- Qatar has accused Israel of facilitating “the deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people” and called on the international community to apply more pressure on Israel, saying it was “painful” that the delivery of aid was still an issue. Foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said “There are two and a half million people living in complete absence of health and emergency services. Aid should be freely provided without restrictions.”
- Israel’s military has claimed it struck “eight significant terror targets” in Gaza overnight which it said had been responsible for rockets fired towards the Israeli city of Ashkelon. The IDF also announced that two further soldiers had been killed during its ground operation inside Gaza.
- At least 29,954 Palestinians have been killed and 70,325 injured in Israel’s military assault on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-led health ministry in Gaza said in a statement on Wednesday. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
- Gaza’s al-Awda hospital has had to suspend all surgical operations after its operating theatres were destroyed.
- Families of some of the hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza have started a four-day march to demand their release. The route started at the site of the Nova music festival, scene of some of the worst atrocities during the 7 October attack, and will finish in Jerusalem.
- Israel’s military has said it has carried out air raids on what it described as “a Hezbollah weapons storage facility” and “a Hezbollah weapons manufacturing site” in southern Lebanon. Israeli media reported a building was damaged after rockets hit Israel’s northernmost city of Kiryat Shmona, and the Hamas Al-Qassam Brigades claimed it had launched 40 Grad missiles from southern Lebanon at military targets in northern Israel.
- Russian media is reporting that representatives of Hamas and Fatah will meet in Moscow on Thursday to discuss the possibility of a united Palestinian government across both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
- A group of more than 50 broadcast journalists have sent an open letter to the embassies of Israel and Egypt calling for “free and unfettered access” to Gaza for foreign media.
- The stricken Belize-flagged Rubymar, which was en route from the UAE to Europe via the Red Sea when she was hit by a Houthi attack on 20 February, has begun to sink.