French foreign minister “firmly” condemned on Tuesday Israel’s new plan to fully occupy Gaza Strip.
“It is a very firm condemnation, because it goes against international law,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot spoke to the broadcaster RTL.
Barrot noted that Israel’s recently announced plan to fully occupy the Gaza Strip and take control of all humanitarian aid is “not acceptable.”
“The urgent priority is, of course, a ceasefire, but also the massive and unhindered access of humanitarian aid, because the Gaza Strip—the Palestinians living there—are lacking in a dramatic way,” he added.
Barrot reaffirmed that they are working to defend the international humanitarian law alongside other countries.
“Even when there is war, we respect a certain number of rules: we do not target civilians, we do not attack humanitarian workers, and we ensure that humanitarian aid can always reach the people,” he said, reiterating the need to respect the “integrity” of laws of war.
Barrot further highlighted the risk of famine in Gaza, calling for an access to humanitarian aid.
“France calls on Israel to implement a ceasefire, to allow humanitarian aid to reach the population within the enclave of Gaza,” he added.
Barrot also confirmed that France could recognize the State of Palestine once the other countries do the same and commitments are made according to Anadolu.
Multiple international airlines on Monday extended flight suspensions to and from Israel after a missile launched from Yemen hit Ben Gurion Airport, severely disrupting air traffic and leaving thousands of Israelis stranded overseas, according to Israeli media reports.
The missile, claimed by the Yemeni Houthi group, struck near the airport in central Israel on Sunday, injuring eight people and prompting a wave of flight cancellations by foreign carriers.
According to the Israeli financial outlet Calcalist, the Lufthansa Group—including SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings—will extend the suspension of flights to Israel until 11 May. Similarly, ITA Airways (Italy) suspended all Tel Aviv routes through the same date.
United Airlines extended cancellations until 9 May, while Wizz Air (Hungary) will halt flights until 8 May. Aegean Airlines, British Airways, Delta Airlines, and Ryanair announced extensions through 6 May.
Several carriers, including Air Canada, Air France, Air India, Aeroméxico, and Air Europa, also canceled scheduled flights on Monday.
The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that thousands of Israeli citizens remain stranded abroad due to the widespread disruptions in international flights.
On Monday, Israel carried out airstrikes in Yemen a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened retaliation over a missile fired by the Houthi group that landed near Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
The airstrikes marked Israel’s first direct military response after the Houthis fired a missile at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, wounding eight people.
Yemen has faced an intensified US military campaign since mid-March, including around 1,300 air and naval strikes, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties, according to the Houthis.
The Houthis have targeted ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden since November 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where nearly 52,600 people have been killed in a brutal Israeli assault for more than 19 months, most of them women and children.
The group halted attacks when a Gaza ceasefire was declared in January between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas but resumed them after Israel’s renewed airstrikes on Gaza in March according to Anadolu.
A wave of dust storms and erratic weather gripped several Arab nations Monday, triggering official warnings about low visibility and urging residents to avoid outdoor and maritime activities.
The turbulent conditions, driven by strong winds carrying dust and debris, are expected to persist into Tuesday and possibly through the week’s end in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Syria and Iraq, according to meteorological authorities.
In the UAE, the National Center of Meteorology reported two dust waves impacting the region—one affecting the eastern and northern Arabian Gulf and another hitting Syria, Iraq and northern Saudi Arabia—causing significantly reduced visibility.
The center forecast active northwesterly winds stirring dust and lowering visibility across the UAE for the next two days, with temperatures dropping by Wednesday, it said in a video posted on X.
It urged residents to follow safety guidelines, avoid direct exposure to dust, and steer clear of airborne particles.
Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Meteorology issued alerts via X warning of dust-stirring winds continuing into Tuesday morning in several regions.
The center flagged a low-level yellow alert for light rain, active winds and reduced visibility in Al Baha, alongside dust particles in Riyadh and Qassim.
Mecca and Medina also face active winds, while orange-level alerts in Riyadh and the Eastern Province cautioned about dust particles.
The center noted that surface winds will likely stir dust across parts of the kingdom through Wednesday, with coastal winds raising waves.
The Qatar Meteorology Department issued a maritime warning on X, anticipating strong winds and high waves starting Tuesday and lasting through the weekend. It advised against maritime activities during this period.
In Kuwait, the meteorological center posted an advisory on X warning of active winds and dust from Monday through Tuesday morning.
Syria’s General Directorate of Meteorology announced on Facebook that the country will experience strong winds, particularly in central regions, with conditions likely to stir dust and sand.
In Iraq, the meteorological department predicted rainfall alongside persistent dust into Tuesday, the state news agency reported. Northwesterly winds will intensify in central and southern regions, with stronger gusts in western areas kicking up dust.
Tuesday’s forecast includes clear skies in central and southern Iraq, partly cloudy conditions in the north, and chances of light rain in northern areas, with moderate winds occasionally stirring dust in western and central regions, the department said and as reported in Anadolu.
“After losing my leg in the war, I returned to photojournalism not just for work, but because I have loved photography since childhood,” said Palestinian reporter Sami Shahada.
Mr. Shahada lost his leg due to a severe injury he suffered in Nuseirat in central Gaza in April 2024, but he picked up his camera and returned to document the tragic events that have been unfolding in Gaza.
He will not let his disability stop him from working. “It is impossible for me to leave photojournalism, even if I face all these obstacles,” he said.
Ahead of World Press Freedom Day marked annually on 3 May which focuses on the role of media to highlight accountability, justice, equality, and human rights, our UN News correspondent in Gaza spoke with Palestinian journalists, documenting the risks and personal traumas they face reporting from the war-torn enclave.
Since the war began following the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel an increasing number of journalists have been killed or injured in Gaza as a humanitarian crisis has engulfed the enclave.
Bearing witness
On one leg, leaning on crutches, Sami Shahada stands behind his camera, wearing his blue press jacket, working amongst the rubble of destruction with colleagues.
“I witnessed all the crimes that happened, and then the moment came when I was a witness to a crime that was perpetrated against me,” he told UN News.
UN News
Sami Shehadeh looks at a video of the moment he was injured in Gaza in April 2024.
“I was a field journalist, carrying a camera in an open area and wearing a helmet and a jacket which identified me as a journalist, yet I was directly targeted.”
That incident marked a turning point in his life. “I did not need help from anyone before, now I need help,” adding that “I have the determination and persistence to overcome this new reality. This is how we journalists must work in Gaza.”
Working the streets
Journalist Mohammed Abu Namous is another of these journalists.
Filming with one of his colleagues in the rubble of a destroyed building in Gaza City he said: “While the world celebrates World Press Freedom Day, Palestinian journalists remember their workplaces which were destroyed in the war.”
“The minimum we need to carry out our journalistic work is electricity and the internet, but many do not have this, so we resort to commercial shops that provide the internet. The streets are now our offices.”
UN News
Palestinian journalist Mohammed Abu Namous and his colleague cover the impact of the war in Gaza.
He believes that Palestinian journalists have been targeted during the Israeli occupation of Gaza and said that media workers must be protected “whether they work in Palestine or elsewhere in the world.”
Voices not silenced by death of loved ones
Journalist Moamen Sharafi said he lost members of his family in an Israeli bombing in northern Gaza, but despite “the many negative impacts on a personal, social, and humanitarian level, professionally nothing has changed.”
He was determined to carry on working, he explained, as he was due to live broadcast from the streets of Gaza City.
UN News
Palestinian journalist, Moamen Sharafi (right,) lost several family members during the current war that started in October 2023.
“We have become more determined to continue our work and uphold our professional values and perform our mission with humanity to the world,” he continued, “in order to convey the reality of what is happening on the ground inside Gaza, specifically the humanitarian situation, and the impact on children, women and the elderly who suffer greatly.”
Netanyahu ‘Incapable of Governing’ as Far-Right Controls Him Says ex-PM
The Nakba
Young Lauren Abdel Samad Withdraws From World Chess Championship to Avoid Playing Israelis
Profiling a Palestinian Prisoner: Starvation, Medical Neglect, Brain Hemorrhage
B’Tselem: Israel Killed 54 Palestinian Children in 2025; Its Killing The Highest Number Since 1967
marwan
Saleem Ayoub Quna
CrossFireArabia
