Israel Atrocities
Live Reporting
Death toll in Gaza City attack rises to 14
Six people have now been confirmed killed in an Israeli air attack on a home in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, reports Wafa news agency.
This brings the total number of people killed by Israeli attacks since dawn to 14, with a number of others wounded.
A House in Jerusalem: A film that holds the memories and grief of Nakba
A House in Jerusalem, a film directed by Palestinian filmmaker Muayad Alayan, tells the story of a British Jewish girl and her father moving into a home they inherited from her grandfather in Jerusalem.
Released in the UK last month, the film depicts the intersecting traumas across generations in the imposing house of the title, located in a city divided since 1948 and under occupation since 1967.
“Thousands and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced in the Nakba in 1948,” Alayan tells Al Jazeera. “But never, ever did I imagine that the film would be released during such a time when, once again, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are displaced, their homes are destroyed and bombed … thousands of people are killed and injured.”
UNRWA head urges Germany to press Israel to halt deadly attacks on UN workers
The UNRWA chief has told Germany it must press Israel to stop its deadly attacks on UN aid workers.
“Germany must help the UN protect itself against Israel’s attacks. There is no contradiction, being a close friend of Israel and [having] red lines,” UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said in an interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel news magazine.
“So far, 192 of our employees have been killed in Gaza. There have also been several arson attacks on our headquarters in East Jerusalem.”
Lazzarini pointed out that UNRWA workers have also been abused and tortured by Israel during their imprisonment.
“Released employees have reported to us that they faced mistreatment, humiliation and torture, including even waterboarding,” he said.
“Many were almost naked, blindfolded and with cable tied up for long periods of time. What I had never heard before, that prisoners were forced to wear diapers for weeks because they couldn’t get access to sanitary facilities or just to humiliate them.”
Children in Gaza trekking for hours for water
With many of Gaza’s water wells and pipelines destroyed during the war, clean water has become increasingly difficult to find.
To cope, children in the enclave often make long treks to fetch water, lugging heavy containers back to their homes or shelters, according to UNRWA.
“Children are losing their childhood because of this war. This needs to stop now,” said the agency.
Merchant ship hit in Red Sea off Yemen
A merchant vessel issued a distress call after being struck in the Red Sea off Yemen, a security firm said, in what appeared to be the latest attack by the Houthi group.
The ship was hit about 68 nautical miles (126km) southwest of the Houthi-held port city of Hodeidah, maritime security firm Ambrey said.
The company “assessed the vessel aligned with the Houthi target profile at the time of the incident”, it said in a statement, without giving further details.
The Houthis have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on Israel-linked vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November. They say they hit the vessels as an act of solidarity with Palestinians during Israel’s war on Gaza.
UN probe accuses Israel of ‘extermination’ in war on Gaza
An independent UN investigation has concluded that Israel committed crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza, including the crime of “extermination”.
“The crimes against humanity of extermination; murder; gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys; forcible transfer; and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment were committed,” the Commission of Inquiry said in a report, due to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council next week.
It also blamed Hamas for committing war crimes in the early stages of the Gaza war.
The findings were from two parallel reports, one focusing on the October 7 Hamas attacks and another on Israel’s military response, published by the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI).
Israel does not cooperate with the commission, which it says has an anti-Israel bias. The COI says Israel obstructs its work and prevents investigators from accessing both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.
Northern Israel comes under heavy rocket fire: Reports
Israeli news outlets are reporting a heavy barrage of rockets fired towards the Upper Galilee, Lower Galilee and Jordan Valley regions of northern Israel this morning.
Israeli broadcaster Kan posted video footage of missile defence systems intercepting incoming rockets.
Israel’s Channel 12 also posted video footage of missile defences in action and quoted the Israeli military as saying “about 100 launches” from Lebanon targeted Israel.
Palestinians dream of returning home as ceasefire talks continue
There are mixed feelings in Gaza. There’s hope, sadness, optimism but also caution and scepticism.
Most of the time, people are hopeful this is going to bring a ceasefire. Some are looking forward to taking down their tents and going back to their houses. Others are waiting to see if their homes still exist.
Most people say that even if they find their homes bombed, they’re going to set up a tent on the rubble of their houses. Others are waiting to search for the bodies of their loved ones trapped under the rubble.
There is a lot of hope here now, but people are still cautious, feeling that this ceasefire effort may fail as others have.
UN probes US-built aid pier amid allegations of role in Israel’s attack on Nuseirat
Speaking at a conference on Gaza in Jordan on Tuesday, the UN’s humanitarian aid chief Martin Griffiths said an ongoing UN review was examining whether any aspect of the US pier project in Gaza was used in Saturday’s Israeli military operation, which killed hundreds of civilians while freeing four Israeli captives.
The UN World Food Programme, which oversees distribution of aid in Gaza brought in via the pier, announced after the Nuseirat attack that it was suspending operations involving the pier while it reassesses the safety of aid workers.
If the allegations are “true they are very concerning, because they would put at risk any future humanitarian engagement in that operation”, Griffiths said, referring to the US pier project.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said an area south of the pier was used in returning the rescued captives to Israel.
Responding to a question on the Nuseirat attack, Griffiths said the UN would be concerned if it found either the beach or the roads leading from the pier were used in staging the attack.
UN examining both Israeli and Palestinian forces involvement in deadly rescue operation
The UN says that Israel may have committed war crimes during its raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp on Saturday.
The UN Human Rights Office has questioned whether international humanitarian laws were observed when Israeli forces raided the camp in central Gaza to free four captives. Some 274 Palestinians were killed and more than 700 injured in the attack.
The UN also says war crimes may have been committed by Palestinian armed groups, including the detention of captives in densely populated areas.
Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner makes new call for release of Russians held by Hamas
Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has said that she has made a fresh appeal to senior officials at the UN to help secure the release of Russian nationals still being held in Gaza.
“In one conversation, one of the mothers told me details of the situation of those being held,” Moskalkova wrote in a post on the messaging app Telegram of a meeting she held in Moscow with relatives of Russian captives.
The total number of people taken on October 7 holding Russian passports is believed to be eight. That figure includes three captives who have already been released.
Moskalkova said she spoke with Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner For Human Rights, and Mirjana Spoljaric, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, to call “for the rapid return home of our compatriots”.
US military says cruise missile launchers destroyed in latest Yemen attack
The US military said it has destroyed two launchers for antiship cruise missiles in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen.
US Central Command (CENTCOM), which is responsible for US forces operating in the Middle East region, said the latest attack on the Houthi movement took place in the previous 24 hours.
On Tuesday, CENTCOM said coalition “partner forces” had destroyed a Houthi aerial drone in the Gulf of Aden.
Both the launcher sites and the drone had “presented an imminent threat to the US and coalition forces and to merchant vessels” within and transiting the region, CENTCOM said.
US forces are leading a joint operation against Yemen’s Houthi fighters who have for months attacked shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with links to Israeli firms or using Israel’s seaports.
The Houthis say the shipping attacks will cease when Israel ends its war on Gaza.
Palestine and Barbados sign joint declaration establishing diplomatic ties
Palestine and Barbados have signed a joint declaration formally establishing diplomatic ties in a meeting on Tuesday.
Palestine’s United Nations Ambassador Riyad Mansour and his Barbadian counterpart Francois Jackman signed the declaration at UN headquarters in New York City, according to the Wafa news agency.
In April, Barbados announced it would be formally recognising Palestine as a state, becoming the 11th Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member to do so.
They join a raft of countries taking that step in recent months, including European countries Ireland, Spain, Norway and Slovenia.
Israel ‘spinning’ reported Hamas amendments in ceasefire response
This is already being spun in Israel.
Israeli officials are saying that this is a rejection of the Biden ceasefire proposal and what was tabled as a resolution by the UN Security Council.
Hamas are actually saying that, you asked us to respond. We have responded, and the ball is now firmly in Israel’s court; Israel needs to come to the negotiating table.
Hamas have also said that they are willing to send negotiators to go and get a ceasefire deal done.
Israel destroyed Khan Younis, yet these Palestinians came back home
Israel’s attacks in the early months of the war levelled most of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
As residents fled, Israeli troops moved in, occupying the area until they finally withdrew in early April. Since their withdrawal, Palestinian residents have started to return to the destroyed city.
Hamas’s response to ceasefire proposal appears to put ball back ‘in Israel’s court’
The National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby has confirmed that the US administration has received the response from Hamas.
He says that they are evaluating it right now. He added that it’s certainly helpful that we have a response. As for the reported details, he said, ‘I think I’m just going to demur right now’.
That means that they have received the response and now they are looking at it and working through the details.
The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the ball was in Hamas’s court in terms of responding to President Biden’s ceasefire proposal.
Well that would now appear to have changed.
Since the Hamas response, the ball would now appear to be tossed over the net and in Israel’s court to come up with some form of response.
UN 'shocked' at civilian toll of Israeli operation to free hostages
United Nations (AFP) - The UN voiced alarm on Tuesday (Jun 11) at the civilian toll of Israel's rescue of four hostages in Gaza, and the fact that Palestinian armed groups are holding captives there.
The United Nations rights office (OHCHR) said acts committed by both Israelis and Palestinians "may amount to war crimes".
