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The Cradle is an online news magazine covering West Asian geopolitics from within.
❗️Israel has killed at least 32 Palestinians in attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn today.
(Medical sources to Al Jazeera)
❗️Gaza Government Media Office:
– "Famine is worsening, and the Gaza Strip requires 500 aid trucks and 50 fuel trucks daily."
– "Famine indicators and the humanitarian collapse are escalating at a terrifying pace, threatening the lives of over 2.4 million people."
– "There is an urgent need to bring in 50 fuel trucks daily to operate bakeries, hospitals, and water and sewage pumping stations."
– "The Strip is facing a full-scale humanitarian disaster as dozens of bakeries shut down."
– "Hospitals are going out of service one after another, and residents are being deprived of the most basic necessities of life."
– "Hunger and malnutrition are spreading, especially among children, the sick, and the elderly."
– "The continuation of this dire humanitarian situation constitutes a crime against humanity by all standards."
❗️Released by Israeli media: Trucks at the Kerem Shalom crossing – reportedly on their way to Gaza.
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⭕️ Turkiye was Iran’s fourth top non-oil export destination and third-largest source of non-oil imports in the most recent month, with $538 million in imports and $189 million in total trade that month alone, according to IRICA. Over the past Iranian year, bilateral trade reached $11.8 billion and had already surpassed $17.5 billion by February 2025, with projections of $19 billion by year-end. Officials from both countries are pursuing a joint free trade zone to boost investment and resolve long-standing project delays, while transport cooperation is expanding through increased border crossings, rail and air connectivity, and joint infrastructure planning.
(Tehran Times)
❗️Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich:
"No aid will enter for Hamas ... We will allow only the bare minimum of food and medicine into Gaza ... We are destroying what remains of Gaza, and this will lead to the elimination of Hamas and the return of the captives ... The residents of Gaza will move to the south of the strip, and from there to third countries."
According to UNRWA, 92% of homes in Gaza are either damaged or totally destroyed.
⭕️ Iraq has completed the first section of the Development Road project and begun the handover process, the General Company for Ports of Iraq (GCPI) announced.
Director Farhan al-Fartousi said the 62 km stretch connects Grand Faw Port to the Safwan road, with three lanes for heavy trucks.
The project includes two major bridges and a solar-powered lighting system installed by South Korea’s Samsung.
❗️Israel Hayom:
The aid that will enter Gaza this week, using the old method, will include approximately 30 trucks per day, loaded with food supplies (such as milk substitutes, flour, and the like) and medical aid.
Israel bombed a medical supplies warehouse at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis this morning.
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Another fictional 'Iranian plot’ in London?
Claims of an Iranian plot to attack Tel Aviv’s embassy in London have emerged at an all-too-convenient moment for the pro-Israel lobby’s push to proscribe Iran’s IRGC as a terrorist entity in Britain.
By Robert Inlakesh
BREAKING | Israeli forces are attacking the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza, trapping staff and patients inside.
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While besieged by Israeli occupation forces, the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza has come under attack.
Its gate and yard were destroyed, bulldozers demolished parts of the facility, and power was cut off. Contact was lost with 55 staff and immobile patients trapped inside.
No warnings were given before the strike. All hospitals in northern Gaza are now out of service.
Director-General of Gaza's Health Ministry to Al Jazeera:
– Israeli forces are targeting the health system by bombing hospitals and patients.
– They opened fire on the ICU at the Indonesian Hospital.
– A patient inside the hospital was bombed by Israeli warplanes.
❗️Reports of violent clashes taking place in the city of Deraa, southern Syria.
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BREAKING | Israel announces it will launch heavy attacks on areas in eastern Khan Yunis and central Gaza, including al-Qarara, al-Salqah, southern Deir al-Balah, and neighborhoods such as al-Ja'frawi, al-Sawar, Abu Hadhab, and al-Satr.
The warning calls on Palestinians to head to the 'Mawasi safe zone', which is in no way a safe zone. Israel continues to carry out massacres in the 'safe zone.'
⭕️ "The report of alleged plans to relocate Gazans to Libya is untrue," the US Embassy in Libya said on X early on 18 May.
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❗️Nasr al-Din Amer, Deputy Head of the Yemeni Ansarallah's Media Authority, issues warnings to airlines and foreigners in Tel Aviv:
– "In the coming hours, the Yemeni Armed Forces, relying on God, will carry out military operations targeting [Ben Gurion Airport] and other Zionist airports ..."
– "Disclaimer: Remaining airlines at the airport must depart immediately, and all those present, especially foreigners, must leave for their own safety."
❗️Missile sirens sound in the settlement of Kissufim near south Gaza.
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❗️Hamas's Qassam Brigades reports that on 16 May, 2025, its fighters carried out a complex ambush in the Al-Atatra area west of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, targeting three Israeli vehicles with two 'Shuath' explosive devices and a “Tandem” shell, followed by clashes with another force using light weapons and hand grenades, resulting in casualties among its members.
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❗️"Another hell in the West Bank … For the fifth consecutive day, the Israeli army and settlers continue their assault on the towns of Bruqin and Kafr ad-Dik west of Salfit. The towns are under tight siege, with home raids, arrests, and destruction of property. Residents are calling for the siege to be lifted so they can purchase essential and basic necessities."
– Palestinian analyst Azzam Abu al-Adas
Israel to allow 'basic quantity' of aid into Gaza after months of total blockade
A controversial new US and Israeli-led mechanism for aid distribution in Gaza has been described by the UN and other organizations as a form of collective punishment
BREAKING | An Israeli military statement now deems the entirety of south Gaza's Khan Yunis a "dangerous combat zone" and calls for mass evacuations. There is no safe place to go.
Israel says it will "launch an unprecedented attack to destroy the capabilities of terror organizations" in Khan Yunis.
⭕️ Over 30 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since midnight
– In Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, 16 Palestinians were killed in over a dozen airstrikes targeting homes and tents where people had taken shelter.
– 5 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes on a civilian area in the Al-Faluja market west of north Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp, while two were killed in an attack on the Al-Yarmouk area of Gaza City.
– Several areas in Deir al-Balah and the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza were also targeted, leaving 8 Palestinians dead — including three children and one woman.
❗️Director of Field Hospitals in Gaza, Dr. Marwan Al-Hams:
– "Malnutrition is worsening and affecting all age groups in Gaza."
– "We are suffering from a severe shortage of staff, equipment, and supplies."
– "The targeting of civilians and medical personnel must end."
– "We appeal to the world to stop the starvation and extermination war waged by Israel."
⭕️ US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee at the World Jewish Congress yesterday:
"The president is very clear: They are not going to have a nuclear weapon, they are not going to enrich, they are going to have total dismantlement, and those are the words that he has put."
Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi's response:
"Enrichment in Iran will continue with or without a deal."
❗️An Israeli special force infiltrated Khan Yunis in a civilian vehicle, dressed in women's clothing, and stormed a house, where they killed a man and abducted his wife and children, according to eyewitnesses at the scene.
According to additional information, the person who was executed was the leader of the Al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, Ahmed Sarhan.
(Al Jazeera, Al-Arabi TV)
❗️Israeli cabinet approves the entry of humanitarian aid into all areas of the Gaza Strip
After nearly three months of a brutal blockade, Israel has decided to temporarily allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, with PM Netanyahu's office citing concerns that the deepening hunger crisis could "jeopardize" the objectives of Operation Gideon’s Chariots.
A senior Israeli official told Axios that this “bridging period” is necessary while the newly announced US-Israeli aid mechanism – widely condemned by humanitarian groups for its restrictive controls – remains under development and is not expected to take effect until later this month.
The aid will include basic food supplies and is expected to enter through Kerem Shalom crossing and other designated corridors. It will be delivered via the UN World Food Programme, World Central Kitchen, and other international relief organizations, and will be monitored by these organizations.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir demanded a vote on the decision, but Prime Minister Netanyahu refused.
❗️Israel's Channel 12:
Israeli cabinet approved the entry of humanitarian aid into all areas of the Gaza Strip.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir demanded a vote, but Netanyahu refused.
❗️Israel has officially announced 'Gideon's Chariots,' with its spokesman Ephraim Defrin saying five divisions are now operating in Gaza in a new offensive aimed at "defeating Hamas," and calling it a "new stage in fighting."
"Unlike previously, we are now concentrating on offensive effort in the Gaza Strip, and carrying out an offensive until the defeat [of Hamas] in the areas we will operate."
Israel claims it will move civilians for its safety, but has slaughtered 140 people since dawn, and over 500 people in just 3 days.
UPDATE | According to sources in Gaza, Dr. Zakaria Sinwar was revived after doctors declared him dead. He showed signs of life after being transferred to the morgue, and is now in critical condition.
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❗️According to Israel's Channel 12, security personnel from the US company that will oversee the distribution of aid in the Gaza Strip have arrived at Ben Gurion Airport.
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❗️Two rockets were launched from Gaza. Israel says one was intercepted, while the other fell in an 'open area.'
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⭕️ The Israeli Mossad has retrieved, from Syria, a trove of over 2,500 classified Syrian documents and personal items belonging to Eli Cohen (Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen), the Egyptian-born Israeli spy who infiltrated the highest levels of Syria’s military and government in the 1960's by posing as a Syrian businessman.
The secret operation was reportedly carried out just ahead of the 60th anniversary of his execution in Damascus.
Netanyahu's office announced on behalf of the Mossad that the Syrian intelligence archive on Cohen was transferred from Syria with the help of a 'strategic intelligence partner.'
The archive includes materials such as Cohen’s original will, spy gear, letters to his family, surveillance reports, forged passports, personal belongings like keys to his Damascus apartment, the original court order sentencing him to death, and photographs with top Syrian officials.
Israeli officials described it as a significant step in the ongoing effort to recover Cohen’s remains from Syria.