[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?

[Saif]

Israeli strike kills eight in Khan Yunis

Gaza’s civil defence on Sunday reported eight deaths, including four young children, in an Israeli air strike on tents housing displaced people in the southern city of Khan Yunis...

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Israeli strike kills eight in Khan Yunis
Agence France-Presse . Gaza City 12 May, 2025, 00:00

Gaza’s civil defence on Sunday reported eight deaths, including four young children, in an Israeli air strike on tents housing displaced people in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

Israeli fighter jets targeted three tents housing dozens of displaced people overnight, killing ‘eight people, including four children aged two to five and two women’, civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.

The Israeli military, which resumed its offensive in Gaza on March 18 after a two-month truce, did not immediately comment on the strike.

Video filmed by AFP shows rescuers in the dark evacuating bodies by ambulance, one of them in a white plastic body bag while the other was wrapped in a blanket, as well as a wounded baby.

Bassal said the Israeli military also destroyed five houses with explosives in the east of Gaza City, in the territory’s north, and fired artillery at the Abassa area east of Khan Yunis, without reporting any casualties.

The war erupted after Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The Gaza health ministry said on Saturday that at least 2,701 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in Gaza, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,810.

Meanwhile, Hamas’s armed wing released a video on Saturday showing two Israeli hostages alive in the Gaza Strip, with one of the two men calling to end the 19-month-long war.

The pair were identified by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana, who were kidnapped during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

The undated three-minute video footage released by Hamas’s Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades shows one of the hostages, 36-year-old Bohbot, visibly weak and lying on the floor wrapped in a blanket.

The second hostage, Ohana, 24, speaks in Hebrew urging the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of all remaining captives — a similar message to statements made by other hostages, likely under duress, in previous videos released by Hamas.

In a statement, Bohbot’s family said that ‘Elkana and Yosef are crying out to be saved. While all the people of Israel hear their calls, a handful of decision-makers refuse to listen,’ echoing criticism of the Israeli government for failing to bring back the hostages.

‘How much more can we bear? How much more can they endure? The fact that they are still there is a disgrace,’ the family said.

Late Saturday, Israeli demonstrators calling for the release of the hostages and an end of the war gathered outside the defence ministry headquarters in the coastal city of Tel Aviv.

AFP images showed some protesters holding pictures of the hostages and placards that read ‘we can save the rest’ and ‘all of them now’.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza war cannot be solved by military means, says German foreign minister in Jerusalem

The conflict in Gaza cannot be solved by military means and a political solution must be found to end the war permanently, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said in Jerusalem on Sunday. "I do not believe that this conflict can be permanently resolved by military means," Wadephul said. "Never

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Gaza war cannot be solved by military means, says German foreign minister in Jerusalem
REUTERS
Published :
May 11, 2025 19:54
Updated :
May 11, 2025 19:54

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul visits the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center, in Jerusalem, May 11, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

The conflict in Gaza cannot be solved by military means and a political solution must be found to end the war permanently, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said in Jerusalem on Sunday.

"I do not believe that this conflict can be permanently resolved by military means," Wadephul said. "Nevertheless, it is urgently necessary that Hamas is disarmed and that it can no longer have military control over Gaza."

He said that Germany would do whatever it takes to guarantee Israel's security, but this does not mean that his country cannot criticise Israel's course of action, adding that this "must not lead to antisemitism."

Hamas' attacks on October 7, 2023 killed 1,200 people and 251 were taken hostage back to Gaza, according to Israel. Israel's campaign has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Hamas-run health authorities.

"I am not sure whether all of Israel's strategic goals can be achieved in this way (through a military campaign) and whether this will serve Israel's security in the long term," Wadephul said. "That is why we are appealing for a return to serious negotiations on a ceasefire."

Wadephul repeated that the return of hostages is the German government's priority. He also said it was clear that Gaza is part of the Palestinian territory.

"We need a political solution for the reconstruction of Gaza without Hamas," Wadephul said.​

 

[Saif]

Hamas frees US-Israeli hostage

Palestinian group Hamas said its armed wing handed over a US-Israeli hostage held in Gaza since October 2023 on Monday, ahead of a regional visit by US president Donald Trump.

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Hamas frees US-Israeli hostage
Agence France-Presse . Gaza City 12 May, 2025, 22:18

Israelis react after the release of Edan Alexander, an Israeli-US captive in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on May 12, 2025. | AFP photo

Palestinian group Hamas said its armed wing handed over a US-Israeli hostage held in Gaza since October 2023 on Monday, ahead of a regional visit by US president Donald Trump.

‘The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades have just released the Zionist soldier and American citizen Edan Alexander, following contacts with the US administration, as part of the efforts undertaken by mediators to achieve a ceasefire,’ Hamas said in a statement Monday.

A source close to the militant group said Alexander had been handed over to the Red Cross in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis.

It comes a day after Hamas revealed it was engaged in direct talks with Washington towards a ceasefire.

‘We affirm that serious and responsible negotiations yield results in the release of prisoners, while the continuation of aggression prolongs their suffering and may kill them,’ Hamas said in a statement.

‘We urge president Trump’s administration to continue its efforts to end this brutal war,’ it added.

The liberation of Alexander — the last living hostage in Gaza with American citizenship — comes ahead of a visit to the region by Trump, who is due in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

On Monday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the president ‘for his assistance in the release’ of Alexander, a statement from his office said.

Netanyahu also said he had instructed a negotiating team to head to Qatar on Tuesday to discuss the further release of hostages.

The Israeli prime minister had earlier said that ‘Israel has not committed to a ceasefire of any kind or the release of terrorists but only to a safe corridor that will allow for the release of Edan’.

Negotiations for a possible deal to secure the release of all hostages would continue ‘under fire, during preparations for an intensification of the fighting’, Netanyahu added.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the UN- and NGO-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warned that Gaza was at ‘critical risk of famine’, with 22 per cent of the population facing an imminent humanitarian ‘catastrophe’ after more than two months of a total aid blockade by Israel.

An Israeli official said earlier on Monday that the military was preparing for the return of Alexander, ‘who will be transferred by a special unit to the initial reception facility in Re’im’ near the Gaza border in southern Israel.

A Hamas source meanwhile said that mediators informed the group that Israel would halt military operations for the handover of the 21-year-old soldier.

The pause offered a much-needed respite for residents of the war-battered territory.

Gaza’s civil defence agency had earlier reported at least 10 killed in an overnight Israeli strike on a school housing displaced people.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the largest grouping of hostages’ relatives in Israel, called for a gathering at the plaza dubbed Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, ahead of Alexander’s release.

‘We must not leave anyone behind!’ the group said in a statement.

After Hamas announced it would release Alexander on Sunday, Trump hailed the ‘monumental news’ in a post on social media, describing it as a ‘good faith gesture’.

‘Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict,’ he added.

Egypt and Qatar, who along with the United States have mediated talks between Hamas and Israel, also welcomed the development, describing it in a joint statement as ‘a gesture of goodwill and an encouraging step toward a return to the negotiating table’.

Earlier, two Hamas officials said that talks were on-going in Doha with the United States and reported ‘progress’.

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, 57 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel ended a two-month ceasefire on March 18, ramping up its bombardment of the territory.

Earlier this month, the Israeli government approved plans to expand its Gaza offensive, with officials talking of retaining a long-term presence there.

Hamas’s 2023 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Monday that at least 2,749 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,862.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza faces critical risk of famine

A global hunger monitor said yesterday that Gaza’s entire population continues to face a critical risk of famine, while half a million people face starvation.

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Gaza faces critical risk of famine
Says hunger monitor; Israeli strikes kill 15 Palestinians sheltering in a school

Palestinian Red Crescent crews hold a rally yesterday in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, to mark World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day and call for the protection of medical personnel and humanitarian workers in Gaza. Photo: AFP
​

• Half a million people face starvation in Gaza: monitor​
• Hamas will release US-Israeli hostage​
• Israel preparing to step up fighting while talks continue​

A global hunger monitor said yesterday that Gaza's entire population continues to face a critical risk of famine, while half a million people face starvation.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification described the findings as major deterioration since its last assessment in October.

The latest report analysed a period from April 1 to May 10 this year and gave projections of the situation until the end of September, according to a summary of its key findings, reports Al Jazeera online.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian group Hamas said yesterday it will release Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander from Gaza, although Israel's prime minister said there would be no ceasefire and plans for an intensified military campaign would continue.

Fighting will pause to allow for Alexander's safe passage, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, and three Palestinians in Gaza told Reuters early yesterday afternoon that there had been calm since midday, with no sound of drones or warplanes.

Israel was told on Sunday of Hamas' decision to free the last surviving US hostage in Gaza as a goodwill gesture to President Donald Trump.

The release, after four-way talks between Hamas, the United States, Egypt and Qatar, could open the way to freeing the remaining 59 hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

But Netanyahu said Israel had agreed only to allow safe passage for Alexander, and its forces would continue recently announced preparations to step up operations there.

"Israel has not committed to a ceasefire of any kind," his office said, adding that military pressure had forced Hamas into the release. "The negotiations will continue under fire, during preparations for an intensification of the fighting."

Palestinians children push to receive a ration of hot food from a charity kitchen set up at the Islamic University campus in Gaza City yesterday. Photo: AFP

Israeli jets continued to pound Gaza before the expected release, killing at least 15 people sheltering in a school housing displaced families in Jabalia in the north of the enclave, local health authorities said.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.

On Sunday, Hamas said it had been talking to the US and had agreed to release Alexander. Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt called it an encouraging step towards a return to ceasefire talks.

Trump is due to visit Gulf states on a trip that does not include a stop in Israel but special envoy Steve Witkoff, who helped arrange the release, was expected in Israel yesterday, two Israeli officials said.

Alexander's family thanked Trump and Witkoff, saying in a statement that they hoped the decision would open the way for the release of the other remaining hostages.​

 

[Saif]

undefined | The Financial Express

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Israel intensifies Gaza bombardment as Trump visits Gulf
REUTERS
Published :
May 14, 2025 17:51
Updated :
May 14, 2025 17:51

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, May 14, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, May 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Israeli military strikes killed at least 70 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, local health authorities said, in an intensification of the bombardment as US President Donald Trump visits the Middle East.

Medics said most of the dead, including women and children, were killed in a barrage of Israeli airstrikes that targeted houses in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza.

"Some victims are still on the road and under the rubble where rescue and civil emergency teams can't reach (them)," the health ministry statement said.

Israel's military had no immediate comment. It said it was trying to verify the reports.

Israeli press reports on Wednesday cited security officials as saying they believed Hamas military leader Mohammad Sinwar and other senior officials had been killed in a strike on Tuesday on what the Israeli military described as a command and control bunker under the European Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

There was no confirmation by the Israeli military or Hamas. On Wednesday, witnesses and medics said an Israeli airstrike hit a bulldozer that approached the area of the strike at the European Hospital, wounding several people.

Late on Tuesday, Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed militant group allied with Hamas, fired rockets from Gaza towards Israel. Shortly before the Israeli retaliatory strikes, Israel's military issued evacuation orders to residents in the area of Jabalia and nearby Beit Lahiya.

TRUMP VISIT

Palestinians hope Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will provide pressure for a reduction of violence. Hamas on Monday released Edan Alexander, the last known living American hostage it had been holding.

Trump said in Riyadh on Tuesday that more hostages would follow Alexander and that the people of Gaza deserved a better future. He is not visiting Israel during his Middle East trip.

Ceasefire efforts have faltered, with Hamas and Israel trading blame. Hamas talked to the United States and Egyptian and Qatari mediators to arrange Alexander's release, and Israel has sent a team to Doha to begin a new round of talks.

On Tuesday, Trump's special envoys Steve Witkoff and Adam Boehler met hostage families in Tel Aviv and said they could now see a better chance of an agreement for the hostages' release following the deal over Alexander.

The US has also presented a plan to reopen humanitarian aid deliveries in Gaza using private contractors. Israel, which imposed a total blockade of supplies going into Gaza from March 2, has endorsed the plan. It has been rejected by the United Nations and international aid agencies, and details, including funding and donors, remain unclear.

Israel invaded Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken as hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's military campaign has killed more than 52,900 Palestinians, according to local health officials. It has left the small coastal enclave on the brink of famine, according to aid groups and international agencies.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza rescuers say 80 killed in Israeli strikes amid hostage release talks

Gaza rescuers said at least 80 people were killed in Israeli bombardment across the Palestinian territory on Wednesday

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Gaza rescuers say 80 killed in Israeli strikes amid hostage release talks
AFP Gaza City, Palestinian Territories
Published: 14 May 2025, 23: 01

A Palestinian man reacts as she checks the bodies of people killed in Israeli strikes on Jabalia, at the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on May 14, 2025 AFP

Gaza rescuers said at least 80 people were killed in Israeli bombardment across the Palestinian territory on Wednesday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to US envoy Steve Witkoff about the release of hostages.

Negotiations for the release of the captives held in Gaza have been ongoing, with the latest talks taking place in the Qatari capital Doha, where US President Donald Trump was visiting on Wednesday.

Netanyahu's office said the premier had discussed with Witkoff and his negotiating team "the issue of the hostages and the missing".

Witkoff later said Trump had "a really productive conversation" with the Qatari emir about a Gaza deal, adding that "we are moving along and we have a good plan together".

Fighting meanwhile raged in Gaza, where civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told AFP 80 people had been killed by Israeli bombardment since dawn, including 59 in the north.

AFP footage from the aftermath of a strike in Jabalia, northern Gaza, showed mounds of rubble and twisted metal from collapsed buildings.

Palestinians, including young children, picked through the debris in search of belongings.

Footage of mourners in northern Gaza showed women in tears as they kneeled next to bodies wrapped in bloodstained white shrouds.

"It's a nine-month-old baby. What did he do?" one of them cried out.

Hasan Moqbel, a Palestinian who lost relatives, told AFP: "There are no homes fit for living. I have no shelter, no food, no water. Those who don't die from air strikes die from hunger, and those who don't die from hunger die from lack of medicine."

Israel's military on Wednesday urged residents in part of a Gaza City neighbourhood to evacuate, warning that its forces would "attack the area with intense force".

'Unjustifiable'

From the occupied West Bank, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Wednesday he favoured a "ceasefire at any price" in Gaza, accusing Netanyahu of wanting to continue the war "for his own reasons".

Mohammad Awad, an emergency doctor in northern Gaza's Indonesian Hospital, told AFP that supply shortages meant his department could not properly handle the flow of wounded from the Jabalia strike.

"There are not enough beds, no medicine, and no means for surgical or medical treatment, which leaves doctors unable to save many of the injured who are dying due to lack of care", he said.

Awad added that "the bodies of the martyrs are lying on the ground in the hospital corridors after the morgue reached full capacity. The situation is catastrophic in every sense of the word."

Israel imposed an aid blockade on the Gaza Strip on 2 March after talks to prolong a 19 January ceasefire broke down.

The resulting shortages of food and medicine have aggravated an already dire situation in the Palestinian territory, although Israel has dismissed UN warnings that a potential famine looms.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called for "the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, unimpeded humanitarian access and an immediate cessation of hostilities," in Gaza.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the humanitarian situation in Gaza was "ever more dramatic and unjustifiable".

A US-led initiative for aid distribution under Israeli military security drew international criticism as it appears to sideline the United Nations and existing aid organisations, and would overhaul current humanitarian structures in Gaza.

'Full force'

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said the plan would make "aid conditional on forced displacement" and vetting of the population.

It added in a statement that Israel was creating "conditions for the eradication of Palestinian lives in Gaza".

Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18, with officials later talking of retaining a long-term presence in the Palestinian territory.

Following a short pause in air strikes during the release of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander on Monday, Israel resumed its pounding of Gaza.

Netanyahu said on Monday that the military would enter Gaza "with full force" in the coming days.

He added that his government was working to find countries willing to take in Gaza's population.

The Israeli government approved plans to expand the offensive earlier this month, and spoke of the "conquest" of Gaza.

Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's October 2023 attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 52,928 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza air strikes kill over 100 as manhunt unfolds in West Bank

Palestinian rescuers reported more than 100 people killed Thursday in Israeli strikes on blockaded Gaza, where a US-backed organisation said it intends to begin distributing aid by the end of the month.

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Gaza air strikes kill over 100 as manhunt unfolds in West Bank
AFP Palestine
Published: 15 May 2025, 20: 36

People look for salvageable items in the rubble of a building hit in an Israeli strike in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on 15 May, 2025. Fighting has raged in Gaza, where civil defence officials told AFP 80 people were killed by Israeli bombardment on 14 May, including 59 in the north. AFP

Palestinian rescuers reported more than 100 people killed Thursday in Israeli strikes on blockaded Gaza, where a US-backed organisation said it intends to begin distributing aid by the end of the month.

In the occupied West Bank, raids were ongoing and roads blocked after Israel's military chief vowed to find the perpetrators of an attack that killed a pregnant Israeli woman.

Gaza's civil defence agency said the death toll from Israeli bombardment since dawn on Thursday had risen to 103.

Israel blocked all aid from entering Gaza on 2 March, before resuming operations on 18 March, ending a six-week ceasefire.

"Israel's blockade has transcended military tactics to become a tool of extermination", Human Rights Watch (HRW) interim executive director Federico Borello said in a statement Thursday.

HRW said "the Israeli government's plan to demolish what remains of Gaza's civilian infrastructure and concentrate the Palestinian population into a tiny area would amount to an abhorrent escalation of its ongoing crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and acts of genocide".

Amir Selha, a 43-year-old Palestinian from north Gaza, reported "intense Israeli shelling all night".

"Tank shells are striking around the clock, and the area is packed with people and tents," he said.

He added that in early morning Israeli army drones dropped leaflets in his neighbourhood, warning residents to move south.

Most Gazans have been displaced at least once during 19 months of war between Israel and Hamas.

Israel says the pressure aims to force Hamas to free the remaining hostages seized in the October 2023 attack which triggered the war.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-supported NGO, said it would begin distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza this month after talks with Israeli officials.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, five European members of the UN Security Council said that they were "deeply concerned" at the Israeli plan, "which the United Nations has said would not meet humanitarian principles".

Evacuation orders

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Thursday that 2,876 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on 18 March, taking the war's overall toll to 53,010.

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.

The United Nations estimates that 70 per cent of Gaza is now either an Israeli-declared no-go zone or under evacuation order.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Basal said Israel was "employing a policy of shrinking areas and emptying populated regions to pressure and terrorise civilians".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday the military would enter Gaza "with full force" in the coming days.

Despite the bombardment, efforts are still under way for a new hostage release and ceasefire deal.

With US President Donald Trump touring Gulf Arab states, his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff discussed the hostages issue with Netanyahu on Wednesday.

Hamas accused Netanyahu of undermining ceasefire and hostage release efforts "through deliberate military escalation, showing indifference to his captives, endangering their lives".

In the northern West Bank, the Israeli military said a manhunt was under way after an attack that killed a pregnant woman.

Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said: "We will use all the tools at our disposal and reach the murderers in order to hold them accountable."

Calls for revenge

Users of Palestinian Telegram channels sharing information on West Bank checkpoints reported many road closures in the north of the territory on Thursday.

WhatsApp groups for Israeli settlers in the West Bank were rife with calls for vengeance in retaliation for the attack.

"To make sure this never happens again... we need real revenge! Erase every terror village," one user said.

In the northern village of Tammun, Israeli troops killed five Palestinians in a raid the military described as targeting buildings suspected of being used to plan attacks.

"The occupation forces killed five young men after besieging a house in the centre of the village," Tammun mayor Samir Qteishat told AFP.

The Israeli military said "soldiers identified armed terrorists who barricaded themselves in a building."

"Following an exchange of fire, five terrorists were eliminated, and an additional terrorist was apprehended," it said.

The West Bank has seen an upsurge in violence since the beginning of the Gaza war.​

 

[Saif]

WHO says Gaza's last cancer hospital stops working

The World Health Organization said Thursday that the last hospital in Gaza providing cancer and cardiac care had stopped functioning after an Israeli attack

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WHO says Gaza's last cancer hospital stops working

Photo: AFP

The World Health Organization said Thursday that the last hospital in Gaza providing cancer and cardiac care had stopped functioning after an Israeli attack.

The UN health agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that an attack on Tuesday left the European Hospital in Khan Yunis "severely damaged and inaccessible".

It is "no longer functional", he said, adding that a WHO team had evacuated emergency medical staff who had worked through the attacks.

"A strike hit nearby just before the mission," Tedros said, adding that the staff had been taken to the Nasser Medical Complex.

The WHO chief said "the hospital's closure has cut off vital services including neurosurgery, cardiac care, and cancer treatment -- all unavailable elsewhere in Gaza."

"The shutdown also ends the facility's role as a key hub for medical evacuations, further straining the overwhelmed health system," Tedros said.

The Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity also highlighted the impact of the closure.

"This was one of the last remaining lifelines in Gaza's shattered healthcare system," it said on X, saying that the Nasser hospital was now the only one functioning in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.

Nasser, it added, "was also hit on the same day a few hours before the Gaza European Hospital for the second time in less than two months."

MSF said that the territory's remaining hospitals "mostly partially functional, are constantly overwhelmed."

"Repeated strikes on healthcare facilities are yet more examples of the Israeli authorities making the Strip unlivable."

Tedros insisted that "hospitals must be protected".

"They must never be militarised or targeted. Ceasefire," he declared.​

 

[Saif]

Deadly Israeli strikes pound Gaza as Trump says 'people are starving'

Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed more than 250 people since Thursday morning, local health authorities said on Friday, one of the deadliest phases of bombardment since a truce collapsed in March and with a new ground offensive expected soon. The air and artillery strikes were focused on the nor

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Deadly Israeli strikes pound Gaza as Trump says 'people are starving'
REUTERS
Published :
May 16, 2025 19:30
Updated :
May 16, 2025 19:30

Palestinians make their way with belongings as they fled their homes, after Israeli air strikes, in the northern Gaza Strip May 16, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed more than 250 people since Thursday morning, local health authorities said on Friday, one of the deadliest phases of bombardment since a truce collapsed in March and with a new ground offensive expected soon.

The air and artillery strikes were focused on the northern section of the tiny, crowded enclave, where dozens of people including women and children were killed overnight, said Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Khalil al-Deqran.

Israel has intensified its bombardment and built-up armour along the border despite growing international pressure for it to resume ceasefire talks and end its blockade of Gaza, where an international hunger monitor has warned of famine.

US President Donald Trump on Friday backed aid for the Palestinians, saying people in Gaza are starving and adding that he expected "a lot of good things" in the next month.

Asked whether he supported Israeli plans to expand the war in Gaza, Trump told reporters: "I think a lot of good things are going to happen over the next month, and we're going to see. We have to help also out the Palestinians. You know, a lot of people are starving on Gaza, so we have to look at both sides."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on May 5 that Israel was planning an expanded and intensive offensive against Hamas as his security cabinet approved plans that could involve seizing the entire Gaza Strip and controlling aid.

An Israeli defence official said at the time that the operation would not be launched before Trump concluded his visit to the Middle East, which is expected to end on Friday.

Israel's declared goal in Gaza is the elimination of Hamas, which attacked Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and seizing about 250 hostages.

Its military campaign has devastated the enclave, pushing nearly all inhabitants from their homes and killing more than 53,000 people according to Gaza health authorities, while aid agencies say its blockade has caused a humanitarian crisis.

Heavy strikes on Friday were reported in the northern town of Beit Lahiya and in the Jabalia refugee camp, where Palestinian emergency services said many bodies were still buried in the rubble.

Israel's military said its air force had struck more than 150 targets across Gaza, saying these included anti-tank missile posts, terrorist cells, military structures and operational centres.

STRIKES

In Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, men picked through a sea of rubble following the night's strikes, pulling out sheets of metal as small children clambered through the debris.

Around 10 bodies draped in white sheets were lined up on the ground before being taken to hospital. Women sat crying nearby and one lifted a corner of a sheet to gaze at the dead person's face.

Ismail, a man from Gaza City who gave only his first name, described a night of horror. "The non-stop explosions resulting from the airstrikes and tank shelling reminded us of the early days of the war. The ground didn't stop shaking underneath our feet," Ismail told Reuters via a chat app.

"We thought Trump arrived to save us, but it seems Netanyahu doesn't care, neither does Trump," he added.

Israel has faced increasing international isolation over its campaign in Gaza, with even the United States, its staunchest ally, expressing unease over the scale of the destruction and the dire situation caused by its blockade on the delivery of food and other vital aid.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was "troubled" by the humanitarian situation in the enclave.

Netanyahu has dispatched a team to Doha to take part in ceasefire talks with Qatari mediators but he has ruled out concessions, saying Israel remains committed to defeating Hamas.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents some of the families and supporters of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza, said that Israel risked missing a "historic opportunity" to bring them home as Trump wound up his visit to the Middle East.

"We are in dramatic hours that will determine the future of our loved ones, the future of Israeli society, and the future of the Middle East," the group said in a statement.​

 

[Saif]

More Hollywood stars join protest letter over Gaza 'genocide'

Hollywood heavyweights Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Riz Ahmed and Guillermo del Toro have added their names to a letter condemning the film industry's silence on what it called "genocide" in Gaza, the organisers confirmed Friday.

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More Hollywood stars join protest letter over Gaza 'genocide'
AFP Cannes
Published: 16 May 2025, 18: 34

The Hollywood sign AFP file photo

Hollywood heavyweights Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Riz Ahmed and Guillermo del Toro have added their names to a letter condemning the film industry's silence on what it called "genocide" in Gaza, the organisers confirmed Friday.

The petition, signed by more than 370 actors and filmmakers, also denounced Israel's killing of Fatima Hassouna, the young Gaza photojournalist featured in the documentary 'Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk', which premiered at the Cannes film festival Thursday.

The organisers of the letter said the French actor Juliette Binoche, who is chairing the jury at Cannes, also added her name to the letter, along with Rooney Mara, US indie director Jim Jarmusch and 'Lupin' star Omar Sy.

Binoche had initially seemed to pull back from supporting it as the festival opened on Tuesday, instead delivering a tribute to Hassouna, who was killed with 10 members of her family the day after she learned the film would be shown at Cannes.

"She should have been here tonight with us," an emotional Binoche said at the opening ceremony.

The growing protest comes after several days of mounting bloodshed in the besieged Palestinian territory, with 120 people killed on Thursday and 50 reported dead since midnight.

'Schindler's List' star Ralph Fiennes as well as Richard Gere, Mark Ruffalo, Guy Pearce, Susan Sarandon, Javier Bardem, and directors David Cronenberg, Pedro Almodovar, Alfonso Cuaron, Mike Leigh said they were "ashamed" of their industry's failure to speak out about Israel's siege of Gaza in the original letter.

In her Cannes speech Tuesday Binoche also referenced the Israeli hostages taken by Palestinian group Hamas in its 7 October, 2023 assault on Israel, which sparked the Gaza war.

'Sicko' and 'Bowling for Columbine' director Michael Moore and French actor Camille Cottin of 'Call My Agent' fame are among other entertainment industry figures who have added their names to the letter since Tuesday.​