Israeli soldiers given suspended sentences for refusing to fight in Gaza: Report

Israeli authorities have given three soldiers suspended prison sentences for refusing to fight in Israel’s new operation in Gaza due to exhaustion, Yedioth Ahronoth reports.

The Israeli newspaper reported 11 soldiers with the 50th Battalion of the Nahal Brigade refused to serve in Gaza again after completing 15 months of fighting in the territory and another three months in the occupied West Bank.

While eight of the soldiers later retracted their refusals, three continued to refuse to serve and were handed suspended sentences.

Israel to keep negotiating team in Doha to avoid ‘offending’ US: Report

Netanyahu has decided to keep the Israeli delegation at the Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha for another day, Israeli public broadcaster Kan reports.

The agency quoted an Israeli official as saying the decision was made “to avoid offending the Americans as long as the Hamas delegation remained there”.

Hamas says no progress in ceasefire talks hosted by Qatar: Report

A senior Hamas official says Israel insists on a partial deal to release some captives without committing to ending the war.

Hamas will only release the remaining abductees in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire, and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The Hamas official was not authorised to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity, The Associated Press reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a video message that Israel would achieve “complete victory” with both the release of the 58 captives held by Hamas in Gaza and the destruction of Hamas.

Israeli PM cites US senators’ push to halt Gaza blockade

Benjamin Netanyahu says US senators he has known for years as supporters of Israel – “our best friends in the world” – are telling him that desperate scenes of hunger in Gaza are draining vital support and bringing Israel close to a “red line, to a point where we might lose control”.

“It is for that reason, in order to achieve victory, we have to somehow solve the problem,” Netanyahu said in a message apparently addressed to far-right hardliners in his government who have insisted aid be denied to Gaza.

Last week, 29 US Senate Democrats introduced a resolution urging the Trump administration to use “all diplomatic tools” to stop the Israeli blockade and allow aid to enter the Gaza Strip.

“I’m offering a resolution with my colleagues that makes a simple point: it notes simply that children are starving to death. They’re starving to death as we are here comfortably debating what we think are important issues,” said Senator Peter Welch.

“And it must be the effort of all of us to do all we can to bring this siege and this war to an immediate end.”

One killed in Israeli air strikes on south Lebanon

At least one person has been killed in Israeli attacks on multiple locations across southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

An Israeli drone strike on the outskirts of the border village of Hula killed one person, the Lebanese Health Ministry said in a statement. In two other incidents near the border, three people were wounded.

On Sunday, two people, including a Lebanese soldier, were wounded in an Israeli strike, the army said.

The Israeli military said it launched a strike against a Hezbollah member and was not operating against the Lebanese army.

Israel has continued attacks on its neighbour despite the November 27 truce that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, including two months of full-blown war.

Yemen’s Houthis announce ‘maritime blockade’ on Israel’s Haifa port

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have announced what they called a “maritime blockade” on Israel’s Port of Haifa in response to Israel’s ongoing escalation in Gaza.

“All companies with ships present in or heading to this port are hereby notified that, as of the time of this announcement, the aforementioned port has been included in the list of targets,” the group’s spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said in a televised address.

The Houthis have continued to fire missiles at Israel, including at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, although they have agreed to halt attacks on US ships.

The missiles launched by the group at Israel were mostly intercepted.

At least 84 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn

The number of Palestinians killed in Israeli air attacks across Gaza since sunrise has risen to 84, medical sources tell Al Jazeera.

UN says 3 more UNRWA workers killed in Gaza

A spokesperson for the United Nations says three more workers with the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency have been killed in Gaza, continuing a trend of lethal Israeli attacks on aid workers throughout the war.

Al Jazeera correspondent Gabriel Elizondo reported two of the UN workers were killed in an Israeli strike on an UNRWA school.

JUST IN: UN spokesperson says 3 more @UNRWA staff in Gaza were killed today.

Two were killed on an Israeli air strike in what was an @UNRWA school

— Gabriel Elizondo (@elizondogabriel) May 19, 2025

Power supplies dwindle at north Gaza hospital after Israeli forces target generators

Israeli forces have reportedly targeted all three power generators at the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, leaving the key facility without its primary power sources, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary has reported.

“The hospital is now operating on backup energy from solar panel batteries, which are expected to last only a few more hours,” she wrote in an update on X.

“Medical staff warn that patients in the intensive care unit are at imminent risk as power supplies dwindle.”

UN says nearly 100,000 Palestinians displaced in Gaza in past four days

More than 97,000 Palestinians have been displaced in the Gaza Strip over the past four days, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said, warning that displacement is a “constant” in Gaza.

“Humanitarian aid must never be used to influence the movement of people”, the United Nations’ IOM also wrote on X, after several organisations raised concerns that a planned Israeli-US scheme to take over aid distribution could lead to the displacement of more people and could be used as a tool to de-populate Gaza.

Forced evacuation orders throughout Israel’s 19-month war have displaced the majority of Gaza’s population multiple times.

Earlier on Monday, Israel’s military issued another forced displacement order to residents of Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, threatening an “unprecedented” assault after launching a new ground invasion.

Israeli strike on Gaza UN school-turned-shelter kills seven

Al-Awda Hospital says among the dead in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza were a woman and a young girl.

The strike also wounded 18 others, mostly children, said the hospital, which received the casualties.

The Israeli army said it attacked a Hamas “command-and control” centre “used by terrorists to plan and execute attacks”. The army often uses the justification when it kills civilians in Gaza’s crowded displacement camps.

Israel fighting war of ‘civilisation over barbarism’ in Gaza: PM

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has slammed a statement by the governments of France, the United Kingdom, and Canada saying they could sanction Israel if it doesn’t end a new ground invasion of Gaza.

“By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel … while inviting more such atrocities,” he said in a social media post.

Israel is fighting a war of “civilization over barbarism” and will continue until it achieves “total victory”, Netanyahu added.

His post also called on European nations to accept US President Donald Trump’s vision for Gaza.

“That means the expulsion of more than two million Palestinians from their home country,” Al Jazeera correspondent Hamdah Salhut reported from Jordan. “The statement is saying that European leaders should get behind this as well.”

Main events on may 19th

Death toll in Gaza soars

Medical sources say the death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza on Monday has risen from 84 to 126.

Medical sources say Israeli forces have killed at least 38 Palestinians in Gaza since midnight local time.

The report came as the death toll from the Israeli attack on the Musa Bin Nusair School rose to 12. Another 12 people have been killed and several others are missing after Israeli forces bombed a house in Deir el-Balah. 15 people, including children, were also killed in another attack on a petrol station in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

‘People cannot stand this anymore’

A United Nations human rights official has questioned the validity of the threat by France, the UK, and Canada to impose “targeted sanctions” on Israel over its attacks on Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

“Targeting whom? You need to impose sanctions on the state. It’s not about the prime minister. This is the entire government enterprise,” said Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories.

The plan to use the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to bypass entrenched humanitarian aid mechanisms used for decades in Gaza is “one of the most appalling things I’ve seen in my career”, Albanese told Al Jazeera.

“This is a landslide moment. Millions of people from around the world have been protesting. People have been fired from their jobs. People have been arrested and detained for asking for the end of a genocide, crimes committed against women and children. People cannot stand this anymore.”


_{A pro-Palestinian protest in March 2025 in central London in the United Kingdom}

The reason Israel allowed 9 aid trucks into Gaza today, the mainstream news is reporting about the famine

Canada, France, UK issue ultimatum to Israel over military offensive, Gaza aid blockade

Gaza is on the brink of famine because of Israel's 11-week aid blockade. Israel allowed five aid trucks on Monday, which the United Nations called a "drop in the ocean." Redmond Shannon reports on how much more aid advocates say is needed, how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is justifying the move, and the "concrete actions" Canada, France and the U.K. are threatening against Israel if it continues its military offensive and keeps restricting aid.

The comments are still full of genocide deniers and Israel apologists. I'm ashamed of my fellow countrymen and hope it's mostly Hasbara bots :(

Palestinian envoy outlines actions UK, Canada and France can take against Israel

We’ve been speaking to Husam Zumlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, on the statement from Britain, France and Canada that warned Israel of sanctions if it continues with its Gaza offensive.

The “number one” thing these countries can do is impose an arms embargo, Zomlot told Al Jazeera from London.

“The UK has taken some measures to suspend some arms exports. It’s not enough. It has got to be full and comprehensive,” Zomlot said.

“This is not a demand. This is not a call. It’s a legal obligation,” he added.

In addition, the envoy said the Western countries could expand their sanctions beyond “individual settlers” in the occupied West Bank to the “entire ecosystem of the illegal settlements”, including the State of Israel.

Zumlot also said the states should also act to ensure that “war criminals” are “held accountable”.

“They must absolutely support our efforts at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice,” he said.

“These criminals, including Netanyahu, must be behind bars.”

Amnesty lambasts Israel’s allies over siege on Gaza

The prominent human rights group says “it is outrageous and morally reprehensible” that it took the world nearly 80 days of starvation in Gaza to exert enough pressure on Israel to let some aid in.

And still, “letting in a handful of aid trucks – a drop in the ocean, while simultaneously intensifying military operations […] is a cynical attempt to sugarcoat Israel’s ongoing genocide,” the group said in a post on X.

“World leaders must not be fooled,” it added.

“Nothing short of a full lifting of Israel’s siege on the occupied Gaza Strip and an immediate, enduring ceasefire will help to alleviate the catastrophic suffering Palestinians in Gaza are being forced to endure under the watch of Israel’s allies.”

It is outrageous and morally reprehensible that it took the world nearly 80 days of broadcast starvation and cruelty amidst genocide to exert enough pressure on Israel to even slightly ease its total siege that has blocked the entry of all food, medicine, fuel and other vital…

— Amnesty International (@amnesty) May 19, 2025

Australian senator slams government’s inaction on Israeli war, blockade

Mehreen Faruqi of the Greens Party says Australia should have signed onto the statement from the United Kingdom, Canada, and France threatening sanctions against Israel.

“At the very least, the Prime Minister could join the statement of our allies,” Faruqi said in a post on Instagram. Australia joined a separate statement, signed by 22 countries, asking Israel to “allow a full resumption of aid into Gaza immediately”.

However, Faruqi said, “Calling on Israel to allow aid through, without backing it with real action, is meaningless.” “What is needed are sanctions and an end to the arms trade – not empty statements and diplomatic cowardice that this genocidal regime has made clear it will simply ignore,” she added.

More than 760 NGOs urge world to break Israel’s siege on Gaza

Some 761 aid groups and nongovernmental organisations across the globe have signed onto an appeal urging the world to halt the “manufactured famine” in Gaza by breaking the Israeli siege on the enclave and sending in a diplomatic humanitarian convoy through the Rafah crossing.

The call was launched by Palestinian civil society groups on May 12.It gained more than 300 signatures within a day, including from prominent groups such as Human Rights Watch.

“We urge states to join the humanitarian convoy by dispatching official diplomatic missions – at the highest possible level – to accompany the aid trucks already waiting at the Rafah crossing, and to enter Gaza alongside them,” the petition states. “This act is grounded in states’ legal obligations, moral courage, and human solidarity.”

US Muslim group says Israeli ‘PR stunt’ won’t relieve threat of famine

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned the Israeli government for letting just nine aid trucks into Gaza.

The “trickle of aid” will “do nothing to relieve the threat of famine” for “two million Palestinian men, women and children besieged in Gaza”, CAIR said in a statement.

“This is a completely insufficient, psychotic PR stunt by Netanyahu’s genocidal government, which is determined to occupy and flatten Gaza, and then expel any Palestinians who survive,” CAIR added.

“The genocide – and our nation’s support for that genocide – must end.”

Nine trucks of aid for millions of starving Palestinians in Gaza? Israel's latest move is not humanitarian, it's a PR stunt.

We condemn this insult to the suffering of Gaza’s civilians and call on world leaders to stop supporting genocide.

🔗 https://t.co/glP45sdK9Q pic.twitter.com/ajxdwjltNw

— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) May 19, 2025

‘Handful of trucks not enough’ for Gaza’s exhausted population

Israel’s limited aid plan for Gaza falls far short of what is needed and violates basic humanitarian principles, according to Tess Ingram, UNICEF’s communication manager for the MENA region.

“A handful of trucks is not enough,” Ingram told Al Jazeera. “We have two million people who have endured three months of being deprived of all of the basics that they need to survive – food, water, medicine.”

She said even accessing the small amount of aid getting in will be punishing, as Israel’s distribution scheme seems to rely on just a “handful” of hubs in southern Gaza.

That means “people would have to walk a long way just to collect [aid packets] – weighing probably 20-25kg [45-55 pounds] – and then walk back again,” she said. “Imagine someone who is exhausted, sick, malnourished, dealing with an amputation – how are those people going to access that aid? That does not adhere to humanitarian principles.”

UNRWA official warns malnutrition in Gaza could ‘get beyond our control’

Malnutrition rates in Gaza may increase “exponentially” if food shortages continue, says Akihiro Seita, the health director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

“I have data until end of April and it shows malnutrition on the rise,” Seita told a news briefing. “And then the worry is that if the current food shortage continues, it will exponentially increase, and then get beyond our control.”

Israel says it is now allowing a minimal amount of aid into Gaza after nearly three months of total blockade, but aid agencies say it falls far short of what’s needed to ease the suffering of an exhausted population.

_{Aid groups distribute meals to Palestinians in Nuseirat refugee camp on April 17}

Israeli MP says ‘unacceptable’ to send Gaza aid

Moshe Saada, an MP with the right-wing Likud party, which Netanyahu has led since 1993, has slammed the government’s move to let minimal aid into Gaza, saying it bolsters Hamas and drags out the war.

“Providing them with food is effectively giving them ammunition,” Saada told Israel’s Arutz Sheva media. “It is unacceptable that we send four divisions of soldiers to conquer Gaza and risk their lives, while simultaneously giving Hamas the means to keep fighting.”

So scared of Hamas the IDF has to resort to starvation... That's the most moral army of the world, starving children out of fear, bombing civilians with drones, helicopters, planes, artillery fire.

Israeli opposition leader warns country ‘becoming pariah state’

Opposition leader Yair Golan has unleashed fiery criticism of the Israeli government, saying it is full of people with “no morals” who are turning the country into a “pariah state”.

“Israel is on the way to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa was, if we don’t return to acting like a sane country,” Golan, who previously served as the military’s deputy chief of staff, said in comments carried by The Times of Israel.

“And a sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill children as a hobby and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations,” he said. “This government is full of vengeful types with no morals and no ability to run a country in a time of crisis. This endangers our existence.”

Golan’s remarks have been slammed by several Israeli legislators, including right-wing Avigdor Liberman, who accused him of making “false statements” that endanger Israeli soldiers. Netanyahu also accused Golan of “wild incitement against our heroic soldiers”

Golan’s comments a ‘clear admission’ of ‘genocide’ against Palestinians: Gaza media office

Gaza’s Government Media Office says Israeli attacks have killed more than 50 people in the past five hours, including 33 children.

In a statement on Telegram, the office says the death toll embodies a “complete crime and demonstrates the [Israeli] occupation’s insistence on using killing and starvation as means of war”.

It added that the attacks come as former Israeli deputy chief of staff, Yair Golan, said a “sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill children as a hobby”.

The media office said Golan’s comment “represents a clear admission from within the Israeli military establishment of the ongoing crime of genocide against our Palestinian people”.

“We affirm that this criminal behaviour by the occupation army, supported by this pattern of hateful and incitement-filled statements, reveals the true face of the occupation as a racist colonial regime practising organised terrorism in full view of the world,” the media office added.

Golan a ‘brave, direct man’, former Israeli PM Barak says

As we’ve been reporting, opposition leader and former deputy chief of staff for the Israeli military Yair Golan has come under fire from Israeli officials for his comments this morning that “a sane country … does not kill babies for a hobby”.

However, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak has called Golan a “brave, direct man” in stark contrast to Netanyahu’s condemnation.

“If I had to go on a raid tonight or a tough political campaign tomorrow, I would prefer him by my side, over all his detractors and defenders of the last few hours,” Barak wrote on X in Hebrew.

“Even if it would have been better if he had chosen 1-2 other words, it is clear that he meant the political leadership, not the fighters. And in the ‘processes’ precedent, he was also right!”