Israel-Palestine live: US and Israel air differences over Gaza strategy

The Israeli military has published several maps ordering Palestinians in Gaza to leave their homes and head towards what it calls “shelter centres”, though no such secure and safe areas exist in the besieged strip.

Palestinians in a number of zones in northern Gaza’s Jalabiya, Shujayya and Zeitoun were told to move to Daraj and Tuffah areas of Gaza City.

Those in several zones in southern Gaza’s Khirbat Ikhza’a, Abasan, Bani Suheila and Ma’an were instructed to head for Rafah near the border with Egypt.

The map effectively splits the Gaza Strip into countless isolated islands. Many Palestinian being forced to move have already been displaced several times.

In the past, the zones Israel designated as safer have proved just as deadly.

Israel's war on Gaza has seen it strike the Palestinian enclave with new and deadly ferocity. That onslaught, according to a recent report, is being powered with an artificial intelligence system that experts warn is indiscriminate and inherently faulty.

In a joint investigation, Israeli outlets +972 Magazine and Local Call conducted interviews with several former and current Israeli intelligence officials, revealing that the army had lower expectations than previously on limiting civilian targets.

Loosened rules were combined with the use of "Habsora" ("The Gospel" in Hebrew), an AI system that can generate targets at faster rates than before, facilitating what one former intelligence officer called a "mass assassination factory".

Officials admitted to the outlets that the homes of lower-ranked members of Hamas and other Palestinian armed factions were purposefully targeted, even if it meant killing everyone in the building.

One case saw the Israeli army intelligence approve the killing of hundreds of Palestinians to assassinate a single Hamas member.

Read more: How the AI 'Habsora' system masks random killing with maths

Good morning MEE readers. It has now been a full day since Israel's military picked up where it left off before the truce in Gaza began last week.

Israel has been bombing areas all over the besieged enclave on Friday night and Saturday morning. The death toll in Gaza is around 180 Palestinians killed since fighting resumed on Friday, but that figure is likely to rise on Saturday.

Here's a round-up of the latest updates:

• A new poll has found that less than a third of American respondents approve of Biden's handling of the war in Gaza. For 18-34 year olds, that figure is less than 22 percent.

• A report from the Wall Street Journal has said the US is sending Israel 2,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.

• The Committee to Protect Journalists says that 61 journalists have been killed since 7 October. That figure, mostly consisting of Palestinians, also includes Lebanese and Israeli journalists.

• One of the largest unions in the US, United Auto Workers, has joined the call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

• Syrian state media reported that the Syrian military intercepted a rocket attack by Israel, and said it took down most of the missiles.

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging Iraq's prime minister to protect American military instalments in Iraq from Iranian-aligned groups. 

A new poll released by Gallup shows that just 32 percent of American respondents approve of the way Biden is handling the war in Gaza.

The poll was released on Thursday, just a day before Israel restarted its military campaign in the enclave after talks to extend a truce broke down.

Among Americans ages 18-34, the support of Biden's handling of the conflict drops to 22 percent.

The area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza is facing intense Israeli bombardment on Saturday morning.

Palestinian news outlets are reporting that several areas in Khan Younis have witnessed Israeli bombings. The news agency Wafa reported that the Abdullah Azzam Mosque, located west of Khan Younis, was destroyed by an Israeli air strike.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the US has provided Israel with large bunker buster bombs, as Israel continues its bombing campaign in Gaza after the breakdown of a temporary truce with Hamas.

The surge of US arms to Israel, which includes roughly 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells, began shortly after the 7 October attack and has continued in recent days, the newspaper reported citing US officials.

The transfer of 100 BLU-109, 2,000-pound bunker buster munitions has not been previously disclosed by the US.

Shortly after Israel began its military response to the 7 October attack, the top State Department official overseeing arms transfers resigned from his position, citing the Biden administration's uncritical support of Israel's aerial bombardment of the besieged enclave.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said that the death toll for journalists as of Friday is 61. 

That figure includes 54 Palestinians, four Israelis, and three Lebanese citizens.

Eleven journalists were reported injured, three were reported missing and 19 have been arrested, according to the press freedom group.

That figure, however, differs from the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate which said on Friday that 67 journalists and media workers have been killed since 7 October.

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, went on the social media platform X to blast the UN Commission of Inquiry which is looking into allegations that Hamas committed sexual violence during its 7 October attack on Israel.

The Israeli diplomat accused the commission, established by the UN Human Rights Council, as biased and cited Iran's recent chairmanship of the council's Social Forum.

The European Union's Vice President Josep Borrell previously noted Iran's appointment to the chairmanship was a result of standard UN procedures in which the chair rotates between different countries.

"Israel will not cooperate in any way with such a discriminatory and antisemitic body," Erdan said, accusing the commission of being antisemitic.

The comments from Erdan come after the announcement on Wednesday of a UN commission of inquiry investigating war crimes on both sides of the Israel-Hamas conflict that will focus on sexual violence by Hamas in the 7 October attacks on Israel.

The commission's chair said it is about to launch an appeal for evidence.

Here is a list of areas in the occupied West Bank where there have been reports of an Israeli military raid in the early hours of Saturday morning:

• Al-Bireh, near the city of Ramallah

• Jenin, where a young Palestinian man was shot by Israeli forces

• Surif, Hebron governate

• Yatta, Hebron governate

• Al-Mazraa al-Gharbiyya, northwest of Ramallah

• Bidya, west of Salfit

• Nablus

The UK’s Charity Commission has been urged to investigate a British charity raising money for Israeli soldiers fighting in Gaza.

The charity, the UK Friends of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel’s Soldiers (UK-AWIS), is asking for donations to support forces taking part in Operation Swords of Iron, the Israeli military’s codename for its war against Hamas.

Pro-Palestinian campaign groups and charities fundraising to support humanitarian efforts in Gaza have raised questions as to whether that cause could be considered a charitable endeavour given the scale of civilian casualties inflicted by Israeli forces.

Read the full story by clicking below.

UK charity is fundraising for Israeli soldiers fighting in Gaza

United Auto Workers, one of America's largest worker's unions, on Friday joined a growing list of organisations that are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Speaking in front of the White House on Friday during a press conference where a group has been on hunger strike for five days.

“I’m proud today to announce that the UAW international has joined the call for a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine,” UAW director Brandon Mancilla said at the press conference.

UAW now becomes the largest US union to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, after the American Postal Workers Union, UE union, and some smaller labour organisations already did so.

The union represents 400,000 workers in the US as well as over 580,000 retired workers.

The call for a ceasefire also comes after UAW secured a massive labour deal following its strike of the “Big Three” US automakers - Ford, General Motors and Jeep-maker Stellantis. The deal gave its members significant wage and benefit increases.

The ceasefire call also pulls the union away from US President Joe Biden on a key foreign policy issue, after the American president has shown support for UAW during its negotiations with automakers.

In a statement on the end of the seven-day truce in Gaza, UN relief coordinator Martin Griffiths said that the return to fighting on Friday was "unacceptable".

"Almost two months into the fighting, the children, women and men of Gaza are all terrified. They have nowhere safe to go and very little to survive on. They live surrounded by disease, destruction and death," he said in a statement.