Live: Major clashes break out near Bethlehem after Israeli raid

The UK government closed the final day of the judicial review into Palestine Action by presenting secret evidence, hidden from both the group’s lawyers and the public, to justify its ban on the direct-action organisation.

Following brief open-court submissions from government lawyers on Tuesday, the court asked lawyers representing Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori, as well as members of the public and journalists, to leave.

A portion of Tuesday’s hearing was held in closed session to allow the government to present material it says cannot be disclosed on national security grounds.

During these closed proceedings, known as closed material procedures (CMP), Ammori and her legal team replaced by a special advocate appointed by Ammori.

However, the special advocate is not permitted to share the government’s submissions with Ammori or her lawyers.

Read more: UK government lawyers use 'secret evidence' to justify ban on Palestine Action

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said more than 16,500 Palestinian patients still require life-saving treatment outside the Gaza Strip, underscoring the scale of Israel’s ongoing blockade on medical movement.

Despite the ceasefire announced on 10 October, Israeli forces continue military operations across Gaza, killing and injuring Palestinians on a near-daily basis. At the same time, Israeli authorities keep tight restrictions on the entry of food, medicine and essential medical supplies, deepening a humanitarian catastrophe for Gaza’s 2.4 million residents.

Hospitals, already shattered by sustained Israeli attacks, remain overwhelmed and unable to cope, as preventable deaths mount under siege-like conditions.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates from Israel's war on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank: 

• Israeli warplanes struck Rafah and Khan Younis this morning, carrying out attacks inside the so-called “yellow line” despite its supposed restricted status.

• The Palestinian Information Centre reported that Israeli troops detonated a booby-trapped robot near the al-Sanafour area in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City, spreading fear among residents.

• An Israeli drone strike on Khan Younis on Tuesday killed Palestinian photojournalist Mahmoud Wadi and wounded journalist Muhammad Abdel Fattah Aslih.

• Health workers in Gaza warned that hospitals continue to face severe shortages of medicine and vital equipment, despite the claimed seven-week ceasefire.

• Israeli forces stormed Hebron in the occupied southern West Bank, raiding neighbourhoods and carrying out arrests during pre-dawn and morning operations.

US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz will be the latest member of the Trump administration to visit Israel next week, The Times of Israel reported on Tuesday.

He will be accompnied by his Israeli counterpart Danny Danone.

Multiple members of the administration have visited Israel since the ceasefire went into effect in October.

The UK government closed the final day of the judicial review into Palestine Action by presenting secret evidence, hidden from both the group’s lawyers and the public, to justify its ban on the direct-action organisation.

Following brief open-court submissions from government lawyers on Tuesday, the court asked lawyers representing Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori, as well as members of the public and journalists, to leave.

A portion of Tuesday’s hearing was held in closed session to allow the government to present material it says cannot be disclosed on national security grounds.

During these closed proceedings, known as closed material procedures (CMP), Ammori and her legal team replaced by a special advocate appointed by Ammori.

However, the special advocate is not permitted to share the government’s submissions with Ammori or her lawyers.

You can read more here. 

A mass wedding took place in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, AFP reported.

The event took place outdoors with 54 couples participating in the mass wedding.

“It’s hard to experience joy after such sorrow,” one of the brides, who had lost her mother, father and other family members, told AFP.

The wedding was funded by a humanitarian aid organisation.

Israeli police said on Tuesday they had received from Hamas remains that are of one of the last two deceased captives in the Gaza Strip. 

The last two remaining captives are Israeli Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak. The remains will be identified at the country's forensic institute. 

As part of the ceasefire deal, Hamas is expected to return the bodies of 28 captives in exchange for 360 deceased Palestinians held by Israel. Israel should have returned 390 Palestinians, but has estimated to have returned 345 only so far. Many of the deceased showed signs of mutilation or torture.

Only 99 of the Palestinians returned have been identified so far, since Israel has not provided details of those whom it has returned, and Gaza does not have a forensic institute. 

Two French journalist unions filed a legal case against Israel for obstructing the work of their journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, AFP reported on Tuesday.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the French Journalists' Union filed the complaint with the Paris anti-terror prosecutor's office last week, accusing Israel of "obstructing the freedom to inform".

The complaint mentioned a journalist being pursued by around 50 Israelis armed with "guns, cans of petrol and sticks" while reporting in the West Bank, all in the presence of the Israeli army.

Israel has not allowed international journalists into the Gaza Strip since the start of the war in October 2023, except when embedded with Israeli forces.

IFJ general secretary Anthony Bellanger said, "For more than two years, the IFJ has been calling for the borders to be opened to the foreign press so that they can relieve our colleagues who are exhausted by two years of war."

Israeli Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli told the audience at the Israel Hayom conference in New York City on Monday that he believed conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson was being paid to push Sharia law.

He said, "I believe Tucker is being paid to push Sharia Law."

He then said that Israel should fight those financing antisemites and claimed Qatar was paying influencers like Carlson.

Israel's High Court of Justice on Tuesday ordered Defence Minister Israel Katz and attorney general Gali Baharav-Miara to provide an explanation as to why they do not have a policy in place to draft Palestinian citizens of Israel into the army or assign them mandatory civilian service.

The order came after a petition filed by ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) citizen Mordechai Yair Balens asked why the court plans to force the government to begin drafting yeshiva students, but grants an exemption for Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Israel's air force killed three Palestinians who crossed the yellow line in the "buffer zone" in Gaza, agreed upon as part of the ceasefire, in the southern and northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

According to a response shared by Haaretz, the military said the Palestinians posed "an immediate threat" to Israeli troops so "the IAF eliminated the terrorists".

Israeli troops also killed three Palestinians yesterday, trying to cross the yellow line, and accused them of being "terrorists". The buffer zone forms up to a third of the Gaza Strip, and Palestinians have been desperately trying to return to their homes.

Israeli soldiers have killed three people in Gaza since Tuesday morning, including photojournalist Mohammad Wadi.

A children’s colouring book on the history and culture of Palestine has been removed from a German book chain, it was reported on Tuesday. 

“From the River to the Sea”, by South African author and illustrator Nathi Ngubane, was removed by Hugendubel, one of the largest book retailers in Germany. 

Following a request for comment by Judische Allgemeine, a Jewish weekly newspaper, Hugendubel said the book was "removed immediately upon learning of its existence".

“We deeply regret that this literature was available at Hugendubel,” a spokesperson said.

“Hugendubel pursues a philosophy characterised by diversity, freedom of expression, and democratic thinking. We unequivocally distance ourselves from the stance expressed in these and other titles containing this opinion.”

Reacting to the removal by Hugendubel, the book's publisher Social Bandit Media wrote: "The book is an educational tool that pushes back against Zionist narratives. And it has only faced push back from Zionists".

The title of the book is based on the decades-old chant "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free", widely used by pro-Palestinian campaigners.

The phrase has featured prominently and historically in pro-Palestinian movements, but has recently come under renewed criticism with pro-Israeli advocates arguing that it implies the destruction of Israel.

Palestinian advocates however stress the slogan refers to the political and geographic landscape and is a call for equality and for the freedom of Palestinian people. 

In June 2024, South Africa's biggest bookstore chain pulled the book from sales, sparking protests online. The book was subsequently returned to shelves.

Earlier this year, the book was one of eight books confiscated by the Israeli police during its raid of the Educational Bookshop in occupied East Jerusalem.

It was also singled out by French media, politicians and social media users after the book was translated and appeared in a bookstore in France. 

French channel CNews decried the book as "teaching kids to hate Israel", while Europe 1 labelled its title a "Hamas slogan".

Amid the backlash, some elected officials voiced their support for the bookstore, with Paris's deputy mayor, Jean-Luc Romero-Michel, posting on X: "Full support to the Violette and Co bookstore, which is currently facing a campaign of intimidation and harassment for placing a colouring book on Palestine in its window."

A US-based group which successfully forced International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan to recuse himself from an investigation into Venezuela urged the Trump administration to sanction ICC judges and accused Khan of “acting in unprecedented haste” in seeking an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister.

Khan was ordered by the court to step back from his office’s investigation into alleged crimes against humanity in Venezuela in August following a complaint of a conflict of interest by the Washington-based Arcadia Foundation which was upheld by the ICC’s appeals chamber.

That ruling could now have a bearing on the prosecutor’s investigation into Israeli leaders because the same court is currently considering a similar complaint by Israel calling for Khan to be removed and for warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant to be dropped because of questions, according to Israel's submission to the court, about Khan’s impartiality.

Arcadia, which is recognised by the ICC as an organisation representing Venezuelan victims, accused Khan of a conflict of interest because his sister-in-law, Venkateswari Alagendra, is part of the legal team representing the Venezuelan government and has worked with the prosecutor in previous cases.

In February the ICC's appeals chamber initially dismissed the complaint. Responding to the ruling on social media, Arcadia's CEO, Robert Carmona-Borjas, said he would write to the Trump administration to call on it to sanction the judges who voted to dismiss it. His comments came days after the US had imposed sanctions on Khan and threatened further measures against the court and its officials.

You can read more here.

Israeli soldiers raided the home of Palestinian teenager Muhannad Tariq al-Zghayir on Tuesday after they shot and killed him earlier in the day, according to Wafa news agency.

Israeli forces stormed al-Zghayir's home in Hebron, forced family members and those mourning out, and confiscated some of the family's belongings.