Updates: Hamas-Israel ceasefire holds

A major Gaza hospital has suspended several services because of a critical fuel shortage in the devastated Palestinian territory, which continues to face a severe humanitarian crisis, it said.

Devastated by more than two years of war, the Al-Awda Hospital in the central Gaza district of Nuseirat cares for around 60 in-patients and receives nearly 1,000 people seeking medical treatment each day.

"Most services have been temporarily stopped due to a shortage of the fuel needed for the generators," said Ahmed Mehanna, a senior official involved in managing the hospital.

"Only essential departments remain operational: the emergency unit, maternity ward and paediatrics."

Gaza's Civil Defence reported the recovery of 25 bodies from the debris of a residential building northwest of Khan Younis, Al Jazeera said.

In a statement carried by the Safa news agency, the Civil Defence said the remains were retrieved with help from forensic teams and included the body of journalist Hiba al-Abadleh and her mother, who were killed in January 2024. The bodies were later buried in official cemeteries.

The home belonged to the al-Astal family, according to the Civil Defence.

More than 10,000 Palestinians in Gaza remain missing under rubble, according to the National Committee for Missing Persons, which has described the enclave as “the world’s largest mass grave”. Israel has continued to prevent the entry of adequate equipment and machinery necessary for their recovery.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has restated his commitment to developing settlements in Gaza, signalling the government's plans to expand its presence in the war-torn Palestinian strip despite international opposition, Middle East Eye reported on Thursday.

Speaking at a conference today, Israel Katz said he continues to support the establishment of outposts in Gaza by the Nahal military unit, which often later become officially recognised settlements.

All forms of Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal under international law.

Katz said this was the vision he believed in and that it would be carried out "in due time".

Earlier this week, Katz said that "when the time is right", Israel would create what he described as "Nahal" settlements in northern Gaza.

Hours later, his office stated that Israel "has no intention of establishing settlements in the Gaza Strip, in an apparent reversal, reportedly followed by concerns that the remarks could anger the United States.

Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian after he crossed the so-called "Yellow Line" in Gaza, Haaretz reported citing Israeli military on Thursday.

The "Yellow Line" marks the boundary of areas under Israeli military control, which now encompasses over 50% of the Gaza Strip.

The line remains largely unmarked on the ground, and Israeli forces have been targeting individuals who cross it.

The Israeli occupation military issued a new eviction order for residents of east of the al-Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza City, WAFA News Agency reported, citing sources.

The area — more than 100 meters in length and over 300 meters in width — had been designated as a “safe” location by the military ahead of the planned expansion of the no-go zone.

The announcement has triggered a large-scale displacement, with hundreds of families beginning to leave westward.

The Israeli military said two drones launched from Egypt into Israeli territory have been intercepted by air force helicopters, Al Jazeera reported.

In a post on Telegram, the military said that drones had crossed from the west in what it referred to as a “smuggling attempt”.

Israeli security forces announced on Thursday the arrest of five Israeli settlers over their alleged involvement in an attack on a Palestinian home that injured a baby girl in the occupied West Bank.

The eight-month-old infant suffered "moderate injuries to the face and head" in the late Wednesday attack, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

It blamed the attack on "a group of armed settlers", accusing them of "throwing stones at homes and property" in the town of Sair, north of Hebron.

The Israeli military said that its forces killed a member of Iran's Quds Force in Lebanon who had been involved in planning attacks from Syria and Lebanon.

The military identified the man as Hussein Mahmoud Marshad al-Jawhari, calling him a key operative in the force's unit 840.

He was assassinated in the area or Ansariyeh, the military added in a statement, without giving any further details of his death.

Lebanon said an Israeli strike near the border with Syria killed two people on Thursday, as a deadline nears for Lebanon’s army to disarm resistance group Hezbollah in the country’s south.

"An Israeli enemy strike today on a vehicle in the town of Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali in the Hermel district killed two people," the health ministry said, with the state-run National News Agency saying the raid targeted a van.

The NNA also reported that a man wounded in an Israeli strike last week near Beirut had died of his injuries.

It identified him as a member of Lebanon’s General Security agency and said "he happened to be passing at the time of the strike as he returned from service" in Beirut.

Israel reacted furiously to a condemnation by 14 countries including France and Britain of its approval of new settlements in the occupied West Bank, calling the criticism discriminatory against Jews.

"Foreign governments will not restrict the right of Jews to live in the Land of Israel, and any such call is morally wrong and discriminatory against Jews," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said.

On Sunday, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that authorities had greenlit the settlements, saying the move was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state.

"On the ground, we are blocking the establishment of a Palestinian terror state," said Smotrich, a vocal proponent of settlement expansion and a settler himself.

Fourteen countries, including Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Canada, then issued a statement urging Israel to reverse its decision, "as well as the expansion of settlements".