Live: UK halts trade deal talks with Israel, summons ambassador over Gaza

Italian carrier Air Italy has suspended all flights to Israel until 19 May, according to a report by the Israeli paper Yedioth Ahronoth.

At least 27 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza and more than 124 people were wounded in the past 24 hours alone.

Germany’s newly appointed foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, has called for “serious discussions for a ceasefire” in Gaza, describing the humanitarian conditions as “unbearable.”

In remarks shared by the German Foreign Ministry ahead of his visit to Israel, Wadephul stressed the urgency of starting negotiations “to free all hostages and to ensure that supplies reach the population of Gaza.”

He reaffirmed Berlin’s firm support for Israel but noted he would seek clarity on the “strategic objective of the fighting that has intensified since March.”

Wadephul is scheduled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, on Sunday.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has dismissed as “nonsense” a Jerusalem Post report claiming President Donald Trump will recognise a Palestinian state during his upcoming visit to the region.

The newspaper had cited an anonymous source claiming the White House was preparing to make the announcement as part of broader regional talks.

The number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza has climbed to at least 52,810, the Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday, with more than 119,473 people wounded since the war began on 7 October 2023.

Medical sources added that since 18 March, when Israel resumed its bombardment following a ceasefire, 2,701 people have been killed and 7,432 wounded.

The UN agency for children has voiced strong concerns over a new Israeli-US proposal to control aid delivery in Gaza.

James Elder, spokesperson for Unicef, said on Saturday that the draft plan “appears likely to exacerbate the ongoing suffering of children and families in the Gaza Strip”.

Speaking on behalf of the agency, Elder said the criticism extends to a newly proposed institution linked to the same strategy.

Aid groups have consistently opposed any framework that puts Israel, the occupying power, in charge of aid distribution.

“Using humanitarian aid as bait to force people to flee, especially from the north to the south, will leave them with an impossible choice: between displacement and death,” Elder said.

He added that there is a far simpler and more effective solution: “Lift the siege and allow humanitarian aid to enter to save lives.”

Four people have been killed in an Israeli attack south of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, according to Al Jazeera’s Arabic.

Several others were reportedly wounded in the same strike, though the number of injured has yet to be confirmed.

The Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday that Israeli forces have killed 23 people and injured more than 100 people in the past 24 hours. 

The ministry said at least 10 people were killed on Saturday alone, including five members of the same family after an Israeli strike hit their tent.

The latest casualties bring the total number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the war began on 7 October 2023 to 52,810, with more than 119,400 others wounded.

A UN spokesperson has sounded the alarm and warned that Israel's plan to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza's population "does not meet the minimum bar for principled humanitarian support."

"It will not deliver aid to people in need based on independent needs assessments – the globally tested and donor-demanded minimum requirement," according to a statement by the United Nations Office for the Coordination Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

"As the Secretary-General has made clear, the UN will not engage in any arrangement that fails to uphold the humanitarian principles: humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality.

"Concerns over the risk of aid diversion – for which no further evidence has been provided – cannot justify the shutdown of a life-saving humanitarian operation.

"The UN is confident that, as a result of strict monitoring systems put in place by the UN and its partners, no major diversion of the aid over which it has oversight has occurred."

The Israeli army confirmed that a landmine attack in Gaza City injured nine Israeli soldiers, including two senior officers. 

A spokesperson said the troops belonging to the Jerusalem Brigades were injured in Gaza City's Shujaiya neighbourhood. 

Good morning, 

Welcome back to Middle East Eye's live blog, where we give you the latest developments from Gaza and across the region.

Here are your latest updates: 

• White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt has reiterated that US President Donald Trump's top priority in the Gaza war is the release of captives held by Palestinian groups. 
• The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Israel's plan to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza "does not meet the minimum bar for principled humanitarian support". 
• The Israeli army said it had arrested 55 Palestinians in the West Bank this week. 
• Al-Quds Brigades announced the death of senior commander Nour Abdel Karim al-Bitawi, who was reportedly on Israel's most wanted list. Israeli forces killed Bitawi in Nablus, according to Israeli Army Radio. 
• Columbia University in New York City suspended more than 65 students after Palestine student activists occupied the university's main library. 

Our live blog is now closed for the evening.

Here are the day's key developments:

- Israel has killed at least 23 Palestinians across Gaza on Friday.

- The Gaza Media Office called on the United Nations to "urgently intervene to end the blockade and the policy of starvation" by Israel in the strip, and to send in independent investigation committees. 

- Israel will not be involved in Gaza aid distribution but will take part in providing security, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said. Israel has been imposing an aid blockade on the enclave since early March.

- Haaretz reported that the White House has been pressuring Israel to seal a ceasefire and captive-swap deal with Hamas - before US President Donald Trump heads out on his first working foreign trip to three Gulf countries next week. 

- This also comes as Arab sources speaking to al-Arabi al-Jadeed have said Washington is likely to consider waiving the demand for Hamas to disarm in order to arrive at a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

- The Israeli military on Friday said it had killed Nour Abdel Karim al-Bitawi, the commander of the Jenin battalion in the West Bank.

- A US federal judge has ordered the release of Turkish Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk, who has spent six weeks in immigration detention in a remote part of Louisiana, after she wrote an op-ed critical of Israel's war on Gaza.

- Israeli forces say they successfully intercepted a ballistic missile launched by the Houthi group in Yemen. The attack triggered sirens across central Israel.

Arab sources speaking to al-Arabi al-Jadeed have said Washington is likely to consider waiving the demand for Hamas to disarm in order to arrive at a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Hamas has repeatedly said that laying down its weapons is its red line, until the Israeli occupation ends. 

The Trump administration has been eager to resolve the 19-month-long war on Gaza before the US president heads to some Arab gulf nations next week. 

The sources also told al-Arabi al-Jadeed that Trump's inner circle is aware that no military option will help save the Israeli captives in Gaza. The view from within is reportedly that the Israelis are being too pushy with the White House and trying to dictate their terms - something this particular president likely does not appreciate. 

The Israeli army is planning to seize complete control of the Gaza Strip, displace the entire population to a small area of land in the south and provide Palestinians with only enough food so they don't starve to death, as part of an expanded military operation ominously called "Gideon's Chariots".

Israel's security cabinet unanimously approved the plan late on 4 May, hours after the country's military said it was strengthening its capacity to operate in the besieged Palestinian territory by mobilising tens of thousands of reservists.

The plan, aspects of which are already being implemented, will fully commence if a deal isn't reached on the release of Israeli captives held by Hamas by the end of US President Donald Trump's visit to the region next week, Israeli media have reported.

Read more: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the plan in a social media video

The Gaza Media Office on Friday called on the United Nations to "urgently intervene to end the blockade and the policy of starvation" by Israel in the strip.

"Famine is rapidly ravaging tens of thousands of families, amid a complete lack of food," the statement read. "Most medicines and medical supplies are missing due to the blockade imposed by the occupation."

Authorities demanded the deployment of "independent international investigation missions" to Gaza immediately, "to document the crimes and hold the leaders of the occupation accountable".