Israel continues strikes on Syria, kills at least 42 in Gaza

The United States, Israel and representatives of a new international foundation are close to an agreement that would see Israel end its blockade on humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, Axios reported on Friday, citing two Israeli officials and one U.S. source. 

The Israeli army has said it attacked a military site, anti-aircraft cannons and surface-to-air missile infrastructure in Syria.

Israeli strikes have hit near Damascus and western Syria, state media reports.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 42 people Friday in the Palestinian territory, devastated by war and under a total Israeli aid blockade for two months.

Israel resumed its military campaign in the Gaza Strip on March 18 after the collapse of a ceasefire that had largely halted the fighting.

Nine people were killed when an Israeli air strike hit a home in Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told AFP.

AFP footage in the aftermath of a strike on Bureij camp showed Palestinians searching for casualties in the rubble of a flattened building.

"They gave us no warning, no phone call -- we woke up at midnight to smoke, rubble, stones, and shrapnel raining down on us", said Mohammed al-Sheikh, standing amongst collapsed concrete slabs.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday condemned an Israeli air strike Friday near Syria's presidential palace in Damascus, calling on both sides to cease all hostilities and exercise "maximum restraint," his spokesman said.

The dawn strike, which Israel said had sent a "clear message" not to harm the country's Druze community, came after sectarian clashes between Druze fighters and Syrian forces, including government-affiliated groups.

Guterres "condemns all violence against civilians, including acts which could risk inflaming sectarian tensions," his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The secretary-general also "condemns Israel's violation of Syria's sovereignty, including the latest air strikes near the presidential palace in Damascus."

"It is essential that these attacks stop and that Israel respects Syria's sovereignty, its unity, its territorial integrity and its independence," Dujarric said.

"The secretary-general unequivocally calls on all concerns to cease all hostilities, exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation."

Syria itself denounced the Damascus air strike as a "dangerous escalation."

The situation for children in Gaza is becoming increasingly dire, with Israel’s prolonged blockade on aid and over a year and a half of war pushing them toward catastrophe, according to UNICEF.

Catherine Russell, Executive Director of the UN children’s agency, warned that Gaza’s young population is not only enduring constant airstrikes, but also suffering from a devastating lack of basic necessities and medical services.

“With each passing day of the aid blockade, they face the growing risk of starvation, illness and death – nothing can justify this,” Russell said in a statement. “The sea they used for fishing has been restricted. Bakeries are closing, water production is declining, and market shelves are almost bare.”

She described a grim reality where families must make impossible decisions due to the worsening water crisis. “In the past month,” she noted, “families have been forced to choose between showering, cleaning, and cooking.”

Russell also raised alarms about a collapse in healthcare infrastructure, warning that vaccines are running low and the spread of disease is accelerating. “Malnutrition is also on the rise,” she said, pointing out that over 9,000 children have received treatment for acute malnutrition since the start of the year.

With two months of aid blockade on Gaza, children face a growing risk of starvation, illness & death-nothing can justify this.

We again call for the aid blockade to be lifted, the entry of commercial goods, release of hostages & protection of children.👇 https://t.co/3DkBzbkeRr

— Catherine Russell (@unicefchief) May 2, 2025

Two months into Israel's full blockade on aid into Gaza, humanitarians described Friday horrific scenes of starving, bloodied children and people fighting over water, with aid operations on the "verge of total collapse".

The United Nations and the Red Cross sounded the alarm at the dire situation in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory, demanding international action.

"The humanitarian response in Gaza is on the verge of total collapse," the International Committee of the Red Cross warned in a statement.

"Without immediate action, Gaza will descend further into chaos that humanitarian efforts will not be able to mitigate."

Israel strictly controls all inflows of international aid vital for the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The Syrian presidency called an Israeli air strike at dawn near the presidential palace in Damascus a "dangerous escalation".

In a statement, the presidency condemned the strike and described it as "a serious escalation against state institutions and its sovereignty".

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 29 people Friday in the Palestinian territory, devastated by war and under a total Israeli aid blockade for two months.

Israel resumed its military campaign in the Gaza Strip on March 18 after the collapse of a ceasefire that had largely halted the fighting.

Nine people were killed when an Israeli air strike hit a home in Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told AFP.

Another six people were killed in a separate strike targeting the Al-Masri family home in the northern city of Beit Lahia, he added.

In Gaza City, a strike on a community kitchen claimed the lives of six more, the civil defence agency reported.

Elsewhere across the Gaza Strip, at least eight additional fatalities were reported in similar attacks, the agency said.

Israel's army said Friday it intercepted two missiles fired towards its territory from Yemen within 12 hours, with at least one attack claimed by the Arabian Peninsula country's Houthi rebels.

An explosion was heard over Jerusalem as the military said it was intercepting the second projectile.

"The (Israeli army) has identified the launch of a missile from Yemen toward Israeli territory, aerial defence systems are operating to intercept the threat," the military said about the second attack.

Israeli police reported a "rocket siren" was activated in northern and coastal districts and said they were searching for possible projectile or debris impact sites.

The military said the first missile had been shot down before it entered Israeli airspace.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people Friday in the Palestinian territory, devastated by war and under a total Israeli aid blockade for two months.

Israel resumed its brutal war on the Gaza Strip on March 18 after a ceasefire that largely halted the fighting collapsed.

Civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told AFP 20 people had been killed since dawn on Friday, including nine following the Israeli bombardment of a home in Bureij camp in central Gaza.

Lebanese authorities warned the Hamas group Friday that it would face the “harshest measures” if it carried out any attacks from Lebanon.

The warning by the Higher Defence Council, Lebanon’s top military body, came weeks after several Lebanese and Palestinians were detained on suspicion of firing rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel.

“Hamas and other factions will not be allowed to endanger national stability,” the council said. “The safety of Lebanon’s territories is above all.”

“The harshest measures will be taken to put a complete end to any act that infringes on Lebanon’s sovereignty,” according to a statement that was read by Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Mustafa.

Hamas officials did not immediately respond to requests by The Associated Press for comment.

Palestine has become the most dangerous place in the world for journalists amid Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, with dozens likely targeted and killed because of their profession, according to a media freedom watchdog.

In its 2025 World Press Freedom Index released on Friday, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) stated that nearly 200 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces in the first 18 months of the conflict, with at least 42 of them killed while actively reporting.

"Trapped in the enclave, journalists in Gaza have no shelter and lack everything, including food and water," said the Paris-based organisation, known by its French acronym RSF.

"In the West Bank, journalists are routinely harassed and attacked by both settlers and Israeli forces, but repression reached new heights with a wave of arrests after 7 October, when impunity for crimes committed against journalists became a new rule," the group added.

The top United Nations court on Friday wraps a week of hearings on what Israel must do to ensure desperately needed humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Last year, the U.N. General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion on Israel’s legal obligations after the country effectively banned the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid to Gaza, from operating.

Experts say the case could have broader ramifications for the United Nations and its missions worldwide.

The hearings are taking place as the humanitarian aid system in Gaza is nearing collapse and ceasefire efforts remain deadlocked. Israel has blocked the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other humanitarian supplies since March 2. It renewed its bombardment on March 18, breaking a ceasefire, and seized large parts of the territory, saying it aims to push Hamas to release more hostages.

Austria is calling for an end to the ongoing aid blockade on Gaza, which has now lasted over 60 days.

“After two months of blockade, humanitarian aid for Gaza must be allowed to flow unhindered in accordance with international humanitarian law,” the Austrian Foreign Ministry stated in a post on X.

The ministry also urged the release of all Israeli hostages still held in the besieged territory.

Yemeni rebels have claimed responsibility for a missile strike near the city of Haifa this morning, stating that their target was a military base in northern Israel.

In a televised statement, the group’s military spokesperson said they launched a ballistic missile at the Ramat David Airbase, situated southeast of Haifa.

Earlier, the Israeli military reported that air raid sirens were triggered in Haifa and surrounding areas around 5:30 a.m., and confirmed that the missile launched from Yemen was successfully intercepted.

Israeli airstrikes on two separate homes in central and northern Gaza have resulted in the deaths of civilians, including women and children, and left several others wounded.

According to local sources cited by the Wafa news agency, two Palestinians were killed and others injured when Israeli warplanes targeted a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, northwest of Gaza City.

The agency also reported that a separate strike on a home in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza claimed the lives of seven people.

A ship carrying humanitarian aid and activists heading for Gaza was bombed by drones while in international waters off Malta early on Friday, The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an international NGO said.

It uploaded video footage showing a fire on one of its ships but did not indicate who could have been responsible for the attack. There was also no immediate indication whether anyone had been hurt.

"The drone attack appears to have specifically targeted the ship's generator, and the vessel is now at risk of sinking with 30 international human rights activists on board," the NGO said in a social media post.

The ship issued an SOS distress call after being hit 17 nautical miles (31.5 kilometres) east of Malta, to which Cyprus responded by dispatching a vessel, the charity said.

The coalition is campaigning to end Israel’s blockade of Gaza.