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At least 66 people were killed overnight and into Sunday in a series of Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, according to local hospitals and medical personnel, as Israel intensifies its military campaign in the region. Israeli officials say the escalation is aimed at increasing pressure on Hamas to agree to a temporary ceasefire. The Israeli military did not immediately issue a response regarding the strikes. In Khan Younis, the Nasser Hospital reported receiving the bodies of 20 individuals killed in several overnight attacks targeting homes and makeshift shelters housing displaced residents in the Muwasi area. In northern Gaza, at least 36 people were killed in multiple strikes, according to first responders from the health ministry and the civil defense. The dead included nine people from a single family who were killed when an airstrike hit their house in the built-up Jabaliya refugee camp, according to the health ministry’s emergency services. Another strike hit the house of the Berawi family, also in Jabaliya, killing 10 people including seven children and a woman, according to the civil defense, which operates under the Hamas-run government. Among the dead were two parents and their three children and a father and his four children, it said. Mexican navy tall ship collides with Brooklyn Bridge, masts broken, crew injured In central Gaza, at least 10 people were killed in two separate strikes, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir al-Balah. One strike in the Zweida town killed seven people, including two children and four women. The second hit an apartment in Deir al-Balah, killing two parents and their child, the hospital said.    

Arab leaders at an annual summit in Baghdad called Saturday for an immediate end to Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip and to allow aid into the Palestinian territories without conditions. They promised to contribute to the reconstruction of the territory once the war stops. In March, an emergency Arab League summit in Cairo endorsed a plan for Gaza's reconstruction without displacing its roughly 2 million residents. Saturday’s summit was attended by Arab leaders including Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Siss i. The Egyptian leader said that even if Israel succeeds in normalizing relations with all Arab states, “a lasting, just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East will remain elusive unless a Palestinian state is established in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions.” Egypt was the first Arab country to normalize ties with Israel. Among the guests were Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who called for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza and the flow of aid into the besieged territory. He said that the U.N. rejects any “forced displacement” of Palestinians. Saturday’s summit comes two months after Israel ended a ceasefire reached with the Hamas militant group in January. In recent days, Israel has launched widespread attacks in Gaza and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed a further escalation to pursue his aim of destroying Hamas. Israeli strikes kill 93 people in Gaza as Trump wraps up Middle East visit “This genocide has reached levels of ugliness not seen in all conflicts throughout history,” Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a speech that called for allowing aid to flow into Gaza. Al-Sudani added that Iraq will work on setting up an Arab fund for the reconstruction of the region in which Baghdad will pay $20 million for Gaza and a similar amount for Lebanon. Final statement calls for end to Israeli attacks in Gaza “We demand an immediate end to the Israeli aggression on Gaza and an end to hostilities that are increasing the suffering of innocent civilians,” said the final statement issued after the summit that was read by Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein. “Humanitarian aid should be allowed into all areas in Palestine without conditions.” The leaders said they reject any attempt to displace Palestinians in Gaza saying that any such move would be “a crime against humanity and (an act of) ethnic cleansing.” The statement said Arab leaders support Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' call for the holding of an international peace conference that leads to a two-state solution. El-Sissi said that Egypt, in coordination with Qatar and the U.S., is “exerting intense efforts to reach a ceasefire” in Gaza, adding that the efforts led to the release of Israel-American hostage Edan Alexander. He said that Egypt plans to hold an international conference for the reconstruction of Gaza “once the aggression stops.” Abbas calls for Hamas to give up power in Gaza Abbas, the Palestinian president, called on Hamas to abandon power in Gaza and along with other militant groups to hand over weapons to the Palestinian Authority. Hamas seized control of Gaza from Abbas’ Western-backed Palestinian Authority in 2007, and reconciliation attempts between the rivals have repeatedly failed. The Baghdad meeting was upstaged by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tour in the region earlier in the week. Trump’s visit did not usher in a deal for a new ceasefire in Gaza as many had hoped, but he grabbed headlines by meeting with new Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa — who had once fought against U.S. forces in Iraq — and promising to remove U.S. sanctions imposed on Syria. Al-Sharaa did not attend the summit in Baghdad, where Syria’s delegation was headed by Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani. Iraqi Shiite militias and political factions are wary of al-Sharaa’s past as a Sunni militant and had pushed back against his invitation to the summit. Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 59 people During Syria’s conflict that began in March 2011, several Iraqi Shiite militias fought alongside the forces of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, making al-Sharaa today a particularly sensitive figure for them. Arab leaders back Syrian unity The statement issued after the summit said Arab leaders back Syria's unity and reject foreign intervention in the country. They condemned Israel's airstrikes and land incursions into Syria over the past months. They praised Trump's plans to lift the sanctions imposed on Syria and the easing of European sanctions recently saying that would “speed up recovery and the reconstruction process” in the war-torn country. Israeli strikes on Gaza kill more than 90 people in the last 48hrs An Iraqi official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media, said that Iran’s Quds Force commander Esmail Ghaani paid a visit to Baghdad prior to the summit and “conveyed messages of support for the Iranian-American negotiations” to reach a nuclear deal and lifting of crippling sanctions on Iran.

Israel has launched a major operation in the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas to release remaining hostages, the defense minister said Saturday, following days of intensive strikes across the territory that killed hundreds of people. Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Operation Gideon Chariots was being led with “great force” by Israel’s army. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed earlier in the week to escalate pressure on Hamas with the aim of destroying the militant group that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades. The operation comes as US President Donald Trump concluded his trip to the region without a visit to Israel. There had been widespread hope that Trump’s trip could increase the chances of a ceasefire deal or the resumption of humanitarian aid to Gaza, which Israel has prevented for more than two months. Israeli strikes kill 93 people in Gaza as Trump wraps up Middle East visit Negotiations between Israel and Hamas have yet to achieve progress in Qatar’s capital, Doha. Hamas, which released an Israeli-American hostage as a goodwill gesture ahead of Trump’s Mideast trip, insists on a deal that eventually ends the three-year war — something Israel said it won't agree to. More than 150 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It said almost 3,000 have been killed since Israel broke a January ceasefire on March 18. Of the hostages who remain in Gaza, Israel believes as many as 23 are still alive, although Israeli authorities have expressed concern for the status of three of those.  Israeli strikes kill at least 64 people in Gaza as Trump wraps up his Middle East visit The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 others. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Iran’s president said his country will continue talks with the United States over its rapidly advancing nuclear program but will not withdraw from its rights because of US threats. “We are negotiating, and we will negotiate, we are not after war but we do not fear any threat," President Masoud Pezeshkian said during a speech to navy officials broadcast by state television Saturday, reports AP. “It is not like that they think if they threaten us, we will give up our human right and definite right,” Pezeshkian said. “We will not withdraw, we will not easily loose honourable military, scientific, nuclear in all fields.” The negotiations have reached the “expert” level, meaning the sides are trying to reach agreement on the details of a possible deal. But a major sticking point remains Iran’s enrichment of uranium, which Tehran insists it must be allowed to do and the Trump administration increasingly insists the Islamic Republic must give up. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. Trump and US administration used power for massacre in Gaza: Ayatollah Khamenei Earlier on Friday, Trump said Iran received a proposal during the talks, though he did not elaborate. During his trip to region this week, Trump at nearly every event insisted Iran could not be allowed to obtain a nuclear bomb, something US intelligence agencies assess Tehran is not actively pursuing, though its program is on the cusp of being able to weaponise nuclear material. Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran’s atomic organisation, stressed the peaceful nature of the program, saying it is under “continuous” monitoring by the UN nuclear watchdog, state TV reported Saturday. “No country is monitored by the agency like us,” Eslami said, adding that the agency inspected the country’s nuclear facilities more than 450 time in 2024. “Something about 25 per cent of all the agency inspections” in the year.

In his first reaction to Trump’s regional visit, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Trump wasn't truthful when he made claims about creating peace through power. “Trump said that he wanted to use power for peace, he lied. He and the US administration used power for massacre in Gaza, for waging wars in any place they could,” Khamenei said Saturday during a meeting with teachers broadcast on state television, reports AP. The US has provided Israel with 10-ton bombs to “drop on Gaza children, hospitals, houses of people in Lebanon and anywhere else when they can," Khamenei said. Khamenei, who has the final say on all Iranian state matters, reiterated his traditional stance against Israel. Israeli strikes kill 93 people in Gaza as Trump wraps up Middle East visit “Definitely, the Zionist regime is the spot of corruption, war, rifts. The Zionist regime that is lethal, dangerous, cancerous tumor should be certainly eradicated, and it will be," he said, adding that the US has imposed a pattern on Arab nations under which they cannot endeavour without US support. “Surely this model has failed. With efforts of the regional nations, the US should leave the region, and it will leave," Khamenei said. Meanwhile, regional leaders were to meet in Baghdad on Saturday at the annual summit of the Arab League, with the war in Gaza expected to once again loom large.

During US President Donald Trump’s historic visit to the UAE — the first by a sitting American president in 17 years — the warm reception included a striking showcase of Emirati culture. President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan greeted Trump with traditional performances, including a captivating hair dance by young Emirati girls that drew global attention online.  Migrant workers dying on Saudi worksites ahead of World Cup: HRW The rhythmic tossing of hair, known locally as the Naa’shaat, along with the iconic Ayyala dance performed by rows of men, symbolized more than ceremonial flair. According to Ahmed Bel Jafflah, senior presenter and protocol manager at the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Centre for Cultural Understanding, these dances are deep-rooted expressions of the UAE’s identity. “The Ayyala represents unity, pride, and heritage, forming a vital part of Emirati tradition and now recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage,” Jafflah told Gulf News. “These performances reflect the values and spirit of our society.”  Nvidia to send 18,000 AI chips to Saudi Arabia

At least 93 people were killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza on Friday as US President Donald Trump wrapped up his regional trip. Strikes overnight hit across Gaza, including the outskirts of Deir al-Balah and the city of Khan Younis. Gaza's health ministry said hundreds more were injured in addition to those killed, reports AP. The widespread attacks across come as Trump finishes his visit to Gulf states but not Israel. There had been widespread hope that his regional trip could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in its third month.  Israeli strikes kill at least 64 people in Gaza as Trump wraps up his Middle East visit Speaking to reporters at a business forum in Abu Dhabi on the final day of his trip, Trump said he was looking to resolve a range of global crises, including Gaza. “We’re looking at Gaza,” he said. “And we’ve got to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving. A lot of people are — there’s a lot of bad things going on.” Israel said Friday it was continuing its operations against militants in Gaza and that it struck 150 targets in the past day, including anti-tank missile posts and military structures. In northern Gaza, it eliminated several militants who were operating in an observation compound, it said. The strikes lasted for hours into Friday morning and sent people fleeing from the Jabaliya refugee camp and the town of Beit Lahiya. They followed days of similar attacks that killed more than 130 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. After the strikes, dark smoke was seen rising over Jabaliya as people grabbed what they could of their belongings and fled on donkey carts, by car and foot. “The army entered upon us, bombing, killing. ... We got out of the house with difficulty, killing and death, we did not take anything,” said Feisal Al-Attar, who was displaced from Beit Lahiya. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed earlier in the week to push ahead with a promised escalation of force in Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip to pursue his aim of destroying the Hamas militant group, which governs Gaza. In comments released by Netanyahu’s office Tuesday, the he said Israeli forces were days away from entering Gaza “with great strength to complete the mission ... It means destroying Hamas.”  54 killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes on Southern Gaza’s Khan Younis

Multiple airstrikes hit Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis overnight into Thursday, killing more than 50 people in a second consecutive night of heavy bombing, while another airstrike in the north of the Palestinian territory left more than a dozen people dead, authorities said. The strikes come as U.S. President Donald Trump visits the Middle East, visiting Gulf states but not Israel. There had been widespread hope that Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in its third month. An Associated Press cameraman in Khan Younis counted 10 airstrikes on the city overnight into Thursday, and saw numerous bodies taken to the morgue in the city’s Nasser Hospital. It took time to identify some of the bodies due to the extent of their injuries. The hospital’s morgue confirmed 54 people had been killed. The dead included a journalist working for Qatari television network Al Araby TV, the network announced on social media, saying Hasan Samour had been killed along with 11 members of his family in one of the strikes in Khan Younis. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes. It was the second night of heavy bombing, after airstrikes Wednesday on northern and southern Gaza killed at least 70 people, including almost two dozen children. Another strike in Jabaliya in northern Gaza hit a complex including a mosque and a small medical clinic, killing 13 people, said the Civil Defense, a first responder agency operating under Gaza's Hamas-run government. Mourning for the dead in Khan Younis In Nasser Hospital, Safaa Al-Najjar, her face stained with blood, wept as the shroud-wrapped bodies of two of her children were brought to her: 1 1/2-year-old Motaz Al-Bayyok and 1 1/2 month-old Moaz Al-Bayyok. The family was caught in the overnight airstrikes. All five of Al-Najjar's other children, ranging in ages from 3 to 12, were injured, while her husband was in intensive care. One of her sons, 11-year-old Yusuf, his head heavily bandaged, screamed in grief as the shroud of his younger sibling was parted to show his face. Severe shortages leave Gaza City residents without water, bread, or basic necessities “I gave them dinner and put them to sleep as usual, it was a normal day. Suddenly I don’t know what happened, the world went upside down," she said as others tried to comfort her. "I don’t know, I don’t know … what is their fault? What is their fault?” Outside the hospital, mourners gathered to pray as the dead, laid out in rows in white body bags, were loaded onto a truck to be taken for burial. Israel has vowed to escalate the war Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed earlier in the week to push ahead with a promised escalation of force in Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip to pursue his aim of destroying the Hamas militant group, which governs Gaza. In comments released by Netanyahu’s office Tuesday, the prime minister said Israeli forces were days away from entering Gaza “with great strength to complete the mission ... It means destroying Hamas.” International rights group Human Rights Watch said Thursday that Israel’s stated plan of seizing Gaza and displacing hundreds of thousands of people “inches closer to extermination,” and called on the international community to speak out against it. The war began when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in an Oct. 7, 2023 intrusion into southern Israel. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. Almost 3,000 have been killed since Israel broke a ceasefire on March 18, the ministry said. The Health Ministry said Thursday morning that the bodies of 82 people killed in Israeli strikes, including the 54 in Khan Younis, had been brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours. The overall Palestinian death toll rose to 53,010, with another 119,998 people wounded. Hamas still holds 58 of the roughly 250 hostages it took during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, with 23 believed to still be alive, although Israeli authorities have expressed concern for the status of three of those. Gaza’s only hospital providing cancer treatments out of service due to Israeli strikes Gaza's Health Ministry said Thursday that Israeli strikes have rendered the European Hospital Khan Younis — the only remaining facility providing cancer treatments in Gaza — out of service due to severe damage to its infrastructure and access roads. The shutdown halts all specialized treatments, including cardiac surgeries and cancer care, the ministry added. An Israeli woman on her way to give birth was killed in a West Bank attack The Israeli military conducted two airstrikes against the European Hospital on Tuesday, saying it was targeting a Hamas command center beneath the facility. Six people were killed in the strike. European Hospital director Imad al-Hout told AP there had been 200 patients in the hospital at the time of Tuesday’s strikes. They were all gradually evacuated, with the last 90 transferred to other hospitals, including Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, on Wednesday morning. Efforts were now underway to coordinate repairs to the facility, he added. Israeli blockade of aid into Gaza in its third month Palestinians in northern Gaza lined up Thursday near areas under Israeli bombardment in a desperate attempt to obtain food, as Israel’s aid blockade entered its third month. At the charity kitchen set up atop piles of rubble in Beit Lahia, dozens of Palestinians stood in a crowded line, pressing against one another, holding empty pots and plastic containers high in the air in hopes of receiving vegetable soup. Um Abed, who is displaced with 20 family members, waited in line from 9 a.m. and went home empty-handed for the second day in a row as the number of people far exceeded the available food. “I have a 3-year-old child who’s crying all day because he wants to eat … we want them to stop the war and to allow food in,” Um Abed cried and yelled as she held up her empty pot to the camera. Israel’s offensive has obliterated vast swaths of Gaza’s urban landscape and displaced 90% of the population, often multiple times. It halted the entry of all aid, including food and medication, into the territory on March 2, and international food security experts have warned that Gaza will likely fall into famine if Israel doesn’t lift its blockade and stop its military campaign. Nearly half a million Palestinians are facing possible starvation while 1 million others can barely get enough food, according to findings by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer on Thursday denied there was a food shortage in Gaza and claimed Hamas was “holding onto it ... they need to open up the food to the people.” Human Rights Watch said Israel's plan to seize Gaza and remain there, coupled with the “systematic destruction” of civilian infrastructure and the block on all imports into the territory, were cause for signatories to the Genocide Convention to act to prevent Israel’s moves. The group also called on Hamas to free the hostages it still holds. Israel vehemently denies accusations that it is committing genocide in Gaza.

Residents of Gaza City are grappling with an increasingly desperate humanitarian situation, with no access to safe drinking water, food, or basic necessities, according to a UK-based aid official. Mai Elawawda, a communications officer for the UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, described dire conditions in a message from southern Gaza, saying, “The future is utterly bleak.” She added, “After more than 19 months of forced starvation, dehydration, and displacement, we do not know how much longer we can hold on.” According to Elawawda, there is “extremely limited” access to safe drinking water, and food is no longer available in markets. What little remains is priced far beyond what most people can afford. Infant formula has become almost impossible to find, and in the rare cases it is available, it costs over $25 (£18). Nappies, she noted, are being sold for more than $30 (£22), “well beyond the reach of displaced families who cannot even secure their daily meals.” During a visit to Gaza City last week, she said, “you would not find a single loaf of bread for sale.” Source: BBC

Tzeela Gez was on her way to the hospital to bring new life into this world when hers was suddenly cut short. As her husband drove their car through the winding roads of the occupied West Bank late Wednesday, a Palestinian attacker shot at them. Within hours, Gez, nine months pregnant, was dead. Doctors barely saved the life of the baby, who is in serious but stable condition. Israel says it is trying to prevent such attacks by waging a monthslong crackdown on West Bank militants that intensified earlier this year. But the escalating offensive, which has killed hundreds of Palestinians over 19 months, displaced tens of thousands and caused widespread destruction, has ultimately not snuffed out attacks. And the latest bloodshed is only likely to fuel a cycle of violence that has persisted for decades between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel has pledged to find the attacker, who fled the scene, and the military chief of staff, who visited the area Thursday, told troops that the broader operation would continue alongside the manhunt. "We will use all the tools at our disposal and reach the murderers in order to hold them accountable,” Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said, according to a statement from the military, which said it had sealed Palestinian villages in the area of the attack and set up checkpoints. The shooting, especially because the victim was a pregnant mother with three other children, has the potential to ignite vigilante violence against Palestinians by radical Jewish settlers. They regularly storm Palestinian towns and villages, burning and damaging property, in response to such attacks. Marauding settlers are rarely held to account for their actions and Palestinians are left to pick up the pieces of the destruction with little recourse to compensation or assistance from Israeli authorities.  54 killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes on Southern Gaza’s Khan Younis ‘A mother in her essence’ Gez, 37, and her husband Hananel, were residents of Bruchin, a settlement of some 2,900 in the northern West Bank. She worked as a therapist and on her Facebook page, shared developments in her professional life as well as her thoughts on the war in Gaza, the fallen Israeli soldiers and the hostages still held by Hamas. Meital Ben Yosef, head of the settlement's local council, told Israeli Army radio that Gez was “all mother. A mother in her essence.” “A couple of parents were driving to the happiest moment that a parent can experience and the wife is killed on the way. It’s a horrific incident,” she said. Photos of the car released by the military showed a bullet hole on the passenger side of the windshield and a streak of blood on a back door. Soldiers searched the rugged brush on the sides of the road following the attack, according to video released by the Israeli military. Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, praised the attack as “heroic” in a video statement Wednesday but stopped short of saying the militant group was behind it. On Thursday, military checkpoints slowed down traffic on roads in the vicinity of the attack, and many Palestinian motorists were at a standstill as they tried to make their journeys, according to video shared on social media. Concern about reprisal attacks The attack sparked outrage and calls for revenge. “Just as we are flattening Rafah, Khan Younis and Gaza, we must flatten the nests of terror in Judea and Samaria,” wrote the Israeli finance minister and a settler firebrand, Bezalel Smotrich, in a post on X, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name.  Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill 60, including 22 children The violence in the West Bank escalated when the war in Gaza erupted with Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. Israel has staged frequent raids in the territory, especially but not limited to its north, using ground and air power in violence that has killed many militants but also other Palestinians, some of them throwing rocks to protest the incursions as well as others not involved in confrontations. Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, all territories the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Around 500,000 Jewish settlers now live in about 130 settlements scattered across the West Bank. Much of the international community views settlements as illegal and an obstacle to Palestinian statehood. Israel views the West Bank as its biblical heartland and believes the fate of the settlements should be determined in peace negotiations, which have been moribund for some 15 years. Israel says much of the Palestinian militancy in the West Bank is fueled by Iran and views the fighting there as part of its ongoing multifront wars to secure its borders and prevent a second Oct. 7-style attack. UN humanitarian chief blasts Israel for 'deliberately' blocking aid to Gaza