Israel kills at least 61 in Gaza as Hamas mulls Trump ceasefire

Pro-Palestine flotilla heading towards Gaza ‘harassed by Israeli naval boats’

GAZA: Israel on Wednesday blocked the last remaining route for Palestinians living in south Gaza to access the north as it continues to force hundreds of thousands of people out of Gaza City.

In a statement, the military said it would close Al-Rasheed Street to people moving north from 9 am GMT, only allowing people to flee to the south from its brutal offensive.

At least 61 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Wednesday morning, most whom were in Gaza City, according to medical sources. Seven emergency workers were injured in Israeli shelling while trying to rescue people trapped in a school in the Zeitoun area of the city.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Gaza City in recent weeks as Israeli warplanes intensify a punishing air campaign and ground troops close in on the city centre. Israeli forces have razed several suburbs to the ground and levelled dozens of high-rise residential blocks.

This comes amid continuing uncertainty about the fate of the Trump administration’s peace plan, as Israeli officials downplay the likelihood of withdrawing from Gaza and rule out a Palestinian state.

Meanwhile, A pro-Palestinian flotilla heading to Gaza has said it has been approached and harassed by Israeli naval boats that jammed one of its lead vessels’ communication systems as Italy and Greece reiterated calls for Israel to guarantee the safety of those onboard.

The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), carrying about 500 people including the climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau, said it had an encounter with Israeli navy vessels that circled the fleet’s “lead boat for around six minutes” while remotely disabling its communication systems.

“In the early hours of this morning, Israeli occupation naval forces launched an intimidatory operation,” it said in a statement. The flotilla was on Wednesday north of Egypt about 140 miles (220km) away from Gaza, where previous attempts have been intercepted in an area the activists consider to be a “danger zone”.

One of those onboard the lead boat, the Turkish activist Metehan Sarı, told the Anadolu news agency that Israeli navy ships came within 5 to 10 metres of it in the early hours of Wednesday. “This was one of the biggest acts of harassment we have faced so far. They tried to scare us, but we weren’t afraid,” he said.

In a joint statement on Wednesday from their foreign ministers, Italy and Greece called on Israel to “ensure the safety and security of the participants and to allow for all consular protection measures”. It also restated a call for the activists to hand over the humanitarian aid onboard to the Catholic church for it to distribute, which the organisers have rejected, saying their intent is to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza.

The naval blockade was imposed in 2009 by Israel, an intensification of its 2007 blockade of Gaza in response to Hamas seizing control of the territory. It has been condemned on numerous occasions by the United Nations, which has called it “a direct contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law”.

The convoy is being shadowed by a Spanish naval ship providing cover in case of drone attacks. Until Tuesday, it was also escorted by an Italian warship that, according to organisers, offered participants the chance to abandon their vessels.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for Palestine, criticised the Italian withdrawal. “As the Flotilla prepares to enter Gaza waters with their humanitarian mission, the Italian government prepares to abandon them, leaving Israel free to commit further violations, and carry on the genocide undisturbed,” she said in a post on X.

Late on Tuesday night, the Spanish government said it had contacted the flotilla and “urgently recommended” that it did not enter Israel’s declared exclusion zone for the safety of everyone involved. Government sources in Madrid said that while the flotilla’s mission was “laudable and legitimate”, the lives of everyone in it had to be the priority. Monitoring Desk