Palestinian journalist and family killed in Israeli attack on south Gaza

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that Mohammed Saleh al-Bardawil, his wife and their three children have been killed in an Israeli attack on their home in Khan Younis.

عاجل | استشهاد الصحفي محمد صالح البردويل وزوجته وأبنائه جراء استهداف طائرات الاحتلال لشقته في مدينة خان يونس، جنوب قطاع غزة. pic.twitter.com/R7MEXsevQS

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) March 31, 2025

Israeli attack kills 12 members of one family in Gaza City

Earlier on Monday, in the late afternoon hours, the Israeli military struck a residential home with a fighter jet, killing a whole family inside the house during a family visit. This is the second day of Eid al-Fitr, and traditionally, this is what family members are doing.

Here at the hospital, the scene was quite emotionally charged and draining, just seeing the remaining family members who survived the attacks arriving at the hospital, and at the funeral bidding farewell to the women, the children and the elderly who were killed in the attacks.

Ten people were reported killed right on the spot as soon as they arrived at the hospital, including three children. Then later on, 45 minutes later, the body of a woman was recovered as well as the flesh of another body that was hard to identify, but it had to be collected in a plastic bag and brought here to the hospital.

There’s still more people buried under the rubble and there are seven others inside the emergency wards getting treatment.

Gaza’s hospitals struggling with shortage of painkillers

Even as the wounded arrive at the hospitals, doctors say it’s just very difficult for them to offer proper medical care to people, to treat injuries. Simply because there is no medicine. There are no painkillers available.

Things as basic as painkillers and other pain medication are not available at the hospital.

And the attack that killed 12 people in Gaza City earlier is not the only incident that has taken place throughout the day. From early hours of the morning, and throughout the day and up till just the past few minutes, we could clearly hear the sound of heavy artillery from the eastern part of Gaza City that is already pushing people into internal, enforced displacement.

Update:

Eid Mubarak

Long live the student intifada! pic.twitter.com/LDwKS9SG6C

— Momodou ✊🏿 (@MomodouTaal) March 31, 2025

US legislators introduce bills to block sales of 900kg bombs to Israel

The bills introduced by Democratic Congresswomen Pramila Jayapal and Rashida Tlaib is the latest effort by members of the US Congress to restrict weapons sales to Israel.

If passed, Jayapal said the draft legislation would block the sales of bombs, munitions and other military equipment, including more than 35,000 of 2,000-pound (907kg) bombs, 5,000 of the 1,000 pound bombs, guidance kits for bombs and bulldozers,

“Continuing to provide the Israeli government with offensive weapons, even as they violate both international and US laws, is unacceptable and makes us complicit in this violence and destruction,” Jayapal said in a statement.

“We must return to a negotiated ceasefire that allows for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, the release of the remaining hostages, and lasting security in the region.”

The chances of this passing are zero.

Israeli police arrest 12 at antigovernment protest

The Times of Israel is reporting that Israeli police have clashed with protesters and detained 12 of them as thousands gathered in West Jerusalem calling for a return to the ceasefire deal.

They included the cousin of freed captive Arbel Yehoud.

Footage posted by the Kan broadcaster showed police pushing Israeli legislator Naama Lazmi and scuffling with protesters outside the parliament building.

In a post on X, Lazmi accused police of collaborating with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “coup government”.

“History will remember who stood up for the state, the democratic regime and its citizens and who served the people of disaster and destruction,” she wrote. “We will not give up and will only fight harder and more determined — until Israel wins. Hope will prevail.”

In addition to demonstrating outside the parliament building, the protesters also blocked the Begin highway, holding a banner which read, “What about the hostages?” The Times of Israel reported.

תיעוד: עימותים בהפגנה בירושלים, חברת הכנסת נעמה לזימי נדחפה על ידי שוטרים. המשטרה: עצרנו שני חשודים שפתחו ברזי כיבוי ללא צורך חירום@VeredPelman pic.twitter.com/R7qXR4Ru9b

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) March 31, 2025

Israel bombs Beirut

Our correspondent in the Lebanese capital is reporting that Israeli forces are again bombing the city’s southern suburbs.

Israel confirms attack on Beirut

The Israeli military, in a post on X, says it attacked a Hezbollah fighter in Beirut’s southern suburb Dahiyeh.

The military did not identify the fighter but said he had been “directing Hamas operatives and assisting them in an attempt to carry out a serious attack in the immediate future against Israeli civilians”.

The bombing is the second Israeli assault on Beirut since the ceasefire with Hezbollah in November of last year. Israeli forces had bombed Dahiyeh on Friday after rockets were fired at Israel earlier on that day.

Israeli bombing rocks Beirut, destroys building in Dahiyeh

We heard a huge blast from the southern suburbs of Beirut, or Dahiyeh, which is a stronghold of Hezbollah, in the past hour.

And now Israel has claimed the attack. The military said it struck a building and that a member of Hezbollah was in that building. It said this member was helping a Hamas operative to conduct attacks on Israel.

It was quite a huge blast, and as a result, the building has collapsed.

US continues bombing Yemen

The Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV says US forces launched 15 raids on the northern province of Saada in recent hours, including the city of Saada and the districts of Maiz and Sahar.

US forces also bombed the province of Sanaa, near the capital, striking the Jarban area in the Sanhan district, it reported.

There was no immediate report of casualties.

The US attacks come after the Houthis claimed downing a US MQ-9 drone over the central province of Marib.

Death toll in Israel’s attack on Beirut climbs to four

Dahiyeh is the stronghold of Hezbollah. The building that was attacked has collapsed and four people were killed, seven injured.

We do not know the identity of the victims. However, Israelis are saying they were attacking a Hezbollah member who was assisting Hamas operatives and who was preparing to attack Israel. The Lebanese side is rejecting these claims.

Israel attacked Beirut on March 28, for the first time since the ceasefire was agreed between Hezbollah and Israel in November 2024. There are differences between the two attacks.

On the one from three days ago, Israel said there were rockets from the Lebanese side, and that it was a retaliation. Before hitting that building, Israel issued an evacuation order. But this time, there have been no rockets fired from the Lebanese side, and Israel has not issued any evacuation order before attacking.

Hezbollah officials here are saying they are committed to the ceasefire agreement. President Joseph Aoun, after the Israeli attacks three days ago, also said the rockets were not fired by Hezbollah.

Israel names target of Beirut attack

The Israeli military, the Israel Securities Authority, and the Mossad intelligence agency have issued a joint statement, claiming the overnight attack on Beirut’s Dahiyeh area killed Hassan Ali Mahmoud Bdeir, who they say served in Hezbollah’s Unit 3900 as well as Iran’s elite Quds Force.

Without providing evidence, they claimed Bdeir recently cooperated with Hamas operatives and assisted “them in planning and advancing a significant and imminent terror attack against Israeli civilians”.

They claimed they decided to strike Bdeir given the “immediacy of the threat”.

UN special coordinator for Lebanon condemns Israeli raid on Beirut

Jeanine Hennis, the United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon, said “with the Lebanese Government taking positive steps and gradual returns to northern Israel, further escalation is the last thing anyone needs.”

She said on X that UN Resolution 1701 is the “only viable route” forward.

The resolution calls for the Lebanese armed forces and UN peacekeepers to be the only military presence between the border with Israel and the Litani River, about 30km (18 miles) to the north.


Beirut attack is Israel’s attempt to ‘assassinate’ UN resolution: Parliament speaker

Nabih Berri has labelled Israel’s raid on Beirut’s southern suburbs an “attempt with fire, blood, and destruction to assassinate the UN resolution and demolish its implementation mechanism”.

In a post published on social media, he emphasised that this attack, occurring during Eid al-Fitr and following a series of violations, is part of Israel’s broader attempt to undermine Lebanon’s sovereignty and its institutions.

Berri also highlighted that Lebanon has upheld its ceasefire commitments, while Israel continues to breach the agreement.

He urged international actors who have supported the ceasefire to take responsibility and pressure Israel to halt its aggression, respect Lebanon’s sovereignty, and withdraw from occupied territory.

_{A damaged building in Beirut, Lebanon}

Netanyahu pushes ahead with his plan to disempower Israel’s judiciary

On Thursday, the Israeli parliament introduced a new law that changes the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee, a move seen as a key component of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the country’s judiciary in defiance of a years-long protest movement.

The legislation will allow Netanyahu to change the court’s makeup in his favour, critics say. The change will come into effect in the next parliamentary term.

It also raises concerns about the independence of Israel’s judiciary and questions about what can be done to stop what seems like a concerted effort to hobble that independence.

Eli Salzberger, a law professor at the University of Haifa, told Al Jazeera, “This latest move is very simply a coup d’etat.”

“The government already controls the legislature. By gaining control of the judiciary, it essentially removes the last of the checks and balances upon it and assumes unchallenged power,” he said.

Israel’s Knesset to reappoint Smotrich: Reports

The Israeli parliament will meet tomorrow to reappoint Bezalel Smotrich as finance minister, according to media reports.

Smotrich resigned from his post on Monday in a letter to Netanyahu, deepening tensions within the prime minister’s right-wing coalition. The former minister said he intended to return to his seat in the Knesset as a legislator for the far-right Religious Zionism party, which he leads.

The resignation came amid a dispute with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over the reinstatement of Knesset member Zvi Sukkot.

In a statement, the Religious Zionism party accused Ben-Gvir, head of the Otzma Yehudit party, of breaching political agreements between him, Smotrich, and Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party.

By reclaiming his position in the Knesset, Smotrich will push Otzma Yehudit’s Yitzhak Kroizer out of the Israeli parliament, The Times of Israel reported.

Palestinian envoy asks Hungary for ‘clarification’ on Netanyahu’s potential visit

According to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, Fadi al-Husseini, the Palestinian ambassador to Hungary, has met the chief of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry’s Middle East and North Africa department, Janos Laszowka.

Al-Husseini requested an official clarification on Wednesday’s visit by Netanyahu, “which is expected to take place despite widespread international rejection, especially after the issuance of an arrest warrant for Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court”.

The Palestinian envoy presented the official Palestinian position, emphasising that Netanyahu is “directly responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians and the wounding of more than 120,000 others, most of whom are children, women and the elderly”.

Gaza death toll rises

At least 42 bodies and 183 injured people have been received by hospitals across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

The update published on Telegram said Israel has killed 1,042 Palestinians and injured 2,542 in the Strip since breaking the ceasefire on March 18.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed a total of 50,399 Palestinians and injured 114,583, it added.

Israel starving defenceless civilians in Gaza: Media Office

“The Gaza Strip is gradually dying from starvation, genocide, and the killing of civilians,” Gaza’s Government Media Office has said.

“In addition to the ongoing massacres and relentless killing, the occupation is deliberately committing the crime of mass starvation by closing the crossings leading to and from the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the genocidal war and completely preventing the entry of aid for a full month,” it said, accusing Israel of preventing the entry of 18,600 aid trucks and 1,550 trucks loaded with fuel.

“To further inflict starvation, the occupation has bombed more than 60 food banks and aid distribution centres, putting them out of service to enable the starvation. It has also bombed and targeted bakeries, halting and closing dozens of them,” it added.

“This has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis and led to widespread hunger among civilians. It has also imposed a stifling blockade on the entry of humanitarian aid, in a blatant crime of genocide aimed at breaking the will of the Palestinian people,” the statement said, calling for action from the international community.

All Gaza bakeries closed due to flour, fuel shortage: Bakery Owners Association

All bakeries in the Gaza Strip are closed today due to a shortage of flour and diesel, according to Abdel Nasser al-Ajrami, the head of the Bakery Owners Association.

He said the UN World Food Programme (WFP), which supports 18 bakeries in the Gaza Strip, had informed the association today that flour had run out in its warehouses.

“The bakeries will no longer operate until the occupation opens the crossings and allows the necessary supplies to enter. We call on the world to pressure the occupation to open the crossings to prevent the famine from worsening in the Strip,” al-Ajrami stated.


People in Gaza on ‘verge of famine’: Civil Defence

Gaza’s Civil Defence has told our colleagues that there is a shortage of all types of food in the enclave.

“We are on the verge of entering a famine similar to what we experienced in March of last year,” its spokesperson said. “Palestinians in Gaza are living in extremely harsh conditions.”

How is famine defined?

Bakeries in Gaza have been forced to shut down due to shortages of fuel and flour caused by an ongoing Israeli aid blockade.

The Civil Defence in the Gaza Strip has warned that Palestinians in the enclave are on the “verge of famine” as stocks of all types of food are in desperately short supply.

But what exactly constitutes a famine?

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees defines famine as a situation in which a substantial proportion of a population cannot access adequate food, resulting in widespread acute malnutrition and loss of life by starvation and disease.

According to the World Food Programme’s chief economist, Arif Husain, “there is a famine when three conditions come together in a specific geographic area whether a town, village, city or even a country”:

_{A Palestinian child carrying food cries as people gather for a mass fast-breaking iftar meal in Beit Lahiya on March 15}

More Apartheid bills

Israeli parliament presses ahead with anti-Palestinian bills before recess

The Knesset was busy late on Monday moving forward with bills before a recess for the Jewish holiday of Passover begins on Wednesday.

Among the bills were several that clearly targeted Palestinian citizens of Israel. One bill, which passed its first reading, would disqualify any candidate running in local elections if they deny Israel – which has a roughly 20 percent Palestinian population and occupies the land of millions of other Palestinians – is a Jewish and democratic state, or support whatever the authorities deem to be “terrorism” or armed struggle.

A separate bill that bans anyone with a degree from a Palestinian institution from teaching also passed its first reading.

Parliamentarians passed a law that would remove national insurance benefits from anyone deemed to be a “security criminal”, following on from a law passed in November that takes away benefits for children convicted of security offences or stone-throwing. Palestinians are disproportionately treated as “security criminals”, even as Jewish settlers attacking Palestinians in the occupied West Bank largely escape punishment.

And on the topic of the West Bank, another bill that had its first reading approved would see the geographical term for the occupied Palestinian territory referred to as “Judea and Samaria” in all parliamentary legislation.

Israel PM drops security chief nominee after criticism from Trump ally

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had reversed a decision to appoint a former navy commander as security agency chief following criticism, including from a key US senator.

Netanyahu had announced on Monday his pick of Eli Sharvit to lead the Shin Bet internal security agency, pushing back against a Supreme Court decision to freeze his government’s move to dismiss incumbent director Ronen Bar.

But after it was revealed that Sharvit had penned an opinion piece criticising the US president’s policies on climate change, staunch Trump ally US Senator Lindsey Graham criticised his nomination in a post on X.

Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Tuesday that “the prime minister thanked Vice Admiral Sharvit for his willingness to be called to duty but informed him that, after further consideration, he intends to examine other candidates”.

Former Defence Minister Benny Gantz criticised the about-turn, saying that Netanyahu again had shown that “for him, political pressure outweighs the good of the state and its security”.


Israel eliminates tariffs on US goods: Prime minister’s office

The announcement comes after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had said earlier on Tuesday that Israel had launched a process to eliminate the remaining tariffs on US imports immediately.

US President Donald Trump is expected to implement blanket reciprocal tariffs on nations across the globe on Wednesday. For more on the tariffs and developments in the US, you can follow our live page here.

Israel is the 51st state, not Canada.

NGO to launch legal action before Netanyahu’s planned trip to Hungary

The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) says it is launching “urgent legal action to counter Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned visit to Hungary tomorrow”.

“HRF will petition the ICC [International Criminal Court], call on the Hungarian Public Prosecutor to arrest him, and notify European airspace authorities to deny him passage,” it said in a post on X.

“Legal teams across Europe are also preparing to activate universal jurisdiction if he travels beyond Hungary. HRF urges all European states to uphold international law and refuse safe haven to suspected war criminals,” the post read.

The Belgium-based NGO was formed seven months ago and has pulled together lawyers and activists from around the world to prepare cases against Israeli soldiers based on social media content shared by the soldiers themselves.

The #HindRajabFoundation is launching urgent legal actions to counter Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned visit to Hungary tomorrow.
HRF will petition the ICC, call on the Hungarian Public Prosecutor to arrest him, and notify European airspace authorities to deny him passage. Legal… pic.twitter.com/zSrV8OxTt4

— The Hind Rajab Foundation (@HindRFoundation) April 1, 2025

Netanyahu’s Hungary visit ‘an affront to int’l law’: Rights group

Al Mezan, a Gaza-based rights group, has called on Hungary to arrest the Israeli prime minister when he visits the country on Wednesday.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu on accusations of war crimes committed against Palestinians in Gaza. Hungary, like all other signatories to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC, has a duty to carry out the court’s rulings, including arrest warrants.

“Failure to arrest him = a serious violation of Hungary’s Rome Statute obligations & a clear message that alleged war criminals are welcome within the European Union,” Al Mezan wrote on social media.

“Should the visit proceed without executing the ICC arrest warrant, the EU and its member states must firmly and unequivocally condemn Hungary’s violation of the Rome Statute and its failure to uphold the fundamental principles of the rule of law and international justice.”

Israeli forces keep demolishing refugee camps in West Bank

Israeli forces continue demolishing refugee camps in the occupied West Bank, with Tulkarem and Jenin heavily affected.

Entire neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble, forcing displaced Palestinians into overcrowded shelters. Many see this as a second forced expulsion, with fears of further displacement.

In Jenin, authorities declared the camp uninhabitable, while Israel bars Tulkarem’s refugees from returning. Soldiers have taken over some Palestinian homes, with videos showing them inside.

Israel plans to extend its operations, targeting more camps. Palestinians say they face this crisis alone, as international response remains minimal.

The UN says this is the largest forced displacement campaign and most destructive military assault on the West Bank since 1967.

Israeli defence minister promises to crack down on Palestinian construction in the West Bank

More from Israel Katz, who has been in the occupied West Bank for the day. A statement from the defence minister’s office said that the Israeli government would not “allow [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas and the Palestinian Authority to use illegal construction as a tool to create a strategic threat against the settlements”.

Israeli settlements are, of course, illegal under international law, even as they continue to grow under Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, which began in 1967. Palestinians are severely restricted by Israeli authorities from building new structures or even expanding existing ones on their land, forcing many to build without permits.

Since 2017 Israel has increased the number of structures it has demolished in the West Bank year-on-year, reaching 1,768 structures in 2024, according to the United Nations. Demolitions have led to the displacement of thousands of Palestinians.

Demolitions of Palestinian homes in West Bank set to hit all-time high in 2025

Today, Israel’s defence and finance ministers pledged to fight what they termed as “illegal Palestinian construction” in the occupied West Bank, which they say threatens Israeli strategic interests in expanding settlements.

This is being viewed as a declaration that the all-time high of home demolitions that we saw in 2024 will be topped in 2025, which really aligns with the pledges of this right-wing government.

European countries are condemning the illegality of these Israeli actions – the dispossession of Palestinians, the demolition of homes, the takeover of Palestinian land.

But what they are doing is almost cosmetic because when you sanction an Israeli settler but don’t sanction the Israeli government, that allows those settlers to carry out attacks, provides them with protection, and legislates the laws and decisions to allow the land grab. Then you’re essentially just avoiding the core of the problem.

Countries like Germany, France and others have repeatedly said that they consider Israeli settlements and the displacement of Palestinians to be illegal, but no action has been taken against that.

The organisation Peace Now is predicting that up to 50,000 new Israeli units in illegal settlements might be approved in 2025. That’s an all-time high. And we have to remember that for every Israeli settlement unit built in the occupied West Bank, there is a Palestinian home or Palestinian land that is either being demolished or taken over.

Israel to review plan for 2,545 new settlement units near Jerusalem: Peace Now

The Israeli antisettlement group says the Higher Planning and Construction Council will review plans to build the settlement units in Maale Adumim, a bloc of illegal settlements near Jerusalem, on Wednesday.

The council has approved construction of 14,392 settlement units so far this year, Peace Now said.

“If this pace continues, approximately 50,000 settlement units are expected to be approved during the year, an all-time high,” the group added. In contrast, last year, 9,971 settlement units were approved, Peace Now said.

Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory are illegal under international law.

Isolated Palestinian villages coming under repeated settler attacks

The village of Duma, which is nestled between Ramallah and Nablus in the occupied West Bank, has been the subject of repeated Israeli settler attacks.

Today’s attack in particular was quite large and, in addition to the Israeli forces who are accompanying and protecting the Israeli settlers, dozens of armed settlers used their weapons against the residents of Duma.

While several injuries have been reported, access to the village is not very easy for paramedics, and people are relying on news trickling out from the mayor there to see how the story is developing.

But in the past three years or so, we’ve seen one report after another, from United Nations agencies and others, talking about escalating settler violence driving out entire communities in the occupied West Bank, in places just like Duma.

In the West Bank, there are hundreds of isolated villages like Duma that are easily accessible for the settlers, who are heavily armed, but not accessible to Palestinian authorities or anybody who wants to lend help or protection to those villages under attack, and so we see these scenes repeat.

Also today, we saw a settler attack near Jericho on a Palestinian family having a picnic and there were injuries there as well.