A doctor at one of the main hospitals in Khan Younis in southern Gaza is warning that the overcrowding at shelters for the displaced, deteriorating sanitary conditions and shortages of food, clean water and medicine are making children ill and risk spreading more disease among the young.

Sderot

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel is 'at war' following a surprise attack from Gaza by Hamas militants.

Israel-Gaza War

How crowded shelters are making Gaza's children sick

Conditions at overcrowded shelters in Gaza are making children ill, according to Ahmed al-Farah and other doctors in the enclave's overwhelmed hospitals. The paediatric ward al-Farah works on at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, has seen a sharp rise in young patients. Many have infections such as acute gastroenteritis, which he describes as an epidemic. The number of cases has increased to four times its normal levels. Most of the water being consumed by children is unfit for human consumption. Most of the food is canned. People have lost access to fresh food. There's no fruit, no vegetables. Children have had a deficiency in vitamins, immune deficiency, in addition to iron deficiencies and aminia from the lack of nutrition. ISIS-A is also appearing at the shelters, he says. This is a very dangerous indicator that should be paid attention to, from overcrowding and consuming food not fit for human consumption and using shared toilets. The UN humanitarian office warned on Wednesday that Gaza faces a public health disaster due to the collapse of its health system and the spread of disease, as Israel wages an offensive that has hit hospitals and displaced most of Gaza's 2.3 million people. Children are admitted with extreme dehydration to the point of kidney failure, doctors say. They are seeing an increase in breathing problems as families resort to burning wood and garbage to cook. There's also a severe lack of medicines in Gaza, which Israel has blockaded, to treat the children. Mahmoud Abu Shaikh has taken shelter in this makeshift tent with his three children, who are all under three years old. Conditions at this camp for the displaced in Khan Younis are making them ill, he says, and there's little treatment available. The eldest caught gastroenteritis, then the second, then the third. Day after day I go to the hospital seeking treatment, but they haven't got the treatment the children need. They gave us some medicine to drink, but it's not enough to cure them. The World Health Organization has also reported a sharp rise in acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea, lice, scabies and other fast-spreading conditions. Juliet Touma of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA, says the schools were not built to house people. Most of the shelters are not equipped with the toilets or the showers or the clean water that people need in these shelters, simply because the numbers of people that came to these shelters is just overwhelming, and also because many of these shelters that we've opened to receive people who were forced to flee their homes were not meant to be shelters. Gaza's health authorities say about 18,000 people have been confirmed killed and 49,500 injured in Israeli strikes, with thousands more missing and presumed dead under the rubble. Deaths from north Gaza aren't being counted currently because they occur beyond the reach of ambulances and functioning hospitals. Israel launched its war on Gaza to destroy Hamas after the Palestinian militant group sent its fighters on a rampage in Israel that killed 1,200 people.

A former immigration detainee has been bailed after allegedly threatening police with a knife in Melbourne. It follows the recent violent home invasion allegedly committed by another released detainee in Western Australia Pressure is mounting on Federal Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to be held to account.

Canberra

Pressure mounts on Immigration Minister after latest detainee incident

Mexican authorities have reportedly discovered a fourth body near the cliff site where Perth brothers Jake and Callum Robinson disappeared, along with their American friend Jack Carter Rhoad. The Australian family of the brothers are en route to Mexico. The bodies are yet to be formally identified.

Ensenada

Fourth body discovered in Mexico search for Australian brothers

Ukraine is eagerly waiting for Western aid as Russia racks up more victories on the battlefield. Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on a visit to Kyiv gave Ukraine the go-ahead to use British weapons to strike directly at Russia.

Kyiv

Ukraine Invasion

U.K. allows its weapons to be used on Russian soil

Canadian police have charged three Indian men with the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year and said they were probing whether the men had ties to the Indian government.

Surrey

Canada police charge three with murder of Sikh leader

China has launched an uncrewed spacecraft on a nearly two-month mission to retrieve rocks and soil from the far side of the moon, the first country to make such an ambitious attempt.

Wenchang

China launches mission to far side of the moon

Britain's opposition Labour Party won a parliamentary seat in northern England on Friday (May 3) and control of several councils, inflicting heavy losses on the governing Conservatives to pile more pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

London

U.K.'s Labour claims big early win over Conservatives

Turkey has announced that it is halting trade with Israel, worth $7 billion a year, until a permanent ceasefire and humanitarian aid are secured in Gaza. Israel denounced the decision as breaking trade agreements.

Ankara

Turkey to stop trade with Israel until Gaza ceasefire

Media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders warned of declining government support for press freedom as it unveiled its annual world rankings on Friday, highlighting Argentina among the countries where the situation has deteriorated.

Paris

States doing less to support press freedom, says watchdog

Arizona's Democratic governor signed a bill overturning an 1864 law banning abortion, a month after the state's supreme court said the Civil War-era rule was valid.

Arizona

Arizona governor signs bill repealing 1864 abortion ban

U.S. President Joe Biden said that both freedom of speech and the rule of law must be respected in protests at college campuses over Israel's war in Gaza. In response to a reporter's question, Biden said that the campus protests had not forced him to reconsider his policies in the Middle East.

Washington

Biden breaks silence on protests at University Campuses

From suspensions to expulsions to criminal charges, college students across the U.S. involved in these pro-Palestinian protests could face life-changing consequences. Some are demanding amnesty for these protesters.

New York

More than 1,000 student protesters arrested across U.S.

English voters are heading to polling stations to pick mayors, councilors and a new lawmaker in the last electoral test for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak before a national vote later this year.

Voters head to polls in last test for U.K.'s Sunak

The US State Department accused Russia of having used a chemical weapon against Ukrainian forces in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, while also announcing fresh sanctions against Moscow. In addition to the chemical agent chloropicrin, Russia also used "riot control agents (tear gas) as a method of warfare in Ukraine, also in violation of the CWC," the department said in a factsheet.

Zaporizhzhia

U.S. accuses Russia of using chemical weapons in Ukraine

There are grave concerns for Perth brothers Jake and Callum Robinson who are missing on a surf trip in Mexico's Baja region. The pair have failed to arrive at their accommodation and are not responding to contact from their families.

Council of the City of Sydney

Grave fears for brothers missing on Mexico surf trip

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has kept open the prospect of tax incentives in the budget as business warned that changes to foreign investment laws. It comes amid criticism that budget spending could prompt further inflation and prompt rate rises.

Government hints at further tax incentives in Budget

Colombian President Gustavo Petro says his country will break diplomatic relations with Israel. He's criticised Israel's conduct since the start of the war on Gaza. Petro requested to join South Africa's case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide.

Bogotá

Colombia ends diplomatic relations with Israel

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, pushing to get more aid into Gaza, while urging Hamas to accept a deal that would halt fighting and bring some hostages home from the enclave.

Jerusalem

Blinken pushes for sustained aid into Gaza during Israel trip

Police in Georgia fired teargas and rubber bullets at protesters demonstrating against a bill that would require organizations – including media and NGOs – that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as agents "pursuing the interests of a foreign power." The bill has been dubbed the "Russian law" by its detractors.

Tbilisi

Thousands protest against Georgia's 'foreign influence' bill

A diplomatic push is underway to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, with the U.S. exerting pressure on Hamas to agree to Israel's terms. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to attack Rafah in southern Gaza, whether there's a ceasefire or not.

Netanyahu vows to invade Rafah 'with or without' ceasefire deal

Qantas has apologised to customers after its app exposed personal passenger data. The airline blames a technical disruption and says the data breach was not a cyber security incident.

Qantas app data breach exposes customer data

The International Court of Justice has ruled against issuing emergency measures over German arms sales to Israel as requested by Nicaragua, which had argued that there was a serious risk of genocide in Gaza amid Israel’s assault on the Palestinian territory.

The Hague

ICJ rejects measures over German arms exports to Israel

New York police have entered Columbia University and arrested protesters barricaded inside a building who have been calling on the New York school to divest itself from companies associated with Israel.

Police enter Columbia University, arrest protesters

A smiling and healthy-looking King Charles returned to public duties on Tuesday (April 30) for the first time since he was diagnosed in February with cancer, paying a visit to a treatment center for the disease in London.

King Charles returns to public duties, visits cancer center

A 14-year-old boy is dead and multiple people injured after a daylight sword attack in Hainault, in east London. The alleged attacker tasered and arrested by Police shortly afterwards.

Hainault

Teenage boy killed in London sword attack

Brittany Higgins has failed in a bid to delay a defamation trial brought against her by Senator Linda Reynolds over social media posts made in July last year. Fiancé David Sharaz, also named in the case, calling for the Senator to drop the case.

Brittany Higgins fails in bid to delay defamation trial

Since taking office four months ago, Argentina's new president Javier Milei has slashed public employment in an effort to cut the country's deficit. So far, 24,000 people have been let go, and Milei has said he wants that figure to hit 70,000, about 10 percent of overall government employees.

SEE THE FULL STORY

Israel-Gaza War