- Israeli forces continue bombarding Gaza, killing at least 39 people on Monday, after Hamas releases US-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander from captivity.
- UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres calls for an end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza, after the world’e leading hunger monitor says the entire population of the enclave face the risk of famine.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he’ll send mediators to Qatar for truce talks, while his office says Israel will hold off on plans to expand the war on Gaza until after US President Donald Trump’s Middle East visit.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 52,862 Palestinians and wounded 119,648, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Government Media Office updated the 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 on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 taken captive.
Who is Hassan Eslaih?
Here’s what we know about the Palestinian journalist, who was killed in a targeted Israeli attack on the Nasser Hospital:
- Eslaih was the director of the Alam24 News Agency and a freelancer who contributed to international news organisations, including photos of the Hamas-led October 7 attack.
- He was the target of an Israeli attack on a media tent outside the Nasser Hospital last month. At least two people were killed in the bombing.
- Eslaih survived, but suffered severe injuries, including burns, and lost two fingers.
- Israel claims Eslaih is a Hamas fighter who participated in the October 7 attack, an allegation he vehemently denied.
- At the time, he told the Mondoweiss, a US-based news outlet, that Israel was “trying to obliterate the image of Palestinian journalists with these false claims that they belong to Hamas and other factions”. He added that he does not belong to any party in Gaza.
Latest Israeli killing takes Gaza journalists death toll to 215
The Government Media Office in Gaza has confirmed the death of journalist Hassan Eslaih and says it condemns “in the strongest terms the systematic targeting, killing and assassination of Palestinian journalists” by Israeli forces.
It said that Eslaih was “assassinated” as he was receiving treatment at the Nasser Medical Complex earlier today, and that his killing has raised the death toll among journalists since the war began to 215.
“We hold the Israeli occupation, the US administration, and the countries participating in the crime of genocide, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, fully responsible for committing this heinous, brutal crime,” it added.
Rights groups call for global action after new famine warning
We’ve been covering the IPC’s latest warning of famine in Gaza.
Earlier, some 250 Palestinian and international rights groups called on countries around the world to deploy a humanitarian convoy to Gaza and break Israel’s siege.
Here’s more reaction from rights groups:
- Islamic Relief says the latest famine alert shows Israel has turned starvation into a weapon of war and called for action, saying every minute counts now.
- Action Against Hunger said the IPC report shows that the continued blocking of the entry of food will cause famine and called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
- SOS Children’s Villages called on the United Kingdom to act over the “harrowing” crisis, saying children in Gaza are at risk of being starved to death.
- Save the Children said that nearly every child in Gaza is now at risk of famine, noting that there is food, water and medical aid ready to go at the border.
What’s happened in Gaza since Israel abandoned truce deal?
- March 2: Israel blocks the entry of all aid into Gaza after Hamas rejects its effort to change the terms of the ceasefire deal agreed to in January.
- March 15: The US launches large-scale attacks on Yemen, killing at least 53 people, after Houthi rebels threaten to resume attacks on Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea.
- March 18: Israel abandons the ceasefire and bombards Gaza, killing more than 400 Palestinians, many of them children, in a single day.
- April 25: The World Food Programme (WFP) says its food stocks in Gaza are completely depleted.
- May 3: Authorities in Gaza say at least 57 Palestinians have starved to death since Israel imposed its total blockade.
- May 4: A Houthi missile lands near Israel’s main international airport.
- May 5: Netanyahu announces the expansion of the Gaza war, and says Palestinians in the enclave will be moved, as the military plans to call up tens of thousands of reservists.
- May 7: Oman announces a US-Houthi ceasefire. Israel attacks Yemen’s main airport in Sanaa.
- May 9: The US says a new body – the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – is being established to distribute aid in the enclave, bypassing the system run by the UN and other agencies.
- May 12: Hamas frees US-Israeli captive Edan Alexander after direct talks with the US, while the world’s leading hunger monitor warns that the entire population of Gaza is facing critical risk of famine.
No progress on Abraham Accords as Trump heads to Saudi Arabia
US President Donald Trump arrives in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the first of three Middle East nations he’ll be visiting this week.
One place we know that Trump will not be visiting on this tour is Israel.
That is because of the ongoing conflict, with Israel’s war on Gaza.
The White House is saying that there has not been any progress when it comes to ceasefire talks there.
Instead, what we know is that, given there has been no progress on those talks, there will also be no furthering of something that Trump has been pressing for, but that has so far eluded the president, and that is furthering of the Abraham Accords, or the normalisation of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Because we know that with the ongoing conflict in Gaza, there is no creation of a Palestinian state, something that Saudi Arabia is demanding.
Gaza on the verge of famine – Key findings of IPC report
The world’s leading hunger monitor, known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), says the entire population of Gaza is at imminent risk of famine.
Here’s what its report said:
- About 1.95 million people, or 93 percent of Gaza’s population, are living with acute food shortages.
- Among them are 244,000 people, or 12 percent of the population, who are experiencing the most severe, or “catastrophic”, food shortages.
- IPC’s October analysis had said 133,000 people were in the “catastrophic” category, which refers to famine conditions or the fifth level of the monitor’s five-level scale.
- About 470,000 people, or 22 percent of the population, are projected to fall into the catastrophic category by the end of September, with more than a million more at “emergency” levels, the fourth level on the IPC’s scale.
- “From 11 May to the end of September 2025, the whole territory is classified in Emergency (IPC Phase 4), with the entire population expected to face Crisis or worse acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above),” the report said.
Key findings of IPC report
The world’s leading hunger monitor, known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), says the entire population of Gaza is at imminent risk of famine.
Here’s what its report said:
- About 1.95 million people, or 93 percent of Gaza’s population, are living with acute food shortages.
- Among them are 244,000 people, or 12 percent of the population, who are experiencing the most severe, or “catastrophic”, food shortages.
- IPC’s October analysis had said 133,000 people were in the “catastrophic” category, which refers to famine conditions.
- About 470,000 people, or 22 percent of the population, are projected to fall into the catastrophic category by the end of September, with more than a million more at “emergency” levels, the fourth level on the IPC’s five-level scale.
- “From 11 May to the end of September 2025, the whole territory is classified in Emergency (IPC Phase 4), with the entire population expected to face Crisis or worse acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above),” the report said.
Israel resume air attacks on Gaza after captive’s release
After Israeli forces were handed the US-Israeli captive, they started their air strikes again in the Gaza Strip.
We can hear the F-16s and the drones hovering in the sky.
Palestinians have a lot of questions about what is going to happen now on the ground.
We’re talking about this stage, where Palestinians are very desperate.
Palestinian families are unable to secure food.
They’re saying they are unable to feed their children. Their children are going to bed hungry.
However, Hamas said that this is a very positive step towards the negotiations, where they’re aiming at a ceasefire, they’re also aiming for the end of the war, the entrance of the humanitarian aid and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
Edan Alexander reunites with his family after release from captivity
A video from the Israeli military shows the moment Alexander was reunited with his family after Hamas released him from captivity in Gaza.
A recap of recent developments
- A United Nations-backed panel of experts is warning that the entire population of Gaza is at critical risk of famine, with 500,000 people facing starvation.
- Hamas has released Edan Alexander, a US-Israeli dual citizen and soldier, from captivity in Gaza after holding direct talks with the United States.
- The release comes ahead of US President Donald Trump’s three-day tour to the Middle East, which includes stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, but not Israel.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will send mediators to Qatar for truce talks, while his office says Israel will hold off on plans to expand the war on Gaza until after Trump’s Middle East visit.
- Israeli forces resumed bombarding Gaza after Alexander’s release, killing at least 39 people across the Strip on Monday.
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the World Health Organization chief call on Israel to end its blockade on Gaza, with the latter saying the world doesn’t “need to wait for a declaration of famine in Gaza” to know Palestinians are already dying from hunger in the enclave.
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You can read about the key events from Monday, May 12, here.
