Updates: Israel kills 31, including children, in Gaza ceasefire violation

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For more on Israel’s latest attacks in Gaza, which have killed at least 31 people, read our article here.

To learn about the US’s recently approved $6.6bn arms sales to Israel, see our story here.

And for insight into how Palestinian young people in Gaza are innovating to earn a living amid a hostile economic environment, read our report here.

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

• At least 31 Palestinians, including six children, have been killed in multiple Israeli strikes on Gaza City and Khan Younis since dawn.
• The attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip came a day before Israel is expected to reopen the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
• COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for coordinating aid to Gaza, has said that only a “limited movement of people” would be allowed when the Rafah crossing opens.
• Israeli forces have killed at least 509 Palestinians and wounded 1,405 more since the Gaza ceasefire took effect in early October.
• Israeli forces stormed the Jalazone camp near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, opening fire and injuring two children aged 15 and 16.
• One person has been killed by an Israeli drone strike that targeted a car on the outskirts of the town of Rab el-Thalathin in southern Lebanon.

Israel’s right-wing Likud party has released a statement claiming that factions within Israel’s police and attorney general’s office are orchestrating a “witch-hunt” against Netanyahu’s government.

“This witch-hunt is intended to intimidate and instill fear among government ministers, Knesset members and senior officials, by creating a tightening noose around those close to the prime minister,” the statement says, referencing what it calls a “deep state”.

As Netanyahu’s corruption trial continues to drag on, several of his key allies also face investigations, including his chief of staff, Tzachi Braverman, and senior aides Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein.

Israel is set to hold legislative elections, determining the makeup of the next government, no later than October this year.

UNICEF and its partners have launched a new “Back to Learning” programme in Gaza, aimed at “restoring access” to education for hundreds of thousands of children whose schooling has been shattered by war.

“Across Gaza, the war devastated children’s lives and their education – but children are eager to learn,” UNICEF said in a post on X.

“Children in Gaza need long-lasting peace and safety to access opportunities for their future.”

Gaza residents have described living in constant fear amid Israel’s continuing attacks, the latest of which, today, killed at least 31 Palestinians.

In testimony from a camp for displaced people, Mounir Hadayed said he lost several family members in the strikes and described life as a “slow death”.

“Every day, there is killing and death, and death and killing. We are dying slowly; let them finish us for good,” Hadayed said.

“Now they create boards and talk about peace. I ask them to come and see peace here and see the people in the tents.”

Um Diaa, a woman living near a police station that was attacked by Israeli forces, said she was jolted by the strike on the facility and rushed out to scenes of carnage.

“I heard the strike on the police station. What happened is that there are martyrs, there are casualties, and there are people that are dismembered. There is fear and terror,” she said.

Israeli forces have carried out several more raids in the occupied West Bank, spanning the governorates of Nablus, Qalqilya, Jenin and Ramallah.

According to Wafa news agency, Israeli forces:

• Raided the village of Beita, near Nablus, and fired bullets and tear gas, sparking clashes with residents
• Arrested three young men in the town of Azzun, near Qalqilya
• Arrested two teenagers in the town of Aboud, near Ramallah
• Raided a neighbourhood in Jenin and several nearby villages, where they stormed into a home and set up a military checkpoint

London police arrested prominent rights activist Peter Tatchell at a pro-Palestine march after he displayed a placard featuring the slogan “globalise the intifada”, his foundation said.

The 74-year-old branded it “an attack on free speech” in a statement the foundation sent to media outlets, which noted he had been taken to a south London police station.

“The police claimed the word intifada is unlawful. The word intifada is not a crime in law. The police are engaged in overreach by making it an arrestable offence,” the statement said. “This is part of a dangerous trend to increasingly restrict and criminalise peaceful protests.”

Tatchell had posted on X a photograph of himself on the protest route carrying a placard with several different slogans on them including “Globalise the intifada”.

Jordan has “strongly condemned” what it called Israel’s “repeated violations” of the Gaza ceasefire, warning they pose a serious threat to regional stability.

“This constitutes a blatant breach of the ceasefire agreement and a dangerous escalation that undermines regional and international efforts to achieve security and stability in the Strip,” the ministry said in a post of X.

The ministry’s spokesperson affirmed the kingdom’s “absolute rejection and strong condemnation of these violations”.

“He also emphasized the need for the immediate, sufficient, and unhindered delivery of aid to the Strip and the implementation of the second phase of the agreement,” the statement said.

Israel’s latest deadly air strikes in Gaza come just a day before the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza is set to reopen as part of Trump’s 20-point plan to end Israel’s war.

Watch our video report below:

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has condemned the latest Israeli attacks in Gaza, describing the current truce as “a ceasefire in name only”.

“A ceasefire means guns fall silent and give way to efforts to end the war,” he posted on X, noting that hundreds of people have been killed since the ceasefire came into effect in early October.

“People in Gaza deserve a genuine ceasefire – a much overdue ceasefire.”

Egypt has condemned Israel’s latest strikes in Gaza, urging all parties to respect the fragile, US-brokered ceasefire ahead of the reopening of the Rafah border crossing.

In a statement from its foreign ministry, Egypt condemned Israel’s “repeated violations” of the fragile ceasefire and demanded all parties “exercise the utmost restraint”.

At least 509 Palestinians have been killed and 1,405 wounded by Israeli forces since the ceasefire was agreed in early October.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry has condemned Israel for its “repeated” ceasefire violations, saying they threaten global efforts to restore stability in Gaza.

In its statement, the ministry urged Israel to fully respect the terms of the US-backed peace plan so it can proceed successfully in its second phase.

The ministry called on “all parties to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from any steps that would undermine” Gaza’s stability and future recovery efforts.

The US-based civil rights organisation Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned the latest Israeli attacks, calling the ongoing yet fragile ceasefire a “myth”.

“This massacre of Palestinian women and children exposes the cruel myth of a so-called ‘ceasefire’ in Gaza,” CAIR said in a statement.

“A ceasefire that allows the slaughter of hundreds of civilians, many of them children, is no ceasefire at all. It is a lie used to mask ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing.”

CAIR said the “world must stop accepting Israel’s empty words while Palestinian families are buried under rubble”.

The civil rights group also reiterated its demand that the US and other governments stop supplying the weapons and military assistance contributing to civilian deaths.