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

At the Emirati field hospital in Rafah, Palestinians who lost their arms or legs in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza are being fitted with prosthetic limbs.

“After fitting the prosthetic limbs, God willing, I will be able to return as I was before,” said one Palestinian patient.

Watch the video below.

“After fitting the prosthetic limbs, God willing, I will be able to return as I was before.”
Amputees who lost their limbs during Israel’s bombardment on the Gaza Strip are being fitted with prosthetic limbs at the Emirati field hospital in the city of Rafah. pic.twitter.com/X6zsbmyaB0

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 30, 2024

Medical professionals and NGOs say thousands of Palestinians need to be evacuated for specialist treatment, which is no longer available in Gaza’s devastated healthcare system.

The relative few who have been able to get out for treatment have ended up in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Italy, France, Malta and the United States, among other countries.

But not the United Kingdom.

British doctors and organisations who are part of an initiative called Project Pure Hope told MEE that they began efforts in January to bring four siblings and their cousin from Gaza as a "test case" to see what would happen.

Three of the siblings, whose parents were killed, had suffered traumatic amputations and required further medical treatment, which paediatric hospitals across Britain were prepared to provide. 

Over £500,000 ($636,000) was raised, enough to cover their treatment, and arrangements were made for the children’s aunt and grandmother to accompany them, according to those involved.

The issue was visas.

Click below to read the full story.

UK denies medical treatment to critically injured children from Gaza

Palestinians on Thursday returned to the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza to salvage what remained of their belongings after Israel forcibly displaced them to the south of the Gaza Strip.

What they returned to was a complete destruction of the area by Israeli forces. Here are some photos from earlier today.

Yemen's Houthis have promised to step up their attacks on maritime targets in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza.

The group’s leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said in a televised speech that the attacks, which have repeatedly disrupted shipping in the Red Sea, would increase in "quality and quantity."

The party of Israeli minister and former opposition leader Benny Gantz has introduced a bill for elections in the country.

According to Haaretz, if passed, the bill will dissolve the Israeli parliament and hold early elections in the country.

MK Pnina Tamano-Shata, from Gantz's National Unity party, submitted the bill.

"October 7 is a disaster that requires us to return and receive the people's trust, to establish a broad and stable unity government that can lead us safely in the face of the tremendous challenges in security, in the economy and in Israeli society," she said.

"Submitting the bill now will allow us to bring it up in the current session."

KFC and other western franchises in Iraq have come under attack by people angry over the US's complicity in Israel's war on Gaza.

Al-Sumaria said a KFC branch in Baghdad's Jadriya district was stormed on Monday by “armed assailants" and a KFC restaurant on Palestine Street was attacked the day before using a makeshift explosive device.

Two Pro-Palestine Activists Arrested for Throwing an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at a #KFC Restaurant Branch, #Baghdad, #Iraq @kfc https://t.co/ptEygLbt6D pic.twitter.com/TgOEFo75LB

— TRACTerrorism (@TracTerrorism) May 30, 2024

A new poll from Israel's Channel 12 suggested that the country prefers Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister over his rival Benny Gantz, although the anti-Netanyahu bloc as a whole comes out on top.

The poll showed Gantz's political alliance ahead on 25 seats, compared to 21 seats for Netanyahu's Likud. Combined with other parties, the anti-Netanyahu bloc would have 68 members compared to 52 in the pro-Netanyahu bloc.

However, for the first time since the beginning of the fighting in Gaza, 36 percent of Israelis said they prefered Netanyahu as prime minister compared to 30 percent for Gantz.

A Unrwa-run school in central Gaza is now housing 16,000 people as overcrowding due to multiple forced Israeli displacements worsens conditions for those fleeing.

Families seeking refuge in the school at Deir el-Balah are forced to sleep in its hallways or put up makeshift plastic shelters, said the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (Unrwa).

"Living conditions are dire, with scarce resources, insufficient sanitation facilities, and very limited supplies," said the agency.

More than one million Palestinians have now fled Rafah, previously a designated safe zone for Gaza’s displaced.

Janez Lenarcic, the European commissioner for crisis management, has called on Israel to “stop its campaign against Unrwa.”

Israel asked Egypt to deliver a message to Iran in a bid to stop the country from responding to an attack Tel Aviv carried out on its Syrian embassy, the Iranian Tasnim news agency reported.

The news agency's report cited Amirali Hajizadeh the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force.

In April, Iran launched an attack on Israel following an Israeli strike on its Damascus consulate, in which seven officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed.

"Israel sent messages through Egypt's foreign minister that it will compromise in the war in Gaza to avoid Iran's retaliation," Hajizadeh said.

At least 36,224 Palestinians have been killed and 81,420 wounded during Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Palestinian health ministry said on Thursday.

The ministry added that 53 people were killed and 357 wounded in the last 24 hours. 

Democratic Representative Jamaal Bowman called former Republican presidential nominee Nikki Haley a "disgusting human being". Haley was pictured writing "finish them" on a bomb shell during a visit to northern Israel.

"That's genocidal language…Nikki Haley should be ashamed of herself," Bowman said during an interview on CNN. 

Bowman also extended his condolences to the Palestinian people, as Israel's onslaught on Gaza continues. 

One of Hamas’s most important public figures, Abu Obeida, has been the spokesperson for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the Palestinian group’s military wing, for nearly two decades.

His profile has increased dramatically since the Hamas-led surprise attack on Israel in October 2023, and the subsequent Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

Abu Obeida is best known for his speeches, during which he provides battlefield updates, boasting about Hamas’s military achievements, and taunts Israel, which has made several attempts to kill him.

For that reason Abu Obeida’s real identity has never been revealed, although alleged photos exist: he is always dressed in military garb, with his face shrouded in traditional headwear.

But he has become a hero for many in the Arabic-speaking world, with his name chanted at pro-Palestine rallies and songs sung in his honour.

Read more: Who is Abu Obeida, Hamas's military spokesman?

An Israeli drone strike in Gaza killed seven Palestinians who were sheltering with other forcibly displaced people, according to a report by Al Jazeera.

Swedish police have cleared out a tent camp outside a southern Sweden university occupied by pro-Palestinian students since 16 May protesting against the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza.