Israel’s war on Gaza updates: 17 killed in attacks on shelter

Thank you for joining us.

You can read the latest details on the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, here.

To read more about the Israeli attacks that killed nine people, including a local Hamas commander, near Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, go here.

Read more about the call for collective global action in support of Palestinian prisoners, here.

And you can always find all our latest coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, here.

We will be moving over to a new live page shortly but before we do that, here is a look at today’s main developments:

• Multiple Israeli attacks on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City kill at least 17 and injure dozens.
• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says that Ismail Haniyeh was killed by a “short-range” projectile fired from outside his residence.
• Israeli forces carry out two air attacks and multiple raids on Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, killing local commanders and fighters with the armed wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
• Netanyahu shoots back against reports and criticism that he is sabotaging a Gaza ceasefire agreement to sustain his troubled leadership. Negotiators return to Israel after hitting an impasse in Cairo.
• A ship is hit with a missile after two separate attacks off Yemen’s Aden, indicating the latest Houthi strike amid major pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Yemen.
• Hamas says it has initiated a broad consultation process to select a new leader following the assassination of its political chief Haniyeh in Tehran.

Ali Bagheri Kani has told his Pakistani counterpart in a phone call that Tehran will respond to the assassination of Haniyeh, which he described as “the Zionist regime crossing a big red line of the Islamic Republic of Iran” with two major repercussions.

“First is Iran’s decisive response to this crime, and the other is the effect of the malign actions of the Zionists in disturbing stability and security and creating crises across the region,” he is quoted as saying by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

The word de-escalation has been used so many times over the last few days.

We know that Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, spoke to his Israeli counterpart a few hours ago and de-escalation was one of the words used, along with re-affirming military support for Israel.

We know that President Biden spoke to Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday and, again, talked about de-escalation. We even heard it at the UN Security Council the other day.

Nobody wants this to spiral out of control.

There could just be the slightest, most minute miscalculation that could tip this into an all-out war. Especially if Iran targets a heavily populated civilian area, and Israel feels the need to respond. Nobody wants this to turn out to be something bigger, but it could be. And that is why everybody is focused on de-escalation.

At the same time, you have all of the people in Gaza who just want a ceasefire so they can get on with their lives and get this over and done with.

The Canadian government is warning its citizens against travelling to Israel, saying the regional armed conflict endangers security.

“The security situation can deteriorate further without warning,” Canada says in a travel advisory issued to raise the risk level for travel to Israel.

“If the armed conflict intensifies, it could impact your ability to depart by commercial means. It may result in travel disruptions, including airspace closures and flight cancellations and diversions. You should not rely on the Government of Canada for an assisted departure or evacuation,” the travel advisory says.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades fired mortar shells at Israeli forces operating along the Netzarim Corridor and Israeli soldiers continued to battle in Rafah city where their ground operation “has been delayed” by the tenacity of Palestinian resistance, war monitors report.

According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP), Israel’s ground offensive in the southern city has been “delayed for several weeks due to slow progress in degrading the Rafah Brigade”.

On Friday, Palestinian fighters launched at least 20 rockets towards southern Israel from an area between Rafah and Khan Younis where Israeli troops are currently operating, the US-based think tanks said.

To the west of Rafah, in the al-Brahama neighbourhood, fighters with the National Resistance Brigades used anti-personnel landmines to target Israeli soldiers, according to latest ISW-CTP joint Gaza report.

Hepatitis A is spreading in Gaza in numbers unheard of in developed nations, leading to complete liver failure in some patients, said Jeremy Hickey, a physician with the medical nonprofit Fajr Scientific.

“This is a completely preventable illness and something that we rarely see in developed nations,” said Hickey, who recently volunteered for a medical mission in Gaza.

Even when hepatitis A does emerge in developed nations, said Hickey, it is easily treatable and causes little long-term damage to those who recover. However, due to the lack of resources in Gaza, he said the disease there often progresses to its worst stage – fulminant hepatitis. That means acute liver failure, leading to “seizures, comas and eventually death”.

Usually, once patients reach this stage, they will eventually “succumb to the disease because there is no method or means to support them”, he said.

The Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, has confirmed our earlier reports that Nablus area commander Haitham Balidi has been killed in an Israeli air attack.

The local commander and three more fighters, two from Qalqilya and one from the Nur Shams camp, were travelling in a car with a local commander of Saraya al-Quds when they were killed.

The military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad also confirmed the incident and the death of its commander Abdul Jabbar al-Sabbagh, whom it identified as one of the founders of the Tulkarem Brigade.

Saraya al-Quds also reported that seven more of its fighters were killed during ensuing Israeli military raids on the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu’s handling of the ceasefire and prisoner exchange talks continues to cause divisions in Israeli politics.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid says that Netanyahu continues to delay a deal that would secure the release of captives held in Gaza for political reasons.

“The heads of the security establishment must come out and tell the public the truth – if the Israeli government has given up on the abductees, it should be honest with the families and stop playing games,” he wrote.

But far-right Economy Minister Bezalel Smotrich supported Netanyahu, who has said he remains committed to Israel’s security, victory in Gaza and returning the captives.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said in a phone call with Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani that recent developments in the region were “unprecedented, very dangerous” and threatening regional stability.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says “thousands of breastfeeding and pregnant women in the Gaza Strip are facing hunger and malnutrition of their children”.

“We need more aid to come into Gaza to support mothers and families living through war. Gaza needs a ceasefire now,” UNRWA said.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says he spoke to Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant “about the threats posed by Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah, and other Iranian-backed terrorist groups”.

“I also highlighted that further escalation is not inevitable, and all parties would benefit from de-escalation, including through completing a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.”

On its Telegram channel, Hezbollah has said one of its fighters, Hassan Imad Kareem, was killed, without naming the location or manner of his death.

It said that the 17-year-old was from Deir Siriane, a town in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese L’Orient Today reported earlier that an Israeli attack on Deir Siriane killed one person and injured six civilians.

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because the Israeli government has banned the network from the country.

A defiant show from the Israeli public, specifically these family members of the captives, as they clash with police.

The demonstrations are taking place not just in Tel Aviv but across the country and also outside the houses of senior officials, including Netanyahu’s.

Family members are saying “enough is enough”, and that elections must be held immediately in addition to a ceasefire deal that would see the release of the remaining some 110 captives still being held inside Gaza.

Earlier tonight, one family member of an Israeli captive, speaking outside of the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, said that “Netanyahu committed a targeted assassination on the captives’ deal”, meaning they no longer trust that Netanyahu is capable of reaching a deal more than 300 days into the war.