- 4 May 2024 - 23:45(23:45 GMT)
Here’s what happened today
We will be closing this live page soon. Here is a recap of today’s events:
- Northern Gaza is now experiencing “full-blown famine”, the head of the UN’s World Food Programme says.
- A Hamas delegation is negotiating in Egypt in what appears to be do-or-die talks on a ceasefire to halt the nearly seven-month war.
- Ghassan Abu-Sitta, a Palestinian doctor who spent 43 days in Gaza helping treat those wounded in Israeli attacks, says he was denied entry to Germany where he was scheduled to make a speech in the Senate.
- Five people were reportedly killed by Israeli forces during a raid on the town of Deir al-Ghusun in the Tulkarem district, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israel again not to launch a ground assault on Rafah, saying the casualties would be “beyond what’s acceptable”.
- 4 May 2024 - 23:40(23:40 GMT)
‘No universities left in Gaza’: US college demonstrations continue
Protesters chanted antiwar messages and waved Palestinian flags during the University of Michigan’s commencement.
About 75 people, many wearing traditional Palestinian keffiyeh along with their graduation caps, marched up the main aisle towards the graduation stage. They chanted “Regents, regents, you can’t hide! You are funding genocide!” One sign said: “No universities left in Gaza.”
US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro paused a few times during his remarks, saying at one point, “Ladies and gentlemen, if you can please draw your attention back to the podium.”
Before he administered an oath to graduates in the armed forces, Del Toro said they would “protect the freedoms that we so cherish”, including the “right to protest peacefully”.
- 4 May 2024 - 23:35(23:35 GMT)
Why would Israel and its allies fear the ICC?
Israel has long been accused of acting with impunity in the Palestinian territory it occupies, relying on support from the United States and the West to protect it from repercussions.
Yet a recent flurry of media reports out of Israel indicate officials are worried about the winds changing, with the International Criminal Court (ICC) reportedly planning to charge top Israeli military and political figures with war crimes and crimes against humanity over Gaza.
The ICC has spoken to medical staff in Gaza about possible war crimes, reviving discussion of possible arrest warrants.
Read the full story here.
- 4 May 2024 - 23:20(23:20 GMT)
I spent 43 days in Gaza’s now-destroyed hospitals
When we could no longer perform surgeries in the north, I decided to head south, hoping that operating rooms there would still be functioning. I walked for six hours and saw unimaginably horrific scenes of mass destruction, corpses and body parts.
I cannot comprehend the horror of the moment we live in. A genocide is taking place live on TV – a genocide in which many states, politicians and respected institutions are complicit.
Read the full opinion here.
- 4 May 2024 - 23:05(23:05 GMT)
WATCH: UK students protest at University College London
Students showing support for Palestinians set up camp outside the University College London.
They say they’ll continue their protest until the university divests from Israeli institutions that “profit from the war in Gaza”.
Watch our video report below:
- 4 May 2024 - 22:50(22:50 GMT)
Student protests at University of Southern California continue
Pro-Palestine students are continuing their sit-in at the University of Southern California (USC).
“USC divest from genocide” and “Free Palestine” placards can be seen at the encampment setup at Alumni Park.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations and encampments have taken place across universities in the United States and spread to campuses around the world.
I’m here at USC where pro-Palestinian student protesters continue occupying Alumni Park, even after the Solidarity Occupation was swept by police last week, resulting in 93 arrests. pic.twitter.com/wv547wMIgF
— Jeremy Lindenfeld (@jeremotographs) May 4, 2024
- 4 May 2024 - 22:35(22:35 GMT)
‘A deal on the table, government needs to go ahead and sign’
There has been a sense of growing frustration. We’ve heard from demonstrators throughout the evening because they’re saying this is a critical time, a crucial moment, and a ceasefire should be entered into.
Over the last hour, we’ve heard chants over and over again from people saying, “look there’s a deal on the table, the government needs to go ahead and sign”. They’re afraid if a deal doesn’t get done now, it may never come to fruition.
The crowd here wants to see a delegation sent to Cairo. The government has said for days now, it won’t send a team to Egypt until it gets a positive response from Hamas to the latest offer. News reports in the last hour say far-right ministers are thanking Netanyahu for not sending a delegation to Cairo.
Far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s coalition have repeatedly said they don’t want a ceasefire, which would mean an end to the war and no invasion of Rafah. It’s a very complicated situation, a very fraught moment.
- 4 May 2024 - 22:20(22:20 GMT)
’50-50 chance’ of truce negotiations succeeding
Tamer Qarmout, a professor at the Doha Institute of Graduate Studies, says the US government needs to step in to save the latest round of Israel-Hamas truce talks.
“I think the situation has worsened because we have just received statements from the Israeli side, especially Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who bluntly told Netanyahu not to send a delegation to Cairo and reminded him of his commitment a couple of days ago that he must invade Rafah,” Qarmout told Al Jazeera.
“It’s a very tricky time. There is a 50-50 chance of talks succeeding. I think if the Americans don’t step in and put their weight behind these negotiations, I feel they will collapse.”
- 4 May 2024 - 22:05(22:05 GMT)
‘Invading Rafah will not be a walk in the park’: Hamas
A senior Hamas official warned Israel against attacking Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah where 1.5 million people are sheltering from incessant strikes.
The comments come after a day of apparently fruitless negotiations in Egypt with both sides unwilling to move from their core demands.
“We confirm that invading Rafah will not be a walk in the park and the occupation will pay a heavy price for any adventure it embarks on. It will end in failure,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
If no ceasefire deal is struck, Israel would bear “full responsibility for insisting on entering Rafah instead of ceasing the aggression”.
- 4 May 2024 - 21:50(21:50 GMT)
Israel bombs farmland as hunger spreads to southern Gaza
Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report that an Israeli raid hit agricultural land near the Egypt-Gaza border, south of Rafah.
Israel has for weeks insisted on launching a ground invasion into Rafah, despite UN agencies and aid groups warning it would result in “catastrophe” for the more than 1.5 million people sheltered there.
- 4 May 2024 - 21:35(21:35 GMT)
Pro-Palestine supporters demonstrate in Austrian capital
Online videos, verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit Sanad, show dozens of pro-Palestine supporters protesting in Vienna while calling for an end to the war in Gaza.
Images show demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and holding signs saying, “Free Gaza”.
- 4 May 2024 - 21:20(21:20 GMT)
Israeli opposition leader demands Netanyahu send negotiators to Cairo
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must immediately send a negotiating team to Egypt to finalise a deal with Palestinian factions in Gaza, says Yair Lapid.
“Netanyahu should send the negotiating delegation to Cairo tonight,” the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Lapid as saying.
“They must not return without concluding a deal and releasing the hostages. There is no other mission, nothing else to do. There is no such thing as victory without reaching an agreement and releasing the hostages.”
- 4 May 2024 - 21:10(21:10 GMT)
WATCH: How effective is Turkey’s ban on trade with Israel?
For years, Israel and Turkey have been crucial trade partners. However, the Turkish government has demanded a halt to the war in Gaza that’s killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians in seven months.
Last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Israel’s decision to block its aid meant for Gaza last month. He has now announced a total trade ban until Israel agrees to a ceasefire.
But how will this affect the economies of both countries?
- 4 May 2024 - 20:55(20:55 GMT)
‘Negotiate now, resign later’: Israeli protesters demand action from PM
Several thousand people demonstrated in Tel Aviv in favour of a negotiated release of Israeli captives held in Gaza.
There was also loud criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and calls for new elections. Protesters held banners and signs saying, “Negotiate now, resign later.”
The father of one of Israeli captive said the far-right government’s own survival seemed more important than the hostages. He called on the government to agree to a ceasefire in exchange for their return.
- 4 May 2024 - 20:40(20:40 GMT)
Israeli raids continue in occupied West Bank
Our Al Jazeera Arabic correspondents report that Israeli forces stormed the village of Baqat al-Hatab in Qalqilya and the town of Jama’in in Nablus.
Earlier footage posted online showed Israeli troops had attacked the town of Beita in the occupied West Bank.
- 4 May 2024 - 20:25(20:25 GMT)
Palestinians hope for an end to ‘seven months of torture’
Gaza resident Ramzi Okasha says while he hopes a truce deal is reached, he remains “pessimistic” about the latest round of negotiations between Hamas and Israel because of months of previous failures.
“Unfortunately, many times we have seen talks fail. We hope this time there is a ceasefire agreement to end seven months of torture, seven months of losing humanity, seven months of a lack of basic necessities of life,” he told Al Jazeera.
When asked what a ceasefire agreement would mean, Okasha said he wants to go home.
“We were displaced since October from northern areas of Gaza. We are eager to go home. To start rebuilding our homes, to teach our children, and to live as normally as other people live.”
- 4 May 2024 - 20:17(20:17 GMT)
Report: Cairo talks end for the day with no agreement
A senior Hamas source close to the negotiations in Egypt told AFP news agency there has been “no developments” and the day’s talks “have ended”.
“Tomorrow, a new round will begin,” the unnamed Hamas official said.
Israel has given a preliminary nod to terms that one source said included the return of between 20 and 33 hostages in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and a truce of several weeks.
Hamas is seeking guarantees for a permanent end to Israel’s devastating war on Gaza that has killed more than 34,000 people, mostly women and children, with famine now ravaging its north.
- 4 May 2024 - 20:10(20:10 GMT)
Israel has a ‘deliberate plan to kill children and women’: UN official
Figures from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees show 37 children in Gaza lose their mother every day. It’s being described as a “war on women”.
“In no war in recent history have we seen this appalling, deliberate targeted attack on women and children as we’ve seen in the war on Gaza,” said Reem al-Salem, the UN special rapporteur on women and girls.
She said Israel has been targeting Palestinian women for decades, but the current war shows zero consideration for their safety. “They are experiencing a full-blown genocide, they are being exterminated. There are few places in the world where we’ve seen something like this.”
Al-Salem noted nearly 15,000 children and 10,000 women have been killed in seven months of Israeli attacks. “If this is not a deliberate plan to kill children and women – the foundations of Palestinian life and society – then I don’t know what is really.”
- 4 May 2024 - 19:59(19:59 GMT)
Hamas: Israel still refuses to end war during ceasefire talks
A senior Hamas official tells Al Jazeera, “The occupation is obstructing an agreement by insisting on continuing the war. The Zionist entity is seeking a deal to recover its captives without linking this to ending the aggression.”
The Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, reiterated the group will “under no circumstances agree to an agreement that does not explicitly include stopping the war on Gaza”.
He accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being the main obstacle to getting a deal done. “Our information confirms Netanyahu is obstructing an agreement for personal reasons.”
Netanyahu – who faces criminal trials in Israel and potential war crimes charges abroad – has been accused of extending the attack on Gaza to remain in power.
- 4 May 2024 - 19:55(19:55 GMT)
Palestinian employee of German development agency ‘abused’ in Israeli jail
A Palestinian employee of Germany’s state-funded development agency has been imprisoned in Israel for more than a month. She alleges being beaten and subject to abusive and humiliating treatment.
Baraa Odeh, 34, works for the German Agency for International Cooperation and was detained by Israeli border guards on March 5 while returning to her home in Ramallah from a work trip to Germany. She was since sentenced to three months of administrative detention without charge.
Prisoner rights groups and released detainees have raised the alarm on Israel’s systematic use of torture in its prisons, especially in recent months.
Read more of this story here.
- 4 May 2024 - 19:40(19:40 GMT)
Violence breaks out as Israeli forces raid occupied West Bank town
Video taken by Palestinians and shared online show clashes erupting between residents and Israeli forces in the town of Beita after a raid on the area.
Israeli incursions in the occupied West Bank have intensified since the war on Gaza started on October 7. More than 490 Palestinians have been killed and about 8,500 arrested over the past seven months.
- 4 May 2024 - 19:25(19:25 GMT)
Palestinian doctor denied entry to France after working in Gaza
Ghassan Abu-Sitta, a doctor who spent 43 days in Gaza helping treat those wounded in Israel’s war, said he is being denied entry to France where he was scheduled to make a speech at the Senate.
Abu Sitta was placed in a holding zone at the airport and will be expelled, according to French Senator Raymonde Poncet Monge.
“Fortress Europe silencing the witnesses to the genocide while Israel kills them in prison,” the renowned British-Palestinian plastic surgeon said.
Read the full story here.
- 4 May 2024 - 19:10(19:10 GMT)
Protests continue at Michigan University despite graduation ceremony
We are at what is called the Big House. This is where 63,000 spectators watched 8,000 people get their degrees.
When they did, protesters found some opportunity to make themselves known. There were several Palestinian flags carried and they chanted, “Divulge, divest. We will not stop, we will not rest.” That’s one of the common chants you hear here.
There was also a minor protest on Friday where students held signs and chanted. They were detained by police and given tickets but allowed to leave. So the protests do continue, the encampment continues, but the school year is over for most of these students.
According to the faculty and the students that we’ve talked to, they say they’ve gotten no satisfactory response on engaging students on their demands. The university hasn’t agreed to disclose its investments in Israel.
- 4 May 2024 - 18:55(18:55 GMT)
Jordan minister says Israel responsible for ‘misery’ in northern Gaza
Earlier, we reported the chief of the World Food Progamme saying there is “full-blown famine” taking place in northern Gaza.
Citing her comments, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi says Israel is “responsible for this misery”.
“The international community has the responsibility of changing it,” he added in a post on X.
WFP’s Cindy McCain is ringing the alarm about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza. She said “there is a full-blown famine in the north…It is horror”. As the occupying power Israel is responsible for this misery. The int’l Cmty has the responsibility of changing it.
— Ayman Safadi (@AymanHsafadi) May 4, 2024
Israel’s war on Gaza updates: ‘Full-blown famine’ engulfs northern Gaza
As negotiators attempt to hammer out a critical ceasefire deal, a UN official warns famine is fully under way in northern Gaza and quickly moving south.
This live page is now closed. You can continue to follow our coverage of the war in Gaza here.
- A Hamas delegation is negotiating in Egypt in what appears to be do-or-die talks on a ceasefire to halt the nearly seven-month war.
- Northern Gaza is now experiencing “full-blown famine”, the head of the UN World Food Programme says, as Israel continues to restrict the flow of humanitarian aid.
- Besieged people in Rafah take to the streets and cheer on ceasefire talks in Cairo with some displaced Palestinians packing up their things in the hope of soon returning home.
- At least 34,654 Palestinians have been killed and 77,908 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139 with dozens of people still held captive.
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies