Israel’s war on Gaza updates: Hamas says ceasefire a must before any deal

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People gather near bodies lined up for identification after they were unearthed from a mass grave found in the Nasser Medical Complex in the southern Gaza Strip on April 25, 2024 [AFP]

By Edna Mohamed, Joseph Stepansky and Nils Adler

This live page is now closed. You can continue to follow our coverage of the war in Gaza here.

27 Apr 2024 - 00:00

(00:00 GMT)

That’s a wrap from us

Thank you for joining us for updates on everything related to Israel’s war on Gaza.

For more news, analysis and opinion on the conflict, click here.

And you can continue to follow our live coverage of the war here.

26 Apr 2024 - 23:57

(23:57 GMT)

Hamas says it received official response in truce talks

Hamas says it has received an official response to its position on ceasefire talks and will study the proposal before submitting its response, the group’s deputy chief in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya said in a statement.

26 Apr 2024 - 23:45

(23:45 GMT)

A look at what happened today

We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a quick recap from today:

Students and faculty members at US universities continued to protest in solidarity with Palestinians, with similar demonstrations also spreading in other countries such as Australia.
Hamas responded to a letter signed by 18 world powers urging captives’ release, saying it is open to proposals that address a permanent ceasefire and the “basic rights” of Palestinians.
A Beijing-based diplomat told Reuters that China will host Palestinian peace talks between Hamas and its rival Fatah.
A director at Gaza’s Civil Defence said it had finished exhuming bodies from the mass graves at Nasser Medical Complex.
The UN chief’s spokesperson said it is “important that all forensic evidence be well preserved” from Gaza’s mass graves but that a mandate from a UN legislative group is required to allow the world body to take legal possession of such material.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that five civilians were killed this evening by Israeli bombardments of the central and southern Gaza Strip.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said he sees fresh momentum in talks to pause the fighting in Gaza and return the remaining Israeli captives.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced that presiding Judge Nawaf Salam will read out the ruling on Nicaragua’s case against Germany at 13:00 GMT on Tuesday.
Reports have emerged that the US’s Biden administration has put its sanctions on the Israeli Netzah Yehuda Battalion on hold.

26 Apr 2024 - 23:30

(23:30 GMT)

Two Palestinians wounded by live ammunition near Jenin

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says it is transporting the two people to the hospital, who were wounded near the Jalama Israeli army checkpoint, north of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

We will bring you more on this incident as information comes in.

26 Apr 2024 - 23:15

(23:15 GMT)

Photos: Conditions worsen in Rafah with sewage spills, waste issues and a heatwave

Palestinians walk next to a sewage spill near tents for internally displaced people at a temporary camp in Rafah camp, southern Gaza Strip, April 26, 2024 [Haitham Imad/EPA-EFE]

[Haitham Imad/EPA-EFE]

26 Apr 2024 - 23:00

(23:00 GMT)

Generation gap: What student protests say about US politics, Israel support

By Ali Harb

A Gaza-focused campus protest movement in the United States has highlighted a generational divide on Israel, experts say, with young people’s willingness to challenge politicians and college administrators on display nationwide.

The opinion gap — with younger Americans generally more supportive of Palestinians than the generations that came before them — poses a risk to 81-year-old Democratic President Joe Biden’s re-election chances, they argue.

It could also threaten the bipartisan backing that Israel enjoys in Washington.

“We’re already seeing evidence of a generation divide on Israel, and that is going to be a long-term issue for the Democratic Party,” said Omar Wasow, assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley.

Across the Western world, public opinion on Palestine is finally shifting

By Othman Moqbel

For a very long time, many in the Western world have not engaged at all with the issues stemming from the occupation of Palestine. The occupation was in the news, every year or so, for a day or two, and then it would go again.

It was too “complicated”, those who knew about the context – on either side – were too passionate. So many opted to remain neutral. Many more believed the smears against the Palestinian people.

However, the scale and severity of brutality that has defined the past six months of conflict has put an end to the widespread apathy towards the suffering of the Palestinian people.

The wall-to-wall media coverage, thanks to fearless reporting from organisations like Al Jazeera and Palestinian journalists on the ground, has opened people’s eyes to the reality people in Gaza, and the rest of Palestine, have had to endure for generations.

University of Texas professor says protests have been ‘nothing but peaceful’

The University of Texas at Austin has been a main flash point of protest across US college campuses, with the public institution’s president Jay Hartzell facing calls to resign following a police crackdown on peaceful demonstrators.

The president initially supported the police action, which saw several violent arrests, but has since said he supports the right to protest on the campus.

But faculty member Pavithra Vasudevan, an assistant professor of women’s and gender studies, said outrage remains over how the president has responded to “protests that have been nothing but peaceful”.

“They have been nothing but a spontaneous and organised expression of people’s feelings about what’s happening,” she told Al Jazeera from the university’s campus.

The protests arose, she added “at a time when the university is fully repressing any conversation about Palestine, faculty are scared to mention the word Palestine in their classes. People don’t want to talk about the genocide. There has been strong indication from the university since October 7 that this is not our topic of conversation.”

26 Apr 2024 - 22:25

(22:25 GMT)

Yemen’s Houthis claim direct hit on ship in Red Sea

Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military spokesman, says the group targeted a British oil tanker – the Andromeda Star – in the Red Sea with “a number of naval missiles” and achieved a direct hit.

He also said the group had shot down an American UAV in the airspace of the Saada Governorate in Yemen.

The Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November in what they say is a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians and against Israel’s continuing war on Gaza.

26 Apr 2024 - 22:15

(22:15 GMT)

Protesters at Columbia won’t leave until they see a commitment to divest from Israel

By Kristen Saloomey

Reporting from New York, United States

It is day 10 of this demonstration, and it’s a beautiful Friday afternoon here in New York.

The students are praying on campus now. There is a Muslim evening prayer happening right now, and in a couple of hours, there will also be a Shabbat Jewish dinner, this evening.

The students say there is growing camaraderie among the group, and it’s very welcoming, not hostile, not anti-Semitic. They’re trying very hard to fight these accusations, and they say that anyone who makes that accusation should come and see what’s happening here.

But getting to those all-important negotiations, the students told me that they spent 11 hours with the administration yesterday and another hour here this morning.

There’s some possibility that those discussions will continue over the weekend. They have not been given a deadline to leave or face eviction. However, they haven’t been promised that that won’t happen either.

The university made some offers to the students, saying that they would agree to look at divestments and start the process of reviewing them and talking about them with the students.

But the students said that’s not good enough. They want a commitment to divest from Israel.

26 Apr 2024 - 22:00

(22:00 GMT)

China can play a role in ensuring conflict does not spread in Middle East: Blinken

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NPR that he had discussed regional tensions in the Middle East with Chinese officials during his visit to China.

“I’ve had, I think, six conversations with my Chinese counterparts since October 7”, he said.

“I actually believe that China could play a constructive role in trying to make sure that conflict doesn’t spread, that we don’t see escalation”.

He added that China “has influence with critical countries in the region, including, for example, Iran”.

“So what I’m focused on is trying to encourage China to use that influence in a productive way,” he said.

“We’ve seen some evidence that they have engaged because it’s also in their interest to make sure that conflict doesn’t spread”.

“For example, China is deeply reliant on energy coming from the Middle East. It has no interest in a Middle East that’s in flames, full of conflict, and just out of its own self-interest, I think, is looking to take appropriate action,” Blinken concluded.

Antony Blinken meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China, April 26, 2024 [Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via Reuters]

26 Apr 2024 - 21:45

(21:45 GMT)

WATCH: How Gaza’s children are preparing for Israel’s invasion of Rafah

As Israel brings its long-promised invasion of the Strip’s southernmost city closer to beginning, watch our report on how some of the children there, among nearly 1.5 million displaced Palestinians currently sheltering in the city, are preparing for the ground assault by Israeli troops.

26 Apr 2024 - 21:30

(21:30 GMT)

Israeli bombardment continues in Rafah

By Tareq Abu Azzoum

Reporting from Rafah, Gaza

As Palestinians are following the protests at American universities, they have also been subjected to bombardment in the past couple of hours.

Israeli fighter jets targeted a residential house in the northern part of Rafah district, with no casualties reported.

Just a half hour ago, an Israeli fighter jet targeted another house on the vicinity of Rafah crossing, in the southern part of Rafah district, with at least two Palestinians injured.

Meanwhile, at least three Palestinians have been killed in the vicinity of a school in the southern part of Khan Younis city.

26 Apr 2024 - 21:15

(21:15 GMT)

WATCH: Australian students join protests for Palestine

Students from universities in Australia are joining their American peers in pro-Palestine protests that call for their educational institutions to cut ties with Israel.

26 Apr 2024 - 21:00

(21:00 GMT)

CAIR condemns ‘backtracking’ on US sanctioning Israeli unit

US media reported earlier today that the Biden administration will not immediately prohibit US arms transfers to an Israeli unit accused of rights abuses before October 7.

For several days, speculation had grown that the White House would take the step after a State Department panel determined that several Israeli units had committed gross human rights violations.

The Biden administration was specifically expected to target the Netzah Yehuda battalion.

Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell decried the “apparent backtracking”.

“The Israeli military unit that the State Department planned to sanction beat an elderly American citizen to a pulp, tied him up, and left him to die,” he said in a statement. “Sanctioning this unit is the least the Biden administration should have done, and suspending military aid altogether is what the administration should do now.”

26 Apr 2024 - 20:45

(20:45 GMT)

Netherlands will consider resuming support to UNRWA

The Dutch government says it will consider resuming funding for UNRWA in Gaza if the agency implements recommendations to strengthen its neutrality.

The decision follows an investigation by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna released on Monday into whether some UNRWA employees were involved in the October 7 attack by Hamas.

The review supported by three Nordic research institutes showed that Israel failed to support its claims about UNRWA staff belonging to either Hamas’s military wing or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The Dutch government said it had already made its yearly donation to UNRWA in January before the accusations against the agency came to light.

It was one of several European countries that paused funding for the agency after the allegations were levied.

It said it did not foresee any additional donations in the near future but would consider UNRWA a potential partner if aid requests were made.

26 Apr 2024 - 20:30

(20:30 GMT)

Palestinians in Rafah ‘living in greenhouses-like structures’ as temperatures soar

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), says in a post on X that a heatwave in Gaza has made “the already inhumane living conditions even worse”.

He added that the agency had received reports that at least two children died due to the heat.

Over the past few days, #Gaza has been undergoing an unusual heatwave. This made the already inhumane living conditions even worse for 1.5 million people, mostly living under plastic sheets in #Rafah.

We received reports that at least two children died due to the heat.
What… https://t.co/vY9sEd4jae

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) April 26, 2024

26 Apr 2024 - 20:15

(20:15 GMT)

USAID concludes Israel in violation of White House directive: Report

The report by Devex comes after the White House issued a national security memo that told US Secretary of State Blinken to “obtain credible and reliable written assurance” that governments that receive weapons from Washington will abide by international humanitarian law.

But in a paper delivered to Blinken, the US aid agency said Israel is not demonstrating “necessary compliance” with the directive. Specifically, they point to the requirement that Israel fosters, and does not hamper “the transport of delivery of United States humanitarian assistance”, according to Devex.

In the coming weeks, Blinken is required to certify to Congress compliance with the White House directive.

Devex also cited a separate memo to Blinken from experts at USAID and the Department of State, which assessed international observers will declare “ongoing famine” in Gaza at the beginning of next month.

26 Apr 2024 - 19:45

(19:45 GMT)

Recognition of Palestinian statehood is not the panacea it’s made out to be

By Yara Hawari

As the genocide in Gaza rages on, various European countries, including Spain and the Republic of Ireland, have indicated that they are moving towards recognising the State of Palestine.

The new Irish prime minister, Simon Harris, argued that a group of like-minded countries officially recognising a Palestinian state would “lend weight to the decision and … send the strongest message”.

Meanwhile, Spanish officials argued that this could create momentum for others to do the same. Currently, most countries in the Global South, but only very few in the West, recognise the State of Palestine.

As it stands, recognition of the State of Palestine is a political and symbolic move – it signals the recognition of the Palestinian right to sovereignty over the West Bank and Gaza.

China to host Hamas, Fatah for Palestinian unity talks: Report

A Beijing-based diplomat has told the Reuters news agency that China will host Palestinian unity talks between Hamas and its rival Fatah.

A Fatah official told Reuters a delegation led by the group’s senior official, Azzam al-Ahmed, had left for China.

A Hamas official said the faction’s team for the talks, led by senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk, would be flying there later on Friday.

“We support strengthening the authority of the Palestinian National Authority and support all Palestinian factions in achieving reconciliation and increasing solidarity through dialogue and consultation,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin at a regular briefing on Friday without confirming the meeting.

The visit will be the first time a Hamas delegation is publicly known to have gone to China since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Hamas has been the de facto ruler in the Gaza Strip since 2007, after defeating President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party in parliamentary elections.

Hamas then expelled Fatah from the enclave after the latter refused to recognise the result of the vote.

Fatah, internationally recognised as the Palestinian Authority, exercises limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank.