Gaza live: Five killed in Israeli attacks while awaiting aid in Gaza

James Elder, spokesperson for the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “bleak, horrific and hopeless”.

He said Palestinian families are struggling to secure even a single meal a day for their children, as Israeli attacks far outweigh the aid deliveries entering the strip.

 “There was a momentary uptick in aid and slight improvements in water and food supplies… But that optimism has quickly dissolved in the face of a catastrophic blockade on humanitarian relief,” Elder told Anadolu Agency, during an official mission from the southern city of Khan Younis.

“Every known limit of human endurance has been shattered,” he said. “Mothers go without food for days just to provide a single meal for their children.” 

Speaking about the absence of Eid celebrations in Gaza, he said: “Instead of joy, families gather in silence to remember those they’ve lost, surrounded by an overwhelming sense of grief and abandonment,” he added. “There are no homes, no shelters - just loss. People spent their lives building homes and gardens, and now everything has disappeared.”

He also warned that malnourished children are dying from otherwise treatable illnesses.

“Severe malnutrition makes a child 10 times more likely to die from something minor. This is the deadly cycle: hunger, dirty water, and lack of basic healthcare,” he said.

Some 19 Palestinians have been detained by Israeli soldiers in different areas of Hebron, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The arrests come amid an intensified blockade on towns, villages and refugee camps in the region.

Several neighbourhoods in Hebron were raided, where at least six Palestinians, including two brothers, were detained.

In the southern town of Dura and the surrounding areas, Israeli forces carried out further detentions. Troops also stormed the town of Sair, north of Hebron, detaining several citizens and preventing access to the entrance gate near the bypass road.

Meantime, military closures were also reinforced at al-Fawwar and al-Arrub refugee camps.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that at least three Palestinian were killed on Sunday, and several others were injured as Israeli forces opened fire at people seeking to receive aid in central Gaza.

Quoting eyewitnesses and medical sources, Wafa said those killed were amongst many gathering near the so-called Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, awaiting aid to be delivered.

In the southern city of Khan Younis, another two Palestinians were killed and others injured when Israeli forces fired on a separate group waiting for assistance.

This comes after an Israeli airstrike targeted the Hamad City, north of Khan Younis.

Israeli forces have arrested at least 15 Palestinians during a series of overnight raids in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

It said that seven Palestinians were detained in the province of Nablus following early morning incursions into several neighbourhoods, as Israeli army vehicles raided a residential building in Rafidia neighbourhood.

Another four people were detained after Israeli forces raided and searched homes in the town of Qaffin, located at the north of Tulkarm.

In the Bethlehem district, four more people were detained from the village of al-Asakra, east of the city.

Wafa said Israeli troops stormed the area, searched multiple homes, and detained residents.

Israeli forces also raided several homes and reportedly assaulted a number of residents during searches in the town of al-Khader to the south.

The Israeli military said on Sunday that a soldier was killed in southern Gaza.

According to Israeli media outlet Haaretz, the soldier was s a commander in the Israeli military's Kfir combat brigade.

This is the latest army casualty Israel announces since it has launched its deadly attacks on the Strip on 7 October 2023.

The Israeli media said on Saturday that the Israeli military recently attacked Yemen, attempting to assassinate a senior Houthi figure.

The Houthis, who control parts of Yemen, have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships plying the Red Sea since November 2023, in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel's war on Gaza.

Thousands of demonstrators protested across France on Saturday in support of Palestinians and calling for peace in Gaza.

French trade unions, left-wing parties and pro-Palestinian activist groups called for a global weekend of protests against Israel's war on the territory.

They issued their rallying call before Israel on Friday launched a massive wave of strikes on Iran, raising fears of a prolonged conflict that experts say could engulf the region.

In Paris, where the largest march took place, police counted 9,000 demonstrators, while the CGT trade union and hard-left party France Unbowed (LFI) said 150,000 attended the gathering.

Internet is back up in the Gaza Strip, the head of the Palestinian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority told AFP on Saturday, after a three-day blackout.

"The network is up now in all of the Gaza Strip," said the telecom agency's CEO Laith Daraghmeh, after the Palestinian Authority's telecommunications ministry had reported internet and fixed-line communications were down as Israeli forces on Thursday bombed Gaza's last remaining fibre optic cable.

The German foreign ministry says the humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic. 

The foreign ministry also issued its statement on X, saying further escalation in the Middle East is a real possibility.

It added that Iran’s nuclear programme poses a threat not just to Israel, but also to Saudi Arabia and the stability of the entire region.

The statement was issued after a visit by German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul to Saudi Arabia, where he met his counterpart.

Gaza's civil defence agency reported 41 people killed in Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territory Saturday, more than half of whom it said were killed while waiting for aid.

"Forty-one people were martyred due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, 23 of whom were waiting for aid," Mohammad al-Mughayyir, an official from the agency, told AFP.

Central Gaza's Al-Awda hospital received eight bodies and 125 wounded after Israeli drone strikes targeted people gathering near an aid distribution centre near the Netzarim corridor, Mughayyir said.

Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital received 11 bodies after an attack on people seeking aid on Saturday, he added, while four others were taken to the Al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza and Nasser hospital in the south.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution points since the US and Israel-backed organisation began operating in late May, according to the civil defence agency.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in a phone call on Saturday that Israel was trying to divert attention from what he called a genocide in Gaza. 

A statement by his office said Erdogan had also told Pezeshkian that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to set the region on fire and to sabotage nuclear talks with attacks on Iran.

At least 72 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn today, according to Quds news network, citing medical sources.

Israeli forces installed a new iron gate at the northern entrance of the town of Sinjil, located north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, effectively blocking its only road connecting it to surrounding areas, Wafa news agency reported.

According to local activist Ayed Ghafri, with the closure of the road, Sinjil is now surrounded by two iron gates and a perimeter fence that has been in place for several months, severely restricting the movement of its residents.

There is growing concern among the community that this could signal the beginning of a long term closure of the town, according to Wafa.

Middle East Eye reported earlier that two Israeli missiles struck an area near the southern Lebanese town of Beit Lif. 

Al Mayadeen reported, citing Lebanon's health ministry, that seven people were wounded in a new Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon.

Adalah, the legal centre representing those forcibly detained on the aid flotilla Madleen, said it demanded the "immediate release" of the remaining volunteers and for their departure via Jordan. 

The three detained Freedom Flotilla volunteers - Marco van Rennes, Pascal Maurieras, and journalist Yanis Mhamdi - remain in Israeli custody in the Givon Prison.

"Adalah has just issued an urgent letter to Israeli authorities requesting that the volunteers be permitted to exit the country via Jordan, to return to their home countries," a statement by Adalah said on Saturday.

"This request follows reports that flights have resumed from Amman earlier today. Their continued detention is unlawful and a part of Israel’s ongoing violations of international law."