35 killed as Israel expands ‘security zone’ in northern Gaza

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JERUSALEM: Israeli troops were expanding their control of ground in northern Gaza, the military said on Friday, days after the government announced plans to seize large areas with an operation in the south.

Meanwhile, Gaza health authorities said the Israel military killed at least 35 Palestinians on Friday, most in southern areas of the enclave.

Soldiers carrying out the operation in Shejaia, a suburb east of Gaza City in the north, were letting civilians out via organised routes, as troops moved in to expand the area defined by Israel as a security zone in Gaza, a statement said.

Images circulating on social media showed an Israeli tank on Al Muntar hill in Shejaia, in a position that gave it clear sight over Gaza City and beyond to the shoreline. Shelling on the eastern side of Gaza was non-stop, a local health official said in a text message.

Pakistan calls on UNSC to act to end Palestinians’ suffering

Where Israeli forces moved in, hundreds of residents had already left a day earlier, carrying belongings or loading them on to vans or donkey carts, after the military issued the latest in a series of evacuation warnings that now cover around a third of the Gaza Strip, according to the United Nations.

Israel resumed its operation in Gaza with a heavy series of air strikes on March 18 and sent troops back in after a two-month pause during which 38 prisoners were returned in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Efforts at restarting negotiations, brokered by Egypt and Qatar, have stalled. “There are currently no contacts,” a Palestinian official close to the mediation effort told Reuters.

Over the past two weeks, more than 280,000 people have been displaced in Gaza, according to UN humanitarian agency OCHA, adding to misery for families already repeatedly displaced over the past 18 months.

“I swear to God that I am staying in the street, there is no shelter here,” said 40-year-old Hemam Al-Rifi, who said members of his family were killed when the Gaza City school complex they were sheltering in was hit by a deadly strike on Thursday. “My house was destroyed at first, and I stayed in a tent in a school, not a classroom, and now I don’t know where to go.”

In Gaza City, local people said Israeli strikes had hit a water desalination plant that was vital in providing clean drinking water. Aid supplies have been cut off for weeks.

Hundreds killed

On Friday, Gaza health authorities said at least 35 Palestinians were killed, most in southern areas of Gaza. Among the dead were 19 members of one family killed when a strike demolished the three-storey building where they were staying.

The military said its forces killed a Hamas financial official called Saeed Ahmad Abed Khudari, who it said was a key facilitator of funding the group in Gaza City.

Pakistan implores UNSC to act

A senior Pakistani diplomat has warned that the UN Security Council was failing to provide relief to the Palestinians who continue to suffer in occupied territories from deadly Israeli bombings, starvation, displacement and collective punishment, as he sounded a clarion call for action to redress the situation.

“What is happening before our eyes is a travesty — it is unacceptable. The council must act,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, told the 15-member council, which met again in emergency session on Thursday to discuss the worsening situation in occupied Palestinian territories.

“We cannot be part of a body that remains a mere spectator and does nothing. We refuse to be part of this moral bankruptcy and … erosion of humanity,” he said.

“Our failure (to act) not only undermines this institution but also erodes the international order built on the UN Charter,” the Pakistani envoy said.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2025