GENEVA: The Palestinian delegation won the right to fly their flag at the World Health Organisation (WHO) after a symbolic victory in a vote on Monday that its envoy hopes will lead to greater recognition within the UN and beyond.

The proposal, brought by China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and others, at the global agency`s annual assembly in Geneva passed with 95 in favour and four against Israel, Hungary, Czech Republic and Germany and 27 abstentions.

In apparent reference to the devastating Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Lebanon`s delegate Rana el-Khoury said the vote`s outcome provided `a small ray of hope for the brave Palestinian people whose suffering has reached unbearable levels`.

Israel argued against the WHO resolution and called for a vote. Its main ally, the US, did not participate.

Meanwhile, Israel has continued to carry out strikes across Gaza Strip, killing at least 52 people on Monday, 33 of them in a schoolturned-shelter.

In Gaza City, civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that an early-morning Israeli strike on the Fahmi Al-Jarjawi school, where displaced people were sheltering, killed `at least 33, with dozens injured, mostly children`.

Images shared widely on social media showed what appeared to be badly burned bodies being pulled from the rubble.

Israel`s military claimed the building was being used as a centre by Hamas and Islamic Jihad to plan and organise attacks.

Farah Nussair said the school was sheltering `civilians, children, elderly, women, and men just the tired ones who needed food and water`.

`We fled to the south, they bombed us in the south. We returned to the north, they bombed us in the north. We came to schools .... There is no security or safety, neither at schools, nor hospitals not anywhere,` she said, a child in her lap.

Another strike killed at least 19 people in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, Bassal said.

Aid group`s chief quits The development came as the head of a US-backed foundation set to supply aid in Gaza quit unexpectedly on Sunday, a day before the group was due to begin operations.

Jake wood, executive director of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation for the past two months, said he resigned because it could not adhere `to the humanitarian principles ofhumanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence`. The foundation has been boycotted by the UN and the groups supplying aid to Gaza before Israel imposed a total blockade on the enclave in March.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which would use private contractors working under Israeli security, said it would begin deliveries on Monday, with the aim of reaching one million Palestinians by the end of the week.

The Switzerland-registered foundation will screen families for involvement with Hamas, potentially using facial recognition technology, according to aid officials.

While the aid system is being worked out, the UN`s Food and Agriculture Organization said on Monday under five per cent of Gaza`s farmland is usable due to war, further exacerbating the risk of famine.

By the end of April, more than 80 per cent of the farmland was damaged and 77.8pc was no longer accessible, leaving barely 4.6pc of potentially arable land, according to a new satellite assessment released by FAO. Some 688 hectares (1,700 acres) is all that remains for cultivation, according to the assessment.

Israeli official dismisses truce proposal As Israel continues its atrocities, Hamas has agreed to a proposal by US special envoy Steve Witkoff for a Gaza ceasefire, a Palestinian official close to the group told Reuters on Monday.

The new proposal, which sees the release of ten hostages and 70 days of truce, was received by Hamas through mediators. `The proposal includes the release of ten living Israeli hostages held by Hamas in two groups in return for a 70-day ceasefire and a partial withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,` the source said.

The proposal also sees the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners by Israel, including hundreds of those serving lengthy prison terms.

However, an Israeli official dismissed the latest ceasefire proposalfrom Hamas onMonday, saying no responsible government could accept such an agreement and rejecting the assertion by Hamas that the deal matched one proposed by US special envoy Steve Witkoff. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed that Hamas was not interested in a deal.

European nations continue to pressure Israel to end the war with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday, saying he now `no longer understands` Israel`s objective in warravaged Gaza. `Honestly speaking, I no longer understand what the Israeli army is now doing in the Gaza Strip, with what goal,` Merz told public broadcaster WDR.-Agencies