25 Palestinians killed in 24 hours of Israeli strikes on Gaza

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said on Thursday he would force votes next week on resolutions that would block $8.8 billion in arms sales to Israel, citing the human rights crisis faced by Palestinians in Gaza after Israel's bombardment of the enclave and its suspension of aid deliveries.

"(Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu has clearly violated U.S. and international law in this brutal war, and we must end our complicity in the carnage," Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said in a statement announcing his plan.

Palestinian sources close to Hamas told AFP that talks were underway between the group and mediators from Egypt and Qatar Thursday to revive a ceasefire and hostage release deal for Gaza.

"A meeting began this evening between the Egyptian delegation responsible for negotiations in Doha and a Hamas delegation in an effort to solidify a ceasefire," said a source who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly on the issue.

Palestinian militant group Hamas said an Israeli air strike on Thursday killed one of its spokesmen in Gaza.

The military said that "overnight, (the army and air force) conducted a strike in northern Gaza," killing Abdul Latif al-Qanou.

Israel, which broke a 19 January ceasefire to resume its offensive in Gaza on March 18, added it would continue operations "to dismantle Hamas's governmental and military capabilities".

Hamas said earlier it mourned the loss of Qanou who was killed in what it called a "direct" strike on a tent he was in, in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza.

 Egypt, one of the mediators in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, has received positive indications from Israel over a new ceasefire proposal that would include a transitional phase, security sources told news agency Reuters on Thursday.

The proposal suggests Hamas release five Israeli hostages each week, sources told the news agency.

A security delegation from Egypt has left for Qatar for talks, which will include increasing aid to the enclave and releasing remaining hostages, state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on Thursday.

Asked about the latest proposal, a Palestinian official close to the mediation efforts said "there are some offers that look better than the previous ones".

When asked if he expects an announcement on a breakthrough on Thursday, he replied: "Maybe not yet".

There was no immediate response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on the proposal, but a spokesperson said there is currently no Israeli delegation in Doha.

Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon have killed at least six people, with the latest fatalities reported in the town of Baraachit, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.

Earlier strikes had already claimed four lives, with Israel stating that the attacks targeted Hezbollah operatives.

Three individuals died in a drone strike on a vehicle in the Yohmor area, while another was killed in a separate drone strike near the village of Maaroub.

These attacks mark the continuation of deadly Israeli raids in southern Lebanon, despite a November ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Most of the victims have been civilians, as Israel maintains that its strikes are aimed at Hezbollah military targets that allegedly violated the ceasefire agreement.

⚠️ In under 12 hours, Israel launched 3 attacks inside Lebanon—during peacetime, unprovoked, & in violation of UNSCR 1701 and the ceasefire.
•1 killed yesterday
•3 killed this morning
•2 more this evening

A short while ago, Israeli drones struck a car on the Barashit–Beit… pic.twitter.com/b7kjYUKxQW

— Hala Jaber (@HalaJaber) March 27, 2025

Israel is intensifying its attacks on Gaza, with reports indicating heavy airstrikes on Thursday.

Two Palestinians have been killed, and several others injured in a series of Israeli bombings on a house in the town of al-Fakhari, east of Khan Younis, as reported by Al Jazeera Arabic.

Additionally, drones, or quadcopters, have been seen firing on homes in Khan Younis. In a separate development, Israeli forces have reportedly launched an attack on an entire neighbourhood in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

The ongoing escalation has raised concerns about the growing toll on Palestinian civilians.

The legal team representing Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University, has filed an emergency motion demanding the US government produce her after her arrest by masked Homeland Security agents on Wednesday.

A federal judge, Indira Talwani, has instructed government lawyers to respond to the motion by Thursday morning and ordered that Ozturk not be moved out of Massachusetts without prior notice.

The judge initially set a deadline for the government to explain why Ozturk is being detained, with the response required by Friday.

Ozturk's arrest is believed to be linked to former President Trump's vow to deport pro-Palestinian students who criticise Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has accused Israel of exploiting followers of his minority faith in Syria as part of a broader plan to divide the Middle East along sectarian lines.

Israel wants "to implement the plan it has always had... which is to break up the region into confessional entities and extend the chaos," said Jumblatt, a key figure in Lebanese politics for more than four decades.

"They want to annihilate Gaza, then it will be the West Bank's turn... they are trying to destabilise Syria, through the Druze but also others," he told news agency AFP in an interview Wednesday.

"It's a dangerous game."

Israel has been making overtures towards Syria's Druze community since Islamist-led rebels ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December after more than 13 years of war.

Since then, Israel has sent troops into the UN-patrolled buffer zone along the armistice line on the Golan Heights, and war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported regular Israeli incursions deeper into southern Syria.

This month, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said 10,000 humanitarian aid packages had been sent to "the Druze community in battle areas of Syria" over the past few weeks.

"Israel has a bold alliance with our Druze brothers and sisters," he told journalists.

Palestinian armed groups threatened punishment on Thursday for "collaborators" furthering Israeli goals after the first substantial protests against the war in Gaza and Hamas' rule.

Hundreds of Palestinians have rallied in recent days in north and central Gaza, some chanting "Hamas out", in a rare show of opposition to the group whose October 2023 raid on Israel triggered a devastating offensive in the enclave.

More demonstrations, which have been applauded by Israel's government, were planned for later on Thursday.

A statement by the "Factions of the Resistance", an umbrella group including Hamas, threatened punishment for leaders of the "suspicious movement", which Palestinians took to mean the street marches.

"They persist in blaming the resistance and absolving the occupation, ignoring that the Zionist extermination machine operates nonstop," it said.

"Therefore, these suspicious individuals are as responsible as the occupation for the bloodshed of our people and will be treated accordingly."

Hamas officials have said people have the right to protest but rallies should not be exploited for political ends or to exempt Israel from blame for decades of occupation, conflict and displacement in Palestinian territories.

Some protesters reached by news agency Reuters said they took to the streets to voice rejection of continued war, adding that they were exhausted and lacked basics like food and water.

"We are not against the resistance. We are against war. Enough wars, we are tired," a resident of Gaza City's Shejaia neighbourhood, which saw protests on Wednesday, told Reuters.

"You can't call people collaborators for speaking up against wars, for wanting to live without bombardment and hunger," he added via a chat app.

A security delegation from Egypt, one of the mediators in Gaza negotiations, has headed to Qatar for talks on releasing hostages, admitting aid into the enclave and moving towards a second phase of a ceasefire, state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on Thursday. 

Israel on Thursday kicked off a conference on fighting anti-Semitism, with the attendance of politicians from Europe's far right driving division within the international Jewish community.

Among those invited to the symposium are a member of Hungary's Fidesz party and France's National Rally (RN), whose cofounder was known for his anti-Semitic comments.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar addressed the conference, decrying a "new anti-Semitism" stoked by "a disturbing alliance between the radical progressives on the far-left and Islamist fundamentalism".

"In the name of so-called 'human rights', the progressive movement fell captive to those seeking the destruction of the Jewish people," he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is later due to speak, as well as the current RN president Jordan Bardella, capping an unprecedented trip to Israel by a leader of his party.

Analysts say the invitation of parties that have themselves been accused of anti-Semitism demonstrates the willingness of Israel's right to cultivate new relationships with unlikely supporters, amid pressure from traditional allies over the Gaza war.

Former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo stated on Thursday that the Israeli government lacks a clear war strategy, focusing instead on reshaping Israel's political system, as reported by Haaretz.

He noted that Israel is facing seven military fronts and one political one, the latter aimed at "changing the regime."

Pardo argued that the greatest threat to Israel is internal, not Iran, and that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's push for his controversial judiciary overhaul plan played a significant role in leading to the October 7 attack.

Israel's parliament has passed a crucial part of Netanyahu's judicial reforms, sparking outrage from critics who see it as a power grab by his far-right government.

The proposed overhaul, which triggered mass protests in 2023, has deepened divisions in Israel, particularly after the October 7 Hamas attack that led to the ongoing Gaza conflict.

The revival of these plans has intensified protests regarding Netanyahu's handling of the Gaza crisis and his recent actions to dismiss or marginalise top officials.

Eleven bodies have been retrieved from the debris of the Al-Balli family home in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, following an Israeli attack at dawn and taken to the Indonesian Hospital, according to Al Jazeera English.

The United Nations World Food Programme warned on Thursday that it only had two weeks' worth of food left in Gaza, where "hundreds of thousands of people" are at risk of starvation.

"WFP has approximately 5,700 tons of food stocks left in Gaza -- enough to support WFP operations for a maximum of two weeks," it said in a statement.

British business and trade minister Jonathan Reynolds was on Thursday interrupted by two protesters opposing arms sales to Israel who stormed the stage as he was about to speak at a think-tank event on trade.

"They have not stopped the trade in F-35s," one individual shouted, referring to F-35 fighter jets. One protester accused the government of being complicit in genocide.

Responding to the protest, Reynolds said Britain had suspended arms exports to Israel.

"We haven't suspended F-35s because they're integral to our national security and particularly the defense of Ukraine," he said. 

The Israeli military said that it activated air raid sirens across multiple areas of the country on Thursday after the launch of a projectile from Yemen.

The sirens were heard in Jerusalem, where AFP journalists later reported the sound of several muted explosions.

Israeli forces have conducted a series of violent raids across the occupied West Bank, resulting in the arrest of at least 12 Palestinians, according to the Wafa news agency.

During these operations, soldiers also vandalised a local shop and carried out field interrogations.

The raids targeted various areas, with six individuals arrested in the town of Qaffin, northeast of Tulkarem, and two more in the nearby town of Silwad, close to Ramallah.

Another two people were detained in the Jalazone refugee camp, and one individual was arrested in Ramallah itself.

Additionally, a person from the village of Ein Siniya, near Ramallah, was taken into custody.

These arrests come amid ongoing military operations in the Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps, where Israeli forces have been conducting house searches and imposing new movement restrictions on the residents

A Palestinian with disabilities has been shot and killed by Israeli forces in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, according to Al Jazeera English.

In a separate incident, an Israeli airstrike targeted a house in the town of Abasan al-Kabira, near Khan Younis, leaving at least four people injured, as reported by AJE.

Several local media outlets have also reported that a child among the injured has since died.

Further updates will follow.

Hamas has confirmed the death of its spokesperson, Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua, who was killed at dawn in Gaza during a "direct" Israeli attack on his tent in the northern city of Jabalia.

The group released a statement on Telegram, describing al-Qanoua as “an example of steadfastness and dedication in serving his people and their cause."

"The occupation’s targeting of the movement’s leaders and spokespeople will not break our will; rather, it will only increase our determination to continue on the path until the liberation of the land and the holy sites. The blood of the martyrs will remain the fuel and inspiration for the resistance until victory," the statement concluded.

At least 20 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza overnight and this morning, with several others wounded, according to reports from Al Jazeera Arabic.

Among the deceased are two individuals who died from their injuries after Israeli airstrikes hit tents sheltering displaced people in the town of az-Zawayda, in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah governorate, as reported by our team on the ground.

Israeli forces are continuing to target homes and tents that are housing displaced people across the Gaza Strip.

The health ministry in Gaza said on Thursday that 855 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since Israel resumed large-scale strikes on 18.

Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike Thursday in south Lebanon killed three people, in a statement carried by official media which earlier reported the raid.

The "Israeli enemy strike on a car in Yahmar al-Shaqif led to the death of three people", said the health ministry statement reported by the National News Agency, after the NNA said an "enemy drone" targeted a vehicle near the town, in a strike that came at the same time as artillery shelling.

Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Thursday that two people were killed in overnight air strikes near Sanaa that they blamed on the United States.

The Houthis' Al-Masirah TV channel reported nearly 20 strikes on Sanaa governorate, both north and south of the capital.

"The American aggression killed two and injured two," the Houthi-run health ministry's spokesman Anis al-Asbahi said on social media platform X.

Al-Masirah also reported strikes early Thursday in Saada, the Iran-backed rebels' northern stronghold which Houthi media had said was hit 17 times the day before.

The United States launched air strikes against the Houthis on March 15, vowing to use overwhelming force until they stopped firing on vessels in the key shipping routes of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Israel's parliament passed a controversial law on Thursday granting elected officials more power in appointing judges, a move swiftly challenged by the opposition.

The legislation was approved by a vote of 67 in favour and one against, with the opposition boycotting the early-morning session.

Israel's parliament, the Knesset, has 120 lawmakers.

The vote reflects Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's determination to push ahead with his contentious judicial reform plan, which sparked one of the largest protest movements in Israel's history in 2023 before being overtaken by the war in Gaza.

The resumption of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip has displaced 142,000 people in a mere seven days, the United Nations said Wednesday, warning of dwindling stocks of humanitarian aid.

"In just one week, 142,000 people have been displaced," the spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, pointing out that about 90 percent of Gaza's population has been displaced at least once between the start of the war on October 7, 2023 and January of this year.

The space available for families is "shrinking," he said, adding that displacement orders currently cover some 17 percent of Gaza.

With each wave of displacement, thousands of people "lose not just their shelter, but also access to essentials such as food, drinking water and health care," said the spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

The "relentless bombardments and daily displacement orders" coupled with blocks on aid "are having a devastating impact on the entire population of more than two million people," he said.

"Our humanitarian partners are warning that as a result, medical stocks, cooking gas and fuel needed to power bakeries and ambulances are running dangerously low."