A group of Israeli extremists have blocked another truck and attacked its driver in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports. The driver sustained minor injuries and the truck was set on fire in the attack, which occurred near the Kochav Hashahar Israeli settlement, east of Ramallah, Wafa reports.

This is the latest of several attacks carried out on trucks by Israeli extremists, who say they are blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza until all Israeli captives are returned.

Israeli extremists have, however, also perpetrated attacks and looted several trucks not carrying humanitarian aid.

One Palestinian killed, another injured by Israeli military near Tulkarem

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant of the “unquestionable necessity to ensure the protection of civilians” before any Israeli military operation is carried out in Rafah.

On a call with Gallant, he also emphasised the need for an “uninterrupted flow of aid” through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) and Rafah crossings, after the latter was seized recently and closed by the Israeli military.

Austin also reaffirmed the US’s “ironclad commitment to Israel’s security and the defeat of Hamas”.

I spoke to Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant today to discuss the ongoing hostage negotiations and the need to increase humanitarian assistance into Gaza via all land crossings. I also discussed our collaboration with the United Nations to establish a maritime corridor to…

— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) May 16, 2024

In a speech at a summit of the League of Arab States, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said “hearts are breaking for Palestinians in Gaza” and the war is a “wound” that could affect the whole region.

“In its speed and scale, it is the deadliest conflict in my time as secretary-general – for civilians, aid workers, journalists, and our own UN colleagues.”

“I reiterate my call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.  And nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.” “Yet the toll on civilians continues to escalate. Entire families wiped out. Children traumatised and injured for life. People denied access to the very basics for human survival. A looming famine.”

“Any assault on Rafah is unacceptable.  It would inflict another surge of pain and misery when we need a surge in life-saving aid.”

“I am also deeply troubled by tensions in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem, with a spike in illegal Israeli settlements, settler violence, excessive use of force by [Israel’s military], demolitions and evictions”.

Nothing can justify the 7 Oct terror attacks by Hamas.

Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

It’s high time for a humanitarian ceasefire, the immediate & unconditional release of all hostages & unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Gaza. pic.twitter.com/hwkR4cZbG7

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) May 16, 2024

Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territory, said some government officials would not admit that genocide is being carried out in Gaza even if Israel admitted to its crimes in official diplomatic correspondence.

“Some state officials would not admit that Israel is committing genocide even if the [government] of Israel sent them a Note Verbale with their genocidal intent explicated,” Albanese wrote in a post on social media.

“Wake up: Palestinians have been killed, maimed, abused, displaced, oppressed since even before the establishment of the State of Israel,” the rapporteur added.

Germany’s DPA news agency reports that foreign ministers from 13 countries have signed a letter warning Israel to halt its ground invasion of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and to allow more aid to reach the Palestinian population.

Citing a report in Germany’s Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, DPA said that apart from the United States, all other members of the Group of Seven (G7) major industrialised nations signed the four-page letter which was dated Wednesday.

In the letter sent to Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, the ministers called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to alleviate the devastating and worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza by opening all border crossings for aid supplies, including the Rafah crossing with Egypt, which is under Israeli military control.

The letter was signed by the foreign ministers of the G7 states: Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Japan and Canada, as well as their counterparts from Australia, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea and Sweden.

Senior security officials have been told that maintaining an Israeli military government in Gaza would cost about 20 billion shekels (about $5.5bn) per year, the Ynet news site reports.

Citing a copy of a report provided to Israeli security officials, Ynet said that Israel will also need to pay an undetermined amount to rebuild infrastructure and housing in the besieged enclave, after months of relentless bombardment.

Five Israeli military units would also need to stay in Gaza, while about 400 people would be needed to staff the military government, according to the report.

South Africa has urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order Israel to halt its assault on Rafah, in its latest attempt to get the UN’s highest court to put emergency measures into place as part of its case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara, commenting on the ICJ hearing, expressed hope in South Africa’s arguments. He emphasised the need for decisive action by the court against Israel and cited the country’s disregard for international rulings.

Bishara also criticised the politicised nature of international responses, particularly the US stance, which he argued undermines its global credibility.

South Africa’s justice minister says the country’s genocide case brought against Israel at the ICJ has helped sway public opinion and grow international support for the Palestinian cause.

“You can see the collective conscience of the population in terms of protests and people raising their views. We believe this will turn the tide in favour of peace and justice in the Gaza Strip,” Ronald Lamola said.

On Thursday, South Africa told the UN’s top court that the conflict has reached “a new and horrific stage” and Gaza has been “largely wiped off the map”, as it sought new emergency measures to halt Israel’s assault on Rafah.

A small group of powerful businessmen pushed New York City Mayor Eric Adams to use police to crack down on pro-Palestine student protesters at Columbia University, according to a US media report, donating to the politician and offering to pay for private investigators to help break up the demonstrations.

The story asserts that several billionaires seeking to influence public perception of Israel’s war in Gaza discussed means of pushing the mayor and the university’s president to end the protests.

A street artist based in the Irish capital, Dublin, has created a giant mural of Hind Rajab, the six-year-old Palestinian girl who was slain along with six relatives in Gaza when an Israeli tank opened fire on the car in which they were travelling.

Artist Emmalene Blake painted the mural outside the stadium of the Irish league’s Bohemian Football Club, to mark the first time Palestine’s women’s team has played on European soil – beating the home side Bohemians 2-1 on Wednesday night in Dublin.

The friendly game was scheduled to coincide with Palestine’s 76th commemoration of the Nakba.

The killing of Hind and her relatives caused global outrage. Alone and terrified in the car with the bodies of her loved ones, Hind called the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) who sent an emergency crew to rescue her. The two PRCS staff were also killed by Israeli forces.

Since the war on Gaza began, all of the enclave’s schools have closed, leaving hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children without formal schooling or a safe place to stay.

While aid groups hope classes will resume by September, this would require a ceasefire to be reached and for much of Gaza to be cleared of mines. The process of rebuilding schools could take years.

For children already traumatised by war, losing out on education during key years of their development is another devastating blow.

“The immediate focus during conflict isn’t on education, but the disruption has an incredibly long-term effect,” said Sonia Ben Jaafar, of the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation, a philanthropic organisation focused on education in the Arab world. “The cost at this point is immeasurable.”

Following our earlier reports of raids in Anabta, Bal’a, Qalqilya, and Jalazone camp, Israeli forces have also stormed areas near Nablus, Bethlehem and Hebron, making numerous arrests and wounding at least one Palestinian, reports the Wafa news agency.

Here is a breakdown of the latest raids:

• Askar camp in Nablus governorate: Fighting between residents and Israeli forces was reported where live bullets, tear gas and stun grenades were fired by the soldiers, injuring at least one person.
• Town of Duma in Nablus governorate: Israeli forces searched homes and arrested two people.
• Villages of Harmala and al-Asakra near Bethlehem: Israeli forces raided homes and tampered with residents’ property.
• Towns of Sa’ir, ash-Shuyukh and Dura in Hebron governorate: Israeli forces searched homes, while detaining two citizens and interrogating them, before releasing them.
  
  

The Israeli military says settlers attacked and burned a truck in the occupied West Bank overnight, wounding the driver. Kan public radio reported that the protesters believed the truck was carrying aid supplies to Gaza. It quoted the military as saying the truck was not carrying aid.

The incident comes just days after aid trucks heading towards the Gaza Strip were ransacked by Israeli protesters. Soldiers who arrived to separate the settlers from the Israeli driver were attacked and three soldiers were slightly hurt, the military said.

The skies above Gaza are never quiet, with residents subjected to the constant sound of jets, helicopters and drones as Israel’s heavy bombing campaign continues across the Palestinian enclave.

In northern Gaza, Palestinians in places like Jabalia face daily assaults, with recent Israeli air strikes causing many casualties. People there thought they had survived the worst of it when Israel declared in January that it had dismantled Hamas in northern Gaza and was moving on to other parts of the Strip.

But they were wrong, with Israel’s relentless bombardment resuming in the area in recent weeks.

Civilians killed as Israeli aircraft, artillery strike across Gaza Strip

Gaza’s children salvage US-made items discarded by Israeli military

_{Palestinian children carry an empty US ammunition container in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 16}

_{US ammunition containers discarded by the Israeli military in Khan Younis}

_{Empty Israeli ammunition containers in Khan Younis}

Not only is the USA fully complicit in Genocide, those tubes also look perfect for Hamas to build more rockets...

At least six people have been killed in an Israeli attack on a house in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp.

About 30 displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the house. Emergency workers are searching under the rubble for the wounded.

The Israeli military is determined to take full military control of northern of Gaza.

Since midnight, the military has intensified its bombardment of Jabalia camp. The entire camp has been under Israeli fire as battles continue in the heart of the city. Videos from the military wing of Hamas show violent confrontations in the streets.

People have been killed on the streets of Jabalia refugee camp. Israeli forces have also destroyed dozens of residential buildings, pushing more residents of the camp to flee to the western part of Gaza City.

We also hear from witnesses that bombardment is taking place in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya as well. Emergency workers are struggling to reach the area to evacuate the injured.

Israeli tanks have surrounded the entrance of Beit Hanoon town, where some families from Jabalia have fled to take shelter. The military has completely surrounded evacuation centres there, as tanks continue to fire in the area, terrifying civilians.

The death toll in Gaza from Israeli attacks since October 7 has risen to 35,303 people.

Gaza’s Health Ministry reports that another 79,261 have also been wounded in those attacks with a number of other victims trapped under the rubble and on the roads as ambulance crews and rescue workers cannot reach them.

In the last 24 hours, 31 people were killed and 56 wounded by Israeli attacks.

As we’ve been reporting, Israel’s deadly assault on Jabalia refugee camp has continued. Below is footage shared by the Quds News Network that shows an Israeli jet carrying out an attack:

Israeli troops are fighting in the “city centre” of Jabalia and directing air strikes at targets, according to an Israeli military statement. The Israeli forces have killed 60 fighters since pushing into the northern Gaza city earlier this week and uncovered a “weapons warehouse”, according to the military.

As we reported earlier, Israel’s military has since yesterday ramped up its bombardment and ground operation in Jabalia, destroying dozens of residential homes in one of the most intense offensives of the war.

Israel’s attacks in the area, which it previously said had been cleared of Hamas fighters, have killed numerous people “in the streets”, according to Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum.

Ayman Rajab, a resident of western Jabalia, said that Israel’s increasing attacks on the city are decimating the civilian infrastructure while the world looks on.

“Israel’s focus is Jabalia now. Tanks and jets are wiping out residential districts as well as markets, shops, restaurants, everything. It is all happening before the one-eyed world,” Rajab, who has four children, told Reuters news agency. “Shame on the world.

“Meanwhile, the Americans are going to get us some food. We want no food, we want this war to end and then we can manage our lives on our own.”

The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) has confirmed that trucks carrying humanitarian aid have begun moving ashore from a new US-funded temporary pier built on Gaza’s coast.

CENTCOM added that no US soldiers have gone ashore into Gaza.

Over at the ICJ, Israel’s lawyer Gilad Noam argues that all provisional measure sought by South Africa are without merit.

Specifically, he argues Israel should not be ordered to withdraw from Gaza because that would mean:

• More than 100 Israeli captives will remain trapped in the territoty
• Hamas will be left to operate unhindered
• Such an order would strip Israel of its rights under international law
• The court would be turning the Genocide Convention “into a sword rather than a shield”.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, says what Israel was saying in court runs counter to what residents in Gaza are experiencing on the ground.

Abu Azzoum says UN officials confirmed no aid has been coming in through the Rafah and Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossings.

“That reflects how much Israel is working to erase truth and change the facts on the ground as it continues its relentless bombardment of Rafah and the Jabalia refugee camp,” he says.

Since midnight, the military has intensified its bombardment of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. The entire camp has been under Israeli fire as battles continue in the heart of the city. Videos from the military wing of Hamas show violent confrontations in the streets.

Marc Owen Jones, an associate professor of Middle East Studies and Digital Humanities at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, says Israel has used the ICJ hearing as a way to get out “dishonest talking points” on aid distribution in Gaza and to launch ad hominem attacks on South Africa.

“This is why a lot of what it says comes across as completely dishonest – because it is completely dishonest,” Owen Jones told Al Jazeera. “There is a difference between the reality on the ground and what Israel is trying to present to the international community”.

Owen Jones said he believes South Africa’s case is strong enough for the court to issue additional provisional measures in Gaza, especially given that humanitarian conditions in the besieged and bombarded territory have only worsened after the court’s earlier orders for Israel to facilitate better aid flow.

“It’s months later and the aid situation is desperate,” he said.

The main argument Israel was bringing today was that the fact that South Africa says that there is at least not enough humanitarian aid coming into Rafah is basically a lie, according to Israel.

And also they said that South Africa’s claim that Rafah is this last refuge for the people in Gaza is untrue. They say they acknowledge that there are a lot of civilians there, but they also say it’s a Hamas stronghold and they have to continue this military operation.

So basically rejecting South Africa’s request to the court to order Israel to stop its military offensive in Rafah and also withdraw from Gaza altogether.

It was an interesting hearing this time, because in the beginning Israel said it didn’t have enough time to prepare – there was far too short notice. There were only two speakers compared to a lot bigger team in January.

And then, also at the end of the hearing, one of the judges, a German judge, basically asked an additional question, which is also unusual. They asked Israel to explain what is happening in these so-called evacuation zones, specifically Al Mawasi. Is there any safety there and how will people get there?

So the court has now ordered Israel to respond to this specific question tomorrow, Saturday by 6 pm.

Despite Israel’s contention at the ICJ that it is facilitating the flow of aid into Gaza, the WHO says it has not been able to get any medical supplies into the enclave since Israeli troops moved towards Rafah.

“The last medical supplies that we got in Gaza was before May 6,” WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said at a UN press briefing today. “We don’t have fuel. We have hospitals under evacuation order. We have a situation where we cannot move physically,” he said.

Palestinian health officials have warned that the few health facilities still operating are desperately depleted and at growing risk of shutting down as Israel presses on with its Rafah offensive.

PRCS says nurse killed in Israeli attack