Israel orders Indonesian Hospital evacuation in 4 hours; Death toll crosses 14,500
Summary
- Israeli official says no Gaza captives will be released before Friday as part of Qatar-mediated truce agreement.
- Families of Israeli captives express frustration and blame the government for lack of information as wait for the truce continues.
- Israel continues deadly air attacks and heavy shelling across Palestinian enclave and occupied West Bank.
- Israeli PM Netanyahu renews warning that war will continue, promising to bring all Israeli captives home.
- More than 14,500 people killed in Gaza since October 7. In Israel, the official death toll from Hamas's attacks stands at about 1,200.
3:36pm
Qatar says time of truce to be announced soon: Al Jazeera
Qatar says the exact time of the truce will be announced "within hours".
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majid al-Ansari told the Qatari News Agency that talks were "continuing in a positive way".
He added that Qatar is working with both sides, as well as Egypt and the US, to guarantee that the truce begins quickly and that everything is provided to ensure that both sides commit to the deal.
2:50pm
Video shows destruction at Jabalia refugee camp
A Palestinian journalist has shared a video showing the destruction of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza following continuous Israeli bombardments.
According to Al Jazeera, the camp was targeted again on Thursday, killing at least four Palestinians.
Watch the video by Awad Abu Sharkh below:
2:30pm
Palestinian photojournalist killed by Israeli air strikes
Israeli air strikes have killed photojournalist Mohammad Moin Ayyash along with a number of his family members.
Israeli jets bombed his house in the Nuseirat refugee camp on Thursday, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 53 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war began on 7 October.
1:30pm
Exchange of fire at Lebanon-Israel border
According to Al Jazeera, Israeli army has bombed areas around the Lebanese border towns of Shihin and Al-Jebin, while Hezbollah announced the launch of missiles towards the Sasa'a site in Israel.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah announced the death of five of its fighters, including the son of the head of the party's parliamentary bloc, MP Muhammad Raad, who was killed in an Israeli raid on a house in southern Lebanon.
1:10pm
Al-Shifa Hospital director arrested by Israeli forces
The director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City has been arrested by Israeli forces along with several other medical personnel.
"Doctor Mohammad Abu Salmiya was arrested along with several other senior doctors," Khalid Abu Samra, a chief of department at the hospital, told the AFP news agency.
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority has also confirmed the arrest.
Israeli forces alleged that Gaza's biggest hospital was used as a command centre by Hamas before it was occupied, without providing evidence.
1:00pm
Israel orders Indonesian Hospital evacuation in 4 hours: Health Ministry
Munir al-Bursh, the director-general of Gaza's Health Ministry who is inside the Indonesian Hospital, says the Israeli army has warned people in the facility to evacuate it in four hours.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, he said the bombing continues around the hospital in northern Gaza from all sides.
12:30pm
At least five people killed in attack on Nuseirat refugee camp: Al Jazeera
At least five people have been killed and a number of others wounded in Israeli bombing targeting a house in Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza.
On Wednesday, dozens of Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack.
12:05pm
UN human rights expert on Palestine says X account shadowbanned
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, says she has been informed her account on X, formerly Twitter, has been shadowbanned.
Typing her username @FranceskAlbs in the search bar on X leads to a message saying "No results". Previously, parody accounts with similar handles showed up instead, reports Al Jazeera.
"Many [people] are notifying me that apparently Twitter/X is #shadowbanning me," Albanese wrote.
She tweeted Elon Musk, owner of the platform, why this might be happening and said it "would be an intolerable affront to freedom of expression" and to UN special procedures, the office which coordinates the roles of independent, unpaid roles held by experts in human rights.
12:00pm
At least 15 Palestinian killed east of Khan Younis: Al Jazeera
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed and wounded in a series of Israeli raids that targeted inhabited homes in the Gaza Strip.
At least 15 people were killed, and a number of others missing, in Israeli raids that targeted five homes east of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.
Israeli forces targeted two more houses and an apartment in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza with a number of casualties reported in those attacks.
11:30am
Here's a recap of the latest developments this morning
According to reports by Al Jazeera, here's a recap of the latest developments this morning:
- The release of Israeli captives and detained Palestinian women and children faces delay, causing frustration among families.
- UN National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson says Washington, DC is "hopeful" that the captives' release will begin by Friday.
- US Central Command said the USS Thomas Hudner downed several "one-way attack drones" as the warship patrolled in the Red Sea.
- Five Hezbollah members, including the son of a Lebanese parliamentarian, were killed in an Israeli attack on southern Lebanon.
- Deaths and injuries reported across Gaza as Israeli forces step up bombings ahead of an expected truce.
- At least one reported killed in the Balata refugee camp as Israeli forces carry out several raids across the occupied West Bank.
- Students in Melbourne, Australia express their support of Palestine by walking out of their school, with a similar protest planned for Sydney on Friday.
- Ex-Obama adviser and former US diplomat Stuart Seldowitz charged with hate crime after a video of him harassing a halal cart vendor in New York went viral.
- Top Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren calls for an extension of the truce and "enduring end" to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and says it would be "a grave strategic and moral mistake" for Israel to resume the bombings on Gaza after the expected truce.