Israel war on Gaza live: Israeli forces attack Gaza City, Rafah | Israeli forces launch air raids and artillery attacks on Rafah in southern Gaza, as Palestinian officials report five deaths in northern Gaza City following a series of attacks. The attacks follow a day of relentless bombings that killed at least 101 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, marking the most violent day in the enclave since Israeli troops killed 274 people while freeing four captives in Nuseirat earlier this month.

■ ‘Human shielding in action’: Israeli forces strap Palestinian man to jeep (Al Jazeera)
■ Injured Palestinian Strapped to IDF Vehicle in Alleged 'Human Shield' Incident (Sputnik News)

A senior administration official tells CNN that US officials emphasized that the Biden administration would provide "Israel" with the necessary security assistance. | Senior US officials assured a delegation of top Israeli officials visiting Washington this week that the Biden administration is fully prepared to support its ally in case of a full-scale war with Hezbollah, CNN reported, citing a senior administration official. ● The Biden administration has consistently claimed that it wants to avoid a war between "Israel" and Hezbollah, advocating for diplomatic de-escalation. This week, US envoy Amos Hochstein was sent to the region in an attempt to supposedly help ease tensions. ● The media outlet noted that top Israeli officials, including Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and "National Security" Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, held meetings with Biden administration officials such as National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and White House Middle East Coordinator Brett McGurk. Sources revealed that the Israeli and American officials discussed various topics, including the situation along the border with Lebanon, Iran, and ceasefire and prisoner exchange negotiations.

■ New war is coming – UN (RT.com)
■ Former Ombudsman Warns Netanyahu: ‘Israel’ Attack on Hezbollah Will Be Mass Suicide (Al Manar TV)
■ Ambassadors EVACUATING Lebanon; Outbreak of War Deemed "Imminent" (Hal Turner Show)
■ Israel will be the ‘ultimate loser’ in war with Hezbollah, Iran says (Al Jazeera)
■ Is Cyprus about to be dragged into a war between Israel and Hezbollah? (Al Jazeera)
■ US State Dept. official on Israeli-Palestinian affairs resigns: WashPo (Al Mayadeen)
■ Hezbollah drones constitute 'new generation of unconventional threats' (06/20/24)

 ■ At least 25 killed, 50 wounded in Israeli attack on tents of displaced people in Mawasi, says Palestinian Health Ministry.
 ■ Israeli tanks push deeper into western Rafah in south Gaza, firing shells at displaced people’s tents, with one armoured vehicle blown up by a Hamas-planted improvised explosive device.
 ■ The White House has described Benjamin Netanyahu’s criticism of the suspension of one US weapons delivery to Israel as “vexing” and “disappointing” as the public rift between the two allies intensifies.
 ■ Israeli forces have carried out deadly air attacks across Gaza over the past 24 hours, including a strike on a home that has killed eight people in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood.
 ■ United Nations experts have warned arms manufacturers against transferring weapons to Israel, saying they could be complicit in violations of international law carried out in Gaza.
 ■ At least 37,431 people have been killed and 85,653 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.

The IDF had precise information about Hamas's intentions, but due to prevailing conceptions in the security establishment and possible negligence by officials, the warning signs were not acted on. | A newly surfaced document has revealed that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and intelligence systems had detailed knowledge of Hamas's plan to raid Israel and kidnap 250 people weeks before the October 7 massacre. ● The document, which was compiled in the Gaza Division, outlined Hamas's intentions and was known to top intelligence officials, according to a report by Kan News. ● The document, titled "Detailed End-to-End Raid Training," was distributed on September 19, 2023, and described in detail the series of exercises conducted by Hamas's elite units.

■ OCTOBER 7 WAS AN INSIDE JOB (05/29/24)
■ October 7: An Israeli Inside Job? Former IDF Soldiers Speak Out (SPR) (05/01/24)(VIDEO)

■ APPLICATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT OF THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE IN THE GAZA STRIP (ORDER OF 26 JANUARY 2024) (.pdf) + APPLICATION INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS (.pdf)
■ THE EXPRESSION OF HATRED FOR GENTILES (Richard Edmondson/Nahida Izzat) (10/04/14)

US Democrats support Israel arms sale following pressure from Biden administration | Israel’s bombing of several areas in central Gaza has killed at least 17 people overnight, according to local media reports. The attacks include a strike on the al-Rai family’s home in Nuseirat, which killed at least eight people. ● Palestine’s Wafa news agency also reported Israeli strikes on Rafah, southern Gaza, despite the Israeli army's announced "pause" in fighting to facilitate the flow of aid. The intense bombing of central Gaza comes as a senior Israeli negotiator told AFP that tens of hostages held by Hamas are alive “with certainty”. ● The negotiator, who spoke to the agency on the condition of anonymity, said that Israel cannot end the war before ensuring the release of all hostages as he believes Hamas could “breach their commitment... and drag out the negotiations for 10 years”.

■ At least 17 Palestinians killed in night of Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat (Al Jazeera)

Israel has supported a draft bill to extend the retirement age of reservists due to 'high volumes' of soldier deaths in Gaza | The Israeli army is facing significant difficulties in confronting the Palestinian resistance across the Gaza Strip, Hebrew news outlet Channel 12 reported on 16 June. Hamas’ Qassam Brigades and other groups are “still waging war in the Gaza Strip, and are capable of harming Israeli army soldiers,” military sources told the outlet. The sources added that in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah particularly, the army has not been able to eliminate the Qassam Brigades or its military capabilities, and that Tel Aviv may end the operation there without achieving its goals.

■ Benjamin Netanyahu Dissolves Israeli War Cabinet (Financial World)

Jonathan Cook | Israelis dance in the streets, the White House hails a ‘daring’ operation, Rishi Sunak expresses relief. How carnage in Gaza has become the new normal | Israel hasn’t just crossed the Biden administration’s pretend “red lines” in Gaza. With its massacre at Nuseirat refugee camp at the weekend, Israel drove a bulldozer through them. ■ On Saturday, an Israeli military operation to free four Israelis held captive by Hamas since its 7 October attack on Israel resulted in the killing of more than 270 Palestinians, many of them women and children. The true death toll may never be known. Untold numbers of men, women and children are still under rubble from the bombardment, crushed to death, or trapped and suffocating, or expiring slowly from dehydration if they cannot be dug out in time. ■ Many hundreds more are suffering agonising injuries – should their wounds not kill them – in a situation where there are almost no medical facilities left after Israel’s destruction of hospitals and its mass kidnap of Palestinian medical personnel. Further, there are no drugs to treat the victims, given Israel’s months-long imposition of an aid blockade. ■ Israelis and American Jewish organisations – so ready to judge Palestinians for cheering attacks on Israel – celebrated the carnage caused in freeing the Israeli captives, who could have returned home months ago had Israel been ready to agree on a ceasefire. Videos even show Israelis dancing in the street.

■ ‘Israel’ effaces all signs of joy, ability to celebrate Eid in Gaza (Al Mayadeen)
■ UK's chief rabbi gives his blessing to war crimes in Gaza (Jonathan Cook)

Israeli media outlets are reporting a "difficult" event in Rafah, explaining that eight soldiers were burned to death in the Gaza Strip. | The Palestinian Resistance killed eight Israeli occupation soldiers who were reportedly asleep in an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) in the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli media outlets reported on Saturday. The news has emerged as Israeli occupation forces are launching an invasion into the western neighborhood of al-Sultan in Rafah. ● Relating a slightly different course of events but with the same end result, the al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement in which it announced that on the morning of the day of Arafat Day, its freedom fighters carried out a complex ambush against Israeli vehicles penetrating the area of ​​the Saudi neighborhood in Tal al-Sultan, west of the city of Rafah. The cab of a D9 military bulldozer, according to the Resistance group, was targeted by an al-Yassin 105 shell, causing it to catch fire and resulting in casualties among its crew. Immediately upon the arrival of the rescue force, a Namer APC was targeted with an al-Yassin 105 shell, which led to its destruction and the killing of all its crew members.

■ Palestinians ‘denied protection, dignity’ as 28 killed in attack on homes (Al Jazeera)
■ 'You just want to cry': Ex-Israeli cmdr. says Galilee lost to Hezbollah (PressTV)

The Israeli occupation continues to intensify its aggression against the Gaza Strip, killing and injuring more Palestinians. | Israeli warplanes continue raiding Palestinian homes across the entirety of the Gaza Strip on day 252 of the genocidal war the occupation has launched against Palestinians, killing more martyrs and injuring more civilians. ● According to Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Gaza, the occupation intensified, over the past few hours, its bombardment of the al-Zaytoun, al-Daraj, and al-Tuffah neighborhoods in central Gaza, as well as Jabalia in northern Gaza. ● During the early hours of Friday, Israeli warplanes targeted the entrance to the al-Bureij camp in central Gaza. Local Palestinian media reported that a child was killed, while other Palestinians were injured when "Israel" struck their home in al-Bureij. The child martyr and the injured were all transported to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

■ Child dies from malnutrition as 'famine-like conditions' return (MEE)
■ LIVE: Boy dies of malnutrition in Gaza amid Israel’s ‘normalised brutality’ (Al Jazeera)

The US-built port has delivered very little actual aid to starving Palestinians while the area next to it was used as part of the Israeli operation to massacre hundreds of Palestinians and rescue four captives | The US military is considering temporarily dismantling the pier it constructed off the coast of Gaza and moving it back to Israel amid concerns that rough seas could once again break it apart, CNN reported on 14 June. ● Earlier this month, the fragile pier and causeway system, known as Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS), broke apart due to heavy waves and had to be towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod to be repaired. It was moved back to Gaza last week, and operations resumed on Saturday. However, were paused again on Monday and Tuesday due to heavy seas. Poor weather and rough waters are again expected this weekend. ● Meanwhile, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) aid distribution operations at the pier have been suspended. WFP Director Cindy McCain announced on Sunday the organization was pausing its work there after the Israeli army used the area next to the pier to extract by helicopter four Israelis rescued from Hamas captivity in Gaza.

The spokesperson of the YAF says that the Verbena cargo ship was targeted and hit in the Arabian Sea, leading to a fire erupting onboard. | The Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) targeted three ships in the Red and Arabian Seas as part of the operations in support of Gaza, and in retaliation to the US-UK aggression on Yemen, spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree stated on Thursday, as the ongoing Israeli genocide in the Strip has now surpassed 250 consecutive days. ● The first operation was carried out by the YAF's missile force against the Verbena cargo ship in the Arabian Sea, Saree said, confirming that it was hit, leading to a fire erupting on board.

■ Houthis Attack Three More Ships In Gulf Of Aden, Red Sea (South Front)

The investigation also determined that Israeli leaders are responsible of 'weaponizing' starvation against Palestinians in Gaza and 'instigating' a pattern of settler attacks in the occupied West Bank | The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on 12 June concluded that Israeli authorities are guilty of “war crimes and crimes against humanity” committed during the eight-month-long campaign of genocide in Gaza. ● During its investigation, the COI found that Israeli authorities are responsible for “the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or willful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention, and outrages upon personal dignity.”

■ Israeli Aggression Continues on 250th Day: Gaza Strip Suffers More Martyrs and Wounded (Al Manar TV)
■ Israel launches air, land, sea strikes against so-called safe zone in Gaza Strip (PressTV)
■ World witnessing ‘unique level’ of death, destruction in war-torn Gaza Strip: UN chief (PressTV)

● Gaza officials say 15,694 children killed and 17,000 are without parents after 250 days of Israel’s war on Gaza.
● WHO chief warns of “catastrophic hunger” in Gaza, with 8,000 children under five years old suffering acute malnutrition in the war-torn territory.
● In the north of the Gaza Strip, food shortages have reached a crisis point as most food commodities have run out, official tells Al Jazeera.
● Hamas said it has shown “full positivity” in efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement with Israel, while US Secretary of State Blinken says some changes to the deal proposed by Hamas are not workable.
● At least 37,202 people killed and 84,932 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from Hamas’s attacks stands at 1,139, with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza.

Nahida Izzat: An excellent video by Max Blumenthal. He tells 99% of the story, he describes the crimes of the Jewish state with immaculate precision and perfect details. However, he omits to mention some most crucial parts, namely the real perpetrators and the reason and motivation behind their crimes. The perpetrators are not just “israelis”, They are Jewish “israelis”. Furthermore, there are about 1.5 million Palestinians who live in Palestine occupied in 1948, who are forced to be called “israelis” and those Palestinians have nothing to do with the genocidal crimes of Jewish “israelis”. Moreover, violent Jewish American supremacists are not necessarily “israelis”, they are simply Jewish Americans. Violent Jewish American supremacists are not necessarily “israelis”. The second missing point in the video is the Jewish ideology that animates the perpetrators of these atrocities. A third one is the wanton destruction of schools, hospitals, historic and religious building such as churches and mosques.

Israel committed crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza, including the crime of "extermination," an independent UN investigation concludes. | Israeli authorities are responsible for "war crimes and crimes against humanity committed" during the military attacks in Gaza since October 7, 2023, a UN-backed commission said in a new report. ● The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry found that Israeli authorities are responsible for "the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or wilful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention and outrages upon personal dignity." ● The commission found that "the crimes against humanity of extermination, gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys, murder, forcible transfer, and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment" were also committed.

■ Videos show Israeli soldiers executing Gaza civilians in Rafah 'safe zone' (The New Arab)

The United Nations Security Council has passed a US-sponsored resolution that backs Washington's ceasefire plan in the Gaza Strip and calls on Palestinian group Hamas to accept it. | The resolution, which was backed by 14 nations except Russia, welcomed the truce and hostage release proposal announced on 31 May by President Joe Biden, and urged “both parties to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition”. Unlike earlier drafts, the resolution states that Israel has “accepted” the ceasefire proposal and calls on Hamas to do the same. [...] Hamas welcomed the resolution after the vote, saying it is ready to cooperate with mediators over implementing the principles of the plan.

■ Israel attacks Rafah as official says Hamas accepts Gaza ceasefire plan (Al Jazeera)
■ Iran calls on UN to pressure Israel into honoring ICJ rulings (Iran Front Page)

Yemeni naval forces have carried out two separate operations against a British destroyer and two commercial vessels off the nation's coast, demonstrating solidarity with Palestinians amid the ongoing Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip. | The Yemeni military announced in a statement on Sunday that the forces targeted the HMS Diamond in the Red Sea with a number of ballistic missiles, emphasizing that the strike was “accurate.” The statement, however, did not say whether the retaliatory attack had caused any damage. ● The Yemeni army further noted that the country’s naval forces had also attacked two commercial vessels which it identified as the Norderney and Tavvishi. The statement said the Tavvishi – which was in the Arabian Sea – and the Norderney had both been hit, and that a fire broke out on the Norderney. ● Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7 after the territory’s Palestinian resistance movements carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.

■ Yemen strikes UK warship in response to Israel’s Nuseirat massacre (The Cradle)

A team of US special operations soldiers and intelligence personnel based in Israel assisted in the operation | Israel received intelligence support from the US in its Saturday operation in central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp that killed over 200 Palestinians and freed four Israeli hostages. ● The intelligence support included information provided by US drone flights over Gaza. The US began flying MQ-9 Reaper drones over Gaza days after October 7 and deployed special operations forces to Israel, demonstrating that US military support for Israel goes beyond providing weapons. ● The Washington Post reported that a team of US special operations soldiers and intelligence personnel based at the US Embassy in Jerusalem provided the intelligence support. Besides the drone flights, the US provided communications intercepts, and Israel also received intelligence support from the UK.

■ UN chief puts Israel on list of "global offenders against children" (ISNA)
■ ‘I heard all of my friends’ last breath’: Testimonies from the Nuseirat massacre (Mondoweiss)
■ CENTCOM denies US-built Gaza port used for Israel's Nuseirat massacre (The Cradle)
■ US army aided Israel in bloody military op launched from Gaza 'Aid Pier' (The Cradle)
■ Israel Rescues FOUR Hostages; But KILLS 274 Palestinians in the process (Hal Turner)

Earlier today, the Israeli occupation forces launched numerous airstrikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, an Al Mayadeen correspondent reported. | According to Gaza's government media office, Israeli raids on a major Gaza Refugee camp killed at least 210 Palestinians on Saturday. In a statement, the office stated "The number of victims from the Israeli occupation's massacre in the Nuseirat camp has risen to 210 martyrs and more than 400 wounded." Heartbreaking videos were shared on social media of dozens of martyrs killed by the Israeli indiscriminate bombing of the Nuseirat Refugee camp. Many of the martyrs have been turned into pieces scattered across the streets of the camp.

■ Israel keeps pounding central Gaza as Palestinian death toll in hostage rescue raid rises to 274 (Reuters)
■ Israel infiltrated Nuseirat camp using humanitarian aid trucks, furniture lorries (PressTV)
■ ‘Bloodbath’: Gaza hospitals overwhelmed by dead, wounded in Israeli raid (Al Jazeera)
■ 'Israel' used captives to kill, starve Palestinians: UN expert (Al Mayadeen/Francesca Albanese)

Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government. ‘Chaos inside the hospital’ after intense Israeli attacks ● Deadly Israeli air raids in Deir el-Balah ■ Israeli forces have launched air raids in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, leaving a number of killed and wounded. ■ Director of Kuwaiti Specialized Hospital in Rafah says there are dozens of corpses on the streets of people killed by the Israeli army with rescue workers unable to reach the injured people.

■ US involved in Israeli operation in Nuseirat that killed over 200 Palestinians (MEE)
■ 'Catastrophic' Israeli strikes in central Gaza leave 210 dead (MEE)
■ Israel unleashes “unprecedented bloodshed” in West Bank (Electronic Intifada)
■ Day 246: 36,801 killed, 83,680 injured in Gaza (Al Mayadeen)
■ Army Abducts 36 Palestinians in Hebron, Seizes 50 Vehicles (IMEMC News)

Mariam Amini | Physical upheaval has been a defining characteristic of the Palestinian experience. Amid Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, the Palestinian artist reflects on her family’s own displacement from Akka and her journey to the UK | The door opens to a bundle of curly, silver hair. Wearing a black hoodie and leggings, Sandra Watfa offers an inviting smile as she clears the entrance to her London home. ■ Inside, the aura is one of purposeful zen. Ocean blue walls and patterned cushions evoke a sense of longing for the Levantine coast. “I was born in Lebanon by the sea,” says Watfa, about the palette. “I didn’t know anything other than that.” She brings over a white mug patterned with tiny Palestinian flags at its base. A plate of baklava and ginger biscuits dresses the table. ■ “Growing up in a Palestinian family, you begin to understand the repercussions of being in a country that is not your own,” she says. ■ Watfa’s parents fled Akka during the Nakba of 1948, which saw the Zionist dispossession of Palestinian land to establish the Israeli state. With the family having found refuge in Lebanon, where the artist was born, the onset of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975 led to a second exodus.“We ended up in Greece, which oddly enough, made Lebanon feel like home. A year and a half later, we came here, which made Athens feel like home.” ■ Physical upheaval has been a defining characteristic of the Palestinian experience. For many Palestinians, the search for safety and belonging continues today, as demonstrated by the ongoing displacement and killing of Palestinians in Gaza since the start of the war in October. “I didn’t speak a word of English. It literally felt like landing on a different planet. The weather, the coldness of the people - it was very difficult at first.” (More @ Middle East Eye)

Meanwhile, Netanyahu is expected to speak in front of US Congress on 24 July Israeli strikes on Friday have killed at least 11 Palestinians in central Gaza, six of them in Maghazi and five in Nuseirat, according to the Wafa news agency. Two people were also killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza City. The strikes come as US President Joe Biden claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “listening” to him regarding his prior warnings against an invasion in Rafah.

■ Day 244: 32 Killed in Another School Massacre by Israeli Forces (IMEMC News) As the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip entered its 244th day, the occupation army committed a massacre on Thursday morning by bombing a school belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), in which hundreds of displaced people were located, in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip. ● At least 32 civilians were killed and dozens more were seriously injured when an Israeli missile targeted the Nuseirat Preparatory Boys School, which is one of the schools being used as a makeshift shelter for Palestinians in Nuseirat camp, in central Gaza. ● An Israeli warplane targeted the upper floors of the school around 2:15 a.m. while the people there were sleeping. The missile penetrated several school classrooms, which led to the deaths and injuries of a large number. ● Also in Nuseirat camp, 6 civilians were killed and others were injured as a result of the Israeli occupation warplanes bombing a house belonging to the Al-Madani family in the camp. The Israeli occupation artillery launched a violent bombardment on the eastern area of ​​the Bureij camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip, and the Israeli Quadcopter warplane also opened fire in the vicinity of the Nakheel Hall in the camp.

■ Israeli attacks kill at least 15 Palestinians in central Gaza since dawn today (Al Jazeera)

David Hearst | Contrary to Biden's portrayal of the deal, it does not guarantee an end to the war, nor a full withdrawal of Israeli forces | If anyone owns the daily carnage in Gaza being carried out by an angry and humiliated Israeli army, whose ranks are filled with religious settlers, it is US President Joe Biden. From the first days after the Hamas attack on 7 October, Biden framed this savage act of collective punishment on 2.3 million Palestinians as a just war. It was he who led the charge that Israel had the right to defend itself. It was he who sabotaged calls for an immediate ceasefire at the UN Security Council. It was he who replenished Israel’s stocks of smart bombs and missiles. And it is under his watch that the US turned its back on the two highest courts of international justice.

Doctors Without Borders said at least 70 bodies and 300 wounded Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been taken to a hospital in central Gaza since Tuesday after a wave of Israeli strikes. | The charity said on Wednesday in a post on X that Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al Balah was struggling to treat “a huge influx of patients, many of them arriving with severe burns, shrapnel wounds, fractures and other traumatic injuries”. ● The Israeli military said earlier it had launched new air and ground operations in central Gaza focused on the eastern parts of Deir Al Balah and the built-up Bureij refugee camp.

■ Gaza Resistance Defiant as ‘Israel’ Commits More Massacres, Attacks UN School (Al Manar TV)
■ Israeli strike on UN school kills at least 40 in central Gaza (aNews)
■ Israel strikes UN school; Gaza media says at least 40 killed (GMA News)
■ 'Israel' commits massacre by striking UNRWA school as people slept (Al Mayadeen)
■ Israel to phase out use of military detention camp after torture allegations (The National)
■ Caught Red-Handed: Israel Bombing Lebanon with BANNED White Phosphorus (Hal Turner)

The attacks on al-Bureij refugee camp come as US says it awaits a response from Hamas regarding ceasefire talks | At least 66 people have been killed in Israel’s bombing on central Gaza over the past 24 hours, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza has reported. ● The central refugee camps of al-Bureij and Maghazi were the most affected, as Israeli forces claim to be hitting Hamas targets while ground troops operate “in a focused manner with guidance from intelligence” in the al-Bureij area. ● Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, reportedly the only medical facility offering services in central Gaza, is currently “overflowing with wounded people”, many of whom are being treated on the floor, according to a spokesperson from the Gaza health ministry. ● Many displaced Palestinians have since fled al-Bureij, which is one of the places that hosted displaced Palestinians escaping the southern city of Rafah following Israel’s latest operations in the former shelter city. ● Israeli tanks have reportedly reached as far as the centre of Rafah, with questions arising over the US's alleged "red line" regarding Israeli attacks on the Palestinian city.

🚨🚨 ISRAELI INVESTIGATION: A TANK TARGETED A HOUSE CONTAINING ISRAELIS IN THE BE’ERI SETTLEMENT ON OCTOBER 7

The Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” published scenes today, confirming the involvement of an Israeli tank in firing shells at a house containing Israeli prisoners in the… pic.twitter.com/roK2r9zM9b

— War Watch (@WarWatchs) December 19, 2023

■ Netanyahu seeks to block inquiry into Oct. 7 attack by Hamas: report (TRT World)

🏚️ According to our analysis, we identified 36,591 destroyed structures, 16,513 severely damaged, 47,368 moderately damaged, and 36,825 possibly damaged structures. A total of 137,297 structures, or about 55% of the total in Gaza, are affected. #DamageAssessment #SatelliteImagery pic.twitter.com/UZjh64o0j7

— UNOSAT (@UNOSAT) June 3, 2024

More than 15,000 Palestinian children have been killed since October, when the Israeli regime launched its genocide against the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Ministry of Education says. | The majority of the children were school students and kindergarten kids, according to the ministry, which said on Tuesday that an additional 64 students from schools in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, also lost their lives during the period. ● The ministry announced the fatalities in a statement on the International Day of Innocent Child Victims of Aggression, which highlighted "The Children of Gaza" as the primary focus, acknowledging their situation as the most affected individuals due to the continued latest aggression of Israel, which was launched on October 7 last year. ● Since the commencement of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, it has been reported that 620,000 students have been unable to attend school, with an additional 88,000 students being deprived of higher education opportunities at the university level.

Meanwhile, Blinken discusses ceasefire proposal with Israeli officials | Over 1 million forcibly displaced from Rafah, Unrwa says: The Israeli military has forcibly displaced over one million Palestinians from Rafah after expanding its aerial and ground attacks there last month, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. In a post on social media platform X, Unrwa said thousands of families are now taking shelter in damaged in destroyed facilities in Khan Younis, a city north of Rafah that was heavily bombed between January and April. "Conditions are unspeakable," Unrwa said.

■ Israeli strike wounds 16 children in south Lebanon (MEE)
■ Live blog: Over 1 million forced to evacuate Rafah — UNRWA (TRT World)