Gaza: Israel kills 51 in overnight raids, hours after hospital strikes

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At least 51 people have been killed in Israeli raids in Gaza since midnight on Wednesday, medical sources tell Al Jazeera Arabic.

Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting that 36 people have been killed in Israel's overnight strikes in Jabalia, citing medical sources.

Israeli strikes on Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza have killed 25 people and wounded dozens of others, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

Some Israeli military officials believe that Gaza will suffer widespread starvation in the coming weeks unless the blockade is lifted, The New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing three Israeli defence officials.

The Israeli government has responded to global outrage about the siege by insisting that Gaza has enough food and dismissing accusations that it is using starvation as a weapon of war.

But some in the military who monitor conditions in Gaza have recently warned their commanders that many areas will run out of food unless aid is allowed to enter, according to The Times.

The Israeli cabinet has been made aware of the situation on the ground after an army general told them last week that food would run out in weeks, two officials said.

Aid agencies and the UN have for weeks sounded the alarm about the territory's spiralling hunger crisis and have accused Israel of using starvation as a tactic to pressure Hamas into surrendering.

A report by a UN-backed food monitor said on Monday that half a million people are at risk of starvation.

Four Palestinians have reportedly been killed and several others wounded in Israeli shelling on a house in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

The report comes shortly after the Israeli military ordered civilians to flee the camp, warning that it will attack with "great force" after several rockets were fired into Israel.

United Nations relief chief Tom Fletcher on Tuesday called on the UN Security Council to take action "to prevent genocide" in Gaza, delivering a scathing account of Israel's actions in the Palestinian territory.

Fletcher, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, demanded that Israel lift its aid blockade on Gaza, where its offensive has killed tens of thousands and reduced much of the enclave to rubble.

"For those killed and those whose voices are silenced: what more evidence do you need now?" asked Fletcher. "Will you act -- decisively -- to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law?"

(AFP)

Iran will hold talks in Istanbul on Friday with European parties to their now moribund 2015 nuclear deal, two European and an Iranian diplomatic source said on Tuesday.

The talks come as both sides seek to position themselves ahead of an expected fifth round of US-Iranian negotiations in the coming days.

(Reuters)

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "unacceptable" and "shameful" behaviour in blocking aid to the Palestinians in Gaza.

"What the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is doing is unacceptable... There is no water, no medicine, the wounded cannot get out, the doctors cannot get in. What he is doing is shameful," Macron told TF1 television.

"We need the United States. President Trump has the levers. I have had tough words with Prime Minister Netanyahu. I got angry, but [Israel] don't depend on us, they depend on American weapons," he added.

(AFP)

The UK has rejected Israel's controversial plan to deliver aid to Palestinians and called on Israel to lift its "cruel and inexcusable" 10-week blockade.

"The UK will not support any aid mechanism that seeks to deliver political or military objectives, or puts vulnerable civilians at risk," the UK's ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward told the UN Security Council at an emergency meeting on Tuesday.

"We call on Israel to urgently engage with the UN to assure a return to delivery of aid in line with humanitarian principles," she said.

The UK was among the five countries to call the emergency meeting to discuss the devastating humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

The Israeli military has ordered Palestinian civilians to leave Jabalia refugee camp and adjacent neighbourhoods ahead of what it says will be a large attack in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian territory.

"To all residents of the Gaza Strip located in the Jabalia Municipality, Jabalia Camp, and the neighborhoods of Tel al-Zaatar, Sheikh Zayed, al-Nour, al-Salam, and al-Rawda, this is a final advance warning before the attack," a military spokesperson.

"The IDF will attack with great force any area from which rockets are launched."

UN aid chief Tom Fletcher on Tuesday said an Israeli plan to distribute aid in the Gaza Strip was a "cynical sideshow, a deliberate distraction, a fig leaf for further violence and displacement" of Palestinians in the enclave.

He told the UN Security Council that no food, medicine, water or tents have entered the war-torn Palestinian enclave for more than 10 weeks.

"We can save hundreds of thousands of survivors. We have rigorous mechanisms to ensure our aid gets to civilians and not to Hamas, but Israel denies us access, placing the objective of depopulating Gaza before the lives of civilians," said Fletcher.

No aid has been delivered to Gaza since 2 March after Israel imposed a suffocating blockade.

Half a million people are now at risk of starvation, a UN-backed food monitor said on Monday.

Palestinian Authority Vice President Hussein held talks with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Al-Sheikh - who was recently appointed as vice chair of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation by PA chief Mahmoud Abbas - discussed the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and other developments in the region with the Emirati diplomat, according to a statement from the Emirati Foreign Ministry.

عبدالله بن زايد يستقبل معالي حسين الشيخ، نائب رئيس اللجنة التنفيذية لمنظمة التحرير الفلسطينية ونائب رئيس دولة فلسطين، حيث تم بحث مجمل التطورات الراهنة في المنطقة وتداعياتها المختلفة، لا سيما الأزمة الانسانية المتفاقمة في قطاع غزة. pic.twitter.com/J2VWcEjJzh

— OFM (@OFMUAE) May 13, 2025

Israel's military said it intercepted "two projectiles" fired from Gaza into Israeli territory on Tuesday, with another falling in an open area.

"Following the sirens that sounded at 21:44 (1844 GMT) in the areas of the communities near the Gaza Strip... two projectiles that crossed from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory were intercepted by the IAF [air force] and an additional projectile fell in an open area," a military statement said, adding that "no injuries were reported."

(AFP)

Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) says it will reduce its staff and suspend some services at the Nasser Hospital in Gaza, which was bombed by Israeli warplanes earlier today.

"Following today's attack, outpatient consultations are suspended and the number of our colleagues in the facility is reduced," it wrote in a post on X following the strike, which killed two people and injured 12 others.

At 2:45 am on 13 May, an Israeli airstrike targeted one of the buildings of Nasser hospital's medical complex, killing 2 people and injuring 12, according to the Ministry of Health. Our team is providing surgery to 2 of the wounded. This is the second attack on the same building… pic.twitter.com/ipFFnzU04W

— MSF International (@MSF) May 13, 2025

The death toll from Israel's airstrike on Gaza's European Hospital has risen to 28, a civil defence spokesperson has told AFP.

Syria is ready to strengthen ties with the US following Donald Trump's decision to remove economic sanctions, the Foreign Ministry has said.

"We regard this announcement in an extremely positive light ... we stand ready to foster a relationship with the United States that is grounded in mutual respect, trust, and shared interests," it said in a statement posted on X.

The Syrian Arab Republic welcomes President Trump's decision to lift sanctions on #Syria pic.twitter.com/UIO3Xj7mqW

— وزارة الخارجية والمغتربين السورية (@syrianmofaex) May 13, 2025

At least six Palestinians have been killed and 40 others injured in an Israeli attack on the European Hospital in southern Gaza, the Gaza health ministry has said. 

An Al Jazeera correspondent has reported that three journalists were among those injured.

Syria's foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani has lauded President Donald Trump's decision to lift economic sanctions as a "victory for justice".

In a series of posts on X, the diplomat thanked Saudi Arabia for negotiating with the Trump administration and voiced hope that the move will provide "a new beginning in the process of reconstruction".

أتقدم بجزيل الشكر والتقدير للمملكة العربية السعودية قيادةً وحكومةً وشعباً، على الجهود الصادقة التي بذلتها في دعم مساعي رفع العقوبات الجائرة عن سوريا. هذه الخطوة تمثل انتصاراً للحق وتأكيداً على وحدة الصف العربي.

1/3

— أسعد حسن الشيباني (@AsaadHShaibani) May 13, 2025

The UN's Syria envoy has welcomed US President Donald Trump's decision to lift sanctions on Syria, saying that bringing an end to the crippling  restrictions is vital for reviving the country's economy.

"I welcome the statements by the US president regarding the cessation of sanctions on Syria," said Jenifer Fenton, spokesperson for UN envoy Geir Pedersen, in a statement.

"[Sanctions relief] is crucial to enabling the delivery of essential services, including health and education, reviving the Syrian economy, unlocking meaningful support from the region, and enabling many Syrians to contribute actively to a national effort to rebuild their country," she said.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday called Iran the "most destructive force" in the Middle East, blaming Tehran for instability across the region and warning that the United States will never allow it to obtain a nuclear weapon.

Offering what he described as both a final warning and a potential opening for diplomacy, Trump said Iran has a choice between continuing its "chaos and terror" or embracing a path toward peace.

Trump said he was willing to strike a new deal with the Islamic Republic but only if its leaders changed course.

"I want to make a deal with Iran," he said. "But if Iran's leadership rejects this olive branch..., we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure."

Speaking at an investment summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Trump warned that "Iran will never have a nuclear weapon", and said his offer for a deal won't last forever.

Hamas on Monday called on US President Donald Trump's administration to "continue its efforts" to end the war in Gaza, after the group said it handed over US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander.

"We affirm that serious and responsible negotiations yield results in the release of prisoners" and "urge President Trump's administration to continue its efforts to end this brutal war", Hamas said in a statement.

Israel's military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen on Tuesday, with AFP journalists reporting air raid sirens followed by explosions heard in the Jerusalem area.

"Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted," the military said in a statement, after earlier announcing it had "identified the launch of a missile from Yemen toward Israeli territory".

⚡️ Sirens sounded in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv shortly ago after a ballistic missile launched from Yemen reached the area. The Israeli army claims it successfully intercepted it. pic.twitter.com/7PwevcVxbV

— Warfare Analysis (@warfareanalysis) May 13, 2025

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he wanted to offer a "new path" for Iran but warned of major repercussions if talks failed on a new nuclear accord.

"If Iran's leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbours, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure, drive Iranian oil exports to zero like I did before," Trump said in a speech in Riyadh.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would remove all sanctions against Syria, saying they had served an important function, but it was now time for Syria to move forward.

"I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness," Trump told an investment forum in Riyadh.

"It's their time to shine. We're taking them all off," Trump said, "Good luck Syria, show us something very special."

US President Donald Trump voiced hope Tuesday that Saudi Arabia will eventually recognise Israel, in a speech in Riyadh in the presence of the crown prince.

"It's my fervent hope and wish, and even my dream, that Saudi Arabia, a place I have such respect for... will soon be joining the Abraham accords" in which three other Arab countries normalised diplomatic relations with Israel, Trump said.

U.S. President Donald Trump will say he hopes a new government will be able to stabilise Syria and that he wants to offer Iran a new and better path for the future, according to excerpts released by the White House on Tuesday.

Donald Trump has agreed to say hello to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, a White House official said, during the U.S. president's regional tour that began with a stop in Riyadh.

There were no immediate details about the format of any exchange between Sharaa and Trump, but any meeting will mark a dramatic turnaround for the Syrian president, a former rebel leader who swept to power last year at the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group linked to al Qaeda and designated a terrorist organisation by Washington.

U.S. officials told families of captives still held in Gaza they see a better chance of a deal for their release after Washington reached an accord with Hamas for an American captive that largely bypassed the Israeli government.

U.S. Special Envoy Adam Boehler and Steve Witkoff, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, met families of captives for almost two hours in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

"I think there’s a better chance now than before," Boehler told reporters in Tel Aviv ahead of meeting the families.

Boehler, who is tasked with securing the release of U.S. captives, said Hamas could "pull a deal any day they want" and there was "hope of change" following Alexander's release.

The Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) charity on Tuesday denounced Israel's "egregious conduct that we have seen time and again over the last 19 months on hospitals, clinics and medical equipment with impunity" following an airstrike on a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip.

"At 2:45 am on Tuesday 13 May, An Israeli airstrike targeted one of the buildings of Nasser medical complex. According to the Ministry of Health, two people were killed and 12 were injured. MSF teams are doing a surgical intervention on two of the wounded," it said, adding that this was the second attack on the same building in seven weeks.

"MSF had to move its burns unit to a nearby building after the first attack seven weeks ago. Our teams are treating severe burns, trauma injuries and running two surgical theatres.

Following today's attack, outpatient consultations are suspended and the number of MSF staff in the facility is reduced."

Claire Manera, MSF Emergency Coordinator, said: "This attack on a medical complex so close to our medical operations is horrific. It comes as the ongoing siege is already taking its toll on healthcare workers who are struggling to treat patients with little to no supplies. Such attacks on medical facilities endanger our patients and staff."

The US on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a shipping network it says has sent millions of barrels of Iranian oil to China, the State Department said, days after Iran and US negotiators concluded a fourth round of nuclear talks in Oman.

The sale of the oil helped fund Iranian weapons and attacks by the Houthi militant group on shipping in the Red Sea, the US Navy and Israel, it said. The network facilitated the shipment of oil worth billions of dollars to China on behalf of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff and its front company, Sepehr Energy, it said.

US President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, Axios reporter Barak Ravid said, citing a source familiar with the details.

A Saudi company will invest $20 billion in artificial intelligence-related sites in the United States, the White House said Tuesday, as the oil-rich kingdom seeks a leading role in the technology.

Saudi firm DataVolt "is moving forward with plans to invest $20 billion in AI data centres and energy infrastructure in the United States", the White House said in a statement as President Donald Trump paid a state visit to Riyadh.

The United States and Saudi Arabia have discussed Riyadh's potential purchase of Lockheed's F-35 jets, two sources briefed on discussions told Reuters, referring to a military aircraft that the kingdom has reportedly been interested in for years.

However, it is not clear if Washington would permit the kingdom to move forward with a purchase that would give Saudi Arabia an advanced weapon used by close US ally Israel, one of the sources said.

"(Qualitative Military Edge) with Israel has come up," the second source said, referring to US guarantees that Israel receives more advanced American weapons than Arab states. The sources spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

During Tuesday's visit by US President Donald Trump to Riyadh, the US is poised to offer the kingdom an arms package worth well over $100 billion, six sources with direct knowledge of the issue told Reuters previously. 

Yemen's Sanaa International Airport will resume operations from Wednesday, the airport's general director said on Tuesday.

Operations were suspended since May 7 due to damage after an Israeli strike during conflict with the Iran-backed Houthis.

US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed on Tuesday a strategic economic partnership agreement in Riyadh during Trump's regional visit.

The partnership includes agreements for energy, mining, and defence.

سمو #ولي_العهد الأمير محمد بن سلمان والرئيس الأميركي #دونالد_ترمب يوقعان اتفاقية الشراكة الاقتصادية الاستراتيجية بين الحكومتين.#TrumpInKSA | #الرئيس_الأمريكي_في_المملكة #قناة_السعودية pic.twitter.com/CI8gZEOxKL

— قناة السعودية (@saudiatv) May 13, 2025

Palestinian security forces shot dead a wanted man on Tuesday during an arrest operation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a Palestinian official said.

Anwar Rajab, spokesman for the Palestinian security forces, said in a statement that a gun battle erupted during "an operation to arrest a wanted individual" in northern West Bank.

"The force was surprised by direct gunfire from outlaws" and returned fire, wounding "one of the prominent figures in the state of lawlessness in the area" who later died of his injuries, Rajab said.

Ahmed Asaad, governor of Tubas where Tuesday's raid took place, identified the dead man as 19-year-old Rami Zahran.

#متابعة| عائلة زهران في مخيم الفارعة:

- قتلت قوة عسكرية تابعة لجهاز الاستخبارات ابننا الشاب رامي زهران، بدم بارد دون الالتزام بقواعد الاشتباك حيث لم يدر أي اشتباك في منطقة العمليات.

- نعلن الحداد العام لمدة ثلاث أيام في مخيم الفارعة حدادا على روح ابننا.

- لن يتم أي مراسم… pic.twitter.com/xc8AFEXzuG

— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) May 13, 2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would enter Gaza "with full force" in the coming days, a statement from his office said Tuesday.

"In the very coming days, we are going in with full force to complete the operation. Completing the operation means defeating Hamas. It means destroying Hamas," Netanyahu said during a meeting with injured reserve soldiers in his office late Monday.

"There will be no situation where we stop the war. A temporary ceasefire might happen, but we are going all the way," he added.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his government was working to find countries who may be willing to take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, according to a statement issued Tuesday by his office.

"We've set up an administration that will allow them (Gaza residents) to leave but... we need countries willing to take them in. That's what we're working on right now," Netanyahu told a group of soldiers wounded in action during a Monday meeting in his office, the statement said, adding that the prime minister estimated that "over 50 percent will leave" if given the option.

Israeli forces carried out multiple raids and demolitions across the occupied West Bank today, storming the cities of al-Bireh and Anata, and destroying temporary housing and a memorial site.

In Al-Bireh, near Ramallah, Israeli troops assaulted a Palestinian man during a midday raid, beating him severely before withdrawing. The man was hospitalised with injuries, according to local sources.

Earlier in the day, heavily armed Israeli units demolished several makeshift homes in the town of Anata, northeast of Jerusalem. Dozens of trees and fences were also bulldozed in nearby Umm Safa village.

The structures had been donated by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to families previously displaced by earlier demolitions.

In a separate raid, Israeli forces demolished a roundabout in Al-Bireh named after brothers Imad and Adel Awadallah, commanders in Hamas's military wing who were assassinated by Israel nearly 27 years ago.

A Lebanese man has been killed in an Israeli drone strike targeting a motorcycle in the town of Houla, southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

The attack came amid continued Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement in place since 27 November, which have now exceeded 2,000 breaches and resulted in over 190 deaths and nearly 500 injuries, according to Lebanese officials.

Israeli fighter jets also conducted low-altitude mock raids over the Zahrani area.

In a speech late on Monday, Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem criticised Israel's recent attacks, warning they "play with fire" and insisting Lebanon had fulfilled its obligations under the ceasefire.

He urged greater diplomatic pressure to stop the violations and secure the release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel.

Britain's decision to allow the export of F-35 fighter jet components to Israel, despite accepting they could be used in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza, was unlawful, a Palestinian rights group told London's High Court on Tuesday.

Al-Haq, a group based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is taking legal action against Britain's Department for Business and Trade over its decision to exempt F-35 parts when it suspended some arms export licences last year.

Al-Haq argues that the ministry's decision was unlawful as it was in breach of Britain's obligations under international law, including the Geneva Convention.

The group's lawyer, Raza Husain, said its case at the High Court was being heard "against a backdrop of human calamity unfolding in Gaza", since Israel responded to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks with a devastating military campaign.

Iran is open to accepting temporary limits on its uranium enrichment, its deputy foreign minister said Tuesday, while adding that talks with the United States have yet to address such specifics.

"For a limited period of time, we can accept a series of restrictions on the level and volume of enrichment," said Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi.

"We have not yet gone into details about the level and volume of enrichment," he said, quoted by Tasnim news agency.

Iran currently enriches uranium to 60 percent purity - far above the 3.67 percent limit set in the 2015 deal but below the 90 percent needed for weapons-grade material.

Israel's Channel 15 said US envoys Steve Witkoff and Adam Boehler will head to Doha to take part in negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire set to begin Tuesday evening.

Israel said Monday it was sending a team which will stay there till Thursday, coinciding with Trump's Gulf tour.

The US hopes to strike deals on minerals and chips during President Donald Trump's visit to the Gulf this week, Washington Post reported.

A months-long Israeli blockade is worsening acute malnutrition in the Gaza Strip, medical charity Medecins du Monde warned on Tuesday, accusing Israel of using hunger as "a weapon of war".

After more than a year and a half of war, acute malnutrition in Gaza has "reached levels comparable to those seen in countries facing prolonged humanitarian crises spanning several decades," said Medecins du Monde.

MDM said data from six health centres it runs in the Palestinian territory highlighted "the human responsibility for hunger in Gaza".

"Acute malnutrition rates among pregnant and breastfeeding women and children depend on the Israeli authorities' decisions to allow or block humanitarian aid," it said.

The medical charity said the peaks in acute malnutrition it observed in 2024 "coincided with the sharpest decline in the monthly number of trucks delivering aid to Gaza".

Malnutrition rates are rising in Gaza and hunger could have a lasting impact on "an entire generation", the World Health Organization's representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory said on Tuesday.

Rik Peeperkorn said he had seen children in clinics who looked years younger than their age and visited a north Gaza hospital where 11% of children screened suffered from acute malnutrition.

"What we see is an increasing trend in generalised acute malnutrition," Peeperkorn told a press briefing by video link from Deir al-Balah. "I've seen a child that's five years old, and you would say it was two-and-a-half."

"Without enough nutritious food, clean water and access to healthcare, an entire generation will be permanently affected," he said, warning of stunting and impaired cognitive development.

Gaza's health ministry Tuesday said 46 people had been killed in the territory in the past 24 hours, as the total death toll in the war since 7 October 2023 rose to 52,908 people.

More than 119,720 others have been wounded. The ministry says most of the casualties are civilians.

Thousands more people are missing and presumed dead, buried beneath the rubble.

Iran's neighbours should "go beyond neutrality" and take a more active role in ensuring the region's security, as U.S. President Donald Trump visits the Gulf, Iran's Nournews quoted the armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri as saying on Tuesday.

Any aggression against Iran would lead to definitive retaliation, he added.

(Corrected by Reuters)

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, visiting US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk - accompanying Trump on his Gulf tour - chatted briefly during a reception in Riyadh, live footage on Saudi media showed.

🎥 | Side Conversation Between HRH the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, #US President Donald #Trump, and #ElonMusk#TrumpInKSA#AlEkhbariyaEN

pic.twitter.com/6fk0uXEk45

— AlEkhbariya News (@alekhbariyaEN) May 13, 2025

United States special envoy Adam Boehler said on Tuesday there was a better chance now to secure the release of the remaining 58 captives held in Gaza following the release of Israeli-American captive Edan Alexander by Hamas a day earlier.

Boehler was speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv.

Hamas on Tuesday rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that military pressure had helped secure the release of US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander from Gaza a day earlier.

"The return of Edan Alexander is the result of serious communications with the US administration and the efforts of mediators, not a consequence of Israeli aggression or the illusion of military pressure," the Palestinian militant group said in a statement.

"Netanyahu is misleading his people and has failed to bring back his prisoners through aggression," Hamas added.

Netanyahu had credited Alexander's release to a combination of "our military pressure and the political pressure exerted by President Trump."

"The return of Edan Alexander confirms that serious negotiations and a prisoner exchange deal are the way to bring back the prisoners and end the war," the Hamas statement said on Tuesday.

Israel has called on the International Criminal Court to cancel its arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant.

The ICC issued the warrants in November last year over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel's negotiating team scheduled to fly to Qatar on Tuesday will remain there till Thursday, Israeli media reported, as US President Donald Trump visits Doha as part of his Gulf tour this week.

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US envoy Steve Witkoff agreed that the Israeli negotiating team will remain in Doha at least until Thursday, during President Trump's visit," Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Monday.

US officials said Monday the State Department has authorised the sale of $1.4 billion worth of military aircraft and equipment to the United Arab Emirates, ahead of President Donald Trump's visit this week.

The proposed sale to the Gulf state involves six CH-47F Chinook helicopters and other equipment for $1.32 billion that would "support the foreign policy and national security of the United States," officials from the State Department Bureau of Political-Military Affairs said in a statement.

More than 380 figures from the cinema world including "Schindler's List" actor Ralph Fiennes condemned "genocide" in Gaza in an open letter published on Tuesday ahead of the Cannes Festival opening.

"We cannot remain silent while genocide is taking place in Gaza," read the letter initiated by several pro-Palestinian activist groups and published in French newspaper Liberation and US magazine Variety.

The signatories - which include Hollywood stars Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, as well as acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar and former Cannes winner Ruben Ostlund - decried the death of Gazan photojournalist Fatima Hassouna.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said Monday that since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah it had uncovered more than 225 weapons caches in the south and referred them to the army.

Since the November 27 truce began, "peacekeepers have found over 225 weapons caches and referred them" to the Lebanese army, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon said in a statement.

UNIFIL also has a seat on the ceasefire monitoring committee, alongside truce sponsors France and the United States, and the Israeli and Lebanese governments.

"With UNIFIL support", Lebanon's army has "redeployed to more than 120 permanent positions south of the Litani", the peacekeeping force said.

"Full (army) deployment is hindered by the presence of Israeli forces in Lebanese territory," it added.

Al Jazeera's Ramallah bureau chief said on Monday the news channel could resume working in the Palestinian territories after president Mahmud Abbas lifted a ban in place since January.

"Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to lift the ban on the Al Jazeera network and allow its crews to resume work in the Palestinian territories starting tomorrow morning," Waleed Omari said in a statement to Israeli-Palestinian Foreign Press Association.

An official Palestinian source confirmed the removal of the ban to AFP.

Iran's neighbours should retain neutrality as U.S. President Donald Trump visits the Gulf, Iran's Nournews quoted the armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri as saying on Tuesday.

Any aggression against Iran would lead to definitive retaliation, he added.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomes President Trump to kingdom as US leader begins four-day Middle East tour.