423,000 displaced Palestinians in Gaza have no safe place to go: UN
Hundreds of illegal Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque
Israel's war on Gaza is a 'crime of crimes': Qatar
UK tells ICJ Israel must lift aid restrictions
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An Israeli military aircraft was flying over Malta hours before a civilian ship carrying aid to Gaza was attacked by a drone, CNN reported, citing flight-tracking data.
According to CNN, an Israeli Air Force C-130 Hercules cargo plane was tracked departing Israel Thursday afternoon and flying toward Malta.
The aircraft did not land at Malta’s international airport but flew at a "relatively" low altitude — below 5,000 feet — over eastern Malta "for an extended period." It returned to Israel approximately seven hours later, according to flight-tracking data.
The reported overflight came several hours before the Freedom Flotilla Coalition said one of its vessels was attacked in international waters near Malta.
The head of the UN children's fund, UNICEF, raised alarm over the deteriorating conditions for children in Gaza.
"For two months, children in the Gaza Strip have faced relentless bombardments while being deprived of essential goods, services and lifesaving care. With each passing day of the aid blockade, they face the growing risk of starvation, illness and death – nothing can justify this," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.
Russell highlighted the severe challenges families are facing, with destroyed farmland, restricted access to the sea, and critical shortages in food and water. "Bakeries are closing, water production is declining, and market shelves are almost bare.
Humanitarian aid has provided the only lifeline for children, and now it is close to running out," she said.
An Illinois man was sentenced on Friday to 53 years in prison after a jury convicted him of the killing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy and the severe wounding of his mother in an October 2023 hate crime stabbing, prosecutors said.
Joseph Czuba, 73, stabbed and killed Wadee Alfayoumi and knifed Hanan Shaheen days after US ally Israel began its war on Gaza following an October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.
Prosecutors said the stabbing - one of the earliest and worst hate crime incidents in the US since the start of the war - was sparked by anti-Muslim hatred.
US rights advocates have noted rising Islamophobia, anti-Arab hate and anti-Semitism. The prison sentence by Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak included 30 years for the child's murder, 20 years for the attempted murder of the mother and 3 years for hate crime, according to prosecutors.
Türkiye condemned "in the strongest terms" an attack on a civilian ship belonging to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
The group that organised the mission said Conscience, the humanitarian aid ship bound for Gaza with 16 people on board, came under a drone attack in international waters off Malta.
"There are allegations that the ship was targeted by Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles. All necessary efforts will be made to reveal the details of the attack as soon as possible and to bring the perpetrators to justice," Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli said on X.
He said the vessel was carrying Turkish citizens, adding that the health of the crew and passengers on the ship is "good." Necessary efforts are being carried out in cooperation with the Maltese authorities to transfer the Turkish citizens to a safe location, he added.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia strongly condemned an Israeli air strike that targeted an area near the presidential palace in Damascus, calling it “blatant aggression” against the sovereignty of Syrian territory.
In a statement, the Qatari Foreign Ministry denounced the strike “in the strongest terms,” reiterating its “full support for the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Syria, as well as the aspirations of its brotherly people for security and stability.”
The ministry also reiterated “Qatar's warning that the repeated aggression by the occupation against Syria and Lebanon, along with its continued brutal war on Gaza, are likely to ignite a cycle of violence and chaos in the region.”
It called upon “the international community to exert pressure on the occupying (Israel) power to comply with international legitimacy resolutions. Meanwhile, the Saudi Foreign Ministry reiterated the kingdom's "firm rejection of the Israeli attacks that violate the sovereignty, security, and stability of the Syrian Arab Republic."
Four people have been killed in an Israeli air strike in the Suwayda province in southern Syria.
Israeli forces carried out the air strike on the Kanaker village in southwestern Suwayda, killing four people, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported, which did not provide any additional information.
The new Israeli air strike comes hours after Israeli warplanes struck an area in Damascus near the presidential palace, indicating a new Israeli escalation against Syria. The Israeli army is yet to comment on the latest attack on Syria.
The EU Commission spokesperson urged Israel to lift its blockade on Gaza and allow the entry of humanitarian aid.
"We do repeat our call on Israel to lift the blockade on Gaza to allow humanitarian aid to start flowing at scale into, and throughout the Gaza Strip," Anouar El Anouni said, speaking at the EU Commission’s daily press briefing in Brussels.
Anouni expressed grave concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza. "We are extremely concerned by the reports of the humanitarian situation, which suggests that food supplies brought in during the ceasefire are running out," he said.
Tunisia told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that it believes the conditions for invoking Article 6 of the UN Charter, which allows for the expulsion of a member state for persistent violations, have now been met.
"While we are aware that the recommendation of relying on Article 6 of the United Nations Charter falls within the prerogatives of the Security Council, we consider that the conditions for its implementation are met," said Hanin Ben Jrad, representing Tunisia, regarding Israel's continuous violations in Gaza and other regions.
Jrad argued that several statements by Israeli officials show an intent to use humanitarian aid to achieve political and military objectives, effectively holding Gaza’s population hostage, while weaponising relief as a "tool of war."
"Some of these statements are undoubtedly indicative of genocidal intent," she added.
Israel's military said it had identified the launch of a missile from Yemen toward Israeli territory, and aerial defence systems were operating to intercept the threat.
Alarms were activated in several areas, the military added.
The military said earlier that it had intercepted another missile launched from Yemen.
The Red Cross warned that the humanitarian response in Gaza was on the "verge of total collapse" after two months of Israel blocking aid to the war-torn Palestinian territory.
"Without an immediate resumption of aid deliveries, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will not have access to the food, medicines, and life-saving supplies needed to sustain many of its programmes in Gaza," it said in a statement.
"Civilians in Gaza are facing an overwhelming daily struggle to survive the dangers of hostilities, cope with relentless displacement, and endure the consequences of being deprived of urgent humanitarian assistance," Pascal Hundt, ICRC Deputy Director of Operations said in a statement.
"This situation must not — and cannot — be allowed to escalate further."
ICRC stressed that under international humanitarian law, "Israel has an obligation to use all means available to ensure that the basic needs of the civilian population under its control are met".
"If the blockage continues, programmes such as the ICRC common kitchens — which often provide the only meal people receive each day — will only be able to operate for a few more weeks," it warned.