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Here is where things stand on Sunday, May 25:
- The Israeli military is in effect controlling 77 percent of the Gaza Strip through “continued genocide, ethnic cleansing”, the enclave’s Government Media Office says, calling on the UN and the international community to take action to stop “blatant defiance of all international laws and norms”.
- At least 22 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn, including journalist Hassan Majdi Abu Warda and several of his family members.
- Israel has allowed 100 trucks carrying aid into Gaza since Wednesday, officials say, an amount that is nowhere near what’s needed to help the enclave’s two million people as they face famine.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 53,939 Palestinians and wounded 122,797, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Government Media Office updated its death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
- An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Two killed in Israeli drone attack near Khan Younis
An Israeli drone has bombed a bicycle in the town of Bani Suheila, east of Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, killing two Palestinians.
That’s according to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.
Two killed in Gaza City, Deir el-Balah as death toll rises
The Wafa news agency is reporting several new deadly attacks in Gaza.
One air raid in Gaza City’s Karama area killed at least one person and critically wounded others, it said.
Another attack, in Deir el-Balah’s al-Haker neighbourhood, killed a second person and caused more injuries, according to the agency.
Wafa also reported Israeli artillery shelling in the Qarara area, northeast of Khan Younis, without mentioning casualties.
In total, Israeli attacks in Gaza today have now killed at least 30 people, it said, citing local medical sources.
Israel threatens retaliatory strikes in Yemen after latest Houthi attack
These missile launches from Yemen targeting Israel are becoming more frequent. The Houthis say they’re going to continue these types of attacks as long as Israel’s war on Gaza resumes.
Since March, there have been nearly 40 projectiles launched by the Houthis. Israelis say they are going to take matters into their own hands and conduct their own air strikes in Yemen. This is something the Israelis have carried out before.
After a missile targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion airport a few weeks ago, making impact and causing damage near and around the airport, the Israelis have continued their attacks on Yemen.
Despite all the attacks by the Americans and Israelis, the Houthis still have these military capabilities.
Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
Backed by armed forces, Israeli settlers have once again performed Talmudic rituals inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam.
As part of the status quo of the site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, only Muslims are permitted to pray there.
In Gaza, selling or serving food can get you killed
On April 27, my brother-in-law, Samer, was killed in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza when his vegetable stall was bombed. He wasn’t armed. He wasn’t a political figure. He was a peaceful man trying to earn a living to feed his children in a place where food has become more expensive than gold.
Samer wasn’t a vendor by profession. He was a lawyer who defended the rights of the oppressed. But the war forced him to change his path.
During the ceasefire, he was able to buy vegetables from local wholesalers. After the war resumed and the crossings into Gaza were closed in March, supplies dwindled dramatically, but he maintained a small stock of vegetables. He continued selling day and night, even as buyers became scarce due to the high prices. He often tried to give us vegetables for free out of generosity, but I always refused.
When I heard about Samer’s killing, I froze. I tried to hide the news from my husband, but my tears spoke the truth. He looked like he wanted to scream, but the scream remained trapped inside his throat. Something held him back – perhaps his burdened soul could no longer bear even the expression of grief.
Read more here.
Bedouin community forced out in the West Bank as settler violence rises
A Palestinian Bedouin community has been forcibly displaced in the occupied West Bank after facing Israeli settler violence.
Last week, the UK government sanctioned seven Israeli settler outposts, individuals and organisations in the West Bank for supporting settler violence.
Palestinians welcomed the move but say it is hardly enough in the face of growing threats.
Israeli army distances from row over lawyer in Gaza conduct conference
Earlier, we reported how Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz angered the head of the Israel Bar Association by banning the military’s top lawyer from participating in an upcoming conference.
The military has now distanced itself from Katz’s decision, saying in a statement that the army had approved the participation of Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi days earlier.
The army confirmed that its forces’ conduct in Gaza was the subject of the address expected to be given by the military lawyer.
It said the statement at the conference “was expected to focus on how legal frameworks enable the [army] to conduct its operations against Hamas in accordance with the law, across the various fronts of the war, all in accordance with the provisions of international law”.
According to it, its decision to allow the lawyer to speak at the conference was “especially crucial” at a time when the army is faced with “false claims” against its soldiers, in reference to war crimes committed in Gaza.
Swiss authorities may probe US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
Swiss authorities are looking into whether to investigate the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which aims to take over aid distribution in Gaza later this month.
The potential inquiry is in response to a request by the NGO TRIAL International to check whether the Swiss-registered organisation, which plans to use private security contractors during the aid delivery process, meets Swiss and international law.
As we’ve reported, the UN and international aid groups have opposed the GHF’s aid plan, saying it is not impartial or neutral and forces further displacement and exposes thousands of people to harm.
The GHF told Reuters that it “strictly adheres” to humanitarian principles and that it would not support any form of forced relocation of civilians.
PIJ claims to have ambushed Israeli forces with explosives in Gaza City
The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Quds Brigades, has claimed to have carried out a bomb attack on invading Israeli forces in Gaza City’s eastern neighbourhood of Shujayea.
In a video posted online, the group claimed that its fighters used an undetonated bomb “left behind” by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Photos: Palestinians mourn loved ones killed in Khan Younis
Thousands of Gaza families wiped out by Israel: Monitor
Ramy Abdu, chairman of the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, says in a post on X that the Geneva-based organisation has verified the killing of thousands of Palestinian families in Gaza by the Israeli military:
- 1,010 families were wiped out
- 2,620 families have only one surviving member
- 4,126 families have no more than two surviving members
Israel’s ‘indiscriminate attacks’ on Gaza must stop: UNRWA
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has called for an end to “indiscriminate attacks” against Gaza’s children, 950 of whom have reportedly been killed in the past two months.
“Children in Gaza are enduring unimaginable suffering,” UNRWA said in a post on X. “They are starving, displaced and exposed to indiscriminate attacks.”
“This must stop. Children must be protected,” the agency added.
People punished for not leaving their homes
Attacks have been intense in both the southern and northern parts of the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military is operating aggressively after forcing thousands of families to evacuate.
Those who chose not to leave their homes [in areas where the military issued displacement orders] did not do so out of defiance but because the military has not been honest about safe areas.
People believe the moment they leave their homes for a new area, that area could be attacked as well. There is a mountain of evidence of that happening, including in al-Mawasi.
Now the military is carrying out a strategy of cleansing the entire northern part of the Strip by means of enforced displacement, using heavy artillery and fighter jets, which keep dropping bombs. People are being punished for not leaving their homes.
But even the central part of the Strip, where the majority of people are now concentrated because of the flow of aid, is being attacked relentlessly.
Israeli opposition leader calls Netanyahu ‘corrupt, failed prime minister’
Yair Golan, leader of Israel’s left-wing Democrats party and one of Netanyahu’s fiercest domestic critics, has denounced the prime minister over a report that he is planning a budget proposal that is favourable to ultra-Orthodox parties to retain their support for his coalition government.
“While soldiers and reservists are being sent to Gaza, Netanyahu is looting their tax money and using it to bribe the ultra-Orthodox who avoid service,” Golan said in a post on X.
“Netanyahu is a negligent, corrupt and failed prime minister who sacrifices those who serve and work – just to cling to power,” Golan said. “We will replace him.”
Yemen’s Houthis confirm launch of ballistic missile at Israel
The military spokesman of the Houthis says the Yemeni group has launched a “hypersonic” ballistic missile towards Ben Gurion International Airport.
In a short televised announcement, Yahya Saree said the operation was “successful” because it caused the airport to suspend operations and prompted “millions” of Israelis to flee to shelters.
As we reported earlier, sirens sounded across Israel after the launch of the missile, which the Israeli military said was intercepted without causing any casualties.
Gaza death toll rises
At least 38 Palestinians have been killed and 204 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the latest 24-hour reporting period, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.
The statement published on Telegram said the numbers do not include victims received by hospitals in northern Gaza “due to the difficulty of accessing them”.
The total death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza has risen to 53,939 people killed and 122,797 injured since October 7, 2023, it said.
At least 3,785 people have been killed and 10,756 injured in the enclave since March 18 when Israel broke a two-month ceasefire, the ministry said.
Three people killed in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya
We are getting reports of another deadly aerial attack in northern Gaza, this one in the town of Beit Lahiya.
The air raid has killed at least three people and wounded several, our colleagues on the ground reported.
The casualties add to at least 22 people killed by Israeli attacks in the enclave today, our colleagues reported, citing a Health Ministry update.
Israeli forces control 77 percent of Gaza: Government Media Office
The Israeli military now in effect controls 77 percent of the total geographical area of the Gaza Strip, according to the enclave’s Government Media Office.
“This is achieved through direct ground incursions and the deployment of occupation forces within residential and civilian areas, through heavy fire control that prevents Palestinian citizens from accessing their homes, areas, lands, and property, or through unjust forced eviction policies,” it said in a statement.
The office called on the UN and the international community to take action to stop the Israeli expansion.
“The continued genocide, ethnic cleansing, colonialism, aggression, and occupation control over the vast majority of the Gaza Strip reflects an Israeli political will to impose a ‘final solution’ by force, in blatant defiance of all international laws and norms,” the statement said.
Israeli politicians continue to spar over Shin Bet appointment
Two days after Netanyahu tapped Major-General David Zini to become the next head of the security agency Shin Bet, the issue continues to divide Israeli politicians.
Betzalel Smotrich, the far-right finance minister, said Zini is “suitable” for the job, saying that is “exactly what is needed now to rehabilitate this important organisation during this critical and challenging period of the war”.
“Gone are the days when the right needs approval for its appointments from the commissars on the left who think the country belongs to them,” he wrote in a post on X.
Gadi Eisenkot, an influential lawmaker and former chief of staff, told the Kan broadcaster that Zini must refuse the position because his appointment comes as a result of a “crooked process that was done for crooked considerations”.
Zini, an active duty general in the army, was dismissed from the military because he engaged in talks with Netanyahu behind the army’s back. The military later tried to walk back his dismissal, saying Zini agreed to “retire” in light of his appointment as Shin Bet chief.
Israel’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the government’s dismissal of Ronen Bar as Shin Bet chief was unlawful.
Israeli defence minister engaged in ‘systematic boycott’ of legal system: Top lawyer
Amit Becher, the head of the Israel Bar Association, says Defence Minister Israel Katz must “deal with security, the release of hostages, equality of burden [of military service], and reservists, and not with PR announcements for the needs of the primaries”.
Becher accused Katz of engaging in a “systematic boycott of the entire legal system and the dismantling of state institutions” in a post on X.
Becher posted the message shortly after Katz banned the military’s top lawyer, Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, from participating in the bar association’s upcoming annual conference.
Katz argued that the advocate general must focus on work “refuting domestic and foreign fabrications regarding the conduct of soldiers in the war in Gaza” rather than engaging in “political” affairs.
Netanyahu’s government has been pushing to strip away some of the authority of Israel’s judicial system and has clashed with the bar association and the attorney general on many occasions.
At the same time, the Israeli army has faced mounting cases of abuses in Gaza that could amount to war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law.
Gaza’s Civil Defence says operations director killed with wife
In a statement on Telegram, Gaza’s Civil Defence – the agency responsible for rescue services – says an Israeli attack in the Nuseirat refugee camp has hit the home of its operations director, Ashraf Abu Nar, killing him and his wife.
The agency described Abu Nar as “a disciplined and responsible officer committed to his humanitarian and professional work”.