13:03
Palestinians leave Rafah
Palestinian civilians flee the eastern parts of Rafah after the Israeli army begins evacuating Palestinian civilians. The city is at risk of being attacked by the Israeli army after negotiations over a new truce failed.
Sebas van Aert
11:17
Military action in Rafah necessary because Hamas refuses deal, says Israeli Defense Minister
A military operation in Rafah is necessary because Hamas would refuse to reach a deal on a new truce. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told his American colleague Lloyd Austin this last night. “Hamas refuses any plan to return our hostages,” Gallant wrote yesterday on X. “The consequences on the ground will be clear.”
Israel wants Hamas to release remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a temporary ceasefire. However, Hamas only wants to talk about a definitive end to the war in Gaza. Both camps accuse each other of stalling the negotiations. As a senior Hamas official pointed out in conversation with The New York Times precisely to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the main culprit for the impasse.
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According to Gallant, Israeli forces would be ready for “a powerful operation throughout Gaza and especially in the Rafah area.” According to him, the decisive order will come soon. In preparation for the possible attack, the Israeli army today called on 100,000 civilians from eastern Rafah to evacuate due to an upcoming operation. Witnesses tell Reuters that the first people have already left.
The United States, like many other countries, opposes a potential invasion of Rafah, home to 1.4 million Palestinian refugees. It would endanger the lives of too many Palestinian citizens. It is unclear whether the country is now convinced of Israel’s strategy to limit the damage.
Just last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concerns about the operation. “We have not yet seen a plan that gives us confidence that citizens can be effectively protected,” he told a meeting of the World Economic Forum. However, Israel appears to be ignoring all international resistance and continuing with the planned operation.
Sebas van Aert
07:18
Israel began ‘temporary’ evacuation of Palestinians from Rafah, Israeli media said
The Israeli army has begun ‘temporarily’ evacuating Palestinians from the southern city of Rafah. Various Israeli media and the army reported this via They have been told via flyers and text messages, among other things, that they must leave for the city of Khan Younis or the coastal town of Al-Mawasi. Refugee camps set up by Israel have recently arisen there.
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For months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened a military invasion of the city, where an estimated 1.4 million civilians have taken refuge. According to Israel, the remaining Hamas fighters, including Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, and the Israeli hostages are in Rafah.
The Israeli attack plans are opposed by the international community, which fears that an invasion of the city would end in a massacre. Nevertheless, it seems only a matter of time. Just yesterday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said an operation in Rafah is expected soon.
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz However, it is unlikely that the southern city will be occupied and the military activity is a leverage in negotiations with Hamas.
Sebas van Aert
Read more about Rafah’s announced raid here: Israel steps up attacks on Gaza, general warns that operation in Rafah is near
00:32
Several dead in Israeli attacks on Rafah
Sixteen Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on houses in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, on Sunday. Medical sources from the Hamas-controlled area told the AFP news agency on Monday that seven Palestinians from one family and nine from another family were killed.
Rafah is regularly the target of air strikes and Israel is threatening a large-scale ground offensive in the city. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations are very concerned about such a ground operation. They fear a humanitarian disaster in the densely populated area where many refugees reside. (AP)
00:15
UNRWA chief says Israel is denying him access to Gaza again
Israeli authorities have denied the head of the UN Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, entry to Gaza for the second time since October 7. Lazzarini said this in a post on X. Lazzarini has been to Gaza four times since the war broke out, including on March 17.
Lazzarini also said that Israel continues to obstruct or deny the delivery of humanitarian aid. “In the last two weeks alone we have recorded ten incidents, including shooting at convoys, detentions of UN personnel followed by harassment such as forced stripping, threats of weapons and long delays at checkpoints forcing convoys to move in the dark or tear it down,” Lazzarini said.
The UNRWA chief also called for an “independent investigation” into rocket fire that led to the closure of a key Israel-Gaza border crossing near Kerem Shalom on Sunday. Hamas’s armed wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for that attack. According to the Israeli army, three soldiers were killed.
Later on Sunday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it had attacked a Hamas command center in central Gaza. According to an IDF spokesperson, the Palestinian movement allegedly positioned that center ‘intentionally near an active UNRWA location’. (AP)
00:05
Four dead after Israeli attack in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah retaliation
An Israeli airstrike on a southern village in Lebanon has killed four people from one family. Lebanese state media report this. The Lebanese movement Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel in retaliation.
According to the Lebanese National News Agency, the attack took place in the town of Mais al-Jabal and the victims were a man, a woman and their children aged 12 and 21. Two other people were injured.
The Israeli military said that “warplanes struck a military site near Mais al-Jabal this morning,” without providing further details.
Hezbollah said it had fired “dozens of Katyusha and Falaq rockets” at Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel “in response to the heinous crime committed by the Israeli enemy in Mais al-Jabal.”
The Israeli military said that “approximately 40 launches from Lebanon have been identified.” Most of the missiles were reportedly intercepted and there were no casualties.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah have increased. In those seven months, almost 400 people were killed in Lebanon, according to counts by the AFP news agency. Israeli authorities report the deaths of eleven soldiers and nine civilians in Hezbollah attacks. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides. (AP)
11:55 PM, Yesterday
Welcome to the live blog of Monday, May 6
This was the most important news about the crisis in the Middle East from Saturday May 4 and Sunday May 5:
• Ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas appear to have reached an impasse. Both Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Hamas leader Haniyeh say they will not agree to the other party’s demands. For example, Hamas wants a definitive end to the war in Gaza, while Israel opts for a temporary ceasefire.
• Israel’s war cabinet has unanimously approved the closure of the local offices of the Arab news channel Al Jazeera. Israeli authorities have been accusing the news channel of this for some time to harbor sympathies for the militant Palestinian groups in Gaza and the West Bank.
• Israel has closed a key border crossing used for humanitarian aid to Gazans. This is reported by the Israeli army. The border crossing at Kerem Shalom is said to have come under fire, meaning it could no longer remain open. New trucks carrying relief goods are no longer allowed to pass through.
Read the full live blog from last weekend here.
