Live: At least 75 killed in Israeli strikes on second day of Eid al-Adha

The families of around 1,700 Palestinian prisoners have said that their monthly payments from the Palestinian Authority have stopped, the New Arab is reporting.

Citing Palestinian sources, the report said the decision to cut the payments was taken by the Ministry of Finance and Palestinian security services.

The move follows a decree issued by President Mahmoud Abbas to cancel payments to the families of those killed by Israel or held in Israeli prisons.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has accused Israel of allowing only a limited amount of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as “a smokescreen to pretend the siege is over”.

“As people remain in desperate need of medical care and assistance, Israeli authorities must stop the deliberate asphyxiation of Gaza and the annihilation of its healthcare system, which is underpinning their campaign of ethnic cleansing,” MSF said in a statement on Tuesday.

While Israeli authorities claimed that 100 aid trucks entered the besieged enclave on Wednesday, Reuters reported that aid officials and local sources said supplies had not reached Gaza’s soup kitchens, bakeries, markets, or hospitals.

“None of this aid - which is a very limited number of trucks - has reached the Gaza population,” said Antoine Renard, country director for the World Food Programme.

Renard added that thousands of tonnes of food and other essentials are currently waiting near the crossing points into Gaza. However, without proper distribution, approximately a quarter of the population remains at risk of famine.

Read more: Israel using limited Gaza aid as 'smokescreen' to continue siege, says MSF

Bloomberg is reporting that France and Saudi Arabia are working on a plan for the disarmament of Hamas.

Sources involved in the discussions told Bloomberg that according to the plan, Hamas would still maintain some political power in Gaza.

According to the report, the Saudis have presented the proposal to Hamas, although its unclear if French officials have contacted the group.

In April, Haaretz reported that French President Emmanuel Macron was making significant efforts to advance a ceasefire deal. Part of this was a push for normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The Israeli army re-arrested seven Palestinians on Thursday across the occupied West Bank, all of whom had been released as part of the most recent prisoner exchange deal with Hamas in February.

Six of the prisoners were detained in Qalqilya, with the seventh apprehended in Ramallah.

They were taken to undisclosed locations, and neither their whereabouts nor the circumstances of their detention have been made public.

In recent months, Israeli soldiers have re-arrested 13 Palestinians previously freed under the February agreement. 

Seven remain in custody, including one woman, while six have been placed under administrative detention  - a controversial Israeli practice whereby individuals are held without charge or trial, with the possibility of indefinite renewal. 

Read more: Israel re-arrests Palestinians freed in latest exchange deal with Hamas 

Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups have confirmed the death of  33-year-old Palestinian detainee Amro Hatem Odeh in Israeli custody.

In a joint statement, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said that Odeh had died on 13 December 2023 at the notorious Israeli Sde Teiman prison.

According to the statement, Odeh, who was married with three children, was detained along with his family from their home in Gaza at the beginning of the Israeli forces' ground invasion of the territory on 7 December 2023.

The organisations said that Odeh's death brought the total number of detainees killed in Israeli custody since Israel's war on Gaza began in October 2023 to 70, including 40 from Gaza.

The Israeli military has issued forced expulsion orders for residents of large areas of northern Gaza, including Beit Lahiya and the Jabalia refugee camp.

An army spokesperson warned that the areas are now "considered dangerous combat zones", as the Israeli army is set to "significantly expand its military activity in the areas”.

Austria’s Eurovision champion JJ has called for Israel to be banned from the 2026 contest in Vienna, citing its war on Gaza, widely described by rights groups and legal scholars as a genocide.

JJ, whose real name is Johannes Pietsch, told El Pais on Thursday it was “very disappointing” to see Israel still included, adding: “I would like the next Eurovision to be held in Vienna and without Israel.”

The 2025 contest, despite Eurovision’s claims of neutrality, was steeped in controversy because Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, including at least 16,500 children.

Speaking to international media just days after his victory in Basel with the song Wasted Love, JJ joined a growing chorus demanding accountability from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

“There should be greater transparency regarding the televoting. This year, everything was very strange about it,” he told El Pais.

Read more: Austrian Eurovision winner says Israel should be barred from 2026 contest

The death toll of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 2023 has reached 53,762, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced on Thursday.

It added that another 122,197 people have been wounded, as air strikes and ground attacks continue to devastate neighbourhoods across the Strip.

At least 107 Palestinians have been killed and 247 wounded over the past 24 hours, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Thursday, as Israeli attacks on the enclave continue.

The ministry has warned that ongoing bombardment, coupled with severe shortages of medical supplies and fuel, has pushed Gaza’s health system towards collapse.

Hospitals remain overwhelmed, with doctors treating the wounded in corridors and operating without anaesthesia in some cases, according to reports.

Leading British Jewish journalists have signed a letter calling on Israel to allow foreign media access to the Gaza Strip.

The letter, signed by ITV political editor Robert Peston and The News Agents hosts Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel among others, also criticised Egypt's restrictions on access through the Rafah crossing.

"We note that local media have done an extraordinary job reporting on events while themselves being displaced, hungry and at constant risk, but they should not carry this burden alone," reads the letter, printed in the trade magazine Press Gazette on Thursday.

"As journalists and editors, who are also Jews, we see Israel’s and Egypt’s refusal to allow such access as unjustified and unjustifiable, and as an unacceptable restriction on our professional responsibility to inform readers, viewers and listeners accurately and impartially."

Since the beginning of the war on Gaza in October 2023, Israel has prevented foreign media access to the enclave with the exception of a small number of heavily controlled and curated trips.

Read more: British Jewish journalists call for Israel to allow media access to Gaza

At least 29 children have died in recent days due to starvation in Gaza, said Palestinian health officials, as the humanitarian crisis deepens under Israel’s ongoing blockade and bombardment.

“In the last couple of days, we lost 29 children,” Palestinian health minister Majed Abu Ramadan told reporters on Thursday, describing the deaths as “starvation-related”, Reuters reported. 

Liam O'Hanna, a member of the prominent Irish rap trio Kneecap, has been charged with a terrorism offence in the UK.

O'Hanna, 27, is charged with displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a concert in northwest London's O2 Forum last November.

This comes after Kneecap were filmed displaying graphics saying "Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people" and "Fuck Israel, Free Palestine" at the Coachella festival in California.

But the group has repeatedly denied supporting Hezbollah or Hamas, which are proscribed organisations in the UK.

It is a crime under British law to express support for either group.

Read more: Kneecap rapper charged with terrorism offence over alleged Hezbollah flag at gig

Austria’s Eurovision champion JJ has publicly called for Israel to be banned from the 2026 edition of the contest, set to take place in Vienna, citing Israel’s war on Gaza, which has been described by international human rights organisations as a "genocide".

“It is very disappointing to see Israel still participating in the contest. I would like the next Eurovision to be held in Vienna and without Israel,” JJ told El País in an interview published on Thursday.

Despite Eurovision's claims of political neutrality, the 2025 contest was mired in controversy due to Israel’s inclusion, with critics citing its military campaign in the enclave that has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including more than 16,500 children. 

The singer also criticised Eurovision’s voting process, calling for reform to increase transparency.

Though El País did not reference the war in Gaza directly, JJ’s remarks echo similar calls by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to bar Israel from international cultural events.

A UK government spokesperson has confirmed to Middle East Eye that Britain has helped more than 500 individuals escape Israel’s war on Gaza, including British citizens and eligible Palestinians.

“As of January, the UK government has helped 505 people leave Gaza since October 2023, including British nationals and their immediate family members and Palestinian nationals who qualified under our extended eligibility criteria,” the statement said.

"Of the 505 people, 306 are British nationals and their Palestinian dependents; 38 are Palestinian nationals who qualified under the extended eligibility criteria published on 14 December 2023," it added.

Despite Israel’s decision to shut down the border crossings in May last year, the UK said it managed to secure the departure of 21 more individuals - most of them children - since the start of October 2024.

Gaza remains under complete siege, with residents trapped under Israeli bombardment and aid blocked at crossing points.

The UK has done little to press its ally Israel to relieve the scale of human suffering caused by the months-long assault, and has supplied Israel with weapons, intelligence and diplomatic cover for its war on Gaza.

Yemen’s Houthi movement continues its attacks on Israel in defiance of ongoing Israeli air raids on Yemeni territory.

Israel’s military claimed it intercepted two missiles fired from Yemen, triggering sirens across the country, including in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

The alert comes as Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree announced that a ballistic missile was launched at Ben Gurion Airport, along with two drones targeting the Tel Aviv area.

Despite an agreement with Washington to halt attacks on US ships in the Red Sea, the Houthis have said that they will continue to "target" Israel. "We will keep targeting Israel," Saree said, reaffirming their stated support for Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel has struck Yemen repeatedly, damaging infrastructure and targeting key ports, including recent assaults on Sanaa’s airport and the Red Sea facilities in Hodeidah and Salif.

Since Israel's war on Gaza began in October 2023, the Houthis have launched numerous missile and drone attacks aimed at Israel.