Israel Announces Major Expansion

Israel has amassed troops around Rafah, hours after the defence minister announced a major expansion of the military offensive in Gaza.
Israel Katz says large areas will be seized and incorporated into Israel's security zones.
Artillery fire and air strikes in the early hours of Wednesday have killed at at least 21 Palestinians across the strip.
More than 1,000 people have been killed since Israel broke the ceasefire on March the 18th.

Tahani Mustafa, from the International Crisis Group, says most analysts aren’t surprised Israel has expanded its military assault to seize more land in Gaza and “depopulate” Palestinians from the territory.

The village of Duma, which is nestled between Ramallah and Nablus in the occupied West Bank, has been the subject of repeated Israeli settler attacks. Today’s attack in particular was quite large and, in addition to the Israeli forces who are accompanying and protecting the Israeli settlers, dozens of armed settlers used their weapons against the residents of Duma.

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh reports from Amman, Jordan. Al Jazeera is reporting from Amman, Jordan, because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Food supplies are running dangerously low in Gaza - a month after Israel imposed a total blockade on the Strip.
All bakeries are now closed because of a shortage of flour and diesel.
Bread is the main staple for the 2.3 million Palestinians who rely on humanitarian aid to survive.
The 31-day Israeli blockade is the longest since the war on Gaza began.
The World Food Program has warned it will run out of food supplies in 14 days.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary reports from a bakery in Deir el-Balah, Gaza.

The survival rate of the many patients coming into the Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza with explosion and gunshot wounds is “extremely low” amid deteriorating conditions, according Zahed Rahman, an intensive care nurse volunteering at the facility with the medical solidarity organization Glia. “We’re working under very harsh conditions. Because of the blockade by the Israeli forces, there’s no aid coming in, there’s a lack of medication, a lack of resources, and humanitarian aid workers are physically limited from coming in,” he told Al Jazeera from outside the hospital in Deir el-Balah.

In Yemen, Houthi-affiliated media say the latest US strikes have killed at least four people in the port city of Hodeidah.
The attacks reportedly targeted the water supply management building.
The US has been bombing Yemen since mid-March after the Houthis threatened to resume attacks on Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea.
The attacks have killed more than 60 people, including women and children.

Al Jazeera's Mohammed al-Attab has more from Sanaa, Yemen.