A boy stands on a balcony with a view of billowing smoke due to renewed Israeli strikes in Rafah city in the southern gaza Strip on May 28, 2024. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Doha, Qatar: Spain, Ireland, and Norway are set to formally announce their move today. Meanwhile, Israel's army continues its bombardment of Rafah, with attacks occurring just one night after Israeli forces bombed a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians in a designated safe zone in Rafah, resulting in 45 deaths.
Since the onset of Israel's war on Gaza on October 7, at least 36,050 Palestinians have been killed and 81,026 wounded.
The revised death toll from Hamas's attack on Israel on that date stands at 1,139, with dozens still held captive.
Watch this page for more live updates:
[10:55pm Doha Time] 21 displaced Palestinians killed in new Rafah massacre
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah. (AFP)
21 Palestinians were killed and a number of others were injured, the majority of whom were children and women, in a new massacre committed by the Israeli occupation forces, targeting displaced people in the Al Mawasi area in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip. Read more.
[9:20pm Doha Time] Israel's Rafah incursion taking dire health toll: WHO
Israel's military offensive in Rafah is already taking a dire health toll in southern Gaza, and if it continues, "substantial" increases in deaths can be expected, a top WHO official warned on Tuesday.
Since Israel launched its long-threatened Rafah incursion in early May, access to healthcare in Gaza's southernmost city has been devastated, said Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization's representative in the Palestinian territories. He pointed to the around one million people on the move since the incursion, which has left two of Rafah's three hospitals completely disfunctional. Read more.
[7:41pm Doha Time] Red Cross recounts ‘horror’ of aftermath of Israeli air raid on Rafah
The Red Cross has said that an influx of patients with severe injuries and burns from an air raid arrived at its field hospital on Sunday night, desperately needing treatment.
“We experienced first-hand the horror of this war, witnessing the appalling injuries and death. We had a mass casualty incident with about 30 patients, seven of them in critical condition with massive bleeding. Nine patients had horrendous orthopaedic injuries, and about 18 were injured,” said senior medical officer Sandy Inglis.
Medical staff at the Red Cross field hospital are already facing an influx of patients with severe injuries, and increasing communicable diseases that could lead to potential outbreaks and complications related to chronic conditions.
“Amputations at the field hospital are common, as well as acute respiratory infections, gastrointestinal illnesses, and skin diseases, which are spreading rapidly through displaced communities due to a lack of clean water, sanitation, and access to food,” the Red Cross said in a statement.
[7:22pm Doha Time] Only one-third of Gaza’s hospitals remain even partially functional: WHO
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, has said that the injured from Sunday night’s Israeli attack on Rafah are being treated in “an already overwhelmed WHO-supported trauma stabilisation point as well as other field hospitals” in the southern Gaza Strip city.
In a post on X, he said that almost one million displaced people are “once again in search of safety that doesn’t exist in Gaza”.
“The ongoing closure of the Rafah border, lack of fuel and aid getting into and across Gaza, and frequent mission delays and denials have choked our ability to support the health system at a time when operations should be rapidly growing to meet the rising needs,” he added.
He said the hospitals that are barely functioning are struggling to meet needs due to lack of adequate supplies, equipment, fuel and exhausted staff.
“Open the Rafah crossing. Ensure missions can proceed in a timely manner. Protect civilians and health care. Ceasefire,” he said.
[4:12pm Doha Time] Video shows bloody aftermath of new attack on Rafah tent camp
Footage verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency shows a large number of people, including women, killed and injured from the latest attack on a tent camp near Rafah.
Residents are seen frantically attending to the bloodied victims and covering the bodies of those killed with blankets.
The Israeli attack occurred in a designated humanitarian zone in Mawasi, west of Rafah, reports Reuters news agency, citing medics and residents.
[4:10pm Doha Time] Danish Parliament votes down a proposal to recognize the palestinian state
Denmark's parliament has voted down a bill to recognise a Palestinian state.
The bill was proposed in late February by four left-wing parties, but was rejected after the Danish foreign minister said the preconditions for an independent state lacking.
"We cannot recognise an independent Palestinian state, for the sole reason that the preconditions are not really there," Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said when the bill was first debated in parliament in April.
[3:15pm Doha Time] Spain formally recognises Palestinian state: Government spokesperson
Spain has formally recognised the State of Palestine in a decision approved by its cabinet, a government spokesperson says.
Pilar Alegria said the cabinet had “adopted an important decision to recognise a Palestinian state”, which had “one objective: to help Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace”.
[3:08pm Doha Time] Gaza’s death toll rises
At least 36,096 Palestinians have been killed and 81,136 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, its Health Ministry says.
The ministry added that 46 people were killed and 110 injured in the latest 24-hour reporting period.
[12:25pm Doha Time] Six killed near Kamal Adwan Hospital
Smoke billows following Israeli strikes in Rafah city in the southern gaza Strip on May 28, 2024 (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Six people, including a doctor, have been killed near the hospital in northern Gaza, as Israeli raids continue in the area, report our colleagues on the ground.
Last week, patients and medical staff were forced to flee the hospital due to Israeli attacks on it, including one that hit its emergency department.
[11:40pm Doha Time] Israeli forces arrest 22 Palestinians in occupied West Bank
The arrests included a child and former prisoners, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.
Raids on Monday and Tuesday took place in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Tubas, Hebron, Qalqilya and Jenin in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.
The latest arrests bring the number of Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces since October 7 to 8,910, according to the organisations’ statement.
[9:55am Doha Time] Spanish PM: Palestinian state ‘only route to peace’
In this handout picture taken and released by La Moncloa on May 28, 2024 Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez delivers a speech over the recognition of Palestinian statehood by Spain, at La Moncloa Palace in Madrid. (Photo by Borja Puig de la BELLACASA / LA MONCLOA / AFP)
PM Pedro Sanchez has been speaking at the Moncloa Palace on the country’s recognition of a Palestinian state.
“The recognition of the state of Palestine is not only a matter of historical justice, but we are all aiming at establishing peace,” he said.
“The only route towards establishing peace is the establishment of a Palestinian state, living side by side with the state of Israel.”
[9:40am Doha Time] Spain, Ireland, Norway to recognise Palestinian state today
The three European nations are set to formally recognise a Palestinian state later today, joining 144 other countries that have already done so.
Ireland’s cabinet is expected to affirm the decision after several hours of debate this morning in parliament.
Speaking yesterday, Ireland’s Prime Minister Simon Harris said: “We believe in the state of Israel and in the state of Palestine, living side by side in peace and stability. And we believe it at a time when others are seeking to bomb that hope to oblivion.”
[9:30am Doha Time] Canada announces five-fold increase in visas for Palestinians in Gaza
Canada has announced a five-fold increase in visas for Palestinians seeking to join their family members in the country.
Minister of Immigration Marc Miller said that Ottawa would raise to 5,000 the number of visas offered to residents in Gaza under a special programme announced in December.
Miller said the government is working to assist Palestinians trying to leave Gaza, but that movement out of the territory is currently not possible due to factors outside Ottawa’s control.
[8:40am Doha Time] OIC tells UNSC to ‘assume responsibilities’ after Rafah ‘massacre’
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp area housing internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024 (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has described Israel’s deadly attack on a tent camp for displaced people in Rafah as a “heinous massacre”, which it considers an act of “state-organised terrorism”.
The OIC – the world’s second largest intergovernmental body after the UN – said those responsible for the “war crime” attack on the camp in Rafah must be held to account and face international criminal law.
“The Secretary-General held the Israeli occupation accountable for the consequences of its crimes, terrorist practices, and brutal attacks against the Palestinian people, which are inconsistent with all human values,” OIC, representing 57 member states, said in a statement.
“The OIC renewed its call on the international community, especially the UN Security Council, to assume its responsibilities in compelling Israel, to implement the orders of the International Court of Justice to stop this Israeli aggression immediately,” it said.
OIC Condemns the Heinous Massacre of Civilians in the City of #Rafah and Calls on the UN Security Council to Assume its Responsibilities: https://t.co/PZuSyZwND2 pic.twitter.com/zzMqpYeQZT
— OIC (@OIC_OCI) May 27, 2024
[8:25am Doha Time] More than 1 million displaced in 20 days as fighting rages across Gaza
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that more than one million people have been displaced in the south and north of the Gaza Strip since May 6.
Heavy fighting is taking place in the Jabalia refugee camp south of Gaza City in the north of the Palestinian territory, as well as in the north of the Nuseirat area in central Gaza, and eastern Deir el-Balah, also in the central area, and in eastern and central areas of Rafah in Gaza’s south.
Palestinians flee the area of Tal al-Sultan in Rafah with their belongings following renewed Israeli strikes in the city in the southern gaza Strip on May 28, 2024. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Due to Israel’s enforced closure of Gaza’s borders, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) reports that its health centres have not received medical supplies in 12 days, particularly affecting stocks of antibiotics for children and antiepileptic drugs, OCHA says in its latest situation report.
“Over five per cent of Gaza’s population has been either killed, injured, or is missing. At least 3,000 women are estimated to be widowed, 10,000 children orphaned, 17,000 children left unaccompanied or separated, and more than one million people have lost their homes,” OCHA states.
[8:00am Doha Time] China expresses 'grave concern' over Israel's military operations in Rafah
China expressed on Tuesday "grave concern" over Israel's military operations in Rafah, where an Israeli strike killed dozens in a displaced persons camp.
China "expresses its grave concern over the ongoing Israeli military operations in Rafah", foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said. Read more
