Gaza Tension
Live Reporting
Israeli attacks on hospitals part of ‘campaign to eradicate Palestinian society’
Dr Mads Gilbert, an emergency physician, spoke to Al Jazeera about the continued attacks on medical facilities by Israeli forces in Gaza following the ongoing sieges on al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals.
He said there is no proof to back up the claims made by the Israeli military that the hospitals are used by Palestinian fighters.
“My experience from more than 20 years in Gaza is that the Palestinians don’t use civilian structures as what [Israel are] claiming, as some sort of hideouts for the armed resistance,” he said.
The Israeli attacks on hospitals, mosques, education facilities and bakeries are part of a “campaign to eradicate the Palestinian society and any sign of Palestinian structures in the civilian life”, he said.
“This is the politics of eradicating the indigenous people to take their lands.”
He appealed to the governments of Spain, Ireland and Norway, who stated they would recognise an independent Palestinian state on Wednesday, to “step up the political pressure and practical sanctions against Israel” to halt the healthcare crisis in Gaza.
ICJ to rule on Friday on measures over Israel’s Rafah offensive
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) says it will rule on South Africa’s request to order a halt to Israel’s offensive on Rafah tomorrow afternoon.
Rafah is where more than one million displaced Palestinians have sought shelter from Israeli attacks on other parts of the enclave.
In hearings last week, South Africa asked the ICJ to order a halt to Israel’s offensive in Gaza, and in Rafah in particular, to ensure the survival of the Palestinian people.
The demand for such an emergency measure is part of a larger case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide.
After initial hearings in January, the ICJ issued several provisional measures, ordering Israel to take action to limit humanitarian suffering in Gaza.
Malaysian PM says meeting with Hamas leaders was to secure ‘peaceful resolution’: Report
Malaysia’s PM Anwar Ibrahim stated that his meeting with Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshaal in Qatar last week was to persuade them to seek a peaceful solution to the war on Gaza, reports the Malay Mail.
“I’ve known them for decades, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t meet them. I said, please respect the decision of your neighbouring countries and try to secure peace, exchange prisoners and accept a two-state solution,” the PM is reported to have said during a question and answer session at the Nikkei Forum 29th Future of Asia.
“We can go on discussing what happened on October 7, but do not erase seven decades from the period of Nakba in 1948.”
The PM encouraged a “peaceful resolution” but, referring to Israel’s siege of Gaza, he stressed that what is most important now is to “stop shooting women and children, stop the destruction of hospitals, schools, churches and mosques”.
Nikki Haley to make ‘solidarity visit’ to Israel
Haley, former US ambassador to the UN and failed Republican presidential candidate, will travel to Israel next week, according to Israeli media reports.
During the trip, Haley will visit Israeli border communities, including those near the Gaza Strip, and hold talks with senior defence officials, reports The Jerusalem Post.
Haley, who days ago backed former rival Donald Trump for president, has been a stalwart defender of Israel, a position that critics say defined her tenure at the UN.
In a speech on Wednesday, Haley slammed Biden’s move to pause some weapons transfers to Israel as “foolish” and called the ICC prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants for Israeli PM Netanyahu “literally disgusting”.
Israeli negotiation team set to resume truce talks
Netanyahu’s office has announced that the Israeli negotiating team has received a directive following a war council meeting to resume communications regarding a potential truce deal, according to Israel’s Channel 12.
Netanyahu’s office did not specify exactly what the directive is or how the negotiating team is expected to advance the negotiations.
Earlier this month, talks reached an impasse after the latest round of negotiations.
On Tuesday, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari reiterated that ceasefire and captive-prisoner swap talks between Israel and Hamas, in which Qatar is a mediator, remain “close to a stalemate”.
UCLA police chief removed from post after mob attack on protesters
The chief of police at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has been removed from his post three weeks after law enforcement officers and university officials faced criticism for their handling of an attack on peaceful pro-Palestine protesters on the UCLA campus.
John Thomas, who was named as UCLA’s chief of police in January, has been “reassigned temporarily, pending an examination of our security processes”, the university’s vice chancellor, Mary Osako, said in a Wednesday statement.
Police officers and university officials drew heavy criticism for their slow response to an attack by a violent pro-Israel mob on a pro-Palestine encampment erected on the UCLA campus.
The mob stormed the camp with poles and clubs on April 30, with police taking hours to intervene and restore calm.
EU official says member states unanimous on ‘need for a Palestinian state’
Sven Koopmans, the EU’s special representative for the Middle East peace process, has said that while member states of the European Union “may have different positions on recognition” of Palestinian statehood, “we have unanimity on the need for a Palestinian state”.
The EU representative’s comments to the Reuters news agency followed after EU members Spain and Ireland – along with Norway – said they would recognise an independent Palestinian state.
Koopmans also said representatives from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will join a regular meeting of EU foreign ministers next week to try and forge a common path on ending the war in Gaza.
“Nobody alone is sufficient. But if we work together, and we are working on doing something concretely together, maybe we’re just about sufficient, at least to get things started,” he said.
What does the increasing recognition of Palestinian statehood mean?
Until recently, most Western countries have maintained they will formally recognise Palestinian statehood only at the end of a peace process with Israel.
But after nearly seven months of Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, Norway, Ireland and Spain say they will not wait any longer.
The European Union is divided on the issue, and larger powers like France say it is not the right time to recognise a Palestinian state. And a US veto still holds back Palestine’s bid to gain full membership in the United Nations.
Will other European nations follow Norway, Ireland and Spain?
Video shows Israeli forces interrogate, abuse stripped Palestinian men in Jenin
Video clips of Israel’s ongoing military raid in the occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp show an Israeli soldier kicking one of several Palestinian detainees who are being forced to kneel on a road at night wearing only their underwear.
The footage, verified by Al Jazeera, also shows Israeli soldiers shining bright lights onto the men’s faces as they appear to interrogate them.
The Israeli raid in Jenin, which began on Tuesday morning, has killed at least 11 Palestinians, including four children.
Palestinians ‘living among rubble’ after fleeing Israeli ground invasion of Rafah: UN
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has reported that people displaced by the Israeli military order to clear Rafah are now living in dire conditions in nearby Khan Younis.
Of the more than 800,000 people who heeded the Israeli military order on May 6 to leave Rafah, almost 150,000 have registered for UNRWA assistance in Khan Younis in the past 10 days and there has been a 36 percent increase in those requiring shelter at UN facilities in the area.
Those in need of help are “families living among rubble in damaged schools, lacking tents, essential services and vital supplies”, UNRWA said.
US military destroys four uncrewed aerial systems in Yemen
The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said it has “successfully engaged” four uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
It said the UAS presented an “imminent threat” to vessels in the region. The Iran-backed Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November in protest of Israel’s war on Gaza.
IMF says Lebanon economy takes hit from clashes with Israel, Gaza war spillover
Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, the head of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission visiting Lebanon, said the displacement of people due to fighting with Israel on Lebanon’s southern borders and spillover from the war in Gaza are exacerbating the country’s dire economic situation.
Border clashes between Hezbollah forces and the Israeli military have “internally displaced a significant number of people and caused damage to infrastructure, agriculture and trade in southern Lebanon”, Rigo said in a statement.
“Together with a decline in tourism, the high risks associated with the conflict create significant uncertainty to the economic outlook,” he said.
Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement have traded heavy fire across Lebanon’s southern border with northern Israel since the war in Gaza broke out in October last year.
Israeli forces move deeper into the heart of Rafah
Israeli forces are advancing and now sit on the edge of a crowded district in the heart of the city of Rafah, residents in the southern Gaza city say.
The Reuters news agency reports that Israeli tanks have taken up new positions further west along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, and now sit on the edge of the Yibna neighbourhood at the centre of Rafah, but are yet to enter the district.
Palestinian residents say Israeli forces fired into Yibna overnight and also fired on fishing boats, causing some to catch fire. The advance comes after one of the most intense nights of bombardment yet by the Israeli military on Rafah.
“There has been no stopping of Israeli fire all night, from drones, helicopters, warplanes, and tanks,” one Rafah resident, asking for his name to be withheld, told Reuters.
Israel increasingly isolated on world stage as Spain, Norway, Ireland recognise Palestine
Phyllis Bennis, author and fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, said recognition of Palestinian statehood by Spain, Norway and Ireland will not change the dire situation facing Palestinians on the ground in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
“What’s happening though, means an increasing level of isolation of both Israel and its backers in the United States, and the escalation of diplomatic support for Palestinian rights. All of that means that Israel is increasingly isolated in the world,” Bennis told Al Jazeera.
“It is losing the support that it had traditionally across political lines in the United States. It’s now very much a partisan issue. A Republican Party issue,” Bennis said.
“We are looking at a situation where Spain and Norway are very close US allies. Ireland has a special place in President Biden’s heart. And these are now the countries turning away from Israel and turning toward Palestinian rights,” she said.
“At the symbolic level, this is enormously significant in terms of the isolation of Israel.”
Norway, Ireland, Spain to recognise Palestinian state
MADRID (AFP) – Norway, Ireland and Spain on Wednesday announced they will recognise a Palestinian state from next week, highlighting the European Union's deep split over the issue as the Israel-Hamas war rages.
The three nations hope other countries will follow suit, but France said now was not the right moment -- yet Paris noted recognition was not "taboo".
