The Israeli army announced today that four more Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 died in captivity, and that their bodies are being held by the Islamist group, Reuters reports.
Palestinian health officials said today that 11 people were killed in Israeli strikes overnight, including a woman and three children, in the central Gaza Strip, and later hospitals reported that at least 19 people were killed in the attacks last night.
Four people, three of them children, were killed in an attack on a house in Bureij refugee camp late on Sunday.
A second strike early this morning killed seven people, including a woman, in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
US President Joseph Biden said on Friday that Israel had offered Hamas a ceasefire and the release of hostages in three phases, saying it was time to end the fighting in Gaza and that Hamas was no longer capable of carrying out another large-scale attack on Israel.
The Israeli army is expanding its offensive in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, which was once the main center of humanitarian operations.
The invasion has severely cut off the delivery of food, medicine and other necessities to the starving Palestinians.
Israel, meanwhile, has faced international accusations over the high number of civilian casualties and widespread destruction during the nearly eight-month war against Hamas.
More than 36.400 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli bombardment and ground operations of the besieged territory, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
The war began on October 7 after an attack by Palestinian extremists from Gaza led by Hamas in which about 1.200 were killed and 250 hostages were kidnapped and taken to Palestinian territory.
Israel says 100 are still being held in Gaza along with the bodies of 30 abductees.
More than half, or 55 percent, of all buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged since the war with Israel broke out in October last year, according to preliminary UN satellite analysis data.
The UN Satellite Center (UNOSAT) reported on the Ix network that more than 137.000 buildings were estimated, based on satellite images from June 3 compared with those taken in May, September and October 15 last year, just over Sunday days after the Hamas attack on Israel.
The new satellite images were compared with images from November and those taken in the first months of this year, UNOSAT announced, Israeli media reported.
"Judging by the analysis of satellite images, UNOSAT identified 36.591 destroyed buildings, 16.513 severely damaged, 47.398 moderately damaged and 36.825 possibly damaged out of a total of 137.297," the center's announcement stated.
The comparison showed that the Deir Al-Balah area in central Gaza and the north of the Palestinian Territory suffered the most damage between April 1 and May 3.
Within Deir Al-Balah in Nuseirat municipality is the largest number of newly damaged buildings in that period, 1.216.
UNOSAT noted that this is the result of a preliminary analysis, which should still be confirmed in the field.
(BETA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that there is a gap between the Israeli version and the proposal for a cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip, which was presented on Friday by the President of the United States of America (USA) Joseph Biden.
"The proposal presented by Biden is not complete. The war will stop in order to return the hostages and then we will hold talks. There are other details that the US president did not present to the public," Netanyahu said at a meeting of the Israeli parliament's committee on foreign policy and security.
He said this after the statement of an unnamed Israeli official that the conditions presented by Biden for a potential hostage agreement, which Israel supposedly proposed, were not correct.
Speaking to NBC News, the senior official questioned Biden's presentation of the terms of the hostage deal as an Israeli proposal and emphasized that Israel had never agreed to fully withdraw from Gaza on any part. agreement.
In addition, he said that what Biden presented was not an Israeli proposal, but that it originated from intermediary countries, and that Israel changed it.
"It is strange that they say that it is an Israeli proposal and at the same time they say that Israel should agree," the official said, according to Israeli media.
Mediators in the Gaza war, Qatar, the US and Egypt, jointly called on Hamas and Israel on Saturday to finalize an agreement based on the principles presented by the US president.
On Friday, Biden in the White House presented the road map proposed to him by Israel, as he said, in order to achieve, in stages and under conditions, a permanent ceasefire and called on Hamas to accept it and for the Government of Israel to support it.
Prime Minister Netanyahu then confirmed Israel's conditions for a permanent ceasefire, the destruction of Hamas and the release of hostages.
In his speech, Biden did not explain how the goal of keeping Hamas out of power will be achieved.
Netanyahu is under intense pressure from two far-right ministers who are threatening to quit the government if the fighting stops before Hamas is destroyed.
Israel's opposition leader Yair Lapid today repeated his promise to support Netanyahu in that case and called on him to agree to the latest proposal for a hostage agreement.
He said that the Government of Israel should send a delegation to Cairo today to finalize the details and bring home the hostages held in Gaza.
Meanwhile, many Israelis continue to protest in the streets demanding an agreement to release the hostages.
Hamas only said it had considered positively the road map released by Biden, as it reiterated its demands for a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, terms Israel has rejected.
Israeli media reports that Israel proposed the agreement without the knowledge of the so-called security cabinet, and Lapid said that the destruction of Hamas can wait, but that there is no time for the hostages because they are dying in captivity.
"There will be time to eliminate Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Muhammed Deif, there will be time to eliminate Hamas, there is no time left for the hostages," Lapid said.
(Beta)
A group of United Nations experts has called on UN members to recognize a Palestinian state in order to ensure peace in the Middle East.
"The recognition of a Palestinian state is an important recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people and their struggle for freedom and independence," the United Nations website states.
(Radio Free Europe)
The Health Ministry of Hamas announced today that 40 people were killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli attacks in the previous 24 hours.
Since the start of Israel's war against the Palestinian Islamist movement almost eight months ago, a total of 36.479 people have died.
The ministry announced that 82.777 people were wounded during the war.
(BETA)
Egypt is clear in its rejection of the Israeli presence at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri said, Reuters reports.
"It is difficult for the Rafah crossing to continue operating without the Palestinian Authority," he said at a press conference with his Spanish counterpart in Madrid.
In the attacks of the Israeli army on the city of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, 12 Palestinians were killed.
As Anatolia reports, ten Palestinians, including three children, were killed in the bombing of two houses in the Er Ramida region, east of Khan Yunis.
It is said that many people were injured in that attack.
In the attack on the house of the Abu Hatir family in Khan Younis, two Palestinians were killed and many were injured.
The Israeli army also targeted the area around the European Hospital in Khan Yunis.
Clashes in the Gaza Strip began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
In Israel's attacks on various parts of the Gaza Strip, more than 36 people were killed, the vast majority of whom were women and children, and more than 82 were injured.
Nearly eight months after the start of the war, vast swathes of Gaza are in ruins, with food, clean water and medicine in short supply.
(MINE)
Israel's Defense Minister, Yoav Galan, has reiterated his government's commitment to dismantling Hamas as a ruling and military authority as part of any deal to end the war in Gaza, he told a senior US diplomat, according to his office.
In a conversation with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Galan also "discussed the issue of identifying and enabling the emergence of a local, governing alternative" to the Islamist militant group, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defense, Reuters reports.
The body of an Israeli hostage believed to have been abducted by armed Palestinian groups from the Gaza Strip has been found and identified in one of the kibbutzim in southern Israel that Hamas attacked on October 7, the Israeli army announced today.
"The body of Dolev Yehud was found in Kibbutz Nir Oz," the army said, adding that it was identified based on a complete analysis and in coordination with anthropological experts.
Until now, Yehud was believed to be one of the hostages taken to Gaza.
Dolev Yehud (35), a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, was a member of the emergency medical service, the army said.
During the attack of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas on the south of Israel on October 7 last year, he left his house to try to save his life, but he was killed by members of the "terrorist organization Hamas", the statement added.
In the attack by Hamas on Israel that started the war in Gaza, 1.190 people were killed on the Israeli side, according to French press data based on official Israeli reports.
Of the approximately 250 people who were taken hostage on October 7, approximately 120 are still in Gaza, and 37 are dead, according to the Israeli military.
At least 36.439 Palestinians have died in the Gaza Strip in bombings and Israeli military operations since the start of the war, according to the health ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government.
(BETA)
More than a million people have been forcibly displaced from the city of Rafah in Gaza, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRWA) has announced, reports Reuters.
Israel's foreign ministry recommended on Sunday that Israeli citizens do not travel to the Maldives after its government banned visitors with Israeli passports from entering.
The recommendation, the Israeli ministry said, includes Israelis with dual citizenship.
"For Israeli citizens who are already in the country, it is recommended that they consider leaving, because if they find themselves in trouble for any reason, it will be difficult for us to help them," the ministry said in a statement.
The President of the Maldives, Mohamed Muicu, made the decision following a cabinet recommendation, according to a statement from his cabinet, according to Reuters.
"The cabinet decision includes changes to the necessary laws to prevent Israeli passport holders from entering the Maldives and the establishment of a cabinet subcommittee to oversee these efforts," the statement added.
A total of 528 Israeli nationals visited the Maldives in the first four months of this year, down from 4.644 in the same period in 2023, according to Maldives government data.
Israel's military said it used an Arrow ballistic missile interceptor to shoot down a surface-to-surface missile launched in the Red Sea region after sounding sirens in the port city of Eilat to send residents to shelters, Reuters reported.
There was no word on damage or casualties. The military statement did not specify who could have launched the rocket. Eilat is again exposed to a far-reaching attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels in solidarity with Hamas' war in Gaza.
An Israeli man who went missing during an October 7 attack by Hamas-led Palestinian gunmen and was believed to be among the hostages taken to the Gaza Strip has been found dead in the border village where he lived, Israeli media reported.
The Israeli military confirmed the identification of Dolev Yehud's remains, saying it required lengthy forensics. He was said to have been killed by Hamas during a "rampage" in Kibbutz Nir Oz, where many residents were killed, including burning houses, or kidnapped, Reuters reports.
The UN says aid deliveries fell by two-thirds in May, but the number of trucks entering Gaza increased.
Aid shipments to southern Gaza are being crowded out by commercial convoys, aid groups say, as Israel's military crackdown on the Rafah chokes off supply routes crucial to feeding hundreds of thousands of people.
Deliveries of food, medicine and other aid to Gaza have dropped by two-thirds since Israel began its ground operation on May 7, UN figures show. But overall, the number of trucks entering Gaza increased in May compared to April, according to Israeli officials, the Guardian reports.
Part of the reason for the wide difference in reports of what supplies have reached the Belt is the increase in commercial shipments.
In May, the Israeli military lifted a ban on food sales to Gaza from Israel and the occupied West Bank, Reuters reported last Sunday. Traders have been given the green light to continue buying fresh fruit and vegetables, dairy products and other goods.
Inside Gaza, residents say there is more food in the markets, but prices are many times higher than pre-war levels, and after months of fighting and displacement, few people can afford to buy much.
A group of aid agencies warned this week that there was "the appearance of improved access", when efforts to feed Palestinians were on the brink of collapse.
"While Kerem Shalom is officially open, commercial trucks are a priority and aid movements remain unpredictable, inconsistent and critically low," the group of 20 aid agencies warned this Sunday.
In April, around 5.000 aid trucks arrived through Kerem Shalom and Rafah, the two main crossings into southern Gaza, according to UN figures. In the last three Sundays of May, only a few hundred came through Kerem Shalom; The round is closed.
Overall, however, Israel says the average daily number of trucks going to Gaza rose in May to about 350, from about 300 in April, and the "vast majority" of recent deliveries passed through Kerem Shalom, said Shimon Friedman, a spokesman for Cogata ", the Israeli body responsible for humanitarian coordination. There was no priority for commercial shipments, he added.
Ami Shaked, manager of the crossing complex where shipments are checked by Israeli security, confirmed that truck deliveries to businesses outnumbered aid, but said it was driven by the commercial interests of logistics firms.
"This problem is the same on both sides (of the crossing), the Palestinian sides choose to take the goods of the businessmen... the Israelis the same," he told reporters in Kerem Shalom.
"Because if I have a contract with UNWRA (the UN agency for Palestine refugees), they will pay, for example, 2.000 shekels for each truck. The market now (for) clean business is between 7.000 and 10.000 for each truck, so they prefer to take businessman's goods".
Aid organizations dispute this, saying they have long-term contracts for trucks, and when the limited capacity to enter Gaza and move through the military zone is allocated to commercial trucks, it takes a toll on the ability to deliver aid supplies.
Obstacles include the lack of permits for Israeli troops to drive to Kerem Shalom, and the roads leading to the collection areas where commercial vehicles are waiting to be loaded and unloaded.
"The Israeli military operation and activities since May 6 are disabling the humanitarian response," said Juliet Tuma, UNWRA's director of communications.
"(The reasons) include the restrictions imposed on our movement, including the taking of humanitarian supplies from Kerem Shalom. The Israeli authorities did not give us enough authority to move... Also, the area around Kerem Shalom became extremely dangerous very, very quickly."
Aid workers have long called for greater trade in Gaza, to supplement the supplies they can deliver. The food sold allows those who can afford it to have a healthier, more varied diet and potentially reduce the pressure on demand for aid.
But if bringing more food to markets comes at the cost of delivering aid, it will deepen, not ease, the escalating hunger crisis in southern Gaza, according to the Guardian. Last week, two deaths of children from malnutrition were reported in hospitals in Deir al-Balah.
"During the height of the war, the Israeli authorities almost exclusively allowed humanitarian supplies, even though there were not enough of them. This made the entire population of 2 million people dependent on humanitarian contributions and aid," Tuma said.
"Then they started bringing in commercial supplies, when people had exhausted their resources, and there is a huge problem of cash shortages in Gaza. Very, very few people are going to be able to afford these supplies that are coming in."
After months of war, many Palestinians are running out of money and almost all have problems accessing cash. Most have been out of work for months, and those who still receive salaries or have savings in banks cannot use cards or electronic payments, because the electricity and communication networks are barely functioning.
The very few ATMs still operating have hours-long queues, a low limit on how much can be withdrawn, and a certain percentage must be paid to security groups that prevent ATM theft and riots, the Guardian concludes.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas has entered its 241th day.
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