Israeli airstrikes killed at least 44 Palestinians — including more than a dozen children — in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Saturday, hours after Israel’s prime minister said he had asked the military to plan for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people there ahead of a ground invasion.
Benjamin Netanyahu did not provide details or a timeline, but the announcement set off panic and warnings from diplomats. More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are packed into Rafah, many after following Israeli evacuation orders that now cover two-thirds of the territory. It’s not clear where they could run next.
Israel says that Rafah, which borders Egypt, is the last remaining stronghold for the Hamas militant group in Gaza after more than four months of war sparked by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said any Israeli ground offensive on Rafah would have “disastrous consequences,” and asserted that Israel aims to eventually force the Palestinians out of their land.
Another mediator, Qatar, warned of disaster if Israel carries out a Rafah offensive, and Saudi Arabia warned of “very serious repercussions.” There is even increasing friction between Netanyahu and the United States, whose officials have said a Rafah invasion with no plan for the civilian population would lead to disaster.
Israel has carried out airstrikes in Rafah almost daily, even after telling civilians in recent weeks to seek shelter there from the current ground combat in Khan Younis just to the north.
Overnight into Saturday, three airstrikes on homes in the Rafah area killed 28 people, according to a health official and Associated Press journalists who saw the bodies arriving at hospitals. Each strike killed multiple members of three families, including a total of 10 children, the youngest 3 months old.
Fadel Al-Ghannam said one strike tore the bodies of his loved ones to shreds. He lost his son, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren. He fears even worse with a ground invasion of Rafah, and said the world’s silence has enabled Israel to proceed.
Later on Saturday, an Israeli airstrike on a home in Rafah killed at least 11 people, including three children, according to Ahmed Al-Soufi, head of Rafah municipality. The dead were taken to Abu Youssef Al-Najjar hospital, according to an AP journalist there.
“This is what Netanyahu targets — the civilians,” said a neighbor, Samir Abu Loulya.
Two other strikes killed two policemen and three senior officers in the civil police, according to city officials.
In Khan Younis, Israeli forces opened fire at Nasser Hospital, the area’s largest, killing at least two people and wounding five, according to the medical charity Doctors Without Borders. Israeli tanks reached the hospital gates Saturday morning, Ahmed Maghrabi, a physician at the hospital, said in a Facebook post.
Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said hospital staff are no longer able to move between buildings because of the intense fire. He said 300 medical personnel, 450 patients and 10,000 displaced people are sheltering there.
The Israeli military said troops were not currently operating inside the hospital and called the surrounding area “an active combat zone.”
Israel’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Herzl Halevi, said more than 2,000 Hamas fighters in Khan Younis had been killed in airstrikes and ground combat but the offensive in the city was far from over.
GAZA DEATH TOLL TOPS 28,000
The Gaza Health Ministry said Saturday that the bodies of 117 people killed in Israeli airstrikes were brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours, raising the overall death toll from the offensive to 28,064, mostly women and children. The ministry said more than 67,000 people have been wounded.
Israel declared war after several thousand Hamas militants burst across the border into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,300 people and taking 250 others hostage. Not all are still alive.
Israel holds Hamas responsible for civilian deaths because it fights from within civilian areas, but US officials have called for more surgical strikes. President Joe Biden said this week Israel’s response is “over the top.”
Netanyahu’s office says it is impossible to eliminate Hamas while leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah.
Egypt has warned that any movement of Palestinians into Egypt would threaten the four-decade-old peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. The Rafah border crossing, which is mostly closed, serves as the main entry point for humanitarian aid.
Rafah had a prewar population of roughly 280,000. The United Nations says it is now home to some 1.4 million additional people who fled fighting elsewhere. Roughly 80 percent of Gaza’s people have been displaced, and the territory has plunged into a humanitarian crisis with shortages of food and medical services.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that an Israeli offensive on Rafah would be a “humanitarian catastrophe in the making,” adding on X that “the people in Gaza cannot disappear into thin air.”
ELSEWHERE IN GAZA
On Saturday, Israel’s military said it had discovered tunnels underneath the main headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza City, alleging that Hamas militants used the space.
An Israeli airstrike on the central town of Deir Al-Balah killed five people and wounded about 10 others, according to hospital officials and AP journalists.
In the Tel Al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, two medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent were found dead in a destroyed ambulance after going missing 12 days ago. They had rushed to rescue 5-year-old Hind Rajab, who had been traveling with family to heed evacuation orders.
The PRC previously released a recording of a call from Hind’s cousin saying the car had come under fire and only she and Hind survived. The cousin went silent mid-call.
The PRC said the rescue mission was coordinated with Israel’s military, which had no comment.
Israeli strikes kill 44 Palestinians in Rafah after Netanyahu says ground invasion coming
https://arab.news/68hnd
Israeli strikes kill 44 Palestinians in Rafah after Netanyahu says ground invasion coming
- Israeli PM’s planned offensive on Rafah has drawn condemnation from rights groups and US
- Hamas warns Israeli Rafah op may cause casualties in ‘tens of thousands’
UN: Israel school closures in East Jerusalem ‘assault on children’
- The Palestinian Authority also condemned the move in a statement, calling it a ‘violation of children’s right to education’
JERUSALEM: The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Thursday decried an “assault on children” after Israel closed all six of its schools in annexed East Jerusalem, months after an Israeli ban on its activities took effect.
“Storming schools & forcing them shut is a blatant disregard of international law,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini posted on X, describing the move as “An assault on children. An assault on education.”
UNRWA spokesman Jonathan Fowler said that Israeli forces “closed six UN schools in annexed East Jerusalem on Thursday, posting closure orders on the six buildings and forcibly entering three of the six schools.”
An AFP photographer present at two of the schools in the Shuafat refugee camp reported that Israeli forces entered the premises and posted a closure notice stating the schools were operating without “authorization.”
The children had to leave the premises, with many departing in tears. Several young pupils, some visibly moved and others shocked, hugged in front of the school before they left.
UNRWA said one of its staff members was detained.
“From May 8, 2025, it will be prohibited to operate educational institutions, or employ teachers, teaching staff, or any other staff, and it will be forbidden to accommodate students or allow the entry of students into this institution,” the closure order in Hebrew read.
UNRWA’s director in the West Bank, Roland Friedrich, said that “heavily armed” forces surrounded the three UNRWA schools in Shuafat camp at 9 a.m.
Friedrich added that 550 pupils aged six to 15 were present when the closure was enforced, calling it “a traumatising experience for young children who are at immediate risk of losing their access to education.”
Friedrich said police were deployed in the area around three separate schools in other parts of East Jerusalem, which has been annexed by Israel since 1967.
UNRWA said that the school year for 800 children had “been ended by force.”
The Palestinian Authority condemned the move in a statement, calling it a “violation of children’s right to education.”
In a statement, its Education Ministry called the closures a “crime.”
It urged international institutions “to assume their responsibilities and defend the right of refugee children to a free and safe education.”
UNRWA has provided support for Palestinian refugees around the Middle East for more than 70 years, but has long clashed with Israeli officials, who have repeatedly accused it of undermining the country’s security.
At the end of January, Israeli legislation banned the agency’s activities.
Due to the annexation, the law applies to East Jerusalem but not to the rest of the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.
Contact between it and Israeli officials is also forbidden.
Israel has accused UNRWA of providing cover for Hamas militants, claiming that some of the agency’s employees took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.
A series of investigations found some “neutrality-related issues” at UNRWA, but stressed Israel had not provided conclusive evidence for its headline allegation.
Nevertheless, the UN said in August that nine staff working for UNRWA would be sacked because they may have been involved in the attacks.
Adalah, an Israeli group defending the rights of the Arab minority, reported that Israeli police were raiding six UNRWA-run schools in East Jerusalem.
The organization filed a petition with Israel’s Supreme Court in mid-January, arguing the new legislation against UNRWA violated “fundamental human rights and Israel’s obligations under international law.”
Israel strikes south Lebanon, Aoun holds urgent talks to halt attacks
- Hezbollah field commander killed, civilians injured in 19 airstrikes across Nabatieh area
- Nawaf Salam condemned the Israeli strikes on Nabatieh and said the government was aiming to ‘put an end to the Israeli violations as soon as possible’
BEIRUT: Israel conducted heavy airstrikes in south Lebanon on Thursday, hitting targets north of the Litani River in violation of a US-brokered truce.
Following the strikes in the Nabatieh region, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun held urgent talks with high-level foreign contacts to halt the Israeli violations.
The airstrikes killed one person, reportedly a senior Hezbollah military leader, and led to multiple injuries, sparking panic in schools, universities and among residents.
Aoun followed up on security developments with army chief Gen. Rodolphe Haikal, receiving reports on the areas struck by the Israeli bombardment.
The Ministry of Health said that the initial death toll of the Israeli airstrikes on the outskirts of Nabatieh was one, with eight injured.
A source familiar with Aoun’s communications told Arab News: “The president’s contacts primarily involved the US and French sides, as they are sponsors of the ceasefire agreement and key members of the committee overseeing its implementation.”
The president reportedly called on the US and France “to pressure Israel to halt its attacks,” but the talks “did not yield any concrete guarantees.”
Israeli jets launched about 19 airstrikes on the area between Kfar Tebnit, Jabal Ali Taher, Nabatieh Al-Fawqa and Kafr Rumman, forming what resembled a ring of fire.
Containing valleys, hills and forests, the area is located about 4 km from the city of Nabatieh, which itself is 56 km from Beirut.
The unprecedented Israeli attack on the region, untouched since the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on Nov. 27, specifically targeted the Ali Taher area, considered a Hezbollah-controlled security zone.
Hezbollah reportedly lost one of its top military commanders, Abu Hussein Shahrour, who, according to reporters in the region, “was one of the party’s key fighters and played a pivotal role in the 1997 Sajd operation against the Israeli occupation.”
According to Israeli media, a “senior source” in the Israeli army said the military “attacked a significant target in southern Lebanon, consisting of underground infrastructure.”
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the target “was used to manage the fire and defense systems of the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”
According to Adraee, the airstrikes “targeted personnel, combat equipment and wells. The site in question was part of a strategic underground project and was put out of service as a result of the strikes.”
He added that “the site and activities there are a blatant violation of the understanding between Israel and Lebanon.”
The Israeli army “will continue to act to eliminate any threat to Israel’s security and will prevent any attempt to rebuild Hezbollah’s capabilities,” Adraee said.
The Israeli army’s Northern Command said it would maintain its “offensive policy” against Hezbollah.
The airstrikes and massive explosions triggered loud bangs that echoed throughout Nabatieh and the south.
Residents near the targeted areas rushed to evacuate their children from schools, and most official departments shut down.
Later, the Israeli army opened fire with machine guns on a civilian vehicle on the Odaisseh-Kafr Kila road in the border area.
The car sustained damage. However, the female driver and her daughter escaped unharmed.
Meanwhile, in the morning, Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets on several areas in the south, resembling banknote-like papers that carried incendiary phrases against Hezbollah. These included: “Hezbollah’s dollar is haram (forbidden in Islam) and will not benefit you after it destroyed your house and displaced your family.”
Another said: “Do not miscalculate things and do not accept the yellow dollar.”
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the Israeli strikes on Nabatieh and said the government was aiming to “put an end to the Israeli violations as soon as possible.”
He added: “The government has spared no diplomatic effort to stop these actions and ensure Israel’s withdrawal from the hills it still occupies.”
Salam, accompanied by a ministerial delegation, traveled to Baalbek in the morning on a Lebanese army helicopter and inspected the border plains with Syria.
He has repeatedly called for Lebanon to ramp up its border security.
Salam called for strengthened security measures during a security meeting at Baalbek Serail, highlighting the need to “maintain stability and ensure successful municipal elections with complete transparency and integrity” throughout the governorate.
Meeting with local representatives, the premier announced progress on establishing a cannabis regulatory authority, describing it as a pathway “to transition toward a development-based economy benefiting regional residents.”
Salam was unequivocal that “neither security nor development can function through arbitrary measures.”
He highlighted the urgent need to resolve transportation challenges between Beirut and the Bekaa Valley, while advocating for Baalbek’s restoration as a premier tourist destination in Lebanon.
Salam also visited the Masnaa border crossing with Syria, receiving detailed security briefings from military personnel on site.
“The Masnaa crossing serves as a vital gateway for both the Bekaa and Lebanon as a whole. It must operate according to the highest technical and security standards rather than succumbing to disorder or discretionary practices,” Salam said.
He added that advanced scanning equipment would soon be installed “to facilitate goods movement, enhance transparency and enable properly regulated land exports of Lebanese products.”
Salam said that transforming the border crossing “from a vulnerability into a symbol of state effectiveness” represents a critical first step in broader reforms.
“This is where change begins — with Lebanon fully reclaiming control of its borders and converting them into gateways for legitimacy and order, not channels for chaos and violations.”
Released Palestinian student to help launch immigrant legal aid initiative in Vermont
- Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel’s war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison
- “We will not fear anyone because our fight is a fight for love, a fight for democracy, a fight for humanity,” Mahdawi told supporters
VERMONT: A Palestinian student arrested during an interview about finalizing his US citizenship is helping to launch an initiative to help other immigrants facing deportation in Vermont on Thursday, a week after a federal judge freed him from custody.
Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel’s war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison before a judge ordered him released on April 30. The Trump administration has said Mahdawi should be deported because his activism threatens its foreign policy goals, but the judge ruled that he has raised a “substantial claim” that the government arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees.
Immigration authorities have detained college students from around the country since the first days of the Trump administration. Many of them participated in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war, which has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians. Mahdawi was among the first to win his freedom after challenging his arrest.
“Justice is inevitable. We will not fear anyone because our fight is a fight for love, a fight for democracy, a fight for humanity,” Mahdawi told supporters outside the courthouse last week.
He will join Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak, Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale and community advocates at the Statehouse to announce the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund. The group, which also includes lawyers and philanthropists, says the goal is to improve access to legal advice for immigrants and build long-term infrastructure within the justice system as it pertains to immigration law.
Members of Vermont’s congressional delegation have spoken up on Mahdawi’s behalf, as have state politicians. Vermont’s House and Senate passed resolutions condemning the circumstances of his detention and advocating for his release and due process rights.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott has said there is no justification for the manner in which Mahdawi was arrested, at an immigration office in Colchester.
“Law enforcement officers in this country should not operate in the shadows or hide behind masks,” the governor said the next day. “The power of the executive branch of the federal government is immense, but it is not infinite, and it is not absolute.”
Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident, was born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. At Columbia, he organized campus protests and co-founded the Palestinian Student Union with Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian permanent resident of the US and graduate student who was arrested in March.
His release, which is being challenged by the government, allows him to travel outside of his home state of Vermont and attend his graduation from Columbia in New York later this month.
UN chief voices ‘grave concern’ after Sudan’s aid hub rocked by 5 days of drone attacks
- Port Sudan is the country’s main entry point for humanitarian aid
- Country’s brutal civil war has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions
NEW YORK CITY: The UN secretary-general has voiced “grave concern” over repeated drone attacks on the eastern Sudanese city of Port Sudan, the country’s main entry point for humanitarian aid.
The city faced a new drone strike on Thursday for the fifth consecutive day amid a fierce confrontation between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces paramilitary.
The attacks have led to an exodus of civilians from the city, which hosts UN offices and aid agencies, and is the seat of power of the army-backed government.
Sudanese army officials have blamed the RSF for the strikes, which have targeted the city’s port, largest operational fuel depot, central power station and airport, among other sites.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the attacks “threaten to increase humanitarian needs and further complicate aid operations in the country,” his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said on Wednesday.
“The secretary-general is alarmed at the expansion of the conflict into an area that has served as a place of refuge for large numbers of people displaced from the capital, Khartoum, and other areas,” he added.
Sudan’s brutal two-year-long civil war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 13 million.
The conflict has created “the biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded,” the International Rescue Committee has said.
“The secretary-general reiterates that all parties to the conflict must comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law,” Dujarric said.
“They must not direct attacks against civilians and civilian objects; must take all feasible precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimize, incidental civilian casualties; and must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need.”
Almost all humanitarian aid enters the Northeast African country through Port Sudan.
The Chinese Embassy in Sudan on Thursday called on all Chinese citizens to leave the country as soon as possible.
Guterres is “concerned at the lack of political will of the parties to return to the negotiating table, preferring instead to continue pursuing their military objectives,” Wednesday’s statement said.
“The secretary-general calls on the parties to engage constructively with the mediation support mechanisms already in place to assist the parties to reach a political solution, underscoring the UN’s continued support to help find a way out of this crisis.
“He renews his call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and stresses that dialogue is the only way to achieve the peace that the people of Sudan demand.”
Syria believed to make no purchase in 100,000 T wheat tender, traders say
- Traders said Syria could issue a new purchase tender soon
- Shipment was sought within 45 days from the contract award
HAMBURG: A Syrian state grains agency is believed to have made no purchase in an international tender seeking 100,000 metric tons of milling wheat which closed in April, European traders said on Thursday.
Traders said Syria could issue a new purchase tender soon.
Shipment was sought within 45 days from the contract award.
Syria had bought about 100,000 tons of wheat in its previous tender reported on March 25, which was believed to be the first large purchase tender since the change of power in Syria late last year.
But the donation by Iraq of 220,000 tons of wheat to Syria was expected to be used for Syria’s immediate import requirements, traders said.
