US, global allies push for ceasefire deal
- In a statement, the United States and 16 allied countries say they “fully support” the ceasefire and captives’ release deal outlined by US President Joe Biden on May 31.
- Gaza’s Health Ministry says 68 Palestinians were killed and 235 wounded in the past 24 hours.
Tens of thousands of Gaza refugees struggling to get by in Egypt
As of April this year, at least 80,000 Palestinians from Gaza had crossed into Egypt, according to Palestine’s Ambassador to Egypt Diab Allouh.
But with few work prospects, little aid support and dwindling savings, many are struggling to meet their basic needs.
Nassim Touil, who helps coordinate assistance for Palestinians who have fled Gaza to Egypt, says there are refugees who can barely afford checkups and medications despite their desperate health needs.
For many, the need is all the greater because they have had to pay thousands of dollars a head to Egyptian travel agency Hala, the only private company coordinating Gaza evacuations.
They often show up in Egypt with little more than the clothes on their backs, knowing that what money they have left “will run out eventually”, Touil tells AFP.
WHO documents 464 attacks on healthcare in Gaza
The global health agency says the attacks have resulted in 727 fatalities and 933 injuries and affected 101 health facilities and 113 ambulances since the start of the war.
“Two-fifths (37%) of attacks were in Gaza City, nearly a quarter (23%) in north Gaza, and over a quarter (28%) in Khan Younis,” the WHO added on X.
Child killed by artillery fire in al-Zuwaida
Israeli artillery shelling has hit a family home in the town of al-Zuwaida in central Gaza, killing a child, report our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.
Further north, in the Shati refugee camp, Israeli strikes have killed several more Palestinians, our colleagues report.
Their killings add to dozens of civilian casualties in Gaza today, most concentrated in central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp.
Hamas official says current ceasefire proposal too ‘open-ended’: Report
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri has told Reuters that while the group appreciates “Biden’s ideas”, the current ceasefire proposal does not provide a firm enough commitment that the war will end.
“The Israeli documents speak of open-ended negotiation with no deadline, and it speaks of a stage during which the occupation regains its hostages and resumes the war. We had told the mediators that such a paper wasn’t acceptable to us,” said Abu Zuhri.
“The (US) document … has no mention of ending the aggression or the withdrawal,” he added.
Israeli writer criticises government policies leading to soldiers being ‘killed in vain’
In a speech during a demonstration against the government in the Israeli city of Modi’in, philosopher, author and researcher Asa Kosher has criticised Netanyahu’s policies, calling them a “major disaster” that leads to the “absurd” death of Israeli soldiers.
Israel’s Channel 14 published a video of Kosher’s speech in which he calls for elections to “cleanse” the “moral filth” in the government.
“The great catastrophe in a soldier’s life is death, and this stupid slogan that it is good to die for our country, has never had moral value, real roots,” he said.
He said Israeli military operations are extended as much as possible to prolong the life of the “ruling fraudulent regime”, in which case the goals and tasks are unfair, noting that soldiers are “killed in vain” to serve the personal ambitions of the prime minister.
“When they die in vain it is the great disaster that can befall them because they are not only killed, they are killed in vain, and it is difficult to say that, but we have to say it,” he said.
Israeli soldier killed near southern Gaza border with Egypt
The Israeli military has named a soldier who was reportedly killed in a gun battle near Gaza’s southern Rafah district earlier today.
The soldier was 34-year-old Major Zeed Mazarib, a tracker in the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade.
According to The Times of Israel, the soldier died during an exchange of fire with Palestinian fighters who moved towards Israeli territory from southern Gaza’s Rafah. Three Palestinians were also killed in the exchange, according to the military.
Ben-Gvir calls for war against Hezbollah
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for a war against the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and to invade Lebanon in comments carried by Israeli newspaper Maariv.
It quoted Ben-Gvir as saying: “We want to see the abductees, but the deal to release them is illegal and raises the white flag and stops the war.”
Hamas welcomes Spain joining ICJ genocide case
Hamas says in a statement that it considers Spain’s participation in South Africa’s case before the International Court of Justice a move that will “strengthen international justice in its prosecution”.
“We call on countries around the world to join the lawsuit filed against the criminal Zionist entity, which continues to kill and commit massacres with the intention of genocide and ethnic cleansing, regardless of the precautionary decisions of the International Court of Justice”, Hamas’s statement says.
