9 killed in strikes in Gaza overnight, hospital says

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least nine Palestinians overnight, a hospital said Thursday, even as much of the world’s attention was focused on the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The nine people were killed in at least four separate strikes in Gaza City, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies. The hospital said the victims included two women and two children.

Footage of one of the strikes showed a massive hole in an upper floor in what appeared to be a residential apartment building. The blast blew holes through interior walls and scattered blood-stained belongings across the room and into the street.

“They say the war has stopped, but the war has not stopped,” said Walid Shbeir, the uncle of one of the men killed in the strikes, as family members sobbed over the bodies of the victims at the hospital. “Every night there is killing, and we have martyrs. Every night, in the morning, in the evening, and at night, this killing is continuous for us.”

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes. Last week, Israel killed the top Hamas military leader, two weeks after strikes that killed his predecessor.

The fatalities were the latest in the coastal enclave since an October ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than two-year war between Israel and the Palestinian militant Hamas group in Gaza. While the heaviest fighting has subsided, the shaky ceasefire has seen almost daily Israeli fire.

Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes and frequently opened fire on Palestinians near military-held zones, killing more than 936 since the ceasefire took effect, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, is generally seen as reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.

Militants have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to violations of the truce or threats to its troops. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas' October 2023 attack that killed some 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.

At least 11 international activists attempting to bring attention to Israel's blockade of Gaza have been detained in Libya for more than a week while trying to reach the territory by land, according to the Global Sumud Flotilla.

According to the Libyan media, the activists were detained in connection with illegal entry and lack of permits. The Global Sumud organizers said the participants all had valid visas.

The organization also ran a maritime flotilla earlier this spring consisting of dozens of boats, which was intercepted before reaching Gaza. Hundreds of activists were deported via Israel and Greece. Israel accused the flotilla of being a “PR stunt” carrying very little amounts of aid.

More than 200 health workers and activists have been attempting a separate route overland to reach Gaza started in Mauritania on May 15 and had been heading towards Egypt to enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing.

According to the organization, a Tunisian national was arrested on May 19, around 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Libya-Tunisia border while returning home. Another 10 people were detained on May 24 while trying to negotiate safe passage for their convoy at a checkpoint near Sitre, Libya, along the Mediterranean coast less than halfway between Tunisia and Egypt.

The organization said Libyan authorities first announced the detention of the activists, who hail from Tunisia, Argentina, Portugal, Italy, the US, Uruguay, Poland, and Spain, on May 25, and that the detention was extended another 10 days on Tuesday. The organization condemned the detentions as “unlawful” and “arbitrary.” __ Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.

Palestinians attend the funeral of their relatives who were killed in an Israeli strike, in Gaza City, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians mourn over the bodies of people killed in an Israeli strike, before their funeral in the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians attend the funeral of their relatives who were killed in an Israeli strike, in Gaza City, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians carry the bodies of people killed in an Israeli strike, during their funeral in Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A damaged apartment in a residential building is seen after an overnight Israeli strike in Gaza City, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Omar Klaub, injured in an Israeli strike, mourns beside the body of his mother, Rana, who was killed in the same attack, during her funeral at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians walk between destroyed buildings in Gaza City, Wednesday, June 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

HAVANA (AP) — On a recent afternoon in Cuba, the temperature climbed and anxiety grew among the residents of a Havana street.

Their focus was an improvised dump site on the sidewalk with rotting food scraps, torn bags, cardboard and rubble. Swarms of flies and stray cats gathered around the trash whose stench wafted on the breeze from the nearby sea.

“What you’re looking at is depressing,” lamented María Odalys Ramírez, a 63-year-old who lives across the street from the capital's iconic Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital. “The trash in this area, the flies, the rats, the filth — it’s completely unsanitary.”

For months, residents of Havana — home to 2 million of Cuba’s almost 10 million residents — have lived with piles of garbage accumulating on almost every street corner. The situation deteriorated after a U.S. energy blockade triggered power outages, water shortages and a fuel crisis that brought state-run garbage trucks to a standstill.

Without garbage collection, residents have begun burning waste in the streets, raising alarm among health officials over potentially toxic smoke.

Residents fear the coming months will bring worse conditions as summer heat intensifies and hurricane season begins.

A citywide tour by The Associated Press revealed identical scenes across Havana neighborhoods where locals said garbage trucks pass only irregularly.

In the city center and on the outskirts, cars, bicycles and pedestrians weave around the trash piles. Others pick through it, hoping to salvage something useful.

Havana as of last July was producing the equivalent of about 12 Olympic-sized swimming pools of solid waste every day, according the latest municipal figures available. Even then, municipal services collected just 57%.

The “improper management of urban solid waste” has been identified as a primary environmental challenge in Cuba's national strategy, said Odalys Goicochea, an official at the ministry of science, technology and the environment.

Now, Goicochea warned, the current garbage collection situation, combined with rising temperatures and impending rains, could worsen the situation. The heat and moisture threaten to trigger a proliferation of disease-carrying flies and mosquitoes.

The crisis has sparked citizen initiatives to clean up neighborhoods.

One is El Batazo, an initiative operating across eight Havana blocks. A collector rings a bell twice daily to pick up pre-sorted household trash, while other project members sweep the streets.

Members then sell recyclable raw materials like aluminum and glass, repurpose food scraps to feed livestock and place the remaining trash into a container for later transport to a landfill.

“The fundamental impact of this project is proving to the community that it can be done,” said Evelyn Martínez, a collaborator at El Batazo. “It is entirely possible to live in a cleaner environment, give value to what we call ‘trash' and put it to good use.”

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

A bicycle taxi driver waits for customers, next to a pile of trash in Havana, Cuba, Monday, June 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A man searches through a pile of trash for items to salvage in Havana, Cuba, Monday, June 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)