DEIR AL-BALAH: Hospitals in the Gaza Strip received the remains of 51 Palestinians over the past 24 hours who were killed in Israeli strikes, the local Health Ministry said Sunday, bringing the Palestinian death toll from the 18-month-old Israel-Hamas war to 52,243.
The overall toll includes nearly 700 bodies for which the documentation process was recently completed, the ministry said in its latest update. The daily toll includes bodies retrieved from the rubble after earlier strikes.
Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas by launching a surprise bombardment on March 18, and has been carrying out daily waves of strikes since then. Ground forces have expanded a buffer zone and encircled the southern city of Rafah, and now control around 50 percent of the territory.
Israel has also sealed off the territory’s 2 million Palestinians from all imports, including food and medicine, for nearly 60 days. Aid groups say supplies will soon run out and that thousands of children are malnourished.
Israeli authorities say the renewed offensive and tightened blockade are aimed at pressuring Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed or disarmed, and all the hostages are returned.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the now-defunct ceasefire reached in January.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says women and children make up most of the Palestinian deaths, but does not say how many were militants or civilians. It says another 117,600 people have been wounded in the war.
The overall tally includes 2,151 dead and 5,598 wounded since Israel resumed the war last month.
Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. The military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and it blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants operate in densely populated areas.
Israel’s offensive has destroyed vast parts of Gaza and displaced around 90 percent of its population, leaving hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in squalid tent camps or bombed-out buildings.
Gaza Health Ministry reports 51 deaths from Israeli strikes, bringing war toll to over 52,000
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Gaza Health Ministry reports 51 deaths from Israeli strikes, bringing war toll to over 52,000
- Hospitals in Gaza received remains of 51 Palestinians over the past 24 hours, killed in Israeli strikes
- Israeli authorities say renewed offensive and tightened blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas
Syrian president condemns Iranian attack on Qatar
- Ahmad Al-Sharaa tells Qatari emir that Damascus rejects any aggression that threatens Qatar’s security or undermines regional stability
LONDON: Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa expressed his country’s support for Qatar on Tuesday and condemned the previous day’s attack by Iran on Al-Udeid Air Base, southwest of Doha.
During a telephone call to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, Al-Sharaa described the missile attack by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a blatant violation of Qatari sovereignty and airspace, and a breach of international law.
He reaffirmed that Damascus rejects any aggression that threatens the security of Qatar or undermines regional stability, the Qatar News Agency reported.
The new government in Damascus, established after former President Bashar Assad’s regime was toppled in December 2024, has shifted away from Assad’s long-standing alliance with Tehran as it works to reintegrate Syria into the Arab fold, and promote diplomacy and economic growth.
About 400 passengers have left Israel on US-assisted flights
The US started some limited assisted-departure flights for US citizens
WASHINGTON: The United States has helped about 400 US citizens and others to fly out of Israel since Saturday amid conflict with Iran and hopes to accommodate more in the coming days, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday.
“We very much know that there’s still capacity, still US citizens seeking to leave Israel, that the airspace is not reliably opened up. It is incredibly dynamic,” the official said.
The State Department is sharing information with over 27,000 people about leaving the region and safety and security, the official said, up from 25,000 last week.
The US started some limited assisted-departure flights for US citizens, lawful permanent residents and their immediate family members on Saturday.
The official said thousands had also left Israel overland for Jordan, while several hundred had departed through Egypt over the past two days. Several thousand US citizens have gone to Cyprus on ships, mostly arranged by Birthright or other private groups.
Hundreds have left Iran through Azerbaijan, the official said. Turkmenistan has been restricting the entry of US citizens but is now allowing them in after weekend diplomatic efforts.
The State Department is aware of reports of a couple of US citizens detained in Iran in this process but has no additional information to share, the official said.
US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that Israel and Iran had reached a ceasefire
deal, although violations were reported.
Israel launched a surprise attack on June 13, hitting Iran’s nuclear sites and killing the top echelon of its military command.
Retaliatory missile strikes have killed 28 people in Israel.
Adam Goldstone, who arrived in Florida on Tuesday after leaving Israel through an effort to evacuate Americans organized by Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Emergency Management, said his family tried any way to get out of the country but that there were not many options.
“It was pretty indescribable. We left Sunday morning. There were sirens. We took a bus all the way to the Jordanian border. We spent hours at the border there trying to cross over,” Goldstone said.
Florida contracted the operation with Grey Bull Rescue, a Tampa-based foundation aiming at rescuing Americans from conflict zones, as well as the state’s Department of Transportation.
His wife, Donna Goldstone, said they had had to run to bomb shelters over 25 times.
“Sleepless nights for the past week and a half. It has been really intense,” she said.
Turning plastic into fuel: Photos of Gaza’s youth surviving with makeshift burners
- The fuel they produce is used locally, often for generators or transport, and sold at a lower price than commercial alternatives
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: South of Gaza City, along the Sea Road that runs beside the Mediterranean, Palestinian youth are producing fuel by melting plastic in makeshift burners. With limited access to commercial fuel, they collect plastic waste, process it in metal drums to extract crude fuel, and then bottle and sell it to passersby.
The work unfolds in the open air, where black smoke billows from the burners, blanketing the roadside. The area is lined with small tents where the youth store materials and rest between shifts. Horse-drawn carts and pedestrians regularly pass through the smoke-filled stretch, moving between northern and southern Gaza.
Most of those involved in the trade are displaced and have few other sources of income. The fuel they produce is used locally, often for generators or transport, and sold at a lower price than commercial alternatives.
Though the process is simple, it involves long hours and exposure to fumes and open flames. For these youth, it has become a way to earn money and support their families in a difficult and unstable environment.
This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
France condemns deadly ‘Israeli fire’ near Gaza aid point
- The territory of more than two million people is suffering from famine-like conditions after Israel blocked all supplies from early March to the end of May and continues to impose restrictions, according to human rights groups
- The United Nations and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives
PARIS: France on Tuesday condemned what it called deadly “Israeli fire” against civilians in Gaza, after rescuers accused Israeli forces of killing 21 people as they waited for aid.
“France condemns the Israeli fire that last night hit civilians gathered around an aid distribution center in Gaza, causing several dozen dead and wounded,” the foreign ministry said, appearing to refer to an incident early on Tuesday in central Gaza that the Israeli military says was “under review.”
In a second such incident, a civil defense spokesman also reported Israeli fire killing a further 25 people seeking rations in south Gaza later in the day.
According to figures issued on Tuesday by the health ministry in the Gaza Strip, a territory run by the Hamas Islamist group, at least 516 people have been killed and nearly 3,800 wounded by Israeli fire while seeking rations since late May.
The territory of more than two million people is suffering from famine-like conditions after Israel blocked all supplies from early March to the end of May and continues to impose restrictions, according to human rights groups.
The aid is being distributed by US- and Israeli-backed privately run aid group Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which was brought into the Palestinian territory at the end of May to replace UN agencies.
The United Nations and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.
“France reiterates its full support for United Nations agencies and their humanitarian partners, who have proven their integrity and ability to deliver aid in full respect of humanitarian principles,” the ministry said.
“Humanitarian aid must not be exploited for political or military purposes,” it added.
“France calls on the Israeli government to allow immediate, massive, and unhindered access to humanitarian aid in Gaza.”
Algeria prosecution seeks 10 years jail for writer Sansal on appeal
- The dual Algerian French writer, whose case has been at the heart of a diplomatic row between Paris and Algiers, was sentenced to five years imprisonment on March 27
- Sansal, 80, was arrested in November at the Algiers airport and has been detained since for undermining Algeria’s territorial integrity
ALGIERS: Algeria’s prosecutor general sought at an appeal hearing on Tuesday 10 years in prison for novelist Boualem Sansal, doubling his current sentence, an AFP journalist in the courtroom reported.
The dual Algerian French writer, whose case has been at the heart of a diplomatic row between Paris and Algiers, was sentenced to five years imprisonment on March 27.
A verdict is expected on July 1.
Sansal, 80, was arrested in November at the Algiers airport and has been detained since for undermining Algeria’s territorial integrity.
This came after he said in an interview with a far-right French media outlet that France unfairly ceded Moroccan territory to Algeria during the 1830-1962 colonial era.
The statement was viewed by Algeria as an affront to its national sovereignty and echoed a long-standing Moroccan claim.
On Tuesday, Sansal appeared before the judge without legal representation after authorities said he wished to defend himself.
“The Algerian Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and conscience,” he told the court during the roughly 20-minute hearing, seemingly in good health. “This makes no sense.”
Defending the remarks he made to French far-right media on Algeria’s borders, he said: “Fortunately, after independence in 1962, the African Union declared that inherited colonial borders are inviolable.”
Also questioned on some of his books, Sansal answered: “We are holding a trial over literature? Where are we headed?“
According to his relatives, Sansal has been undergoing treatment for prostate cancer, and many feared his health would deteriorate in prison.
French President Emmanuel Macron has urged his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune to show “mercy and humanity” toward Sansal.
But Algiers has insisted that the writer has been afforded due process.
His conviction and sentence further frayed ties between Paris and Algiers, already strained by migration issues and Macron’s recognition last year of Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, which is claimed by the Algeria-backed pro-independence Polisario Front.
Charges against the writer include “undermining national unity,” “insulting state institutions,” “harming the national economy,” and “possessing media and publications threatening the country’s security and stability.”
