Live updates on Israel's war against Hamas

Gaza's main gateway, the Rafah crossing with Egypt that was shut at the start of the Iran war, will open on Wednesday for limited movement of people in both directions, Israel's COGAT, the military body in charge of humanitarian matters, said on Sunday.

The crossing had reopened in early February after being largely shut since May 2024, in the early months of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. Its reopening offered some relief to Palestinians who want to leave Gaza for medical care or those who want to return after fleeing the fighting.

Israeli forces killed 16 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, health officials said, in one of the heaviest death tolls in a single day in weeks, as Israel continued to launch attacks on Lebanon and Iran.

Medics and the interior ministry of the Hamas-run Gaza said an Israeli airstrike killed a senior police official and eight other officers when it hit their vehicle near the entrance to Zawayda town in the central Gaza Strip. At least 14 other people, mostly bystanders, were wounded, the Gaza health ministry said.

Earlier on Sunday, health officials said an Israeli airstrike had killed three people - a man, his pregnant wife, and their son - in the western area of Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip.

There was no immediate Israeli comment on the incidents in Gaza.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a Palestinian father, mother, and two of their children were killed as they drove in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health authorities said, and the Israeli military said the incident was under review.

A Hamas source said an Israeli strike on south Lebanon on Sunday killed an official from the Palestinian resistance group as Hezbollah said it fired an "advanced missile" at an air base near Tel Aviv.

An Israeli airstrike that targeted members of the Hamas-run police force killed at least eight people in central Gaza Strip, health officials said on Sunday.

JERUSALEM: The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian husband and wife and their two young children in the north of the occupied West Bank on Sunday.

The Palestinian Red Crescent also said its teams had recovered the bodies of two adults and two children from a vehicle that had been fired on by Israeli forces in the town of Tammun.

The Israeli military said it was looking into reports of the incident in response to AFP´s request for comment.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry said in a statement that "four martyrs from one family arrived at the Turkish Public Hospital in Tubas after the occupation army shot at them in Tammun".

The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that the couple´s two other children, aged eight and 11, were wounded by shrapnel after Israeli forces opened fire on their vehicle early on Sunday morning.

US Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that Palestinians are continuing to face “grave suffering” as humanitarian aid remains heavily restricted in Gaza.

In a statement on social media, the UN chief said that humanitarian access to the territory must be safe, sustained and unimpeded, stressing that civilians urgently need assistance.

Guterres also voiced concern over what he described as a worrying expansion of Israeli settlement activities in the occupied West Bank.

He said the occupation must end and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people must be realised, while calling for respect for international law and for accountability to be ensured.

The UN secretary-general added that there was no viable alternative to the two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace, security and dignity.

"There is no viable alternative to the Two-State solution – Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace, security and dignity," he added.

Indonesia's deployments for the international security force in Gaza would depend on the current dynamic of the Board of Peace, its defence minister said on Thursday.

Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin told reporters Indonesia had been prepared to send 20,000 troops for the force but was now ready to deploy 8,000, introduced gradually, adding that other countries had pledged to send lower numbers.

Spain has formally dismissed its ambassador to Israel, further degrading poor relations after recalling her six months ago in a spat over the Gaza war, according to a decree released Wednesday.

Ana Maria Salomon was officially relieved of her duties on Tuesday at the proposal of Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares, in a decree signed by King Felipe VI and published in the official state journal.

She was recalled from Tel Aviv in September after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez unveiled measures aimed at stopping what he called "genocide" in Gaza, where Israel fought a devastating war following the 2023 attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Israel withdrew its ambassador to Madrid in 2024 after Spain's recognition of Palestinian statehood and has since been represented by a charge d'affaires.

Sanchez, one of the most vocal critics of Israel's war in Gaza, has also opposed the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran launched on February 28.

Hamas congratulated its "brothers in Iran" on Wednesday on the appointment of the country’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and wished him victory in the war with the United States and Israel.

"We wish him success in fulfilling the aspirations of the Iranian people to defeat the Israeli-American aggression and prevent the forces of arrogance from imposing their will on Iran," Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for the Palestinian movement, said in a statement.

In a separate statement, Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad also welcomed the selection of Khamenei and said "all the free peoples of the world stand with you".