22:00 South Africa Wednesday petitioned the International Court of Justice to impose fresh emergency measures on Israel over what it described as the "widespread starvation" occurring as a result of its Gaza offensive.
It is the second time Pretoria has asked the court for additional measures, its first request in February was denied.
South Africa said it was "compelled to return to the Court in light of the new facts and changes in the situation in Gaza, particularly the situation of widespread starvation" during the offensive.
Pretoria said its application may be "the last opportunity that this Court shall have to save the Palestinian people in Gaza already dying of starvation, and now 'one step' from famine," citing the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
20:30 Egypt has condemned the Israeli government's approval of the construction of 3,500 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.
This Israeli action demonstrates a commitment to continue the illegal settlement policy, disregarding pertinent United Nations Security Council resolutions and international law, the ministry statement said.
Egypt also emphasized that Israel's continued practices of annexation and occupation of Palestinian territories would not alter the legal, historical, and demographic status quo.
Such Israeli practices, Egypt said, should end, as they undermine efforts to reach a fair settlement of the Palestinian cause and attempts to deflect final status negotiations.
Furthermore, Egypt urged international parties to take a strong stance against Israeli settlement policy and affirm its illegitimacy.
The statement also reiterated Egypt’s call to the Security Council to fulfil its responsibility in halting Israeli violations of international law and international humanitarian law against the Palestinian people.
The Security Council should also ensure the protection of the Palestinians’ inalienable rights, while supporting the recognition of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, the Egyptian statement added.
Tel Aviv has planted 490,000 Israelis in illegal settlements among three million Palestinians in the West Bank.
19:30 The Washington Post reported that the US has quietly approved more than 100 separate military sales to Israel since the start of Israel's war on Gaza on 7 October.
The sales included thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker busters, small arms and other lethal aid, said the Post citing a classified briefing to Congress members by US officials.
The sales were made even as top US officials and lawmakers increasingly expressed deep reservations about Israel’s military tactics targeting civilians.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration and Congress approved a $14 billion military aid package to Israel.
18:30 Canada will restore funding to the United Nations Relief Agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), a government official tells The Associated Press, weeks after the agency lost hundreds of millions of dollars in support following Israeli allegations against some of its staffers in Gaza.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation first reported that Canada would restore funding and that International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen would announce the decision on Wednesday.
But the government official told the AP the announcement has been delayed, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to comment on the matter.
17:30 Egyptian and Emirati military aircraft conducted a new round of airdrop of tons of relief aid, food, and medical supplies over the northern Gaza Strip, announced Egyptian Armed Forces Spokesman Gharib Abdel-Hafez on Wednesday.
Several military transport aircraft from both countries took off from Arish Airport to execute the airdrops, Abdel-Hafez said, adding that this comes in continuation of the "effective Egyptian-Emirati efforts in providing humanitarian assistance to our Palestinian brothers."
Abdel-Hafez pointed out that the purpose of the most recent aid airdrops is to alleviate the severe humanitarian crisis faced by the residents of areas in the strip that are difficult to reach by land transportation.
16:00 International mediators were set for a fourth day of talks with Hamas in Cairo to reach a truce deal with Israel by the start of Ramadan.
Envoys from Hamas and the United States have been meeting Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Cairo to discuss a plan for a six-week truce, the exchange of dozens of remaining captives for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and a greater flow of aid to Gaza.
Egypt's Al-Qahera News said the talks would continue Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Biden warned Hamas to quickly agree to a truce and hostage release deal after his top diplomat Antony Blinken urged the group to accept an "immediate ceasefire."
"It's in the hands of Hamas right now," the US president told reporters from Maryland.
Israeli negotiators have so far stayed away from the Cairo talks, with Israeli media reporting that they boycotted them after Hamas failed to provide a list of living captives.
Senior Hamas leader Bassem Naim said details on the captives had not been "mentioned in any documents or proposals circulated during the negotiation process."
"The Hamas movement has shown the required flexibility to reach an agreement requiring a comprehensive cessation of aggression against our people," Hamas said in a statement.
"The movement will continue to negotiate through mediator brothers to reach an agreement that fulfils the demands and interests of our people."
However, Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official in Beirut, warned the group would "not allow the path of negotiations to be open indefinitely."
14:59 The World Health Organization (WHO) chief has called for more aid to enter Gaza, amid reports of children dying from malnutrition.
"Children who survived bombardment may not survive a famine," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
"Allow more aid for Gaza. Ceasefire."
14:50 Israel said a person was moderately injured after being stabbed in the Neve Yaakov suburb north of Jerusalem.
Israeli Channel 12 reports that police are currently combing the scene in search of the attacker.
14:13 Israeli airstrikes continue to claim the lives of Palestinians across Gaza. A child was killed by Israeli artillery shelling east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera reported that at least one person was killed and another injured following Israeli army bombings in Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis.
Additionally, an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Qarara area north of Khan Younis resulted in the deaths of two individuals and left several others injured.
Furthermore, an air raid targeted a residential apartment in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, leading to multiple casualties. Additionally, several Palestinians were injured in the bombing of a house south of Deir Al-Balah in the central region of Gaza.
14:10 Forced to flee her home by Israeli bombardment, Asmaa Ahmed gave birth in the dead of night in a darkened Gaza City school.
The doctor arrived just in time, working by the light of a mobile phone and clamping the umbilical cord with whatever medical staff he could find.
Her story, along with that of many others, highlights the plight of Gaza's 52,000 pregnant women facing a crumbling healthcare system amid the ongoing Israel war, and restrictions imposed on Palestinian movement across the strip.
New mothers confront the stark challenge of keeping infants alive in the besieged territory bereft of basics like food and water, to say nothing of heated tables for neonates and incubators.
The fast-deteriorating conditions have struck fear into the hearts of pregnant women like 21-year-old Malak Shabat, who has sought refuge in the southern Gaza city of Rafah after moving several times to escape the Israeli airstrikes.
"I'm so afraid of giving birth," said Shabat, whose due date is fast approaching.
Read about the full struggle here.
13:21 UNRWA, the UN relief agency for the Palestine refugees, says at least 15 children died from dehydration and malnutrition in Gaza.
"Many more are at risk," it added.
"Everybody we talked to, the first thing they asked for was food," said Scott Anderson, senior deputy director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza.
"The sense of hunger and desperation in the north of Gaza is almost palpable."
Children in northern Gaza held a funeral ceremony for a baby boy who succumbed to malnutrition amid the ongoing Israeli war, where starvation is a weapon.
12:30 A US destroyer shot down drones and a missile launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels toward it in the Red Sea, officials said Wednesday, as the Indian navy released images of it fighting a fire aboard a container ship earlier targeted by the Houthis.
The attack Tuesday seemed to be targeting the USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that has been involved in the American strikes against the rebels, who have launched attacks over Israel's war on the Gaza Strip.
Another suspected Houthi attack on shipping was reported on Wednesday.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesperson, acknowledged the attack but claimed its forces targeted two American warships, without elaborating.
The Houthis “will not stop until the aggression is stopped and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted,” Saree said.
11:48 The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has demanded the opening of all crossings to facilitate aid entry into the Gaza Strip, particularly in the north, which is still home to approximately 500,000 people.
In a statement, it warned that the Israeli occupation "is attempting to depopulate the northern Gaza Strip through escalating bombardment, exacerbating famine, and fomenting strife and chaos."
11:43 An Israeli soldier from the paratrooper brigade currently operating in Khan Younis published a story to his Instagram account bragging about the destruction of Palestinian homes.
"Citizens of Khan Younis, it was my pleasure to blow your houses up," he wrote.
11:30 An Israeli planning body has advanced permits for 3,500 new residential units in the occupied West Bank settlements near the occupied Jerusalem, government ministers announced according to Times of Israel.
In a post on X, Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, an extremist leader of the settlement movement, said that 18,515 units have been approved in the West Bank over the past year, a record.
“The enemies try to harm and weaken us but we will continue to build and be built up in this land,” he said.
10:56 Israel killed at least 30,717 Palestinians in Gaza during nearly five months of war, according to the most recent toll.
The latest toll includes 86 deaths over the past 24 hours, a Palestinian health ministry statement said, while 72,156 people have been wounded.
10:30 The United States circulated a newly revised draft United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate temporary ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all captives, a UN diplomat told CNN.
The third revision supports "an agreement for an immediate ceasefire of roughly six weeks in Gaza together with the release of all captives as soon as the parties agree," a copy seen by CNN and confirmed by the UN diplomatic source.
In its latest draft, the US emphasized support for a temporary ceasefire to "intensify diplomatic and other efforts aimed at creating the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities and lasting peace."
Earlier drafts of the US resolution called for a “temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practicable,” which fell short of the wishes of most other Security Council members.
The resolution would need at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes from any of the Security Council's five permanent members — the US, France, Britain, Russia, and China.
10:02 US President Joe Biden called on Hamas to accept a Gaza ceasefire deal by the holy month of Ramadan. At the same time, the Palestinian resistance group warned talks for a truce and captive release cannot go on "indefinitely."
"It's in the hands of Hamas right now," the US president told reporters from Maryland, while talks, boycotted by Israel, continued in Cairo.
"There's got to be a ceasefire because Ramadan — if we get into circumstances where this continues to Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem could be very, very dangerous."
He did not elaborate but the United States urged Israel last week to allow Muslims to worship at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem during Ramadan.
Hamas said in a statement that it had "shown the required flexibility to reach an agreement requiring a comprehensive cessation of aggression against our people."
The proposed deal would pause fighting for "at least six weeks", according to a White House statement on talks between US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and the Qatari prime minister.
09:50 Southeast Asian and Australian leaders called for a quick and lasting ceasefire in Gaza, describing the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory as "dire."
"We urge for an immediate and durable humanitarian ceasefire," said the leaders of 11 nations — including Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia — after days of diplomatic wrangling over the text.
"We call for rapid, safe, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access to all those in need, including through increased capacity at border crossings, including by sea," ASEAN and Australia said.
09:45 Chile said it will exclude Israeli firms from Latin America's biggest aerospace fair, to be held in Santiago in April.
"By decision of the Government of Chile, the 2024 version of the International Air and Space Fair (FIDAE), to be held between 9 and 14 April, will not have the participation of Israeli companies," a defence ministry statement said.
It did not give a reason, but the government of leftist President Gabriel Boric has been critical of Israel's "disproportionate" response in Gaza.
Chile, which has the largest Palestinian population outside the Arab world, recalled its ambassador to Israel in October 2023 to protest Israel's "unacceptable violations of international humanitarian law" in Gaza.
Mexico and Chile in January joined calls for an investigation by the International Criminal Court into possible war crimes in the Israeli war on Gaza.
09:30 Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump expressed his support for Israel's war on Gaza, in his most explicit comments yet on the fighting, as international pressure grows on the United States to rein in its ally.
"Yes," Trump responded when asked during an interview on Fox News if he was "in Israel's camp."
The interviewer then asked if the former president was "on board" with the way Israel was executing its offensive in Gaza.
"You've got to finish the problem," Trump responded.
09:00 The UN's World Food Programme said Israeli troops turned away an aid convoy at a checkpoint leading to northern Gaza.
A 14-truck food convoy – the first by WFP since it paused deliveries to the north on 20 February – was turned back by Israel after a three-hour wait at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, the WFP said in a statement.
“Although today’s convoy did not make it to the north to provide food to the people who are starving, WFP continues to explore every possible means to do so,” said Carl Skau, WFP’s deputy executive director.
After being turned away, the trucks were rerouted and later stopped by a large crowd of desperate people who looted the food, taking around 200 tons, from the trucks.
"Road routes are the only option to transport the large quantities of food needed to avert famine in northern Gaza," it added.
Read the full statement here.
In Khan Younis, the main city in the south of the strip which has been under Israeli bombardment and a ground offensive for three months, people described finding decomposing bodies lying in streets lined with destroyed buildings.
"We want to eat and live. Take a look at our homes. How am I to blame, a single, unarmed person without any income in this impoverished country?" said Nader Abu Shanab, pointing to the rubble with blackened hands.
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