Live: Gaza death toll nears 50,700

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has met with Hamas officials, including Khalil al-Hayya, a senior member of the group’s political bureau, the Turkish Foreign Ministry confirms.

The talks come as efforts continue to restore the ceasefire in Gaza—shattered by Israel’s renewed assault on Tuesday.

Since then, more than 600 Palestinians, including around 200 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks.

An Israeli army drone unleashed fire on a group of people in Gaza’s Tal as-Sultan, killing at least four and wounding others, according to Wafa news agency.

The attack targeted the southern part of Gaza’s largest city, Rafah.

The UK's Foreign Minister, David Lammy, has called on “all parties to exercise restraint,” stressing that the ceasefire must pave the way for lasting peace.

Lammy described the surge in Israeli attacks on Lebanon as "alarming," adding in a social media post that “we must ensure this ceasefire agreement opens a pathway to a lasting peace.”

Israel’s military is gearing up to send more troops into Gaza within the next 48 hours, Channel 12 reports.

The move comes as Tel Aviv pushes to widen its military campaign.

Protesters gathered on Friday outside a London police station in support of an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor questioned as part of an investigation into alleged public order offences during a pro-Palestine demonstration.

Walking with the aid of a stick up the gentle slope from The Strand, and wearing a grey overcoat, a green scarf and a flat cap, Stephen Kapos smiled and waved as he passed through cheering supporters and up the steps into Charing Cross Police Station at 2.40 pm.

Supporters waved Palestinian flags and banged drums chanting "Defend Stephen Kapos". Among them was at least one other Holocaust survivor and a number of descendants of survivors who unfurled a banner which read: “Holocaust survivor descendants against genocide”.

Mark Etkind, the son of a survivor of the Lodz ghetto and the Buchenwald concentration camp, told Middle East Eye it was “absurd” that Jews such as Kapos were facing “persecution by the police” for protesting against the war in Gaza.

Etkind said: “As we speak, the ceasefire has collapsed and, if Stephen was here now, and he can’t be because he is being interviewed in that building, he would be begging the world to protest and stop this genocide because that is the prime lesson we should all learn from the Holocaust.”

Read more: Supporters cheer Holocaust survivor questioned by police over Gaza protest

Al Jazeera is reporting that Israeli strikes are targeting the Syrian village of Nadzha, south of Damascus. 

The strikes were reportedly aimed at officers' quarters and a military complex in use during the rule of Bashar al-Assad. 

The three European countries said Israel's decision to resume air strikes on Gaza marked a "dramatic step backward" and urged Israel to return to a ceasefire. 

“We are appalled by the civilian casualties and urgently call for an immediate return to a ceasefire,” the statement by France, Germany and the United Kingdom said. 

“More bloodshed is in no one's interest. Israel should fully respect international law and allow aid to flow immediately.”

The joint statement also called for all parties to return to the negotiating table. 

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. 

Speaking to AFP, Fatah spokesperson Monther al-Hayek said that "Hamas must show compassion for Gaza, its children, women and men".

"[Hamas must] step aside from governing and fully recognise that the battle ahead will lead to the end of Palestinians in Gaza," said Hayek. 

Good afternoon, 

It's just past 2 PM in Jerusalem, and here is your update on the latest developments as Israel ramps up its bombardment of the Gaza Strip. 

- The Palestinian health ministry said Gaza's death toll topped 49,700, with 130 Palestinians killed in the last 48 hours. Local health officials said 60 percent of the victims are women and children. 

- Israel launched a series of air strikes across southern Lebanon on Saturday morning.

- Local health officials in Lebanon said the Israeli strikes on the southern Lebanese village of Touline killed two people and wounded 10 others. 

- Hezbollah denied claims it had launched rockets into northern Israel and said it was committed to the ceasefire. 

Hezbollah sources denied responsibility for rocket launches from southern Lebanon towards Israel earlier today.

Speaking to Arabic media, Hezbollah sources said the group was commitment to the ceasefire. 

Israeli air strikes on the southern Lebanon village of Touline killed two people and wounded 10, according to local health officials. 

he first time I truly saw the world through my sister's eyes was in Ramallah. 

Growing up with a neurodivergent sibling, I deeply sympathised with her struggles, but there was always a barrier: I couldn't live in her world because I didn't have access to it. I simply tried to help her in any way I could. 

This changed when my family and I made the decision to move to the occupied West Bank from the US in 2021. We desperately needed a change of pace, and the quality of my sister's care was plateauing. 

By moving to Palestine, I would also be able to grow closer to my Palestinian identity, rather than being detached both physically and emotionally, as I had been for most of my life. 

The move itself came with many challenges. While I was adjusting to the new environment, I came to realise that the isolation my sister experiences on a daily basis was something I was experiencing as well. 

She lives in her own neurological world, and throughout my first year in Palestine, I felt like I had been dropped onto a foreign planet. 

I don't want to equate our circumstances, but the effects of the occupation - whether it was navigating Israeli checkpoints, days off of school to honour the staggering number of Palestinian martyrs, or losing out on educational opportunities because of flawed systems - made this sense of isolation ever-more apparent. 

Read more: How the Israeli occupation further isolates autistic children by Falasteen Mansour

Israeli fighter jets are bombing several locations across southern Lebanon, local media said. 

Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the military to strike "dozens of terror targets" in Lebanon. 

The air strikes come after rockets were fired from Lebanon at northern Israeli earlier this morning. 

Israeli forces have killed at least 130 Palestinians and wounded 263 in the last 48 hours across Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

This brings the death toll in the besieged enclave since 7 October 2023 to 49,747, 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.

Health officials report that over 60 percent of the victims are women and children.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza, now in its 533rd day: 

• Israeli bombing continued across Gaza overnight. Air strikes hit a home in eastern Gaza City on Saturday morning, killing nine people from the same family, including five children and a woman, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa. 

• At least five rockets were fired from southern Lebanon at northern Israel on Saturday, for the first time in months. There were no immediate reports of damage or causalities, and no group has claimed responsibility yet. 

• Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said the rocket fire risked "dragging the country into a new war".