Gaza massacre: 17 killed in missile attack on refugee camp

Israeli missiles aimed at Palestinians killed 17 Palestinians and wounded 80 others taking shelter in a school for displaced people in the Nussarat refugee camp, according to Gaza officials.

Earlier, Israel attacked the al-Mawasi camp, killing 90 people.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned the “endless carnage” in Gaza and Israel’s “constant attacks” on so-called “safe zones”.

While the Israeli side is accusing Hamas of rejecting negotiations for a ceasefire, Izzat al-Rishek, a member of Hamas’s political office, said Israel’s rejection of ceasefire talks is false propaganda.

At least 38,443 people have been killed and 88,481 injured in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas-led offensive is estimated at 1,139, and dozens are still being held captive in Gaza.

Dozens of bodies found in Gaza City neighborhood

The bodies of dozens of Palestinians have been retrieved from the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood after Israeli forces withdrew from parts of Gaza City, Palestinian rescue workers have said.

“The Gaza civil defence teams moved in to rescue survivors. They found dozens killed. Most of those killed are families, women, and children. Some bodies were eaten by dogs,” Gaza’s civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said on Friday.

At least 60 bodies were counted. Some bodies were buried on the spot. Others were taken to nearby hospitals.”

Israeli forces had entered the neighbourhood this week after ordering civilians to evacuate on Monday.

“Many bodies are still under the rubble. The Israeli forces are stationed nearby and the rescue efforts are interrupted regularly,” Basal said.

The discovery has come after Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood. On Thursday, Basal said civil defence teams recovered dozens of bodies from there, as well, adding that the neighbourhood has become uninhabitable.

“Documented testimonies” have been taken that Israeli forces opened fire on residents in the neighbourhood despite being located on designated evacuation routes, he said.
Home to more than a quarter of Gaza’s residents before the war, Gaza City was largely razed to the ground in late 2023, but hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had returned to homes in the ruins before Israel once again ordered them to leave.

Hamas, the Palestinian group that governs Gaza, accused Israeli forces of “atrocities” and called for international accountability. In a statement, the group accused Israel of committing “heinous abuses” in Gaza City.

“The atrocities revealed after the terrorist occupation army’s withdrawal from Tal al-Hawa in southwest Gaza City, after days of incursion and intense bombing that targeted all aspects of life, are war crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing,” Hamas said.

It called on the UN and international community to take immediate steps to end a “war of extermination” that Israel is waging against Palestinians.

US to ship bombs to Israel under project previously on hold — WSJ

The Washington administration will soon send to Israel the bombs that it had previously suspended, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing US officials.

According to them, the United States will begin shipping bombs weighing 500 pounds (around 227 kg) each. The project was put on hold in May as Israel launched its military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

The weapons “are in the process of being shipped,” the newspaper said. They are expected to arrive in Israel in coming weeks, it added.

On May 8, US President Joe Biden told CNN in an interview that his administration will stop sending weapons to Israel if the Jewish state launches a major military operation in Rafah. Later that day, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin explained that Washington was reviewing some “near-term security assistance shipments” due to the situation in Rafah. A decision was made to hold back delivery of high payload munitions, he said.

US, UK launch new wave of strikes on Yemen’s Houthis

The United States and the United Kingdom have carried out strikes on Houthi-controlled positions in Yemen in a new wave of attacks against the Iran-aligned Yemeni group, which has been targeting US and Israeli interests in solidarity with Palestinians.

In addition to Saturday’s strikes, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) also hit a Houthi antiship missile that was “prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea” early on Sunday. Houthi attacks on Israel-linked ships in the narrow strait of Bab al-Mandeb in the Red Sea have disrupted global trade, drawing in the US and the UK response.

Since mid-November, the Houthis have launched dozens of missile, drone and boat attacks on commercial ships linked with Israel, in addition to US and UK military warships, with the stated goal of stopping Israel’s devastating war on Gaza. Houthis have also demanded that Israel allow delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, where nearly the entire population of 2.3 million faces hunger.

The wave of new strikes followed a US air assault in Iraq and Syria on Friday that targeted armed groups linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in retaliation for the killing of three US soldiers in Jordan last week. The US has blamed the Jordan attack on the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iranian-linked armed groups. Tehran has tried to distance itself from the drone strike.

The CENTCOM said it launched “proportionate” attacks with “support” from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. Thirty-six targets were hit “across 13 locations around midnight Saturday”, the US, the UK and supporting countries said in a joint statement.

“These strikes are intended to degrade Houthi capabilities used to continue their reckless and unlawful attacks on US and UK ships as well as international commercial shipping in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden,” it said.BBC