Israel forces kill dozens in Gaza as aid flotilla approaches enclave

The New Arab's live blog on the war in Gaza and other regional developments has now ended, and will resume tomorrow at 0900am. 

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Hundreds of thousands of people marched through the streets of Rome on Saturday to protest the war in Gaza in a rally called by opposition parties denouncing the government's alleged "complicity" in the conflict.

"Stop the massacre, stop complicity!" read a wide banner held by protestors at the start of the march, amid a sea of red, white and green Palestinian flags, peace flags and "Free Palestine" signs.

The peaceful protest attracted a massive crowd -- estimated by organisers at 300,000 people. Police had not provided official size estimates.

It made its way from Rome's central Piazza Vittorio to San Giovanni, where speakers took to a stage to urge an end to the violence and denounce what some called the silence of the far-right Italian government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

The leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, called the turnout "an enormous popular response" in opposition to the war.

Italy's Five Star Movement and the Greens-Left Alliance were also behind the protest.

 The leader of al-Qaeda's Yemen branch has threatened both U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk over the Israel's war in the Gaza Strip in his first video message since taking over the group last year.

The half-hour video message by Saad bin Atef al-Awlaki, which spread online early Saturday via supporters of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, also included calls for lone-wolf militants to assassinate leaders in Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf Arab states over the war, which has decimated Gaza.

The video of al-Awlaki's speech showed images of Trump and Musk, as well as US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of State Pete Hegseth. It also included images of logos of Musk's businesses, including the electric carmaker Tesla.

"There are no red lines after what happened and is happening to our people in Gaza," al-Awlaki said. "Reciprocity is legitimate."

The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation claimed in a statement it was unable to distribute any humanitarian aid on Saturday because Hamas had issued "direct threats" against the organisation's operations.

"These threats made it impossible to proceed today without putting innocent lives at risk," the organisation said in a statement. "GHF will not be deterred. We remain committed to safe, secure and independent aid delivery. We are actively adapting our operations to overcome these threats and fully intend to resume distributions without delay."

The Israeli military on Saturday called for Gazans to evacuate from neighbourhoods in the north of the Gaza Strip, where it said rockets had been fired from.

Israeli forces will "attack each zone used to launch rockets," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X, adding: "For your security, evacuate immediately to the south". The warning covered a neighbourhood northwest of Gaza City and another in Jabalia.

US Jewish groups are unified over the need to fight mounting anti-Semitic incidents across the country, but many are bitterly opposed to how President Donald Trump is seeking to counter the scourge.

The conservative Heritage Foundation think-tank, behind the "Project 2025" roadmap for radically overhauling and shrinking the government, published in October "Project Esther" -- a blueprint on combatting anti-Semitism.

The project seeks to "dismantle" so-called "anti-Israel," "anti-Zionist," or "pro-Palestinian" organizations allegedly part of a "Hamas support network" that has "infiltrated" universities including Columbia and Harvard.

Stefanie Fox, director of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), said "Project Esther sets out a blueprint for the Trump administration to sharpen the legal regimes that will best advance (his) 'Make America Great Again' goals."

The JVP, a Jewish organization that leads demonstrations against the war in Gaza, is named in Project Esther as a member of the so-called Hamas support network.

"These assumptions are baseless, paranoid, laughable," said Fox, whose group is on the left.

Thailand 'deeply saddened' by death of Gaza captive, its foreign ministry said.

The death toll for Saturday in the Gaza Strip has risen to 56 people, the Gaza civil defence has told Al Jazeera Arabic.

This figure includes at least 16 killed in a single attack in Gaza City, in the Sabra neighbourhood.

The total death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza has risen to 54,772 killed and 125,834 injured since 7 October, 2023, according to the enclave's health ministry.

Israel has killed 4,497 Palestinians and injured 13,793 since breaking a ceasefire in March this year, it added.

At least 95 Palestinians have been killed in the past 48 hours, the ministry also said.

At least 15 Palestinians were killed and 50 others injured on Saturday in an attack by the Israeli army in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City.

Israeli warplanes targeted a home with two missiles in the neighbourhood, local sources told the Wafa agency.

Rescue crew sources estimated that the death toll could exceed 30, given the severity of the attack.

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has requested cooperation and evidence from Israeli concerning allegations Tel Aviv made against the agency, as all requests have gone unanswered. 

"After 20 months, UNRWA has not received any response, nor has the Government of Israel shared any sufficient evidence," the agency said in a post on X.

UNRWA stated it remained committed to its mandate and is "ready to deliver humanitarian assistance at scale in Gaza, together with other UN agencies".

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has raised concerns on the lack of hygiene supplies and clean water in the Gaza Strip and its impact on women and girls.

"In Gaza, the ongoing siege has caused severe shortages of hygiene supplies and clean water. Many women and girls must improvise with old clothes or torn fabric instead of pads, often reusing them without proper washing," UNRWA stated.

The agency stressed that these conditions have severely impacted the mental wellbeing of women and girls, leading to "deep shame, fear of leaks, and constant anxiety".

Israeli attacks have killed at least three Palestinians west of Jabalia camp, Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting, citing a medical source at the Ma'madani Hospital

An aid ship with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, has reached the Egyptian coast and is nearing the besieged Palestinian territory, organisers said on Saturday.

The Madleen, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Sicily last week with a cargo of relief supplies "to break Israel's blockade on Gaza".

"We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast," German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP. "We are all good," she added.

In a statement from London on Saturday, the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza -- a member organisation of the flotilla coalition -- said the ship had entered Egyptian waters.

The group said it remains in contact with international legal and human rights bodies to ensure the safety of those on board, warning that any interception would constitute "a blatant violation of international humanitarian law".

Tehran denounced on Saturday the US travel ban on Iranians and citizens of 11 other mostly Middle Eastern and African countries, saying Washington's decision was a sign of a "racist mentality".

US President Donald Trump signed on Wednesday an executive order reviving sweeping restrictions that echo his first-term travel ban, justified on national security grounds following a firebomb attack at a pro-Israel rally in Colorado.

Alireza Hashemi-Raja, the foreign ministry's director general for the affairs of Iranians abroad, called the measure, which takes effect June 9, "a clear sign of the dominance of a supremacist and racist mentality among American policymakers".

The decision "indicates the deep hostility of American decision-makers towards the Iranian and Muslim people", he added in a statement released by the ministry.

Apart from Iran, the US ban targets nationals of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. A partial ban was imposed on travellers from seven other countries.

At least 50,000 people are expected to attend a protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza in the Italian capital of Rome on Saturday, state media reported.

The protest, organised by a number of left-leaning groups and parties, is expected to be under heavy police presence.

The body of a Thai captive held in Gaza has been recovered following a special operation carried out by the Israeli army and the Shin Bet intelligence services, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Saturday.

Pinta Nattapong's body was recovered in the southern city of Rafah, Gaza, according to Defence Minister Israel Katz.

Israeli settlers harassed and chased away shepherds from their lands at the Tel Ma'in site, in the town of al-Karmel, south of Hebron.

The settlers reportedly stormed Tel Ma'in armed with weapons chasing the shepherds, expelling them from their lands, according to an activist as cited by the Wafa agency.