Gaza death toll since dawn rises to 54

Sources have told Al Jazeera that the death toll since dawn on Monday in Gaza has risen to 54, during relentless Israeli military attacks.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said Israeli attacks have killed at least 2,459 people and wounded 6,569 others in the territory since Israel broke a ceasefire with Hamas on March 18.

Israel is ‘incapable’ of full Gaza military occupation

Political commentator Ori Goldberg says Israel’s military is not capable of re-occupying Gaza even with the call-up of tens of thousands of reservists.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “politically committed” to seizing the Gaza Strip in the long term, but “I highly doubt we’ll see Israeli forces invading Gaza” permanently, Goldberg told Al Jazeera.

An unnamed senior official has been quoted as saying nothing will be done until US President Donald Trump visits Israel, which is expected next week, he noted.

“And even then, it’s unclear what’s going to happen. Israel is already hemming, hawing, and hedging. Israel is incapable of doing this, and Netanyahu has repeatedly said he doesn’t want to do this.”

However, Goldberg added: “Israel’s government is off the deep end, and there’s no reason to suppose it won’t enjoy the support of the Israeli public as it has done before… [But] Israel is in a complete state of disarray.”


Israel’s military capacity to be impacted as it expands Gaza war

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Caroline Rose, the director of the New Lines Institute, says Israel’s military capabilities will be diminished as it intensifies its war on Gaza while continuing to fight on several other fronts.

“We’ve seen fronts added in the West Bank, in Lebanon, in Syria, even one could argue, against the Houthis in Yemen,” Rose told Al Jazeera.

“This is something that is going to drain not only their active duty forces, but also their reservists. It has already had an impact on the morale of their forces,” said Rose, who spoke shortly after Israel announced it was calling up tens of thousands of more reservists.

“This is something that is going to certainly impact Israel’s operational capacity, particularly given the fact that there does not seem to be an end to any of these fronts,” she said.

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.

Israel Lobby HUMILIATING DEFEAT After Boycott Bill Pulled

Krystal and Glenn discuss the Israel lobby defeated after a boycott bill was pulled from the House.

An attempt to change the demographic and political map of Gaza

Palestinians view the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza and reoccupation of much of its territorial landscape as a form of collective punishment and an attempt to change the demographic and political map of Gaza.

Many Palestinians understand that Israel is prioritising territorial control over any political solution, and many shared their own fear and panic regarding the possibility of not being able to return to their homes.

They also believe that Israel is trying not to just dismantle the military capabilities of Hamas, as the Israeli military spokesperson and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have stated, but they are trying also to empty Gaza from its residents and to suffocate civilians.

Israel will do this by adopting humanitarian and military tactics, including an expanded ground offensive, alongside tightening its grip on the flow of aid supplies to Gaza.

But there was a general and clear sentiment of defiance for many Palestinians. Social media is filled with messages of resilience and people saying that they will not leave Gaza, whatever the cost will be.

‘We cannot go on killing each other’

Israeli peace activist and Parents’ Circle Families Forum spokesperson Robi Damelin has told Al Jazeera that thousands of people are planning to gather in Jerusalem this week to call for peace.

The Parents Circle Families Forum is a joint Israeli-Palestinian organisation of over 800 families who’ve all lost an immediate family member to the ongoing conflict.

Damelin says the peace summit in Jerusalem this week is being organised by Maoz Inon, whose parents were burned to death on October 7.

“This is really I think the darkest time for Israel and Palestine”, she said. “We cannot go on killing each other”.

While she said the work of the families forum has become more difficult since October 7, its members “don’t give up”.

“It’s important to hear from people on the ground that are working to make change,” she said.

‘Optics’ of Trump visit to region ‘very bad’ as Israel’s war on Gaza rages: Report

Commenting on Trump’s planned three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week, an Arab official told the Axios news site that the trip “looks very bad” with no ceasefire in Gaza.

While Trump is expected to focus on bilateral issues and investment during this visit from May 13 to 15, the unnamed Arab official said the US president had a “big splash” about reaching a ceasefire in Gaza before his inauguration.

“But three months later, the situation in Gaza is worse,” the official told Axios.

A US official in the same report explained why Trump – Israel’s staunchest ally in its war on Gaza – was avoiding a stop in Israel during his regional visit: “Nothing good can come out of a visit to Israel at the moment.”

Israel has announced the mobilisation of 70,000 reservists as part of a new military offensive against Gaza – codenamed “Gideon’s Chariots” – which will forcibly displace more than 2 million people to the southern part of the enclave.

Israeli ground forces will enter the Strip in large numbers and occupy parts of the territory where they will “flatten all buildings”, Axios reports. “The tactic will be massive destruction,” the news site said.

Gaza is facing ‘extreme risk of famine’

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says the nutritional situation in Gaza is now “even more dire than in the past 19 months”, with essential food supplies having “run out in both markets and distribution centres”.

“The nutritional front, the population is facing once again at extreme risk of famine”, the PRCS said in its latest situation update.

“There is an inability to meet even the minimum daily needs of over a million displaced people,” it said.

The Red Crescent’s food stocks allocated for displaced people are now “completely depleted”, with “limited quantities of legumes” being “distributed to community kitchens to cover some of the basic needs of displaced individuals”.


_{Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on Monday}

At least 3 killed as Israeli helicopters, jet fighters, artillery pound Gaza in predawn attacks

We reported earlier on an Israeli attack on a house in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. The death toll from that attack on the Hamdan family home has now risen to two, with several people wounded.

Attacks were also reported by local media in the early hours of this morning in several areas of Gaza, including:

Palestinians find olive trees cut down in the West Bank

_{A Palestinian man reacts after Israelis cut down Palestinian olive trees in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, on Monday}

The UN estimated that more than 10,000 Palestinian-owned olive trees were vandalised, ‘presumably by settlers’, across the West Bank in 2023 alone. Olive trees in the occupied West Bank can be hundreds of years old, with the Palestinian Olive Oil Council estimating the oldest tree is at least 5,500 years old.

Olives and olive oil are an important source of income for the occupied West Bank, which has suffered economic losses since October 2023.

Israeli forces demolish structures in Masafer Yatta

Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq says Israeli forces have again attacked the occupied West Bank community featured in the Oscar-winning film No Other Land.

According to Al-Haq, Israeli soldiers, using bulldozers, demolished 11 residential structures, seven caves, five livestock pens, six water wells and two tents in Masafer Yatta on Monday.

They also destroyed water tanks, electricity grids and solar panels surrounding the houses, leaving Palestinian residents and their livestock stranded without water or electricity, with nowhere to go, it said.

Today, 5 May, Israeli forces have demolished several structures in Khallet Al-Dabe’ in Masafer Yatta, incl. 11 residential structures, 7 caves, 5 livestock pens, 6 water wells, 2 tents, using #Hyundai bulldozers. 1/4 https://t.co/YejHJDjZEo

— Al-Haq الحق (@alhaq_org) May 5, 2025

Palestinians watch as Israeli forces demolish homes in West Bank refugee camp

_{An Israeli army excavator demolishes a Palestinian building in the Nur Shams refugee camp east of Tulkarem, on Monday}

_{Families from the Nur Shams camp for Palestinian refugees watch from an overlooking hill as an Israeli military bulldozer demolishes a home in the camp east of Tulkarem, on Monday}

Four more arrested in latest West Bank raids

Israeli forces have made more arrests during raids across the occupied West Bank. Among those arrested are:

Israeli forces to demolish 15 West Bank homes today: Report

Israeli forces are preparing to tear down dozens of homes – 90 in total – in the Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps in the occupied West Bank, reports The Times of Israel.

Citing the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the report said Palestinian residents were given just five hours to gather their belongings and leave the homes.

The first 15 of 90 homes slated for demolition will be demolished today, said COGAT, according to The Times of Israel.

‘Accomplice in genocide’: Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib calls out US support for Israel

Rashida Tlaib – the first woman of Palestinian descent in the US Congress – has said the United States is complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

In a post on X, Tlaib, who was re-elected to the House of Representatives in November, said Netanyahu has announced plans to “forcibly expel and ethnically cleanse the entire Palestinian population”.

Netanyahu also intends to “flatten and annex Gaza”, she said, adding that the plan comes after 64 days of Israel blocking all food and humanitarian aid from entering the war-torn territory.

“This was always their plan,” Tlaib said. “The US is an accomplice in this genocide.”

War Criminal Netanyahu has announced a plan to forcibly expel and ethnically cleanse the entire Palestinian population, flatten, and annex Gaza.

This comes after 64 days of blocking food and aid. This was always their plan.

The U.S. is an accomplice in this genocide. https://t.co/4FcxFI0VGr

— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) May 5, 2025

France says Israel’s Gaza conquest plan ‘unacceptable’

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has denounced Israel’s plans to conquer and hold territory in Gaza, calling it “unacceptable” and a “violation of humanitarian law”.

France “very strongly” condemns the planned Israeli campaign, he said in a radio interview.

His remarks build on growing international criticism of the plan, including from some of Israel’s European allies.

France working towards recognising Palestinian state: Foreign minister

In an interview with France’s RTL Radio, Barrot said France is “working towards the recognition of a Palestinian state”, a diplomatic push he hopes would inspire other states to do the same.

“France’s voice is heard when it speaks on these issues,” said Barrot. “We want other countries to act alongside France, for commitments to be made and for France to help create the conditions for the very existence of the Palestinian state – which is far from guaranteed.”

In Gaza, he added, “the urgent priority is a ceasefire and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid… The risk of famine is real. Humanitarian access must be opened immediately.”

China opposes Israel’s displacement plans for Gaza

China has said it opposes Israel’s military actions in Gaza, including expanded operations in the enclave.

“China is highly concerned about the current Palestine-Israel situation,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said, adding: “We oppose Israel’s ongoing military actions in Gaza, and hope all parties continuously and effectively implement the ceasefire agreement.”

Since the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza, Beijing has been calling for a ceasefire and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state while criticising the US support for Israel.

China was one of 40 countries to present oral arguments during the International Court of Justice’s public hearings last week into what Israel’s obligations are regarding allowing UN agencies and other relief groups to work in Gaza.

Ma Xinmin, China’s representative, stressed during the hearing that Israel has a legal obligation to accept humanitarian assistance from third parties when the population is not sufficiently supplied.

‘Word truce should be deleted from lexicon’, says Israeli minister

Asked whether Israel should prioritise defeating Hamas or returning the captives, Energy Minister Eli Cohen said the government is committed to both.

“No one will give up on either of them,” he was quoted by Israel’s Reshet Bet radio as saying. “The word truce must be erased from the lexicon. The Gaza Strip will be demilitarised.”

Cohen also addressed Israel’s response to Houthi-claimed missile attacks, saying retaliation “should not be limited to Yemen alone”. “The one behind it all is Iran – and it must pay a price,” he said.

Low morale, exhaustion among soldiers could hamper Israel’s expanding multi-front war

Caroline Rose, the director of the New Lines Institute think tank in Washington, DC, spoke to Al Jazeera earlier about Israeli forces fighting on multiple fronts – from Gaza to Yemen and Syria to Lebanon – and how so many conflicts will drain Israeli military capabilities.

Here’s more of what Rose said:

“Netanyahu, of course, is preparing more plans for doubling down on their offensive in the Gaza Strip. So, this is certainly going to be something that will impact the [Israeli military’s] operational capacity.

“And I think it is also worth noting that, as of now, the plan is to bring reservists into the second and third fronts that have been opened – in Lebanon, in Syria – and then swap out with those reservists, active-duty [Israeli] soldiers and deploy them into Gaza.

“On the one hand, the idea is that these forces will have operational experience – battlefield experience – that can contribute to gains made in the Gaza Strip. But, on the other hand, we are seeing a group of [Israeli] soldiers that will have low morale, they’re exhausted, and they may not necessarily be able to contribute to a successful campaign,” she said.

_{An Israeli reserve soldier takes part in a protest, with the mothers of soldiers, calling to end the war in Gaza, in Israel, on May 4}

Palestinian author Mosab Abu Toha wins Pulitzer Prize for commentary

Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha received the prestigious award on Monday for his essays that focused on the “physical and emotional carnage in Gaza”, published in The New Yorker magazine.

In a brief post on social media, Abu Toha wrote: “I have just won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Let it bring hope. Let it be a tale.”

His words were an apparent reference to fellow Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, who was killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza in December 2023.

I have just won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

Let it bring hope
Let it be a tale pic.twitter.com/VP6RsPY6vz

— Mosab Abu Toha (@MosabAbuToha) May 5, 2025

Protesters at New York fashion gala say ‘the Met has blood on its hands’

Pro-Palestinian protesters have again taken aim at one of the fashion world’s biggest nights as the Met Gala got under way in New York’s Manhattan on a rainy Monday night.

Protesting to highlight the genocide in Gaza, demonstrators gathered about a block away from the gala as the area immediately around the Metropolitan Museum of Art was cordoned off by police.

Video clips shared on social media showed some protesters hopping over barricades as they marched in the rain through Central Park towards the events and its celebrity participants who have been accused of flaunting their “extreme wealth and materialism” while Israel perpetrates genocide in Gaza.

“Not a single food or aid truck has entered Gaza for two months, leading to mass starvation of the Palestinian people,” the Within Our Lifetime protest group wrote in a post on social media.

It’s the second year in a row that protests have taken place outside the gala.

Last year, an online movement emerged calling for the blocking of celebrities on social media who had attended the Met Gala and were seen as being insensitive towards, or even supportive of, Israel’s killing of Palestinians and destruction of Gaza.

🇵🇸‼️Despite the barricades and heavy police presence, protesters continue to make it directly in front of the Met Gala, waving the Palestinian flag to make it clear that the Met has blood on its hands. pic.twitter.com/eeTx9kRJ7j

— Within Our Lifetime (@WOLPalestine) May 6, 2025

Kehlani concert at NYC’s Central Park cancelled after singer supported Palestine

New York’s Summer Stage concert series said, in a post on Instagram, that it has cancelled its Pride benefit concert with R&B singer Kehlani after Mayor Eric Adams’s office expressed “safety and security” concerns.

The cancellation comes after New York representative Ritchie Torres claimed that Kehlani, who has been a vocal supporter of Palestinians, had called for the “dismantling of Israel”.

Kehlani has responded to previous criticisms of their pro-Palestinian activism, saying: “I am anti-genocide. I am anti the actions of the Israeli government. I am anti an extermination of an entire people.”

PEN America’s Jonathan Friedman said the decision to cancel the show was “cowardly”.

“No one wins when politicians meddle to suppress artistic expression,” Friedman said in a statement.


_{Kehlani performs at All Points East festival in Victoria Park, London}


Students hang giant Gaza banner at Cornell University

Student activists hung a 9-metre (30-foot) banner reading GAZA in giant red letters from the McGraw Tower at Cornell University in Ithaca on Monday.

The protest comes as the Trump administration has reportedly frozen more than $1bn in funding for the university in upstate New York, an action partly linked to a push to get universities to crack down on protests against the war.

Cornell has since cancelled a performance by singer Kehlani, who has been a vocal supporter of Palestinians.

Students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests at the university have also faced penalties, including PhD student Momodou Taal, who left the United States last month after his student visa was revoked.


_{The banner was hung from scaffolding on the university’s McGraw Tower on Monday}