The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said that nurse Mohammed Abed’s body was found two weeks after Israeli forces fired at him during the evacuation of Al-Amal Hospital. “Since then, his fate remained unknown, as the ambulance crew was prevented from transporting him,” the PRCS said in a post on social media.

“His decomposed body was found today, identified through the uniform of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, which was supposed to provide him with protection,” the PRCS added. The PRCS said Abed’s dedication to his work as a nurse meant he continued to help patients while the hospital remained under siege for 43 days.

The number of PRCS staff killed by Israeli forces in Gaza while performing their humanitarian duties has now risen to 16, the organisation added.

‘Children dying of infections’ at overwhelmed hospitals: UNICEF

‘We can smell the stench’: Palestinians return to destroyed Khan Younis

Khan Younis ‘destroyed beyond recognition’

Khan Younis: ‘Animals can’t live here, so how can humans?’

Sean Carroll, the president and CEO of Anera, the American Near East Refugee Aid organisation, has told Al Jazeera that the aid group is still “extremely nervous” about resuming aid deliveries to the north of the Gaza Strip.

“We’re not satisfied with the findings of the investigation on the World Central Kitchen killings,” Carroll said, adding that the organisation wants to “see the evidence” of Israel’s claims the strikes were a mistake. “World Central Kitchen, Anera and at least two other international NGOs have paused our work until we get more assurances that humanitarian aid workers are welcome,” said Carroll.

Carroll welcomed the news that aid trucks had entered the Gaza Strip but said “the real issue is who’s going to deliver it”. “UNRWA is blocked,” said Carroll, noting that Israel still won’t allow the UN agency, which is the largest humanitarian provider in the Gaza Strip, to reach the north.

Israel has announced the entry of more than 300 aid trucks into Gaza, the highest daily volume since its war on the besieged territory began six months ago. Under growing international pressure, Israel on Monday said 322 aid trucks were inspected and allowed to enter the heavily bombarded Palestinian territory.

But the delivery still falls far short of what the UN says is the minimum required to feed millions of people – most of them refugees – on the brink of starvation.

At this moment, there’s an expectation that more aid trucks should be allowed into the Gaza Strip to help people face the challenges of the spread of famine and the depletion of resources there.

The number we’re looking at right now is not nearly enough to respond to the greater needs and demands of a largely hungry, traumatised and forced-to-starve-to-death population across the Gaza Strip.

The fact that the Israeli military is allowing this to happen for the first time in six months is proof that food has been used as a weapon. In fact, it’s a weaponisation of food and food supplies and aid to collectively punish an entire population.

The decision to reopen 20 bakeries and water pipelines in the northern part and Gaza City is yet more proof that Israel used these essential basic needs to collectively punish the people of Gaza.

Hamas negotiators left Cairo to consult the group’s leaders but no progress was made in talks on Sunday, a senior Hamas source tells Al Jazeera. The Israeli delegation failed to respond to any Hamas demands, the source said.

Hamas has called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, for Palestinians to be able to return to their homes in the north of Gaza, and for Israeli troops to completely withdraw. A prisoner-captive exchange and the delivery of food aid are also on the table.

Earlier, Egypt’s Al-Qahera News, quoting an unnamed “senior Egyptian official”, reported negotiators left Cairo after making “significant progress” on basic points, with delegations expected to return in two days to agree on terms of a final agreement.

Senior Israeli officials participated in the talks in Cairo on Sunday, Haaretz reported, as well as CIA Director William Burns and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.

Conflicting reports continue to emerge on what happened during negotiations in Egypt between Israeli officials and a Hamas delegation. An unnamed Palestinian official told the Lebanese Al Mayadeen news network “all attempts and efforts by mediators to reach an agreement have encountered Israeli inflexibility”.

“At present, there is no progress in negotiations. If there is any, we will announce it through official channels. Hamas adheres to its demands, which include a ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the entry of aid, the return of displaced Gazans, and a prisoner exchange.”

Aidit Silman, a minister close to Netanyahu, tells Israeli media that achieving a ceasefire with Hamas is still a long way away. The senior political leader says Israel’s military operation in Rafah will take place in a matter of time, and Israel must see through its military objectives.

Israel says it pulled its forces out of southern Khan Younis on Sunday, except for one battalion, after months of fierce fighting. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said troops left the city “to prepare for future missions, including … in Rafah” – where 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering from the relentless attacks on Gaza.

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir warned Netanyahu if he decides to end the war on Gaza without “an extensive attack on Rafah” to defeat the Palestinian group Hamas “he will not have a mandate to continue serving as prime minister”.

The far-right minister is a key member of the Netanyahu-led coalition government. Without the support of Ben-Gvir’s party, the prime minister would lose the majority in the Knesset.

And when that happens Netanyahu knows he'll be facing prosecution for his earlier crimes and for the handling of Oct 7.


‘We are far from stopping’, says Israeli army chief

Videos published on social media and verified by Al Jazeera show destroyed infrastructure in Tulkarem, in the occupied West Bank, following an Israeli raid at dawn. As all eyes are on Gaza, people in the occupied Palestinian territory have witnessed nearly daily raids and mass arrests by Israeli forces.

Since the start of the war, at least 358 Palestinians have been killed and thousands have been arrested.

Israeli forces have arrested at least 23 Palestinians during extensive raids in the Hebron Governorate of the occupied West Bank tonight, including about 20 people from the town of Dura, Wafa is reporting.

Israeli forces also raided other locations throughout the occupied West Bank overnight, including Tulkarem where Israeli bulldozers were filmed driving through the streets.

The Israeli army says a “terrorist” was shot dead at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank after the woman refused to identify herself and then allegedly tried to stab soldiers there.

Six months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon have taken a “heavy toll on both sides”, said the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in a post on X.

“The unrelenting cycle of strikes and counterstrikes, in breach of the cessation of hostilities, constitute the most serious violation of Security Council Resolution 1701 since its adoption in 2006,” UNIFIL said.

The UN body also warned of escalating fighting along Lebanon’s southern border.

“The violence and suffering has gone on too long. It must stop,” it said, adding a permanent ceasefire is needed as a long-term solution. “A political process, anchored in the full implementation of Resolution 1701, is now more crucial than ever to address the root causes of the conflict and ensure long-term stability.”

UN officials in Lebanon urge Israel border de-escalation

Israeli military claims attack on Hezbollah site in southern Lebanon

ICJ hears Nicaragua’s case against Germany over Israel’s war on Gaza

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) began two days of hearings to consider Nicaragua’s request that emergency measures be imposed on Germany over its support for Israel’s war on Gaza.

Here are the main news lines so far:

• Nicaragua’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez, told the court Germany violated the 1948 Genocide Convention by continuing to supply Israel with arms after the ICJ ruled it is plausible that Israel violated some rights guaranteed under the convention during its assault on Gaza.
• “There can be no question that Germany … was well aware, and is well aware, of at least the serious risk of genocide being committed” in the Strip, Gomez told the court.
• Berlin is one of Israel’s key allies and the second biggest arms provider to Israel after the US, accounting for 30 percent of Israel’s arms imports, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
• Germany sent 327 million euros ($354m) in military equipment and weapons to Israel in 2023, according to Economy Ministry data.

As the ICJ hears from Nicaragua in its case accusing Germany of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention with its military support for Israel, Berlin has slammed the allegation.

“Germany completely rejects the accusations. We never did violate the Genocide Convention nor international humanitarian law either directly nor indirectly,” said a lawyer representing Germany, Tania von Uslar-Gleichen.

“Nicaragua’s presentation was grossly biased, and we will be telling you tomorrow how we fully live up to our responsibilities,” she added. Germany will present its defence to the ICJ on Tuesday.

Raymond Murphy, a human rights lawyer and professor of law at the University of Galway, has told Al Jazeera from the Republic of Ireland that Nicaragua’s case against Germany is “a very important case”.

“The case has great relevance not just for Gaza but also for all the states that manufacture weapons and supply states and other parties with weapons that are ultimately used to commit violations of international law, of humanitarian law, the convention against genocide and a whole host of other international measures that seek to protect civilian and other vulnerable groups,” Murphy said.

Much of the arguments we’ve heard today from Nicaragua at their very core resemble very much the arguments that we’ve heard from South Africa. Of course, here Germany is not being involved in but complicit in.

So I think if indeed the court is going to look at both Israel and Germany in the same way, I think it’s not too much to ask Germany to refrain from exacerbating or escalating a plausible genocide because there is no doubt.

We didn’t need Nicaragua to know that Germany is the third largest exporter of arms to Israel – over half a billion dollars a year. Germany is a huge financial and economic partner of Israel.

The Germans, specifically in this government, have really made it clear that their support for Israel is unconditional regardless of how many tens of thousands have died or been injured in Gaza.

Israel is yet to provide a satisfactory explanation for the death of seven aid workers last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.

Israel said on Friday its soldiers mistakenly believed they were attacking Hamas gunmen when air strikes killed the mostly international group of World Central Kitchen staff, including Australian national “Zomi” Frankcom.

Albanese said the explanation for the deaths isn’t adequate. Given that almost 200 aid workers have been killed in the conflict, Israel also needs to provide more information about what it will do to prevent similar events in the future, he added.

“We don’t find the explanations to be satisfactory to this point,” he said in an interview on state broadcaster ABC. “We need proper accountability, we need full transparency about the circumstances, and I think that is what the Australian public would expect.”

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have demanded that Israel end its military operations in Gaza and seek a peaceful solution to the conflict in line with United Nations resolutions.

The two countries made the demands in a joint statement after a meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Mecca.

The two sides called for international efforts “to halt Israeli military operations in Gaza, mitigate humanitarian impact and … pressure Israel to cease hostilities, adhere to international law, and facilitate unhindered humanitarian aid access to Gaza”, according to the statement.

They also discussed the need for a peace process in accordance with UN resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative “aimed at finding a just and comprehensive solution for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital”.

Piles of court documents in English and Arabic filled the desk and covered the floor of Triestino Mariniello’s home office for much of March in Messina, a city in southern Italy overlooking Mediterranean waters on one side and the smoking Etna volcano on the other.

Here, far from the war, a team of lawyers from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCGR) in Gaza, to which Mariniello belongs, worked last month on their attempt to prosecute Israel for genocide.

“We thought it was a good way to try and be more productive in a place where you can actually detach yourself from the constant horrors, even though that may seem impossible these days,” Mariniello told Al Jazeera.

“We also considered this as an opportunity for our colleague from Gaza to catch a breath after what he’s been going through.”

We are hearing that Palestine’s application for UN membership is moving forward.

The Security Council president for this month, the ambassador from Malta, said that behind closed doors, the Security Council has decided on a couple of key things, and these are important.

Number one is that they will refer this case, or Palestine’s application, to what’s called the membership committee of the Security Council. That membership committee is made up of the current 15 members, and we’re told the first meeting of the committee could happen as early as this afternoon.

We’re also told that out of that meeting, they also decided that they will expedite this application, meaning that they expect to deal with this entire process in the Security Council in the month of April.

We’ve just heard from the Russian ambassador to the UN. He was asked about this, and he said: “We expect this to be a matter of days, if not just weeks, but not months.”


There's always the natural resources angle

Gaza: Gas rich, but in ruins

And Europe has been eyeing Israel's gas exploitation to get away from Russian gas. From supporting one genocide to supporting an even worse one.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-europe-gas-expand-production-boost-influence
https://www.timesofisrael.com/pm-decision-on-route-for-exporting-natural-gas-to-europe-expected-in-3-6-months/

The association for foreign correspondents covering Israel and Palestine is “alarmed” that six months into the war on Gaza, Israeli authorities have yet to allow international journalists into the besieged coastal enclave independently.

The lack of access raises “questions about what Israel does not want international journalists to see”, the association said in a statement.

Ambulance workers have recovered at least 56 bodies from Khan Younis after Israeli forces withdrew from the southern Gaza city, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting.

The city, which had been subject to months of intense Israeli bombardments and fighting, still has the smell of death in the air as bodies are dug out of the rubble, returning residents told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

An Israeli official has told The Associated Press that Israel is buying 40,000 tents to prepare for the evacuation of Palestinians from Rafah. The Israeli official, speaking to the news agency on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorised to speak to the media, said the tents were part of preparations for an anticipated operation in the southern Gaza city.

Israel has previously said it has a plan to evacuate civilians ahead of its Rafah offensive, and the Defence Ministry published a tender seeking a supplier of tents earlier in the day. Israel claims Rafah is Hamas’s last stronghold and says it will send ground troops into the city.

But the international community, including the US, opposes the offensive, saying it would be disastrous for the more than one million displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering there.

US has not been briefed on a date for Israel’s Rafah invasion, State Dept says

Israeli police have attacked a tent set up for mourners to pay their respects to the family of the Palestinian detainee who died while incarcerated. The attack took place in Daqqa’s hometown, Baqa al-Gharbiyye, a predominantly Palestinian city in northern Israel near the border with the occupied West Bank.

Daqqah had been imprisoned since 1986. He had terminal cancer, but Israeli authorities refused to release him.

Death of Palestinian detainee ‘cruel reminder of Israel’s systematic medical neglect’

The number of bodies ambulance workers have recovered from Khan Younis so far now stands at 84, according to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.

Civil defence workers have been pulling bodies from under the rubble after Israeli forces withdrew from the southern Gaza city, leaving widespread destruction after months of intense Israeli attacks and fighting.

PRCS says ‘significant damage’ found at al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis

At least 16 Palestinians killed in attacks on central, southern Gaza