Israeli attacks kill 22 in Gaza today, activist ship bombed off Malta
Al Jazeera By Urooba Jamal and Umut Uras 2 May 2025
Breaking News
Twenty killed across Gaza since dawn: Sources
Medical sources have told Al Jazeera Arabic that 20 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air attacks on the Strip since the beginning of the day.
Pictures in this page : Daily fight to survive in Gaza as starvation deepens
Palestinians, mostly children, wait in long lines with empty pots in hand to get food aid distributed by charity organisations in northern Gaza City, on May 01, 2025 [Karam Hassan/Anadolu]
A Gaza Freedom Flotilla ship carrying 30 pro-Palestinian activists bombed, with the group blaming Israel or one of its allies. There were no casualties.
Medical sources say at least 22 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza today alone, with one strike on Bureij killing eight members of the same family.
Humanitarian coordinator Amjad Shawa in Gaza warned that more children likely to die from malnutrition as “the whole Strip is starving” due to Israel’s 60-day blockade.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the main objective of his war on Gaza is not the safe return of Israeli captives but “victory over our enemies”.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 52,418 Palestinians and wounded 118,091, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. The Gaza Government Media Office updated the death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Gaza humanitarian work on ‘verge of total collapse’: Red Cross
The Red Cross has warned the humanitarian response in Gaza is on the “verge of total collapse” after two months of Israel blocking aid to the war-torn Palestinian territory.
“Without an immediate resumption of aid deliveries, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will not have access to the food, medicines, and life-saving supplies needed to sustain many of its programmes in Gaza,” it said in a statement.
Israel strictly controls all inflows of international aid vital for the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
It halted aid deliveries to Gaza on March 2, days before the collapse of a ceasefire that had significantly reduced hostilities after 15 months of war.
UNRWA’s Lazzarini calls on Israel to lift Gaza siege
The head of UN’s agency for the Palestinian refugees has said that Israel’s siege is collectively punishing children, women, older people and ordinary men in Gaza.
“They are collectively punished for being born and living in Gaza, something not of their making,” he said, adding that it has been two months since the siege started.
“The State of Israel must lift the siege and allow a flow of basic supplies,” Lazzarini also said.
“Civilians in Gaza are facing an overwhelming daily struggle to survive the dangers of hostilities, cope with relentless displacement, and endure the consequences of being deprived of urgent humanitarian assistance,” Pascal Hundt, ICRC Deputy Director of Operations said in Friday’s statement.
“This situation must not —- and cannot -— be allowed to escalate further.”
Palestinian killed in occupied West Bank
A Palestinian was killed by Israeli forces in the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, sources have told our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.
Israeli violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, by both troops and settlers, has seen an uptick since the war on Gaza began on October 2023.
Freedom Flotilla says vessel has more people on board than Maltese government alleges: Report
The Maltese government had told the media that the 16 people on board the activist ship that was attacked earlier today had refused to board a tug vessel, which had put out the fire following contact with the Malta Vessel Traffic Services, the Times of Malta reported.
However, the outlet spoke to the activist group’s operations team in Malta, which insisted there are 15 crew members and an additional 15 passengers on the vessel.
A spokesperson for Freedom Flotilla also told Al Jazeera earlier that 30 people in total were on board the ship.
Times of Malta added that communication with the people on board later became “impossible” as the fire from the drone attacks damaged the ship’s electrical system.
The outlet also reported that the crew chose to stay on board the vessel and said it is their responsibility to make sure it remains afloat, along with the humanitarian supplies it holds.
Activist ship cannot move due to fears of sinking, says group
As we’ve been reporting, a Freedom Flotilla vessel containing 30 pro-Palestine activists was hit with drone strikes early this morning. Yasmemin Acar, the group’s spokesperson, says that the ship cannot move because it is heavily damaged.
“The ship cannot move at the moment, because if it moves … they won’t be able to stop the water from coming in, and therefore, the ship will sink very fast,” Acar told Al Jazeera.
She was last in touch with the 30 activists more than two hours ago, she added.
“We hope that the ship is OK, and we really hope that rescue boats will be sent very soon,” said Acar.
She added: “Last year, we dealt with a lot of bureaucratic warfare, which held our ships at the port in Istanbul for months and months. We had 5,500 tonnes of humanitarian aid, which we could not deliver to Gaza.
“And so we tried again this year, and unfortunately, they stopped us again. This time around, though, they have started a deliberate attack, knowing very well that this vessel carries activists and humanitarian aid.”
Acar said that the group believes the attack was carried out by Israel or one of its allies, but that it could not confirm this information.
One Israeli soldier killed, two injured in Golan Heights
An Israeli soldier was killed during military operations in the Golan Heights, the military said in a statement.
Two other soldiers were also lightly injured in the incident, the military added.
The soldiers were evacuated to receive hospital treatment and their families were notified.
The circumstances of the incident are being investigated, the Israeli military said, but Israeli media reports that this was a traffic accident.
Houthis claim missile attack on northern Israel
The Yemeni rebels have claimed responsibility for the strike near the city of Haifa this morning, saying they targeted an army base in northern Israel.
Their military spokesperson said in a televised statement that they launched a ballistic missile towards the Ramat David Airbase, which is located in the southeast of Haifa.
The Israeli army said earlier that hostile aircraft sirens were activated in Haifa and areas around the city at about 5:30am, adding that the missile launched from Yemen was intercepted.
Palestinian child killed in drone strike in Khan Younis
Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that a Palestinian child was killed as a result of an Israeli drone strike on the Qizan an-Najjar area in south Gaza’s city of Khan Younis.
They also reported that a Palestinian died of wounds sustained in a previous Israeli attack targeting displaced people’s tents in al-Mawasi, also in Khan Younis.
Austria calls for lift of blockade on Gaza
Austria is urging that the aid blockade on Gaza – continuing for more than 60 days – be lifted.
“After two months of blockade, humanitarian aid for Gaza must be allowed to flow unhindered in accordance with international humanitarian law,” the country’s Foreign Ministry said in a post on X.
It also called for the release of all Israeli captives still held in the besieged enclave.
Security camera captures Israeli settler attack on Palestinian herders in occupied West Bank
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has shared chilling security camera footage of Israeli settlers – some armed with what appear to be assault rifles – raiding the tent encampment of the Palestinian Abu Sief family in the Nablus area of the occupied West Bank.
In the video clip (N/A-ENB), about 10 masked settlers arrive in a white pick-up truck with a large Israeli flag and three all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). The pick-up rams a car belonging to the Palestinian family, and the settlers then set about stealing the family’s flock of sheep, smashing solar panels and windows, puncturing the tyres of a tractor, destroying and setting fire to tent tarps.
The attack took place on Wednesday night in the presence of guards from a nearby illegal Israeli settlement outpost, who arrived at the scene of the attack in a security ATV with red and blue emergency lights flashing.
Palestinian “community members tried to call the police, but no officers arrived”, B’Tselem said in a post on social media about the attack.
“Settler violence is state violence,” the group said.
Israeli missile strike on children’s playground leaves 8-year-old paralysed
Eight-year-old Palestinian girl, Rehab, was on a playground swing in Gaza when an Israeli missile attack left half her body paralysed.
Confined to a wheelchair, Rehab told child rights group Defense of Children International – Palestine (DCI-P) that she once walked to school and played with her siblings.
“Now I’m injured and sitting. I can’t walk,” she tells DCI-P.🔺
