Israel says deadly attacks on Gaza ‘only the beginning’

Israeli attacks kill hundreds, including many children, shatter Gaza truce

• 18 Mar 2025 – 23:59 (23:59 GMT)Thanks for joining usThe live page is now closed.To read an account of circumstances on the ground in Gaza, you can read our reporter’s notebook by Maram Humaid here.You can also read our coverage on some of those killed since Israel resumed the war here.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 23:45 (23:45 GMT)Here’s what happened todayWe will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a recap of the day’s main events:
  • More than 400 Palestinians, many of them children, were killed as Israel resumed the full-fledged bombing of Gaza, plunging the Strip into uncertainty and shattering a fragile ceasefire with Hamas that Israel had routinely violated over several weeks.
  • Netanyahu said the strikes were “just the beginning” and that Israel would pursue its goals of destroying Hamas and rescuing all of the remaining captives still held in Gaza.
  • Protesters across Israel accused Netanyahu of sacrificing the remaining captives by resuming the war rather than advancing to the second stage of negotiations with Hamas.
  • Medical workers and humanitarian groups described horrific scenes in Gaza, where under-resourced hospitals were flooded with casualties and families searched for loved ones buried under the rubble.
  • The Houthi rebel group in Yemen announced that they fired two ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for the resumption of bombing in Gaza, defying warnings from the US after a series of US strikes on Yemen over the weekend.
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• 18 Mar 2025 – 23:30 (23:30 GMT)British FM says civilian casualties from Israeli attacks on Gaza ‘appalling’“The civilian casualties from Israeli strikes overnight are appalling,” UK Foreign Minister David Lammy posted on his X account.He urged all parties to “re-engage with negotiations” to “surge aid and secure a permanent end to this conflict”.“Diplomacy, not more bloodshed, is how we get security for Israelis and Palestinians,” he said.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 23:00 (23:00 GMT)Israeli police assault demonstrators protesting in JerusalemIsraeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reports that police have used force to disperse demonstrators in Jerusalem calling for the release of captives held by Hamas and protesting against the resumption of the war on Gaza.Video clips showed police officers dragging protesters and beating others.Protesters have called for further demonstrations in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Wednesday.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 22:45 (22:45 GMT)WATCH: Israel uses advanced jets and drones in Gaza attacksThe attacks targeted population centres that have become overcrowded due to the destruction of surrounding areas.The scale and impact of the strikes raise concerns over civilian casualties.Al Jazeera’s Alex Gatopoulos analyses the latest released imagery from the past 24 hours:https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_243100052Play Video00:58Israel launches airstrikes on Gaza using advanced jets and dronesClick here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 22:30 (22:30 GMT)Netanyahu’s motivations are largely domesticOri Goldberg, an Israeli political commentator, says that Netanyahu’s motivations are largely domestic and he believes ceasefire negotiations will resume.“Such a display of lethality, of horrendous carnage as we saw last night, can be perceived as strength. But that’s all Israel can do. It can kill Palestinians but it can’t do much more. It can’t control events on the ground in any other meaningful way, and I believe negotiations will resume quickly,” Goldberg told Al Jazeera.“He is going to try to score points for being hard on Hamas on the one hand, and the man in the negotiating chair on the other. I don’t think he’s doing too well on either front,” he added.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 22:15 (22:15 GMT)Israel has plans for broader land, sea and air assault on Gaza
  • Hamdah Salhut
  Reporting from Amman, JordanAl Jazeera is reporting from Amman, Jordan, because it has been banned by Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did indicate that the war is going to continue and the strikes we saw last night were not an isolated incident, meaning that Israel is going to resume military operations and escalate them however they see necessary – saying the negotiations are only going to be happening “under Israeli fire”.We’ve heard this previously from the premier. This happened back in November 2023 during the first ceasefire deal – when it expired, the Israeli prime minister said the same thing.So the military has had these plans for some time but it’s not just the plans that were drawn up and approved at the end of last week. Those were for the specific strikes that we saw on the Gaza Strip last night.There are broader plans for another ground invasion, for a much wider air and sea campaign as time goes on.And while the prime minister said that the main goal is to bring back all the Israeli captives, it’s worth mentioning that Israel was the one that stalled on the negotiations for phase two of the deal, which would ultimately have seen an end to the war followed by the release of all remaining 59 captives.Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisement
• 18 Mar 2025 – 22:00 (22:00 GMT)Houthi media reports US strikes on Yemeni city of SaadaMedia channels linked to Yemen’s Houthis have reported strikes by US forces on the city of Saada, the birthplace of their movement in the country’s north.“A strike by the US aggression” targeted the Saada governorate, said the Houthis’ Saba news agency and Al Masira TV, while witnesses told the AFP news agency there were three attacks on the area.Earlier on Tuesday, the Iran-backed group – who have pursued a campaign of attacks in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians – launched a missile at Israel, which the Israeli military said was intercepted.Meanwhile, US air strikes on Yemen killed at least 53 people over the weekend.Click here to share on social media
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• 18 Mar 2025 – 21:45 (21:45 GMT)Hamas welcomes international condemnation of Israeli attacksThe group says it appreciates “the Arab, Islamic, and international positions condemning and rejecting the resumption of the brutal aggression” by Israel.“We call on friendly countries that support the just Palestinian cause to exert pressure on the US administration to halt this aggression and genocidal war against defenceless civilians,” the Hamas statement on Telegram adds.“We demand that the United Nations, with its various political, legal and humanitarian institutions, takes urgent action and stand firmly against the Zionist occupation’s violations of international law.”Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 21:30 (21:30 GMT)‘One of the largest one-day child death tolls in Gaza in history’Israeli attacks on Tuesday killed at least 174 Palestinian children in Gaza, causing “one of the largest one-day child death tolls” in the territory’s history, the civil society group Defense for Children Palestine has said.“Israeli forces have signed a death warrant for Palestinian children in Gaza as they carry out nonstop attacks, continue to destroy civilian infrastructure, and prevent any humanitarian aid from reaching Palestinians in need,” Ayed Abu Eqtaish, the group’s accountability programme director, said in a statement.“This is nothing short of genocide.”Click here to share on social media
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• 18 Mar 2025 – 20:30 (20:30 GMT)Israeli attacks on Gaza ‘inflicting staggering levels of death and suffering’: Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International’s Secretary-General Agnes Callamard said “today is a desperately dark day for humanity” as she condemned Israel’s renewed attacks on Gaza.“Israel’s genocide and its unlawful air strikes have already caused unprecedented humanitarian suffering in Gaza. Today, we are back to square one,” she said in a statement.“The world cannot stand by and allow Israel to continue inflicting staggering levels of death and suffering on Palestinians in Gaza,” she added.“We urge all states to uphold their obligations to prevent and punish genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law, by pressing Israel to end its attacks and to facilitate the unconditional and unhindered entry of humanitarian aid.”Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 20:20 (20:20 GMT)Gaza’s hospitals feel like ‘Armageddon’As Israel carries out some of the heaviest bombing of Gaza since the start of the war, medical workers say that hospitals are being overwhelmed with the dead and injured.“A level of horror and evil that is really hard to articulate. It felt like Armageddon,” Dr Tanya-Haj Hassan, a volunteer with the group Medical Aid for Palestinians, told The Associated Press news agency.She said that the Nasser Hospital emergency room in Khan Younis was chaotic, with patients, including children, spread out on the floor.Dr Ismail Awad, working at a clinic with Doctors Without Borders, said the number of patients was “overwhelming”.Scarcities of medical supplies have been exacerbated by Israel’s decision to cut off aid to Gaza two weeks ago, as well as electricity one week ago.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 20:10 (20:10 GMT)Palestinians in Gaza ‘incredibly traumatised’ as Israeli attacks resume
  • Tareq Abu Azzoum
  Deir el-Balah, GazaPeople here are barely coping. The ceasefire offered them hope and its collapse plunged people into relentless bombardment and displacement.They are incredibly traumatised, grieving and struggling to cope with the aggravating number of air strikes.We see how families have started moving from the areas that are marked as active military zones by the Israeli military in the early hours of this morning.Every round of Israeli strikes makes survival much more difficult.People feel very vulnerable in the face of this unprecedented escalation.Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisement
• 18 Mar 2025 – 20:00 (20:00 GMT)MSF says Israel bombing Gaza with intensity not seen since beginning of the warThe aid group Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, has called for the resumption of the ceasefire and says Israel is subjecting Gaza to collective punishment.“In line with the tactics that the Israeli authorities have applied since October 2023, they have once again chosen to collectively punish the people of Gaza – with the explicit approval of their closest ally, the United States – striking with an intensity not seen since the early stages of the war,” Claire Magone, general director of MSF France, said in a statement.“Israeli forces undertaking these latest ruthless attacks and evacuation orders make us fear that a new phase of military operations in Gaza is about to begin,” she added.“Palestinians in Gaza will simply not be able to withstand this, neither physically nor mentally. Their hopes of recovering at least part of their previous lives are being shattered.”Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 19:50 (19:50 GMT)Photos: Israelis protest against resumption of war without captive releasesSoldiers drive past a concrete wall in southern Israel with a message demanding the return of the captives held in Gaza [Leo Correa/AP Photo]Relatives of captives held by Hamas protest next to the Israel-Gaza fence [Ohad Zwigenberg]Protesters in Tel Aviv demand the release of the captives [Ariel Schalit/AP Photo][Ariel Schalit/AP Photo]Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 19:30 (19:30 GMT)WATCH: Why has Israel shattered the ceasefire in Gaza?Israel has launched its biggest assault on Gaza since a ceasefire was agreed on January 19 between Hamas and Israel.Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the attacks on the enclave over the past day.Many more have been forced to flee homes they had only just returned to.Israel said the strikes were ordered because of a lack of progress in talks to extend the ceasefire.Watch Al Jazeera’s Inside Story below:https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_243100053Play Video28:00Why has Israel shattered the ceasefire in Gaza?Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 19:30 (19:30 GMT)UAE warns of repercussions of military escalation in GazaThe United Arab Emirates has condemned the Israeli attacks on Gaza that killed hundreds of people.“The UAE has condemned in the strongest terms the Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip, that led to the deaths and injuries of hundreds of Palestinians, which constitutes a breach of the ceasefire agreement reached in January,” the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.“The UAE warns of the consequences of any military escalation which threatens to cause further loss of innocent life and exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip,” it added.“The UAE has called on the international community to undertake urgent steps to halt escalation, affirming the importance of implementing immediate efforts to reach a ceasefire and safeguard civilians.”Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 19:20 (19:20 GMT)Bibas says return to war endangers remaining captivesFormer captive Yarden Bibas – whose wife, Shiri, and sons, Kfir and Ariel, were killed while being held in Gaza – says the resumption of the war endangers the lives of the remaining captives.The Israeli government has said the Bibas children were murdered by their captors while Hamas maintains they were killed in an Israeli air strike.“Israel’s decision to return to fighting brings me back to Gaza, to the moments where I heard the sounds of explosions around me and where I feared for my life as I was afraid that the tunnel where I was being held would collapse,” Bibas said in a social media post.“My wife and children were kidnapped alive and were brutally murdered in captivity. The military pressure endangers the hostages while an agreement brings them home,” he added.Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisement
• 18 Mar 2025 – 19:10 (19:10 GMT)Houthi attack tests Trump’s threat to Iran
  • Ali Harb
  The US president has previously threatened Iran with “dire” consequences if Tehran does not reign in the Houthis to stop their attacks.Now the Yemeni group appears to have ignored those threats with its latest missile attack on Israel.While the Houthis are allied with Iran, it is not clear how much they rely on Iranian support or whether Tehran can order them to stop their attacks.But Trump has portrayed the Houthis as an arm of the Iranian government.“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire,” Trump wrote on social media on Saturday.Now that threat is being put to the test as the Houthis resume their military operations against Israel, which has shattered the ceasefire in Gaza, killing hundreds of civilians overnight.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 19:00 (19:00 GMT)Israeli army’s chief of staff visits Gaza’s RafahEyal Zamir, the army’s chief of staff, visited Israeli military personnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah earlier in the day, according to Israeli media.“We are in an ongoing action against Hamas, alongside a full commitment to return the hostages,” Zamir was quoted as saying, amid Israel’s bombing campaign on Gaza.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 18:50 (18:50 GMT)Netanyahu says Israeli strikes on Gaza ‘only the beginning’Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Tuesday’s air strikes in Gaza are “only the beginning” and that all ceasefire negotiations will take place “under fire”.In a recorded statement broadcast on national television, Netanyahu said Israel would press ahead until it realises all of its war goals – destroying Hamas and freeing all captives held by the group.“The previous releases proved that military pressure is a necessary condition for freeing hostages,” he said.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 18:40 (18:40 GMT)Israeli plans for Gaza attacks kept within a small circle
  • Hamdah Salhut
  Reporting from Amman, JordanAl Jazeera is reporting from Amman, Jordan, because it has been banned by Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.The Israeli army claimed that Hamas was planning some sort of an attack before the strikes but again provided no proof of those claims in its statement.As we have seen, this is a pattern by the Israeli military throughout 15 months of fighting – in fact since October 2023.According to the Israelis, the plans for the attacks were drawn out by the military last week and given to Prime Minister Netanyahu and his defence minister.They were kept within a small closed circle because the Israeli officials did not want the information to be leaked.They said they wanted these attacks to be a surprise even though the civilian casualties within Gaza have been catastrophic.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 18:30 (18:30 GMT)Hamas is dealing with proposals on truce ‘responsibly and positively’Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif al-Qanou says the armed group is in constant contact with mediators.In a statement on Telegram, al-Qanou said the group is “dealing responsibly and positively with whatever is proposed to stop the aggression and lift the siege”.“The [US] proposal was on the negotiating table, and Hamas did not reject it and dealt with it positively. Netanyahu resumed the war to thwart the agreement,” he added.The spokesman concluded: “Hamas’s interest was in the continuation of the agreement, and it will continue to deal flexibly and positively with the mediators to repel the aggression against our people and compel the occupation to abide by the agreement.”Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisement
• 18 Mar 2025 – 18:20 (18:20 GMT)Israel returning to war feels ‘almost natural’ after weeks of ceasefire violations
  • Marwan Bishara
  At the UN Security Council, the US ambassador said that Hamas is the only one to blame for the breakdown of the ceasefire.It doesn’t take that much argument to see that this is totally false. Hamas has been urging the parties to stick to the ceasefire agreement. The United States and Israel wanted a different version of the ceasefire agreement, and that is the one that Hamas “rejected”.Hamas wanted a ceasefire as it was signed, and as it was conceived by the US President Joe Biden on the basis of the ideas presented by the Israeli team to the mediators.But be that as it may, it’s clear today that for Israel, the ceasefire meant that Hamas will cease, and Israel will fire.We have had so many violations of the ceasefire in the past several weeks that going back to the war felt almost natural.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 18:15 (18:15 GMT)Houthis promise to continue attacks until Israeli bombing of Gaza stopsHouthi spokesman Yahya Saree says the group fired two hypersonic ballistic missiles at Israel’s Nevatim Airbase in response to Israeli attacks in Gaza.Saree said the operation “successfully achieved its objective” while Israel previously stated that a projectile from Yemen was intercepted before entering Israeli territory.“The Yemeni armed forces will expand their scope of targets in the occupied Palestine during the coming hours and days unless the aggression against Gaza stops,” Saree said.He added that the group will “continue to confront the criminal American enemy and prevent Israeli navigation until the aggression stops, the blockade is lifted and aid is allowed into the Gaza Strip”.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_243100054Play Video01:57US says it will use ‘overwhelming lethal force’ on Yemen’s HouthisClick here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 18:10 (18:10 GMT)‘What is happening to us is hell’: Palestinians face new horrors as Israel renews assaultAfter two months of relative calm during the ceasefire, stunned Palestinians have found themselves once again digging loved ones out of rubble and holding funeral prayers over the dead at hospital morgues as Israel renews its attacks on Gaza.“What is happening to us is hell. Hell in every sense of the word,” Zeyad Abed told The Associated Press as he stood among the blackened remains of tents in Khan Younis.At Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital, patients lay on the floor, some screaming. A girl cried as her bloody arm was bandaged. Wounded children overwhelmed the paediatric ward, said Dr Tanya-Haj Hassan, a volunteer with the Medical Aid for Palestinians aid group.“We woke up to an air strike frenzy. The windows were shaking. The doors flew open,” she told AP. “The patients have been flowing in ever since.”“Nobody wants to fight,” Palestinian resident Nidal Alzaanin told AP from Gaza City. “Everyone is still suffering from the previous months.”Fedaa Heriz, a displaced woman in Gaza City, told AP that victims were killed in their sleep just before the predawn meal ahead of the daily Ramadan fast.“They set the alarm to wake up for suhoor, and they wake up to death? They don’t wake up?” she screamed.Fedaa Hamdan lost her husband and their two children in the strikes in Khan Younis.“My children died while they were hungry,” she said as funeral prayers were said over their bodies.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 18:00 (18:00 GMT)EU foreign policy chief says Israel must end strikes and resume aid to GazaEU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas says Israel must return to negotiations.“The EU deplores the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza and the deaths of civilians, including children, in Israeli air strikes. Israel must end its military operations and resume entry of humanitarian aid and electricity to Gaza. Hamas must release all hostages immediately,” Kallas said in a social media post.“Palestinians and Israelis have suffered immensely over the past year and a half. The resumption of negotiations and progress towards the second phase [of the Gaza ceasefire] is the only way forward.”Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 17:50 (17:50 GMT)Turkiye will increase its efforts to reinstate truce in Gaza: ErdoganTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Ankara will increase its diplomatic efforts to stop Israel’s “massacre” in Gaza.Erdogan added that his country will work to establish calm and restore the ceasefire in Gaza.“Those responsible for the brutality of martyring more than 400 of our brothers will be held accountable for every drop of blood they shed,” he said.“The Zionist regime has once again shown that it is a terror state that feeds on the blood, lives and tears of the innocent with its brutal attacks on Gaza last night.”Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisement
• 18 Mar 2025 – 17:40 (17:40 GMT)UNICEF says ‘deeply worried’ for Gaza childrenIsrael’s ongoing attacks on the enclave threaten the lives of the more than one million children in Gaza who “are bearing the brunt of this war”, a spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said.“We are deeply, deeply worried. Children’s lives are at risk in so many ways,” UNICEF’s Rosalia Bollen told the AFP news agency after “a really tough and frightening night for all of us” in Gaza.“There are over one million children in Gaza, and they are bearing the brunt of this war,” said Bollen from al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 17:30 (17:30 GMT)Guterres says UN will not give up on its three objectives in GazaUnited Nations chief Antonio Guterres says Palestinians in Gaza are being subjected to an “intolerable level of suffering” as Israel’s relentless attacks continue.Guterres told reporters in Geneva it is the role of the UN to have the international community pressing for three “essential” points to be followed by Israel and Palestinian group Hamas.“First, for the ceasefire to be fully respected. Second, for humanitarian aid to have access to Gaza in an unimpeded way. And third, for the unconditional release of hostages,” said Guterres.“And we will not give up on these objectives.”Israel said it had “no alternative” other than to resume military operations in order to bring home captives.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 17:25 (17:25 GMT)Yemen’s Houthis appear to have resumed attacks on Israel
  • Hamdah Salhut
  Reporting from Amman, JordanAl Jazeera is reporting from Amman, Jordan, because it has been banned by Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.The Israeli military said it had successfully intercepted the ballistic missile that was fired from Yemen before it reached Israeli air space, so the reason these sirens are going off in Israel is in case shrapnel from the interception falls in those areas.The Israeli military of course is no stranger to these kinds of interceptions – we’ve been talking about these since the war began and even before that.The Houthis in Yemen have been threatening to resume their operations against the Israelis once aid was totally cut off from Palestinians in the Gaza Strip [in early March].And now that Israel has resumed its attacks on the Gaza Strip, the Houthis are restarting those attacks.It will be interesting to see how this develops in the days and weeks to come because the United States has also carried out its own intense air strikes on what they are calling Houthi targets in several different areas across Yemen just in the last few days.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 17:20 (17:20 GMT)Israeli military confirms the killing of senior Hamas officialsThe army has said that it killed four senior officials of Hamas’s political wing in its recent attacks.A statement on Telegram said that the military killed Issam al-Dalis, the head of government public works; Ahmed al-Hatta, undersecretary of the Justice Ministry; Mahmoud Abu Watfa, undersecretary of the Interior Ministry; and Bahjat Abu Sultan, director general of the internal security service.The army said its attacks across Gaza targeted mid-level commanders and senior figures in the political wing of Hamas.Gaza’s Government Media Office announced Israel’s killing of the same officials earlier.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 17:15 (17:15 GMT)Israeli military says missile launched from Yemen is interceptedThe Israeli military says alerts went out in the central and southern Negev after a missile was launched from Yemen but it was intercepted before reaching Israeli territory.“Following the alerts that were activated a short time ago in the central and southern Negev, the air force intercepted one missile launched from Yemen,” the military said in a statement.“The missile was intercepted before it crossed into the country’s territory; the alerts were activated according to policy.”https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_243100055Play Video00:51White House threatens ‘dire consequences’ for Iran if Houthis strikeClick here to share on social mediaAdvertisement
• 18 Mar 2025 – 17:10 (17:10 GMT)UN report warns of ‘significant expansion’ of illegal West Bank settlementsA report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says Israel has ratcheted up the building of settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem while increasing violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians has gone almost entirely unpunished.Here are some key findings:
  • From November 1, 2023, to October 31 last year, 612 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces and settlers while 24 Israelis were killed in attacks and clashes with Palestinians.
  • A “significant expansion” of Israeli settlement construction occurred with steps taken to build 20,000 new settlement housing units in occupied East Jerusalem. An additional 10,300 units are “in the pipeline” in the occupied West Bank and 49 new Israeli “outposts” have also been established.
  • During the same period, dispossession of Palestinians increased with 214 Palestinian properties demolished in East Jerusalem and 1,779 in the West Bank due to failure to obtain building permits, which Israel categorically denies to Palestinians.
  • Those demolitions resulted in the forced displacement of 4,527 people in the West Bank, a 200 percent increase from the previous reporting period.
  • There was an average of 118 acts of settler violence per month, up from 108 in 2023, which was itself a record-breaking year.
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• 18 Mar 2025 – 17:08 (17:08 GMT)Israeli military says sirens sounded as projectile fired from YemenSirens have been activated in southern Israel after what the Israeli military describes as “projectile fire from Yemen”.A spokesperson for the Israeli military said details are being examined.On Monday, Trump threatened to hold Iran responsible for any further attacks carried out by Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi group.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 17:05 (17:05 GMT)Israeli foreign minister says latest strikes on Gaza not a ‘one-day attack’Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that the latest Israeli strikes that have killed hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza were not a “one-day attack” and that the military operation would continue.“We found ourselves at an impasse – no hostage being released and no military action … We struck Hamas and additional terror targets in Gaza. This is not a one-day attack. We will continue the military operation in the coming days,” Saar said.Saar, who was speaking at a meeting with the powerful pro-Israel lobby group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Jerusalem, said the United States had been given advance warning of the Israeli strikes and that it supported them.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 17:00 (17:00 GMT)Germany voices ‘great concern’ over Israel’s renewed attacks on GazaGerman Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has expressed “great concern” after the most intense Israeli air strikes in Gaza since a fragile ceasefire took effect.“The end of the ceasefire in Gaza due to heavy Israeli attacks is cause for great concern,” she said.“The images of burning tents in refugee camps are shocking. Fleeing children and internally displaced persons must never be used as leverage in negotiations.”Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 16:55 (16:55 GMT)Palestinian ambassador to UN says international community faces ‘historical moment’Mansour reiterated the need for a two-state solution, the reconstruction of Gaza, and pressure on Israel to agree to a permanent ceasefire and an end to the occupation.“This is a historical moment, where everyone must choose where they stand, and what vision they want to see prevail,” he said.Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisement
• 18 Mar 2025 – 16:55 (16:55 GMT)Israeli cabinet to convene at 19:00 GMT to discuss Gaza attacksThe meeting will take place at 9pm local time (19:00 GMT) in West Jerusalem after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives an address at 8pm, according to the Israeli media.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 16:50 (16:50 GMT)Syria says Israeli strikes aiming to undermine ‘stability’Syria’s Foreign Ministry has condemned deadly Israeli attacks on its soil a day earlier, accusing the country of seeking to sow instability.A ministry statement denounced “in the strongest terms the recent Israeli air strikes on Deraa”, in southern Syria, on Monday, adding that “this aggression is part of an Israeli campaign against the Syrian people and the stability of the country”.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 16:45 (16:45 GMT)Mansour says ‘same images are back to haunt us’The Palestinian ambassador tells the UN that Israel’s bombing campaign has already started to generate new, devastating images of Palestinian suffering that have come to define the war.“The same images are back to haunt us,” he said.“Small children on gurneys, little siblings injured and disoriented trying to comfort and reassure each other, entire families killed, children, mothers, fathers, searching for their loved ones under the rubble, not knowing if they are dead or alive.”Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 16:40 (16:40 GMT)Israel ‘flagrantly’ violating international law in Gaza: HRWOmar Shakir, director of Israel-Palestine at Human Rights Watch, says Israel is openly violating international law in Gaza and urges the international community to hold Israel’s officials accountable and end all arms transfers to the country.“Blocking aid is a flagrant violation of international law. Using starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime. This is unequivocal. It’s clear. The International Court of Justice has issued binding orders – that Israel is flouting – to facilitate aid,” he told Al Jazeera.“All of these things are uncontroversial basic tenets of law, and they’re being flagrantly violated by the Israeli government,” Shakir said, adding that countries such as the US that continue to send weapons to Israel are “complicit” in Israeli abuses in Gaza.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_243100056Play Video02:16Palestinians in Gaza suffer extreme hunger under Israeli blockadeClick here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 16:35 (16:35 GMT)Mansour says Israel continues to pursue ‘mass forcible displacement’The Palestinian ambassador to the UN said that Israel is also prohibited from “demographic or territorial change” in Gaza, but that these remain primary aims of Israel’s war.“The resolution is also clear in rejecting any attempt at demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip, including any actions that reduce the territory of Gaza, a goal Israel continues to pursue as mass forcible displacement and annexation remain its primary aims throughout the occupied Palestinian territories,” Riyad Mansour said.Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisement
• 18 Mar 2025 – 16:25 (16:25 GMT)Palestinian UN ambassador says Netanyahu ended deal for domestic political reasonsPalestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour has told the United Nations that “life was starting to triumph over death” before Israel tossed out the ceasefire agreement.“There should not be unilateral, self-serving, and irresponsible decisions to excuse breaking the ceasefire,” he said.“While the Trump administration has prioritised the release of hostages, it is evident that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s concern for his political survival far outweighs his concern for the survival of the hostages.”Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 16:20 (16:20 GMT)PIJ confirms death of al-Quds Brigades spokesmanThe Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group has confirmed that an Israeli attack has killed the spokesperson of its armed wing.“He was assassinated by the criminal army in a treacherous attack that targeted his family and his brother’s family,” the PIJ said in a statement on Telegram.Earlier, sources told Al Jazeera that Naji Abu Saif, also known as Abu Hamza, was killed along with his family in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 16:10 (16:10 GMT)‘Extraordinary impact of attacks on children’s physical and mental health’Rachael Cummings, the humanitarian director for Save the Children in Gaza, has issued an urgent appeal for an end to the violence and unimpeded access to Gaza’s vulnerable population.“We’ve had reports of over 400 people killed. Many of them, hundreds of those, will be children, pregnant women. But of course, that’s just the immediate impact,” she told Al Jazeera from Deir el-Balah.Cummings warned that Israeli attacks would further damage Gaza’s infrastructure and cause another forced displacement in a territory “where there is no safe place for children”.“So the impact is extraordinary, not only on the physical, but also the mental health of children here.”Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 16:05 (16:05 GMT)Hamas solely to blame for resumption of Gaza hostilities: USResponsibility for the Israeli attacks lies solely with Hamas, and the US supports Israel in its next steps, according to the acting US ambassador to the United Nations.Ambassador Dorothy Shea made the statement at a United Nations Security Council briefing.“The blame for the resumption of hostilities lies solely with Hamas,” Shea said, charging that the group had refused every proposal and deadline to extend the ceasefire and allow time to negotiate a framework for a permanent ceasefire.Shea said US President Donald Trump had made clear that Hamas must release the captives it is holding immediately or pay a high price.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 16:00 (16:00 GMT)US congresswoman says Israel has ‘resumed its genocide’Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has called for sanctions and an arms embargo against Israel amid the renewed bombing of Gaza.“The Israeli apartheid regime has resumed its genocide, carrying out air strikes all across Gaza and killing hundreds of Palestinians. This comes after a complete blockade of food, electricity, and aid,” Tlaib said in a social media post.“They will never stop until there are sanctions and an arms embargo.”Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisement
• 18 Mar 2025 – 15:50 (15:50 GMT)‘Muted response to Gaza attacks from Israel’s allies makes them complicit’The humanitarian organisation Islamic Relief has said Israel’s overnight attacks on Gaza are an “appalling escalation” and must be “unequivocally condemned” by international governments.“The muted response from Israel’s allies to these repeated violations of international law, consisting merely of superficial expressions of concerns, are insufficient and make them complicit in these crimes,” it said.“We urge international governments to utilise all their political and economic leverage – including immediately ending all arms sales and suspending trade agreements – to hold Israel accountable, enforce the phased ceasefire agreement, and ensure the entry of sufficient supplies into Gaza.”Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 15:40 (15:40 GMT)WATCH: Why is Israel attacking Gaza again?Hundreds of people have been killed in Israel’s most intense attacks on Gaza in weeks – but why now?Watch our video explainer below to find out:https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_243100057Play Video03:26Why is Israel bombing Gaza again?Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 15:30 (15:30 GMT)‘Governments must act now’ to stop attacks on Gaza: Humanitarian groupThe Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) says Israel’s attacks “threaten to plunge Gaza into yet another cycle of mass death, destruction, and displacement” as it calls on the international community to intervene.“People across Gaza are in shock and disbelief at the collapse of the ceasefire and terrified of what it means,” Jan Egeland, secretary general of the NRC, said in a statement.“Every day this crisis continues is another day of suffering for civilians on all sides,” the group said.“Governments must act now. Israel’s siege, bombardment, and killing of civilians cannot be met with more empty statements,” it added.“States with influence must demand an end to the attacks and ensure that aid reaches Gaza immediately. Without intervention, more lives will be lost, and history will record their failure.”Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 15:20 (15:20 GMT)More from Fletcher’s Security Council briefingWe have more lines from the statement by the UN emergency relief coordinator, who’s told the Security Council that three things need to happen:
  • First and foremost, humanitarian aid and commercial essentials must be allowed to enter Gaza.
  • Blocking food, water and medicine for people who need them is unconscionable. It also goes against international humanitarian law and the provisional orders of the International Court of Justice.
  • Second, we must renew the ceasefire. More than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed, thousands more are missing and 1,200 Israelis have been killed. Over 100,000 Palestinians are injured, many with life-changing wounds.
  • The return to hostilities overnight must cease and with urgency. The suffering of the people of Gaza must end. A renewed ceasefire is the best way of protecting civilians, releasing captives and detainees, and allowing aid and commercial supplies in.
  • Third, the humanitarian response must be funded. We have received only 4 percent of what is needed. We don’t even have enough to get through this quarter.
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• 18 Mar 2025 – 15:10 (15:10 GMT)Saudi statement against Israel’s attacks on Gaza ‘of the essence’Abdulaziz Alghashian, a senior nonresident fellow at the Gulf International Forum, says Saudi Arabia’s strongly worded statement condemning the resumption of Israeli attacks on Gaza “can’t be overlooked”.“The reason being is that a great deal of disinformation is out there, and unfortunately, there’s a campaign of trying to make sure Saudi Arabia is not siding enough with the Palestinians and not demonising Israel enough,” he told Al Jazeera.Going forward, Alghashian said he also expected to see a lot of diplomatic lobbying similar to the Arab-Islamic summit that was hosted by the kingdom in 2023 during which leaders demanded aid be allowed to enter Gaza and called for a cessation of arms exports to Israel.As we previously reported, the Saudi Foreign Ministry has denounced “in the strongest terms the Israeli occupation forces’ resumption of aggression against the Gaza Strip and their direct shelling of civilian areas with no regard for international humanitarian law”.Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisement
• 18 Mar 2025 – 15:05 (15:05 GMT)Hezbollah condemns Israel’s attacks, reaffirms support for GazaThe Lebanese group has condemned the resumption of Israel’s “war of extermination” on Gaza.“We affirm our full and steadfast support for the valiant Palestinian resistance and the honorable people of Gaza,” Hezbollah said in a statement as Lebanon also relies on a precarious ceasefire that halted a heavy military offensive.The war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon was the deadliest spillover of the Gaza war. A US-backed ceasefire was agreed in November, but each side accuses the other of failing to fully implement it.Israel has refused to fully withdraw from southern Lebanon as stipulated in the ceasefire while its forces have been regularly carrying out attacks in different parts of the country.Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 15:00 (15:00 GMT)Israeli protesters slam Netanyahu’s decision to resume war on GazaIsraelis protesting to demand the release of the captives held in Gaza have slammed their government’s decision to resume the war.“The only reason the government would like to go back to fighting is to stay in power,” Roy Emek said at a rally in Tel Aviv. “It’s got nothing to do with what’s best for Israel.”Einav Livne, who was demonstrating in Eshkol, said she was “boiling inside”.“What’s happening is consciously sacrificing the lives of the hostages and the possibility of returning the dead for a proper burial,” she said. “The state of Israel, which is supposed to protect its citizens, is simply terrible.”Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 14:55 (14:55 GMT)Total blockade of Gaza to have ‘disastrous impact’: UN coordinatorTom Fletcher is briefing the UN Security Council about the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory. Here are some of the remarks by the UN emergency relief coordinator:
  • Today, I am distressed to report that in addition to the intense air strikes that have resumed, since March 2, Israeli authorities have cut off the entry of all lifesaving supplies – food, medicines, fuel, cooking gas – for 2.1 million people.
  • Our repeated requests to collect aid sitting at Karem Shalom (Karem Abu Shalem) crossing have also been systematically rejected.
  • Essential survival resources needed are now being rationed.
  • Israel has cut power to southern Gaza’s desalination plant, limiting access to clean water for 600,000 people. The prices of staples have surged.
  • Vegetable prices in North Gaza have already tripled. Six bakeries subsidised by the World Food Programme have closed due to shortages of cooking gas and supplies.
  • The World Health Organization warns that public health risks remain very high, including for communicable diseases from overcrowding and poor sanitation.
  • This total blockade of lifesaving aid, basic commodities and commercial goods will have a disastrous impact on the people in Gaza who remain dependent on a steady flow of assistance into the Strip.
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• 18 Mar 2025 – 14:50 (14:50 GMT)‘Once again faced with issue of where is safe in Gaza’: OCHA spokespersonWe have spoken to Olga Cherevko, the spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), who is based in al-Mawasi, in southern Gaza.Describing last night as “very intense” due to the Israeli attacks, she warned that the situation remains “volatile” as the events of the day continue to develop.In addition to the “horrifying” casualty numbers, Cherevko said preliminary figures suggest that tens of thousands of people may be displaced following the issuing of evacuation orders.“Of course, we are once again facing the issue where is a safe place in Gaza and whether people can be sure that the next place they will go to will be safe,” she added.Chereveko said that while efforts are being made to determine the exact figures, the difficult situation was being compounded by the closure of the crossings for the entry of cargo since early March.She said  that during that period, the United Nations had to reduce food rations to reach as many people as possible and for as long as possible.“And of course there’s the issue of struggling healthcare facilities, wash facilities, sanitation and everything else that is critical for life here,” she added.“So we have been ringing these alarm bells since the crossings closed. It is very important that they reopen immediately so that the cargo and the humanitarian aid can come in.”Click here to share on social media
• 18 Mar 2025 – 14:45 (14:45 GMT)Israeli attack kills spokesperson for Palestinian Islamic Jihad: SourcesAn Israeli air attack has killed the spokesperson of the armed wing of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, sources associated with the group have confirmed.Naji Abu Saif, also known as Abu Hamza, was killed along with his wife and members of his family in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.The group has yet to release a statement on the incident.

Reference Link:- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/3/18/live-trump-threatens-iran-as-deadly-us-attacks-on-yemens-houthis-continue