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
Trump says Iran is involved in Gaza hostage negotiations
- Under the proposal 28 Israeli hostages — alive and dead — would be released in the first week, in exchange for the release of 1,236 Palestinian prisoners and the remains of 180 dead Palestinians
- The United States and Iran are also separately trying to negotiate a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Monday Iran is involved in negotiations aimed at arranging a ceasefire-for-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas.
“Gaza right now is in the midst of a massive negotiation between us and Hamas and Israel, and Iran actually is involved, and we’ll see what’s going to happen with Gaza. We want to get the hostages back,” Trump told reporters during an event in the White House State Dining Room.
Trump did not elaborate and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for details of Iran’s involvement. Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The United States has proposed a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Israel said it would abide by the terms but Hamas thus far has rejected the plan.
Under the proposal 28 Israeli hostages — alive and dead — would be released in the first week, in exchange for the release of 1,236 Palestinian prisoners and the remains of 180 dead Palestinians.
The United States and Iran are also separately trying to negotiate a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Gaza’s Al-Amal hospital ‘virtually out of service’: WHO
- The WHO said June 5 that Al-Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals were unable to fully treat the wounded that continue to pour in because of serious shortages of medicines and medical supplies after two months of total blockade
GENEVA: The Al-Amal Hospital in Gaza, one of the few still operating in the Palestinian territory, is now “virtually out of service” due to intense military activity, the head of the WHO said Monday.
“Access to the hospital is obstructed, preventing new patients from reaching care, and leading to more preventable deaths,” the World Health Organization’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X.
Tedros said two emergency medical teams — one local, the other international — “are still doing their best to serve the remaining patients with the limited medical supplies left on the premises.”
“With the closure of Al-Amal, Nasser Medical Complex is now the only remaining hospital with an intensive care unit in Khan Younis,” he said.
The WHO said June 5 that Al-Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals were unable to fully treat the wounded that continue to pour in because of serious shortages of medicines and medical supplies after two months of total blockade.
Israeli authorities have recently allowed in some humanitarian aid, but way less than what is needed.
Nearly 20 months of relentless war, triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, has created one of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world, with civilians exhausted by bombardments, forced displacement and hunger.
Gaza-bound aid boat with Greta Thunberg on board arrives in Israel after its seizure
- The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which organized the voyage, said the activists were “kidnapped by Israeli forces” while trying to deliver desperately needed aid
- “I urge all my friends, family and comrades to put pressure on the Swedish government to release me and the others as soon as possible,” Thunberg said in a prerecorded message released after the ship was halted
JERUSALEM: A Gaza-bound aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists arrived at an Israeli port Monday after Israeli forces stopped and detained them — enforcing a longstanding blockade of the Palestinian territory that has been tightened during the Israel-Hamas war.
The boat, accompanied by Israel’s navy, arrived in Ashdod in the evening, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry. It published a photo on social media of Thunberg after disembarking.
The 12 activists were undergoing medical checks to ensure they are in good health, the ministry said. They were expected to be held at a detention facility in Ramle before being deported, according to Adalah, a legal rights group representing them.
The activists had set out to protest Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which is among the deadliest and most destructive since World War II, and its restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid. Both have put the territory of around 2 million Palestinians at risk of famine.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which organized the voyage, said the activists were “kidnapped by Israeli forces” while trying to deliver desperately needed aid.
“The ship was unlawfully boarded, its unarmed civilian crew abducted and its life-saving cargo — including baby formula, food and medical supplies — confiscated,” it said in a statement.
It said the ship was seized in international waters about 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Gaza, and Adalah asserted that Israel had “no legal authority” to take it over.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry portrayed the voyage as a public relations stunt, saying on social media that “the ‘selfie yacht’ of the ‘celebrities’ is safely making its way to the shores of Israel.”
It said the activists would return to their home countries and the aid would be sent to Gaza through established channels. It circulated footage of what appeared to be Israeli military personnel handing out sandwiches and water to the activists, who were wearing life vests.
Israel says boat was carrying minimal aid
Israeli officials said the flotilla carried what amounted to less than a truckload of aid.
“This wasn’t humanitarian aid. It’s Instagram activism,” Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said. “Meanwhile, Israel has delivered over 1,200 truckloads in the last two weeks. So who’s really feeding Gaza and who’s really feeding their own ego? Greta was not bringing aid, she was bringing herself.”
After its 2½-month total blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas, Israel started allowing some basic aid into Gaza last month, but humanitarian workers and experts have warned of famine unless the blockade is lifted and Israel ends its military offensive. About 600 trucks of aid entered daily during the ceasefire that Israel ended in March.
An attempt last month by Freedom Flotilla to reach Gaza by sea failed after two drones attacked the vessel in international waters off Malta, organizers said. The group blamed Israel for the attack, which damaged the ship’s front section.
Rights group questions Israel’s seizure
The Madleen set sail from Sicily a week ago. Along the way, it stopped on Thursday to rescue four migrants who had jumped overboard to avoid being detained by Libya’a coast guard.
“I urge all my friends, family and comrades to put pressure on the Swedish government to release me and the others as soon as possible,” Thunberg said in a prerecorded message released after the ship was halted.
Adalah, the rights group, said in a statement that “the arrest of the unarmed activists, who operated in a civilian manner to provide humanitarian aid, amounts to a serious breach of international law.”
Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament who is of Palestinian descent, was among those on board. She has been barred from entering Israel because of her opposition to Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.
She was among six French citizens on board. French President Emmanuel Macron called for consular protection and the repatriation of the French citizens.
“Most of all, France calls for a ceasefire as quickly as possible and the lifting of the humanitarian blockade. This is a scandal, unacceptable, that is playing out in Gaza. What’s been happening since early March is a disgrace, a disgrace,” Macron said
Next week, Macron co-hosts a conference at the UN on a two-state solution and recently said France should move toward recognizing a Palestinian state.
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said the crew and passengers were aware of the risks, Swedish news agency TT reported. Stenergard said the ministry’s assessment is that no one was in danger and there was no need for consular support.
An 18-year blockade on Gaza
Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of a blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s Palestinian population.
Israel sealed off Gaza from all aid in the early days of the war ignited by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but later relented under US pressure. In early March, shortly before Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas, the country again blocked all imports, including food, fuel and medicine.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted 251 hostages. Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Hamas still holds 55 hostages, more than half believed to be dead.
Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants but has said that women and children make up most of the dead.
The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90 percent of the population, leaving people almost completely dependent on international aid.
Efforts to broker another truce have been deadlocked for months. Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel has vowed to continue the war until all the captives are returned and Hamas is defeated, or disarmed and exiled.
Israeli military calls on civilians to flee three Yemeni ports
- Israel has staged several attacks on Yemen after missiles were fired. The Houthis say their attacks are to support Palestinians in Gaza
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military on Monday called on civilians to leave three Yemen ports as it prepares strikes against installations held by Houthi rebels who have fired missiles at Israel.
“Because of the use of maritime ports by the Houthi terrorist regime, we call on all people present” in the ports of Ras Issa, Hodeida and Salif “to evacuate them immediately for their own security,” Col. Avichay Adraee, an Israeli army spokesman, posted in Arabic on X and Telegram.
Israel has staged several attacks on Yemen after missiles were fired. The Houthis say their attacks are to support Palestinians in Gaza.
A convoy sets off for Gaza from North Africa to protest Israel’s blockade
- The Tunisian civil society groups behind the convoy said their aim is to demand “the immediate lifting of the unjust siege on the strip”
TUNIS, Tunisia: A convoy of buses and private cars departed for Gaza from Tunisia’s capital Monday as part of efforts to spotlight Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid to the territory, even as Israeli authorities stopped a high-profile flotilla from landing there.
The overland effort — organized independently but moved up to coincide with the flotilla — is made up of activists, lawyers and medical professionals from North Africa. It plans to traverse Tunisia, Libya and Egypt before reaching Rafah, the border crossing with Egypt that has remained largely closed since Israel’s military took control of the Gaza side in May 2024.
The Tunisian civil society groups behind the convoy said their aim is to demand “the immediate lifting of the unjust siege on the strip.” They asserted that Arab governments haven’t pushed enough to end the 20-month war between Israel and Hamas.
After a 2½-month blockade of Gaza aimed at pressuring Hamas, Israel started allowing in some basic aid last month. Experts, however, have warned of famine in the territory of over 2 million people unless the blockade is lifted and Israel ends its military offensive.
The convoy set off as the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an aid ship that set sail from Sicily earlier this month, was seized by Israeli forces in what activists said were international waters. Those aboard, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, were detained.
The overland convoy drew widespread attention in Tunisia and Algeria, where it began Sunday, with some people waving Palestinian flags and chanting in support of the people of Gaza.
“This convoy speaks directly to our people in Gaza and says, ‘You are not alone. We share your pain and suffering,’” Yahia Sarri, one of the convoy’s Algerian organizers, wrote on social media.
The North African activists do not expect their convoy to be allowed into Gaza. Regardless, it provides “a message of challenge and will,” said Saher Al-Masri, a Tunis-based Palestinian activist.
Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s population.
The convoy plans to gather supporters in towns south of Tunis before crossing into Libya, where clashes between rival militias have turned deadlier in recent months. Organizers said they planned the land crossings with relevant authorities leading up to the convoy’s departure.
