Gaza

Aid deliveries have begun arriving at a US-built pier off the Gaza Strip as Israel comes under growing global pressure to allow more supplies into the besieged coastal enclave, where it is at war with Palestinian militants Hamas and a famine looms.

It is imperative to "halt hostilities and immediately put an end to the bloodshed and allow humanitarian aid to flow unimpeded into Gaza," Foreign Affairs Minister George Gerapetritis has said, after meeting with this Canadian counterpart in Athens.

The first trucks began supplying aid to war-ravaged Gaza from a temporary pier on Friday, the U.S. military said, as fighting raged in the Palestinian territory.

U.S. Central Command said "trucks carrying humanitarian assistance began moving ashore" via the long-awaited pier, a day after it was anchored to a Gaza beach.

Fighting raged Friday in Gaza after Israel vowed to intensify its ground offensive in Rafah despite international concerns for the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in the southern city.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has emphasized the critical importance of the battle for Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip for Israel, which has been engaged in a war against Hamas for over seven months.

Israel will on Friday hit back in the United Nations' top court at allegations from South Africa that it has escalated a campaign of "genocide" with its military operation in Rafah.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) heard a litany of allegations against Israel from lawyers representing Pretoria, including mass graves, torture, and deliberate withholding of humanitarian aid.

The war in Gaza came to the fore at world football's biggest meeting on Friday as the Palestinian association called for Israel to be immediately suspended from FIFA.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino told the congress in Bangkok that the sport's global governing body will take independent legal advice to consider the Palestinian demand.

The recent press conference by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara underscored another major difference separating the two countries, and this is their stance towards Israel.

South Africa accused Israel Thursday at the top U.N. court of stepping up what it called a "genocide" in Gaza, urging the court to order a halt to Israel's assault on Rafah.

"South Africa had hoped, when we last appeared before this court, to halt this genocidal process to preserve Palestine and its people," Vusimuzi Madonsela told the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

This handout satellite image courtesy of Maxar Technologies shows tents and shelters for Palestinians displaced by the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas at the Mawasi camp near Rafah in the south of the Palestinian territory on May 15, 2024.