UN ‘horrified’ by killing of Palestinians in Gaza, Israeli bombing

• 21 Mar 2025 – 23:59 (23:59 GMT)That’s all from usThis live page is closed.To read about how dedicated volunteers work to help the people traumatised and displaced by Israel’s raids on the occupied West Bank, click here.To see footage of the moment Israeli warplanes destroyed the only cancer hospital in Gaza, click here.And you can follow all our coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza here.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 23:45 (23:45 GMT)Here’s what happened todayThis live page will close soon. But, before we go, here’s a recap of recent developments:
  • The Israeli army has struck two bases in Syria that hosted “military strategic capabilities”, identifying the bases as Tadmur and T4.
  • Hamas has condemned Israel’s bombing and destruction of the cancer hospital in central Gaza as a “sadistic act”.
  • UN chief Guterres has warned that the “relentless expansion of Israeli settlements is dramatically altering the landscape and demographics of the occupied West Bank”.
  • UN human rights office in Palestine slams Israel’s new attacks on Gaza, saying air strikes and artillery shelling have struck homes, schools serving as shelters, and tents.
  • The Israeli army says it shot down a missile launched from Yemen before it crossed into the country’s territory.
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• 21 Mar 2025 – 23:30 (23:30 GMT)WATCH: Video shows Palestinian children wounded in Israeli strike on Gaza CityVideo posted by a Gaza journalist shows the moment several people, including two children, arrived at al-Ahli Arab Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, in Gaza City.The Israeli strike that wounded them was carried out in the Tuffah neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City.This video has been verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit.View this post on InstagramA post shared by سائد حسب الله (@m.saed.gaza)Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 23:15 (23:15 GMT)Israel operating ‘under US cover’: AnalystCaroline Rose, an analyst at the New Lines Institute, told Al Jazeera that Israel has been acting “under US cover” amid its renewed assault on Gaza.“This decision to pivot away from phase one and the transition into phase two of the ceasefire agreement was green-lit by the White House,” Rose said. “But also now it seems that the White House is increasingly influenced by Netanyahu’s maximum pressure strategy and perspective in the Middle East.”Rose added that there have been fewer calls from the Trump administration to engage in an agreement to release the remaining captives and to maintain the ceasefire agreement that Trump played a large role in brokering.“Instead, it seems that the United States is allowing Netanyahu to really pivot away from that ceasefire agreement, add this new stipulation of a complete hostage return, in return for a rather ambiguous extension to phase one of the ceasefire agreement. Not necessarily the deal that the White House just a few weeks ago was campaigning for.”Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 23:00 (23:00 GMT)Israelis deeply divided over Shin Bet chief dismissal, return to warAl Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.The Israeli Prime Minister cited mistrust between him and the head of his internal security agency, the Shin Bet, citing that as the reason for his dismissal.Last night, the Israeli cabinet – the most right-wing government in Israel’s history – voted unanimously to remove him. However, the High Court of Justice issued an injunction today, and that means essentially blocking that decision, saying that this needs to come before an advisory committee, they need to hear both sides, they need to analyse what’s going on before any sort of decision like this can be made and before any replacement can be put in that position.The attorney general after that sent a letter to Netanyahu saying that his government is not allowed to explore the idea of a replacement just yet. This has caused a lot of protests within Israel and it even prompted Netanyahu to speak earlier in the night saying that “there won’t be a civil war within Israel”.Because you have a people who are divided, you have the right wing within Israel who wants to go back to war and wants to remove all the people at these top-level positions so they are replaced with confidantes of Netanyahu, and then you have the other part of the Israeli public and the Israeli opposition within the government, who say that Netanyahu is doing all of this for personal and political gain.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 22:45 (22:45 GMT)WATCH: Israeli military blows up Gaza’s Turkish hospital and medical schoolVideo captured the moment Israeli forces blew up Gaza’s Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital and an adjacent medical school over what the military claims was a Hamas presence.Watch below for the dramatic scenes:-Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 22:30 (22:30 GMT)Israelis wondering how Hamas still has rocket launching capabilitiesAl Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank. It’s the second consecutive day that fighters in Gaza were able to launch rockets against Israel, but also it’s the fourth time that Yemen has launched its own attacks on Israel, though none of them reached Israeli space.The Israeli army confirmed that the most recent rocket was intercepted outside of Israeli space, though the airspace itself was disrupted at Ben Gurion airport for the fourth time this week.This is having some sort of impact on Israel, especially within the security establishment and within the general public, wondering how fighters in Gaza are still able to have these types of capabilities after the relentless bombardments for fifteen months starting in October 2023. Nonetheless, the Israeli army has issued evacuation warnings for all the areas that they say the projectiles were coming from, and they have been conducting air strikes on those areas.Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.htmlhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.htmlhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 22:20 (22:20 GMT)Columbia University cedes to Trump administration demands over Palestine protests: ReportColumbia University has reportedly bowed to the Trump administration’s demands following widespread pro-Palestine protests on its New York City campus, including appointing a senior vice provost with broad authority to oversee the department of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies as well as the Center for Palestine Studies.The university told the administration that it has worked hard to address “legitimate” concerns about how Jewish students were treated on campus, according to a memo obtained by Reuters.The memo laid out actions the university plans to take that are part of an agreement with the Trump administration’s demands on tightening restrictions on campus protests in negotiations over $400m in federal funding.In addition to tightening control over the Middle East Studies department and Center for Palestine Studies, Columbia agreed to ban masks and empower campus police with new authority to arrest students.-Click here to share on social media
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• 21 Mar 2025 – 22:15 (22:15 GMT)Photos: Bangladeshis protest in solidarity with GazaBangladeshis protest against Israel’s renewed attacks on Gaza following Friday prayers in Dhaka.Bangladeshis take part in a protest after Friday prayers at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque to show support for Palestinians amid Israel’s renewed strikes on Gaza, in Dhaka, Bangladesh [Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters][Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters][Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters][Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 22:10 (22:10 GMT)Israel strikes two bases in Syria: MilitaryThe Israeli army has struck two bases in Syria, the military has said.It said the bases hosted “military strategic capabilities”, identifying the bases as Tadmur and T4 in a statement.Israel has repeatedly struck military targets in Syria, including earlier this week when an Israeli air strike in the Deraa province killed two people and wounded 19 others.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 22:00 (22:00 GMT)Hamas condemns Israel’s bombing of cancer hospital as ‘sadistic act’A statement on Telegram says the army’s complete destruction of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in the central Gaza Strip “reflects the barbarity of the occupier, which persists in its genocidal campaign against our Palestinian people”.The statement added: “The destruction of the hospital, the only one in Gaza treating cancer patients, comes after the US administration gave the criminal occupation a green light to continue its war of extermination against our Palestinian people, with complete disregard for international law.”Hamas demanded that the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and other courts take legal action against Israel and “its criminal leaders for this barbaric and shameful act”.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 21:45 (21:45 GMT)Israeli military says it intercepted missile fired from YemenThe army says it shot down the missile before it crossed into the country’s territory, adding that the hostile aircraft alerts were activated in parts of Israel during the incident.The statement comes one day after Israel also shot down two projectiles launched by the Houthi rebels.Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 21:30 (21:30 GMT)Missile launched from Yemen intercepted: Israeli militaryA missile launched from Yemen has been intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory, the Israeli military says.Sirens sounded across Israel in response to the launch:Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 21:15 (21:15 GMT)Women in Gaza lack access to reproductive, maternal care: WHOMore than 500,000 Palestinian women in Gaza lack access to essential reproductive and maternal care services, the World Health Organization has warned.Fifteen months of Israel’s war in Gaza have caused shortages of services and supplies, while lack of food and balanced nutrition are impacting children’s growth and development, the WHO said in a post on X. Since the beginning of 2025, it added, over 500 cases of severe acute malnutrition have been reported in children aged six months to five years.“We call for the immediate resumption of the ceasefire so children, women and everyone in Gaza can have safe and uninterrupted access to health care,” the organisation wrote.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 21:00 (21:00 GMT)Photos: Israeli military raids Jenin refugee campIsraeli military vehicles operate during an Israeli raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank [Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]A Palestinian child walks on a street destroyed by Israeli military vehicles during the Israeli raid [Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]A Palestinian stands on a street destroyed by Israeli military vehicles in the Jenin refugee camp [Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]Israeli military vehicles operate during the raid [Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 20:45 (20:45 GMT)Israeli settlers storm Bedouin community near Jericho: ReportIsraeli settlers have stormed the al-Auja Bedouin community near the occupied West Bank city of Jericho, the news agency Wafa reports.Hassan Malihat, the general supervisor of the Al-Baydar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights, told the agency that the settlers, protected by Israeli soldiers, barged their way into the community. They brought their cattle and grazed them among residents’ homes.Malihat said the incursion is part of a campaign against Palestinian Bedouin communities in the Jordan Valley, whose members the settlers are trying to displace to take over their land.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_1900383599Play Video02:12Palestinian Bedouins in Ein al-Hilweh fears imminent expulsion as settler attacks escalateClick here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 20:30 (20:30 GMT)Gaza Health Ministry slams Israel’s destruction of cancer hospitalThe ministry has condemned the bombing of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital as “a heinous crime” committed by Israel.The hospital, which was built by Turkiye and operated by local authorities as a cancer treatment facility, was blown up by the Israeli army earlier today after having been rebuilt with a Turkish donation of $34m in 2017.The ministry also said the hospital, located in the Netzarim Corridor close to Salah al-Din Street, was used as a command centre by Israeli forces during their previous military assault in central and northern Gaza.The statement said: “The ministry emphasizes that this criminal behavior of the occupation comes in line with the systematic destruction of the health system and the completion of the episodes of genocide.”Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 20:15 (20:15 GMT)UN human rights office in Palestine slams Israel’s new attacks on GazaThe Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in the State of Palestine is horrified by the ongoing killings of Palestinian civilians in Gaza since the resumption of large-scale Israeli bombardments on Monday, according to a statement by the agency.The statement said that as of Thursday, at least 506 Palestinians had been killed this week, including 200 children and at least 112 women as per the numbers shared by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.That number has since been updated to nearly 600 killed.“Air strikes and artillery shelling have struck homes, schools serving as shelters, and tents of internally displaced people – a pattern extensively documented by the UN Human Rights Office since October of 2023,” it added.The agency also said the Israeli military appeared to have resumed the practice of using explosive weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated areas.It stressed: “Conducting hostilities using such means and methods in densely populated areas causes civilian casualties at a mass scale and is not consistent with Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law, including abiding by the fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack.”Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 20:00 (20:00 GMT)WATCH: Former Israeli deputy foreign minister confronted over Israel’s renewed assault on GazaAl Jazeera’s Redi Tlhabi has challenged ex-Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon on Israel’s ceasefire breach and its war on Gaza.Israel has shattered the ceasefire with Hamas this week through extensive air raids that have killed hundreds of civilians, including at least 200 children, and the deployment of ground forces.Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened the residents of Gaza with “destruction and devastation” if they did not expel Hamas.So what lies ahead for Gaza, and is it in danger of a complete takeover?This week on UpFront, Tlhabi speaks with Ayalon about Israel’s war in Gaza.Watch below for more:https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_1188217550Play Video13:00Israeli ex-deputy FM confronted over Israel’s renewed assault on GazaClick here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 19:45 (19:45 GMT)Settlements expansion ‘dramatically altering the landscape’ in the West Bank: UN chiefUN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the “relentless expansion of Israeli settlements is dramatically altering the landscape and demographics of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”In a six-page report on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 2334, a 2016 resolution demanding the halt of settlement activity by Israel on occupied Palestinian territory, Guterres noted: “Palestinians are increasingly confined into shrinking and disconnected areas, presenting an existential threat to the prospect of a contiguous, viable, independent Palestinian state.”“Settlements have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation of international law,” Guterres added. “The demolition and seizure of Palestinian-owned structures entail numerous human rights violations and raise concerns about the risk of forcible transfer. I once again urge the Government of Israel to abide by its obligations under international law.”Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 19:30 (19:30 GMT)Photos: Pakistanis protest against Israel, USIn Karachi and Peshawar, Pakistan, supporters of the Jamaat-e-Islami party have protested against Israel’s war in Gaza and US support for it.Supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami in Karachi, Pakistan, chant slogans during a rally against Israeli air strikes on Gaza and to show solidarity with the Palestinians [Fareed Khan/AP]People in Peshawar, Pakistan, demonstrate for the Palestinians and against Israel and the US [Muhammad Sajjad/AP]Supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami burn a US flag during a demonstration in Peshawar [Muhammad Sajjad/AP][Muhammad Sajjad/AP]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 19:15 (19:15 GMT)Qassam Brigades confirms attack on AshkelonThe armed wing of Hamas says it has fired a barrage of rockets on the southern Israeli city.The attack at 4:30pm (14:30 GMT) was in response to Israel’s “massacres against civilians” in Gaza, according to a statement on Telegram.Israel’s military said earlier that it intercepted two projectiles fired from northern Gaza after air raid sirens sounded in Ashkelon.Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.htmlhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.htmlhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 19:00 (19:00 GMT)In Tulkarem and Jenin, volunteers work to help traumatised Palestinians
  • Al Jazeera Staff
  Jenin and Tulkarem, occupied West BankOmaima Faraj bows her head in silence for a moment. She’s tired, but the work does not stop.She arrives at a school-turned-shelter near Tulkarem where her first patient, an elderly displaced woman who greets her tenderly, is waiting for her to measure her glucose and blood pressure. Then she moves to the next classroom, the next patient, walking down an open passage drenched in late-February sunshine.Faraj, 25, has been volunteering for weeks to help residents devastated by Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank. She is one of the young Palestinians working to address the emergency Israel is creating across the territory as it raids refugee camps and displaces thousands of people.When Israel’s operations began in what the Israelis have called Operation Iron Wall on January 21, Faraj rushed into Tulkarem’s refugee camp instead of running away from the violence.Read more here.Members of the Freedom Theater in the Jenin refugee camp visit children forcibly displaced by the Israeli army, trying to provide them with a space for play and laughter [Al Jazeera]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 18:45 (18:45 GMT)Israel’s West Bank operation ‘longest and most destructive’ since second Intifada: UNRWA chiefCommissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has condemned Israel’s military operation in the occupied West Bank, which has significantly intensified since the Gaza ceasefire in January.Sixty days into what Israel calls operation “Iron Wall”, Lazzarini decried in a post on X the largest-scale Israeli military operation in the territory since the second Intifada of the early 2000s.Lazzarini noted that tens of thousands of residents from Jenin, Tulkarem, Nur Shams and Far’a refugee camps have been displaced, “with uncertain prospects for return amid statements from the Israeli Forces on their intentions to stay in the area in the foreseeable future”, he wrote.Israel’s operations have caused systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure and homes, “aiming to permanently change the character of Palestinian cities and refugee camps at a scale unjustifiable by any purported military or law enforcement aims,” he added.“Such large-scale, militarized operations cannot become the new norm in the West Bank,” he wrote. “This trend of escalating violence – which started even before 7 October 2023 – must be reversed.  Several red lines have already been crossed, violating principles of international law that always emphasise the protection of civilians, civilian infrastructure, and private property including homes.”https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_1943042935Play Video05:46In West Bank refugee camps, Israel wants to ‘get rid of the Palestinians’: AnalysisClick here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 18:30 (18:30 GMT)Photos: Jordanians protest in solidarity with GazaJordanians joined a protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza after Friday prayers in Amman.[Jehad Shelbak/Reuters][Jehad Shelbak/Reuters][Jehad Shelbak/Reuters][Jehad Shelbak/Reuters]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 18:15 (18:15 GMT)Harrowing video shows bombing of residential area in JabaliaPalestinian activists have shared the footage of the moment when Israeli forces struck a residential block in Jabalia refugee camp, in northern Gaza.The footage shows the moment of the explosion with flames and smoke rising after the bombing.View this post on InstagramA post shared by Ali battah | علي بطاح (@ali_bt77)View this post on InstagramA post shared by مصعب بطاح😉 (@abood_gaza.6)Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 18:00 (18:00 GMT)France opposes ‘any form of annexation’ of Gaza: Foreign ministerFrance’s foreign minister has rejected “any form” of Israeli annexation of Gaza, AFP reports.Jean-Noel Barrot made the comments in response to Israel’s defence minister saying he had ordered the military to “seize more ground” in Gaza and warning of a partial annexation of the territory should Hamas not release its remaining captives.“France is opposed to any form of annexation whether it concerns the West Bank or the Gaza Strip,” Barrot said, speaking to reporters in the French city of Dijon. “We have a very clear vision of the future of the region – a solution of two states living side by side in peace.”Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisement
• 21 Mar 2025 – 17:45 (17:45 GMT)Israel says it kills head of Hamas military intelligence in southern GazaThe Israeli military says it has killed Osama Tabash on Thursday.It said he was also the head of the Palestinian group’s surveillance and targeting unit.There was no immediate comment from Hamas.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 17:30 (17:30 GMT)Israeli army issues ‘final warning’ to northern Gaza residents, carries out more strikesThe army’s Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Adraee says on X that the residents of the “al-Salateen, al-Karama and al-Awda” areas along northern Gaza’s Mediterranean coast must leave their homes immediately.“This is a final and prior warning before the airstrike!” Adraee wrote, claiming the area is being used by Hamas for rocket launches at Israeli territory.Meanwhile, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic reported that the Israeli army has bombed a house in Beit Lahiya, also in the northern Gaza Strip.In addition, two Palestinians were wounded by an Israeli drone strike on the Tal as-Sultan area of Rafah, in Gaza’s south.We will update you on all of the above events as information develops.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 17:15 (17:15 GMT)Israel’s UN envoy says Hamas leadership will fall ‘one by one’Danny Danon says the group’s leadership will fall “one by one” if it does not come back to the table to negotiate with Israel.Danon was addressing the UN Security Council.Earlier, Hamas issued a statement saying it was indeed still communicating with mediators over negotiations to release the remaining Israeli captives and reinstate the ceasefire.  Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 17:00 (17:00 GMT)HRW calls on states to ‘prevent further mass atrocities’ in Gaza hospitalsHuman Rights Watch has called on states to intervene “to prevent further mass atrocities” in Gaza.The rights group, which yesterday published a report accusing Israel of committing war crimes while occupying Palestinian hospitals in Gaza, said in a post on X that those crimes “underscore grave risks to Palestinians there today”.“Amid a wave of airstrikes and renewed ground offensive by Israeli forces, states should act to prevent further mass atrocities,” the group added.Earlier today, the Israeli army attacked and destroyed the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in central Gaza, the only cancer facility in the Strip.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 16:45 (16:45 GMT)Hamas denies Israeli media reports it halted negotiationsHamas has denied reports by Israeli media that it has halted negotiations over the release of Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a ceasefire in Gaza.Hamas “is still engaged in negotiations and is following up with the mediator brothers in a responsible and serious manner”, the group said in a statement. It added it was also considering a proposal by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.“Moreover, the movement is also discussing Witkoff’s proposal and all other suggested ideas to achieve an exchange agreement that ensures the release of prisoners, ends the war, and guarantees the withdrawal from Gaza,” the group wrote.Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 16:33 (16:33 GMT)Gaza civil defence says 11 killed in Israel attacks on FridayCivil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal told the AFP news agency three people were killed by the Israeli army in predawn attacks as it pressed an offensive in the Palestinian territory for a fourth day.Eight others were killed during daytime, six of them in Gaza City and two in Abassan in the south, according to Bassal.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 16:30 (16:30 GMT)Photos: Iraqis protest in solidarity with Palestinians in GazaIn Baghdad, Iraqis have gathered after Friday prayers to protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.[Ahmed Saad/Reuters][Ahmed Saad/Reuters][Ahmed Saad/Reuters]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 16:15 (16:15 GMT)US tells UN Hamas to blame for Gaza deaths since Israeli attacks resumedThe Palestinian group is to blame for the nearly 600 deaths in the Gaza Strip since hostilities resumed on Tuesday, the US tells the UN Security Council.“Hamas bears full responsibility for the ongoing war in Gaza and for the resumption of hostilities. Every death would have been avoided had Hamas accepted the bridge proposal that the United States offered last Wednesday,” acting US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea told the 15-member council.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 16:11 (16:11 GMT)Turkiye slams Israel’s bombing of cancer hospital in GazaA statement by the Foreign Ministry says Ankara condemns Israel’s destruction of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, which was built by Turkiye and operated by local authorities as a cancer treatment facility.It also said: “The deliberate targeting of a hospital providing healthcare services to civilians in Gaza constitutes part of Israel’s policy aimed at rendering Gaza uninhabitable and forcibly displacing the Palestinian people.“We call on the international community to take concrete and deterrent measures against Israel’s unlawful attacks and systematic state terrorism,” the ministry added.The statement stressed that those “responsible for the ongoing genocide in Palestine”, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, “will, sooner or later, be held accountable under international law”.The hospital, located in the Netzarim Corridor close to Salah al-Din Street, was being used as a command centre by Israeli forces during their previous military assault in central and northern Gaza.Earlier today it was blown up completely after having been rebuilt with a Turkish donation of $34m in 2017.Video captured the moment Israeli forces blew up Gaza’s Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital and an adjacent medical school [Screenshot]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 16:00 (16:00 GMT)Israeli attorney general says PM ‘prohibited’ from hiring new intel chiefIsraeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara says the prime minister isn’t allowed to appoint a new internal security agency chief after the government decided to sack Bar.“According to the decision of the Supreme Court, it is prohibited to take any action that harms the position of the head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar,” she said in a message to Netanyahu published by a spokesperson.“It is prohibited to appoint a new head of Shin Bet, and interviews for the position should not be held.”The move to sack Bar has been appealed by opposition parties. Friday’s appeal also mentioned that Bar’s dismissal took place after a Shin Bet investigation highlighted, according to the plaintiffs, “that the political leadership bears responsibility for the October 7 disaster”.Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 15:45 (15:45 GMT)WATCH: Thirst among the ruinsPeople & Power investigates how Israel has further weaponised water in Gaza since the war started and why it is a war crime.The team travelled through Gaza just weeks before October 7, 2023, to document Israel’s weaponising of water. The situation already seemed desperate back then.As a ceasefire came into place in January, our team in Gaza went to look for the people they met 18 months earlier.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_2078516680Play Video25:20Thirst Among the RuinsClick here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 15:30 (15:30 GMT)Israel’s policy over past 18 months is to make Gaza ‘unlivable’About 50 percent of Hamas’s vast tunnel network is still intact despite 18 months of heavy Israeli bombardment, an analyst says.“So smuggling will continue, and Hamas will rearm itself,” said Andreas Krieg, associate professor of security studies at King’s College London. “What doesn’t get into the Gaza Strip is humanitarian aid, any material support that humans need to survive.”He said Israel “under the pretext of drying out Hamas” continues to control the Philadelphi Corridor. “In reality, it is about making Gaza unliveable, and that’s been the policy for at least the past 18 months,” Krieg added.“The Netanyahu government has shown absolutely no regard for international humanitarian law. In reality, this is a political project by the Netanyahu government to remain in power, to dismantle the Israeli state.”Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 15:15 (15:15 GMT)Hospital, university hit in Israeli air raids across GazaOur correspondents are reporting several Israeli attacks since the morning across Gaza:
  • Five Palestinians were killed and others injured in an Israeli air strike on the Tuffah neighbourhood in the eastern part of Gaza City. The victims were taken to al-Ahli Hospital.
  • Two Palestinians were killed and others wounded in an Israeli attack that targeted a home in Abasan, east of Khan Younis.
  • The Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in central Gaza, the only cancer facility in Gaza, was hit and destroyed by the Israeli military.
  • The medical faculty of the Islamic University in Gaza City was also attacked in an air raid.
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• 21 Mar 2025 – 15:00 (15:00 GMT)MSF says 10th staff member killed in Gaza’s Deir el-BalahDoctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, has issued a statement saying it’s mourning its 10th staff member killed since Israel’s war started in Gaza.“MSF is shocked and saddened by the killing of our colleague Alaa Abd-Elsalam Ali Okal by an Israeli air strike on his apartment building in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza,” it said.“Along with hundreds of others across the Gaza Strip, Alaa Abd-Elsalam Ali Okal was killed in the early morning of 18 March following the resumption of Israeli attacks.”The 29-year-old was a laundry worker with the organisation and “played an important role in supporting people in need of medical care at MSF’s field hospital in Deir el-Balah”.“We condemn the killing of our colleague and call yet again for the respect and protection of civilians.”Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 14:55 (14:55 GMT)Special coordinator tells UNSC Israel’s settlement activity ‘accelerated’The UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Sigrid Kaag, has delivered a quarterly update on the implementation of UN Resolution 2334, which demanded that Israel cease all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory.Contrary to the resolution, “settlement activity continued” and “demolitions and seizures of Palestinian property accelerated”, Kaag told the UN Security Council.Israeli planning authorities scheduled or approved 10,600 housing units in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during the monitored period from December to March.Kaag also told the UNSC more movement restrictions were implemented in the West Bank, and the Tulkarem and Jenin refugee camps were emptied of Palestinian residents.Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 14:50 (14:50 GMT)Israel’s president decries ‘harsh reality unfolding before our eyes’Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision to sack the domestic intelligence chief has revived deep divisions within Israel with many people concerned by what they see as his latest autocratic move.Israeli President Isaac Herzog deplored the government’s “controversial moves” that “deepened divisions” while Israel is still at war in the Gaza Strip.A poll by the Channel 12 television network found that 51 percent of Israelis opposed Shit Bet boss Ronen Bar’s sacking while 32 percent supported it.“It’s impossible not to be deeply troubled by the harsh reality unfolding before our eyes,” Herzog said.It’s “unthinkable to resume fighting while still pursuing the sacred mission of bringing our hostages home” from Gaza, he added.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_1348891101Play Video03:03Gaza strikes are only the beginning: NetanyahuClick here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 14:45 (14:45 GMT)Israeli army says two projectiles fired from Gaza interceptedIsrael’s military says it has intercepted two projectiles fired from northern Gaza after air raid sirens sounded in the southern city of Ashkelon.“Following the sirens that sounded at 4:30pm (14:30 GMT) in Ashkelon, two projectiles that were fired from northern Gaza were intercepted by the [air force],” a military statement said.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 14:40 (14:40 GMT)Gaza’s hospital for cancer care destroyed
  • Tareq Abu Azzoum
  Reporting from Deir el-Balah, GazaThe Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital for cancer patients has been destroyed by the Israeli military as part of its attack on the Gaza Strip.The hospital, located in the Netzarim Corridor close to Salah al-Din Street, was being used as a command centre by Israeli forces during their previous military assault in central and northern Gaza.Today it was blown up completely after having been rebuilt with a Turkish donation of $34m in 2017.The facility used to provide cancer treatment to 10,000 patients annually.This comes after Israel said it was expanding the Netzarim Corridor and blocked all movement on Salah al-Din Street. People wanting to travel between the north and the south of Gaza must use al-Rashid Street, which is becoming more and more dangerous because of Israeli attacks.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 14:30 (14:30 GMT)Photos: Indonesians protest in support of Palestinians outside US embassyProtesters express support for Palestinians outside the US embassy in Jakarta after Israel resumes air strikes on Gaza [Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters]Since the beginning of Israel’s invasion of Gaza, the Muslim country has shown solidarity with Palestine [Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters]A man shows stickers depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and US President Donald Trump during a protest in support of Palestinians [Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 14:15 (14:15 GMT)Clear goal of Israel is to ‘depopulate the Strip’While Israel and the United States continue to blame Hamas for the demise of the Gaza ceasefire, comments by Israeli’s Shin Bet director show it’s the Netanyahu government that has never wanted a truce, an analyst says.Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar alleged Prime Minister Netanyahu conducted Gaza ceasefire negotiations without wanting to reach “an actual deal”.Mohamad Elmasry from the Doha Institute of Graduate Studies said the real reason Israel restarted the war is clear.“If Israel can continue to kill people in large numbers and create hellish conditions then there remains hope – from their perspective – that ultimately they’ll get what they want: To depopulate the Strip,” said Elmasry.He told Al Jazeera the renewed invasion is unlikely to remove Hamas from Gaza.“They’re not going to be able to eliminate Hamas militarily. There have been many Israeli analysts, officials, and former officials who have said the same thing.”Hamas fighters in Khan Younis, southern Gaza [File: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP]Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 14:08 (14:08 GMT)Israel strikes only hospital delivering cancer care in GazaThe Israeli army has hit the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital in central Gaza, the only medical facility delivering cancer care in the Strip.The facility had already been severely damaged by Israeli air strikes in October 2023.We will bring you more on this soon.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 14:00 (14:00 GMT)Israeli officials react to suspension of Shin Bet chief’s dismissalIsraeli government officials have reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend a move by Netanyahu’s government to fire the domestic intelligence agency chief while appeals are filed.Interior Minister Moshe Arbel said in a post on X: “The Israeli government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu will not violate court decisions.”Other ministers issued statements that suggested they would oppose the temporary injunction.“Supreme Court judges will not run the war or determine its leaders,” far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on X.Israel’s newly reappointed far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, wrote on X: “It’s time for judicial reform!”Itamar Ben-Gvir, left, and Bezalel Smotrich in 2022 [File: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 13:45 (13:45 GMT)Photos: Thousands of Palestinians attend prayers at Al-Aqsa MosquePalestinians gather to perform the third Friday prayer of the holy month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque [Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu]Many Palestinians had to endure long lineups at checkpoints to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound [Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu]The Israeli authorities placed a number of restrictions on worshippers looking to enter the compound in occupied East Jerusalem [Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu]Thousands of worshippers were denied access under the pretext of not having the necessary permits [Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 13:30 (13:30 GMT)Only six days of flour left to distribute in Gaza: UNOne of the largest providers of food aid in Gaza has warned it only has enough flour to distribute for the next six days.“We can stretch that by giving people less, but we are talking days not weeks,” Sam Rose from the United Nations’ Palestinian relief agency UNRWA told reporters in Geneva.“Six of 25 bakeries that the World Food Programme was supporting had to close down. There are larger crowds on streets outside bakeries.”Israel in early March blocked the entry of goods into the territory in a standoff over the truce that halted fighting for the past seven weeks. The move has led to a hike in prices of essential foods as well as fuel, forcing many to ration their meals.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 13:15 (13:15 GMT)Israeli aid blockade ‘appalling and unacceptable’: UKUK Foreign Secretary David Lammy told parliament Israel’s barrage of missiles that killed hundreds of Palestinians – the majority women and children – is “an appalling loss of life and we mourn the loss of every civilian”.A UN compound in Gaza was hit in the attacks and he confirmed “a British national was amongst the wounded.“Gaza has been the most dangerous place in the world to be an aid worker,” he noted. “I share the outrage of UN Secretary-General Guterres at this incident.“For weeks now, supplies of basic goods and electricity have been blocked, leaving over half a million civilians once again cut off from clean drinking water and sparking a 200 percent surge in the price of some basic foodstuffs – a boon to those criminals who use violence to control supplies.”A child looks on as people mourn Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks in Khan Younis [Hatem Khaled/Reuters]Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.htmlhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.htmlhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 13:00 (13:00 GMT)‘Very worried our country is becoming a dictatorship’Over the past three days, demonstrators against the move to sack Shin Bet boss Ronen Bar have joined forces with protesters angry at the decision to resume fighting in Gaza.Israel’s decision broke a two-month ceasefire while 59 Israeli captives remain in the war-battered Palestinian enclave.“We’re very, very worried that our country is becoming a dictatorship,” Rinat Hadashi, 59, said in West Jerusalem. “They’re abandoning our hostages, they’re neglecting all the important things for this country.”Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to resume the bombardment of Gaza has triggered protests in Israel with a coalition of victims’ families and Netanyahu critics regrouping and accusing him of using the Gaza war for political ends.Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [File: Ohad Zwigenberg via AFP]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 12:45 (12:45 GMT)France opposes ‘any form of annexation’ of Gaza     Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot says France is against any annexation of the Gaza Strip or the occupied West Bank after Israel’s defence minister threatened to permanently take over parts of Gaza unless Hamas releases captives.“France is opposed to any form of annexation whether it concerns the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. We have a very clear vision of the future of the region – a solution of two states living side-by-side in peace,” Barrot told reporters in the eastern city of Dijon.Earlier, Israel Katz said the more Hamas continues to refuse to release the remaining Israeli captives, the more territory it would lose to Israel.Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz [File: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 12:35 (12:35 GMT)Israel’s Supreme Court freezes decision to sack intelligence chiefIsrael’s Supreme Court has suspended the move by Netanyahu’s government to fire the domestic intelligence agency chief while the court reviews appeals filed against the dismissal.“It is hereby ordered that a provisional measure be taken to stay the effect of the decision subject to the appeals until another decision is made,” the court said.The freeze will remain in place until the appeals are presented to the court before April 8.The Supreme Court’s decision came hours after Netanyahu’s cabinet unanimously approved his request to fire the head of the Shin Bet internal security service, Ronen Bar.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 12:30 (12:30 GMT)Photos: Build up of waste in Gaza threatens health of PalestiniansA waste heap caused in part by the forced displacement of Palestinians to Gaza City [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip has decimated infrastructure and waste management systems [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]Palestinians live in tents near huge rubbish heaps [Hamza Z H Qraiqea/Anadolu]Fears are rising of the outbreak of disease in Gaza [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 12:15 (12:15 GMT)Netanyahu attempting to ‘get rid of gatekeepers’ of Israel’s democracyProtests against Netanyahu’s government are taking place in Israel after the cabinet voted unanimously to dismiss Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.Yossi Mekelberg, a senior fellow at Chatham House, said the matter would be taken to the Supreme Court as Shin Bet was investigating the prime minister’s office for alleged breach of security and corruption.“The decision to fire the head of the organisation that was conducting this investigation looks very bad,” Mekelberg told Al Jazeera. “What we’re seeing right now is that Israel under Netanyahu is becoming more and more authoritarian. He’s trying to get rid of all the gatekeepers of Israel’s democratic foundation.”Netanyahu’s cabinet is also expected to debate a motion of no confidence against Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara on Sunday, who had previously been accused of having politicised her role to hinder the government.On Thursday, the former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, Israel’s most revered jurist, said he feared Netanyahu’s actions will push the country into civil war.“There is a real worry,” Mekelberg said, adding as demonstrations continue Netanyahu is using the war on Gaza as a diversion. “By diverting attention, he thinks he can survive until the next election.”Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 12:00 (12:00 GMT)Legitimacy of Gaza war ‘very important’ for Israel’s governmentIsrael’s return to a full-scale ground war in Gaza could prove more complicated because of waning public support, exhausted military reservists, and political challenges.Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision to resume bombardment on Tuesday added fuel to the anger of protesters who accuse the government of continuing the war for political reasons and endangering the lives of captives.“In a democratic state, the internal legitimacy [of a war] is very, very important,” said retired General Yaakov Amidror, who served as Netanyahu’s national security adviser in 2011-2013.The question, he said, is “how much the decision-makers are willing to forgo legitimacy because they think the action is important”, and “how much their ability to act will be compromised without legitimacy”.Members of a kibbutz, recruited as reservists, take part in a training session [File: Ayal Margolin/Reuters]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 11:45 (11:45 GMT)Israel government to hold no-confidence vote on attorney generalIsrael’s government will meet on Sunday for a no confidence vote on the attorney general, a vocal critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, marking the start of a lengthy dismissal process.“We resolve to express our lack of confidence in the government’s legal adviser, Gali Baharav-Miara, due to her inappropriate behaviour and due to significant and prolonged differences between the government and the government’s legal adviser,” said a cabinet meeting agenda.The message was posted on the website of the prime minister’s office, hours after the government sacked Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 11:30 (11:30 GMT)Israel wants to ‘lock the people of Gaza up into smaller cells, then move in’Andreas Krieg, associate professor of security studies at King’s College London, says Israel has used the two-month ceasefire to gather intelligence on the whereabouts of “Hamas cells” as well as potential locations of the captives.“I think what they’re trying to do now is further degrade Hamas and potentially kill some of its leaders, which they’ve done over the past couple of days, and apart from that, seize more territory,” Krieg told Al Jazeera.The plan is part of what the far-right Israeli government wants to achieve, including expelling all the Palestinians from Gaza as outlined by President Trump’s “bizarre vision of the Riviera of the Middle East“, he added.“It wants to seize territory and potentially never return it. It wants to lock the people of Gaza up into smaller cells and then move in.”Thousands of people in Gaza are again being forcibly displaced by Israel’s military [Eyad Baba/AFP]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 11:15 (11:15 GMT)Half of emergency vehicle fleet out of service in GazaOf 53 vehicles in total, 23 remain operational after aid supplies into Gaza, including fuel, were halted in early March, Tommaso Della Longa from the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) and Red Crescent Societies told reporters in Geneva.On Tuesday, the IFRC released a statement saying without vital supplies, “it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Palestine Red Crescent to provide life-saving treatment and run its ambulance service.”A damaged ambulance in Rafah, southern Gaza [File: Hani Alshaer/Anadolu]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 11:00 (11:00 GMT)Photos: Israelis protest against Netanyahu’s government in West JerusalemProtesters hold a banner that reads ‘History is made by the people’ during a demonstration in West Jerusalem [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]Demonstrators clash with police [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]Protesters are demanding a return to negotiations to ensure the release of all captives from Gaza [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.htmlhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.htmlhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 10:45 (10:45 GMT)Dozens of Palestinians blocked from entering Al-Aqsa MosqueIsraeli authorities have imposed restrictions on Palestinians going to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque for the third consecutive Friday during Ramadan.Israeli forces at the Qalandiya checkpoint, north of occupied East Jerusalem, inspected personal identification cards and prayer permits, but dozens of Palestinians, despite having the necessary documents, were reportedly blocked from entering.Ibrahim Awad, from Yamon in the occupied West Bank, told Anadolu news agency, “I reached the checkpoint and after they checked my ID I was denied entry for no reason.“After I left, I received a text message on my phone stating that I was banned from entering Jerusalem due to ‘incitement’ on social media,” Awad said.On March 6, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved stricter restrictions for Palestinians wanting to access Al-Aqsa Mosque on Fridays during Ramadan.Under the new restrictions, only men over 55, women over 50, and children under 12 will be permitted to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque. The decision coincides with ongoing daily incursions by hundreds of Israeli settlers into the compound.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 10:30 (10:30 GMT)Progress made during ceasefire is ‘being reversed’, says UNRWASam Rose, director of planning at the UN’s relief agency for Palestinian refugees, says the situation in Gaza is gravely concerning as it now faces huge reductions in the distribution of aid supplies.“This is the longest period since the start of conflict in October 2023 that no supplies whatsoever have entered Gaza. The progress we made as an aid system over the last six weeks of the ceasefire is being reversed,” Rose told reporters from central Gaza.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 10:23 (10:23 GMT)Israeli army says one officer severely injured in NablusAn Israeli army officer has been severely wounded during an overnight raid in the West Bank’s city of Nablus, the military said in a statement.The reservist was taken to hospital for medical treatment.The Israeli military carried out raids in several locations across the occupied West Bank over recent hours, including Tulkarem, Arrabuna, Beit Qad, Balata, as well as Nablus.Israel has intensified raids and home demolitions across the occupied West Bank. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich welcomed the approval of a record number of new housing units in illegal Israeli settlements, saying Israel is “leading a revolution” in the area.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 10:15 (10:15 GMT)What is Israel’s endgame for Gaza?Prime Minister Netanyahu is exploiting talks between US President Trump and Russian President Putin over Ukraine and the US military campaign against the Houthis in Yemen to attack Gaza, an analyst says.Serhan Afacan, associate professor at Marmara University’s Institute for Middle East Studies, said Israel is accelerating efforts to implement a plan “to radically reshape Gaza’s demographic and political future”.“Netanyahu’s thirst for blood is not only deepening the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza but also exacerbating regional tensions, pushing the Middle East toward prolonged instability. His actions risk triggering wider spillover effects, particularly in Lebanon and Syria, and further escalating an already volatile landscape,” Afacan wrote in a commentary for Anadolu news agency.“The pressing question remains: does Israel have a long-term strategy for Gaza, or is it merely waging a campaign of destruction with no viable political exit strategy?”Urgent international diplomatic efforts are needed “to curb Israeli aggression and expansionism”, said Afacan.“Without immediate intervention, the entire region will bear the long-term consequences of unchecked military escalation and political destabilization.”Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 10:00 (10:00 GMT)Georgetown researcher arrest escalates Trump free speech crackdown
  • Joseph Stepansky
  Washington, DC – Nader Hashemi, a professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at Georgetown University, has been a vocal critic of efforts to silence pro-Palestine protesters and academics amid Israel’s war in Gaza.Those efforts reached new heights under the administration of President Donald Trump, which last week took the extraordinary measure of detaining and seeking to deport Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent resident married to a US citizen.Then, immigration authorities came for one of Hashemi’s own students. Earlier this week, agents detained Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, which Hashemi directs.Khaled Elgindy, a visiting scholar at Georgetown who focuses on Palestinian-Israel affairs, said the Trump administration’s enforcement efforts appear to be entering “a different realm with this case”.Read the full story here.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_799943468Play Video00:41Protesters demand release of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil  Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 09:50 (09:50 GMT)Katz says Israel to use ‘pressure’ on Hamas, including implementing Trump’s planThe defence minister said Israel will “intensify” its campaign against Hamas and use “all military and civilian pressure, including evacuation of the Gaza population south and implementing US President Trump’s voluntary migration plan for Gaza residents”.Katz instructed the army “to seize additional areas in Gaza, evacuate the population, and expand security zones around Gaza to protect Israeli communities and soldiers”, local media quoted him as saying.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 09:35 (09:35 GMT)Defence minister says Israel to seize Gaza land until captives releasedDefense Minister Israel Katz says Israel will seize Gaza land until Hamas agrees to release all captives still held in the Strip.“The more Hamas persists in its refusal to release the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed to Israel,” Katz was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as saying.“If the hostages are not released, Israel will continue to take more and more territory in the Strip for permanent control.”Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 09:30 (09:30 GMT)Photos: Palestinians face checkpoints ahead of Al-Aqsa Mosque prayersPalestinian women undergo ID checks to cross an Israeli army checkpoint in Bethlehem, the occupied West Bank [Hazem Bader/AFP]Worshippers head to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City for Friday prayers [Hazem Bader/AFP]A Palestinian man prepares his ID to cross an Israeli army checkpoint in Bethlehem [Hazem Bader/AFP]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 09:15 (09:15 GMT)Civil war? Netanyahu has split the Jewish community in Israel
  • Nour Odeh
  Reporting from Amman, JordanAl Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.Israel is accused of not being a state for all its citizens, as 20 percent of the population of Indigenous Palestinians face systematic discrimination.But what is happening now is that Netanyahu and his coalition have managed to split the Jewish citizens of Israel between the loyalists and the opposition, who feel their institutions that have worked so far to protect the Zionist ideal are under threat.The former head of the Supreme Court in Israel has accused Netanyahu and his allies of pushing Israel into civil war. This is a man who attended the International Court of Justice on behalf of Israel as a judge during the hearings where Israel was accused of genocide.He is someone who has fiercely defended Israel. He is extremely worried what is happening is polarising the state so much that clashes are possible.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 09:00 (09:00 GMT)Idea of ‘Greater Israel’ ‘very deeply rooted in Israeli politics’Mohamad Elmasry from the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies says Israel’s resumption of the war on Gaza confirms “its intent on driving the population out altogether, or at least as many as possible”.US President Donald Trump has also backed the plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza, he noted.“Interestingly, there was a poll by the Jewish People Policy Institute that showed 85 percent of Israeli-Jews supported Trump’s plan as well. So the idea that this a far-right notion I think is a myth,” Elmasry told Al Jazeera.“This idea of ‘Greater Israel’ – this is very deeply rooted in Israeli politics. And my sense is the Israeli government sees this as a great opportunity with Donald Trump in the White House to try to execute this.“On the face of it, this doesn’t make any sense. It’s just destruction for the sake of destruction.”https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_534878398Play Video03:03Gaza strikes are only the beginning: NetanyahuClick here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 08:45 (08:45 GMT)More than 200 children killed since Tuesday in Gaza: UNICEFAt least 200 children have been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed its war on the enclave this week, UNICEF spokesperson in Gaza Rosalia Paulin says.Medical authorities said more than 590 Palestinians have been killed so far and the death toll continues to rise as Israeli air attacks and ground assaults intensify.A child at the site of an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza [Hatem Khaled/Reuters]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 08:30 (08:30 GMT)US will get a ‘hard slap’ if it attacks Iran: Supreme leaderIran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says US threats “will get them nowhere when confronting Iran” after President Trump warned of possible military action against the country.“They [the US] and others should know if they do anything malign to the Iranian nation, they will get a hard slap,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said during a live televised speech.The US president’s threat that “every shot” fired by the Houthis in Yemen will be viewed as an attack from Iran has escalated tensions.Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei [File: West Asia News Agency via Reuters] Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 08:15 (08:15 GMT)UN Security Council meets on Israel’s West Bank attacksThe UN Security Council will meet for a second straight day on Palestine, this time focusing on Israel’s months-long assault on the occupied West Bank.Thursday’s council meeting tackled the grim situation in war-battered Gaza. Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky criticised Israel’s leaders for not moving to phase two of the ceasefire deal, which calls for the release of all captives and a permanent end to the fighting.He said it’s difficult to discuss the future when Israel’s military and political leaders appear to have made the choice in favour of war.Britain’s deputy ambassador, James Kariuki, condemned Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz’s “warning of the total destruction of Gaza”.Britain calls for the rapid resurgence of aid to Gaza, an investigation into allegations of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinian detainees by Israeli forces, and an urgent return to the ceasefire deal, he said.Israeli soldiers detain a man during a raid on the Askar camp east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank [Zain Jaafar/AFP]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 08:00 (08:00 GMT)Hamas: Shin Bet chief’s claims prove Netanyahu’s unwillingness to negotiateHamas has released a statement saying Ronen Bar’s letter to ministers claiming that Netanyahu intentionally sabotaged the Gaza ceasefire deal revealed the Israeli prime minister’s unwillingness to move ahead with negotiations.The Shin Bet chief’s claims “reveal Netanyahu’s deliberate manipulation of negotiations and his attempt to sabotage any agreement”, the group said.“These confessions from within the leadership of [Israel] confirm that Netanyahu was and still is the real obstacle to any exchange deal,” it added.Hamas said the dismissal of the intelligence chief indicated the crisis between Netanyahu and his security apparatus is escalating.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 07:45 (07:45 GMT)Shin Bet chief levels ‘explosive’ accusation against PM Netanyahu
  • Nour Odeh
  Reporting from Amman, JordanAl Jazeera is reporting from Amman, Jordan, because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is accused by the opposition of dismantling government institutions and of going after any senior official who challenges him. Netanyahu has systematically either fired or pushed to resign those in positions of power on October 7, 2023.Netanyahu has so far refused to allow an independent commission of inquiry to investigate what happened on October 7 and all the failures since then.Additionally, the fired chief of internal security – who will step down on April 10 – sent a letter saying Netanyahu, even during the war, was undermining police and the intelligence community.Ronen Bar said not allowing him to attend the negotiations for a ceasefire was essentially motivated by Netanyahu wanting to negotiate but not reach a deal, which is an explosive accusation that is sure to inflame emotions even further in Israel.Former Israeli army Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, left,  and then Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar [File: Israeli Army via AFP]Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 07:30 (07:30 GMT)Columbia, I want my money back
  • Tamara Turki
  On March 5, I watched dozens of police officers – invited onto campus by Columbia University’s Barnard College to break up a peaceful sit-in calling for the reversal of expulsions of three pro-Palestine students – trample and slam my classmates to the ground, arresting nine of them.The violent police raid was a new escalation in the administration’s ongoing campaign to quash Palestinian activism on campus under the guise of combating anti-Semitism.On March 8, the administration escalated further.It allowed the Department of Homeland Security to detain Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil at his university housing in New York without a judicial warrant in front of his eight months pregnant wife.Read more here.‘I fear each ring of the doorbell or approaching stranger could be law enforcement coming to place me in handcuffs and ship me somewhere,’ writes Tamara Turki [Tamara Turki/Al Jazeera]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 07:15 (07:15 GMT)Israeli forces conduct attacks on ‘all areas’ in the Gaza Strip
  • Tareq Abu Azzoum
  Reporting from Deir el Balah, central Gaza StripThe night sky was lit up earlier by explosions that took place in the eastern areas of Gaza along the boundary with Israel.We had received confirmation from witnesses that the Israeli military has struck the city of Beit Lahiya extensively during the past hour. People woke up to the sound of explosions and Israeli tanks moving closer to residential areas.We have got more reports coming from the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, suggesting that the Israeli forces are operating in the Shaboura neighbourhood.Israeli forces have also advanced to the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood, which is on the western side of Rafah city.The population in Rafah had recently started to flee the area, going to al-Mawasi, which is only a few kilometres away from the city.We understand that night attacks have taken place in all areas in the Gaza Strip, overwhelming capacity in the morgues.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 07:00 (07:00 GMT)UCLA sued over hours-long attack on pro-Palestinian campus protestersWe have more details on the report earlier that the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is being sued by a group of pro-Palestinian protesters over an attack by pro-Israel supporters during the height of the US campus protests in 2024.The 35 pro-Palestinian plaintiffs – which include activists, students, faculty members, legal observers, journalists and sympathisers – accuse UCLA, as well as police, of failing to do anything to protect them during the “mob attack”.According to the lawsuit, filed with the Los Angeles superior court, the plaintiffs note the attack took place over hours, was broadcast live on TV, and in full view of campus security and Los Angeles Police. Yet, there was not one arrest.“Not a single member of the mob attack was arrested that night, even though police and private security watched from just a few yards away as the attack raged for hours and was broadcast live to millions of people,” the lawsuit states.The UCLA president’s office said the lawsuit was being reviewed.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_1112831718Play Video01:31Videos show violence of mob attack on UCLA anti-war protestersClick here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 06:45 (06:45 GMT)WATCH: Netanyahu never planned to ‘abandon Gaza militarily’Luciano Zaccara, an associate professor at Qatar University, says Prime Minister Netanyahu has two main objectives after Israel resumed its attacks on Gaza this week.Watch below:https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_1112831722Play Video00:53Netanyahu never planned to “Abandon Gaza Militarily”Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 06:30 (06:30 GMT)Who are the Houthis?As we’ve been reporting, Yemen’s Houthis say they launched a missile at a military site south of Tel Aviv, which Israel said it intercepted. The US military also carried out air strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen for the sixth night in a row.Here is a bit of background about the Yemeni fighters:
  • The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah or “supporters of God”, are an armed group that controls most parts of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa.
  • The group emerged in the 1990s but rose to prominence in 2014, when it seized Sanaa and forced President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee the country.
  • In March 2015, a Western-backed coalition intervened in Yemen’s war in support of the Saudi-backed government and launched a punishing air and ground offensive, but failed to defeat the Houthis.
  • Yemen and Saudi Arabia are now in peace talks and a UN-brokered truce has been in effect since April 2022.
  • In November 2023, following Israel’s war on Gaza, the Houthis launched attacks on shipping in the Red Sea linked to Israel as a show of support for the Palestinians and Hamas amid the war on Gaza.
  Houthi fighters in Sanaa, Yemen [File: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters]Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 06:15 (06:15 GMT)Rights group says Israeli forces stripped, ‘terrorised’ Palestinian boys aged 7, 13A children’s rights group has accused Israeli forces of stripping, humiliating, terrorising and detaining two Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, after shooting and killing their grandmother.Defence for Children – Palestine (DCIP) said Ibrahim Abu Ghali, 7, and Omar Mohammed Dirar Zaben, 13, were visiting their grandparents’ home on March 10, west of Jenin, when their grandmother was shot for going outside to listen for the morning call to prayer during an Israeli military raid.Israeli soldiers then forced the two children to strip to their underwear at gunpoint, alongside their grandfather. Practically naked, the three had their hands bound with cable ties, and were held outdoors in the cold for about an hour before being pushed onto the floor or a military vehicle – still without clothes – and taken for interrogation.“Forcing young children to strip, detaining them in degrading conditions, and subjecting them to psychological terror is a clear violation of international law and amounts to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment,” DCIP’s Ayed Abu Eqtaish said.After nearly 12 hours of “arbitrary detention”, the children were put in the back of a military truck and taken home – still in their underwear – where they discovered their grandmother had been killed by the Israeli gunfire.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 06:00 (06:00 GMT)Columbia up against Trump deadline for meeting demands over campus protestsColumbia University is facing a permanent loss of about $400m in federal funding if it’s unable to meet a looming deadline to respond to Trump administration demands on restricting protests on campus.The Trump administration initially set a Thursday deadline for Columbia to respond to nine demands, but this has now been extended to Friday, the Wall Street Journal reports.Among the demands are a ban on face masks on campus, as well as relinquishing control of its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies departments by placing them under academic receivership for at least five years.The White House initially announced it was withdrawing funds for the New York-based university earlier this month over its alleged failure to address anti-Semitism on campus during pro-Palestine protests last year.US immigration authorities have also arrested and threatened to deport Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil over his role in those protests.Columbia has led its own crackdown on pro-Palestine activism in recent weeks, taking disciplinary action – including expulsions – against several students for participating in protests.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_1112831721Play Video01:38Federal agents raid Columbia dorm rooms as university expels studentsClick here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 05:45 (05:45 GMT)WATCH: Missiles from Yemen target Israel despite US threatsAir attack sirens were activated and Israelis ran for cover overnight after Yemen’s Houthi fighters carried out what they described as a “qualitative operation”, firing another missile at Israel.The Israeli military said it intercepted the missile in midair and outside the country’s airspace.Watch the video report:https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_1112831720Play Video00:33Missiles from Yemen target Israel despite US threatsClick here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 05:30 (05:30 GMT)Israel carries out intense air attacks on Gaza City, Rafah, Khan YounisOur colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report that Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood has come under “heavy” attack from Israeli aircraft.Air attacks have also been reported in southern Gaza’s Rafah and Israeli warplanes have bombed areas of nearby Khan Younis.We will bring you more about these attacks when information is available.An Israeli Apache helicopter fires towards the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, on March 19, 2025 [Ariel Schalit/AP]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 05:15 (05:15 GMT)Israeli military raids two West Bank villagesWe have been reporting on Israeli military raids across the occupied West Bank tonight.Now, the Quds News Network reports that Israeli forces have stormed the village of Qarawat Bani Zeid, west of Ramallah, and Taffuh village, west of Hebron.No arrests have been reported so far.Translation: The occupation forces stormed the town of Taffuh, west of Hebron.Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 05:00 (05:00 GMT)If you’re just joining usHere’s what you need to know:
  • Israel’s cabinet voted to remove Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar from his post, in what represents the first time in the country’s history an intelligence chief has been fired.
  • Prime Minister Netanyahu said he no longer trusts Bar due to his alleged failings around the October 7 attack, while Bar claimed his removal was political.
  • The Movement for Quality Government in Israel has called Bar’s removal a “dark moment” in the country’s history and filed a high court petition challenging the move.
  • The Israeli military continued its assault on Gaza with strikes on Rafah and Khan Younis in the south of the besieged enclave, and Gaza City and Beit Lahiya in the north.
  • Trump administration National Security Adviser Mike Waltz has expressed his support for Israel’s renewed assault, which has killed hundreds of Palestinians since Tuesday.
  • The US military has carried out air strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen for a sixth night in a row, hitting targets in At-Tuhayta district in Hodeidah governorate.
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• 21 Mar 2025 – 04:45 (04:45 GMT)WATCH: In West Bank refugee camps, Israel wants to ‘get rid of the Palestinians’ – AnalysisIsrael has not formally declared war on the occupied West Bank but has dramatically increased military operations against the populations of Palestinian towns, villages and refugees camps since the October 7 attacks by Hamas.Amjad Abu El Ezz, of the Arab American University in Ramallah – in the occupied West Bank – said the Israeli plan to “get rid of Palestinians” is obvious and has been articulated by senior Israeli government ministers.“So the dream of the far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s government is to solve the West Bank problem simply by getting rid of the Palestinians. Mainly in the refugee camps. We are talking about more than 20 refugee camps. Half a million Palestinians live in these refugee camps,” Abu El Ezz said.Watch the full report:https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_1112831719Play Video05:46In West Bank refugee camps, Israel wants to ‘get rid of the Palestinians’: AnalysisClick here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 04:30 (04:30 GMT)Israeli military carries out attacks in south, north GazaThe Israeli military has continued its assault on Gaza over recent hours with strikes on Rafah and Khan Younis in the south of the besieged enclave, according to the Quds News Network and the Palestinian Information Center.Israeli fighter jets have also bombed Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood in the north, while artillery shelling has been reported in nearby Beit Lahiya, according to the same outlets.No casualties have been reported as a result of these attacks so far.We will bring you more information when we have it.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 04:15 (04:15 GMT)US military carries out more strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of YemenUS fighter jets have carried out six air raids in the at-Tuhayta district in Yemen’s Hodeidah governorate, according to the al-Manar news outlet.No casualties have been reported so far.The US resumed strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen this week after the Iran-backed group resumed its attacks on maritime targets in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 04:00 (04:00 GMT)Israeli High Court petition filed challenging dismissal of Shin Bet chiefAs we have been reporting, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s cabinet has voted to remove Shin Bet intelligence agency chief Ronen Bar from his post.Now, pro-democracy nonprofit the Movement for Quality Government in Israel has said it filed a High Court petition appealing against the dismissal, calling the move a “dark moment in the history of Israeli democracy”.“This move is designed to ensure Netanyahu’s political survival at the expense of national security,” the group said.Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.htmlhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.htmlhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 03:45 (03:45 GMT)WATCH: Israeli evacuations push displaced families into overcrowded tents at Gaza stadiumNew forced evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military in recent days have displaced hundreds of people from northern Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood and Beit Hanoon.Families are cramped together in makeshift tents in Gaza City’s Yarmouk Stadium, with displaced people there saying conditions are desperate.Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili reports:https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_1112831724The Playback API request failed for an unknown reasonError Code: VIDEO_CLOUD_ERR_UNKNOWNTechnical details :Unknown catalog request error.Session ID: 2025-03-23:87db018fc0a932465d993235 Player Element ID: vjs_video_17293OKClose Modal Dialog-Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 03:30 (03:30 GMT)‘Israeli democracy was hijacked by the worst people’: Reaction to Shin Bet chief’s firingRonen Bar, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency, was sacked earlier by a vote of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.Netanyahu said he no longer trusts the Shin Bet chief due to his failings during the October 7 attacks. Bar said his removal by Netanyahu was political.Over the past three days, demonstrators have protested the move to sack Bar, joining forces with protests against Netanyahu and Israel’s resumption of war on Gaza.Here’s some reaction from Israeli protesters to Bar’s removal:“Instead of firing the head of the Shin Bet just to avoid an investigation, I think that the prime minister should be involved in rescuing the last hostages that are left in Gaza to die,” said Michal Halperin, who joined hundreds of protesters outside Netanyahu’s residence in West Jerusalem.“We’re very, very worried that our country is becoming a dictatorship,” Rinat Hadashi, 59, said at a protest in West Jerusalem.“They’re abandoning our hostages. They’re neglecting all the important things for this country,” Hadashi said.“We feel that the Israeli democracy was hijacked by the worst people. People that care about nothing but their very narrow self-interests,” said protester Michal Sagive.Hundreds of people gather in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence to protest against his decision to sack the Shin Bet chief and resume attacks on the Gaza Strip on March 20, 2025, in West Jerusalem [Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 03:15 (03:15 GMT)Detained student’s lawyer says he and wife have been ‘doxxed, smeared’We have been reporting on the case of Badar Khan Suri, an Indian post-doctoral fellow at Georgetown University who was detained by US immigration authorities on Monday and faces deportation for allegedly spreading pro-Hamas propaganda.In a court filing this week, Suri’s lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, said Suri and his Palestinian American wife Mapheze Saleh “have long been doxxed and smeared”.Saleh’s photograph has been published online, while information relating to her former employment with Al Jazeera and her birthplace in Gaza City have been cited as evidence of “her alleged ties with Hamas”, the filing said.Nader Hashemi, a professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at Georgetown, said Saleh’s father, Ahmed Yousef, is a former adviser to Hamas. This fact made the couple a target of right-wing campus groups, he said.Hashemi added, however, that Suri was never outwardly political on campus and did not attend pro-Palestine protests.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 03:00 (03:00 GMT)Editor’s Choice: What to read and watch right nowHere are a few highlights published over the past day following Israel’s resumption of its war on Gaza:
  • News: Georgetown researcher arrest escalates Trump speech crackdown, scholars say
  • Watch: Missiles from Yemen target Israel despite US threats
  • From the West Bank: Israel targeting West Bank refugee camps is ethnic cleansing, analyst
  • From Gaza: Thirst Among the Ruins – How Israel weaponises water
  And there’s plenty more here.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 02:45 (02:45 GMT)LISTEN: Israel fires head of Shin Bet security agencyIsrael’s government has approved the dismissal of the head of the internal security agency, Shin Bet.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he wanted to fire Ronen Bar due to an ongoing distrust of him.The move comes despite days of protests leading up to the decision. Ronen Bar will finish his term next month.Listen to the full report:https://omny.fm/shows/al-jazeera-news-updates/israel-fires-head-of-security-agency-us-ukraine-mi/embed?style=CoverClick here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 02:30 (02:30 GMT)Trump national security adviser voices support for Israel’s renewed Gaza assaultTrump administration National Security Adviser Mike Waltz has expressed his support for Israel’s renewed assault on Gaza, which has killed hundreds of Palestinians since Tuesday.“Israel has every right to defend its people from Hamas terrorists,” Waltz wrote in a post on X.“The ceasefire would have been extended if Hamas released all remaining hostages. Instead, they chose war,” he added.A Palestinian man carries the body of a young victim killed in Israeli overnight air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip on March 20, 2025 [Bashar Taleb/AFP]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 02:15 (02:15 GMT)Photos: Aftermath of devastating Israeli attack on Khan YounisPalestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 20, 2025 [Hatem Khaled/Reuters]Destroyed residential buildings in the village of Abasan al-Kabira, located outside Khan Younis city, after an Israeli warplane attack on Thursday [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu][Ali Jadallah/Anadolu][Ali Jadallah/Anadolu]A child looks on as people mourn Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Thursday [Hatem Khaled/Reuters]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 02:00 (02:00 GMT)WATCH: UN Security Council urges Israel to rethink Gaza strategyThe UN Security Council convened on Thursday to discuss the ongoing situation in Gaza, particularly the fate of Israeli captives.While Israel insists its military campaign will continue until all captives are released, several council members urged a different approach, emphasising the need for diplomacy and de-escalation.Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo reports from the UN headquarters in New York:https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_1112831723Play Video01:48UN Security Council urges Israel to rethink Gaza strategyClick here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 01:45 (01:45 GMT)Israeli military forces dozens of families to flee homes in TulkaremThe Israeli military has carried out raids in several locations across the occupied West Bank over recent hours, including:
  • The city of Nablus
  • The Darat al-Sir neighbourhood in the city of Tulkarem, where Israeli forces have forced more than 100 families to flee their homes
  • The villages of Arabona and Beit Qad near the city of Jenin
  • The Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus
  Translation: A Palestinian talks about the Israeli occupation army evacuating an entire residential building and expelling a large number of families in the city of Tulkarem.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 01:30 (01:30 GMT)First time in Israel’s history that head of Shin Bet intelligence service fired
  • Hamdah Salhut
  Reporting from Amman, JordanAl Jazeera is reporting from Amman, Jordan, because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.This is an incredibly unprecedented move in Israel. It is the first time that a government has voted to dismiss the head of its domestic, internal security services.What we know is that the Israeli cabinet convened very late in the evening – around 11pm local time (21:00 GMT) – and the vote was unanimous.However, Ronen Bar was not present in this meeting and instead submitted a quite scathing letter to ministers within the government noting that his presence in the meeting would not be because he didn’t actually find these provisions legal, and saying his dismissal from his post needed to happen in some sort of orderly structure with a lot of other people, who needed to be involved given just how senior his position is.He also noted that the Israeli prime minister is trying to evade a lot of different things, which means Netanyahu is trying to evade an internal investigation into the security failures that Israel had on October 7 and he has also tried to push forward his own political agenda.Ronen Bar said that Netanyahu wanted him to negotiate with mediators on a ceasefire deal in Gaza but without coming to any sort of deal. And he was side-lined from those talks about a month ago and, instead, replaced with one of Netanyahu’s confidants so that the Israeli prime minister could get his agenda on the negotiating table.This is surely an unprecedented step in Israeli history. It’s getting a lot of backlash from the opposition.Israeli Security Agency [Shin Bet] director Ronen Bar attends a memorial ceremony in connection with the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Israel, on October 27, 2024 [Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool via Reuters]Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 01:15 (01:15 GMT)Judge bars deportation of pro-Palestine Georgetown University studentWe have been reporting on the case of Badar Khan Suri, an Indian man studying at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, who has been detained by US immigration authorities and is facing deportation for allegedly spreading pro-Hamas propaganda.US District Judge Patricia Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, has now ordered US President Donald Trump’s administration not to deport Suri until the order is lifted.Suri’s lawyer welcomed Thursday’s ruling and called it “the first bit of due process Dr Khan Suri has received since he was snatched from his family Monday night” outside his home in Rosslyn, Virginia.Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown’s Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, is living in the US on a student visa and is married to an American citizen.His arrest comes amid the Trump administration’s efforts to deport foreigners accused of taking part in pro-Palestine protests, including Columbia University student and US permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_1112831725Play Video04:10What we know about the arrest of Mahmoud KhalilClick here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 01:00 (01:00 GMT)Deprived of supplies, Gaza’s hospitals ‘overwhelmed’ with injured from Israeli onslaught
  • Hind Khoudary
  Reporting from Al Aqsa Hospital, Deir el-Balah, central GazaHealth workers are overwhelmed and hospitals across the Gaza Strip are also overwhelmed.We are talking about 18 days of zero aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip. Not one single truck of medical supplies have been entering the Gaza Strip.Talking to doctors, they are saying that most of these injuries are very serious and most of the injured are children, women and the elderly.According to doctors, there is no basic medicines or medical supplies. We are talking about basic painkillers. We’re talking about anaesthesia and we are also talking about gauze.Doctors are saying that it is very hard and challenging to treat all of the wounded. Just in the past three days, hospitals across the Gaza Strip were calling for blood donations. They’re not only witnessing a lack and shortage of medical supplies but they are also short of blood units.According to the hospitals, they are saying that it’s not only medical supplies that is making the situation worse. But also the lack of fuel.Most of Gaza’s hospitals are at risk of collapsing and shutting down if they do not receive fuel in the coming days.Injured Palestinians wait for treatment at the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya following Israeli overnight air strikes in the northern Gaza Strip, on March 20, 2025 [Bashar Taleb/AFP]Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 00:45 (00:45 GMT)Netanyahu cabinet votes in favour of firing Shin Bet security chiefAs we previously reported, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a cabinet meeting on Thursday night in order to vote on the dismissal of Ronen Bar, the chief of Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency.Israel’s prime minister’s office has now confirmed that his cabinet has approved Bar’s sacking, with his final day slated for April 10. At the meeting, Netanyahu said he had “lost faith” in Bar since the Shin Bet had failed to prevent the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and accused Bar of being “soft” on captive negotiations, according to his office.The vote represents the first time in Israel’s history that a government has fired Shin Bet’s chief.Bar alleges the move stems from his refusal to meet Netanyahu’s demands for “personal loyalty”.His removal has caused an uproar among Israel’s opposition, with Avigdor Liberman, the leader of the Yisrael Beytenu party, slamming Netanyahu for “doing exactly what our enemies dream of – fighting the Shin Bet head”.Protesters opposing Bar’s sacking also clashed with police in front of Netanyahu’s office on Thursday.Translation: Israeli occupation police officers smash the windows of Israeli demonstrators’ cars in Jerusalem during a protest against the dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet and the resumption of the war on Gaza. Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 00:30 (00:30 GMT)Israeli fighter jets bomb targets near Damascus: ReportsIsraeli war planes have bombed military targets west of the capital Damascus, according to the TV Manar news outlet.There have been no reports of casualties so far.We will bring you more information when we have it.Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 00:15 (00:15 GMT)Israeli ground forces invade northern Beit Lahiya, southern Rafah without warning
  • Hind Khoudary
  Reporting from Al-Aqsa Hospital, Deir el-Balah, central GazaJust like the sudden air strikes three day ago – when the Israeli forces decided to attack Gaza – in two areas across the Gaza  Strip, in Rafah and Beit Lahiya, the Israeli forces suddenly invaded.According to Palestinians in Rafah and Beit Lahiya, the Israeli forces did not warn them. Did not throw leaflets or drop any warnings asking people to evacuate those areas. Suddenly, Palestinians found endless air strikes and artillery shelling attacking them.What you need to know is those areas have been invaded by the Israeli forces during the 470 days of fighting, and now the Israeli forces are back, stationed in the Shaboura area in Rafah and also in Beit Lahiya in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.Also, Israeli forces took over the Netzarim Corridor. This is a corridor that is between the south and the north of the Gaza Strip.Palestinians are still in shock. There are endless air strikes across the Gaza Strip at this moment and most of these air strikes are concentrated in Rafah, Beit Lahiya, Khan Younis and Gaza City.Click here to share on social mediaAdvertisementhttps://d08bd0bc4a55b1ca605f9f9dfe4c4fa8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-41/html/container.html
• 21 Mar 2025 – 00:07 (00:07 GMT)WATCH: Voices of Gaza – A father struggles with repeated displacement, poor conditions and financial hardshipIsrael’s renewed bombardment has caused mass displacement in northern Gaza, just weeks after hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had returned home.In Jabalia, father-of-six Khader Junaid struggles to find space for a tent in a school-turned-shelter, where he and his family now live next to the toilets amid flooding and disease.Junaid describes the exhaustion caused by his family’s repeated displacement, the unsanitary conditions, and the financial hardship they face, as he calls on ceasefire mediators to urgently reach a deal.Watch below:https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.688.0_en.html#fid=goog_1112831726Play Video00:57Voices of Gaza: A father struggles with repeated displacement, poor conditions & financial hardshipClick here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 00:04 (00:04 GMT)A recap of recent developmentsHere’s what you need to know:
  • The Israeli military launched a ground invasion of Rafah’s central Shaboura area in southern Gaza, while a second ground assault was carried out in Beit Lahiya in the north.
  • The assaults come amid Israel’s renewed bombardment of the Palestinian enclave, with Gaza’s media office saying at least 591 Palestinians have been killed over the past 72 hours.
  • EU leaders have deplored the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza, calling in a statement for the “immediate return to the full implementation of the ceasefire-hostage release agreement”.
  • Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has welcomed the approval of a record number of new housing units in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying Israel is “leading a revolution” in the area.
  • Israeli warplanes launched air strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, targeting a string of villages, in its latest violation of the fragile ceasefire with Hezbollah.
  Click here to share on social media
• 21 Mar 2025 – 00:00 (00:00 GMT)Welcome to our live coverageHello, and thank you for joining our live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza and the occupied West Bank.Follow this page for round-the-clock updates on the latest developments.You can find all our updates from Thursday, March 20, here.Palestinians recite a prayer over the bodies of victims of Israel’s overnight air strikes in front of the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, on March 20, 2025 [Bashar Taleb/AFP]Click here to share on social media

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

Reference Link:- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/3/21/live-israeli-attacks-kill-almost-600-as-troops-invade-south-north-gaza