Families in Gaza facing unprecedented health emergency — UN

The UN has warned that families in Gaza are confronting an unparalleled health emergency as the Israeli war on the besieged enclave continues for almost eight months.

In a post on X, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) outlined the daily struggles endured by Gazans, saying: "Every day, people go through injuries, trauma, scarce hygiene, the spread of infectious diseases, lack of sufficient food & water, and limited access to medicines & healthcare."

"Families in Gaza are facing an unprecedented health emergency," the agency underlined, calling for a ceasefire.

1058 GMT — Health ministry in Gaza says war death toll at 36,224

At least 36,224 people have been killed in the territory during more than seven months of Israel's war on Gaza, the health ministry in the besieged Palestinian enclave said.

The toll includes at least 53 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 81,777 people have been wounded in Gaza since the war began on October 7 last year.

0859 GMT — Israel orders UNRWA to vacate its headquarters in the Occupied East Jerusalem

The Israel Land Authority has ordered the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) to vacate its headquarters in the occupied East Jerusalem within 30 days, Israeli media reported.

According to the Times of Israel news website, the Israeli Land Authority said UNRWA owes them "a sum of $7,326,711.19 ($7.3 million) for operating on land belonging to Israel without consent for the last seven years."

The measure against UNRWA is seen as being politically motivated, as Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for long sought to dismantle UNRWA from operating in the occupied Palestinian territories.

0811 GMT — Palestinian Red Crescent says 19 of its medical staff killed by Israel since October 7

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said the death toll of its medical staff, killed by the Israeli army in line of work in Gaza since October 7, has risen to 19.

The announcement came as it mourned two of its medical staff killed in Rafah on Wednesday when the Israeli army targeted their ambulance.

"PRCS teams were able to retrieve the bodies of para medics Haitham Tubasi and Suhail Hassouna, who were targeted by the Israeli occupation (forces) last night in the Tel Sultan area west of Rafah," said the Red Crescent in a statement.

"With the martyrdom of paramedics Haitham Tubasi and Suhail Hassouna, the number of PRCS staff members killed since the beginning of the aggression on Gaza has risen to 19," the statement said.

0737 GMT — Israeli forces 'categorically' ignoring court orders, killing people, says charity

Israeli forces are "categorically" ignoring the to UN court's orders and killed at least 66 people, including children, in four days of attacks in Rafah, Save the Children, an international non-governmental organisation, said.

"The attacks come less than a week after the @CIJ_ICJ ordered Israel to 'immediately' halt its military offensive in Rafah. Clearly, the orders are being categorically ignored," Save the Children posted on X.

A total of 66 Palestinians were killed, and more than 300 were injured in two separate attacks by the Israeli military on May 26 and May 28 on the tents of displaced Palestinians at a camp in Rafah, despite a decision by the International Court of Justice to cease such attacks.

0635 GMT — Three Israeli soldiers killed in occupied West Bank, Gaza

A total of three Israeli soldiers were killed in two different incidents, the Israeli army said.

Two soldiers succumbed to their wounds from a car-ramming incident in the northern occupied West Bank, and the third was killed in fighting in Gaza.

According to Israeli military figures, at least 642 soldiers have been killed since October 7, 2023.

0407 GMT — Egypt's Sisi calls to ensure Palestinians in Gaza not 'forcibly displaced'

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi urged the international community to ensure Palestinians in Gaza are not displaced from their war-ravaged territory.

"I... call on the international community to immediately provide for long-term humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip and to end the Israeli siege," Sisi told a forum of Arab leaders and Chinese officials in Beijing.

He also urged the international community to "stop any attempt at forcing Palestinians to forcibly flee their land"

0330 GMT — China's Xi Jinping calls for Israel-Palestine peace summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for a peace conference on Israel's war on besieged Gaza as he addressed Arab leaders and diplomats at a forum in Beijing.

China is hosting this week Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi and several other Arab leaders for a forum at which discussions on the war in Gaza are expected.

Addressing the delegations, Xi said China supported a "broad-based" peace conference to resolve the conflict. "The Middle East is a land bestowed with broad prospects for development, but the war is still raging on it," Xi said.

"War should not continue indefinitely. Justice should not be absent forever," he added.

0227 GMT — France calls for reforms from Palestinian Authority in perspective of recognising state of Palestine

France called for reforms from the Palestinian Authority to strengthen the possibility of recognising the State of Palestine.

President Emmanuel Macron said France supports "a reformed and strengthened Palestinian Authority."

Macron made the remarks during a phone call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in which he also conveyed his condolences to the Palestinian people following the bombing of a camp for displaced people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday, according to a statement from the Elysee Palace.

2353 GMT — Palestinian health minister sees no indication that Israel will reopen Rafah crossing soon

Palestinian Health Minister Maged Abu Ramadan said there is no indication that Israel will reopen the Rafah crossing soon, urging states to increase pressure on Tel Aviv to let in aid and fuel.

"This is totally in the hands of the Israelis," Abu Ramadan said at a meeting in Geneva with the Association of the Accredited Correspondents to the United Nations (ACANU).

He said that even before the closure, which occurred in early May, Israel was preventing the crossing of many patients, as such referrals require permission from the Israeli side.

2130 GMT — Nurse honoured for compassion is fired after referring to Gaza genocide in speech

A nurse has been fired by a New York City hospital after she referred to Israel's war in Gaza as a genocide during a speech accepting an award.

Labor and delivery nurse Hesen Jabr, who is Palestinian American, was being honoured by NYU Langone Health for her compassion in caring for mothers who had lost babies when she drew a link between her work and the suffering of mothers in Gaza.

"It pains me to see the women from my country going through unimaginable losses themselves during the current genocide in Gaza," Jabr said, according to a video of the May 7 speech that she posted on social media. "This award is deeply personal to me for those reasons."

Jabr wrote on Instagram that she arrived at work on May 22 for her first shift back after receiving the award when she was summoned to a meeting with the hospital's president and vice president of nursing "to discuss how I 'put others at risk' and 'ruined the ceremony' and 'offended people' because a small part of my speech was a tribute towards the grieving mothers in my country."

She wrote that after working most of her shift she was "dragged once again to an office" where she was read her termination letter and then escorted out of the building.

2100 GMT — Israel kills paramedics, Palestinian civilians in Gaza strikes

Israel has killed several Palestinian civilians, including two paramedics, in air strikes on the cities of Gaza and Rafah.

Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that rescue teams and local citizens retrieved several casualties from the rubble of a house belonging to the Al Hatu family near Al-Zahraa School in eastern Gaza City, which was targeted by Israeli warplanes.

"Three more individuals were killed when a house in the Tel al Sultan neighbourhood, west of Rafah, was struck by an Israeli air strike," WAFA said.

Two paramedics were killed in an Israel air strike targeting an ambulance in Rafah city, the Health Ministry in the besieged Palestinian enclave said.

In a statement, the ministry said that two members of the ambulance teams affiliated with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) were killed when their ambulance was heading to evacuate the wounded and deceased people in the Abu al Said roundabout area in Tel al Sultan.

2100 GMT — Car ramming kills two Israelis in West Bank

A car ramming attack has killed two Israelis near the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army has said.

The army had earlier reported a car ramming attack near an illegal Zionist settlement outside Nablus. It then told AFP news agency that "two Israeli citizens were killed."

According to Israeli media, the army launched a manhunt for the suspected attacker, as Israeli violence in the West Bank flares during its brutal war on besieged Gaza.

2136 GMT — 'All eyes on Rafah' image shared 45M times online

An AI-generated image bearing the words "All eyes on Rafah" has been shared by more than 45 million Instagram accounts since Monday after a deadly Israeli strike at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah burned alive and decapitated around 50 Palestinians, sparking global outcry.

The image depicts densely packed rows of tents stretching endlessly across a desert landscape overshadowed by mountains, alluding to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled there during Israel's military invasion.

Chilean-US actor Pedro Pascal, top models Bella and Gigi Hadid, who are of Palestinian descent, and French football star Ousm ane Dembele are among the celebrities to have shared it on Instagram.