Israeli strike hits school in north Gaza, children among civilians killed

TNA’s live coverage of the latest from the war on Gaza concludes for today. Join us again at 0800 GMT for updates from the besieged Palestinian enclave.

A number of charities have signed an open letter welcoming the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) order to immediately halt Israel's military offensive in Rafah, while also urging the UK to uphold its measures.

The ICJ on Friday said Israel must "immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate", while also ordering Israel to keep the Rafah crossing open into Gaza to allow access of humanitarian aid.

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and Oxfam are among the 22 NGOs who welcomed the ICJ's decision and urged the United Kingdom to comply with the ruling.

To read more on our report, please click here.

Hamas' armed wing spokesperson Abu Obeida described the intense fighting in Jabalia and across the enclave in a four-minute audio message.

Abu Obeida said that the Israeli government continues to be a "failure" in its military operations, particularly in Jabalia and Rafah.

He added that Palestinian armed forced have conducted dozens of operations against Israeli forces amid continued Israeli ground invasions on Rafah and Beit Hanoon.

The audio message also described Israeli forces digging up remains of captives in Gaza due to "Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal schemes."

Hamas' armed wing also accused of Israel attempting to portray the discovery of the remains of its captives as a military and moral feat.

The Israeli military on Sunday denied a claim by Hamas' armed wing that its fighters had captured Israeli soldiers during fighting in Gaza's Jabalia.

"The IDF [Israeli forces] clarifies that there is no incident in which a soldier was abducted," the military said in a statement. 

A spokesman for Hamas' armed wing said early on Sunday that its fighters had captured Israeli soldiers during fighting in Gaza's Jabalia.

The Israeli army has released footage that showed an operation from Thursday night, where the remains of three captives were uncovered. 

It said that the "complex" night raid was conducted in a tunnel in northern Gaza's Jabalia, where the bodies of four other captives were found last week.

A Palestinian has been wounded by gunfire during an attack by Israeli settlers who were protected by Israeli forces, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

 According to an activist who was quoted by Wafa as saying the attack include the targeting of homes of residents in the south Nablus town of Qusra in the occupied West Bank.

Wafa also reported another settler attack that took place in the village of Dhahr al-Abad in the northern West Bank, where Israeli settlers cut down 15 olive trees owned by Palestinians using electric saws.

Residents in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem said that hundreds of settlers gathered in a designated area under protection from the Israeli military to celebrate a Jewish festival.

Around 100,000 settlers are reportedly expected to enter the neighbourhood in the next two days, as concerns intensify surrounding settler attacks on Palestinian homes and residents.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has issued a report to highlight that it has documented 42 forms of inhumane and degrading treatement by Israeli forces against Palestinian detainees including acts of torture.

The human rights organisation said that this included the breaking bones and teeth, threatening detainees of rape, electric shocks, strip searches and forced nudity.

The report also found instances were detainees were being urinated on and spat on, as well as being humilated by being dressed in diapers.

Female detainees also told Euro-Med that they were restricted access to sanitary pads.

🧵Forcing them to imitate animal sounds
dressing them in diapers
and tooth-breaking

Among 42 forms of torture & inhumane & degrading treatment documented by Euro-Med Monitor based on 100 testimonies,these are 10 methods practiced by the Israeli army against detainees from Gaza⤵️ pic.twitter.com/sufwAGg5NK

— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) May 25, 2024

Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthis launched two anti-ship ballistic missiles towards the Red Sea early on Saturday the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X.

It said no injuries were reported. 

25 May Red Sea Update

At approximately 3:50 a.m. (Sanaa time) on May 25, Iranian-backed Houthis launched two anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBM) toward the Red Sea. There were no injuries or damage reported by U.S., coalition, or commercial ships.

This continued malign and… pic.twitter.com/KMYd7vL77R

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) May 25, 2024

Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday to demand urgent government action to bring home hostages held in Gaza, after the bodies of several were retrieved.

Protesters observed a minute's silence in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square in honour of the captives whose bodies were recovered by Israeli troops this month, as seen in videos that have surfaced online.

The army said on Friday that troops had retrieved the bodies of three hostages in an overnight operation in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip.

The remains of Chanan Yablonka, Brazilian-Israeli Michel Nisenbaum and French-Mexican Orion Hernandez Radoux "were rescued" and their families notified after forensic identification, the military said in a statement.

"In just a few hours, I will bury my 42-year-old brother... I feared this moment," Yablonka's sister Avivit said at Saturday's rally, as quoted by French news agency AFP.

"My brother, I promise you that I will continue to shout, support, fight and do everything so that all the hostages return home safely.

"They must be taken out of this hell now."

Another protest, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an early election, was held nearby.

On the eve of Lag B'Omer: Tens of thousands of people gathered this evening at a massive rally in Hostages Square, united in one call: "We must return to negotiations and promote a deal that will bring everyone home!"

Tonight (Saturday, May 25th), as the count reaches 232 days… pic.twitter.com/FHqLl5V9jO

— Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) May 25, 2024

A car bomb killed a Syrian officer working with Lebanese group Hezbollah in Damascus Saturday, a war monitor said, with state media reporting one dead without identifying the victim.

Bombings targeting military and civilian vehicles, still occur intermittently in the Syrian capital more than 12 years into a devastating civil war.

"A Syrian army officer who worked closely with Hezbollah was killed after an explosive device detonated in his car in Damascus," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The officer hailed from the eastern province of Deir Ezzor province and was tasked with recruiting Syrian fighters for Hezbollah, Abdel Rahman said.

State news agency SANA said "one person was killed when an explosive device detonated in a car," in the upscale Mazzeh district, which houses embassies and UN offices.

It did not provide any other details.

The explosion came with regional tensions running high as Israel fights a devastating war in the Gaza Strip.

A similar car bombing hit Mazzeh last month without causing any casualties.

UPDATE: the car bomb in Damascus earlier today killed a Syrian officer working with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Observatory said, with state media reporting one dead without identifying the victim.

The officer was tasked with recruiting Syrian fighters for Hezbollah, via @afp.

— Aya Iskandarani (@Aya_Isk) May 25, 2024

A Hamas official denied on Saturday Israeli media reports that Gaza ceasefire talks would resume in Cairo on Tuesday.

"There is no date," the Hamas official told news agency Reuters, asked about the reports. 

The Spanish defence minister said on Saturday that the conflict in Gaza is a "real genocide", as relations between Israel and Spain worsen following Madrid's decision to recognise a Palestinian state.

Israel has strongly rejected accusations made against it by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that it is committing a genocide against Palestinians.

The remark by Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles in an interview with TVE state television echoed a comment by Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz who earlier this week also described the Gaza conflict as a genocide.

"We cannot ignore what is happening in Gaza, which is a real genocide," Robles said in the interview, during which she also discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine and conflicts in Africa.

She also said Madrid's recognition of Palestine was not a move against Israel, adding that it was designed to help "end violence in Gaza". "This is not against anyone, this is not against the Israeli state, this is not against the Israelis, who are people we respect," she said.

Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles: The war in Gaza is a real genocide! pic.twitter.com/LSb3hNPyOP

— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) May 25, 2024

An Israeli official said Saturday the government intended to renew talks for a Gaza hostage release deal in coming days, after a meeting with mediators in Paris.

"There is an intention to renew the talks this week and there is an agreement," the official told French news agency AFP on condition of anonymity.

The Israeli official did not elaborate on what had been agreed but Israeli media reported that intelligence chief David Barnea had agreed a new framework for the stalled negotiations with mediators CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.

Washington said top diplomat Antony Blinken had also spoken with Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz about new efforts to achieve a ceasefire and reopen the border crossing in Gaza's far-southern city of Rafah.

Al-Qahera News, which has links with Egyptian intelligence, said Cairo was continuing "its efforts to reactivate ceasefire negotiations and exchange prisoners and detainees".

It added that Egypt was exerting "all kinds of pressure on Israel to urgently let in the aid and fuel" stranded at the Rafah crossing after its closure by Israel earlier this month.

Talks aimed at reaching a hostage release and truce deal for Gaza ground to a halt this month after Israel launched a military operation in Rafah.

President Joe Biden emphasized the critical role of US support to allies around the world including Israel, Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific in a speech on Saturday at the commencement for the US Military Academy at West Point, New York.

The speech before 1,036 graduating US Army cadets is part of a push by Biden to highlight the administration's efforts to support active and retired military personnel. These include a bipartisan law he signed two years ago to help veterans who have been exposed to burn pits or other poisons obtain easier access to healthcare.

Biden described American soldiers as "working around the clock" to support Ukraine in its effort to repel a two-year long Russian invasion, but repeated his commitment to keeping them off the front lines.

He also highlighted the US role in repelling Iranian missile attacks against Israel and support for allies in the Indo-Pacific against increasing Chinese militarism in the region.

"Thanks to the US Armed Forces, we're doing what only America can do as the indispensable nation, the world's only superpower," Biden said.

Four US Army vessels supporting the temporary pier built to deliver aid to Gaza have run aground in heavy seas and Israel is aiding a recovery effort, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Saturday.

"The vessels broke free from their moorings and two vessels are now anchored on the beach near the pier. The third and fourth vessels are beached on the coast of Israel near Ashkelon," the statement said.

"No US personnel will enter Gaza. No injuries have been reported and the pier remains fully functional," it continued, adding that the Israel navy is assisting with recovering the vessels.

US President Joe Biden had said in March the pier would be built to alleviate restrictions imposed by Israel on delivery by land to Gaza.

The UN World Food Programme "took possession of 97 trucks since the floating dock came into operation" on May 17, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres, told reporters on Friday.

In the first few days of deliveries, desperate people made off with the contents of some trucks heading to warehouses, but the situation has now stabilized, he said.

Ireland's deputy premier, Micheál Martin, has slammed Israel for reprimanding its ambassador, calling it "totally unacceptable".

Ireland's Ambassador to Israel, Sonya McGuinness, was summoned to the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry in Jerusalem and reprimanded over Ireland's decision to recognise the state of Palestine.

The meeting, also attended by Spain and Norway, had Israel screen previously unaired footage of the 7 October attacks of Hamas taking female army conscripts captive before any discussions took place. Israeli media were also present.

Read more here.

Residents in the occupied West Bank town of Qusra faced attacks by Israeli settlers, with one Palestinian man wounded by live gunfire, according to local media reports.

The town near Nablus faced a raid by settlers who were accompanied by Israeli army which triggered a confrontation as residents tried to repel the assault.

A 29-year-old Palestinian man was shot in the abdomen, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Earlier Saturday, dozens of Palestinian were arrested in a flurry of raids by Israeli forces throughout the West Bank governorates of Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus, Qalqilya, and Hebron, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Society.

The US said parts of its floating aid pier broke off and swept into the sea after strong waves off the coast of Gaza on Saturday.

Two sections of the pier washed up off the coast of Ashkelon in Israel, local media reported. The US Central Command said its navy along with the Israeli navy are attempting to recover the drifting decking.

The pier's construction cost around $320 million and was finished less than a week ago and it has facilitated the delivery of some 90 trucks of aid into Gaza with supplies shipped from Cyprus. 

Israel's siege on Gaza has blocked land crossings and disrupted the flow of aid for the exhausted population, the majority of whom are dependent on aid handouts for daily survival.

Parts of the US-built pier off the coast of Gaza appear to have come apart and swept away. Pentagon says it is aware of reports but no further comment. pic.twitter.com/oAACWbaMZy

— Joseph Haboush (@jhaboush) May 25, 2024

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa called on Italy to recognise a Palestinian state on an official trip to Rome on Saturday, according to reports.

Mustafa met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to discuss the Gaza war and foreign aid efforts for the Palestinian people, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The two also discussed Israeli settler attacks in the occupied West Bank and the expansions of settlements which threaten a future Palestinian state.

Italy announced earlier on Saturday that it was resuming funding to UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA.

Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters are marching the streets of Manchester in the UK demanding for a free Palestine.

Marchers can be seen waving the Palestinian flag, holding a banner saying "STOP ARMING ISRAEL", while chanting "In our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians".

Again 1000s now marching the Manchester streets demanding what anyone with any humanity is demanding - Stop Israel's genocide in Gaza! Stop Israel's 76-year ethnic-cleansing of Palestine! 15000 children murdered in 7 months. Stop the decades of Israel's massacres & dispossession!… pic.twitter.com/u4tq5w9De4

— MANPalestine Action (@ManPalestine) May 25, 2024

Israeli forces attacked a school in Gaza, killing 10 people and injuring 17, including children - reported and verified by Al Jazeera.

Israeli forces attacked the Al-Nazla School in the Saftawi area of northern Gaza (near Jabalia refugee camp), where hundreds of refugees were residing. 

Children were playing in the schoolyard while a group of Palestinians were filling up gallons of water when the forces targeted them with airstrikes.

The health ministry in Gaza said on Saturday that at least 35,903 people have been killed in the territory during more than seven months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.

The toll includes 46 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 80,420 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.

Thousands more people are feared dead and trapped under mountains of rubble across Gaza, health authorities have said.

Mediated negotiations between Israel and Hamas to reach a deal to free Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip are due to restart next week, an official with knowledge of the matter said on Saturday.

The decision to restart the talks, said the source, who declined to be identified by name or nationality given the sensitivity of the issue, came after the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency met with the head of the CIA and the prime minister of Qatar, which has been a mediator.

"At the end of the meeting, it was decided that in the coming week negotiations will open based on new proposals led by the mediators, Egypt and Qatar and with active U.S. involvement," the source said.

(Reuters)

Hezbollah said its fighters fired rockets at an Israeli Merkava tank at al-Marj military site on Saturday.

In a statement on its Telegram channel, the Lebanese Shia Muslim group said that after monitoring the Israeli military’s movements it struck the tank directly leading to its "destruction and the death and injury of its crew".

In a separate statement, Hezbollah said it also struck Israeli targets at the Zarit barracks with missiles, in response to Israeli attacks in al Mansouri over the past days.

A bomb attached to a car exploded early Saturday in the western part of the Syrian capital that is home to several diplomatic missions, killing one person and causing material damage, state media reported.

State news agency, SANA, didn't say who the person killed was but said the blast set two other cars ablaze.

Damascus' Mazze neighbourhood houses the Iranian consulate, destroyed last month in a strike blamed on Israel. The attack at the time killed seven people including two Iranian generals and a member of Lebanon’s militant group Hezbollah, and triggered a direct Iranian military assault on Israel for the first time, sparking fears of a regionwide war.

Several airstrikes have hit the tightly-secured neighbourhood over the past months, mostly targeting Iranian officials.

Read more here.

The Spanish government demanded on Saturday that Israel comply with an order by the top UN court to immediately stop its bombardment and ground assault on the Gazan city of Rafah.

It stressed that the ruling on Friday by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was legally binding.

"The precautionary measures set out by the ICJ, including that Israel should cease its military offensive in Rafah, are compulsory. Israel must comply with them," Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares wrote on X.

"The same goes for a ceasefire, the release of the hostages and access for humanitarian aid (to Gaza)," he said.

"The suffering of the people of Gaza and the violence must end."

Las medidas cautelares de @CIJ_ICJ, incluido el cese de la ofensiva de Israel en Rafah, son obligatorias. Exigimos su aplicación.

También el alto el fuego, la liberación de los rehenes y el acceso humanitario.
El sufrimiento de los gazatíes y la violencia deben terminar.

— José Manuel Albares (@jmalbares) May 25, 2024

An Israeli drone strike in central Syria killed two fighters from Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement on Saturday, a war monitor said.

"An Israeli drone fired two missiles at a Hezbollah car and truck near the town of Qusayr in Homs province, as they were on their way to Al-Dabaa military airport, killing at least two Hezbollah fighters and wounding others," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It was the third strike against Hezbollah targets in Syria in about a week.

On Monday, Israeli strikes in the Qusayr area, which is close to the Lebanese border, killed eight pro-Iranian fighters, said Observatory, a Britain-based monitor with a network of sources in Syria.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the outbreak of the civil war in its northern neighbour, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters including from Hezbollah.

The British government has criticised the International Court of Justice for ordering Israel to immediately halt its military assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, saying the ruling would strengthen Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

"The reason there isn’t a pause in the fighting is because Hamas turned down a very generous hostage deal from Israel. The intervention of these courts - including the ICJ today - will strengthen the view of Hamas that they can hold on to hostages and stay in Gaza," a UK foreign ministry spokesperson said late on Friday.

"And if that happens there won’t be either peace, or a two-state solution."

The UK's stance is in keeping with the US who said that Israel's Rafah operation remains "limited".

Israeli air strikes killed 20 civilians, including women and children, in attacks on civilian buildings in north Gaza on Saturday, according to local sources.

Ten people were killed and more injured when an Israeli airstrike hit a house in Beit Hanoun in north Gaza, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Additionally, another ten people were killed and 17 injured after an air strike on school sheltering displaced families in the Safatwi neighbourhood in Gaza City.

Twenty Palestinians, including children and women, were killed and several others injured today due to the continuous Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza Strip.

A number of charities have signed an open letter welcoming the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) order to immediately halt Israel's military offensive in Rafah, while also urging the UK to uphold its measures.

Medical Aid for Palestinians and Oxfam are among the 22 NGOs who welcomed the ICJ's decision and urged the United Kingdom government to ensure Israel complies with the ruling.

"The UK must now do everything in its power to ensure that Israel complies with its obligations under international law, including in respect of all of the measures ordered by the ICJ," the statement reads, while also urging for the UK to restart funding to The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and suspend arms.

Read more here.

G7 finance leaders will call on Israel to maintain correspondent banking links between Israeli and Palestinian banks to allow vital transactions, trade and services to continue, according to a draft joint statement seen by Reuters on Saturday.

The statement, to be released at the end of a Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors' meeting in northern Italy, also calls for Israel "to release withheld clearance revenues to the Palestinian Authority, in view of its urgent fiscal needs".

"We call on Israel to take the necessary measures to ensure that correspondent banking services between Israeli and Palestinian banks remain in place, so that vital financial transactions and critical trade and services continue," the draft statement said.

The G7 finance leaders also called for the removal or relaxation of other measures "that have negatively impacted commerce to avoid further exacerbating the economic situation in the West Bank." 

(Reuters)

Hamas has called on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to issue a ruling to stop Israel's attacks against all of Gaza, instead of just Rafah, the Palestinian group said.

In a statement issued in response to the ICJ ruling on Friday, Hamas said: "We expected the Court of Justice to issue to stop the aggression and genocide against our people in all of Gaza, not just Rafah."

Speaking to Al Jazeera network on Saturday, senior Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan based in Beirut said that the group welcomed the ICJ's ruling.

"In Hamas, we believed it was a genocide from day one, but at least now in the international community everyone has to understand that is a genocide and they have to work hard to make Israel going forward on this issue," Hamdan said.

Qatar has said that the ICJ ruling on Israel reflects the international community's "categorical rejection" of the war on Gaza.

A statement from Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the ICJ ruling "stresses the need for the Israeli authorities to fully commit to implementing all provisions of the decision, and to provide the ICJ with a comprehensive report on time."

"It also stresses the need for the UN Security Council to fulfil its responsibilities in providing full protection for civilians in the Gaza Strip."

Qatar welcomed the ruling which orders Israel to immediately halts its military offensive on Rafah, and to allow an independent fact finding mission to enter Gaza. The world court also ordered Israel to submit a comprehensive report to the court within a month.

During the war, Qatar has been playing a vital mediator role in truce talks between Israel and Hamas.

Palestinians living in the north Gaza, including Jabalia, Beit Lahia, Al-Falouja, and Al-Fakhura have been forced to move towards central areas as battles between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants have intensified.

Crowds of displaced families could be seen walking carrying belongings or on donkey carts as they search for a safer area. Aid agencies have warned of famine conditions in the northern areas amid a severe shortage of clean water or food.

The area has become is dangerous for humanitarians to reach and the Israeli army has repeatedly obstructed missions.

Israel was forced to re-enter Jabalia after claiming the area had been "cleared" months ago after Hamas fighters regrouped, but the attacks have had a devastating impact on civilians in the area.

Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, has called for sanctions to be imposed on Israel until it complies with the International Court of Justice.

In the latest ruling against Israel from the world court, it said on Friday that Israel must immediately halt its offensive into Rafah to avert the further suffering of the Palestinian people.

In a post on X on Saturday, Albanese wrote: "Member states must impose sanctions on Israel, ban the provision of weapons to it, and suspend political and diplomatic relations with it, until it stops its attack."

Let's be clear. As the ICJ orders Israel to stop its offensive in Rafah, Israel intensifies its attacks on it.
The news I am receiving from the people trapped therein are terrifying.

Be sure: Israel will not stop this madness until WE make it stop. Member states must impose… https://t.co/64SQbOKNXz

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) May 24, 2024

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Saturday announced Rome would restore funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees as he met with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa.

"I informed Mustafa that the government has arranged new funding for the Palestinian population, for a total of 35 million euros... Of this, five million will be allocated to UNRWA," Tajani said, according to a statement from his office.

Italy joins several countries which have restored funding after Israel's unfounded claims that several staff members were involved in the 7 October attacks.

Germany resumed cooperation in April with UNRWA following a report led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna on UNRWA's procedures for ensuring adherence to neutrality principles.

Countries including  Canada, Australia and Sweden restored funding to the agency, while several Gulf countries, such as Saudi Arabia, increased funding.