Palestinians fight for their lives and their stolen lands

[Anthea]

Stop the genocide or witness

end of life in Gaza

UN experts have warned that Israel’s escalating attacks in Gaza, marked by mass civilian casualties, widespread starvation, and the targeting of essential services, amount to potential genocide

UN experts warned today that the escalating atrocities in Gaza represent a critical moral turning point, urging states to act immediately to stop the violence or risk witnessing the destruction of Gaza’s Palestinian population, an outcome with irreversible consequences for humanity and the global order.

“While States debate terminology - is it or is it not genocide? - Israel continues its relentless destruction of life in Gaza, through attacks by land, air and sea, displacing and massacring the surviving population with impunity,” the experts stated.

“No one is spared - not the children, persons with disabilities, nursing mothers, journalists, health professionals, aid workers, or hostages. Since breaking the ceasefire, Israel has killed hundreds of Palestinians, many daily - peaking on 18 March 2025 with 600 casualties in 24 hours, 400 of whom were children.”

The experts called it "one of the most ostentatious and merciless manifestations of the desecration of human life and dignity."

Mounting death toll, siege tactics, and int'l accountability

The attack has turned Gaza into a desolate scene, with children accounting for over half of all deaths and many still homeless. As of May 4, 2025, the committee of specialists reported approximately 52,535 deaths, with 70% of those being women and children, and 118,491 injuries.

Since Israel reneged on the ceasefire, it has restored an even harder siege on Gaza, essentially isolating its inhabitants in misery, famine, and illness.

“Food and water have been cut off for months, inducing starvation, dehydration, and disease, which will result in more deaths becoming the daily reality for many, especially the most vulnerable," the experts noted.

They warned that amid this carnage, Israeli statements that alternate between outright blocking of aid and conditional releases contingent on other strategic goals demonstrate a clear intent to use starvation as a weapon of war.

“These acts, beyond constituting grave international crimes, follow alarming, documented patterns of genocidal conduct.”

The experts urged nations to move beyond rhetoric and take decisive steps to put a stop to the slaughter and hold criminals accountable.

Palestinian self-determination 'non-negotiable'

According to the experts, international laws were established precisely to prevent atrocities of this scale. Yet, despite global protests demanding justice and humanity, these voices are being ignored. "This situation conveys a deadly message: Palestinian lives are dispensable, and international law, if unenforced, is meaningless," they stated.

The experts reaffirmed that the Palestinian right to self-determination is non-negotiable and called on states to take urgent, concrete action to end the ongoing genocide, dismantle apartheid structures, and work toward a future where Palestinians and Israelis coexist in freedom and dignity.

They stressed the need for immediate enforcement of arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli leaders for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Additionally, they highlighted the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion, which mandates an end to the prolonged occupation by the UN General Assembly’s deadline of September 17, 2025.

Finally, the experts warned that continued political or material support for Israel, especially through arms transfers and the provision of private military or security services, risks rendering states complicit in genocide and other serious international crimes.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/pol ... un-experts

[Anthea]

World watches in silence as Gaza bleeds
under relentless bombardment

Over 100 Palestinians were killed in 24 hours as Israeli strikes hit homes, camps, and public sites across Gaza amid a worsening humanitarian catastrophe

The death toll in Gaza continues to climb rapidly as Israel escalates its aggression across the besieged Strip. At least 106 Palestinians were killed and 367 wounded in 24 hours alone, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Since October 7, 2023, the number of Palestinians killed has now surpassed 52,760, with more than 119,000 injured.

Concurrently, civil defence teams reported that many victims remain trapped beneath the rubble or stranded in areas inaccessible due to continuous bombardments.

The latest wave of attacks has devastated heavily populated civilian areas and shelters. In central Gaza, Israeli occupation forces shelled the vicinity of Al-Shuhada Mosque in the al-Nuseirat refugee camp, killing two Palestinians, including a young girl, and injuring at least 30 others, according to Al-Awda Hospital.

Southern, northern Gaza hit by intense airstrikes

Al Mayadeen's correspondent reported that a nearby drone strike targeted a commercial site, killing four more Palestinians and wounding several others.

In Khan Younis, warplanes carried out multiple air raids on the Qdeih neighbourhood in Aabasan al-Kabira. A targeted strike on a motorcycle killed one man and injured two others, as per our correspondent. Artillery fire and gunshots were reported throughout the area, including direct hits on makeshift tents housing displaced families. One child was confirmed killed in the Israeli attack.

Further south in Rafah, residential buildings continued to be destroyed, worsening the displacement crisis. In northern Gaza, three people were killed in an airstrike on a home in Beit Hanoun, while in Beit Lahia, a drone strike on a house near Tal Al-Rabee School killed five.

Meanwhile, Gaza City saw renewed Israeli bombing as Israeli occupation forces struck the al-Shati refugee camp. The al-Shujaiya and al-Zaytun neighbourhoods were also hit by artillery and live fire, as per our correspondent.
Humanitarian crisis deepens amid stalled ceasefire talks

Since 18 March 2025, Gaza’s health authorities have recorded 2,651 Palestinians killed and 7,223 others injured, underscoring the enduring scale of devastation. Despite growing international concern, ceasefire negotiations remain stalled, and fears of regional spillover continue to grow.

Gaza is nearing total collapse

“This is hunger as never seen before,” said a UNRWA staff member in a recent dispatch from Gaza. “The siege must be lifted, supplies must flow in, the hostages must be released, and the ceasefire must resume.”

International legal pressure on "Israel" is mounting. Despite this, "Israel" continues to pursue a scorched-earth policy across Gaza, with scenes of displacement, rubble, and starvation increasingly defining the daily reality for its nearly 2 million besieged residents.

Rafah levelled: IOF flatten 80% of Southern Gaza City

Rafah, once a crowded haven for displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza, now lies in ruins. New satellite imagery published by Israeli Channel 12 reveals that nearly 80% of the city’s buildings have been obliterated by the Israeli military in what appears to be one of the most intense and destructive campaigns of the eight-month war.

The images, analyzed by the Geographic Information Systems Centre at the Hebrew University, underscore what observers have described as the near-total erasure of urban Rafah. The remaining 20% of structures, according to the report, are confined to the city's northern fringe.

This revelation follows Sunday’s approval by "Israel’s" Security Cabinet of an expanded war strategy, code-named “Gideon’s Chariots". The plan reportedly outlines long-term Israeli military control over Gaza, mass displacement of civilians, and the seizure of humanitarian aid systems, a vision that Israeli officials say will bring security but which international legal experts warn could amount to war crimes or ethnic cleansing.

“Thousands of homes have been destroyed,” Channel 12 stated, with particular devastation along the Philadelphi Corridor near the Egyptian border, a zone previously designated as a buffer. Other areas of Gaza, including Jabalia and Khan Younis, have reportedly suffered comparable levels of destruction.

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[Anthea]

Israel targets Nour Shams camp

to raze 106 homes

Over 4,200 Palestinian families have been forcibly displaced, while more than 400 homes have been leveled completely and another 2,573 damaged

The Israeli occupation military intensified its aggression on Saturday by demolishing residential homes in Nour Shams refugee camp, east of the city of Tulkarm in the northwestern West Bank, in continuation of its ethnic cleansing policy. The destruction comes amid a relentless assault that has now entered its 91st consecutive day.

Palestinian sources confirmed that the occupation forces detonated three homes in the Al-Manshiya neighborhood. This brings the total number of buildings destroyed by Israeli forces in the past week alone to 15, according to local estimates.

The latest demolitions are part of a broader and systematic campaign by the occupation to erase entire neighborhoods within the camp. Israeli forces are targeting Al-Manshiya, Al-Maslakh, Al-Jami’, the UNRWA clinic area, and Al-Shuhada, as part of a plan announced 10 days ago to demolish 106 buildings across the Nour Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps

The campaign has already triggered a large-scale humanitarian crisis. Over 4,200 Palestinian families have been forcibly displaced, while more than 400 homes have been leveled completely, and another 2,573 damaged. The occupation has further choked the camps by sealing their entrances and alleyways with earth mounds, transforming them into ghost towns devoid of life and services.

This collective punishment and targeting of civilian infrastructure are drawing increasing international condemnation. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has described the displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the northern West Bank as a case of mass forced displacement, warning that "the extensive demolition of property is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and may amount to a war crime."

Despite these warnings, the Israeli occupation continues to pursue policies aimed at uprooting Palestinians and deepening its control over occupied Palestinian territory through destruction, siege, and intimidation.

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[Anthea]

Gaza baby sent back to war zone
after open-heart surgery in Jordan

In a makeshift tent in al-Shati refugee camp, in the north of the Gaza Strip, 33-year-old Enas Abu Daqqa holds her tiny baby daughter Niveen in her arms. A fan hums constantly behind her to break the morning heat

Enas worries that Niveen's health might deteriorate at any point. She is only seven months old, and was born during the war with a hole in her heart.

As her mother explains how she struggled to keep her alive amid a collapsing health system in Gaza, Niveen, with her big brown eyes and tiny frame, cries and fidgets.

"The war has been very tough for her," Enas tells the BBC. "She wasn't gaining any weight, and she would get sick so easily."

Niveen's only chance to survive was to receive urgent care outside Gaza. And in early March, Jordan made that possible.

As a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel held, 29 sick Gazan children, including Niveen, were evacuated to Jordan to receive treatment in the country's hospitals. Her mother and older sister were brought out with her.

They were the first children evacuated to Jordan after King Abdullah announced plans to treat 2,000 sick Gazan children in hospitals there during a visit to the US the previous month. These evacuations were co-ordinated with the Israeli authorities who do background checks on the parents travelling with their children.

Doctors in Jordan performed successful open-heart surgery on Niveen, and she was slowly beginning to recover.

But about two weeks into the children's treatment, the ceasefire in Gaza collapsed when Israel resumed its offensive against Hamas, and the war was back on, in full force.

For weeks, Enas followed the news from her daughter's hospital room in Jordan, worrying about the safety of her husband and other children who were still in Gaza.

And then late at night on 12 May, the Jordanian authorities told Enas they were sending her and her family back to Gaza the following day, as they said Niveen had completed her treatment.

Enas was shocked

"We left while there was a ceasefire. How could they send us back after the war had restarted?" she says, frustrated.

Enas is now reunited with her husband and children in Gaza. They say Niveen did not complete her treatment before she was sent back, and they worry that her condition could get worse.

"My daughter is in a very bad condition that could lead to her death," says Enas. "She has heart disease. Sometimes she suffocates and turns blue. She can't continue living in a tent."

On 13 May, Jordan announced that it had sent 17 children back to Gaza "after completing their treatment". And the next day, a new group of four sick children were evacuated from Gaza to Jordan.

The Jordanian authorities have told the BBC that all children sent back were in good medical condition, rejecting claims that they did not complete their treatment.

The authorities noted that the kingdom was clear from the beginning about its intention to send the children back once they were better, adding that this was necessary "for logistical and political reasons".

"Jordan's policy is to keep Palestinians on their land, and not to contribute to their displacement outside their territory," a foreign ministry statement sent to the BBC said. The return of the 17 children would also allow for more sick children to be evacuated from Gaza, it added.

But an official in the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza told the BBC the children still needed care, and that their return to the war endangered their lives.

This is exactly what worries 30-year-old Nihaya Bassel

Her son, Mohammed, who is just over a year old, suffers from asthma and serious food allergies. She believes her son did not receive the full treatment he deserved.

"We're back to living in fear and hunger, surrounded by death," Nihaya says as her eyes fill up with tears. "How can I get this child the milk that he needs to drink? He doesn't eat even though he's just over a year old, because if he eats, he will immediately get sick."

Israel imposed a strict siege on the Gaza Strip 11 weeks ago, cutting off all supplies including food, medicine, shelter and fuel. It said this and the resumed offensive were meant to put pressure on Hamas to release the hostages still held in Gaza.

International organisations warn that Palestinians living there are at "critical risk of famine". On Monday, Israel announced it would allow a "minimal" amount of food into Gaza following US pressure. The UN welcomed the crossing of five lorries carrying aid including baby food, but called it "a drop in the ocean".

Nihaya is now living in a small, tented area in al-Shati camp with her brother-in-law's family. Her husband and three other children had fled there from elsewhere in northern Gaza, escaping heavy Israeli strikes as the war restarted while she was in Jordan.

"I left my children here. I left my husband here. They went through hell while I was away," Nihaya says as she bursts into tears.

"My mind and heart were constantly with them in Gaza while I was in Jordan. All of this so that my child could get treated. Why force me back before finishing his treatment?"

As she speaks, the sounds of Israeli surveillance drones drown out her voice. Her toddler runs around next to her, at times almost stumbling into a smoky open fire in the tent that the family uses for cooking meals.

She struggles to contain her anger as she recounts her journey back to Gaza.

"We didn't leave [till] 04:00, and didn't arrive in Gaza till 22:45," she says. As they reached the border crossing, Nihaya says they were harassed by Israeli security forces.

"They started cursing at us. They threatened to beat us. They took all our money. They took our mobile phones, our bags and everything," she says, noting that they confiscated all the bags of anyone who had cash on them.

Enas said the same thing happened to her, noting that her medical supplies were confiscated too.

The Israeli army told the BBC that they confiscated "undeclared cash exceeding normal limits" from Gazans returning from Jordan due to suspicions that they would be "used for terrorism within Gaza". It notes that the money is being held while circumstances are investigated.

It has not given a reason for why other personal belongings were confiscated.

Nihaya says she has come back from Jordan "empty-handed"; even her son's medical records were in the bags that the Israeli security forces took away, she says.

Jordan says it has given children like Niveen and Mohammed the best healthcare it can offer, and both families acknowledge this.

But they worry that a life in one of the world's deadliest war zones for children will just undo all the progress their children have made over the past two months.

"I got my son to a point where I was very happy to see him like that," Nihaya says through her tears. "Now they want to bring him back to square one? I don't want my son to die."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crk22xm831ko