Crisis in Gaza
Live Reporting
Pilgrims stay away from Jerusalem on ‘tense’ Good Friday
The war in Gaza hung heavy over Good Friday in Jerusalem with fewer Christian pilgrims walking the path through the walled Old City that they believe Christ took to his crucifixion.
Security was heavy in the narrow alleyways where thousands of Palestinians observing the fasting month of Ramazan flocked to Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, also in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
“It is deeply touching to be here on Good Friday. There is a deep sadness you can feel in the air, which is probably heightened by what is happening [in Gaza],” said Australian John Timmons, who noted he had thought twice about coming.
The solemn procession that winds along the Via Dolorosa, or the “Way of Suffering”, started at the spot where Christians believe Pontius Pilate condemned Jesus to death, and where his agonies began.
Less than 200 metres away at Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, the faithful were also called on to ponder suffering, this time of those under bombardment in Gaza.
Netanyahu approves new Gaza ceasefire talks
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks to take place in Doha and Cairo, his office said, days after the negotiations appeared stalled, AFP reports.
Since the UN Security Council adopted a resolution demanding an “immediate ceasefire”, Hamas and Israel have traded blame for their failure to agree on a deal.
Netanyahu’s office said the premier spoke to Mossad chief David Barnea about the talks, but declined to elaborate on whether Barnea would be travelling to Doha or Cairo for the negotiations.
Famine is ‘quite possibly’ in some areas of northern Gaza, US official says
Famine is both a risk and quite possibly present in at least some areas of the northern Gaza Strip, a senior US State Department official said, while adding that a scarcity of trucks was an obstacle to getting more aid into the densely populated enclave under Israel siege.
“While we can say with confidence that famine is a significant risk in the south and centre but not present, in the north, it is both a risk and quite possibly is present in at least some areas,” the official told Reuters on the condition of anonymity.
The number of trucks distributing aid in south and central Gaza had nearly topped 200 a day, an increase compared to a month ago, but more were needed, the State Department official said.
“You need to address the full nutrition needs of the population of Gaza of all ages. That means more than just that minimal survival level feeding,” the official said, adding that malnutrition, infant newborn and young child mortality was a significant problem that was growing.
“It has to be addressed by additional assistance coming and the right kind of assistance coming in,” he said.
Israel kills dozens in airstrikes across Gaza Strip
Israel sustained its aerial and ground bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing dozens of Palestinians, as fighting raged around Gaza City's main Al Shifa hospital, Palestinian officials and the Israeli military said.
Palestinian health officials said two Israeli strikes on the Al-Shejaia suburb in eastern Gaza City killed 17 people, while an Israeli air strike on a house in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip killed eight people.
Gaza fisherman braves Israeli navy fire to support his family
Before the Gaza war, Palestinian fisherman Jalal Qaraan navigated his small boat for long distances in search of a good catch. These days he says merely casting his nets could be deadly if he draws the wrath of the Israeli navy.
Israeli airstrikes and shelling have reduced large swathes of the densely populated coastal Gaza Strip to rubble and killed more than 32,000 Palestinians as the war with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas rages.
There are also plenty of dangers at sea for fishermen like Qaraan, who must nevertheless support his family.
First thing Gaza residents tell me is, ‘We need food’: UNICEF spokesperson
A spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund James Elder has said the message he receives from anyone he encounters in Gaza is, “We need food,” Al Jazeera reports.
It is “the first thing they want to tell me”, Elder, speaking from Rafah in southern Gaza, said in an interview with Democracy Now.
“They are saying that because their assumption is the world doesn’t know, because how would this be allowed to happen if the world knew?” he said.
Pakistan to send more relief goods, President Zardari says in meeting with Palestinian envoy
President Asif Ali Zardari has said that Pakistan will send additional relief goods, including food and medicine, to the Palestinian people.
A statement from the Presidency said that in a conversation with Ambassador of Palestine to Pakistan Ahmed Jawad Rabei, the president said that it was painful to see the tragic sufferings of Palestinians at the hands of Israeli forces
He said that Pakistan had historic ties with Palestine and would continue to stand by Palestinians and raise its voice at all forums for them.
Zardari lauded the bravery and resilience of Palestinians “waging a long struggle against Israeli occupation”.
The president urged the international community to make efforts for the free flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza by lifting all the barriers and ensuring the protection of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli strike kills Hezbollah official in Lebanon: security source
A military security source has said that an Israeli strike on a car in south Lebanon has killed a Hezbollah official, AFP reports.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reports “a raid by an enemy drone targeted a car” in Bazuriyeh in south Lebanon’s Tyre district, reporting at least one dead.
The source, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, has said the person killed was “a Hezbollah official”.
Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the strike but announced it carried out attacks on Israeli positions.
An AFP correspondent reports that the targeted vehicle was destroyed and debris scattered nearby, and said authorities had cordoned off the area.
Iran’s foreign affairs ministry condemns Israel’s attacks in Syria
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has strongly condemned Israel’s air strikes on northern Syria’s Aleppo province earlier today, which led to the killing of at least 42 people.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the victims included six from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and 36 Syrian soldiers.
“These attacks are a clear violation of international laws and regulations, as well as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and a serious threat to regional and international peace and security,” foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanan said.
He added that the strikes were “a blatant and desperate attempt to continue and expand the crisis in the region.”
Nasser called on the international community and the UN Security Council to condemn the attacks and take measures to hold Israel accountable.
Israel ‘sending clear message’ with Syria strike
Marc Owen Jones, associate professor of Middle East Studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, says Israel’s air strikes in Syria show that despite its growing global isolation, the country is not afraid of regional escalation.
Israel is trying to weaken “Hezbollah’s ability to fire and attack from northern Lebanon by attacking storage targets in Syria,” Owen Jones told Al Jazeera. “But Israel is also sending a clear message” that, despite the ICJ’s recent ruling ordering it to urgent act to stop famine in Gaza and the US’s frustration over its policies in Gaza, it will not back down from confrontation.
“Israel wants to reaffirm that they are still willing to attack Syria so they won’t look weak”, Owen Jones added.
Israeli forces kill fighters in southern and central Gaza: Army
The Israeli military has said it is continuing with its operation at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and central Gaza in general.
A statement on X said that soldiers, backed by warplanes, killed fighters, and located weapons and military infrastructure in the area.
Soldiers also reportedly “destroyed a number of rockets in the area that were aimed at Israeli territory”.
In Khan Younis’s al-Amal and al-Qarara neighbourhoods in the south, the Israeli forces conducted raids on enemy infrastructure, killed fighters during encounters and carried out air attacks, according to the army’s statement.
‘No one is forcing the Israelis to do anything’
Enforcement on Israel of anything the UN suggests – whether it’s the resolution at the UN Security Council, whether it’s the UN Special Rapporteur’s report accusing Israel of genocide, or now the ICJ – is always ignored by the Israelis. No one is forcing the Israelis to do anything.
The ICJ has asked for something very specific – they want a report by the end of April detailing everything that Israel is doing. Whether that happens or not is all about enforcement. Right now, there is no one really pressuring Israel to actually do anything that the UN says it must do.
Israel expanding border buffer zone: Report
Israel is currently expanding a buffer zone in Gaza adjacent to the border fence, significantly expanding the area declared by the army as a Palestinian no-go zone before the war, Haaretz has found.
The Israeli newspaper said it has learned that a project director was appointed by the army to oversee the project.
Upon completion, it will encompass some 16 percent of the Gaza Strip’s area.
This comes alongside a second project that foresees the creation of a control corridor, cutting the Gaza Strip into two parts and allowing the army “to control traffic on strategic roads, which are at the core of negotiations with Hamas,” the newspaper said.
“These two projects – the buffer zone and the control corridor – together imply that the IDF [Israeli army] is preparing for a long-term presence in the Strip,” it added.
Israeli air strikes hit Saad bin Abi Waqqas Mosque in Jabalia
Israeli air strikes have hit the Saad bin Abi Waqqas Mosque in the Jabalia refugee camp, Al Jazeera correspondents have confirmed, injuring two Palestinians.
The strikes also caused a fire to break out in an electrical appliances store in the camp in the early morning hours.
Journalist killed near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City
Journalist Muhammad Abu Sakhil of the local al-Quds Radio has been shot and killed by the Israeli forces in the vicinity of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic have reported.
The number of journalists killed in Gaza now stands at 137 since October 7.
Gaza journalists become street art icons in UK
Palestinian journalists working in Gaza have inspired street art in the United Kingdom with the latest wall mural appearing in East London’s Ilford area.
Painted by street artists Auberi Chen, Core 246 and Captain Kris, the large “Heroes of Palestine” mural features Palestinian photographers, from left to right, Mohamed al-Masri and Ali Jaddalah, writer Hind Khoudary, and photographer Abdelhakim Abu Riash.
Media in the UK reported earlier this week that some of the “Heroes of Palestine” murals have been the target of pro-Israeli vandalism, with some of the images honouring Gaza’s journalists painted over with the Star of David religious symbol as well as disparaging comments.
Barring of Christians from Jerusalem’s Old City during Easter ‘unprecedented’ move
We’ve never seen this happening before, certainly in recent memory.
Palestinian Christians from the occupied West Bank – not the international tourists who are staying away because of the war on Gaza – these are people who actually want to come to the Old City and celebrate Easter, but they’re not being allowed to.
We are hearing that at least 200 religious leaders from the occupied West Bank have been given permits to come in. But they’re going to be hosting ceremonies, they’re going to be hosting prayers, and they’re not going to have any of the faithful in those prayers. It’s an unprecedented restriction.
Palestinian Muslims within occupied East Jerusalem are used to this, but those who are not used to this because it’s the first time that’s ever happened to them are Palestinian Christians.
Japan to resume funding to UNRWA
Japan is preparing to resume funding to the UN’s crisis-hit Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), which coordinates the vast majority of aid to Gaza, according to the government.
Once the sixth-largest contributor to the agency, Japan joined more than a dozen countries in pausing funding after Israel claimed that 12 of UNRWA’s 13,000 Gaza employees were involved in the deadly October 7 Hamas attack.
“Japan and the UNRWA confirmed that they will advance final coordination about necessary efforts to resume Japan’s contribution,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, after Minister Yoko Kamikawa met UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini in Tokyo on Thursday.
Japanese media reports said the resumption of funding, which was suspended in January, was expected to come in the first half of April.
This month, Australia, Canada, Sweden and others said they were resuming aid.
Palestinian PM Mustafa forms cabinet, calls for immediate ceasefire in Gaza
RAMALLAH (Reuters) – Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa formed a new cabinet on Thursday in which he will also serve as foreign minister, making an immediate ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza a priority, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Mustafa, an ally to President Mahmoud Abbas and a leading business figure, was appointed premier this month with a mandate to help reform the Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Fifth day of large protests against Israel in Jordan’s capital Amman
Thousands of people demonstrated near the Israeli embassy in the Jordanian capital on Thursday night, demanding that Jordan end its peace treaty with Israel and close Israel’s diplomatic mission in the country.
The protests against Israel over its war on Gaza are some of the largest outpourings of public anger that Jordan has seen.
Demanding that Jordan close the embassy and end a peace treaty that normalised ties with Israel in 1994, the protesters chanted: “No Zionist embassy on Jordanian land” and “They said Hamas is terrorist. All of Jordan is Hamas.”
Gaza protesters rally outside Biden fundraiser attended by Clinton, Obama
Hundreds of protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza held a demonstration on Thursday evening outside Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan, New York City, as the iconic music venue hosted a fundraising event for US President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.
Outside the fundraiser – attended by former US presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton – protesters held signs denouncing Biden and the Democratic Party as “war criminals” and calling for all aid to Israel to be cut.
More than 5,000 people paid between $225 and $500,000 to attend the fundraising event, which took in a record $25m for Biden’s campaign.
ICJ orders Israel to take action to address famine in Gaza
Judges at the International Court of Justice have unanimously ordered Israel to take all necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies arrive without delay to Gaza’s hunger-ravaged population.
Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative party, tells Al Jazeera that the court order is an “important step” that should be followed by another resolution enforcing a “complete cessation of all military activities by Israel”.
Anti-Israel protesters interrupt Biden, Obama, Clinton at $25 million New York fundraiser
NEW YORK (Reuters) – President Joe Biden and his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, headlined a star-studded fundraiser with former President Bill Clinton on Thursday, offering a robust defense of the White House's handling of the Gaza crisis as protesters interrupted the event.
Biden, who traveled with Obama on Air Force One to New York, took part in a discussion with Clinton moderated by "The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert at the iconic Radio City Music Hall in front of thousands of guests. Organisers say the event raised more than $25 million for Biden's US reelection campaign.
US military destroys four Houthi long-range drones
The US military’s Central Command has destroyed four unmanned aerial systems launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen towards a “coalition vessel” and a US warship in the Red Sea.
There were no injuries or damage to vessels reported in the attack.
The Iran-backed Houthis have been carrying out attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November in protest of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Hezbollah fires heavy rockets at northern Israel
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Lebanese group Hezbollah fired rockets with heavy warheads at towns in northern Israel, saying it used the weapons against civilian targets for the first time Thursday (Mar 28) in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes the night before that killed nine, including what the group said were several paramedics.
There were no reports of Israelis hurt in the rocket attack, local media said. The Israeli military did not immediately offer comment on the rocket attack.
Israel must 'ensure urgent humanitarian assistance' in Gaza: ICJ
THE HAGUE (AFP) – The world's top court on Thursday ordered Israel to "ensure urgent humanitarian assistance" in Gaza without delay, saying "famine has set in".
The International Court of Justice's latest order comes as heavy street battles continued to rage in besieged Gaza -- and a major medical charity said it "hasn't seen any change" since a United Nations Security Council resolution this week demanding an immediate ceasefire.
Battles, bombardment in Gaza as Israel reschedules talks with US
GAZA STRIP (AFP) - Battles and bombardment pounded the Gaza Strip on Thursday (Mar 28) after Washington said Israel had agreed to reschedule talks that had been cancelled amid tensions between the allies.
Israel's military said it struck dozens of militant targets including tunnels over the previous day, and the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported at least 62 more deaths over a similar period.
