Gaza City

What Egyptian media, citing a high-ranking official – Air raids were carried out on Gaza tonight as well

Israeli forces have reportedly taken control of the Rafah border crossing on the Palestinian side, adjacent to the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt. A spokesman for Gaza's border authorities told Reuters the checkpoint on its Palestinian side was closed because of the presence of Israeli tanks.

Armed groups in Gaza, including one with presumed Hamas links, last month robbed the Bank of Palestine of some $70 million, French daily Le Monde reported on May 5.

The funds were taken from the vaults of several branches of the bank, it said, citing a Bank of Palestine document sent to "certain international partners" detailing the robberies.

Gaza is filled with more debris and rubble than Ukraine, the U.N. has said, with the mammoth task of clearing it made all the more costly and dangerous by the sheer amount of asbestos and unexploded ordnance.

The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) estimated the amount of debris in the Gaza Strip at 37 million tons in mid-April, or 300 kilograms per square meter.

Aid shipments to Gaza from Cyprus resumed late on Friday, a Cypriot source said, with a ship carrying food to the besieged Palestinian enclave after a pause following Israel's killing of seven aid workers.

The World Central Kitchen NGO paused aid to review its activity in the territory after the early April attack, halting the direct shipments into Gaza from Cyprus.

Hamas said it was studying on Saturday the latest Israeli counterproposal regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza, a day after a delegation from mediator Egypt reportedly arrived in Israel in a bid to jump-start stalled negotiations.

The Israel-Hamas war entered its 200th day on Tuesday, with fears mounting of an Israeli invasion in the overcrowded south of Gaza amid calls for hostages to be freed.

The Israeli army carried out intense shelling overnight of the Gaza neighbourhoods of Al-Tuffah, Shujaiya and Zeitun.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan discussed efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and reach a fair and lasting peace in the region during a meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul on Saturday, his office said.

Some of Gaza's greatest historical treasures are safe in a warehouse in Switzerland for the past 16 years thanks to the blockade and the red tape that delayed their return.

Troop reinforcements from Israel's ally the United States headed to the region on Saturday, with fears of wider war growing more than six months into Israel's assault in the Gaza Strip.

After pulling forces from the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis one week ago, Israel's military said Saturday it was continuing to operate against militants in central Gaza.