Saturday, May 11, 2024
13:19 GMT — More than 520 bodies were found in seven mass graves at hospitals in Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
“We found 80 bodies in three mass graves in the courtyards of the al-Shifa Medical Complex and dozens more inside the hospital departments,” the ministry said in a statement.
“A virtual examination of the bodies exhumed from mass graves showed that the largest number of bodies belonged to patients who were deprived of health care,” it added.
12:30 GMT — Hamas warns 5th day closure of Rafah crossing signals humanitarian crisis
As Israel closes the Rafah crossing for the fifth day in a row, the Palestinian resistance group Hamas voiced grave concerns warning that the ongoing blockade foreshadows a looming humanitarian catastrophe for residents in the region.
In a statement, the group said that “the control and closure of the crossing have resulted in the disruption of humanitarian and medical aid reaching Palestinians, exacerbating the impact of ongoing aggression.”
It has halted the departure of the injured seeking medical treatment abroad, Hamas added.
“This signals an impending humanitarian crisis and worsening famine across the blockaded territory with the Zionist occupation held fully accountable for the crime of genocide, starvation tactics, and ethnic cleansing,” the resistance group said.
11:50 GMT — UN agency says 150,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah
The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said around 150,000 Palestinians have left Rafah, the southern Gaza city where an Israeli invasion is underway despite international outcry.
“Everywhere you look now in west Rafah this morning, families are packing up. Streets are significantly emptier,” Louise Wateridge, a UNRWA spokeswoman, said on X.
“UNRWA estimates 150, 000 people have now fled Rafah," she added.
“New areas have been issued evacuation orders towards central Rafah in south Gaza and Jabalia in North Gaza,” Wateridge said, referring to instructions by the Israeli military Saturday morning.
11:04 GMT — Palestinian death toll nears 35,000 as Israel continues to pound Gaza
At least 34,971 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ongoing offensive on Gaza since last October, the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave said.
A ministry statement added that 78,641 other people have also been injured in the onslaught.
“Israeli attacks killed 28 people and injured 69 others in the last 24 hours,” the statement said.
“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
10:20 GMT — Hamas says reports on Israel's secret detention centers ‘only scratch surface of atrocities’
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas has asserted that recent disclosures regarding Israel's secret detention facilities represent “just a fraction of the broader human rights violations Israel is perpetrating.”
In a statement, Hamas said that what CNN's report revealed “only scratches the surface of atrocities committed against Palestinian detainees."
“This investigation, in addition to the horrific testimonies narrated by recently liberated detainees from these covert holding sites, likened to human slaughterhouses exceeding the horrors of Nazism, underline the urgent need for international human rights bodies to meticulously record these atrocities,” Hamas added.
09:11 GMT — Israel expands east Rafah, north Gaza evacuation order
The Israeli military has issued more evacuation orders for various areas in Gaza, where it has waged a brutal war since last October.
The latest evacuation order, which some residents said they had received via text and audio messages to their phones, comes days after Israeli tanks and troops entered Rafah, the Palestinian territory's southernmost city, and seized a key crossing on the Egyptian border.
Army spokesman Avichay Adraee in a statement issued “a call to all residents and displaced people in the Jabalia area and the neighbourhoods of Al Salam, Al Nour, Tal Al Zaatar, Beit Lahia Project, Jabalia Camp, Ezbet Mlin, Al Rawda, Al Nuzha, Al Jarn, Al Nahda, and Al Zuhour” in northern Gaza demanding that they “go immediately to the shelters west of Gaza City.”
The army also demanded the evacuation of some neighbourhoods in eastern Rafah, a southern Gaza city where it has expanded operations.
It called “on some neighbourhoods in eastern Rafah … specifically in the Rafah and Shaboura camps, and the neighbourhoods of Al Adari, Al Jeneina, and Khirbat Al Adas in blocks 6-9, 17, 25-27, 31” to head to some parts of Al Mawasi.
09:37 GMT — 'We hope Israelis will hear our views on Rafah': US envoy to UN
The US ambassador to the UN has said they “hope Israelis will hear our views” on Rafah, the southern Gaza city where the Israeli War Cabinet authorised to conduct military operations earlier this week.
“We said we were concerned about a major ground operation in Rafah,” Robert Wood said in an interview in New York. “We are communicating with Israelis daily on this issue. We will continue to do that,” he said.
He added that US officials “make very clear” to Israelis that there are “other ways to achieve your objectives” rather than “going forward with full-fledged ground operation.”
“We consulted them on some of those ideas. And so we hope that they will hear our views,” the envoy said.
09:16 GMT — Hezbollah says it targeted Israeli soldiers gathering near border
Hezbollah has said it targeted a building where Israeli soldiers were holed up in a settlement near Lebanon's southern border.
In a statement, the group said its fighters directly hit “a building where enemy soldiers were positioned in the Metula settlement with appropriate weapons.
The attack was “in response to the Zionist attacks on the steadfast southern villages and civilian homes, the latest of which targeted the town of Tayr Harfa,” Hezbollah said, referring to Friday's raid which killed at least two.
09:12 GMT — Another Palestinian journalist killed in Gaza
Another Palestinian journalist was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza, the government media office in the blockaded enclave has said in a statement.
Bahaa Okasha, a photojournalist for the Al Aqsa media network, was killed alongside his wife and children in an Israeli bombing that targeted his house in the Jabalia camp, in northern Gaza.
At least 143 journalists and media workers are among the nearly 35,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023.
08:29 GMT — Scores of Palestinians killed in Israeli bombardment of Gaza
Scores of Palestinians were killed and several others injured in an overnight Israeli bombardment of Gaza, official media has reported.
Palestinian news agency Wafa said, “Israeli fighter jets targeted several areas in the central Gaza Strip, resulting in the killing of at least 24 persons.”
Of the victims, at least 20 arrived at the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah, according to medical sources.
Separately, Wafa said Israeli forces fired shells on houses and structures in the Al Zaytoun and Al Sabra neighbourhoods in Gaza City, resulting in severe damage.
In Jabalia, northern Gaza, another seven Palestinians were killed and many others injured in Israeli attacks, the news agency reported.
07:00 GMT — Israeli fresh attacks in Gaza claim lives, including journalist
Numerous people, including a journalist, have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza, according to a media report.
The Israeli army launched attacks on locations in the northern and central parts of Gaza, according to the Palestinian news agency, WAFA.
In an attack on a house in the northern Jabalia Refugee Camp, journalist Baha Ukase, along with his wife and son, were killed.
05:44 GMT — Israel intentionally targets Gaza's social fabric: Palestinian researcher
Israel has intentionally harmed Palestine's social fabric with attacks on Gaza since Oct. 7, according to a Palestinian researcher.
"Israel continues its crimes to deepen the crisis and prolong it, deliberately harming the social and psychological system of the Palestinian people in Gaza," said Emjad al-Sheva, head of the Civil Society Organisations Network.
Al Sheva said that the Israeli army forcibly displaces Palestinians, demolishing their homes and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.
05:11 GMT — Israeli whistleblowers reveal disturbing conditions for Palestinian detainees at Negev desert camp: Report
Israeli whistleblowers have revealed disturbing conditions at the Sde Teiman desert camp, a military base turned detention centre in the Negev desert, according to a report by CNN.
The facility holds Palestinians detained during Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
“Rows of men in gray tracksuits are seen sitting on paper-thin mattresses, ringfenced by barbed wire. All appear blindfolded, their heads hanging heavy under the glare of floodlights,” said the report, citing whistleblowers.
04:20 GMT — Türkiye, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq hail UNGA's resolution
Türkiye, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq have welcomed the passing of a resolution by the UN General Assembly that calls for a reassessment of Palestine's UN membership bid, according to separate statements.
Turkish Foreign Ministry said "We welcome the decision of the UN General Assembly to allow Palestine to participate in UN work with broader rights and privileges.
This decision once again demonstrated the strong support of the overwhelming majority of the international community for the Palestinian people's right to their own state and the two-state solution."
03:41 GMT — UAE slams Netanyahu for seeking its role in Gaza administration
The United Arab Emirates has denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement about "inviting the state to participate in civil administration of Gaza," in statements published by the UAE foreign minister on social media platform X.
The statements said Netanyahu "has no legitimate authority" to call for a part in the civil administration of besieged Gaza.
Acknowledging hundreds of Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza, Netanyahu said on Thursday there is a need for a civilian government in Gaza, possibly with the support of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and others.
03:12 GMT — Belgium, Denmark, Spain welcome UNGA's Palestine resolution
Belgium, Denmark and Spain have welcomed a UN resolution calling for the reevaluation of Palestine's UN membership bid.
"We voted in favour and sponsored the resolution on the status of Palestine at the @UN," Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"The signal sent by Belgium is clear. Palestine must have its full place in international forums. This is an essential step towards a two-state solution and a credible peace process."
02:50 GMT — EU, Belgium, Denmark, Spain condemn arson attacks on UNRWA
The European Union, Belgium, Spain and Denmark have condemned arson attacks on the headquarters of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees [UNRWA] in occupied East Jerusalem.
"The EU condemns the two arson attacks on the UNRWA compound in occupied East Jerusalem on 9 May, which happened at a time of increasing escalation and a growing campaign against the agency and the UN system at large," an EU spokesperson said.
The bloc called on Israeli authorities "to ensure the security and safety of UN staff and its premises in line with its obligations under international law and to bring the perpetrators to justice."
02:35 GMT — Fire in Qiryat Shemona in northern Israel after Hezbollah rocket attack
Fire erupted in the area of the Qiryat Shemona [Kiryat Shmona in Hebrew] settlement in northern Israel following a rocket attack from Lebanon by Hezbollah, Israeli media reported.
The Ynet news website said firefighters are battling two large fires that were sparked by the attack by the Lebanese group.
It added that ten firefighting teams are working to extinguish the fire.
02:20 GMT — Colombia's Petro urges ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu
President Gustavo Petro has called for the International Criminal Court [ICC] to issue an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government he has described as "genocidal" in its war in besieged Gaza.
"Netanyahu will not stop the genocide. That implies an international arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court," Petro wrote on X.
He added that the UN Security Council "must begin to consider the establishment of a peacekeeping force in the territory of Gaza."
02:00 GMT — UNSC calls for investigation into Gaza mass graves
The UN Security Council has called for an immediate and independent investigation into mass graves allegedly containing hundreds of bodies near hospitals in besieged Gaza.
In a statement, members of the council expressed their "deep concern over reports of the discovery of mass graves, in and around the Nasser and Al-Shifa medical facilities in Gaza, where several hundred bodies, including women, children and older persons, were buried."
The members stressed the need for "accountability" for any violations of international law and called on investigators to be given "unimpeded access to all locations of mass graves in Gaza to conduct immediate, independent, thorough, comprehensive, transparent and impartial investigations."
For our live updates from Friday, May 10, click here.
