Israel bans Palestinian official from entering Ibrahimi Mosque

The Israeli military has banned the director of the Ibrahimi Mosque in the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank from entering the building for 15 days after briefly detaining him.

The order against Sheikh Moataz Abu Sneineh and another staff member came after Israeli soldiers stormed the mosque on Monday and sealed off parts of the building by placing locks and chains on the waqf office and the room where the call to prayer is announced.

The Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs said in a statement that the locking of the rooms set “a dangerous precedent” aimed at undermining its sovereignty over the building.

The Ibrahimi Mosque is revered by both Jews and Muslims. The Jews call it the Tomb of the Patriarchs, and believe the site is where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their wives are buried.

Muslims – who, like Christians, also revere Abraham – built the Ibrahimi Mosque, also known as the Sanctuary of Abraham, in the 14th century.

Israel evicts Palestinian family in occupied West Bank raid

Israeli forces are continuing their raids across the occupied West Bank, arresting and expelling Palestinians from their homes, according to local media.

Soldiers surrounded a building in the village of Rujeib, east of Nablus, and forced its residents to leave their home, the Palestinian Information Center reported. And in the town of Ni’lin, near the city of Ramallah, Israeli soldiers fired live bullets and tear gas, and arrested two brothers, aged 18 and 14, according to Wafa.

The soldiers also fired tear gas during a raid on the city of Ad-Dhahiriya, south of Hebron.

‘Throwing a stone is not terrorism’

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/06/middleeast/palestinian-american-teen-killed-israel-intl-hnk/index.html

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has condemned Israel’s killing of a 14-year-old Palestinian American boy in the occupied West Bank.

The Geneva-based group rejected Israel’s claim that the boy, identified as Omar Mohammad Rabea, was a “terrorist” who hurled stones. Two other children were wounded in the attack.

“They were unarmed children. This wasn’t self-defense. It was the deliberate execution of a child on occupied Palestinian land,” Euro-Med said in a post on X.

“By calling stone-throwing children ‘terrorists’, Israel manufactures fake justifications for murder – and places itself above international law. This is part of a system of state violence and persecution designed to criminalize every Palestinian act of resistance – even from a child,” it said. “Executing children is not self-defense. Throwing a stone is not terrorism. This is apartheid backed by bullets – colonial violence unleashed with total impunity.”

1⃣ Today, #Israel claimed it shot at three “terrorists” throwing stones. What it didn’t say: they were unarmed children. This wasn’t self-defense. It was the deliberate execution of a child on occupied Palestinian land. pic.twitter.com/ndtZPGAwe2

— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) April 7, 2025

Israeli forces arrest 7 Palestinians in West Bank’s Tubas, Nablus: Report

At least seven Palestinians, including three brothers, have been arrested after Israeli forces raided the towns of Tubas and Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

During the raid on Tubas, Israeli forces set up military patrols and rolled bulldozers down the streets, the report said. They also entered and ransacked several homes, while arresting four people, according to a local official quoted by Wafa.

In Nablus, Israeli forces surrounded a house near the Evangelical Hospital and apprehended three brothers, according to Wafa.

At least 38 Palestinians arrested across occupied West Bank: Media Office

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office (ASRA) says at least 38 people have been arrested in various areas in the occupied West Bank as Israeli forces continue their widespread military operation.

At least 18 Palestinians were arrested in the area of Tubas, nine in Bethlehem, six in Nablus, three in Ramallah, and two people in Hebron, the office said in a statement naming each of those arrested.

Israeli forces demolish Palestinian family home near Bethlehem: Report

Israeli forces have demolished a house in the village of Wadi Fukin, west of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

Ibrahim al-Haroub, the head of the Wadi Fukin village council, told Wafa that Israeli forces demolished the house of Issam Bassem Manasra. Manasra was not allowed to remove some of his furniture and belongings, al-Haroub said.

To prepare to knock down the house, Israeli forces stormed the village and took up positions in the Sarbala area on the western side, the report added.

Israeli forces ‘detained over 10,000 Palestinians’ from Gaza since start of war

The Palestine Center for Prisoners’ Studies is reporting that Israeli forces have arrested more than 10,000 Palestinians from Gaza during the war. A large number of them were released after investigation and detention for various periods.

At least 40 Palestinians died due to torture, medical neglect, starvation and abuse while in detention.

France, Egypt, Jordan say PA must head post-war Gaza

As we’ve been reporting, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi hosted his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and Jordan’s King Abdullah in Cairo for talks on the “grave situation in Gaza”.

The three leaders issued a joint statement following their meeting.

Here’s what it said:

US legislator slams Trump-Netanyahu talks on displacing Palestinians

Senator Chris Van Hollen has responded to reports that Trump and Netanyahu spoke about their “plan to have Palestinians ‘voluntarily’ leave” Gaza during their meeting at the White House.

“Let’s be clear: nothing about this is voluntary — it would mean the coerced deportation of 2 million people from Gaza and U.S. taxpayers should have NOTHING to do with it,” he wrote on X.

Today Trump and Netanyahu talked about their plan to have Palestinians "voluntarily" leave Gaza.
 
Let's be clear: nothing about this is voluntary — it would mean the coerced deportation of 2 million people from Gaza and U.S. taxpayers should have NOTHING to do with it. pic.twitter.com/1acx5E4OqF

— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) April 8, 2025

Trump-Netanyahu meeting gives little hope of peaceful end to war

Matthew Duss, the executive vice president of the Center for International Policy, says it looks unlikely that there will be a peaceful resolution to Israel’s war on Gaza.

“While Trump did clearly impose some pressure on Netanyahu, via his representative Steve Witkoff, to get the ceasefire in January, right ahead of his inauguration, the way he was talking today reflected what he has said previously about the plan for Gaza – which involves encouraging, if not outright expelling, Palestinians from Gaza and allowing Israel to take it over and develop it,” he told Al Jazeera.

“So I think certainly Palestinians, or anyone who wants the Gaza conflict, or indeed the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to be resolved peacefully, had to be very disappointed about what they heard from Trump.”

Trump says Palestinians could live in redeveloped Gaza ‘freedom zone’

In an Oval Office meeting with Netanyahu, the US president again pitched his idea to redevelop the “incredible piece of important real estate” that is the Gaza Strip into what he termed a “freedom zone”.

Netanyahu then denied that Israel is the one keeping Palestinians “locked in” the besieged enclave.

More groups join call for probe into Israel’s killing of Gaza medics

We have more reaction to Israeli forces killing 15 humanitarian workers and burying them in a mass grave in southern Gaza.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is calling for urgent, credible, independent and international investigations into the attack.

“These killings and the apparent efforts to hide the bodies are a horrific development in a conflict that has already been characterized by egregious breaches of the laws of war and human rights, including widespread attacks on healthcare,” said Sam Zarifi, the executive director at PHR.

Bond, a network of British NGOs, also condemned the attack.

“Considering previous calls for investigations into the reporting of abuses have yet to deliver accountability, we urgently call on the UK government to utilise all of its diplomatic tools, including sanctions against those responsible and the suspension of weapon sales,” said Romilly Greenhill, CEO of Bond.

Turkiye’s Erdogan slams Israel for ‘execution of healthcare workers’ in Gaza

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the killing of 15 first responders by Israeli forces in an attack last month in Gaza an “execution” and a “war crime.”

Erdogan also warned at a political party gathering that “fanning the flames and pursuing new maps with expansionist intentions will benefit no one” in what appeared to be a reference to Netanyahu’s stated goal of taking security control over Gaza.

“Everyone must know and understand that we will never turn our backs on our brothers and sisters there while Israel openly tramples the dignity of humanity in Gaza,” Erdogan said in comments shared by his country’s Communications Directorate.

Palestinian Foreign Ministry accuses Israel of blocking $1.8bn in tax revenue

Israel, which is responsible for collecting Palestinian import taxes and making monthly transfers to the Palestinian Authority (PA), is holding back about $1.8bn in tax revenue, according to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.

In a statement, the ministry described Israel’s withholding of the funds as “colonialist, racist political schemes, part of the broader strategy of genocide, displacement and annexation”.

Israel has repeatedly used its control of Palestinian finances to exert pressure or punish the PA.

In January 2023, for instance, Israel’s government withheld $39m in tax revenue from the PA after the authority’s decision to ask the International Court of Justice to rule on the legality of Israel’s decades-long occupation.

Six killed in Israeli attack on north Gaza

Israeli forces have bombed a house in Beit Lahiya, killing at least six people and wounding several, according to Palestinian media. The attack in the early hours of the morning hit the home of the Ayesh family, according to the Quds News Network. Search and rescue efforts are under way.

At least 19 Palestinians killed in Gaza since dawn: Civil Defence

Mahmoud Basal, spokesman of Gaza’s Civil Defence, has told the AFP news agency that Israeli raids overnight killed at least 19 people and wounded dozens across the enclave.He said several children were among the dead.

He said several children were among the dead.

At least 11 members of same family confirmed killed in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah

It has been another bloody morning.

We woke today to the sound of Israeli fighter jets producing sonic booms, terrifying everybody here in Deir el-Balah. This area has been the epicentre of the Israeli air raids over the past 12 hours.

We have received confirmation from Gaza’s Health Ministry that a house was hit in the western part of Deir el-Balah city. The initial death toll we have received is 11. All of the victims are from the same family. Their house was attacked with no warning.

For many Palestinians, this plight continues with no end in sight.

_{Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli air strike on a house in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza on April 8th}

‘It needs to be flat’: Israeli soldiers recount orders to raze parts of Gaza

Breaking the Silence, an Israeli veterans’ organisation that opposes the occupation of Palestinian territory, has published a collection of testimonies from soldiers involved in creating a “buffer zone” in Gaza.

The anonymous testimonies, compiled in a publication titled The Perimeter, describe how soldiers were instructed to raze large areas of Gaza and fire upon Palestinians who approached.

“Residential buildings, greenhouses, sheds, factories; you name it – it needs to be flat. That’s the order,” said one sergeant major who fought near Khan Younis.

Another sergeant, stationed in northern Gaza, described how Israeli bulldozers destroyed agricultural fields, including olive groves and crops. “A very large excavator just comes through and takes out all the soil, kind of rolls it up, flattens it,” said the soldier.

A captain stationed in southern Gaza explained that areas around the military-designated security zone became “kill zones” for Palestinians. “Anyone who crosses a certain line, that we have defined, is considered a threat and is sentenced to death,” they said.

"The Perimeter:" a new collection of testimonies from soldiers who fought in Gaza in 2023-2024. It chronicles the systematic annihilation and expropriation of entire villages and agricultural zones while creating the new Gaza buffer zone, which the IDF “completed” last December🧵… pic.twitter.com/Vj9hA86nl7

— Breaking the Silence (@BtSIsrael) April 7, 2025

Gaza is ‘a killing field’: UN chief

Antonio Guterres is speaking to reporters at the UN right now.

The secretary-general says Palestinian civilians are bearing the brunt of the dire situation in Gaza.

“More than an entire month has passed without a drop of aid into Gaza. No food. No fuel. No medicine. No commercial supplies,” he said in New York. “As aid has dried up, the floodgates of horror have reopened. Gaza is a killing field – and civilians are in an endless death loop.”

Guterres calls for unimpeded humanitarian access

The United Nations chief adds that the world body’s ability to deliver humanitarian supplies to Palestinians in Gaza “has been strangled”.

“No humanitarian supplies can enter Gaza. Meanwhile, at the crossing points, food, medicine and shelter supplies are piling up, and vital equipment is stuck,” Antonio Guterres said.

He explained that Israel – as an occupying power – has obligations under international law to ensure food and medical supplies for the population under occupation. It must also maintain health services in the occupied territory, he added.

“I want to say a special word about those humanitarian heroes in Gaza. They are under fire and yet doing all they can to follow the path they choose to help people,” Guterres said.

“Let me be clear: We will not participate in any arrangement that does not fully respect the humanitarian principles: humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality. Unimpeded humanitarian access must be guaranteed.”

Asked about the US and Israeli push to force Palestinians out of Gaza, the UN chief says that “Palestinians have the right to live in Palestine, in a Palestinian state, side-by-side with the Israeli state”.

“To be forced to be moved away is something that is against international law,” Guterres said.