At least four people killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza despite ‘ceasefire’
Israeli forces keep advancing further into western Gaza, slowly expanding the area of their control in the east.
Mourners
weep near the bodies of a woman and her two children, at a hospital in
Gaza City on April 25, 2026, who were killed when Israeli artillery
struck homes near Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza
[AFP]
Israeli attacks have killed at least four Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, according to medics and local health officials, despite a “ceasefire” agreed last October.
Medics
said one person was killed in an air attack near the central village of
al-Mughraq, while two others were killed by gunfire and shelling near
Gaza City. In southern Gaza, health officials said Israeli forces shot a
40-year-old woman dead in Khan Younis.
This
comes after the Israeli military claimed, without providing evidence,
that its forces had killed several Hamas fighters in Gaza since Friday.
Al
Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Gaza City, said three
Palestinians were shot by a quadcopter drone near the al-Kuwait
roundabout and close to the so-called Netzarim Corridor, an area
dividing northern and southern Gaza.
“There have also been daily
violations and breaches against people here – daily air strikes, drones
constantly buzzing in the sky, and the yellow blocks are advancing
further into the Gaza Strip,” she said, referring to markers delineating
the area controlled by the Israeli army.
Her comments came as
Israeli forces continued expanding the “Yellow Line”, where Israel has
partitioned Palestinian territory into separate zones. An eastern area
covering about 60 percent of the enclave is under Israeli military
control, while Palestinians, most of them displaced, have been crowded
into the remaining western areas.
“This means more people are
going to be shot. Whoever crosses these yellow blocks is being shot and
killed, restricting freedom of movement.”
Food, medicine shortages
Khoudary said shortages of food and medicine remained severe amid Israel’s blockade on aid entering the Strip.
“Normal
medications are not available, so people suffering from cancer or
diabetes are struggling to secure treatment,” she said. “When the
ceasefire started, it was meant to be 600 trucks a day, but what is
entering is only around 150 to 190 trucks. People here are saying they
don’t have food.”
At least 800 Palestinians have been killed since
the “ceasefire” took effect, according to the Palestinian Ministry of
Health. Israel says Palestinian fighters have killed four of its
soldiers during the period.
More than 72,500 Palestinians have
been killed since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023,
most of them civilians, according to Gaza’s health authorities.
Iran
and the United States have made progress in negotiations but are still a
long way from a deal, according to Iran’s parliament speaker and chief
negotiator – amplifying concerns about a possible return to war when
their ceasefire is set to expire on Wednesday.
In a nationally
televised address on Saturday night, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that
despite “progress” with the US, “many gaps and some fundamental points
remain… we are still far from the final discussion”.
On
Sunday, Iran’s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, said that US President
Donald Trump cannot justify depriving Tehran of what he called its
‘nuclear rights’.
“Trump says Iran cannot make use of its nuclear
rights, but doesn’t say for what crime. Who is he to deprive a
nation of its rights?” Pezeshkian was quoted as saying by the Iranian
Student News Agency.
The future of Iran’s nuclear programme and the Strait of Hormuz are key sticking points in the negotiations.
The latest comments from the political leadership came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reimposed restrictions
on the Strait of Hormuz, less than 24 hours after reopening it. The
reversal, it said, was due to the continuing naval blockade of Iranian
ports by the US.
Ghalibaf, one of Iran’s top negotiators, called
Washington’s blockade “ignorant” and “foolish”, saying Tehran would not
allow others to transit the strait if its own ships were blocked.
He also said Iranian forces are “fully prepared” for the US to resume hostilities at any moment.
Al
Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said Iranian officials
are using the strait, through which 20 percent of globally traded oil
normally transits, “as a pressure point” in negotiations, calling it
perhaps the “most important bargaining chip”.
2:48
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02:48
Strait of Hormuz tensions rise: Iran tightens control as us blockade continues
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What would it take for the Iran-US talks to succeed?
‘Start dropping bombs again’
Mediators have been pushing for a second round of US-Iran peace talks, after a first round in Islamabad ended on April 12 with no deal.
The White House had said another round would likely be held in
Islamabad. But Iran’s deputy foreign minister said on Saturday that no date could be set before the two sides agree on a “framework of understanding”, accusing Washington of maintaining a “maximalist” stance.
Donald
Trump gave a series of mixed remarks on Saturday, saying Iran “got a
little cute” on the Strait of Hormuz and that the US would not be
“blackmailed”. The president added that US and Iranian officials
remained in contact and negotiations were “working out really well”.
Earlier in the day, Trump said the US would “have to start dropping bombs again” if no deal was reached by Wednesday, when the ceasefire is due to end.
0:38
Trump: Iran ‘can’t blackmail us’ over Strait of Hormuz
Al Jazeera’s John Holman, reporting from
Washington, DC, said Trump was likely trying to frame the latest setback
in the Strait of Hormuz as “a bump in the road rather than anything
definitive”.
“What we don’t have so far is whether there’s going
to be a second round in the negotiations, as was thought just a day or
two ago,” said Holman.
Abbas Aslani, a senior fellow at the Centre
for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran, said Iran is facing a
“dual track” of negotiations and pressure from the US.
“The first
track was negotiations, but Iran has been saying that if the US is
genuinely seeking an agreement, why are they engaging in a naval
blockade, why are they adding sanctions, and why are they intensifying
their military presence in the region?” he asked.
“There are no signs of extension of these agreements, and nobody’s talking about extending this ceasefire,” he told Al Jazeera.
US going to Islamabad on Monday for Iran negotiations, Trump says
Donald Trump said on Truth Social that his representatives were going to be in Islamabad on Monday night for more negotiations.
“We’re
offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it
because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every
single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran,” Trump wrote.
Iran rejects US peace talks, Iranian media reports
Iran
has reportedly rejected participation in a second round of peace talks
with the US in Pakistan, citing “Washington’s excessive demands,
unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated
contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade, which it considers a
breach of the ceasefire”, according to the official IRNA news agency.
This
follows reports that the White House planned to send a delegation, led
by vice-president JD Vance, to renew negotiations in Islamabad on
Monday.
Israeli fire on Sunday has killed one Palestinian and wounded three others in central Gaza, health officials told the Associated Press.
Palestinians
in Gaza have reported that Israeli strikes have intensified over the
past few days across the enclave. Since a fragile ceasefire deal was
reached in October, deadly Israeli strikes have continued to be a
constant threat in Gaza. The Gaza Health Ministry reports that more than
775 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began.
The Israeli military published for the first time a map of its new deployment line inside Lebanon on Sunday, bringing dozens of mostly abandoned Lebanese villages under its control, days after a ceasefire with Hezbollah took effect.
Stretching
east to west, the deployment line on the map runs 5-10 km (about 3-6
miles) deep from the border into Lebanese territory, where Israel
has said that it plans to create a so-called buffer zone. Israeli
forces have destroyed Lebanese villages in the area, saying their aim is
to protect northern Israeli towns from Hezbollah attacks. It has
created buffer zones in Syria and in Gaza, where it controls more than
half the enclave.
A
handout graphic of a map, according to the Israeli military, shows the
Forward Defense Line and the area in which they are operating in
southern Lebanon, published on April 19, 2026. Photograph: Israel Defense Forces/Reuters
“Five divisions, alongside Israeli Navy forces, are operating simultaneously south of the forward defense line in southern Lebanon
in order to dismantle Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites and to
prevent direct threats to communities in northern Israel,” the military
said in a statement accompanying the map.
Israel
and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to the US-backed ceasefire in fighting
between Israel and Hezbollah. The deal, which followed the first direct
talks in decades between Israel and Lebanon on 14 April, is meant to
enable broader US-Iran negotiations but with Israeli forces maintaining
positions deep inside southern Lebanon.
Iran currently has not made a decision on whether to send a negotiating delegation to Pakistan “as long as there is a naval blockade,” Iran’s semi-official news agency Tasnim reported.
Yesterday,
Iranian officials reversed the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and
reimposed restrictions on the vital shipping lane after the US said it
would not end its blockade of Iranian ports. Iranian officials have
maintained that the US blockade of Iran’s ports is a violation of the
ceasefire agreement.
The US energy secretary has said that petrol prices are expected to remain high due to the fallout from the war on Iran, CNN reports.
Chris Wright
spoke to the network and said he believes that gas prices have “likely
peaked” but may not reach below $3 gallon “until next year.”
“Gas
below $3 a gallon could happen later this year, that might not happen
until next year. But prices have likely peaked, and they’ll start going
down,” he said.
The national average currently stands at $4.05 per gallon, which is significantly higher than a year ago.
White House says Vance actually is going to Islamabad
Within the course of an hour, the Trump administration has reversed course three times on whether JD Vance would be heading to Islamabad for the next round of Iran peace talks.
Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, told ABC News that the vice president would be leading the American delegation set to arrive in Islamabad on Monday.
Donald Trump then came back to ABC News to say that Vance would not be going to Islamabad because of security issues – it was too short of a notice for Secret Service.
The White House then told CNN that Vance will be going – “Things changed,” an official said – and in fact, Vance will be leading the delegation that includes special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
London police investigating possibile Iranian proxy involvement in attacks against Jewish sites
Metropolitan
police in London are investigating whether a series of arson attacks
against Jewish sites were carried out by Iranian proxies.
Speaking
outside Kenton united synagogue in north-west London, the site of the
latest arson attack, deputy assistant commissioner Vicki Evans, the
senior national co-ordinator for counter terrorism, said: “The nature of
the incidents has been similar – arson attacks targeting Israeli- and
Jewish-linked premises in London.
London’s
Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Matt Jukes (C), deputy
assistant commissioner Vicki Evans (L) and Mathew Walker (R) make a
statement to the media by an area cordoned off by police, near the
Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, north-west London on April 19, 2026 Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
“Most have been claimed online by the group Ashab al-Yamin (Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right).
“This
same group has claimed several incidents over recent months at places
of worship, business and financial institutions across Europe. These
locations all appear to be linked to Jewish or Israeli interests.”
Mohammad Ishaq Dar, the deputy prime minister of Pakistan, spoke on Sunday with Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister of Iran.
The
phone call included discussion on “the need for continued dialogue and
engagement as essential to resolving the current issues as soon as
possible for promoting the peace and stability in the region and
beyond”, according to Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs.
Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s president, is slated to have a phone call with Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime minister, later today as well.
These phone conversations took place as Donald Trump confirmed that a US delegation would be in Islamabad on Monday for another round of peace talks regarding the conflict in Iran.
Iran foreign ministry: US blockade violates ceasefire and 'amounts to war crime'
The US blockade of Iran’s ports is a violation of the ceasefire agreement and is “both unlawful and criminal”, Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, said Sunday.
“The
United States’ so-called ‘blockade’ of Iran’s ports or coastline is not
only a violation of Pakistani-mediated ceasefire but also both unlawful
and criminal,” Baqaei posted on X.
Baqaei also said the blockade was in violation of the UN Charter and constitutes an act of aggression.
“Moreover,
by deliberately inflicting collective punishment on the Iranian
population, it amounts to war crime and crime against humanity,” Baqaei
said.
ABC News had previously reported that Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, had said that JD Vance was going to lead the American delegation in Islamabad this week.
Donald Trump has since corrected that statement to
say that the vice president would not be going to Pakistan. Trump said
his representatives would be in Islamabad for peace talks on Monday
night, but that Secret Service couldn’t arrange to accompany Vance there on such short notice.
“It’s only because of security,” Trump said. “JD’s great.”
Trump had earlier confirmed to Fox News and The New York Post that special enoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kusher, Trump’s son-in-law, would be going to Islamabad.
Trump says 'whole country is getting blown up' if Iran does not accept deal
Donald Trump told Fox News on Sunday that this was Iran’s “last chance” to agree to a peace deal.
“If Iran
does not sign this deal, the whole country is getting blown up,” Trump
said. The US president then reiterated his earlier point on Truth Social
that the US would target bridges and power plants specifically if Iran
does not sign this agreement.
The deal entails reopening the strait of Hormuz and making sure Iranians do not have enriched uranium.
Trump also made clear that he would not be “making the same mistake” that Barack Obama did with the 2015 agreement his administration made
to limit Iran’s nuclear capabilities. In exchange for the lifting of
some sanctions, Obama had conceded that Iran could contiune enriching
its uranium for 15 years, but only at the level of purity required for a
civilian nuclear programme. The agreement also included limiting Iran’s
stockpile of uranium to 300kg.
Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018, calling the deal “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions” the US had ever entered into”.
Since
then, Iran has grown its stockpile to 400.9kg of uranium enriched to
60% uranium-235 – a level that can be quickly enriched to weapons-grade –
90%.
Report: Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to join American delegation in Islamabad
Donald Trumptold The New York Post that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, will also be in Islamabad for the next round of peace talks with Iran.
JD Vance will be leading the delegation, Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the UN, told ABC News.
