Live: Gaza death toll nears 50,700

Israeli air strikes targeted a home in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood in the north of the enclave, killing at least nine people and injuring 15, according to Al Jazeera.

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel's resumption of the war on 18 March.

War has left Gaza littered with unexploded bombs that will take years to clear, with children drawn to metal casings maimed or even killed when they try to pick them up, a demining expert said.

Nicholas Orr, a former UK military deminer, told AFP after a mission to the war-battered Palestinian territory that "we're losing two people a day to UXO (unexploded ordnance) at the moment".

According to Orr, who was in Gaza for charity Handicap International, most of the casualties are children out of school, desperate for something to do, searching through the rubble of bombed-out buildings sometimes for lack of better playthings.

Orr said that while no one is safe from the threat posed by unexploded munitions, children are especially vulnerable.

"You pick that up and that detonates. That's you and your family gone, and the rest of your building."

The Israeli military has carried out more attacks on the town of Naqoura in southern Lebanon, including a strike on a home in the town centre, and a second on the town’s outskirts, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are some of the latest updates on Israel’s war on Gaza and the occupied West Bank:

• The UN deputy humanitarian aid chief Joyce Msuya told the UN’s Security Council on Wednesday that Gaza is the world’s most dangerous place for aid workers, with more than 408 killed since Israel launched its war on the territory.

• Two Hamas officials have accused Israel of “blocking a proposal from Egypt and Qatar and trying to derail any agreement” as they refuse a counter-offer for a ceasefire deal, according to AFP.

• Israeli attacks across Gaza have killed at least 24 Palestinians overnight, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. The military helicopters and jet fighters continued to pound Gaza City in predawn strikes.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in Hungary on the invitation of the Hungarian government, defying an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant seeking his arrest over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

• The Israeli military’s latest attacks on targets in Syria’s Daraa governorate have killed at least 11 people, according to the Al-Aqsa news network and the Palestinian Information Center, citing Syrian sources.

• The Israeli military has carried out numerous raids across the occupied West Bank in the early hours of the morning.

• The Israeli military has carried out three air strikes on the town of Naqoura in southern Lebanon, according to the Quds News Network.

• US fighter jets have killed one person in Yemen amid renewed air strikes that targeted several locations, including a communications network in Jabal Namah, in the Jablah district of the Ibb governorate.

Our live blog is now closed until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

- More than 70 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday in the deadliest day yet since Israel resumed its war on Gaza on 18 March. Targets included an Unrwa-run clinic, where several children were killed, as well members of the Gaza police force.

- Hamas decided not to respond or engage with Israel's counter proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, an official told Reuters on Wednesday, affirming it is committed to the mediators' plan instead.

- A map drawn up by Israeli forces shows plans to cut off Rafah from the rest of the enclave. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has referred to the demarcation line as "Philadelphi II," as it mirrors the Philadelphi Corridor between Israel and Egypt right below it. 

- The Turkish foreign ministry warned that Israel's plans to expand military operations across Gaza are "yet another demonstration of Israel's blatant disregard for international law and its complete detachment from the pursuit of peace".

- The Egyptian foreign ministry said it "expresses its utter condemnation and denunciation" of Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, for his "storming of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque [on Wednesday], under the protection of the Israeli police".

- Israel has bombed a scientific research centre in Syria, in the Damascus suburb of Barzeh, local media said. Shortly after, Israeli fighter jets could be seen in the skies over Hama, where the military airport was targeted by an air strike, local media said.

- UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Margaret Satterthwaite, denounced the visit by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hungary, a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and demanded he be arrested. 

A US air strike on a telecom facility in Jablah in Yemen's Ibb Governorate has killed at least one person, according to the Yemeni health ministry. 

In a statement on X, the spokesperson for the ministry identified the victim as Abdul Wasie Abdul Wahab Zaher. 

Nighttime US bombing raids have continued across Yemen for a third consecutive week. 

An Israeli air strike on a tent area sheltering displaced Palestinians west of Khan Younis has killed at least one person, and wounded several others, local sources said. 

The attack brings the total number of Palestinians killed on Wednesday to at least 72.

It is the deadliest day since Israel resumed its war on the Strip on 18 March. 

US Senator Bernie Sanders said that on Thursday that he will be forcing a vote to block offensive weapons transfers to Israel.

The joint resolutions of disapproval (JRD) have virtually no chance of passing as the Senate is led by Republicans, but they do compel lawmakers to go on the record about their position on some of the most destructive weapons in the world being used to kill civilians. 

"The Netanyahu government has killed 50,000 people in Gaza & wounded 112,000. Two weeks ago, they broke the ceasefire and have since killed 322 children & wounded 600," Sanders, who is an Independent, wrote on X.

"The US must end its complicity. Tomorrow, I will force votes to block $8.8 billion in arm sales to Netanyahu."

Hamas decided not to respond or engage with Israel's counter proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, an official told Reuters on Wednesday, affirming it is committed to the mediators' plan instead.

Israel said on 29 March that it conveyed to the mediators a counter-proposal in full coordination with the US, after Hamas agreed to a proposal it received from mediators Egypt and Qatar.

- Reporting by Reuters

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his Bahraini counterpart, Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani, in Washington on Wednesday for a discussion that centred on building on the Abraham Accords, as well as countering "Houthi threats".

A State Department readout of the meeting highlighted the "close security cooperation, our shared commitment to safeguarding maritime security and freedom of navigation against Houthi threats, and a shared commitment to peace", and said the two leaders agreed that the Abraham Accords are "platforms for joint deterrence, diplomacy, security, and regional integration". 

The Accords were signed in 2020 under the first Trump administration, and normalised relations between Bahrain and Israel. 

Aljazeera's Gaza correspondent has shared a map drawn up by Israeli forces showing plans to cut off Rafah from the rest of the enclave.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has referred to the demarcation line as "Philadelphi II," as it mirrors the Philadelphi Corridor between Israel and Egypt right below it. 

Israel has bombed a scientific research centre in Syria, in the Damascus suburb of Barzeh, local media said on Wednesday. 

Shortly after, Israeli fighter jets could be seen in the skies over Hama, where the military airport was targeted by an air strike, local media said.

Videos are circulating online on Wednesday showing Jewish students at Columbia University in New York having chained themselves to the university gates in protest against the detention of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.

Khalil is a recent graduate and green card holder who was arrested and detained last month for what US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described as views antithetical to US foreign policy. 

The students are demanding to know the name of the board trustee whom they say reported Khalil to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

Jewish students are chained to Columbia University gates demanding the name of the trustee that reported Mahmoud Khalil to ICE. Dozens of NYPD officers are here. https://t.co/Nv3h6hSHYG pic.twitter.com/dOumsg5FiY

— Layla 🪬 (@itslaylas) April 2, 2025

BREAKING: Columbia University students have CHAINED THEMSELVES to St Paul's Chapel Gate at Columbia University, demanding accountability from trustees who assisted in arrest of Mahmoud Khalil.

Video by Anna Oakes (@FreedomNTV)
Desk@freedomnews.tv to license pic.twitter.com/ZvaPMaIG5j

— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) April 2, 2025

The Egyptian foreign ministry said it "expresses its utter condemnation and denunciation" of Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, for his "storming of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque [on Wednesday], under the protection of the Israeli police".

For decades, a delicate status quo has governed worship and visits to the site, permitting only Muslims to pray in its courtyards and prayer halls.

However, Israel has long ignored this delicate arrangement between Jordan, the custodian of Islamic and Christian sites in Jerusalem, and Israel, and bypassed the Waqf.

"This act of provocation and unacceptable incitement of Muslims around the world on the third day of Eid al-Fitr is an unacceptable provocation and incitement of the feelings of Muslims around the world," the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement posted to X.

"These extremist Israeli measures constitute a flagrant violation of international law and a major source of instability in the region. Egypt warns against the continuation of this highly provocative and reckless approach, emphasising the need to preserve the legal and historical status of the religious holy sites in Jerusalem." 

The Turkish foreign ministry on Wednesday warned that Israel's plans to expand military operations across Gaza are "yet another demonstration of Israel's blatant disregard for international law and its complete detachment from the pursuit of peace".

"The international community must take a firm stance to protect holy sites, prevent further provocations, and end Israel's efforts to expand its territory through occupation," the statement on X said. 

Regarding the Escalating Aggression of the Israeli Government https://t.co/F7zYx20gj3 pic.twitter.com/reSoSdgUFk

— Turkish MFA (@MFATurkiye) April 2, 2025