The progressive congresswoman has explained why she voted against a bill providing $26bn in United States government funding for Israel. “I do not support unconditional military aid that further escalates the already horrific humanitarian situation,” Omar said in a statement posted to social media.

“I will keep calling for a permanent ceasefire and the release of hostages,” she added.

Omar was one of 37 Democrats and 21 Republicans who voted in opposition to the bill which passed the house with the support of 366 votes in favour and will now go to the senate, where a similar measure was passed more than two months ago.


_{US Representative Ilhan Omar also said escalating civilian casualties in Gaza, including children, were unacceptable}

There’s been nothing from the State Department. Instead, they have leaked this information to a favoured journalist: We’re getting tough on a military unit in Israel as part of a third round of sanctions the Biden administration is imposing on Israeli violence in the West Bank.

But it’s not as simple as that. This isn’t part of some executive action by the Biden administration. This is simply what’s required by law.

And certainly, on the face of it, it seems the Biden administration and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in particular, have actively not been abiding by the law since December.

They were called out on Thursday when the US watchdog group Pro Publica published an extensive report based on the testimony of several current and former members of the State Department saying that the State Department got a panel together to investigate human rights abuses alleged to be committed by this Netzah Yehuda Israeli military unit and found in December that they were credible.

These are human rights abuses, extrajudicial murder – including of a Palestinian-American – rape and torture. They presented that report to Blinken in December and in the words of one of the officials of the report, ‘It’s been in his briefcase ever since’.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin have taken to the streets to protest against the Israeli army raid on Nur Shams that has killed at least 14 people, reports the Wafa news agency.

The demonstrators marched through the streets of Jenin and the neighbouring Jenin refugee camp denouncing the ongoing Israeli massacres of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Wafa said.

They also called on the international community to urgently intervene to protect the Palestinian people.

We are following at least five active raids across the occupied West Bank, primarily focusing on the Nablus, Hebron and Ramallah areas. At least one Palestinian has been arrested in Nablus. In Hebron, in the village of Beit Ummar, Israeli forces are invading one of the homes, reportedly looking for someone.

We just saw this raid in the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem that lasted for around three days. This has been a nightly occurrence for Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territory since the war began.

At least 483 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in these military incursions, more than 1,300 others arrested and nearly 5,000 others have been wounded by Israeli fire.

One of the other themes we see is our medics who are prevented from getting to the scene from doing their jobs by the Israeli army. So Palestinians say that they are quite exhausted from these military incursions but it is a continuation of the realities of life under Israeli occupation.

Mustafa Taqatqa, the governor of Tulkarem, has called for a general strike in the occupied West Bank and a day of mourning on Sunday to protest an Israeli raid on the Nur Shams refugee camp that killed 14 Palestinians.

“All these crimes will not affect the determination of our people and their free will, leading to the end of the occupation and the establishment of our independent Palestinian state,” he was quoted as saying by the Wafa news agency.

We’ve been covering a wave of Israeli attacks on Rafah, the southern most city in Gaza. Al Jazeera’s Sanad Agency is reporting that at least five Palestinians, including four children and a woman, have been killed in Israeli shelling of a house belonging to the Abdel Aal family in Rafah.

Earlier, we reported on an Israeli attack on a house in the Shaboura refugee camp in central Gaza that killed three people, including a pregnant woman and a child. The targeted house belonged to the Joudeh family, according to Sanad.

This means that in the last few hours alone, Israeli air strikes have killed at least 8 Palestinians in Rafah.

Doctors save baby of pregnant woman killed in Israeli attack

Heavy Israeli shelling reported in Deir el-Balah

A news report detailing how the US administration ignored warnings over alleged abuses against Palestinians by an Israeli military unit highlights an extraordinary fissure within the US government.

“In the US, we have seen growing tensions between the technocrat experts and the political level where politicians are more or less still protecting Israel,” said political analyst Tamer Qarmout.

“The technocrats are rising up and saying ‘enough is enough’. This is unprecedented inside the US administration,” said the assistant professor in public policy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.

Similar rifts are also taking place in the UN where legal experts have argued “genocide” is taking place in Gaza, while state representatives take a softer stance against Israel, he said.

Last week, ProPublica, a non-profit organisation focusing on investigative journalism, reported current and former State Department staff told Secretary of State Antony Blinken in December of credible evidence of human rights abuses by the Netzah Yehuda Israeli military unit.

Yet, the document has been “in his briefcase ever since”, it said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan calls on the international community to oppose the US veto on Palestine’s UN bid and recognise the state of Palestine.

“It is unjust that Palestine is not allowed to become a member of the UN. We call on the international community to oppose this injustice and recognise the state of Palestine,” Fidan said in a joint news conference with his Mauritanian counterpart Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug in Istanbul.

During the meeting, Fidan said they discussed the “ongoing massacre in Gaza”. He added that the two countries were in “great solidarity” on Gaza and called for an “urgent cease-fire and uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid”.

US Representative Joaquin Castro raised concerns during the House vote to send billions in military assistance to the Netanyahu government, questioning moves by the Israeli leader.

“His actions have not led to the release of the remaining hostages. He’s ignored the pleas of the families of hostages. He’s ignored the pleas of the president of the United States. He’s ignored his own people. He’s engaged in self-preservation. We should not be sending offensive weapons to Israel right now,” said Castro.

Edward Ahmed Mitchell, from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the vote is a missed opportunity to rein in the Israeli onslaught on Gaza.

“This has taken away any leverage President Biden might have to Netanyahu to pull back on invading Rafah or killing more innocent people,” he said.

The group condemned the US House of Representatives’ approval of more than $17bn in new military aid to Israel.

“This support, which violates international law, is a licence and a green light for the Zionist extremist government to continue the brutal aggression against our people,” Hamas said in a statement.

Horrific scenes are coming from Nasser Hospital, which was stormed by the Israeli military twice, destroying its equipment and facilities, and turning the entire area into a pile of ruins.

At least 50 bodies have been retrieved from under the rubble in a mass grave found in the courtyard of the hospital. This is something consistent with what we documented and heard from medical staff and evacuees inside the hospital who managed to escape.

They told us horrific stories of how the Israeli military rounded up people from inside the facility, blindfolded them with their hands tied behind their backs, and killed them either by the use of quadcopters or sniper fire. They are all now buried in one mass grave.

Nasser Hospital is not the first health facility where there are mass graves. Al-Shifa Hospital, just within the past few days, discovered more bodies in the northern part. Kamal Adwan Hospital, two months ago, found more bodies.

The Israeli military continues to conceal its crimes underground.

Horrific scenes after the Israeli military withdrew from Nasser Hospital on April 7, leaving trails of destruction inside the complex. What’s most shocking is the discovery of a mass grave, the largest so far in the city of Khan Younis.

In the hospital courtyard, civil defence members and paramedics have retrieved 180 bodies buried in this mass grave by the Israeli military. The bodies include elderly women, children and young men.

Rescuers say some bodies were found inside plastic bags that have Hebrew writing on them. Some have their hands tied behind their backs and it looks like they were executed and then buried here.

Within the past half an hour, we’ve seen a group of people coming here – crying parents, family members – searching for the bodies of their loved ones.


_{Mourners react as people rebury the bodies of Palestinians killed during Israel’s military offensive and buried earlier at Nasser hospital, after bodies were moved to a cemetery, in Khan Younis, Sunday}

Palestinian civil defence crews have uncovered a mass grave inside the Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza’s Khan Younis, with 180 bodies recovered so far, Al Jazeera has learned, as Israel has continued bombardment of the devastated coastal enclave for more than six months.

The discovery comes after the Israeli military withdrew its troops from the southern city on April 7. Much of the Khan Younis is now in ruins after months of relentless Israeli bombardment and heavy fighting.

“In the hospital courtyard, civil defence members and paramedics have retrieved 180 bodies buried in this mass grave by the Israeli military. The bodies include elderly women, children and young men,” said Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Khan Younis.


_{Palestinian health workers stand next to unearthed bodies buried by Israeli forces in Nasser Medical Complex}

A video shared by a Palestinian journalist showing the level of destruction in Khan Younis has triggered a debate among social media users.

As Mohamed Salama walked through a destroyed building, he strolled past graffiti with the words “Free Kurdistan” and a crudely drawn Kurdish flag. On another wall were the words “Vamos Avrina”. The journalist did not comment on the graffiti as he passed it.

While some social media users concluded the graffiti indicated the presence of Kurdish armed elements fighting alongside the Israeli army, a number of other users argued against the idea, pointing out inconsistencies in the scrawled text.

“For the first time since October, and with thanks to your support, our #Gaza team has been able to deliver food parcels to people driven from their homes by the Israeli military in the north,” British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians said in a post on X.

Mahmoud Shalabi, from the charity’s Gaza team, said the packages will be delivered to 14 centres housing displaced people. The deliveries will help sustain midsize families for a week, he added.