Israel-Hamas war: Israeli bombs flatten mosque in ‘one of the worst nights yet’

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Israeli bombs have flattened a mosque and destroyed homes in Rafah during what residents describe as one of the worst nights of the bombardment so far.
The strikes were primarily conducted in the neighbourhoods of Al-Shaboura and El-Geneina in the south of Gaza city, according to reports in Palestinian media.
Dina al-Shaer, whose family was killed during a strike on his home, told Reuters news agency: “They took the people I love, they took a piece of my heart.”
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said 97 people had been killed and 130 wounded in the previous 24 hours of Israeli assaults, which residents said were the heaviest since an Israeli raid on the city 10 days ago.
Gaza authorities said the al-Farouk mosque in the centre of Rafah had been flattened, while four houses in the south of the city and three in the centre had also been struck.
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At least two Hezbollah fighters were killed and three others wounded in an Israeli drone strike on a residential building in south Lebanon on Thursday, a security source told news agency AFP.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and its arch-foe Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct 7.
An Israeli drone shot down two guided missiles at the building in Kfar Rumman, near south Lebanon’s Nabatiyeh, the security source said under conditions of anonymity. 
Kfar Rumman lies around 12 kilometres from the Israeli border.
הדירה שהותקפה בכפר רומאן בנבטיה https://t.co/rT9qUIeqdU pic.twitter.com/nu1kl9OLTy
Several European foreign ministers expressed their concern on Thursday about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the suffering of the hostages, and “the Israeli government’s plans for a possible ground operation in Rafah”.
In a joint statement released by the Swedish government, they said an Israeli military action in Rafah “would worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian situation and prevent the urgently needed provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance”.
They added: “This requires an immediate humanitarian pause that would lead to a sustainable cease-fire, the unconditional release of all hostages and the provision of humanitarian assistance.”
The signatures of 26 foreign ministers from European nations were included on the document.  
The continuous outbreak of infectious diseases in the Gaza Strip may ultimately cause more deaths among Palestinians than the ongoing Israeli military operations, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Thursday.
Richard Brennan, the regional emergency director at the UN health agency, told reporters in Cairo: “Infectious disease is a major concern for us in Gaza.
“WHO estimates that if we did have severe outbreaks of diarrheal diseases and respiratory infections and so on, there could potentially be more deaths due to disease outbreak than due to trauma.”
Mr Brennan added that WHO had confirmed 200,000 cases of diarrheal diseases in the region, an increase of more than 20 per cent compared to last year, alongside around 8,000 cases of hepatitis A and 200,000 respiratory infections. 
The UN regional director blamed the situation on poor sanitation, lack of access to clean water, and overcrowding in areas where displaced civilians have fled the conflict, with some 80 per cent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people having been driven from their homes.
Anti-Muslim hate incidents in the UK more than tripled following the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas, a monitoring group said Thursday.
Tell MAMA, a national project monitoring anti-Muslim incidents in Britain, recorded 2,010 such cases in the four months since Hamas’s Oct 7 attack on Israel, the largest recorded number in a four-month period, the organisation said in a statement. 
The latest figures were up from 600 incidents over the same period in 2022-2023, a rise of 335 per cent.
Iman Atta, the organisation’s director, said: “We are deeply concerned about the impacts that the Israel and Gaza war are having on hate crimes and on social cohesion in the UK.”
A UK-funded consignment of aid was on Thursday delivered to the Tal al-Hawa Hospital in northern Gaza by the Jordanian Air Force. 
Four tons of supplies were transported in the air-drop, including fuel, medicine and food. 
The hospital, located in Gaza City and established by the Jordanian Armed Forces, has treated thousands of patients since the start of the war.  
On Wednesday, Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, said: “Thousands of patients will benefit and the fuel will enable this vital hospital to continue its life saving work.
“However, the situation in Gaza is desperate and significantly more aid is needed – and fast. We are calling for an immediate humanitarian pause to allow additional aid into Gaza as quickly as possible and bring hostages home.”
Israel has asked Palestinians unaffiliated with Hamas to manage civilian affairs in areas of the Gaza Strip as part of a post-war administration test, a senior Israeli official told Reuters on Thursday. 
The official said the “humanitarian pockets” trial would also exclude anyone on the payroll of the internationally-recognised Palestinian Authority and would take place in districts of the Gaza Strip where Hamas had been expelled.
Hamas have condemned the plan as a means of Israeli reoccupation of Gaza and said it was doomed to fail. 
The official told Reuters on condition of anonymity: “We’re looking for the right people to step up to the plate, but it is clear that this will take time, as no one will come forward if they think Hamas will put a bullet in their head.”
They added that the plan “may be achieved once Hamas is destroyed and doesn’t pose a threat to Israel or to Gazans”.
 
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have introduced “submarine weapons” into their attacks on seagoing vessels, their leader said in a televised speech on Thursday. 
The Iran-backed group has said they are carrying out in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war.
Abdulmalik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi group, said: “Operations in the Red and Arabian Seas, Bab al-Mandab Starit, and the Gulf of Aden are continuing, escalating, and effective.” 
Palestinians with relatives in Israeli prisons have been deprived of visiting rights during the Israel-Hamas war, with some attempting to send messages to loved ones through radio programmes instead.
One greeting heard on the Palestinian radio show, Messages for the Prisoners, said: “Hello, this message is for my brother Islam. How are you, my brother?
“Your house is ready. When you get out, you will be all set to find someone to marry.”
The show on popular Palestinian station Radio Ajyal, based in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, features personal messages from families that often end with the sentence: “We hope you will hear these words.”
Campaigners say the number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails has swelled to around 9,000, from about 5,200 before Hamas’s Oct 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war.
The IDF said it is interrogating and detaining suspects in the town where three gunmen, who carried out a shooting at a West Bank checkpoint earlier on Thursday, lived. 
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the IDF said they were working in conjunction with Shin Bet and MGB forces to question individuals in the town of Za’atara, where one of the men who opened fire on motorists between Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem originated. 
The other two Palestinian militants came from a nearby village.  
The Times of Israel reported the IDF had also bolstered forces in the West Bank to prevent further attacks. 
Half of those killed in Israeli air strikes overnight on Gaza were women and children, according to reports by news agency AP. 
Health officials said 48 people had been killed in the recent bombardment from Wednesday, as concerns continue to mount over the worsening humanitarian crisis in the territory. 
The French navy has shot down two drones over the Red Sea where Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been attacking ships, the defence ministry said on Thursday, in the second such incident this week.
The navy, which has two frigates deployed in the area, detected a threat in the night of Wednesday to Thursday and “destroyed two drones”, it said.
It added that earlier this week it had downed two other drones overnight Monday to Tuesday.
The mother of a young Israeli man believed killed by Hamas asked if “there are any other hostages held by UN employees” during a press conference on Wednesday. 
Ayelet Samerano, the mother of Yonatan Samerano, who was reportedly killed after being dragged onto what appeared to be a United Nations jeep in surveillance footage from Oct 7, addressed those gathered at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
She said: “Does the UN hold my son? “Do they know where he is? Bring him back to me – are there any other hostages held by UN employees? Even as we’re speaking right now? Where is my son?”
Samerano, 21, was a DJ attending the Supernova festival when Hamas attacked. He initially escaped to Kibbutz Be’eri but is believed to have been killed when Palestinian militants stormed the community. 
CCTV footage showed his body being loaded onto a white SUV by two men, one of whom is thought to be a member of the United Nations Relief Work Agency, the Times of Israel reported. 
His family received confirmation of his death in December last year.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have banned ships wholly or partially owned by British, US or Israeli individuals or entities from crossing the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea, according to statements seen by Reuters. 
The announcement, made by an agency controlled by the Houthi rebels and sent to shipping insurers and firms from the group’s humanitarian operations centre, said ships sailing under these countries’ flags would also be blocked.
One person has been killed and eight wounded after a shooting in the West Bank.
Three gunmen opened fire at motorists at an Israeli checkpoint on the Route One highway between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim, The Times of Israel reported.
Emergency workers treated 12 people in total, including a man in his twenties, the local ambulance service reported.
Two women were seriously wounded, the head of Israel’s ambulance service Eli Bean told public broadcaster Kan this morning. One of the women, 23, was pregnant, national emergency services said. Police said officers shot dead two gunmen at the scene and wounded a third.
The attack comes after two people were killed at a bus stop in southern Israel on Friday by gunmen police suspect to be Palestinian.
The Israeli health ministry and Magen David Adom, the country’s national emergency service, have called for blood donations following the West Bank shooting on Thursday morning, the Times of Israel has reported.
In a statement, the ministry said: “Due to a shortage of blood for transfusions, the Health Ministry and the Magen David Adom’s blood services are calling for people to come and donate blood at the donation points throughout the country.”
The shooting left one dead and eight injured after three gunmen opened fire on motorists at a checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim.
Brett McGurk, US Middle East envoy, will meet with Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday for hostage negotiations and discussion of the IDF operation in Rafah, the Times of Israel has reported. 
The US diplomat is travelling to both Egypt and Israel this week as part of the ongoing talks between the US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar on the release of Hamas-held hostages. 
The talks will be followed by a meeting of Israel’s war cabinet, followed by a gathering of the full national security council.
The IDF has used fighter jets to carry out airstrikes on sites held by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, according to a post shared on their social media.
The targets included a military building in the Maroun al-Ras region and other Hezbollah infrastructures in both Kafr Kila and Khaim, the Israeli military reported in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The statement said the IDF attack came after Lebanese missiles were fired into Israeli territory, striking the locations of Kiryat Shmona and Kfar Yuval. 
מטוסי קרב תקפו לפני זמן קצר מבנה צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב מרון א-ראס ותשתיות טרור של הארגון במרחבים כפר כילא ואל-חיאם. כמו כן, טנק של צה”ל ירה במרחב אל ג’יבין.בשעות האחרונות זוהו שיגורים משטח לבנון לשטח ישראל במרחבים קריית שמונה וכפר יובל, צה”ל תקף את מקורות הירי pic.twitter.com/Rg7vNFs1IW
Hakan Fidan, the Turkish foreign minister, called for the international community to push for a two-state solution and an urgent ceasefire in Gaza during G20 talks in Brazil, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters news agency.
Fidan told G20 foreign ministers that the “savagery” in Gaza must stop and increased aid must be directed into the enclave during the meeting in Rio Janeiro on Wednesday, the source said.
Turkey has harshly criticised Israel for its attacks on Gaza, repeatedly backing measures for the country to be tried for genocide at the World Court. 
Unlike its Western allies and some Gulf nations, Turkey does not view Hamas as a terrorist organisation. 
Three men who carried out a shooting in the West Bank have been identified by Israel’s internal security service. 
Shin Bet named brothers Mohammed Zawahrah, 26, and Kathim Zawahrah, 31, alongside Ahmed Al-Wahsh, also 31, as the gunmen who fired on motorists at a Route One highway Israeli checkpoint earlier today.
Police said the assailants were “neutralised” at the scene between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim, where five cars were seen riddled with bullets.
Among those wounded was a 23-year-old pregnant woman who remains in a critical condition, according to emergency response service Magen David Adom and a spokesperson for the Shaare Tzedek Hospital. 
Brussels Airlines has announced it will restart direct flights to Israel from late March.
The carrier will begin by operating three flights per week from Brussels to Tel Aviv on March 24.
The decision, made after “careful consideration”, comes after United Airlines yesterday announced it plans to restart direct US flights to Israel early next month, becoming the first American carrier to resume service since the Oct 7 attack by Hamas.
The Chicago-based airline said it will resume flights from Newark to Tel Aviv.
A missile attack Thursday targeted a vessel transiting the Gulf of Aden, causing a fire on board, two maritime agencies said.
“A vessel was attacked by two missiles, resulting in a fire onboard,” the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said, adding that “coalition forces are responding”.
Security firm Ambrey also reported a fire aboard a Palau-flagged, British-owned general cargo ship following two missile strikes southeast of Yemen’s Aden.
The ship “appeared to be headed from Map Ta Phut, Thailand, and headed in the direction of the Red Sea”, Ambrey said.
“Merchant shipping is advised to stay clear of the vessel and proceed with caution,” it added.
Three people were killed in Israeli airstrikes overnight on Rafah, Palestinian media reported.
The strikes were primarily conducted in the neighbourhoods of Al-Shaboura and El-Geneina in the southernmost Gaza city, according to the reports.
The Hamas-run health ministry said that 99 people were killed across Gaza during the night, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct 7 to 29,410.
Another 69,465 have been injured since the war began, it reported.
The health ministry does not differentiate between civilians and fighters killed in its figures, and Israel has previously accused the department of inflating its figures.
Global efforts to negotiate a truce have so far come up short, but a US envoy is due in Israel on Thursday to try to secure a deal to release Israeli hostages captured by Hamas.
Hardline Israeli ministers have called for the distribution of guns and further West Bank settlements in response to this morning’s shooting.
Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, has announced the government will be “distributing more and more guns”, following a supspected terrorist attack in the West Bank that killed one man and left eight wounded.
Mr Ben Gvir also called for a clamp down on freedom of movement for Palestinians in the West Bank. 
“The right to life for Jewish residents in the West Bank is more important than the freedom of movement for residents of the Palestinian Authority,” he said on a visit to the scene of the shooting. ““I expect that there will be more and more checkpoints, that there will be restrictions.”
Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli finance minister, called for thousands of new housing units to be built in nearby settlements.
“The serious attack on Ma’ale Adumim must have a decisive security response but also an answer from the settlements,” he posted on Twitter.
“I demand the prime minister approve the convening of the higher planning council and immediately approve plans for thousands of housing units in Ma’ale Adumim and the entire region.”
The UK maritime authority has issued an “attack” warning following reports of an unspecified incident in the Red Sea.
Authorities are investigating the incident which occurred 70 nautical miles southeast of the Yemeni port city of Aden, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said.
Vessels are being advised to “transit with caution” and report any suspicious activity.
The incident comes amid a series of attacks in the Red sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait by Iran-backed Houthis in what they claim are acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
UKMTO WARNING INCIDENT 037 ATTACK Warnings – 2024 (https://t.co/5An1YH0JyE)#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/lVBoC1WYuj