The body of a Palestinian is transported on a car as mourners attend the funeral of Palestinians who were killed, according to medics, in Israeli fire, at Al-Shifa hospital, in Gaza City, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

The war began when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted 251 hostages. More than half the captives have been released in ceasefires or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight and recovered the remains of dozens more.

Thousands of activists from around the world are expected to descend on Egypt on Thursday for a “Global March to Gaza,” a movement aiming to break the Israeli blockade that has pushed the territory to the brink of famine.

The U.S. last week vetoed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that also demanded an "immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire" and unhindered aid access in Gaza, arguing it would undermine U.S.-led efforts to broker a ceasefire.

Israeli naval forces, far from the country’s shores, intercepted and seized a Gaza-bound ship carrying international activists, including Greta Thunberg, in an early morning raid.

US President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza and stop talk of an attack on Iran, according to a source familiar with the conversation.

More than 150 Palestinian and Jewish protesters sat on the lobby floor and refused to leave the building, at E. 45th St. and Lexington Ave., starting around 11 a.m.

"I also expect the Egyptian authorities to prevent the arrival of jihadist demonstrators at the Egyptian-Israeli border," Katz said