Live: At least 75 killed in Israeli strikes on second day of Eid al-Adha

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US-backed private humanitarian organisation, said it will begin distributing aid in Gaza on Monday, after the sudden resignation of its executive director.

“Our trucks are loaded and ready to go. Beginning Monday, May 26, GHF will begin direct aid delivery in Gaza, reaching over one million Palestinians by the end of the week. We plan to scale rapidly to serve the full population in the weeks ahead,” it said in a statement.

Earlier, GFH's executive director Jake Wood announced his resignation over the foundation's lack of independence, saying it could not adhere to “to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon”.

The organisation, which was originated in February, has received fierce criticism from UN officials, who had said its aid distribution plans, initiated by Israel and only involving private companies, would foster displacement of Palestinians and more violence.

Only limited humanitarian aid has been allowed into Gaza recently after international pressure since early March forced Israel to stop its blockade on the Strip.

At least 25 people, including children, were killed in an Israeli bombing that targeted a school-turned-shelter in al-Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City, as displaced Palestinians were sleeping in the middle of the night.

Videos on social media show children “burned alive” as fire spread in Fahmi al-Jarjawi school, while rescue teams continue to search for missing bodies under the rubble.

Gaza’s Civil Defence said on Telegram that its teams “were able to control a fire” that broke out at the school after the attack.

Israeli forces have destroyed around 95 percent of the Strip’s schools since October 2023, according to aid groups.

UN experts have said that Israel’s attacks on civilian facilities, including schools, could amount to war crimes.

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates on Israel’s war on Gaza and the occupied West Bank:

- The death toll of the Israeli bombing on Fahmi al-Jarjawi school, located in the Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City, has risen from 19 to 25, with many still missing under the rubble.

- Israeli forces have abducted a Palestinian man after severely beating him in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank, while Israeli settlers fired live ammunition and tear gas on Palestinian residents in the town of Burqin located west of Salfit city.

- Norway said it will receive up to 15 new patients from Gaza this year, after it had announced last June that it would accept 20 patients and their companions for treatment from the Strip.

- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese denounced Israel’s blockade on Gaza, describing it as “completely unacceptable”, and said that “the idea that a democratic state withholds supply is an outrage”.

- US President Donald Trump hinted that there could be “some good news” on Gaza, as he talked about reaching “real  progress” in nuclear talks with Iran.

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• The number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s military assault on Gaza has reached 53,939, with another 122,797 wounded since 7 October 2023, according to health officials in the besieged enclave.

• In the last 24 hours alone, Gaza’s hospitals have received 38 bodies and treated 204 wounded as Israeli forces continue their offensive.

• Medical sources reported on Sunday that since 18 March—when Israel resumed its bombardment after a short-lived ceasefire—at least 3,785 people have been killed and over 10,756 wounded.

• A four-year-old child has died in Gaza City due to severe malnutrition caused by Israel's blockade, according to Palestinian media reports.

• Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares has called for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza, describing the situation as “inhumane and cruel”.

• Israeli settlers entered Al-Buraq Square, part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, on Sunday evening, waving Israeli flags ahead of Monday’s controversial Flag March.

• Yahya Saree, military spokesperson for Yemen's Houthis, said the group was responsible for an attack on Sunday intercepted by Israel.

• The economic impact of repeated Houthi attacks on Israel’s main airport is growing, with Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International facing mounting disruptions that have grounded international travel and exposed deepening financial strains.

• Swiss authorities have told Reuters that they are exploring whether to open a legal investigation into the activities of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US-backed organisation that plans to oversee aid distribution in the enclave.

• Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela says his country will officially recognise the State of Palestine next month—ending more than four decades of hesitation—while Gaza’s death toll continues to soar.

Thousands of fans turned out for Irish band Kneecap's biggest-ever headline gig in south London, just days after one of its band members was charged with a terrorism offence. 

Earlier this week, Liam Og O hAnnaidh, 27, was charged with displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah during a concert at the O2 Forum in northwest London last November.

Kneecap denied the charges, describing it as “political policing” and “a carnival of distraction” away from Israeli aggression in Gaza. 

O hAnnaidh told fans at the Wide Awake Festival on Friday that UK authorities were “trying to silence us before Glastonbury” and called on fans to be “on the right side of history”. 

"I know we're out, we're enjoying ourselves and we're trying to listen to some tunes at a festival... believe me, lads, I wish I didn't have to do this," he said at the event in Brixton’s Brockwell Park.

Read more: Kneecap headline festival days after member charged with terror offence

Israeli strikes killed five Palestinians, among them a child, in separate attacks on Gaza City and Khan Younis on Sunday evening.

The Palestinian news agency, Wafa, said four people died and many others were wounded when Israeli warplanes bombed a residential building on Al-Thawra Street in western Gaza City.

In a separate incident, a child was killed and four relatives wounded when an Israeli drone targeted a tent sheltering displaced civilians in Bani Suhaila, Khan Younis.

Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares has called for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza, describing the situation as “inhumane and cruel”.

“The Palestinian people have the right to hope,” he said after a meeting of the Madrid Group.

Albares added that 20 countries gathered in Madrid to push forward efforts for peace and to discuss recognition of a Palestinian state.

“The two-state path, Palestine and Israel coexisting in peace and security, is the solution,” he said.

Four Palestinians were killed and several others wounded when an Israeli air strike struck a house and nearby tents in Gaza City.

Germany is engaging regional and European partners to push for an end to the Gaza war, according to Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.

“Germany has a clear position: no expulsions [of Palestinians] from the Gaza Strip, an end to hunger. And the Strip as well as the West Bank belong to the Palestinians on the way to a two-state solution,” he told ARD’s Report from Berlin, a television magazine on current political events in Germany.

Wadephul said Berlin is in talks with Israeli, Middle Eastern and EU officials to find a political path forward.

Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper says the war in Gaza is rapidly losing international backing, citing unnamed political sources.

“International legitimacy for the army's operations has expired,” the paper reported, warning that further fighting risks pushing Israel into global isolation.

The report added that continued military action could trigger economic sanctions and possibly a UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to the war.

Israeli settlers entered Al-Buraq Square, part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, on Sunday evening, waving Israeli flags ahead of Monday’s controversial Flag March.

The Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate said large groups of settlers gathered to mark the anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the city.

Earlier today, Israeli forces set up iron barricades around Damascus Gate, sealing off the entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City in preparation for the march, which is expected to pass through Palestinian-majority areas including Bab al-Amud and Al-Wad Street.

The governorate warned of a dangerous escalation, accusing Israeli authorities of using the event to assert sovereignty over the city and reinforce occupation policies in violation of international law.

Authorities also said the march, held under tight police protection, is often marked by settler violence and racist chants targeting Muslims and Christians.

Since Israel’s war on Gaza began on 7 October 2023, settler raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque have sharply increased.

British opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has defended Israel’s continuing war on Gaza, describing it as a "proxy war on behalf of the UK."

In an interview with Sky News' Trevor Phillips on Sunday, Badenoch, now leading the Conservative Party, claimed that Israel’s war on Gaza aligns with Britain’s national interest, comparing it to "Ukraine [fighting] on behalf of Western Europe against Russia."

Badenoch dismissed international condemnation of Israel's military campaign and refused to criticise Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s inflammatory rhetoric. "I'm not here to police the language of the prime minister of Israel," she said.

Her remarks came shortly after a joint statement from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and French President Emmanuel Macron warned Israel earlier this week to end the "intolerable" human suffering or face "further concrete actions."

Read more: 'Israel fighting the UK’s proxy war' says Kemi Badenoch

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it is grieving the loss of two of its workers killed in an Israeli air raid on Gaza.

“We are heartbroken by the death of two of our dear colleagues, Ibrahim Eid and Ahmad Abu Hilal, who were killed in a strike on their home in Khan Younis on the 24th of May, 2025,” the organisation wrote on X.

Ibrahim was a Weapons Contamination Officer, while Ahmad served as a security guard at the Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah, it said.

The ICRC called their deaths a stark reminder of Gaza’s soaring civilian death toll.

“Their killing points to the intolerable civilian death toll in Gaza,” the post added. “The ICRC reiterates its urgent call for a ceasefire and for the respect and protection of civilians, including medical, humanitarian relief, and civil defence personnel.”

The head of the UN’s World Food Programme has dismissed claims that Hamas is diverting humanitarian aid, saying she’s seen no evidence of theft.

“No, not at all,” said Cindy McCain, when asked by US network CBS whether Hamas was stealing supplies.

“Listen, these people are desperate, and they see a World Food Programme truck coming in and they run for it,” McCain explained, highlighting the dire hunger in Gaza.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with Hamas or any kind of organised crime, or anything,” she added. “It has simply to do with the fact that these people are starving to death, and so we will continue to go in.”

The economic impact of repeated Houthi attacks on Israel’s main airport is growing, with Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International facing mounting disruptions that have grounded international travel and exposed deepening financial strains.

According to Israel’s Channel 12 broadcaster, around 20 global airlines have halted operations to and from Israel following the Yemeni group’s continued targeting of the airport. Several airlines are now reportedly exploring compensation claims amid the chaos.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary didn’t hold back last week, expressing frustration at the worsening security situation. “I think we’re running out of patience too with Israel,” O’Leary said. “Flights to and from Tel Aviv, if they’re going to keep being disrupted by these security disruptions, frankly, we’d be better off sending those aircraft somewhere else in Europe.”