Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
NOTE: The Gaza Health Ministry’s daily casualty figures are based on the number of dead and wounded Palestinians brought to hospitals, and does not include victims that are under the rubble or elsewhere, where ambulance and civil defense crews can not reach them.
Medical sources say at least 43 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza Friday, with one strike on Bureij killing nine members of the same family. Also among the dead were six killed in an Israeli air strike on a food distribution point in northern Gaza City.
Also killed Friday was 39-year-old Mustafa Abu Layl, during an Israeli raid of the Balata refugee camp near Nablus in the northern West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
In Gaza, there have now reportedly been 57 deaths due to malnutrition. The most recent was baby girl named Janan Saleh al-Sakafi in Gaza City.
Final day of Int’l Court of Justice hearings against Israel
On May 2, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concluded 5 days of public hearings into what Israel’s obligations are regarding allowing United Nations agencies and other relief groups to work in the Palestinian territory it occupies.
A panel of judges has heard oral arguments from 40 countries since Monday, including China, France, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia and the United Kingdom.
Below are a few highlights from Friday’s testimonies.
Ma Xinmin, representing China, told the court, “The situation grows more desperate. In Gaza and throughout the occupied territories, we are witnessing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis threatening to overwhelm an already suffering people,” adding, “the desperate eyes of Gaza children pierce our conscience with two burning questions: Will international law surrender to brute force? Will the pillars of civilization yield before the law of the jungle?”
Franz Perrez, speaking for Switzerland, said, “Under international humanitarian law, [Israel] must allow and facilitate the relief efforts of impartial humanitarian organizations, including the UN, when the population is in need…The invocation of security concerns is not a wild card that can be used to avoid obligations under international law. Such invocation must be provided for by law and made in good faith.”
Hanin Ben Jrad, representing Tunisia, stated that it believes the conditions for invoking Article 6 of the UN Charter – which allows for the expulsion of a member state for persistent violations – have now been met. She said, “Bringing an end to the war will not suffice to make shattered lives whole again or to heal their trauma. The breaches must be reported, as well as the legal consequences stemming from them. Responsibilities must be established.”
Israel submitted written statements which called the hearings a “circus” and accused the court of anti-Semitism.
The ICJ is not expected to issue an advisory opinion for months.
The non-binding advisory opinion will likely not compel Israel or member states to change course, according to legal scholars.
Israel has ignored an earlier binding provisional measures by the ICJ ordering it to scale up humanitarian aid and end acts of genocide in Gaza as a result of a genocide case brought against Israel by South Africa in December 2023.
No state has taken any action against Israel for failing to implement the provisional measures.
Israel ‘backs down’ from Gaza truce talks, demands to occupy strip until year’s end
Egyptian sources told Al Arabiya on 2 May that Israel has backed down from terms for a truce in Gaza agreed upon in recent days, insists on expanding the military operation in the strip, and wants its forces to remain there until the end of the year.
The news comes as the Israeli military claimed it sees the return of the 59 captives still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip as the most important goal of the war, contrary to the position of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Thursday that “victory” over the Palestinian resistance movement, not the return of the captives, was the supreme objective.
“The supreme mission that the IDF is dealing with is our moral duty to return the hostages. The second mission is defeating Hamas. We are working to advance both goals, with the return of the hostages being at the top [of the list of priorities],” said a military official who briefed reporters earlier this week.
The occupation forces have been gearing up for an intensified offensive that would see the call-up of a large number of reservists and troops operating in new areas of Gaza, according to the military.
NOTE: For much of the past months, Israel’s Netanyahu has been delaying the ceasefire negotiations by various methods – all the while blaming Hamas.
RELATED: Biden Officials Admit They Never Pressured Israel for Ceasefire
UN marks World Press Freedom Day with grim warning: Over 200 journalists killed in Gaza
As the world observed World Press Freedom Day on Friday, the United Nations Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OHCHR) issued a stark warning about the escalating death toll of Palestinian journalists.
In a statement, the office confirmed the “killing of 211 journalists in Gaza since 7 October 2023, including 28 woman journalists.”
According to UNESCO, at least 47 journalists have been killed while on duty, and Palestinian authorities’ latest figures show 49 journalists incarcerated in Israeli detention centers as of Tuesday.
“Press vests have transformed from a means of protection to a target for attacks,” one journalist told the UN Office, highlighting what the agency described as “strong indications” that Israel’s military campaign has deliberately targeted journalists, actions that, if confirmed, would constitute war crimes under international law.
Journalists detained by Israeli forces have reported to the UN Human Rights Office that they were subjected to beatings, humiliation, and sexual and gender-based violence during interrogations about their journalistic work, a pattern of abuse that the UN says “fits into a larger pattern of intimidation and smears against Palestinian press.”
RELATED:
Israel Plunges to Record Low in World Press Freedom Index, Ranked 112 Out of 180
Breaking new records, Israel sees unprecedented spike in media censorship
Israeli missile strike on children’s playground leaves 8-year-old paralyzed
Eight-year-old Palestinian girl, Rehab, was on a playground swing in Gaza when an Israeli missile attack left half her body paralyzed.
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.
Rehab, 8, was injured in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza that paralyzed half of her body.
“She always sees her siblings playing, running, and chasing each other, and she can’t join,” said Rehab’s mother. pic.twitter.com/5ANriv2zCf
— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) May 1, 2025
Gaza-bound aid ship rescued by Malta after “extremely illegal” drone attack
A humanitarian aid ship bound for Gaza with 16 people on board left crippled by a drone attack was rescued by Maltese forces, local media reported today.
Citing a government statement, public broadcaster TVM announced that a tugboat with firefighting equipment provided the Freedom Flotilla ship with assistance after it made an SOS distress call.
The drone attack had left the ship without power and placed it “at great risk of sinking,” the Freedom Flotilla Coalition said.
A Maltese Armed Forces patrol boat was also sent to the scene after a request from the tugboat, the Maltese government said.
“At around 2.13 am (0013GMT) it was confirmed that those on board were all safe, but all refused to leave the ship,” it said, adding that the situation was brought under control by 3.45 am (0145GMT).
The drone attack on the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s vessel while in international waters should be regarded as an “extremely illegal act”, Craig Murray, former head of maritime at the United Kingdom Foreign Ministry, told Al Jazeera.
“It’s a blatant violation of international law and I find the silence on the part of Western powers absolutely remarkable,” Murray said.
“Any civilian ship going about its lawful business – and indeed any military ship on the high seas – has the right to proceed without being attacked, unless you are in a state of war.”
Murray added that Western powers “will know exactly where these drones came from, it’s not a mystery,” but chose to remain silent in a show of “massive hypocrisy”.
The Trump Administration Is Hiding American Casualties of War in Yemen
The Trump administration is fighting an undeclared war in Yemen, and it has not been shy about publicizing the details of its attacks.
But the administration is unwilling to level with the American people about the costs of war. U.S. Central Command, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the White House are keeping the number of U.S. casualties from this ongoing conflict secret. This amounts to a cover-up. Members of Congress are calling for accountability.
“The administration should be transparent about the number of U.S. casualties from the attacks on the Houthis,” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told The Intercept. “I am also working to hold the administration accountable for its unauthorized strikes in Yemen.”
After two decades of intermittent war in Yemen, the U.S. officially launched Operation Rough Rider in March of this year, and has carried out strikes on more than 1,000 targets in Yemen.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has also ramped up conflicts in Iraq, Somalia, and Syria, after running as an anti-war candidate and pitching himself as a “peacemaker.”
The strikes in Yemen are targeting the Iran-backed Houthi government, which began launching attacks on vessels — including U.S. Navy warships — in November 2023 over the war in Gaza. Recent U.S. attacks in response have targeted civilian infrastructure and, according to local reports, killed scores of innocent people (continue reading here).
RELATED: Militarily cozying up to Trump in Yemen cannot end well for the UK
US man who killed Palestinian child sentenced to 53 years for anti-Muslim hate crime
An Illinois man was sentenced on Friday to 53 years in prison after a jury convicted him in the killing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy and the severe wounding of his mother in an October 2023 hate crime stabbing, prosecutors said.
Joseph Czuba, 73, stabbed and killed Wadee Alfayoumi and knifed Hanan Shaheen days after U.S. ally Israel began its latest war on Gaza.
Prosecutors said the stabbing – one of the earliest and worst hate crime incidents in the U.S. since the start of the war – was sparked by anti-Muslim hatred. U.S. rights advocates have noted rising Islamophobia, anti-Arab hate and antisemitism.
The prison sentence by Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak included 30 years for the child’s murder, 20 years for the attempted murder of the mother and 3 years for hate crime, according to prosecutors.
Czuba, who was the landlord for Shaheen and her son, stabbed the boy 26 times with a military-style knife with a 7-inch (18-cm) serrated blade, authorities said. Shaheen suffered multiple stab wounds in the attack that occurred in Plainfield Township, about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Chicago.
NOTE: The killing of this Palestinian-American boy was neither a random crime nor a simple act of Islamophobia. It happened because many media reports misinformed Americans, and because politicians, including the President, repeated Israeli spin and disinformation.
There is a larger story behind this tragedy. Read about it:
RELATED: Palestinian-American child killed in Illinois: this is what media reports left out
Preserved in exile: Gaza’s rescued treasures on display in Paris
The exhibition is both a celebration and a lament: a tribute to Gaza’s millennia-old cultural wealth, and a sober reckoning with what has been lost to Israel’s deadly occupation.
Gaza’s strategic location has always made it a coveted prize for empires – Egyptian, Persian, Roman, and Ottoman – but it was also a channel for connection, where cultures and religions converged (continue reading here).
NEWS ON PROTESTS, ARRESTS, DEPORTATIONS, CRACK-DOWNS:
Zeteo: Germany’s Crackdown on Pro-Palestine Speech Just Got Even More Unhinged
Al Jazeera: Trump says he will remove Harvard’s tax-exempt status
MORE NEWS:
Informed Comment: Jerusalem Hills Wildfires: Climate Breakdown, Gov’t Incompetence and Green Colonialism
The Conversation: From the Chinese Exclusion Act to pro-Palestinian Activists: The Evolution of politically motivated Deportations
Ha’aretz: Trump Taps Shock Jock, Haredi Publisher and Witkoff’s Son for Holocaust Memorial Council
Middle East Monitor: UK in talks with France, Saudi Arabia to recognize Palestine statehood in June
Middle East Eye: ICJ Gaza delay lays bare the moral collapse of international law
IMEMC Daily Reports
STATISTICS OCTOBER 7, 2023 – MAY 2, 2025:
- At least 53,461 Palestinians killed, 126,759 injured – including:
- at least 52,495 killed in Gaza (~15,600 children)
- at least 966 killed in the West Bank (~187 children)
- at least 118,366 injured in Gaza
- at least 8,393 injured in the West Bank
According to Palestinian authorities, during the ceasefire Jan. 19- March 18 2025, Israeli attacks killed at least 150 Gazans, and Israel committed at least 962 ceasefire violations.
Thousands of those killed in Gaza have yet to be identified, and an estimated 14,000 more are still buried under rubble.
Reported Israeli death toll from October 7, 2023 – May 2, 2025: ~1,595 – including ~1,139 on October 7, 2023 (~36 children), 410 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza, 46 military and civilians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Israel.
NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries of Israelis on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.
- Human rights reports on Israel-Palestine (regularly updated)
- Regarding New JFK Disclosures, State Department Refuses to Acknowledge Israel’s Nukes
- They staged protests for Palestine. The consequences have been life-changing
- Biden Officials Admit They Never Pressured Israel for Ceasefire
- Commentary: Are You Tired of Hearing About Antisemitism?
- Israeli Opposition Leader Accuses Netanyahu of Plotting Assassinations
- How the creation of the ‘New Antisemitism’ was used to shield Israel and attack the Left
- Israel attacks make over 90 percent of Gaza’s agricultural land ‘unusable’
- The Starvation of Gaza
- How Israel’s war on Gaza has cut Palestinian life expectancy
- Why Hamas will not surrender
- War Dust and Collateral Inhalation: Israel Breathes in Gaza’s Dust
- Freedom for My One and Only Brother
- Pope prays for an end to all violence, from Gaza to the Sahel
- A nation behind bars: Why has Israel imprisoned 10,000 Palestinians?
- Pope prays for an end to all violence, from Gaza to the Sahel
- Freedom for My One and Only Brother
- War Dust and Collateral Inhalation: Israel Breathes in Gaza’s Dust
- The Real Story of How Israel Was Created
- The High Price of War with Iran: $10 Gas and the Collapse of the U.S. Economy
