Live Updates: Health system in Gaza 'hours from collapse' due to fuel shortage

Monday, May 13, 2024

12:29 GMT — Health system in Gaza 'hours from collapse' due to fuel shortage

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza has said that the besieged territory's health system is "hours away" from collapse, after fighting has blocked fuel shipments through key crossings.

"We are just hours away from the collapse of the health system in the Gaza Strip due to the lack of the necessary fuel to operate generators in hospitals, ambulances, and (for vehicles to) transport staff," the ministry said in a statement.

11:48 GMT — Lebanon's Hezbollah claims strikes that wounded Israeli soldiers

Lebanon's Hezbollah group has claimed responsibility for a strike that Israel said wounded four soldiers in the country's north, the latest cross-border fire in more than seven months of clashes.

Hezbollah militants fired "a guided missile" at an Israeli Merkava tank across the border on Monday morning, destroying it "after closely monitoring the enemy's movements," the group said in a statement.

The Israeli army said "two anti-tank missiles" crossed from Lebanon into the area of Yiftah, a kibbutz community less than two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the border.

10:19 GMT — Number of Palestinians leaving Rafah due to Israeli strikes rises to 360,000: UNRWA

The number of Palestinians who were forced to leave Rafah due to attacks by Israeli forces rose to 360,000, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said.

“Nearly 360,000 people have fled #Rafah since the first evacuation order a week ago,” UNRWA stated on X.

“Meanwhile, in north #Gaza bombardments & other evacuation orders have created more displacement & fear for thousands of families,” it added.

09:31 GMT — Israeli air strike on Gaza kills Palestinian party leader

The Palestinian Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine has said that its political bureau member, Talal Abu Zarifa, was killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a house in southern Gaza City.

“Abu Zarifa was killed while fighting against the barbaric Israeli invasion in the Sabra neighbourhood, southeast Gaza City, alongside his comrade Mahmoud Hamam,” the front said in a statement.

The Palestinian party leader was killed, along with three others, in an Israeli air strike targeting a house in the Sabra neighbourhood late Sunday evening, according to witnesses.

08:49 GMT — Illegal Israeli settlers attack Palestinian village in occupied West Bank

Illegal Israeli settlers have attacked a Palestinian village, assaulted a Palestinian home, and set a car on fire, leading to confrontations in the northern occupied West Bank.

Witnesses reported to Anadolu Agency that a group of illegal settlers attacked Jalud village, pelting a house with stones and torching a car.

They added that clashes erupted between Palestinians and settlers, with the Palestinians managing to drive them out of the village.

07:35 GMT — Israeli forces step up attacks on Gaza's Jabalia camp, Rafah

Israeli tanks have pushed further into Jabalia in northern Gaza, residents and Hamas media say, while air strikes hammered Rafah in the south.

In Jabalia, tanks were trying to advance towards the heart of the camp, the biggest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps.

Residents said tank shells were landing at the centre of the camp and that air strikes had destroyed clusters of houses.

06:21 GMT — Israeli army says it struck 3 Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon

The Israeli army has said that its warplanes targeted three Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon.

“Air Force planes bombed two Hezbollah missile launch sites in the villages of Helta and Al-Hamam and infrastructure belonging to the organisation in the Khraibeh area,” the army said in a statement, according to the Israeli Broadcasting Authority.

Earlier on Sunday, Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli military deployment near the Zabdine site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms with “new heavy missiles.”

04:35 GMT — Israel killed 500+ Gaza medics since Oct 7 — health authorities

At least 500 medical personnel have been killed since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza on October 7 last year, the Palestinian Health Ministry in the besieged enclave said as the world marked International Nurses Day.

“Here in Palestine and in Gaza in particular, this day passes as the Israeli occupation has killed 138 nurses. This year's International Nurses Day is exceptional, and it is our right to name this year the Year of Nursing,” ministry spokesperson Khalil al-Daqran said during a news conference on the sidelines of a sit-in organised by nurses at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

“Nurses, midwives and medical teams are an integral part of the fabric of the Palestinian people. They were the martyrs who played their national and humanitarian role to save the lives of the wounded and the sick,” said al-Daqran.

04:11 GMT — Israeli army says it struck 3 Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon

The Israeli army has said that its warplanes targeted three Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon.

“Air Force planes bombed two Hezbollah missile launch sites in the villages of Helta and Al-Hamam and infrastructure belonging to the organisation in the Khraibeh area,” the army said in a statement, according to the Israeli Broadcasting Authority.

Earlier on Sunday, Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli military deployment near the Zabdine site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms with “new heavy missiles.”

03:55 GMT — Blinken says no 'red lines' for Israel but warns against Rafah attack

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there are no "red lines" that would prompt Washington to cease backing Israel in its war in Gaza but warned the Israeli army against launching a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah.

Blinken underscored the Biden administration's opposition to a comprehensive attack on Rafah on NBC's "Meet the Press” show.

He emphasised that Israel has not yet presented a credible plan to protect the city’s nearly 1.5 million Palestinian inhabitants and warned that an Israeli offensive could foster an insurgency by failing to eliminate all the Hamas forces there.

03:22 GMT — Dutch women stage Mother's Day march in support of Gaza mothers

A group of women in the Netherlands staged a march on Mother's Day in support of Palestinian mothers in Gaza.

They gathered at Binnenrotte Square in Rotterdam under the banner "Mothers against Genocide," marching through the city centre and assembling in front of the Mother and Child statue carrying baby dolls wrapped in bloody shrouds.

Some mothers held demonstrations outside McDonald's, Starbucks and Burger King outlets, highlighting the plight of mothers in Gaza.

02:45 GMT — Protests disrupt pro-Israeli American-Jewish comedian's speech at Duke

A group of students against Israel’s war on Gaza protested as Jewish-American comedian Jerry Seinfeld was about to give a speech at North Carolina-based Duke University’s graduation ceremony by unfurling a Palestinian flag and walking out.

The demonstration in support of Palestine and Gaza at Duke University was the latest against the war on university campuses.

Seinfeld, who supports Israel, had been invited to speak at the ceremony.

For our live updates from Sunday, May 12, click here.