Live: Gaza death toll nears 50,700
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Here are the day's key developments:
- The Israeli defence minister warned Hamas on Friday that the army will permanently seize and annex territory in Gaza if captives are not released.
- The Israeli military issued a new evacuation warning for part of the northern Gaza Strip, claiming it to be where the intercepted rockets were launched from on Friday.
- The Israeli military also said on Friday that it killed the head of Hamas's military intelligence in southern Gaza on Thursday. In a statement, the military named the Hamas leader as Osama Tabash. It said he was also the head of the surveillance and targeting unit.
- US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has suggested Hamas could remain in Gaza for a short period if it agreed to disarm. But ultimately, he added, Gaza cannot be run by a "terrorist organisation."
- One of the largest providers of food aid in Gaza warned on Friday that it has only enough flour left to last six more days. "We can stretch that by giving people less, but we are talking days - not weeks," said Sam Rose of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa).
- Columbia University in New York City announced on Friday that it would abide by all of the Trump administration's demands in order to maintain $400m in federal funding. The administration said it aims to prevent what it called "antisemitic violence and harassment" on campus, following weeks of pro-Palestine protests and encampments last year.
US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has suggested Hamas could remain in Gaza for a short period if it agreed to disarm. But ultimately, he added, Gaza cannot be run by a "terrorist organisation."
The comments came in a wide-ranging interview that was broadcast late Friday on the YouTube channel of former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson.
"We're in a negotiation right now to maybe stop some of these Israeli strikes and maybe finish this conflict with dialogue," Witkoff said of the "bridging proposal" currently being reviewed.On Qatar, a key mediator in the Gaza ceasefire talks, Witkoff said the negotiators are "well-motivated" and "good, decent people."
A spokesperson for the Israeli military late on Friday said the Israeli Air Force intercepted a missile launched from Yemen before it entered Israeli airspace.
#عاجل اعترض سلاح الجو صاروخًا أطلق من اليمن قبل ان يخترق الاجواء الاسرائيلية
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) March 21, 2025
Columbia University in New York City announced on Friday that it would abide by all of the Trump administration's demands in order to maintain $400m in federal funding.
The administration said it aims to prevent what it called "antisemitic violence and harassment" on campus, following weeks of pro-Palestine protests and encampments last year.
Among its demands were the prohibition of face coverings on campus, an increase in "internal" law enforcement, an overhaul of the Columbia admissions process, and the placing of the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department into something called "academic receivership" which would mean the university would not have sole authority over it.
The Quds News Network is reporting Israeli air strikes on Gaza City in the north, and Deir al-Balah in the centre of the strip late on Friday evening.
Earlier in the day, an Israeli military spokesperson warned residents to leave parts of those areas, suggesting the bombardment would intensify.
Hamas said on Friday it is reviewing the so-called "bridging proposal" from US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, as Israel intensifies its siege and bombardment of Gaza.
The sticking point for Hamas appears to be the captive swaps, given the US-Israeli proposal aimed to have all the captives held in Gaza released at once.
The Reuters news agency cited a Palestinian official on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity, who said that Egypt also put forward a "bridging proposal" but Hamas had yet to respond. No details were made available.
Canada on Friday allocated $20.7m (or CDN 29.7m) for what it described as "life-saving assistance" in Lebanon, including food, medical and health services, shelter and clean water.
The funding will come through "experienced humanitarian partners, including UN, the Red Cross and NGOs," Global Affairs Canada said in a statement.
"Canada remains firm in calling for all parties to respect the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire agreement, ensure a complete cessation of hostilities and uphold international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians," the statement continued.
"Canada also calls for the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2286 to ensure the protection of humanitarian and medical personnel and allow them to continue to deliver life-saving assistance to those in need."
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 up the gentle slope from the Strand with the aid of a stick 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 chanted, “Stop bombing Gaza, we have the right to protest.”
Read more: Police accused of 'persecution' as 87-year-old Stephen Kapos is interviewed as part of investigation
The Israeli military said on Friday that it killed the head of Hamas's military intelligence in southern Gaza on Thursday.
In a statement, the military named the Hamas leader as Osama Tabash. It said he was also the head of the surveillance and targeting unit.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
- Reporting by Reuters
Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations Riyadh Mansour slammed the international community on Friday for failing to hold Israel accountable for the resumption of the full-scale war on Gaza and its military invasion of parts of the West Bank.
"The Israeli plan relies on its assumption that it will not face a decisive international response and clear consequences for its crimes and unlawful actions. So when you reiterate the principles, they take note and they continue with their illegal action," Mansour told a meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York.
"Israel's goal has always been maximum Palestinian land with minimum Palestinians," he said.
"Confronted with this unprecedented Israeli escalation, there must be an unprecedented escalation of international measures and response. If you do not escalate your action - concrete action in upholding international law, defending Security Council resolutions and UN resolutions - Israel is not going to change its behaviour," Mansour stressed.
The Israeli army issued a new evacuation warning for part of the northern Gaza Strip, claiming it to be where rockets were launched from today.
#عاجل ‼️ إلى جميع سكان قطاع غزة المتواجدين في المنطقة المحددة في منطقة السلاطين والكرامة والعودة - هذا انذار مسبق وأخير قبل الغارة!
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) March 21, 2025
⭕️تعود المنظمات الإرهابية وتطلق قذائفها الصاروخية من بين المدنيين.
⭕️لقد حذرنا هذه المنطقة مرات عديدة.
⭕️من أجل سلامتكم عليكم الانتقال بشكل فوري… pic.twitter.com/dQrAHjqn1H
Israel's military said it intercepted two projectiles fired from northern Gaza on Friday after air raid sirens sounded in the southern city of Ashkelon.
"Following the sirens that sounded at 1630 (1430 GMT) in Ashkelon, two projectiles that were fired from northern Gaza were intercepted by the IAF (air force)", a military statement said.
The chair of the UK's Foreign Affairs Select Committee has rebuked Israel's ambassador and accused the Israeli government of refusing to honour its initial ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
Labour MP Emily Thornberry said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resumed the war on Gaza because he is "clinging on to power by his fingernails".
Thornberry made the remarks in response to an interview given by Israel's ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, who told Sky News on Thursday that Israel had "no other choice" but to resume its bombardment of Gaza this week.
READ MORE: Emily Thornberry rebukes Israel's ambassador, says Israel broke ceasefire deal
Israeli forces have blown up the Turkish Friendship Hospital in central Gaza, local media has reported.
The hospital was reportedly dedicated to cancer patients.
BREAKING: Israeli occupation forces blow up the Turkish Friendship Hospital in central Gaza, the only hospital available for treatment of cancer patients in the enclave. pic.twitter.com/P0OlowhJNq
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) March 21, 2025
Argentina is “now more ready than ever” to host the World Cup, the president of Fifa said in March 1976, just two days after the country’s military had overthrown Isabel Peron’s government in a US-backed coup and inaugurated almost a decade of bloody dictatorship.
At least 30,000 people were “disappeared” by Jorge Rafael Videla’s junta, but this appeared of little concern to football’s international governing body. After the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, it elevated the tournament’s leading organiser - Navy Vice Admiral Carlos Lacoste - to Fifa’s vice presidency.
Later this month, Israel’s football team is scheduled to begin its campaign to qualify for the 2026 World Cup in North America.
As Fifa continues to resist mounting calls for the national side to be suspended from the competition, retracing the association’s dark history serves to illuminate its role in offering legitimacy to the oppressor as an instrument of the imperial international order.
READ MORE: From Chile to Gaza, Fifa is complicit in crimes against humanity
