Hamas warns that Israeli offensive is “extremely dangerous” for hostages
The armed wing of Hamas has warned Israel that its military offensive in the Gaza Strip is creating an “extremely dangerous” situation for hostages, claiming that half of those still alive are in areas where the Israeli army is asking the population to evacuate.
“Half of the living enemy prisoners are in areas that the occupation army has asked people to evacuate in recent days,” said a statement on behalf of Abu Obeida, spokesperson for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist movement at war with Israel.
“We have decided not to transfer these prisoners out of these areas and to keep them under reinforced security measures, but [this situation] is extremely dangerous for their lives,” the text added.
“If the enemy cares about the lives of these prisoners, it must immediately negotiate their evacuation or release,” the statement continues, placing "full responsibility for the lives of the prisoners" on the Israeli Prime Minister's government.
Steve Witkoff in Abu Dhabi
White House envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to arrive in the Middle East next week and meet in Abu Dhabi with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who heads Israel's Gaza cease-fire negotiating team, a U.S. official told Axios reporter Barak Ravid. Witkoff could also travel to Doha or Cairo if there are any developments in the Gaza agreement negotiations.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam will receive the U.S. delegation headed by Morgan Ortagus at 10 a.m. on Saturday, reports the state-run National News Agency.
Complication between the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL in Kfar Hammam
The entry on Thursday of a patrol from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) into the village of Kfar Hammam, in the Marjayoun district, without prior coordination with the Lebanese Army, caused a misunderstanding between the two parties.
Israeli drone flies over Sour
An Israeli drone flew at a low altitude over Sour, reports the state-run National News Agency.
Israeli army claims to have killed senior Hamas member
The Israeli army has claimed to have killed Mohammad Saleh Mohammad Bardawil, a leading member of Hamas in Gaza.
In a statement published on X, the army said that Bardawil was a central figure in “Hamas's propaganda apparatus, systematically disseminating false information and serving as a tool for the organization to promote a false narrative and psychological warfare.”
It added that the fighter was involved in the production of the Palestinian group's videos, in which captives from Gaza also appeared.
Israeli pamphlets in Kfar Kila
Israeli pamphlets have been found plastered on some damaged homes in the village of Kfar Kila (Marjayoun), according to information circulating online. The documents indicate that the targeted buildings were used by Hezbollah fighters and call on residents to prevent the return of the Shiite party to the area.
11th MSF staff member killed in Israeli strike
An 11th staff member of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was killed on Tuesday, along with his wife and daughter, in an Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian organization announced on Friday.
MSF wrote in a statement that it was “appalled and saddened by the death of [their] colleague Hussam Al Loulou in an air strike on the morning of April 1.”
“Our colleague Hussam has been killed along with hundreds of others in the Gaza Strip since the resumption of attacks by Israeli forces on March 18,” said the NGO.
Houthis claim responsibility for attack on USS Harry Truman
In a statement, a spokesperson for Yemen's Houthi rebels said the group had targeted the USS Harry Truman in a confrontation that lasted “hours.”
He also claimed that the Houthis had attacked other U.S. surface ships with “several cruise missiles.”
The group had already claimed responsibility for an attack on the USS Truman the previous day. However, the U.S. military has made no statement on the matter.
Since the resumption of Houthi attacks on Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea last month, the United States has carried out dozens of strikes in Yemen.
'Food stocks running out'
The U.N. World Food Program says that, as food stocks run out in Gaza due to the ongoing Israeli blockade, its initiatives are “gradually coming to a halt.”
“We urgently need humanitarian aid to enter Gaza,” the agency said.
'A united internal front is essential'
Abdel Rahman Bizri, MP for Saida, reacted to the assassination of Hassan Farhat and his two children in the city at dawn. On his X account, he declared that “this aggression on the city of Saida adds to a series of Israeli attacks on all regions of southern Lebanon, including the southern suburbs of Beirut.”
“A united internal front is essential to protect Lebanon from the consequences of these aggressions, and we need a united official Lebanese position to make our voice heard on the international stage,” he added.
Morgan Ortagus lands in Beirut
U.S. envoy Morgan Ortagus arrived in Beirut this afternoon to meet with Lebanese officials, reports the state-run National News Agency. This is her second visit to Beirut since taking office. According to our information, Morgan Ortagus will adopt an inflexible tone, demanding a precise timetable for the disarmament of Hezbollah and the assertion of the authority of the Lebanese state throughout its territory.
Funeral for Hassan Farhat and his children
The funeral of Hassan Farhat, a Hamas official assassinated in a pre-dawn strike on central Saida this morning, took place in the same city this afternoon. The funeral was also in honor of his two children, Hamza and Jinan, who were killed in the same strike.
Hamas called on the inhabitants of Saida's Palestinian refugee camps to attend the funeral, which they did, en masse, and the anger was palpable. Funeral attendees yelled chants against Israel, which has been attacking Lebanon with bombing, shelling, and gunfire since the cease-fire came into effect.
Demonstrations were also organized in various Palestinian refugee camps in support of Gaza, where Israel relaunched its war after refusing to negotiate for a second phase of the cease-fire, which would have brought hostilities to an end and seen the release of all remaining Israeli hostages.
In Saida's Ain al-Helweh camp, the largest and most densely populated camp in Lebanon, many people denounced the targeting by the Israeli air force of schools, health centers, hospitals, mosques, refugee camps in the Palestinian enclave. Marches also took place in the camps of Sour, Rashidieh and Burj al-Shamali.
Israeli army kills Palestinian teenager, medics prevented from assisting
The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the Israeli army’s killing of 17-year-old Yusuf Bakr Zaoul in the occupied West Bank overnight, the Wafa news agency reported today.
Zaoul was shot in a village west of Bethlehem by Israeli soldiers who then took his body away, according to the report.
An official from the Palestinian Red Crescent told the news agency that his team was blocked by Israeli forces from approaching the scene, preventing medics from treating the wounded.
Medical sources told Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground in Gaza that, already today, at least 31 people have been killed in the Strip by the Israeli army.
Netanyahu to visit Washington end of the month
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received an invitation to visit the White House following his conversation with U.S. President Trump regarding the tariffs imposed on Israel. The visit will most likely take place after the upcoming Passover holiday, Haaretz reports.
Tufts University comes out in support of student detained by ICE agents
Tufts University has thrown its weight behind the legal case for Rumeysa Ozturk, demanding her immediate release so she can finish her studies, Middle East Eye reports. This move makes Tufts the first university to have done so in the wake of students being detained and arrested by U.S. federal immigration agents over pro-Palestine activism.
In a declaration heard yesterday at the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, university president Sunil Kumar said that Tufts "seeks relief so that Ms Ozturk is released without delay so that she can return to complete her studies and finish her degree." Kumar's statement constituted part of an amended petition submitted to the court.
The university confirmed that Ozturk is a third-year doctoral student "in good academic and administrative standing," who is described by those at the prestigious institution as "a hard-working student dedicated to her studies and the Tufts community.” Kumar added the university “has no information to support the allegations that she was engaged in activities at Tufts that warrant her arrest and detention.”
Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace, Lebanese Army also in the sky
Israeli warplanes are flying low over several areas in southern Lebanon, L'Orient Today's correspondent in the South reports. A military aircraft belonging to the Lebanese Army was also seen over the coastal area heading towards the city of Sour in southern Lebanon, according to local residents.
Netanyahu-Qatar investigation
The hearing we reported on earlier, taking place this morning in Israeli courts to respond to a request from police to extend the detention of two Netanyahu aides, has concluded with the decision to release the suspects and place them instead under house arrest until April 22, Israeli media reports.
One of the court's judges also criticized police investigators for using the investigation into Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein as an opportunity to interrogate the two prime ministerial aides about the classified documents leak from the Prime Minister’s Office, in which Feldstein is also a central suspect.
The so-called Qatargate affair revolves around alleged efforts by the Qatari government — via intermediaries — to shape public messaging in Israel, including through the Prime Minister's Office. The two Netanyahu aides, Urich and Feldstein, are suspected of promoting content that appeared to come from official Israeli sources, including messages aimed at diminishing Egypt's role in mediating between Israel and Hamas.
Palestinians carry the body of a victim after it was dug out from the rubble of a destroyed school, a day after it was hit by an Israeli strike, in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City on April 4, 2025. Gaza's civil defence agency said on April 3
Hamas mourns killing of commander in Saida
Hamas released a statement mourning the killing of a commander in its military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, in the strike on Saida before dawn this morning. Hassan Farhat, along with his son Hamza and daughter Jinan, "were martyred in a treacherous Zionist airstrike that targeted their home in Saida, southern Lebanon, early this Friday morning," Hamas announced.
The Ministry of Health confirmed in an earlier statement that the strike, which blew open the apartment's walls and engulfed it in flames, killed three people.
Concerns raised at U.N. Security Council over Israeli killing of 15 medics, possible 'war crime'
The killing of 15 medics and humanitarian workers in Gaza after shots were fired at their ambulances raises further concerns of "war crimes by the Israeli army," the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said yesterday as reported by AFP.
"I am appalled by the recent killings of 15 medical personnel and humanitarian aid workers, which raise further concerns over the commission of war crimes by the Israeli military," Volker Turk told the U.N. Security Council.
Turk called for an "independent, prompt and thorough investigation" into the March 23 incident that Israeli officials have claimed was an attack on "terrorists."
The bodies of 15 rescuers and humanitarian workers, including eight from the Palestinian Red Crescent and one from the U.N., were found near Rafah in what the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) called a "mass grave."
Read more here.
Netanyahu-Qatar investigation
Israeli police have again asked to extend the detention of Netanyahu aides Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein by seven days, amid the ongoing probe into the so-called Qatargate scandal, in which they are central suspects.
According to reports in several Israeli media, the Rishon LeZion Magistrate’s Court rejected the same request yesterday, choosing instead to extend the remand by just 24 hours. During yesterday's hearing, police representatives said there is a suspicion that the two were involved in "tampering with components related to the security of the state and its citizens."
Police detained Urich and Feldstein for questioning on Monday. They suspect both of having taken money to spread pro-Qatari messaging to reporters, to boost the Gulf state’s image as a mediator in hostage talks between Israel and Hamas, while in the prime minister’s employ.
Salam denounces Israeli night strike on Saida
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam released a statement condemning the Israeli strike on central Saida that targeted a Hamas official in his home before dawn this morning, killing the man's two children as well.
“Israel is once again targeting peaceful civilians, this time in the capital of the South,” Salam's statement reads. “Targeting the city of Saida, or any other Lebanese region, is a blatant assault on Lebanese sovereignty and a clear violation of [U.N.] Resolution 1701 and the security arrangements agreement for the cessation of hostilities.”
Salam stressed the need to "exert maximum pressure on Israel to compel it to halt its ongoing attacks on various areas, particularly residential areas," and emphasized that a "complete cessation of military operations is necessary.”
Renewed Israeli ground invasion in Gaza
Israeli troops moved into an area of northern Gaza to expand what they call a security zone around the edge of the enclave, the military said this morning, days after the government announced plans to seize large areas with an operation in the South, Reuters reports.
Soldiers carrying out the operation in Shejaia, a suburb east of Gaza City in the North, were directing civilians to leave via organized routes, the military said in a statement. Israel issued evacuation warnings in the area yesterday, and hundreds of residents streamed out, some carrying their belongings as they walked, others on donkey carts and bikes or in vans.
Palestinians in Gaza have lived through wave after wave of displacement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed his intention to implement U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to empty Gaza of all its residents and take over the Palestinian territory.
Israeli strike kills Hamas official and his two children in Saida
A man, his son and his daughter were killed overnight when an Israeli drone launched two missiles at their apartment in Saida's Dlaiaa neighborhood, in the center of Saida, just a few dozen meters from the municipal buildings. Israel announced the strike later this morning, saying it had killed senior Hamas official Hassan Farhat,
Two explosions were heard around 3 a.m. The strike hit a fourth-floor apartment, blowing out its outer walls and engulfing it in flames. Shortly after the attack, dozens of people staged a protest in the nearby Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, Lebanon’s largest, in solidarity with Gaza. This attack is the first reported Israeli strike in Saida since Feb. 17, when a drone strike killed senior Hamas commander Mohammad Chahine.
Good morning and welcome to today's live coverage of events in the region, particularly the increasingly tenuous cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel, as the latter continues to attack Lebanon with bombings, drone strikes, artillery fire and gunfire. In Gaza, Israel is pushing Palestinians out of their homes — or the land where their homes once stood — yet again, as soldiers re-enter the Strip and the Israeli air force kills dozens of people a day. In the United States, Trump's crackdown on pro-Palestinian protestors continues to gather speed and condemnation.
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