Summary
We are now closing the blog. Here is a summary of events today
UN Secretary General António Guterres on Friday said, “Palestinians in Gaza are enduring what may be the cruellest phase of this cruel conflict” as Israel ramps up its military offensive. He said authorised aid for Gaza amounts to “a teaspoon” when “a flood of assistance is required”.
Guterres said “the entire population of Gaza is facing the risk of famine”. He added: “The Israeli military offensive is intensifying with atrocious levels of death and destruction.”
Israel says about 300 trucks of aid have entered Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing since it lifted an 11-week blockade on Gaza on Monday, but Guterres said that so far only about a third of those truckloads have been transported from the crossing to warehouses within Gaza due to insecurity, Reuters reports.
At least 60 people were killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza in a 24-hour period, Gaza’s health ministry said Friday. The dead included 10 people in the southern city of Khan Younis, four in the central town of Deir al-Balah and nine in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals where the bodies were brought, the Associated Press reports.
Northern Gaza’s al-Awda hospital reported on Friday that three of its staff were injured “after Israeli quadcopter drones dropped bombs” on the facility.
More than 50 Palestinian civilians were missing under rubble after an Israeli aerial attack on a residential building in northern Gaza, the territory’s civil defence spokesperson, Mahmoud Basal, said on Friday. Civil defence crews described the scene as a “horrific massacre”.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has accused Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of “emboldening Hamas” after the UK, French and Canadian leaders called for a halt to Israel’s expanded assault on Gaza and for an end to restrictions on humanitarian aid into the territory.
Unicef has said more than 9,000 children have been treated for malnutrition in Gaza this year, and it is estimated that tens of thousands of cases are expected in the coming year.
In a post on X, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that Israel’s assault on Gaza is pushing the health system there “to collapse”. It cited these figures including at least 94% of all hospitals in the Gaza Strip are damaged or destroyed.
According to the UN’s latest situation update (published on 21 May 2025), about 29% of Gaza’s population have been displaced again in the past month, including more than 161,000 people displaced in one week.
Cindy McCain, the executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme, has expressed a cautious sense of “hope” as she confirmed that a “handful” of bakeries are back in operation after the Israeli aid blockade on Gaza was eased to a bare minimum level.
UN chief denounces 'cruellest phase' of Gaza conflict
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said on Friday that Palestinians in Gaza are “enduring what may be the cruellest phase of this cruel conflict” as Israel ramps up its military offensive.
“For nearly 80 days, Israel blocked the entry of life-saving international aid,” he said in a statement, Agence France-Presse reports.
“The entire population of Gaza is facing the risk of famine.
“The Israeli military offensive is intensifying with atrocious levels of death and destruction.”
Guterres said the aid authorised by Israel to enter Gaza “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required”, Reuters reports.
Israel says about 300 trucks of aid have entered Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing since it lifted an 11-week blockade on Gaza on Monday, but Guterres said that so far only about a third of those truckloads have been transported from the crossing to warehouses within Gaza due to insecurity.
He said:
Without rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access, more people will die - and the long-term consequences on the entire population will be profound.
He added:
The United Nations has been clear: We will not take part in any scheme that fails to respect international law and the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality.
The supplies - 160,000 pallets, enough to fill nearly 9,000 trucks - are waiting. This is my appeal for life-saving aid for the long-suffering people of Gaza: Let’s do it right. And let’s do it right away.
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The Guardian video team has put together a film on the rescue effort underway in the Jabaliya refugee camp after an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building that was housing more than 50 people.
Several people, including a baby and child, were among those killed, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Many more were wounded and others remained missing under the destroyed building. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the reports. Civil defence crews described the scene as a “horrific massacre”.
At least 60 people were killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza in a 24-hour period, Gaza’s health ministry said on Friday.
The dead included 10 people in the southern city of Khan Younis, four in the central town of Deir al-Balah and nine in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals where the bodies were brought, the Associated Press reports.
Updated
Northern Gaza’s al-Awda hospital reported on Friday that three of its staff were injured “after Israeli quadcopter drones dropped bombs” on the facility.
Unicef has said more than 9,000 children have been treated for malnutrition in Gaza this year, and it is estimated that tens of thousands of cases are expected in the coming year.
“We are witnessing, in real time, the creation of conditions for the eradication of Palestinian lives in Gaza,” said the aid agency Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
“The obstruction of humanitarian aid is a direct violation of UN security council resolution 2720, which calls for the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians.’’
In a post on X, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that Israel’s assault on Gaza is pushing the health system there “to collapse”. It cited these figures:
At least 94% of all hospitals in the Gaza Strip are damaged or destroyed.
Only 19 of 36 hospitals remain functional, although only partly.
Four major hospitals have closed in the last week due to attacks, evacuation orders and increasing bombardments.
North Gaza has been stripped of nearly all healthcare. The few remaining hospitals in the south are overwhelmed and are at imminent risk of shutting down.
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Key event
At least 23 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza overnight, Agence France-Presse reports.
Ten people were killed by the airstrikes in the southern city of Khan Younis, four in the central town of Deir al-Balah and nine in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals, where the bodies were brought.
Updated
Aid coming into Gaza 'too little, too late, too slow' – German government spokesperson
The German government spokesperson Sebastian Hille has spoken about the small amount of aid Israel has allowed into the Strip after easing its devastating aid blockade that brought many Palestinians in Gaza to the brink of famine.
Hille said the aid Israel is now allowing into the Strip is “too little, too late and too slow” (the Israeli military said earlier today that 107 aid trucks entered Gaza on Thursday; 500 trucks were entering on average every day before the war).
“Now it’s a matter of increasing it significantly ... and ensuring that these aid supplies reach the people so that the suffering in the Gaza Strip comes to an end,” he was quoted by BBC News as having said.
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Here are some of the latest images coming to us over the wires from Gaza.
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Patrick Wintour is diplomatic editor for the Guardian
Talks will start on Friday at an official level about the possibility of recognising the state of Palestine.
The French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said this week: “We cannot leave the children of Gaza a legacy of violence and hatred. So all this must stop and that’s why we are determined to recognise a Palestinian state.”
The developments come ahead of a UN-sponsored conference in New York starting on 17 June, co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and France.
Officials at the conference will have to discuss the context for such a recognition of the state of Palestine.
One question is whether there would need to be parallel recognition of Israel by states such as Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, something that is regarded as impossible in the absence of a clear path to a two-state solution. Israel is adamantly opposed to a two-state solution.
You can read the full story here:
Updated
According to the UN’s latest situation update (published on 21 May 2025), about 29% of Gaza’s population have been displaced again in the past month, including more than 161,000 people displaced in one week.
About 81% of Gaza now falls within “Israeli-militarised zones or has been placed under displacement orders”, the UN said.
There is nowhere safe for people to flee to when these orders are issued – and they are often broadcast with extremely short notice before airstrikes are launched.
Updated
Over 50 Palestinians missing after deadly Israeli airstrike on residential building - civil defence
More than 50 Palestinian civilians remain missing under rubble after an Israeli aerial attack on a residential building in northern Gaza, the territory’s civil defence spokesperson, Mahmoud Basal, said on Friday.
Civil defence crews described the scene as a “horrific massacre”. At least four people were reported to have been killed by the Israeli airstrike.
Gaza’s civil defence crews are the main emergency service, alongside ambulance crews, in the Strip and regularly help pull the living and the dead from underneath rubble after Israeli bombardments.
Basal wrote in a Telegram post on Friday:
Four martyrs have been recovered, six others have been rescued, and more than 50 citizens are still missing under the rubble of a four-storey home belonging to the Dardouna family in Jabaliya camp, at the Al-Jurn junction.
Search operations have ended due to the lack of heavy equipment needed to reach those still trapped under the rubble.
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Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Gaza, where relentless Israeli attacks are continuing to kill civilians across the territory:
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Aid workers are wrestling with moves by Israel and the US to impose a controversial new aid system for Gaza, which would limit distribution to a few locations and put it under armed private contractors – to prevent theft by Hamas, Israel says.
Humanitarian workers, however, say the new system won’t meet Gaza’s needs and violates humanitarian principles.
The plan, which is yet to be put into effect, has also been described as unworkable, dangerous and potentially unlawful by aid agencies because it could lead to the forced mass transfer of populations.
There has been examples of looting of warehouses by armed groups in Gaza but Israeli officials have not published data on how much aid is stolen and humanitarian organisations say their aid is not being diverted.
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Key event
The outgoing head of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, announced his resignation in April, saying he would step down on 15 June, six weeks after Benjamin Netanyahu tried to oust him.
Netanyahu said he had lost trust in Bar’s capacity to lead Shin Bet and accused him of politicising the agency.
As my colleague Jason Burke notes in this story, the relationship between Netanyahu and Bar deteriorated after the publication in March of a Shin Bet report on the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas militants in southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
The service admitted to mistakes but criticised policies of the Netanyahu government that it said had enabled Hamas to build up its strength in Gaza and catch Israel by surprise.
Benjamin Netanyahu announced his decision to appoint Maj Gen David Zini as the next head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Israel’s high court issued a ruling that Netanyahu’s firing of the outgoing Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar, was made “unlawfully” and that the Israeli leader had a conflict of interest due to the ongoing Shin Bet investigations into his close aides.
Zini is a former army commando and has held a number of top positions in the Israeli military.
“It is imperative to name a permanent head of the Shin Bet as soon as possible,” said a statement from Netanyahu’s office on Friday.
The statement added that Zini will not be involved in the investigation into possible links between the Israeli prime minister’s aides and Qatar (Netanyahu has not been named as a suspect in the probe).
Updated
Israeli military says 107 aid trucks entered Gaza on Thursday
A total of 107 aid trucks belonging to the UN and other aid groups carrying flour, food, medical equipment and pharmaceutical drugs were transferred on Thursday into the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military has said.
The UN is yet to confirm this figure and it is unclear how much of this aid has reached Palestinian people yet.
As a reminder, the UN says about 500 aid lorries entered Gaza on average every day before the war and that about 600 are required to begin tackling the territory’s widespread humanitarian needs.
Updated
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, yesterday accused Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of “emboldening Hamas” after the UK, French and Canadian leaders called for a halt to Israel’s expanded assault on Gaza and for an end to restrictions on humanitarian aid into the territory.
The Israeli leader’s comments were made in a video posted online in which he addressed the killing of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington DC on Wednesday.
Last night in Washington something horrific happened.
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) May 22, 2025
A brutal terrorist shot in cold blood a young beautiful couple – Yaron Lischinsky and Sara Milgrim. Yaron had just bought an engagement ring for Sarah. He was planning to give it to her in Jerusalem next week. They were… pic.twitter.com/FFdMwlacJ9
The British armed forces minister, Luke Pollard, has defended the UK’s condemnation of Israel’s conduct in Gaza in an interview with Sky News this morning.
He said the embassy killings were a “terrible example of the antisemitic hate that, sadly, we are seeing rise in the world” but that the UK was also “making the strong case” for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for more aid to be delivered.
He added:
I don’t recognise what the prime minister, Netanyahu, has said about that awful event in the States.
We condemn the killing of diplomats thoroughly. We want to see a proper investigation – as we would do in all things – to secure justice for those people who have been murdered in the States.
But we also, at the same time, should not remove ourselves from the need to secure a lasting peace in Gaza ... a lasting peace is good for Israel.
Updated
Children were among the 11 Palestinian people killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential home in the town of Abasan al-Jadida in southern Gaza on Friday, the Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting.
Other people were injured in the airstrike, several of whom are reported to be in critical condition.
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Israeli tanks and drones attacked northern Gaza hospital, officials say
Israeli tanks and drones fired on northern Gaza’s al-Awda hospital on Thursday, sparking fires and causing extensive damage to the facility, according to hospital officials.
The hospital’s director, Mohamed Salha, told the Associated Press about the “horror” that ensued overnight as Israeli forces bombed the third floor and used quadcopters, tanks, and drones to shoot at the hospital’s fuel tanks and units storing medication.
The hospital has said the lives of patients and medical staff are in danger.
Gaza’s health ministry has accused Israel of intensifying its “systematic campaign” to target hospitals across the Strip, which are supposed to have special protection under the rules of war.
At least 20 medical facilities across Gaza have reportedly been damaged, or forced partially or completely out of service, in the past week by the renewed Israeli assault on the territory, and the numerous evacuation orders issued across the Strip.
Updated
Cindy McCain, the executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme, has expressed a cautious sense of “hope” as she confirmed that a “handful” of bakeries are back in operation after the Israeli aid blockade on Gaza was eased to a bare minimum level.
“We need more wheat flour, more fuel, more safe access—so more ovens can fire back up to feed families desperately in need,” McCain wrote in a post on X.
This is what hope looks like in Gaza.
— Cindy McCain (@WFPChief) May 22, 2025
A handful of @WFP-supported bakeries are back in operation.
But we need more wheat flour, more fuel, more safe access—so more ovens can fire back up to feed families desperately in need. pic.twitter.com/FvfkBO6kb2
Updated
Children and elderly dying from starvation, minister says, as trickle of aid allowed into Gaza after Israeli blockade
We are continuing our live coverage of the latest developments in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Israel’s war on Gaza.
UN teams have reportedly collected over 90 lorry loads of aid inside Gaza, containing flour, baby food and medical equipment. Some bakeries started making bread with the flour on Thursday.
Other aid has started reaching some of Gaza’s most vulnerable areas, but the level is totally inadequate for the needs of Gaza’s 2.1 million population.
Charities have warned that much of the population have been brought to the brink of famine due to the effects of the total Israeli blockade on aid, imposed in early March, which was only eased earlier this week amid mounting international pressure.
The blockade, which Israel says was to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages, is widely seen as the collective punishment of the civilian population of Gaza and a breach of international law.
Palestinian Red Crescent President Younis Al-Khatib said yesterday that many trucks were still at the border at the Karem Shalom crossing.
About 500 lorries entered Gaza on average every day before the war, and there continues to be significant shortages of basic foods and inflated prices, with medics warning that malnutrition is spreading across the territory.
Palestinian Authority health minister Majed Abu Ramadan said yesterday that 29 children and elderly people had died from “starvation-related” causes in the last couple of days.
Asked to react to comments made by the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, on Tuesday that 14,000 babies could die without aid, he said: “The number 14,000 is very realistic may be even underestimating (the scale)“.
Gaza’s civil defence agency, meanwhile, said Israeli airstrikes have killed 16 people across the territory since midnight, as the Israeli military’s renewed assault continues despite western allies’ denouncements.
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