Gaza live: Gaza death toll rises to 35,80

The death from Israel’s raid on Jenin in the occupied West Bank increased to 10, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The raid has been ongoing since Tuesday when eight were killed. Two more Palestinians were killed on Wednesday.

The casualty toll from the attack now stands at 10 Palestinians killed and 25 injured.

US National Security advisor Jake Sullivan criticised Israel for withholding tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority (PA) on Wednesday. 

Sullivan slammed Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s move earlier today to stop making payments to the PA in response to the moves by Spain, Ireland, and Norway to recognise a Palestinian state.

“I think it’s wrong. I think it’s wrong on a strategic basis because withholding funds destabilises the West Bank, it undermines the search for security and prosperity for the Palestinian people, which is in Israel’s interests,” Sullivan said.

The Biden administration is trying to bolster the embattled PA with the aim of having them take over post-war governance in Gaza, a move Netanyahu publicly rejects.

A video has been released by a forum of Israeli hostage family members purporting to show the abduction and interrogation of seven female Israeli soldiers by Palestinian fighters.

The video shows seven young female Israeli soldiers with bloodied faces and bruises. Their hands are tied behind their backs, and the soldiers are lined up against a wall by Palestinian fighters.

The video was taken on 7 October at Israel’s Nahal Oz military base, which armed groups briefly seized as part of their surprise attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages.

MEE can’t confirm the authenticity of the video. Reuters news outlet removed subtitles on the video, saying that there were discrepancies between the text on screen and their audio translation.

The Hostages Families Forum which released the video said it had previously been released by Hamas.

“Every new testimony about what happened to the hostages echoes the same tragic truth – we must bring them all back home, now,” the Hostage Families Forum said in a press release accompanying the video.

At least seven Palestinians have been killed by an Israeli army drone strike in Gaza City, according to Palestinian news agency, Wafa.

The Israeli drone strike targeted a group of people in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City.

The attack killed children and injured at least 20 others, Wafa reported.

A group of Arab ministers is set to meet with their European Union counterparts on Monday to discuss efforts to end Israel’s war on Gaza, Sven Koopmans, the European Union’s special representative for the Middle East peace process, said.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, and the UAE will send representatives to a meeting with EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

The move comes after Ireland, Spain and Norway recognised a Palestinian state.

Israel has seized control of around 70 percent of Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Egyptian officials.

Israel is expanding its offensive on Rafah, doubling the number of brigades operating in the southern Gaza border town, according to Israeli Army radio reports.

Israel’s control over the Philadelphi Corridor has riled tensions with Egypt.

Three Israeli soldiers were killed fighting in northern Gaza on Wednesday, Israel’s military said.

Two soldiers were killed in a Hamas sniper attack in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoun. Another soldier was killed by an explosive device in a building in northern Gaza.

The new deaths bring Israel’s total killed in Gaza to 286.

The University of Melbourne will disclose all of its research partnerships with arms producers, agreeing to a major demand of pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

A grassroots pro-Palestinian movement of students, staff and alumni welcomed the decision as “a major win”.

“We recognise the University’s decision is the result of eight months of pressure to disclose and divest its unethical ties to weapons manufactures. This outcome is only a partial achievement,” Unimelb for Palestine said on X.

The group said it was ending its sit-in on the University’s South Lawn and other locations, but will continue to press for its full demands.

The US and Saudi Arabia are ‘weeks away’ from concluding agreements on nuclear energy, security and defence cooperation, and that the Biden administration wants to bundle into a normalisation deal between Riyadh and Israel.

“Those agreements are in principle very close to being able to be concluded. Now of course we will come to Congress with them when they’re ready to be reviewed, but we’re - could be really weeks away from being able to conclude them,” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said during a hearing at the House of Representatives.

The US says it wants to present the bilateral side of the agreement to Israel to move towards a two-state solution. Blinken has previously voiced skepticism whether Israel would agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“However, in order for normalization to proceed, Saudi Arabia has made very clear that even with the agreements between us completed, they have to have two things: they have to have calm in Gaza and they have to have a credible pathway to a Palestinian state,” Blinken said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has slammed Norway, Ireland and Spain for recognising a Palestinian state, saying the move was a "prize for terrorism”.

Netanyahu on Wednesday said the announcement would not derail Israel’s war on Gaza.

"This would be a terrorist state. It would try to carry out the October 7 massacre again and again - and that, we shall not agree to," Netanyahu said in a statement.

The US singled out Egypt for the second time in less than a day, suggesting Cairo has failed to ensure aid is moving into the Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said Egypt needed to do all it could to ensure the delivery of aid to Gaza.

“So we need to find a way to make sure that the assistance that would go through Rafah can get through safely, but we do strongly urge our Egyptian partners to do everything that they can on their end of things to make sure that assistance is flowing,” Blinken said.

A senior US official briefing reporters yesterday suggested Egypt was to blame for the closure of Rafah border crossing.

In the last 24 hours, 62 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, amid reports of fresh air raids on Jabalia refugee camp and Rafah.

More than two Palestinians were killed ever hour in the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa, citing Palestinian medical sources. 138 Palestinians have been injured.

The death toll comes amid heavy fighting in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, according to Arabic media reports.

Israel’s raid on Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank has continued for a second day.

The casualty toll from the attack has increased to 8 Palestinians killed and 24 injured, including 4 in serious condition, according to Arabic media outlets.

Israeli forces have left widespread destruction across Jenin, including vandalising Palestinian homes, according to the  reports

Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has posted a video on X showing its ambulance crews evacuating families from Jenin camp, where a large-scale Israeli raid has been ongoing since Tuesday.

The society said the families were evacuated after their “homes were taken over and turned into military outposts” by Israeli forces during their ongoing assault on the city and its camp.

At least seven Palestinians, including a teacher, a doctor and students have been killed by Israeli forces during the incursion.

Palestine Red Crescent ambulance crews are evacuating families whose homes were taken over and turned into military outposts by the Israeli occupation forces during their ongoing incursion into the #Jenin refugee camp. pic.twitter.com/7V2qIWNb4W

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) May 22, 2024

Hamas is calling on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, particularly in the city and refugee camp of Jenin, to resist Israeli assaults "that have targeted all aspects of Palestinian life".

In a statement, Haroun Nasser al-Din, a member of the group's political bureau called on Palestinians across the West Bank to “engage in an intifada in response to these ugly crimes, and to confront the occupation forces”.

His comments come amid a large-scale Israeli assault on Jenin city and refugee camp, in which at least seven Palestinians were killed, including a doctor, a teacher and students.