Gaza: Israel kills 77 Palestinians as Netanyahu announces plans to seize more territory

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Syria's foreign ministry has condemned what it described as Israel's "unjustifiable escalation" against the country following a new round of airstrikes on Wednesday evening.

The Israeli air force last night launched struck a number of targets across the country, including a scientific research facility in Damascus and several military targets in Hama and Homs provinces.

In its statement, the ministry called on the international community to end Israel's "aggression" and compel it to abide by international law.

Qatar's foreign ministry has condemned Israel's attack on a UNRWA clinic in northern Gaza on Wednesday which killed at least 22 people, including nine children.

Statement | Qatar strongly condemns the Israeli National Security Minister's storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the occupation's shelling of an UNRWA clinic#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/9i6f4HiyJo

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) April 2, 2025

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday met in Washington with 16 global banks and federal law enforcement agencies on US sanctions policy on Iran including efforts to cut its oil exports.

Bessent said President Donald Trump's administration is applying economic pressure to the maximum extent possible to disrupt Iran's access to financial resources that help it fund Hamas and other groups throughout the Middle East and its efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon.

"This includes the billions of dollars each year that Iran generates via its oil sales, which the regime also uses to finance its dangerous agenda and support its multiple terrorist proxies and partners," Bessent said, according to a copy of his remarks.

(Reuters)

Hamas has rejected the latest Israeli proposal on a Gaza truce, two officials from the movement told AFP on Wednesday.

"Hamas has decided not to follow up on the latest Israeli proposal presented through the mediators" said one of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, and accusing Israel of "blocking a proposal from Egypt and Qatar and trying to derail any agreement".

(AFP)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed "shock" at Israel's killing of 15 aid workers in Gaza last month.

I am shocked by the attack by the Israeli army on a medical and emergency convoy on 23 March resulting in the killing of 15 medical personnel and humanitarian workers in Gaza.

Medical personnel and humanitarian and emergency workers must be protected by all at all times.

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 2, 2025

At least three Palestinians were killed in Israeli shelling in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, on Wednesday evening, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.

The number of Palestinians in Gaza killed by Israeli forces on Wednesday has risen to 77, medical sources tell Al Jazeera.

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, has said it was responsible for firing rockets into southern Israel earlier this evening.

The Israeli military said earlier it had intercepted a number of projectiles fired from northern Gaza.

Yemen's Houthi rebels said fresh US airstrikes on Wednesday killed one person in Hodeida province, after overnight air raids left four people dead in the same area.

Anees Alasbahi, spokesman for the Houthis' health ministry, reported "one civilian martyr and one wounded" in the Red Sea port of Ras Issa, saying they were "victims of the US enemy's air force".

Houthi media said strikes hit Ras Issa as well as its northern stronghold of Saada.

Earlier on Wednesday the Houthis said overnight air strikes on Hodeida province killed four, in an attack also blamed on the United States.

Following Israel's attack on the UNRWA clinic earlier today, the head of the UN agency has accused the Israeli military over crossing all lines "over and over again". 

At least 22 people, including nine children, were killed when Israeli forces shelled the clinic in Jabalia, prompting strong condemnation from the head of the organisation.

"In Gaza, all lines have been crossed over and over again," Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.

"The total disregard of UN staff, premises or operations is a profond [sic] defiance of international law."

Israel has killed more than 700 people seeking UN protection since the start of the war, and has targeted more than 300 UN buildings, he said.

#Gaza: even ruins have become a target.

Israeli Forces airstrikes hit an UNRWA building in Jabalia northern Gaza today.
The building was previously a health centre, heavily damaged earlier in the war.

Initial reports indicate the facility was sheltering over 700 people when…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) April 2, 2025

Syrian media is reporting fresh Israeli strikes in several locations across the country this evening.

Airstrikes hit buildings in Damascus and the northern city of Hama, according to state news agency SANA.

The strikes in the capital occurred in the vicinity of a scientific research facility in the northern suburb of Masakin Barzeh, it said.

TV channel Al-Ekhbariya is reporting that the attack in Hama took place near a military airport. 

We'll bring you more as we get it.

The Israeli military killed at least 71 Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday, Al Jazeera is reporting, citing medical sources.

The Iranian and Russian deputy foreign ministers discussed ongoing negotiations regarding Tehran's nuclear programme on Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The sides addressed joint steps to stabilise the situation and "reduce the tensions artificially and unreasonably inflamed by Western countries," it said in a statement.

It added that using military force against Iran and threatening to strike its nuclear infrastructure would be "illegal and unacceptable" as they would cause "large-scale and irreversible radiological and humanitarian consequences" for the Middle East and the world.

(Reuters)

France's foreign minister warned Wednesday that a military confrontation with Iran would be "almost inevitable" if talks over Tehran's nuclear programme failed.

"In the event of failure, a military confrontation would appear to be almost inevitable," Jean-Noel Barrot said in parliament, adding that it would severely destabilise the region.

(AFP)

The Israeli military has killed 1,066 Palestinians in Gaza since it resumed large-scale airstrikes on 18 March, the local health ministry said earlier today. 

The number of people killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023 has now climbed to more than 50,4oo, according to ministry figures. More than 114,600 others have been injured.

Turkey has condemned a visit by Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, saying it would raise regional tensions.

"We condemn the raid by a member of the Israeli government on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound today," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"This action by [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's accomplices is a dangerous decision that will again aggravate tensions in the region."

(AFP)

Turkey slammed Israel on Wednesday over its announcement of a major expansion to its military operation in Gaza, saying the move marked a manifestation of what it called Israel's illegal approach detached from the pursuit of peace.

In a statement, Turkey's foreign ministry said statements on expanding operations in Gaza and settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank marked "yet another demonstration of Israel's blatant disregard for international law and its complete detachment from the pursuit of peace".

It called on the international community to take a stance to protect holy sites, prevent provocations and halt Israel's efforts to expand its territory through occupation

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the military is "dissecting" Gaza and "seizing territory" to retrieve hostages held in the Palestinian territory.

The military is "dissecting the (Gaza) Strip and increasing the pressure step by step so that (Hamas) will return our hostages", Netanyahu said in a statement, adding that Israel "is seizing territory, striking terrorists, and destroying infrastructure"

Two children were among those injured during an Israeli military raid on the Dheisheh refugee camp, south of Bethlehem.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said its crews in Bethlehem treated two 15-year-old children who were assaulted by Israeli forces, who were later transferred to the hospital for medical treatment.

The UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday condemned Israel's renewed offensive in Gaza and demanded the country uphold its responsibility to "prevent genocide" in the Palestinian territory.

The United Nations' top rights body overwhelmingly adopted a resolution putting forth a list of demands to Israel, including calling on it to "lift its illegal blockade" on Gaza.

The text, adopted with 27 of the council's 47 members voting in favour, four against and 16 abstaining, deplored "the violation by Israel of the ceasefire agreement".

The vote came after Israel on March 18 resumed intense bombing of Gaza before launching a new ground offensive, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire.

The resolution, put forward by most members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, demanded "unimpeded humanitarian assistance and the urgent restoration of basic necessities" to Gaza.

It slammed "the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare", and called on all countries "to take immediate action to prevent the continued forcible transfer of Palestinians within or from the Gaza Strip".

Yemen's Ministry of Health says US strikes have killed 61 civilians and injured 139 others since Washington launched its escalated attacks on the country on March 15.

Saudi Arabia condemned on Wednesday a visit by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, lambasting him for "storming" the area.

Riyadh voiced its "strongest condemnation of the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by the Israeli National Security Minister under the protection of occupation police," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Britain does not support Israel's expansion of military operations in Gaza, a UK minister said on Wednesday.

"We are deeply concerned about the resumption of hostilities in Gaza. The UK does not support an expansion of Israel's military operations," junior foreign office minister Hamish Falconer, told parliament.

Two Palestinians have been killed and others injured after an Israeli drone targeted west of the town of az-Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip.

Several people were also injured in an Israeli drone strike on the as-Salam neighbourhood, southeast of southern Khan Younis, Al Jazeera is reporting.

Germany said on Wednesday that 19 of its citizens and 14 of their relatives had been evacuated from the Gaza Strip as Israel presses its offensive in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer said the evacuation on Tuesday "took considerable time" but Berlin was "very relieved that this succeeded through close cooperation" between German and Israeli officials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu begins a four-day visit to Hungary on Thursday, defying an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza as Israel has expanded its military operation in the enclave.

As a founding member of the ICC, Hungary is theoretically obliged to arrest and hand over anyone subject to a warrant from the court but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made clear when he issued the invitation that Hungary would not respect the ruling.

Netanyahu, who is battling a political storm at home over an investigation into suspected ties between Qatar and three of his aides, is due to meet Orban ahead of a press conference at around 1000 GMT.

Netanyahu has rejected the accusations regarding his aides as "fake news". A Qatari official has dismissed the accusations as part of a "smear campaign" against Qatar.

In Budapest, workers were constructing a stage in the Buda Castle on Wednesday, where Orban was scheduled to welcome Netanyahu in a ceremony with military honours on Thursday morning and security forces could be seen near the central Budapest hotel where Netanyahu will be staying.

The visit will be only the second he has made abroad since the International Criminal Court issued warrants to arrest both him and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant last November, but details of his programme have been limited apart from a planned visit to a Holocaust memorial.

Hamas condemned a visit on Wednesday by Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, calling it a "provocative and dangerous escalation".

In a statement, the Palestinian militant group called for Palestinians "and our youth in the West Bank to escalate their confrontation... in defence of our land and our sanctities, foremost among them the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque". The disputed site is sacred to both Jews and Muslims.

The death toll of Israel's strike on Jabalia has risen to 19 victims, Gaza's health ministry said. Nine children are among the dead, the health ministry's director aadded.

Extremist Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque under Israeli protection on Wednesday.

An official from the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf Department said that the far-right Ben-Gvir stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque accompanied by more than 24 Israeli settlers, according to the Turkish Anadolu agency.

Eight people, including three children, were killed by an Israeli airstrike on a UNRWA clinic housing displaced people in Jabalia, northern Gaza, Al Jazeera is reporting.

Israeli forces demolished a house in the town of Anata, East Jerusalem, under the pretext of building without a permit.

Local sources told Al Jazeera that the demolition in the al-Fuhaidat neighbourhood was one of 13 homes scheduled to be knocked down by Israel’s army. It has also said the houses were close to military sites and, therefore, needed to be destroyed.

Defence Minister Israel Katz has called Gaza's residents to "remove Hamas and return all the hostages" after vowing to expand military operations in the territory.

"Expanding the operation this morning will increase the pressure on the Hamas murderers and also on the population in Gaza and advance the achievement of the sacred and important goal for all of us," he said on Wednesday on X.

"I call on the residents of Gaza to act now to remove Hamas and return all the hostages. This is the only way to end the war."

Katz warned earlier that the Israeli military is seeking to capture "large areas of the Gaza Strip" as it expands its ground assault on the Palestinian enclave. 

One Palestinian was injured by Israeli forces in the city of Tulkarem on Wednesday, as raids on the West Bank city and the Nur Shams refugee camp continued for the 66th consecutive day.

The attack occurred in the Shuweika suburb amid a large-scale arrest campaign launched in the Dhahra area, local sources told the Palestinian Wafa news agency

Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Wednesday that overnight air strikes on Hodeidah province killed four people in an attack they blamed on the United States.

"The casualty toll of the American aggression targeting the Water Management building in... Hodeida governorate... rose to four martyrs and three wounded," said Houthi health ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi, updating an earlier toll of three dead.

Houthi media had reported US strikes on areas controlled by the Iran-backed rebels, including water infrastructure in Hodeida and three strikes in the northwestern region of Hajjah.

Strikes also hit the group's northern stronghold of Saada.

The United States has not confirmed it carried out these strikes.

A Palestinian man died on Wednesday morning in Nablus, West Bank, after succumbing to his wounds following an Israeli raid on the city.

Mohammad Saeed Khammash, 33, was shot in the thigh after the Israeli army stormed the Old City of Nablus, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.