Crisis in Gaza
Live Reporting
WHO chief asks Israel to ease curbs on Gaza medical aid
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on Israel to lift restrictions on aid into Gaza, saying that the primary pipeline for emergency medical aid into the enclave from Egypt had been cut off, Reuters reports.
“At a time when the people of Gaza are facing starvation, we urge Israel to lift the blockade and let aid through,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva, describing the situation in the Palestinian enclave as “beyond catastrophic”.
“Without more aid flowing into Gaza we cannot sustain our lifesaving support of hospitals and populations,” he said.
White House says Israel shutting AP’s Gaza video ‘concerning’
The White House has expressed concern after US news agency The Associated Press said that Israel shut down its live video feed of conflict-ridden Gaza, AFP reports.
“Obviously this is concerning and we want to look into it,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on President Joe Biden’s plane as he travelled to New Hampshire.
Gaza health ministry says bombardment death toll at 35,647
The health ministry in Gaza has said that at least 35,647 people have been killed in the territory during more than seven months of Israeli bombardment, AFP reports.
The toll includes 85 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 79,852 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since October 7.
Cyprus says maritime aid shipments to Gaza ‘on track’
Four ships from the United States and France are transporting aid from Larnaca port to the Gaza Strip amid the spiralling humanitarian crisis there, the Cyprus presidency said on Tuesday.
Victor Papadopoulos from the presidential press office told state radio that 1,000 tonnes of aid were shipped from Cyprus to the besieged Palestinian territory between Friday and Sunday.
He said the vessels were shuttling between Gaza and the east Mediterranean island, a distance of about 360 kilometres.
Large quantities of aid from Britain, Romania, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and other countries have accumulated at Larnaca port.
Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides told reporters the maritime aid effort was “on track”.
“We have substantial assistance from third countries that want to contribute to this effort,” he said.
The aid shipped from Cyprus is entering Gaza via a temporary US-built floating pier, where the shipments are offloaded for distribution.
Jenin raid will not discourage Hamas resistance, group says
Hamas says the Israeli army’s operation in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank will not discourage the determination of the group and called the move “desperate”, Al Jazeera reports.
The operation is “a continuation of a series of the occupation’s crimes of murder, siege and starvation in Rafah, Jabalia and other areas of the Gaza Strip”, a statement by the group said.
The movement added: “As we mourn the martyrs and extend our condolences to their families, we affirm that the occupation’s continuing crimes against our people in Gaza and the West Bank will not weaken the support of our people, nor will they stop the resistance of our people.”
Israel should consider normalisation with Saudi Arabia: Israeli president
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog says it should seriously consider normalising relations with Saudi Arabia, calling such a move a “game-changer”, Al Jazeera reports citing Israeli media.
According to media reports, he said at a conference that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke about a proposal for Israeli normalisation of ties with Saudi Arabia in their meeting two days ago.
“This is a move that could bring about tremendous change, a historic game-changer that constitutes a victory over the empire of evil. I very much hope that this possibility is being seriously considered,” he was quoted as saying by Israeli media.
“Our struggle is not only against Hamas, it is a great strategic and historical, inter-power and global struggle, and we must do everything to fit into the grand vision of normalisation.”
Israeli forces detain 15 Palestinians in occupied West Bank raids
The Israeli raids today took place in Ramallah, Nablus and Tubas in the occupied West Bank, as well as in occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, Al Jazeera reports.
The 15 arrests bring the number of Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces since October 7 to 8,815, according to the organisations’ statement.
Al-Awda Hospital under siege: WHO
The hospital in Gaza’s northern city of Jabalia has been besieged for two days as fighting rages nearby, trapping 170 staff, patients and their companions inside, says World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Yesterday, the fighting reached the hospital itself, with snipers aiming at the building and an artillery rocket hitting its fifth floor, according to Ghebreyesus.
“We are deeply concerned about the safety of the remaining patients and hospital staff,” he said in a post on X. “We appeal for their protection, for humanitarian access and an immediate ceasefire.”
Al-Awda Hospital is one of the few health facilities still operating in northern Gaza, and the only hospital to offer maternity or orthopedic surgery care.
Five killed in Israeli attack on Rafah’s Yabna camp
An Israeli strike has hit a group of people in the Yabna refugee camp in central Rafah, killing at least five civilians and wounding others, according to a report by the Wafa news agency.
There are also reports that at least three of the people killed were children.
Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost tip on the border with Egypt, has been under attack from advancing Israeli troops and intensifying air raids since May 7, pushing hundreds of thousands of already displaced people sheltering there to flee towards other areas.
As we reported earlier, an overnight Israeli attack on Rafah destroyed a residential house, killing at least eight people.
China hopes ICC will be ‘objective’ after warrants sought for Israeli, Hamas leaders
China says it hopes the ICC will uphold an “objective” position after its chief prosecutor requested arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders.
“It is hoped that the ICC will uphold its objective and impartial position and exercise its powers in accordance with the law,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, calling for an end to the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people”.
On Monday, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said he had requested arrest warrants for PM Netanyahu, defence chief Gallant and three Hamas leaders, including its chief Sinwar, over the alleged crimes committed in the October 7 attack and Israel’s war on Gaza.
ICC arrest requests show it is ‘scrutinising both sides’ leadership’
Israel and Hamas have both criticised the ICC chief prosecutor for requesting arrest warrants for their leaders, accusing him of making a false equivalency between the two sides.
However, former ICC official Eric Witte says that the decision does not imply that the actions of each side’s leaders are equal but that they will be “equally scrutinised under the law”.
To maintain credibility and pursue justice for all victims of the war – including Israeli captives and Palestinians in Gaza – it is “important for [the prosecutor] to show that he is scrutinising actions of leadership on both sides”, Witte told Al Jazeera
“It’s impossible to compare the two,” he added. “But what we can say is that victims on both sides are deeply deserving of justice, accountability … and the broader international community has an interest in seeing standards upheld.
“There are standards even during wartime. Even if you feel your cause is justified, it doesn’t mean that you can use any means whatsoever to pursue that cause.”
Al-Quds Brigades say fighting is continuing against Israeli troops in Jenin
We are receiving updates on the ongoing Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
The al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad group, has said its fighters are engaged with Israeli troops in the city.
A statement made on Telegram by the Jenin Battalion of the group said “violent clashes” started after “an infiltration of the special forces” into the Jenin refugee camp.
The Israeli army announced it began the operation earlier in the morning. At least seven Palestinians have been killed and many wounded in the raid.
Gantz says neither Hamas nor Israel should rule Gaza
Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz has expressed his opposition to Israel’s military assuming control over the Gaza Strip amid reports that a military occupation of the Palestinian territory would require extending the country’s mandatory military service from 32 months to four years, defence think tanks report.
The Washington DC-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) said in their latest Gaza assessment that Gantz’s comments follow on from his recent ultimatum to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to set a new strategy for Israel’s war on the Palestinian territory.
Gantz’s reported opposition to a military occupation of Gaza also comes after a government report was leaked in the Israeli media which estimates Israel would need a “a dramatic increase” in reserve soldiers to carry out such an operation and that it could cost about $5bn.
Israeli jets struck about 70 targets in past day: Army
The Israeli army has said its air forces hit about 70 targets across Gaza in the last 24 hours.
The military said in a post on X that the targets included Palestinian fighters, weapon depots, rocket launchers, observation posts and buildings of fighter groups.
The statement said troops continued their operations and killing fighters across Gaza, including central Gaza, the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza and Rafah in southern Gaza.
As Tareq, our colleague in Gaza, just reported, since midnight, at least eight Palestinians have been killed in Rafah after a residential building was destroyed, and three killed in Beit Hanoon, northern Gaza, where Palestinians were trapped during the expansion of the fighting to the Jabalia refugee camp.
Palestinian civilians ‘ripped to pieces’ by Israeli bombs in Beit Lahiya
Israeli attacks continue in northern Gaza, targeting civilian areas.
On Monday, an Israeli attack on the Mashrou neighbourhood of Beit Lahiya, a city north of Jabalia in Gaza, destroyed residential buildings and trapped people under the rubble.
Panic spread among thousands of Palestinians sheltering here, with one man saying it was “as if an earthquake” had struck.
“Pieces of flesh are strewn all over the walls. Look for yourself. I am collecting pieces of flesh. These belong to young children, women and babies. May God punish those responsible,” he said.
A grieving young girl said she “came home to find all my brothers and sisters gone”.
“All of them were killed, ripped to pieces, their flesh scattered all over the place,” she said.
‘We are the victims’: Palestinians in Gaza react to ICC prosecutor’s decision
Even as the ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, Palestinians in the war-battered coastal enclave are facing daily death and displacement, and the announcement brings little comfort.
Local man Sami Abu Zeid emphasised that civilians were continuing to suffer.
“We’re the victims, although we have nothing to do with Israel or Hamas. We are not Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” he told Al Jazeera from Deir el-Balah.
“We’re civilians… What is my guilt or my children’s guilt? What’s my guilt or my siblings’ guilt? What is my guilt or my neighbour’s guilt? Why was I displaced and why do I have to suffer every day?”
Another Gaza resident, Majdi Sleim, criticised the ICC prosecutor’s decision to seek warrants for the leaders of Hamas alongside Netanyahu and Gallant.
“We tell the prosecutor that the cards are being shuffled because there’s equivalence between the victims and the oppressed,” Sleim said.
“How is it possible to equalise between those who defend their country and freedom – and the ICC say they value everything in accordance with humanitarian standards – and between those who target children, women and elderly people? Those who destroy homes and infrastructure and humanitarian sectors in the Gaza Strip?”
UN expert on Palestine says ICC prosecutor’s decision is historic
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, says she understands that for the people of war-torn Gaza, the ICC prosecutor’s move to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant may appear too little too late.
But “for me, it’s a historical, historical day,” Albanese told Al Jazeera.
“It’s not a small thing that the ICC prosecutor [is seeking] arrest warrants for two Israeli leaders and it’s not just for war crimes… it’s for crimes that have been committed intentionally and wilfully – the all-state policy that has animated this campaign against the population in Gaza is put into question,” she said.
“Without condoning or justifying the crimes that have been committed by Hamas, these crimes should have been investigated, and prosecuted. It shouldn’t have given leeway to Israel to start a war which has turned into a genocidal war against the entire Palestinian population.”
“Palestine was a litmus test for the credibility of the court and this prosecutor in particular. And after October 7, after October 8, he was compelled to act,” she added.
More than 569 tons of aid delivered across floating pier into Gaza, says US CENTCOM
CAIRO (Reuters) – The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Tuesday more than 569 metric tons of humanitarian assistance has been delivered so far across a temporary floating pier to Gaza, but not all the aid has reached warehouses.
Aid deliveries began arriving at a US-built pier on Friday as Israel comes under growing global pressure to allow more supplies into the besieged coastal enclave.
Amal Clooney helped ICC weigh Gaza war crimes evidence
Washington (AFP) – Amal Clooney helped the International Criminal Court weigh evidence that led to the decision to seek arrest warrants for top Israeli and Hamas leaders, the human rights lawyer said Monday.
The high-profile British-Lebanese barrister posted a statement on the website of the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which she founded with her husband, American actor George Clooney.
Yale students stage walkout at graduation ceremony
Dozens of pro-Palestine students staged a walkout during commencement events at Yale University on Monday.
At least 150 students stood up and left as Yale President Peter Salovey started the presentation of candidates for degrees on the grounds of Yale’s Old Campus.
Students at the Ivy League school have been protesting Israel’s war in Gaza, Yale’s financial ties to Israel and weapon makers, and the institution’s response to pro-Palestine demonstrations held on its campus.
The protesters wore red gloves to symbolise bloodied hands and carried placards with slogans including “Divest from war” and “Drop the charges”, in reference to the 45 people arrested in and around Yale’s New Haven campus last month.
Yale is one of dozens of US colleges that have seen large student-led protests in recent weeks, as demonstrators call for academic institutions to divest from Israel over its war on Gaza.
US president ‘moving closer to Israel’ after ICC seeks arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant
Joe Biden actually just spoke about this from the White House and it comes at a time when tension between the US and Israel has really been growing over the US’s ignored warning for Israel not to invade Rafah.
But now, with this International Criminal Court move to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu, it seems that Biden is moving closer to Israel.
As far as what can the US do about this effort to seek an ICC arrest warrant, well, it can make strong statements in support of Israel. There are also the Republican senators who issued a letter warning that they could try to seek sanctions against ICC staff members.
The biggest leverage the US may have, given that it is not a member of the ICC itself, is that it could pressure its allies – most European nations that are signatories [to the ICC] – to not take action to arrest these people if the arrest warrants were to be granted.
There certainly would be a lot of pressure and a lot of tension that those European allies of the US would be under in trying to navigate that potential conflict of interest.
The UN’s humanitarian office says that 40 percent of Gaza’s population, or more than 900,000 people, have been internally and forcibly displaced in the last two weeks amid Israel’s military operations in the north and south of the Palestinian territory.
UN official says no aid delivered from US-built pier for two days: Report
A UN warehouse in Gaza has not received food aid from the newly-opened US-built pier for two days, an unnamed UN official has told the Reuters news agency.
Ten truckloads of food were transported on Friday from the pier to a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza. But only five made it to the warehouse on Saturday, after 11 others were emptied by people as the trucks passed through an area that has been hard to access with aid, the official told Reuters.
The UN did not receive any aid from the pier on Sunday or Monday, with the official saying, “they’ve not seen trucks for a while”.
“We need to make sure that the necessary security and logistical arrangements are in place before we proceed,” the official said.
The US has said that the pier, which is estimated to have cost $320m to construct, will initially handle 90 trucks a day, but that number could rise to 150.
