Live updates on Israel's war against Hamas

An Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 people and wounded several others outside a school housing displaced Palestinians on Monday, health officials said, the latest violence to overshadow the fragile US-backed Gaza ceasefire deal.

Before the strikes, some Palestinians had clashed with members of an Israeli-backed militia, who they said attacked the school in an attempt to abduct some people, medics and residents said.

In the midst of the clashes, east of the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Israeli drones fired two missiles into the area, killing at least 10 people and wounding several others, they added.

It was not immediately clear how many civilians had been killed in the strikes, which hit in a closely packed neighbourhood of mostly displaced Palestinians.

Ahmed al-Maghazi, an eyewitness, said their area was attacked by members of the Israeli-backed militia who operate in the territory adjacent to where the Israeli forces are in control, before the militia opened fire.

"The residents tried to defend their homes, but the occupation forces targeted them directly," he told Reuters.

Later on Monday, a leader of one of the Israeli-backed militias said in a video, which Reuters couldn't immediately authenticate, that they killed some five Hamas members.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas, which brands those groups that operate in areas under Israeli control as "Israeli collaborators."

Hamas's armed wing said on Sunday raising the issue of the group's disarmament in a "crude manner" was an attempt to continue what he called a genocide against the Palestinian people.

In a televised statement, the Hamas armed wing spokesperson said the group would not accept such demands "under any circumstances."

Israeli police said eight suspects were arrested on Sunday after an overnight attack by Israeli civilians on a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank.

"Last night, forces... were called to the village of Qusra in Samaria following a report of an assault and arson of property by Israeli civilians," a police statement said, using a Biblical term for the northern West Bank.

"During searches, eight suspects were arrested by the forces on suspicion of being in a closed military zone and of involvement in the incident, and were taken in for questioning."

The suspects were aged between 18 and 48, and during their searches the police also found an M-16 assault rifle issued by the army.

The Palestinian official news agency WAFA, citing local sources, reported that the assault had been carried out by Israeli settlers.

WAFA said they had operated "under the protection of Israeli forces" and "set fire to two poultry farming structures".

An Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, local health authorities said, in the latest violence to overshadow a fragile ceasefire amid a new push by mediators to bolster the agreement.

Medics said the airstrike targeted a group of people in Jaffa Street, near the Darraj neighbourhood in Gaza City, killing four people and wounding others.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that since last year’s ceasefire, Israeli strikes have resulted in 709 deaths and at least 1,928 injuries.

Overall, since October 2023, the total number of Palestinian fatalities has reached 72,291, many of them women and children.

Some 20 French boats set sail from Marseille on Saturday to join up with an international flotilla making a renewed effort to break an Israeli blockade and deliver aid to Gaza, AFP reporters saw.

"Gaza, Marseille is with you" shouted around a thousand people who had come to the docks to support the initiative.

The ships, mostly sailboats, set off to a round of applause and songs shortly after 5:00pm (1500 GMT) to join the "Global Sumud Flotilla", named after a Gazan fisherman.

The international flotilla of some 100 boats, mostly setting sail from Barcelona on April 12, will head towards Gaza around April 20, according to the organisers. A week-long stopover is planned in southern Italy for "non-violence training."

The United Arab Emirates has strongly condemned an attack on its embassy in Damascus, after protesters gathered outside the mission in Syria's capital and attempted to storm the premises.

According to statements from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, demonstrators engaged in rioting and vandalism, targeting both the embassy building and the residence of the head of mission. The ministry described the acts as "unacceptable" and reiterated its rejection of attacks on diplomatic missions and national symbols.

Witness accounts and videos circulating online showed protesters carrying Palestinian flags and chanting slogans against Israel. Some demonstrators were seen climbing the embassy building and attempting to raise a Palestinian flag on the premises, while security personnel reportedly avoided direct confrontation.

The UAE stressed that diplomatic premises must be protected under international law, particularly the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which guarantees the inviolability of embassies and the safety of diplomatic staff.

Abu Dhabi called on the Syrian authorities to fulfil their obligations to secure the mission, investigate the incident, and take legal action against those responsible to prevent any recurrence.

Palestinian resistance group Hamas has told mediators it will not discuss giving up arms without guarantees that Israel will fully quit Gaza as laid out in a disarmament plan from US President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace", three sources told Reuters.

Hamas conveyed several demands and amendments to the board's plan, including an end to Israeli violations, implementation of all provisions and Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, the two Egyptian sources told Reuters.

The sources said Hamas also sought clarification about what it described as Israel's continued expansion of areas under its control. Israel retained control of well over half of Gaza after the ceasefire.

The sources said Hamas does not want to discuss disarmament before those issues are addressed.

Pakistan and seven other Muslim-majority countries on Thursday strongly condemned Israel's move to pass a law allowing the death penalty to be imposed in the occupied West Bank and applied de facto against Palestinians.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Türkiye, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said the legislation amounted to a dangerous escalation and warned of the "urgent need to refrain from measures" that risk further inflaming tensions on the ground.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank voiced fears that their jailed relatives could be hanged without due process after Israel adopted a ​new law making the death penalty the default sentence for Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks.

The law would also apply to Israeli citizens, but by defining the lethal attacks in question as those "negating ‌Israel's existence" it would be very unlikely that it would be used against Jewish Israelis, critics say.

The law, which passed late on Monday, is expected to be struck down by Israel's Supreme Court following an appeal by rights groups as it has elements in breach of an international convention, Israeli legal experts said, adding it is unlikely that any executions will actually be carried out.

The UN rights chief on Tuesday said the legislation violated international humanitarian law.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, the families of Palestinian prisoners held a protest on Tuesday where they called for the death penalty law ​to be repealed.

"I am afraid for my son and for all the prisoners. The news came down like a thunderbolt on the prisoners' families," said Maysoun Shawamreh, whose son, 29-year-old Mansour, has been imprisoned on attempted murder charges.

Abdel Fattah al-Himouni's ​son Ahmed is in prison awaiting trial over a combined shooting and stabbing attack at a light-rail stop near Tel Aviv in October 2024.

He fears his son will now face the death penalty, if convicted, and voiced scepticism that he would face a fair trial.

"I appeal to human rights organisations to pressure the Israeli government so this law does not come into effect," said al-Himouni.