Israel accused of starving Palestinians in Gaza on first day of ICJ hearing

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The United States has lost seven multi-million-dollar MQ-9 Reaper drones in the Yemen area since mid-March, when the latest round of its air campaign against the Huthi rebels began, a US official said Monday.

"There have been seven MQ-9s that have gone down since 15 March," the US official said on the condition of anonymity, without specifying what caused the loss of the drones, which cost around $30 million apiece.

(AFP)

More than 65,000 children in Gaza are now suffering from acute malnutrition as food supplies run out due to Israel's siege, the Gaza Government Media Office said Monday.

Israel has imposed a total blockade on all goods entering the strip for more than eight weeks. 

The head of the UN's Palestinian refugee agency has accused Israel of inflicting a "manmade and politically motivated" starvation on the people of Gaza.

The death toll from Saturday's explosion at Iran's Shahid Rajaee port has risen to 70, state media said Monday.

More than 1,200 people were injured in the blast.

Firefighters were continuing to battle the blaze on Monday that has raged for more than 48 hours at the country's largest port.

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Multiple news outlets in Israel are citing Israeli sources denying suggestions that there has been a breakthrough in ceasefire negotiations with Hamas.

Reuters had cited two Egyptian security sources claiming that had been a "significant breakthrough" during talks between Israeli and Egyptian officials in Cairo on Monday night.

Negotiations held in Cairo to reach a ceasefire in Gaza were witnessing a "significant breakthrough," two Egyptian security sources told Reuters on Monday.

The sources said there was a consensus on a long-term ceasefire in the besieged enclave, yet some sticking points remain, including Hamas arms.

Hamas repeatedly said it was not willing to lay down its arms, a key demand for Israel.

Earlier, Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV reported Egyptian intelligence chief General Hassan Mahmoud Rashad is set to meet an Israeli delegation headed by strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer on Monday in Cairo.

The sources said the ongoing talks included Egyptian and Israeli delegations.

There was no immediate comment from Israel and Hamas. Mediators Egypt and Qatar did not report developments on the latest talks.

(Reuters)

More than a dozen community kitchens in Gaza were forced to close over the weekend as the Israeli blockade continues to choke humanitarian efforts in the strip.

“Our partners tell us that over the weekend, 16 additional community kitchens had to close,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, said at a press briefing on Monday.

“More kitchens are expected to close this week as they run out of supplies," he told reporters.

Israel's military said Monday it has hit more than 50 targets across Lebanon over the past month, despite the ceasefire with Hezbollah that came into effect in November.

It justified the strikes by claiming they were carried out "following violations of the ceasefire" which "posed a threat to the State of Israel and its citizens".

A US warplane went overboard into the Red Sea as a result of a Monday accident on the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier.

"The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard," the US Navy said in a statement.

"All personnel are accounted for, with one sailor sustaining a minor injury," it said.

(AFP)

Israel's domestic security chief Ronen Bar said Monday he would stand down on 15 June, following weeks of tension with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has moved to fire him, citing a lack of trust.

"After 35 years of service, in order to allow an orderly process for appointing a permanent successor and for professional handover, I will end my role on June 15, 2025," Shin Bet chief Bar told a memorial event at his agency, according to a statement. He had contested the sacking in a legal case that divided the nation.

(AFP)

Hezbollah's leader Naim Qassem said on Monday that an Israeli strike on the group's south Beirut stronghold the day before was an unjustified "aggression", months into a fragile ceasefire.

"Yesterday, an aggression targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut. This attack lacks any justification... It is a political attack aimed at changing the rules by force," Qassem said in a televised speech.

It was the third Israeli strike on south Beirut since the start of the 27 November ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, including two months of full-blown war.

Israel said the strike had targeted a building used by Hezbollah to store "precision-guided missiles", and vowed to stop the Iran-backed militant group using Beirut's southern suburbs as a "safe haven".

(AFP)

Eight of southern Gaza's 12 ambulances are now out of action, Gaza's civil defence said today, as Israel's eight-week blockade causes fuel supplies to run dry.

It said in a statement that, with only four vehicles remaining, its ability to respond to emergencies will be limited, “threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens and displaced persons in shelters”.

An Israeli delegation is in Cairo this evening to discuss Gaza with Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad, according to state-owned broadcaster Al Qahera News.

The Israeli delegation is being led by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, the channel said.

The meeting will focus on the Qatari-Egyptian efforts to broker a new ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

A multi-phase ceasefire framework agreed in January collapsed six weeks ago when Israel resumed its military assault on the war-shattered Palestinian territory.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is deeply alarmed by reports of strikes on a detention centre for African migrants in Yemen, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.

"Strikes pose a growing risk to the civilian population in Yemen," he said.

"We continue to call on all parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians."

(Reuters)

The number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Monday has risen to 44, Al Jazeera is reporting, citing medical sources.

Irish rappers Kneecap should "urgently clarify" their stance on support for Hamas and Hezbollah, Irish prime minister Micheal Martin said Monday as a row deepened over political messaging at the band's concerts.

Martin's comments came after a video emerged of the Belfast rap trio at a November 2023 gig appearing to show one member saying: "The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP."

UK police said Sunday it was examining the clip, along with a footage from a 2024 concert in London in which a member of the band appeared to shout "up Hamas, up Hezbollah".

Both groups are banned as terrorist organisations in the UK and it is a crime to express support for them.

Martin told reporters in Dublin that both Hamas and Hezbollah "participated in terrorist activities and appalling killings and it is vital that Kneecap make it clear they do not support them".

"I think they need to urgently clarify that," he said.

(AFP)

Iran condemned on Monday US strikes on Yemen that Houthi rebels said hit a migrant detention centre in the Tehran-backed rebel group's stronghold of Saada, killing at least 68 people.

In a statement, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei called the strikes "on civilian targets, vital infrastructure and people's homes in various parts of Yemen... a war crime."

A huge explosion at Iran's largest commercial port has killed 65 people, the provincial governor told state media on Monday, revising earlier tolls for the blast.

"The death toll has reached 65 in this horrific incident" at Shahid Rajaee Port, said Mohammad Ashouri, governor of the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan where the port is located, adding that the fire caused by the explosion on Saturday has not yet been fully extinguished.

Brazil called Monday for a "complete withdrawal" of Israeli forces from Gaza and termed Israel's blocking of aid to the territory "unacceptable."

"The resumption of Israeli bombardments and the continued obstruction of humanitarian aid are unacceptable," Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira told a meeting of BRICS foreign ministers in Rio de Janeiro.

Yemen's Houthis vowed to continue attacks in the Red and Arabian seas after a suspected US strike, the Iran-aligned group's military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised statement on Monday.

His statements come after a suspected US airstrike that killed at least 68 people at a detention centre for African migrants in Yemen in what was one of the deadliest so far in six weeks.

(Reuters)

The Islamic State militant group said on Monday it had launched an attack against Kurdish fighters in eastern Syria's Deir az-Zour, according to the group's news agency.

The group imposed hardline Islamist rule over millions of people in Syria and Iraq for years, and has been trying to stage a comeback in the Middle East, the West and Asia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel will maintain military control over the Gaza Strip, according to Haaretz, who quoted him as telling a conference in Jerusalem that "we will not succumb to any pressure not to do that".

The French government has called on Israel to "stop the massacre taking place today in Gaza, government spokesperson Sophie Primas said, according to Haaretz.

She was also quoted as saying that France is seeking "the demobilization of the Islamic resistance movement and the renewal of the Palestinian Authority", as well as the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza.

These are "the conditions for progress toward recognising a Palestinian State, which France's President Emmanuel Macron considers to do by June", she was quoted as saying.

Iran's interior minister Eskandar Momeni said Monday that a deadly explosion at the country's largest commercial port two days ago was caused by "negligence" and failure to comply with safety measures.

"Some culprits have been identified and summoned ... There were shortcomings, including incompliance with safety precautions and negligence in terms of passive defence," Momeni told state TV, adding that the materials should have been dispersed.

Israeli attacks in Gaza killed at least 12 Palestinians on Monday afternoon, the Wafa news agency reported. 

Eight people were killed in attacks close to the Abu Mazen roundabout, reports state. 

Other Israeli attacks targeted shelters housing displaced people west of Gaza City. 

Three teenagers were convicted in Sweden on Monday of being involved in a shooting attack on an office of Israeli defence contractor Elbit Systems in Gothenburg last year.

A fourth boy, who was accused of actually carrying out the attack by opening fire at the entrance to the building in October, was 13 at the time - too young for him to stand trial under Swedish law.

No one was injured in the shooting. The verdict did not mention any motive for the attack.

An Israeli airstrike has been reported in the south Lebanon town of Aitarou, according to Al Jazeera. The attack comes after Israel struck a target in Beirut's southern suburbs.

Gaza's Ministry of Health has announced that in the last 24 hours it has received 71 people killed and 153 injuries in Israeli attacks, 14 of whom were recovered from rubble.

The ministry added that the total killed in the war has risen to 52,314, with an additional 117,792 being injured. 2,222 of those killed were since the resumption of Israeli attacks on 18 March.

Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight into Monday killed at least 27 Palestinians, according to local health officials.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

An airstrike hit a home in Beit Lahiya, killing 10 people, including a Palestinian prisoner, Abdel-Fattah Abu Mahadi, who had been released as part of the ceasefire. His wife, two of their children and a grandchild were also killed, according to the Indonesian Hospital, which received the bodies.

Another strike hit a home in Gaza City, killing seven people, including two women, according to the Gaza Health Ministry's emergency service. Two other people were wounded.

Late Sunday, a strike hit a home in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing at least 10 people, including five siblings as young as 4 years old, according to the Health Ministry. Two other children were killed along with their parents, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.

The death toll from a massive explosion at Iran's largest commercial port has risen to 46, state media reported, adding that most of the more than 1,000 wounded have been discharged from hospitals.

"The death toll in the Shahid Rajaee Port fire has reached 46," the official IRNA news agency reported, quoting Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, the crisis management director at the Hormozgan governorate. He added that only "138 wounded are still in hospital," while the rest have been discharged.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Monday that hearings at the UN's top court this week on the country's humanitarian obligations toward Palestinians are part of a "systematic persecution" of Israel.

"This case is part of a systematic persecution and delegitimisation of Israel," Saar told journalists in Jerusalem. "It is not Israel that should be on trial. It is the UN and UNRWA", he added, referring to the UN aid agency for Palestinians.

A top Palestinian official told the United Nations top court on Monday that Israel was blocking humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza as a "weapon of war."

Kicking off a week of hearings at the International Court of Justice about Israel's obligations to United Nations aid agencies, Ammar Hijazi told judges: "Starvation is here. Humanitarian aid is being used as a weapon of war".

A technical team from the International Atomic Energy Agency has arrived in Iran for talks with nuclear experts, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, as a follow up to the UN nuclear watchdog chief's visit to Tehran earlier this month.

"The delegation arrived in Iran and will hold technical talks with Iranian experts today, including on safeguards," Esmaeil Baghaei said during a weekly press conference.

(Reuters)

Iran on Monday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to dictate US policy after he called for complete dismantling of Tehran's nuclear progamme and inclusion of its ballistic missile capabilities in any deal.

"What is striking... is how brazenly Netanyahu is now dictating what President Trump can and cannot do in his diplomacy with Iran," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X.

One of the most widespread and complex cyber attacks against Iran's infrastructure was repelled on Sunday, the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted the head of Iran's Infrastructure Communications Company as saying on Monday.

(Reuters)

Sixty-eight bodies were recovered in Yemen and 47 others were wounded after a US strike on Saada hit a detention centre hosting African migrants, Yemen's Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported on Monday.

Saada is a Houthi stronghold that has also been previously targeted in US strikes.

According to Yemen's ministry of the interior, the detention center was housing 115 African migrants.

(Reuters)

A "new inferno" has been unleashed on Gaza following the restart of war in the Palestinian territory, the director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Monday.

"Gaza is experiencing and enduring... death, injury, multiple displacements, amputations, separation, disappearance, starvation and denial of aid and dignity on a massive scale, and just when the all important ceasefire led people to believe they had survived the worst, a new inferno was unleashed," Pierre Krahenbuhl told a Doha conference on security.