Siege of Gaza City

An Israeli strike killed 31 people in central Gaza Sunday, the Palestinian territory's civil defense agency said, as U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan visited for talks on the conflict.

Intense clashes are taking place in a refugee camp in northern Gaza. According to Reuters, this marks the most severe fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas fighters since Israeli forces re-entered the area about a week ago.

Fighting raged Friday in Gaza after Israel vowed to intensify its ground offensive in Rafah despite international concerns for the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in the southern city.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has emphasized the critical importance of the battle for Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip for Israel, which has been engaged in a war against Hamas for over seven months.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces increasing pressure from critics at home and allies abroad, especially the United States, to present a plan for governance, security and rebuilding of the war-torn Gaza Strip.

For the first time, late on May 15, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant publicly spoke out against the policy being led by Netanyahu.

Israel's military intelligence chief has resigned after taking responsibility for failures leading to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, the military said on April 22, as Israel carried out more shelling in war-battered Gaza overnight.

A Turkish state television journalist was badly wounded and another slightly hurt in the Gaza war Friday, the TRT channel said, adding that the team had been targeted by an Israeli strike.

"The vehicle of a team from TRT Arabi (TRT's Arabic-language channel) that was preparing to broadcast from the Nuseirat camp... was targeted by an Israeli army strike," the broadcaster said.

According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, Israeli attacks on Gaza overnight resulted in the deaths of at least 80 people.

Wafa reported that Israel continued its assaults on various areas of the Gaza Strip, including the Nusayrat Refugee Camp and the city of Gaza.

A first aid ship plying a new maritime corridor from Cyprus began unloading its cargo of desperately needed food in Gaza on Friday as Hamas proposed a new six-week truce in the war.

At least twenty-nine Palestinians were killed in two separate Israeli strikes targeting humanitarian aid queues in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas Health Ministry, as reported by Reuters, confirmed the casualties, BTA informed.