Hamas' Gaza chief said the group is ready to immediately negotiate a deal to swap all captives with an agreed number of Palestinians jailed by Israel within a deal that would end the aggression in the besieged enclave.

In a televised speech, Khalil Al-Hayya, who leads the Hamas negotiating team for the indirect talks with Israel, said the group refuses an interim truce deal.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said that one of its bases in Gaza was damaged by an explosive, in the second such incident in three weeks.

The ICRC said on X that it was "outraged that on 16 April an ICRC premises in Gaza was struck and damaged by an explosive".

A tank shell struck another of the organisation's premises in the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave, where Israel is intensifying its attacks.

The Israeli army killed at least 45 Palestinians, including two entire families, during intensified air, drone, and artillery strikes across Gaza, amid its ongoing genocide, according to Palestinian medical sources, civil defense teams, and witnesses.

The air strikes targeted homes, tents, displacement shelters, and public gathering areas, resulting in dozens of casualties – most of them women and children.

Nine US military transport aircraft loaded with bunker-busting bombs landed at an Israeli airbase near Tel Aviv in the past 24 hours, Israel’s public broadcaster said.

“Nine US transport planes carrying bunker-busting bombs and other defensive weapons landed at Nevatim Airbase near Tel Aviv, in central Israel,” the Israeli broadcasting authority KAN reported.

More than 2 million people are trapped inside the Gaza Strip, a UN spokesman said.

"More than 2 million people remain trapped inside Gaza. Ongoing hostilities and dwindling aid supplies have driven up stress levels -- especially among children -- with mental health needs growing by the day," Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

Lebanon said that repeated Israeli attacks hinder the deployment of army troops in the south.

"There is a clear declaration and commitment from the government to extend state sovereignty over all its territories exclusively through its own forces,” Information Minister Paul Morcos told reporters in Beirut.

South Africa condemned the bombing of civilian targets in Gaza by Israel, following a missile strike last week on the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in the enclave.

“South Africa joins the global condemnation of the bombing, which is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The humanitarian aid system in Gaza is "facing total collapse" because of Israel's blockade on aid supplies since March 2, the heads of 12 major aid organisations warned, urging Israel to let them "do our jobs".

"Every single person in Gaza is relying on humanitarian aid to survive," the chief executives of 12 NGOs, including Oxfam and Save the Children, wrote in a joint statement.

"That lifeline has been completely cut off since a blockade on all aid supplies was imposed by Israeli authorities on March 2," they said, adding that "This is one of the worst humanitarian failures of our generation."

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that Israel would not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, even as US President Donald Trump attempts to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Tehran.

Netanyahu's remarks were his first on the issue since US-Iran talks began earlier this month, and followed a report that former President Trump had blocked an Israeli plan to strike Iran's nuclear sites.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced it extended the deadline for Israel to submit its defense in a genocide case before The Hague.

"By an Order dated 14 April 2025, the #ICJ has extended the time-limit for the filing of the Counter-Memorial of Israel to 12 January 2026 in the case," the ICJ said in a statement.