Updates: Israel threatens to ‘expand’ Gaza war after surrounding Rafah

You can watch our video on how recording Israeli attacks is an act of resistance for Palestinians here.

Read our latest opinion piece on how the United States is proving to no longer be safe for international students who are pro-Palestinian here.

And follow all of our coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza here.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here is a recap of today’s main news:

• At least 20 people were killed in relentless Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since dawn in the north, central, and southern areas.
• The Israeli military said it completed the construction of what it calls the Morag Corridor, which cuts off the city of Rafah from the rest of Gaza and Egypt.
• Israel ordered residents of southern Khan Younis and central Nuseirat to leave immediately warning of imminent attacks “with great force”.
• Hamas said it fired three rockets from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory while the Israeli military said its air force intercepted them. No casualties reported.
• A Hamas negotiating team, led by senior official Khalil al-Hayya, arrived in Cairo for truce talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
• The armed wing of Hamas released a video showing captured Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander blaming the Netanyahu government for failing to free him.

A United States immigration judge has ruled that the deportation case against Mahmoud Khalil can proceed, a month after the Columbia University graduate student was detained over his involvement in pro-Palestine protests.

“Mahmoud was subject to a charade of due process, a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing and a weaponization of immigration law to suppress dissent,” one of his lawyers, Marc Van Der Hout, said in a statement after the hearing.

“This is not over, and our fight continues.”

Read the full story here.

A senior Russian diplomat described as “encouraging” the outcome of US-Iran talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme.

“At the end of today’s meeting in Oman, both the Iranians and the Americans called the talks that took place positive and constructive,” Mikhail Ulyanov, Russian ambassador to international bodies in Vienna, wrote on Telegram.

More than 60,000 children age five and under in Gaza face malnutrition, according to the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process.

Sigrid Kaag said the humanitarian aid sent to the region through the UN during the January 19 ceasefire reached those in need without any problems. But since March 2 “aid has not been allowed in”.

She highlighted under international law, Israel is obliged to ensure aid can be delivered to Gaza.

Kaag said Israel’s attacks on Gaza are “horrific not only for civilians but also for international aid workers”.

Roughly 10,000 Palestinians are currently detained in Israeli prisons – many without formal charges under what Israel refers to as administrative detention.

After their recent release, several detainees from Gaza and the occupied West Bank have shared testimonies of abuse, torture, and inhumane treatment while in custody.

Watch the video below:

A 23-year-old Palestinian man has been shot and wounded after Israeli forces raided the town of Tuqu, in the Bethlehem governorate, Wafa news agency reports.

Citing security sources, Wafa said the man was reportedly hit by live ammunition in the lower body. The seriousness of his condition is unclear.

Israeli troops have launched numerous incursions into the occupied West Bank since January, raising fears the army intends to seize more territory as it’s doing in Gaza.

In a statement, the Rafah municipality called Israel’s actions to cut off Gaza’s southernmost city from the world a “flagrant breach of international legitimacy”.

Israeli troops were deployed last week to the new “security corridor” referred to as Morag, the name of a Jewish settlement that once stood between Rafah and Khan Younis.

The army earlier ordered sweeping forced displacement orders covering most of Rafah, indicating it could soon launch another major ground assault.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Morag will be “a second Philadelphi Corridor,” referring to the Gaza side of the border with Egypt farther south, which has been under Israeli control since May 2024.

Israeli artillery has targeted the Batn as-Sameen area, west of Khan Younis city.

Earlier, we reported the Israeli army issued new forced displacement orders for several neighbourhoods in Khan Younis, warning of an imminent attack “with great force”.

Israeli officials say its devastating war will continue until the remaining 59 captives are freed and Gaza is demilitarised. Hamas insists it will free captives only as part of a deal to end the war and has rejected demands to lay down its arms.

The Israeli military says it completed the construction of what it calls the Morag Corridor, which cuts off the city of Rafah from the rest of Gaza, as it expanded its attacks on the southern part of the Strip.

The Israeli army’s Arabic language spokesperson on Saturday issued new forced displacement orders for several neighbourhoods in Khan Younis, warning of an imminent attack “with great force” in response to alleged Hamas rockets fired at Israel from the area.

Read the full story here.

US air strikes have targeted multiple locations in war-battered nation, including a vocational institute in the al-Sawma’ah district of al-Bayda governorate in central Yemen, which was struck five times.

In a separate attack, Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV channel said three strikes hit the al-Salheen area of Saada governorate in the west of the country.

More than 60 people have been killed in Yemen since Washington launched a military offensive on March 15 against Houthi forces. The Yemeni armed group had threatened to renew attacking Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea in response to Israel’s breaking of the ceasefire in Gaza.

As we reported earlier, an Israeli air strike targeted a house in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

At least three people have been confirmed killed and others wounded when the Shurab family’s home in the al-Manara neighbourhood was struck, Wafa news agency reported.

A number of people were also injured during the Israeli bombing of another home east of Khan Younis city belonging to the Abu Mustafa family, it said.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on the campaign trail has pledged to deport foreigners from Canada for “criminal hatemongering”, accusing pro-Palestinian “hate marches” of contributing to a spike in anti-Semitism.

“We will bring in tougher laws to target vandalism, hate marches that break laws [and] violent attacks based on ethnicity and religion,” Poilievre told reporters.

“Anyone who is here on a visitor visa who carries out law-breaking will be deported from this country,” he added, words echoing messaging from the Trump administration.

Poilievre was campaigning in an Ottawa electoral district contested by Liberal leader and Prime Minister Mark Carney, who this week drew the ire of Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu over “genocide” remarks on the war in Gaza.

Two Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a house in the customs police area east of Khan Younis.

An unspecified number of people were also wounded.

Israel said on Saturday it planned to expand its military offensive in Gaza after seizing a new corridor as part of a broader effort to take large parts of the war-battered Palestinian territory.

Israeli artillery shelling has targeted the town of Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis.

At least 20 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since the early hours, medical say.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says at least 50,912 Palestinians are confirmed dead and 115,981 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza that began in October 2023.

A spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza has spoken to Al Jazeera about the humanitarian situation in the war-torn enclave.

Here is a summary:

• The water crisis is severe with Israel closing the crossings.
• The destruction of infrastructure has exacerbated the water crisis.
• World Food Programme warehouses are running out of supplies.

Olga Cherevko, speaking from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, warned there’s a “massive shortage of water. Absolutely zero supplies have come in in over 40 days.”