Israel suspends evacuation of Palestinians via Rafah crossing: Red Crescent 

Israel has killed at least 18 Palestinians in attacks across Gaza – one of the deadliest days since the October “ceasefire” – as the evacuation of Palestinian patients and wounded via the Rafah crossing was suspended for Wednesday.

Israel has killed 529 Palestinians since the US-brokered ceasefire. At least 71,803 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the war began on October 7, 2023. Rights groups and a United Nations inquiry dubbed Israeli military actions a genocide. A case of genocide against Israel is under way at the International Court of Justice.

Reporting from Khan Younis, Al Jazeera’s Abu Azzoum said the attacks, despite the so-called “ceasefire” supposedly in place, had left Palestinians in Gaza “without any sense of respite”.

“There has been a surge in Israel’s military activities across Gaza in the past few hours,” he said.

“We can hear the … sound of Israeli drones hovering overhead, giving a sign of further potential attacks that might take place.”

Among the casualties were a number of children, medical sources said on Wednesday.

The dead included 14 people killed by Israeli shelling in northern Gaza, an Al Jazeera team on the ground reported.

In further attacks in the south of the Strip, at least four people were killed in Israeli shelling of displaced people’s tents in the Qizan Abu Rashwan area, south of Khan Younis, an Al Jazeera team reported, citing medical sources.

Despite the US-brokered “ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas that came into effect in October, Israel has continued to kill hundreds of Palestinians across the Strip.

Amid the latest attacks, Israel’s military said its armoured units and aircraft had conducted strikes in northern Gaza after a reserve officer came under fire, severely injuring him.

It said the injured officer had been evacuated to hospital after the incident, which took place “during routine operational activity” near the so-called “yellow line” demarcating areas under Israeli military control.

Abu Azzoum said Israel was moving the location of the “yellow line” in eastern Gaza, causing anxiety for residents there.

Rafah crossing evacuation suspended

Amid the uptick in Israeli attacks, the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Wednesday Israel has canceled the coordination for a third batch of Palestinian patients to leave the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing.

“Unfortunately, a few minutes ago, we were… informed that the evacuation process of today has been cancelled,” Raed al-Nims, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), told Al Jazeera from Khan Younis in Gaza. He said that Israel informed the organisation about the move on Wednesday morning.

Al-Nims added that the procedure should have seen sick and wounded people arrive at the Red Cross Society hospital for preliminary medical checkups before being transferred by ambulance to the Rafah crossing, then to Egyptian hospitals or elsewhere.

Only five Palestinian were permitted to leave for Egypt on Monday and only 16 on Tuesday – numbers far below the 50 Palestinians who Israeli officials said would be allowed to leave via the crossing daily.

Israel now says the World Health Organization (WHO), which is responsible for coordinating the arrival of residents from the Gaza Strip to the Rafah Crossing, has not submitted the required coordination details. COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body overseeing civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, in an X post said that the WHO has not submitted “the required coordination details at this stage for procedural reasons”.

There’s no response from the WHO so far.

Israel agreed to open the key crossing – the Gaza Strip’s only gateway to the outside world – after weeks of delay, but has placed restrictions on the movement of people through the crossing.

Only Palestinians who left Gaza during the war, and have passed strict security vetting from Israeli authorities, are being permitted to return.

Those who have recently returned have described being blindfolded, handcuffed, interrogated and sexually harassed as they made the trip.

More than 18,000 Palestinian patients are also awaiting medical evacuations through the crossing, including about 440 critical cases that need immediate attention, Gaza health officials say.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said Israel was not giving any explanation as to why some Palestinians were being denied permission to leave or return to the Strip.

Palestinian killed in Jericho raid

While the killings have played out in Gaza, Israeli forces have also carried out attacks in the occupied West Bank.

Saeed Na’el al-Sheikh, a 24-year-old Palestinian man, was shot and killed by Israeli forces on Tuesday night during a raid on the city of Jericho, in the east of the occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency reported.

The Health Ministry said three other Palestinians were wounded.

Six more Palestinians were wounded in other attacks, including three who were shot, two who were beaten up by Israeli soldiers and a woman who was run over by a military vehicle.