By Mersiha Gadzo

    · At least 42 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks on the Shati refugee camp and the Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza, the head of Gaza’s Government Media Office told Al Jazeera.

    · The WHO says the health system in Gaza is near collapse as casualties from an Israeli attack on the al-Mawasi “safe zone” pour into Al-Aqsa Hospital.

    · Israeli tanks push deeper into western Rafah as warplanes and artillery pound the city where an armoured vehicle was destroyed by a Hamas-planted improvised explosive device.

    · At least 37,551 people have been killed and 85,911 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from the Hamas-led attacks stands at 1,139, with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza.

    Thousands ‘deprived of right to education’

    High school exams for the ongoing academic year have begun at a time when more than 800,000 students from various educational levels in the besieged coastal enclave are deprived of their right to education, Gaza’s ministry of education has said.

    Students in the Strip have been out of school since October 7, 2023, including 40,000 high school students who will not be able to sit the exams.

    “This is an unprecedented, serious violation that threatens their future and undermines their opportunities to enroll in local and foreign universities and colleges,” the ministry said.

    “Since the beginning of the war, Israel has deliberately targeted children, women and other civilians. Tens of thousands have been killed, injured, and arrested, including thousands of students and education workers,” the ministry added.

    “More than 85 percent of educational facilities were rendered out of service as a result of direct and deliberate targeting, a major challenge to efforts to resume the educational process after the war ends.

    In shadow of Gaza war, loosening gun laws allow Israeli women to buy more weapons

    The number of Israeli women applying for gun permits has soared in particular, with Ministry of National Security data saying there have been 42,000 gun permit applications by women since October 7.

    With 18,000 approved, the number of women-held licenses has more than tripled since the war began.

    The surge has been enabled by the loosening of gun laws under Israel’s right-wing government and its far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

    More than 15,000 women civilians own a firearm in Israel and the occupied West Bank, with 10,000 enrolled in mandatory training, according to the ministry.

    While the immediate trigger for the surge in gun buying was the October 7 attack, Ben-Gvir was already pledging to reform firearms legislation when he became security minister in late 2022.

    He promised to raise the number of civilians holding weapons and “increase self-defence capacity”.

    Eligibility criteria for gun ownership in Israel now include being a citizen or permanent resident over the age of 18 and having basic command of Hebrew and medical clearance.

    The full list of requirements makes it nearly impossible for non-Jews to obtain a permit.

    In March, Ben-Gvir, who is himself a settler in the occupied West Bank, hailed civilian weapon ownership passing the 100,000 mark, while showing off his own gun at a rally.