Israel’s war on Gaza updates: Israel says Hamas chief killed on March 10

Thank you for joining us for updates on everything related to Israel’s war on Gaza. This live page is now closed.

Read more about Israel’s claim that senior Hamas commander Marwan Issa was killed in an Israeli strike earlier this month, here, and what US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant about the civilian death toll, here.

And you can find more news, features and videos on the war here.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here is a recap of today’s events:

• A report by the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, says there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Released yesterday, the report received widespread citation in global calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
• Hamas’s deputy military commander Marwan Issa was killed in an Israeli air strike earlier this month, Israel’s military spokesperson says. The group’s senior official Osama Hamdan says the political bureau hasn’t seen evidence of Issa’s death.
• At least 12 Palestinians including children were killed in an air raid that hit a tent full of displaced people in al-Mawasi, near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the Health Ministry says.
• The Palestine Red Crescent Society says the al-Amal Hospital in Deir el-Balah is now closed after the Israeli army forced its evacuation.
• Israeli warplanes targeted the vicinity of Baalbek city in Lebanon, footage captured by local media shows, some 100km (62 miles) from the border with Israel.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reports that the two men were shot by Israeli forces in the limbs and abdomen during an Israeli raid on the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin.

Fighting between locals and Israeli soldiers broke out during the raid, during which the young men sustained their wounds, described by the PRCS as “serious”.

Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles surrounded a hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.

Witnesses at Nasser Hospital, where thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge from the fighting, said shots were fired at the sprawling complex but no raid had taken place.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israeli troops were shooting and firing “shells and [conducting] violent raids in its surroundings in preparation for its storming”.

“Thousands of displaced people are still inside the hospital,” the ministry said. “They do not have sufficient quantities of drinking water, food and infant formula, and their lives are in danger.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent said the al-Amal Hospital, near Nasser in Khan Younis, was “out of service” after Israeli forces evacuated it and blocked the entrance.

“The international community failed to provide the necessary protection” for staff, patients and displaced Gazans sheltering at al-Amal, it said.

Three Hezbollah fighters were killed in Israeli air strikes near two towns in northeast Lebanon – the furthest bombardment yet from the border where Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire.

Israel confirmed the strikes near Ras Baabelk and Hermel and said its aircraft attacked several military sites used by Hezbollah in response to a rocket attack on one of its bases near the Lebanese border.

Incoming rocket alerts sounded in northern Israel. Hezbollah later said it hit an Israeli military barracks in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, immediately to the east of northern Israel, with 50 Katyusha rockets in response to Israel’s strikes on the Bekaa Valley.

Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been trading fire since October in the worst cross-border violence since they fought a month-long war in 2006.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, on a visit to Iran, says Israel is experiencing “unprecedented political isolation”, a day after the UN Security Council called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“Although this resolution came late and there may be some gaps that need to be filled, the resolution itself indicates the Israeli occupation is experiencing unprecedented political isolation,” Haniyeh told a news conference in Tehran after a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.

Israel is “losing political cover and protection even in the Security Council”, and “the US is unable to impose its will on the international community”.

“The Zionist entity” has “not succeeded in achieving any of its military or strategic objectives” after more than five months of war, Haniyeh added.

Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide says more “life-saving humanitarian assistance is crucial and urgent”.

“Israel must ensure increased access of vital food supplies and aid into and within Gaza,” a statement said.

The UN has accused Israel of restricting aid into the Strip, which Israeli officials have denied doing.

Hamas senior official Osama Hamdan says the political bureau hasn’t seen evidence of commander Marwan Issa’s death in an Israeli air strike earlier this month.

“Everyone knows since day one, the Israelis have been saying they want to target Qassam Brigades and other commanders. However, in the absence of an official statement confirming the martyrdom, one cannot confirm such information,” Hamdan told Al Jazeera from Beirut, Lebanon.

“This information is not usually shared inside the movement. The safety and whereabouts of the commanders is not something exchanged internally. The information published by the enemy is not deemed confirmed. It could very well be part of the psychological war being waged by the occupation against the Palestinian people.”

The president was speaking at a healthcare-focused campaign event in North Carolina when he was interrupted by demonstrators who asked “What about the healthcare in Gaza?”

“Hospitals in Gaza are being bombed,” one protester yelled. Another accused Biden of being “complicit”.

The president said the pro-Palestinian protesters “have a point”.

“Be patient with them,” Biden said, apparently speaking to staff at the event in Raleigh. “They have a point. We need to get a lot more care into Gaza,” the president said as the crowd applauded.

According to the UN, 155 health facilities in the Gaza Strip have been damaged since the war began.

The UN’s children agency says famine in Gaza is imminent, adding that lives are “hanging in the balance”.

“Aid organisations must have full and safe access to reach children and families in need everywhere in Gaza,” it said in a post on X.

Israel reacts with fury as the United Nations Security Council votes for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The United States abstained and didn’t use its veto. What does the resolution mean for the Palestinians, Israel and its allies?

Uriel Baruch, 35, who was taken on October 7, has been killed, two groups representing families of captives say.

The Israeli army told his family his body is being held in Gaza, the Tikva Forum captives group said in a statement.

Another organisation, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, also said Baruch had been killed.

Palestinian journalist Mohammed al-Saifi has documented the moment Israeli army bombardment hit the home of the al-Fra family in Gaza’s southernmost city.

Casualty numbers from this attack are still unclear, but we will keep you updated as we get more information.

Translation: Targeting a house for al-Fra family in downtown Rafah.

Despite the UN Security Council resolution – calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan – the situation on the ground is still very dire.

Israeli bombardment has not stopped, and there has been no let up in the fighting. In the past hour, we witnessed more strikes in Rafah, where residential neighbourhoods have been completely destroyed with no casualties being reported.

As we reported, we heard a loud explosion. It is still unknown what the target was.

Ambulances here from Kuwait Hospital, where we are reporting from, have started to head to the location to search for victims and survivors in order to bring them here to receive medical treatment.

At least 12 Palestinians including children were killed in an air raid that hit a tent full of displaced people in southern Gaza, the health ministry says.

A statement reported “12 martyrs” killed in the attack on the coastal al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis city.

Israel’s war has killed at least 32,414 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the war on Gaza and the restrictive measures placed on the occupied West Bank by Israeli authorities continue to have significant adverse effects on the economy, with severely damaging implications for the labour market.

An estimated “507,000 jobs have been lost across the [occupied Palestinian territories] as a result of the hostilities. This comprises 201,000 jobs lost in the Gaza Strip and 306,000 jobs lost in the West Bank,” the ILO says in a report.

If the war continues until the end of March, the organisation estimates that the annual unemployment rate in 2024 will rise to 42.7 percent.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) praised the investigation released by the United Nations’ Francesca Albanese.

“The latest report by the UN’s special rapporteur validates what has been obvious to anyone who has witnessed what Israel has been doing in Gaza for the past five months: that the Israeli government is clearly committing a genocide against the Palestinian people,” said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad.

“The [US] Biden administration can no longer aid and abet the far-right Israeli government as it carries out its genocide, ethnic cleansing, and forced starvation. Our government – and the international community – can and must put an end to this savagery.”