Israel war on Gaza updates: 9 killed in Israeli attack on Rafah aid seekers

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Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has issued a stern warning to Israel, threatening a war with “no restraint and no rules and no ceilings” in the case of a major Israeli offensive against Lebanon. Read more here.

You can also read our story on leading shipping industry groups calling for action to halt Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea here.

And to follow all of our coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza, read more here.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here is a recap of the latest developments from today:

• Al Jazeera’s correspondent and Reuters news agency report that at least nine people were killed when Israeli bombs struck a group of people waiting for humanitarian aid near the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) border crossing in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
• The UN Human Rights Office has published an assessment on “six emblematic attacks” committed by Israeli forces in Gaza in 2023 that raises “serious concerns under the laws of war”.
• Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has warned that “no place” in Israel would be spared from Hezbollah’s weapons in case of a full-blown war after Israel said operational plans for a Lebanon offensive had been approved.
• The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) now estimates 65,000 people remain in Rafah, the UN secretary-general’s deputy spokesperson has said.
• An Israeli army spokesman has said Hamas cannot be defeated as an ideology, prompting the government to quickly re-assert that it remains committed to the Palestinian group’s destruction.

The Palestinian group has commented on a United Nations commission report that Israeli authorities are responsible for war crimes, released earlier today.

Here is a summary of what Hamas said:

• “The statements of the head of the UN Commission of Inquiry are a new confirmation of the crimes and violations committed by the occupation against our people.”
• “We call on the international community, the United Nations, and all human rights bodies to work to stop the crimes of the occupier against our people.”
• “We call for support for the efforts of the International Court of Justice to hold the rogue Zionist entity [Israel] and its war criminal leaders accountable.”

The head of the Lebanese group Hezbollah says his fighters are ready in case of a war with Israel, and that his group would fight without any rules.

Nasrallah also threatened Cyprus, saying the country would embroil itself in conflict if it opened its bases to Israel.

Watch our full report to learn more about tensions between Israel and Hezbollah:

Israeli forces have stormed al-Mughayyir, located northeast of Ramallah, resulting in confrontations between the soldiers and locals, Wafa news agency is reporting.

Soldiers detained five Palestinians before eventually letting them go, Wafa added.

Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank have intensified since Israel’s war on Gaza began, with more than 9,100 Palestinians detained.

A threat from Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to strike Cyprus has ratcheted up tensions even further in the eastern Mediterranean, as the Lebanese Shia group’s conflict with Israel continues to threaten to turn into an all-out war.

Nasrallah said on Wednesday that Hezbollah did not want an expanded war, but that it was ready – along with its regional allies – to match Israel’s increased aggression. The threat towards Cyprus is a result of what Nasrallah said was the Israeli use of bases on the eastern Mediterranean island.

Although the United Kingdom has two bases in Cyprus, there has been no officially acknowledged Israeli use of Cypriot land or airbases. Israel has used Cypriot airspace to conduct drills in the past.

The heightened rhetoric from Nasrallah comes a day after Hezbollah published footage it said was taken by one of its drones above the Israeli city of Haifa. The footage, which Nasrallah said only showed a small part of the footage captured, appeared to be a warning to Israeli authorities of Hezbollah’s reach, should Israel continue to threaten an expansion of its attacks on Lebanon.

Read our full story here.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says in a statement that the Gulf Cooperation Council states have condemned Israel’s “ongoing aggression” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and expressed support for the Palestinian people.

“They also called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and … an end to the humanitarian catastrophe that is occurring” in Gaza.

In his speech earlier today, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said a wider war with Lebanon would have regional implications and that the Lebanese armed group would attack any other country in the region that assisted Israel in the war effort, citing Cyprus, which has hosted Israeli forces for training exercises.

He suggested Cyprus might allow Israel to use its bases in the event of a wider war.

In response, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said his island nation “is in no way involved” in any military operations in the region.

Cyprus is “part of the solution, not part of the problem”, he said, pointing out the Cyprus-Gaza maritime corridor used to deliver aid to the Palestinian territory.

Israeli news outlet Haaretz is reporting dissatisfaction among security-related officials with the Netanyahu-led government’s actions in Gaza.

Here is a summary of what Haaretz said:

• Security and military leaders and officials criticised in closed meetings the lack of a political strategy to end the war in Gaza.
• Officials criticised the demand to overthrow Hamas’s rule and destroy its capabilities, which was formulated under pressure without presenting realistic goals.
• Israeli ministers warned that Netanyahu’s failure to specify clear targets would force the army to move dangerously and for a long time in Gaza.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, says on X that Israel’s attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza last week will not be forgotten.

The attack, which killed over 270 people and wounded over 700, was justified by the Israeli army as part of an operation to rescue four of its captives held by Hamas.

“The Nuseirat massacre will go down in history as one of the most appalling examples of disdain for Palestinian life in one of the most well-documented and boasted about genocides in history,” Albanese wrote.

“Justice will knock on the doors of the perpetrators and their accomplices,” she added.

Leading shipping industry groups have called for action to halt Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea after the sinking of a second ship.

The organisations condemned the incidents as a violation of freedom of navigation and said in a joint statement that they target “innocent seafarers”.

The statement includes groups such as the World Shipping Council, European Community Shipowners’ Associations, and Asian Shipowners’ Association.

“We call for States with influence in the region to safeguard our innocent seafarers and for the swift de-escalation of the situation in the Red Sea.”

Yemen’s Houthi armed group has been launching attacks on shipping lanes in the region since November in what it says is an effort to support Palestinians and pressure Israel to end its war on Gaza.

Read more of this story here.

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant held a situational assessment at the Kirya in Tel Aviv, where the army’s Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi was present.

The Defense Ministry said that Gallant wanted to emphasise how Israel can combat the Hezbollah drone threat – and what exactly can be done at the soonest possible time and in the soonest possible way – and that Israel should be prepared for all scenarios.

The army chief of staff has said that Israel is ready at the maximum possible alert level on the ground and that it is looking to make what he’s calling smart decisions.

Moreover, Halevi was touring the northern border today … He was there with Israeli troops saying that Hezbollah’s drone capability is nothing new to Israel, kind of downplaying that nearly 10-minute video released by Hezbollah yesterday that showed sensitive military targets throughout northern Israel, including Iron Dome batteries.

Ali Bagheri Khani, Iran’s acting minister of foreign affairs, has met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani of Qatar, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs says in a statement.

Among other things, the pair discussed de-escalation in the Middle East and joint efforts to mediate between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza War.

Tensions remain high on Lebanon’s border with Israel, as the army has threatened to start a full-scale war against Hezbollah, a group strategically allied with Iran.

An Israeli army spokesman has said Hamas cannot be defeated as an ideology, prompting the government to quickly re-assert that it remains committed to the Palestinian group’s destruction.

“Hamas is an ideology; we cannot eliminate an ideology,” Daniel Hagari told Israeli media.

“To say that we are going to make Hamas disappear is to throw sand in people’s eyes. If we don’t provide an alternative, in the end, we will have Hamas.”

His comments were quickly rebuffed by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose cabinet has stated its Gaza offensive will not end until Hamas is defeated.

“The political and security cabinet headed by Prime Minister Netanyahu defined as one of the goals of the war the destruction of Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

“The [Israeli army] is of course committed to this.”

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory has provided a situation update on the crisis in Gaza.

Here are some highlights of the assessment:

• “Hundreds of thousands of displaced people in southern Gaza suffer from poor access to shelter, health, food, water and sanitation, UN assessment missions find.”
• “About 57 percent of Gaza’s cropland has been damaged.”
• “Real Gross Domestic Product in Gaza has declined by over 83 percent, reports the International Labor Organization.”
• “About a dozen attacks by Israeli settlers took place in the West Bank, resulting in the injury of 24 Palestinians, property damage, and the displacement of a Palestinian family.”

Generally, the security situation across the Gaza Strip is escalating at a very high speed now.

Within the past hour, the Israeli military has targeted a group of Palestinians in the eastern portion of Rafah city.

We are surrounded by two Israeli military drones that are flying and hovering at a very low altitude in the vicinity of the Al-Aqsa Hospital.

People here are fearful that they [Israeli forces] … might attack in the coming hours.

US news outlet Politico reports, citing four unnamed officials within the administration of US President Joe Biden, that doubts are growing that Israel and Hamas will reach a ceasefire deal under the framework advanced by the US in recent weeks.

As recently as this week, the US said that its position on the Gaza ceasefire is that Hamas is responsible for the delay and that Israel has not just accepted the deal – it produced it.

Wafa news agency reports, citing security sources, that a young man was shot by Israeli troops after they stored the village of Jaffna, north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

The sources told Wafa that clashes broke out in the village during the raid, and that Israeli forces fired bullets and tear gas.

The young man who was injured was hit in the foot, Wafa adds.

Palestinian lawyer Khaled Mahajneh recently visited detained Palestinian journalist Muhammad Arab in Sde Timan prison.

He says detainees there were subjected to “brutal methods of torture beyond imagination”.

“No human being can live under those conditions,” he told Al Jazeera. “Israel is making sure to keep them tortured and beaten.”

According to Mahajneh, Arab shared “many details” of his incarceration at the facility, which began more than 100 days ago.

“For example, he’s being handcuffed and blindfolded 24/7 for over 100 days non-stop,” Mahanej revealed.

“They are allowed to take a shower for one minute, and everyone who exceeds this will be subjected to torture in a very brutal manner… They are seated all the time. They are not allowed to stand up. They are not allowed to talk to the other prisoners,” he added.

“Are there any free people in the world who would accept such conditions?”