Daily News

The suffering in Gaza continues as Israeli attacks intensify, targeting residential neighborhoods in Gaza City and displacing tens of thousands within just a few days. Families are being forced to flee toward central and southern parts of the Strip, often walking for hours without transportation or safe shelter. Many are now living in tents purchased at high prices, facing harsh conditions and severe shortages of food and water.

A national day of action is underway in Israel - organised by the families of captives still held in Gaza. The mass action is expected to shut down schools, businesses and public transport across the country. Several rallies are planned, including a big demonstration in Tel Aviv. Protesters say they want to pressure the government into signing a Gaza ceasefire and captive release deal with Hamas. They fear Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to seize Gaza City will endanger the lives of their loved ones.

The focus of the Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling in recent days has been the Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods, a little east of Gaza City. There have been endless Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling, and continuous bombardment. People are saying the explosions do not stop. Zeitoun neighbourhood is being wiped off the map. This is the same exact scenario that took place in Rafah, in parts of Khan Younis, in Jabalia, in Beit Lahiya, in Beit Hanoon, where Israeli forces concentrate on that area. We’re seeing houses, schools, public facilities, government buildings – everything in Zeitoun is being destroyed.

Israel is using “bureaucratic measures to block aid, and the impact of that means that it will only deepen starvation in Gaza”, Bushra Khalidi, policy lead in the occupied Palestinian territory for Oxfam, a global charity, has told Al Jazeera. “Most major international NGOs since the second of March have been virtually unable to deliver a single truck of life-saving supplies, and we have millions of dollars of food, medicine and essential goods from multiple NGOs that are just standing there in the regional borders, just waiting to get in,” Khalidi said. “Israeli authorities are rejecting aid requests from these long-established NGOs. There’s been 60 plus such denials issued since July alone,” she said. “Registration rules are demanding, extremely intrusive and [include] unsafe disclosure of Palestinian staff lists, donor information and other sensitive data. Our view is that this violates international law, data protection laws [and] ultimately it puts staff at risk,” she said. “Gaza has become the most dangerous place for humanitarian workers to be in. We have seen systematic attacks on aid convoys, humanitarian trucks, warehouses, premises. So for us, refusing to comply with providing private information about our staff, it’s natural,” Khalidi said.

Israeli journalists held a vigil in Tel Aviv condemning Israel's killing of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza, accusing the military of systematically targeting media workers to suppress reporting. Oren Ziv, an Israeli journalist with +972 Magazine, explained that while most Israeli society and mainstream media celebrated these killings, a small group was protesting to show solidarity with Palestinian journalists working under impossible conditions. He argued Israel is deliberately silencing Gaza's last remaining journalists ahead of its planned assault on Gaza City, while also blocking international media access for nearly two years. Ziv criticized the Israeli media for completely aligning with the government's narrative, failing to report on Gaza's starvation crisis or civilian casualties, which leaves the public unaware of the war's brutality. Though small anti-war protests exist - including by refuseniks calling the war "genocide" - they're largely ignored by mainstream outlets. While polls show disturbing levels of public support for extreme violence against Gazans, Ziv noted most Israelis would accept a ceasefire deal for hostages, suggesting Netanyahu's renewed offensive aims to distract from this growing domestic pressure.

Two NGOs are bringing a case before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, against senior Israeli military commanders for allegedly authorising the murder of the four Al Jazeera journalists and two freelancers. The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) have named the Israeli chief of general staff and seven others. They also accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “presiding over a strategy to eliminate journalists.” Their case is based on investigations reconstructing the attack, intelligence reports and expert military analysis.

Ian Williams, President of the US Foreign Press Association, told Al Jazeera that Israel’s deliberate targeting of Al Jazeera journalists reveals a systematic effort to control Gaza’s narrative. He condemned Israel’s posthumous smearing of reporters like Al Jazeera’s slain correspondent Anas al-Sharif as “Hamas operatives” – a tactic he compared to McCarthyism, noting over 270 journalists killed. Williams accused Western media executives (not journalists) of complicity through censorship, drawing parallels to historical repression of figures like Nelson Mandela. The veteran correspondent warned Israel’s weaponisation of “terrorist” labels – while itself negotiating with Hamas – mirrors authoritarian strategies from the Spanish Inquisition. He hailed slain Palestinian journalists as martyrs for truth amid Israel’s information blackout. Williams emphasised journalism’s duty to show Israel’s actions, not just parrot its claims, calling Gaza the ultimate test of press freedom. Al Jazeera’s reporting, he stressed, remains vital to breaking this siege on truth.

Former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert criticised Netanyahu’s government for rejecting a two-state solution and prolonging the Gaza war, which he called militarily aimless. While condemning ministers’ calls to restrict aid to Gaza as "unforgivable negligence", he denied claims of a deliberate Israeli starvation policy, despite acknowledging widespread suffering. Olmert admitted to "war crimes" occurring but rejected accusations of genocide, arguing failures stemmed from incompetence, not state policy. He urged Palestinian Authority reforms to enable future talks, while backing domestic efforts to oust Netanyahu. Facing pushback on Israel’s aid restrictions, Olmert conceded systemic failures but dismissed UN and NGO allegations of intentional collective punishment. Olmert concluded by insisting context mattered, even as civilian casualties mount.

Gideon Levy, a journalist and columnist for Israeli news outlet Haaretz, has spoken about the Israeli army’s targeted killing of the Al Jazeera team in Gaza, including journalist Anas al-Sharif. Levy called Anas a “courageous journalist who enabled us to see what was going on in Gaza” and said his killing follows a longstanding pattern of Israel targeting journalists whose coverage it is threatened by. “Ever since the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin [in the occupied West Bank], you see that journalists are targeted,” Levy said. “It was true about Shireen Abu Akleh, even though the Israeli army denied it at first, as it usually does. It’s true until this very moment. The figures tell us the whole story, and the figures are horrifying.” However, Levy said the killings cannot stop the world from seeing the reality on the ground in Gaza. “Israel cannot shut up Gaza,” he said. “So, even if this is the intention, Gaza will not be less covered now because of those killings. Gaza is becoming such a horrible place that even Netanyahu cannot prevent the world from knowing.”

Ahmed Al-Najjar, speaking from Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, has paid tribute to five Al Jazeera staff killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City, describing it as the most devastating loss the enclave’s journalist community has faced.