Israel kills dozens of Palestinians in Gaza despite 'humanitarian pauses'

Israel allowed 87 aid trucks into Gaza, with the majority of the vehicles having been looted under the watch of Israeli forces, Gaza's government media office said on Monday evening.

The office said in a statement carried by Anadolu that the vehicles were looted "due to the chaos deliberately perpetuated by the Israeli occupation".

It added that the aid only entered after 11 people were massacred by Israeli forces.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Mustafa said Monday that Hamas must disarm and give up control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority to restore security in the war-torn territory.

"Israel must withdraw completely from the Gaza Strip and Hamas must relinquish its control over the strip and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority," Mustafa said at a conference on the two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians at the United Nations in New York.

The United States has dismissed efforts by UN member states at a conference in New York to revive the two-state solution, calling the initiative a "publicity stunt".

“This is a publicity stunt that comes in the middle of delicate diplomatic efforts to end the conflict,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.

"Far from promoting peace, the conference will prolong the war, embolden Hamas, and reward its obstruction and undermine real-world efforts to achieve peace."

More than a dozen activists being held by Israel after their aid boat was intercepted en route to Gaza launched a hunger strike on Monday to protest their detention, according to a local NGO assisting them.

At least five of the 21 passengers of the Freedom Flotilla vessel Handala have agreed to be summarily deported after the boat was stopped and boarded by the Israeli navy while attempting to break a military blockade of the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

The legal aid group Adalah said that on Monday afternoon, "hearings concluded at Givon Prison, concerning the continued detention of the 14 volunteers who... refused to consent to an expedited deportation process".

Germany will organise an airlift of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday after Israel promised to open secure routes amid international concern over hunger in the territory.

"The German government, in cooperation with Jordan, will immediately establish an airlift for humanitarian aid to Gaza," Merz said, adding that Berlin would work with Paris and London on the initiative.

Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi have travelled to the United States for discussions with White House officials on Gaza and Iran, according to a report by Axios.

The two senior advisers to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are expected to meet this week with White House envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and other top officials, Axios cited an unnamed senior Israeli official as saying.

The visit follows Netanyahu’s decision to recall his negotiating team from Doha, where ceasefire talks were underway, after Hamas issued a response to a truce proposal put forward by Witkoff.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump stated that the time has come to end Israel’s war on Gaza, adding that a ceasefire is “possible”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday stressed Syria's territorial integrity in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after sectarian violence in southern Syria prompted Israeli intervention, the Kremlin said.

Putin "emphasised the importance of supporting the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Syria, said a Kremlin statement, adding that the political stability in the country must be achieved through respect of all ethnic and religious groups' interests.

 A Palestinian family who are stuck in Gaza despite having permission to join a relative in Britain were given a lifeline on Monday as London's High Court ruled that officials must reconsider their refusal to ask Israel to let them leave.

The Palestinian couple and their four children were given permission to enter the United Kingdom to join their relative, a British citizen, earlier this year. Gaza has been under attack by Israel since October 2023 and is now in the depths of a humanitarian catastrophe bordering on famine, according to aid agencies.

To get their visas, the family need to travel across Israel to Jordan to provide biometric data - but Israel will only give permission to leave at the request of another state.

The Foreign Office argued that Britain can offer such support only in exceptional circumstances and urged caution over "expenditure of political and diplomatic capital".

But Judge Martin Chamberlain ruled on Monday that officials had failed to consider whether having the right to enter the UK constituted an exceptional circumstance. The Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The family's lawyers told a hearing this month that three of the four children involved in the case had been shot at in this situation.

Jenni Whitaker, a lawyer representing the family, said they hoped the foreign ministry would now "do the right, just and humane thing and urgently agree to assist our clients".

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday said that Israel's creeping annexation of the West Bank is illegal and the wholesale destruction of the Gaza Strip is intolerable and both must stop.

"Let's be clear: The creeping annexation of the occupied West Bank is illegal. It must stop. The wholesale destruction of Gaza is intolerable. It must stop," he told a conference at the U.N. on a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

"Unilateral actions that would forever undermine the two-state solution are unacceptable. They must stop," Guterres said.

France told a UN conference co-chaired with Saudi Arabia on Monday that there is "no alternative" to a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

"Only a political, two-state solution will help respond to the legitimate aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security. There is no alternative," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said at the start of the three-day meeting.

"All states have a responsibility to act now," said Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Mustafa at the start of the meeting, calling for an international force to deploy to help underwrite Palestinian statehood.

"Recognize the state of Palestine without delay."

The Ministry of Health in Gaza has reported that 100 Palestinians were killed and 382 others wounded over the past 24 hours amid ongoing Israeli attacks.

According to the ministry, the overall death toll since the beginning of the Israeli offensive on October 7, 2023, has reached 59,921, with 145,233 people injured.

Since March 18, 2025, when Israel broke the weeks-long ceasefire and resumed its deadly attacks, 8,755 Palestinians have been killed and 33,192 injured, reflecting the continued intensity of the conflict.

U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Monday that he would order fresh U.S. attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities should Tehran try to restart facilities that the United States bombed last month.

Trump issued the threat as he held talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his Turnberry golf resort on the western coast of Scotland.

Iran, which denies seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, has insisted it will not give up domestic uranium enrichment despite the bombings of three nuclear sites.

Trump told reporters that Iran has been sending out "nasty signals" and any effort to restart its nuclear program will be immediately quashed.

"We wiped out their nuclear possibilities. They can start again. If they do, we'll wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it," Trump said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Hamas can play no part in any future government of a Palestinian state, as he discussed the need for a ceasefire in Gaza with Donald Trump during a meeting at the U.S. president's Scottish golf resort on Monday.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday made an impassioned call for US President Donald Trump to intervene to put an end to the fighting in Gaza, saying "the time has come to end the war".

In a video address on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Sisi said Trump "is the one capable of stopping the war, bringing in aid and ending this suffering."

"Therefore, I am making a special appeal to His Excellency President Trump: please make every effort to stop the war and bring in aid," he added.

The US president said on Monday that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which mediation by the US, Egypt and Qatar has so far failed to secure, was "possible".

Gaza's population of more than two million are facing a deepening humanitarian crisis with rising starvation and malnutrition, forcing Israel in recent days to bow to international pressure and allow more aid to enter the devastated territory.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza was "possible".

He made the comments to reporters at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland where he was meeting UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Trump also said he told Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu the war in Gaza would have to be different after talks on a ceasefire and hostage release fell apart last week.

Trump added that people in Gaza needed to get food and safety right now. 

The United States and Israel have announced they will not participate in a conference on the Israel-Palestine conflict, co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, which opens today in New York.

A US State Department spokesperson criticised the gathering as "a gift to Hamas," arguing that it undermines ceasefire proposals already accepted by Israel and could threaten prospects for long-term peace.

Israel also rejected the event, saying it fails to prioritise the immediate return of hostages and the condemnation of Hamas.

Israeli pressure groups B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights warned in a joint statement on Monday of what they called the development of a "genocidal regime in Israel, working to destroy Palestinian society in Gaza."

"Nothing prepares you for the realisation that you are part of a society committing genocide. This is a deeply painful moment for us," said B'Tselem executive eirector Yuli Novak.

Truckloads of food reached hungry Palestinians in Gaza on Monday after Israel promised to open secure aid routes, but humanitarian agencies warned vast amounts more were needed to stave off starvation, AFP reports.

With Gaza's population of more than two million facing famine and malnutrition, Israel bowed to international pressure at the weekend and announced a daily "tactical pause" in fighting in some areas.

"For the first time, I received about five kilos of flour, which I shared with my neighbour," said 37-year-old Jamil Safadi, who shelters with his wife, six children and a sick father in a tent near the Al-Quds hospital in Tel al-Hawa.

Safadi, who has been up before dawn for two weeks searching for food, said Monday was his first success. Other Palestinians were less fortunate; some complained aid trucks had been stolen or that guards had fired at them near US-backed aid centres.

"I saw injured and dead people. People have no choice but to try daily to get flour. What entered from Egypt was very limited," said 33-year-old Amir al-Rash, still without food and living in a tent.

The German government said on Monday that it is prepared to take steps to put pressure on Israel with regards to the humanitarian situation in Gaza, but did not give details on what they could be.

"The chancellor was very clear in the phone conversation with the Israeli prime minister ... that the federal government is prepared to increase the pressure if progress is not made," a spokesperson said.

"In principle we are prepared to take further steps, which is also the purpose of this afternoon's security meeting," he said, referring to a meeting of the German security cabinet.

Gaza's Government Media Office issued a scathing warning on Monday that tens of thousands of infants could die due to an extreme shortage of baby formula.

"There are over 40,000 infants under one year old in Gaza currently at risk of slow death due to this brutal and suffocating blockade," the office said, accusing Israel of blocking entry of the product for 150 days.

"We urgently demand the immediate and unconditional opening of all crossings and the swift entry of baby formula and humanitarian aid," the office continued.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip this morning has increased to 43, including nine aid seekers, sources in Gaza hospitals have told Al Jazeera.

Israeli forces opened fire at an aid distribution site in southern Rafah, Gaza, resulting in multiple casualties, according to sources at Nasser Hospital, as reported by Al Jazeera English.

This incident follows an earlier shooting near the Netzarim Corridor in north-central Gaza, where Israeli forces reportedly shot at Palestinian aid seekers, killing at least one person.

The repeated attacks on humanitarian sites raise serious concerns about the safety of civilians seeking aid amid the ongoing conflict.

Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza has confirmed the death of infant Mohammed Ibrahim Adas due to severe malnutrition.

The loss highlights the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where a critical shortage of baby formula and food supplies is pushing vulnerable children to the brink of starvation.

Medical staff warn that the ongoing famine and blockade are severely limiting access to essential nutrition, leading to increasing cases of infant malnutrition and death.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres urged the international community on Monday to reject hunger as a weapon of war.

"Climate change is disrupting harvests, supply chains, and humanitarian aid. Conflict continues to spread hunger from Gaza to Sudan and beyond," he told a UN conference in Ethiopia by video. "Hunger fuels instability and undermines peace. We must never accept hunger as a weapon of war."

Dozens of ministers will gather at the United Nations on Monday for a delayed conference to work toward a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, but the U.S. and Israel are boycotting the event.

The 193-member U.N. General Assembly decided in September last year that such a conference would be held in 2025. Hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, the conference was postponed in June after Israel attacked Iran.

The conference aims to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel's security.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told newspaper La Tribune Dimanche in an interview published on Sunday that he will also use the conference this week to push other countries to join France in recognizing a Palestinian state. France intends to recognize a Palestinian state in September at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, President Emmanuel Macron said last week.

"We will launch an appeal in New York so that other countries join us to initiate an even more ambitious and demanding dynamic that will culminate on September 21," Barrot said, adding that he expected Arab countries by then to condemn Palestinian militants Hamas and call for their disarmament.

U.S. President Donald Trump will host British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his golf resort in western Scotland on Monday for talks expected to range from their recent bilateral trade deal to the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza, the two governments said.

Trump, riding high after announcing a huge trade agreement with the European Union late on Sunday, said he expected Starmer would also be pleased.

"The prime minister of the UK, while he's not involved in this, will be very happy because you know, there's a certain unity that's been brought there, too," Trump said. "He's going to be very happy to see what we did."

The British leader on Friday said his country would recognize a Palestinian state only as part of a negotiated peace deal, disappointing many in his Labour Party who want him to follow France in taking swifter action.

Trump on Friday dismissed French President Emmanuel Macron's plan to recognize a Palestinian state, an intention that also drew strong condemnation from Israel, after similar moves from Spain, Norway and Ireland last year.

Trump said he understood Starmer wanted to discuss Israel, adding that while the U.S. would increase its aid to Gaza, it wanted others to join the effort. Ukraine will also be on the agenda.

Israel said Monday that more than 120 truckloads of food aid were distributed by the UN and aid agencies in the Gaza Strip on the first day of a partial pause in fighting.

On Sunday, Israel declared a "tactical" pause in military operations in part of Gaza and promised to open secure routes for aid, urging humanitarian groups to step up food distribution.

"Over 120 trucks were collected and distributed yesterday by the UN and international organisations," COGAT, an Israeli defence ministry agency overseeing civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, said in a post on X on Monday.