to bed hungry, diseases spread and deprivation deepens." 

US special envoy Steve Witkoff blamed Hamas for the new round of fighting in the Gaza Strip after Israel broke the ceasefire with the Palestinian group.

"So, this is on Hamas. The United States stands with the state of Israel," Witkoff told Fox News. 

"Hamas had every opportunity to demilitarise and accept the bridging proposal, but they elected not to."

Last week, Witkoff presented a "bridge" plan, which aimed to extend the truce into April - beyond the holiest days of Ramadan and Passover - to allow for time to negotiate. 

The Israeli army said it has surrounded Rafah's Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood, after demanding Palestinian civilians flee the area. 

The military said it was expanding its "security zone" by rooting out Hamas military infrastructure and pursuing fighters in southern Gaza. 

The army, however, claimed it would still allow civilians to evacuate the area via "organised routes" without giving any further details. 

Earlier, Israel's Arabic-language spokesperson told civilians in Tal as-Sultan to leave the area by foot towards Gaza's al-Mawasi area. 

The Israeli defence ministry's rehabilitation department said it has received 16,000 soldiers since Israel began its bombardment of the Gaza Strip. 

Figures released by the defence ministry revealed that half of soldiers admitted to its rehab centre have post-traumatic stress disorder. 

Within the figures, 2,900 are suffering both physical injuries and psychological distress. Among the 16,000 soldiers, approximately 66 percent are reservists. 

Israel's security cabinet has approved a plan to separate 13 Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. 

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich celebrated the move and said the settlements would be recognised as independent from their surrounding communities. 

"We continue to lead a revolution of normalisation and regulation in the settlements. Instead of hiding and apologising – we raise the flag, build and settle. This is another important step on the path to actual sovereignty in Judea and Samaria," Smotrich said, using Israel's term for the West Bank.

"Recognising each of them as an independent settlement is an important step that will greatly assist in their advancement and development." 

The Palestinian foreign ministry criticised the move as disregarding international legitimacy and resolutions.

Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land that Israel captured in 1967. Most countries consider Israel's settlements on territory seized in the war to be illegal.

The death toll in Gaza reached a grim milestone on Sunday after the health ministry confirmed that Israeli forces had killed more than 50,000 Palestinians since October 2023.

Earlier on Sunday, the health ministry recorded 41 confirmed deaths over the last 24 hours, with 61 injured from Israeli attacks. 

The ministry added that since fighting began in the Gaza Strip, approximately 113,274 Palestinians have been wounded. 

Many fatalities, according to the ministry, are still unaccounted for due to rescuers being unable to free them from under the rubble. 

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza, now in its 534th day:

• Intense Israeli air strikes on displacement tents and homes in Rafah and Khan Younis killed at least 30 Palestinians, including children, on Sunday morning, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence.

• Israeli military vehicles advanced into the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood in Rafah, issuing displacement orders to residents and announcing the start of a large-scale military offensive.

• Contact has been lost with several Palestinian ambulances near Rafah after Israeli forces surrounded them, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

• Israeli strikes across Gaza have killed 32 people since dawn

• Since 7 October 2023 at least 49,747 Palestinians have been killed including 634 killed since Israel broke the ceasefire on 18 March. 

• More than 113,213 Palestinians have been wounded overall. At least 10,000 people are still missing, likely dead and buried under rubble.

• Israeli forces have killed Hamas Political Bureau member Salah al-Bardawil and his wife in an air strike targeting his tent in Khan Younis.

• Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement called on Hamas to relinquish power in order to safeguard the "existence" of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

• France, Germany and the UK said Israel's decision to resume air strikes on Gaza marked a "dramatic step backward" and urged Israel to return to a ceasefire.

• Israeli fighter jets are bombing several locations across southern Lebanon. 

• Israel’s assault on Lebanon has killed at least seven people and left at least 40 wounded.

Israeli forces have killed Hamas Political Bureau member Salah al-Bardawil and his wife in an air strike targeting his tent in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, reported Al Jazeera Arabic.