The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel must immediately end the offensive in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Nevertheless, there are dozens of victims again in an air raid. But there is also a missile alarm in Tel Aviv for the first time in months. All developments here in the news ticker.
8:07 a.m.: According to Palestinian reports, dozens of people were killed in an Israeli air strike near the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian presidency accused Israel on Monday night of deliberately attacking a camp for displaced people near Rafah and spoke of a “heinous massacre.” The Israeli army, however, said the attack involved bombing an area used by Hamas.
According to Palestinian information, the Israeli attack hit the Barkasat displaced persons camp, northwest of Rafah, run by the UN Palestinian Relief Agency (UNRWA). The Hamas-controlled health ministry in the Gaza Strip said at least 35 people were killed and dozens more injured.
7:11 a.m.: Significantly more Israelis with German ancestors have recently submitted applications to the German authorities for so-called reparation naturalizations. From January to April of this year alone, 6,869 such applications were received, as the editorial network Germany (RND, Monday) reported, citing the Federal Office of Administration. There were 9,129 applications for the entire previous year, and in 2022 the number was 5,670. Against the background of the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th, there are signs of a significant increase this year if the trend of the first four months continues.
Since August 2021, those persecuted by the Nazi regime and their descendants have had a legal right to a German passport. Descendants of Nazi victims who fled abroad to escape the Nazis can acquire German citizenship without any further requirements. This means that relevant decrees from the Ministry of the Interior were placed on a legal basis and made more generous.
In total, almost 14,000 applications for reparation naturalization were submitted in 2023, and almost 11,400 in 2022. After Israel, most applications come from the USA, by a significant margin.
Monday, May 27, 12:20 a.m.: Seven people were killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon. The Israeli military “eliminated seven Hezbollah terrorists” in a series of air strikes in southern Lebanon, military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised briefing. The Hezbollah militia said five of its fighters had been killed, and according to the Lebanese state news agency NNA, two civilians were also killed in the attacks.
11:28 p.m.: Tents of refugee civilians were hit in an Israeli airstrike in the city of Rafah, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. It was said on platform Doctors in the Gaza Strip spoke of at least 28 deaths. However, it is unclear how many people are still in collapsed or burning tents.
The Israeli military said via Platform X that there had been an airstrike on a Hamas compound. According to intelligence information, important Hamas terrorists had recently been there. The military said the airstrike was carried out in accordance with international law. Reports that a fire broke out as a result of the airstrike, injuring bystanders, are being investigated.
The Red Crescent said the area hit was one of the designated humanitarian zones for those forced to evacuate because of Israeli hostilities.
1:22 p.m.: For the first time in four months, the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas has fired rockets into the greater Tel Aviv area. Several explosions were heard in downtown Tel Aviv. There were rocket alarms in several cities in the greater coastal metropolis area. The military wing of Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks.
According to Israeli military information, eight rockets were fired at the Israeli coastal metropolis from the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. The army said several projectiles were intercepted by missile defense. Tel Aviv was last attacked with rockets from the Gaza Strip on January 29th. The Israeli army reported a rocket alarm via “X”.
9:47 a.m.: According to a media report, trucks carrying relief supplies drove into the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Sunday. A total of 200 trucks drove from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, which has been closed since the beginning of May, towards Kerem Shalom, reported the Al-Kahera News channel, which has good connections with the Egyptian secret services.
Al-Kahera News did not report how many trucks in total had already entered the Gaza Strip via Kerem Shalom, but said that “four fuel tankers” had passed through the border crossing. They are on the way to hospitals in the Palestinian territory. The head of the Egyptian Red Crescent in al-Arish, Chaled Sayed, told the AFP news agency that he expected that all 200 trucks could drive to the Gaza Strip on Sunday.
4:17 a.m.: Mass protests against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have broken out again in Israel. As the Times of Israel newspaper reported on Sunday night, anti-government demonstrators gathered in several locations in Israel on Saturday evening to demand Netanyahu’s resignation, early elections and an agreement on the release of hostages held by the Islamist Hamas . Demonstrators were arrested at a central rally in Tel Aviv. The organizers said the number of participants in the rally in Tel Aviv was more than 80,000 people, it said.
There were also protests in other places, including Jerusalem, Haifa, Caesarea and Rehovot. The demonstrators accused Netanyahu of ignoring warnings before Hamas’s unprecedented terrorist attack on Israel’s border area on October 7. They also made him responsible for the fate of more than a hundred hostages held by Hamas. If the government does not reach an agreement to release the hostages now, “Israel will ultimately be forced to end the war without the hostages’ return,” the newspaper quoted a relative of the abductees as saying.
Sunday, May 26, 1:35 a.m.: According to activists, a Syrian officer with connections to the Lebanese Hezbollah was killed in an attack in Damascus. An explosive device detonated in the man’s car on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The officer was therefore responsible for recruiting Syrian fighters for the Hezbollah militia.
The Observatory is based in the UK and obtains its information from various sources in Syria. Your information can hardly be verified by an independent party.
The Syrian news agency Sana also reported a death in a car bomb explosion in the Syrian capital, citing the police. She did not provide any further information. The explosion occurred in the Masseh district. It is also home to the Iranian consulate, which was destroyed on April 1 in an attack attributed to Israel.
Saturday, May 25, 3:08 p.m.: Spain has demanded that Israel implement the immediate end to the military operation in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip ordered by the International Court of Justice. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares emphasized that these measures are mandatory on Saturday on the news platform X, formerly Twitter. Madrid “also demands a ceasefire, the release of the hostages and humanitarian access. The suffering of the people of Gaza and the violence must end.”
Spain has long been one of the harshest critics in Europe of Israel’s military actions in Gaza. The left-wing government in Madrid had suspended all arms exports to Israel shortly after the Islamist Hamas attack on Israel and the start of military operations in Gaza. This was followed on Wednesday by the announcement by Spain, Norway and Ireland that they wanted to recognize a Palestinian state. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government reacted angrily and summoned the ambassadors of the three countries to the Foreign Ministry to reprimand them.
The diplomatic conflict between Madrid and Tel Aviv further escalated on Friday when Israel announced restrictions on the work of Spanish diplomats in the country. Accordingly, the Spanish embassy in Tel Aviv and the consulate general in East Jerusalem will in future be prohibited from offering their services to Palestinians from the Israeli-occupied West Bank. This measure was justified by a statement by Spanish Second Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz, which Foreign Minister Israel Katz classified as anti-Semitic.
At the end of a video posted on is now in Israel. The wording is controversial because it expresses the Palestinian claim to sovereignty and denies Israel’s right to exist.
8:28 p.m.: Egypt has agreed to open the important Kerem Shalom border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip for deliveries of humanitarian aid and fuel. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi agreed on this in a conversation with his US colleague Joe Biden, the Egyptian side said on Friday. The White House said Biden welcomed the commitment to “provisionally” allow the delivery of humanitarian aid provided by the United Nations through the Kerem Shalom border crossing. “This will help save lives,” the US government headquarters said in a statement. The USA had repeatedly called for the border crossing to be opened.
A spokesman for Al-Sisi said that the aid should be handed over to the United Nations at the border crossing on the sealed-off coastal strip. This is a preliminary agreement. The White House statement added that Biden expressed his “full support for efforts to reopen the Rafah crossing,” with arrangements acceptable to both Egypt and Israel. The US President has also agreed to send a high-level team to Cairo next week for further talks.
The border crossing into Egypt in Rafah was recently closed after Israel’s army took over the Palestinian side. The Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip is located near the city of Rafah and the Egyptian border.
3:31 p.m.: The International Court of Justice obliges Israel to immediately end the military operation in Rafah. With the decision on Friday, the highest court of the United Nations in The Hague responded to a demand from South Africa. According to the judges, the humanitarian situation in Rafah is now disastrous. Further measures are necessary to prevent further damage to the civilian population.
South Africa has already called for urgent measures against Israel several times. This comes as part of the genocide lawsuit that the country filed with the Court in December. In two emergency decisions, the UN judges had already obliged Israel to do everything possible to prevent genocide and allow humanitarian aid. According to South Africa, Israel has ignored these decisions.
Decisions of the World Court are binding. However, the UN judges have no power to force a state to implement it. But you can call on the UN Security Council to take action on the matter. All member states of the court are obliged to respect the decisions of the Security Council. However, it seems at least questionable whether the USA would waive its right of veto on a corresponding resolution on Israel’s withdrawal from Rafah.
Friday, May 24th, 1:19 a.m.: The Israeli army says it is continuing to advance against the Islamist Hamas in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari announced on Thursday evening that its own ground troops had now reached the Shabura area from where the Hamas terrorists were attacking. “So far we have eliminated more than 180 terrorists in Rafah,” he added. At the same time, its own troops destroyed launchers and rockets that were supposed to be fired into Israeli territory. In addition, tunnel shafts and underground routes were destroyed. They are working on locating more. “The operation on the ground is intense and decisive, with difficult battles in complex areas,” explained Hagari.
You can read more about the Iranian attack on Israel on the next page.