Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza
Residents in Gaza said they will need months to rebuild their lives as they used the sixth day of a temporary truce to clear rubble from homes damaged by Israeli air strikes during seven weeks of war.
Most buildings in the Gaza Strip have been damaged by Israeli bombardment since October 7, with entire residential areas levelled.
“There is no life in Gaza, it will take a long time for us to feel normal,” Heba Nasser, a 33-year-old mother of three, told The National, as she tried to clear debris from around her house.
“We took the back way to return to our home in the north to avoid any danger. We found all the windows and doors are broken, there is glass everywhere in the house, it is no longer our home,” Ms Nasser said.
She said Gazans need “months to get back on their feet”.
For the last four days Ms Nasser has walked for several hours with her family to their home to try to clear the rubble, remove broken glass, and clean the walls.
“We are trying to make it a home again but this will take time and a lot of supplies that we don't have,” she said.
“We cannot buy windows or glass from anywhere because there is a limited supply inside Gaza so we are looking at alternatives,” Ms Nasser said.
More than 234,000 homes have been damaged and 46,000 destroyed across Gaza, according to estimates from the United Nations Protection Cluster for the Occupied Territories.
This amounts to around 60 per cent of the housing in the densely populated enclave, which was home to around 2.3 million people, many of them living in cramped conditions with some large families sharing a single room.
The northern half of Gaza has seen the most damage. Although Israeli air strikes have hit across the entire Gaza Strip, its ground offensive has focused on Gaza city and surrounding areas in the north.
A video released by the Palestinian Red Crescent on Wednesday showed scenes of destruction in the streets around the Al Quds Hospital in Gaza city.
The daily air strikes and shelling stopped on Friday, when a four-day truce between Hamas and Israel came into effect. The truce was extended on Monday for two days.
The pause in fighting has provided the people of Gaza with much-needed relief and an opportunity to find loved ones and try to get essential goods.
During the first days of the truce, residents in the southern Gaza Strip scrambled to secure necessities, including food and clothing.
There have been long queues for fuel and many have resorted to using firewood, because of the lack of gas and electricity for cooking.
Despite an increase in aid entering the enclave under the truce deal, the UN has warned that many Gazans still face crucial shortages of food, clean water, and medicines.
More than 15,000 people, mainly civilians, have been killed in Gaza, say Palestinian authorities, since the war began after Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people.
Match info
Manchester United 1 (Van de Beek 80') Crystal Palace 3 (Townsend 7', Zaha pen 74' & 85')
Man of the match Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace)
How to report a beggar
Abu Dhabi – Call 999 or 8002626 (Aman Service)
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Ras Al Khaimah - Call 072053372
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Umm Al Quwain – Call 999
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Baby Driver
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Lily James
Three and a half stars
The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm
Games on BeIN Sports
Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
The Beach Bum
Director: Harmony Korine
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg
Two stars
The Intruder
Director: Deon Taylor
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Michael Ealy, Meagan Good
One star
Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.
But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.
Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.
So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.
Rory Reynolds
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday Celta Vigo v Villarreal (midnight kick-off UAE)
Saturday Sevilla v Real Sociedad (4pm), Atletico Madrid v Athletic Bilbao (7.15pm), Granada v Barcelona (9.30pm), Osasuna v Real Madrid (midnight)
Sunday Levante v Eibar (4pm), Cadiz v Alaves (7.15pm), Elche v Getafe (9.30pm), Real Valladolid v Valencia (midnight)
Monday Huesca v Real Betis (midnight)
