Israel-Palestine live: Unicef says over 13,000 children killed in Gaza

The UK has granted asylum to a Palestinian citizen of Israel, assessing that he has a "well-founded fear" of persecution should he return to Israel.

Al Jazeera reports that the UK Home Office had initially denied the claim "but reversed its decision only 24 hours before the case was set to go before a tribunal."

The man, who was only named Hasan in documents filed to the immigration tribunal, said that Israel operates under an apartheid system in which Palestinians face systematic oppression.

He said he faces a risk of persecution by Israeli authorities for his activism for Palestine and anti-Zionist views.

Palestinian citizens of Israel had said they were facing a "witch hunt" by Israeli authorities during the Gaza war.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

• Israel fired at aid seekers in Gaza City once again, killing at least seven people and injuring over 20
• The Israeli army killed two Palestinian men near the town of Attil in the occupied West Bank
• The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed a drone attack on Israel's Ben Gurion Airport
• Yemen's Houthis threatened to ramp up their attacks on ships during Ramadan
• US President Joe Biden said he does not have plans to address the Israeli Knesset or to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
• A barrage of rockets was fired into northern Israel following last night's Israeli strike near the Lebanese eastern city of Baalbek

A spokesperson for Yemen's internationally recognised government told Reuters that air strikes attributed to a US-British coalition killed at least 11 people and injured 14 others.

Earlier, news sources affiliated with the Houthi movement said that the US and UK launched around a dozen air strikes on cities along Yemen's western coast.

Several hundred pro-Palestinian supporters assembled outside a synagogue in Teaneck, New Jersey on Sunday to demonstrate their outrage over a real estate event showcasing land and properties for purchase in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

The event at the Keter Torah synagogue in Teaneck, organised by the Israel-based My Home in Israel, is just the latest in a string of real estate fairs taking place across North America featuring land and properties for sale in the occupied West Bank. Activists say it isn't just unconscionable but also illegal under international law. 

"You cannot sell anything that isn't yours. [And] these sales are taking place in New Jersey and then they are going there [to the occupied West Bank] and taking people's homes," Alex, a New Jersey resident, told Middle East Eye.

"This is [a] violation of international law. It is abhorrent that we had to come out here to protest against this," Alex, who only offered his first name, added.

To read the full story, click below.

New Jersey real estate fair marketing land in occupied West Bank draws charged protests

Israel's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (Cogat) authorities announced they will be restricting Palestinians from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque by only allowing certain age groups to enter during Ramadan.

Those age groups are men over 55, women over 50 and children under the age of 10.

Muslim organisations in New York are calling on their local mosques and spaces this Ramadan to not invite - or decline invitations from - any elected official who has not called for a ceasefire in the war on Gaza.

In New York City, Majlis Ash-Shura - Islamic Leadership Council of New York released a statement saying that they found the silence of local and national political leaders to be “profoundly disappointing”.

“It is in this context that we assert a definitive stance: our mosques must be bastions of worship and communal comfort, untouched by the tumult of worldly affairs, particularly during these critical times of spiritual observance,” the statement read.

To read the full story, click below.

NYC Muslim leaders urge Ramadan boycott of public officials who have not called for Gaza ceasefire

Reuters is reporting that Israel launched four air strikes on the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, killing at least one civilian and injuring others.

The news agency cited the governor of Baalbek, Bashir Khader, and two security sources. The security sources added that one strike hit at least two kilometres from Roman ruins, and the other three strikes hit the city of Taraya, 20 km west of Baalbek.

The World Health Organisation announced that it reached al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza on Monday, where it delivered 24,050 litres of fuel, food, and medical supplies for 42,000 patients.

Those medical supplies include anaesthetic drugs and surgical materials.

Gaza's hospitals became the target of Israel's military during Israel's war on Gaza, with al-Shifa being the subject of a large-scale raid in November.

Israel had claimed Hamas's command centre was located under the hospital, but soon after raiding the medical complex, it announced that it was moving its operation to Khan Younis, where it claimed Hamas's headquarters are.

A coalition of more than 20 progressive groups has teamed up to protect pro-Palestinian lawmakers from the powerful Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known as Aipac.

The group, calling itself Reject AIPAC, is made up of several progressive and pro-Palestinian organisations including the Working Families Party; Sunrise Movement; Jewish Voice for Peace; IfNotNow; Peace Action; Democratic Socialists of America; and others.

“For decades, AIPAC has been a hawkish, warmongering, and bullying force in US politics,” the coalition said in a statement that calls on lawmakers not to accept endorsements from Aipac or other political action committees aligned with it.

To read the full story, click here.

Yemen's Houthi movement said that the port city of Hodeidah and other coastal areas were hit on Monday by a dozen air strikes, which the group attributed to the US-UK coalition that has been launching strikes on Yemen for months.

The strikes were announced on Al Masirah, a Houthi-run television news outlet. The outlet did not specify the targets of the attacks but said that four strikes hit the port of Ras Issa, west of Sanaa.

The Houthis launched a campaign late last year, in which it said it is targeting any shipping vessels heading to or from Israel in the Red Sea, a move the group said was being done in solidarity with the Palestinians under attack in Gaza amid Israel's war on the enclave.

The US and UK responded to this campaign, which had struck a number of vessels and kidnapped one along with its crew, by launching a coalition that has on numerous occasions launched air strikes on mainland Yemen.

Monday's strikes in Yemen come after a Houthi attack on a vessel led to the first civilian fatalities since November. The strikes also come on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Palestinian news outlets are reporting a heavy Israeli police presence near Al-Aqsa Mosque, as thousands of Palestinians gather to celebrate the first day of Ramadan and perform night prayers.

The Islamic Waqf department in Jerusalem announced that about 35,000 worshipers had gathered at Al-Aqsa mosque to pray.

On Sunday, videos shared on social media showed Israeli forces preventing Palestinian Muslim worshippers from entering the mosque to pray.

The Israeli military said that its forces killed a Palestinian in the village of Zeta, located in the West Bank governorate of Tulkarm.

The military claimed the man was planning an attack on Israel.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported several injuries from Israeli fire in towns north of Tulkarm, after Israel's military raided the area.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Indian national security advisor Ajit Doval and provided him with an “update” on Gaza, the prime minister's office said in a post on X.

“The sides also discussed the effort to release the hostages and the issue of humanitarian assistance,” his office said.

India's government, led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, has pledged support to Israel amid its war on Gaza, overturning decades of support for the Palestinian cause.

Middle East Eye reported last month that the Israeli army was set to include Indian-made Hermes 900 drones in its expanding fleet, a move activists and defence analysts say will further implicate India in Israel's war on Gaza.

The director of the government information office in Gaza spoke to Al Jazeera, telling the news outlet that the humanitarian situation is dire in Gaza on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The director said that thousands of Palestinians did not find a meal to break their fasts on Monday evening.