The Israeli army has told people to leave in an area of northern Gaza close to where Israeli tanks made a new incursion overnight. Listen to a Daily podcast on how the conflict is worsening Yemen’s humanitarian crisis as you scroll.
Wednesday 24 April 2024 08:19, UK
Welcome back to our coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
Yesterday, Israel ordered new evacuations in an area of northern Gaza which it says is a “dangerous combat zone”.
It came amid reports of mass graves discovered in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza.
The IDF said the claim that troops buried Palestinian bodies was “baseless and unfounded”.
Here are the other key developments over the last 24 hours:
We’ll be back tomorrow morning with more updates on the Israel-Hamas war.
The Israel-Hamas war had left students in the US divided, with protests and arrests taking place across the country’s educational establishments.
It’s clear that positions are entrenched, views are polarised and emotions are very high.
Here, our US correspondent Mark Stone speaks to protesters…
People in Khan Younis who have been searching for their loved ones in the mass graves discovered in Khan Younis have been speaking to the Sky News team on the ground.
Moayed Suleiman Mahmoud Mustafa, 14, whose family was killed in airstrikes, told our team that he found his mother’s body in one of the graves and buried her yesterday.
He is still looking for his sister, father and his cousin.
The teenager said: “I only found my mother, we buried her yesterday. I am now looking for my sister, my father and my cousin.
“We took my mother from here and we buried her in our cemetery.”
People in Gaza “want to rest”, he said.
“We don’t want to be living like that, we want to live,” he added.
“There is no life. This is all for nothing. I feel sad, lonely, alone in the world.”
Reem Zaydan said she was still searching for her son and believed he had been killed in January
“The day my son was martyred, I knew he was martyred without anyone telling me. A mother’s instinct,” she said.
“My son was displaced in an area, and he used to always contact us after any strike or anything. When Khan Younis in its entirety was besieged, he did not call us, unlike every other time.
“I have been coming here for days. Every day, I come from 6am until 2pm. I come from Rafah city and head to the same place. Once they finish their work, I go home.”
Karima al-Ras, 55, who lives in Khan Younis, said she had found her son after two months of searching for him.
“Today, I came at 6am when I found my son, Ahmad,” she said.
“His father died when he was 12, and I raised him. I gave him an honourable life. I made him study mechanical engineering. Cars would come to our doorsteps and he would fix them. Ahmad was beloved by everyone.”
The IDF has called claims they buried Palestinian bodies “baseless and unfounded”.
The military said the operation in the area of Nasser Hospital was to locate hostages and missing persons, and bodies “buried by Palestinians in the area of Nasser Hospital were examined”.
“The examination was carried out respectfully while maintaining the dignity of the deceased. Bodies examined, which did not belong to Israeli hostages, were returned to their place,” the IDF said.
By Tom Cheshire, Ben van der Merwe and Sam Doak, Data and Forensics Unit
Israel has denied accusations that it buried Palestinians in a mass grave, following the discovery of more than 300 bodies in the courtyard of a Gaza Strip hospital.
The discovery of hundreds of bodies in the courtyard of Khan Younis’s Nasser hospital prompted the Hamas-run government to accuse Israel of digging the graves “to hide its crimes”.
The UN says it is investigating claims that some of the bodies had their hands bound and were stripped of clothing.
You can read the Data and Forensics team’s full investigation here…
The US Senate has advanced a $95bn aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan towards the final vote, the final step before sending it to the White House for Joe Biden to sign into law.
One of the bills provides $61bn for Ukraine, a second $26bn for Israel and a third $8.12bn “to counter communist China” in the Indo-Pacific.
It comes after the House of Representatives abruptly ended a months-long stalemate and approved the assistance in a rare Saturday session.
Joe Biden has promised to sign it into law as soon as it passes the Senate.
The risk of famine throughout Gaza, especially in the north, is “very high,” Washington’s special regional envoy for humanitarian issues has said this evening.
David Satterfield told reporters that Israel must do everything possible to facilitate efforts to avert a famine and called for more to be done to get aid to those in need, particularly in the north.
For context: Israeli strikes intensified across northern Gaza today and Israel ordered new evacuations in the area.
An Israeli army spokesperson said people are being urged to flee from the Beit Lahia area in the region’s northeast.
The area lies a short distance from Beit Hanoun city, where Israeli tanks made a new incursion overnight.
Benjamin Netanyahu is “a failure who belongs in jail”, the Palestinian president has said.
Earlier, Mr Netanyahu said on X he had hosted soldiers for the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover.
He said an empty chair had been left in the centre of the table and on it were the photos of all 133 hostages who are still in Hamas captivity.
“I am committed to returning all the abductees home,” he said.
Responding, Mahmoud Abbas said: “Stop lying, Netanyahu.
“You have failed to return someone in more than 200 days. Your government has failed. You failed the Israeli people. You are a failure and belong in jail.”
Palestinian health authorities have accused Israeli forces of killing a Palestinian man and wounding two people, including a child, during raids in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho and adjacent refugee camps.
The man had been standing outside his house in Jericho city, watching troops as they carried out a raid but had not been involved in any fighting, according to his uncle.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA said the two wounded, including a child, were hit by bullets during a separate incident in the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp, just outside Jericho.
We have been reporting today on mass graves discovered near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Our Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall says now that Israeli forces have withdrawn from some areas in Gaza people are starting to uncover many of the dead.
“There have been accusations, including from the United Nations, that some of the bodies were found bound and gagged – the implication being that Israeli forces might have executed some of the Palestinians,” he says.
“However, the Israeli military – in a statement released to us – has strongly refuted that. They’ve said it is baseless and unfounded.
“They say in some limited cases they dug up some bodies when intelligence led them to believe that some of the hostages might have been buried there.
“Having not made any of those discoveries they then respectfully reburied the bodies.
“I would add to that and say our team in Gaza has been to the site of the mass grave in recent days and we ourselves have not heard any accusations that any of the bodies have been found bound and gagged.”
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free