Saudi, Egyptian, Jordanian, French FMs discuss ending Gaza war, enabling aid

The foreign ministers held a meeting in Paris on Friday to “review the latest developments in the Gaza Strip”, according to Egypt’s State Information Service.

Following the meeting, the countries issued a joint statement saying their officials discussed “international efforts to stop the war in Gaza Strip”, and ways to “enable humanitarian aid delivery to the Strip, as well as international efforts to stop all violations committed by Israel against Palestinians”.

The meeting also “addressed preparations for an international conference to be held at UN headquarters in June focusing on the two-state solution”, according to the statement.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan on Friday held a meeting in Paris with the French foreign minister to review the latest developments in the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/wg5nTtwXZS

— State Info. Service (@SISEGY) May 23, 2025

Israeli antiwar protesters rally near Gaza

The Israeli military veterans’ activist group Breaking the Silence has shared video clips of protesters participating in a march near the boundary between Gaza and Israel and calling for a halt to the war.

“We come here to end this terrible war,” says one of the Israeli participants. “It’s a disgusting humanitarian catastrophe that we are responsible for, and it’s about time this war has ended,” he says.

Protesters held signs calling for the killing to stop while some banged on drums and other instruments.

Getting ready to march to the border with Gaza. They won’t silence us. pic.twitter.com/dw3HyteaKF

— Breaking the Silence (@BtSIsrael) May 23, 2025

New Israeli attacks target central and southern Gaza

One Palestinian has been killed and five wounded, including a one-month-old baby, by Israeli air strikes on a house near al-Qassam Mosque in Nuseirat, central Gaza, according to Palestinian media.

In southern Gaza, Israeli artillery shelling targeted Khan Younis. Attacks struck Abasan al-Jadida and Qizan Abu Rashwan in the early hours of Saturday, sources told Al Jazeera.

Israel says it let 83 aid trucks enter Gaza on Friday

Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) office said it allowed “83 trucks belonging to the UN and the international community” to carry humanitarian aid into Gaza on Friday.

Posting on X, it said the shipments of “flour, food, medical equipment, and pharmaceutical drugs” entered Gaza through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing.

The Israeli army partially lifted its months-long blockade on all humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip this week, but UN chief Antonio Guterres said the limited supplies it has allowed into the besieged enclave amounts to a “teaspoon” of what’s needed.

Only 92 aid trucks entered Gaza, says Palestinian official

The director of medical relief in Gaza says only 92 aid trucks have entered the Strip in three days. He added that the healthcare, water, and food situation in Gaza is very difficult, and no food or medical aid has reached northern Gaza.

Earlier today, the Israeli army claimed 83 trucks entered Gaza on Friday, while yesterday it said 107 trucks entered on Thursday.

It's the same as last year, Israel only lets half loaded trucks through inspection, then has the UN unload and reload trucks on the Gaza side of the border. So 190 trucks entered by Israel become 95 trucks after repacking them.

This is a truck crossing into Gaza after inspection:


These are the aid trucks heading into Gaza from the Gaza side of the border:
_{First aid trucks enter Gaza on Day 1 of ceasefire deal}

So any numbers Israel claims are at least doubled as up to 4 truck loads crossing the border can fit on a double trailer.

‘Situation on the ground in Gaza has not improved’

Ahmad al-Najjar, a Gaza resident and journalist, says a very limited number of aid trucks managed to reach southern Gaza after they were allowed into the enclave by Israeli forces.

“The situation on the ground has not improved in any way, and it has not got better for the starving families here,” he told Al Jazeera from Khan Younis.

He stressed that the bakeries, where the trucks carrying flour are supposed to go, are located in the areas recently designated as “military zones” by Israel, and have closed.

“Basically, nothing has changed, and families did not receive the bread they have been expecting,” al-Najjar said. “On top of that, these bakeries are almost in central Gaza, but many families cannot go there.”

What are Israel’s obligations under international law?

The Fourth Geneva Convention, which lays out rules for the protection of civilians during armed conflict, states that an occupying power “has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population”.

“It should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate,” it says.

Occupying powers also have an obligation “to the fullest extent” possible to maintain medical and hospital establishments. They must also facilitate “relief schemes” if the occupied population does not have access to adequate supplies.

The UN and the world’s top human rights groups have said for months that Israel is not only failing to supply adequate food, water, medicine and other needed supplies to people in Gaza, it is impeding deliveries of humanitarian assistance.

More than 70,000 children facing acute malnutrition in Gaza, WFP says

The World Food Programme says that more than 70,000 children in Gaza face acute levels of malnutrition, as Israel continues to only allow a minuscule amount of aid to enter the devastated territory.

“WFP is taking every opportunity to deliver food and nutrition assistance – but this is just a drop in the bucket,” the United Nations agency posted on X.

“To avert famine and save lives, we need immediate, unrestricted and safe access to deliver.”

Deadly Israeli attack targets people near truck carrying flour

At least five Palestinians have been killed and 50 wounded by an Israeli attack that targeted people gathering around a truck carrying flour in al-Mawasi, southern Gaza.

Al-Mawasi has previously been designated a “humanitarian zone” by Israel.

Number of people killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza rises to 53,901

The Health Ministry in Gaza has provided its latest daily update on the number of people killed and wounded by Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, it said the bodies of at least 79 people, including five recovered from earlier attacks, had arrived at hospitals across the territory in the past 24 hours, excluding the facilities based in northern Gaza due to the inability to access them.

Another 211 injuries were recorded over the same period, it added.

The figures bring the number of confirmed deaths since the start of the war to at least 53,901, with 122,593 also wounded.

‘Displacement, starvation, thirst’ plague Palestinians across Gaza

Amjad Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGO Network, says there has been “no major change” in the situation in Gaza after limited aid entered the enclave over the past days.

He told Al Jazeera in an interview from Gaza City that flour, baby formula and some medical materials have reached southern Gaza, but nothing has reached northern Gaza.

“People are starving all over the Gaza Strip. The conditions – the displacement, the starvation, the thirst – is there, all over Gaza,” Shawa said. He added that there is no water for drinking or daily use in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah area, while hospitals across the territory lack necessary supplies.

“Most of the hospitals are out of service,” he said.

Food shortages leading to miscarriages in Gaza

Gaza’s Government Media Office has registered 300 cases of miscarriages in pregnant women in the enclave due to a lack of food. At least 58 Palestinians died due to malnutrition and 242 due to lack of food and medicine.

UN’s Albanese says targeting of doctors’ family shows ‘sadistic pattern’ of genocide

Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, condemned Israel’s bombing of a home on Friday belonging to Palestinian doctors Alaa and Hamdi Al-Najjar, in which nine of their 10 children were killed.

Commenting on a video published by Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian physician who volunteers in Palestine, Albanese said the attack represented a “distinguishable sadistic pattern of the new phase of the genocide”.

Alaa Al-Najjar, a paediatrician at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, reportedly received the bodies of her children while working.

Two doctors go to work to assist others.Nine of their kids are killed by an Israeli missile targeting their home. Only surviving child, in critical conditions.

Targeting families in the still-standing buildings: distinguishable sadistic pattern of the new phase of the genocide. https://t.co/6tlylARKK5

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) May 24, 2025

Israeli forces target al-Awda Hospital, ambulances: Director

Our colleagues on the ground are reporting artillery shelling in the vicinity of al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza. The hospital’s director told Al Jazeera that Israeli forces had bombed the perimeter of the facility, with shrapnel scattering in the area.

He said the hospital has been targeted for days and also reported attacks against ambulances transporting the sick and wounded.

The Israeli army has targeted Gaza’s healthcare system since the start of the war, with most hospitals in the territory out of service.

Health workers, others trapped inside Gaza hospital: Health Ministry

Several healthcare workers and others at the European Hospital in Khan Younis could not be evacuated because of repeated Israeli fire, Gaza’s Health Ministry says. In a statement shared on Telegram, the ministry called on “the relevant authorities to provide protection for healthcare facilities” and their staff.

At least 94 percent of Gaza’s hospitals have been damaged or destroyed in Israel’s war on the enclave, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

‘Do this or we’ll kill you’: Palestinians man tells his story as a human shield

https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-army-human-shields-80f358dd2c87a1123f26ffada159701c

Several Palestinians have told The Associated Press that Israeli troops are systematically forcing Palestinians to act as human shields in Gaza, sending them into buildings and tunnels to check for bombs and fighters.

They say the practice has become ubiquitous over 19 months of war, according to the report which quoted a Palestinian man as saying that the only times he was not bound or blindfolded were when he was used by Israeli soldiers as their human shield.

Dressed in army fatigues with a camera fixed to his forehead, Ayman Abu Hamadan was forced into houses in the Gaza Strip to make sure they were clear of bombs and gunmen, he said, adding that when one unit was finished with him, he was passed to the next.

“They beat me and told me ‘You have no other option; do this or we’ll kill you’,” the 36-year-old said.


_{Soldiers behind Palestinian detainees being sent into a Gaza City home to clear it in 2024}

‘Bring a mosquito’: Israeli soldier talks about use of Palestinian human shields

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/24/israel-investigates-use-of-palestinians-as-human-shields-by-its-forces-in-gaza

Several Israeli soldiers told The Associated Press that the practice of using Palestinians as human shields in Gaza sped up operations, saved ammunition and spared combat dogs from injury or death.

The soldiers – who said they are no longer serving in Gaza – said they first became aware human shields were being used shortly after the start of the war.

Orders to “bring a mosquito” often came via radio, they said. Soldiers acted on commanding officers’ orders. Every infantry unit used a Palestinian to clear houses before entering.

“Once this idea was initiated, it caught on like fire in a field,” a 26-year-old soldier said. “People saw how effective and easy it was.”

He described a 2024 planning meeting where a brigade commander presented to the division commander a slide reading “get a mosquito” and a suggestion they might “just catch one off the streets”.

The officer wrote two incident reports to the brigade commander detailing the use of human shields, reports that would have been escalated to the division chief, he said.

_{A photo provided by Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower group of former Israeli soldiers, purportedly shows two detainees used as human shields being held inside a house in Gaza City in 2024}


‘I have children’: Palestinians tell harrowing stories of being human shields

Masoud Abu Saeed says he was used as a shield for two weeks in March 2024 in Khan Younis. “This is extremely dangerous,” he recounted telling a soldier, according to an AP report. “I have children and want to reunite with them.”

The 36-year-old said he was forced into houses, buildings and a hospital to dig up suspected tunnels and clear areas. He said he wore a first-responder vest for easy identification, carrying a phone, hammer and chain cutters.

During one operation, he bumped into his brother, used as a shield by another unit, he said.

Palestinians also report being used as shields in the occupied West Bank.

Hazar Estity said soldiers took her to her home in the Jenin refugee camp, forced her to film inside several apartments and clear them before troops entered. She said she pleaded to return to her 21-month-old son, but soldiers didn’t listen.

“I was most afraid that they would kill me,” she said. “And that I wouldn’t see my son again.”

Hamas says AP report on human shields shows Israel’s ‘moral collapse’

The testimony of Palestinian victims and Israeli soldiers in a news report by The Associated Press documents “the heinous crimes committed by” Israel, a statement by the group says.

Hamas said the crimes referred to in the report were committed “under explicit orders from senior military leaders”, calling them “war crimes and systematic violations of international law”.

The testimonies “reveal a systematic, deliberate policy that reflects the moral and institutional collapse within the ranks of this terrorist army”, said Hamas.

Troops are routinely forcing Palestinian civilians to act as human shields in Gaza, sending them into buildings and tunnels to check for bombs and fighters, the report said. Israel’s military said it strictly prohibits using civilians as shields.

Israel ‘not successful in destroying Hamas’: Israeli lawmaker

Israel is now “unable to subdue Hamas”, according to Likud lawmaker Amit Halevi, who was quoted by the Israeli media outlet Yedioth Ahronoth.

“We have been fighting a war for 20 months with failed plans and Israel is not successful in destroying Hamas. We knew in all wars how to subjugate our enemies, but we are now unable to subdue Hamas.

“This is a war of deception and they lied to us regarding their accomplishments.”

Captives’ families call for return of ‘all in one deal’

Israeli media, citing some social media users, report they received phone calls from unknown numbers with recorded messages of captives held in Gaza asking for help to be released, with the sounds of explosions in the background.

In a statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said it had nothing to do with the phone calls.

“We emphasise that the conversations and recordings are not on behalf of [us],” the group representing captive families said on X.

“The people of Israel are in favour of return of all the abductees and ending the war,” it added, calling on the government “to fulfil the will of the people and return them all in one deal. 596 days that the kidnapped have been crying out”.

Separately, Israeli media are reporting demonstrations outside the residences of the Israeli president and the chairman of the Knesset Security Committee, demanding a captive exchange deal.

As Gaza decimated by Israel, killing of Palestinians in occupied West Bank spirals

While the world’s attention is focused on the spiralling death toll in Gaza – where more than 53,822 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023, the number of Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank continues to mount, according to the UN.

The death toll in the occupied West Bank now stands at 938 Palestinians killed since Israel began its war on Gaza. At least 198 children were counted among that figure of those killed by Israeli forces or settlers, the UN said.

The UN also notes that 132 Palestinians – including at least 25 children – have been killed since the start of this year.

Alongside the killings of Palestinians in the West Bank, approximately 42,000 residents of the occupied territory’s Nur Shams, Tulkarem and Jenin refugee camps remain displaced after Israeli forces mounted a major military operation against Palestinian communities there in January.

Our latest on the situation in📍#Gaza and the #WestBank:

🔹According to @OCHA, people are confined to ever-shrinking spaces, with 81 per cent of the Gaza Strip now within the Israeli-militarized zone, under displacement orders, or where these overlap.

🔹The UN estimates that in… pic.twitter.com/fGJ3lqht0d

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) May 23, 2025

Israeli military arrests 2 Palestinians during Nablus raid

Israeli forces stormed a home in the occupied West Bank town of Balata al-Balad, east of Nablus, and arrested two brothers, the Quds News Network reports.

Israeli forces have also stormed the Rafidia neighbourhood in the city of Nablus, according to Quds.

Israeli settler ‘revenge gangs’ driving Palestinians from their homes

Since the war on Gaza, Israeli settler attacks have become more brazen.

“You don’t know where to look. They [Israeli settlers] were throwing stones, Molotov cocktails, and explosives. When they hit, the car catches fire instantly,” Fadi Samara, a Palestinian resident of Bruqin, and a witness to an attack there yesterday, told Al Jazeera.

“We don’t even know what exactly they’re using. This is the reality you see before you. They’ve burned many cars, not just in Bruqin, these revenge gangs have spread throughout the West Bank.”

Earlier on Friday, further south, more settlers set up a new outpost to intimidate Palestinians living nearby.

“The settlers attacked us. We want to leave and save ourselves, our livestock, our children, and get away from them,” Yousef Malihat, a resident of the Bedouin community there, told Al Jazeera.

Palestinian killed by Israeli army near Hebron checkpoint

The Israeli army says it has killed a Palestinian who it claimed was trying to stab soldiers at a military checkpoint near Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank.

In a statement, the Israeli army claimed that its forces responded to a reported stabbing attempt at a Hebron-area checkpoint and “neutralised” the assailant. No injuries to soldiers were reported.

Palestinians fear displacement as Israel builds national park

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/5/24/palestinians-plan-push-land-israel-builds-national-park

Israel calls it an archaeological project to highlight Jewish heritage and create a new Israeli national park.

Palestinians see it as further evidence of Israel’s plans to annex an ancient town and erase Palestinian history in an area that tells the 5,000-year-old shared story of the peoples who have lived in this land.

Far-right, pro-settler Israeli government ministers were in Sebastia on May 12 as part of a delegation to mark the looming seizure of the town’s archaeological park, one of the largest and most important of 6,000 sites in the West Bank.

_{Stars of David graffitied on the ancient Hellenic wall in Sebastia}

It's Greek and Roman ruins... Neither Jewish nor Palestinian.

The archaeological site includes the ruins of a Byzantine basilica, a Roman forum and amphitheatre, and the Crusader-era Church of St John, which was rebuilt into a mosque – and is believed to be the site of the tomb of John the Baptist, known in the Quran as Prophet Yahya.

Sebastia’s archaeological park, once a tourism hotspot and still a pilgrimage site for Christians, is being considered for inclusion on UNESCO’s world heritage list, subject to an application being finalised by Palestinian officials.

Israeli settlers set fire to 4 hectares of wheat crops in West Bank’s Sebastia

Citing local officials, the Wafa news agency reports the settlers set about four hectares (10 acres) of wheat fields ablaze in the village near Nablus in the north of the occupied West Bank.

The head of the Sebastia municipality, Mohammad Azem, told Wafa the settlers came from the illegal settlement of Shavei Shomron and a nearby settlement outpost.

“Azem said the wheat crop was completely destroyed, causing heavy financial losses for the two farmers,” Wafa said.

Palestinians in the West Bank have experienced a surge in Israeli settler and military violence amid Israel’s war on Gaza.