LIVE UPDATES – 28/06/2024 (Day-265)
Disclaimer: Independent Press takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments on the Israel-Palestine conflict. However, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.
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- At least 37,765 people have been killed and 86,429 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the Hamas-led attacks stands at 1,139 with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza.
- Gaza’s civil defence agency says three of its medics were killed by Israeli aircraft and 12 others wounded while they carried out rescue efforts in central Bureij refugee camp.
- Residents in Gaza City are “running through the streets in terror” with dead and wounded left lying on the ground after Israel’s army attacked the eastern Shujayea neighbourhood.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran is “fighting us from seven fronts” using regional armed groups, warning “whoever does such a thing to us simply won’t be here“.
- UNICEF says Israel agreed to restore power at a key desalination plant in southern Khan Younis, which could meet minimum needs of nearly one million people desperate for potable water.
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Woman injured by live ammunition shrapnel in occupied West Bank
According to the sources, the settlers launched an assault on the residents of Madama, firing live ammunition. They also physically assaulted another civilian during the attack.
Israeli forces also physically assaulted three civilians in the Fatayer neighbourhood in Nablus causing injuries, security sources told Wafa.
Palestinian documents first moments after Israeli forces bomb a house
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Hamas movement remmains, Israeli brigadier general says
He added that destroying Hamas’ tunnels is a complex operation that will last six months and requires a presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, also known as the Salah al-Din Axis, a buffer zone that Egypt oversees from its side of the border.
Seven bodies recovered in Shujayea following Israeli bombing
They added that two Palestinians were killed and five others were wounded when Israeli bombing targeted Palestinians near the Shujayea market.
More destruction ‘beyond imagination’ across Gaza
The scale of destruction is beyond imagination, as Israel has carried out strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight.
Our sources on the ground say that the Israeli military has been scaling up attacks in central Gaza, where we are right now in Deir el-Balah. At least five Palestinians, including a girl, have been killed in two strikes targeting two houses. Those two buildings were attacked without any prior warning from the Israeli military.
The Israeli military has also targeted the main headquarters of the civil defence crews in Bureij refugee camp. At least three rescuers were killed.
The Israeli army has also been attacking southern Gaza in the al-Mawasi area, specifically the part adjacent to Rafah district, where a number of casualties and deaths have been reported.
There, a sudden advancement of Israeli tanks forced dozens of families to flee to Deir el-Balah searching for shelter.
Israeli court gives gov’t one month to respond to petition demanding a probe: Report
Israeli settlers damage Palestinian home northeast of Ramallah: Report
Local sources said a group of settlers hurled stones and other objects at Mohammad Rabi’ Jabara’s home causing damage to windows, glass, and CCTV cameras installed on the property.
Journalist Hafez Abu Samra shared a video of the attack on Instagram. The video has been verified by Sanad, Al Jazeera’s fact-checking team.
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Israel aims to ‘pursue the war of genocide’, says PLO member
As we reported earlier, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the plan and said the government would also take punitive steps against the Palestinian Authority (PA) in response to moves against Israel internationally.
Asked about Smotrich’s statement, Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), said the settlements were “illegal colonies that violate all international resolutions”.
“The decisions by the occupation government aim to pursue the war of genocide against our Palestinian people,” he told the Reuters news agency.
He said the PLO and the PA would continue to press for Israel to be taken before international courts and punished for “crimes against our people, and in particular in the Gaza Strip.”
Smotrich’s comments have yet to be confirmed by Netanyahu.
Israeli forces detain eight people in the occupied West Bank: Report
In Tulkarm, the four brothers were detained while Israeli forces were raiding their family home in the city – they were identified as Ahmad, Mohammad, Ali, and Hamza Ghazzawi.
Following a raid in the town of Yatta, in Hebron, Israeli soldiers arrested a Palestinian youth.
In the nearby town of Idhna, a resident was also arrested after Israeli forces searched his home.
In Nablus, Israeli forces carried out arrests in the early hours of the morning in the village of Burqa.
Local sources confirmed to Wafa that military vehicles stormed the village, positioning snipers on rooftops and surrounding a specific house.
Soldiers also raided other houses in the village, arresting two residents.
Creating illegal settlements ‘a convenient excuse for Smotrich’ to get what he wants
“There are five countries that committed this mistake, so we will establish five settlements. This is our response,” he said in a video.
Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah, says this is “a convenient excuse for Smotrich to get what he wanted out of the government agenda passed”.
More importantly, he revoked administration powers from the Palestinian Authority (PA) in about 25 percent of the occupied West Bank covering 440 Palestinian villages and transferred that power to himself, she said.
Israel controls construction, zoning and planning for Palestinians in that territory. The Israeli cabinet also adopted measures against Palestinian officials, saying that some might be expelled or have their movement restricted.
“In exchange for gaining all of that – which was a personal victory for Smotrich – he has released some of the Palestinian tax funds that he’s been holding captive since May, allowing the PA to breathe a little bit easier,” Odeh said.
“It’s still technically on financial life support, but now it will continue to have a chance at the ICU, if you will.”
Mapping 7,400 cross-border attacks between Israel and Lebanon
Al Jazeera’s Interactive team have mapped out all the attacks between Israel and Hezbollah over the past nine months.
According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), Israel, Hezbollah, and other armed groups in Lebanon exchanged at least 7,400 attacks across the border from October 7, 2023, to June 21, 2024.
Israel conducted about 83 percent of these attacks, totalling 6,142 incidents, killing at least 543 people in Lebanon.
Hezbollah and other armed groups were responsible for 1,258 attacks that killed at least 21 Israelis.
Rights groups sue Netherlands again over F-35 parts to Israel
In a landmark verdict in February, an appeals court ordered the Netherlands to stop delivering parts for fighter jets used by Israel in its offensive in the Gaza Strip.
The court said at the time there was a “clear risk” the planes would be involved in breaking international humanitarian law.
But the rights groups are returning to court, saying that the ban has not prevented the parts ending up in Israeli planes.
“Unfortunately, everything indicates that these parts end up in Israel from the Netherlands via other routes,” said Oxfam Novib, one of the groups involved in the case.
The Dutch government “has continued delivering (parts) to other countries, including the United States. And that contravenes the order of the court,” Liesbeth Zegveld, a lawyer representing the rights groups, told the court.
Israeli army confirms Shujayea operation
“The troops began their targeted activity in the area of Shujayea during the day. Overnight, they started to conduct targeted raids in the area,” the army wrote on Telegram in a situational update.
It added that the air force also hit “dozens of Hamas terrorist infrastructure sites” in the area.
Separately in the northern Gaza Strip, the army said it conducted several strikes and said “dozens of terrorists who were hiding in UNRWA schools and facilities were eliminated”.
In Deir el-Balah, fighter jets targeted a structure that Hamas fighters were allegedly using and said the group were operating from a humanitarian area.
To mitigate the casualties, the army said it took a “number of steps” before the strike, including evacuating civilians and using precise munition.
Legalisation of outposts is ‘de-facto annexation’, says Israeli minister
“The government of Israel is advancing de-facto annexation of millions of Palestinians to our territory,” Golan says on X.
“This annexation will harm the security of our citizens, the future of our children, and will bring about the end of the Zionist dream.”
As we reported earlier, far-right ministers are celebrating the news of the legalisation of the outposts, which is yet to be confirmed by Netanyahu or his office.
Israeli bombing continues in Shujayea
Civil defence teams are unable to reach the injured in the neighbourhood due to continued Israeli bombing, he said.
Incident reported northwest of Yemen’s Hodeidah
UKMTO said the ship reported no damage from the incident and was heading northward.
More than 625,000 children out of school for more than eight months: UNRWA
It said 300,000 of them were UNRWA students before the war, on a post on X.
“Play and learning activities provided by UNRWA teams are critical in preparing children to get back to school and restore their right to education.”
Israeli forces prevented civil defence from responding to 23 emergency calls
“We are also denied access to many of the ravaged areas simply for being cordoned by the Israeli tanks as well as opening fire on our teams,” he told Al Jazeera.
Last night, they received 23 emergency calls from the al-Shakoush neighbourhood but could not help anyone as Israeli forces denied them access.
Due to a lack of fuel, the civil defence has lost more than 80 percent of its capabilities, al-Moghayyar added.
On Thursday four of their vehicles were completely destroyed in the Israeli bombardment of Nuseirat refugee camp. All the ambulance teams and light vehicles the crew has are out of operation, he said.
If you’re just joining us
- At least 11 people have been killed and 40 others injured in Israeli bombing on al-Mawasi, medical sources have told Al Jazeera.
- Residents of the Shujayea neighbourhood in Gaza City describe the Israeli ground assault on their area as “a surprise attack”, with soldiers and tanks entering from several directions and ordering civilians to evacuate.
- Israel says its fighter jets bombed two locations in southern Lebanon overnight.
- Israeli forces have arrested Palestinians in Burqa near Nablus and Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank.
- In a survey of more than 1,000 Palestinian families displaced from Rafah, the Norwegian Refugee Council says 83 percent have reported having no access to food.
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At least 11 killed, 40 injured in Israeli bombing on al-Mawasi
Al-Mawasi shelters displaced people near Gaza’s southern city of Rafah.
‘Lack of real vision’ in ending the conflict for both Democrats and Republicans in US
“The focus of the discussion was not on a Palestinian state per se – it was one supporting Israel and the best way to support Israel,” he told Al Jazeera.
“For both candidates, there’s a lack of real vision to end this conflict. It’s a very shallow discussion that does not have ending the conflict in the centre of it.”
He added that the US’s policies are so aligned to Israel’s interests that Palestinians should turn to the “great global momentum” of solidarity and the increasing wave of [state] recognitions for support instead of waiting for the US to embrace a new position.
Photos: Struggle to keep children cool as temperature climbs in tent camps
Far-right Israelis celebrate claim that illegal outposts will be legalised
Earlier, we reported that Smotrich said in a Thursday statement that the government will support the formalisation of the illegal West Bank settlements, as well as punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority in response to its diplomacy on the international stage critical of Israel.
“I congratulate my friend Smotrich for leading the move, which I had the honour of co-initiating and taking part in preparing,” Orit Strock, settlements and national projects minister with Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, posted on X.
The head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, also said that the move was a “Zionist decision and a strong message of victory”. The head of the Binyamin Regional Council, Israel Gantz, also hailed the decision as a measure “that strengthens the State of Israel”.
There has been no official confirmation of Smotrich’s claims from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
At least 11 killed in past few hours: Medical official
He said medical teams are providing services with difficulty due to the continued closure of the Rafah border crossing since May 7.
Trump calls Biden a ‘bad Palestinian’ in presidential debate
“But they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian; he’s a weak one,” Trump said.
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US invites Israeli, Arab foreign ministers to NATO summit: Report
Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are among the Arab invitees.
The US has also invited foreign ministers from more than 30 countries, including Japan, Australia and South Korea, partly in an effort to head off possible tensions over its invitation to Israel, according to the FT.
“Secretary-General Stoltenberg has invited heads of state and government of all 32 allies, plus the leaders of our Indo-Pacific partners,” the FT said, citing an unnamed NATO official.
Survey captures snapshot of suffering in Gaza: Norwegian refugee agency
- 83 percent reported having no access to food.
- 57 percent had no access to clean water.
- Almost none had access to a latrine.
- 52 percent reported having no access to dignified shelter.
- Nine people on average were sharing a single temporary shelter.
“Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing famine like conditions,” NRC Secretary-General Jan Egeland said in a post on social media.
Egeland said families are without food, children are wasting away, and people have resorted to preparing meals using “tree leaves or animal fodder”.
“NRC staff in Gaza are seeing the appalling impact of hunger across the besieged and devastated densely populated area,” he said.
Israeli forces kill three civil defence members in Nuseirat
Israeli forces arrest Palestinians from Burqa in Nablus: Report
The report said Israeli army snipers occupied the rooftops of houses in the village while its soldiers surrounded one of the houses.
WHO chief welcomes evacuation of child patients from Gaza
The evacuation of the 21 children on Thursday, the first since Israel closed the Rafah crossing in May, was conducted in coordination with the WHO and three American charities.
“We appeal for facilitated medical evacuation via all possible routes, including Rafah and Karem Shalom, to Egypt, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and from there to other countries when needed,” Tedros said in a post on X.
Israeli forces return to Shujayea area for third time: Monitors
The operation is the third by Israeli forces since October to “clear” the neighbourhood of Palestinian fighters, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) note, as Hamas continues to “exploit” the weakness of Israel’s “raid-based model” of operations in Gaza.
Hamas has preserved its forces and engaged in “reconstitution efforts” despite the raids, the ISW/CTP say in their latest report.
The US-based defence think tanks also said that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fighters carried out several attacks with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and antitank rocket-propelled grenades against Israeli forces in Shujayea on Thursday.
Palestinian armed groups also fired mortars and rockets at Israeli troops deployed along the Netzarim Corridor, located south of Gaza City, and four rocket attacks were launched from Gaza towards Israeli territory on Thursday.
Israeli military arrests four brothers in Tulkarem
Israeli forces stormed the city and raided the brothers’ house, who they have named as Hamza, Ahmed, Muhammad, and Ali al-Ghazawi.
LISTEN: Israel targets Rafah area; pressure mounts on Israeli PM
At least four people have also been killed and dozens injured in an Israeli attack on Gaza’s costal al-Mawasi area, and heavy shelling has been reported in other areas of the south.
Listen to the Al Jazeera podcast report:
Israel says fighter jets bombed southern Lebanon overnight
Aerial video footage of the night time attacks showed at least four air strikes on sites that the Israeli military said were linked to Hezbollah.
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If you’re just joining us
- The Israeli military has carried out two attacks in the city of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, killing at least four people, the Wafa news agency reports.
- The $230m aid pier, built off Gaza’s coast by the US military, could be removed yet again due to expected rough sea conditions, AP reports.
- Joe Biden and Donald Trump have squared off in the first US presidential debate, with Palestinian suffering and Israel’s brutal campaign in Gaza receiving little mention.
- During the debate, Trump said Biden was “like a Palestinian” due to his supposed lack of support for Israel’s war on Gaza, while Biden falsely claimed that every party but Hamas has agreed to his ceasefire proposal.
Israeli troops feel ‘entitled’ to abuse Palestinian civilians, says military veterans
In a series of posts on social media, the advocacy group said the recent incident where Israeli soldiers tied a wounded, innocent, Palestinian civilian to the bonnet of their military vehicle demonstrated how Israeli troops feel “entitled” to carry out such abuses.
“This entitlement can also be seen in Gaza in countless TikToks posted by soldiers where they are seen looting and defacing property,” the group said.
“The soldiers didn’t need direct orders in order to dehumanize an innocent injured man by tying him to the hood of a vehicle,” they said.
“Decades of corrupting occupation have brought us to the point where incidents like these have become an inevitability in the occupied territories.”
Israeli military orders Palestinians to evacuate Shujayea
The ongoing attacks in Shujayea, which has suffered waves of Israeli bombardment in recent days, are making it impossible for rescuers to reach injured people in the area, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence.
Gaza war suffering receives little attention from Trump, Biden in debate
While debate hosts Dana Bash and Jake Tapper mentioned that “thousands” of Palestinians had been killed and the onset of famine conditions in Gaza due to Israel’s persistent blockage of aid, the mass destruction of Gaza went unaddressed by the candidates.
Biden falsely claimed that every party but Hamas has agreed to his ceasefire proposal. Trump said Biden has become “like a Palestinian” and retorted that Israel should be allowed to “finish the job” in Gaza.
“That comment was very blatantly racist,” Ayah Ziyadeh, director of American Muslims for Palestine, told Al Jazeera in a TV interview. “Using Palestinian as a slur shows the depths of racism that exists here,” Ziyadeh said.
Biden and Trump ‘not fit to represent’ US’s Palestinian and Arab communities: Analyst
“Israel’s genocide in Gaza has become a focal point of this election. Not only are Muslim and Arab Americans deciding that they don’t want to commit to Biden or re-elect him because of his continued stance and fuelling of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. But the broader American public has also shifted and it’s become one of the biggest issues that is impacting the coming elections,” Ziyadeh told Al Jazeera.
“Right now, it seems that most of our communities are going after uncommitted or they just don’t want to vote because we are presented with two candidates that are just not fit to represent us, both as Palestinians and also as Americans,” Ziyadeh said.
“One is blatantly racist. Wants to deport all of us. And said that President Biden isn’t, essentially, being genocidal enough and that he should let Israel finish off its war on Gaza. And the current president has been consciously and willingly, politically and financially, backing an evident genocide in Gaza,” she said.
“There is no lesser than two evils here,” she added.
“The card we are being dealt with as voters and as Americans is frankly unfair.”
Israeli military announces death of soldier in Gaza
The deceased was a 19-year-old sergeant in the Nahal Brigade’s 931st Battalion.
Israeli military figures show that at least 667 of its soldiers have been killed and almost 4,000 injured since October 7.
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Trump dodges question about Palestinian statehood in US presidential debate
“I’d have to see,” he said, before launching into a rant about US defence spending on NATO.
Earlier we reported that Trump said Biden had “become like a Palestinian” and accused the US president of preventing Israel from “finishing the job” against Hamas in Gaza.
Israel steps up attacks on residential areas of central, northern Gaza
On Wednesday, Israeli forces also killed at least 32 Palestinians as they targeted the Jabalia refugee camp, leaving families fleeing as the bombardment intensified.
US military’s Gaza air pier looks set for removal again: Report
Two US officials told the AP that the pier will be removed again and Washington is looking at alternative ways to get aid into Gaza.
If the pier is moved later today, it would be the third time weather has disrupted its short-lived operations.
The floating pier was anchored back on Gaza’s shoreline on June 19 after heavy seas and high winds led the military to disconnect it from the beach. In May, similar conditions forced a two-week pause in operations.
The UN and its agencies halted humanitarian aid distribution from the pier pending the release of a security review following claims it may have played a role in a bloody Israeli operation on June 8 to free captives that left hundreds of civilians dead in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Trump says Biden has ‘become like a Palestinian’ in presidential debate
“[Biden] said the only one who wants to keep [fighting the war] is Hamas, actually Israel is the one. And you should let them go and finish the job,” Trump said.
“[Biden] doesn’t want to do it, he’s become like a Palestinian. But they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian, he’s a weak one,” he added.
Israel must give international observers access to ‘the Gaza ghetto’: UN expert
In a post on social media, Albanese questioned what Israel was so “afraid of” that it has cut the war-torn enclave off from international observers. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague has already called on Israel to provide access to Gaza, Albanese said.
“This is what the [ICJ] has requested and should have happened already,” she said.
Several countries have joined South Africa’s case at the ICJ accusing Israeli forces of perpetrating genocide in Gaza.
Smotrich claims cabinet approved legalisation for occupied West Bank ‘outposts’: Report
The outposts – meaning illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian land built without official permission – that are reportedly set to be legalised are:
- Evyatar in the north of the occupied West Bank
- Sde Efraim and Givat Asaf in the centre of the occupied West Bank
- Heletz and Adorayim in the south of the occupied West Bank
Earlier, we reported that Smotrich said in a Thursday statement that the government will support illegal West Bank settlements as well as punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority in response to Palestinian diplomacy on the international stage critical of Israel.
There has been no official confirmation of Smotrich’s claims from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Photos: Pro-Palestine protesters gather in Atlanta for first US presidential debate
Israeli forces arrest 28 Palestinians in night of raids across the occupied West Bank
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said the overnight and early morning raids on Thursday – part of Israel’s now daily and increasingly violent assault on Palestinian communities in the occupied territories – targeted the governorates of Jenin, Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah and el-Bireh, Nablus and Jerusalem.
Palestinians flee barrage of Israeli attacks in Gaza City
Anti-Netanyahu protesters say demonstrations to continue until change of government
Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government
Antigovernment demonstrations continued in West Jerusalem and the city of Caesarea outside of the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Protest organisers coined Thursday as a day of strikes and resistance, and they say they are going to continuously protest every single day until there is a change within Israel’s government.
On Thursday morning, demonstrators blocked major roads throughout Israel as they want to see a change within Israel’s government. But that’s not all they are asking for: They also want to see a deal to bring back the remaining Israeli captives.
Protesters say that Netanyahu’s government is neither capable nor interested in accepting a deal that would see the release of the remaining 120 Israeli captives still held in Gaza.
Large demonstrations are also expected across the country on Saturday in places like Tel Aviv, the north, and West Jerusalem.
Protesters say that these types of demonstrations are the only way to up the pressure on Netanyahu and his government.
Deaths of three civil defence members confirmed following Israeli attack on Bureij
The Israeli military “directly targeted” the victims while they were “at their workplace”, according to Wafa.
Earlier, we reported that Gaza’s civil defence agency said its rescuers were hit by fire from an Israeli warplane while carrying out “their humanitarian work”.
The agency also issued a statement on Thursday warning that it is running out of fuel and its rescue missions “may stop at any moment”.
At least 4 dead in separate Israeli attacks in Deir el-Balah
Israeli fighter jets bombed a house in the al-Baraka area of Deir el-Balah, killing one woman and a child and injuring others – including children.
Two people were also killed when the Israeli military bombed a house in a separate attack on al-Beeah Street in the city.
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US to release part of stalled heavy bomb shipment to Israel: Reports
The US is expected to soon release approximately 1,700 500-pound bombs from the shipment that has been suspended since May following worries about harm to Palestinian civilians should the Israeli military use such explosives in its attack on Rafah city, Axios reports.
The consignment will be released when Israel’s operation in Rafah ends in about two weeks, the news site reports.
US and Israeli officials also said that the Biden administration is still reviewing the shipment’s consignment of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs.
The issue of the stalled shipment was discussed this week during a visit to Washington by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, an unnamed US official told the Reuters news agency.
The solution reached “was to separate the 500-lb bombs from the rest of the shipment, which includes the 2,000-lb bombs that are still on hold”, Axios reports.
Israel’s war on Gaza in numbers
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A recap of recent developments
- Israeli forces have launched a surprise ground assault on Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood with at least seven people killed and dozens wounded.
- A Palestinian girl has died of malnutrition in the Kamal Adwan Hospital, joining dozens of other children who have suffered the same fate during the war, according to Reuters.
- The UN Security Council has approved a resolution demanding Yemen’s Houthi rebels halt all attacks on ships in the Red Sea and urged that the disruption to maritime security be urgently addressed.
- Israel’s defence minister has said the country does not want war in Lebanon but could send its northern neighbour “back to the Stone Age”.
- Israel’s finance minister has said the government will promote illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority in response to its moves against Israel on the international stage.
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Welcome to our live coverage
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US advises citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon
“We remind US citizens to strongly reconsider travel to Lebanon,” said the notice published by the US Embassy in Lebanon.
In particular, US citizens should avoid going to Lebanon’s south, its border with Syria, and refugee settlements, the advisory specified.
The advisory said the Lebanese government could not ensure US citizens’ safety in the event of “sudden outbreaks of violence and armed conflict”.
The advisory comes after Germany and the Netherlands issued similar notices calling on their citizens to leave Lebanon yesterday.
Israeli army drills simulate combat near Lebanon border
The drills that took place last week trained the Israeli soldiers for “responding to various threats with the cooperation of the infantry, armor and fire forces”, the army update said.
The troops also practiced combat scenarios “in a tangled terrain that simulates combat on a northern route, progress along a mountain route and the use of gradual fire”, the statement added.
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Palestinians fleeing Shujayea ‘don’t know where to go’
Footage verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking unit shows crowds of people in eastern Gaza, many carrying their belongings in backpacks and carts, walking westwards.
One elderly man said he would head towards Al-Shifa Hospital. Many others have no idea where they will go.
“We were suddenly and intensively bombarded by Israel,” said one man fleeing the area on foot. “We came out and we don’t know where to go.”
“Today we saw shelling… and injured people on the ground,” said a woman, also leaving on foot. “I don’t know where I will go with my family.”
Israeli soldiers in Rafah ‘feel like ducks in the shooting range’
“We are losers and unable to win and Israeli deterrence is zero,” he told Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. “There is a lot of frustration among our soldiers in Rafah, they don’t understand what they want and they feel like ducks in the shooting range.”
“The government is not able to win, neither in the south nor in the north, and Gallant bears responsibility immediately after Netanyahu,” Lieberman added.
Israeli tanks rolling into Shujayea: Report
The ongoing attacks in Shujayea, which also suffered a wave of overnight bombardment, are making it impossible for rescuers to reach injured people in the area, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense.
“We are being starved in Gaza City, and are being hunted by tanks and planes with no hope that this war is ever ending,” Mohammad Jamal, a 25-year-old resident of Gaza City told Reuters.
Photos: Aftermath of Israeli strike on school sheltering displaced people
People flee Gaza City’s Shujayea after evacuation orders
Palestinian families have started to flee Shujayea neighbourhood after receiving controversial evacuation orders from the Israeli army. The orders say to leave certain blocks of that neighbourhood because they will be part of a very dangerous combat zone.
The Israeli army has published a map with areas it says are dangerous. Families have started to move to the southern part of Gaza City.
In the early days of the war, the Israeli military operated in Shujayea neighbourhood with land brigades and combat forces. It now seems the military will start new operations in the area.
The real question is: where should people go?
War has ‘no end in sight’
He points out that Hamas is not willing to strike any agreement that does not fully end the war, while Netanyahu is only open to a “partial agreement” that would bring home Israeli captives during a temporary truce.
The Israeli prime minister has not given negotiators the green light to make any concessions beyond this, Baskin said.
This means “we are stuck”, he said.
“The families of the hostages are extremely frustrated and sad. We are nine months into this war now and no end in sight.”
Gaza’s death toll rises
Of those, 47 Palestinians were killed and 52 wounded in the past 24-hour reporting period, the ministry added.
More killed near Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood as operations intensify: Report
The latest strikes have killed numerous people, including women and children, towards the east of the neighbourhood, according to Wafa.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reports some of the victims have been taken to Al-Ahli Hospital for treatment.
We need ‘out of box’ solution to end war
“We need to think out of the box and come up with solutions that will enable this war to end, the Israeli hostages to come home, and a rebuilding process of Gaza to begin,” Baskin told Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv. “It needs to be done collaboratively [with Palestinians], but we need to get this war to end quickly.”
Baskin also called for more international pressure on Israel to open up border crossings and facilitate more aid flow within Gaza, where hundreds of thousands face catastrophic hunger.
“This has to be done and it has to be a result of international pressure because it’s doubtful Israel will do it on its own,” he said.
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If you’re just joining us
- Israel’s military has attacked numerous residential homes in Gaza City’s Sabra and Shujayea neighbourhoods, killing at least eight people, reports Wafa.
- A Palestinian girl has died of malnutrition in Kamel Adwan Hospital, joining dozens of other children who have suffered the same fate during the war, according to a health official cited by Reuters.
- Israeli forces have rounded up 28 people, including a female student, across the occupied West Bank in violent raids since last night.
- Twenty-one Palestinian children with cancer have been medically evacuated from the enclave, but there are 25,000 others who also need to treatment abroad, reports Gaza’s health ministry.
- Israel’s chief rabbi has slammed the Supreme Court for ruling that ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, long exempt from military service, must be drafted, saying that the court justices “don’t understand” the students’ critical contribution to Israel.
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Photos: Palestinians in Gaza surrounded by sewage and rubbish
Palestinians rush to fix water tanks damaged by war
“Before the war… we used to fix only one or two water tanks every month, but now we get dozens due to the occupation [Israeli forces] bombing of homes,” Muhammad Bashir, a repairman in Deir el-Balah, told AFP.
“Most of the tanks we get are damaged by drone fire,” he added.
The tanks, which are filled up by water trucks or pump water from domestic wells, are critical for families during the war, when much of the enclave’s main water infrastructure is wrecked.
Palestinian girl dies of malnutrition: Report
She is among dozens of children to die from starvation or dehydration during the war, including at least four others this week.
Many more could suffer the same fate as one in five Palestinians in Gaza face “catastrophic food insecurity”, according to the UN’s hunger monitoring system.
Israel’s chief rabbi blasts Supreme Court ruling on ultra-Orthodox military service
Quoted in the Hebrew-language HaDerech newspaper, Yosef said: “The children of the Torah are the existence of the people of Israel, but they [Supreme Court justices] don’t understand it.”
“Thanks to what we survived? Thanks to the Supreme Court? No … only thanks to the Holy Torah scholars,” he added. “They protect all the soldiers and all the people of Israel.”
Many ultra-Orthodox Jews forego work and rely on government funding to study the Torah full-time. Their absence from the military, from which they have long been exempt, has provoked a backlash among other Israelis during the war, when hundreds of thousands of reservists have been called up to fight.
Twenty-one Palestinian children with cancer to get treatment abroad: Gaza ministry
More than 25,000 children need treatment abroad, it added.
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Israel steps up attacks on residential areas of central, northern Gaza
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum
We continue to hear loud Israeli explosions and attacks across central and even northern Gaza. There has been a clear step-up in attacks in these areas.
Overnight and into the early hours of the morning, the Israeli military targeted five residential homes in Gaza City’s Sabra and Shujayea neighbourhoods. At least three people have been killed in Sabra, while five others have been killed so far in Shujayea.
Gaza’s Civil Defence says its crews have managed to rescue a number of civilians trapped under the rubble in these areas. There are still some missing victims.
In the central area, the Bureij refugee camp has been widely targeted. We can still hear the sound of explosions there. At least one Palestinian has been reported killed, with two others wounded. They have been transferred to Al-Awda Hospital for treatment.
Merchant vessel reports being hit near Yemen’s Hodeidah
The vessel, heading to Saudi Arabia’s port city of Dammam, reported no damage or casualties.
Yemen’s Houthis, which control the capital Sanaa and its most populous areas, have launching scores of drone and missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November, acting in what they say is support of Palestinians in Gaza.
Failure to address day-after in Gaza could keep Hamas in power: Israel’s ex-security official
“This is one of the biggest failures, because the actual result is the gradual return of Hamas to control the Gaza Strip,” Hulata told Israel’s Kan public broadcaster.
Netanyahu has repeatedly promised to continue the war into Hamas is destroyed, even though the military spokesman has said entirely eliminating the group is impossible.
Israeli forces arrest 28 people in latest occupied West Bank raids: Prisoners’ group
Among those apprehended were a female student and numerous former detainees, it said.
During the raids, Israeli forces doled out “severe beatings” and made threats against detainees’ families, the group added.
Since October 7, Israel has carried out a total of 9,430 arrests in the occupied West Bank in near-daily raids.
Mapping 7,400 cross-border attacks between Israel and Lebanon
Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah seem to be escalating as Israel’s war on Gaza nears nine months.
Since October 8, when Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian people, Israel has attacked it nearly four times as much, with more than 6,000 attacks along the 120km (75-mile) border.
Israeli army ‘suspends’ soldiers after arrests during antigovernment protests: Report
One of these soldiers, Alon Gruzov, 35, part of the Nahal Brigade in the north, told the newspaper that he was detained briefly in April for protesting “against the criminal negligence of the abductees” and was surprised on Monday by an order from his company commander to dismiss him and freeze is military service.
Yoni Nussbaum, a lawyer for those reservists, told Haaretz that “the army accepts the police’s request to freeze the reserve service without examination or hearing of the reservists”.
An army spokesperson told the newspaper that “the reservists who were reportedly temporarily detained by the Israeli police have been suspended until the end of the proceedings in their case”.
According to Haaretz, this is the first such army action against the reservists who participated in antigovernment protests.
At least one person killed after Israel shells home near central Gaza’s Bureij
It comes after a spate of overnight attacks we reported in northern Gaza killed nine people.
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Palestinians in Lebanon ready to fight if Israel starts war with Hezbollah
Palestinians living in Lebanon believe they will be targeted for attack if Israel’s cross-border conflict with Hezbollah develops into a full-blown war.
In the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, many said they were not scared and would fight to support Hezbollah against Israel.
But they also worry for their families and civilians, fearing that Israel would target densely populated residential areas – such as Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon – where tens of thousands of people live packed tightly together.
![Members of the PFLP-GC march in a parade marking the annual Quds Day at Burj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut on April 14, 2023 [Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2023-04-14T125002Z_670146919_RC2CE0ACPA5P_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-MIDEAST-ALQUDS-DAY-1719466438_a37d8a-1719467224.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C404&quality=80)
Rescue missions ‘may stop at any moment’: Gaza’s Civil Defence
It said on its Telegram channel that rescue crews carried out several missions this morning alone, involving recovering bodies and survivors from four homes attacked in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood, as well as two separate houses in the Shujayea area.
“Our crews cannot deal with the huge number of targets while running out of fuel,” its statement said.
“The reality of the health system in the northern Gaza Strip is tragic as the aggression continues.”
Israeli military says warplanes attacked Khan Younis school
The military did not say if there were casualties but claimed “precise weaponry” was used.
“The school served as the headquarters of the terrorist organization Hamas,” the military wrote in a post on X, without providing any evidence to support its claims.
Israeli military carries out arrests across the occupied West Bank
Israeli forces also arrested three people, including a female university student, when they stormed the town of Yatta, south of the city of Hebron, the news agency reports, and another man was arrested in the town of Dura, southwest of Hebron.
The Israeli military has also arrested a man after shooting him in the foot in the Qalandiya refugee camp, and a man has been arrested in Deir Ghassana village, northwest of Ramallah.
At least 9 killed, many injured in overnight Israeli attacks: Report
One person was also killed in an Israeli attack on the home of the Wadi family in the Beit Lahiya area, also in the north of the Palestinian territory.
In nearby Gaza City, two people were killed and several wounded when Israeli aircraft attacked homes in the Sabra neighbourhood. People remain missing and are believed to be buried under the rubble following the attack, Wafa reports. A separate attack on the home of the al-Wahidi family resulted in an unknown number of casualties in the neighbourhood.
In southern Khan Younis, women and children were among those killed and injured in an attack on a school housing displaced people.
Israeli artillery attacks were also reported in Gaza City’s Zeitoun, Hawa and Sheikh Ijlin areas, while Israeli ground forces in southern Rafah were reported to have systematically demolished residential buildings in the west of the city.
‘Preconditions of cholera’: Gaza’s decimated sanitation systems causing illnesses
Joanne Perry, a doctor working in southern Gaza with Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, told AP that most patients she sees already have illnesses or infections caused by poor sanitation. Scabies, gastrointestinal illnesses and rashes are common, and Perry fears cholera could be on the horizon.
“The crowded conditions, the lack of water, the heat, the poor sanitation — these are the preconditions of cholera,” Perry told AP.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says 485,000 cases of diarrhoea have been reported since October.
WHO figures also showed an outbreak of Hepatitis A, which is spread through consuming water or food contaminated with faecal matter, had led to 81,700 reported cases of jaundice, as of early June.
Israeli protesters block two key intercity routes to demand elections
Israeli broadcaster Kann said Route 2 was blocked from both directions at the Habonim bridge in the north of the country. Protesters also partially blocked Route 79 westwards in the Lower Galilee, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth media outlet.
Protest organisers were quoted as saying the road closures were “just the beginning”, and promising the government that demonstrations would not stop “until the mandate returns to the people”.
“Enough with the government of destruction, only elections will extinguish the fire,” they said.
At least three killed in Israeli attack on house in Gaza City
Earlier, we reported that the Israeli military had bombed the house belonging to the Hassanein family in the Shujayea neighbourhood of the northern city.
Rescue teams have also saved six people trapped in a nearby house, while a search is under way for missing people buried under the rubble.
One Israeli soldier dead following Jenin ambush: Report
Earlier, we reported that Palestinian fighters had ambushed Israeli forces amid intense clashes in Jenin, leaving some in critical condition.
Israeli forces also arrested three Palestinians and wounded one other after storming the Jenin area with support from bulldozers, drones and Apache attack helicopters.
Sleepless nights as bugs fill tents where people live surrounded by rubbish, sewage
Abu Shadi Afana, 62, told the AP that small insects stick to his skin when he tries to sleep, and he feels like they are eating his face.
“There is no one to provide us with a tent, food, or drink, and on top of all this, we live in garbage,” he said.
Anwar al-Hurkali, who lives with his family in a tent camp in the central Gazan city of Deir el-Balah, said he can’t sleep for fear of scorpions and rodents. He doesn’t let his children leave their tent, he said, worrying they’ll get sick from pollution and mosquitoes.
Rubbish has been piling up across Gaza after Israel seized control of the territory’s two main landfills, east of the cities of Khan Younis and Gaza City, for the creation of a so-called buffer zone.
US has provided $6.5bn in aid to Israel since October: Report
The official added that almost half of that military aid was provided last month alone.
“This is a massive, massive undertaking,” the official said.
The Post said the official was disclosing the previously unannounced figures to show the depth of US support for Israel amid accusations from Netanyahu that Washington is withholding arms.
The official said the figures were cited in discussions between senior White House officials and Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in Washington, DC, this week.
Hamas fighters ‘remain cohesive and effective’ in battle for Rafah: Monitors
In Rafah, Israeli forces continue to encounter “significant resistance” from Palestinian fighters from several armed groups who carried out attacks in different areas of the southern city on Wednesday, including in the Shabour and Tal as-Sultan neighbourhoods, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) said.
In their latest battlefield report, the two US-based defence think tanks said Hamas video footage of an attack on an Israeli tank using a tunnel and improvised explosive device (IED) demonstrates that the group’s fighters in Rafah “remain cohesive and effective”.
The monitors said their analysis was consistent with a recent Israeli military report that it had “only somewhat degraded” two of the four Hamas battalions engaged in the fight for Rafah.
Four separate Palestinian armed factions also carried out rocket attacks into Israel on Wednesday, according to the report.
Palestinians buy ‘salty, polluted’ water after Israel destroys infrastructure
Adel Dalloul, a 21-year-old living in a tent near the Nuseirat refugee camp, says he found out the water he’d brought from a vendor was contaminated, after drinking it.
“We found worms in the water. I had been drinking from it,” Dalloul told AP. “It was salty, polluted, and full of germs.”
“I had gastrointestinal problems and diarrhoea, and my stomach hurts until this moment,” he said.
Israel has not only destroyed Gaza’s water and sanitation facilities, but it has also killed workers who tried to fix them.
This month, an Israeli attack in Gaza City killed five government employees repairing water wells, city officials said.
Photos: Palestinians living among the rubble in Bureij refugee camp
If you’re just joining us
- The Israeli military has carried out a strike on a home in central Gaza City, killing at least two people and injuring several more, according to local media.
- UNICEF deputy executive director, Ted Chaiban, has told the UN Security Council that “the bodies of thousands of missing children remain buried under the rubble” in Gaza.
- At least 17 Israeli soldiers have been injured, some seriously, in a blast carried out by Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, according to local media reports.
- Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has told reporters that Israeli forces could send Lebanon “back to the Stone Age” if the war between Israel and Hezbollah escalates.
Israeli soldiers ‘openly brag’, share images of tortured Palestinians: Rights group
Addameer, a Ramallah-based prisoners’ rights group, shared a series of posts on social media, which contain video clips from Israeli soldiers “openly sharing their torture of Palestinian detainees on social media to brag about their actions”.
“Due to the lack of accountability for the occupying state’s crimes over the years, soldiers deliberately document their acts of torture against Palestinian detainees and post these videos and photos on their personal social media accounts,” the rights group said.
The group warns that the scenes depicted in the video clips are disturbing.
Israeli military bombs home in Gaza City, killing at least 2
There are still people missing under the rubble of the house in Gaza City’s Sabra area.
Local media is also reporting that the Israeli military has targeted a house belonging to the Hassanein family in the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza City. No casualties have been reported so far.
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Gaza hospitals not functioning due to damaged equipment
Hospitals have suffered damage, with vital medical equipment destroyed. Currently, a volunteer medical mission is under way to repair damaged machines at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah.
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Bodies of thousands of missing children under the rubble in Gaza: UNICEF
Chaiban was speaking at a special UNSC meeting on the UN chief’s recent report on violations against children in armed conflict.
“In 2023, 4,312 Palestinian and 70 Israeli children were verified as killed or maimed, representing 37 percent of all verified cases of killing and maiming included in the report,” Chaiban said.
But the number of children who remain buried under the rubble, and a lack of access for humanitarian actors, means that the UN was unable to include thousands more reported cases of children killed from Gaza in the report, he added.
Photos: Pro-Palestine support on show in the Maldives
Washington investigates the reasons behind the failure of the US humanitarian pier
The pier became operational on May 17, but problems arose almost immediately. Eight days later, high waves overwhelmed the pier and it was temporarily closed, only reopening last week.
But even during that short period in which the pier was functioning, only 99 aid shipments successfully entered Gaza through it.
Now, failing to meet even the modest goals outlined at the project’s onset, the pier’s future looks uncertain.
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Caterpillar equipment ‘extensively used’ to bulldoze Palestinian homes: UN expert
Caterpillar equipment is “extensively used” in the demolitions of Palestinian homes, Rajagopal said in a post on X.
Last week, UN experts, including Rajagopal, urged financial institutions to review investments in companies, including Caterpillar, that are supplying military equipment and weapons to Israel or risk “complicity in potential atrocity crimes”.
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Palestinian medics prevented from helping man shot, killed by Israeli forces: UN
OCHA said the body of the 39-year-old Palestinian man has also been “withheld by Israeli forces”, referring to the practice of Israel’s military keeping the bodies of Palestinians they have killed in what relatives say is an act of psychological cruelty.
Four Palestinians were shot and killed, including one child, and some 60 others were injured between June 18 and 24 in the occupied West Bank, OCHA said in its latest update on the humanitarian situation in the occupied territory.
A total of 536 Palestinians, including 130 children, have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem between October 7 and Monday of this week, according to OCHA.
US to maintain pause on one heavy bombs shipment to Israel: Report
The US and Israel remain in discussions about the shipment of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs, which were paused over concerns about their use on civilians in Rafah, southern Gaza, the unnamed official said.
The shipment remains the only one the US has withheld from Israel, and the unnamed official said other US weapons will continue to flow as Israel fights Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah on its northern border with Lebanon.
The official’s comments come as US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Yoav Gallant met in Washington, DC, this week.
Following the meeting, Gallant said there had been significant progress on US munitions supplies to Israel, saying “obstacles were removed and bottlenecks were addressed”.
‘Most of our patients were children’: US health workers recount missions to Gaza
Adam Hamawy, a former US Army combat surgeon, told the AFP news agency that humanitarian aid must enter Gaza in “sufficient volumes to meet the demands”.
“The level of civilian casualties that I experienced was beyond anything I’d seen before,” Hamawy said in an interview following a medical mission to Gaza’s European Hospital last month.
“Most of our patients were children under the age of 14,” said the 54-year-old medic, who has volunteered in warzones and natural disaster-hit countries for the past 30 years.
“You could give all you want, you can donate,” Hamawy said.
“But if these borders [in Gaza] don’t open up to allow that aid to get in, then it’s just useless,” he said.
Almost all of Gaza ‘totally and completely uninhabitable’ – INARA
“Where I am standing now in Deir el-Balah, this is pretty much the only area in Gaza that is relatively speaking still standing. Every single other part of this tiny stretch of land has been rendered totally and completely uninhabitable,” she said.
Over 3 days, at least 113 Israeli military raids, more than 80 arrests in occupied territory: UN
Restrictions on entering Jerusalem also continue for Palestinians who, since October, are not allowed to enter the historic city without Jerusalem identification cards.
On June 22, six Palestinians were shot and injured by Israeli forces and others detained for attempting to enter the city without permits, UNRWA said.
Gallant’s US trip strengthens potential challenge to Israel’s PM Netanyahu
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has been on a mission in the past few days to shore up bipartisan support in the US for Israel, in advance of what could potentially be an all-out war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
One alternative reading of Gallant’s trip is that it is also an attempt to undermine Netanyahu only a month before the prime minister’s own trip to Washington, DC, where he will address a joint session of the US Congress.
Gallant took the opportunity while in the US capital to make a pointed remark that differences between “family” be kept “in-house”, a not-so-subtle dig considering Netanyahu’s public criticism of the Biden administration over recent weeks.
Israel preparing to provide power to water facility in southern Gaza: Report
Israel will directly supply electricity to the water desalination facility in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to an Israeli plan, the details of which were shown to Reuters.
The move comes amid growing international pressure to stop the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza that has left millions with scarce food and water, and as aid agencies warn that famine is imminent in large swaths of the Palestinian enclave.
The desalination facility, established with UN funding in 2017 to provide drinking water to the Deir el-Balah, Khan Younis and al-Mawasi areas, has a capacity of 20,000 cubic metres of water per day but produces only 1,500 cubic metres today due to electricity shortages amid Israel’s war on the territory.
Israeli military carries out arrests in raids across the occupied West Bank
Israeli forces have also arrested two men in the town of Beit Daqqu, northwest of occupied East Jerusalem, and one man in the city of Dura, south of Hebron.
Israeli troops have also shot two Palestinian men after storming the Dheisheh refugee camp south of the city of Bethlehem. The condition of the victims is not currently known.
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Palestinian artist among 24 left homeless after Israel demolishes West Bank houses
B’Tselem shared video footage of the home demolitions – which took place with the support of Israeli police and soldiers on Wednesday – that left 24 Palestinians, including 15 minors, homeless.
“The latest demolition is part of the Israeli apartheid regime’s efforts to drive Palestinian communities out of the South Hebron Hills and other areas of the West Bank, and transfer their lands to Jewish hands,” the rights group said.
In a comment shared by the group, Hadalin said the destruction of Palestinian homes would “appease” Israeli settlers while “demolishing our lives”.
At least 17 Israeli soldiers reported injured in Jenin blast
Earlier, we reported that Palestinian fighters ambushed Israeli forces amid intense clashes in the Jenin area, leaving some in critical condition. Footage from the scene shows Israeli helicopters evacuating the wounded.
Israeli forces have also arrested three Palestinians and wounded one other after storming the area with support from bulldozers, drones and Apache attack helicopters.
Investigation finds more than 20 journalists from one outlet killed in Gaza war
Senior Israeli official, Olivier Rafowicz, told one of The Guardian’s media partners that there is no difference between working for a media outlet affiliated with Hamas and being a fighter in the group’s Qassam Brigades.
Rafowicz went on to elaborate that there is “no difference between the political and the military wing of Hamas”.
Those statements prompted the Israeli military to release a correction and a retraction, saying that these are not its official standards.
Intentionally targeting journalists is a war crime.
US military says Houthi radar site in Yemen destroyed
It did not provide more details of the attack in a post on X but said the radar site “presented an imminent threat” to US forces and vessels in the area.
The Iran-backed Houthis have been carrying out attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November in protest of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israeli forces targeted with explosive device in Jenin, several injuries reported
Local sources are reporting that as many as 12 Israeli soldiers were injured in the ambush, with some in critical condition. Footage from the scene shows Israeli helicopters evacuating the wounded.
Earlier, we reported that the Israeli military arrested three Palestinians and wounded one other in Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp, after Israeli forces, supported by bulldozers, drones, and Apache attack helicopters, stormed the area on Wednesday evening.
Israeli forces could send Lebanon ‘back to the Stone Age’, Gallant warns
“We do not want war, but we are preparing for every scenario,” he said.
Gallant was wrapping up a four-day visit to the United States, where he says he made progress securing support from the Biden administration for Israel’s “force build-up” and weapons supply.
The Israeli defence minister’s US visit came as the International Criminal Court (ICC) considers a request to issue a warrant for his arrest for alleged war crimes, including starvation, in Gaza.
Level of destruction in Beit Lahiya ‘defies imagination’ – Gaza’s Civil Defence
At least 15 Palestinians were killed in a strike on a home in northern Gaza on Wednesday. Rescue workers spent hours searching the rubble for survivors, with most of the injured being women and children.
Al Jazeera’s Moath al-Kahlout reports from the site of the attack on the residential building in Beit Lahiya:
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Three arrested, one wounded as Israeli military storms Jenin
Israeli forces, supported by bulldozers, drones, and Apache attack helicopters, stormed the city and neighbouring camp on Wednesday evening, resulting in intense clashes with Palestinian resistance groups.
Gunfire, tear gas and explosions have been reported, with one Palestinian man wounded in the face by shrapnel, according to Wafa. Ambulance crews have been prevented from reaching the man and his condition is currently unknown.
Ignoring Israel’s abuses gave ‘licence to harm’ Palestinian children: Envoy
Speaking to a UN Security Council meeting held to discuss the blacklist, Mansour said that not adding Israel to the list earlier “was an abandonment of Palestinian children”, which Israel took as a “licence to harm them more”.
“It took a genocidal war against our people, an unprecedented crisis for our children, to finally add Israel to the list of shame this year,” he said.
Israel, US ‘very good at theatre’, analyst says of apparent dispute between allies
“The US and Israel are very good at theatre, and this is theatre that we’re watching right now,” Khoury, a professor at the American University of Beirut, told Al Jazeera.
“There’s no closer relationship in the last half-century anywhere in the world probably than the US’s support for Israel. It’s domestic theatre,” he said of the apparent dispute between the two allies over the speed of weapons transfers.
Khoury pointed out that back in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in “big trouble”, and it played well to be seen to be tough with the US.
“He’s fighting with people in his own party. He’s fighting with his own military leaders. He’s fighting with people all around the world,” Khoury said.
“Netanyahu has almost run out of people that he can have a feud with. But by acting like a tough guy who stands up to the US and gets whatever Israel needs from the US, he strengthens some part of his base in Israel. And he’s going to need that because his coalition is a little bit shaky,” he said.
![U.S. President Biden attends a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on October 18, 2023. [Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters/File]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/BidenNetanya-1707984739.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C511&quality=80)
Israel’s war on Gaza in numbers
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A recap of recent developments
- Gaza’s civil defence says Israel’s bombardment of the north has left a level of destruction that “defies imagination” after an Israeli attack on a home in Beit Lahiya killed 15 people.
- The US State Department has said it does not have the ability to “litigate claims” amid outrage as Israel admits it killed a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) physiotherapist in a drone attack that killed five other people, including three children.
- Two people have been killed and a soldier injured after Israel launched air strikes in Syria’s southern region, Syrian state media agency SANA reports.
- Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has found himself in a war of words with the Israeli government after Israel’s foreign minister called the Turkish leader a “war criminal”.
- Israel’s parliament has given initial approval to extend and permanently implement the “Al Jazeera Law“, allowing Israeli authorities to shut down foreign media sources deemed a national security threat, according to media reports.
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Welcome to our live coverage
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Almost all of Gaza ‘totally and completely uninhabitable’
“Where I am standing now in Deir el-Balah, this is pretty much the only area in Gaza that is relatively speaking still standing. Every single other part of this tiny stretch of land has been rendered totally and completely uninhabitable,” she told Al Jazeera from Deir el-Balah.
“And in the north, you not only have a shortage of basic food items and hygiene items, but you also have people trying to live on top of the rubble of their homes where their loved ones were killed.”
Damon said that shown footage of Gaza City, residents could not recognise the streets or the main thoroughfares because of the level of destruction.
“Most will tell you that they barely recognise themselves or their own people. There are very real fears about the lawlessness that is growing, the criminal activity, the looting, which is leading to conversations about who is going to restore the moral code that existed among people.”
World officials are warning about Lebanon-Israel crisis
Here are some world officials are saying:
- US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: “Another war between Israel and Hezbollah could easily become a regional war, with terrible consequences for the Middle East. Diplomacy is by far the best way to prevent more escalation.”
- German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that any “miscalculation” could trigger all-out war and urged “extreme restraint”.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Western powers of backing Israel as it sets “its sights on Lebanon”, seeking “to spread the war to the region”.
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Latest figures from Israel’s war on Gaza
In Beirut, Vatican urges parties to accept peace proposals
“The Middle East is going through a critical moment,” Parolin told a press conference in Beirut during a days-long visit to Lebanon.
The Roman Catholic Church’s Holy See “asks for peace proposals to be welcomed, so that fighting stops on each side, so hostages in Gaza are released, so that the necessary aid arrives unhindered to the Palestinian population”, he said.
“Lebanon, the Middle East, the whole world certainly doesn’t need war,” the cardinal added.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded near-daily cross-border fire since October 7.
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435 people in southern Lebanon since ‘aggression’ with Israel started
It added that 35 percent of those people were injured by explosions, 44 percent by shocks, and 16 percent by chemical exposure.
Fire breaks out after Israel shells southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil outskirts
The video footage circulating on social media showed plumes of smoke being scattered by the wind near a road. The fire was later contained, according to the reports.
Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that the Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of the towns of Kfar Kila, Burj al-Muluk, Tallet al-Aziziyah, and the Marjayoun Plain.
There was no information on casualties.
If you’re just joining us
- The death toll from an overnight Israeli attack in Beit Lahiya is at 15, according to our colleagues on the ground. Women and children are among the victims.
- Israeli artillery has killed five more people in a home in Nuseirat, according to their reports.
- Israeli forces have demolished nine homes in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency. This adds to nearly 1,000 Palestinian structures they have torn down or confiscated since the war began.
- Fires have broken out in several Lebanese towns hit by Israeli artillery shelling, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
- Turkey’s President Erdogan has accused Israel, which is trading increasingly fiercer cross-border attacks with Hezbollah, of trying to ignite a regional war.
- Six Israeli political figures, including former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, have called on the US Congress to disinvite Netanyahu from his scheduled July 24 address, stating his appearance will “not represent the State of Israel”.
Explosion rocks Israeli-Palestinian co-existence organisation in Israel’s Lod city
Police suspect the explosion, at the office of the Abraham Initiatives in the central Israeli city of Lod, was caused by a grenade, according to a statement from the NGO cited by Israeli media. The explosion did not cause any casualties.
The organisation said it expects “police and law enforcement to carry out a speedy and fundamental investigation into the serious incident, and bring the perpetrators to justice”.
“We are still in shock. Who would have an interest in harming us?”
Israeli forces carry out deadly attack on home in northern Gaza’s Jabalia
The attack targeted a home in the city, killing and injuring an unknown number of people, according to their report.
It comes after an earlier assault on a residential home in nearby Beit Lahiya killed at least 15 people and injured dozens more.
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Hezbollah’s ‘axis of resistance’ allies waiting in reserve to fight Israel
The most closely watched border in the Middle East lies between Israel and Lebanon, the site of eight months of tit-for-tat attacks.
Israeli officials have repeatedly threatened to intensify attacks, saying they’re necessary to defeat Hezbollah and return 90,000 Israelis evacuated from their homes in the north since fighting started in early October.
But as Israel’s rhetoric escalates, Lebanon’s Hezbollah has responded with defiance, warning that such a conflict would not only affect Israel more than it thinks but that it would be felt regionally.
Backing Hezbollah up regionally, analysts say, is the so-called “axis of resistance”, a regional network of armed groups, backed by Iran, who have started to make their presence known since Israel launched its brutal war on Gaza.
What’s the status of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox military exemption?
The ruling has caused a backlash from the ultra-Orthodox community, whose members are planning a protest in Jerusalem this afternoon.
It has also put Netanyahu’s governing coalition, hinging on support from several ultra-Orthodox parties, in jeopardy.
Here’s where things stand:
- Israel’s attorney general has said the country must immediately begin the process of drafting about 3,000 ultra-Orthodox students.
- Ultra-Orthodox students who do not comply with the draft will lose government funding to yeshiva schools, according to the court’s ruling.
- Netanyahu’s government is trying to craft a law that both complies with the Supreme Court without losing its ultra-Orthodox coalition backers.
- It has introduced legislation, currently under consideration in parliament, that would slowly ramp up conscription among ultra-Orthodox Jews, but also limit how many can be drafted.
- If it passes, the government could point to it as evidence it is complying with the new order. If the bill struggles and the ruling holds, however, Netanyahu’s coalition could crumble, potentially pushing the nation towards an election.
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Israeli military dog mauls elderly Palestinian woman in Jabalia
The woman, refusing to leave her house, was bitten and dragged by the dog, resulting in a serious injury. With no hospitals available, her hand remains untreated.
‘No end in sight’: Israel shells residential tower in Nuseirat
Israeli attacks have expanded to the central area of the Gaza Strip. A residential tower was hit by artillery shells in the Nuseirat refugee camp, destroying significant parts of it.
At least five Palestinians have been killed in the attack, with dozens of injured taken to al-Awda Hospital for treatment.
Attacks are continuing to escalate in the south as well, including in Khan Younis, where people are gradually returning. Two more Palestinians have been killed there after the army targeted a residential building.
There is no end in sight.
Seven killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza’s Nuseirat and Khan Younis
In one attack, Israeli artillery strikes hit a residential apartment in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least five people, according to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.
Another attack in the town of Khuza’a in eastern Khan Younis killed two more people, according to their reports.
‘Too dangerous’: Israeli air raids hammer southern Lebanon
Over the last three hours, there has been an increase in Israel’s air strikes where we are here in southern Lebanon.
Behind me is the town of Khiam which was hit this morning. I can still see smoke rising from some of the strike sites. Strikes also hit other areas of southern Lebanon near the border.
We’d like to go down there, but we can’t because, frankly, it’s too dangerous. We’re told that any car that moves in that town could be a potential target for the Israelis.
On the other side of Khiam is the Israeli settlement of Metula. Hezbollah has targeted that settlement in the past, they say, with guided missiles.
The fear is that this could turn into an all-out war.
Gaza’s death toll rises
More victims are still believed to be trapped in areas rescue workers cannot reach, it added.
The latest casualties bring Gaza’s total death toll since October 7 to 37,718, with an additional 86,377 wounded.
Israeli forces demolish nine Palestinian homes in occupied West Bank: Report
They include:
- Four homes near Jericho
- Three homes in the Masafer Yatta community, south of Hebron
- One home in Beitillu village, west of Ramallah
- One home in Jerusalem’s Silwan neighbourhood
This month alone, Israeli forces have demolished 47 Palestinian structures, including 35 inhabited homes, in the West Bank, according to the Ramallah-based Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.
We ‘can’t recognize one another’ due to weight loss: Northern Gaza resident
“People meet in the street and many can’t recognise one another because of weight loss and older looks,” he added.
Erdogan warns Netanyahu’s war plans will ‘lead to a great disaster’
“Israel is now setting its sights on Lebanon and we see that Western powers behind the scenes are patting Israel on the back and even supporting them,” Erdogan told lawmakers of his ruling Justice and Development party (AKP).
The plans, he said, “will lead to a great disaster”.
Six trucks with medical aid enter southern Gaza: PRCS
The relief group says it will distribute the supplies, donated by Morocco, to hospitals suffering from severe shortages.
Aid flow into Gaza has dropped since the Rafah crossing closed in early May, reducing already meagre supplies of food and medicine even further.
Top German diplomat warns Israel-Hezbollah in danger of ‘slipping into’ war
Baerbock told Germany’s Deutschlandfunk public radio a day after meeting with Lebanese and Israeli leaders in Beirut and Jerusalem that there was a need for global powers to mediate a decrease in tensions at the Lebanese-Israeli border.
“… More rockets are flying, large parts on both sides do not want this war, but we are slipping into it,” she said.
Baerbock also called for an “urgently needed” ceasefire in Gaza, saying “this will also calm the northern front”.
Lebanese leaders in Beirut appear to view it the same way, but unfortunately the government has “no effective access on the ground, not even to Hezbollah”, Baerbock said, making efforts by mediators like the US and France all the more important.
Six senior Israeli figures call on US Congress to ‘disinvite’ Netanyahu: Report
“Congress has made a terrible mistake” by inviting him, the letter said, adding that “Netanyahu’s appearance in Washington will not represent the State of Israel and its citizens”.
The address “will reward his scandalous and destructive conduct toward our country”, the claimants said, stressing that the prime minister “failed to come up with a plan to end the war in Gaza or free dozens of hostages”.
“Congressional call for him should have been conditional on resolving these two issues, as well as calling for new elections in Israel,” the letter concluded.
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Level of destruction in northern Gaza defies imagination
The Israeli air attack on a residential building in Beit Lahiya has killed at least 15 Palestinians. Dozens of injured have been transferred to al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City for treatment.
On top of the house that was targeted, the bombardment also damaged civil infrastructure and nearby homes. The civil defence says the level of destruction left behind defies imagination.
We’ve also heard that a civil defence crew managed to rescue 13 Palestinians from Gaza City’s Daraj neighbourhood after another house there was targeted. Those Palestinians have likely been injured and are getting essential medical treatment.
At the same time, we continue to see a surge in military attacks in the south of the Gaza Strip, including in Khan Younis. A number of Palestinians have been reported injured after Khuza’a town in eastern Khan Younis was attacked.
Israel to impose extra tax on salaried workers this month to address budget deficit: Report
The tax will be equivalent to one working day, deducted from employees’ June salaries, the report said.
The development affects both public and private sector workers.
Earlier this month, Israel’s Finance Ministry announced that its budget deficit for the past 12 months had jumped to 137.7 billion shekels ($37bn), equivalent to 7.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Israeli protesters block roads calling for captives’ release
Footage posted on Israeli social media channels, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency, showed crowds of protesters holding signs and banners calling for the captives’ release.
For months, antigovernment protests, supported by numerous relatives of Israeli captives, have been building, putting immense pressure on Netanyahu’s government as the Gaza war drags on.
Israeli forces arrest 20 in latest West Bank raids
Among those arrested was the mother of a Palestinian man who is wanted by Israeli authorities and several other former detainees, said the group.
Since October 7, Israeli forces have made 9,400 arrests in daily raids throughout the occupied West Bank, according to the society.
At least 553 people, including 137 minors, have also been killed and about 5,300 have been wounded.
Ambulance services in Gaza face deadly risks
Some of those arrested, like ambulance worker Fadi Afaneh, have been subjected to abuse while in Israeli custody.
“They stripped us of our clothes and treated us in the most horrific way, beating us and arresting two of us,” Afaneh told Al Jazeera.
Civil defence rescues 13 people from bombed home in Gaza City’s Daraj area
The rescuers have managed to pull 13 people alive from the home, located on Jaffa street, the announcement said on Telegram.
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Israeli military claims to have killed ‘Hamas weapons smuggler’ in southern Gaza
One strike in southern Gaza killed a Hamas member – named Wissam Abu Ashak – who directed the transfer of weapons through the Rafah crossing, according to the military.
Another strike hit a rocket launch site in Rafah equipped with “ready-to-fire rockets”, it said.
As we’ve reported, the Israeli military’s latest strikes in Gaza also killed numerous civilians, including women and children in a home in Beit Lahiya.
Israel to recruit retirement-age reservists for new brigade unit: Report
The unit, called Brigade 96 or “David’s Division”, is expected to have 40,000 personnel, both men and women, according to Walla.
They will include soldiers, commanders and officers from infantry brigades, special units and other security organisations, it said.
The plan comes as Israel’s government moves forward with a bill increasing reservists’ retirement age by one year, in an effort to boost troop numbers more than eight months into the Gaza war.
Death toll from Israeli air strike on home in Beit Lahiya rises to 15
Al Jazeera’s team on the ground now says the death toll reached 15 and rescuers are still working to pull victims from under the rubble.
Gaza’s Department of Medical Services said that about 40 people, mostly women and children, were inside the house when it was struck.
Palestinian homes demolished in occupied West Bank’s Beitillu and Jericho
The houses in the Matar neighbourhood, east of Jericho, were owned by Firas Abu Al-Zeit and Kamal Mahmoud Baraka, and the one in Beitillu belonged to Mohammad Wajih Bazar, the report said.
The homes were demolished for lacking building permits, according to Israeli officials, a common reason cited for the destruction of Palestinian homes even as Israeli settlements – illegal under international law – expand.
They are among more than 990 Palestinian homes to be demolished in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since October 7, displacing more than 900 people, according to UN figures.
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‘The suffering is unforgivable’
One resident said they had waited three hours to get a “small amount of soup”, which they said would not be enough to feed the 15 people waiting at home.
“The suffering in northern Gaza is unforgivable,” said another resident queueing for food. “Since the 1948 war, there has been no such famine. If it were not for these simple [aid] projects, we would have lost our lives with hunger.”
Israeli military claims strikes on Hezbollah posts in southern Lebanon
In a post on X, the military shared purported footage of the strikes.
The attacks are part of escalating cross-border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah during the Gaza war, which have raised fears of all-out war.
Israeli military arrests 11 people in Hebron
Israeli forces arrested one man from Dhahiriya town, three men in the al-Fawar camp, and seven men in the town of Dura, Wafa reports.
Earlier, we reported that the Israeli military had arrested five people in Jenin. Wafa now confirms that a sixth man has been arrested there.
Since October 7, more than 9,354 arrests have been made by the Israeli forces across the illegally occupied West Bank.
Israeli shelling kills, injures people in Gaza City: Report
The attacks targeted the neighbourhoods of Zeitoun, Sabra and Tal al-Hawa.
Towards the centre of the Strip, Israeli artillery hit the eastern party of Bureij refugee camp, as well as farmland west of Nuseirat.
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India exports rockets and explosives to Israel amid Gaza war
On June 6, in the aftermath of Israel’s bombing of a UN shelter at Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, the Quds News Network released a video of the remains of a missile dropped by Israeli warplanes.
Amid the tangled parts, a label clearly read: “Made in India.”
Documents seen by Al Jazeera and company statements suggest weapon parts from India, a country that has long advocated dialogue over military action in resolving conflicts, are quietly making their way to Israel, including during the continuing months-long war in Gaza.
Analysts say a lack of transparency on India’s transfers helps them slip under the radar.
Photos: Cross-border fires in Lebanon, Israel as fighting continues across the frontier
Norway pension fund divests from Caterpillar Inc due to Israeli military sales
KLP said it had excluded Caterpillar from its portfolio over concerns the Israeli military is using its heavy machinery to carry out human rights abuses and violate international law, including the demolition of homes and infrastructure, in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
KLP said it had engaged in dialogue with Caterpillar over several months, but did not receive satisfactory assurances on the issue, resulting in a June 17 decision to divest shares worth 728 million Norwegian crowns ($69m).
Israel’s Supreme Court rules ultra-Orthodox men must be drafted into military
Ultra-Orthodox parties are part of the government and without their support, it will collapse and force new elections.
The court said Israel’s compulsory military service applies to the ultra-Orthodox like every other citizen.
Hamas ‘replenishing’ weapons stockpiles, recruits in Gaza: Monitors
Israel’s Army Radio announced on Tuesday that Israeli forces will transition to raid operations once they have declared Hamas defeated in Rafah, which the military says will happen in the coming days.
However, the latest battlefield report by ISW/CTP points out that thousands of Palestinian fighters departed Rafah prior to the Israeli ground incursion and these forces could provide the “human resources to reorganise themselves into composite, fully combat effective units”.
The think tanks, which have previously noted the limitations of Israeli raids, reiterated the limited effectiveness of the plan in Gaza.
“Hamas is capable of regrouping in the Gaza Strip in the absence of sustained military pressure and a viable alternative to its rule. Raids can temporarily disrupt but will not stop a reconstitution process,” the ISW/CTP report states.
MSF mourns sixth staff member killed in Gaza by Israeli forces since October
MSF physiotherapist Fadi Al-Wadiya, 33, was killed in an Israeli attack on Tuesday along with five other people, including three children, near an MSF clinic in Gaza City. He was cycling to work at the time of the Israeli drone strike.
“Nowhere in Gaza is safe. Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked health workers and medical facilities, making it nearly impossible for us to continue to provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance,” MSF said in a statement.
Israeli military arrests two in Hebron
The men, who had only been released from Israeli custody two weeks ago, were arrested at a printing press in the city.
Israeli forces have also stormed the town of Halhul, north of Hebron, and seized several vehicles.
Photos: Desperate search for clean water amid war and blistering heat
Israel still targeting UN shelters in Gaza, says human rights monitor
Euro-Med cited several recent attacks on UN schools and shelters as examples, including:
- Israeli planes bombed the Abdel Fattah Hammoud school in central Gaza on June 25, killing eight people.
- Israeli aircraft bombed the “Asmaa C” school in the Shati camp, also on June 25, killing seven people.
- Israel bombed a school housing thousands of displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp on June 6, killing 40 people, including women and children.
- Israeli forces set fire to shelters in the Jabalia refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip last month.
“Targeting shelter centres flying the UN flag” shows Israeli forces are “refusing to take any precautions to prevent civilian deaths”, Euro-Med said.
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Averting famine in Gaza requires more than food: World Food Programme economist
Husain referenced the example of Somalia’s famine in 2011 in which 250,000 people died, the AP news agency reports.
“Half of those people died before famine was declared,” Husain told reporters on Tuesday, explaining that averting famine requires more than just food – it also requires clean water, sanitation, healthcare and medicine on a sustained basis.
Husain said the threat of famine in northern Gaza was averted because aid was able to get in, including commercial deliveries.
But there is now concern in southern Gaza where Israeli military operations are taking place and the main Rafah crossing from Egypt is closed, he said.
He said that if the UN and aid organisations have access to places where aid is needed, “we can improve this situation, but if we don’t have access, then it is not possible”.
Intense armed clashes, arrests as Israeli military raids Jenin
Israeli forces were met with resistance from the Jenin Brigades during its storming of the city, with the Palestinian group saying it ambushed Israeli troops.
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Pro-Israel candidate defeats Jamaal Bowman in US primary after record AIPAC funding
Before the election, Bowman’s district was flooded with an unprecedented $12m in attack advertisements and messaging, funded by the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Observers say AIPAC’s record funding to unseat Bowman was a direct result of his vocal criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza.
In a post on social media before results came in Bowman said, “We’re rising up against AIPAC and their right-wing billionaires. Every vote is going to count in ensuring that we defend the voice of the people!”
UN Security Council urges Israel to halt illegal settlements in West Bank
Tor Wennesland, the UN Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the council that Israeli settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank “have no legal validity and are in flagrant violation of international law”.
UN says Israeli forces must stop killing Gaza’s health workers
In a statement, the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied territory implored “Israel to immediately cease the killing of protected people, including healthcare workers, and calls for an immediate and impartial investigation into these killings and accountability for the perpetrators”.
Some 500 health workers in Gaza have been killed since October 7, the UN said, amid “systematic attacks on hospitals and other medical facilities in violation of the laws of war”.
The latest UN appeal came on the same day as another Palestinian medic was killed in a targeted Israeli drone attack.
Fadi Al-Wadiya, a 33-year-old physiotherapist with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) was attacked and killed – along with five other people – while riding his bicycle to work in Gaza City on Tuesday.
Palestinian envoy decries ‘shocking footage’ of Israeli army dog attacking Palestinian woman
“Cowards!”, Zomlot added in a post on social media sharing the footage, which was leaked to Al Jazeera and shows clips obtained from a camera attached to an Israeli army dog.
The woman told Al Jazeera that she was attacked while she was sleeping in her home, and she was mauled and suffered fractures.
Death toll for Israeli strike in Beit Lahiya rises
Earlier, we reported that 12 people were injured and several were still missing under the rubble after the Israeli military bombed the house belonging to the Abu Awad family.
Extent of forced hunger crisis in Gaza revealed in UN report
Ship reports missile near miss south of Yemen, says UK maritime organisation
Reports of the missile attack, which occurred 52 nautical miles (96km) south of Yemen’s Aden, were received early on Wednesday morning, the UKMTO said.
The ship’s crew are reported safe after the attack and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call, the organisation said.
Houthi fighters in Yemen have carried out months of attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden which they say have links to Israel or frequent Israeli ports. The Houthi say the attacks will stop when Israel ends its war on Gaza.
Australia’s Labor won’t expel senator Fatima Payman for Palestine vote
Payman crossed the floor to vote for the motion brought by the Greens Party on Tuesday, making her the first Labor politician to vote against the party since 1986.
Earlier this month, Payman stressed that Australia must recognize Palestine to promote peace.
Iran-backed group claims responsibility for drone attack on Israeli city of Eilat
Israeli security officials said that the drone had been successfully intercepted before it reached the city situated on the Red Sea.
Video clips posted on social media appear to show an Israeli missile interceptor flying through the air, before landing and causing an explosion.
Israeli military carries out arrests, raids across the West Bank
Israeli forces have also re-arrested a former Palestinian prisoner during the storming of the city of Dura, south of Hebron.
Israeli military raids have been reported in other locations across the occupied West Bank, including:
- The town of al-Issawiya, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, where “violent” confrontations have broken out
- The city of Hebron, where Israeli forces beat a young man
- The village of Zaatara, east of Bethlehem
- The al-Jalama checkpoint near Jenin
- The town of Beita, south of Nablus
Military conscription of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox will ‘rattle’ Netanyahu gov’t
Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government.
In a move that could certainly rattle Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled that ultra-Orthodox men are no longer exempt from military service.
In a letter from the attorney general’s office, they have said that the Israeli military must immediately draft up to 3,000 ultra-Orthodox men who are eligible.
The same letter was also addressed to the country’s Finance Ministry, which said they are now banned from issuing any sort of funds, stipends or government grants to yeshiva or religious institution students who were previously receiving them as well as being exempt from military service.
There have been reactions across the Israeli political aisle.
Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party said that the High Court of Justice’s ruling is a temporary kind of measure that doesn’t exactly solve the issue of conscription. They went on to slam the measure, saying that the way to get it done is with a bill the coalition is currently trying to pass in its second and third readings.
Israel’s opposition has welcomed this move, saying that the time for “shady deals” from Netanyahu’s government is over.
The more religious parties in Netanyahu’s government… said that they are going to fight the measure.
ABC ‘tripling down’ says Australian journalist sacked over starvation in Gaza post
In a post on X, Lattouf noted that the ABC “had already twice reported this exact HRW report”.
The comment from Lattouf comes as mediation between the sacked journalist and the ABC broke down, which means that an unlawful termination of employment dispute will now proceed to a trial in the Federal Court of Australia.
The ABC has denied that it ended Lattouf’s employment unlawfully.
Israeli military provides no proof that MSF staffer it killed was Palestinian fighter
MSF has called the killing of their colleague “cynical and abhorrent”, saying the 33-year-old physiotherapist and father of three was on his way to work at a clinic when he was killed by the Israeli military.
Five other people, including three children, were also killed in the attack which took place near the MSF clinic where he worked, the medical aid group said.
Posting on X, Israel’s military said that Fadi Jihad Muhammad al-Wadiya, who was killed on Tuesday morning while riding his bicycle in Gaza City, was a “unique centre of knowledge” in “electronics and chemistry” for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“[Al-Wadiya was] involved in the development and promotion of the organisation’s missile system,” the military wrote, offering no evidence to support their allegation.
Photos: Israeli strike buries family under slabs of concrete in Beit Lahiya
Israeli military strike on home in Beit Lahiya kills 3, injures 12
Earlier, we reported that several people were missing under the rubble after the Israeli military bombed the house belonging to the Abu Awad family.
Footage, verified by Al Jazeera, showed Civil Defence crews trying to rescue survivors, while others can be seen helping and using their mobile phones to find those trapped and buried.
Gaza the deadliest place in world for aid workers
A recap of recent developments
- Gaza’s Health Ministry has said that at least 32 people have been killed and 139 wounded in the last day, including the sister of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was among 10 people killed in an attack on the Shati refugee camp.
- Haniyeh issued a statement following his sister’s killing, calling Israel “delusional” for “targeting” his family and saying that any ceasefire proposal that does not guarantee an end to fighting in Gaza is “not an agreement”.
- Senior UN officials have told Israel that the world body’s agencies will suspend aid operations across Gaza unless urgent steps are taken to better protect humanitarian workers.
- The head of UNRWA has said the agency only has a guaranteed budget until the end of August and has a “shortfall of about $100-140m” to reach the end of the year.
- No humanitarian aid has entered Gaza for about 50 days, the director-general of Gaza’s Government Media Office, Ismail al-Thawabta, has told Al Jazeera.
Welcome to our live coverage
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‘We will not leave Gaza until all the kidnapped return’: Netanyahu
Netanyahu reiterated that Israel “will eliminate Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities”.
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Hezbollah-Israel: ‘This would not be a conventional war’
Hezbollah’s drones seem to be the new unknown in the conflict with Israel. Hezbollah has armed itself with countless sophisticated drones such as the one that went under the radar and struck the city of Haifa recently.
It could also start attacking shipping in the Mediterranean Sea, like the Houthis have done in the Red Sea, which could cut off maritime life from Israel. Would Hezbollah be able to do something similar? That remains to be seen.
This would not be a conventional war. What you’re seeing from both sides is an attempt to create a balance of terror. Hezbollah is not deterred. That is what’s new in this latest statement by its leader Hassan Nasrallah.
He’s telling Israel, “Until you stop the war in Gaza, we’ll continue with our war in the north, and if you want to expand it, we’ll use asymmetrical means if we need to.”
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White House says Netanyahu’s remarks on US weapons ‘perplexing’
Netanyahu on Tuesday said he told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that it was “inconceivable” that in the past few months Washington was “withholding weapons and ammunitions” to Israel.
“It was perplexing to say the least, certainly disappointing, especially given that no other country is doing more to help Israel defend itself against the threat by Hamas,” White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
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‘Any threat to Cyprus is a threat to the EU’
His words come after the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, threatened Cyprus that it would become part of any full-scale war between the Lebanese armed group and the Israeli army if it allows Israeli military planes to launch missions from the island.
Tensions on the Lebanon-Israel border are high as Israel said this week that it had approved operational plans to escalate its military action against Hezbollah, with which it has been engaging in near-daily exchanges of fire since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October.
“#Cyprus is a Member State of the EU – this means the EU is Cyprus and Cyprus is the EU.
Any threat against one of our member states is a threat against the EU.”
Peter Stano, @eu_eeas spokesperson @ExtSpoxEU explains the EU’s position vis-à-vis threats made against Cyprus. pic.twitter.com/JNpt84V0cL
— European Commission in Cyprus (@EUCYPRUS) June 20, 2024
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Blinken, White House adviser to meet Israeli officials
Netanyahu’s top advisers will meet US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington, DC.
Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Ron Dermer, Israel’s minister for strategic affairs, will speak with Sullivan as a larger, more formal “strategic dialogue” is being rescheduled, an unnamed White House official told the Reuters news agency.
Netanyahu on Tuesday issued an English-language video in which he said Blinken had assured him the Biden administration is working to lift restrictions on arms deliveries to Israel. In a rare account of normally private diplomatic conversations, Netanyahu also said he told Blinken it is “inconceivable” the US is “withholding weapons and ammunition”.
The comment prompted retorts from the Biden administration.
“We genuinely do not know what he’s talking about. We just don’t,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a briefing.
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Child bids farewell to mother killed in Israeli bombardment
Video posted on Instagram show a Palestinian child saying goodbye to her mother who was killed in Israeli bombardment.
“Goodbye mama. My beloved Lima,” the girl cried in the yard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, before people take her mother’s body away wrapped in a white shroud.
The video has been verified by Sanad, Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency.
View this post on Instagram
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Activists tell UK weapons makers they may face criminal liability: Report
Activists have written to the directors of 20 weapons manufacturers based in the UK, saying they may face criminal liability for failing to prevent war crimes if their companies continue to sell military equipment to Israel, The Guardian reports.
Four groups, including the Campaign Against Arms Trade, have written to companies that make parts for F-35 fighter jets used by Israeli forces in their bombing of Gaza.
The letter says company directors face “potential criminal liability for atrocity crimes currently taking place in Gaza” even though the UK government has continued to approve arms sales to Israel since the start of the war.
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UN experts say firms sending arms to Israel could be complicit in abuses
A group of United Nations experts has warned arms and ammunitions manufacturers against taking part in the transfer of weapons to Israel, saying it could make them complicit in human rights abuses and violations of international law.
The group of 30 experts, including several UN special rapporteurs, said arms manufacturers supplying Israel should halt their transfers of war material “even if they are executed under existing export licenses”.
“These companies, by sending weapons, parts, components, and ammunition to Israeli forces, risk being complicit in serious violations of international human rights and international humanitarian laws,” the experts said in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from Israel, which has repeatedly denied carrying out abuses during its Gaza operations.
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Number of Palestinian detainees killed in Israeli prisons rises to 54: Commission
The number of Palestinian prisoners killed in Israeli-run prisons since October 7 has risen to 54, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs in Gaza says.
“The conditions in which detainees live in the occupation prisons are terrifying, inhumane and unprecedented,” it charged.
It said 36 of the prisoners who were arrested in Gaza during the war were killed under torture and harsh detention conditions.
The number of prisoners held by Israeli forces has risen to 9,000, including 300 women, 635 children and 80 journalists.
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Several Israeli sites hit, Hezbollah says
Hezbollah says it targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers inside the Samaka site as well as the Ruwaysat al-Alam area in the occupied Lebanese Kfar Shouba hills.
It said it also “achieved a direct hit” when it shelled the Zabadin site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms with artillery.
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To end Israel-Hezbollah conflict, the war in Gaza must end
“There is no real conflict between the State of Israel and Lebanon. The conflict is all around the core issue of Israel and Palestine,” Baskin, a former hostage negotiator, told Al Jazeera from West Jerusalem. “This is why international attention needs to be focused on finding the diplomatic, political end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and, first and foremost, the war in Gaza.”
He added that the escalating fighting and “bold” rhetoric between Israel and Hezbollah is cause for concern.
“It’s a very dangerous picture right now with both sides being quite bold in their remarks. A great deal of ignorance here of each side threatening to hit the other going way beyond what they’ve done in the past eight and a half months,” he said.
“It’s extraordinarily dangerous for the people of Israel and the people of Lebanon if this war escalates anymore.”
Israeli air strikes concentrated in Rafah
In Rafah, Israeli forces have razed agricultural lands along the eastern boundary and have blown up houses. In the heart of the southern city, intensive fighting is taking place between Palestinian fighters and Israeli soldiers, she said.
“There have also been targets on people sheltering in tents. They say they are trapped and unable to leave that area,” Khoudary said, adding that at least two Palestinian women were killed in an apartment in Nuseirat in central Gaza.
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Hezbollah names commander killed in Israeli drone strike
The Israeli military issued a statement confirming it carried out the attack and naming its target as Fadel Ibrahim. It said the Hezbollah member had commanded the group’s ground forces in the Jouaiyya area and helped conduct attacks against Israel.
Since October 7, Israel has waged regular strikes against Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure in Lebanon, killing more than 320 of its members.
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Photos: Aftermath of Israeli attacks on Khan Younis
Netanyahu’s relationship with military establishment at all-time low: Former general
The Israeli military and security echelons, he said, feel they have “exhausted the purpose of the war”, reaching a “tactical peak”.
“We are getting close to finishing the job defined by the government and we’ll reach a point when we’re just fighting guerrilla warfare, and that could take years,” Ziv was quoted as saying by US media.
The divide between Netanyahu and Israel’s military played out yesterday when Israel’s military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Hamas could not be rooted out because it is “an ideology”, undermining Netanyahu’s stated goal of fully defeating it.
Hamas chief, Iran’s FM discuss Gaza war
Addressing the ceasefire proposal being negotiated, Haniyeh said the group is still open to all initiatives that serve the Palestinian people’s interests.
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Malaysia, China call for immediate ceasefire
Malaysia’s PM Anwar Ibrahim and China’s Premier Li Qiang called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, unhindered humanitarian aid delivery, and safeguarding relief and medical personnel.
“Both countries expressed full support for the resumption of the political settlement process based on the two-state solution, and for promoting a comprehensive, just, and lasting settlement of the Palestinian question at an early date,” a joint statement said.
US military’s ‘stop-start’ pier re-attached to Gaza shore
The Reuters report, which described the US-built floating pier as “on-again, off-again” and “stop-start”, quoted unnamed US officials as saying operations on the pier would resume on Thursday.
Only a limited amount of aid has been delivered via the pier since it opened on May 17, 10 days after Israeli forces seized the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
A UN spokesperson on Wednesday said there had been no update regarding the pier since the World Food Programme said it was pausing deliveries due to safety concerns, which came amid allegations the pier played a role in the Israeli captive rescue operation in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza that killed more than 270 people. The US denied the allegations.
The $230m pier has come to symbolize, for some, the failures and contradictions of US policy in Gaza.
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If you’re just joining us
- Israel’s military has carried out a series of deadly strikes in central Gaza, including in Nuseirat and Deir el-Balah.
- Israeli tanks have pushed deeper into five neighbourhoods of western Rafah, firing shells at displaced people’s tents.
- Israeli forces have arrested 20 people in raids across the occupied West Bank, including a 77-year-old legislator released from custody just days ago.
- Israeli antigovernment protesters, including relatives of captives, have blocked major highways as they call for the overthrow of Netanyahu.
- There could be as a few as 50 captives still alive in Gaza, US media is reporting, citing a US official and captive-release mediators.
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NGO criticises rearrest of former speaker of Palestinian Legislative Council
“Dweik was brutally arrested … and suffers from many chronic health problems,” the NGO said.
Since Wednesday evening, Israeli forces have arrested at least 20 Palestinians from across the occupied West Bank, it said.
“It is worth mentioning that since the beginning of the war … [Israeli forces have] arrested more than 9,300 citizens from the West Bank, including Jerusalem, in addition to thousands of citizens from Gaza, and hundreds of Palestinians [in Israel], which were accompanied by a number of crimes and grave violations.”
Israel should exhaust diplomacy before going to war with Hezbollah: Lapid
Lapid said Israel has effectively “abandoned our most flourishing [northern] region” due to the frequent cross-border attacks, which have forced tens of thousands of Israeli residents to evacuate.
However, before going to war, Israel should “exhaust the diplomatic process with Hezbollah”, he said.
Israeli bombardment targets Gaza City road
The attack, targeting Gaza’s Road 8, follows a series of deadly attacks in central Gaza, including in eastern Deir el-Balah and the Nuseirat camp.
Without a ceasefire, healing mental trauma is impossible: MSF
MSF psychologist Davide Musardo, who recently left Gaza, explained his experience in a statement: “In some sessions we even had to shout to be heard, to overcome the sound of drones and bombs.
“And when there was no fighting outside, the background sound was the cries of children in the hospital. Children maimed, with burns or without parents. Children having panic attacks, because physical pain triggers psychological wounds when pain reminds you of the bomb that changed your life forever.
“Calmer children draw drones and military jets. War is everywhere in the hospital; the smell of blood is unbearable. This is the image I bring back from Gaza.”
Israeli drone attack on car killed one in southern Lebanon: Report
The attack killed one person, according to Lebanon’s Annahar news site.
The reported casualty comes amid heightened tensions between Israel and Hezbollah after the Lebanese group’s leader warned that “no place” in Israel would be safe if a full-scale war breaks out.
Gaza’s death toll rises
Of those, 35 Palestinians were killed and 130 wounded in the past 24-hour reporting period, the ministry added.
Crowd gathers to mourn man killed in Deir el-Balah attack
A large crowd of people have gathered at Al-Aqsa Hospital to say goodbye and perform final prayers for a person killed in the eastern part of Deir el-Balah city. They include family members, friends and residents of the area who knew the person, described as a community leader.
A drone fired at least one missile at him in what seems to be a targeted killing. Multiple injured people have been taken to hospital.
Outbreak of ‘alien’ diseases in central Gaza
Medical staff described the outbreak of diseases as “alien”. The diseases are spreading among displaced people due to their poor living conditions, contaminated water, lack of sanitation and hygiene and the rising heat. The Israeli military destroyed the vast majority of Gaza’s sanitation facilities. It’s easy to walk along any of the roads here and see sewage.
This is all aggravating the spread of diseases, particularly infectious diseases among women, children and those who have health complications.
Inside Al-Aqsa Hospital, there is unanimous agreement that it is not a hospital any more. It’s not suitable for medical services, it’s not suitable to save lives.
As few as 50 captives still alive in Gaza, US officials estimate
That estimate, which the WSJ said relies partly on Israeli intelligence, implies that as many as 66 captives unaccounted for in Gaza could be dead, a higher toll than Israel has publicly stated.
Hamas took about 250 captives on October 7 and has since released 109 of them, mostly in exchange deals. Seven more captives have been rescued by Israel’s military.
In December, Israeli forces admitted killing three captives despite them being shirtless and one of them holding up a white flag.
Widening rift between Israel’s PM and army over ‘Hamas defeat’ comments
Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government.
There is a widening rift between the Israeli government and its army this evening.
The Israeli military’s spokesperson Daniel Hagari saying that it would be impossible to defeat Hamas because they are “an ideology” that is instilled in the people.
The Israeli prime minister’s office fuming at this and releasing a statement saying that one of the goals of the war is to eliminate Hamas’s military and political capabilities.
But the army’s spokesperson has said that anyone who is saying that is, in fact, misleading the public.
This just gives you an idea of what Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies are in this war, and the army on the ground saying it is actually not realistic.
Israeli military claims to kill Hamas sniper commander
Israeli troops and fighter jets killed several more fighters in Rafah and central Gaza over the last day, the military said.
Israel’s latest wave of attacks in Gaza also killed and injured women and children, most recently from the bombardment of a home in Nuseirat camp.
Lebanon divided over Hezbollah’s response to Israel
Hezbollah is still treading carefully. It is still complying with the unwritten rules of engagement with Israel. The conflict is largely confined to the border region and to military targets.
Every now and then, Hezbollah raises the level to send a message. Nasrallah’s speech, a very defiant speech, yesterday was all about messages to Israelis that “we do not want war, but that doesn’t mean we are afraid of war”.
What Hezbollah has been trying to do is deter Israel from widening this conflict.
How much support Hezbollah has in Lebanon is debatable but there is no doubt it has its support base. They back its decision. But there’s also a segment of the population in this country that believes Hezbollah opening up this front is just going to cause more suffering to a country that has all but collapsed economically.
Cyprus not involved in military conflict: Gov’t spokesperson
On Wednesday, Nasrallah issued a warning to Cyprus, an EU member that sits in the eastern Mediterranean west of the Lebanese and Israeli coasts, saying that the group has information that Israel is conducting military exercises in Cyprus.
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said his island nation “is in no way involved” in any military operations in the region.
On Thursday, Constantinos Letympiotis, the spokesman, said: “Our relations are still excellent with Lebanon.”
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Netanyahu creating ‘mythical’ rift with Biden ahead of US elections
The rift is “created … mythical”, Hellyer told Al Jazeera, adding that Biden has applied no serious pressure on Netanyahu beyond “rhetoric”.
“It’s certainly not how Netanyahu is presenting it, as though they’re in battle.”
Netanyahu is likely playing up the divide with Biden because he feels a Trump presidency would work even more to his advantage, leaving him more “free”, said Hellyer.
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Palestinian journalist describes torture, abuse at Israeli detention camp
The 42-year-old detailed his harrowing experiences to his lawyer during a recent visit to the detention centre.
Arab, who worked as a correspondent for Al Araby TV, was arrested at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza amid a large-scale Israeli assault in March.
Arab said that detainees are kept blindfolded and handcuffed. He noted that for 50 days, he had not changed his clothes and was only allowed to change his trousers before the visit. Detainees are subjected to continuous torture, physical and sexual abuse and humiliation, leading to deaths.
He noted that conversations between detainees are prohibited, with severe beatings as punishment for violations, forcing detainees to talk to themselves and silently pray as they are deprived of religious practices.
The journalist pointed out that some detainees had their limbs amputated and bullets removed without anaesthesia.
The detainees are constantly surrounded by police dogs, and only four detainees are allowed one minute in the toilet at a time. They sleep on the ground, using their shoes as pillows, he added.
Netanyahu’s far-right allies pushing for harder line on Hezbollah
Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government.
There is a lot of pressure on Netanyahu, particularly from the far right, to take a more muscular approach to Hezbollah, to force them back from the border.
There are 60,000 people from 28 Israeli towns and villages who have been evacuated from the border area since pretty much the start of the war and they want to go home. Netanyahu is under pressure to get them home somehow, although he is, as is quite often reported in Israel, very cautious.
Israel is ‘fundamental cause of catastrophe’ in Gaza
“The fundamental cause of the catastrophe we face in Gaza today is the Israeli occupation. As long as this occupation persists, resistance against the occupation by Palestinians will also continue,” Burak Akcapar said.
A UN report that said the Israeli military’s “deliberate” use of heavy weapons in Gaza has been an “intentional and direct attack on the civilian population” exposes some of the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israeli forces against civilians in Gaza, he said.
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Deadly strike near Deir el-Balah
It comes after a wave of fierce attacks in the central area of Gaza, with deadly bombardment in Nuseirat camp and heavy shelling in Maghazi and Bureij camps.
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Palestinian legislator rearrested in Hebron
Dweik, who is 77, had been arbitrarily imprisoned since October in a prison in the Negev desert, where there have been allegations of abuse and medical neglect.
Israeli forces also raided homes and arrested several young men in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, according to Wafa.
Mother of Israeli captive tells Netanyahu: ‘You chose political survival over your people’
Earlier, we reported that protesters had blocked the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv.
Einav Tsengawkar, whose son Matan remains captive in Gaza, joined the protests and gave a strong rebuke of Netanyahu, who she said prioritizes political survival over the fate of Israeli captives and soldiers.
“I will not let you bury Matan and the other hostages in the name of your political survival,” said Tsengawkar, according to Ynet. “We, the people, will win and return the abductees and security to the country.”
Israeli military arrests 3 in Hebron, storms Jenin camp
Israeli forces stormed the city of Hebron and rearrested a university professor, just days after they had released him.
A man has also been arrested in the nearby town of Beit Ummar, while a third man has been arrested in the town of Dura. The arrested man’s family alleges that Israeli soldiers stole money from their home in Dura during the raid.
Israeli forces have also raided Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp, resulting in armed confrontations with Palestinian armed groups, Wafa reports.
The Israeli military has killed 549 people – including 135 minors and seven women – in the occupied West Bank since October 7, while at least 9,280 arrests have been made.
Hezbollah, Israel escalations and rhetoric could plunge Lebanon into war
A threat from Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to strike Cyprus has ratcheted up tensions even further in the eastern Mediterranean, as the Lebanese Shia group’s conflict with Israel continues to threaten to turn into an all-out war.
On Wednesday, Nasrallah said Hezbollah did not want an expanded war, but that it was ready – along with its regional allies – to match Israel’s increased aggression.
Israel had announced on Tuesday that operational plans for a military offensive in its northern neighbour were “approved and validated”.
Despite the rhetoric from both sides, there is a belief among observers that both sides are still largely sticking to the rules of engagement, with escalations occurring gradually.
Nuseirat and Rafah face relentless attacks
Up until the early hours of this morning, we could clearly hear the sound of heavy artillery in the eastern part of central Gaza.
The central area is very small and overcrowded, so anything in the refugee camps in the east can be heard clearly. Israel’s military operation there is part of its plan to establish a buffer zone that is already shrinking the Strip.
In a separate attack, the Israeli military struck the Nuseirat refugee camp with at least one drone missile, firing it into an apartment. Two young women were reportedly killed. Multiple injuries have also been reported.
Heavy artillery shelling could also be heard targeting public facilities and residential buildings in the camp, which has been relentlessly targeted during the war by land, air and sea.
In Rafah city, the Israeli military continues to push deeper into the central and western parts, destroying more residential buildings and pushing more people into internal displacement.
All of this is happening while the Israeli military has imposed a suffocating blockade on all the crossings.
Hezbollah’s Nasrallah says nowhere in Israel will be spared if full-blown war breaks out
Nasrallah said his movement had boosted troop numbers in Lebanon, received equipment from abroad, and would fight without any rules if it came to war.
He also warned Cyprus not to become embroiled in the conflict by opening its bases to Israeli forces.
Israel’s military spokesman says Hamas can’t be defeated as ‘an ideology’
“To say that we are going to make Hamas disappear is to throw sand in people’s eyes. If we don’t provide an alternative, in the end, we will have Hamas,” Hagari said.
The military spokesman’s comments have proved controversial within Netanyahu’s government, which has repeatedly asserted that it will not end its war on Gaza until Hamas is defeated.
“The political and security cabinet headed by Netanyahu defined as one of the goals of the war the destruction of Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “The [Israeli army] is of course committed to this.”
Netanyahu’s days are numbered: Opposition leader Lapid
“The damage that Netanyahu inflicts on Israel is unimaginable and it will take us many years to repair it,” Lapid said in comments carried by Israel’s Maariv newspaper.
“When he’s gone, there won’t even be a fountain named after him, let alone a street or a cultural hall,” Lapid said. “He will only be remembered for October 7.”
Lapid predicted that Netanyahu’s government would soon fall and elections would be called in 2024. He says he has no personal desire to see Netanyahu behind bars but opposes Netanyahu receiving any pardon.
Relatives of Israeli captives protest on Tel Aviv highway
They were joined by members of a women’s activist group, with the demonstration held as part of a so-called “Week of Destruction” in Israel, in which protests are being held nationwide to pressure the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to call early elections and agree a ceasefire-for-captives deal with Hamas.
The women’s group criticized the government for engaging in “petty politics” while more than 100 captives are still being held in Gaza.
“Wake up! There are hostages in Gaza who see in the news that the people are fighting for them and the government is abandoning them for petty politics,” the group said.
Women and children among Nuseirat victims
The Wafa news agency is now reporting that the two people killed were women, adding that women and children were among the 12 wounded.
Elsewhere in central Gaza, the Israeli military also carried out raids in the Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps, as well as to the north of Nuseirat, Wafa added.
Hamas ‘preserves’ fighting force in Rafah, does not see battle as ‘decisive’: Monitors
Hamas fighters are remaining in combat tunnel networks in Rafah, while remotely detonating buildings in the city that were “rigged to explode prior to the arrival of Israeli forces”, the US-based think tanks report in their latest battlefield update.
“The use of prepared explosively rigged buildings and tunnels suggests that Hamas’ units in Rafah prepared to preserve their strength by avoiding direct engagements,” the ISW/CTP say in their joint report.
Hamas fighters also launched an attack drone towards an Israeli town near the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, and rockets were fired from Gaza targeting Israel’s Ashkelon and another town bordering the north of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, according to the report.
Photos: Seas of tents in Khan Younis as 1 million flee Rafah
Israeli tanks push into 5 west Rafah neighbourhoods: Report
Heavy shelling and gunfire also targeted the tents of displaced families in the al-Mawasi area – located further to the west of Rafah, Reuters reports.
We will bring you more on the Israeli military operation in western Rafah as information emerges.
Escalation neither side would be able to withhold whatever the limits are – Marwan Bishara
And even if not intentional, a war could still break out due to a miscalculation amid the ongoing clashes.
“It could still happen by mistake,” Bishara said, in a situation where “neither side would be able to withhold whatever the limits are”.
If you’re just joining us
- The Israeli military has bombed a home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least two people and injuring 12 others.
- Israeli tanks, warplanes and drones have attacked neighbourhoods in the west of Rafah city in southern Gaza.
- Israeli forces have detained seven Palestinians during an arrest operation in the town of Beit Sira, west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Wafa reports.
- An Israeli drone strike has caused an explosion near a petrol station east of the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem, in what appears to be a failed assassination attempt.
- Cyprus has responded to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s warning that the country could become “a part of the war”, describing the threat as “not pleasant” and saying it is “not involved in conflicts in any way”.
- The US military has re-attached its floating pier to Gaza’s shore after temporarily removing it due to poor sea conditions, according to the Reuters news agency.
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‘The dead are the lucky ones’: People in Gaza say the wounded suffer immensely
“UN member states should do more to prevent further atrocities,” the rights group said, in a statement to the UN’s Human Rights Council on Wednesday.
“No more civilians should be killed or wounded by unlawful attacks, die from malnutrition and dehydration, and be deprived of access to medical care,” HRW said.
‘We are all poorer’ due to Israel’s destruction of Gaza: UNICEF
“We have all lost. The attacks on hospitals, the attacks on homes, and the defence of these attacks. These are attacks on our shared humanity,” he said in a video, posted on X from Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
“Gazans cannot turn off the TV or close their eyes to these horrors, and neither should we,” he said.
Ocasio-Cortez says US representatives ‘don’t vote their conscience’ on Israeli actions
The spending showed why US representatives give “unconditional vote support for nearly any Israeli government action” because they are “terrified” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) could push to have them replaced with another candidate, Ocasio-Cortez said in a post on X.
The United Democracy Project, a group affiliated with the powerful AIPAC, reportedly spent 61 percent of a total of $23m on advertising ahead of the primary election for the seat currently held by Bowman, the tracking firm AdImpact said.
AIPAC responded with its own post, claiming the “overwhelming majority of Congress votes with their constituents who support the [United States-Israel] relationship.”
Ocasio-Cortez countered, asking why the lobby group needed to spend so much money on advertising if its positions were as popular as it claimed.
‘Systematically’ violating war laws – UN rights office report examines six Israeli attacks
Ten structures were flattened in the attack, and the UN verified that at least 56 people were killed, including 12 women and 23 children.
It was one of six attacks by Israel in October and November that were examined by the UN’s human rights office in a new report on “indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks” in Gaza.
Severe lack of food, drinking water, milk and formula for babies in Gaza: UN
That was just one of several warnings on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza contained in the latest situation report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
OCHA also reports that at camps for displaced people in central and southern Gaza, access to water is critically low and there is a severe lack of food, as well as milk and formula for babies.
“Many households report having only one meal every day, with some having one meal every two or three days,” the OCHA report states.
Israeli-imposed constraints continue to “severely undermine the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance and services across Gaza, including the delivery of food and nutrition assistance, medical care, protection and shelter support, and water, sanitation and hygiene [WASH] services to hundreds of thousands of people”, the OCHA report adds.
Israeli military arrests 7 during raid on town near Ramallah
Four members of the Hamdan family were arrested in the raids, including two men previously held in Israeli custody.
Israeli forces have also stormed the city of Dura, south of Hebron and arrested a Palestinian man.
A damaged Israeli military bulldozer has also been removed from the Far’a refugee camp, south of Tubas, after Palestinian fighters struck it with an explosive device.
UN Israel-Gaza inquiry sends ‘7000 pieces of evidence’ to ICC
“We have never seen anything like this,” Pillay told Al Jazeera’s James Bays.
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Colombia to treat, rehabilitate Palestinian children who lost limbs in Israel’s war on Gaza
Under the programme, the children, aged between 12 and 15 years, would be flown from Egypt to Colombia alongside a family member or guardian, where they would spend six months in treatment and rehabilitation.
Murillo described the plans as “quite advanced” on Wednesday, the AP news agency reports, and said he had already discussed the programme with Egyptian and Jordanian officials.
“The plan up to now is that Colombia would be sending an aeroplane, bringing some support to Gaza or refugee camps in Egypt. We think that the plan can move forward, according to the agreements with our colleagues in Jordanian and Egypt,” he said.
Israeli army ‘one of the most criminal in the world’
The commission was presenting findings of its report into abuses committed by both Israel and Hamas since October last year.
Jake Sullivan to meet with top Israel officials amid US-Israel tensions: Reports
The nature of the meeting has not been disclosed, but it comes amid growing tensions between the Netanyahu government and the Biden administration after the Israeli prime minister released a video on Wednesday complaining that the US is blocking arms shipments to the country.
The complaint reportedly surprised US officials, who insist they have only withheld a single shipment of 900kg (2,000-pound) bombs back in May, while all other weapons transfers to Israel have continued uninterrupted.
Photos: Civilians under attack from Israeli drones, warplanes as tanks advance into Rafah
Fisherman could be a lifeline for Palestinians, but Israel is killing them
The sea is both a source of livelihood for Palestinian fishermen and part of their identity.
Mostafa Abu Amera risks his life every day, rowing out on the waves off the coast of Gaza, under Israeli surveillance, to net the occasional fish on which his hungry family have come to rely.
“We are forced to go to sea and fish to feed our children,” he says. “Last week, I lost my brother-in-law who was also a fisherman.”
With Israel blocking humanitarian aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip, these fishermen could be a lifeline for Palestinians. But Israel’s war has effectively shut down the fishing industry, adding to the widespread hunger and starvation.
Cypriot president responds to Hezbollah warnings over support to Israeli military
Government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis shared a statement on social media from Cyprus’s President Nikos Christodoulides, in which the Cypriot leader said that the “Republic of Cyprus is not involved in war conflicts in any way”.
Letymbiotis also said that the president had described the Hezbolloah’s leader’s warning to Cyprus as “not pleasant”.
“But they do not correspond in any case whatsoever to what is attempted, that is to present an image that Cyprus is involved in the war activities. That is not the case whatsoever,” the spokesperson quoted the president as saying.
Issuing a warning to countries in the Mediterranean region against assisting Israel in its war efforts, Nasrallah suggested that Cyprus – which has hosted Israeli forces for training exercises – might allow Israel to use its airbases in the event of a wider war on Lebanon.
In the case of a full-blown conflict with Israel, Nasrallah said that targets in the Mediterranean Sea could be included in Hezbollah’s response.
Israelis say living on border with Lebanon becoming ‘unbearable’ amid clashes
“It is scary,” Uri Vazan, a resident of Kiryat Shmona, told the AP.
“You don’t know when it is coming to you, suddenly you have an alarm, suddenly missiles fall,” he said in Kiryat Shmona, which was targeted by 15 rockets on Wednesday.
“To be here is not easy. It is scary, it is unbearable, it can’t be contained,” another resident, Shishi Phima, told the AP.
![Smoke billows during Israeli bombardment on the village of Khiam in south Lebanon near the border with Israel on June 19, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by RABIH DAHER / AFP) / The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by RABIH DAHER has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [June 19] instead of [June 8]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require.](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/AFP__20240619__34XJ4CC__v2__HighRes__CorrectionLebanonIsraelPalestinianConflict-1718849359.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
![Smoke billows during Israeli bombardment on the village of Khiam in south Lebanon near the border with Israel on June 19, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by RABIH DAHER / AFP) / The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by RABIH DAHER has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [June 19] instead of [June 8]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require.](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/AFP__20240619__34XG8W6__v3__HighRes__CorrectionLebanonIsraelPalestinianConflict-1718849320.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
UN Chief details how Israel prevents aid reaching Palestinians in Gaza, occupied territory
Here are some of the ways the UN chief’s report says Israel is obstructing humanitarian access:
- Physical obstacles – Israeli barriers, checkpoints, roadblocks and gates
- Restrictions on goods – restricting the entry of all imports, including food and fuel into Gaza
- Restrictions on humanitarian workers – International UN staff have had difficulties obtaining work visas; Palestinian UN staff denied entry to occupied East Jerusalem to get to their place of work
- Administrative barriers – such as Israel’s “building permit regime”
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Israeli military bombs house in Nuseirat camp, killing two
A further 12 people have been injured in the strike, which struck the al-Hasayna area in Nuseirat.
We will bring you updates on this attack when we have them.
Head of Hezbollah threatens Israel, Cyprus in televised address
In a televised address, Nasrallah said that possible targets in the Mediterranean Sea would be included in a Hezbollah response.
Nasrallah also threatened Cyprus for the first time, saying Hezbollah could consider it “a part of the war” if it continued to allow Israel to use its airports and bases for military exercises.
Israeli military targeted with explosive devices in Far’a refugee camp
Palestinian armed groups and the Israeli military have exchanged fire, while Israeli forces have also been targeted with explosive devices, local media reports.
Israeli military raids have been reported in other locations in the occupied West Bank, including:
- The village of al-Arqa, west of Jenin
- The Qalandiya refugee camp, north of occupied Jerusalem
- The town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, where a military bulldozer is destroying infrastructure
US military’s ‘stop-start’ pier re-attached to Gaza shore – again: Report
The Reuters report, which described the US-built floating pier as “on-again, off-again” and “stop-start”, quoted unnamed US officials as saying operations on the pier would resume on Thursday.
Only a limited amount of aid has been delivered via the pier since it opened on May 17, 10 days after Israeli forces seized the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, which had become the main source of humanitarian food supplies for the people of Gaza after Israel’s blockade decimated local food sources.
A UN spokesperson on Wednesday said there had been no update regarding the pier since the World Food Programme said it was pausing deliveries due to safety concerns, which came amid allegations the pier played a role in the Israeli captive rescue operation in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza that killed more than 270 people. The US denied the allegations.
The $230m pier has come to symbolise, for some, the failures and contradictions of US policy in Gaza.
Israeli settlers in Jericho block aid trucks heading to Gaza: Reports
Witnesses at the scene told Wafa that the group of settlers had gathered in the vicinity of the al-Karameh, or Allenby, bridge border crossing that links Jordan to the West Bank, while footage published by local media appears to show an Israeli car driver driving intentionally slow in front of a truck to impede its progress.
Far-right Israeli activists have intercepted trucks delivering humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave on several occasions in recent months, attacking drivers and destroying the contents of their trucks.
Hezbollah chief Nasrallah says Israel should be ‘scared’ of all-out war
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah issued the stern warning to Israel on Wednesday after Israeli officials re-stated that their country is ready for an all-out war against Hezbollah in Lebanese territory.
“What is being said in the Israeli media – about a war in Lebanon does not scare us,” Nasrallah said in a speech via video feed.
Israel is the side that should be “scared”, he said.
Israeli chief of staff ‘downplays’ Hezbollah drone footage of sensitive sites in northern Israel
Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government
The situation on Israel’s northern border continues to escalate.
The Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant holding a situational assessment with the military chief of staff Herzi Halevi, in which they emphasised that they want to combat the Hezbollah drone threat and that Israel is prepared for a wide variety of scenarios.
Halevi touring Israel’s northern border and downplaying the near 10-minute video that Hezbollah has released showing sensitive military targets, and saying that Israel is, nonetheless, prepared for war.
US military carries out strikes on targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen
CENTCOM also said that it destroyed two Houthi uncrewed surface vessels in the Red Sea that “presented an imminent threat” to ships in the area.
The Houthis have been carrying out attacks on Israel-linked shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November in response to Israel’s war on Gaza.
‘Widening rift’ between Israeli PM and army over ‘Hamas defeat’ comments
Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government.
There is a widening rift between the Israeli government and its army this evening.
The Israeli military’s spokesperson Daniel Hagari saying that it would be impossible to defeat Hamas because they are “an ideology” that is instilled in the people.
The Israeli prime minister’s office fuming at this and releasing a statement saying that one of the goals of the war is to eliminate Hamas’s military and political capabilities.
But the army’s spokesperson has said that anyone who is saying that is, in fact, misleading the public.
This just gives you an idea of what Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies are in this war, and the army on the ground saying it is actually not realistic.
Israel’s actions in Gaza ‘intentional attack on civilians’, says UN inquiry
Khaled Mahajneh, a Palestinian lawyer who visited the Israeli detention facility called Sde Teiman, where hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza are held in terrible conditions, joins Al Jazeera’s live from Um al-Fahm in Israel.
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West Bank: Explosion, fire as Israeli attack drone strikes petrol station in Tulkarem
A video shared on social media shows a man running away from a fire as debris falls from the sky. No injuries were reported, Wafa added.
Israeli aircraft were heard flying over the city of Tulkarem and its refugee camps for hours, before the drone strike, in the as-Salam neighbourhood of Tulkarem, near the Nur Shams refugee camp, Wafa reports.
Earlier this week, UN human rights chief Volker Turk expressed alarm at the “dramatically deteriorating” situation in the occupied West Bank, where 528 Palestinians, including 133 children, have been killed by Israeli military forces or Israeli settlers since October.
Israeli army spokesman’s comments undermine ‘Netanyahu’s doctrine’ on Hamas’s destruction: Analyst
“Right now, it seems that for the first time after many years, there is an ongoing escalation between the government headed by Netanyahu and his entourage of reporters, analysts who are actually on his – unofficially – on his team, that are smearing the chief of staff,” Eldar told Al Jazeera.
“It’s a kind of apocalyptic scenario that the army spokesman – who is reporting to the chief of staff – is just undermining Netanyahu’s doctrine, which is: We do have to put an end to the Hamas government once and for all in Gaza,” Eldar said.
“What Hagari is saying is challenging Netanyahu and saying, actually … you are hallucinating.”
Israel’s war on Gaza in numbers
A recap of recent developments
- At least nine people have been killed and 30 injured after Israeli bombs struck a group of people awaiting aid trucks near the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) border crossing in Rafah, southern Gaza.
- Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has warned that “no place” in Israel would be spared in case of a full-blown war, after Israel said it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive.
- Nasrallah added that a wider war would have regional implications, and the Lebanese armed group would attack other countries in the region, including Cyprus if it continued to allow Israel to use its airports and bases for military exercises.
- Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari has said Hamas cannot be defeated as an ideology, prompting the government to re-assert it remains committed to the group’s destruction.
- The Israeli military’s “deliberate” use of heavy weapons in Gaza has been an “intentional and direct attack on the civilian population”, a new report by a UN-backed independent commission has found.
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Welcome to our live coverage
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At least nine killed in Israeli attack on Rafah
Al Jazeera’s correspondent and Reuters news agency report that at least nine people were killed when Israeli bombs struck a group of people near the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) aid crossing, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Our correspondent says that at least 30 were injured in the attack, and our cameras captured the arrival of dozens of wounded at the European Hospital in southern Gaza, which is heavily overcrowded.
Reuters reports, citing medical sources, that the group of people were hit while awaiting the arrival of aid trucks through the crossing.
We will continue to update you on this attack as information becomes available.
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Four killed across Gaza in Israeli attacks
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that two people were killed after they were targeted by an Israeli army drone strike in Gaza City in the northern Strip.
Wafa quoted a medical source at al-Ahly Hospital, who said that the attack took place in the Zeitoun neighbourhood in the southeast of the city.
In another Israeli army attack, this one carried out via artillery shelling, two more Palestinians were killed in the western area of Rafah, near the al-Alam Roundabout, Wafa added.
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Israeli defence minister meets with army chief on potential war in Lebanon
Yoav Galant, Israel’s defence minister, has met with the army’s chief of staff for a “situation assessment” of the army’s northern command, reports Israel’s public broadcaster.
“We have an obligation to change the situation in the north and return the citizens safely to their homes and we will find the way to do this action”, Galant said at the meeting.
Last night, Israeli officials approved operational plans for war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying that the country is ready for an “all-out war”.
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‘Always been ready for all-out war’: Hezbollah
Ibrahim Moussawi, a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese Parliament, says while the group does not want an all-out war with Israel, it is prepared to fight one if it is “imposed” on them.
“Hezbollah has always been ready. It’s been more ready than any time in the past, he told Al Jazeera.
“We are under occupation. Parts of our country are still under occupation … we are the target of Israeli violence,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Did the Gazans want what the Israelis do or what they are doing? It’s under the eyes of the international community that is … a complete, full partner in what’s happening.”
Moreover, Moussawi said it was Israel to blame for “escalating” the tensions with Hezbollah.
“We are on the defensive. We are doing the role of defending our people,” he added.
Moussavi said while the armed group is on the battlefront, they have been receiving indirect messages regarding ongoing discussions to de-escalate tensions.
“We believe that everyone should assume their own responsibility for what’s happening now in Lebanon,” he told Al Jazeera.
“The Americans are not taking initiative in escalation. They don’t want a full-fledged war, we know that. But they are continuing to funnel supplies and military ammunition to the Israelis. They can stop it, and the war will stop.”
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US pier ‘never meant to be ultimate saviour’ for aid
US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood says the US-built pier in Gaza, built to increase the amount of aid entering the besieged enclave, was never meant to be the “ultimate saviour”.
His comments follow reports that the US will dismantle the pier soon, after bad weather disrupted aid distribution via the pier.
“The scope of what’s needed in Gaza is huge,” Wood told reporters at the United Nations in New York City. “It was never meant to be the ultimate saviour of getting assistance in, but it was a worthwhile effort.
“And again, it did deliver some assistance. But in terms of how long it’s going to be an operation, that, I couldn’t tell you.”
The $230m project was completed in mid-May, but days later, waves swept away vessels supporting the pier, raising questions about the initiative’s viability. By the end of the month, the pier itself sustained damage and required repairs.
Aid groups have long warned the US pier is an ineffective way to deliver aid and cannot be a substitute for opening land routes, which had been blocked or severely restricted by Israel.
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Analysis: ‘Noose’ tightening on Israel for its crimes
Al Jazeera’s Marwan Bishara
The latest UN commission report on Gaza is not going to make any difference today or tomorrow.
But I think in historical perspective, it’s incredibly important that the noose continues to tighten around Israel, Israel’s apartheid, Israel’s war crimes and even around Zionism as the state’s ideology – in the way it manifests itself each and every time with such war crimes.
The report adds more evidence to the nature of the Israeli occupation, the nature of Israeli wars, the nature of Israeli strategy.
What’s important here, of course, is not so much that there are new revelations as much as substantiation of a lot of what we at Al Jazeera have been reporting for the past eight months.
But it’s vital to get such a distinguished international body to substantiate all these allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity while documenting the cases of torture, sexual harassment and all sorts of other crimes carried out by Israel over Gaza.
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Latest UN report on Gaza could be used by ICJ, ICC
Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo reporting from New York, US
The International Court of Justice has a genocide case pending in front of it with South Africa and others.
This commission of inquiry report could be used to further that case. You have the International Criminal Court, where the prosecutors already recommend potential arrest warrants [for Israel and Hamas leaders].
This could be used as evidentiary material moving forward in both of those international justice systems or courts.
Beyond that, I’m sure it will be used by civil society, but also potentially by governments that support Israel. This report could add political pressure to some of Israel’s allies that have backed Israel through this war so far.
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Hezbollah’s Nasrallah: Israeli army appears defeated and collapsed
- The storming of the Galilee is a possibility that remains and is likely within any war waged by Israeli forces on Lebanon.
- The enemy (Israeli forces) fears that things will roll into a war, and this strongly affects the Gaza front and forces it to economise on ammunition.
- The great pressure from the southern Lebanon front, in addition to other fronts, affects the negotiations regarding the outcome of the war.
- The enemy’s image of deterrence is collapsing, and the army appears defeated and collapsed.
- The Israeli enemy is unable to wage war on these fronts, as the British and Americans are taking care of the Yemeni front.
- The enemy’s Ministry of Defense says there are 8,663 disabled officers and soldiers, and we ask what the number of wounded is.
- Part of the enemy’s media and psychological war is not acknowledging its dead and losses.
- The resistance followed a strategy of blinding the enemy and deafening its ears by targeting Israeli technical equipment, radars, balloons, and others.
- The enemy evacuated many of its military sites on the border with southern Lebanon.
- We have a very large amount of information, and the drone footage we published on Tuesday is a small part of long hours that were filmed in Haifa.
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Nasrallah says nowhere in Israel will be spared if full-blown war breaks out
“The enemy knows well that we have prepared ourselves for the worst … and that no place … will be spared our rockets,” Nasrallah said in a televised address. Israel must “wait for us on land, by sea and by air”, he said.
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Head of Hezbollah threatens Israel, Cyprus in televised address
In a televised address, Nasrallah said that included possible targets in the Mediterranean Sea.
Nasrallah also threatened Cyprus for the first time, saying Hezbollah could consider it “a part of the war”, if it continued to allow Israel to use its airports and bases for military exercises.
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Israeli attack reported in central Gaza
Al Jazeera’s correspondent in the Strip reports that Israeli forces blew up residential buildings in az-Zahra, north of Nuseirat refugee camp.
We will bring you more updates on this attack as information becomes available, including numbers of any possible casualties.
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UNRWA: Rise in infectious diseases, high temperatures in Gaza a threat to health
Since the war began more than eight months ago, around 67 percent of the sanitation and water facilities in the coastal enclave have been destroyed, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) has said.
“As infectious diseases continue to spread and temperature rises, lack of hygiene and dehydration threaten the health of people across Gaza,” the agency posted on X.
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Infants suffering from severe burns throughout their bodies: Surgeon in Gaza
Bushra Othman, who also arrived in Gaza as part of a medical mission from Australia, says most of the patients being affected are “exceptionally young kids, women and children”.
“Some of the injuries we saw yesterday [at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah] are shrapnel and blast injuries from explosions, massive chest wounds, esophageal and lung injuries, major abdominal trauma,” she told Al Jazeera.
Othman added that infants as young as 18 months old are being killed in explosions, or have severe burns throughout their bodies.
“None of these patients can go to the intensive care unit to get appropriate treatment because the hospital is understaffed, undersupplied and there’s just not enough to go around in terms of resources,” she said.
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If you’re just joining us
- Sirens have sounded in and around the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, where Hezbollah has claimed successive rocket attacks.
- Israeli forces have bombed a home in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood, killing an unknown number of people and trapping others under the rubble, report our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.
- The UN Human Rights Office has published an assessment on “six emblematic attacks” committed by Israeli forces in Gaza in 2023 that raises “serious concerns under the laws of war”.
- The Israeli military’s “deliberate” use of heavy weapons in Gaza has been an “intentional and direct attack on the civilian population”, a new report by a UN-backed independent commission has found.
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Zero supplies in hospital means reusing disposables: Paediatric surgeon
“There are zero supplies. We are just depending on whatever [supplies are] left over from [previous] missions,” he told Al Jazeera from outside the hospital. “Whatever disposables we have, we keep reusing and reusing them, which is not safe at all.”
“They’ve got five rooms [in the hospital] which they say are operating theatres, but honestly they’re just little cubicles re-fashioned and done as theatres,” he said.
“I don’t understand how they’re managing.”
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Iran’s acting foreign affairs minister heads to Qatar to discuss the war
During the meetings, Bagheri will discuss “mobilizing the capacities of the Islamic world to end the crimes and genocide of the Zionist regime in Gaza,” the ministry said in a statement on social media.
It added that “providing quick aid to the residents of Gaza are at the top of the discussion.”
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Israeli attacks raise ‘serious concerns under the laws of war’: UN
“The requirement to select means and methods of warfare that avoid or at the very least minimise to every extent civilian harm appears to have been consistently violated in Israel’s bombing campaign,” High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement regarding the UN’s assessment.
Here are some of the findings from the OHCHR report:
- The UN verified 218 deaths from six Israeli attacks involving the suspected use of GBU-31 (2,0000 lbs; 925kg), GBU-32 (1,000 lbs; 460kg) and GBU-39 (250 lbs; 110kg) bombs from October 9 to December 2 on residential buildings, a school, refugee camps and a market.
- GBU-31, 32 and 39s are mostly used to penetrate through several floors of concrete and can completely collapse tall structures. Given how densely populated the areas targeted were, the use of an explosive weapon with such wide area effects is highly likely to amount to a prohibited indiscriminate attack.
- Series of Israeli strikes indicate that Israeli forces may have repeatedly violated fundamental principles of the laws of war.
- In five of the attacks, no warning was issued, raising concerns about violations of the principle of precaution in attack to protect civilians.
- In three of the strikes, Israeli forces said they targeted individuals connected to the attacks in Israel on October 7-8. But the mere presence of one commander, or several fighters does not turn an entire neighbourhood into a military objective, as this violates the principle of proportionality and the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks.
- Palestinian armed groups have continued to fire indiscriminate projectiles towards Israel, inconsistent with their obligations under international humanitarian law.
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Palestinian girl with burns from Israeli shelling hopes for treatment
Hanan lies in a hospital cot in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, struggling to move her mouth as she speaks with her eyes partly shut, patches of her forehead still raw and stitched scars across her nose and lips.
When her mother Walaa Akel tried to clean her, she wailed.
Hanan was out walking in Bureij refugee camp where the family had taken shelter after leaving their home when she was caught in Israeli shellfire, her mother Walaa told Reuters.
Instead of spending the Eid al-Adha festival playing with friends, she has spent it in the Al-Aqsa Hospital being treated for second- and third-degree burns on her face and limbs. Now she hopes for treatment and for her face to heal.
“I want to go back to what I was like before,” she said.
Doctor Mahmoud Mahani, the plastic surgeon treating Hanan at the hospital, said she needs urgent treatment somewhere with more advanced equipment.
Walaa Akel said her daughter used to be “as beautiful as the moon”. Now, Hanan often wants to look at videos and pictures of what her face was like before.
“She says to me, ‘Mama, I wish I could walk. Mama, I wish I could stand. I wish I could play with my siblings,’” Walaa said.
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White House denies cancelling meeting over Netanyahu video: Report
“As we said in the briefing yesterday, we have no idea what the [Israeli] prime minister is talking about, but that’s not a reason for rescheduling a meeting,” the White House official told The Times of Israel.
The US is still working to schedule the high-level meeting in Washington to account for the “travel and availability of principals”, the official added. However, details are not finalized “so nothing has been canceled”, they said.
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Israel’s actions in Gaza ‘intentional attack on civilians’
Navi Pillay, chairperson of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said that Israel has committed crimes against humanity, forced starvation, extermination, murder, and inhuman and cruel treatment of Palestinians.
She also accused Palestinian groups of war crimes.
Home bombed in Gaza City
An Israeli strike also hit the city’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, according to their reports, injuring more Palestinians.
The attacks follow an overnight air attack on another home in Gaza City that killed six people, including women and children.
Gaza amusement park is filled with displaced Palestinians
Now it is being used as a refugee camp, with hundreds of tents set up under the scorching summer heat.
“We used to come to Asdaa for entertainment and to have fun,” Yosra Abu Taha, a displaced Palestinian from Rafah, told Al Jazeera.
“Now this park has been turned into an evacuation shelter. We are tired. We’re struggling to find water, food and electricity. We are exhausted in this heat.”
Belgium refuses to host football match against Israel for security reasons
Brussels’s first alderman Benoit Hellings said the city believes that organising the match, which was scheduled to take place at the Stade Roi Baudouin in Brussels on September 6, is “not possible”.
Hellings said Brussels officials discussed thoroughly the possibility of hosting the match with the federal government, police forces and the Belgian football federation (URBSFA).
“Today, it is clear that the announcement of such a match being held in our capital will undoubtedly provoke major demonstrations, compromising the safety of spectators, players, residents and our police forces alike,” he said in a statement.
“The Red Devils’ matches have always been moments of unity and togetherness. The humanitarian and security situation in Gaza and its repercussions force the [city] to inform the URBSFA that it is not possible to organise this match at the Stade Roi Baudouin.”
Hezbollah rocket barrages hit northern Israel
The Lebanese group said some of the rockets struck the headquarters of Israel’s 769th Eastern Brigade in the city.
The Times of Israel is reporting that the attacks damaged property in several areas but no casualties were reported.
Israel denying commission access to OPT and Israel ‘tragic’, Pillay says
She told Al Jazeera the team has repeatedly requested access but Israel has not responded.
“What I found particularly disturbing is they not only deny us access into Israel and Gaza, but the whole of Palestine; we need to talk to victims there as well,” Pillay said.
“There’s been some complaints that we’ve not investigated sexual violence fully on the part of Israeli soldiers and Palestinian women. Well, we need to get there to speak to the victims ourselves.”
‘We have never seen anything like this’: UN commission of inquiry head
“Even the attack on [the] UN is unprecedented. The number of victims, [is] unprecedented. It’s never happened before,” she told Al Jazeera in Geneva following her briefing at the UN Human Rights Council session. “The figures are unbelievable.”
She added that the commission will be releasing further reports looking into other issues such as attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza and the war’s effect on the education of children.
If you’re just joining us
- Israeli attacks in Gaza kill at least 18 people, including seven sheltering in tents in the Mawasi evacuation zone.
- Israeli forces arrest 35 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, bringing the total number of arrests during the Eid al-Adha holiday to 90, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.
- An Israeli air raid on Lebanon’s Yaron village kills three Hezbollah members, further inflaming tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border amid fears of an all-out war.
- Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah is expected to address the border escalation in an address this afternoon.
- The UN’s Human Rights Council holds a session to hear from its Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which Israel has not cooperated with.
- Navi Pillay, head of the commission, details extensive war crimes alleged against both Israel and Palestinian armed groups, including sexual violence.
- Pillay says all parties must protect civilians and civilian objects and “attacks against UN agencies and humanitarian actors must stop”.
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Denying commission access to Gaza ‘a major setback’ for Israel
The ICJ asked the commission on May 24 to report its findings, which will add to the growing evidence against Israel in the ICJ and the International Criminal Court (ICC), he said, adding that he suspects Israel will continue to accuse the international community of “following a systematic anti-Israeli discrimination position”.
“The fact today that they’ve allowed the mother of one of the hostages to speak instead of a diplomat is probably support that they do not really give any weight to the international community’s will and findings,” he said.
“They will continue the way they’re working until they’ve achieved all their objectives.”
Victims of Yaron attack identified as Hezbollah members
Israel has regularly carried out strikes targeting Hezbollah members in Lebanon and Syria during the war on Gaza, killing more than 330 of them.
UN commission report ‘compelling’, will influence Western capitals
He said the report is unlikely to have an immediate effect on the conduct of Israel, which has so far been unphased by such reports, but could be used as evidence in future legal proceedings and give pause to Israel’s donor countries.
“We have seen a shift in policies in Western capitals,” Cadman told Al Jazeera. “This will be further evidence as to the intent and conduct of Israeli authorities. It will have to – and should – cause all capitals to consider the extent to which support is provided to Israel in the ongoing conflict.”
Latest figures from Israel’s war on Gaza
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UN commission of inquiry ‘completely overlooked’ reality
She said she spoke on the phone with her daughter while she was trying to escape from Hamas and heard her “helplessness and frustration without being able to help her”.
“That was 257 days ago,” she said, adding that family members do not have adequate information about their health condition and status.
“The enforced disappearance of the hostages by Hamas constitutes cruel and inhuman treatment. Both to the hostages and to the family members, this reality was completely overlooked by the commission of inquiry,” Gonen said.
“Mr President, we should be on the same side – the side fighting hostage-taking, never accepting the use of young women as tools for trade. Please help me hug my daughter again.”
Hamas could ‘recover quickly’ if Israel ends war
“Ending the war in the current situation will enable Hamas to recover quickly,” Ben-Shabbat said in an interview with Israel’s Arutz Sheva media. “It will be perceived by our enemies and by the countries of the region as an Israeli failure to achieve the goals of the war and as a success for Hamas.”
While Hamas has suffered a “painful blow”, he said, it is not “fatal nor irreversible”.
He noted that “Hamas is still the main power in Gaza, with military headquarters of thousands of able-bodied fighters at its disposal, a command centre that is managing to function and coordinate its policies, many (maybe hundreds of) kilometres of tunnels, weapons and launch capabilities.
“Hamas is still in control of every place where there is no Israeli presence,” he said.
Palestinian ambassador comments on UN commission report
He thanked the commission for their investigation, which he noted Israel did not cooperate with.
He then went through a series of abuses he says Israeli forces have committed during their “genocidal war”, including using starvation as a weapon, intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals, and holding prisoners without charge.
He asked the commission “what measures can be taken” if such abuses continue unabated.
The ambassador also reaffirmed “our position to refuse the targeting of civilians” in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.
UN reiterates call for ceasefire, ‘full end of siege’, release of all detainees
“We call for the immediate and for the full end of the siege, the release of all detainees, including all of the Israeli hostages, and for Palestinian armed groups to stop the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel,” she said.
Pillay added that all parties must protect civilians and civilian objects and “attacks against UN agencies and humanitarian actors must stop”.
The UN calls on Israel to ensure the commission’s “immediate access to the Gaza Strip in order to investigate and preserve evidence in compliance with the order issued by the ICJ [International Court of Justice]”.
“Israel has ignored the request we have submitted to them,” she said.
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UN commission condemns alleged war crimes by Palestinian armed groups
- Intentionally directing attacks against civilians
- Murder or willful killing
- Torture
- Sexual violence
- Inhuman or cruel treatment
- Taking hostages
The UN commission, she said, “identified patterns indicative of sexual violence and concluded that these were not isolated but perpetrated in similar ways in similar locations, primarily against Israeli women”.
However, she warned the “exploitation of sexual violence in conflict by all parties for political propaganda risks diverting attention from the experience and from the needs of the survivor, as well as fueling longstanding hostilities”.
UN commission addresses Israeli violence in West Bank
Since the Gaza war began in October, she noted, more Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers there than in any other recorded period.
The violence is due to both Israel’s increasingly militarised operations and a “surge in settler violence” often ignored by Israeli forces, she said.
Sexual, gender-based violence part of Israeli forces’ operating procedures: UN
“Although Israeli officials have repeatedly stated their operations in Gaza are intended to destroy Hamas and release hostages, yet neither of these aims has been largely achieved at the expense of thousands of lives,” she said.
“We found that Israeli forces committed sexual and gender-based violence with the intent to humiliate and further subordinate the Palestinian community. Palestinian women were targeted and subjected to sexual violence and harassment online and in person.
“Men and boys experienced specific persecutory acts, including sexual and gender-based violence amounting to torture and inhuman and cruel treatment.”
Israel’s actions are ‘intentional and direct attack on civilian population’: UN
Speaking in Geneva, Navi Pillay, chairwoman of the UN-backed commission, said Israel “forcibly transferred almost the entire population into small enclosure that is unsafe and uninhabitable”.
“The deliberate use of heavy weapons with large destructive capacity in densely populated areas constitutes an intentional and direct attack on the civilian population.”
Israeli authorities responsible for war crimes, UN inquiry finds
An inquiry has concluded that Israeli authorities are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israeli forces arrested 90 people in occupied West Bank during Eid
These arrests since Sunday have been concentrated in Hebron governorate.
Among those rounded up are three children and a woman, according to the prisoners’ society, which noted that Israeli forces also made threats, beat up those detained and destroyed property during their raids.
Since October 7, Israeli forces have made a total of 9,280 arrests in the West Bank, according to the group.
Gaza death toll rises
Numerous victims are still trapped in areas rescuers are unable to reach, it said.
The latest casualties bring the total number of people killed in Gaza since October 7 to 37,396, with 85,523 wounded.
Families of Israeli captives protest in Knesset
Footage posted on Israeli social media channels, verified by Al Jazeera, shows the protesters holding signs and shouting slogans calling for snap elections.
The demonstration comes as thousands of antigovernment activists press on with a “week of resistance” in Israel, urging for a ceasefire deal to bring the captives home and elections for a new government.
Eighteen killed in Gaza today
This brings the total number of people killed in the enclave today to 18, according to Wafa.
Children were sleeping when Mawasi tents attacked, says witness
Fatima al-Qiq, an elderly woman staying in the camp, said an Israeli shell hit the tents in the designated safe zone while children were asleep, setting part of it ablaze.
“We were hit by Israeli shelling in a supposedly safe area … the children were sleeping here”, al-Qiq said, adding that if rescuers had not intervened, the place would have been entirely burned down.
Europe must host Gaza children affected by war: Greece’s FM
Gerapetritis is seeking partners in what he hopes would be a project to temporarily bring the children to the European Union, and said he discussed the idea with Palestine’s PM Mohammad Mustafa this week.
“We need to face this tragedy very clearly,” Gerapetritis was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency. “Europe should be open to injured people from [Gaza] but also to children who are now facing famine or other sorts of dangers.”
Greece was elected as a member of the UN Security Council for 2025-26 earlier this month, and Gerapetritis believes the country’s historical ties with the Arab world give it credibility to act as a peace broker.
“This is an obvious call of humanitarian assistance. We’re not talking here about economic migrants or other types of irregular migration.”
Hezbollah chief Nasrallah to give speech this afternoon
Nasrallah is also expected to address Lebanon’s escalating tensions along the border with Israel, reports Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr.
Environmental impact of Israel’s war on Gaza will take ‘decades to unwind’
“The social and environmental crisis in Gaza did not start on October 7. It has already been deteriorating quite a bit for the past 15 years. But the unprecedented bombardment of Gaza by [Israeli forces] has created some really serious environmental challenges that are going to take decades to unwind,” Bigger told Al Jazeera in an interview.
“The water situation is particularly dire,” Bigger said, noting that the eastern Mediterranean region has already been identified as a “climate change hotspot that was already having serious impacts on both the quality and availability of water”.
Gaza’s water supply is now even further degraded “through the direct impacts of the bombardment” and the environment has been damaged by the “emergency responses that Gazans have had to take in order to just access whatever quantity of water that they can right now”.
“The pollution of untreated sewage off the coast of Gaza – these are really serious impacts that are difficult if not impossible to remediate,” he said.
Israeli air raid in southern Lebanon kills three
It comes as tensions boil between Israel and Hezbollah, which earlier released drone footage of sensitive military sites deep in Israel.
Earlier, Israeli air force jets also targeted military sites in other parts of southern Lebanon, including in the areas of Taybeh, Odaisseh and al-Jebbayn, and Ayta ash Shab.
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White Houses axes US-Israel meeting after Netanyahu video
President Biden’s senior advisers were “enraged” by the video and his team was “shocked by Netanyahu’s ingratitude”, reported Axios, citing two US officials.
The cancellation of the meeting, while some Israeli officials were already on their way to Washington, “makes it clear that there are consequences for pulling such stunts”, one of the officials told Axios.
Publicly, as we reported, the White House voiced confusion at Netanyahu’s video statement, saying only “one particular shipment” of munitions had been paused.
Israel, Hezbollah trade threats as fears grow of wider war
What we understand from Hezbollah sources is that the US envoy, Hochstein, came with a message from the Israelis and that message was a threat that Israel is seriously considering widening this war and time is running out.
The US envoy made those statements to the parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, who is a close ally of Hezbollah. The US does not talk directly to Hezbollah, so Berri relayed the message to the Lebanese armed group.
The response was that drone footage.
Hezbollah released images from a reconnaissance drone that showed sensitive military and civilian sites in Haifa, Israel’s third largest city. It was a message not just to Israel’s political and military establishments, but to the public as well that Hezbollah is able to hit Haifa and has a bank of targets.
It’s really a message of deterrence because it’s trying to tell the Israelis, “We can hurt you.” What we understand from sources is that it’s no coincidence that Hezbollah chose Haifa because it is approximately 28km (17 miles) from the border.
Israeli air attack in Syria kills army officer
The attacks killed an army officer and caused some material damage, it added.
Since the Gaza war began, Israel has regularly carried out air strikes in Syria, often targeting members of Iran-backed groups.
This year, such attacks have killed 171 fighters and 13 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Severe water shortage after Israeli forces destroyed all wells
Trucks loaded with water are now being brought in from Gaza City in an attempt to help people get some water.
“I have no energy. I can’t carry the water. We came here with our children and grandchildren to get get a gallon of water which is not enough at all,” a Palestinian woman told Al Jazeera.
“We need more water for us only to drink. In the north, we have starvation and the severe shortage of drinking water. The water here is mixed with sewage, which poses a great danger to people’s health. We all suffer different kinds of diseases.”
A Palestinian man said that the situation in Jabalia refugee camp was very difficult.
“We wait long time for the water truck to arrive and to get one gallon or one bucket of water just to drink. There is famine and we face starvation.”
Israeli attacks in Gaza likely repeatedly violated laws of war: UN rights office
“The requirement to select means and methods of warfare that avoid or at the very least minimise to every extent civilian harm appears to have been consistently violated in Israel’s bombing campaign,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.
Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7 have wrecked much of the enclave and killed at least 37,372 people, with 40 percent of these victims being children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Wells, olive trees destroyed in Israeli settler attacks
In Burqa, east of Ramallah, they set olive trees on fire.
On average, there are four such attacks witnessed daily.
The UN has documented 962 settler attacks since October 7, which have led to the destruction of 43,000 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings.
In addition, 549 Palestinians have been killed in attacks by Israeli settlers and forces since October 7.
Israel forces arrest 20 Palestinians in occupied West Bank
The forces arrested 17 people in the town of Dhahriya, south of Hebron, two people in Askar camp in Nablus governorate, and one person in Hebron city.
The arrests come after our earlier reports of Israeli soldiers shooting four people during a raid on Qalqilya, while carrying out a spate of arrests in the town of Jayyous, to the north.
Since October 7, Israeli forces have made more than 9,000 arrests across the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians reminded there’s no safe place
The situation remains quite difficult across Gaza.
In al-Mawasi camp, the evacuation zone west of Rafah, overnight heavy artillery, coupled with air attacks, killed at least seven people in tents. A few weeks ago, an attack there killed at least 40 people sheltering inside their tents.
Such attacks remind people that the Israeli military narrative about Gaza safe zones is misleading and contradictory.
The Israeli military also continues to strike central Gaza, mainly the Nuseirat refugee camp, with at least five air attacks taking place overnight.
Just in the last few minutes, a busy market in the middle of the Nuseirat camp has been attacked. One person has been reported killed and many wounded.
Safe zone, refugee camp targeted by Israeli forces
Five air raids have been reported in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Israeli forces have stepped up their attacks in Mawasi area, a narrow coastal strip that was designated as a ‘humanitarian zone’ near the southern city of Rafah. Seven people have reportedly been killed there.
Netanyahu attacks US for ‘not sending him bombs fast enough’: Senator
Israel has a right to defend itself, Sanders said, but it “does not have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people”.
“Yet that is exactly what has happened,” Sanders said.
“The right wing extremist Netanyahu government has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians and injured nearly 85,000. 60 percent of whom are women, children or elderly,” he said.
“It is absurd that Netanyahu has been invited to address Congress. We should not be honouring people who use the starvation of children as a weapon of war,” he added.
Qatar PM met Hamas leader for ceasefire talks: Report
A major sticking point to the deal is the timetable for a permanent ceasefire, which Hamas wants a commitment to in phase one, but Israel says it will only agree after all captives are released and Hamas loses power, according to a separate source cited by the Israeli media.
US Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf, also quoted in The Times of Israel report, said Qatar has less leverage over Hamas’s Gaza-based leader Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to call the final shots.
Israelis conduct ‘dozens of’ air raids; Palestinians battle in central, south Gaza: Monitors
Israel’s air force also reported carrying out “dozens of” air raids across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the US-based think tanks say in their latest battlefield report.
Three Palestinian armed groups reported carrying out attacks on Israeli forces in Rafah city’s Tal as-Sultan and Shaboura neighbourhoods where Israeli troops are continuing to “destroy military infrastructure above and below ground”, the ISW-CTP joint report states.
The report also references an Israeli military radio correspondent who said military officials estimate that 15,000 Hamas fighters remain in Gaza, with some 2,000 still based in the north of the territory.
Four “indirect fire attacks on southern Israel” involving mortars and rockets were also launched towards Israel from Gaza on Monday, the report adds.
Israeli strike kills one Palestinian in Rafah
The attack comes after our earlier reports of Israeli bombardment of tents in Mawasi, northwest of Rafah, which killed at least seven people and injured dozens.
Israeli drones, vehicles and gunboats have also fired at areas in Nuseirat camp, causing at least one home to catch fire.
Australian border authorities question 3 people over Israeli army plans
The Australian Department of Home Affairs said its records showed three of four people thought to be planning to join the Israeli army on departure from Australia were questioned, but that not all cases were necessarily recorded, in response to a Freedom of Information request from The Guardian.
Under Australian law, it is “an offence for Australians to engage in hostile activities overseas, unless serving in or with the armed forces of a foreign country”.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said earlier this year that all Australians seeking to serve with a foreign army should “carefully consider their legal obligations” in response to a petition calling for the government to investigate Australians fighting with the Israeli army for alleged war crimes.
“Foreign fighters who have returned to Australia are considered by law enforcement and security agencies on a case-by-case basis,” Wong added.
LISTEN: Daily life in southern Lebanon under threat of escalation
Both Hezbollah and Israel say they are responding to attacks by the other side, but could the situation spin out of control?
And what does that mean for the people who live in Lebanon’s south?
Photos: Fighting rages in the battle for Rafah city in southern Gaza
Nuseirat refugee camp comes under attack: Report
Movement of Israeli military vehicles has also been reported north of the camp in what appears to be a coordinated mobilisation to coincide with the bombardment.
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Israeli military says ‘suspicious aerial target’ crossed Gaza Strip towards Israel
There were no injuries “and the incident is over”, the Israeli military said in a brief post on social media that did not provide details as to the possible type or likely origin of the aircraft.
If you’re just joining us
- At least seven people were killed and fires broke out as Israeli forces bombed tents in Gaza’s al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone” overnight, Wafa reports.
- Women and children were among six people killed in an Israeli air attack on a home in Gaza City, Al Jazeera Arabic reports.
- Gaza officials demand release of 310 health workers “being subjected to torture” after reports emerged Gaza doctor Iyad al-Rantisi died at an Israeli interrogation centre in November last year.
- Al-Rantisi’s family said they are still waiting to be informed of his fate and that he had no health issues before being detained by Israeli forces in Gaza.
- Israeli soldiers shot at least four Palestinians during a raid on Qalqilya, in the occupied West Bank, local media report. In Jayyous, north of Qalqilya, Israeli forces detained at least nine people.
- A ship has reportedly sunk in the Red Sea days after it was hit by a Houthi surface drone, killing one crew member.
- The US is only reviewing one shipment of 2,000-pound (907kg) bombs to Israel, Blinken says after Netanyahu slammed the Biden administration in a video message.
- The Israeli military says its operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were “approved and validated”.
Israeli soldiers ‘stood idly by’ during settler attack on Palestinian village: Rights group
The organisation said 20 settlers – several of whom were masked in the video – burned Palestinian agricultural land and olive trees, set fire to a car, and injured several people during the rampage.
Israeli “soldiers who were nearby stood idly by and did not attempt to stop the crimes”, the rights group said in a post on social media.
Palestine Red Crescent Society spokesperson Ahmed Jibril said on Tuesday that ambulance crews transferred two wounded Palestinians – one 54-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man – to a nearby hospital after the settler attack on Burin.
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Edward Snowden says Netanyahu ‘running campaign ads for Trump’
Biden’s support for Netanyahu earned him the nickname “Genocide Joe” while “torching his electoral chances and 80 percent of Gaza”, said Snowden.
Netanyahu did not specifically refer to Trump, who is Biden’s main rival in the upcoming US presidential election in the video, but Snowden said it showed Netanyahu and Biden had a “perfectly Scorpion-and-the-Frog” relationship.
This Palestinian created a mobile school for children in Gaza
Children of different ages receive literacy and numeracy lessons in the shade beneath trees, as Nassar attempts to make up for months of lost schooling by the war-torn territory’s children.
More than 75 percent of Gaza’s schools have been destroyed by Israel since October and most of the Palestinian enclave’s population has been forcibly displaced by Israel’s bombardment and heavy fighting.
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US climbers hang ‘Stop the Genocide’ banner in Yosemite National Park
“We’re taking our message to the most iconic climb in the most-visited valley in one of the most-visited national parks,” said Emily Weinstein, a Jewish American writer who lives in Berkeley and co-founder of the climbing group.
“We want to use the space and scale of Yosemite to spread our message,” Weinstein was quoted as saying by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Ocasio-Cortez says ‘war criminal’ Netanyahu should not address US Congress
Netanyahu’s invitation to address the US Congress on July 24 should be revoked, Ocasio-Cortez added, in a post on X.
US Republican and Democratic leaders issued an invitation to Netanyahu to give an address weeks after the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor announced he was seeking an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes.
Hezbollah drone footage claims to show surveillance over Israel
That an enemy drone could penetrate so deeply inside Israeli territory and evade the country’s vaunted missile defence systems will be seen as a major security lapse by the Israeli military.
Israeli warplanes attack southern Lebanon targets
“Terrorist structures” were attacked in the Taybeh, Odaisseh and al-Jebbayn areas, while a “military building” was hit in the Ayta ash Shab area, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on social media.
The Israeli military also said that its air defences had “successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target” over maritime space in northern Israel’s Ziv Bridge area.
US military’s Gaza aid pier ‘largely failed’, will end operations ‘weeks earlier’ than planned: Report
Repairs and security concerns mean the $230m pier, which was built by the US military, has only been operational for a total of 10 days since humanitarian aid started arriving via the pier on May 22.
The Biden administration initially predicted that surging seas would make the pier inoperable come September, but military officials are now warning aid groups that the pier could be dismantled as early as July, according to the Times report.
The pier aimed to boost the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza in response to Israel’s blockade of land routes, but it has failed to meet even the modest goals set for it. US officials hope that warnings about the pier’s impeding closure will pressure Israel into opening more land routes, according to the Times.
Questions over why Israel hid reported death of Palestinian doctor in detention months ago
Barghouti noted the news was only reported on Tuesday after Israel’s Haaretz newspaper “was given permission” to publish an article detailing al-Rantisi death.
Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government, while Israeli media are required to submit articles on certain topics related to the war to Israel’s Chief Censor, according to a memo released in December last year.
As we reported earlier, al-Rantisi’s family and the organisations representing Palestinian prisoners held in Israel said they had still not been informed of al-Rantisi’s fate on Tuesday, after the Haaretz report of his death was published.
Report on Israeli war crimes in Gaza to be presented to UN Human Rights Council
Israel is accused of committing acts of starvation, arbitrary detention, sexual violence and the killing and maiming of thousands of children, while Hamas is accused of killings, torture, sexual violence and systematic kidnapping during October’s assault on southern Israel.
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Environmental impact of Israel’s war on Gaza will take ‘decades to unwind’: Researcher
“The social and environmental crisis in Gaza did not start on October 7. It has already been deteriorating quite a bit for the past 15 years. But the unprecedented bombardment of Gaza by [Israeli forces] has created some really serious environmental challenges that are going to take decades to unwind,” Bigger told Al Jazeera in an interview.
“The water situation is particularly dire,” Bigger said, noting that the eastern Mediterranean region has already been identified as a “climate change hotspot that was already having serious impacts on both the quality and availability of water”.
Gaza’s water supply is now even further degraded “through the direct impacts of the bombardment” and the environment has been damaged by the “emergency responses that Gazans have had to take in order to just access whatever quantity of water that they can right now”.
“The pollution of untreated sewage off the coast of Gaza – these are really serious impacts that are difficult if not impossible to remediate,” he said.
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Fourth person shot in Qalqilya, Israeli military arrests 9 in West Bank raids
The third person to be wounded is an elderly man returning from dawn prayers, local media report, while details about a fourth victim are yet to emerge.
Earlier, we reported that Israeli forces shot a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old as they raided the city. The condition of the people shot is currently unknown.
Israeli forces have also detained at least nine people during a mass arrest operation in the town of Jayyous, north of Qalqilya, according to local media.
Sydney Peace Prize honours Gaza’s ‘selfless, brave’ Palestine Red Crescent volunteers
“Working in conditions unknown in modern times, 20 volunteers have been killed, giving their lives while working to provide a lifeline to two million Palestinians,” said Moore, who is also a patron of the Australian-based Sydney Peace Foundation which awards the prize.
Melanie Morrison, the director of the Sydney Peace Foundation added: “This year the Sydney Peace Prize particularly acknowledges the brave members of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society working in Gaza under dangerous conditions.”
Photos: Picking up the pieces after devastating Israeli air strikes on Gaza refugee camps
Displacement crisis – Families in desperate need of shelter in Gaza
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reports from an amusement park in Khan Younis, which is now serving as a shelter for displaced families:
Israeli soldiers shoot second teenager in Qalqilya
The 19-year-old was wounded in his shoulder and his condition is currently unknown.
Earlier, we reported that the Israeli military shot a 17-year-old boy in the knee after fights broke out during the military’s storming of the city, in which they fired bullets, stun grenades and tear gas.
‘Nothing compares to this war’: Veteran Red Crescent ambulance driver
But “nothing compares to this year”, he said.
“I haven’t seen anything like what’s happening in all these 20 years,” Al-Kurdi is quoted as saying in a post by PRCS on social media.
“I will not stop helping people. We have no other option,” he adds.
The PRCS said earlier this month that 33 staff members and volunteers had been killed in Gaza by Israeli forces since October 7, including 19 workers who were “targeted while performing their humanitarian duties”.
Israeli forces shoot 17-year-old during storming of Qalqilya
The teenager was shot in his knee, Wafa reports, and he has been transported to hospital by a Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulance crew. His condition is currently unknown.
Criticism as Israeli politician who quoted Hitler to speak at Australian event
Made up of human rights experts, the Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) was formed recently, in part due to concerns that organisations like the Australian Jewish Association (AJA), which is hosting Feiglin, claim to speak for all Jewish Australians.
The AJA “has been broadly denounced as a far-right group aligned with extremist Israeli settler movements”, the JCA said in a statement expressing concern that Feiglin would address the online event, despite “having stated his admiration for Hitler and Nazi Germany and called Palestinians ‘parasites’”.
US Senator says will boycott Netanyahu Congress speech
“He has also made clear that he does not support US policy for a two-state solution that will let the people of Israel and Palestinians develop their own nation self-determination, live with dignity,” Warren told reporters of her decision not to attend.
Warren joins Senator Bernie Sanders in boycotting the Israeli leader’s speech, as well as Representative Ro Khanna and Representative Jim Clyburn.
US Congressional leaders formally invited Netanyahu to speak in early June, in what is seen as the most recent show of wartime support for the Israeli leader despite mounting political divisions in the US over Israel’s war on Gaza.
White House denies Netanyahu claim that US holding up weapons shipments
“Let me just start off by saying that we genuinely do not know what he’s talking about,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday, the AFP news agency reports.
With the exception of “one particular shipment of munitions”, Jean-Pierre said, “there are no other pauses. None”.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said earlier on Tuesday that Washington is “continuing to review one shipment” of 2,000-pound (907kg) US bombs for Israel’s military over fears the massive explosive would be used in Israel’s current attack on Rafah city, where tens of thousands of civilians remain sheltering despite more than 1 million fleeing the Israeli military onslaught.
In a video statement, Netanyahu said that while he appreciated US support during the Gaza crisis, he also said he told Blinken, “It’s inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel.”
Arrests, shootings during Israeli military raids across the West Bank
Israeli forces have also arrested a man after storming his home in the city of al-Dhaheriya, south of Hebron, while another man has been arrested in the town of Habla, south of Qalqilya.
Local media are also reporting that Israeli forces have launched an arrest operation in the town of Jayus, north of Qalqilya. It has not been confirmed how many people have been arrested.
Israeli military raids have also been reported in the al-Irsal neighbourhood of the city of el-Bireh, the village of Beit Abia, west of Nablus, and the town of al-Yamoun, north of Jenin.
Ship sinks in Red Sea following deadly Houthi attack
The Tutor sank in the Red Sea, the UK’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre said in a warning to shipping in the region.
“Military authorities report maritime debris and oil sighted in the last reported location,” the UKMTO said.
“The vessel is believed to have sunk,” it said.
The Houthis did not immediately acknowledge the sinking.
The Tutor came under attack a week ago by a bomb-carrying Houthi drone boat in the Red Sea.
John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, said on Monday that the attack killed “a crew member who hailed from the Philippines”.
Family of Gaza doctor has had no news of his fate despite reports he was killed in Israeli prison in November
The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) have issued a statement with more details from al-Rantisi’s family, the Wafa news agency reported.
“His family has not been informed until today about the fate of their son, who has been detained since November 10, 2023,” the statement said.
Al-Rantisi’s family said he had no health problems before he was detained at an Israeli military checkpoint in Gaza in November, the statement added.
Gaza’s Government Media office has described reports of al-Rantisi’s death in Israeli imprisonment as an “execution” and “horrific crime” and called for an “international investigation into the crimes of arrest and execution of Palestinian medical personnel”.
Death toll updated for Israeli strike in Gaza City, at least 6 killed
Earlier, we reported that the Israeli military had bombed the Abu Safiya family home in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in the north of Gaza City.
There have also been reports of Israeli naval boats firing heavy artillery at the western areas of the Beach Camp in Gaza City.
Hezbollah drone footage of military sites in northern Israel will ‘raise questions’ about air defences
Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government.
The Israeli military has released a statement saying they have approved new operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon as well as increasing the readiness of troops on the ground.
This comes just hours after Hezbollah released a near[ly] 10-minute video showing their drones capturing several videos of areas in northern Israel. Some of them [are] considered military targets like army complexes and bases as well as Iron Dome missile defence batteries.
It is worth mentioning that this is not exactly a change in policy by the Israeli military.
We [had] been hearing this earlier in the year and for months by Israeli security officials, like the defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and the army chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, who have said they are no longer on the defensive, but rather on the offensive with Hezbollah – meaning that they were actively pursuing targets in southern Lebanon and even further away from Lebanon’s southern border.
This has been a sentiment they have been echoing for months.
However, the fact that Hezbollah was able to have these drones fly over several areas in northern Israel, including Haifa – which is [about] 20km [12 miles] from Israel’s northern border – means that Israel’s air defence systems were not activated – something that surely is raising a lot of questions within the Israeli security establishment.
Nonetheless both sides – Israel and Hezbollah – have said that they are prepared for an all-out war.
Israel military bombs tents in al-Mawasi ‘humanitarian zone’, killing at least 7: Report
Wafa reports that tents also caught fire following the strike in al-Mawasi, which the Israeli military has previously designated as a humanitarian zone for civilians displaced by attacks elsewhere in Gaza.
The Israeli military has also bombed tents southwest of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to Wafa, with no casualties reported so far.
Israeli forces have also bombed the Saudi neighbourhood west of Rafah in southern Gaza and several homes in al-Mughraqa, north of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, with no confirmed casualties so far.
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Israel’s war on Gaza in numbers
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A recap of recent developments
- People in Gaza are starving and worried that aid deliveries “may be the last food that they see”, says UN spokesperson Farhan Haq.
- The Israeli Justice Ministry has ordered an investigation into the death of prominent Gaza doctor Iyad al-Rantisi after reports he was killed in Israeli detention in November.
- Gaza officials demand that Israel release 310 health workers “being subjected to torture”.
- UN rights chief Volker Turk warns the situation in the occupied West Bank is “dramatically deteriorating”.
- Sources tell Al Jazeera that Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, has met with Hamas officials in Doha.
- The Israeli military says its operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were “approved and validated”.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has assured him that the Biden administration is working to cancel restrictions on arms deliveries to Israel.
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