Morning update | Middle East Eye

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers.

Here are the most recent key developments:

• US-based charity Heal Palestine and other rights groups criticised the State Department’s decision to stop visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza, saying it will harm wounded children seeking medical treatment on short-term US visas.

• The United Nations Security Council has begun to debate a resolution drafted by France to extend the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon for a year, with the ultimate aim of withdrawing it.

• A ship loaded with 1,200 tons of food supplies for the Gaza Strip is approaching the port of Ashdod in southern Israel, in a renewed effort to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the enclave.

• The administration of President Donald Trump has revoked more than 6,000 student visas for overstays and breaking the law, including a small minority for “support for terrorism,” a State Department official said on Monday.

• A record 383 aid workers were killed in 2024, the United Nations said Tuesday, branding the figures and lack of accountability a “shameful indictment” of international apathy and warned this year’s toll was equally disturbing.

• Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, will exclude another six Israeli companies with connections to the West Bank and Gaza from its portfolio following an ethics review, it said on Monday.

• More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s war on Gaza.

• At least 30 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Monday, including 14 seeking aid, Al Jazeera reported.