Israel’s war on Gaza updates: Hamas chief’s sons killed in Israeli attack
Widespread hunger in Gaza overshadows the Muslim holiday with ongoing Israeli strikes killing at least 14 Palestinians.
This live page is now closed. You can follow our latest coverage of the war in Gaza here.
This live page is now closed. You can follow our latest coverage of the war in Gaza here.
- At least three sons and four grandchildren of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh have been killed in an Israeli air attack on a Gaza refugee camp.
- Haniyeh tells Al Jazeera that Palestinian leaders will not back down if their families are targeted by the Israeli army, and that the killings will not affect Hamas’s demands in ceasefire talks.
- Starving Gaza residents hold muted Eid al-Fitr celebrations as Israel continues to block food deliveries and launch deadly air raids.
- In his harshest criticism yet of the devastating war on Gaza, US President Joe Biden tells Israel to “just call a ceasefire” and describes ongoing military operations as a “mistake”.
- At least 33,482 Palestinians have been killed and 76,049 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 still held captive.
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A look at what happened today
We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a quick recap from today:
- Three sons and four grandchildren of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an Israeli air attack on a Gaza refugee camp.
- Joe Biden said the US’s commitment to Israel’s security against Iran and its proxies is ‘iron clad’.
- Yemen’s Houthi rebels say they have carried out “four military operations” against two ships they claim are Israeli, as well as two US ships, in the Red Sea.
- Israeli forces stormed the village of Nabi Saleh, northwest of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
- The Israeli air force reportedly carried out attacks on the outskirts of the towns of Naqoura, Yarin, and Alma ash-Shaab.
- A total of four Palestinians, including a 15-year-old, were wounded by live bullets during the Israeli settler attack on the town of Burqa, near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
Displaced Palestinians perform Eid al-Fitr prayers in Rafah
The Take: How do the hungry mark Eid al-Fitr in Gaza?
In Gaza, Palestinian Muslims celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday while enduring the continuing violence and starvation of Israel’s war.
Al Jazeera’s The Take podcast revisits the memories from the Ramadan season one year ago to see what has changed and what remains.
In this episode:
Maram Humaid (@MaramGaza), Al Jazeera journalist
Banias Humaid, daughter of Maram Humaid
Siham Abu Shaaban, displaced Palestinian in Gaza
As Gaza is pummelled, is Serbia secretly sending weapons to Israel?
Throughout Israel’s war on Gaza, Serbia has sought to publicly avoid political involvement in the conflict, with Belgrade maintaining a relatively neutral position aimed at preserving relationships.
Serbia has ties with Israel and, at the same time, does not want to present itself on the international stage as undermining Palestinian interests, analysts told Al Jazeera.
Understanding the Balkan country’s unique perspective on Israel-Palestine requires some understanding of 20th-century history.
Serbs and Jewish Israelis share an identity as Holocaust victims. Belgrade is also linked to the Palestinians and Arab states through Yugoslavia’s historic role in the Non-Alignment Movement. And in 1967, Yugoslavia showed solidarity with Egypt and Syria by severing diplomatic relations with Israel and never restoring them until Yugoslavia’s collapse.
Read more here.
WATCH: Israeli strike kills three sons of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh
Take a look at what we know about Israeli strikes on north Gaza that killed Haniyeh’s family members:
Netanyahu ‘undermining any chance’ of ceasefire agreement: Hamas official
Basem Naim, the head of political and international relations for Hamas, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli prime minister has been “doing the maximum to block or to undermine any chance to reach ceasefire agreement”.
Speaking after three children and four grandchildren of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh were killed in an Israeli attack, he said Netanyahu is “under pressure” from the US, the international community and from Israeli society so he has resorted to “using all the other dirty tools by killing our children, our wives, [or] by assassinating leaders”.
Hezbollah gives recap of today’s attacks on Israel
On its Telegram channel, the Lebanese group said it carried out two attacks today in the “eastern sector”. This is a relatively low number of attacks for Hezbollah as it continues to exchange fire with the Israeli army across the Lebanon-Israel border.
The two attacks were, according to Hezbollah:
- Against the “Al-Samaqa site in the occupied Lebanese hills of Kafr Shuba”, which was hit directly with artillery fire.
- Against the Zibdin barracks in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms, which were hit directly.
The group also expressed its condolences to Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh, who lost three of his sons and four grandchildren in an Israeli army strike on Gaza earlier today.
Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah Naim Qassem offered these condolences to Haniyeh during a phone call, it said.
Russia’s FM and UN Middle East official call for immediate ceasefire
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the UN coordinator for the Middle East peace process have called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza after holding talks in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
“The importance was stressed of an immediate cease-fire, the provision of safe, unhindered access to all those affected and in need and the release of hostages,” the ministry said after Lavrov met Tor Wennesland in Moscow.
The statement said the two men “paid great attention to the prospects for reviving the peace process of a Palestinian-Israeli settlement after the ‘hot phase’ of the conflict is over”.
Roads reopened in Absan, east of southern Gaza’s Khan Younis
After the Israeli army announced its withdrawal from Khan Younis in southern Gaza earlier this week, residents have been slowly returning to their old neighbourhoods to inspect the level of destruction.
Municipal workers are now restoring roads and services in the area, and have so far reopened roads in Absan, a small town east of Khan Younis, as video verified by Al Jazeera shows.
The city had been subject to months of intense Israeli bombardments and fighting. Civil defence workers have said they recovered dozens of bodies from under the rubble in Khan Younis.
US army commander to visit Israel to coordinate defence against Iran: Report
Barak Ravid, a journalist for the US news site Axios, says that the senior US army commander in charge of the Middle East will visit Israel tomorrow.
US army General Erik Kurilla, head of the army’s Central Command (CENTCOM), is expected to coordinate with Israeli military officials on a possible attack on the country by Iran or its aligned militias, Ravid reports, quoting two unnamed Israeli officials.
Iran has pledged to retaliate against Israel for an attack on its diplomatic consulate in the Syrian capital last week. The Israeli military has been on high alert since.
The Israeli officials have said they are expecting an unprecedented attack on Israeli soil, one that may not come from Israel’s northern border but rather via ballistic missiles.
In response to a request for comment on Kurilla’s trip, Axios says that “A US defense official said it was Department of Defense policy to ‘not discuss flag officer travel for operational security'”.
Germany’s Lufthansa suspends flights to and from Tehran
Germany’s national carrier, Lufthansa, says that after careful evaluation, it has decided to suspend flights to and from Tehran until probably Thursday, April 11, “due to the current situation in the Middle East”.
Countries in the region and the US have been on high alert and preparing for a possible attack by Iran in response to the April 1 Israeli air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, which killed seven people, including two commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
“We are constantly monitoring the situation in the Middle East and are in close contact with the authorities. The safety of our guests and crew members is Lufthansa’s top priority,” a company spokesperson told the news agency Reuters.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday that Israel “must be punished and will be punished” for the attack in Damascus.
In an apparent response to Khamenei, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that Israel will respond if Iran attacks Israel from its own soil.
Hamas say fourth grandchild of Haniyeh confirmed dead in Israeli strike
The number of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s family members killed in an Israeli strike has risen to seven after Hamas announced that a fourth grandchild had died.
The group said in a statement that Hazem, Amir, Mohammad, and their children, Mona, Amal, Khaled and Razan, were killed following “a treacherous and cowardly Zionist raid that targeted them in Shati camp on the first day of the blessed Eid Al-Fitr”.
WATCH: What’s behind Berlin’s unwavering support for the Jewish people?
Eighty years after the Holocaust, Germany is accused of being complicit in Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Nicaragua wants the International Court of Justice to order Berlin to stop military exports to Israel.
German lawyers have rejected the case as baseless and biased. They say Berlin is a fierce advocate for international humanitarian law.
But for years, Germany has declared the security of the state of Israel is at the core of its foreign policy.
As world opinion turns against Israel’s brutal war on Gaza, where does that leave Berlin’s unwavering support for the Jewish people?
Watch Al Jazeera’s Inside Story to hear the discussion:
Rockets launched from central Gaza towards Israel: AJ correspondent
Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that a barrage of rockets was launched from central Gaza a short while ago.
The rockets were fired towards areas in Israel that are close to the fence with Gaza.
We will update you on this incident as information comes in.
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed by Israeli bombardments in Deir el-Balah, Gaza
US and Turkish top diplomats hold phone call: Report
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in a call with his US counterpart Antony Blinken today, a Turkish diplomatic source told the Reuters news agency.
Yesterday, Turkey said it will impose restrictions on exports to Israel until there is a ceasefire and increased aid in the Gaza Strip, after the Israeli government refused to allow it to airdrop aid over the besieged and bombarded territory.
The Turkish Ministry of Trade said it will no longer send to Israel items in 54 categories spanning iron and steel products, jet fuel, construction equipment, machines, cement, granites, chemicals, pesticides and bricks.
WATCH: Congress cafeteria blocked by pro-Palestine protest
Christians for a Free Palestine protested at a Senate cafeteria in the US capital over Israel’s war on Gaza.
“We will not avert our eyes; Palestine will be free”, they sang.
“We are here to pray for the food of Gaza. Not bombs! Congress and their staff will not eat today until Gaza eats,” they also shouted in unison.
Killing of Haniyeh’s children, grandchildren ‘does not happen randomly’: Analyst
Sultan Barakat, professor of conflict and humanitarian studies at Qatar Foundation’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, told Al Jazeera that the assassination of Haniyeh’s family members could have been specifically carried out to derail the ceasefire negotiations.
The Israeli military would have identified the three children and the three grandchildren of Haniyeh, he said, adding, “I think someone must have taken the decision to go ahead.”
“We have seen, over the last ten days or so, the moral tide turning against Netanyahu and this coalition across the world” he said.
The Israeli prime minister, in the latest round of ceasefire talks, had “to climb down more than Hamas”, he added.
However, to be able to reach an agreement, “you have to establish a minimum level of trust between the two sides”, Barakat said, noting that any trust that existed before would have been “demolished” after today’s attack on the Hamas leader’s family members.
Far-right Israeli minister says no one from Hamas ‘immune’ from Israeli attacks
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has congratulated the Israeli army and Israel following the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s three children.
“None of the leaders of Hamas who … still hold our hostages, is immune from our long hand. With God’s help we will reach everyone,” he said in a post on X.
Smotrich, the far-right leader of one of the pro-settler parties in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, has repeatedly called for the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. He has also reportedly threatened to leave Netanyahu’s coalition if Israel strikes a deal with Hamas that he perceives as unfavourable.
Qatari PM, Palestinian president offer condolences to Haniyeh: Hamas
Hamas posted on Telegram that Ismail Haniyeh, head of the group’s political bureau, has received a call from Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, in which he “offered condolences on the martyrdom of a number of his children and grandchildren in a treacherous Zionist bombing”.
In a separate post, the group said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also offered his condolences.
Israeli politician: Attack on Haniyeh’s family ‘shows lack of political wisom’
On X, Yair Golan writes that the targeting of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s children and grandchildren, who were killed in an Israeli strike earlier today, was timed poorly.
“However justified and appropriate [the killings] may be,” he said, “Carrying out such dramatic actions, on the eve of a possible deal for the release of the abductees, constitutes another serious layer in their lawlessness”.
Yair Golan is an Israeli politician and former deputy chief of staff of the Israeli army. He was also the deputy minister of economy, and served as a member of the Israeli parliament, known as the Knesset.
US commitment to Israel’s security against Iran, proxies is ‘iron clad’: Biden
US President Joe Biden says during a press conference that he has discussed developments in the Middle East with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is on a state visit to the US.
Biden said those discussions included their “shared support” for a ceasefire, a deal to release captives and “urgent efforts” to deal with the humanitarian crisis that exists in Gaza.
He added that they also wanted to address the “Iranian threat”, which included launching a “significant attack on Israel”.
“As I told [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad”, Biden said.
The past couple of hours have been very intense in the Gaza Strip
What we see on the ground now, despite the talks in Cairo and despite the Israeli military [withdrawal of some troops], there is an exponential surge of attacks across the Gaza Strip.
There’s been a surge in air strikes across the central area, eastern Khan Younis city, Wadi Gaza and also the northern part of the strip.
Particularly in the northwestern part of Gaza City, around the Shati refugee camp, where six people, the sons and grandsons of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh, were in a vehicle on their way to visit – because it’s the first day of Eid – their relatives, when a drone fired at least two missiles that completely incinerated the vehicle.
Across the central area [of the Gaza Strip], more people have been transferred to Al-Aqsa Hospital who were critically injured by attacks on residential homes. The eastern part of Khan Younis is under almost nonstop constant artillery and shelling.
Yemen’s Houthis claim fresh attacks on Israeli, US ships
Yemen’s Houthi rebels say they have carried out “four military operations” against two ships they claim are Israeli, as well as two US ships, in the Red Sea.
The two Israeli vessels were the MSC Darwin, and the MSC Gina – both of which were targeted in the Gulf of Aden, a spokesperson for the group said in a video statement.
The two US ships that were targeted were also in the Gulf of Aden. These were a US-registered Maersk vessel, and another “American warship” that was targeted with a number of drones, the spokesperson said.
“The ships were targeted with a number of naval missiles and drones,” he said.
“The Yemeni armed forces will continue to carry out their moral and humanitarian duties towards the Palestinian people,” the spokesperson continued.
The attacks, he said, will “continue until the enemy [Israel] lifts the siege it imposed on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip”.