Official Israeli data presented revealed that only 232 Haredi (ultra-Orthodox Jewish) men responded to 18,915 military draft orders issued in recent weeks, underscoring persistent refusal to serve in the Israeli army, according to a Knesset statement.

Col Avigdor Dickstein, head of the Haredi branch in the Israeli army’s Personnel Directorate, shared these figures with the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee.

“Out of 18,915 draft orders issued recently, only 232 Haredim responded, while 1,840 ignored the summons, 962 were declared draft dodgers, and 68 were exempted for various reasons,” he said, citing the Knesset release.

Dickstein pointed out that the army set a goal of recruiting 4,800 Haredi soldiers in 2024 and 2025 but has only enlisted 1,721, and according to the Knesset statement, "This number is insufficient and does not meet the significant operational need."

The Israeli army killed at least 28 more Palestinians in air strikes on Gaza, medical and local sources said.

A medical source said eight people lost their lives when an Israeli warplane hit a home in the Shujaiya neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City.

Ten people were also killed in a strike that targeted a school sheltering displaced people in the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood, northeastern Gaza City, according to the Civil Defense.

Six more people were killed and several others were injured in Israeli airstrikes on homes in the town of Jabalia in northern Gaza, it added.

Yemen’s Houthi group claimed to have launched missile and drone attacks on Israeli targets, including a hypersonic ballistic missile strike on Haifa amid rising regional escalation over the ongoing war in Gaza.

Military spokesman Yahya Saree said Houthi forces fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at a “vital target” in Haifa in northern Israel.

He said the missile hit its target, with Israeli air defences failing to intercept it.

An Israeli air strike on a school sheltering displaced families in northern Gaza killed at least 10 people, while another hit a children's hospital, medics said, as three European leaders called on Israel to end its blockade on aid.

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to topple the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if the army does not occupy Gaza and rule it militarily.

In a statement, Smotrich said that the Israeli premier "is ultimately responsible" for handling the Israeli war on Gaza.

“Launch a campaign to defeat Hamas, occupy Gaza, and implement a temporary military government until another solution is found, return the hostages and launch the Trump plan – or this government has no right to exist,” he said.

The extremist minister also defended his position, supporting a ban on the entry of aid into Gaza.

At least 39 more Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll from Israel’s genocidal war since October 2023 to 51,305, the Health Ministry said.

A ministry statement said that 105 more wounded people were also transferred to hospitals, taking the number of wounded to 117,096 in the Israeli onslaught.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a televised speech, called on Hamas to cede its responsibility over Gaza, hand over its arms to the Palestinian Authority and turn itself into a political party.

Civil defence agency in Gaza said its crew recovered charred bodies from a school-turned-shelter for displaced people, as Israeli strikes killed 17 people in the Palestinian enclave.

Israel resumed its aggression in Gaza on March 18, breaking a two-month ceasefire that had largely halted the fighting in the besieged territory.

"Seventeen people have been killed since dawn," civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

He said 11 of the victims, which included women and children, died in an air strike targeting the Yafa school building in Gaza City's Al-Tuffah neighbourhood.