Netanyahu may not fire Shin Bet chief for now, Israel’s high court rules

Israel’s Supreme Court has dealt a blow to Netanyahu’s efforts to fire the head of the internal security agency.

In an interim injunction, the court said Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar must remain in office until further notice while the government and the attorney general’s office hold talks to reach a potential agreement.

The government may not, for now, take any action against Bar, including announcing a replacement for him, and must not block his authority as the head of the security agency, the court ruled.

Israeli reservists organise effort to oppose Gaza military service

A group of Israeli reservist soldiers have been trying to organise an effort to express their rejection of continued fighting in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli media. The reservists are arguing that renewed fighting in the besieged enclave is for “political reasons”, Kan national broadcaster, Times of Israel and other media reported.

Hundreds of air force reservists have reportedly been planning to issue a public letter calling to stop serving, but Israeli Air Force chief Tomer Bar and army chief Eyal Zamir have been trying to stop it from being published. The text of the letter has not been publicised.

When PM Netanyahu was originally trying to push his judicial overhauls, many reservists, especially those in the air force, were among those who refused to serve.

Israeli air strikes target Bekaa Valley in Lebanon

The Israeli army has targeted Bekaa Valley in northeast Lebanon, claiming to have hit “a weapons depot belonging to Hezbollah’s air defence system”. It said the site used by Hezbollah to store weapons constituted a “threat to the state of Israel and a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon”.

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) also reports an Israeli air strike in the Baalbek region, also to the east and far from the border with Israel.

UN reports 800 Palestinians affected by Israeli raids on West Bank schools

The head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) reports that some 800 boys and girls are directly impacted by the closure of six schools in the occupied West Bank and are likely to miss finishing their school year.

“UNRWA schools are protected by the privileges and immunities of the United Nations,” Philippe Lazzarini wrote in a post on X.

“Today’s unauthorised entries and issuance of closure orders are a violation of these protections and represent a revocation of Israel’s obligations under international law.”

Lazzarini said the organisation remains committed to “stay and deliver education and other basic services” to Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

UNRWA, by the numbers

As we’ve been reporting, Israel has delivered closure notices to several UNRWA-affiliated schools in occupied East Jerusalem. But what is UNRWA, and where does it operate?

For decades, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East has been the primary provider of health and education services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and neighbouring countries.

In September, about 45,000 Palestinian refugee children began their school year in 96 UNRWA-operated schools across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The agency also employs more than 2,200 staff members in the West Bank.

For more on UNRWA’s role in education and health services, check out our explainer here.

Gaza gov’t media office rejects Israel’s aid delivery proposals

The Gaza government media office says it “firmly” and “categorically” rejects Israeli proposals for a new aid delivery mechanism in Gaza.

“These proposals include having Israeli occupation soldiers or private companies affiliated with the occupation directly distribute aid to Palestinian families,” the office said in a statement. “We consider it a blatant attempt to falsely legitimise its illegal occupation and to evade its responsibilities as an occupying power.”

Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, last week met with United Nations agencies and international aid groups and said it proposed “a structured monitoring and aid entry mechanism” for Gaza.

“The mechanism is designed to support aid organizations, enhance oversight and accountability, and ensure that assistance reaches the civilian population in need, rather than being diverted and stolen by Hamas,” COGAT posted on X on Sunday.

As we reported earlier, UN chief Antonio Guterres said the world body “will not participate in any arrangement that does not fully respect the humanitarian principles” of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality.

Main events on April 8th

Situation in Gaza ‘has reached a critical stage’: UN’s Dujarric

We reported earlier how UN chief Guterres used strong words to attract global attention to catastrophic conditions in Gaza under Israeli siege.

His spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, has told Al Jazeera that the situation in Gaza “has reached a critical stage” after Israel has blocked food and all aid from entering the enclave for nearly 40 days.

“Israel, as an occupying power, is obligated to allow aid into Gaza,” he said.

“We must work towards real solutions to allow aid access, such as a ceasefire,” Dujarric said, adding that UN agencies will continue to work in Gaza and talk to Israel about allowing in some humanitarian aid.

‘Dehumanisation’ of Palestinians dominates US policy

US policymakers fail to grasp the notion that Palestinians are rooted in their land and, therefore, fail to understand their right to a state, says HA Hellyer, senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.

“There is an issue with regards to how Palestinians as Palestinians – and also as Arabs and part of the broader Muslim world – are discussed in the context of American policy-making,” Hellyer told Al Jazeera.

“What we have seen over the past 18 months is a complete dehumanisation of what Palestinians represent and an acceptance of that dehumanisation across the board,” he added.

“It’s no surprise he [Trump] would not regard them as with the right of self-determination or autonomy on their land because they are essentially nomads. It’s very similar to the language you would have seen about Native Americans in the US 100 years ago.”

US families accuse Palestinian-American billionaire of facilitating Hamas attacks

Nearly 200 Americans, including survivors and relatives of victims of the October 7 attacks on Israel, have filed a lawsuit against Bashar Masri, accusing him of providing assistance in constructing infrastructure that allowed Hamas fighters to carry out their deadly assault.

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for Washington, DC, is thought to be the first case of a US citizen being accused of providing major support for the attacks.

In a statement, the plaintiffs said properties that the Palestinian-American owned, developed and controlled “concealed tunnels underneath them, and had tunnel entrances accessible from within the properties, which Hamas used in terrorist operations before, on and after October 7th”.

“Defendants facilitated the construction and concealment of those tunnels and even built above-ground solar panel installations that they then used to supply Hamas with electricity to the tunnels,” it said.

Masri’s office called the lawsuit “baseless”.

It said Masri would seek their dismissal in court, that he had been involved in development and humanitarian work for the past decades and “unequivocally opposes violence of any kind”.

“Neither he nor those entities have ever engaged in unlawful activity or provided support for violence and militancy,” it added.

_{Bashar Masri poses during an interview with Reuters in Rawabi, October 5, 2020}

US defence secretary speaks with Egyptian counterpart on Red Sea security

The Pentagon says Pete Hegseth called Egyptian Minister of Defence General Abd-al-Majid Ahmad Saqr to discuss the importance of security in the Red Sea as well as the actions of Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

The call comes as Houthi-affiliated media reported that US forces had bombed the Amin Muqbil neighbourhood in Yemen’s Hodeidah, killing at least six people, including three children and two women.

The US has been carrying out near-daily attacks on Yemen since March 15. The campaign began after the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, threatened to resume attacks on Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea over its punishing blockade on Gaza.

At least 79 people have been killed in the US attacks.

The New York Times reported on Monday that US commanders planning for a possible conflict with China are increasingly concerned that the Pentagon will soon need to move long-range precision weapons from stockpiles in the Asia Pacific region to the Middle East.

That’s because of the large amount of munitions that the US has been using in Yemen.

Yemen’s Houthis claim shooting down another US drone

Yemen’s Houthis claim to have shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the northern al-Jawf governorate.

The Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV satellite news channel said it was the third such drone shot down in 10 days. The advanced drones – which can fly at altitudes up to 15,240 metres (50,000 feet) and for up to 24 hours – have been flown by US military and intelligence agencies over Yemen for years.

The purported attack occurred after US air strikes pounded an area in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, killing at least six people, according to the Houthis.

Since March 15, an intense campaign of US air strikes targeting the rebels over their attacks on shipping in Middle East waters has killed at least 79 people, according to figures released by the armed group.

Hezbollah ready to discuss surrendering weapons if Israel withdraws: Report

A senior Hezbollah official says the Lebanese group is ready for talks with Lebanon’s president on surrendering its weapons if Israel fully withdraws from the south and stops its air strikes.

“Hezbollah is ready to discuss the matter of its arms if Israel withdraws from the five points and halts its aggression against Lebanese,” the unnamed Hezbollah official told Reuters news agency.

Despite a ceasefire since November, Israel continues to launch air strikes while the US has demanded Hezbollah disarm. Hezbollah has long rejected the calls from its critics in Lebanon, describing its weapons as vital to defending the country from Israel.

Reuters reported on Monday that several Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq are prepared to disarm for the first time to avert the threat of an escalating conflict with the Trump administration.

Israeli forces raid occupied West Bank towns, blow up Palestinian home in Hebron

Local Palestinian media outlets report that Israeli forces have carried out raids across the occupied West Bank overnight and into the early hours of this morning, including:

Israeli forces close off Balata camp, make three arrests: Report

Israeli soldiers sealed off entrances to Balata camp in the occupied West Bank while setting up snipers on rooftops, raiding a “large number of homes”, and apprehending three citizens, reports the Wafa news agency.

While assaulting Palestinian homes, Israeli troops ransacked the property and beat a 15-year-old, it said, citing local security sources. The incursion is ongoing.

More arrests, interrogations in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces temporarily detained and interrogated dozens of youths during a raid on the village of Husan, 9km (5.6 miles) west of Bethlehem, according to Wafa news agency. Several minors were among those held, it reported, adding all were later released.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops also arrested five people, including a 17-year-old high school student, from the town of Yatta near Hebron. Before arresting the student, Israeli soldiers “beat him severely” in front of his family, a local activist told the news agency.

Israeli army forces Palestinian to demolish his own home

Israeli authorities forced Palestinian Alaa Alian to demolish his own house in the town of Beit Safafa, southeast of occupied East Jerusalem, Wafa news agency reports.

In the wake of Israel’s war on Gaza, Israel has stepped up home demolitions in East Jerusalem, which it annexed in 1967. Israeli officials justify the demolitions by saying the homes were built without permits. The municipality typically only allows Jewish majority neighbourhoods to build new houses.

The legal discrimination has forced Palestinians to build without permits, rendering 28 percent of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem “illegal”.

Israeli army says it demolished Palestinian fighter’s house in West Bank

The Israeli army has demolished the house of a Palestinian fighter it alleged was responsible for the killing of an Israeli general and the wounding of six other people during an exchange of gunfire last year.

The military identified the Palestinian as Mujahid Mansour and said his home was located in Deir Ibzi’a, west of Ramallah, in the northern West Bank. Mansour was killed during the gun battle.

The Israeli authorities maintain a policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinians accused of attacking Israeli soldiers and settlers – a practice widely condemned as a form of collective punishment prohibited under international law.

Israel’s shutting down of UNRWA schools ‘extremely problematic'

The Israeli army, through the so-called “border police”, raided those UN facilities – schools for Palestinian refugees in occupied East Jerusalem, six of them, benefiting about 850 students – and they were told they must shut down and that the students will be taken in by Israel’s so-called Jerusalem Municipality schools.

This is extremely problematic because these schools do not instruct with the Palestinian curriculum. It is an Israeli-run curriculum that Palestinians say ignores and erases Palestinian identity.

Israel has legislated a ban on this UN-mandated agency, and it started with not dealing with UNRWA when it comes to providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza during this genocide.

And now, it is targeting occupied East Jerusalem and the organisation’s headquarters and operations there.

Not allowing UNRWA to operate, not allowing any Israeli official to be in contact with UNRWA, will also have a crippling effect on 19 other refugee camps across the occupied West Bank. This is, of course, something that will impact tens of thousands of Palestinians who rely on the agency, not just for education but also health services, for psychosocial support and humanitarian assistance, because more than 40,000 Palestinian refugees have been uprooted from their homes in Jenin and Tulkarem.

So, we are seeing an acceleration of Israel’s implementation of this ban.

Palestine condemns Israel’s closure of UNRWA schools

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has called for “intensified international efforts to preserve UNRWA’s mandate and ensure its continuity” following Israel’s closure of six schools run by the agency in occupied East Jerusalem.

“This decision deprives hundreds of students of their right to education, undermines their future, and attempts to impose the Israeli curriculum on them, harming the educational process,” the ministry said in a statement.

“This is a flagrant violation of the immunity and privileges enjoyed by the United Nations and its affiliated headquarters and institutions, and a serious assault on international law and international resolutions that clearly affirm that Jerusalem is an integral part of the Palestinian territory, occupied since 1967, and the capital of the State of Palestine.”

PA calls for more than ‘mere statements’ to stop Israeli closure of Palestinian schools

The cabinet of Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa has called on the UN to “assume its legal and moral responsibilities” and protect UN-run schools for Palestinian children ordered closed by Israeli authorities.

The call comes after UNRWA reported that Israeli police had forcibly entered schools in occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhoods of Shu’fat, Silwan, Sur Baher and Wadi al-Joz on Tuesday, and ordered six of those to shut down.

“Mere statements and condemnations from the international community are no longer sufficient,” the PM’s office said, adding, “The scale, severity, and gravity of the Israeli aggression demand immediate and concrete international action.”

“These actions represent a blatant attempt to dismantle Jerusalem’s educational and service infrastructure,” it said.

Israel’s order to close schools, which must be followed within 30 days, will affect about 800 children, UNRWA said.

Cabinet urges @UN to protect @UNRWA schools in Jerusalem following Israeli occupation military closure orders

🌐 https://t.co/4l2E6RQmFs pic.twitter.com/3yBerSvK05

— PM of Palestine (@PalestinePMO) April 8, 2025

Eighty people missing in Israeli air strike on Gaza City

At least 80 Palestinians are missing after a massive Israeli bombing in the Shujayea district of northern Gaza City. The dozens of missing in the attack are believed buried in the rubble of at least 10 residential buildings that were blown up.

The death toll has now risen to 22 and is expected to surge further, with more than 50 people receiving treatment in hospitals.

‘Another genocidal act’: Rescuers scramble to save buried victims

When the attack happened, we were literally 1km away from the site of the explosion in Shujayea neighbourhood. We could see a massive dark cloud of smoke. At least 10 homes were destroyed in multiple air strikes.

Many of the dead are women and children who were sheltering inside. About 55 Palestinians were critically injured and transferred to nearby al-Ahli Hospital.

Close to 80 people are missing and trapped under the rubble. The chances of rescuing them are becoming more slim with the passage of time. This is another genocidal act in an area that has already been relentlessly bombed.

Shujayea neighbourhood was invaded twice in the past few months by Israel’s army. Hundreds of acres of agricultural land have been bulldozed, creating what the military calls a “buffer zone”. Although increasingly it’s become a killing zone.

Witness recounts scene of Israeli strikes: People ‘torn to pieces’

Ayub Salim, 26, a Shujayea resident, described the massive Israeli attack on a four-storey building. The area was hit with “multiple missiles” and was “overcrowded with tents, displaced people and homes”.

“Shrapnel flew in all directions,” he said, describing “a terrifying and indescribable scene”. “Dust and massive destruction filled the entire place. We couldn’t see anything, just [heard] the screams and panic of the people.”

Salim said the dead were “torn to pieces”. “Even now, emergency crews are still transporting the dead and the injured. It is truly a horrific massacre. Civil defence teams are struggling to retrieve them all.”

Israeli army says its Gaza City attack targeted Hamas fighter

The Israeli military says it targeted a senior Hamas fighter in the air raids that blew up an entire neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City, killing at least 29 people, including children and women.

The army said it “struck a senior Hamas terrorist who was responsible for planning and executing terrorist attacks” from the area, without giving his name.

It said several steps were taken before the attack to mitigate harm to civilians, but did not elaborate.

‘A massacre with the full meaning of the word' At least 29 people killed, nearly 80 others still missing.

More witnesses have described the horror of Israel’s bombardment of the Shujayea neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City. “We were talking in the street and suddenly we were shocked to see the building’s bricks flying apart – in addition to flying hands and feet,” one man told Al Jazeera.

Another survivor added: “It is a massacre with the full meaning of the word. I haven’t seen or heard about a massacre like this since the start of the war. Most of the martyrs are children and defenceless civilians.”

He said Israel’s attacks destroyed more than 30 homes in the district. “I don’t know what more the Israelis are planning for us. We need this bloodshed to come to an end. This is not fair, enough is enough.”

Israel full-speed ahead with ‘the Trump programme’

It’s horrific, I’d even say barbaric, the latest attack on Shujayea. In war, there are barbaric strategies and tactics by countries, and the Netanyahu government has again carried these out against Palestinians.

The way these attacks are conducted underlines that Israel wants to ethnically cleanse Gaza. In addition to starving the people of Gaza by not allowing in a single piece of bread, the Israelis are also launching deadly bombings, according to what they now call “the Trump programme”.

Benjamin Netanyahu needs the United States in Lebanon, Syria, in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and against Iran. Trump doesn’t need him. At their meeting in Washington, Trump did not stop Netanyahu from continuing the bombing and starvation as he should have.

Trump doesn’t care. He’s leaving Gaza at the mercy of the Israeli fanatical government. Unlike its many previous wars, this one is meant to destroy Gaza, end Hamas, and ethnically cleanse the place. That’s Israel’s end game.

Forty-five targets attacked across Gaza, Israel says

Israeli aircraft have carried out air raids on 45 targets across Gaza in the last 24 hours, the military says. “Israel’s army continued its ground operation in the Gaza Strip as warplanes struck more than 45 targets across the Strip in the last 24 hours,” spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.

Israeli troops destroyed tunnel openings and infrastructure in the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood and along the Morag Axis in Rafah in southern Gaza, he said. They eliminated “gunmen” and destroyed a stockpile of combat equipment in the Shujayea neighbourhood in besieged Gaza City, Adraee said.

Palestinian medical sources, however, say Israeli attacks targeted homes, shelters, and displacement camps, killing dozens of people.

Israeli attack in southern Gaza kills 3, including girl

Three Palestinians – a little girl, a woman, and a man – have been killed in an Israeli air attack on the al-Mawasi “safe zone”, west of Khan Younis city, in southern Gaza.

Israeli blockade breaks Geneva Convention, Palestinians left without ‘food, fuel, medicine’: UN chief

No food, no fuel, no medicine.

That, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, is the situation in Gaza after over a month of Israel’s total blockade of aid.

Guterres called out Israel for violating its obligations under international law. In his remarks, he cited articles 55, 56 and 59 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states that, among other things, occupying powers such as Israel are obligated to provide food and medical supplies to the people they are occupying.

And if part of the population is inadequately supplied, the occupying power must agree to facilitate aid. Guterres also called for an independent investigation into Israel’s killing of humanitarian aid workers including UN staff.

When asked about US President Donald Trump’s plan to forcibly evict Palestinians from Gaza, the secretary-general said he unequivocally opposed any plan that would do that. He said it was a violation of international law and that the only solution was for Palestinians to remain on their land and live side-by-side with Israelis.

60,000 Gaza children malnourished as Israel’s blockade continues

As food supplies dwindle in Gaza, more and more children are suffering from malnutrition, medics and aid workers warn.

As a result, 60,000 children are now “at risk of severe health complications due to malnutrition”, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, displacement orders issued by the Israeli military have forced the closure of 21 nutrition centres, disrupting care for about 350 children already severely malnourished, according to the UN.


_{Children line up for food cooked by a charity kitchen in Rafah, southern Gaza}

‘We can’t survive the hunger’

Six weeks since Israel cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of Gaza, food stockpiled during a ceasefire at the start of the year has all but run out. Emergency meal distributions are ending, bakeries are closed, and markets are empty.

In a camp of plastic sheets where she lives with her displaced family in Khan Younis, Rehab Akhras, 64, used cardboard to light a fire and boil a can of beans. It’s all they have left.

“We’re a family of 13 people, what will one can of fava beans do for us?” she said. “We have survived the war and we survived the air strikes as we wake up and go to sleep. But we can’t survive the hunger, neither us nor our children.”

Medical charity MSF says it is encountering children and pregnant women with severe malnutrition. Lactating mothers are themselves too hungry to be able to breastfeed.

Gaza faces ‘worst conditions’ since war began

Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network, says Palestinians in Gaza face dire conditions because of Israel’s total blockade on the territory.

“We are living hour by hour, day by day; we cannot plan for the next hour,” Shawa told Al Jazeera from Gaza City.

He explained that, in the weeks since Israel cut off humanitarian aid to the enclave, local groups have been delivering meals through community kitchens.

“Now, it’s rice and macaroni – the minimal thing we can deliver,” Shawa said. “To get water to the people, it’s something very difficult and risky. So we are getting water from different resources … now, the share of water for the family has become less and less.”

He added that Palestinians are also struggling to get adequate shelter and medicine. Many also need psychosocial support to deal with the trauma they are experiencing.