Closing summary
It is approaching 6pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. This blog will be closing shortly but you can find all the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here.
Here is a summary of the developments on today’s blog:
An Israeli strike killed dozens early on Monday at Fahmi al-Jarjawi School, where people were seeking refuge, according to local health officials. Gaza’s civil defence says the death toll has risen to 36, with the majority of those killed being women and children. Israel’s military claimed it targeted militants operating from the school.
Police were deployed near the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City ahead of an annual Jerusalem Day march. The event happens to mark Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem.
A US-backed NGO has said it is to distribute aid in Gaza, despite its head walking out after saying that the operation could not fulfil its mission in a way that adhered to “humanitarian principles”. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s (GHF) said in a statement that it is to launch direct aid delivery, with the aim of reaching one million Palestinians by the end of the week.
The Hamas-led government media office in Gaza has described an earlier Israeli attack on school being used as a shelter as a “brutal massacre”. It claimed that 18 children were among the dead, and described the attack as “a direct extension of the crime of ethnic cleansing and genocide”.
Chancellor Merz says he will warn Benjamin Netanyahu not to take Gaza attacks too far. He said he is to speak to Netanyahu later this week, and will tell him that Israel should not take its attacks on Gaza too far.
US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem has been in Israel in the wake of the killing of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington last week. She visited the Black Arrow memorial site and an overlook on the Israel-Gaza border.
Hamas executed four men for looting aid trucks, sources said. “The four criminals, who were executed, were involved in the crimes of looting and causing the death of members of a force tasked with securing aid trucks,” one of the sources told Reuters.
The Irish government is set to unveil a bill that ban imports from the occupied Palestinian territories. This marks the first move by an EU member to curtail trade in goods produced in Israeli settlements illegal under international law.
Hamas has agreed to a proposal made by the US special envoy Steve Witkoff for a Gaza ceasefire, a Palestinian official said. The new proposal, which is conditional to the release of ten hostages and 70 days of truce, was received by Hamas through mediators.
Our colleagues in the Guardian’s video team have produced this video report on the Israeli strike on a school which was housing displaced people in Gaza, according to local officials.
Hamas agrees to US proposal on Gaza ceasefire, Palestinian official says
Hamas has agreed to a proposal made by the US special envoy Steve Witkoff for a Gaza ceasefire, a Palestinian official close to the group told Reuters.
The new proposal, which is conditional to the release of ten hostages and 70 days of truce, was received by Hamas through mediators.
“The proposal includes the release of ten living Israeli hostages held by Hamas in two groups in return for a 70-day ceasefire and a partial withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,” the source said.
It would also be dependent on the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners by Israel, including hundreds of those serving lengthy prison terms. There was no immediate comment from Israel.
The majority of medical equipment stocks have run out in Gaza, the World Health Organisation has said.
Hanan Balkhy, the WHO’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean said 2% of basic medicines, including painkillers, are out of stock.
“We are at stock zero of close to 64% of medical equipment and stock zero of 42% of essential medicines and vaccines,” Balkhy told reporters in Geneva.
Updated
Irish government to unveil a bill that ban imports from the occupied Palestinian territories
This marks the first move by an EU member to curtail trade in goods produced in Israeli settlements illegal under international law. As reported by the Guardian’s acting Ireland correspondent Lisa O’Carroll, the law would make it a criminal offence to import goods originating from the occupied territories but would not result in a boycott on Israeli goods.
Simon Harris, the tánaiste (deputy prime minister), confirmed he would unveil draft legislation on Tuesday.
“Given the scale and gravity of what we’re now seeing with the deprivation of aid and the bombardment of Gaza … this is an appropriate course of action to take,” he told the Financial Times on Monday.
A ban on exports from the occupied territories is seen as symbolic, as trade is limited to physical products such as dates, oranges, olives and some timber and was worth just €685,000 (£575,000) in the four years from 2020 to 2024.
“This is a massive welcome step, it is the first time a trade measure of this kind has been applied to Israel by any EU country. After decades of saying and repeating that illegal settlements are totally illegal and that the EU is opposed to them, this is the first time that words are being matched with action,” said Conor O’Neill, the head of advocacy and policy at Christian Aid Ireland, who helped shape the original draft of the legislation in 2018 with the independent senator Frances Black.
Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Gaza, where Palestinians are dealing with the aftermath of an Israeli bomb on a school turned shelter killed 36 people, where most victims were women and children.
Hamas executes four men for looting aid trucks, sources say
As reported by Reuters, this comes as a clan leader in southern Gaza issued a challenge to the militant group over guarding the convoys.
According to one source, the four who were executed were involved in an incident last week when six security officials were killed by an Israeli airstrike as they were working to prevent gang members from hijacking aid trucks.
Israel had blocked all food, medicine and fuel from entering Gaza for two and a half months before trickling aid back into the region. Aid groups had warned that their deliveries were being looted, and then blamed Israel for causing such a desperate situation.
“The four criminals, who were executed, were involved in the crimes of looting and causing the death of members of a force tasked with securing aid trucks,” one of the sources told Reuters.
According to a statement issued by an umbrella group identifying itself as the “Palestinian Resistance”, seven others were also being pursued.
Updated
Less than 5% of Gaza’s farmland is usable due to war, according to United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
This further exacerbates the risk of famine in the Palestinian territory, it said today. More than 80% of the farmland was damaged and 77.8% was no longer accessible by the end of April, which leaves only 4.6% of potentially arable land, according to a new satellite assessment released by FAO.
Israel had blocked all food, medicine and fuel from entering Gaza for two and a half months before trickling aid back into the region after global experts warned of a risk of famine.
Updated
Merz: Israel's treatment of civilian population in Gaza 'can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism'
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that Israel’s recent attacks on Gaza are taking a humanitarian toll on civilians that can no longer be justified as a fight against terrorism.
“Harming the civilian population to such an extent, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism,” he told broadcaster WDR in a televised interview, Reuters reports.
He added he planned to hold a call with Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to tell him “to not overdo it,” though for “historical reasons”, Germany would always be more guarded in its criticism than some European partners.
US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem has been in Israel in the wake of the killing of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington last week. Today she has visited the Black Arrow memorial site and an overlook on the Israel-Gaza border.
Chancellor Merz says he will warn Benjamin Netanyahu not to take Gaza attacks too far
Reuters has a quick snap reporting that Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has said he is to speak to Benjamin Netanyahu later this week, and will tell him that Israel should not take its attacks on Gaza too far.
On Friday the Israeli prime minister was accused of slander after he claimed the leaders of France, Canada and the UK were stoking antisemitism and siding with Hamas by demanding he end the two-month blockade of food and aid into Gaza.
Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, also recently sought to link the killing of two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington to criticism of Israeli policy mounted by European leaders.
Al Jazeera reports that the Hamas-led government media office in Gaza has described an earlier Israeli attack on school being used as a shelter as a “brutal massacre.”
It claimed that 18 children were among the dead, and described the attack as “a direct extension of the crime of ethnic cleansing and genocide”.
The statement added:
Medical staff are under tremendous pressure, face a severe shortage of medical supplies, the closure of crossings to the wounded and sick, and the prevention of the entry of fuel, food, medicine, and treatment, exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera has been banned from operating inside Israel by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Updated
Around 1000 ultra-nationalist Israelis entered the al-Aqsa mosque compound to celebrate Jerusalem Day, Al Jazeera English reports.
The annual Jerusalem Day march is taking place today, which marks Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem.
This morning, far-right Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the compound – which Palestinians see as a provocation, according to the Associated Press.
In a video from the site, Ben-Gvir said he had “ascended to the Temple Mount for Jerusalem Day, and prayed for victory in the war” in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’s 7 October attack. He also wished for the success of the newly appointed head of the Shin Bet – Maj Gen David Zini.
עליתי להר הבית לרגל יום ירושלים, והתפללתי לניצחון במלחמה, להשבת כל חטופינו ולהצלחת ראש השב"כ החדש המיועד - האלוף דוד זיני. יום ירושלים שמח! pic.twitter.com/Hhz8PVzms7
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) May 26, 2025
Negev and Galilee minister Yitzhak Vaserlauf and Knesset member Yitzhak Kreuzer were among the figures who accompanied Ben-Gvir’s visit.
The site is Islam’s third-holiest and a symbol of Palestinian national identity. Known to Jewish people as the Temple Mount, it is also Judaism’s holiest place, though Jewish people are prohibited from praying there.
Jordan has condemned Ben-Gvir’s visit to the al-Aqsa mosque compound. “The practices of this extremist minister and his continued incursions into the blessed al-Aqsa mosque … do not negate the fact that East Jerusalem is an occupied city over which Israel has no sovereignty,” said a statement from the foreign ministry of Jordan.
Updated
The Palestinian delegation has won the right to fly their flag at the World Health Organization. The proposal, brought by China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and others, at the global agency’s annual assembly in Geneva on Monday passed with 95 in favour and four against – Israel, Hungary, Czech Republic and Germany – and 27 abstentions.
The Palestinian envoy hopes it will lead to greater recognition within the United Nations and beyond. Ibrahim Khraishi, Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told Reuters: “It is symbolic and one act but a sign that we are part of an international community to help on health needs. I hope we will soon have full membership of the WHO and all UN forums.”
This comes as last week, Palestinians won the right to receive notifications under the WHO’s International Health Regulations – a set of global rules for monitoring outbreaks.
Updated
The Israeli military has said it has conducted strikes on more than 200 targets over the past 48 hours.
According to the Jersusalem Post, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as part of Operation “Gideon’s Chariots”, said they have attacked terrorists, weapons depots, sniper posts, tunnel shafts and “other terrorist infrastructure” over the weekend.
This comes as an Israeli strike killed dozens early on Monday, including people sleeping in a school turned shelter. The military said it targeted militants operating from the school, which they claim “was used by the terrorists to plan and gather intelligence in order to execute terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and [army] troops”.
Updated
A US-backed NGO has said it is to distribute aid in Gaza, despite its head walking out after saying that the operation could not fulfil its mission in a way that adhered to “humanitarian principles”.
Yesterday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s (GHF) director Jake Wood announced his resignation, citing concerns of its “neutrality, impartiality, and independence”.
Now, the GHF said in a statement that it is to launch direct aid delivery, with the aim of reaching one million Palestinians by the end of the week.
Al Jazeera reports that the NGO said it then plans to “scale rapidly to serve the full population in the weeks ahead”.
The GHF, which is also backed by Israel, has been brought in to distribute food, medicine and other vital supplies. However, aid has been blocked by Israel for two months, and has only started to be allowed “minimally” last week – with some reports saying few supplies have reached the population.
Commenting on Wood’s resignation, the GHF said it is “disappointed” but will continue to try to get aid into the region.
Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Gaza, where Palestinians are in mourning after an Israeli bomb on a school turned shelter killed 36 people, including children.
Updated
Police have been deployed near the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, according to the Associated Press, ahead of an annual event that is due to take place to mark Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem.
This is the second Jerusalem Day that Israel has marked since the start of the war in Gaza. Jerusalem Day, or “Yom Yerushalayim” in Hebrew, commemorates what Israel considers the reunification of the city under its authority in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Annually, thousands of Israeli nationalists march through the streets of Jerusalem and its annexed Old City. The route will ultimately take them to the Western Wall – the last remnant of the sacred Second Temple.
Jerusalem Day celebration events started the night before, with a crowd unfurling a massive Israeli flag on Sunday in the plaza facing the Western Wall.
However, in previous years some attendees have been known to shout inflammatory and racist slogans and break out into fights, and authorities sometimes ask Palestinian businesses within the Old City to close for the march.
Updated
Israeli attack on a school turned shelter in Gaza kills dozens, health officials say
We are continuing our live coverage of the latest developments in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Israel’s war on Gaza.
An Israeli strike killed dozens early on Monday, including people sleeping in a school turned shelter, according to local health officials. Gaza’s civil defence says the death toll has risen to 33, the Associated Press reports.
The strike targeted Fahmi al-Jarjawi School, where families had been seeking refuge from ongoing Israeli bombardments. More than 55 people were injured in the attack, according to Fahmy Awad, head of the ministry’s emergency service.
Israel’s military said it targeted militants operating from the school. In joint statement with the security agency, Shin Bet, it said the school “was used by the terrorists to plan and gather intelligence in order to execute terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and [army] troops”.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Gaza’s shelters are “overwhelmed with displaced people desperately seeking safety”, and “no place is safe and no area has been spared from hostilities”.
Updated
