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Here is where things stand on Sunday 25 May 2025:
- At least 30 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn, including journalist Hassan Majdi Abu Warda and several of his family members.
- The Israeli military controls 77 percent of the Gaza Strip through “continued genocide [and] ethnic cleansing“, its Government Media Office says.
- Israel has allowed 100 trucks carrying aid into Gaza since Wednesday, officials say, an amount nowhere near what’s needed to help its 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 taken captive.
What can countries do to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza?
There’s a number of things they can do. Number one, block the flights from Tel Aviv to Europe and vice versa. That shouldn’t be too hard.
They can stop Israeli artists from performing at such events as Eurovision and Israeli athletes from playing in Europe. They can do a number of these things that are not exactly hurtful but they are annoying to the Israelis and Israeli society, which really needs to take action.
There’s a sense of desperation among certain segments of Israeli society, but if Europe takes some serious action in terms of sanctions and boycotts and so forth, I think Israeli society would be more responsive.
Pressure is building up on Prime Minister Netanyahu as he apparently enters the last chapter of this genocide, of this apocalyptic vision of Gaza emptied of its two million inhabitants. At the end of the day, the Palestinians need a state to protect them.
Germany deeply concerned over ‘unbearable’ human suffering in Gaza
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul says Berlin has been in touch with Israeli, Middle Eastern and European peers to seek to broker solutions to end the war.
“Germany has a clear position: no expulsions [of Palestinians] from the Gaza Strip, an end to hunger. And the Strip as well as the West Bank belong to the Palestinians on the way to a two-state solution,” he said in an interview on ARD’s Bericht aus Berlin (Report from Berlin).
US Secretary Noem visits Israel after deadly embassy shooting
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived in Israel late on Sunday.
She met Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar after her arrival and is also expected to hold talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The visit follows last week’s deadly shooting attack on two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, and Noem is expected to attend a memorial service.
US President Donald Trump expressed condolences to the families of the victims and said the killings were “based obviously on anti-Semitism”.
Israel’s US envoy called home over interview remarks
Israel’s ambassador to Washington is being summoned home to discuss comments he made in a podcast.
Ambassador Yechiel Leiter appeared on a podcast run by the right-wing US online platform PragerU, in which he accused opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of levelling “blood libels” at the Israeli leader.
Leiter accused “extremists on the left” and the Israeli media of trying to topple Netanyahu’s government.
“The Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Eden Bar Tal, will summon the ambassador in Washington, Dr Yechiel Leiter, for a hearing regarding statements he made during a media interview,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement.
Leiter also dismissed as “insanity” claims that Netanyahu is prolonging the war on Gaza to remain in power. “How dare they say something as malicious as that?” he asked.
Two Red Cross workers killed in Gaza strike on their home
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says two of its workers were killed in an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
“We are heartbroken by the death of two of our dear colleagues, Ibrahim Eid and Ahmad Abu Hilal,” the ICRC in Israel and the occupied territory said.
‘Do not abandon us,’ Israeli captives’ families tell Shin Bet chief
The main group representing relatives of Israeli captives urged newly designated Shin Bet chief David Zini – who reportedly told colleagues he’s against captive-release deals and views Israel as engaged in an “eternal war” – to publicly clarify his position.
“We call on you – come out and make clear your commitment to the return of the abductees,” said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in a statement. “Let us trust you not to be part of the effort to prevent any deal that would return them all.
“We have no interest in politics; we are only interested in one issue, and that is the return home of 58 hostages who were abandoned and are in real and tangible danger,” it added.
“Do not turn your back on us. Do not abandon our loved ones. Without them there will be no semblance of victory.”
Israel continues ‘starvation plan against innocent civilians’: Hamas
The Palestinian group says Israel continues its “obstruction of the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip after very limited quantities had been brought in a few days earlier”.
“The occupation is attempting to orchestrate the crime of starvation in the Gaza Strip and use it as a tool to establish a political and field reality,” a Hamas statement on Telegram said, noting Israel’s “misleading relief projects” have been rejected by the United Nations and other international organisations.
Hamas also affirmed its commitment to the role of the UN and its aid institutions in distributing and supervising the process.
“We consider any attempt to bypass or marginalise this role a dangerous behaviour. Relief for the Palestinian people is a non-negotiable human right.”
No evidence Hamas is behind looted aid: WFP
The World Food Programme (WFP) has seen no evidence that Hamas is stealing humanitarian aid, the UN organisation’s executive director told US broadcaster CBS.
“No, not at all,” Cindy McCain responded when asked by an interviewer.
“Listen, these people are desperate, and they see a World Food Programme truck coming in and they run for it,” she said.
“This doesn’t have anything to do with Hamas or any kind of organised crime, or anything. It has simply to do with the fact that these people are starving to death, and so we will continue to go in.”
Spain hosts European, Arab nations to pressure Israel to halt Gaza assault
The international community should impose sanctions on Israel to stop its war on Gaza, Spain’s foreign minister said at a Madrid meeting of European and Arab nations.
Spain is hosting 20 countries as well as international organisations on Sunday with the aim of “stopping this war, which no longer has any goal”, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said.
“In this terrible moment, in this humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, we aim to … stop this war … [and to] break the blockade of humanitarian assistance that must go in unimpeded,” Albares told Al Jazeera.
Read the full story here.
Most people in Gaza ‘struggling to find one meal per day’
We are not seeing a process yet for aid distribution. And the amount of aid that has entered Gaza over the past few days is a dot in the ocean. It’s not really making any change.
Some bakeries opened for a couple of days but then announced they would close because of the dangerous environment in which people are very desperate for food.
People are lining up at some of the kitchens still offering hot meals, sometimes for four or five hours. After all this time queuing, they still sometimes go home with nothing.
Palestinians are still struggling to find one meal per day to feed their families. The situation is deteriorating, and the amount of aid Israel is letting in is very little.
Malta to recognise a Palestinian state: PM
Prime Minister Robert Abela has announced his country will recognise the state of Palestine next month, according to local media.
During a political event in Mosta, Abela said Malta would make its position formal after a June 20 United Nations conference, calling the move a “moral responsibility”.
The prime minister said Malta cannot turn a blind eye to the human tragedies unfolding in Gaza, according to the English daily Times of Malta.
While Malta hosts a Palestinian ambassador, it has never formally recognised a state.
Israeli protesters condemn killing of Palestinian children
Israelis have long been holding weekly antiwar rallies focusing on the fate of Israeli captives.
Recently, some protesters have drawn attention to the large number of child victims in Gaza.
“I know that these events will be talked about in 40 or 50 years from now, and I want to know that I was on the right side of history,” protester Roy Kanner said.
Israeli army chief says battle against Hamas ‘not an endless war’
Israel’s army chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, says the attack on Gaza is “not an endless war” and the military will “work to shorten it in accordance with the fulfilment of its goals”.
“We are intensifying our activity in accordance with the orderly plan,” Zamir said in a statement made during a trip to the besieged Palestinian enclave.
“Hamas is under tremendous pressure. It has lost most of its assets and its command and control,” he said.
“We will deploy every tool at our disposal to bring the hostages home, dismantle Hamas and dismantle its rule,” Zamir added.
Houthi airport attacks affecting Israel’s economy: Report
The economic damage from the Houthis’ ongoing attacks on Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport remains significant, the country’s Channel 12 broadcaster reports.
About 20 international airlines have suspended flights because of repeated targeting of the airport by Yemen’s Houthi militia and some are reportedly seeking compensation.
“I think we’re running out of patience too with Israel,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said last week. “Flights to and from Tel Aviv, if they’re going to keep being disrupted by these security disruptions, frankly, we’d be better off sending those aircraft somewhere else in Europe.”
The Houthis have carried out a campaign of attacks against Israel in self-proclaimed solidarity with Palestinians after Israel launched its assault on Gaza in October 2023.
Palestinian Mujahideen Movement commends Houthi support for Gaza
The Palestinian group says the Yemeni militia “continues to set the brightest examples of sincerity and loyalty in supporting our oppressed people in Gaza”.
“We congratulate and commend the new Yemeni missile strike that targeted Ben Gurion Airport with a ballistic missile, halting air traffic there,” it said in a statement.
Israel said earlier it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen in an attack claimed by the Houthi rebels.
The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement is a political organisation that split from the Fatah party along with its military wing, the Mujahideen Brigades.
‘Endless artillery shelling’ hounds Gaza
The situation continues to escalate throughout the Gaza Strip, where at least 30 Palestinians have been killed today. This includes 10 Palestinians killed in the southern part of the Strip and Khan Younis, with multiple homes targeted.
At least eight more people were killed in the middle area where Israeli forces targeted a tent housing a family with kids in Deir el-Balah. The operations director of Gaza’s Civil Defence was also killed in an attack in the central area.
Others were killed in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and other parts of northern Gaza.
Israeli forces have used quadcopters for some of these attacks. There has also been endless artillery shelling, especially in the eastern parts of the Strip.
Most Gaza residents still waiting for a single bag of flour
Gaza’s Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal tells Al Jazeera the ongoing aid shortage is causing “gradual” death across the enclave.
Despite Israel easing its total blockade last week, most residents have yet to receive even a single bag of flour, Basal said. The lack of nutrition is putting children – especially premature infants – at increasing risk, he said.
He estimated 1,000 aid trucks per day are needed to meet basic needs of the Palestinians in Gaza, far more than the roughly 300 trucks Israel claims have entered since the blockade was eased last week.
Basal called for a safe and reliable mechanism for aid deliveries, which he said should be managed by international humanitarian organisations.
Horror after Israeli attack kills 9 children of Gaza doctor
Israeli air strikes have killed nearly the entire family of a Khan Younis doctor while she tended to the wounded at work.
The attack hit the home of Dr Alaa al-Najjar, a paediatrician at the southern city’s Nasser Hospital, setting it ablaze and killing nine of her 10 children.
“She went to her house and saw her children burned. May God help her,” said Tahani Yahya al-Najjar, her sister-in-law.
Al-Najjar’s husband, also a doctor, was critically wounded in the attack.
Read the full story here.
Israel says it kills Hamas fighter who took part in October 2023 attacks
Israel’s army says its forces have killed a man it has identified as Ahmad Osama Hassan Al-Lahwani.
The military statement claimed the man was a Hamas navy commando who infiltrated Israel during the attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The army did not say when or where the attack occurred.
Hamas has not immediately commented on the announcement.
Hamas condemns storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by Israeli settlers
We reported earlier that Israeli settlers backed by soldiers entered occupied East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and performed Talmudic rituals at the third holiest site in Islam.
In a statement on Telegram, the Palestinian group condemned “the escalating incursions” and “epic prostration rituals” performed in the courtyard of the mosque, which involved settlers lying on the ground and praying loudly.
Hamas said the increasing number of raids and rituals in the compound is “a continuation of the religious war targeting the city of Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque”.
It called on Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank as well as Muslim nations to “take urgent action” in support of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
According to the status quo dating back to 1967 at the site, the Israeli government allows the Jordanian-appointed Waqf body to maintain day-to-day control of the area, and only Muslims are permitted to pray there. Israeli police, however, control access.
Israeli reservist handed 20-day jail sentence for refusing service: Reports
Ron Finer, a platoon commander in the Israeli military’s Alon Brigade, has been sentenced to 20 days in prison for ignoring orders to report for duty, The Times of Israel reports.
Finer, 26, who said he has already served 270 days since October 7, 2023, stated he’s “morally unable to continue”. He is a member of the Soldiers for Hostages group.
“I am shocked by the never-ending war in Gaza, the abandonment of the hostages and the relentless death of innocents,” Finer said in comments carried by Israel’s Walla news site. “Prison will not silence me nor will it intimidate me – neither me nor my comrades.”
The Times of Israel said Finer’s sentence is the longest given “for a conscientious objector in the war so far”.
Hamas praises Houthi strikes on Israel
The Palestinian group says it “highly values and commends” the Yemeni rebels’ “ongoing support and solidarity operations” targeting Israel.
The Houthis’ latest missile strike, which targeted Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, “confirms the noble stance of the brotherly Yemeni people” in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, a Hamas statement on Telegram said.
It also called on Muslim nations as well as the rest of the international community to intensify their efforts to stop “the ongoing war of extermination in Gaza”.
The Israeli military said earlier that it had intercepted the missile launched from Yemen in an attack claimed by the Houthis. There were no reports of casualties or damage. Sirens sounded in several areas of Israel.
Two people 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.
Two people 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.
An attack in Deir el-Balah’s al-Haker neighbourhood killed another person and caused more injuries, according to the agency.
Wafa also reported Israeli artillery shelling in the al-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, quoting 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.