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Israel violating international law in Palestinian territories: UN expert

Israel violating international law in Palestinian territories: UN expert
By Stephen Quillen, Usaid Siddiqui, Farah Najjar and Brian Osgood
Published On 1 May 2025

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1 May 2025 - 23:59
 (23:59 GMT)

Thanks for joining us

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To learn more about conditions in Gaza as Israel’s two-month blockade cuts off access to vital assistance, you can watch our reporting here.

You can also read about pressure that pro-Palestine activists are facing amid a crackdown from authorities in various European countries here.

1 May 2025 - 23:45
 (23:45 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

We will be closing the live page soon. Here’s a look at the day’s major developments:

  • The UN Palestinian refugee agency said that 3,000 trucks ready to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza are waiting around entry points into the Strip, unable to enter as Israel’s total blockade of food and humanitarian assistance enters a third month.
  • Gaza’s Health Ministry called on the UN to declare a famine in Gaza, where Israel’s siege has created dire conditions and health officials say 92 percent of children and pregnant women now suffer from severe malnutrition.
  • A top WHO official said that children in Gaza are being starved and called the current situation “an abomination”, while top UN relief chief Tom Fletcher called the siege “brutal” and urged Israel to “let humanitarians save lives”.
  • Israeli forces continue to pound the Strip, with at least 18 Palestinians killed in the last 24 hours, including women and children, in strikes around Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
  • Firefighters say that wildfires near Jerusalem have largely been subdued, but warned that a change in conditions could reignite the blazes.
1 May 2025 - 23:30
 (23:30 GMT)
Opinion

I was forced to burn my books to survive in Gaza

In January, after a temporary truce was concluded, cooking gas was finally allowed into Gaza. I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that my books and I had survived this holocaust.

Then in early March, the genocide resumed. All humanitarian aid was blocked: no food, no medical supplies, and no fuel could enter. We ran out of gas in less than three weeks. The full blockade and the massive bombardment made it impossible to find any other source of fuel for cooking.

I had no choice but to concede. Standing before our library, I reached for the international human rights law volumes. I decided they had to go first. We were taught these legal norms at school, we were made to believe that our rights as Palestinians were guaranteed by them and that one day, they would lead to our liberation.

Read more of this opinion piece here.

1 May 2025 - 23:15
 (23:15 GMT)

WATCH: From Biden to Trump: US policy renders Palestinian lives expendable in Gaza

1 May 2025 - 23:00
 (23:00 GMT)

Israel to demolish 106 homes in West Bank refugee camps

Israel has ordered Palestinians residing in parts of the Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps in the occupied West Bank to leave their homes within 24 hours before slated demolitions, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.

It quoted Abdullah Kmeil, Tulkarem’s governor, as saying the Israeli military order is targeting 58 buildings in the city and another 48 homes in Nur Shams.

Kmeil said the demolitions are an “unprecedented crime” against the people of Tulkarem and its refugee camps and called on the international community to intervene.

This year, as part of a wide-scale incursion into the northern West Bank, Israeli forces raided both camps and started bulldozing homes, demolishing shops and tearing up roads.

More than 40,000 people have already been displaced, including those who reside in Jenin’s refugee camp – also in the northern West Bank.

1 May 2025 - 22:45
 (22:45 GMT)

University of Texas students sue over arrests at pro-Palestinian protest against war in Gaza

Four current and former University of Texas at Austin students have sued the college and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, alleging they faced unlawful arrest and retaliatory discipline for demonstrating against Israel’s assault on Gaza.

The lawsuit is among a wave of legal actions against US universities, law enforcement and state leaders over their handling of pro-Palestinian student protests that erupted in the spring of 2024.

Filed in US District Court in San Antonio by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) on behalf of the students, the lawsuit accuses UT Austin President Jay Hartzell, Abbott and law enforcement officers of intentionally suppressing pro-Palestinian speech at an April 24, 2024 campus protest.

According to the filing, Abbott, with the consent of Hartzell, ordered state police in riot gear to carry out mass arrests, violating protesters’ First Amendment rights to assemble and express their opinions.

Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, US [File: Nuri Vallbona/Reuters]
1 May 2025 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)

‘Sick. Thirsty. Starving’: UNICEF calls for end to Gaza blockade

The UN children’s agency has renewed calls for humanitarian aid to be let into Gaza as Israel continues imposing a total blockade on the bombarded territory.

UNICEF has “hundreds of trucks waiting to enter the Gaza Strip with life-saving supplies for children”, it said in a post on X.

“Sick. Thirsty. Starving,” it wrote, adding that children there are now facing the worst humanitarian crisis of the war.

1 May 2025 - 22:15
 (22:15 GMT)

US Muslim group hails Palestinian student’s release as ‘victory’

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says the release of Mohsen Mahdawi is “an important victory in the struggle for not only his freedom, but also in the broader struggle to protect the First Amendment”.

“Every person in America, including immigrants, has a constitutional right to free speech. The Trump administration must stop abducting and disappearing college students because they dared to criticize US support for the Israeli government’s war crimes in Gaza,” CAIR said.

Yesterday, a US judge ordered Mahdawi to be released from detention. The Columbia University student, who led Gaza protests there last year, was detained earlier this month during a citizenship interview.

You can read more about Mahdawi’s release – and what comes next in his case – in our story here.

1 May 2025 - 22:00
 (22:00 GMT)

WATCH: Israel executing ‘genocidal war’ against Palestinians, Qatar tells ICJ

1 May 2025 - 21:30
 (21:30 GMT)

New poll in US finds low favourability for Israel among Democrats

A new poll from the Pew Research Center has found that 29 percent of US adults who identify with the Democratic Party have a favourable view of Israel, a number that rises to 62 percent for those who identify with Trump’s Republican Party.

The poll is the latest to underscore a downward trend in support for Israel in the US, especially among those with more left-leaning politics.

Shifting attitudes among Democratic voters, however, have yet to translate into a change in the policies promoted by the leadership at the higher levels of the party. Democratic leaders continue to offer staunch support for Israel and US weapons transfers despite allegations of abuses by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Israel’s favourability among Democrats is about 50 points lower than for allies such as Japan, the UK and Canada and only 3 points higher than for China, widely viewed as an adversary of the US.

1 May 2025 - 21:15
 (21:15 GMT)

Hamas calls on Switzerland to reverse its ban

Hamas has put out a statement addressing Switzerland’s decision to enforce a new law banning the group and related organisations on May 15.

Here is a summary of their translated comments:

  • Switzerland’s decision to ban the movement is a dangerous bias towards the occupation and a denial of its legal and humanitarian obligations.
  • Switzerland’s political and moral commitments require urgent action to halt the [Israeli PM] Netanyahu government’s violations of international law.
  • We call on Switzerland to reverse its unjust decision, stand up for justice, and support our people’s struggle to end the occupation.
1 May 2025 - 21:05
 (21:05 GMT)

Several killed in Israeli attack in southern Gaza

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that “several people” have been killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a home in the town of Abasan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis.

The home belonged to the Abu Daqqa family, it said, adding that a number of others have been wounded.

1 May 2025 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)

Twelve-year-old girl from Gaza City issues plea for medical evacuation

A 12-year-old girl from Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood has issued a plea to be taken abroad for medical treatment.

In a video verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency, the girl – identified as Rashaf – appears visibly emaciated as she describes her struggle with malnutrition.

“I wish I could go back to how I was, I wish my hair would grow long so I could brush it, and I wish I could pray standing up, but now I pray while sitting,” she says, breaking down in tears.

1 May 2025 - 20:45
 (20:45 GMT)

Netanyahu to hold consultations on expanding war in Gaza

The Israel Broadcasting Authority is reporting that Netanyahu will convene security officials on Friday to approve plans for an expansion of military operations in Gaza.

The defence minister, chief of staff and other leaders of the security establishment will be among those attending, the report said.

1 May 2025 - 20:30
 (20:30 GMT)

Animated maps show US-led attacks on Yemen

On April 18, a US strike on Yemen’s Ras Isa fuel port killed at least 80 people and wounded 150 others in one of the deadliest attacks on the country by US forces.

The US military says its forces “have hit over 1,000 targets” in Yemen since mid-March, “killing Houthi fighters and leaders, including senior Houthi missile and UAV officials, and degrading their capabilities”, with no mention of civilian deaths.

Our interactive piece here shows US-led attacks on Yemen.

 

1 May 2025 - 20:15
 (20:15 GMT)

Pro-Palestine activist in Belgium decries arrest after attending protest

Mohammed Khatib, who works for a Palestinian prisoners solidarity network called Samidoun, says that he was arrested by Belgian police after attending a pro-Palestine protest in Brussels.

He sees his arrest was part of a larger effort by authorities to exert pressure on critics of Israel’s brutal war in Gaza.

“If they had something they could use against me, I would not be sitting here. I would be in prison,” he told Al Jazeera. “The goal of this intimidation is to silence the movement, to make an example of us and say that if we do the same, this is our future. We will fight this.”

You can read the full story here.

1 May 2025 - 20:00
 (20:00 GMT)

WATCH: Israeli forces killing Palestinians collecting food in Gaza

1 May 2025 - 19:45
 (19:45 GMT)
Houthi

Palestinian man shot and killed in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces have shot and killed a 29-year-old man during a raid in the town of Beita, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.

It cited the Red Crescent as saying the man sustained wounds to the chest and was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment but quickly died from his wounds.

The incident took place as Israeli soldiers stormed the town amid heavy gunfire.

1 May 2025 - 19:30
 (19:30 GMT)

UNRWA calls for opening of Gaza crossings as famine looms

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has sounded the alarm over Israel’s ongoing blockade, saying no supplies have entered Gaza for nearly two months.

“Food stocks are running out. Aid remains stuck outside Gaza, ready to move,” UNRWA said in a post on X. “UNRWA and partners have lifesaving assistance waiting at the borders. Border crossings must reopen. People in Gaza cannot wait any longer.”

1 May 2025 - 19:15
 (19:15 GMT)

Swiss law banning Hamas to come into effect on May 15

Switzerland will enforce a new law banning Hamas and related organisations on May 15.

The government said the law is aimed at preventing the use of the country as a financial hub, adding that it was initially approved in December.

The law, it added, would give Swiss authorities “the necessary tools to take action against Hamas activities or support for the organisation in Switzerland”. It will also permit preventive police measures, including entry bans or expulsions.