By Kevin Doyle

    Three members of a family in Rafah have been killed and four others wounded after an Israeli military strike hit their home in southern Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reports, citing Civil Defence workers.

    Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), says the Israeli campaign against the agency has had it operating “hand to mouth” after donors pulled funding.

    Donors are pressed to restore desperately needed funding to UNRWA after an independent review found Israel provided “no evidence” of any wrongdoing by staff members.

    Gaza medics continue to search for bodies at the site of a mass grave in the grounds of the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis where at least 310 bodies have been recovered so far. The discovery comes after Israeli forces laid siege to the complex and recently withdrew from the site.

    At least 34,183 Palestinians have been killed and 77,143 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139 with dozens still held captive in Gaza.

    Half of Gaza’s population ‘starving’, food relief a ‘drop in the ocean’ of need: WFP

    The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has said half of Gaza’s population – estimated to be some 2.3 million people – are starving.

    While WFP is providing food assistance to more than 1 million people in Gaza each month, the need was so acute that such efforts amount to “a drop in the ocean of needs”, the agency said in a post on social media.

    The UN’s food relief agency also said a humanitarian ceasefire was needed immediately.

    Jamaica recognises the State of Palestine

    The Jamaican government says it has “taken a decision to recognise the State of Palestine” amid concerns over Israel’s war on Gaza and the “ever-deepening humanitarian crisis” in the Palestinian territory.

    “The decision is aligned with Jamaica’s strong commitment to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, which seek to engender mutual respect and peaceful co-existence among states, as well as the recognition of the right of people to self-determination,“ the country’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.

    Jamaica’s Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith said her country wanted to see “a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through diplomatic dialogue rather than military actions”.

    ‘Continuous’ shelling of northern Gaza neighbourhoods follows Israeli evacuation order

    The north Gaza areas of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoon and east of Jabalia have come under sustained Israeli artillery shelling, our colleagues in Al Jazeera Arabic report.

    The attacks following a warning on Tuesday evening by Avichay Adraee, an Israeli army spokesperson, for Palestinians residents to immediately evacuate designated areas of Beit Lahiya, which he described as a “dangerous combat zone”.

    The Israeli army “will use extreme force against terrorist infrastructure and subversive elements in the region”, he warned.

    US police arrest Pro-Palestinian Jewish protesters outside Senator’s New York home

    Hundreds of protesters were reportedly arrested after holding a demonstration on the “doorstep” of US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s home in New York’s Grand Army Plaza.

    Organised by the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) lobby group, the protest was presented as a “seder on the street” on the second night of the week-long Jewish feast of Passover.

    Following speeches from writers, performers and rabbis, protesters moved to block the streets surrounding the Plaza and arrests were made by the New York Police Department, according to the Reuters news agency.

    The JVP shared photos on social media of the arrests and police moving demonstrators taking part in a sit-down protest and chanting: “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea”.

    According to JVP, the protesters were demanding “the US stop arming and funding the Israeli government as it carries out a genocide” in Gaza.