Israel violating international law in Palestinian territories: UN expert
-
Israeli attacks have killed at least 18 people in Gaza over the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry says
-
Humanitarian organisations say incidents of aid loting in Gaza are rising as stocks of food, medicine run low amid Israel’s now two-month blockade.
-
The UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) says nearly 3,000 aid trucks are piled up at Gaza’s border, unable to cross.
-
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 52,400 Palestinians and wounded 118,014, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. The Gaza 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 Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.
-
Israel’s conduct risks setting dangerous global precedent, Pakistan warns in ICJ hearing
Pakistan has told the ICJ that Israel’s actions against UNRWA represent “one of the most significant” breaches of the UN privileges and immunities.
“If Israel is not stopped, that conduct will become an invitation and a blueprint for governments around the world to use the power of the state to remove international scrutiny,” said Syed Haider Shah, representing Pakistan. “Israel’s behaviour is therefore a threat to the UN operations globally and should be treated as such by the court.”
Today was the fourth day of hearings at the ICJ addressing Israel’s obligations in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Gaza and the West Bank.
Israeli army claims earlier deadly attack on south Lebanon
Israeli warplanes raided the Meiss el-Jabal region of southern Lebanon, allegedly targeting two members of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, the Israeli army has claimed.
They were hit in separate strikes, the military said in a statement on X.
Earlier, we reported, quoting the Lebanese Health Ministry, that three people had been killed in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon.
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
-
Israeli forces have carried out attacks across Gaza, killing at least 26 people today. The victims include several children killed in their home in Khan Younis.
-
A suffocating two-month aid blockade on Gaza continues, pushing residents to “the verge of famine”.
-
UN relief chief Tom Fletcher called the Israeli-imposed blockade “brutal” and urged Israel to “let humanitarians save lives” in Gaza.
-
Firefighters have largely put out blazes that had swept areas near Jerusalem, though several hotspots remain, according to Israeli authorities.
-
Israeli PM Netanyahu says 18 people are under arrest on suspicion of arson, reports Israeli media.
Blocking aid to Gaza is a ‘cruel collective punishment,’ says UN relief chief
The United Nations has again called on Israel to lift its blockade of humanitarian aid delivery into the Gaza Strip.
“International law is unequivocal: as the occupying power, Israel must allow humanitarian support in. Aid, and the civilian lives it saves, should never be a bargaining chip,” Tom Fletcher, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said in a statement.
He said blocking aid starves civilians and leaves them without basic medical support, adding that it strips them of dignity and hope and “inflicts a cruel collective punishment. Blocking aid kills.
“The humanitarian movement is independent, impartial and neutral. We believe that all civilians are equally worthy of protection,” said Fletcher, underlining that they remain ready to save as many lives as they can, despite the risks.
Director of Gaza’s Health Ministry calls on UN to issue famine declaration
Dr Munir al-Bursh, director of Gaza’s Health Ministry, said the UN should make an official declaration of famine in the Strip as an Israeli blockade choking off access to food and other vital goods enters its third month.
“We call on the United Nations to issue an official declaration of famine in Gaza, given that field indicators and medical and humanitarian data confirm that international conditions for this have been met,” he said.
Here are some points he shared with Al Jazeera Arabic about the dire conditions faced by Palestinians in Gaza.
-
91 percent of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are facing a food crisis two months after Israel closed the crossings.
-
92 percent of children and breastfeeding mothers in Gaza suffer from severe malnutrition.
-
65 percent of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip do not have access to clean drinking water.
A firefighter works near Latrun, a day after wildfires broke out in central Israel, on May 1, 2025 [Ammar Awad/Reuters]
Mohammed Abed, centre, weeps as he holds the body of his younger sister, Massa, 4, who was killed in an Israeli air attack [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]