Gaza death toll rises

At least 40 Palestinians have been killed and 125 wounded in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. Israel’s war on Gaza has killed 52,535 people and wounded 118,491 others since October 7, 2023, it said.

Since Israel ended the ceasefire unilaterally on March 18, it has killed at least 2,436 people in Gaza and wounded 6,450 others, the statement added.

Supporters stopped from reaching Freedom Flotilla ship


_{Members of the Armed Forces of Malta watch on as supporters carrying supplies are prevented from approaching the ‘Conscience’}

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition is a grassroots movement seeking to draw attention to – and break – Israel’s blockade on Gaza. Here’s a look at some of its recent efforts:

• In April 2024, the Freedom Flotilla attempted to travel to Gaza, carrying 5,000 tonnes of humanitarian supplies and aid workers from 40 countries, including former South African President Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela.
• The flotilla’s lead ship, the Akdeniz, was unable to depart Turkey after organisers said its flag was withdrawn under pressure from Israeli and US authorities.
• The Akdeniz followed in the footsteps of previous Freedom Flotilla vessels, such as the Marianne, which was stopped by Israeli forces 100 nautical miles (185km) from Gaza’s shore in June 2015.
• Last week, as Israel’s current total blockade on Gaza became the longest in history, activists again set out to reach Gaza, this time onboard The Conscience.
• On Friday, two drones hit the vessel, causing the engine to catch fire and blowing a hole in the hull. It has since remained anchored in international waters near Malta.
  
  

Freedom Flotilla says Malta blocking aid to stranded vessel

Maltese authorities have blocked the stranded Freedom Flotilla ship, which came under attack off their waters while carrying aid to Gaza on May 2, from sailing to Malta or receiving assistance from volunteers, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC).

In a press briefing, FFC said Malta’s military “intercepted” a group of volunteers en route to aid the ship, named the Conscience, on Saturday. Maltese authorities have also continued to deny the ship access to Maltese waters, “despite urgent SOS distress calls”, it said.

“The international community and humanitarian organizations must demand that Maltese authorities permit the Conscience immediate safe passage into Maltese waters, and provide all needed assistance as well as protection for the ship and all those on board,” FFC said.

As we reported, the May 2 drone attack on the unarmed vessel blew a hole in the ship and set the engine ablaze with 30 crew members on board. At least four people suffered minor injuries, including burns, from the attack, according to the FFC.

Gaza-bound aid ship in talks with Malta to repair vessel hit by drones

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an international NGO that intends to deliver humanitarian assistance to Gaza by sea, has said it is in talks with Malta’s government about allowing an aid-carrying vessel to enter Maltese waters to repair damage caused by a recent drone attack.

Iran warns it would attack US, Israeli ‘interests’ after Netanyahu threats

Iranian Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh says Tehran will strike back if the US or Israel attack his country.

“If this war is initiated by the US or the Zionist regime [Israel], Iran will target their interests, bases and forces – wherever they may be and whenever deemed necessary,” Nasirzadeh told Iranian state TV.

“The countries in the region are our brothers, but America’s bases are our targets,” he added.

Netanyahu earlier warned that Israel will respond to “Iranian terror masters” after Yemen’s Houthi group launched a missile that struck a road at Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv. “Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Netanyahu said.

Iran unveils new ballistic missile as tensions soar

The new solid-fuel ballistic missile has a range of 1,200km (745 miles), according to a state television report.

The missile display comes the same day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to attack Iran after a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels detonated near Israel’s international airport.

“The solid propellant Ghassem Basir ballistic missile has a range of at least 1,200km and is Iran’s latest defence achievement,” the broadcaster said.

Iran supports the “axis of resistance” network of groups opposed to Israel, including the Houthis, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and Shia armed groups in Iraq.

What could happen after Houthi attack on Israel’s biggest airport?

Israel ‘working around the clock’ for return of Tel Aviv flights: Minister

Israel’s minister of transportation says the government is “working around the clock with airlines and authorities” for the return of flights by international air carriers.

“We will not allow price gouging,” Miri Regev was quoted as saying by Israel’s Channel 12.

“I have instructed preparations for the possibility that foreign airlines will not resume flights to Israel after 72 hours, to renew the aviation hubs from Larnaca and Athens for citizens whose flights to the country were cancelled – and from there to reinforce flights to and from Israel.”

Many international airlines have cancelled their flights to Tel Aviv after a ballistic missile from Yemen hit a road at Ben Gurion International Airport.

Houthis vow to continue targeting Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport

The Yemen-based group’s military spokesperson Yayha Saree has called on international airlines to cancel flights into Israeli airports.

The Houthis said in a statement that they will impose “a comprehensive aerial blockade” on Israel by repeatedly targeting its airports in response to Israel expanding its “aggressive” war on Gaza.

The group urged airlines to “cancel all flights to the airports of the criminal enemy in order to preserve the safety of their aircraft and customers”.

The statement from the Yemeni group comes after it struck near Israel’s main airport earlier, leading several international airlines to suspend flights.

Houthi attack gives Israel pretext for ‘hawkish action against Iran’

The missile strike on Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport by Yemen’s Houthis came as a shock to Israelis, says Andreas Krieg, senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London.

“I think there was a kind of a sense of security that ending the war with Hezbollah, or at least having a ceasefire with Hezbollah and some control over what’s going on in Gaza, there was a belief that at least people living within Israel would be safe,” said Krieg, speaking from London.

“And now what we’ve seen is that several layers of air defence failed.”

While Arab Gulf countries and the US want to de-escalate tensions with Iran, “the only entity that wants to escalate further is Israel”, said Krieg.

“So what happened today kind of gives [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu somewhat of a pretext of pushing for more hawkish action against Iran, if not directly in Iran, than at least against Iranian targets in the wider region”, he told Al Jazeera.

US conducts air strikes on Yemen: Houthi-affiliated media

A local source has told the Yemen news agency Saba that United States fighter jets targeted the al-Sawad area south of the capital, Sanaa, with three air attacks.

The strikes come after a missile fired by Houthi rebels towards Israel on Sunday landed near the country’s main international airport, causing panic among travellers and drawing threats of retaliation against the group and Iran.

Dutch WWII commemoration includes Gaza genocide victims

This is a very important evening in the Netherlands every May 4. National commemorations are being held in Amsterdam Square with the king and queen present. But this year there’s also a ceremony in The Hague. About 1,000 people have gathered here, including Holocaust survivors. It was organized by former diplomats and civil servants.

People here say we can’t commemorate World War II victims if we’re not remembering the victims of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. They’re talking about “never again” – the slogan that was so important after World War II.

People are telling me “never again is now”. This event has led to huge controversy with Jewish groups and political parties all accusing the organisers of being provocative and polarizing – even of being anti-Semitic.

The far-right government is also supporting Israel militarily, so there’s a lot of condemnation from the people gathered here.


_{Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in front of the Peace Palace in The Hague}

‘Where are the Egyptians?’

As the people of Gaza increasingly face starvation, more than 3,000 trucks packed with life-saving aid remain parked outside the besieged territory.

Critics of Israel’s devastating blockade are now asking why other nations aren’t stepping in to get crucial supplies to Palestinians in need.

“The obvious elephant in the room here is ‘Why doesn’t Egypt take a stronger stance?’ Egypt has some control, and I think at times we’ve often skipped over that fact,” said Mohamad Elmasry from the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.

Egypt is “basically subservient to Israel and the United States”, said Elmasry, adding that the Egyptians have been “collaborators with Israel not just now but for the better part of two decades” in besieging Gaza.

“I do think that’s a fair question: ‘Where are the Egyptians?’ Clearly they don’t want to confront Israel, and we have to remember the Egyptians have not been friends to the Palestinians, certainly not Hamas,” he told Al Jazeera.

‘Netanyahu hell-bent on depopulating Gaza’

Israeli captives in Gaza “do not really figure very prominently” in Netanyahu’s war calculations because his primary goal is to defeat Hamas, an analyst says.

Mohamad Elmasry from the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies said there’s been “a disconnect” between the Israeli army and the political establishment over the war in Gaza.

“It seems that Netanyahu’s getting what he wants,” the analyst said, referring to the military’s order to call up tens of thousands of reservists to expand the war on Gaza. “One thought is the military agreed to this because this is a sort of final operation to try and get rid of Hamas once and for all.”

There is a lot of “discontent and fatigue” in the Israeli military and society, he added, noting Israel’s media have reported thousands of reservists have refused to report. “Netanyahu is basically hell-bent on not just eliminating Hamas but also to depopulate Gaza as part of the ‘Greater Israel’ project,” Elmasry said.

Israel military chief warns Gaza war escalation may ‘lose’ captives

Eyal Zamir has warned Israeli leaders that captives in Gaza could be “lost” as it calls up tens of thousands of reinforcements to expand and intensify the war, a news report says.

“In a plan for a full-scale manoeuvre, we won’t necessarily reach the hostages,” the Channel 13 news network quoted Zamir as saying. “Keep in mind that we could lose them.”

The war’s two main goals of defeating Hamas and rescuing the captives “are problematic in relation to each other”, the report also cited him as saying.

Israeli drones open fire on rescuers after Gaza City attack

In the latest attack, Israel’s military targeted a home in an eastern neighbourhood of Gaza City. At least one Palestinian was killed and 25 others are trapped in the debris. Palestinian Civil Defence teams and paramedics are unable to reach the areas to rescue them. They said they tried to reach the house, but Israeli quadcopters fired live ammunition at them, so they were forced to go back.

This sort of story is not new. Palestinians are trapped under the rubble after Israeli bombardment and nobody is able to reach them and they suffocate and die.

Israel to use private military contractors to control Gaza aid: Reports

Israel plans to use US security contractors to control the flow of aid into Gaza, bypassing UN and international NGOs, news reports say.

Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported last week a new plan is in the works in which Gaza aid will soon be distributed by private foreign companies, rather than United Nations agencies, in a new designated “humanitarian zone” in the southern Gaza.

The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), a forum that includes UN agencies, said on Sunday that Israeli officials are seeking its consent to deliver aid through what it described as “Israeli hubs under conditions set by the Israeli military, once the government agrees to re-open crossings”.

In a statement, HCT said such a plan would be dangerous and would “contravene fundamental humanitarian principles and appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.

Israel ‘drunk on impunity’ as international community looks on

As Israel’s military continues its blockade of Gaza, many observers are asking why the international community is failing to intervene to halt its starvation policy.

“And it’s not just that they’re blocking entry of aid at the border. There was also this reported attack on an aid ship – a humanitarian flotilla – just the other day,” said Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.

“Israel just seems it is drunk on impunity. They’ve gotten away with so many atrocities over the past 19 months, they figure they can do pretty much what they want.”

The international rules-based order doesn’t appear to apply to the Palestinians, he told Al Jazeera, adding the “international community is failing an entire population”.

Main events on May 4th

• Israeli attacks killed 24 people in Gaza on Sunday, medical sources said.
• The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says Israel’s punishing blockade has left health services “critically under-resourced”.
• Israeli Army chief Eyal Zamir says the military issued orders calling up tens of thousands of reservists to expand the war on Gaza.
• Israel’s minister of transportation says the government is “working around the clock” to return flights to Ben Gurion Airport after it was hit by a Houthi missile, injuring eight people.
• The Houthis said they will impose “a comprehensive aerial blockade” on Israel by repeatedly targeting its airports in response to Israel expanding its “aggressive” war on Gaza.
• US National Security Council spokesperson James Hewitt says the United States military has launched “over 1,000 strikes” on Yemen’s Houthis, and will continue, in coordination with Israel.
• Caritas Sweden says one of Pope Francis’s popemobiles is being transformed into a mobile health clinic for children in the Gaza Strip.

CNN, Sky News expose US, UK military as Houthis’ missile hits Israeli airport

Yemen’s Houthis rebels on Sunday attacked Israel’s Ben Gurion airport by claiming to fire a supersonic ballistic missile. The fact that it bypassed the Iron Dome provided by the US has brought the spotlight on the effectiveness of the US military prowess. The latest attack also comes just days after both the US and the UK claimed to attack Houthis to degrade their military capabilities.

While a CNN report questioned the effectiveness of the US Irone Dome, Sky News’ Alistair Bunkall said the missile attack was so powerful that he could feel its impact even in Jerusalem. Rifat Jawaid returns with his sharp commentary.

UN rejects Israeli ‘scheme’ to bypass humanitarian aid routes

A group of UN and non-government organisations working together to coordinate humanitarian assistance to Gaza has issued a statement rejecting Israel’s plan to sidestep humanitarian organisations after it blocked all goods from entering Gaza for 64 days.

“Israeli officials have sought to shut down the existing aid distribution system run by the United Nations and its humanitarian partners and have us agree to deliver supplies through Israeli hubs under conditions set by the Israeli military, once the government agrees to re-open crossings,” The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) said in a statement.

“The UN Secretary-General and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator have made clear that we will not participate in any scheme that does not adhere to the global humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality,” the statement added.

The humanitarian organisations said that their teams “remain in Gaza, ready to again scale up the delivery of critical supplies and services: food, water, health, nutrition, protection and more”.

They urged world leaders to use their influence to lift the blockade so that “significant stocks” waiting at the border could be delivered.

Israel wants to control the population with food indefinitely, dystopian horror.



‘The occupation cannot be a humanitarian mediator’: Gaza Media Office

Gaza’s Government Media Office has categorically rejected “the malicious Israeli plan to distribute aid through it, as an occupying force, which violates humanitarian principles and perpetuates the blockade”.

It said Israel is seeking to impose a new mechanism for distributing humanitarian aid through centres under the control of its army and subject to arbitrary security conditions.

“This transforms aid from a neutral humanitarian effort into a tool for political blackmail and collective punishment,” an office statement published on Telegram said.

“The occupation cannot be a humanitarian mediator; rather, it is the source and instrument of the tragedy. Gaza needs no more promises, but rather an immediate lifting of the blockade, the opening of the crossings, the entry of aid, and the restoration of human dignity, which the occupation violates every hour,” it added.

Israeli forces kill 19 Palestinians in early morning attacks on north Gaza

Gaza Civil Defence says that its crews have recovered the bodies of 15 people killed in an Israeli attack on three apartments in the Al-Rumuz tower in the al-Karama area of Gaza City. Ten people were wounded in the attack, the Civil Defence added.

Four people were also killed and five others wounded in an attack on the al-Attar family home in the al-Sultan area of Beit Lahiya, civil defence said in a post on Telegram.

More from the UN on Israel’s ‘dangerous’ plan to replace existing aid routes

As we’ve been reporting, the UN and other humanitarian organisations that work together to deliver aid to Gaza have issued a statement rejecting a plan from Israel to bypass existing aid routes.

The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) described Israel’s plan as “dangerous”, saying it would drive “civilians into militarised zones to collect rations, threatening lives, including those of humanitarian workers”.

“The design of the plan presented to us will mean large parts of Gaza, including the less mobile and most vulnerable people, will continue to go without supplies,” they said.

It “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”, the statement said.

Israel’s proposal comes as children are going hungry, kitchens have closed and warehouses stand empty after Israeli authorities “blocked all supplies from entering Gaza” for nine weeks, the statement added.

Israeli siege in Gaza ‘executed’ in part by Egypt: Analyst

Mohamad Elmasry, a Middle East analyst at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, has urged Egypt to take a stronger stance amid the growing humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Elmasry said that Egypt has “some control” over its border with Gaza.

“Oftentimes, we skip that fact. They are basically subservient to Israel and the United States. And they have been collaborators with Israel not just now, but for the better part of the last two decades,” he said.

“It’s not just an Israeli siege. It’s executed in part by the Egyptians.”

_{A convoy of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid supplies for the Gaza Strip waits at Egypt’s New Administrative Capital, about 45km (28 miles) east of Cairo, on February 16}

This is not the first time Israel has tried to sidestep aid groups

The UN and other humanitarian aid groups have confirmed that Israeli authorities have shared a proposal that would see Israel take control of handing out rations in “militarised zones” in Gaza.

This is not the first time that Israeli authorities have tried to replace the existing humanitarian infrastructure in Gaza.

In February 2024, more than 100 Palestinians were killed when Israeli soldiers opened fire on desperate Palestinians waiting for trucks delivering food, in what would become known as the “flour massacre”.

The Israeli military acknowledged it had coordinated the convoy with private contractors, rather than the UN or other humanitarian aid organisations with experience delivering food aid safely.

The US military also tried to build a $230m floating pier in May 2024, as an alternative way to deliver aid to Gaza. But the trouble-prone structure was closed months later, after only bringing in the equivalent of about one day’s worth of pre-war food deliveries.

Five people were killed in March 2024 in one of several efforts to deliver food by air drops. Humanitarian groups have said that airdrops are not able to replace the quantities needed to deliver food to more than 2 million people living in Gaza.