Gaza live: Israel to build 'different government' in Gaza, says defence minister

Following Israel's latest attack on Rafah, US Congressman Ro Khanna has called on the Israeli prime minister to end the assault on the besieged southern Gaza city.

“Netanyahu must immediately halt the military offensive into Rafah,” Khanna said in a post on X.

“The horrific loss of innocent lives today with the bombing of a refugee camp underscores the moral urgency of stopping the Rafah campaign,” said Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California.

The UN special rapporteur on the right to housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, called for action against Israel following its latest attack on displaced Palestinians in Rafah.

“Attacking women and children while they cower in their shelters in Rafah is a monstrous atrocity. We need concerted global action to stop Israel’s actions now,” he said in a post on X.

A 14-year-old Palestinian boy who was shot by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Sunday has died of critical wounds, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Majd Shaher Arameen was shot near the town of Sa’ir, northeast of Hebron, Wafa reported.

Medecins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders (MSF), says it is “horrified” by Israeli’s attack on the camp for displaced Palestinians in Tal as-Sultan and that the “deadly event” shows once again that nowhere is safe in Gaza.

More than 15 dead bodies and dozens of wounded people were brought to a trauma stabilisation point that it supports in Gaza, said the medical charity.

MSF reiterated its call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire.

The death toll from Israel’s attack on the tent camp at Tal as-Sultan has risen to 40, the Palestinian Wafa news agency said citing local sources. 

Most of the victims were women and children, it noted.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) was quoted as saying that many of the people inside the tents were “burned alive”. The PRCS also told the agency that hospitals in the area “are incapable of handling this large number of victims as a result of the [Israeli] occupation’s deliberate destruction of the health system in Gaza”.

It's day 234 of Israel's war on Gaza. This is a recap of the last few hours to get you up to speed this morning:

• Sunday saw another evening of intense Israeli bombardment in Gaza, with at least 40 Palestinians killed and dozens of others wounded after a number of Israeli air strikes hit a camp for displaced people in Rafah. Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri described the attack in Rafah as a "massacre"
• The Palestinian health ministry said that 35,984 Palestinians had been killed and 80,643 injured in Israeli strikes since 7 October in Gaza
• The Government Media Office in Gaza said Israel used a 2,000-pound (907kg) bomb in the attack and that it marked the 10th Israeli assault on a displacement centre affiliated with the United Nations in the past 24 hours
• Hamas condemned Israel’s “heinous massacre”, saying the raids were in “complete defiance and disregard” of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) order on Israel to halt the military operation in Gaza
• Amnesty calls for war crimes probe into three Israeli attacks on Gaza

Good evening, Middle East Eye readers.

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

• The Palestinian health ministry said that 35,984 Palestinians had been killed and 80,643 injured in Israeli strikes since 7 October in Gaza.
• Sunday saw another evening of intense Israeli bombardment in Gaza, with at least 35 Palestinians killed and dozens of others wounded after a number of Israeli air strikes hit a camp for displaced people in Rafah. Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri described the attack in Rafah as a "massacre".
• Hamas said that Palestinians must "rise up and march" against the Israeli "massacre" in Rafah.
• Hamas's al-Qassam Brigades said it had launched a "big missile" attack on Tel Aviv on Sunday for the first time in six months. Sirens were sounded across central Israel, with Hamas saying the rocket attack was in response to "Zionist massacres against civilians".
• Israeli strikes on south Lebanon on Sunday killed five people, official media and a source close to Hezbollah said, as Israel's military claimed attacks targeting the Iran-backed militant group.
• The threat of famine has returned to northern Gaza as Israel continues to restrict the entry of aid from all crossings, the Hamas-led government in the besieged strip has said. Salam Marouf, head of the government media office, said on Sunday that the food security crisis was also worsening in the central and southern districts. 
• Spain's foreign minister condemned as "scandalous and execrable" a video posted by his Israeli counterpart suggesting Hamas would be grateful to Spain, in a growing spat between the two countries over the Gaza war. A short video posted by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on the social media platform X on Sunday said "Hamas: Gracias Espana" ("Hamas: Thanks Spain").

Hamas says Palestinians must "rise up and march" against the Israeli "massacre" in Rafah, according to AFP.

"In light of the horrific Zionist massacre this evening committed by the criminal occupation army against the tents of the displaced… we call on the masses of our people in the West Bank, Jerusalem, the occupied territories, and abroad to rise up and march angrily against the ongoing Zionist massacre against our people in the sector," the Palestinian group said in a statement.

Israel's military said on Sunday it had carried out a precise strike on a Hamas compound in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, but that it was reviewing the incident following reports that the strike caused a fire and civilians were harmed.

"An IDF aircraft struck a Hamas compound in Rafah in which significant Hamas terrorists were operating. The strike was carried out against legitimate targets under international law, using precise munitions and on the basis of precise intelligence that indicated Hamas' use of the area," the military said.

"The IDF is aware of reports indicating that as a result of the strike and fire that was ignited several civilians in the area were harmed. The incident is under review," it said.

Reporting by Reuters

At least 35 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others wounded after a number of Israeli air strikes hit a camp for the displaced in Gaza's Rafah which set their tents on fire, a civil emergency official told Reuters.

The strike took place in Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah, where thousands of people were taking shelter after many fled the eastern areas of the city where Israeli forces began a ground offensive over two weeks ago.

The strikes "led to the death of 35 martyrs and dozens of injured", the Hamas-run government media office in Gaza said in a statement late on Sunday, with Gaza's civil defence agency also confirming Israeli strikes on the area, where it said 100,000 displaced people live.

Hell on Earth.

Rafah right now.

Brought to you by the Free World™ pic.twitter.com/6Zsj38o4B4

— Double Down News (@DoubleDownNews) May 26, 2024

The civil defence agency said at least 50 people had been killed and wounded in the strikes.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri described the attack in Rafah as a "massacre", holding the United States responsible for aiding Israel with weapons and money.

"The air strikes burnt the tents, the tents are melting and the people's bodies are also melting," said one of the residents who arrived at the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah was receiving an influx of casualties, and that other hospitals also were taking in a large number of patients.

مجزرة في #رفح.. مشاهد للجزيرة تظهر اشتعال النيران في خيام للنازحين ومحاولة طواقم الدفاع المدني إطفاءها إثر قصف إسرائيلي عنيف شمال غربي رفح التي صنفها الاحتلال منطقة آمنة، خلف 28 شهيدا حتى الآن#حرب_غزة #الأخبار pic.twitter.com/RZznEAMCG0

— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) May 26, 2024

A final death toll at Tal al-Sultan camp is still being determined, another medic said, adding that dozens were injured by the fire that ensued after the strikes, which residents are still trying to put out.

No words. pic.twitter.com/1qxFSdytNt

— Laith Arafeh 🇵🇸 (@ArafehLaith) May 26, 2024

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Spain's foreign minister condemned as "scandalous and execrable" a video posted by his Israeli counterpart suggesting Hamas would be grateful to Spain, in a growing spat between the two countries over the Gaza war.

Spain last week announced it would recognise Palestine as a state and in recent days two Spanish government ministers referred to a genocide in Gaza.

A short video posted by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on the social media platform X on Sunday said "Hamas: Gracias Espana" ("Hamas: Thanks Spain").

The video showed the Spanish flag and then a couple dancing to flamenco music. Film of Hamas fighters is interspersed including people fleeing during the 7 October Hamas attack on southern Israel that triggered Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

"We are not going to fall into provocations. The video is scandalous and execrable," Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told a news conference in Brussels.

"It's scandalous because all the world knows, including my colleague in Israel, that Spain condemned the actions of Hamas from the first moment. And execrable for the use of one of those symbols of Spanish culture."

Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles said on Saturday that the conflict in Gaza was a "real genocide", echoing a comment by Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz who last week also described the conflict as a genocide.

Good evening, 

It's 7pm in Gaza, and here is a summary of today's events:

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to convene a war cabinet at 9pm (6pm GMT) to discuss a Gaza truce and a new hostage deal, a senior Israeli source told AFP. A member of the Hamas political bureau, Izzat al-Rishq, said the group had not heard anything from mediators but insisted that a "long-standing ceasefire" would be the starting point for any negotiations. 
• Hamas's al-Qassam Brigades said it had launched a "big missile" attack on Tel Aviv on Sunday for the first time in six months. Sirens were sounded across central Israel, with Hamas saying the rocket attack was in response to "Zionist massacres against civilians".
• The Palestinian health ministry said that 35,984 Palestinians had been killed and 80,643 injured in Israeli strikes since 7 October in Gaza.
• Geneva-based NGO Euro-Med Monitor said famine was spreading across the Gaza Strip, as 70 human rights groups called on international bodies to declare the situation in Gaza as a famine. 

For the latest updates on the situation in Gaza, follow Middle East Eye on all social media platforms. 

Israeli strikes on south Lebanon on Sunday killed five people, official media and a source close to Hezbollah said, as Israel's military claimed attacks targeting the Iran-backed militant group.

Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported that "the Israeli enemy targeted a motorbike in Hula", a border village, "leading to two martyrs and two wounded".

It was the third such strike on people on motorbikes in south Lebanon on Sunday, the agency said.

The NNA had earlier reported "two martyrs and wounded civilians in the raid that targeted a motorcycle in Aita al-Shaab", another border village. It was unclear whether civilians were among the dead in Hula and Aita al-Shaab.

The NNA also reported unspecified casualties in a separate strike earlier that "targeted a motorbike" in the border town of Naqura.

The Israeli army said in a statement that "a Hezbollah terrorist was identified exiting a military structure" in the Naqura area, adding that "an aircraft struck and eliminated" the operative.

It also said the army struck "two Hezbollah terrorists who were identified operating" in the Aita al-Shaab area.

Hezbollah announced a fighter had been killed, and a source close to the group said he died in Naqura.

Since the start of the Israeli war in Gaza on 7 October, Rohaan Gill has been part of several WhatsApp groups trying to find a way into the war zone, but it seemed impossible. 

The 28-year-old registered nurse based in Brooklyn, New York, could not sit still while seeing the atrocities happening thousands of kilometres away. He said he felt ashamed, frustrated and guilty.

"The whole point of me pursuing a career is to use my skills to help our people," Gill, a Brooklyn native of Pakistani-origin told Middle East Eye. "If I can't even do that, then what is the point?"

One day in April, a group chat Gill was a part of, Doctors Against Genocide, put out a call for medical volunteers. Gill didn't hesitate and immediately signed up.

"I went to my mom after I signed up. I asked her if she'd be ok if they called me to Gaza," Gill said. "She told me 'It's your duty. You'd have to go and I would never be able to stop you.'"

So on 29 April, Gill left for the journey of a lifetime after getting the go-ahead. For a trip that was only meant to last a week, Gill ended up staying in Palestine for nearly a month.

Read more: 'I want to go back': A New York nurse's journey to Gaza and back 

The European Union's Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said a "strong" Palestinian Authority is needed to bring peace in the Middle East. 

Speaking alongside Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, Borrell reiterated the EU's support for the PA and said: "A functional Palestinian Authority is in Israel's interest too, because in order to make peace, we need a strong Palestinian Authority."

Borrell made these comments before holding talks with Mustafa on how the EU can build up the PA to take control of Gaza from Hamas.