Israel ‘breaking minds and bodies of children’ in Gaza, WHO director says

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Increased looting of food stores and community kitchens in the Gaza Strip shows growing desperation as hunger spreads two months after Israel cut off supplies to the Palestinian territory, aid officials say.

Palestinian residents and aid officials said at least five incidents of looting took place across the enclave on Wednesday, including at community kitchens, merchants' stores, and the UN Palestinian refugee agency's (UNRWA) main complex in Gaza.

Israeli forces are continuing their aerial and ground offensive across Gaza in the war on the Strip that began nearly 19 months ago. Israeli air strikes on Thursday killed at least 12 people, the territory's health ministry said.

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Israeli airstrikes killed several people in Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis - Wafa reports. The strike targeted a family home, with several people also wounded.

Israeli settlers attacked two Palestinian sisters in Hebron in the occupied West Bank, spraying them with an unidentified liquid, witnesses told Wafa.

A relative of the survivor told Wafa that the settlers targeted the siblings while they were waiting at a traffic light.

The sisters had sustained eye irritation and redness to their faces and eyes and were taken to a medical centre in Sa’ir for treatment.

A young Palestinian girl was killed after Israeli strikes targeted north Gaza - Wafa reports.

Local sources said Israeli forces targeted the Qleibo area north of Jabalia refugee camp, killing a young girl and injuring two other civilians.

The Israeli army plans to demolish 106 homes and buildings in Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps, north of the occupied West Bank, within 24 hours, forcing residents to vacate their homes.

Palestinian sources told Wafa the notices, handed over to the Palestinian Coordination and Liaison Office, included maps marking targeted homes in red and stating the demolitions are for "military purposes".

A Jordanian man who vandalised businesses in Florida for their perceived support of Israel was sentenced to six years in prison on Thursday for threatening to blow up an energy facility, the US Justice Department said.

Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen, 44, targeted businesses in the Orlando area beginning in June of last year, causing more than $450,000 in damages, according to court documents.

"Wearing a mask, under the cover of night, Hnaihen smashed the glass front doors of businesses and left behind 'Warning Letters,'" the Justice Department said in a statement.

They culminated in a threat to "destroy or explode everything here in whole America. Especially the companies and factories that support the racist state of Israel."

A 29-year-old Palestinian man was shot dead after the Israeli army raided the town of Beita, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank - Wafa reports.

Dr Amid Ahmad, Director of the Emergency and Ambulance Centre at the Palestine Red Crescent in Nablus, said the man sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the chest and succumbed to his injuries at the Rafidia Governmental Hospital.

About 300 Palestinian citizens of Israel gathered Thursday in the ruins of a village that Palestinians fled during the 1948 war that led to the creation of Israel, to commemorate what Palestinians call the "Nakba", or catastrophe.

The place where the demonstrators gathered was previously the village of Al-Lajjun.

The site, once home to thousands of Palestinians, has now been partly taken over by the kibbutz Megiddo, an Israeli farming community.

Clad in traditional keffiyeh headscarves and garments, marchers sang the Palestinian anthem and shared memories of loss and resilience.

An event in the displaced village of Al-Lajjun, coinciding with the anniversary of the Palestinian #Nakba.#WestBank #Palestine @qudsn pic.twitter.com/cHiZHm8lt4

— ⚡️🌎 World News 🌐⚡️ (@ferozwala) May 1, 2025

Syrian Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri on Thursday condemned what he called a "genocidal campaign" against his community after two days of sectarian clashes left 101 people dead.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned his country would respond "with significant force" if Syria's new authorities fail to protect the Druze minority.

Al-Hijri in a statement on Thursday denounced the latest violence in Jaramana and Sahnaya near Damascus as an "unjustifiable genocidal campaign" against the Druze.

He called for immediate intervention by "international forces to maintain peace and prevent the continuation of these crimes".

Gaza's civil defence agency said Thursday Israeli bombardment killed at least 29 people since midnight in the war-ravaged territory, which has been under Israeli aid blockade for nearly two months.

Civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir said Thursday's toll included eight people killed in an air strike on the Abu Sahlul family home in Khan Yunis refugee camp in southern Gaza.

Four people were killed in an air strike east of Shaaf in Gaza City's Al-Tuffah neighbourhood, he told AFP.

At least 17 more were killed in other attacks across the Palestinian territory, including one that hit a tent sheltering displaced people near the central city of Deir el-Balah, the agency said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, said that while the military's mission was to bring home all the captives from Gaza, its "supreme goal" was to achieve victory against Hamas.

The Gaza Health Ministry revealed that over 52,418 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October, while at least 118,091 have been injured. #

The toll does not include the 11,000 missing presumed dead.

Israeli authorities forced a Palestinian civilian to demolish his own home in occupied East Jerusalem - Wafa reports.

Mahmoud Alia, who lived with his wife and daughters, revealed he was forced to destroy his home to avoid hefty financial penalties if the Israeli military carried out the demolition themselves.

Israel regularly forces Palestinians in the occupied region to carry out "self-demolitions" using a lack of construction permits as an excuse, and those who refuse are faced with high fines or the loss of their property.

Three Palestinians were killed after Israeli strikes targeted Gaza City.

Wafa reports that two, including a child, were killed in Shujaiya, and another was killed after a drone targeted a house in Deir al-Balah.

The World Health Organisation decried Thursday the horrifying situation unfolding in Gaza, with one top official voicing anger that the world was allowing the "abomination" to continue.

"We have to ask ourselves: How much blood is enough to satisfy whatever the political objectives are," the UN health agency's emergencies director Mike Ryan told reporters in Geneva.

This comes as Israel has continued to impose a full blockade on Gaza since 2 March.

Since the start of the blockade, the UN has repeatedly warned of the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground, with famine again looming.

Supplies are dwindling, and the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) last Friday said it had sent out its "last remaining food stocks" to kitchens.

The minds and bodies of children in Gaza are being broken following two months of aid blockade and renewed strikes, the Executive Director of the World Health Organisation Emergency programmes said on Thursday.

Since 2 March, Israel has blocked the entry of medical, fuel, and food supplies into Gaza.

"We are breaking the bodies and minds of the children of Gaza. We are starving the children of Gaza. We are complicit," Deputy Director General Michael Ryan told reporters at the WHO's headquarters.

"As a physician, I am angry. It is an abomination," he said.

 The United Nations’ emergency relief coordinator urged Israel on Thursday to lift its blockade of aid into the Gaza Strip, saying the halting of humanitarian aid amounts to "cruel collective punishment."

Israel has blocked any humanitarian aid from entering the territory since the end of a ceasefire in March, throwing Gaza into what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly 19 months of war.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, has described severe shortages of food, water and medicine in Gaza as medical services collapse and charity kitchens shut down because of a lack of supplies. Hospitals have reported that cases of malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women are rising sharply, and most newborns are now being born underweight.

Gaza's civil defence agency said on Thursday that Israeli bombardment had killed at least 29 people since midnight in the war-ravaged territory, which has been under Israeli aid blockade for nearly two months.

Civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir said Thursday's toll included eight people killed in an air strike on the Abu Sahlul family home in Khan Yunis refugee camp in southern Gaza.

Four people were killed in an air strike east of Shaaf in Gaza City's Al-Tuffah neighbourhood, he told AFP.

At least 17 more were killed in other attacks across the Palestinian territory, including one that hit a tent sheltering displaced people near the central city of Deir el-Balah, the agency said.

"We came here and found all these houses destroyed, and children, women and young people all bombed to pieces," said Ahmed Abu Zarqa after a deadly strike in Khan Yunis.

"This is no way to live. Enough, we're tired, enough!

"We don't know what to do with our lives anymore. We'd rather die than live this kind of life."

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Thursday called on the international community to protect Syria's Druze population, following two days of deadly clashes near Damascus.

"I call on the international community to fulfill its role in protecting the minorities in Syria -- especially the Druze -- from the regime and its gangs of terror, and not to turn a blind eye to the tough events taking place there over the recent months," Saar said at an event, according to a statement from his office.

Planned negotiations between Iran and the United States this weekend over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program have been postponed, Oman announced on Thursday.

A message online from Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi made the announcement in a post on the social platform X.

Israel's military said it killed two Hezbollah militants on Thursday in separate strikes in an area of southern Lebanon, despite a fragile ceasefire between the armed group and Israel.

"Earlier today, the IDF (military) struck and eliminated a terrorist in Hezbollah's Radwan Force in the Mais al-Jabal area of southern Lebanon," an army statement said, adding that it had killed "an additional Hezbollah terrorist" in the same area in another attack.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei criticised "the contradictory approach of American decision-makers and their lack of goodwill and seriousness in advancing the path of diplomacy", state media reported.

"The responsibility for the consequences and destructive effects of the contradictory behaviour and provocative statements of American officials regarding Iran will lie with the American side," Baghaei said.

The comments come after Washington warned Tehran of consequences for backing Yemen's Houthis and imposed new oil-related sanctions on it in the midst of nuclear talks.

(Reuters)

Bushfires that erupted near Jerusalem were largely brought under control on Thursday, Israeli authorities said, with major roads reopened and firefighting teams still tackling lingering hotspots.

The blaze, which ignited along the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway on Wednesday, prompted widespread evacuations and road closures as firefighters battled through the night to contain what officials have called the largest fire in a decade.

"The fire is under control," said Shlomi Harush, a senior official with the firefighting service.

"There are only hotspots left... all teams remain deployed across the affected areas," he told AFP, warning that strong winds could still reignite the flames.

The death toll in Gaza has now risen to 18 following continued Israeli attacks on the enclave, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement. 

The attacks have also wounded an additional 77 people, the statement continued. 

The UK Foreign Office issued a statement on X on Thursday, shedding light on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and calling for people to be allowed to evacuate for treatment. 

"The healthcare system in Gaza is near collapse. Aid supplies must be allowed in, medical workers protected and the wounded allowed to temporarily leave Gaza for treatment," the statement read. 

The statement also said the UK is providing medical support for Palestinians through various organisations, including OCHA and the World Health Organisation. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that 18 people have been detained on suspicion of arson, allegedly triggering the fires that swept parts of Israel. 

The identities of those arrested have not yet been revealed. 

Lebanon's health ministry said three people were killed in an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle in the country's south on Thursday, despite a fragile ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.

The ministry said in a statement that an "Israeli enemy" drone strike on a vehicle in the southern town of Mais al-Jabal killed "a Lebanese and two Syrians".

The death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza has risen to 14, Al-Jazeera reported, citing journalists on the ground. 

At the same time, Israeli drone fire wounded one Palestinian in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, located south of Gaza City.

Hamas has issued a statement calling on Switzerland to reverse its ban on the group, reports state. 

The statement says the ban on the group is a "dangerous bias" towards Israel, and that Switzerland is denying its legal and humanitarian obligations. 

"We call on Switzerland to reverse its unjust decision, stand up for justice, and support our people’s struggle to end the occupation," the statement reads.

It also calls on Switzerland to take urgent action to stop Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's violations of international law. 

Several countries sent firefighting aircraft to Israel on Thursday as crews battled for a second day to extinguish a wildfire that had shut down a major highway linking Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and sent drivers scrambling from their cars.

The fire broke out around midday on Wednesday, fueled by hot, dry conditions and fanned by strong winds that quickly whipped up the flames, burning through a pine forest. Several communities were evacuated as a precaution as the smoke turned the skies over Jerusalem gray.

At least 12 people were treated in hospitals on Wednesday, mainly due to smoke inhalation, while another 10 people were treated in the field, Israel's Magen David Adom Ambulance services said.

There is an 80 percent increase in the number of children receiving treatment for malnutrition in April compared to March, due to Israel's ongoing blockade on food and emergency aid, the UN agency OCHA said. 

The agency further added that 92 percent of children aged six to two years are not receiving the minimum nutrition needed. 

Israeli strikes on North Gaza killed at least three Palestinians on Thursday morning, reports stated. 

Another four Palestinians, including a child, were also killed in strikes in South Gaza's al-Mawasi area.