Updates: UN says ‘nothing’ entering Gaza due to Israeli blockade

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To learn about what cutting off Gaza’s electricity means for the enclave, read this article.

Read more about the Palestinian student detained by US immigration authorities over his activism, here.

And to follow all our updates on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, go here.

We’ll be closing this live page soon. Before we go, here’s a quick recap of today’s events:

• Hamas says Israel has not delivered its commitments under the Gaza truce to pull out from the Philadelphi Corridor, the area along the border between the enclave and Egypt.
• UNRWA chief Lazzarini rejects Israel’s claim that other organisations could replace it in Gaza, stressing that only a Palestinian state “institution” could do it.
• The Palestinian Authority says its forces killed a Palestinian fighter in Jenin, whom it described as an “outlaw”; Hamas calls the incident “a dangerous escalation”.
• Negotiators have headed to Doha for talks to save the fragile Gaza ceasefire deal.
• Several countries and rights groups have condemned Israel’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza.
• Yemen’s Houthis have said they stand by the looming deadline they gave Israel, pledging to resume Red Sea attacks if the blockade on Gaza is not lifted.
• Syria’s official news agency reports that Israeli jets have bombed the vicinity of the villages of Jabab and Izraa near Deraa in the south of the country.

Democratic Senator Peter Welch slams Israel for cutting off electricity and humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“First, Prime Minister Netanyahu blocked all humanitarian aid from reaching civilians in Gaza,” Welch wrote in a social media post.

“Now, his government is cutting off electricity to the more than 2 million people there. These actions won’t make Israel safer. They will only result in more suffering and death.”

The Qatari Foreign Ministry has condemned Israel’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza as a “blatant violation” of international humanitarian law, saying that the Israeli blockade aims to “impose starvation” on Palestinians in the territory.

“In this context, the ministry stresses the need for the international community to move urgently to provide the necessary protection for the Palestinian people,” it said in a statement.

Amnesty International has condemned Israel’s decision to cut off electricity to a plant that provides drinking water to Palestinians.

“Israel’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza’s main operational desalination plant, a week after it halted the entry of all humanitarian aid and commercial supplies, including fuel and food, violates international humanitarian law and is further evidence of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip,” the group said in a social media post.

The UN’s Genocide Convention defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”, including killings and measures to prevent births.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has denounced “in the strongest terms” the killing of a fighter by Palestinian Authority (PA) forces in the northern occupied West Bank.

A PIJ statement on Telegram called the killing “a heinous crime committed by the security services” of the PA.

The incident “added a new bloody chapter to the shameful record of security coordination”, the PIJ said, referring to cooperation between the PA and Israel.

Earlier, the PA confirmed it killed Abdul-Rahman Abu Muna in Jenin.

The White House has used the Hebrew greeting “shalom”, meaning peace, to taunt Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian student who was arrested over his activism against Israel’s war on Gaza.

“SHALOM, MAHMOUD,” the White House said in a social media post.

Several progressive Democrats have spoken out against the detention of Khalil, saying that it sets a dangerous precedent in violating free speech rights to silence criticism of Israel.

“Free Mahmoud Khalil,” the Senate Judiciary Democrats wrote on X. The White House commented on the post, quoting Trump. “This is the first arrest of many to come,” it said.

The Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee also appeared to celebrate Khalil’s arrest, invoking the greeting “shalom” as well.

The Israeli military says it spotted and monitored a drone crossing into Gaza from Israel.

“An air force aircraft recently attacked a number of suspects who were on their way to pick it up in the southern Gaza Strip,” the Israeli military said.

It is unclear what the drone was carrying.

Philippe Lazzarini, the chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has addressed a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland on Gaza’s hunger crisis.

Lazzarini’s remarks come following Israel’s decision to ban UNRWA and stop all humanitarian aid from entering the Strip.

Watch our video report below:

The Palestinian Authority says it was pursuing Abdul-Rahman Abu Muna, whom it described as an “outlaw” in Jenin for shooting towards security forces in the area.

The PA security forces claimed in a statement that Abu Muna “opened fire at the force who shot back at the source of the fire in accordance with the rules of engagement”.

The statement confirmed that Abu Muna was injured and later died in the hospital.

The PA vowed to “continue to perform its duties of protecting security and order and pursuing all outlaws”.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency cites President Masoud Pezeshkian as saying that the country is seeking de-escalation, but “will respond powerfully to any threat against its security and interests”.

According to the report, Pezeshkian held a phone call with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and said that Israel is “the root cause of tension and crisis through its initiation of war and genocide against the oppressed Palestinian people”.

The Palestinian group accuses PA forces of “directly” opening fire and killing Palestinian fighter Abdul-Rahman Abu Muna in Jenin.

Hamas said the incident “represents a dangerous escalation and an insistence on shedding Palestinian blood, and confirms the bloody repressive approach of the [Palestinian] Authority’s security forces, which has claimed the lives of dozens of martyrs”.

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report, citing sources, that Palestinian Authority security forces have shot and killed a fighter involved in armed resistance against Israel in the occupied West Bank.

The report identified the slain fighter as Abdul-Rahman Abu Muna.

Democrat Madeleine Dean calls on the warring parties in Gaza to “faithfully” participate in talks to reach the second stage of the ceasefire.

“Humanitarian conditions in Gaza are dire. Innocent Palestinians must be allowed basic necessities — food, water, fuel, medical attention,” Dean wrote in a social media post.

“Gazans have been living without steady access for more than a year.”

Caspar Veldkamp says Israel’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza is concerning.

“Blocking humanitarian aid and basic services such as electricity is against international law,” the Dutch foreign minister wrote in a social media post.

“It is important that the ceasefire negotiations lead to a swift result. For the release of all hostages, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, and an end to the violence.”

The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has rejected Israel’s assertion that other organisations could replace it in Gaza, insisting that only a Palestinian state “institution” could take over.

Israel has banned UNRWA from operating in Gaza, and UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini hit back after Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Daniel Meron, told reporters that his country was “working to find substitutes to the work of UNRWA inside Gaza”.

But Lazzarini said only a Palestinian state can replace UNRWA.

“It can’t be an NGO, it can’t be another UN agency,” Lazzarini said, adding: “The only viable alternatives are capable Palestinian institutions … in a Palestinian state.”

UNRWA provides vital services, including healthcare and education, to millions of Palestinian refugees across the Middle East.

Haaretz quotes Eyal Zamir as telling army commanders: “We must be prepared for 2025 to be a year of war.”

Zamir, a former director general of the Defence Ministry, was appointed this month to lead the Israeli military.

A medical source has told our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues that three Palestinians have been wounded when Israeli soldiers shot at them in the city of Dura, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

The Wafa news agency also reported the violence, saying Israeli forces stormed Dura, fired live bullets, and used stun grenades and “toxic gas”. It added that the Palestinian Health Ministry described the wounded Palestinians’ conditions as “stable”.

The agency said dozens of Palestinians were affected by the gas used by the Israeli army and were treated at the scene.

Earlier, Wafa, citing the Palestine Red Crescent Society, reported that two other Palestinians were wounded by Israeli army fire in the town of Idhna, west of Hebron.