Middle East

Many Christians of the Holy Land rejoiced at the election of Pope Leo XIV as the successor to Saint Peter. Many of us hope that the new pope will follow the legacy of his predecessor, Pope Francis, particularly with regard to issues of justice and peace.

The Holy See has historically played an important role in supporting the Christian presence in the Holy Land, whether through church activities, engagement with influential parties in and around the region, or through material and moral support. This has been reflected in the establishment of institutions such as the Pontifical Mission in Jerusalem, Bethlehem University, the Benedictus Center in Nazareth, and most recently, the donation by Pope Francis of the Popemobile to serve as a mobile clinic for children in Gaza.

Some of the most impactful moments in our recent history have been papal visits to our land — starting with Pope Paul VI in 1964, followed by Pope John Paul II in 2000, Pope Benedict XVI in 2009, and concluding with Pope Francis in 2014.

We, Christians in the Holy Land, hope that Pope Leo XIV will not only come to visit us but also help address some of the challenges we face today in the birthplace of Christianity. As a community of 230,000 people, we are working to strengthen the Christian presence as an active component of the local society, in collaboration with its other components. However, we do need help.

One of the main issues affecting Christian lives in Israel and Palestine is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is a persistent source of regional instability that fuels violence in various forms, which kills many, including Christians.

Rising religious and political extremism makes many of us feel like strangers in our own homeland. Economic deterioration and the declining number of people coming for pilgrimage in the Holy Land due to the conflict are leading to a loss of livelihood and worsening socioeconomic conditions. Widespread despair is driving many to emigrate or plan to leave in the near future, dwindling the numbers of our community.

Many local Christians want the Holy See to engage with key global and regional players to achieve a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In his last sermon, Pope Francis spoke about the urgent need for peace in Gaza. In his first sermon, Pope Leo XIV called for an immediate ceasefire and delivery of humanitarian aid to the Strip. We welcome these statements and hope he will continue to do his utmost to promote peace in the Holy Land.

In Palestine, the situation remains unclear due to the Israeli occupation of all territories meant to form a Palestinian state, the ongoing war in Gaza, and the limited authority of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank — not to mention Israel’s full annexation of East Jerusalem. This reality calls for thoughtful action by the Church, both at the level of the Holy See and locally, to provide people with hope in these dark times.

In Israel, there is a pressing need for cooperation between the Holy See and the local church — bishops, priests, and believers — to resolve many issues that affect the Christian and non-Christian communities. It is crucial to work with all segments of the local society to pressure the state to treat all its citizens equally and preserve their dignity.

Christians hope that the Holy See can collaborate with us in our efforts to achieve equality. We, as a community, face Israeli laws that discriminate against us based on ethnicity and religion; we need support in our efforts to have such laws repealed.

It is also essential to work towards resolving painful issues that have negatively impacted the Christian presence, such as the case of the villages of Iqrit and Biram, whose Catholic Christian residents were expelled before their homes were destroyed by the Israeli authorities in 1951. Since then, the residents and their descendants have been demanding to return to their ancestral lands, but are being denied this right.

There is also a need for stronger intervention by the Holy See to support Christian institutions operating under Israeli control, which face growing challenges, such as attempts by some municipalities to impose heavy taxes in violation of past agreements, the clear discriminatory underfunding of Christian schools by Israeli authorities, and threats against church property.

Many Christians of the Holy Land also hope that Pope Leo XIV will work to enhance unity among them, including efforts to reach a unified date for major religious holidays, especially Christmas and Easter. They also call for increased joint efforts among churches to organise pilgrimages to the Holy Land that include not only visits to religious sites but also interactions with the faithful who live there. This is important because it would help us raise global awareness about the challenges we face and feel an integral part of the universal Church.

As a whole, Christians in the Holy Land, like their fellow Christians around the world, desire to see a father in Pope Leo XIV — a father who visits them and welcomes their visits, consults with them and listens to their concerns, protects them from harm, stands with them when they are attacked or oppressed, and follows in the footsteps of the Church’s founder, who never hesitated to defend the oppressed regardless of how powerful the oppressor might be.

Pope Leo XIV should know that he has many children in the Holy Land who love him and understand how busy he and the Holy See are with so many issues around the world.

In the Holy Land, Christians have prayed — and continue to pray — for his success in his mission, fully aware of how complex it is. But above all, the children need their father — and that is what they expect the most: that he will always stand by their side, despite how busy he might be.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Iranian foreign minister says civilian enrichment cannot be subjected to any deal as Tehran and Washington set to hold talks.

Tehran, Iran – Iran has emphasised its right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes as an Iranian delegation led by the foreign minister reached the Omani capital, Muscat, for a fourth round of indirect nuclear talks with the United States.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state media on Sunday that the Iranian nation has a legal right to civilian enrichment that cannot be subjected to any deal.

The landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal, from which US President Donald Trump withdrew during his first term, allowed Iran to pursue its civilian nuclear activity but put restrictions on enrichment to prevent Tehran from making a nuclear bomb.

“Enrichment is one of the achievements and honours of the Iranian nation. We have paid a heavy price for enrichment. The blood of our nuclear scientists has been spilled for this achievement,” he said in reference to scientists assassinated by Israel over the years.

But Araghchi said Tehran remains committed to providing verifiable assurances that it will not be able to develop a nuclear bomb – which has been Trump’s main demand.

Araghchi visited Saudi Arabia and Qatar and met with senior officials to coordinate in the run-up to the latest nuclear talks.

In the Omani capital on Sunday, Iran’s top diplomat was accompanied by his deputies and other members of the team tasked with technical talks that Iran still emphasises are held “indirectly” through Omani mediation.

Tehran has also repeatedly expressed concern over “contradictory” remarks made to the media by US negotiators, who are led by Trump’s longtime friend and envoy Steve Witkoff.

In the lead-up to the Muscat talks on Sunday, Witkoff again called for the complete “dismantlement” of Iran’s nuclear programme, including key sites in Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials have suggested Iran must import enriched uranium.

The fourth round of the talks was scheduled for early May but had to be postponed with Oman citing “logistical reasons”.

The delay came after the US did not confirm its participation and amid a string of major fires in several Iranian cities, including one caused by an explosion in the port city of Bandar Abbas that killed dozens of people and injured more than 1,200.

Trump sacked National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, an Iran hawk, this month after Waltz reportedly coordinated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and advocated for war with Iran.

Trump, his team and Israel have repeatedly threatened to launch devastating military strikes on Iran and its infrastructure if the talks fail to produce results soon.

Meanwhile, the US has continued to pile sanctions on Iran with the Treasury Department blacklisting a Chinese chemical group and three port terminal operators on Thursday in an attempt to target Iranian oil exports.

Amid its “maximum pressure” push against Iran, the US has also promised to drive Iranian oil exports to “zero” as Tehran has continued to ship its oil – mainly to China – despite the sanctions.

Trump started the sanctions campaign in 2018 after unilaterally reneging on the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that put verifiable and stringent limits on Iran’s nuclear capabilities in exchange for lifting sanctions on the country.

The accord restricted Iran’s enrichment of uranium to 3.67 percent using first-generation centrifuges at limited sites, but it had time limits and sunset clauses that Trump claimed made it the “worst deal ever”.

Iran is currently enriching up to 60 percent, which is close to the more than 90 percent required to make a nuclear bomb, but the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tehran has made no effort to produce a weapon.

A Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University in the United States has returned to Boston after spending more than six weeks in an immigration detention centre in Louisiana in what her lawyers call a politically motivated crackdown on free speech.

Upon arrival at Boston Logan International Airport, Rumeysa Ozturk told reporters on Saturday that she was excited to get back to her studies during what has been a “very difficult” period.

“In the last 45 days, I lost both my freedom and also my education during a crucial time for my doctoral studies,” she said. “But I am so grateful for all the support, kindness and care.”

A federal judge on Friday ordered her release pending a final decision on her claim that she was illegally detained.

Ozturk, 30, was detained on March 25 when immigration officials arrested her in Massachusetts, revoked her student visa and transferred her to the detention facility in Louisiana.

Supporters believe Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar from Turkiye, was targeted for having co-written an opinion article in her student newspaper, calling on Tufts University to acknowledge Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide.

A genocide case against Israel is under way at the International Court of Justice. Last week, the former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accused Israel of committing genocide.

Ozturk was joined by her lawyers and two of Massachusetts’s Democratic members of Congress, Senator Edward Markey and Representative Ayanna Pressley.

“Today is a tremendous day as we welcome you back, Rumeysa,” Markey said. “You have made millions and millions of people across our country so proud of the way you have fought.”

Ozturk’s lawyers say her visa was revoked without notice and she was not allowed to contact legal counsel for more than a day after her arrest.

Appearing in court via video on Friday, Ozturk spoke of her deteriorating health, including severe asthma attacks in detention, and her hopes of continuing her doctoral research on children and social media.

US District Judge William Sessions granted Ozturk bail, saying she presented no flight risk or danger to the public. He found that her claim of unlawful detention raised serious constitutional questions, including potential violations of her rights to free speech and due process.

Ozturk’s case highlights a practice that has become common under President Donald Trump’s administration. Foreign students have been arrested and hundreds of their student visas revoked for their pro-Palestine views.

Mahmoud Khalil, who led the protests against Israel’s war on Gaza at Columbia University in New York, was among the first students detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 8. He remains in custody.

The Trump administration has been accused of conflating criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson previously accused Ozturk, without evidence, of supporting Hamas, which has been designated as a “terrorist” group by the US.

Ozturk denied any wrongdoing and said she will continue to pursue her case. “I have faith in the American system of justice,” she said.

Her legal battle continues in Vermont while immigration hearings proceed separately in Louisiana, where she may participate remotely.

Videos of her arrest, which show masked plainclothes officers taking her from a street in the Boston suburb of Somerville, Massachusetts, went viral and sent a chill across US university campuses.

Her lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union argued that her arrest and detention were unlawfully designed to punish her for speech protected by the US Constitution’s First Amendment and to chill the speech of others.

Pressley, who with two other Democratic members of Congress from Massachusetts visited Ozturk while she was in custody, said she was held in “squalid, inhumane conditions” and denied proper medical care for worsening asthma attacks.

“Rumeysa’s experience was not just an act of cruelty. It was a deliberate, coordinated attempt to intimidate, to instil fear, to send a chilling message to anyone who dares to speak out against injustice,” Pressley said.

Nabatieh, Lebanon – It is a bitterly cold February morning, and Sanaa Khreiss tugs her cardigan tighter as she begins unloading her van.

The sharp bite of early spring has kept most people away from the Nabatieh souk, but not Sanaa and her husband, Youssef.

The market is quiet as the sun breaks through the grey clouds, except for a few vendors setting up.

Sanaa, who has sold at this spot for the past four years, moves with the calm precision of someone who has perfected her craft over time.

She arranges the lingerie she sells, piece by piece, carefully lining them up, each addition bringing a touch of colour and vibrancy to her stall.

The soft murmur of voices grows as more vendors arrive, helping each other set up canopies to shield their stalls from potential rain.

The task is far from easy. The wind tugs at the fabric, and some canopies still hold water from the recent rainfall. But they press on, and slowly, the white shapes pop up, and Nabatieh’s Monday Market has started.

Sanaa smiles at the occasional passer-by, her warmth never fading. She has come to know many by name and can anticipate their requests. Her voice is quiet but inviting.

“I choose the Monday Market because there’s always a lot of movement, and it’s a historic, popular spot in the south,” Sanaa tells Al Jazeera, her fingers brushing over lace and satin as she unpacks more items from the van.

In the stall next door, her husband Youssef works in silence. His movements are precise, almost meditative, but there is a hint of tension in how he arranges the containers and cookware.

Youssef has never imagined himself here; he used to be a driver for the Khiam municipality, but lost his job when the municipality ceased operations after the outbreak of the Israeli war on Lebanon in 2023, which particularly devastated Lebanon’s south, including Nabatieh, one of the region’s biggest cities.

Since then, Youssef has quietly adapted to the life of a vendor beside Sanaa.

Youssef is quiet and reserved, a stark contrast to Sanaa’s extroverted warmth. He focuses intently on his tasks, but when approached by a customer, his blue eyes shine with welcome, and his voice is friendly.

At first glance, no one would guess the weight those eyes carry – war, displacement, losing his livelihood and their home in Khiam. But at the market, it is business as usual.

The market

Shoes, toys, spices, clothing, books, food, electronics, and accessories – the Monday Market sells all that and more.

The Monday Market in Nabatieh has its roots in the late Mamluk era (1250–1517 AD) and continued to thrive under Ottoman rule. Along with the Souk of Bint Jbeil and the Khan Market in Hasbaiyya, it is one of the oldest weekly markets in south Lebanon, established as part of efforts to extend trade routes across the region.

Back then, traders moved between Palestine and Lebanon, transporting goods by mule and donkey over rough, slow roads. Nabatieh’s location made it a natural stop – a bustling centre where merchants from nearby villages would gather to buy, sell and rest before continuing their journeys. The market also sat along a wider network of internal pilgrimage routes, connecting Jerusalem to Damascus, Mecca and Najaf.

Nabatieh Mayor Khodor Kodeih recounts that merchants travelling between Palestine and Lebanon would stop at a “khan” – an inn that also served as a trading centre – on the site of the current market.

A khan typically featured a square courtyard surrounded by rooms on two levels, with open arcades. Merchants would rest, trade and display their goods there, gradually transforming the site into the bustling Monday Market.

Over time, the market has become more than just a place to buy and sell – it is a ritual that stitches together the social and economic fabric of southern Lebanon.

The area around the old khans expanded into a larger open-air souk. Israeli air strikes during the last war destroyed the original khans, but traces of the market’s past still remain. Today, the Monday Market spans three to four city blocks in central Nabatieh, surrounded by remnants of Ottoman-era architecture. While shops remain open throughout the week, the market itself is made up of temporary stalls and stands that operate only on Mondays.

Before Israel’s recent war on Lebanon, the market filled the streets, framed by Ottoman-era buildings with wooden shutters and iron balconies. Merchants packed the narrow alleys with vibrant goods, their calls for business filling the air. But on November 13, 2024, Israeli air strikes reduced the historic market to rubble. Stone arches crumbled, shopfronts burned, and what was once a bustling hub was left in ruins.

All that remains

Arriving at Sultan Square, the usual site of the old market, one is left confused. All that remains is a vast, empty space at the heart of the city.

The famous Al-Sultan sweet shop, after which the square was named, is gone. Nearby, other sweet shops – including al-Dimassi, established in 1949 and central to Nabatieh’s culinary identity and reputation – are also missing. They once sold staples of Lebanese dessert culture: baklava, nammoura, maamoul, and during Ramadan, seasonal treats like kallaj and an all-time favourite, halawet el-jibn.

Every market morning, merchants sweep the streets, using only brooms to push the debris to the sides and clear space for their stalls. Even as the wind blows rubble back towards their stand, they keep sweeping, determined to maintain a neat and orderly market.

Sanaa remembers the high-end lingerie shops that once competed with her; they’re gone too, reduced to debris amid which vendors have set up their tents as they wait for the municipality to clear the area.

There should be more vendors on that cold morning, but the rain and war have changed things.

“The good thing about rainy days,” Sanaa jokes, “is that there are fewer merchants, so customers have limited options.”

Before the war, she sold in bulk – new brides buying trousseaus, women stocking up. Now, purchases are small and careful – with homes and livelihoods lost, shopping is for necessity, not luxuries or impulse buys.

On a typical Monday, the market runs from 5am to 5pm. Merchants arrive early, making their way to their designated spots, some on the pavement, others against a backdrop of a collapsed building.

Vegetable vendors lay their produce out in large sacks and plastic crates. Normally, the market is so crowded with people that cars can’t pass and visitors have to squeeze past each other from one stall to the next.

Though profits aren’t what they used to be, Sanaa is just happy to be back. She’s kept her prices the same, hoping the market will rebound.

“This is the most important market in the south,” she says. “And we need to follow the source of our livelihood.”

‘Deep love story with the Monday market’

Next to Sanaa’s stall is Jihad Abdallah’s, where he has rigged up several racks to hang his collection of women’s sports clothes.

Yesterday’s snow is melting as the sun comes out, but Jihad keeps his hoodie up, still feeling the lingering cold.

Customers have started trickling over, but it isn’t enough to shake the frustrated, tired look on his face.

Jihad, from the border village of Bint Jbeil, spends his week travelling between different town markets in southern Lebanon to make ends meet.

He was among the first to set up in Bint Jbeil’s Thursday Market as soon as the ceasefire with Israel was announced on November 27, 2024. Jihad didn’t have many options. Bint Jbeil was the market he knew best – he memorised the rhythms, understood customer demands, and recognised how to turn profit. Still, business was slow.

“In Bint Jbeil, the market needs time to recover because many residents from nearby villages, like Blida, Aitaroun and Maroun al-Ras, haven’t returned yet,” Abdallah tells Al Jazeera.

“However, in Nabatieh, nearby towns have seen more returnees.”

Jihad was also among the first to return to the Nabatieh market, joining the very first band of merchants in clearing as much debris as they could manage.

“The Israelis want to make this land unliveable, but we’re here. We’re staying,” Jihad says. “They destroyed everything out of spite, but they can’t take our will.”

Further down the road, Abbas Sbeity has set up his stand of clothes for the day, a collection of children’s winter clothes he couldn’t sell because of the war.

“I had to empty my van to make room for mattresses for my kids to sleep on when we first escaped Qaaqaait al-Jisr [a village near Nabatieh],” he tells Al Jazeera, pointing to the van behind him, now packed with clothes.

Abbas is trying to make a profit, however small, from clothes that were meant to be sold when children returned to school last fall.

He’s been coming to the Monday Market for 30 years, a job passed down from his father, who inherited it from his grandfather.

“My grandfather used to bring me here on a mule!” he says with a nostalgic smile. For a moment, he stares off, lost in thought. His smile stays, but his voice holds a trace of sadness.

“There’s a deep love story with the Monday Market,” he adds. “But now, there’s a sadness in the air. People’s spirits are still heavy, and the destruction around us really affects their morale.”

Abbas remembers how people came not only to buy but to hang out for a weekly outing they could count on for fun, no matter the weather. Even if they didn’t buy anything, they’d enjoy the crowds or grab a bite, whether from the small shops selling manouches, shawarma, kaak or falafel sandwiches, or from a restaurant nearby, from local favourites like Al-Bohsasa to Western chains.

Many would also stop by Al-Sultan and Al-Dimassi, which were the closest to the market, to enjoy a sweet treat, a perfect way to top off their visit.

By noon, the rain had stopped, leaving behind a gloomy day as the sun struggled to break through the clouds, casting a faint light over the market. People haggled over prices, searched for specific sizes, and despite the changes brought by war, the Monday Market pressed on, determined to hold on to its place.

‘We won’t let them,’ determination versus reality

At one end of the Sultan Square, near the upper right corner, a half-destroyed building still stands where vendors used to set up shop before the war. Now, produce vendors arrange their stalls beneath it as if nothing had changed. The remnants of the structure loom above them – fragments of walls hanging precariously, held together by stray wires that look ready to snap.

Yet the vendors paid no mind, too absorbed in tending to customers. The building’s arched openings and ornate details, though battered, still hinted at the city’s rich past. Its verandas, standing like silent witnesses to the souk below, bore testament to both the scars of war and a culture that refused to disappear.

At the far end of the market, by the main road leading out of Nabatieh to nearby villages, one cart stands alone, piled high with nuts and dried fruits. Its owner adds more, making the stacks look like they might spill over at any second.

Roasted corn, chickpeas, and almonds sit next to raw almonds, hazelnuts, cashews and walnuts. Dried fruits are displayed front and centre, dates and apricots taking the spotlight.

At the back of the cart, Rachid Dennawi arranges candies – gummy bears and marshmallows in all shapes and flavours. It’s his first day back at the Monday Market since the war began.

Abir Badran, a customer dressed in a dark cardigan and a long black scarf that gently frames her face, is the first to reach Rachid’s cart while he’s still setting up. Her face lights up as she leans in to examine the dates, carefully picking through them.

“Finally, you’re back!” she says, reaching for the dates – they’re bigger and better than what she can find at other places, she says.

Rachid, originally from Tripoli in Lebanon’s north, makes the three-hour journey to Nabatieh because he believes the market is livelier, has more customers.

Over time, Rachid has built a loyal clientele, and people like Abir swear by his dried fruit and nut mix.

“The people here are different,” he tells Al Jazeera, handing Abir a handful of almonds to taste. “They don’t just buy from you – they welcome you and want you to succeed.”

But Abir didn’t just come to stock up – she is there because the Monday Market has become an act of resistance.

“The Israelis want to sever our ties to this land,” Abir tells Al Jazeera. “But we won’t let them.”

While the optimism is clear, the reality on the ground is tough.

Merchants and residents are doing what they can with what they have. Some have relocated their shops or started new businesses, but some are stuck in limbo.

Mayor Kodeih estimates it will take at least two years to rebuild the market and is critical of the Lebanese government’s support.

“We will restore the market,” he says. “It won’t be the same, but we’ll bring it back.”

The mayor was injured in the Israeli strike on the municipality in mid-October, which killed 16 people; he is one of the two survivors.

It is not easy to leave the market behind – or Nabatieh.

Despite the destruction, the city hums with life: Shops are open, cafes are busy, and people lean in doorways, greeting passers-by with warm smiles and easy conversation.

The gravity of war has left its mark. The destruction is visible at every turn – a bookshop reduced to rubble, shops flattened to the ground – but it has not stripped away the city’s kindness or its sense of humour.

In front of a lot with nothing more than a gaping hole in it, a playful banner by the shop that used to stand there reads: “We’ll be back soon … we’re just redecorating.”

One of the paths out of the Sultan Square leads visitors northeast, into a quieter neighbourhood of cobbled streets, where cafes and small shops line the way. Here, people sip coffee and linger by storefronts, seemingly untouched by the devastation only steps away.

Turning back at the boundary between the two, the destruction that has decimated the market is more apparent, as is the loss to Nabatieh and southern Lebanon.

The market’s heyday will live on only in the memories of those who experienced it, younger generations will never have that same experience.

One might think that images of starving children, as political leaders withhold aid and openly call for ethnic cleansing, would be topping news agendas everywhere. In the case of Gaza, the failure of many in the international media to meet the moment has made them part of the story.

Lead contributors:
Chris Doyle – Director, Council for Arab-British Understanding
Daniel Levy – President, US/Middle East Project
Muhammad Shehada – Visiting fellow, ECFR
Sarah Leah Whitson – Director, DAWN

On our radar:

As India and Pakistan go toe-to-toe in their most intense fighting for decades, a flood of disinformation is fuelling the sense of panic on both sides. Meenakshi Ravi reports.

Seeking justice on Ghana’s courtroom shows

If you are dealing with something personal and painful – a broken marriage or a family dispute – you might turn to a friend. For something as serious as sexual assault, it might go to trial. But in Ghana, more and more people are turning somewhere else: live radio. The so-called “justice-style” shows promise swift, public resolutions. But they are also controversial, with critics accusing them of turning private pain into primetime theatre.

Featuring:
George Sarpong – Executive secretary, National Media Commission
Menenaba – Ghanaian writer
Oheneni Adazoa – Host, Sompa Nkomo Show
Zakaria Tanko Musah – Lecturer in media law and ethics, Journalism Institute

At least 21 people, including several children, have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn amid a months-long Israeli blockade that has deepened the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn coastal enclave.

Four Palestinians were killed and others were wounded Saturday evening after an Israeli airstrike targeted a tent sheltering displaced families in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.

Earlier, Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli warplanes bombed a tent in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City on Saturday morning, killing five members of the Tlaib family.

“Three children, their mother and her husband were sleeping inside a tent and were bombed by an [Israeli] occupation aircraft,” family member Omar Abu al-Kass told the AFP news agency.

The strikes came “without warning and without having done anything wrong”, added Abu al-Kass, who said he was the children’s maternal grandfather.

In parallel, a drone attack on Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood left six people dead and one more in the Sheikh Radwan area of the city where Israel bombed an apartment belonging to the Zaqout family.

Further south, Wafa said Israeli gunboats opened “heavy fire” on the shores of Rafah, killing a man identified as Mohammed Saeed al-Bardawil. Two more civilians were injured in an attack on the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone, west of Rafah.

In the past 24 hours, at least 23 Palestinians have been killed and 124 others injured in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

Israeli blockade

The attacks came amid Israel’s continuing refusal to allow vital supplies into Gaza since March 2, leaving the enclave’s 2.3 million residents dependent on a dwindling number of charity kitchens, which have been shutting down in recent days as food runs out.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said: “There’s barely food … We’re talking about bakeries not operating, we’re talking about zero distribution points and we’re talking about only a few hot meal kitchens still operating.”

Khoudary said people queueing for hours would often leave empty-handed, with remaining kitchens stretching out food that would previously have fed 100 to serve up to 2,000 people.

“We’re seeing more people dying, we’re seeing more children dying due to malnutrition and the lack of food. But it’s not only the lack of food, it’s also the lack of medical supplies, it’s the lack of fuel, cooking gas and it’s the lack of everything,” she said.

Among the charities shuttering operations, the United States-based World Central Kitchen said on Wednesday that it had been forced to close down because it no longer had supplies to bake bread or cook meals.

The United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs appealed for the blockade to be lifted.

“Children are starving, and dying. Community kitchens are shutting down. Clean water is running out,” it said on Friday in a post on X.

‘Failure of humanity’

The blockade is also having a devastating effect on people with chronic illnesses, depriving Palestinians who suffer from diabetes, cancer and rare conditions, of life-saving medication.

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said: “Doctors here say the tragedy is not in what’s happening, but in what is preventable.”

“These diseases have a treatment, but people of Gaza no longer have access to them, and they say that this is not just a failure of logistics, but of humanity,” he added.

Mahmoud spoke to the father of a 10-year-old boy suffering from diabetes, who said insulin was not available across northern Gaza.

“I spend entire days searching pharmacies, hoping to find it. Sometimes we hear that individuals might have it, so I go to their homes to barter,” he said.

Said al-Soudy, head of emergency in the oncology department of Gaza City’s Al Helou International Hospital, told Al Jazeera: “A large part of patients are struggling to find their essential medications. Without them, their health conditions deteriorate and may become life-threatening.”

Pharmacist Rana Alsamak told Al Jazeera that Palestinians were unable to obtain medication for “multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, hepatitis, chronic illnesses and … immune-related diseases”.

“These conditions now go largely untreated,” she said.

On Friday, the United States said it was establishing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to coordinate aid deliveries into Gaza, with Israel providing military security for operations. The United Nations rejected the move, saying it would weaponise aid, violate principles of neutrality and cause mass displacement.

Thousands gather demanding an end to the war and the release of Israeli captives in Gaza.

Thousands of Israelis rallied in central Tel Aviv, calling on the government to end the war on Gaza and secure the immediate release of Israeli captives held in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that in Tel Aviv, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an Israeli campaign group, held its weekly rally Saturday in “Hostages Square”, while another demonstration by families of captives is taking place outside the Israeli military headquarters.

A separate antigovernment protest is also occurring at Habima Square in Tel Aviv.

The Times of Israel reported that Shai Mozes, whose parents were held captive and released in separate exchange deals, told the crowd at the protest in Habima Square that Israel’s “real enemy is not Hamas, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is destroying Israel as a Jewish and democratic state”.

Netanyahu’s critics in Israel have accused the prime minister of extending the war for his own personal and political survival.

Haaretz also reported that protests are expected in other cities, including Jerusalem, Haifa, and Beersheba, as well as at dozens of other sites and intersections across Israel.

After Netanyahu announced an expanded offensive in the Gaza Strip on Monday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum criticised the move in a statement, saying the plan is “sacrificing” those still held in the Palestinian territory.

Hamas releases video of two Israeli captives alive in Gaza

Hamas’s armed wing released a video on Saturday showing two Israeli captives alive in the Gaza Strip, with one of the two men calling to end the 19-month-long war.

Israeli media identified the pair in the undated video as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana.

The three-minute video released by Hamas’s Qassam Brigades shows one of the captives, identified by media as 36-year-old Bohbot, visibly weak and lying on the floor wrapped in a blanket.

Ohana, 24, speaks in Hebrew in the video, urging the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of all remaining captives.

Bohbot and Ohana were both abducted by Palestinian fighters from the site of a music festival during Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7 2023.

The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed there will be a technical delegation at the Iran-US talks in Oman on Sunday.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has visited Saudi Arabia and is due to visit Qatar for consultations in the run-up to the fourth round of indirect nuclear talks with the United States, which will take place in Oman on Sunday.

The future direction of Iran’s nuclear programme, its enrichment of uranium, and sanctions relief remain the key issues.

Araqhchi’s Gulf tour on Saturday comes after Tehran confirmed the latest round Friday: “The negotiations are moving forward, and naturally, the further we go, the more consultations and reviews are needed,” Araghchi said in remarks carried by Iranian state media.

Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi said on Friday that, after “coordination with both Iran and the US”, the delayed talks would go ahead in Muscat. The fourth round, initially scheduled for May 3 in Rome, was postponed for what Oman described as “logistical reasons.”

A source familiar with the matter said on Friday that US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, plans to attend the meeting in Oman.

Ongoing dispute over nuclear programme

The talks come against the backdrop of a long-running dispute over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The meeting is the latest effort to revive diplomacy after years of rising tensions.

Successive US administrations have sought to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. A sustained effort by world powers during the Barack Obama administration culminated with a 2015 agreement called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The multilateral agreement created a framework for Iran to receive much-needed relief from international sanctions, in exchange for reducing its uranium enrichment and submitting to inspections of its nuclear facilities.

But when Trump succeeded Obama as US president, he unilaterally withdrew the US from the nuclear agreement in 2018, causing the deal to crumble.

Some Western countries argue that Iran’s programme, accelerated after the US walkout from the 2015 accord, is aimed at developing weapons. Tehran maintains that its nuclear activity is entirely civilian.

Trump himself has acknowledged tensions in his policy on Iran, saying at the start of his second term that hawkish advisors were pushing him to step up pressure reluctantly.

In an interview on Thursday, Trump said he wanted “total verification” that Iran’s contested nuclear work is shut down, but through diplomacy.

“I’d much rather make a deal” than see military action, Trump told the conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt.

“There are only two alternatives – blow ’em up nicely or blow ’em up viciously,” Trump said.

In an interview with Breitbart News on Friday, Witkoff said the US would “take [Iran] at their word” that they do not want nuclear weapons, but set out specific conditions for verifying such a position.

“If that’s how they feel, then their enrichment facilities have to be dismantled. They cannot have centrifuges. They have to downblend all of their fuel that they have there and send it to a faraway place — and they have to convert to a civil programme if they want to run a civil programme,” he said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier raised the possibility of Iran importing enriched uranium for any civilian energy.

Iran’s Gulf outreach

Araqchi’s trips to Saudi Arabia and Qatar on Saturday are part of what he describes as “continuous consultations” with neighbouring states.

He said the visits aimed to address “concerns and mutual interests” regarding the nuclear issue.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei confirmed the presence of a technical delegation in the talks in Oman on Saturday.

In an interview with Mehr News, Baghaei stated that the Iranian delegation is comprised of experts and specialists relevant to the current phase of the negotiations. He did not comment on the US team.

The paramilitary force has been blamed for attacks on a prison in el-Obeid and a displacement camp in Darfur.

At least 33 people have been killed in Sudan in attacks suspected to have been carried out by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as the brutal two-year war claims its latest victims.

An RSF strike on a prison on Saturday in el-Obeid killed at least 19 people, while on Friday evening, at least 14 members of the same family were killed in an air attack in Darfur, local sources said.

The attacks – part of the RSF’s ongoing war with the military-led government’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since 2023 – came after six straight days of the paramilitary group’s drone attacks on the army-led government’s wartime capital of Port Sudan.

These attacks damaged key infrastructure, including a power grid and the country’s last operational civilian airport, which was a key gateway for aid into the war-ravaged nation.

The war has left tens of thousands dead, displaced 13 million people and triggered what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The attack on the prison on Saturday also wounded 45 people, a medical source told the AFP news agency. The source said the jail in the army-controlled city in the North Kordofan state capital was hit by an RSF drone.

The night before, 14 people were killed at the Abu Shouk displacement camp near el-Fasher in Darfur, a rescue group said, blaming the paramilitary.

The camp “was the target of intense bombardment by the Rapid Support Forces on Friday evening”, said the group of volunteer aid workers.

The camp near el-Fasher, the last state capital in Darfur still out of the RSF’s control, is plagued by famine, according to the UN.

It is home to tens of thousands of people who fled the violence of successive conflicts in Darfur and the conflict that has been ripping Africa’s third-largest country asunder since 2023.

The RSF has shelled the camp several times in recent weeks.

Abu Shouk is located near the Zamzam camp, which the RSF seized in April after a devastating offensive that virtually emptied it.

RSF escalation

Elsewhere on Saturday, SAF warplanes struck RSF positions in the Darfur cities of Nyala and el-Geneina, destroying arms depots and military equipment, a military source told AFP.

The RSF has recently said it had taken the strategic town of al-Nahud in West Kordofan, a key army supply line to Darfur.

The RSF’s escalation in Port Sudan earlier this month came after the military struck the Nyala airport in South Darfur, where the RSF receives foreign military assistance, including drones. Local media stated that dozens of RSF officers were killed in the attack.

Sudan’s army-aligned authorities accuse the United Arab Emirates of supplying those drones to the RSF, which has no air force of its own.

The war began as a power struggle between SAF chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. It has effectively divided the country into two, with the army controlling the north, east and centre, while the RSF and its allies dominate nearly all of Darfur in the west and parts of the south.

Both sides have been accused of committing war crimes.

When on March 2, we heard all crossings into Gaza were closed, we thought it would not last more than two weeks. We really wanted a normal Ramadan where we could invite our surviving relatives for iftar and not worry about what food we could find to break our fast.

But it did not turn out this way. We spent the holy month breaking our fast with canned food.

My family, like most families in Gaza, had not stocked up on food or essentials, as no one expected the crossings to close again, or the famine – or even the war – to return.

In the days after the closure, food and other basic goods disappeared from the markets, and prices skyrocketed. A kilogramme of any vegetable jumped to $8 or more, sugar $22 and baby formula $11. A sack of flour previously costing $8, went up to $50; within two months, it reached $300.

Most people in Gaza could not afford these prices. As a result, families, including my own, began reducing the number of meals they eat, limiting themselves to just breakfast and dinner, and shrinking each person’s portion – half a loaf of bread for breakfast a whole one for dinner. Men, women, elderly people and children would stand in front of bakeries and charity kitchens for hours, in shame and sorrow, just to get a few loaves of bread or a small plate of food. For some families, this would be their only food for the day.

All the residents of central Gaza, where I live, relied on only three bakeries: two in Nuseirat and one in Deir el-Balah.

The crowds at these bakeries were overwhelming, blocking roads and halting movement in the area. Every day, there were cases of fainting and suffocation due to the pushing and shoving. In the end, only a small number of those who waited since morning would get bread.

My father would go to the bakery before sunrise to line up, instead of using what’s left of our flour, because we did not know how long this situation would last. But he would find the line already long, dozens having slept outside the bakery. He would stay until noon, then send my brother to take his place in the line. In the end, they would return with nothing.

On March 31, the World Food Programme announced the closure of all of its bakeries, including the three we could access, due to the depletion of flour and the lack of gas needed to run the ovens. This marked the start of true famine.

Soon, charity kitchens started closing as well because they ran out of food stock. Dozens of them shuttered in the past week alone. People grew even more desperate, many taking to local groups on Facebook or Telegram to beg for anyone to sell them a bag of flour at a reasonable price.

We live in a “lucky” neighbourhood where the kitchen still functions.

My niece Dana, who is eight years old, lines up in front of it every day with her friends, waiting for her turn as if it were a game. If she receives a single scoop of food, she comes back running, feeling very proud of herself. And if her turn doesn’t come before the food runs out, she returns in tears, complaining about how unfair this world is.

One day during Ramadan, a boy, displaced with his family to the al-Mufti School near our home, was so desperately trying to get food that he fell into the pot of hot food the charity kitchen was cooking. He suffered severe burns and later died from them.

The signs of famine began becoming apparent everywhere about a month and a half after the closure of the crossings. We see them in every aspect of our lives – sleeping on an empty stomach, rapid weight loss within, pale faces, weak bodies. Climbing stairs now takes us twice the effort.

It has become easier to get sick and more difficult to recover. My nephews, 18-month-old Musab and two-year-old Mohammed, developed high fever and flu-like symptoms during Ramadan. It took them a whole month to get better because of the lack of food and medicine.

My mother has been suffering from severe vision loss due to complications after eye surgery she had in late February. The malnutrition and the lack of eye drops she needed to recover have made her condition much worse.

I myself have been unwell. I donated blood to al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat just days before the border was closed and this seriously affected my physical health. Now, I suffer from extreme weakness in my body, weight loss and difficulty focusing. When I went to the doctor, he told me to stop eating canned food and to eat more fruit and meat. He knew that what he was saying was impossible to do, but what else could he say?

Perhaps the most difficult part about this situation is having to explain famine to little children. My nieces and nephews cannot stop asking for things to eat that we simply cannot provide. We struggle to convince them that we are not punishing them by hiding food, but that we simply do not have it.

Five-year-old Khaled keeps asking for meat every day while looking at food pictures on his mother’s phone. He stares at the images and asks whether his martyred father gets to eat all this in heaven. Then he asks when his own turn will come, to join his father and eat with him.

We struggle to answer. We tell him to be patient and that his patience will be rewarded.

I feel helpless seeing daily scenes of famine and desperation. I ask myself, how can the world stay silent while seeing children’s bodies go thin and fragile and the sick and injured die slowly?

The occupation uses every method to kill us – by bombing, starvation, or disease. We have been reduced to begging for a piece of bread. The entire world watches and pretends that it cannot even give us that.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Iraq replaces Jesus Casas as head coach with former Australia boss Graham Arnold ahead of crunch World Cup qualifiers.

Former Australia manager Graham Arnold has been confirmed as the new head coach of Iraq by the country’s football federation ahead of next month’s World Cup qualifiers against South Korea and Jordan.

Arnold’s appointment was announced on social media by the Iraq Football Association, which published photographs of the 61-year-old being welcomed in Baghdad by officials from the national body.

“We are delighted to announce Graham Arnold as the new head coach of the Iraq national team,” the federation said in a post on Instagram. “Welcome to the Lions of Mesopotamia!”

Arnold replaces Jesus Casas at the helm after the Spaniard’s departure in the wake of a 2-1 loss to Palestine in March during the third round of Asia’s qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

That result left the Iraqis in third place in the standings in Group B, four points adrift of leaders South Korea and one behind the Jordanians.

Welcome to Baghdad ✔️

Our new Australian head coach Graham Arnold has arrived in the Iraqi capital! 🛬 pic.twitter.com/AH1IybroHv

— Iraq National Team (@IraqNT_EN) May 9, 2025

The top two finishers in each of Asia’s three qualifying groups advance automatically to the World Cup, while the teams in third and fourth place progress to another round of preliminaries.

Arnold’s first game in charge will be in Basra on June 5 against the South Koreans before he takes his new team to Amman to face Jordan five days later. Iraq are attempting to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1986.

The appointment sees Arnold return to international management more than seven months after standing down as Australia’s head coach.

Arnold, who led the Australians to the knockout rounds of the 2022 World Cup during a six-year spell in charge, quit after an uninspired start to the current phase of qualifying when his side lost to Bahrain and drew with Indonesia in September.

He was replaced by Tony Popovic, the former Western Sydney Wanderers coach who has taken the Socceroos to second place in Group C of Asia’s qualifiers ahead of games against already qualified Japan and Saudi Arabia in June.

The search and rescue group has found the remains of three unidentified bodies so far, according to anonymous sources.

A Qatari mission has begun searching for the remains of United States hostages killed by the ISIL (ISIS) armed group in Syria about 10 years ago, according to the Reuters news agency, citing two sources briefed on the mission.

Qatar’s International Search and Rescue Group began the search on Wednesday, with the help of several US nationals who wished to remain anonymous, the news agency reported.

So far, three unidentified bodies have been found by the group, according to the sources. The mission’s focus was on locating the body of aid worker Peter Kassig, who was beheaded by ISIL in 2014 in Dabiq, northern Syria, a Syrian security source told Reuters.

US aid worker Kayla Mueller as well as US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were among other Western hostages killed by ISIL. Foley and Sotloff were confirmed killed in 2014. Mueller’s killing was confirmed in 2015.

“We’re grateful for anyone taking on this task and risking their lives in some circumstances to try and find the bodies of Jim and the other hostages,” said Diane Foley, James Foley’s mother. “We thank all those involved in this effort.”

The Qatari mission is getting under way as US President Donald Trump prepares to visit Doha and other Gulf Arab capitals next week and as Syria’s new government seeks relief from sanctions imposed by the US.

Washington, along with some other Western governments, has said it will wait to see how the new authorities exercise their power and ensure human rights before lifting any sanctions.

The United Kingdom last month removed its sanctions on 12 Syrian government entities, including the Ministries of Defence and Interior and the General Intelligence Directorate.

Longstanding commitment

ISIL once controlled vast swaths of Syria and Iraq, ruling over millions of people. At the peak of its power from 2014-2017, it beheaded numerous people in captivity, including Western hostages, and released videos of the killings.

A coalition of more than 80 countries, led by the US, was formed to fight ISIL in September 2014.

The war against the group officially ended in March 2019, when US-backed and Kurdish-led fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces captured the eastern Syrian town of Baghouz, the last sliver of land ISIL controlled.

Plans for the Qatari mission were discussed during a visit to Washington in April by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and State Minister Mohammed Al Khulaifi – a trip also designed to prepare for Trump’s visit to Qatar, one of the sources told Reuters.

Another person familiar with the issue said there had been a longstanding commitment by successive US administrations to find the remains of the murdered US nationals, and that there had been multiple previous “efforts with US government officials on the ground in Syria to search very specific areas”.

The person did not elaborate, the report said. But the US has had hundreds of soldiers deployed in northeastern Syria that have continued pursuing ISIL’s remnants.

The person said the remains of Kassig, Sotloff and Foley were most likely located in this part of the country. Mueller’s case was different as she was in the custody of ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the person added.

Two ISIL members, both former UK citizens who were part of a cell dubbed the “Beatles” that beheaded US hostages, are serving life prison sentences in the US.

To prioritise the release of the captives in Gaza, or to continue fighting what critics are calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “forever war” – that is the question increasingly dividing Israel.

Israel’s government, laser-focused on the idea of a total victory against Hamas in Gaza, appears to be opting for the latter.

And that is only increasing the criticism Netanyahu has received since October 2023, firstly for his government’s failure to stop the October 7 attack, and then for failing to end a now 19-month war, or provide a clear vision for what the “day after” in Gaza will look like.

Netanyahu’s decision in March to unilaterally end a ceasefire instead of continuing with an agreement that would have brought home the remaining captives has widened the cracks within Israeli society, as opponents realised that the likelihood of the captives leaving Gaza alive was becoming more remote.

In recent weeks, a wave of open letter writing from within military units has emerged protesting the government’s priorities.

The discontent has also gained traction with the public. Earlier this month, thousands of Israelis gathered outside the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv to protest against Netanyahu’s decision to call up a further 60,000 reservists as part of his escalation against the bombed out and besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza, where his forces have already killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children.

In mid-April, current and former members of the air force, considered one of Israel’s elite units, also released a letter, claiming the war served the “political and personal interests” of Netanyahu, “and not security ones”.

Prompted by the air force, similar protests came from members of the navy, elite units within the military and Israel’s foreign security agency, Mossad.

Political and personal interests 

Accusations that Netanyahu is manipulating the war for his own personal ends predate the breaking of the ceasefire.

In the minds of his critics, the longer the war continues, the longer Netanyahu feels he can defend himself against the numerous threats to his position and even his freedom.

In addition to facing trial on numerous counts of corruption dating back to 2019, he also faces calls to hold an inquiry into the government’s political failings before the October 7 attack.

Netanyahu also faces accusations that members of his office have allegedly been taking payment from Qatar – the Gulf state has previously dismissed the allegations as a “smear campaign” intended to hinder efforts to mediate an end to the conflict.

The continuation of the war allows Netanyahu to distract from those issues, while maintaining a coalition with far-right parties who have made it clear that any end to the war without total victory – which increasingly appears to include the ethnic cleansing of Gaza – would result in their departure from government, and Netanyahu’s likely fall.

And so there are questions about whether Netanyahu’s announcement of a further escalation in Gaza, including the occupation of territory and displacement of its population, will mark an end to the conflict, or simply bog Israel down in the kind of forever war that has so far been to Netanyahu’s benefit.

‘I don’t know if they’re capable of occupying the territory,” former US Special Forces commander, Colonel Seth Krummrich of international security firm Global Guardian told Al Jazeera, “Gaza is just going to soak up people, and that’s before you even think about guarding northern Israel, confronting Iran or guarding the Israeli street,” he said, warning of the potential shortfall in reservists.

“It’s also competing with a tide of growing [domestic] toxicity. When soldiers don’t return home, or don’t go, that’s going to tear at the fabric of Israeli society. It plays out at every dinner table.”

Staying at home 

Israeli media reports suggest that part of that toxicity is playing out in the number of reservists simply not showing up for duty.

The majority of those refusing service are thought to be “grey refusers”. That is, reservists with no ideological objection to the mass killings in Gaza, but rather ones exhausted by repeated tours, away from their families and jobs to support a war with no clear end.

Official numbers of reservists refusing duty are unknown. However, in mid-March, the Israeli national broadcaster, Kan, ran a report disputing official numbers, which claimed that more than 80 percent of those called up for duty had attended, suggesting that the actual figure was closer to 60 percent.

“There has been a steady increase in refusal among reservists,” a spokesperson for the organisation New Profile, which supports people refusing enlistment, said. “However, we often see sharp spikes in response to specific shifts in Israeli government policy, such as the violation of the most recent ceasefire or public statements by officials indicating that the primary objective of the military campaign is no longer the return of hostages and ‘destruction of Hamas’, as initially claimed, but rather the occupation of Gaza, and its ethnic cleansing.”

Also unaddressed is growing public discontent over the ultra-religious Haredi community, whose eight-decade exemption from military service was deemed illegal by the Supreme Court in June of last year.

Despite the shortfall in reservists reporting for duty and others having experienced repeated deployments, in April, the Supreme Court requested an explanation from Netanyahu – who relies upon Haredi support to maintain his coalition – as to why its ruling had not been fully implemented or enforced.

Throughout the war, Netanyahu’s escalations, while often resisted by the captives’ families and their allies, have been cheered on and encouraged by his allies among the far-right, many of whom claim a biblical right to the homes and land of Palestinians.

The apparent conflict between the welfare of the captives and the “total victory” promised by Netanyahu has run almost as long as the conflict itself, with each moment of division seemingly strengthening the prime minister’s position through the critical support of the ultranationalist elements of his cabinet.

Netanyahu’s position has led to conflict with politicians, including his own former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. While Gallant wasn’t opposed to the war in principle – his active support for Netanyahu eventually led to him joining Netanyahu in facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for war crimes – his prioritisation of the captives put him at odds with the prime minister.

The divide over priorities has meant that civility between the government and the captives’ families has increasingly gone out the window, with Netanyahu generally avoiding meeting families with loved ones still captive in Gaza, and far-right politicians engaging in shouting matches with them during meetings in parliament.

Division within Israeli society was not new, Professor Yossi Mekelberg of Chatham House told Al Jazeera, “but wars and conflicts deepen them”.

“Now we have a situation where some people have served anywhere up to 400 days in the army [as reservists], while others are refusing to serve at all and exploiting their political power within the coalition to do so,” Mekelberg added.

“Elsewhere, there are ministers on the extreme right talking about ‘sacrificing’ the hostages for military gain,” something Mekelberg said many regarded as running counter to much of the founding principles of the country and the Jewish faith.

“There’s such toxicity in public discourse,” Mekelberg continued, “We see toxicity against anyone who criticises the war or the prime minister, division between the secular and the religious, and then even divisions within the religious movements.”

The incident comes days after Oman said it mediated a ceasefire deal between the US and the Houthi group.

Air raid sirens were heard in Israel as a missile was launched towards the territory by Yemen’s Houthis, who say they are retaliating against Israeli sites in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel’s military said it intercepted the projectile on Friday using its air defence systems.

There were no reports of injuries or damage from the missile attack, according to a military statement.

The incident came days after Oman said it mediated a ceasefire deal between the United States and the Houthis, with the Yemeni group saying the agreement did not include Israel.

Houthi rebels fired a “hypersonic ballistic missile” towards Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, while also claiming a drone attack “targeting a vital Israeli enemy target” in the same area, according to the group’s military spokesperson, Yahya Saree.

Israeli media reported that air raid sirens were sounded in several areas across central Israel, with people receiving early warning mobile messages about the missile attack.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Israel would respond forcefully in Yemen and “wherever necessary”, describing the Houthi missiles as “Iranian”.

‘Going to strike back’

“The Israeli defence minister has released some comments saying that Israel is going to strike back with full force,” said Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, Jordan. “But these comments aren’t really surprising because we’ve heard them from Israel Katz previously when the Houthis had launched any sort of ballistic missile towards Israel.”

However, “this time it’s a little bit different because earlier in the week one of those missiles actually made impact … at quite a strategic location at the main airport inside of central Israel,” Salhut said.

Friday’s missile sent thousands of people “running towards shelters and safe rooms”, she added.

US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his country would stop bombing Yemen as the Houthis had agreed to stop their attacks on US ships in the Red Sea.

But the Houthis have continued to fire missiles and drones towards Israel, most of which the Israeli military says it has intercepted, without casualties or serious damage occurring.

The Houthis have attacked numerous vessels in the Red Sea linked to Israel and its allies in what they state is an act of solidarity with Palestine.

According to Israeli media, the Houthi group has launched 28 ballistic missiles and dozens of drones at Israel since March 18, when Israel resumed its genocidal war on Gaza.

Israel has been waging a devastating war on the enclave since October 2023, killing more than 50,000 Palestinians, after a Hamas-led attack into southern Israel that month.

Israel’s priority is a ‘wider colonial expansion’, the committee on Israeli practices in occupied territories said.

The world could be witnessing “another Nakba”, or the expulsion of Palestinians, a United Nations special committee has warned.

The committee sounded the alarm on Friday, accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and saying it was inflicting “unimaginable suffering” on Palestinians.

The comments come after Israel announced a plan earlier this week to expel hundreds of thousands of hungry Palestinians from the north of Gaza and confine them in six encampments.

For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the “Nakba“, or catastrophe – the mass displacement that accompanied Israel’s creation in 1948.

“Israel continues to inflict unimaginable suffering on the people living under its occupation, whilst rapidly expanding confiscation of land as part of its wider colonial aspirations,” said the UN committee tasked with probing Israeli practices affecting Palestinian rights.

“What we are witnessing could very well be another Nakba,” the committee added, after concluding an annual mission to Amman.

“The goal of wider colonial expansion is clearly the priority of the government of Israel,” its report stated.

“Security operations are used as a smokescreen for rapid land grabbing, mass displacement, dispossession, demolitions, forced evictions and ethnic cleansing, in order to replace the Palestinian communities with Jewish settlers.”

‘Inhuman, degrading treatment’

The committee also noted Israel’s human rights violations against Palestinians.

“According to testimonies, it is evident that the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including sexual violence, is a systematic practice of the Israeli army and security forces, and is widespread in Israeli prisons and military detention camps,” it said.

“The methods read as a playbook of how to try to humiliate, derogate, and strike fear into the hearts of individuals.”

The committee’s mission took place as Israel’s weeks-long total blockade of aid to Gaza continues.

“It is hard to imagine a world in which a government would implement such depraved policies to starve a population to death, whilst trucks of food are sitting only a few kilometres away,” the committee said.

“Yet, this is the sick reality for those in Gaza.”

The UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1968.

During the formation of Israel in 1948, approximately 760,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes in what became known as “the Nakba”.

The descendants of some 160,000 Palestinians who managed to remain in what became Israel presently make up about 20 percent of its population.

The committee is currently composed of the Sri Lankan, Malaysian and Senegalese ambassadors to the UN in New York.

“If you have love and if you are rooted in your beliefs, no fear can shake you.” Palestinian peace activist Mohsen Mahdawi recounted his arrest and imprisonment to Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey, explaining how he is able to keep up his work.

US-backed Gaza foundation proposal to keep aid from Hamas, but critics slam bypass of UN, Israeli threat to besieged Palestinian civilians.

The United States has said a new foundation is being established to coordinate aid deliveries to Gaza amid Israel’s two-month blockade.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told reporters on Friday that Israel would not be involved in distributing aid in the enclave but would provide security for the operations of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

The plan for the “charitable” and “non-governmental” initiative was announced on Thursday by State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce. Although few details were revealed, it appears part of a US-Israeli push to take over the distribution of aid to prevent it from being diverted by Hamas and other groups.

The AP news agency reported that the newly created GHF had issued a proposal to implement a new aid distribution system, supplanting the current one run by the United Nations and other international aid agencies.

Reports claim that under the proposal, private contractors will be used to secure hubs where Palestinians will be required to gather to collect supplies.

Israel, which has halted the entry of all aid to Gaza since March 2, deepening the humanitarian crisis, has previously said it will not relax the blockade until a system is in place that gives it control over the distribution, insisting that supplies are used to support Hamas.

The intention to sideline the United Nations has drawn sharp criticism from humanitarian organisations, and it is unclear if the GHF proposal will ease those concerns.

Bruce promised further announcements regarding the proposal would follow soon. “I was hoping to introduce it today, but the foundation will be announcing this shortly,” she said.

The former executive director of the UN World Food Programme David Beasley is in talks with the US, Israel and other key players to head the GHF, reported US outlet Axis, quoting unnamed sources.

Israel’s blockade, implemented about two weeks before it resumed its bombardment of the enclave, has left Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, most of whom have been displaced multiple times, desperately short of food, fuel, and medicine.

Israeli ‘aid plan’

The US plan appears to be designed along similar lines to a proposal approved by Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday.

Under the scheme, four “Secure Distribution Sites” would be constructed, each intended to serve 300,000 people. Palestinians expelled from northern Gaza would be forced to relocate to reach the centres.

The plan was met by sharp criticism from the UN and other aid groups, who noted that Palestinians have regularly come under attack from Israeli forces while collecting aid.

Addressing those concerns, Huckabee on Friday said “the most significant danger is not doing anything” and “people dying from hunger”.

The aid would be “distributed effectively, but also safely”, the US official insisted, according to Israeli daily Haaretz.

The decision to bypass international aid agencies comes amid growing alarm over famine-like conditions in the besieged territory, where Israel’s near-total blockade has cut off all essential supplies for almost three months.

At least 57 Palestinians have starved to death in Gaza, with most of the victims being children, as well as the sick and elderly.

UN humanitarian agency spokesperson Jens Laerke condemned the effort to dismantle existing aid structures on Tuesday.

“This appears to be a deliberate attempt to weaponise the aid,” he said. “It should be based solely on humanitarian need.”

The Israeli military has been altering commercial drones to carry bombs and surveil people in Gaza, an investigation by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification agency has found.

According to Sanad, drones manufactured by the Chinese tech giant DJI have been used to attack hospitals and civilian shelters and to surveil Palestinian prisoners being forced to act as human shields for heavily armoured Israeli soldiers.

This is not the first time DJI drones have been modified and used by armies. There were similar reports about both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022.

At the time, DJI suspended all sales to both countries and introduced software modifications that restricted the areas where its drones could be used and how high they could fly.

However, DJI has not stopped selling drones to Israel.

Israel’s use of DJI drones

The Israeli army’s use of DJI drones is not new.

By 2018, DJI drones were reportedly in extensive use across numerous divisions in the Israeli military. The Israeli campaign group Hamushim found evidence that Israeli military-trained operators were using DJI’s Matrice 600 model to drop tear gas on civilian protesters during the following year’s Great March of Return in Gaza.

Despite their previous deployment by the Israeli military, their lethal use against civilians and protected targets in Gaza, as documented in this investigation, is unprecedented.

Al Jazeera has reached out to Israeli authorities to request comment on the findings of this investigation but has received no response by time of publication.

Sanad has documented several DJI drones that have been adapted for military use.

However, it is the powerful DJI Agras drone, developed for agricultural use, that is the most significant.

According to its manufacturers, the DJI Agras can carry a substantial payload and is capable of precision flight.

As Sanad’s investigation shows, it can also be used to deliver an explosive payload to targets beyond the reach of conventional military forces.

In addition to the DJI Agras, the DJI Mavic has been used by the Israeli military across Gaza for reconnaissance and target acquisition.

Similarly, the compact DJI Avata drone, designed for recreational filming, has been repurposed by the Israeli military to navigate and map the intricate tunnel networks beneath Gaza.

Attacks on northern Gaza

By late 2024, Israel had laid siege to Gaza’s north, pushing the population to the brink of famine and imposing conditions described as “apocalyptic” by United Nations observers.

Residents and humanitarian organisations reported an alarming number of what appeared to be civilian drones armed with explosives.

In an incident documented by displaced civilians, footage shared on July 17, 2024, shows a DJI Agras drone dropping a bomb onto the IHH Turkish charity’s building in Jabalia, northern Gaza, less than 100 metres (330ft) from a school serving as a shelter and aid distribution centre.

In November in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, a DJI Agras drone dropped a bomb in a residential neighbourhood where civilians had fled after Israeli shelling of a UN-operated school-turned-shelter.

People who witnessed the bombing told Sanad the attack seemed calculated to instil fear.

Surveillance and urban warfare

Beyond direct attacks, Israeli-modified DJI drones have been used extensively for surveillance and tactical operations throughout Gaza.

In a further incident, footage obtained by Al Jazeera Arabic from one Israeli drone shows a DJI Avata helping to track an unnamed Palestinian being used by heavily armed Israeli soldiers as a human shield – an illegal practice under international law – in Shujaiya in December 2023.

The individual is seen opening the school’s doors to make sure there were no Palestinian fighters inside, closely monitored by another drone that captured the entire operation.

DJI double standards: Gaza vs Ukraine

In 2022, in response to complaints from Ukrainian officials that DJI was sharing critical data with their Russian adversaries, the drone manufacturer suspended all sales to its retail partners in both countries.

DJI explained the move: “We will never accept any use of our products to cause harm, and we will continue striving to improve the world with our work.”

Despite evidence of DJI drones being weaponised by the Israeli military in Gaza, DJI has had no such response.

Responding to direct inquiries from Sanad, DJI said: “Our products are for peaceful and civilian use only, and we absolutely deplore and condemn the use of [DJI] products to cause harm anywhere in the world.”

A subsequent direct query asked if it plans “to halt sales in Israel or implement measures similar to those taken in the Russia-Ukraine conflict”.

But DJI did not respond to the query not has it undertaken any measures to halt sales or impose software restrictions on where drones can fly over Gaza, allowing continued military deployments of their drones by the Israeli military.