Updates: Israel kills 57 in Gaza, mostly starving people seeking aid

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To learn about the life of 17-year-old Atef Abu Khater, the latest victim of Israel’s forced starvation campaign, read this.

To see the life of a hungry family in Gaza, and how they try to survive, look at our photo gallery here.

And you can follow our all our coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza here.

This live page will close soon. But, before we go, here’s a look at some of the most important recent developments:

• The Israeli military killed at least 57 people in Gaza, the majority of whom, 45, were seeking desperately needed aid.
• The Israeli government said it allowed five countries to airdrop a limited number of aid packages over the starved enclave, paling in comparison to the needs of the thousands of hungry people.
• A 17-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and seven others were injured during an Israeli settler attack in the town of Aqraba, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. Hamas called for an uprising of anger in the West Bank in response.
• Seven more people, including one child, have died of hunger under Israel’s forced starvation campaign, bringing the number of deaths from starvation to 169, including 93 children.
• Hamas dismissed calls for it to disarm, saying it would keep its weapons and continue “resistance” activities until the establishment of a Palestinian state.
• Organisers said that more than 60,000 Israelis participated in protests in Tel Aviv that called on the government to reach a comprehensive deal to bring back all Israeli captives, even if it means ending the war.

Bezalel Smotrich, one of two top far-right ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, believes the images of emaciated captives released by Hamas must lead to intensified war against starving Palestinians in Gaza.

“The purpose of Hamas in publishing the hostage videos is not to give us a sign of life, of course, but to carry out emotional manipulations, to abuse the families, and to tear apart our hearts and exert pressure on us through the terror of manipulations to surrender and stop the war before its destruction,” the finance minister wrote in a post on X.

“This, of course, will not happen. The response to the cruel abuse of the hostages must be the complete destruction of this pure evil from the face of the earth and the return of all the hostages without any conditions. Immediately! With all force and without stopping for a moment!”.

Footage released by Palestinian sources, which has been verified by Al Jazeera, shows far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir leading hundreds of settlers and armed guards in a flag march around the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.

The move is to mark Tisha B’Av, or “the destruction of the Temple”, a major day of mourning and fasting in the Jewish calendar.

Ben-Gvir has repeatedly created controversy by entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and other areas in the occupied Palestinian territory, accompanied by far-right settlers and armed police.

Translation: Itamar Ben-Gvir participates in the settlers’ march in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem on the occasion of what is called “the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple”.

The group says that the killing of a 17-year-old boy by Israeli forces near the occupied West Bank town proves the “necessity of confronting the settlement attacks with all force and igniting anger throughout all areas of the West Bank”.

As we reported earlier, the boy, whom Hamas named in its statement as Muin Sobhi Abu Kabar Diriyah, was shot in the chest by Israeli soldiers during an attack by Israeli settlers from a nearby outpost. Several others were wounded.

It said that the “crimes committed by settlers in the West Bank are increasing significantly”, and called for “a wide mobilization and popular anger to confront their escalating brutality and attacks”.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that he spoke with the families of the two captives whose images were released by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Netanyahu expressed “deep shock” and told the families that efforts to bring back all the captives held in Gaza are ongoing.

Countering numerous witness accounts and testimonies by the UN and international aid agencies, he claimed that Israel allows much aid into Gaza, and that the videos prove that Hamas is “deliberately starving our hostages”.

“Hamas terrorists are also intentionally starving the residents of Gaza and preventing them from receiving aid,” Netanyahu said, calling for international condemnation of Hamas.

Images of a boy thanking a soldier at a controversial GHF aid site in Gaza have gone viral.

But, in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, his mother says her son never returned home.

Al Jazeera’s Perry Wilton reports:

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has condemned what he called “despicable, unbearable” images of Israeli captives held in Gaza.

“Their ordeal must end,” he wrote on X in both French and Hebrew. “They must be released, unconditionally.”

France’s top diplomat said Hamas must be disarmed and excluded from any governing role in Gaza. He added that humanitarian aid must enter Gaza on a massive scale.

The US senator from Vermont says in a post on X that “60 percent of Americans oppose Netanyahu’s barbaric war against the Palestinian people”.

“We’re making progress in moving Democrats to vote against funding this war,” Bernie Sanders said.

“Now it’s time to move Republicans. Does the average Republican want to spend billions starving children? I don’t think so.”

The Democratic senator was referencing a poll by Gallop earlier this week that showed disapproval of Israeli military action in Gaza among US citizens has reached 60 percent, and approval has dropped 10 percentage points since the prior measurement in September, and it is now at a low of 32 percent.

Here’s a quick look at the latest developments:

• The Israeli military has killed dozens more Palestinians, mostly aid seekers, in Gaza as it allowed five countries to airdrop a limited number of aid packages over the starved enclave.
• A 17-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and seven others were injured during an Israeli settler attack in the town of Aqraba, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
• Organisers said more than 60,000 Israelis participated in protests in Tel Aviv that called on the government to reach a comprehensive deal to bring back all Israeli captives, even if it means ending the war.
• Gaza’s Ministry of Health said some of the few hospitals that remain partially operational are severely overwhelmed and are forced to set up beds in corridors and on floors for starving patients or the wounded.
• Hamas has said it will not give in to calls to disarm until the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Leading Israeli opposition figure Yair Golan released a video of himself participating in the huge rally in Tel Aviv, saying the images of two Israeli captives in Gaza that have been released by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad are “heartbreaking”.

“We must take to the streets every day, all day, until everyone returns home in a deal,” he said.

Golan said Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet ministers have “failed” and must immediately sign a comprehensive agreement with Hamas, “even at the cost of a permanent ceasefire”.

In an English-language statement on X, opposition leader Yair Lapid demanded global condemnation of the treatment of captives in Gaza.

“This is what starvation looks like,” he said, without mentioning starving Palestinians.

Videos published by local platforms, which have been verified by Al Jazeera, show a mass sit-in in front of the US consulate in Casablanca, Morocco, rejecting famine in Gaza.

Activists with the Moroccan Front for the Support of Palestine and Against Normalization in Casablanca organised the event, with hundreds participating.

The protesters at the sit-in raised Palestinian flags and banners, and chanted slogans in opposition to Israel.

Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen has said during a speech that what is happening in Gaza is a “man-made, preventable crisis”.

“The Netanyahu government must immediately allow the UN-led distribution system to resume delivery of aid into Gaza to avert a full-blown famine,” he said.

The Democratic politician reminded listeners that the Israeli government’s move to block all aid going into Gaza for months led to the current crisis.

He said Israel is justified in its war against Hamas and that all still held captive in Gaza must be returned, but Israel is not justified in its “collective punishment of against all of the people of Gaza to pay for the sins of Hamas”.

The Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, says that it carried out a joint operation with several other armed Palestinian factions, bombing an Israeli command headquarters on Street 5 in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

The group said in a statement that it used 107mm rockets in its attack, and added that its fighters observed an Israeli helicopter landing at the site of the bombing to evacuate the wounded, claiming that this is proof that its attack caused casualties among Israeli troops.

A Palestinian teenager with no previous health conditions has starved to death in Gaza after being hospitalised, medical officials and relatives say, as people in the besieged enclave desperately struggle to find food amid Israel’s continued blockade on aid.

Atef Abu Khater, 17, died on Saturday, a source at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City told Al Jazeera.

His weight had dropped from 70kg (154lbs) to just 25kg (55lbs) when he died, his family said – roughly what a nine-year-old child should weigh.

“We hear from his family members and others who knew him that he used to be a local sports champion. He ended up losing a lot of weight, becoming acutely malnourished, and ultimately dying,” Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reported from Gaza City.

“He was one of thousands of severe malnutrition cases throughout Gaza.”

Learn more in our story here.

The families of several Israeli captives still held in Gaza have spoken at huge rallies taking place in Tel Aviv to call for a comprehensive agreement that brings back all captives and ends the war.

“Not only were our children kidnapped, you kidnapped us, too,” Michel Illouz, father of captive Guy Illouz, addressed the government during his speech to the crowds gathered at Hostage Square.

“You stole our identity, I lost everything, I lost hope, the joy of life, my heart, I lost my trust in the country.”

Ilay David, brother of captive Evyatar David, accused Hamas of using his brother and others as “live hunger experiments”.

Organisers said more than 60,000 people attended the rally in Tel Aviv.

Translation: The horrors experienced by the hostages, as we have all seen, have brought masses of Israeli citizens to come and support the hostages’ families. Over 60,000 people attended the hostages’ rally in Tel Aviv’s square this evening, and tens of thousands more to rallies across the country. The people are speaking out again and again – they want the hostages back home and an end to the war. Only public pressure will bring the hostages back. 

The Israeli military says “more than 130 terror targets” were attacked in Gaza over the past two days as troops continue to invade the enclave from several directions.

The army also claimed in a statement that it killed the deputy commander of the Sheikh Radwan Battalion in an air strike last week. It said the man was responsible for attacks on Israel and on ground forces in Gaza.

Four Israeli military divisions continue to operate in Gaza, destroying infrastructure in Gaza and killing Palestinians.

Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reports that a 17-year-old boy was shot in the chest by Israeli forces in the town of Aqraba, south of the city of Nablus.

Seven others were wounded in the attack, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

The news agency quoted the mayor of the town, Salah Jaber, who said that settlers from a new outpost built on stolen land nearby attacked the town, and when residents confronted their attack, Israeli troops showed up and began firing live bullets at civilians.

Scenes like this are everyday occurrences in the occupied West Bank, as settlers engage in attacks on Palestinian property and lives under the protection of Israeli soldiers.

Rob Geist Pinfold, an international security lecturer at King’s College London, says Israel appears to be intentionally sowing chaos in Gaza to make the territory “unlivable”.

“It used to look like this chaos in Gaza was the product of Israel not having a day-after plan,” he told Al Jazeera. “But I think it is now evident that this chaos is … part of the day-after plan, which is a grander strategy to make Gaza unlivable in the long term.”

Watch below for more of his comments:

After another large-scale weekly protest in the capital, Sanaa, yesterday, a demonstration has now taken place in Yemen’s Marib against Israel’s starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.

Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed protesters raising Palestinian flags and banners condemning the starvation policy against the people of Gaza.

The group of activists organising the protest issued a statement that called on Arab countries to demand the cessation of aggression by all available means.