Israel killed over 50,600 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023
Netanyahu to visit White House on Monday: senior US official
UN warns of 'desperation' in Gaza as aid supplies dry up
Yemen's Houthi leader vows to continue targeting US warships
For our live updates from Friday, April 4, click here
The Israeli army said it launched a military offensive in the so-called “Morag Axis” in southern Gaza, a move Palestinian authorities say is part of a broader plan to entrench Israeli occupation and divide the coastal enclave.
The Morag Axis, a strategic corridor separating the southern Gaza cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, has become the latest flashpoint in Israel’s war on the territory.
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted photos on X, claiming they show “initial operations carried out by the 36th Division forces in the Morag Axis.” He stated the division had resumed operations in Gaza and was now active in the corridor for the first time, operating “in coordination with actions on other fronts inside and outside the Strip.”
US warplanes carried out air strikes on Saada city in northern Yemen, targeting a shop and a nearby house, Houthi-affiliated media reported.
Al-Masirah TV channel reported via its Telegram channel that "American aggressive forces" conducted four airstrikes targeting the Hafsin neighborhood in the west of Saada city.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he would hold a trilateral summit on the situation in Gaza with Egypt President Abdel Fattah el Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah II.
"In response to the Gaza emergency and during my visit to Egypt at President el Sisi's invitation, we will hold a trilateral summit with the Egyptian president and the King of Jordan," Macron wrote on X ahead of his trip.
Palestine said that video footage showing the execution of 15 paramedics and aid workers in Rafah, southern Gaza, refutes Israeli forces' claims that ambulances were not randomly targeted.
In an official statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said a video posted by an American newspaper documenting the deliberate execution of 15 emergency and relief workers in March disproves Israeli claims that it did not randomly attack ambulances or recognise them due to a lack of lights or emergency signals.
At least 27 Palestinians were killed in multiple Israeli strikes across Gaza, medical sources said, as the Israeli army continued demolishing residential buildings in western Rafah.
In the latest air strikes, three Palestinians were killed in Shujaiya neighbourhood, east of Gaza City, after being targeted by an Israeli drone strike, medical sources told Anadolu Agency.
Hamas's armed wing released a video showing two Israeli hostages alive in Gaza, speaking to the camera and describing how they had survived an Israeli strike.
The Qassam Brigades released the more than two-minute clip, in which one of the two men appears with his right cheek and right hand bandaged.
“Forgive me, Mother… this is the path I chose to help people. The (Israeli) army has arrived.” These were the scattered and broken last words uttered by Palestinian paramedic Rifaat Radwan as he documented his final moments before being executed by the Israeli army along with 14 of his colleagues on March 23 in Rafah's Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood, in southern Gaza.
The 6 minutes and 42 seconds long video was retrieved by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society from Radwan’s phone after his body was recovered from a mass grave where the Israeli army had buried the bodies of ambulance and civil defence crews in an attempt to cover up its horrific and deliberate crime.
Throughout the video, the sound of intense gunfire targeting the medical and civil defence teams can be heard for over five minutes, amid the screams of some and pleas for help, while others could be heard uttering the Islamic declaration of faith (Shahada).
At least 22 Palestinians were killed in multiple Israeli strikes across Gaza, medical sources said, as the Israeli army continued demolishing residential buildings in western Rafah.
In the latest air strikes, six Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack targeting a group of people in the Qizan Abu Rashwan area, south of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, medical sources told Anadolu Agency.
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas condemned continuous Israeli crimes against children in Gaza.
“Approximately 1,100 children have been detained by the Israeli army since October 7, 2023, and around 39,000 others have lost one or both parents due to the violence,” Hamas said in a statement on the occasion of Palestinian Children's Day, observed annually on April 5.
Hamas condemned the “deliberate killing, detention, and torture of children, as well as the deprivation of their basic human rights,” describing these actions as a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”
It warned that Israel’s “impunity encourages further escalation of crimes against Palestinian children.”
Hundreds protested in Stockholm, Sweden, against US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to forcibly remove Palestinians from Gaza.
