Israeli troops have continued their offensives across Gaza, deploying tank fire, artillery bombardment and airstrikes against Hamas militants in the most intensive round of fighting for weeks.

In the far south of the devastated territory on Monday, witnesses reported helicopter strikes and street battles in Rafah as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) consolidated their hold on neighbourhoods east of the strategic Salah al-Din road, which bisects the city.

In the north, the IDF advanced into Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya, both areas in which fierce battles were fought early in the seven-month war.

Officials estimate that as many as 500,000 people have fled Rafah since being told to evacuate by the IDF before their first attacks around and in the city a week ago. Roads heading north and west are choked with cars, trucks, trolleys and pony carts laden with people and their possessions.

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The Israeli military has launched a new wave of attacks across the Gaza Strip, similar in intensity to the peak of its seven-month war on the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Heavy air strikes were reported across the strip over the weekend and on Monday, with attacks since Friday killing at least 180 Palestinians and wounding dozens more, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The raids coincided with incursions into Jabalia in northern Gaza, the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City and eastern Rafah.

The ground advances have been met with fierce resistance by Hamas and other Palestinian groups, with at least five Israeli soldiers killed over the weekend, the Israeli military said.

Another 68 have been wounded over the past 48 hours, including Yogev Bar Sheshet, a brigadier general and deputy defence establishment comptroller, the most senior Israeli officer wounded in the war so far.

In the past three days, Russian troops, backed by fighter jets, artillery and lethal drones, have poured across Ukraine’s northeastern border and seized at least nine villages and settlements, and more territory per day than at almost any other point in the war, save the very beginning.

The Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has for years overseen a secret police force in Gaza that conducted surveillance on everyday Palestinians and built files on young people, journalists and those who questioned the government, according to intelligence officials and a trove of internal documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The unit, known as the General Security Service, relied on a network of Gaza informants, some of whom reported their own neighbors to the police. People landed in security files for attending protests or publicly criticizing Hamas. In some cases, the records suggest that the authorities followed people to determine if they were carrying on romantic relationships outside marriage.

Hamas has long run an oppressive system of governance in Gaza, and many Palestinians there know that security officials watch them closely. But a 62-slide presentation on the activities of the General Security Service, delivered only weeks before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, reveals the degree to which the largely unknown unit penetrated the lives of Palestinians.

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Everyday Gazans were stuck — behind the wall of Israel’s crippling blockade and under the thumb and constant watch of a security force. That dilemma continues today, with the added threat of Israeli ground troops and airstrikes.

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As more employees work from home in the hybrid-work era, many companies are finding they need smaller offices. Compared to pre-pandemic floorplans designed to house as many workers as possible, more businesses are looking towards more compact but higher-quality spaces for the future.

According to figures from global commercial real estate firm JLL, 48% of clients in major markets, including the UK, Germany and France are seeking to decrease their footprints in the next three to five years as a result. "Our clients are working out what to do with the space they've got by analysing data from recent years to come up with long-term plans," says Stephanie Hyde, CEO UK and CEO EMEA Markets at JLL. "In addition, many leases are expiring, companies are pressing ahead to meet sustainability agendas and they're focusing on getting hybrid working right."

This imminent corporate downsizing is set to have huge ramifications for the real estate industry. As more leases end, experts anticipate a tidal wave of available commercial space on the market. According to March 2024 data from workplace research firm Leesman, total space reductions could reach 40% across its global client base of 766 firms. Projected onto central London, if the same proportion of the city's occupiers opt to reduce their footprints, this corporate downsize would be the equivalent to 56.6 million sq ft (5.26 million sq m) of office space.

Protests in Georgia have continued in a last-ditch effort to prevent the passing of a controversial law.

After an overnight standoff with protesters outside parliament in Tbilisi, security forces pulled out from the main square on Monday morning.

Critics of the governing Georgian Dream party say the foreign influence bill - which they describe as the "Russia law" - could be used to stifle dissent.

The bill - now due to go for its third and final reading - targets civil society organisations and independent media that receive foreign funding.

The European Commission has expressed anger over a ban on EU flags at the Eurovision Song Contest and demands explanations.

The allegations, made by several spectators who attended the Grand Final on Saturday and were told off for carrying the flags, quickly turned viral and prompted a stern rebuke from Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas.

"Eurovision is first and foremost a celebration of European spirit, of our European diversity and talent. The EU flag is a symbol of this," Schinas said on X on Saturday evening.

"Less than a month to the European elections, there should be no obstacles, big or small, to celebrating what unites all Europeans."

Thousands of Canadians have been ordered to leave their homes in Fort Nelson, British Columbia due to the threat of a wildfire.

The blaze began on Friday night and was described by officials as "exhibiting extreme fire behaviour".

Wildfires have also led to evacuation alerts and orders in the neighbouring province of Alberta. 

The Canadian government has warned this year's weather conditions would mean a greater wildfire risk in the country.

The Parker Lake fire, as it's been called by the British Columbia Wildfire Service (BCWS), was 8sq km (3 sq miles) in size as of Saturday morning after growing rapidly overnight.

The designation could allow Germany's intelligence agency to surveil and investigate members of the far-right party. The AfD says it plans to appeal the ruling.

A higher regional court in western Germany rejected on Monday an appeal by the  Alternative for Germany (AfD) party against its classification as a "suspected" far-right extremist organization.

The judges at the court in Münster said the designation was appropriate and did not violate the constitution or European law.

"The court finds there is sufficient evidence that the AfD pursues goals that run against the human dignity of certain groups and against democracy," they wrote.

Letter sent to defence minister and IDF chief says assault on city ‘appears to be nothing short of recklessness’

The parents of more than 900 Israeli soldiers deployed in Gaza have signed a letter urging the military to call off an offensive in Rafah, calling it a “deadly trap” for their children.

“It is evident to anyone with common sense that after months of warnings and announcements regarding an incursion into Rafah, there are forces on the other side actively preparing to strike our troops,” says the letter, sent on 2 May.

“Our sons are physically and mentally exhausted,” adds the letter, addressed to the defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi. “And now, you intend to send them into this perilous situation? … This appears to be nothing short of recklessness.”

The letter was initially signed by the parents of about 600 soldiers but in recent days the parents of another 300 have signed it.

Students from China and Hong Kong living in Europe and North America are being repressed by the government in Beijing, according to a new Amnesty International report. Students in Germany have also been affected.

Students from China and Hong Kong who are studying at European or North American universities may be far away from home, but they are also menacingly within reach of their home governments. The message we get, Chinese student Rowan* told the human rights organization Amnesty International is: "You are being watched, and though we are on the other side of the planet, we can still reach you."

Rowan is one of 32 students Amnesty interviewed for its report entitled "On My Campus, I Am Afraid." Researchers sought to document China's transnational repression at universities and spoke with Chinese students in eight countries: Belgium, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada and the United States. The real names of all individuals and universities have been withheld in order to protect their identities.

Foreign secretary’s call comes after group releases video of British-Israeli hostage it says died after being wounded in Israeli airstrike

David Cameron has urged the BBC to describe Hamas as a terrorist organisation, reviving an accusation that the corporation shies away from a valid description of the Islamist group that is holding Israeli hostages.

The UK foreign secretary told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that the organisation should reconsider its guidelines in light of a video released by Hamas showing the British-Israeli hostage Nadav Popplewell, who the group said had died in Gaza.

Hamas released a statement on Saturday saying the 51-year-old had died after being wounded in an Israeli airstrike a month ago. The video showed him with a black eye.

Water-rich Switzerland controls Western Europe’s taps — and wants it to stay that way. Its drought-ridden neighbors are getting nervous.

At the western edge of Lake Geneva, where the mighty Rhône river squeezes through a narrow dam, a blunder of French diplomacy is carved into stone for all to see. 

The inscription, mounted on the walls of an old industrial building, commemorates the 1884 accord between three Swiss cantons that have regulated the water levels of this vast Alpine lake ever since. It does not mention France — even though some 40 percent of the lake is French territory. 

“France, for some reason, wasn’t part of the contract,” said Jérôme Barras as he unlocked a gate below the epigraph to inspect a hydropower plant under the dam he has managed for more than a decade. 

When the agreement was renewed and a new dam was built a century later, Paris still wasn’t interested. 

The French government now regrets that.

…

And France has suddenly realized it can’t control that tap as it battles water shortages, destructive droughts and baking heat.

European Public Prosecutor’s Office says budget move means it may no longer be able to focus on its investigative operations.

Top European prosecutors — who are investigating allegations of criminal wrongdoing in connection with vaccine negotiations between Ursula von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer — are now threatening the European Commission with legal action.

On April 9, Laura Codruța Kövesi, who heads the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) — tasked with investigating serious financial crimes affecting the EU’s interests — took the unusual step of launching a so-called “amicable settlement procedure” with the Commission. This is the last legal step before litigation and if no agreement can be found, the fight could go as high as the EU’s General Court.

The prosecutors fear they will be unable to do their job properly if the Commission goes through with a plan to squeeze its budget — a move that was announced in February and came as a surprise, EPPO claims.

Ahead of the European Parliament elections in June, fake news is becoming increasingly prevalent online. DW Fact Check explores four examples of how cybercriminals are spreading disinformation.

• A US commander appeared to suggest UK special forces were operating in Ukraine.
• Gen. Bryan Fenton told The AP that the US was "taking a lot of lessons" from UK special forces in Ukraine.
• The UK Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the report.

A US commander has appeared to suggest that UK special forces were operating in Ukraine.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Gen. Bryan Fenton, the Commander of US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), spoke about plans to restructure Green Beret teams based on lessons from British special forces in Ukraine.

"A 12-person detachment might be up-gunned," Fenton said, explaining that as warfare becomes more high-tech, there may be a need for teams to have a cyber expert, an Air Force pilot, or a cryptologist, for example.

Sergei Shoigu, who has served as defence minister since 2012, will be moved to another role as Vladimir Putin makes some changes to his top team. Parliament's approval of the new appointments are all but guaranteed, as there is virtually no opposition.

…

The shuffle could also be seen as an attempt by Mr Putin to scrutinise defence spending after a Shoigu ally, deputy defence minister Timur Ivanov, was accused by state prosecutors of taking a bribe.

But the changes make sense, Mr Peskov claims, because Russia is approaching a situation like the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s, when the military and law enforcement authorities accounted for 7.4% of spending.

Former MI6 intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who ran the Russia desk between 2006 and 2009, told Sky News he takes Mr Peskov's words "with a pinch of salt".

"It seems to me that probably the reason he's chosen Belousov is because he's not really any kind of player in the system or any sort of threat to Putin," he added.

He also said Mr Patrushev's appointment may hint at instability "right underneath him in the top leadership".

"It was clear to most of us Russia-watchers for some time that Patrushev was lining up his son, Dmitry, who's the current agriculture minister, to be Putin's successor as president," he said.

The University of Cambridge's wealthiest constituent college, Trinity College Cambridge, has decided to divest from all arms companies, Middle East Eye can reveal.

MEE has learnt from three well-informed sources close to Trinity's student union that the college council, responsible for major financial and other decisions, voted to remove Trinity's investments from arms companies in early March.

According to the sources, the college decided not to announce that it would divest from arms companies after an activist defaced a 1914 portrait of Lord Arthur Balfour - who authored the infamous Balfour Declaration - inside the college on 8 March.

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