World Today: Israeli Military Ordered to Seize 70% of Gaza Territory
World Today returns with reports from around the world over the past 24 hours.
The main report in Friday’s edition, 29 May 2026, comes from Israel.
Israeli military ordered to seize more Gaza territory
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israeli military to seize more Gaza territory, starting with controlling 70% of Palestinian land.
‘We were at 60 [percent], we moved to 60. My directive is to keep moving forward, step by step,’ Netanyahu said yesterday (28/05).
Israel controls approximately 64% of Gaza, now destroyed after two years of Israeli military attacks following Hamas’ 2023 assault on southern Israel.
Under a US-mediated ceasefire in October, which failed to stop Israeli attacks, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw to their control boundaries.
Reuters reported that Israel has unilaterally moved concrete blocks marking the boundaries into Hamas-held areas.
At least 16 killed in Kenya girls’ school fire
A fire at a girls’ secondary school dormitory in Kenya’s Rift Valley has killed at least 16 students.
Education Minister Julius Migos said the fire broke out just after midnight on Thursday at Utumishi Girls’ Academy in Gilgil, Kenya, and burned for over two hours.
He added that 79 other students aged 15 to 18 were injured, with 71 discharged from hospital.
‘Investigations are ongoing, but the cause of the fire remains unknown,’ Migos said.
Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen urged the public not to speculate on the fire’s cause.
Austrian court sentences Taylor Swift attack plotter
An Austrian court sentenced a man to 15 years in prison for planning an attack on Taylor Swift’s Vienna concert nearly two years ago.
The Wiener Neustadt district court found the 21-year-old Austrian national, known only as Beran A, guilty of charges related to the concert.
The attack plot was thwarted, but Austrian authorities still cancelled three of Swift’s August 2024 performances.
His defence lawyer stated he pleaded guilty to the concert attack charges on the first day of last month’s trial.
In his final statement to the court before proceedings were adjourned for deliberation on Thursday, Beran A said: ‘I just want to say I’m sorry’.
Jannik Sinner’s French Open exit
Jannik Sinner’s French Open campaign ended after the world number one was unexpectedly defeated in the second round by Juan Manuel Cerndolo.
Sinner lost to the 56th-ranked Cerndolo 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 in a result that stunned Parisian spectators.
He failed to finish two matches, including when trailing 5-1 in the third set.
Cerndolo won 18 of the last 20 games, becoming the first man to eliminate the top seed before the third round at Roland-Garros since 2000.
Sinner appeared fatigued, bending over multiple times and barely chasing balls during the match.