Israel-Palestine live: Israel bombs Unrwa building in Gaza

Israel remains determined to push ahead with a plan to drive out more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians from Rafah  - one of the last cities in Gaza to have been spared the worst of the Israeli rampage throughout the rest of the Strip. 

Bloomberg is reporting that Israeli officials have acknowledged in private they have no precise strategy for how to do it, how long it will take, or where the people in Rafah will go.

The report quoted former national security adviser Yaakov Amidror as saying Israeli forces would move into Rafah in March, and estimating that the fighting would last until the end of April.

“We can then move to a configuration of smaller forces like we have in the north,” Amidror was quoted as saying.

Foreign Secretary David Cameron has been accused of dodging questions about UK policy on arms exports to Israel following an exchange of letters with the Foreign Affairs Committee chair.

Alicia Kearns, the Conservative MP who leads the influential body, said on Tuesday that Cameron's response to a 29 January letter had not answered all of her questions and raised further ones. 

“It is telling that the [Foreign Office] does not answer our question on how many times export licence applications for Israel have been referred to ministers in the last 12 months," Kearns commented. 

"If none have been referred, the government should say so.”

Read more: UK foreign secretary accused of dodging questions over arms exports to Israel

Israeli forces have fired tear gas canisters at the northern entrance to the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, according to local media, in footage verified by Al Jazeera.

The footage showes a military build-up east of the city.

The militry build-up follows the killing of an Israeli settler at Ma'aleh Adumim an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. 

The “playground politics” in the UK parliament vote on an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel was a “disgrace” said Oxfam’s head of policy and advocacy, Katy Chakrabortty. 

“It is a disgrace that there has been so much playground politics in parliament this evening, while so many lives are at stake," said Chakrabortty following Wednesday night’s events in parliament. 

"The people of Gaza can’t wait for our politicians to stop squabbling. Much of the country lies in ruins and Rafah, where many Palestinian families have been forced to flee, is under threat of a full-scale military offensive. Children in the north of Gaza are dying from hunger because no aid can reach them due to Israel’s continued assault and restrictions on access.

“An immediate and permanent ceasefire”, said Chakrabortty, is “the only solution to stop this devastating cycle of bloodshed, to ensure the safe release of hostages and to allow urgent aid to reach all of those in desperate need.

“Many MPs spoke passionately tonight of the horrors in Gaza and we thank those who raised their voices. The government must listen and support UN votes for a ceasefire and end the sale of arms to Israel,” she added. 

The death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza has increased to 29,410 since 7 October the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

At least 69,465 people have been wounded.

Scottish political leaders have condemned Israel for “ruthlessly exploiting” the principle of self-defence to “legitimise the slaughter of innocent civilians” in Gaza, as a UK parliamentary ceasefire debate descended into chaotic scenes on Wednesday.

The Scottish National Party (SNP), one of the opposition parties in the UK parliament, put forward a motion, which included condemnation of Israel for its "collective punishment" of the Palestinian people. 

But the debate and potential vote on whether Britain should join international demands for a truce unravelled, as procedural wrangling and a bitter split between opposition parties saw many lawmakers walk out in protest.

Read more: UK ceasefire debate turns farcical amid condemnation of Israel war on Gaza

Restrictions on Palestinians entering Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan by Israel are escalating regional tensions in the shadows of the war on Gaza, a Jordanian official has said, the Israeli broadcaster Kan reported.

“Any tension in the al-Aqsa Mosque will significantly increase the possibility of the conflict expanding to the entire region," the official added. 

Israeli authorities reported that one person was killed and eight people were injured – two seriously, three moderately and three lightly – by gunfire at the checkpoint of the entrance to Ma'aleh Adumim, an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.

An initial report indicates that three attackers apparently opened fire on passersby. 

Two of the attackers were shot by security forces and armed civilians at the scene, while the third initially fled and was “neutralised” a short while later during police searches of the area, police say.

Since October 7 at least 702 children were amongst the 4,528 Palestinian people injured across the occupied West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem, and in Israel said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).

The latest data, which was accurate up to Tuesday, also reveals that Israeli settlers carried out 573 recorded attacks against Palestinian people and their property during the same period.

In the most recent killing, undercover Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man on Tuesday after besieging a house in the Jenin refugee camp.

The Israeli practice of demolishing Palestinian-owned homes in the occupied territories has also led to the displacement of 830 people, including 337 children, with 131 homes demolished since October 7, according to UNOCHA.

Some 95 percent of the demolitions were reported in the Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarem refugee camps in the occupied West Bank.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest developments from Israel's war on Gaza, which enters day 139 today:

• Only four trucks carrying vital humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Wednesday, down from about 133 trucks in early February, according to the latest data from UNOCHA

• Satellite images show an area that Egypt is believed to be preparing near the Gaza border to accommodate Palestinians in case an Israeli offensive into Rafah prompts a mass movement of refugees across the frontier

• Three killed as mosque is destroyed in Israeli air attacks on Rafah

• At least 100 children amongst 394 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank since 7 October, says UN

Good evening Middle East Eye readers,

Israeli forces have killed at least 118 Palestinians and wounded 163 more over the past 24 hours in 11 "massacres", according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

This brings the Palestinian death toll in 137 days to more than 29,313, with over 69,300 wounded and 7,000 missing, who are believed to be dead and buried under rubble. '

The humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to spiral out of control said the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday, adding that “on a broader level, Gaza has become a death zone”.

In other developments:

• Khaled Shawish, a Palestinian prisoner has died in an Israeli jail, the Palestinian Detainees Affairs Commission said.
• An Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon's Majdal Zoun on Wednesday killed a woman and a girl, according to local media. The girl was identified as Amal Eldor, five. 
• The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that 14-year-old Saji Suleiman died of his wounds after being fatally shot by Israeli forces in the village of Azon in the occupied West Bank.
• Most Israelis don't believe an "absolute victory" in Gaza is likely, a new poll by the Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at the Israel Democracy Institute has shown. 
• The UK High Court has dismissed a legal challenge that sought the immediate halt of British arms exports to Israel. 
• Foreign Secretary David Cameron has been accused of dodging questions about UK policy on arms exports to Israel following an exchange of letters with the Foreign Affairs Committee chair.
• Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet, indicated there were “promising early signs of progress” concerning a new agreement to free hostages from Gaza.
• On Wednesday, the British Foreign Office announced that Britain and Jordan delivered four tonnes of aid via airdrop, including medicines, fuel and food to Tal al-Hawa Hospital in northern Gaza.
• Bill Burns, the CIA director, is set to visit Paris this Friday for discussions with officials from Qatar, Egypt and Israel, regarding the efforts to negotiate the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, according to an Axios report.

Bill Burns, the CIA director, is set to visit Paris this Friday for discussions with officials from Qatar, Egypt and Israel, regarding the efforts to negotiate the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, according to an Axios report.

The Israeli official told Axios that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to approve sending off an Israeli delegation to Paris for the meeting.

The official told Axios that certain members of the negotiation team would abstain from attending the meeting if Netanyahu instructs them to observe without engaging in negotiations, as was the case with the previous meeting attended by an Israeli delegation earlier this month.

The United States, along with its allies, will "continue to take appropriate action" to safeguard the Red Sea maritime routes against assaults by Yemen's Houthi group, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller announced on Wednesday.

"The United States condemns the reckless and indiscriminate attacks on civilian cargo ships by the Houthis. The Houthis are behaving like a terrorist organisation," he said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the British Foreign Office announced that Britain and Jordan delivered four tonnes of aid via airdrop, including medicines, fuel and food to Tal al-Hawa Hospital in northern Gaza.

"Thousands of patients will benefit and the fuel will enable this vital hospital to continue its life-saving work," British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in a statement.

The aid, financed by the UK, was dispatched by the Jordanian Air Force.

"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," Cameron said.