Thank you for joining us for updates on everything related to Israel’s war on Gaza. Please check our homepage for the latest updates.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a quick recap of today:

• Intense fighting has been reported in and around Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip.
• The military wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, claimed nine Israeli soldiers were killed in the az-Zanna district in eastern Khan Younis and five in the Amal neighbourhood.
• The Israeli army says it has recovered the body of captive Elad Katzir from the Gaza Strip.
• The ‘Bring Them Home’ campaign joined antigovernment protesters to form a large demonstration in Tel Aviv.
• A car rammed into five people at the demonstration, and protestors clashed with police.
• Hamas official Basem Naim spoke to Global News Insight about the ceasefire talks that are expected to resume tomorrow in Cairo and insisted that the group will not back down on its core demands.
• The Israeli war cabinet will meet tomorrow morning to discuss the negotiations for the release of the captives held in the Gaza Strip.

Aliya and Mohammed Elbasyouni survived months of Israel’s war on Gaza, sheltering in a medical clinic in Gaza City.

Then they managed to flee to Turkey, to be reunited with their son.

Watch our report on fleeing the Strip and what their lives were like under Israeli siege.

Exclusive video footage obtained and verified by Global News Insight shows hundreds of Palestinians retreating after coming under fire from Israeli forces.

Sources told Global News Insight that they had gathered on al-Rashid Street in Gaza City a short while ago, waiting for the possible arrival of humanitarian aid.

They then came under fire from Israeli vehicles, forcing them to retreat from the street after the shooting. Whether there were any casualties resulting from this attack is unknown at this time.

Israeli forces have previously attacked Palestinians in Gaza as they attempt to receive aid.

On February 29, in what is known as the ‘flour massacre’, 112 Palestinians were killed and more than 750 wounded after Israeli troops opened fire on hundreds waiting for food aid southwest of Gaza City.

On X, the UK’s Foreign Office says that a ship from the country’s navy will be transferring humanitarian aid into Gaza.

It added that the maritime corridor between Cyprus and Gaza, first announced by the US last month, will be set up in “early May”. The UK also announced 9.7 million pounds (about $12.25m) in “aid, equipment and expertise” for the corridor.

Its post says that the UK is “doing everything possible to get more aid into Gaza”. Israel’s closest allies, such as the UK and the US, have been criticised for not applying enough diplomatic pressure on Israel to get it to stop blocking aid into the Gaza Strip.

A @RoyalNavy ship will help get life-saving UK aid into Gaza as part of an international effort to set up a humanitarian maritime corridor in early May.

We are also pledging £9.7 million for aid, equipment and expertise to help set up the maritime corridor from Cyprus to Gaza. pic.twitter.com/3OyFb8kUIR

— Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) April 6, 2024

• Two rallies merged; the ‘Bring Them Home’ campaign joined the antigovernment protesters in central Tel Aviv.
• A vehicle rammed into at least five people, seriously injuring one. The driver was later arrested.
• The Israeli police reported that a protester had hit a female police officer in the face. A video, later published on various Israeli media channels, appeared to show that the protesters accidentally elbowed her as he was pulled back.
• Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that at least six protesters were arrested in total, and the police used a sound canon to disperse protesters.

The streets of Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities are packed this evening with protesters calling for the release of captives held in Gaza and elections to replace the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On X, Israeli communications minister and member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, Shlomo Karhi, says that the “deterioration” of the protests into violence is “led by the leaders of the left, inside and outside the coalition”, and “does not help anyone and tears us apart in the midst of a war. This is in stark contrast to the spirit of our warriors”.

Earlier, clashes were reported between protesters and police, and a car-ramming incident amidst the demonstrations left at least five injured, one seriously.

Also chiming in was Israeli transport minister Miri Regev, another Likud party member, who condemned the protesters as lawless, saying that there are those among them who want to assassinate Netanyahu.

Overcrowding, disease and no access to hygiene.

Watch our reporting to see what life is like in Rafah’s makeshift displacement camps.

The letter’s significance is that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi added her name to the dozens of Democrats who signed that letter sent to the secretary of state and President Biden.

What it indicates is that concern about Israel’s actions in Gaza is going mainstream.

Initially, it was the so-called progressives in Congress who were expressing concern about the way in which Israel was waging its war.

But now, when a figure like Nancy Pelosi expresses concern, it certainly does show a shift within the beliefs of congressional Democrats.

The calls now for the US to make aid to Israel conditional are growing stronger and stronger.

Now, President Biden hopes for a ceasefire or cessation of hostilities in the coming days.

There’s a lot at stake for the Biden administration in those talks in Cairo, particularly as domestic pressure is mounting on the president and his administration.

Barak Ravid, a political journalist for US news site Axios, reports that the Israeli war cabinet will meet tomorrow morning to discuss the negotiations for the release of the captives held in the Gaza Strip.

He writes that it is a preparatory meeting before an Israeli delegation, which has not yet been officially announced, heads to ceasefire talks in Cairo.

One of the topics to be discussed is the possibility of expanding the mandate of the members of the negotiating team, the report says.

Local sources told Palestinian news agency Wafa that a 15-year-old child was injured by life ammunition during an Israeli raid on the town of Yabad, south of the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

The sources told Wafa that Israeli forces raided the town, leading to confrontations with residents. During the confrontations, the child was injured and transferred to a medical centre in the town for treatment.

Global News Insight’s Imran Khan, reporting from Tel Aviv, said Saturday’s turnout of protests is likely to put a lot of pressure on Netanyahu because two different rallies merged.

“The ‘Bring Them Home’ campaign now joined the antigovernment protesters,” he said.

“The former is the advocacy group for the hostages. For six months, they have been demanding the prime minister to release the Palestinian political prisoners and, in turn, get the hostages back,” he added.

Meanwhile, Israeli President Issac Herzog said today that the Israeli army is fighting a “bloody and difficult war” in Gaza, and that the army is fighting to return all the captives who are still being held.

But protesters are saying “enough is enough”, Khan continued.

“It has been six months and nothing has happened in terms of getting the majority of [capitves] out”.

“All the speeches we heard tonight had two key messages: Netanyahu failed, and the hostages have to come home now.”

Global News Insight’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, says the fighting is currently raging in and around Khan Younis, also in the south.

“The city of Khan Younis had been the theatre for the Israeli military operations since last December with the Israeli forces trying to impose its full military control of the city” he said.

Earlier, we reported that the military wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, claimed nine Israeli soldiers were killed in the az-Zanna district in eastern Khan Younis and five in the Amal neighbourhood.

Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that Israeli soldiers are currently engaged in “brutal and fierce combat at close range” in Khan Younis.

He said Israeli military are also launching air raids against the city and are in the process of destroying three tunnel networks originating there.

The Israeli military says a surface-to-air missile was used to shoot down the UAV that was in Lebanese airspace.

It says the incident is under review.

Earlier, Hezbollah claimed the downing of an Israeli drone.

In a statement, it said: “In support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of their valiant and honourable resistance, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance shot down an armed enemy drone at 8:50 pm on Saturday 04/06/2024. A Hormuz 450 over Lebanese territory.”

The Israeli police have reported on X that a protester punched a police officer who is receiving medical treatment.

The police said that after the approved protests, a handful of demonstrators decided to light bonfires and violently confront police officers.

A short video clip on X was posted by the police force, showing blood streaming from the nose of a female police officer.

As we reported earlier, five demonstrators were hit by a car at the demonstrations. The Israeli police say a suspect in the incident has been brought in for questioning.

According to the PA Commission for Detainees Affairs, the detentions included three women and former prisoners.

In a statement, the commission said that the detentions were carried out mostly in occupied East Jerusalem “as worshippers left the Al Aqsa Mosque” while the rest were detained in Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho and Tulkarem.

“Since October 7, more than 8,080 Palestinians in total have been detained,” said the commission.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that the former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon has stated that “the military campaign in Gaza has reached its limit” during a demonstration in Haifa in northern Israel.

Israel’s Shin Bet, or Shabak as it is known in both Hebrew and Arabic, is the internal intelligence service and one of the three branches of the Israeli General Security Service.

“Our soldiers are forced to re-occupy places that were occupied a few weeks ago, and become police forces for a population full of rage and hatred. They are forced to kill hungry civilians who attack them when they are protecting humanitarian aid convoys,” Ayalon said.

He called for Hamas to be defeated “with a combination of a political process that will lead to a moderate regional coalition under American and Saudi leadership”.

He is quoted as saying such a coalition would require “a process leading to a historic compromise with the Palestinian people”.

Haaretz stated that Ayalon called Netanyahu’s decision not to discuss “the day after” the war a disaster, adding, “Without a political goal, the war becomes a continuous battle that no one knows the end of.”