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

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has warned that hunger in Gaza has reached catastrophic levels, saying the situation is now “even more dire than in the past 19 months”.

In its latest update, the humanitarian group said famine looms once more as over a million displaced people struggle to meet basic nutritional needs.

“The nutritional front, the population is facing once again at extreme risk of famine,” the statement read.

The Red Crescent says its remaining food stocks are “completely depleted”, with only small amounts of legumes left, which are being sent to community kitchens in a last-ditch effort to feed people.

It added that markets and aid distribution points across the besieged territory have also run out of essential supplies.

“There is an inability to meet even the minimum daily needs of over a million displaced people,” the organisation said.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza, now in its 577th day: 

• Gaza death toll rises: Israeli attacks killed at least 54 people across Gaza on Monday.

• Netanyahu warns of wider war: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said plans to expand military operations in Gaza would be “intensive”, possibly including a long-term army presence and forced displacement of 2.3 million Palestinians.

• Israel strikes Yemen: The military launched air raids on Yemen after Houthi forces fired a missile at Tel Aviv’s main airport.

• Lebanon and Syria targeted: Israeli forces bombed Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and reportedly destroyed bunkers in Syria’s occupied Golan Heights.

• Trump confirms Gulf visit: US President Donald Trump announced he will travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE from 13-15 May.

The death toll in Gaza has risen to at least 54 since dawn as a result of Israeli airstrikes, Al Jazeera reported on Monday.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza said Israeli attacks have killed at least 2,459 people and wounded 6,569 others in the enclave since Israel broke their ceasefire with Hamas on 18 March.

A Michigan court has dismissed all charges against seven students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests last year.

The group of students were arrested last year after participating in protests against Israel’s war on Gaza broke out at campuses across the country. They faced felony charges of resisting and obstructing police at the University of Michigan and misdemeanor charges of trespassing. They had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel dropped all charges against the students. While she said she said she stood by her decision to seek felony charges in a statement, she criticized Ann Arbor Judge Cedric Simpson for delays to the case and critics who accused her of bias against Muslims and Arab Americans, she said that she no longer believes “these cases to be a prudent use of my department’s resources, and, as such, I have decided to dismiss the cases.”

Spain will provide more than $560,000 to support UN investigations into human rights violations and possible war crimes committed in Gaza, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said, according to media reports on Monday.

"With the aim of ending these violations of international law and with the desire to ensure accountability, I announce that we will support the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in increasing its investigative efforts into human rights violations and war crimes that may have been committed in Gaza,” Albares told Spain’s Committee on Foreign Affairs.

He said the humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by Israel’s aid blockade was "totally and absolutely unacceptable" and held Israel responsible for "causing an unprecedented famine".

"The urgent entry of food is necessary to save the lives of innocent Palestinians," he said. "The civilian population of Gaza deserves dignity and peace, and Spain demands it and will continue to demand it."

Last week, Spain participated in the International Court of Justice hearings concerning Israel’s obligations as an occupying power in the occupied Palestinian territories.

US President Donald Trump said the US will provide food for Palestinians after the Israeli blockade of food and water entered its third month, CNN reported on Monday.

When asked by reporters at the White House about Israeli plans for an expanded assault on Gaza, Trump did not directly respond to the question but spoke about plans to provide food: “We’re going to help the people of Gaza get some food. People are starving, and we’re going to help them get some food….Hamas is making it impossible because they’re taking everything that’s brought in”. Trump did not stipulate when that would happen.

Hamas has no jurisdiction over food and water entering the Gaza Strip. Since 2 March, Israel has prevented any aid and medicines from entering the Strip despite the fact that aid trucks are waiting at the entry points to Gaza.

Back in February, the UN released a press release saying that “widespread famine was imminent in Gaza, warning of agricultural collapse in northern Gaza. They also said that “starvation” was being used as a “method of warfare”.

The Israeli military shot and injured a Palestinian man after they stormed the eastern part of the city of Nablus, reported Wafa news agency on Monday.

Israeli military stormed Nablus's al-Masakin al-Sha'biya area on Monday night, firing live bullets, using tear gas canisters, and stun grenades.

Sources reported that a young man was shot in the lower back and was subsequently transferred to a hospital for treatment.

Israeli military demolished homes and solar panels that provided electricity to the entire community in the village of Khirbet al-Deir in the northern Jordan Valley, reported Wafa news agency.

Mutaz Bsharat, who monitors Israeli occupation in the Jordan Valley, said the demolitions targeted homes, structures, and residential and agricultural annexes belonging to brothers Iyad and Mahmoud Hafez Daraghmeh. As a result, both families have been left without shelter.

The demolitions also affected a cluster of solar panels that supplied electricity to the local community.

Bsharat added that two concrete and brick family homes, which measured 150 square metres each, were demolished, as well as the complete destruction of the families’ agricultural facilities, including several livestock pens and equipment, as well as water tanks and pipelines.

The Houthi-affiliated media outlet al-Masirah has said a total of nine sites have been struck in Hodeidah in western Yemen by the US, Al Jazeera reported on Monday.

Apparently, 30 Israeli fighter jets were involved in strikes on Yemen, according to Israeli media, which comes a day after the Houthis attacked the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, with a missile landing near the facility.

Several Israeli media reports also said the Israeli air force is attacking the port of Hodeidah.

The former commander of Israel’s ground forces Major General Yiftach Ron-Tal has called for a time limit to be put on the government’s upcoming Gaza offensive, reported Al Jazeera on Monday.

“A time limit must be set for the continuation of the war,” Ron-Tal said in comments carried by Israel’s 103FM radio station. “Either we launch a decisive operation that leads to the conquest of the Gaza Strip – in my view, between four to eight weeks – or if that doesn’t happen, I support ending it all and pulling out,” he added.

“Enough with the prolongation of the war,” Ron-Tal said.

The Irish minister for foreign affairs and trade, as well as for defence, is the latest European official to condemn Israel’s plans to expand its war on Gaza in a statement released on X on Monday.

Simon Harris said the expansion of Israeli operations in Gaza was “alarming” and “would result in further deaths, casualties and untold suffering for the Palestinian population who already face a dire humanitarian situation”.

“What is happening to the people of Gaza is despicable and unconscionable,” he added, calling it a “human catastrophe”.

He urged Israel to “exercise restraint,” saying, “We need to see an immediate cessation of hostilities, release of remaining hostages and the resumption of humanitarian aid at scale into Gaza”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told President Donald Trump on Monday that humanitarian aid must be delivered to Gaza, according to a statement released by the Turkish president’s communications office.

Erdogan told Trump that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached grave levels and Turkey was ready to provide support to establish a ceasefire in Gaza and ensure lasting peace in Palestine, the statement continued.

Erdogan also told Trump that Turkey has been trying to ensure stability in Syria and that the US's efforts to ease sanctions on Syria would help the process, and that a stable Syria would support both regional and world peace.

Israel has been attacking targets in Syria since late last year, striking a warning shot at the Presidential Palace in Damascus last week, arguing that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s rule poses a danger to the Israeli government.

The escalation came as Turkey was planning to deploy troops and establish military bases in Syria.

Israel will "allow a window" for a hostage deal during a visit by US President Donald Trump to the Middle East before a planned expansion of its Gaza offensive, a senior security official said Monday.

"The deployment of forces prior to the start of the manoeuver will allow a window of opportunity until the end of the US president's visit to the region to carry out a hostage deal," the Israeli official said.

Trump is due to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from May 13-15.

Reporting by AFP

At least 41 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since Monday morning, medical sources tell Al Jazeera.

Gaza’s health ministry says 52,567 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, and 118,610 wounded.

The Jabalia municipality in the northern Gaza Strip is on the verge of collapse following repeated Israeli assaults and an ongoing siege on the Palestinian enclave, local officials have warned.

Last month, Israeli forces bombed the municipality’s main garage and other critical infrastructure, compounding the earlier destruction of its headquarters during the initial stages of the war in 2023.

The garage - used for parking, supplying and repairing ambulances, refuse lorries, and other essential municipal vehicles - had already been partially destroyed in earlier strikes. Despite this, staff had continued operations with severely limited resources.

Following the most recent attack, however, “we are nearing total paralysis - a health and infrastructure catastrophe,” said Saadi al-Dabbour, director of public relations at Jabalia municipality, speaking to Middle East Eye.

Gaza’s municipalities are responsible for lifesaving services, including clean water distribution, wastewater drainage, solid waste disposal, market regulation, and road clearance - all of which are essential and cannot be suspended or delayed.

Read more: Gaza municipalities overwhelmed by Israeli destruction and blockade