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A group of displaced Palestinians have moved into a school run by a U.N. agency that was heavily damaged during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and fixed some of the classrooms where they now live. The school in the southern city of Khan Younis used to be run by the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA was damaged by Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip. (AP video shot by Mohammad Jahjouh and production by Wafaa Shurafa)

STORY: Civilian casualties continue to tick up as Israel stepped up its assault in the northern and southern parts of Gaza on Monday. Rescue crews brought in badly-wounded civilians, some of them children, to a hospital in northern Beit Lahiya. Some of the most intense fighting for weeks is raging in both the north and south. Israeli forces had gone back into Jabalia, where they’ve said they have dismantled Hamas months ago, to prevent militants regrouping there. A medical worker, Fares Afana, says they’ve tried to reach the Jabalia camp. Bodies were recovered there after overnight strikes. But he claims Israeli forces had been targeting ambulance crews, blocking them from saving wounded and trapped civilians. In southern Gaza’s Rafah, streets were near empty as Palestinians fled the fighting. Israel on Monday cut across a main highway into Rafah, closing a main crossing point for aid. The U.N. says a foreign security staff member was killed on Monday when a U.N.-marked vehicle travelling to a hospital in Rafah was struck. This marks the first international U.N. fatality in the Gaza war. Hamas' armed wing says due to Israeli bombardments it lost contact with militants guarding four Israeli hostages, including U.S.-Israeli citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who appeared in a Hamas video in April. Supplies are also wearing thin for many displaced Palestinians, who’ve fled the north and south to Deir al-Balah, in the center of the Gaza strip. “There is not enough water for all displaced people, there is not enough food, not enough markets for everyone." "This water tank that you see, this was barely enough for those who were already here, it was already not enough but we were living with it, so what about those who joined us? There are people from two camps, in addition to our camp.” The U.N. says around 360,000 people have fled Rafah since Israel’s evacuation order a week ago. Many uprooted families are moving to empty tracts of land along the coast, but the U.N. warns of poor sanitary conditions there. Starving Palestinians on one side of the border – and on the other… Israeli protesters blocking aid trucks to Gaza on Monday. Some Israelis were seen spilling contents of the trucks onto a road at a West Bank checkpoint – the second such incident in less than a week. This comes even as Israel has pledged to allow uninterrupted humanitarian supplies into the besieged enclave. Washington, which has paused some deliveries of weapons to Israel, as it disagrees with an assault on Rafah, has denounced "looting" these convoys. Gaza health officials say the Palestinian death toll in the war has now surpassed 35,000. The conflict began after militant group Hamas burst into Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 and taking more than 250 hostages.

Speaking to the press on Monday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Palestinian civilians who are caught up in the war between Israel and Hamas are "in hell." Sullivan also said that while the White House believes that Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians, "We do not believe what is happening in Gaza is a genocide."

STORY: :: Israeli protesters block an aid convoy heading to Gaza :: Tarqumiya checkpoint, West Bank :: May 13, 2024 :: Four protesters, including a minor, were arrested, according to lawyers representing them Videos circulated on social media showed protesters throwing supplies from the trucks on to the ground, with the contents of opened cartons lying spilled across the road. The video was verified by buildings, signs and hills seen in the footage which match file imagery of the checkpoint. Separate visuals from the same location also show the same truck being unloaded, which corroborates the video. Last week, four people were arrested in southern Israel after a similar protest by Israelis who object to delivering humanitarian supplies into an area controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas, according to their lawyers. The protests came as Israel has faced heavy international pressure to step up the flow of aid into Gaza, where international organizations have warned of a severe humanitarian crisis threatening a population of more than 2 million people.

Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip has offered refuge for Palestinians escaping the war between Israel and Hamas in the besieged territory. Thousands of displaced from nearby Gaza City and the northern part of the Strip have set up sprawling tented settlements in the town, including along the Mediterranean Sea shore. (AP video by Abd Al Kareem Hana / Production by Wafaa Shurafa)

Israel’s leaders have said the military needs to move into Rafah to dismantle the remaining battalions of Hamas. Photo: Hatem Khaled/Reuters

STORY: Israel sent tanks into eastern Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday (May 12). This comes after a night of heavy aerial and ground bombardments, killing and wounding dozens, the Hamas-run health ministry said. Jabalia is the biggest of Gaza's eight historic refugee camps and is home to more than 100,000 people. :: Israeli Army Late on Saturday, Israel’s military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said its forces operating in Jabalia were preventing Hamas from re-establishing its military capabilities there. Also late on Saturday, an air strike hit Deir al-Balah, killing at least eight people, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Palestinians displaced for a second time attempted to set up tents there as Israel proceeds with its plans for a ground attack on Rafah. More families, estimated in the thousands, were leaving Rafah as Israel’s military pressure intensified. Tank shells landed across the city as the army gave new evacuation orders covering some neighborhoods in the center of the city, calling for Gazans to head to what it calls an expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi. The armed wing of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said their fighters attacked Israeli forces in several areas inside Gaza with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs. Outside of Gaza, a rocket directly struck a house in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Sunday. Israel's military operation in Gaza has killed close to 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. The war was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which some 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Egypt's Foreign Minister said on Sunday that Cairo would continue its mediation between Israel and Hamas and urged the two sides to show the flexibility and the will needed to reach a ceasefire deal.

Ruby and Hagit Chen are still waiting to bury their son. Itay was killed in Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7. But unlike scores of other families of soldiers killed that day, Chen doesn’t have a grave to visit because his son’s remains are held captive in Gaza. The absence of a final resting place is being felt acutely now, as Israel marks its memorial day for fallen soldiers, when cemeteries are brimming with relatives mourning over the graves of their loved ones. (AP Video shot by Moshe Edri and Ami Bentov)

STORY: Smoke rises over Rafah on Saturday as Israel calls for Palestinians to evacuate and head to what it calls an expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi. It's a further indication that the military is pressing ahead with its plans for a ground attack on Gaza’s southern city. That's despite heavy U.S. pressure and alarm expressed by residents and humanitarian groups. In a post on social media site X, a military spokesperson called on residents and displaced people in 12 neighborhoods in the enclave to go immediately to the shelters west of Gaza City. Gaza resident Nidal says despite the warning he is unable to evacuate. He told Reuters he doesn't have a tent as they were all distributed yesterday - nor does he have cash to get a vehicle to move his belongings. These evacuations follow overnight Israeli jet strikes across the enclave. Israel's military said it was continuing precise operational activity against Hamas fighters in eastern Rafah and on the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing. On Friday (May 10), Israeli tanks captured the main road dividing Rafah's eastern and western sections, effectively encircling the eastern side in an assault that has caused Washington to hold up delivery of some military aid to its ally. :: May 9, 2024 The latest evacuation orders came hours after internationally mediated ceasefire talks appeared to falter, with Hamas saying Israel's rejection of the truce offer returned things to square one. Israel says it wants to reach a deal under which hostages would be released in exchange for the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, but that it is not prepared to end the military offensive which was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on Southern Israel on Oct. 7. 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 people taken hostage in the attack, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's military operation in Gaza, which it says aims to eliminate Hamas, has killed close to 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry.

STORY: : Palestinians hold funerals for loved ones killed during overnight Israeli airstrikes in Gaza :: Deir Al-Balah, Gaza :: May 11, 2024 :: Khitam al-Khatib "Here they are, in pieces, here is my sister in-law, without a head, my aunt is without a head. What is this injustice? Until when will this be going on? We are exhausted, by God we are exhausted. I have been in tents for the past seven months, I have never lived in a tent before. We were not cut out for this, the women of Palestine were not cut out for this, we were always honored. It's not fair that this is happening to them, it's not fair. By God we are exhausted from this." According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, 24 Palestinians were killed overnight after Israeli jets targeted several areas in central Gaza, while at least seven were killed after the airforce targeted dozens of homes in Jabalia. Some people are still missing under the rubble. At least 34,943 Palestinians have been killed and 78,572 injured in Israel's military offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7, Gaza's health ministry said in a statement on Friday. The conflict was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on Southern Israel where 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 people taken hostage in the attack, according to Israeli tallies.

STORY: ::Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protestors rally in Palo Alto during Biden's visit to the city ::May 10, 2024 ::Palo Alto, California :: Pro-Palestinian demonstrator “We're here to send a message to Biden that we will not be complicit in the genocide and famine that are being perpetrated with our bombs and our political cover.” :: Pro-Israeli demonstrator “So we are we are here, Israelis and Jewish Americans who live in the Bay Area, coming to stand by President Biden for everything he's doing for helping Israel post October 7th and beyond. We are here to say that we want a deal now and we are asking to do whatever is possible, even if it's ending the war, to actually come and make a deal now.” Palestinian supporters called on the President to advocate for a ceasefire, attributing blame to him for the loss of over 40,000 civilian lives. Conversely, Israeli supporters expressed gratitude for Biden's backing of Israel while urging him to intensify efforts to secure the release of Hamas's captives. These demonstrations coincide with widespread protests, primarily on university campuses, against Israel's conflict with Hamas in Gaza, which escalated following the militant group's attacks on October 7th.

STORY: The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a bid by Palestine to become a full U.N. member Friday, recommending the U.N. Security Council "reconsider the matter favorably." The vote serves as a global survey of support, after the United States vetoed the idea in the U.N. Security Council a month prior. The Palestinian push for full U.N. membership comes seven months into a war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and as Israel is expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the U.N. considers to be illegal. "We want peace, we want freedom." Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour spoke to the assembly before the vote: “A yes vote is a vote for Palestinian existence, it is not against any state." "It is an investment in peace, and thus empowers the forces of peace." Meanwhile, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan, who spoke after Mansour, accused the assembly of shredding the U.N. Charter: “You are shredding the U.N. Charter with your own hands. Yes, yes. That's what you're doing. Shredding the U.N. Charter. Shame on you.” The vote by the General Assembly Friday does not give the Palestinians full U.N. membership, but simply recognizes them as qualified to join. An application to become a full U.N. member first needs to be approved by the 15-member Security Council and then the General Assembly. If the measure is again voted on by the council it is likely to face the same fate: a U.S. veto.

Israel's military and rescue services said Friday that a rocket attack on the southern Israeli city of Beersheva resulted in a direct hit on the city, injuring a 37-year-old woman in a playground.

Israel has indicated it plans to push forward with war operations in Rafah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “we will do what we have to do to protect our country…”