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Israeli drone strike kills Palestinian children in Gaza City

Israeli drone strike kills Palestinian children in Gaza City
By Lyndal Rowlands, Edna Mohamed, Nils Adler, Caolán Magee and Jillian Kestler-D'Amours
Published On 28 Apr 2025

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28 Apr 2025 - 23:59
 (23:59 GMT)

Thanks for joining us

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For more context on today’s hearing at the International Court of Justice, check out our video explainer on why Israel’s tactics are back before the top UN court, here.

Or have a look at this opinion column arguing that an international peacekeeping force should be deployed to protect Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

28 Apr 2025 - 23:45
 (23:45 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a recap of today’s major events:

  • At least 44 Palestinians have been killed since dawn in a series of Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, including a drone strike that killed five children in Gaza City.
  • The International Court of Justice (ICJ) heard the first day of arguments in a case against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.
  • The head of the Lebanese group Hezbollah has condemned Israel’s recent attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs, urging Lebanon to pressure the US to take action and rein in its ally.
  • A spokesperson for UN chief Guterres says strikes on Yemen “pose [a] growing risk” to civilians as the US Trump administration continues to bomb the country; Yemen’s Houthis vow to keep up their attacks in the Red Sea in defiance of US strikes.
28 Apr 2025 - 23:30
 (23:30 GMT)

‘Unthinkable’: Red Cross comments on Yemen migrant detention centre attack

An International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) representative in Yemen has said that “it is unthinkable that while people are detained and have nowhere to escape, they can also be caught in the line of fire”.

“This attack underscores how civilians in Yemen are increasingly exposed to death, grievous injury, and deepening psychological trauma,” Christine Cipolla said in a statement.

As we’ve been reporting throughout the day, the Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported that at least 68 people were killed when a migrant detention centre was hit in US strikes on Yemen’s Saada governorate.

In its statement, the ICRC did not provide a death toll but said the attack “resulted in a high number of casualties, many of whom were migrants”.

“The ICRC reiterates its call to all parties to respect and protect civilians, including people deprived of their liberty, in accordance with international humanitarian law. Parties must take every feasible precaution to avoid civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure,” it added.

28 Apr 2025 - 23:15
 (23:15 GMT)

Muslim advocacy group calls for Ben-Gvir to be expelled from US

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has accused the Israeli national security minister of directing his security detail to harass a woman wearing a keffiyeh in Capitol Hill today.

As we reported earlier, a group of Palestinian rights advocates confronted Ben-Gvir in Washington, DC.

“Ben-Gvir and his security guards later crossed paths with students and members of the Maryland delegation and CAIR national staff, who called him a ‘war criminal’ while he screamed at them and attempted to push through his security guards to approach them,” CAIR said in a statement.

According to the group, Ben-Gvir and some of his aides and security guards approached a CAIR-Washington community legal advocate, Sabrene Odeh, who was wearing a keffiyeh.

“According to Odeh and a witness, CAIR-Washington communications director Katie Walker, Ben-Gvir looked at Odeh and then motioned for his security guard to take notice of her,” CAIR said.

“The guard then walked fast directly towards Odeh as if he was going to physically assault her, forcing her to step back and hit the wall. The guard then passed inches from Odeh.”

28 Apr 2025 - 23:00
 (23:00 GMT)

More than 65,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children in Gaza, officials say

The Gaza Government Media Office has said that more than 65,000 cases of acute malnutrition have been recorded among 1.1 million children in Gaza.

Israel’s attacks on Gaza and its ongoing total blockade of the Strip have led to a “catastrophic deterioration in health conditions, and the prevalence of cases of acute malnutrition, especially among children and infants”, the media office said in a statement on Telegram.

It condemned Israel for “using the weapon of starvation and thirst as a method of systematic war aimed at killing life in the Gaza Strip, in flagrant violation of all international and humanitarian laws and norms”. It also called on the international community to intervene immediately to hold Israel responsible and alleviate the crisis.

28 Apr 2025 - 22:45
 (22:45 GMT)

Palestinian children unable to get vaccinations: UNICEF

The UN child rights agency says Palestinian children in Gaza cannot be vaccinated due to bombardments, displacement and the blockade on humanitarian assistance.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said last week that a polio vaccine drive had been suspended.

Ministry spokesperson Khalil Deqran warned on April 22 that if polio vaccines did not arrive immediately, authorities were preparing for “a real catastrophe”.

“Children and patients must not be used as cards of political blackmail,” Deqran said.

28 Apr 2025 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)

UK’s Starmer laments ‘appalling loss of life in Gaza’ in talks with Palestinian PM

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has held talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa in London.

In a statement that did not include the word “Israel”, the UK prime minister’s office said Starmer told Mustafa “that the UK does not support the resumption in hostilities [in Gaza], which are in nobody’s interests”.

“He added that the UK will continue to press for a return to the ceasefire as a first step to a lasting peace, and reiterated that the return of humanitarian aid into Gaza is critical,” the statement read.

The British government has faced calls to suspend its assistance to Israel, including weapons transfers, amid the Gaza war.

In January, the British Palestinian Committee (BPC) said the United Kingdom’s military collaboration with Israel during its Gaza offensive – as well as its support through arms provisions, logistical aid, and direct military interventions in Yemen – could constitute a breach of international law.

28 Apr 2025 - 22:15
 (22:15 GMT)

Palestinian nurse on duty when Israeli attack kills his parents

Our colleagues at AJ+ have published a video showing the moment Palestinian nurse Ahmed al-Najjar found out that both of his parents were killed in an Israeli attack on their home in Khan Younis.

Their bodies were retrieved from the rubble after the air strike.

28 Apr 2025 - 22:00
 (22:00 GMT)

Israel intentionally making Gaza ‘uninhabitable’, Egypt tells ICJ

Egypt has told the International Court of Justice that Israel remains bound by its obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law as long as its occupation of Palestinian territory continues.

As the ICJ heard arguments from the UN and others about Israel’s obligations as an occupying power, Egypt’s assistant foreign minister, Hatem Kamaleldin Abdelkader, accused Israel of imposing a “brutal siege” on civilians, calling it “the most recent chapter in Israel’s systematic weaponisation of humanitarian assistance”.

“There is no doubt that these practices are part of a widespread, systematic and comprehensive state policy to depopulate the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territory] and effect its de-facto annexation,” he said.

Abdelkader added that Israel has forcibly transferred Palestinians to areas no more secure than those they had fled and is “intentionally creating conditions intended to make Gaza uninhabitable”.

Jasmine Moussa, a legal adviser to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, said Israel’s military campaign was aimed at achieving “a far more insidious end” – the removal of Palestinians from their land and their extermination “under the fog of war”.

28 Apr 2025 - 21:45
 (21:45 GMT)

Photos: Palestinians wait to receive treatment at UNRWA health centre in Gaza

Palestinians wait at the health centre run by UNRWA in Khan Younis [Hatem Khaled/Reuters]
[Hatem Khaled/Reuters]
[Hatem Khaled/Reuters]

28 Apr 2025 - 21:15
 (21:15 GMT)

Muslim activists in US confront far-right Israeli minister Ben-Gvir

Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), has shared a video showing activists denouncing Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

“War criminal!” one person can be heard shouting at Ben-Gvir.

“You killed my family in Gaza!” another person shouts before activists begin chanting, “Free, free Palestine!”

Ben-Gvir is a far-right politician who lives in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. He has been convicted of incitement to racism against Palestinians and has called for the Israeli military to bomb food storage sites in Gaza.

28 Apr 2025 - 21:15
 (21:15 GMT)

Israel’s ultimate aim is ‘elimination’ of Palestinians, Malaysia rep tells ICJ

A representative of Malaysia has told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Israel’s intention is the ultimate “displacement and elimination” of Palestinians.

“What are the obligations of an occupying power and of a member of the United Nations that continues without regard for international law or human decency to obstruct, undermine and dismantle the very systems built to preserve human life and dignity in the occupied Palestinian territory?” Malaysian envoy Azalina Othman Said asked the court during public hearings on Israel’s obligations in the occupied Palestinian territory.

“In last few weeks, we have witnessed not only a renewed war against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, but also statements by senior Israeli officials that leave no doubt [that] Israel’s intention is to bring about the ultimate denial of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination to their eventual displacement and elimination,” she said.

Othman Said pointed out how Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz recently issued threats against Gaza’s civilian population, stressing that “this demonstrates Israel’s intention in no uncertain terms”.

“Threatening the civilian population of Gaza with destruction unless they remove Hamas and return the hostages, [this is] an objective that even Israel with all its military might has not even come close to achieving over a year-and-a-half of merciless killing and maiming,” she said.

28 Apr 2025 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)

F-18 falls overboard from US aircraft carrier in Red Sea

The US Navy says an F18 Super Hornet and a tow tractor on the USS Harry S Truman were “lost overboard”.

“Sailors towing the aircraft took immediate action to move clear of the aircraft before it fell overboard. An investigation is under way,” the Navy said in a statement, without explaining what caused the F18 to go overboard.

As we reported earlier, Yemen’s Houthis said they targeted the USS Truman earlier today in response to US strikes that killed dozens of people in the country.

The US has been bombing what it says are Houthi targets in response to the group’s firing on vessels in the Red Sea. The Houthis say they are conducting attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and will stop once Israel’s bombardment of the enclave ends.

28 Apr 2025 - 20:45
 (20:45 GMT)

LISTEN: What’s the latest case held against Israel at the ICJ?

The International Court of Justice hears another case against Israel – in what could be a test of Israeli defiance of international law.

More than 40 nations argue that Israel’s ban on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees is a breach of the UN charter.

So, can the World Court hold Israel to account this time?

28 Apr 2025 - 20:30
 (20:30 GMT)

If you’re just joining us

Let’s bring you up to speed on the latest developments:

  • Our correspondent reports that the main hospital in Gaza City has run out of pain medication due to Israel’s blockade, as the Israeli military continues to pummel Palestinians across the Gaza Strip.
  • Egypt’s intelligence chief is to meet an Israeli delegation headed by Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer today in Cairo, the Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV reports.
  • Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, says he will stand down on June 15 after weeks of tensions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has moved to fire him.
  • A spokesman for United Nations chief Antonio Guterres says 16 community kitchens have closed in Gaza in recent days amid a shortage of food due to Israel’s blockade.
28 Apr 2025 - 20:15
 (20:15 GMT)

Hezbollah chief condemns Israeli attack on Beirut, calls for int’l pressure

Naim Qassem has said that Israel’s attacks on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital yesterday lacked “any justification”.

“It is a political attack aimed at changing the rules by force,” the Hezbollah leader said in a televised speech.

Qassem said that the Lebanese authorities must do more to ensure Israel abides by the terms of the ceasefire, which came into force in November.

“The state must exert pressure. The pressure it has exerted so far … amounts to nothing more than some actions and statements. This is unacceptable,” he said, adding that the Lebanese government should “take more action” and raise the issue at the UN Security Council.

Qassem also said that the US has backed Israel’s actions, including the latest strike on Beirut, and called on the Lebanese government to put pressure on Washington “and make it understand that Lebanon will not rebuild without an end to the aggression”.

Qassem urged the Lebanese government to ‘take more action’ amid Israel’s attacks on the country [File: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]
28 Apr 2025 - 20:00
 (20:00 GMT)

Israeli foreign minister slams UNRWA, UN, Guterres and more

Gideon Saar has posted a short video on social media attacking all those who he says “weaponise international law and its institutions in order to deprive the most attacked country in the world — Israel — of its most basic right to defend itself”.

The Israeli foreign minister’s comments come as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) heard arguments from the United Nations and others about Israel’s obligations as an occupying power.

Palestinians, UN experts and human rights groups say Israel is violating international humanitarian and human rights law in its abuses against Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

They have noted that Israel has carried out an indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza, killing tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, while its blockade of the territory has pushed people to the brink of famine.

But Israel continues to reject international criticism.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog also hit out at foreign diplomats earlier today, telling dozens of UN ambassadors in Jerusalem that the country expects a “major change in the behaviour of the international institutions, an end to hypocrisy, and much more fairness”.

28 Apr 2025 - 19:45
 (19:45 GMT)

WATCH: ICJ hearings begin on Israel’s humanitarian obligations in Gaza

See more in our video below.

28 Apr 2025 - 19:30
 (19:30 GMT)

Israeli army says it attacked 50 targets across Lebanon in past month

The military has justified the attacks by saying they were carried out in response to threats against Israel.

Rights groups have denounced Israeli attacks on Lebanon as a violation of a ceasefire agreement with Lebanese group Hezbollah that came into effect in November 2024.

On Sunday, after an Israeli attack on Beirut, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accused the country of undermining stability in Lebanon and escalating tensions.

He said Israeli attacks pose “real dangers to the security” of the region.

28 Apr 2025 - 19:15
 (19:15 GMT)

UN says strikes on Yemen ‘pose growing risk’ to civilians

Stephane Dujarric, the United Nations chief’s spokesman, says the world body is “deeply alarmed” by reports of an air strike hitting a migrant detention centre in Yemen.

As we’ve been reporting, the Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported that at least 68 people were killed in a United States attack on the facility in the Saada governorate.

“We’re saddened by the tragic loss of life, where many of these migrants are believed to have been killed and injured,” Dujarric told reporters.

He added that strikes on Yemen “pose a growing risk to the civilian population” in the country.

“We continue to call [on] parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians,” Dujarric said.