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Arab World

Airstrike Kills 27 in Central Gaza, Fighting Rages as Israel’s Leaders Get Increasingly Divided

Palestinians reported more airstrikes and heavy fighting in northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli troops for months and where the World Food Program says a famine is underway (File photo)
Palestinians reported more airstrikes and heavy fighting in northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli troops for months and where the World Food Program says a famine is underway (File photo)
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Airstrike Kills 27 in Central Gaza, Fighting Rages as Israel’s Leaders Get Increasingly Divided

Palestinians reported more airstrikes and heavy fighting in northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli troops for months and where the World Food Program says a famine is underway (File photo)
Palestinians reported more airstrikes and heavy fighting in northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli troops for months and where the World Food Program says a famine is underway (File photo)

An Israeli airstrike killed 27 people in central Gaza, mostly women and children, and fighting with Hamas raged across the north on Sunday as Israel's leaders aired divisions over who should govern Gaza after the war, now in its eighth month.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces criticism from the other members of his War Cabinet, with main political rival Benny Gantz threatening to leave the government if a plan is not created by June 8 that includes an international administration for postwar Gaza. His departure would leave Netanyahu more reliant on far-right allies who support full military occupation of Gaza and rebuilding of Jewish settlements there.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Netanyahu, and the his office said in a statement they focused on Israel's military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, humanitarian aid and hostages held in Gaza.

Netanyahu opposes Palestinian statehood, saying Israel will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza and partner with local Palestinians unaffiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.

The US said Sullivan said Israel should “connect its military operations to a political strategy” and proposed measures to ensure more aid “surges” into Gaza.

In recent weeks, Hamas militants have regrouped in parts of northern Gaza that were heavily bombed in the war's early days.

The airstrike in Nuseirat, a built-up Palestinian refugee camp in central Gaza dating back to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, killed 27 people, including 10 women and seven children, according to records at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in nearby Deir al-Balah, which received the bodies.

A separate strike on a Nuseirat street killed five people, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service. In Deir al-Balah, a strike killed Zahed al-Houli, a senior officer in the Hamas-run police, and another man, according to the hospital, The AP reported.

Palestinians reported more airstrikes and heavy fighting in northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli troops for months and where the World Food Program says a famine is underway.

The Civil Defense said strikes hit several homes near Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, killing at least 10 people. And in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp nearby, residents reported a heavy wave of artillery and airstrikes.

Abdel-Kareem Radwan, 48, said the whole eastern side has become a battle zone where the Israeli fighter jets “strike anything that moves."

Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for the Civil Defense, said rescuers had recovered at least 150 bodies, more than half of them women and children, since Israel launched the operation in Jabaliya last week.

The war on Gaza has killed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Around 80% of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians have been displaced within the territory, often multiple times.

“We need a decent life to live," said Reem Al-Bayed, who left Gaza City and shelters with thousands in the gritty coastal Muwasi camp in the south without basic facilities like wells. "All countries live a decent life except us.”

She took a quick mouthful of bread before tearing the rest into pieces for half a dozen children, then poured them a can of beans.

Netanyahu faces pressure from Israel's closest ally, the United States, which has provided military aid and diplomatic cover for the offensive while expressing growing frustration with Israel's conduct of the war and the humanitarian crisis.

President Joe Biden's administration recently held up a shipment of 3,500 bombs and said the US would not provide offensive weapons for a full-scale invasion of Rafah, citing fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.

But last week, after Israel launched what it called a limited operation in Rafah, the Biden administration told legislators it would move forward with the sale of $1 billion worth of arms, according to congressional aides.

The Palestinian Crossings Authority in a statement said humanitarian aid has not entered through the vital Rafah border crossing with Egypt since the military operation began almost two weeks ago.

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Arab World

Gaza Factions Expect Intensified Israeli Attacks after Seeking Changes to Disarmament Plan

 A Palestinian Christian woman attends a service at Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza on Sunday (dpa). 
 A Palestinian Christian woman attends a service at Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza on Sunday (dpa). 
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Gaza Factions Expect Intensified Israeli Attacks after Seeking Changes to Disarmament Plan

 A Palestinian Christian woman attends a service at Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza on Sunday (dpa). 
 A Palestinian Christian woman attends a service at Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza on Sunday (dpa). 

Major Palestinian factions in Gaza expect Israel to step up its military operations in the enclave after they, through Hamas, sought amendments to a proposed disarmament plan, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Three Hamas sources inside Gaza said there were field indications of a broader Israeli escalation that could go beyond targeting police and security positions, armed faction members and assassinations.

Disarming Hamas is a central pillar of a plan presented by the UN’s special envoy for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, which he outlined at the United Nations Security Council in late March.

According to provisions reported by international and regional media, the plan calls for Hamas to dismantle its tunnel network and relinquish weapons in stages over eight months, with a full Israeli withdrawal contingent on “final verification that Gaza is free of weapons”.

Israeli escalation has intensified in recent days, with increased strikes targeting police personnel and field operatives from armed factions.

The sources said instructions had been issued to members of Hamas-run security services and armed wings to raise alert levels to the maximum and take all possible precautions to avoid repeated targeting.

Proposed amendments

A Hamas delegation that visited Cairo last week submitted, on behalf of Gaza factions, a response to the disarmament proposal during a meeting with Mladenov two days ago.

The response stressed “the need to introduce amendments to the plan, including obligating Israel to fully implement its commitments in the first phase before moving to the second,” the sources said.

Hamas believes Israel could use the request for amendments “as a pretext to intensify its attacks in the coming period, claiming the movement has refused to disarm,” one Hamas source noted, adding that the group and other factions were continuing to study the plan through various channels.

A field source from the Islamic Jihad movement said that “strict instructions” had been issued to fighters to adopt all necessary security measures to avoid detection and targeting, amid growing signs of an Israeli escalation, “especially if Iran war ends.”

Early on Sunday, Israeli forces killed four fighters from the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, in the Shujaiyya area east of Gaza City while they were manning a checkpoint aimed at preventing infiltration by Israeli special forces or armed groups.

On Monday, a Hamas police officer was killed when an Israeli drone struck his vehicle at the entrance to Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza. Another young man was shot dead by Israeli forces near the so-called “yellow line” south of Khan Younis.

Field sources said the targeted vehicle belonged to a Qassam Brigades member and that the police officer driving it had previously served as a bodyguard for a senior figure.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 718 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since a ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025.

Meeting with Erdogan

Separately, Hamas said on Sunday that a senior delegation had held talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul, focusing on developments in Gaza and ways to consolidate the ceasefire.

The delegation warned of the situation in Jerusalem, particularly at Al-Aqsa Mosque, cautioning against what it described as violations, and against proposed legislation concerning the execution of prisoners, which it said would contravene international law.

According to the statement, the delegation expressed appreciation for Türkiye’s support for the Palestinian cause, while Erdogan reaffirmed his country’s continued backing for Palestinian rights and its longstanding position on the Palestinian cause.

 

Arab World

UNIFIL Warns Israel, Hezbollah Attacks near Its Positions Risk Return Fire

A soldier of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
A soldier of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
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UNIFIL Warns Israel, Hezbollah Attacks near Its Positions Risk Return Fire

A soldier of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
A soldier of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said attacks by Israel and Hezbollah near its positions "could potentially draw return fire".

In a statement, UNIFIL said it was "extremely concerned" about attacks from both sides "carried out from near our positions, which could potentially draw return fire".

It urged them to "put down their weapons and work seriously toward a ceasefire".

Three Indonesian peacekeepers were killed in two separate explosions in southern Lebanon last week. They were laid to rest in their hometowns on Sunday, said AFP.

Peacekeeper Farizal Rhomadhon, 28, died when a projectile exploded on March 29 in southern Lebanon, where Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting since Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war.

Two other blue helmets, Zulmi Aditya Iskandar, 33, and Muhammad Nur Ichwan, 26, died a day later when an explosion struck a logistics convoy of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), also in southern Lebanon.

The deadly incidents sparked calls from Indonesian authorities for an investigation and security guarantees for peacekeeping forces.

The soldiers were buried on Sunday in coffins draped in the Indonesian flag during military funerals with gun salutes.

Less than a week after the explosions that killed the three peacekeepers, another blast took place at a UN facility near Adaisseh on Friday, injuring three more Indonesian blue helmets.

Arab World

After Gaza Devastation, Israeli Attacks on Lebanon's Health Care System Feel Familiar for Many

Smoke rises from Beirut's southern suburbs following an Israeli strike, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israel conflict with Iran continues, Lebanon, April 5, 2026. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis
Smoke rises from Beirut's southern suburbs following an Israeli strike, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israel conflict with Iran continues, Lebanon, April 5, 2026. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis
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After Gaza Devastation, Israeli Attacks on Lebanon's Health Care System Feel Familiar for Many

Smoke rises from Beirut's southern suburbs following an Israeli strike, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israel conflict with Iran continues, Lebanon, April 5, 2026. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis
Smoke rises from Beirut's southern suburbs following an Israeli strike, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israel conflict with Iran continues, Lebanon, April 5, 2026. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

Two years ago, Dr. Mohammed Ziara watched Israel ravage Gaza's health care system, shelling hospitals, striking ambulances and forcing patients to evacuate.

Now Ziara — along with other medical workers, human rights groups and many civilians — warns that the same scenario is unfolding in Lebanon.

Israel is pushing deep into the southern part of the country in its campaign against the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, a powerful militant force and political party that long has exercised de facto control over much of Lebanon’s Shiite community.

To describe its strategy in this war, the Israeli military invokes the devastation it wrought in Gaza after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets over Beirut last month warning that after “great success in Gaza, a new reality is coming to Lebanon, too.”

“I've lived this before,” Ziara, a burn surgeon from Gaza City, told The Associated Press on Thursday at the government hospital in the Lebanese port city of Sidon. “I cannot go back to Gaza now,” Ziara said. “But I can be here, in Lebanon.”

As it did with Hamas in Gaza, Israel accuses Hezbollah of hiding in and operating from civilian areas, and using hospitals and ambulances for military purposes. Israel has increasingly targeted first responders and medical centers, forcing several hospitals to evacuate.

“I was besieged in a hospital,” Ziara said of his work in Gaza. “I lost my brother in an airstrike. I feel what these people feel.”

An Israeli offensive threatens a health system, again Since the war between Israel and Hezbollah reignited on March 2, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 54 health professionals as of Sunday, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Israel has carried out 152 attacks against emergency medical workers and ambulances, and forced the closure of six hospitals and 49 health clinics through attacks or threats, the ministry says.

In Sidon, Ziara and his team from UK-based nonprofit Interburns have set up the Lebanese public health system's first specialized burn unit — a critical resource in this crisis-stricken country where the war between Israel and Hezbollah has already killed 1,461 people and wounded 4,430, according to the ministry. Israel claims to have killed hundreds of Hezbollah operatives in the latest bombardment and ground invasion.

The Israeli military argues that Hezbollah’s use of medical facilities makes them legitimate military targets under international law. It does not offer evidence to support its claims.

Hezbollah denies conducting militant activities within civilian sites. Although the group's presence in residential areas is well-documented, there has been no independent verification of its use of hospitals for military purposes.

Interburns, which trains local medics in burn care around the world, began building up the unit at Sidon Government Hospital during the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war. Lebanese authorities asked the team to return when the war reignited last month.

As the first city just north of Israel’s evacuation zone that covers nearly all southern Lebanon, Sidon takes more wounded people every day.

The rising toll of rescue work Kamal Fakih, 27, hates when people ask him what happened on March 17.

It’s not that it pains him to recall the Israeli airstrike. It’s that he doesn’t remember anything at all. He regained consciousness a day later at the hospital in Sidon, his body burned and lacerated by shrapnel.

Once stabilized, Fakih tried to connect with the paramedic who pulled him and his friend Hassan from the burning rubble, hoping to hear his account and thank him for saving their lives. But by the time Fakih got his contact, Muhammad Tafili was already dead, killed with a fellow paramedic in an Israeli airstrike on ambulances in the southeastern village of Kfar Tebnit on March 28, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

That same day, Israeli attacks killed seven other medics across four additional villages, the World Health Organization said. Among the dead was a medic targeted while responding to an Israeli airstrike that killed three journalists working for pro-Hezbollah TV channels. Footage of the incident shows two strikes in quick succession — the first hitting journalists in their car, the second crashing into paramedics as they rushed to the rescue.

Israel's military accused the two medics, and two of the three journalists killed, of being Hezbollah operatives. Its claim alarmed watchdogs that witnessed its similar justifications for killing more than 260 journalists and 1,700 health workers in Gaza, according to the United Nations humanitarian agency.

Although Lebanese medical workers and journalists were killed during the 2024 war with Hezbollah, “this time is different,” said Ramzi Kaiss, the Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch.

He pointed to a startling promise by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz last week that, to protect its border towns from Hezbollah rockets, Israel would flatten all the houses in southern Lebanon “in accordance with the model used in Rafah and Beit Hanoun in Gaza” — two cities that Israel almost entirely razed in its offensive against Hamas in the enclave.

“There’s a new kind of brazenness in declaring an intent to commit unlawful attacks,” Kaiss said. “It appears impunity has emboldened the Israeli military.”

Hospitals in the line of fire Sweeping Israeli evacuation orders in recent weeks have sent over 1 million Lebanese flocking north. As the south came under heavy bombardment, clinics shuttered or suspended operations. Nabih Berri Hospital was swamped by an influx of casualties. To make room, it evacuated dozens of patients.

Such transfers involve coordination with the Lebanese army, health ministry and UN peacekeeping force — a game of telephone, doctors say, that creates potentially life-threatening delays. Admitting patients isn’t easy either; the Sidon burn unit must discharge a patient to free up a bed.

But the referrals keep coming, straining a health system already crippled by economic collapse.

“The health system is on its knees,” Ziara said, as the hospital was plunged into darkness until backup generators kicked in 10 minutes later, a result of Lebanon’s long-running electricity crisis. “Now front-line hospitals are lacking staff and supplies. They're overwhelmed.”

Civilians search for answers Lebanese civilians say that Israeli bombs can come without warning and hit indiscriminately, leading to a growing feeling that Palestinians in Gaza know well — that nowhere is safe.

Mohammad Qubaisi, 53, said his neighborhood of Zuqaq al-Blat in central Beirut had not received Israeli evacuation guidance before March 18, when Israeli munitions slammed into his seventh-floor apartment.

Carrying his wife from the smoldering ruins, he shouted for his sons. His eldest, Adam, called to him. But he couldn’t hear Jad.

Qubaisi ran back into the skin-searing steam to search for his 15-year-old. When he woke up at the hospital hours later, his face raw with second-degree burns, he knew his son was gone.

The Israeli military said it was targeting Hezbollah. Qubaisi pushed back.

“These are civilian buildings, not military targets. They hit us and we still don’t know why,” he said from the Sidon hospital. “We were sleeping safely in our home, and look what happened to us.”