Gaza: Israeli forces kill 20 Palestinians on Saturday as international outcry builds

A video clip circulated on social media on Saturday showed the moment Israeli operatives executed Rami Sami Al-Kakhn, 30, during a raid carried out in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday.

The video shows al-Kakhn talking to another young man before he is surprised by an Israeli soldier dressed as a Palestinian who shoots him with a pistol, even though he had raised his hands in surrender.

The footage belies the Israeli police's account, which claimed that he was armed and posed a threat.

Israeli police on Thursday said undercover agents had carried out a raid on Nablus' Old City, resulting in the killing of a man suspect of belonging to the Lions' Den group.

#شاهد| لحظة اغتيال واعدام الشاب رامي الكخن يوم الخميس الماضي في البلدة القديمة بنابلس pic.twitter.com/k7ObCj2oHM

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) May 10, 2025

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he rejects the proposal to establish a US administration in the Gaza Strip, saying that the Palestinian side had informed Washington of this.

This came during a press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, broadcast by Russian media. 

"We categorically reject the idea of ​​​​displacing the Palestinian people from Gaza, as proposed by Trump when he announced that the people of Gaza must be displaced so that a new French Riviera can be built in their place," Abbas said.

He stressed that "neither the Americans nor anyone else has the right to be in the Gaza Strip. We must return to the Gaza Strip, and we are capable of governing this region".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering appointing Likud member and former Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter to head the country's internal security agency, Israel's Channel 12 reported.

Dichter, who led Shin Bet from 2000 to 2005, played a key role in Israel's brutal suppression of the Second Intifada.

The UN's agency for Palestinian refugees has abruptly suspended contracts with Gaza civil society groups and hospitals, the Al-Awda Health and Community Association said on Saturday.

The contracts, which have been in effect since 2011, have allowed the hospitals to provide free pregnancy care, including for natural births, C-sections, gynecological services and specialised surgeries.

The association said in a statement that UNRWA's decision will impact all of these services.

The number of Palestinians killed by Israel on Saturday has risen to 13, medical sources have told Al Jazeera Arabic.

Germany's new top diplomat Johann Wadephul called on Saturday for "serious discussions for a ceasefire" in Gaza, where the humanitarian situation "is now unbearable".

Ahead of a visit to Israel, Wadephul said it was "imperative to start" talks "to free all hostages and to ensure that supplies reach the population of Gaza", according to comments reported by his ministry.

While reaffirming Germany's unwavering support for Israel, the official said he would "inquire about the strategic objective of the fighting that has intensified since March".

(AFP)

Hamas's armed wing released a video on Saturday showing two prisoners alive in the Gaza Strip with one of the two men calling for an end to the war in the Palestinian territory.

Israeli media identified the pair in the undated video, released by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana, who were kidnapped in Israel during the attack carried out by Hamas on 7 October, 2023.

(AFP)

US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has described suggestions that the Trump administration could recognise Palestinian statehood as "nonsense".

The Jerusalem Post yesterday published an article quoting an anonymous Gulf official claiming that Trump would recognise a Palestinian state during his upcoming visit to the Middle East.

“Hmm. @Jerusalem_Post needs better sources than this unidentified ‘source.’ My 4 yr old grandson Teddy is more reliable. And take it from Teddy. This report is nonsense," Huckabee wrote on X on Saturday.

Syria’s president flew to Bahrain Saturday where he discussed mutual relations and regional affairs with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on his latest trip abroad since taking office in January.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, said President Ahmad al-Sharaa is heading a high-ranking delegation to Bahrain, a gulf nation that had relations with former President Bashar Assad until his removal from power in early December.

Bahrain's news agency said the two leaders discussed mutual relations and ways of boosting them, as well as regional affairs and ways of backing Syria's security and stability.

More international airlines have extended flight suspensions to Israel following last week's Houthi attack on the country's main airport.

Wizz Air, Lufthansa, Air Europa have all pulled flights until at least the middle of May in response to the attack, which saw a missile land in the perimeter of Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv.

The Yemeni group has said it is attempting to impose an "air blockade" on Israel in response to its relentless attacks on Gaza, and will continue to target the country's airports until it agrees to end the war and lift the siege.

Israeli air defences on Friday intercepted another missile fired from Yemen.

The new German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, departed for Israel and the occupied West Bank on Saturday for a Middle East trip in which "critical discussions" are expected, he said when leaving Berlin.

"In both of our democracies, critical discussions about the policies of one's own government and friendly nations are part of this," Wadephul said on Saturday.

"I will ask about the strategic objective of the fighting, which has intensified again since March," Wadephul said.

According to a Foreign Office spokesperson, Wadephul will meet Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The minister will also travel to Ramallah where he will meet with the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mohammed Mustafa.

(Reuters and TNA staff)

The Israeli military said on Saturday that it had bombed 60 targets across the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours. 

The number of Palestinians killed by Israel on Saturday has risen to 13, Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting, citing medical sources on the ground.

At least 23 Palestinians were killed and 124 others were injured in the Gaza Strip over the last 24 hours, medical sources say, bringing the death toll in the enclave to 52,810.

Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani has called on Israel to allow food and humanitarian aid into the blockaded Gaza Strip.

In a post on his X account, Tajani confirmed that Rome has urged Israel to allow the entry and distribution of food and humanitarian aid, stressing the need to reactivate the "Food for Gaza" initiative.

He added that Italy has allocated 2.5 million euros to assist Gaza's population.

Nine Israeli soldiers - including two commanders - were injured in an explosion triggered by a landmine in Gaza City, Israel Army Radio said on Saturday.

A Hamas delegation held two meetings with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Doha this week but they produced no breakthrough in the search for a Gaza truce, sources close to the group said Friday.

"Egyptian officials met twice with a high-level Hamas delegation led by [chief negotiator] Khalil al-Hayya [and] Qatari officials on Wednesday and Thursday in Doha," one source told AFP.

A second source said the talks were "serious" but made "no concrete progress".

(AFP)

The Trump administration is threatening UN agencies with sanctions and funding cuts if they don't participate in Israel's plan to militarise aid delivery in Gaza, according to the The Financial Times.

Sources familiar with the discussions told the paper that US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff issued the threats to the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN's Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) and other organisations during a briefing earlier this week. 

The US threatened to withhold its funding from the WFP (amounting to 40% of its budget), jeopardising its capacity to respond to other humanitarian crises around the world.

Relief agencies continue to remain steadfastly opposed to Israel's plan, which they say is insufficient to address the spiralling hunger crisis in Gaza and will facilitate the further mass displacement of Palestinians.

The UAE has turned down Israeli appeals for it to fund its controversial aid plan for Gaza because it is insufficient to address the spiralling hunger crisis caused by the 10-week siege, a senior official has told The Times of Israel.

The plan, which would only initially provide relief to 60% of the population, has been condemned by humanitarian agencies for "weaponising" aid delivery and facilitating further mass displacement of Palestinians.

Abu Dhabi is open to supporting the initiative if it is changed to meet the population's needs, the official said.

UN agencies have renewed their condemnation of the Israeli-US plans to lift the blockade on Gaza, saying on Friday that the proposal would see aid being used to "bait" for further mass displacement.

The plan, which would create a small number of aid hubs overseen by private military contractors in the south, would force civilians into an  "impossible choice between displacement and death", a Unicef spokesperson said.

The plan "contravenes basic humanitarian principles" and looks to be designed to "reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic", they told reporters.

UN experts have warned that Israel is attempting to perpetrate a "new Nakba" against the Palestinian people.

The committee, formed to investigate abuses against Palestinians after the 1967 war, said on Friday that Israel is "inflicting unimaginable suffering" on civilians living under occupations and is "rapidly expanding" land grabs.

"What we are witnessing could very well be another Nakba," they wrote.

'Nakba', meaning 'catastrophe' in Arabic, refers to Israel's war against the Palestinians in 1948, when it displaced hundreds of thousands of people from their land.

Former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinian people.

Borrell, who led EU foreign policy during the first year of Israel's war on Gaza, described the operation as "the largest ethnic cleansing operation since the end of the second world war" at an event in Spain on Friday.

"We all know what’s going on there, and we’ve all heard the objectives stated by Netanyahu’s ministers​, which are clear declarations of genocidal intent. Seldom have I heard the leader of a state so clearly outline a plan that fits the legal definition of genocide," he continued.

Borrell's intervention comes as several EU states push for a review of the bloc's trading relationship with Israel.

Israeli forces killed at least seven Palestinians in Gaza early on Saturday morning, Palestinian news agency WAFA reports.

In Gaza City, five members of one family died when Israeli warplanes bombed a tent housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza City and one was killed in a drone strike.

A man was killed in Rafah after Israeli warships opened fire. Others were injured in a separate round of artillery fire in the southern city.