Children and elderly dying from starvation, minister says, as trickle of aid allowed into Gaza after Israeli blockade
We are continuing our live coverage of the latest developments in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Israel’s war on Gaza.
UN teams have reportedly collected over 90 lorry loads of aid inside Gaza, containing flour, baby food and medical equipment. Some bakeries started making bread with the flour on Thursday.
Other aid has started reaching some of Gaza’s most vulnerable areas, but the level is totally inadequate for the needs of Gaza’s 2.1 million population.
Charities have warned that much of the population have been brought to the brink of famine due to the effects of the total Israeli blockade on aid, imposed in early March, which was only eased earlier this week amid mounting international pressure.
The blockade, which Israel says was to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages, is widely seen as the collective punishment of the civilian population of Gaza and a breach of international law.
Palestinian Red Crescent President Younis Al-Khatib said yesterday that many trucks were still at the border at the Karem Shalom crossing.
About 500 lorries entered Gaza on average every day before the war, and there continues to be significant shortages of basic foods and inflated prices, with medics warning that malnutrition is spreading across the territory.
Palestinian Authority health minister Majed Abu Ramadan said yesterday that 29 children and elderly people had died from “starvation-related” causes in the last couple of days.
Asked to react to comments made by the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, on Tuesday that 14,000 babies could die without aid, he said: “The number 14,000 is very realistic may be even underestimating (the scale)“.
Gaza’s civil defence agency, meanwhile, said Israeli airstrikes have killed 16 people across the territory since midnight, as the Israeli military’s renewed assault continues despite western allies’ denouncements.
Key events
Over 50 Palestinians missing after deadly Israeli airstrike on residential building – civil defence
Over 50 Palestinian civilians remain missing under rubble after an Israeli aerial attack on a residential building in northern Gaza, the territory’s civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said on Friday.
Civil defence crews described the scene as a “horrific massacre”. At least four people were reported to have been killed by the Israeli airstrike.
Gaza’s civil defence crews are the main emergency service, alongside ambulance crews, in the Strip and regularly help pull the living and the dead from underneath rubble following Israeli bombardments.
Basal wrote in a Telegram post on Friday:
Four martyrs have been recovered, six others have been rescued, and more than 50 citizens are still missing under the rubble of a four-story home belonging to the “Dardouna” family in Jabalia camp, at the Al-Jurn junction.
Search operations have ended due to the lack of heavy equipment needed to reach those still trapped under the rubble.
Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Gaza, where relentless Israeli attacks are continuing to kill civilians across the territory:
Aid workers are wrestling with moves by Israel and the US to impose a controversial new aid system for Gaza, which would limit distribution to a few locations and put it under armed private contractors – to prevent theft by Hamas, Israel says.
Humanitarian workers, however, say the new system won’t meet Gaza’s needs and violates humanitarian principles.
The plan, which is yet to be put into effect, has also been described as unworkable, dangerous and potentially unlawful by aid agencies because it could lead to the forced mass transfer of populations.
There has been examples of looting of warehouses by armed groups in Gaza but Israeli officials have not published data on how much aid is stolen and humanitarian organisations say their aid is not being diverted.
The outgoing head of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, announced his resignation in April, saying he would step down on 15 June, six weeks after Benjamin Netanyahu tried to oust him.
Netanyahu said he had lost trust in Bar’s capacity to lead Shin Bet and accused him of politicising the agency.
As my colleague Jason Burke notes in this story, the relationship between Netanyahu and Bar deteriorated after the publication in March of a Shin Bet report on the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas militants in southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
The service admitted to mistakes but criticised policies of the Netanyahu government that it said had enabled Hamas to build up its strength in Gaza and catch Israel by surprise.
Benjamin Netanyahu announced his decision to appoint Maj Gen David Zini as the next head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, on Thursday.
It came a day after Israel’s high court issued a ruling that Netanyahu’s firing of outgoing Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar was made “unlawfully” and that the Israeli leader had a conflict of interest due to the ongoing Shin Bet investigations into his close aides.
Zini is a former army commando and has held a number of top positions in the Israeli military.
“It is imperative to name a permanent head of the Shin Bet as soon as possible,” said a statement from Netanyahu’s office on Friday.
The statement added that Zini will not be involved in the investigation into possible links between the Israeli prime minister’s aides and Qatar (Netanyahu has not been named as a suspect in the probe).
Israeli military says 107 aid trucks entered Gaza on Thursday
A total of 107 aid trucks belonging to the UN and other aid groups carrying flour, food, medical equipment and pharmaceutical drugs were transferred on Thursday into the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military has said.
The UN is yet to confirm this figure and it is unclear how much of this aid has reached Palestinian people yet.
As a reminder, the UN says about 500 aid lorries entered Gaza on average every day before the war and that about 600 are required to begin tackling the territory’s widespread humanitarian needs.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday accused Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney of “emboldening Hamas” after the UK, French and Canadian leaders called for a halt to Israel’s expanded assault on Gaza and for an end to restrictions on humanitarian aid into the territory.
The Israeli leader’s comments were made in a video posted online in which he addressed the killing of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington DC on Wednesday.
Last night in Washington something horrific happened.
A brutal terrorist shot in cold blood a young beautiful couple – Yaron Lischinsky and Sara Milgrim. Yaron had just bought an engagement ring for Sarah. He was planning to give it to her in Jerusalem next week. They were… pic.twitter.com/FFdMwlacJ9
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) May 22, 2025
The British armed forces minister, Luke Pollard, has defended the UK’s condemnation of Israel’s conduct in Gaza in an interview with Sky News this morning.
He said the embassy killings were a “terrible example of the antisemitic hate that, sadly, we are seeing rise in the world” but that the UK is also “making the strong case” for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for more aid to be delivered.
He added:
I don’t recognise what the Prime Minister Netanyahu has said about that awful event in the states.
We condemn the killing of diplomats thoroughly. We want to see a proper investigation – as we would do in all things – to secure justice for those people who have been murdered in the States.
But we also, at the same time, should not remove ourselves from the need to secure a lasting peace in Gaza… a lasting peace is good for Israel.
Children were among the 11 Palestinian people killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential home in the town of Abasan al-Jadida, in southern Gaza on Friday, Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting.
Other people were injured in the airstrike, several of whom are reported to be in “critical condition”.
Israeli tanks and drones attacked northern Gaza hospital, officials say
Israeli tanks and drones fired on northern Gaza’s al-Awda hospital on Thursday, sparking fires and causing extensive damage to the facility, according to hospital officials.
Hospital director Mohamed Salha told the Associated Press about the “horror” that ensued overnight as Israeli forces bombed the third floor and used quadcopters, tanks, and drones to shoot at the hospital’s fuel tanks and units storing medication.
The hospital has said the lives of patients and medical staff are in danger.
Gaza’s health ministry has accused Israel of intensifying its “systematic campaign” to target hospitals across the Strip, which are supposed to have special protection under the rules of war.
At least 20 medical facilities across Gaza have reportedly been damaged, or forced partially or completely out of service, in the past week by the renewed Israeli assault on the territory, and the numerous evacuation orders issued across the Strip.
Cindy McCain, the executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme, has expressed a cautious sense of “hope” as she confirmed that a “handful” of bakeries are back in operation after the Israeli aid blockade on Gaza was eased to a bare minimum level.
“We need more wheat flour, more fuel, more safe access—so more ovens can fire back up to feed families desperately in need,” McCain wrote in a post on X.
This is what hope looks like in Gaza.
A handful of @WFP-supported bakeries are back in operation.
But we need more wheat flour, more fuel, more safe access—so more ovens can fire back up to feed families desperately in need. pic.twitter.com/FvfkBO6kb2
— Cindy McCain (@WFPChief) May 22, 2025
Children and elderly dying from starvation, minister says, as trickle of aid allowed into Gaza after Israeli blockade
We are continuing our live coverage of the latest developments in the Middle East, with a particular focus on Israel’s war on Gaza.
UN teams have reportedly collected over 90 lorry loads of aid inside Gaza, containing flour, baby food and medical equipment. Some bakeries started making bread with the flour on Thursday.
Other aid has started reaching some of Gaza’s most vulnerable areas, but the level is totally inadequate for the needs of Gaza’s 2.1 million population.
Charities have warned that much of the population have been brought to the brink of famine due to the effects of the total Israeli blockade on aid, imposed in early March, which was only eased earlier this week amid mounting international pressure.
The blockade, which Israel says was to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages, is widely seen as the collective punishment of the civilian population of Gaza and a breach of international law.
Palestinian Red Crescent President Younis Al-Khatib said yesterday that many trucks were still at the border at the Karem Shalom crossing.
About 500 lorries entered Gaza on average every day before the war, and there continues to be significant shortages of basic foods and inflated prices, with medics warning that malnutrition is spreading across the territory.
Palestinian Authority health minister Majed Abu Ramadan said yesterday that 29 children and elderly people had died from “starvation-related” causes in the last couple of days.
Asked to react to comments made by the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, on Tuesday that 14,000 babies could die without aid, he said: “The number 14,000 is very realistic may be even underestimating (the scale)“.
Gaza’s civil defence agency, meanwhile, said Israeli airstrikes have killed 16 people across the territory since midnight, as the Israeli military’s renewed assault continues despite western allies’ denouncements.
