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

The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has criticised new proposals by Israel and the United States to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza, saying the plans would worsen the suffering of children and families.

"It appears the design of a plan presented by Israel to the humanitarian community will increase ongoing suffering of children and families in the Gaza Strip," said Unicef spokesperson James Elder on Friday.

US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said on Friday that Israel would not be involved in handing out aid. However, Elder said that Israel's aid hubs, which plan to serve 300,000 people each, could endanger children and families as they attempt to retrieve aid and would drive further displacement.

"The use of humanitarian aid as a bait to force displacement, especially from the north to the south, will create this impossible choice: a choice between displacement and death," said Elder, who has been on several missions to Gaza since Israel's war began 19 months ago.

"It appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic... There is a simple alternative: lift the blockade, let humanitarian aid in to save lives," he said.

This article was initially set out to focus on The Encampments, Kei Pritsker and Michael T Workman’s impassioned documentary that chronicles the Columbia University student movement that shook the US and captured imaginations the world over. 

But then it came to my attention that a sparring film has been released around the same time, offering a staunchly pro-Israeli counter-narrative that vehemently attempts to discredit the account offered by The Encampment.

October 8 charts the alleged rise of antisemitism in the US in the wake of the 7 October attacks on southern Israel by Hamas-led Palestinian fighters.

A balanced record though, it is not. Wendy Sachs’s solo debut feature, which has the subhead, “The Fight for the Soul of America”, is essentially an unabashed defence of the silencing of pro-Palestinian voices.

Read more: 'The Encampments' vs 'October 8': A battle of narratives on Palestine plays out in cinema

A Palestinian fisherman was killed and another injured on Friday morning after Israeli naval forces opened fire on a fishing boat off the coast of northern Gaza, according to Wafa news agency, citing local sources.

Another Palestinian, 45-year-old Amal Hussein Al-Najjar, died from wounds she sustained a week ago in an Israeli air strike on the southern city of Khan Younis.

Additionally, Ahmad Al-Sayyed Salout (22) was pronounced dead after succumbing to critical injuries he sustained three months ago when Israeli forces bombed his family home in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza.

The latest fatalities bring the death toll to seven, according to Wafa.

Since October 2023, Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 52,760 Palestinians and injured over 119,264 others.

Israel will not be involved in Gaza aid distribution but will take part in providing security, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in a press conference on Friday.

Israel has been imposing an aid blockade on the enclave since early March. Huckabee said the supply of aid was not dependent on reaching a ceasefire.

A Hamas delegation held two meetings with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Doha this week but they produced no breakthrough in the search for a Gaza truce, sources close to the group said Friday.

"Egyptian officials met twice with a high-level Hamas delegation led by [chief negotiator] Khalil al-Hayya [and] Qatari officials on Wednesday and Thursday in Doha," one source told AFP. A second source said the talks were "serious" but made "no concrete progress".

Israeli forces detained four Palestinians, including a child, during raids across the Hebron governorate in the southern occupied West Bank on Friday, the Wafa news agency reported, citing local and Palestinian security sources.

According to the sources, Israeli forces arrested former prisoner Abdul Rahman Burqan after raiding and searching his home in the city of Hebron.

In a separate raid on the village of Deir Razeh, south of Hebron, the Israeli military detained 12-year-old Yousef Ashraf Amro, along with two brothers, Bashar and Mohammad Ayman Amro.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued to impose strict movement restrictions across the Hebron area, with roadblocks and closures remaining in place at the entrances to towns, refugee camps, and the city itself, using iron gates and earth mounds.

US President Donald Trump may announce a draft Gaza ceasefire proposal this weekend that, according to diplomatic sources cited by the Israel Hayom daily, would not fully meet Israel’s demands.

The sources said Trump has held numerous discussions on Gaza and stated, "You'll be knowing probably in the next 24 hours," referring to a possible agreement.

Under the reported plan, the United States would take part in resuming humanitarian aid to displaced Palestinians through logistical centres being constructed by the Israeli army in Gaza, and would oversee and supervise the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli air strikes on three residential buildings in Gaza City and the central Gaza Strip killed three people on Friday morning, including a child, according to Al Jazeera.

Israeli raids, accompanied by artillery shelling, are currently targeting the eastern areas of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, the news outlet reported.

Doctors Without Borders warned that Palestinians are being killed and injured en masse, amid escalating Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are some of the most recent key updates on Israel's war on Gaza:

• The Israeli army confirmed that two Israeli soldiers have been killed in the southern Gaza Strip

• US President Trump met Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer on Thursday and discussed the nuclear talks with Iran and Israel's war on Gaza, Axios reported, citing two sources briefed on the meeting.

• A federal judge decided on Thursday not to wait for President Donald Trump's administration to bring a Tufts University doctoral student being held in a Louisiana immigration detention facility back to Vermont as previously ordered before assessing whether she should be released from custody. Burlington, Vermont-based US District Judge William Sessions instead opted to let Rumeysa Ozturk appear remotely at a bail hearing on Friday.

• A 28-year-old Palestinian man, Basel al-Qur’an, deported from Israel to Gaza in February when he completed a prison sentence for driving without a driver's licence, was killed in an Israeli air strike on Rafah, reported the Arab48 news site. Born in Deir al-Balah, Qur’an was married to an Israeli citizen and spent his entire adult life in Israel, but was barred from obtaining a driver’s licence and citizenship. He was unable to renew his temporary permit while in prison.

• A group of American security contractors, ex-military officers and humanitarian aid officials is proposing to take over the distribution of food and other supplies in Gaza based on plans similar to ones designed by Israel, according to a proposal obtained by The Associated Press.

• Former Israeli defence minister and chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon slammed Israel's plan to occupy Gaza Strip in an interview with Ynet. "Call it ethnic cleansing, call it a transfer, call it deportation – it's a war crime," he said.

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said that its fighters had targeted two Israeli military units in eastern Rafah in Gaza, killing and wounding soldiers, Andalou reported on Thursday. 

The group said it had attacked a group of 12 soldiers who were preparing to carry out a bombing  inside a house in the Al-Tanour neighborhood in eastern Rafah .

They had then targeted a group of seven soldiers with an explosive device in the Tannour neighborhood in eastern Rafah.

The UN's Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) rejected Israel's plan for humanitarian aid distribution in Gaza, reported Haaretz on Thursday.

In a document that was addressed to members of the UN Security Council and seen by Haaretz, Ocha said the proposed aid distribution method "appears practically unfeasible, is incompatible with humanitarian principles and will create serious insecurity risks, all while failing to meet Israel's obligations under international law."

Ocha also said that Israel's plan would lead to the UN "implementing a policy of counting calories to ensure bare minimum survival for the Gazan population" and that "UN involvement would legitimize a military tactic that would have devastating consequences on the population and would damage the organization's reputation in Gaza and the region."

Israel's proposed plan apparently would incorporate five hubs, which the Israeli military would have sight of and would have control over. In addition, text notifications would be sent to Palestinians to collect rations at these hubs once or twice a month, and they would have to undergo a security screening when they got there. No other aid organisation would be allowed to offer meal kitchens.

A Palestinian man who had been detained for 19 years in an Israeli prison passed away a few months after he was released, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society announced on Thursday.

Moatasem Taleb Raddad, 43, from the town of Seida in the West Bank, passed away on Thursday evening in a hospital in Cairo, Egypt, after a long battle with cancer. 

Raddad was exiled to Egypt after he was released as part of a prisoner exchange agreement in January between the Israeli government and Hamas. He had been in prison since 2006 and was among the most seriously ill of the Palestinian prisoners.

He was transferred to a hospital in Egypt after his release, but his condition had already reached a critical stage, leading to his death just three months later.

Raddad suffered injuries from shrapnel during his imprisonment and subsequently developed several chronic and life-threatening health concerns, such as severe intestinal inflammation, chronic internal bleeding, hypertension, respiratory issues, an irregular heartbeat, and intense pain in his back and joints. His health deteriorated while he was in prison due to medical neglect and the poor conditions he experienced in Israeli jails such as Ofer Prison, according to Palestinian news reports. 

Seven Palestinians, including two young girls, were killed and dozens wounded in a series of Israeli air strikes targeting the north and central Gaza Strip, Wafa news agency reported on Thursday.

The first Israeli air strike hit a home goods store near the entrance to al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing four Palestinians, including two girls. At least 27 people were injured in the attack, including four children and five women.

In a separate strike, Israeli warplanes bombed the home of the al-Zaanin family in the town of Beit Hanoun in north Gaza, resulting in the deaths of three Palestinians.

The Israeli military conducted an armed raid on three UN-operated schools in East Jerusalem in the West Bank before forcing more than 550 children out of their classrooms and detaining one United Nations relief and works agency for Palestine refugees staff member on Thursday.

The raid led to an outcry from the commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, and caused Unrwa to close down three other schools in the area out of fear for their students' safety.

Lazzarini described the Israeli authorities’ closure of several UN-run schools in the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem as “an assault on children. An assault on education”.

Writing on X, he said it was “a sad day in occupied East Jerusalem… Storming schools and forcing them shut is a blatant disregard of international law. These schools are inviolable premises of the United Nations.

“Now, nearly 800 girls and boys - some as young as 6 years old- are left in shock and trauma,” he added.

Earlier this morning, heavily armed Israeli forces entered three UN-run schools in Shu’fat Camp in occupied East Jerusalem, where children aged between the ages of six and 15 attend.

The government decided to prohibit anyone from entering the school building after 8 May, including principals, teachers, staff, and parents. The BBC reported a closure order on the wall of the school read: "It will be prohibited to operate educational institutions, or employ teachers, teaching staff or any other staff, and it will be forbidden to accommodate students or allow the entry of students into this institution."

In October 2024, the Israeli Knesset passed a law banning the activities of the Unrwa in Israel.

Lazzarini added, “By enforcing closure orders issued last month, the Israeli authorities are denying Palestinian children their basic right to learn. UNRWA schools must continue to be open to safeguard an entire generation of children.”

Workers and activists are protesting against Booking.com’s Manchester and Amsterdam headquarters following the launch of the "Stop Booking Apartheid" campaign on 2 May.

The campaign was set up by a coalition of Palestinian, worker and left-wing organisations that accuse the online travel agent of profiting from Israeli war crimes because it lists accommodations for rent in Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Syrian Golan Heights.

In Manchester, northern England, activists from Youth Front for Palestine projected visuals of refugee tents with the names of settlements promoted by Booking.com and the Palestinian communities forcibly displaced from the land.

At Booking.com’s Amsterdam HQ, which has been the site of a legal challenge from the European Legal Support Centre on grounds of money laundering, activists from XR Justice Now and Diem 25 held a banner in front of the Amsterdam office. Workers entering the office were also handed leaflets with activists informing them on Booking.com’s 55 listings in the occupied West Bank.

You can read more here.