Bulgaria to seek compensation from Israel over killing of UN staffer
US messages university staff about their Jewish or Israeli heritage
Israel displaced 500,000 Palestinians in Gaza: UNRWA
Israel kills over 180 children in occupied West Bank
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US President Donald Trump has said that he pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow food and medicine into the devastated Gaza.
No aid has been delivered to the Palestinian enclave since March 2. Earlier on Friday, the UN World Food Programme said it had run out of food stocks in Gaza.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump was asked whether concerns about humanitarian aid access came up in his phone call with Netanyahu earlier this week.
"Gaza came up and I said, 'We've got to be good to Gaza ... Those people are suffering,'" Trump said.
When asked whether he raised the issue of opening up access points for aid into Gaza, Trump replied, "We are."
"We're going to take care of that. There's a very big need for medicine, food and medicine, and we're taking care of it," he said.
The World Health Organization chief has warned that medical supplies were running out in Gaza, insisting that Israel's aid blockade of the war-torn Palestinian territory "must end".
After the World Food Programme said that its stocks had depleted in Gaza, where Israel has blocked all aid for more than seven weeks, WHO chief Tedros Adhonom Ghebreyesus warned on X that "the situation is the same with medical supplies. They are running out", insisting: "This aid blockade must end. Lives depend on it."
Accusing the European Union of being complicit in Israel's war crimes, an outspoken European parliamentarian is calling on the bloc to slap sanctions on Israel in order to facilitate humanitarian aid access to Gaza.
Marc Botenga, one of the most vocal members of the European Parliament (MEP) on the Gaza issue, told Anadolu about the worsening humanitarian situation in the enclave due to Israel’s complete halt in humanitarian aid access for almost two months now.
"They are killing people deliberately, not only through bombs but by basically denying all basic necessities. It's a crime, it's a war crime, it's a crime against humanity," said Botenga, who represents Belgium in the European Parliament.
He added: "The European Union is not putting pressure on Israel. They are talking the talk, but they're not walking the walk. There needs to be pressure. There needs to be sanctions. Otherwise, Israel will continue to do this, not only kill Palestinians but also occupy Gaza."
Video shows injured children and body parts scattered on the rooftop of a building adjacent to the site targeted by Israeli bombardment of central Gaza's Al-Yarmouk neighbourhood.
The Israeli military has issued a forced evacuation order for Palestinians residing in three areas in the north of the territory ahead of a planned strike.
"To all those located in the areas of al-Turukman, aj-Jadida, and northeastern Zeitun. This is an early warning ahead of a strike... For your safety, move immediately westward toward Gaza City," the military's Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on X.
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas has said that its armed wing killed and wounded four Israeli soldiers in Beit Hanoun town, in northern Gaza.
In a statement, the Qassam Brigades said that its fighters on Thursday shot four Israeli soldiers and officers, leaving them dead and wounded on the Al-Awda Street, eastern Beit Hanoun. The statement, however, did not mention further details, and the Israeli army has not commented on the incident.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz and army chief Eyal Zamir have met with the commander of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), Michael Kurilla.
Katz said on his X account that the meeting with Kurilla focused on "several security and regional issues."
He hailed the US commander for what he described as his "significant contribution" to Israel's security and for strengthening the "strategic alliance" between Israel and the US.
The statement, however, did not provide further details.
The Israeli army has killed a Palestinian teenager during a raid in the east of Nablus city, in the northern occupied West Bank.
Adli Shtayyeh, the head of the municipal council of Salem village, said that 17-year-old Abdul Khaleq Jbour has been killed by the Israeli forces in the village.
He said Jbour received a critical wound in his torso from Israeli live fire and died in the hospital.
Fresh air strikes on Gaza have killed at least 84 more Palestinians, bringing the death toll from Israel’s genocidal war since October 2023 to 51,439, the Health Ministry has said.
A ministry statement said that 168 more wounded people were transferred to hospitals in the last 24 hours, taking the number of injuries to 117,416 in the Israeli onslaught.
Gaza's government has issued a dire warning that Palestinians in the besieged enclave are "on the brink of mass death" from widespread famine due to Israel’s nearly two-month aid blockade and the total collapse of essential services.
In a statement, the Government Media Office held Israel and its backers responsible for a "genocide documented in sound and image."
"We warn of the worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza as the complete Israeli siege and closure of crossings enters its 55th day, leading to the spread of famine and endangering the lives of over 2.4 million people," the office said.
The office added that famine in Gaza is now "a grim reality, not a threat," with 52 recorded deaths due to hunger and malnutrition including 50 children, describing the situation as “one of the most horrifying forms of slow, deliberate killing.”