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Palestinian rescuers said an Israeli strike at dawn on Monday killed 13 people at a Gaza City school, as Israel presses ahead with what it has described as a renewed push to destroy Hamas.The intensified fighting, after a nearly three-month blockade of humanitarian supplies, has sharpened international condemnation of Israel. World leaders meeting in Madrid at the weekend called for an end to the “inhumane” and “senseless” war, while humanitarian organisations said the trickle of resumed aid is not nearly enough to staunch the hunger and health crises.In Gaza City, rescuers said Monday they “retrieved 13 martyrs and 21 injured from inside Fahmi Al-Jarjawi School in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood, after the Israeli occupation forces targeted it at dawn”.The day before, Israeli strikes killed 22 people and wounded dozens more across the Palestinian territory, said civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal.Israel has expanded its offensive on the territory, activating tens of thousands of reservists as it aims for “the defeat of Hamas”.US President Donald Trump, whose administration has strongly backed Israel in its campaign, said on Sunday that he wanted to “see if we can stop that whole situation as quickly as possible”.The same day, as European and Arab nations gathered to seek an end to the conflict, Spain’s foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares called for an arms embargo on Israel.He also called for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza “massively, without conditions and without limits, and not controlled by Israel”, describing the territory as humanity’s “open wound”.- ‘Hunger, desperation’ -At the weekend, Gaza rescuers were struggling to retrieve bodies from the rubble after a series of Israeli strikes.In one home in Jabalia, in the north, seven people were killed and several others stuck under debris, according to civil defence spokesman Bassal. “The civil defence does not have search equipment or heavy equipment to lift the rubble to rescue the wounded and recover the martyrs,” he said.Two more people, including a woman who was seven months pregnant, were killed in an attack targeting tents sheltering displaced people around Nuseirat in central Gaza, he said, adding that doctors were unable to save the unborn child.Also included in the toll were the civil defence’s director of operations Ashraf Abu Nar and his wife, according to Bassal.Fatal strikes were also recorded around Deir el-Balah in the centre of the territory, Beit Lahia in the north and the main southern city of Khan Yunis.Gaza’s civil defence agency said Saturday that an Israeli strike in the southern city of Khan Yunis killed nine children of a pair of married doctors, with the Israeli army saying it was reviewing the reports.Israel has in recent days partially eased a blockade that was imposed on March 2 and exacerbated widespread shortages of food and medicine in Gaza.COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that coordinates civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, said “107 trucks belonging to the UN and the international community carrying humanitarian aid… were transferred” into Gaza on Sunday.But critics charge this is nowhere near enough, especially as many of the aid trucks end up being looted.The World Food Programme has called on Israel “to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster”, saying: “Hunger, desperation and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming is contributing to rising insecurity.”- Aid controversy -The head of a controversial US-backed group preparing to move aid into the Gaza Strip also announced his abrupt resignation Sunday.In a statement by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), executive director Jake Wood said that he felt compelled to leave after determining the organisation could not fulfil its mission in a way that adhered to “humanitarian principles”.The foundation has vowed to distribute about 300 million meals in its first 90 days of operation.But the United Nations and traditional aid agencies have already said they will not cooperate with the group, amid accusations it is working with Israel.Gaza’s health ministry said Sunday that at least 3,785 people had been killed in the territory since a ceasefire collapsed on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,939, mostly civilians.Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday described the latest negotiations between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program as “very, very good.”Speaking on the tarmac at Morristown airport before boarding Air Force One, Trump hailed “real progress, serious progress” following a fifth round of nuclear talks, which wrapped up in Rome on Friday.The Oman-mediated talks, which began in April, are the highest-level contact between the countries since the United States quit a landmark 2015 nuclear accord during Trump’s first term as US president.Since returning to office, Trump has revived his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran, backing talks but warning of military action if diplomacy fails.Iran wants a new deal that would ease the sanctions that have battered its economy.Following the latest round, Iranian Foreign Minister and lead negotiator Abbas Araghchi downplayed the progress, stressing that “the negotiations are too complicated to be resolved in two or three meetings.”And Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said on X that the fifth round concluded “with some but not conclusive progress,” adding that he hoped “the remaining issues” would be clarified in the coming days.Trump said continuing discussions had been “very, very good.””I think we could have some good news on the Iran front,” he said, adding that an announcement could come “over the next two days.”The talks came ahead of a June meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), during which Iran’s nuclear activities will be reviewed.They also come before the October expiry of the 2015 accord, which aimed to allay US and European Union suspicions that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons capability, an ambition that Tehran has consistently denied.In return for curbs on its nuclear program, Iran had received relief from international sanctions. But the accord was torpedoed in 2018 when Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States and reimposed sanctions.A year later, Iran responded by ramping up its nuclear activities.It is now enriching uranium to 60 percent — far above the deal’s 3.67 percent cap but below the 90-percent level needed for a nuclear warhead.

The international community should look at sanctions against Israel to stop the Gaza war, Spain’s foreign minister said Sunday, as European and Arab nations gathered in Madrid to urge an end to its offensive.Some of Israel’s long-standing allies have added their voices to growing international pressure after it expanded military operations against Gaza’s Hamas rulers, whose 2023 attack on Israel sparked the devastating conflict.An aid blockade lasting almost three months has worsened shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine in the Palestinian territory, stoking fears of famine.Aid organisations say the trickle of supplies Israel has recently allowed to enter falls far short of needs.The talks aimed to stop Israel’s “inhumane” and “senseless” war in Gaza, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters before the meeting opened.Humanitarian aid must enter Gaza “massively, without conditions and without limits, and not controlled by Israel”, he added, describing the territory as humanity’s “open wound”.Representatives from European countries including France, Britain, Germany and Italy joined envoys from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Morocco, the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.Norway, Iceland, Ireland and Slovenia, who like Spain have already recognised a Palestinian state, also took part, alongside Brazil.After the European Union decided this week to review its cooperation deal with Israel, Albares told reporters Spain would request its “immediate suspension”.Spain would also urge partners to impose an arms embargo on Israel and “not rule out any” individual sanctions against those “who want to ruin the two-state solution forever”, he added.- ‘Time for action’ -Sunday’s meeting also promoted a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Mustafa said he wanted to “move as fast as possible to a peace where Palestine and Israel can coexist and bring stability and security for the whole region”. Albares told Cadena SER radio after the summit that the event made progress by including more EU powers like France, Germany and Italy in the format. They would “never give up on peace in the Middle East”, he said.French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot will meet the Palestinian Authority’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, during a trip to Yerevan this next week, his office announced on Sunday.Barrot spoke with a number of Arab foreign ministers on Sunday to discuss efforts “to restore a diplomatic perspective for a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, his office said. The diplomatic drive comes one month before a UN conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict chaired by France and Saudi Arabia in New York.Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said his country will back draft resolutions at the United Nations aimed at ramping up aid access to Gaza and holding Israel to account over its international humanitarian obligations.Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Palestinian militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed almost 54,000 people, mostly civilians, according to Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry.burs-imm/tw

Alaa al-Najjar was tending to wounded children at a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip when the news came through: the home where her own 10 children were staying had been bombed in an Israeli air strike.The paediatrician, with no means of transport, ran from the Nasser Hospital to the family house in the city of Khan Yunis, a relative told AFP, only to be met with every parent’s worst nightmare. “When she saw the charred bodies, she started screaming and crying,” said Ali al-Najjar, the brother of Alaa’s husband.Nine of her children were killed, their bodies burned beyond recognition, according to relatives. The tenth, 10-year-old Adam, survived the strike but remains in critical condition, as does his father, Hamdi al-Najjar, also a doctor, who was also at home when the strike hit. Both are in intensive care at Nasser Hospital.When the body of her daughter Nibal was pulled from the rubble, Alaa screamed her name, her brother-in-law recounted.The following day, under a tent set up near the destroyed home, the well-respected paediatric specialist sat in stunned silence, still in shock. Around her, women wept as the sounds of explosions echoed across the Palestinian territory, battered by more than a year and a half of war.- ‘Their features were gone’ -The air strike on Friday afternoon was carried out without warning, relatives said.Asked about the incident, the Israeli military said it had “struck a number of suspects who were identified operating from a structure” near its troops, adding that claims of civilian harm were under review.”I couldn’t recognise the children in the shrouds,” Alaa’s sister, Sahar al-Najjar, said through tears. “Their features were gone.””It’s a huge loss. Alaa is broken,” said Mohammed, another close family member.According to medical sources, Hamdi al-Najjar underwent several operations at the Jordanian field hospital. Doctors had to remove a large portion of his right lung and gave him 17 blood transfusions. Adam had one hand amputated and suffers from severe burns across his body.”I found my brother’s house like a broken biscuit, reduced to ruins, and my loved ones were underneath,” Ali al-Najjar said, recalling how he dug through the rubble with his bare hands alongside paramedics to recover the children’s bodies.Now, he dreads the moment his brother regains consciousness. “I don’t know how to tell him. Should I tell him his children are dead? I buried them in two graves.””There is no safe place in Gaza,” he added with a weary sigh. “Death is sometimes kinder than this torture.”

Syria’s new authorities have agreed to help the United States locate and return Americans who went missing in the war-ravaged country, a US envoy said on Sunday, in another sign of thawing bilateral ties.The announcement came a day after the United States formally lifted sanctions on Syria, ending more than a decade of diplomatic freeze.Relations have steadily improved since former president Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by an Islamist-led offensive in December.”The new Syrian government has agreed to assist the USA in locating and returning USA citizens or their remains,” US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack wrote on X, describing it as a “powerful step forward”.”The families of Austin Tice, Majd Kamalmaz, and Kayla Mueller must have closure,” he added, referring to American citizens who had gone missing or been killed during Syria’s devastating civil war that erupted in 2011.Tice was working as a freelance journalist for Agence France-Presse, The Washington Post, and other outlets when he was detained at a checkpoint in August 2012.Kamalmaz, a Syrian-American psychotherapist, was believed to have died after being detained under the Assad government in 2017.Mueller was an aid worker kidnapped by the Islamic State group, which announced her death in February 2015, saying she was killed in a Jordanian air strike, a claim disputed by US authorities.”President (Donald) Trump has made it clear that bringing home USA citizens or honoring, with dignity, their remains is a major priority everywhere,” said Barrack, who also serves as the US ambassador to Turkey.”The new Syrian Government will aid us in this commitment,” he added.- Americans killed by IS -A Syrian source aware of the talks between the two countries told AFP there were 11 other names on Washington’s list, all of them Syrian-Americans.The source added that a Qatari delegation began this month, at Washington’s request, a search mission for the remains of American hostages killed by IS.Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights meanwhile said that “the Qatari delegation is still searching in Aleppo province for the bodies of American citizens executed by IS”.Two US journalists, James Foley and Stephen Sotloff, were videotaped in 2014 being beheaded by a militant who spoke on camera with a British accent.El Shafee Elsheikh, a jihadist from London, was found guilty in 2022 of hostage-taking and conspiracy to murder US citizens — Foley and Sotloff, as well as aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.The formal lifting of US sanctions also coincided with Syria’s new authorities reshuffling their interior ministry to include fighting cross-border drug and people smuggling, as they seek to improve ties with the West.The lifting of sanctions paves the way for reconstruction efforts in the war-torn country, where authorities are relying on foreign assistance to help foot the enormous cost of rebuilding.The sanctions relief is on condition that Syria does not provide a safe haven for terrorist organisations and ensures security for religious and ethnic minorities, the US Treasury Department said.Trump shook hands with Syria’s jihadist-turned-interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa earlier this month during a visit to Saudi Arabia.- Sharaa in Turkey -Barrack’s statement comes a day after he met Syrian interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Istanbul, during Sharaa’s third visit to Turkey since the fall of Assad.The Syrian presidency said on Sunday that Sharaa and his accompanying delegation met with Turkish officials in Ankara, including Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz and financial officials.Yilmaz said in a statement that they discussed “deepening our economic cooperation in the new period”, adding that his country will “continue to provide all kinds of support to the Syrian people in their peace, development and reconstruction process”.As part of Syria’s efforts to strengthen its institutions, the interior ministry appointed new security chiefs in 12 provinces on Sunday.It did not say how the chiefs were chosen nor did it share much information about them, but the list includes former security officials in Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Sharaa-led Islamist group that spearheaded the December offensive.The new authorities faced criticism when military appointments in December included six foreign fighters.After meeting Sharaa in Riyadh this month, US President Donald Trump demanded that “foreign terrorists” leave Syria.Damascus had previously told Washington in a letter that it would “freeze the promotions of foreign fighters” and form a committee to review previous promotions, according to a Syrian source with knowledge of the letter.The source requested anonymity as they were not allowed to brief the media on the topic.