Gaza Unrest
Live Reporting
Israel denies it hit al-Mawasi humanitarian zone
Israel’s military has denied reports that it carried out strikes in a designated humanitarian zone in al-Mawasi, located on the coast north-west of Rafah.
Earlier, the Wafa news agency reported that Israel’s military carried out air, artillery and naval attacks on al-Mawasi, and naval boats had fired heavy machine guns towards western areas of Rafah city.
Israel’s military has warned the International Committee of the Red Cross of upcoming attacks on western Rafah, according to the latest battlefield update from US-based defence think tanks, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP).
Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s farming, fishing, baking adds to food insecurity: UN inquiry
We’ve been reporting on the independent UN Commission of Inquiry report that found Israeli authorities are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The report also found that Israel has “weaponised the withholding of life-sustaining necessities” through the “siege it imposed” on the Gaza Strip.
In a section of the report titled “total siege”, the commission listed a number of causes of food insecurity in Gaza, beyond restrictions and delays imposed by Israeli forces on humanitarian aid supplies at the enclave’s borders.
The causes of food insecurity include:
Destruction and prevention of local food production, including agriculture, fishing and baking in Gaza.
Preventing the import of adequate food supplies.
Dangers faced by humanitarian workers in distributing the limited food supplies available.
Cutting off water pipelines.
Palestinians face starvation as food prices soar amid Israeli blockade
Israel has been blocking the flow of food and essential goods into Gaza for months.
There is now a lack of everything in the besieged enclave, and what’s available on the open market is too expensive for most people to afford.
International aid organisations have accused the Israeli government of trying to deliberately starve the people of Gaza. The situation is so dire that some say dying from bombing is more merciful than the slow death of starvation.
Israeli forces arrest man near Nablus, raid several villages near Jenin
The Israeli military has arrested a Palestinian man after storming his house in the village of Duma, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports.
Israeli forces have also stormed the villages of al-Jalama, Faqqua, Jalbun and Arabbuna, northeast of Jenin, resulting in exchanges of gunfire between Palestinian resistance groups and Israeli forces, according to Wafa.
5 killed, many injured in Israeli attacks on Nuseirat homes
Al Jazeera Arabic reported that four people have been killed and more than 10 people injured in an Israeli attack on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
A separate Israeli attack on a home in the west of Nuseirat killed one person and injured seven others, the Wafa news agency is reporting.
The overnight attacks come less than a week after Israeli forces killed at least 274 Palestinians in an attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp that has been widely described as a massacre.
US military confirms Houthi drone attack on ship in Red Sea
A Houthi “unmanned surface vessel” drone attack caused “severe flooding and damage to the engine room” of the Tutor, a Liberian-flagged Greek-owned ship, in the Red Sea, US Central Command (CENTCOM) has said.
“This continued malign and reckless behaviour by the Iranian-backed Houthis threatens regional stability and endangers the lives of mariners across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” CENTCOM said in a post on X.
Earlier, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the Tutor had been hit and was in danger of sinking.
CENTCOM also added that US forces destroyed three antiship cruise missile launchers in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Wednesday.
The Houthis say their attacks on ships in the Red Sea are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, and in response to US and UK air strikes on Yemen.
‘Key sticking points from both sides’ in Gaza ceasefire proposal
Israeli officials have never publicly acknowledged that they agreed with the American administration’s proposal for a three-phase ceasefire that would ultimately see an end to hostilities at the end of the third phase.
Now, Israeli officials, who have spoken anonymously, have said that Hamas’s response is actually not in favour of what Israel wants, that Hamas has removed the main and key components of the deal that Israel did agree with.
And we are learning that this evening the Israeli prime minister is going to hold a situational assessment. Benjamin Netanyahu will discuss with Israeli officials what they are calling a “negative response” from Hamas when it comes to the release of captives and this overall deal.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise because there are key sticking points from both sides – hard disagreements on how exactly this ceasefire should go through.
Hamas wants to see an end to the war entirely. While the Israelis, including Benjamin Netanyahu himself, the position has been maintained from the beginning that until all the goals of the war are achieved, the war will not end. And even if there is a ceasefire for a certain amount of time, the fighting would continue after that.
Gaza war rages as US wants to 'close' truce deal
DOHA/GAZA (AFP) - Top US diplomat Antony Blinken said Wednesday (Jun 12) that an elusive truce and hostage release deal to end the Gaza war was still possible, wrapping up a Middle East tour as deadly fighting rocked the Palestinian territory.
Lebanon's Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, rained rockets on northern Israel, a day after an Israeli strike killed one of its senior commanders.
