By Abdul Adil

(AA, Al Jazeera, Wafa, The Muslim News):

GAZA

Three Palestinians were killed and several others were injured today in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a gathering of civilians east of the Shujaiya neighborhood in Gaza City.

Although a ceasefire agreement came into effect on January 19 after more than 15 months of brutal Israeli bombings, Israel continues to violate the agreement by targeting civilians in the region almost every day.

Earlier today, health authorities in Gaza said the number of Palestinians killed since the beginning of the Israeli war on the region in October 2023 has risen to 48,446, in addition to 111,852 others injured.

The Government Media Office updated its death toll to at least 61,709, saying thousands of Palestinians missing under the rubble are presumed dead.

Meanwhile, US President confirmed that a senior US official held direct talks with Hamas recently about gaining the release of hostages held in Gaza.

Trump, talking to reporters in the Oval Office in Washington, said the effort is aimed at helping Israel and that the United States would not pay for the release of captives.

Gaza’s Interior Ministry on Thursday urged authorities to allow the entry of personal protective equipment for its bomb disposal teams to safely dismantle unexploded ordnance left by the Israeli army in the enclave.

“We appeal to international relief organizations to allow access to personal protective equipment for bomb disposal teams who risk their lives and operate in poor conditions without any personal safety equipment,” it said in a statement.

A Palestinian expert was injured Wednesday when an ordnance exploded as he was trying to dismantle it in northern Gaza. Three teens were also wounded in another bomb explosion east of Jabalia town in northern Gaza.

The ministry called on Palestinian residents “to stay away from any objects or war remnants to maintain their safety.”

France condemned on Wednesday Israel’s decision to suspend humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza during the holy month of Ramadan, emphasizing the urgency of assistance for civilians in the besieged enclave.

“We strongly condemn the Israeli government’s decision to suspend aid, which resulted in the implementation of a law that bans all contact between state institutions and Israeli officials and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA),” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine told a weekly press briefing.

Responding to Anadolu’s question regarding Israel’s suspension of humanitarian aid to Gaza during Ramadan and possible sanctions, Lemoine said France, the UK, and Germany jointly condemned the decision.

Lemoine also emphasized that the joint statement urged the Israeli government to comply with its international obligations and fulfill its responsibility to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

Given the catastrophic conditions in Gaza, he stressed that delivering aid is an urgent necessity.

Lemoine underlined that ensuring humanitarian assistance is Israel’s legal obligation under international law, but refrained from commenting on possible sanctions against the country.

UK’s Foreign Minister, Catherine West, told Parliament on 4 March during debate on Gaza, that UK was “very concerned” about Israel preventing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. “Humanitarian aid should never be contingent on a ceasefire or used as a political tool. We urge the government of Israel to lift restrictions immediately and unconditionally.”

Meanwhile, another Palestinian detainee from Gaza died in Israeli detention, bringing the death toll of prisoners in Israeli jails to four in almost a week, prisoners’ affairs groups said on Thursday.

Ali Ashour Al-Batsh, 62, was held in the Negev Prison and was transferred to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva in southern Israel where he was pronounced dead, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.

Al-Batsh, a father of six, was detained by Israeli forces in Gaza in December 2023, the statement said.

His death brought to four the number of Palestinian prisoners who died in Israeli detention in a week.

According to Palestinian figures, at least 62 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli captivity since October 2023, including at least 40 from Gaza.

WEST BANK

The Israeli army began to demolish 17 Palestinian homes in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the northern West Bank on Thursday amid a military offensive in the occupied territory, witnesses said.

Military bulldozers moved into the camp east of Tulkarem city and began to raze the buildings, they added.

It came hours after Israeli authorities issued demolition orders for the buildings on Wednesday to allegedly build a road in the Al-Manshiya neighborhood in the camp.

In statements to Anadolu on Wednesday, Nihad Al-Shawish, head of a local service committee in the camp, warned that the demolitions will leave dozens of families homeless.
Shawish noted that 11 Palestinian homes were also razed by the Israeli army in the camp a few days ago.

“This is a collective punishment aimed at changing the geography of the camp under false security pretexts,” he said.

The Israeli army also brought down four homes in the Falouja and Samaran neighborhoods in the Jenin refugee camp, witnesses said.

The Israeli army claimed that the demolitions were necessary to “open a path linking the center of the camp to other streets,” they added.

According to witnesses, at least two more homes were set ablaze by Israeli forces in the Jenin camp.

The Israeli army has been conducting military operations in the northern West Bank since Jan. 21, killing at least 65 people and displacing thousands.

Palestinian authorities have warned that the Israeli military offensive is part of a broader plan by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to annex the occupied West Bank and declare sovereignty over it, which could officially mark the end of the two-state solution.

Tension has been running high across the West Bank, where at least 930 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 others injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023.

A young man sustained injuries after being attacked by Israeli forces at the entrance of Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.

According to Wafa’s correspondent, Israeli soldiers assaulted the young man, beating him with the butts of their rifles, as he attempted to enter the camp and return home.

The attack resulted in the young man suffering injuries, including fractures to his face and jaw, the agency said.

Israeli forces also stormed the camp, forcing shop owners to close their businesses, Wafa reported, adding that the troops fired stun grenades and tear gas towards the homes of local residents.

Illegal Israeli settlers uprooted around 100 olive trees on Thursday in the village of Haris, located in the central West Bank province of Salfit.

Local sources reported to WAFA that the settlers raided the Abu Al-Ula area on the outskirts of the village, where they uprooted and cut down olive trees over an area of 20 dunums, which belong to Khaled Aqel, a local Palestinian resident. They also stole agricultural tools, including water tanks.

This area has been continuously subjected to attacks by Israeli occupation forces and settlers, with the aim of seizing control of the land for colonial expansion.

Several Palestinians Thursday evening suffocated in an Israeli army raid in Beit Ummar town, south of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, according to a local activist.

Mohammad Awad said that the Israeli occupying forces barged their way into and set up a checkpoint at the Saffa Circle area in the town, stopping Palestinian-registered vehicles, smashing the windows of some of them, and abusing passengers.

He added that the heavily armed soldiers fired barrages of tear gas canisters toward civilians’ houses, causing several civilians to suffocate from excessive tear gas inhalation.

All of the suffocation cases were treated at the scene.

The Israeli army rounded up at least 30 more Palestinians in fresh military raids in the occupied West Bank, according to prisoners’ affairs groups on Thursday.

Children and former prisoners were among the detainees in the raids that targeted several towns in the West Bank, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.

The raids came as the Israeli army continued a deadly military offensive in the northern West Bank, killing at least 65 Palestinians and displacing thousands since Jan. 21.

According to Palestinian figures, Israel holds over 9,500 Palestinian detainees in its prisons, including 1,555 prisoners from the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian authorities have warned that the Israeli military escalation is part of a broader plan by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to annex the occupied West Bank and declare sovereignty over it, which could officially mark the end of the two-state solution.

The mayor of a Palestinian town has been arrested by Israeli forces and charged with “incitement” over posts he made on social media, Israeli media reports.

The mayor of Bidya, near Nablus, was arrested in February, “following extensive monitoring of the mayor’s social media posts”, The Jerusalem Post reported, but charges against him were only filed on Wednesday. Israeli police claimed that the mayor’s online activities “could harm public order and safety, expressing praise, sympathy, or support for a hostile organisation, its actions, and its objectives”.

Among other posts, the mayor had shared a photo of Hamas founder Ahmad Yasin alongside one of Yasser Arafat, with the words: “May God bless them both and all the martyrs.”

SYRIA

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said that Israeli assaults on Syria reflect “expansionist intentions.”

“The Israeli aggression is an exploitation of the regime’s collapse. (Israel) justifies its aggression for alleged security concerns, but it reflects expansionist intentions,” he said in statements on the sidelines of an emergency Arab summit in Egypt on Tuesday.

“How will we respond? This is something we should not disclose now,” he added.

Sharaa’s participation in the Arab summit was the first since the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria in December.

After Assad’s fall, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria.

Israel also launched hundreds of airstrikes that targeted military sites and assets across Syria, including fighter jets, missile systems and air defense installations, according to reports.

Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus on Dec. 8, ending the Baath Party’s regime, which had been in power since 1963.

[Photo: Israeli army starts to demolish Palestinian homes in the Nur al-Shams Refugee Camp east of Tulkarm city, West Bank on March 06, 2025. Photojournalist: Issam Rimawi/AA]