Live: Israel and Hamas claim victory as fragile ceasefire holds

Israeli forces detained 22 Palestinians across the West Bank during overnight raids.

Security sources told the Wafa news agency that arrests took place in Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah and Tubas. 

An Israeli air strike on a home in Gaza killed a journalist and wounded several others on Wednesday morning.

Yusef Abu Hussein, a presenter on a Palestinian Radio channel, was killed in an Israeli air raid in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in the besieged Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Several people were injured in the attack and were transferred to al-Shifa Hospital.

Israel also bombed a site west of the city of Rafah, in the south of the coastal enclave, and a charitable society in the city, completely destroying them, Wafa reported.

The latest reported killing brings Wednesday's death toll to four.

At least three Palestinians were killed by Israeli air strikes in central Gaza City on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Despite growing calls for a ceasefire, Israel had renewed its bombardment of the besieged Palestinian territory late on Tuesday, targeting residential buildings in various regions of Gaza 

Israeli shelling hit homes and farmland in the towns of Khan Younis and Jabalia. Israeli jets also bombed a truck in the Maghazi camp and a house in Beit Lahia.

As Israeli bombing of Gaza enters its 10th day, international efforts to end the violence had yielded no results. The United States has voiced support for ending the hostilities but it continues to block a UN Security Council statement demanding an immediate ceasefire.

The United States has condemned what it called "antisemitic comments" by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

"The United States strongly condemns President Erdogan’s recent antisemitic comments regarding the Jewish people and finds them reprehensible," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Price, who last week failed to condemn the killing of Palestinian children when asked about the subject at a press briefing, added that Erdogan's remarks "could incite further violence".

It is not clear what comments the US administration is referring to, but Erdogan has been outspoken in rebuking Israeli attacks against Palestinians. He recently referred to Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu as "the Jewish prime minister" and accused the Israeli government of terrorism.

As it accuses Erdogan of possibly inciting violence, Washington is actively blocking a UN Security Council statement to end the war that has killed at least 217 people in Gaza.

YouTube has restricted Al Jazeera Arabic's live feed, forcing users to log in to prove their age before watching the channel.

 "Sign in to confirm your age," reads a message on the news outlet's channel on YouTube. "This video may be inappropriate for some users."

Users signed in with emails showing they are over 18 have unrestricted access to the video stream.

Al Jazeera Arabic's live feed has been focused almost entirely on the war in Gaza for the past week. YouTube's restrictions come amid reports of censorship against pro-Palestinian content on various social media platforms.

Google, which owns YouTube, did not immediately respond to MEE's request for comment.

"YouTube restricts Al Jazeera on its website, including the live feed, claiming that 'content may not be appropriate'," Al Jazeera said in a tweet on Tuesday.

US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib confronted Joe Biden over his uncritical support for Israel during a visit by the president to Dearborn, Michigan on Tuesday, the New York Times reported, citing a congressional aide.

Footage showed Biden speaking to Tlaib and her fellow Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingell on the tarmac in Detroit as he was leaving town.

Tlaib told "the president that the status quo was only enabling more killing, and that his current policy of unconditional support for the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not working", the Times reported.

Biden had paid a nod to Tlaib during a speech focused on domestic issues at a Ford factory in Dearborn earlier in the day.

"From my heart, I pray that your grandmom and family are well. I promise you, I’ll do everything to see that they are in the West Bank. You're a fighter… Thank you for being a fighter," Biden said addressing the congresswoman after mispronouncing her first name as Rashid.

As Biden spoke, activists in Dearborn - home to one of the largest Arab communities in the country - held a rally expressing solidarity with Palestinians and condemning the US administration's policies.

Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip have now killed a total of 217 people, including 63 children, 36 women and 16 elderly people, the local Ministry of Health has reported. 

Meanwhile, at least 1,500 people have been injured, around a third of whom are children, the ministry said in its latest report. At least 50 of the injuries are considered critical, while 150 people are suffering from various forms of head trauma. 

A week's worth of heavy bombardment in Gaza has obliterated a number of buildings and roads, which has made it hard for emergency rescue crews to respond to new bombings.

Israeli forces shot and killed two more Palestinians during demonstrations near the Beit El checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Health has said.

MEE's correspondent, Shatha Hammad, said the ministry has identified the two as 20-year-old Adham Fayez Musa Kashif from the Umm al-Sharayet neighbourhood south of Ramallah, and 15-year-old Islam Wael Bernat from the nearby village of Bilin.

The ministry said Kashif was shot with live bullets several times in the chest at the protest, which took place near the checkpoint at the entrance to Ramallah's al-Bireh neighbourhood. 

Meanwhile, Bernat was shot several times in the head. Both were evacuated to the nearby Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, where they died from their "very critical" wounds.

Earlier on Tuesday, the first victim at the al-Bireh protest was identified as 25-year-old Muhammad Ishaq Hamid, who had been shot in the chest. At least 16 others were shot with live rounds at the time and transferred to the nearby medical complex in Ramallah.

Israeli forces also fatally shot 31-year-old Islam Fayyad Zahida in Hebron, a city in the southern occupied West Bank. 

A group of experts with the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is urging the international community to unite in calls for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and Israel and to then work to end Israel's occupation of Palestine. 

The experts said that "the denial of collective and individual rights of the Palestinian people" was the "underlying source" of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. 

The group also slammed the United States for blocking, for a third time, a joint UN Security Council statement calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. 

Here is an excerpt from their statement: 

"The underlying reality is that there is an occupying power, with one of the best equipped militaries in the world, ruling over an occupied people who have the right to be freed from an unwanted and protracted alien regime. This struggle is deeply unequal. The 54-year-old Israeli occupation – already the longest occupation in the modern world – is becoming even more entrenched and even more abusive of fundamental human rights. 

"After the last missile of this current violence has been fired, and after the tears from the last funeral have been shed, accountability must rise to the top of the agenda of the United Nations. The international community must ensure that Israel, the occupying power, complies fully with the more than 30 UN Security Council resolutions and the hundreds of General Assembly resolutions of which it is in breach.

"The enemies of accountability are impunity and exceptionalism. It is folly to expect that the justice, peace, equality and security which both Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews have a right to enjoy can be achieved without imposing a meaningful cost on Israel, the occupying power, to fully end its illegal occupation."

Gaza's Ministry of Health has said that Israel is preventing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from accessing certain health facilities in the Gaza Strip. 

The ministry said that it has requested that the ICRC, which has offices in Gaza, be allowed to safely visit local health facilities to "evaluate the humanitarian crisis" and "assess critical shortages in medications and supplies". 

But "permission to access these areas has not been granted by Israel to the representatives of the ICRC office", the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The ministry said it is particularly concerned over clinics and other health facilities that have been directly or indirectly hit by Israeli air strikes. On Monday, one strike took out Gaza's main Covid-19 testing site.  

Earlier on Tuesday, Robert Mardini, director-general of the ICRC, said that the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) had been hit by an Israeli air strike. 

"Luckily all @QRCS staff are safe. But all steps must be taken to ensure medical infrastructures & staff are protected," Mardini said on Twitter. "This incident will only hinder humanitarian response at this critical time".

On Monday, the local ICRC branch warned that the current "intensity of the conflict is something we have not seen before". 

"For people in Gaza, access to hospitals and other vital infrastructure has become extremely difficult," the group said. 

Palestinian citizens in Israeli-occupied territories, as well as in Israel, are taking part in a grassroots organised national strike on Tuesday.

They are demanding that Israel halts its bombardment of Gaza, which has left at least 213 people, including 61 children dead since 10 May.

The nationwide strike is the first of its kind since the 1936 general strike in Palestine against British Mandate policies aimed at dispossessing Palestinians of their land.

Below we take a look at the situation within Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Haifa: In the northern city, protesters rallied in cars and on foot, as Israeli forces fired tear gas at them. Shops and businesses remained closed because of the general strike.

Jaffa: Hundreds of people came out in Jaffa, waving Palestinian flags and chanting. Heavily-armed police lined the streets in a show of force. 

"برا الاحتلال برا"... هتافات المشاركين في التظاهرة المناصرة لغزة والقدس والشيخ جراح في مدينة يافا.#إضراب_فلسطين pic.twitter.com/yshCIyxLiW

— الجرمق (@aljarmaqnet) May 18, 2021

Nazareth: People waved signs that read “save Sheikh Jarrah” and “al-Quds (Jerusalem) is the capital of Palestine”. 

Hebron: Palestinians sang protest and resistance songs in Hebron and videos shared on social media showed tear gas and sound grenades being used by Israeli forces. Meanwhile, sources confirmed Israel forces had used live ammunition against protesters. Dozens have been injured in the city.

Acre: Children were shown waving Palestinian flags and marching in the streets of the northern city.

Tulkarm: Loudspeakers blasted out messages of support for those resisting Israeli occupation.  

Sakhnin: Roads in the city of Sakhnin were completely cleared of people and cars as Palestinians took part in the mass strike.

A general public and commercial strike is observed today in all of historical Palestine. These photos were taken in the city of Sakhnin, north of the 1948-occupied land.#GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/WnuPP5T8Rw

— Huda Fadil 🇵🇸 #Gaza (@HudaFadil2) May 18, 2021

Salfit:  According to the Ministry of Health, seven injuries were recorded in the occupied West Bank town, as a result of Israeli action. Local media reports state that live ammunition was used, resulting in the wounding of a man, whose exact injuries are not known.

Jenin: Health officials said dozens of Palestinians have been injured in a crackdown on protesters.

Elsewhere: Protests were held in Qalqilya, Umm al-Fahm and Lod, as well as other places.
 

These are pictures from occupied Jerusalem, where Palestinians are taking part in a grassroots-organised national strike over Israeli violence over the past fortnight.

They were taken by Middle East Eye's correspondent Latifeh Abdellatif, who was attacked by Israeli forces earlier on Tuesday while covering the strike.

Abdellatif was filmed having her hijab pulled at by armed men in Israeli police uniform, as Palestinians nearby attempted to help.

Israeli forces have shot a 12-year-old Palestinian girl with a rubber-coated steel bullet at her home near Sheikh Jarrah.

Footage broadcast by Al Jazeera Arabic showed Israeli forces shooting towards the house and medics rushing in to help two people injured there, including a young child transported away in an ambulance.

The incident comes as Palestinians between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea observe a grassroots-organised national strike to protest escalating Israeli violence.
 

The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem has called on Israeli police to apprehend and prosecute those responsible for an attack on one of its members.

Father Arbak Sarukhanyan was wounded and needed treatment in hospital after an attack by ultra-nationalist youths but has since been discharged.

"We demand that the Police conduct a fair investigation and that the perpetrators be punished in accordance with the law in order to avoid a recurrence of such incidents in the future," said Father Koryun Baghdasaryan, Chancellor of the Patriarchate.

A Palestinian killed in the occupied West Bank city of al-Bireh has been named as 25-year-old Muhammad Ishaq Hamid.

The young man was shot in the chest with live ammunition by Israeli forces in the north of the city and arrived in critical condition at the nearby Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah, where he was pronounced dead.