SPECIAL REPORTS PALESTINE

FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA - FREE PALESTINE
with special thanks to citizen-reporter 'Biba' (Algeria)
May wk 5 --  May wk4 part3 --  May wk 4 part2 --May week4 --   Click here for an overview by week in 2024

May 28 - 27, 2024 <<Palestinian women in Israeli prisons face inhumane practices since Oct.7... and <<Live: Spain, Ireland, Norway set to recognise Palestinian statehood... and <<Israel faces fresh international condemnation over deadly strikes on Rafah tent camp... and <<'The sound was terrifying': Witnesses recount chaotic scenes during deadly strikes on Rafah camp... and <<Live: EU's Borrell urges implementation of ICJ ruling as Rafah camp death toll rises... and more news but most with a 'give way or go away' yell!

May 26 - 24, 2024 <<Sirens sound in Tel Aviv as Hamas says fired rockets from Gaza... and <<Scuffles erupt between Israeli police and protesters calling for return of Gaza hostages... and <<Live: Israel launches more strikes on Rafah despite UN court ruling... and <<After World Court ruling, Palestinians want action not words... and <<Food bound for Gaza rots in the sun as Egypt's Rafah crossing stays shut... and <<Gaza: Friday prayers held by ruins of mosque hit by airstrike on Khan Younis... and more news but most with a 'give way or go away' yell!

May 22 - 20, 2024 <<CPJ, partners call on ICJ to order unimpeded media access to Gaza following South Africa’s urgent request... and <<Israeli forces advance deeper into Rafah, continue offensive in the north... and <<14 children killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza... and <<Gaza: UN halts all food distribution in Rafah over supply issues and insecurity... and <<Over 1,400 Israeli academics call on government to end war in Gaza... and <<Live: Ireland, Norway and Spain formally recognise Palestine as a state... and <<Hepatitis spreading among displaced Palestinians in Gaza... and more news but most with a 'give way or go away' yell!      Overview social-media posts edited by citizen-reporter 'Biba'   May 9 - 4, 2024 May 3 - 1 - April 30 - 23,2024 Click here to go throughout May and earler, 2024

 When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.


Ghazal al-Natour
Jinha - Womens News Agency - May 28, 2024 - by NAGHAM KARAJEH
<<Palestinian women in Israeli prisons face inhumane practices since Oct.7
The conditions of Palestinian women held in Israeli prisons have been deteriorating since October 7, 2023; they are subjected to harsh punishments, restrictions and all forms of violence.
Gaza- Although the number of Palestinian women held in Israel prisons is unknown, it is known that their number has increased since the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood launched by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Palestinians held in Israeli prisons face harsh punishments, restrictions, all forms of violence, torture, ill-treatment, insults, strip search, threats. The Palestinian prisoners often start hunger strikes to protest the inhuman practices against them. <Palestinian female prisoners have been resisting in Israeli prisons for a long time. We support their resistance against rights violations,> the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network said in one of its statements on poor conditions of Palestinian women in Israeli prisons. <We struggle to make the voices of prisoners heard internationally. Supporting Palestinian prisoners is supporting the land and the people of Palestine.>
Mothers, sisters, wives arrested
<Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli forces have intensified their mass arrest campaign targeting Palestinian women and girls everywhere,> said Ghazal al-Natour, member of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club. <The Israeli forces arrest women, including mothers, sisters and wives to target their family members to surrender themselves.> Most of the arrested Palestinians have been held in Damon prison, which was opened in 1953 as a camp for detaining Palestinian prisoners. After being shut down in 2000, the prison was reopened after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. <Recently, the arrest campaign has targeted women in IDPs camps and their number is unknown because they are taken to unknown locations,> Ghazal al-Natour stressed.
'She was threatened with rape'
Ghazal al-Natour told NuJINHA the story of a Palestinian woman, who was arrested by the Israeli forces as follows:
<A woman, who was arrested in a camp, told me what she had experienced after being arrested. One of the Israeli soldiers beat and insulted her in custody. She was blindfolded and her headscarf was removed and all her clothes were taken off. She was questioned until they reached the detention center. She was not given food and water for a week. She was threatened with rape. Women, of course, do not tell everything in detail because they are afraid of being stigmatized. Since October 7, 2023, women in Israeli prisons face harsh punishments, restrictions, all forms of violence, torture, ill-treatment, insults, strip search, and threats.>
Call on the international community
Israel violates international conventions and commits crimes against humanity, Ghazal al-Natour stressed, adding, <We call on the international community to put pressure on Israel to stop violating the international law and human rights conventions, including the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.> >>
Source incl. video:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/palestinian-women-in-israeli-prisons-face-inhumane-practices-since-oct-7-35122

France 24 - May 28, 2024 - Video by FRANCE 24
<<Live: Spain, Ireland, Norway set to recognise Palestinian statehood
Spain, Ireland and Norway will officially recognise a Palestinian state on Tuesday, despite an angry reaction from Israel, which has found itself increasingly isolated after seven months of conflict in Gaza. International condemnations over an Israeli strike that killed dozens in a displaced persons camp in Rafah have increased with the UN Security Council set to convene an emergency meeting on the incident on Tuesday.
Summary:
Spain, Ireland and Norway will officially recognise a Palestinian state on Tuesday.
The UN Security Council was set to convene an emergency meeting Tuesday over an Israeli strike that killed dozens in a displaced persons camp in Rafah. Egypt's military said Monday that a border guard was killed in a shooting in the Rafah border area with Gaza, where Israeli forces are deployed, adding that a probe had been launched. French President Emmanuel Macron voiced outrage on Monday over deadly Israeli strikes on a tented camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah and called for an <immediate ceasefire> in the Gaza war. At least 35,984 Palestinians have been killed and 80,643 wounded in Israel's war in Gaza, according to the last official death toll given by the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Including the health ministry's latest figure given for those killed in Rafah, the toll has now topped 36,000. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.>>
Source and video:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240528-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-spain-ireland-norway-set-to-recognise-palestinian-statehood

France 24 - May 27, 2024 - Video by Mark OWEN
<<'Pointless to speak of red lines in Rafah', analyst tells FRANCE24
After an Israeli strike on a Rafah camp kills at least 45 people, Dr H.A. Hellyer, Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, tells FRANCE24's Mark Owen that Joe Biden's red line on Rafah 'has been crossed multiple times to the point that it's rather pointless to speak of a red line'. He adds that the White House is unwilling to admit that a line has been crossed as doing so would mean having to stop providing weapons to Israel.>>
Source and video:
https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/a-propos/20240527-pointless-to-speak-of-red-lines-in-rafah-analyst-tells-france24

France 24 - May 27, 2024 - Video by FRANCE 24
<<Israel faces fresh international condemnation over deadly strikes on Rafah tent camp
Israel faced new condemnation Monday for strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah that local health officials said killed at least 45 Palestinians, including displaced people living in tents that were engulfed by fire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there had been a <tragic mistake> and that Israel was investigating. Israel has faced surging international criticism over its war with Hamas, with even some of its closest allies, particularly the United States, expressing outrage at civilian deaths. Israel insists it adheres to international law even as it faces scrutiny in the world's top courts, one of which last week demanded that it halt the offensive in Rafah. Israel said it was looking into the civilian deaths after it struck a Hamas installation and killed two senior militants. Sunday night’s attack, which appeared to be one of the war’s deadliest, helped push the overall Palestinian death toll in the war above 36,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and noncombatants in its tally. In a speech before Israel's parliament on Monday, Netanyahu said that <despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night, there was a tragic mistake. We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion because this is our policy.>
Mohammed Abuassa, who rushed to the scene in the northwestern neighborhood of Tel al-Sultan, said rescuers <pulled out people who were in an unbearable state.> <We pulled out children who were in pieces. We pulled out young and elderly people. The fire in the camp was unreal,> he said.
The Gaza Health Ministry said around half of the dead were women, children and older adults. On Monday, barefoot children poked at the blackened debris as searches continued.
French 'outrage'
France, a close European ally of Israel, said it was <outraged> by the violence.
<These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians. I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire,> President Emmanuel Macron posted on X. Outraged by the Israeli strikes that have killed many displaced persons in Rafah. These operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians. I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire. Rafah, the southernmost Gaza city on the border with Egypt, had housed more than a million people - about half of Gaza's population - displaced from other parts of the territory. Most have fled once again since Israel launched what it called a limited incursion there earlier this month. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps in and around the city. In a separate development, Egypt's military said one of its soldiers was shot dead during an exchange of fire in the Rafah area, without providing further details. Israel said it was in contact with Egyptian authorities, and both sides said they were investigating. Netanyahu says Israel must destroy what he calls Hamas' last remaining battalions in Rafah. The militant group launched a barrage of rockets Sunday from the city toward heavily populated central Israel, setting off air raid sirens but causing no injuries.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said bombings like the one in Rafah will have long-standing repercussions for Israel. <Israel with this choice is spreading hatred, rooting hatred that will involve their children and grandchildren. I would have preferred another decision,> he told Italy’s SKY TG24 news channel.
Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas in attempts to secure a cease-fire and the release of hostages held by Hamas, said the strikes could <complicate> talks, Negotiations, which appear to be restarting, have faltered repeatedly over Hamas’ demand for a lasting truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, terms Israeli leaders have publicly rejected. Neighboring Egypt and Jordan, which made peace with Israel decades ago, also condemned the Rafah strikes. Egypt's Foreign Ministry described the strike on Tel al-Sultan as a <new and blatant violation of the rules of humanitarian international law.> Jordan's Foreign Ministry called it a <war crime.> The Israeli military's top legal official said authorities were examining the strikes and that the military regrets the loss of civilian life. Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi said such incidents occur <in a war of such scope and intensity.> Speaking to an Israeli lawyers' conference, Tomer-Yerushalmi said Israel has launched 70 criminal investigations into incidents that aroused suspicions of international law violations, including the deaths of civilians, the conditions at a detention facility holding suspected Palestinian militants and the deaths of some inmates in Israeli custody. She said incidents of <violence, property crimes and looting> were also being examined. Israel has long maintained it has an independent judiciary capable of investigating and prosecuting abuses. But rights groups say Israeli authorities routinely fail to fully investigate violence against Palestinians and that even when soldiers are held accountable, the punishment is usually light. Israel has denied allegations of genocide brought against it by South Africa at the International Court of Justice. Last week, the court ordered Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah, a ruling that it has no power to enforce. Separately, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders, over alleged crimes linked to the war. Israel says it does its best to adhere to the laws of war and says it faces an enemy that makes no such commitment, embeds itself in civilian areas and refuses to release Israeli hostages unconditionally.
Hamas triggered the war with its Oct. 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seized some 250 hostages. Hamas still holds about 100 hostages and the remains of around 30 others after most of the rest were released during a cease-fire last year. Around 80% of Gaza's 2.3 million people have fled their homes, severe hunger is widespread and U.N. officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.
(AP)>>
Source incl. video:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240527-israel-faces-fresh-international-condemnation-over-deadly-strikes-on-rafah-tent-camp

France 24 - May 27, 2024 - Video by FRANCE 24
<<'The sound was terrifying': Witnesses recount chaotic scenes during deadly strikes on Rafah camp
Israeli air strikes late Sunday on a tented camp near Rafah for displaced Gazans killed 45 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. Israel's army said the strikes, hours after a rocket attack had targeted Tel Aviv, killed two senior Hamas operatives. Medical officials and aid agencies operating in Gaza said the majority of the casualties were women and children. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp area housing internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. In scenes grimly familiar from a war in its eighth month, Palestinian families rushed to hospitals to prepare their dead for burial after the strike late on Sunday night set tents and rickety shelters ablaze.
Women wept and men held prayers beside bodies in shrouds.
<The whole world is witnessing Rafah getting burnt up by Israel and no one is doing anything to stop it,> Bassam, a Rafah resident, told Reuters via a chat app, of the strike in an area of western Rafah that had been designated a safe zone. Gaza's civil defence agency said Monday that the death toll had risen to 40 from overnight Israeli strikes that set ablaze tents of displaced Palestinians. <We saw charred bodies and dismembered limbs ... We also saw cases of amputations, wounded children, women and the elderly,> Mohammad al-Mughayyir, a Gaza civil defence agency official told AFP. Footage released by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society showed chaotic night-time scenes of paramedics in ambulances racing to the fiery attack site and evacuating the wounded, including children. <We had just done with the evening prayers,> recalled one survivor, a Palestinian woman who declined to be named. <Our children were asleep ... suddenly we heard a loud sound and there was fire all around us. The children were screaming ... the sound was terrifying.> The ICRC said that one of its field hospitals was receiving an <influx of casualties seeking care for injuries and burns> and that <our teams are doing their best to save lives>. Israel's army had said overnight that its aircraft had <struck a Hamas compound in Rafah>, killing Yassin Rabia and Khaled Nagar, both senior officials for the Palestinian militant group in the occupied West Bank. It added that it was <aware of reports indicating that as a result of the strike and fire that was ignited, several civilians in the area were harmed. The incident is under review.> Mughayyir said the rescue efforts were hampered by war damage and the impacts of Israel's siege on the territory amid the over seven-months-old conflict. <There is a fuel shortage ... there are roads that have been destroyed, which hinders the movement of civil defence vehicles in these targeted areas,> he said. <There is also a shortage of water to extinguish fires.>
'Dangerous violation'
Egypt deplored the <targeting of defenceless civilians> and labelled it part of <a systematic policy aimed at widening the scope of death and destruction in the Gaza Strip to make it uninhabitable>. Jordan also expressed its condemnation, accusing Israel of committing <ongoing war crimes>. Kuwait charged the attack exposed Israel's <blatant war crimes and unprecedented genocide to the whole world>. And Qatar condemned the Israeli bombing as a <dangerous violation of international law>. The strike came hours after Hamas had on Sunday, for the first time in months, launched a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv and other areas of central Israel, sending people running into bomb shelters. Although Israeli air defences took out most of the rockets and no casualties were reported, the attack was seen as an effort by Hamas to signal that it remains undefeated. Hamas's armed wing said it had targeted Tel Aviv <with a large rocket barrage in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians>. Israel invaded Gaza in late October, but its ground forces are still battling Hamas in northern and central areas where Hamas has regrouped, as well as around Rafah. Israel's top ally the United States has strongly urged all sides to resume truce talks, with efforts under way in recent days toward new talks with US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators. After the latest violence, Qatar's foreign ministry voiced <concern that the bombing will complicate ongoing mediation efforts and hinder reaching an agreement for an immediate and permanent ceasefire>.Hamas said, after the overnight strikes, that Palestinians must <rise up and march>.
'Justice for the Palestinians'
The October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,984 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The Israeli military said Monday that its jets had over the past 24 hours struck and destroyed <over 75 terror targets> across the Gaza Strip. The United Nations has warned of looming famine in besieged Gaza, where most hospitals are no longer functioning. The bloodiest ever Gaza war and the spiralling civilian death toll have sparked a growing global backlash against Israel, including cases before two international courts in The Hague. On Tuesday, Spain, Ireland and Norway are due to formally recognise a Palestinian state - a step so far taken by more than 140 UN members but few western powers. Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that <whoever gives an award to Hamas and tries to establish a Palestinian terrorist state will not be in contact with the Palestinians>. Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares had on Sunday said Madrid saw recognition of statehood as bringing <justice for the Palestinian people (and) the best guarantee of security for Israel>.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)>>
Source incl. video:
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240527-gaza-officials-say-40-killed-as-israeli-strikes-set-tents-ablaze

France 24 - May 27, 2024 - Video by FRANCE 24
<<Live: Macron 'outraged' by Israeli strikes on Rafah camp for displaced Gazans
French President Emmanuel Macron voiced outrage on Monday over deadly Israeli strikes on a tented camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah and called for an <immediate ceasefire> in the Gaza war. Amid condemnations from European leaders, who urged the implementation of an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling telling Israel to stop its Rafah offensive, the death toll from Sunday's strikes on the camp rose to 45, according to Gaza's health ministry. Read our liveblog for all the latest developments on the Israel-Hamas war.
Summary:
French President Emmanuel Macron voiced outrage on Monday over deadly Israeli strikes on a tented camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah and called for an <immediate ceasefire> in the Gaza war. The death toll from the Israeli strikes on a camp housing displaced Palestinians near Rafah rose to 45, according to Gaza's health ministry. The Israeli military said it was investigating reports of civilian casualties.>>
Read and view more here:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240526-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-israel-launches-deadly-strike-near-rafah


Strike on Rafah kills dozens
Jinha - Womens News Agency - May 27, 2024
<<Israeli strike on Rafah kills dozens
An Israeli airstrike on a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah killed at least 35 people on Sunday night, Gaza’s health ministry said, adding that no hospital in Rafah had the capacity to take the number of casualties.
News Center- Israel has been attacking the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023. Many Palestinians were killed and many others injured in the air, land and sea attacks by the Israeli army on Sunday night. On the 234th day of the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes targeted Al-Zaytoun and Al-Sabra neighborhoods, south of Gaza City. Israeli warplanes also targeted the home of the Al-Batran family in the Zarqa area, north of Gaza City, killing five people and injuring others, including a child and her pregnant mother, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Monday.
According to WAFA, Israeli forces fired artillery shells targeting the Al-Sabra, Al-Zaytoun and Tal Al-Hawa neighborhoods in Gaza and opened fire on displaced Palestinians in the Al-Maghazi camp.
Statement by Gaza's Health Ministry
Gaza's Health Ministry announced that an Israeli airstrike on a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah killed at least 35 people on Sunday, adding that no hospital in Rafah had the capacity to take the number of casualties. The Palestinian Emergency Committee in Rafah condemned the attack, saying the area had been designated a <safe zone> for civilians. <Israel is determined to commit massacres against displaced civilians despite all international warnings and the ICJ decision regarding invading Rafah,> the committee said.>>
Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/israeli-strike-on-rafah-kills-dozens-35116

Sky News - May 27, 2024
<<Israel-Gaza latest: Israel insists Rafah airstrike 'which killed 35 people' targeted Hamas compound
Israeli airstrikes in the Tel al Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah have reportedly killed 35 people and injured dozens more. However, the Israeli military says its aircraft struck a <Hamas compound>, in which <significant Hamas terrorists were operating>.
'Gaza is hell on earth,' UN says
Reports of attacks on families seeking shelter in Rafah in the southern tip of the Gaza Strip are <horrifying>, the UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, has said. <Information coming out of Rafah about further attacks on families seeking shelter is horrifying,> UNRWA wrote on X. <There are reports of mass casualties including children and women among those killed. Gaza is hell on earth. Images from last night are yet another testament to that.> Palestinian health and civil emergency service officials said on Sunday Israeli airstrikes killed at least 35 Palestinians and wounded dozens in an area in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah designated for the displaced. The Israeli military said its air force struck a Hamas compound in Rafah, and that the incident was under review.
Situation in Gaza 'beyond catastrophic'
The situation in Gaza is <beyond catastrophic>, the humanitarian leader at Oxfam has told Sky News. Magnus Corfixen said: <We are basically seeing an increase in indiscriminate attacks from Israel since the ICJ ruling. The situation is beyond horrific.> He said <more people will be losing their lives> with Israel's military offensive and many of those affected were women and children. <Things will just keep on getting worse,> he added. Asked to what degree organisations like Oxfam could continue working in Gaza he said: <First and foremost we need fuel to operate the trucks that help us get the aid around. We need warehouses but that's difficult to find because many of them have been bombed. And we need to be able to operate safely and securely and that has been a massive challenge.>
Israel blocks Spain from offering consular services to Palestinians
Israel will stop the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem from offering consular services to Palestinians from 1 June, the country's foreign affairs minister has said. In a statement Israel Katz said a <diplomatic note> had been given to the Spanish embassy in Israel. <Those who reward Hamas and attempt to establish a Palestinian terror state will have no contact with the Palestinians,> he said. He also said the <days of the inquisition are over>.
Last week, Spain, Ireland and Norway pledged to recognise a Palestinian state - a largely symbolic move.
The formal recognition by the three countries - which all have a record of friendly ties with both the Israelis and the Palestinians, while long advocating for a Palestinian state - is planned for tomorrow.
Spain to ask EU partners to back ICJ over Israel
Spain's foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares has said that he will ask the other 26 EU member states to issue official backing to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and take steps to ensure Israel respects its decisions. <I am going to ask the other 26 partners to declare the backing of the International Court of Justice and its decision, and also, if Israel continues to pursue against that opinion of the court, we would try to take the right measures to enforce that decision,> he told reporters in Brussels during a joint news conference.
For context: On Friday, the ICJ ordered Israel to halt the Rafah offensive, though Israel is unlikely to comply.
At the heart of the problem lies the two main crossings through which had seen around 300 trucks of aid per day moving into Gaza before the offensive began. Israeli troops seized the Rafah crossing into Egypt, which has been inoperative since.
The nearby Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza has remained open, and Israel says it has been sending hundreds of trucks a day into it.
But while commercial trucks have successfully crossed, the UN says it cannot reach Kerem Shalom to pick up aid as it enters because fighting in the area makes it too dangerous.>>
Read more here:
https://news.sky.com/story/israel-hamas-gaza-latest-ceasefire-rafah-sky-news-live-blog-12978800

Sky News - May 27, 2024
<<Israeli airstrikes on Rafah reportedly kill 35 after Hamas launches rockets at Tel Aviv
Medics in the southern Gaza city say the strikes hit an area of tents being used by displaced people. The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas compound with <precise ammunition and on the basis of precise intelligence>. Israeli airstrikes on Rafah have reportedly killed at least 35 people and injured dozens more after Hamas launched rocket attacks towards Tel Aviv for the first time in months. The strike in the southern Gaza city hit tents for displaced people, according to Palestinian medics. Footage from the scene shows heavy destruction. However, Israel's military said it struck a <Hamas compound> in Rafah and killed two senior Hamas militants. It said it was investigating reports civilians were harmed. It said the attack took out Hamas's chief of staff for the West Bank and another senior official behind deadly attacks on Israelis. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said at least 35 people have died, <most> of them women and children. In a statement, Hamas condemned the attack on what it claimed was <an area crowded with hundreds of thousands of displaced people>. The strike took place in Tel al Sultan neighbourhood of western Rafah, where thousands of people were taking shelter after many fled the eastern areas of the city where Israeli forces began a ground offensive over two weeks ago. A spokesperson with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the death toll was likely to increase as search and rescue efforts continued.
The society said the location had been designated by Israel as a <humanitarian area> and that people remain trapped amid the destruction.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement: <The strike was carried out against legitimate targets under international law, using through the use of precise munitions and on the basis of precise intelligence that indicated Hamas' use of the area. The IDF is aware of reports indicating that as a result of the strike and fire that was ignited several civilians in the area were harmed. The incident is under review.>
On Friday, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its Rafah offensive, with Israel insisting it is key to its self-defence and its goal of destroying Hamas entirely.
Hamas fires rockets towards Tel Aviv
The strike on Rafah comes after Hamas launched rocket attacks from Gaza towards Tel Aviv earlier on Sunday. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage in what appeared to be the first long-range rocket attack from Gaza since January, although Palestinian militants have continued to sporadically fire rockets and mortar rounds at communities along the Gaza border since then.
Hamas's military wing claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Israeli military said eight projectiles crossed into Israel after being launched from the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where Israeli forces recently launched an incursion. Israel's Iron Dome defence system intercepted several of the missiles, it added.>>
Source:
https://news.sky.com/story/hamas-launches-first-rocket-attack-on-israel-from-gaza-in-months-13143299

France 24 - May 27, 2024 - Video by FRANCE 24
<<Live: EU's Borrell urges implementation of ICJ ruling as Rafah camp death toll rises
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday said an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling telling Israel to stop its offensive in Gaza's Rafah must be implemented, as European ministers met Arab counterparts in Brussels. The meeting came as the death toll from Israeli strikes on a camp housing displaced Palestinians near Rafah rose to 40, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency. Read our liveblog for all the latest developments on the Israel-Hamas war.
Summary:
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday said an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling telling Israel to stop its offensive in Gaza's Rafah must be implemented.
The death toll from Israeli strikes on a camp housing displaced Palestinians near Rafah rose to 40, according to Gaza's civil defence agency. The Israeli military said it was investigating reports of civilian casualties.
Israel said Monday it had told Spain's consulate in Jerusalem to stop offering consular services to Palestinians from June 1, as a <punitive> measure for Madrid's recognition of a Palestinian state.>>
Read more and watch video here:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240526-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-israel-launches-deadly-strike-near-rafah

France 24 - May 27, 2024 - Video by FRANCE 24
<<Live: Gaza officials call Israeli air strikes on Rafah displacement centre a 'massacre'
Gaza officials said Israeli strikes on a UN-run centre for displaced people near Rafah were a <horrific massacre>. At least 35 people were killed and <numerous> others were trapped in flaming debris due to Sunday’s strikes, according to health ministry officials in the Hamas-run enclave. The Israel army said it hit a Hamas installation and was investigating reports of civilian casualties. Read our liveblog for all the latest developments on the Israel-Hamas war.
Summary:
Israeli air strikes killed at least 35 Palestinians on Sunday and wounded dozens in an area in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah designated for the displaced, Palestinian health and civil emergency service officials said.
The Israeli military said its air force struck a Hamas compound in Rafah and that the strike was carried out with <precise ammunition and on the basis of precise intelligence>.
Rocket sirens sounded across central Israel, including in Tel Aviv, for the first time in months on Sunday, as Hamas claimed to have fired a barrage of rockets from Gaza. No casualties were reported.
At least eight people were killed on Sunday by Israeli strikes in villages across southern Lebanon, Lebanese security sources said.
At least 35,984 Palestinians have been killed and 80,643 wounded in Israel's war in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.
Yesterday's key developments:
Aid trucks from Egypt began entering the Gaza Strip on Sunday through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, state-linked media Al-Qahera News reported. Egypt has refused to coordinate aid through the crossing at Rafah as long as Israeli troops control the Palestinian side.>>
Read more and watch video here:
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240526-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-israel-launches-deadly-strike-near-rafah

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