Gaza Turmoil
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Israeli incursion in Rafah could cause loss of city’s last hospital
A World Health Organisation (WHO) official has said the last hospital in Rafah could become non-functional and a substantial number of deaths could be expected if Israel launches a “full incursion” into the southern Gazan city, Reuters reports.
“If the incursion would continue, we would lose the last hospital in Rafah,” Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for Gaza and the West Bank, said on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly in Geneva.
He said that in the case of a “full incursion”, the “contingency plan will not prevent what we expect: substantial additional mortality and morbidity”.
21 killed, dozens wounded in new Israeli strikes on tent area west of Rafah: Gaza health officials
Palestinian medical officials have said that 21 Palestinians were killed, at least twelve of them women, and dozens wounded in new Israeli strikes on an area of tents housing displaced people West of Rafah, Reuters reports.
The new Israeli strikes targeted tents of displaced families in the designated humanitarian area in Mawasi in western Rafah, according to medics and residents.
Former Israeli spy chief ‘threatened’ then-ICC prosecutor over war crimes inquiry
Former Mossad head Yossi Cohen allegedly threatened then-chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, in secret meetings and tried to pressure her into abandoning a war crimes probe, which was later launched in 2021, The Guardian reports.
It noted that the investigation culminated last week when Bensouda’s successor, Karim Khan, announced that he was seeking an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s conduct in its offensive in Gaza.
Four sources confirmed to The Guardian that Bensouda had briefed a small group of senior ICC officials about Cohen’s attempts to sway her, amid concerns about the increasingly persistent and threatening nature of his behaviour.
Spain, Norway and Ireland recognize Palestine, what does it mean?
Spain, Ireland and Norway officially recognised a Palestinian state on Tuesday, despite an angry reaction from Israel, which has found itself increasingly isolated after more than seven months of conflict in Gaza.
The three countries said they hope their decision will accelerate efforts towards securing a ceasefire in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, which is now in its eighth month.
Below are some of the key elements related to that decision.
WHAT DID IRELAND, NORWAY SPAIN ANNOUNCE?
The three countries recognised a Palestinian state with its borders to be demarcated as they were prior to 1967, with Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and Palestine.
However, they also recognised that those borders may change in any eventual talks to reach a final settlement.
Denmark rejects proposal to recognise Palestinian state
Denmark's parliament on Tuesday voted down a bill to recognise a Palestinian state, after the Danish foreign minister previously said the necessary preconditions for an independent country were lacking.
Ireland, Spain and Norway on Tuesday formally recognised a Palestinian state, after their announcement last week that they would do so angered Israel which called the move a "reward for terrorism" and recalled its ambassadors.
The Danish bill was first proposed in late February by four left-wing parties.
Spain, Norway recognise Palestinian state with Ireland next
Spain and Norway have formally recognised a Palestinian state, with Ireland due to follow suit, in a decision slammed by Israel as a “reward” for Hamas, more than seven months into the devastating Gaza conflict, AFP reports.
As Oslo’s formal recognition went into effect, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide hailed the move as “a special day for Norway-Palestine relations”.
“Norway has been one of the most fervent defenders of a Palestinian state for more than 30 years,” he added.
Shortly afterwards, Spain followed suit, with government spokeswoman Pilar Alegria confirming the cabinet had formally recognised Palestinian statehood, qualifying it as “a historic day”.
Israeli tanks advance in central Rafah: Report
Israeli tanks and other army vehicles are advancing in central Rafah, according to witnesses speaking to Reuters.
The tanks were spotted near al-Awda mosque, a central Rafah landmark, the witnesses told Reuters.
Residents said in Tal as-Sultan in western Rafah, the scene of Sunday’s deadly strike that killed about 45 people, was still being heavily bombarded.
“Tank shells are falling everywhere in [Tal as-Sultan]. Many families have fled their houses in western Rafah under fire throughout the night,” one resident told Reuters over a chat app.
UK says Israel’s army must launch swift probe into Rafah air raid
British Foreign Minister David Cameron said an investigation by the Israeli military into the Rafah air strikes that killed dozens of people must be “swift, comprehensive and transparent”.
“Deeply distressing scenes following the air strikes in Rafah this weekend. The IDF’s investigation must be swift, comprehensive and transparent,” Cameron said on X, referring to the Israeli army.
“We urgently need a deal to get hostages out and aid in, with a pause in fighting to allow work towards a long-term sustainable ceasefire.”
Britain supplied 42 million pounds ($53m) of arms to Israel in 2022.
Last month, Cameron said arms sales to Israel by British companies will not stop after he said he reviewed the latest legal advice on the matter.
There has been global outrage after Israel’s attack on a tent camp in Rafah for displaced people that killed 45 people, including many women and children who died in a huge inferno.
Six killed near Kamal Adwan Hospital
Six people, including a doctor, have been killed near the hospital in northern Gaza, as Israeli raids continue in the area, report our colleagues on the ground.
Last week, patients and medical staff were forced to flee the hospital due to Israeli attacks on it, including one that hit its emergency department.
Canada announces five-fold increase in visas for Palestinians in Gaza
Canada has announced a five-fold increase in visas for Palestinians seeking to join their family members in the country.
Minister of Immigration Marc Miller said that Ottawa would raise to 5,000 the number of visas offered to residents in Gaza under a special programme announced in December.
Miller said the government is working to assist Palestinians trying to leave Gaza, but that movement out of the territory is currently not possible due to factors outside Ottawa’s control.
China calls for Houthi Red Sea attacks to end
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called for attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea region to come to an end, following a meeting with his Yemen counterpart in Beijing.
China has previously called for calm to be restored in the waters around Yemen, where the Houthis have been targeting ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November as a way to pressure Israel’s allies in the ongoing war on Gaza.
In March, Bloomberg reported that the Houthi group guaranteed the safety of Russian and Chinese ships in the region.
Rafah family mourns after boy,10, is killed in Israeli attack
A family is mourning the loss of a 10-year-old boy to Israeli artillery shelling while trying to flee Rafah.
The family’s home was hit by shelling as they prepared to leave the Zourob area in Rafah as Israeli forces advanced and intensified their attacks on the neighbourhood.
The sister of Muhammad al-Fara’a told how her younger brother’s room was hit by Israeli artillery fire as they were waiting to flee. They had to search for him for half an hour before the 10-year-old was found seriously injured.
“He wished to be a journalist,” his sister Nagham al-Fara’a told Al Jazeera.
“He was helping us prepare as we were getting ready to be displaced from our house due to bombing after we lived a terrifying and difficult night, with shells falling on us,” she said.
Trump says he will deport student protesters if re-elected president
Former President Donald Trump has said he will expel pro-Palestine student demonstrators from the United States if he is re-elected in November, The Washington Post reports.
Speaking to a room full of campaign donors, the Republican presidential hopeful promised to crush pro-Palestine protests that have sprung up on college campuses across the US in recent weeks.
“One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country. You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave,” Trump said at the event on May 14, according to people present who requested anonymity.
“If you get me elected, and you should really be doing this, if you get me re-elected, we’re going to set that movement back 25 or 30 years,” he reportedly added.
OIC tells UNSC to ‘assume responsibilities’ after Rafah ‘massacre’
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has described Israel’s deadly attack on a tent camp for displaced people in Rafah as a “heinous massacre”, which it considers an act of “state-organised terrorism”.
The OIC – the world’s second largest intergovernmental body after the UN – said those responsible for the “war crime” attack on the camp in Rafah must be held to account and face international criminal law.
“The Secretary-General held the Israeli occupation accountable for the consequences of its crimes, terrorist practices, and brutal attacks against the Palestinian people, which are inconsistent with all human values,” OIC, representing 57 member states, said in a statement.
“The OIC renewed its call on the international community, especially the UN Security Council, to assume its responsibilities in compelling Israel, to implement the orders of the International Court of Justice to stop this Israeli aggression immediately,” it said.
More than 1 million displaced in 20 days as fighting rages across Gaza
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that more than one million people have been displaced in the south and north of the Gaza Strip since May 6.
Heavy fighting is taking place in the Jabalia refugee camp south of Gaza City in the north of the Palestinian territory, as well as in the north of the Nuseirat area in central Gaza, and eastern Deir el-Balah, also in the central area, and in eastern and central areas of Rafah in Gaza’s south.
Due to Israel’s enforced closure of Gaza’s borders, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) reports that its health centres have not received medical supplies in 12 days, particularly affecting stocks of antibiotics for children and antiepileptic drugs, OCHA says in its latest situation report.
“Over five per cent of Gaza’s population has been either killed, injured, or is missing. At least 3,000 women are estimated to be widowed, 10,000 children orphaned, 17,000 children left unaccompanied or separated, and more than one million people have lost their homes,” OCHA states.
Rafah camp attack shows US has no ‘red line’ for Israel’s slaughter in Gaza
Mouin Rabbani, a non-resident fellow at the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies in Doha, Qatar, said that in contrast with previous attacks by Israeli forces on Palestinian civilians, Israel claims now that it is investigating the Rafah camp attack that killed 45 people.
“Quite clearly, what’s called the ‘diplomatic tsunami’ – the recent ruling by the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court’s applications for arrest warrants and so on – are gradually beginning to have an effect,” Rabbani told Al Jazeera.
“At the same time, when we look at the broader international situation, what we’ve learned is that US President Joe Biden’s “red line” [in Gaza] is actually a river of Palestinian blood. And senior US officials are quite happy to swim in it.
“As far as the Europeans are concerned, we’ve seen quite extensive condemnation of this attack,” he added.
“But eight months into this brutal, genocidal campaign, I think simply making statements becomes entirely meaningless when this is not paired with concrete actions to bring such acts – that are taking place on an almost daily basis – to a definitive end.”
“I think one objective of this attack was to demonstrate that the US actually does not have a red line.”
Israeli military arrests man, carries out raids across occupied West Bank
The Israeli military has arrested a Palestinian man from the village of Jalbun, northeast of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports.
Israeli forces have also fired live bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at Palestinians during their storming of the Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, according to Wafa. No serious injuries have been reported.
Israeli military raids have also been reported in other locations across the occupied West Bank. They include:
The town of Anabta, east of Tulkarem
The Jalazone refugee camp, north of Ramallah
Al-Saf Street in central Bethlehem
White House defends Israel’s ‘right to pursue’ targets after 45 killed in Rafah camp attack
The Biden administration has been closely following the aftermath of the Israeli military strike on that camp for displaced Palestinians near Rafah.
What the National Security Council spokesperson has been saying is that the images of the dozens of innocent men, women and children that were killed as a result of that strike are not only devastating but also heartbreaking.
Now, as the White House is saying this, they are also defending the Israeli military’s right to pursue Hamas targets.
The White House is saying that the strike that killed so many innocents also killed two Hamas targets that the Israeli military says are responsible for attacks on Israelis.
Still, the White House says that Israel must do more to protect civilians. Having said that, the White House said it is actively engaging the Israeli military to ensure that it assesses what happened and what went wrong. The White House is also reporting that the Israeli military is conducting its own investigation.
US lawmaker Ocasio-Cortez calls Rafah strike an ‘indefensible atrocity’
Prominent Democratic party lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called an Israeli strike that killed at least 45 people in Rafah “an indefensible atrocity”.
She added in a post on X that the strike on the city in southern Gaza was carried out in “open defiance” of the White House and the International Court of Justice.
“It is long past time for the President to live up to his word and suspend military aid,” she said.
‘Scathing attack’ on Netanyahu in Israel’s parliament over handling of war
It’s been a difficult day for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
It was quite a heated meeting in the Knesset today because not only was he facing protests from the families of those held captive – who are calling on him to accept an immediate ceasefire deal – but also he was facing opposition: 40 signatures were signed [to a petition] for a symbolic hearing where they wanted to hear from him about what he is doing in terms of the war.
One of the observers in the war cabinet is saying that Israel should end the war in Gaza, even if just temporarily, to ensure the release of those held captive.
You also had Yair Lapid, the opposition leader, saying that the war isn’t getting anywhere because of Netanyahu’s leadership.
It was a scathing attack on the prime minister himself as well as the war cabinet.
And after the attack that happened yesterday in Rafah, they know the pressure is on them internationally.
Australia slams Israel’s ‘horrific’ strikes on Rafah
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, saying Israel’s strikes have had “horrific and unacceptable consequences”.
“Australia has been very clear that Israel must not proceed with its operation in Rafah,” Wong said in a statement on X.
Israeli attack on Rafah tent camp kills 45, prompts international outcry
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli airstrike triggered a fire that killed 45 people in a tent camp in the Gazan city of Rafah, officials said on Monday (May 27), prompting an outcry from global leaders who urged the implementation of a World Court order to halt Israel's assault.
Palestinian families rushed to hospitals to prepare their dead for burial after a strike late on Sunday night set tents and rickety metal shelters ablaze.
