Updates: Israeli forces kill 32 people in ‘heavy waves’ of attacks on Gaza

The armed wing of Hamas says on Telegram that its snipers killed and wounded four soldiers on al-Awda Street in the east of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza on Thursday.

For a look at the continued spat between Israeli PM Netanyahu and the head of the Shin Bet, check out our story here.

We also have a breakdown of the latest developments in Yemen, where the Houthis say they shot down a US drone, here.

And for how Christian Palestinians in Gaza are mourning the late Pope Francis, see our gallery here.

We are going to bring our live coverage to an end soon. Here’s a summary of today’s main events:

• The Israeli military has killed at least 32 Palestinians in a series of attacks across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Tuesday, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
• Israeli forces also ramped up their raids in the occupied West Bank, with more than two dozen Palestinians reported detained.
• The US kept up attacks on Yemen after the Houthis claimed more raids on Israel as well as US aircraft carriers in the Red Sea.
• Qatar’s prime minister said mediators are still working hard to reach a permanent deal to end the Gaza war, even though Israel’s recent behaviour has shown it is “not interested” in peace.
• The head of UNRWA accused Israel of using aid as a “weapon of war” as Palestinians are being deprived of critical humanitarian supplies amid 50 days of Israeli siege.

The Israeli military has demolished two Palestinian homes in the village of Iskaka, east of Salfit in the central occupied West Bank, according to videos shared on social media that were verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit, Sanad.

In a statement on Facebook, the Salfit municipality said Israel had issued demolition orders against the homes, which were owned by two brothers, last year.

Meanwhile, in the village of at-Tawani in the South Hebron Hills area of the southern occupied West Bank, another house was demolished by Israeli forces.

Footage shared on social media and verified by Sanad showed a bulldozer demolishing the home while Israeli soldiers were on hand.

US Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen has called for an end to Israel’s blockade on food and humanitarian aid in Gaza.

“End the blockade & suffering. Release all the hostages. End the war. No more Oct 7ths. Security, dignity, human rights & self-determination for all,” Van Hollen wrote in a post on X.

The senator was replying to chef Jose Andres, founder of World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit that operates in Gaza to provide food for Palestinians, who said “food can never be used as a weapon of war”, adding a call for Israel to allow aid to enter the enclave.

Since the beginning of March, Israel has blocked deliveries of essential humanitarian items, including food, in what the government has said is to put pressure on Hamas to agree to an extension of the first phase of the ceasefire deal, which Israel broke.

The United Nations chief has appointed a British human rights activist to carry out a strategic review of the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees to assess its impact under the “present political, financial, security and other constraints”.

Israel has banned the agency, known as UNRWA, from operating on its territory, but its Palestinian staff have still been key to delivering aid and running medical clinics in Gaza, even though Israel has cut off all humanitarian deliveries since March 2.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who announced the review, said Ian Martin, a former head of Amnesty International, would also be looking at the “consequences and risks for Palestinian refugees” of UNRWA’s operations.

Dujarric stressed that the review is not about changing UNRWA’s mandate.

“We’re trying to see how, in this very complex environment, UNRWA can best deliver for the Palestine refugees it serves, for the communities it serves,” he told reporters. “They deserve to be assisted by an organisation – by UNRWA – that can work in the best possible manner given all these challenges.”

The Yemeni group says this is the seventh US drone it has downed so far this month and the 22nd since the Gaza war began.

In a statement, the Houthis said their “air defence shot down a hostile American MQ-9 Reaper drone while it was carrying out hostile missions in the airspace of Hajjah governorate”.

The US has been carrying out deadly air attacks against what it says are Houthi targets in Yemen, killing dozens of people, including many civilians, over the past weeks.

The Trump administration has warned that its military campaign will continue until the Yemeni group halts all attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.

The Houthis have rejected the US assault, stressing that they are targeting ships in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and will stop when Israel ends its war on the enclave.

At least one person has been killed by Israeli live fire in al-Mawasi, southern Gaza, Wafa reported.

At the same time, Israeli forces bombed a tent for displaced people in the camp, and Israeli helicopters also opened fire east of Khan Younis.

Meanwhile, heavy artillery was fired east of the Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip.

In the Shujayea neighbourhood, a quadcopter drone burned five tents housing displaced people in the Ard al-Bardini area on as-Sikka Street.

King Abdullah II also has reiterated his rejection of efforts to displace Palestinians from Gaza and the occupied West Bank in a meeting with US lawmakers.

According to a readout from the Jordanian Royal Court, the king “warned of the dangers of continued escalation in the West Bank and violations of holy sites in Jerusalem”.

He also “called for immediately reinstating the Gaza ceasefire and resuming aid flow”, the statement said.

Yemen’s Al Masirah news outlet has reported that US air strikes have targeted at least three areas across the country.

The Houthi-affiliated outlet said a series of strikes targeted Kamran Island in the Red Sea, two air strikes hit the as-Salif district in western Yemen, and four air strikes were reported in the as-Saleem district in the Saada province in the north of the country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Pakistan is “one of the countries that reacted most strongly to the genocide in Gaza”.

“I would like to once again express that we have always appreciated Pakistan’s firm stance on the Palestinian issue,” he said, speaking alongside Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Shariff, as reported by the Anadolu news agency.

Erdogan also said the two countries would continue to work in support of the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

The Israeli government shared and then deleted a social media post offering condolences over the death of Pope Francis, without saying why, though an Israeli newspaper linked the decision to the late pontiff’s criticism of the war in Gaza.

The verified @Israel account had posted on Monday a message on social media platform X that read: “Rest in Peace, Pope Francis. May his memory be a blessing”, alongside an image of the pope visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Post quoted officials at the Foreign Ministry as saying that the pope had made “statements against Israel” and that the social media post had been published in “error”.

Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, suggested last November that the global community should study whether Israel’s military campaign in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people, in some of his most explicit criticism yet of Israel’s conduct in its war with Hamas that began in October 2023.

The Israeli prime minister has a knack for political survival: The country’s longest-serving leader – in power for 18 years over three nonconsecutive periods – has seen off many rivals and outlasted several enemies.

His latest fight is with Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet.

Netanyahu fired Bar last month due to what he called a breakdown in trust, but the Supreme Court has suspended the dismissal pending an investigation.

In the meantime, there have been protests against Netanyahu, and on Monday, Bar filed an affidavit lobbing several accusations against the Israeli leader.

Read more about the continued spat in our story here.

Qatar’s prime minister has told Al Jazeera Arabic that mediators are still working hard to reach a permanent deal to end Israel’s war on Gaza as soon as possible, even though Israel’s recent behaviour has shown it is “not interested” in peace.

“Continuing such a chaotic war and the blockade is unacceptable,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said.

“We are still working with our colleagues in Egypt to reach an agreement. There are big challenges and difficulties. During the last period, the Israeli behaviour was clear that it is not interested in reaching a deal,” he added.

“But, we want to reach a full deal to end the war and to release all the hostages and the Palestinian prisoners, as well.”

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio have discussed the situation in Gaza, the occupied Palestinian territory, Syria and Lebanon during a visit to Washington.

In a statement published by Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, the two sides stressed the importance of mediation efforts to achieve a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Sheikh Mohammed reiterated Qatar’s “full support for diplomacy and dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues” between the US and Iran, “within the framework of its firm belief in the importance of consolidating security and peace and promoting stability, peace, and development at the regional and international levels”.

Ahmad Shourab says he was asleep when he suddenly “felt the mattress shaking beneath” him as the Israeli military struck a residential building in southern Gaza.

“We were all jolted awake as an explosive barrel fell, and at 3 in the morning, we found bodies torn apart and scattered – all women and children,” he said.

At least 11 people were killed in the Israeli bombing. See more in our video below.