Hamas has called on Palestinians to break “the siege” on Al-Aqsa Mosque on the first Friday of Ramadan, amid the Israeli army’s ongoing restrictions on entry to the site during the Muslim holy month.

The group called on Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank and Israel to “participate urgently in defending the Al-Aqsa Mosque against the Zionist aggression that is taking place at this time”.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound that sits atop a hill in the Old City is the third holiest site in the world for Muslims. The site is also revered by Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.

Jordan says Israel lacks authority to impose restrictions on Al-Aqsa Mosque

Stabbing attacks getting more frequent, it's the new suicide by fascist 'cop'....

Police responding to stabbing incident in southern Israel

A second ship docked in Cyprus is being loaded with aid for Gaza in preparation for a new mission to deliver humanitarian aid via sea to the besieged Strip, the charity behind the operation told Al Jazeera. World Central Kitchen (WCK) said in a statement that it was preparing about 300 tonnes of food aid.

“Our pallets should be screened and loaded by the end of the day,” WCK said, adding that it was unable to confirm when the ship would be able to leave Larnaca. The rescue vessel Open Arms, owned by the charity by the same name, departed for Gaza on Tuesday as a first pilot shipment of humanitarian aid.

About 10 trucks worth of aid, better than air drops at least or rather equal with days in between shipments. Still no idea how they will offload and distribute it in Gaza.

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government “no longer fits the needs of Israel” after October 7. “At this critical juncture, I believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel, at a time when so many Israelis have lost their confidence in the vision and direction of their government,” said Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish politician in the US.

He added that Netanyahu surrounded himself with far-right ministers and “has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows”.

“Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah,” Schumer said.

Israel already is a pariah, been so a long time. The US hasn't needed to use its veto 46 times to protect Israel for nothing... However now the West is starting to see what Israel really is all about.

‘Unhelpful’ to comment on Israel’s political scene: Ambassador

Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has strongly criticised the new US sanctions on settlement outposts and violent settlers, saying the decision is “totally unacceptable”.

“These decisions are a capitulation by the Biden administration to the BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] campaign, which is designed to tarnish the entire state of Israel and bring about the elimination of the settlement movement and the establishment of a Palestinian terror state,” the minister was quoted by The Times of Israel as saying.

“The government of Israel stands by the side of the settlements, and these steps are totally unacceptable, and we will fight to have them abolished.”

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid says US Senate leader Schumer’s comments are proof that Prime Minister Netanyahu is “losing Israel’s biggest supporters in the US”. “What’s worse – he’s doing it on purpose. Netanyahu is causing heavy damage to the national effort to win the war and maintain Israel’s security,” Lapid wrote on X.

Netanyahu’s party fires back: Israel ‘not a banana republic’

Egypt’s foreign minister calls on Israel to open its land crossings to let more aid into the Gaza Strip. “Israel controls six other crossings that it should open,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said at a news conference during a visit to Cairo by his Spanish counterpart.

“There is a long line of trucks waiting to enter but are subject to the procedures of vetting that must be complied to so that the trucks can enter safely, that the drivers are not targeted, that they are received on the other side,” Shoukry said.

“We have the capacity to increase the number of trucks, but the authorisation has to come,” he added. Egypt, which fears the displacement of Palestinians crowded near its border with Gaza if Israel carries through with its threatened ground offensive on Rafah, has previously said Israel was blocking aid.

_{Trucks carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza wait on the main Ismailia desert road, about 300km (185 miles) east of the Egyptian border with Gaza, on their way to the Rafah crossing}

Satellite imagery shows pier construction on Gaza coast

Images taken by the space technology firm Maxar show the beginnings of the construction of what looks to be a jetty off the coast of the Gaza Strip.These photos were taken on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Maxar said, and show the progression of the construction out into the water.

Last week during his annual State of the Union address to the US Congress, Biden announced that the US would set up a temporary pier off Gaza to deliver humanitarian supplies to the besieged enclave as Palestinians begin to starve during Israel’s blockade of the strip.Four days ago, the US said a ship equipped to construct the pier had departed the US.

The Gaza Health Ministry has given an update on the Israeli army’s shooting of Palestinians awaiting aid at the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City. It said there were “dozens” of casualties, with at least 11 dead bodies and 100 injuries arriving at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City so far.

“The process of retrieving the martyrs and evacuating the wounded is still continuing despite the difficult field situation at the Kuwait Roundabout,” the ministry says, adding that it expects the death toll to rise due to the seriousness of the injuries that have managed to reach al-Shifa Hospital.

20 dead bodies from Israeli attack on Kuwait Roundabout at al-Shifa Hospital: Ministry

Mitch McConnell, the US Senate’s Republican leader, quickly came to Benjamin Netanyahu’s defence after Senator Schumer’s scathing 45-minute speech.

“It is grotesque … and hypocritical … for Americans who hyperventilate about foreign interference in our own democracy to call for the removal of the democratically elected leader of Israel. This is unprecedented,” McConnell said.

“The Jewish state of Israel deserves an ally that acts like one. People of Israel, at home and in captivity, deserve America’s support, and Israel’s unity government and security cabinet deserve the deference befitting a sovereign, democratic country.”

Schumer’s fiery speech reflects growing frustration in Washington with Netanyahu, his management of the war, the failure to do more to protect Palestinian civilians and obstruction of aid deliveries in Gaza.

While Schumer didn’t mention the possibility of introducing legislation to tie the provision of US weapons to Israel easing the humanitarian crisis, the senator raised the possibility of Washington using its influence if Israel doesn’t change its policies.

“If Prime Minister Netanyahu’s current coalition remains in power after the war begins to wind down and continues to pursue dangerous and inflammatory policies that test existing US standards for assistance, then the United States will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change the present course,” he said.

The US provides Israel with about $3.8bn in military aid annually.

This month’s welcome to Washington by Schumer and administration officials of Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz was widely seen as a snub to Netanyahu, who has yet to be invited to the Biden White House.

J Street, a self-described pro-Israel lobbying group in the US, has posted on X in support of US Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, who earlier called for elections in Israel to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The group called Schumer’s speech “historic”, noting that it was “significant not just because of what was said, but because of who said it – the highest ranking Jewish elected official in US history and a stalwart supporter of Israel. It signals a historic shift from those in the Democratic party who care deeply about Israel’s future”.

“Schumer rightly stated that US leaders must use the tools at its disposal to be a good ally to Israel and a partner to Palestinians. The US cannot sacrifice long-term peace for the short-term gains of bad-faith players in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank” the group continued in a lengthy X thread.

“Netanyahu has made it his mission to reject the creation of a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside Israel. As SenSchumer made clear, this is the only plausible lasting solution to end the cycles of violence, including Hamas’ horrendous Oct. 7 attack”.

Chicago-based Muslim groups refuse to meet White House officials

European foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters in Washington that world leaders need to put more pressure on Israel to open its crossings for humanitarian access to Gaza.

The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza isn’t a natural disaster but a “man-made” one, he said.

Earlier this week, Borrell accused the Israeli government of using starvation as a “weapon of war”. Israel described his comments as “false” and “outrageous”.