Israel abused 50+ UNRWA staff, used as human shields in Gaza
Ambulances halted in south Gaza due to Israeli blockade
Palestinian casualties mount as Israel attacks Gaza
Egypt's intelligence chief to discuss Gaza with Israeli delegation
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The UN has sounded the alarm about the collapse of essential healthcare services in Gaza, as Israeli authorities continue to block access to critical fuel and aid.
"Our humanitarian partners report that access to essential healthcare remains extremely limited for people across Gaza, particularly the most vulnerable groups," spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a news conference.
Dujarric said more than 150,000 women are at risk of developing serious health complications.
"The fuel situation is rapidly deteriorating, with accessible benzene nearly depleted and these diesel reserves critically low," he warned that remaining stocks are being prioritised for healthcare, water sanitation and telecommunications systems.
"Our humanitarian partners have made repeated attempts to retrieve fuel from areas that are currently inaccessible, either because they're under active displacement orders or located in no-go zones that require humanitarian movements to be coordinated with the Israeli authorities," he said.
"However, our efforts to access these areas are routinely denied," he said, adding that "just today, Israeli authorities denied an attempt by UN agencies to retrieve fuel from Rafah." "Overall, we and our partners attempted five coordinated movements today, but four of them were denied. The only exception was related to staff rotation and not to deliveries," he said.
Several Palestinians have been wounded when Israeli warplanes bombed the Al Faraj Mosque in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, destroying it completely.
The Israeli air strike completely destroyed the mosque and caused injuries to a large number of civilians, eyewitnesses told Anadolu.
They added that the injured were taken to al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat, but did not provide any additional information.
Egypt’s intelligence chief Hassan Rashad met the Israeli negotiation team headed by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in Cairo to discuss de-escalation efforts in Gaza, Egyptian media has reported.
The meeting focused on ceasefire efforts and took place after a Hamas delegation left Cairo on Saturday, as part of indirect negotiations, the Cairo News channel wrote on X.
Brig. Gen. Tarek Al-Akari, an Egyptian strategic affairs expert, told the outlet the meeting reflected Egypt’s “intensified efforts to halt the aggression on Gaza” and described the talks as “serious,” though no details were provided.
The outlet said Monday that the meeting followed a recent Hamas visit to Egypt to reach a ceasefire and continue Egyptian and Qatari mediation efforts to restore calm in Gaza.
No official statements have been issued by Cairo or Tel Aviv on the outcome of the talks.
South Africa, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Spain deplore Israel's collective punishment of Palestinians and its unlawful occupation.
Pakistan has said that the tragedy in Gaza is the “systematic erasure” of the Palestinian nation, calling for an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
“The tragedy unfolding in Gaza is without precedent, both in skill and inhumanity. This is not merely a humanitarian crisis, it is the systematic destruction of a people and the erasure of a nation’s right to exist,” Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN, told the UN Security Council.
He said that Israel’s “targeting of civilians and essential infrastructure, the use of starvation as a weapon,” are undeniably deliberate, adding that “these are acts of war crimes and ethnic cleansing” aimed at leaving “no space that is safe for Palestinians.”
On a defunct ceasefire agreement in Gaza, he said: “Israel’s unilateral breach of the ceasefire agreement brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States was a deliberate choice of return to war over diplomacy.”
China has stressed a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, urging Israel to stop attacking Lebanon and Syria.
"The Middle East is now deeply mired in turmoil," China's permanent representative to the UN, Fu Cong, said during the 9907th meeting of the UN Security Council, emphasising that Israel has "reignited the war in Gaza."
In his speech, Fu Cong highlighted Israeli atrocities such as the ongoing siege and relentless attacks on Gaza, which have resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians on a daily basis, as well as an escalating humanitarian disaster in the enclave, in addition to the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, which continue to expand amid illegal Israeli settlers attacks on Palestinians.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that Israel will not end the war on Gaza until hundreds of thousands of Palestinians leave the enclave.
"We will end this campaign when Syria is dismantled, Hezbollah is severely beaten, Iran is stripped of its nuclear threat, Gaza is cleansed of Hamas and hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents are on their way out of it to other countries, our hostages are returned, some to their homes and some to the graves of Israel," said Smotrich during his speech in the Eli settlement in the central occupied West Bank.
He claimed that these are not only the goals of the government but rather a consensus of the Israeli people and soldiers.
Smotrich appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “do everything to strengthen Israel’s security” and warned him not to "miss this opportunity."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to achieve victory in the Gaza war and secure the return of hostages still held there, as Israel marked its annual day of remembrance for fallen soldiers and civilian victims of attacks.
"In the name of the fallen, and for their sake, we will continue to pursue the mission of victory -- including the return of all our hostages", Netanyahu said in a statement marking Memorial Day.
Juliette Touma, communications director for the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), has said that "the siege on Gaza is the silent killer of children, of older people."
Speaking online at the UN Office in Geneva at a weekly news briefing, Touma condemned Israel’s humanitarian aid blockade on Gaza, which has lasted for nearly two months.
"Children in Gaza are going to bed starving. The siege on Gaza is the silent killer of children, of older people," she said.
Touma drew attention to the severe difficulties families are facing in accessing food, noting that more than 5,000 trucks filled with aid are waiting to enter Gaza but are being blocked.
The government’s decision to revoke Ronen Bar’s dismissal appears aimed at preempting a potentially precedent-setting Supreme Court ruling on petitions challenging his ouster, according to a report.
