Gaza Strip

Israel struck Gaza on Sunday and troops were battling militants in several areas of the Palestinian territory after an Israeli evacuation order sent hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing from Rafah.

Residents of Rafah in the Gaza Strip are reporting ongoing explosions and gunfire as fierce clashes continue in the area. Israeli tanks have nearly encircled the eastern part of the town, targeting what Israeli intelligence identifies as key Hamas strongholds. The intensifying Israeli offensive has prompted over 110,000 Palestinians to flee Rafah in recent days.

BELGRADE - The Serbian government decided on Friday to provide aid to Palestine to help alleviate the critical humanitarian situation affecting the population of the Gaza Strip.

The approx. 900 t of aid - food, water, medical equipment and tents - are worth close to 3 mln euros, the government said in a statement.

Spain, Ireland, and other EU nations are intending to acknowledge Palestine's statehood on May 21, as stated by Josep Borrell, the EU's top diplomat for foreign and security policy, reported by Reuters. This announcement comes ahead of the anticipated UN vote on the Palestinian bid for full membership in the global body.

More than 100,000 people have fled Rafah in recent days, the United Nations said on May 10, with Israeli tanks encircling the eastern half of the southern Gaza city, under threat of a full-scale ground invasion.

Israeli airstrikes targeted areas in Rafah on Thursday, as reported by Palestinian residents, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed US President Joe Biden's warning of withholding weapons from Israel if it attacks the southern Gaza city.

The White House has issued a statement affirming President Joe Biden's commitment to maintaining cooperation with Israel until the complete eradication of the radical Palestinian group Hamas from the Gaza Strip, as reported by Reuters.

Israel launched fresh strikes in the Gaza Strip Friday after negotiators pursuing a long-stalled truce agreement left talks in Cairo without having secured a deal.

AFP journalists in the Gaza Strip early Friday witnessed artillery strikes on Rafah on the territory's southern border with Egypt, while witnesses reported air strikes and fighting in Gaza City further north.

Turkish Trade Minister Ömer Bolat has dismissed Israeli claims of Türkiye easing its trade ban on Israel, labeling them as "absolutely fictional and disconnected from reality."

In a social media post on May 9, Bolat stressed that Türkiye will maintain the trade ban until a lasting ceasefire in Gaza is achieved and humanitarian aid is ensured to the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

Aid for Gaza was being loaded onto a ship in Cyprus on Wednesday in what was expected to be the first cargo to be delivered using a US pier built to expedite supplies to the besieged enclave.

Containers were being stacked on the US flagged Sagamore, docked at the port of Larnaca. Some containers to the ship were labelled as aid from the United Arab Emirates.