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Four Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike targeting a car in the Mawasi area near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting on Wednesday, citing medical sources.
The British consulate in Jerusalem has condemned "unchecked settler violence" against Palestinians in the West Bank and called on Israel to bring it to a halt.
The consulate's comments came after its staff visited the Palestinian community of Mughayyir a-Deir, who it reported were "living in difficult conditions" and "facing deep uncertainty" after attacks by Israeli settlers.
In a statement on X, the consulate emphasised that Mughayyir a-Deir is not an isolated case but part of a trend of surging settler violence causing displacement.
On Friday, the Palestinian community of Al-Mu’arajat in the Jordan Valley were forced to dismantle their homes and abandon the village after violent overnight settler raids. The community is now scattered across the area, with many lacking shelter and access to water.
Aliya Mleihat, an Al-Mu'arajat resident who spoke to Middle East Eye about her experience, has reportedly faced fresh attacks by settlers on the outskirts of Aqbat Jabr refugee camp in Jericho and been forced to relocate for the second time in two days.
The European Union naval mission in the Red Sea said on Wednesday that six crew members of the Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier Eternity C have been recovered from the sea.
A drone and speedboat attack off Yemen killed four seafarers on Eternity C, an official with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.
Reporting by Reuters
The death toll of aid seekers shot and killed by Israeli forces near an aid centre north of Rafah earlier today has risen from six to eight, Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting, citing medical sources.
The number of Palestinians killed at aid sites run by the US-Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Fundation has surpassed 770. The initative's sole food distribution point in central Gaza has now shut.
The Israeli army has said its troops conducted several raids on southern Lebanon and destroyed Hezbollah weapon depots and other infrastructure.
In a statement, it said that reservists from the 300th Brigade destroyed a Hezbollah compound that included a weapons depot and firing positions.
It added that reservists from the 9th Brigade identified a weapons cache in the Labbouneh area.
Hezbollah has not yet commented.
Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon have continued in violation of a November 2024 ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.
Baroness Helena Kennedy KC on Tuesday labelled Israel’s onslaught on Gaza as a genocide, in the first such public statement by one of Britain’s most distinguished human rights lawyers.
Speaking to BBC’s World at One, Kennedy also called the plan by Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz to confine the Palestinian population of Gaza into an area of the south as a “concentration camp”.
“What is being contemplated is the creation of a mass concentration camp and using the persecution of these people to have them make the false choice, the coerced choice,” Kennedy, who is a Labour member of the House of Lords, said.
“We now know about how coercion can operate on the psyche of people, that they end up feeling so hopeless and so in despair, that there is nothing for them, that their life is over unless they leave.”
The plan would initially involve ejecting 600,000 displaced Palestinians from the al-Mawasi area to an area on the ruins of the southern city of Rafah.
Read more: Baroness Helena Kennedy labels Israel’s Gaza campaign a genocide
An Israeli attack north of Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza has killed at least one person and injured several others, Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting, citing medical sources.
According to Al Jazeera, at least 30 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across the territory since dawn.
The enclave's health ministry reported earlier that over 100 Palestinians, including seven aid seekers, have been killed and another 530 injured by Israeli forces since dawn.
Recent reports that Syria’s interim government is engaging in discussions with Israel on a security deal, which could determine the future of the occupied Golan Heights and the recently expanded Israeli “buffer zone”, demand careful scrutiny.
Any such deal must be firmly grounded in the legal status of the occupied Golan Heights, while acknowledging the profound human costs of decades of conflict. Disregarding these fundamental considerations would not only undermine international law, but also exceed the limited mandate of Syria’s unelected transitional authorities.
The status of the Golan Heights under international law is unambiguous. The territory, seized by Israel during the 1967 war, remains occupied Syrian land.
UN Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) called for the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied during the conflict, a principle reaffirmed by Resolution 338 (1973) and explicitly reinforced by Resolution 497 (1981), which declared Israel’s unilateral annexation of the Golan Heights “null and void and without international legal effect”.
The continued Israeli presence in the Golan Heights, alongside the imposition of its laws and expansion of its settlements, constitute clear violations of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the occupying power from transferring its civilian population into occupied territory.
Read more: Syria-Israel talks: Why the Golan Heights must not be a bargaining chip
Across the UK and around the world, the tide has turned. From musicians chanting at Glastonbury, to students occupying campuses, to doctors’ unions passing motions of solidarity, public opinion has shifted. People are demanding an end to active participation in genocide and ethnic cleansing.
The votes two weeks ago at the British Medical Association’s annual representative meeting - the largest gathering of doctors in the UK - are a powerful symbol of that shift.
I am a senior National Health Service (NHS) anaesthetist. I work in operating theatres, where the stakes are high and the duty clear: do no harm, save lives where you can, ease pain where you cannot.
Like most health workers, I hold dear the belief that every human life holds equal worth, and that providing dignified care should never be conditional - not on race, nationality or politics.
But in Palestine, the very foundations of our profession are being destroyed with impunity.
Read more: Why the British Medical Association is speaking out on Gaza: Opinion by Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini
The Israeli military has said it arrested several Palestinians, whom it referred to as "terrorists", in the occupied West Bank town of Surif.
The army accused the individuals of throwing stones and setting vehicles alight near the illegal Israeli settlement of Bat Ayin, saying that it subsequently "began a counterterrorism operation" and "apprehended two individuals suspected of involvement in the attack and conducted searches at dozens of sites in the area".
"Following the incident, an inquiry was opened by the Israel Police. Efforts to locate additional terrorists and secure the area are ongoing," it added.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza has reported on Wednesday that Israeli attacks over the past 24 hours have killed at least 105 people and left another 530 wounded.
Medical authorities say many victims remain trapped beneath rubble or stranded on roads that emergency teams are unable to access due to ongoing bombardment.
Since Israel’s assault began on 7 October 2023, the overall death toll in Gaza has reached 57,680, with 137,409 injuries, said the health ministry.
From 18 March 2025 alone, when Israel broke the ceasefire, at least 7,118 Palestinians have been killed and 25,368 wounded.
The ministry also said that seven more people from aid convoys were killed in the last day while trying to deliver essential supplies.
That brings the total number of aid workers killed while seeking to support livelihoods to 773, with over 5,101 wounded.
Mauritania is reportedly preparing to restore diplomatic relations with Israel during a meeting at the White House later on Wednesday, in a move facilitated by US President Donald Trump, according to a report by US news website Semafor.
President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani is expected to sit down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of a mini US-Africa summit.
Mauritania, a member of the Arab League, broke off ties with Israel in 2010 following Israel’s assault on Gaza. That war, the first of several devastating offensives, triggered widespread outrage across the Arab world. The latest move comes as Israel is committing a widely documented genocide in Gaza.
The Trump administration has long pushed normalisation deals between Arab and African states and Israel, framing them as economic partnerships - while critics argue they provide political cover for Israel’s ongoing occupation and war crimes in Palestinian territories.
Mauritania is one of nine African countries that either do not recognise Israel (including Algeria, Comoros, Djibouti, Libya, Somalia, and Tunisia) or have suspended ties, such as Mali and Niger.
At least 26 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air raids across the Gaza Strip since early Wednesday morning, hospital officials told Al Jazeera Arabic.
The strikes targeted multiple areas, with health workers warning the death toll could rise as search and rescue operations continue.
Israeli forces demolished three Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday, continuing a wave of destruction across Palestinian areas.
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In Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque, bulldozers destroyed two homes - one belonging to Tariq Shuwaiki in al-Thawri and another to the Burqan family in Wadi Yasul.
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Local reports say the forces also dismantled perimeter walls around the properties.
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In the town of Rujeib, east of Nablus, Israeli troops escorted a bulldozer into the area and demolished a two-storey house owned by Khaled al-Saksik after forcing his family to evacuate.
The demolitions form part of a broader campaign. According to Wafa, Israeli authorities have torn down 588 Palestinian structures in the first six months of this year alone, forcefully displacing at least 843 people—411 of them children.
In the same period, Israel issued 556 new demolition orders targeting homes, farms, and livelihood facilities.
Israeli bulldozers demolished several Palestinian homes and agricultural structures across villages northwest of Ramallah on Wednesday, leaving dozens displaced, local officials say.
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In Shuqba, occupation forces levelled four homes and two agricultural barracks.
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Adnan Shalash, head of the village council, told the Palestinian news agency Wafa that soldiers stormed the eastern area of the village before demolishing a 180 sqm house belonging to Salama al-Masri.
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Nearby, they destroyed a two-storey home owned by his sons, Moataz and Hani al-Masri - each floor measuring 150 sqm.
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Another house, belonging to Ziad Zayed Hassan and home to six people, was also razed.
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Shalash said forces emptied the houses of all belongings before flattening them.
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In Umm Safa, occupation forces tore down the home of Khaled Abu Allan, whose property lies near an Israeli settler outpost established last year.
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Abu Allan had already seen dozens of fruit trees uprooted and his water well filled by Israeli forces two months ago.
These demolitions are part of a growing trend of displacement targeting Palestinian communities across the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces.
