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Israel Says It Will Allow Controlled Entry of Goods into Gaza via Merchants 

Internally displaced Palestinians climb aid trucks to get food near a food distribution point in the Morag corridor, south of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, 04 August 2025. (EPA)
Internally displaced Palestinians climb aid trucks to get food near a food distribution point in the Morag corridor, south of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, 04 August 2025. (EPA)
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Israel Says It Will Allow Controlled Entry of Goods into Gaza via Merchants 

Internally displaced Palestinians climb aid trucks to get food near a food distribution point in the Morag corridor, south of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, 04 August 2025. (EPA)
Internally displaced Palestinians climb aid trucks to get food near a food distribution point in the Morag corridor, south of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, 04 August 2025. (EPA)

Israel says it will allow gradual and controlled entry of goods to Gaza through local merchants, an Israeli military agency that coordinates aid said on Tuesday, as global monitors say famine is unfolding in the enclave, impacting the hostages Hamas holds.

Israel's COGAT said a mechanism has been approved by the cabinet to expand the scope of humanitarian aid, allowing the entry of supplies to Gaza through the private sector.

The agency said the approved goods include basic food products, baby food, fruits and vegetables, and hygiene supplies.

"This aims to increase the volume of aid entering the Gaza Strip, while reducing reliance on aid collection by the UN and international organizations," it added.

It was unclear how this aid operation would work given the widespread destruction in Gaza.

Palestinian and UN officials say Gaza needs around 600 aid trucks to enter per day to meet the humanitarian requirements - the number Israel used to allow into Gaza before the war.

Images of starving Palestinians including children have alarmed the world in recent weeks, while a video released by Hamas on Sunday showing an emaciated captive drew sharp criticism from Western powers.

Israel in response to a rising international uproar, announced last week steps to let more aid reach Gaza, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas, approving air drops and announcing protected routes for aid convoys.

Hamas said it was prepared to coordinate with the Red Cross to deliver aid to hostages it holds in Gaza, if Israel permanently opens humanitarian corridors and halts airstrikes during the distribution of aid.

Israel and the United States urged the UN in May to work through an organization they back, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which employs a US logistics firm run by a former CIA officer and armed US veterans.

The UN refused as it questioned GHF neutrality and accused the distribution model of militarizing aid and forcing displacement.

Palestinians were killed near GHF sites where limited aid was distributed, with the UN estimating that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food since May, most near the organization's distribution sites.

GHF denies that there have been deadly incidents at its sites and says the deadliest have been near other aid convoys.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli figures.

Israel's offensive has since killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.

According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to be alive. Hamas, thus far, has barred humanitarian organizations from having any kind of access to the hostages and families have little or no details of their conditions.

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Arab World

Syria President Discusses Security with Visiting Lebanon PM

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Damascus in 2025 (File photo: AFP)
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Damascus in 2025 (File photo: AFP)
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Syria President Discusses Security with Visiting Lebanon PM

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Damascus in 2025 (File photo: AFP)
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Damascus in 2025 (File photo: AFP)

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa met Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Damascus on Saturday on a visit tackling issues including security, transport and energy.

Beirut and Damascus have been rebuilding their ties after the December 2024 overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in Syria, whose family dynasty exercised control over Lebanese affairs for decades and is accused of assassinating numerous officials in Lebanon who expressed opposition to its rule.

A statement from the Syrian presidency said the officials discussed "developing economic and trade cooperation... and bolstering security coordination in order to support stability and confront challenges", as well as regional and international developments, AFP reported.

Syrian state news agency SANA said the visit aimed to "develop joint cooperation... particularly the economy, transportation and energy" sectors.

Salam was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri as well as Lebanese ministers for energy, economy and transport.

Salam hailed "significant progress" on joint issues at the end of the visit, telling reporters that "we discussed continuing efforts to address the issue of detained Syrians (in Lebanon) and to uncover the fate of the missing and forcibly detained in both countries".

In March, Lebanon transferred more than 130 Syrian convicts to their home country to serve the remainder of their sentences there, as part of an agreement signed a month earlier.

Lebanon has also been seeking information on political assassinations in the country under the Assad dynasty.

The discussions also addressed "the need for stricter Syria-Lebanon border controls and preventing all types of smuggling", Salam added.

Lebanon and Syria share a porous, 330-kilometre (205-mile) border notorious for the smuggling of people and goods.

Last month, the main border crossing was closed for several days due to an Israeli threat to target it, with Israel accusing Hezbollah of using the crossing for military purposes and smuggling, though it ultimately did not carry out the strike.

Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting since the Iran-backed group drew Lebanon into the Middle East war with rocket fire at Israel on March 2, though a ceasefire was announced last month.

Hezbollah, which fought alongside Syrian government forces during the country's civil war, lost a major ally and cross-border supply route with Assad's ouster.

Syria's new authorities are hostile to the Lebanese group and its sponsor, and have announced the arrest of alleged Hezbollah-affiliated cells in recent months, while the group has denied having any presence in Syria.

Salam said that "we will not allow Lebanon to be used as a platform to harm any of its Arab brothers, including Syria".

Arab World

Settlers Force Re-burial of Palestinian Man in West Bank, Family Says 

Israeli settlement structuers being installed in Sanur near Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 9, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
Israeli settlement structuers being installed in Sanur near Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 9, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
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Settlers Force Re-burial of Palestinian Man in West Bank, Family Says 

Israeli settlement structuers being installed in Sanur near Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 9, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
Israeli settlement structuers being installed in Sanur near Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 9, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank forced Palestinians to exhume the body of their father from his freshly dug village grave, his family said, near a settlement re-established by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Hussein Asasa, 80, died on Friday of natural causes and was buried that evening at the cemetery of Asasa village near Jenin, with all the necessary permits from Israel's military, whose forces were at the site, his son Mohammed said.

But shortly after the burial, the family was called back by some of the villagers, who said settlers were at the grave, ordering the grave be dug up.

"They said the land was for settlement and that burial was not allowed. We told them that this is the village's cemetery, not part of the settlement," said Asasa, Reuters reported.

The settlers then threatened to dig the grave up with a bulldozer, Asasa said, so the family decided to exhume their father's body themselves.

"We found that they already dug the grave and reached the body," Asasa said. "We continued digging and got the body and buried him in another cemetery," he said.

VIDEO SHOWS PEOPLE REMOVING A BODY

Video circulating on social media appeared to show settlers watching as people dig in the ground of a hill slope. They then carry away what looks like a body as Israeli troops walk behind them. Reuters verified the location as Asasa.

The Israeli military said that the funeral had been coordinated with it and that it had not instructed the family to rebury their father. Soldiers were sent to the scene following a report about a confrontation with settlers who were "digging in the area," the military said. "The soldiers confiscated digging tools from the Israeli civilians and remained at the location in order to prevent further friction," the military said. It added that it condemns actions that violate the "dignity of the living and the deceased".

The UN Human Rights Office condemned the incident.

"This is appalling and emblematic of the dehumanisation of Palestinians that we see unfolding across the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territories). It spares no one, dead or alive," said Ajith Sunghay, head of the OHCHR Palestinian office.

Sa-Nur was one of 19 settlements evacuated under the 2005 Israeli disengagement plan, which also included Israel's withdrawal of settlers and troops from Gaza. Netanyahu's government approved Sa-Nur's re-establishment a year ago and construction has advanced rapidly, according to Peace Now, an Israeli settlement watchdog.

The West Bank is among the territories that Palestinians seek for an independent state. Israel cites historical and biblical ties to the land, as well as security needs.

Netanyahu's government, which staunchly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, has been accelerating settlement building, while a rise in attacks by settlers on Palestinians has drawn international alarm. The United Nations and most countries deem Israel's settlements on West Bank land captured in the 1967 war illegal, a view that Israel disputes.

Arab World

Gaza Flotilla Activists to Be Released from Israel Detention and Deported

Global Sumud Flotilla Steering Committee members Susan Abdallah, Muhammad Nadir Al-Nuri, Suemeyra Akdeniz Ordu, Maimon Herawati, Thiago Avila and Saif Abukeshek, Eva Saldana, Greenpeace Spain; Maria Serra, GSF Catalunya and Oscar Camps, Open Arms attend a press conference as humanitarian flotilla prepares to depart for Gaza, from Barcelona, Spain, April 12, 2026. REUTERS/Albert Gea
Global Sumud Flotilla Steering Committee members Susan Abdallah, Muhammad Nadir Al-Nuri, Suemeyra Akdeniz Ordu, Maimon Herawati, Thiago Avila and Saif Abukeshek, Eva Saldana, Greenpeace Spain; Maria Serra, GSF Catalunya and Oscar Camps, Open Arms attend a press conference as humanitarian flotilla prepares to depart for Gaza, from Barcelona, Spain, April 12, 2026. REUTERS/Albert Gea
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Gaza Flotilla Activists to Be Released from Israel Detention and Deported

Global Sumud Flotilla Steering Committee members Susan Abdallah, Muhammad Nadir Al-Nuri, Suemeyra Akdeniz Ordu, Maimon Herawati, Thiago Avila and Saif Abukeshek, Eva Saldana, Greenpeace Spain; Maria Serra, GSF Catalunya and Oscar Camps, Open Arms attend a press conference as humanitarian flotilla prepares to depart for Gaza, from Barcelona, Spain, April 12, 2026. REUTERS/Albert Gea
Global Sumud Flotilla Steering Committee members Susan Abdallah, Muhammad Nadir Al-Nuri, Suemeyra Akdeniz Ordu, Maimon Herawati, Thiago Avila and Saif Abukeshek, Eva Saldana, Greenpeace Spain; Maria Serra, GSF Catalunya and Oscar Camps, Open Arms attend a press conference as humanitarian flotilla prepares to depart for Gaza, from Barcelona, Spain, April 12, 2026. REUTERS/Albert Gea

Two activists arrested last month when Israeli forces intercepted the Gaza-bound flotilla they were travelling on are expected to be deported in the coming days after being released from security detention on Saturday, their lawyers said. Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national, and Brazilian Thiago Avila were detained by Israeli authorities on April 29 and brought to Israel. The activists were part of a second Global Sumud Flotilla launched from Spain on April 12 to try to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza by delivering aid to the enclave.

Israel's foreign ministry said Abu Keshek was suspected of affiliation with a terrorist organization and Avila was suspected of illegal activity. Both denied the allegations, Reuters reported.

BRAZIL AND SPAIN SAID THE DETENTION WAS UNLAWFUL

The governments of Spain and Brazil said Abu Keshek's and Avila's detention was unlawful, but Israel's Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court remanded them in custody until May 10.

Human rights group Adalah, which has assisted in their legal defense and also said the detention was unlawful, said that Abu Keshek and Avila were informed that they will be released from detention on Saturday and handed over to immigration authorities' custody until their deportation.

"Adalah is closely monitoring developments to make sure that the release from detention goes ahead, followed by their deportation from Israel in the coming days," the group said. Israeli officials were not immediately reachable for comment.

Israeli authorities held them under suspicion of offences that included aiding the enemy and contact with a terrorist group.

Gaza is largely run by Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by Israel and much of the West. The group's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel started the Gaza war that has left much of the enclave's population homeless and dependent on aid - that humanitarian agencies say is arriving too slowly.