Main events on May 5th
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that plans to expand the war on Gaza will be “intensive”, and could include an indefinite army presence and forced displacement of 2.3 million Palestinians.
- After a missile strike on its main airport, Israel launched a series of air attacks on Yemen with dozens of fighter jets, claiming its forces hit infrastructure used by Houthi rebels.
- At least 54 people were killed by Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip since dawn, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
- Hamas and Hezbollah condemned Israel’s attack on Yemen as a “war crime”, saying the assault won’t change the Houthis’ support for besieged Palestinians.
- Michigan’s attorney general dropped all charges against seven people arrested during a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Michigan.
New and old: Israel’s history of occupying Gaza
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 after a decades-long occupation, and then imposed a blockade on the Palestinian territory along with Egypt.
Capturing and potentially occupying Gaza again for an indefinite period would not only further dash hopes for Palestinian statehood, it would also embed Israel inside a population deeply hostile to it and raise questions about how Israel plans to govern the territory.
Israel is reportedly in touch with several countries about US President Trump’s plan to take over Gaza and relocate its population, under what Israel has termed “voluntary emigration.”
That proposal has drawn widespread condemnation, including from Israel’s allies in Europe, and rights groups have warned it could be a war crime under international law.
