Israel’s war on Gaza updates: ICJ again orders Israel to ensure aid to Gaza
UN agency for Palestinian refugees says time is running out, calls on Israel to lift aid curbs now.
This live page is now closed. You can continue to follow our coverage of the war in Gaza here.
This live page is now closed. You can continue to follow our coverage of the war in Gaza here.
- The International Court of Justice orders “unhindered” aid to Gaza “at scale”, again orders Israel to prevent genocide, giving it one month to report on compliance.
- Five-year-old boy latest child to die of malnutrition in besieged and bombarded Gaza, as UN agency warns “time is running out” to prevent famine and urges Israel to lift aid restrictions immediately.
- Footage obtained by Al Jazeera shows unarmed Palestinian men – one repeatedly waving a piece of white cloth in a sign of surrender – before Israeli troops shoot them dead and then bury their bodies with a bulldozer near Gaza City.
- Hamas condemns the killings, saying it is “further evidence of the scale of fascism and criminality that governs Zionist behaviour”.
- At least 32,552 Palestinians have been killed and 74,980 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attack stands at 1,139, with dozens still held captive.
New ICJ order shows aid deliveries key in genocide case against Israel
The new set of provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice, which orders Israel to ensure the unhindered provision of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, shows that aid will be a key issue in South Africa’s genocide case, legal expert Alonso Gurmendi has told Al Jazeera.
“This is potentially what might make or break the case,” Gurmendi, who teaches at King’s College London, said.
In order to ascertain whether genocide has been perpetrated, the court will need to prove intent, which is usually a difficult criterion to meet when accusations of genocide are made.
Gurmendi said denying aid to Gaza is going to be central to the arguments presented by South Africa going forward and that the issuing of new provisions by the court showed that “many of the judges considered that Israel was not really complying” with the provisions set in January.
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A recap of today’s developments
We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a quick look at what happened today:
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told relatives of Israeli soldiers held captive in Gaza the army is “preparing to enter Rafah”.
- UN chief Antonio Guterres says “our common humanity” must prevail after Israel ignored new rulings by the International Court of Justice, citing “famine setting in” and ordering food to immediately be allowed into Gaza.
- The residential neighbourhood near al-Shifa Hospital is “unrecognisable” due to Israel’s systematic attacks on homes there.
- Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah held top-level meetings in Tehran, including with the supreme leader.
- Hezbollah and the Israeli military claimed multiple attacks on each other’s positions near the border.
Israel has become a ‘rogue state’
Commenting on the latest UN court measures ordering Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza and allow “unhindered” aid, analyst Adel Abdel Ghafar says international pressure on the country has yet to work.
“In effect, Israel has become a rogue state, which is in contravention of international law and international humanitarian law,” he told Al Jazeera.
“It now wants to push forward even with this potential assault on Rafah. Right now, the US is the only country that can really put more pressure on Israel to end this war. They can stop sending weapons, they can end financial support, and they can stop providing diplomatic cover. But this has not happened yet.”
How Israel’s destruction of Gaza schools shatters children’s dreams
As we cited a UN report as saying earlier, there have been more than 200 attacks by the Israeli military directly targeting schools in the Gaza Strip.
At least 53 schools have been “totally destroyed”, and attacks on education facilities have only increased since mid-February. This is shattering the hopes and dreams of many children across the besieged enclave.
“My dream was to become a journalist,” says a young Palestinian girl.
“That was the future I have dreamt of ever since I was little. I hope that we return to our homes, and we go back to schools.”
“All my dreams, all my hopes are dead” – a high school senior in Gaza
Follow our latest news on the war in Gaza here ⤵️https://t.co/MBLgY1XyhF pic.twitter.com/0vsSK0pHMo
— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) March 28, 2024
WATCH: Jordanians express solidarity with Palestinians in Israel embassy protest
The video below, verified by Al Jazeera, shows the latest protest by people expressing solidarity with Palestinians and calling for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza.
As they have in previous protests, the demonstrators marched towards the Israeli embassy in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
احتشاد عدد من الأردنيين في مسيرة متجهة للسفارة الإسرائيلية بعمان دعما للفصائل الفلسطينية في غزة#فيديو #حرب_غزة pic.twitter.com/Dgh6fw86oW
— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) March 28, 2024
Translation: A number of Jordanians gathered in a march towards the Israeli embassy in Amman in support of the Palestinian factions in Gaza.
WHO deploys international medical team to Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) says the UN organisation and its partners have deployed an emergency medical team to the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, where they have already evacuated a 12-year-old child with cystic fibrosis.
“The emergency medical team – the first in northern Gaza – includes one general surgeon, one emergency doctor, one orthopedic surgeon and one anesthetist,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X.
“The hospital is serving 120 patients at the moment with about 700 patients circulating daily, including those who are referred from al-Ahli Hospital.”
.@WHO and partners deployed an international emergency medical team and evacuated a child from Kamal Adwan hospital in northern #Gaza today. The emergency medical team – the first in northern Gaza – includes one general surgeon, one emergency doctor, one orthopedic surgeon and… pic.twitter.com/AIyaBvafru
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 28, 2024
LISTEN: Why has Israel launched an attack on al-Shifa Hospital again?
Israel continues to besiege the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, holding wounded patients and medical staff after being accused of killing dozens of Palestinian civilians.
US general says Israel has not received all weapons it wanted
The top general in the US says Israel has not received every single weapon it has asked for during its war on Gaza, partly because US president Joe Biden did not wish to provide at least some of them.
“Although we’ve been supporting them with capability, they’ve not received everything they’ve asked for,” said General Charles Brown, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Some of that is because they’ve asked for stuff that we either don’t have the capacity to provide or not willing to provide, not right now,” he added while speaking at military-focused event.
“It is a constant dialogue.”
The US and President Biden have drawn sharp criticism both domestically and internationally for continuing to supply weapons to the Israeli army during its campaign in Gaza, which has killed at least 32,552 Palestinians as of today, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
‘The time of Israeli impunity is fading away’
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) welcomed the ICJ’s ruling ordering Israel to ensure food arrives without delay into besieged Gaza with “famine setting in”.
“The far-right Israeli government continues to ignore all international laws and orders by world bodies demanding that it end its genocidal campaign of slaughter, starvation and ethnic cleansing in Gaza,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said.
“It is able to ignore international demands because it has acted with impunity against the rights of the Palestinian people for decades, safe in its belief that the United States will not allow any substantive action to be taken in response to its denial of Palestinian human rights and dignity.
“The time of Israeli impunity is fading away as people worldwide see what the Palestinian people have experienced: a government that is determined to erase the Palestinian existence so that it can illegally lay claim to their land.”
‘Much bigger massacre’: Israel won’t stop unless sanctions imposed
Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti says the International Court of Justice’s latest measures against Israel are an “important step”, saying they will have an impact on many levels.
However, Israel will not stop unless sanctions are imposed on the country, he said.
“Netanyahu wants to proceed with this terrible war, and he is now even promising a much bigger massacre by attacking Rafah,” he told Al Jazeera.
Barghouti, general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, said he’s disappointed in the muted response from Western governments, especially the United States.
“The US is playing a very dangerous game here and continues to support Israel. That has created a very dangerous moment,” he said.
“The fact that so many Western governments are providing protection to Israel, allowing it to continue, is going to disturb the whole international order. It simply sends a message to the world that there is no more international law.”
New Zealand welcomes new ICJ measures
The country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters says the situation in Gaza is “urgent and requires broad, sustained international attention”.
“New Zealand notes and welcomes the new additional measures issued by the International Court of Justice in its ongoing case on Gaza,” Peters said in a post on X.
“We call on Israel to adhere to the new measures, including by taking all necessary and effective steps to ensure, without delay, the unhindered provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.”
Earlier, the International Court of Justice issued new provisional measure ordering Gaza have “unhindered” access to aid “at scale”, which includes opening additional land crossings into Gaza. It also ordered Israel to ensure that it does not commit any acts that violate the Genocide Convention, and gave Israel one month to report to the court detailing how it is complying with these measures.
We call on Israel to adhere to the new measures, including by taking all necessary & effective steps to ensure, without delay, the unhindered provision of urgently needed basic services & humanitarian assistance.
-WP
2/2
— Winston Peters (@NewZealandMFA) March 28, 2024
Brazil’s Bolsonaro seeks court permission to accept Netanyahu’s invite
Lawyers for Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro say he has requested that federal authorities return his passport and allow him to travel to Israel at the invitation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
His attorneys said in a statement that they submitted the request to Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday.
Bolsonaro is close to Netanyahu, who has had spats with the former Brazilian president’s successor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Israel said last month that Lula would not be welcome to visit until he apologises for comments comparing Israel’s war on Gaza to the Holocaust.
Israeli military claims killing senior Hamas commander at al-Shifa
The Israeli military says it killed “a senior Hamas commander” at the besieged al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City while also destroying a long underground tunnel.
Commandos killed Raad Thabet earlier today with army spokesman Daniel Hagari identifying him as “head of human resources and supply” for the armed Palestinian group and one of its top 10 commanders.
The Israeli military also claimed to have killed three fighters in the maternity ward of al-Shifa, many parts of which have been burned down or blown up by Israeli soldiers, tanks and air strikes.
The army also released aerial footage it says shows a long Hamas tunnel that linked northern Gaza to the south being blown up using planted explosives.
Belgium welcomes ICJ rulings on Israel’s war on Gaza
The Belgian government praised the new legally binding measures ordered by the International Court of Justice for Israel’s war on Gaza.
“By not complying with these, Israel will further isolate itself from the international order,” Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter said in a post on X.
We welcome these much needed, new binding provisional measures ordered by @CIJ_ICJ, urging Israel to guarantee basic services and humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
By not complying with these, Israel will further isolate itself from the international order.#CeasefireNOW https://t.co/FG6y1fDdpE
— Petra De Sutter (@pdsutter) March 28, 2024
Israeli military carries out ‘surprise’ exercise for military readiness in north
The Israeli military says in a short statement that its forces have carried out a “surprise” exercise today that was aimed at better preparing its soldiers for a potentially expanded war with Hezbollah in the north.
All the commands – not just the north command – and wings and directorates of the Israeli army, along with its General Staff, were involved in the exercise, it said.
The statement added that the Israeli military is working to “strengthen” its readiness for a variety of scenarios of potential war with Lebanon.
The Israeli military has performed multiple exercises with the same goals since the start of its war on Gaza last October.
Death toll in Rafah strike climbs to 12
Reuters news agency, citing health officials, and Al Jazeera’s correspondent are now reporting that at least 12 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli bombing that targeted a house in southern Gaza’s Rafah city.
Earlier, we reported that this strike had killed at least five people and injured others, including women and children.
Qassam Brigades targets Israeli tanks and soldiers in central, southern Gaza
The armed wing of Hamas says it attacked the Israeli military in central and southern parts of the Gaza Strip amid ongoing intense ground battles.
In the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, located south of Gaza City in the central part of the besieged enclave, the Qassam Brigades said it used Yassin-105 rocket-propelled grenades to target two Merkava tanks.
In al-Qarara – north of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip – Hamas said it hit another tank along with a D9 armoured bulldozer.
Also in Khan Younis, it said its fighters booby-trapped a home with explosives that detonated when Israeli soldiers entered, inflicting casualties that were later evacuated by an Israeli helicopter.
Israeli army raids camp in occupied East Jerusalem
Footage shared online, and verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit Sanad, shows Israeli forces storming into Shuafat refugee camp.
According to local media sources, Israeli forces sealed off one of the entrances to the camp checkpoint following their incursion.
Israeli military makes 18 arrests after West Bank shooting attack
The Israeli military has released images and footage of military raids that it has carried out in the occupied West Bank after a shooting attack earlier today.
It says that during the raids, which came shortly after the attack this morning, 18 Palestinians were arrested throughout the occupied territories.
The statement by the military added that it continues to search for the “terrorist” behind the attack that it did not name. The shooting left three Israelis wounded.
Pentagon eyes fund for ‘peacekeeping force’ in Gaza: Report
The Pentagon is in early talks that include a proposal for the US to fund either a multinational force or a Palestinian peacekeeping team in the Gaza Strip, according to US news outlet Politico.
It cited two unnamed defence and other US officials as saying none of the options on the table would involve American troops in the territory. The US previously emphasised the plan to deliver maritime aid to Gaza via a temporary pier wouldn’t involve boots on the ground either.
“We’ve had a number of conversations with both the Israelis and our partners about key elements for the day after in Gaza when the time is right,” it quoted one senior official as saying.
The report said it could be months before Washington and its allies approach the stage of approving a plan, especially as regional stakeholders are calling for a commitment to a two-state solution.
Video shows mass pro-Palestine protests in Jordanian capital, Amman
العاصمة الأردنية عمان الآن؛ "افتح الحدود .. افتح الحدود .. ". pic.twitter.com/F6yjNEUgvf
— حسين مرتضى Hussein Mortada (@HoseinMortada) March 27, 2024
Palestinians killed in Israeli attack on Rafah
Al Jazeera’s correspondent said that at least five people were killed and others wounded, including women and children, in an Israeli raid on a house in the north of Rafah.
We will update you on this attack as information comes in.
Israel says 205 aid trucks allowed into the Gaza Strip
Israeli authorities inspected and transferred 205 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) also said 131 packages of food aid were airdropped over northern Gaza today.
It said 19 food aid trucks belonging to the “private sector” were allowed into northern Gaza, where infants and small children are dying from hunger and dehydration.
Israel says it will “continue to expand” its aid efforts even as the UN and others continue to criticise it for hampering aid amid an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.
COGAT claimed to have cleared 274 aid trucks to Gaza on Wednesday. Before the war on Gaza began, about 500 trucks carrying humanitarian relief entered the territory daily. Critics have denounced Israeli-imposed “starvation” of Palestinians.
Humanitarian aid facilitated for Gaza today (Mar. 28)👇
🚚205 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were inspected and transferred to the Gaza Strip.
✈️ 131 packages of food aid airdropped over northern Gaza
🚛 19 food aid trucks (private sector) coordinated to northern Gaza pic.twitter.com/xZUqp6DIRM
— COGAT (@cogatonline) March 28, 2024
Chaotic scenes near al-Shifa Hospital
A local photographer in Gaza shared a video, verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit Sanad, showing billowing smoke and intense confrontations near Gaza’s largest hospital.
Earlier we quoted the government media office in Gaza as saying preliminary information indicates Israeli forces have killed 200 displaced Palestinians inside the medical complex.