Updates: US targets Yemen, almost 100 killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza

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You can read our piece on the 2025 World Press Photo of the Year award of the wounded Palestinian nine-year-old Mahmoud Ajjour here.

Stay up to date with all our coverage of the war here.

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

• At least 52 people have been killed by Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn.
• Yemeni media affiliated with the Houthis are reporting that the US has carried out at least 29 air raids across Yemen this evening.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Hamas has rejected a ceasefire proposal to return half the captives because the Palestinian group wants a complete end to the war, a scenario Netanyahu says would mean an end to Israel’s “achievements”.
• A spokesperson for the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, says the fate of the Israeli-American captive Edan Alexander is unknown after its fighters found the body of the guard looking after the captive.
• The head of Turkish intelligence has held discussions with a Hamas delegation to look at options to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
• Israeli forces have clamped down on worshippers and prevented dozens of families from reaching their homes in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem as Christians celebrate Holy Saturday.

A 13-year-old Palestinian has been shot by Israeli forces during a raid in the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus, in the northern West Bank.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said the child was shot in the thigh and transferred to a hospital for treatment.

Local sources also told the Wafa news agency that Israeli settlers abducted three Palestinian children for more than an hour from the al-Dubbat neighbourhood in the western part of the town before residents found the children tied to olive trees.

Our colleagues on the ground are reporting that a number of Palestinians have been wounded in an Israeli air strike on a house west of the Nuseirat camp.

Earlier, one Palestinian was killed by a bombing carried out by an Israeli drone on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

Qatar has condemned threats by Israeli settler groups to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, and replace it with a temple.

“Qatar considers this a dangerous provocation that could significantly escalate violence in the region, especially amid the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirms Qatar’s unequivocal rejection of any attempt to alter the historical and legal status of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem, or its holy sites.”

The chairman of Israel’s Yisrael Beytenu party, Avigdor Lieberman, says Netanyahu’s speech shows he “failed” against Hamas on October 7, 2023, and “prevented the return of all the abductees in one fell swoop – just to survive politically”.

In a recorded address, Israel’s prime minister said Hamas had rejected his government’s proposal to release half of the captives and instead called for an end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from Gaza.

Netanyahu said accepting the Hamas proposal would be a “capitulation” and would undo everything Israeli soldiers had so far achieved.

Lieberman also called the indirect nuclear negotiations the US and Iran are having another “resounding failure” of Netanyahu’s.

“The prime minister of October 7 is a continuing failure who needs to end his term.”

Palestine’s Foreign Ministry has condemned an AI-generated video titled Next Year in Jerusalem circulating on far-right Hebrew platforms.

The video shows al-Aqsa Mosque being bombed and replaced by a Third Temple.

In a statement, the ministry called the video “a systematic provocation aimed at escalating attacks on Islamic and Christian holy sites in occupied Jerusalem”.

It said Israel’s far-right leadership feels “emboldened to advance its Judaisation and colonial agenda amid weak international reactions to its ongoing genocidal crimes, particularly in Gaza”.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is Islam’s third holiest site and a symbol of Palestinian identity.

An Israeli campaign group has urged Netanyahu to secure a deal to bring the captives home from Gaza, even if it means ending the war.

“Netanyahu has no plan. Tonight, we heard endless talk about what not to do. We would appreciate hearing from our prime minister what should be done,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.

“There is one clear, feasible, and urgent solution that can be achieved now: reach a deal that will bring everyone home – even if it means stopping the fighting.”

Netanyahu is not protecting Israel but is an “obstacle to its security”, the chairman of Israel’s Democrats party, Yair Golan, says after a message from the prime minister announcing that he would not capitulate to Hamas and end the war.

“The longer he remains, the greater the danger. This evening, he officially announced to the families of the kidnapped and to the entire public: I have decided to continue to abandon and sacrifice the kidnapped. My continued hold on the throne is more important to me than the lives of your loved ones,” Golan wrote on X.

“We will take him down, rescue the hostages, and arm the security.”

According to the Health Ministry, treating the injuries of those arriving at hospitals is becoming very hard due to a severe lack of medication.

Doctors are being forced to prioritise cases. Many injured Palestinians die from their wounds simply because the necessary medical supplies are not available.

For more than six weeks, no medical supplies, food, fuel or essential goods have entered the coastal enclave. Due to the ongoing attacks across Gaza – from the north, south and central areas – the humanitarian situation remains dire.

Netanyahu says Hamas has rejected a ceasefire proposal to return half the captives because the Palestinian group wants a complete end to the war, a scenario the Israeli prime minister admits will mean an end to Israel’s “achievements”.

“If we capitulate to the dictates of Hamas now, all the great achievements of the war, which we achieved with the merit of our soldiers and our fallen and our heroic injured, all these achievements will disappear,” Netanyahu said in a video message in Hebrew.

His latest comments come as pressure from the public and former military and intelligence officials grows for Netanyahu to prioritise the return of the captives and end the war.

Israeli forces have assaulted a photographer from the Wafa news agency during a raid on his home in the al-Rabay’ah neighbourhood in the city of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank.

Wafa Awwad told the outlet that Israeli soldiers stormed his house without warning, physically assaulted him while hurling verbal abuse.

“They attacked me brutally and cursed me repeatedly, then confiscated my press card, ID and phone,” he said.

Despite identifying himself as a news photographer, he said soldiers vandalised his home, smashing furniture and other belongings.

Israeli forces also raided homes belonging to the Awwad family in Tulkarem’s al-Hadayeida neighbourhood, including the residences of brothers Walid and Raed Awwad.

Soldiers detained 15-year-old Ahmad Raed Awwad, blindfolded him and took him to an undisclosed location.

The chief of Israel’s domestic security service, Shin Bet, will resign in mid-May after the opposition protested his dismissal.

Last month, Netanyahu decided to fire Ronen Bar due to what he described as “ongoing distrust” over the October 7, 2023, attacks. But his dismissal triggered mass antigovernment protests. Protesters accused Netanyahu of undermining Israeli democracy.

Last week, the Supreme Court blocked Bar’s dismissal.

Now, Israel’s Channel 12 is reporting that Bar will step down next month.

Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, says it has carried out a “complex ambush” against Israeli forces in Tuffah, a neighbourhood of Gaza City.

In a statement, the group said it had inflicted casualties on Israeli forces and targeted a tank and a military bulldozer, setting them on fire.