Gaza: 'At least 7 killed' as Israel bombs tents near Rafah

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The Israeli military has shot a 17-year-old boy after clashes broke out during their storming of the occupied West Bank city of Qalqilya, the Wafa news agency reports.

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.

We will bring you updates when we have them.

شاهد لحظة هروب جنود الاحتلال بعد تعرضهم لإطلاق نار في مدينة قلقيلية. pic.twitter.com/Ft5ANqSMGY

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) June 19, 2024

A bulk carrier sank days after an attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels believed to have killed one mariner on board, authorities said early Wednesday, the second-such ship to be sunk in the rebel campaign.

The Tutor sank in the Red Sea, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said in a warning to sailors 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.”

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, a White House national security spokesman, said Monday that the attack killed “a crew member who hailed from the Philippines.”

The Israeli military has bombed tents housing displaced Palestinians in al-Mawasi, northwest of Rafah in Gaza, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens more, according to the Wafa news agency.

Wafa reports that the tents caught fire after the strike in al-Mawasi, an area previously designated by the Israeli military as a humanitarian zone for civilians displaced by other attacks in Gaza.

Additionally, the Israeli military bombed tents southwest of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, though no casualties have been reported so far, according to Wafa.

Israeli forces also targeted the Saudi neighbourhood west of Rafah in southern Gaza and several homes in al-Mughraqa, north of the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, with no confirmed casualties yet.

We will provide updates on these attacks as more information becomes available.

Three Palestinian youths were shot tonight by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank town of Beit Ummar, south of Hebron, as reported by the Wafa news agency.

Media activist Muhammad Awad informed the agency that clashes erupted in the al-Dhahr area, during which Israeli soldiers fired live bullets at the three young men.

The Israeli army on Tuesday said plans for an offensive in Lebanon were "approved and validated" amid escalating cross-border clashes with Hezbollah and a relative lull in Gaza fighting.

The war in Gaza has heightened tensions across the region, with Israeli forces and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, exchanging fire on a near-daily basis.

"Operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved and validated" as commanders met for a situational assessment, the army said in a statement.

It came after Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz threatened Hezbollah's destruction in a "total war".

Eight drones were destroyed in Yemen and one over the Gulf of Aden, the US military's Central Command (CENTCOM) announced in a post on X.

"No injuries or damage were reported to US, coalition, or merchant vessels in the incident," CENTCOM stated.

"It was determined that these systems presented an imminent threat to US, coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region."

Earlier, the UK's Maritime Trade Operations agency reported that the Tutor, a ship hit by the Houthis last week, had sunk in the Red Sea.

June 18 U.S. Central Command Update

In the past 24 hours, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) forces successfully destroyed eight Iranian-backed Houthi uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) in a Houthi controlled area of Yemen.

Additionally, partner forces successfully destroyed one… pic.twitter.com/ICIdOWCENG

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) June 18, 2024

Al Jazeera, citing The Washington Post, reports, citing Israeli officials, that Israel is "close to achieving" its objectives in southern Gaza City, weeks after commencing its military operation there, despite opposition from its major allies.

The report suggests that this development indicates "the possibility that months of major military operations might soon give way to a new, less-intense phase" of Israel’s conflict with the Palestinian enclave. This could involve a reduction in the continuous air raids and ground assaults which have, as of today, resulted in at least 37,372 deaths and 85,452 injuries.

However, this does not signify an end to the war.

"The guerrilla fighting never ends," The Washington Post quoted an anonymous "senior Israeli military official familiar with ground operations" as saying. "Our aim now is to defeat the Rafah brigade, and we are doing that."

A prominent Palestinian doctor died while in Israeli police custody just six days after his detention, according to Haaretz. This news comes shortly after the Gaza Health Ministry announced his death.

Dr. Iyad al-Rantisi, 53, head of the women's hospital section at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, was detained by the Israeli army last November, according to the outlet. He died at Shikma prison, an interrogation facility of Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence agency, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Haaretz reported.

Shin Bet stated they arrested the doctor on suspicion of involvement in hiding Israeli captives, the paper noted.

Dr. Husam Abu Safia, manager of Kamal Adwan Hospital, said al-Rantisi was detained at an army checkpoint while attempting to travel from north to south Gaza, following Israeli military evacuation orders at the start of the war, Safia told Haaretz.

The Israeli Justice Ministry has ordered an investigation into Rantisi's death.

 

The UN Environment Program (UNEP) has published a report detailing the "profound impact" of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip.

According to the UN's findings, an estimated 39 million tonnes of debris have been generated since 7 October.

"The escalation of the conflict since 7 October, 2023 has clearly had a profound impact on people and the environment in Gaza," the report stated, emphasizing that "intensive bombardment by Israel has led to unprecedented destruction of infrastructure, productive assets, and service delivery."

The report highlights that the Gaza community faces risks of soil, water, and air pollution, causing irreversible damage to natural ecosystems.

Prepared based on remotely obtained information and UN activities in the field, the report noted that fieldwork will be conducted when security conditions allow. It urged an immediate ceasefire to protect lives and mitigate long-term environmental effects.

A new @UNEP assessment shows the environmental impacts of the war in Gaza are unprecedented. Water, soil and air pollution is rapidly growing, risking human health and food insecurity.

We urgently need a ceasefire to save lives & restore the environment.https://t.co/QE2Z7C2Hju pic.twitter.com/E9G0p0hKQK

— Inger Andersen (@andersen_inger) June 18, 2024

Local Palestinian sources have informed Wafa that a group of Israeli settlers threw stones at a vehicle traveling on the al-Marajat road, northwest of Jericho in the occupied West Bank.

Wafa reports that several occupants of the vehicle were injured in the attack.

Since 7 October, armed settlers and the Israeli army have killed over 460 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and have uprooted hundreds of people from their lands.

Israeli activists and media have shared videos depicting Israeli police breaking up a sit-in protest calling for the replacement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

The footage, shared on X, shows Israeli police forcibly dispersing demonstrators at an entrance to Jerusalem.

Israeli media report that police arrested four individuals for obstructing a road in Jerusalem.

המשך האלימות נגד פעילי ׳משנים כיוון׳ בירושלים
קרדיט: תניא ציון וולדקס pic.twitter.com/Qt9dOxWlZE

— Tikva - תקווה (@YallaTikva) June 18, 2024

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that Washington was still reviewing one shipment of large bombs for Israel over concerns that they could be used in densely populated areas.

Blinken was asked at a news conference about the status of arms shipments after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Blinken assured him last week that the Biden administration was working to remove restrictions on arms shipments.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement would be destroyed in the event of a "total war", as tensions flare on its shared border with Lebanon after exchanges of fire between the group and Israeli forces in recent weeks.

"We are very close to the moment when we will decide to change the rules of the game against Hezbollah and Lebanon. In a total war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be hit hard," Katz said, according to a statement from his office.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invited relatives of hostages killed in Gaza to a meeting at his home, several families told AFP Tuesday, as criticism mounts over his response to the hostage crisis.

"I was invited to meet the prime minister," Sharon Sharabi, whose brothers Yossi and Eli were kidnapped from Kibbutz Beeri on October 7, told AFP.

In February the army told Sharabi that his brother Yossi had been killed and his body was in the hands of Hamas. He said he would accept the invite.

But a family member of a hostage who died in captivity told AFP on condition of anonymity that she had declined the invitation.

"He remembered a little late to invite us," she said.

A French court on Tuesday ordered organisers of a defence trade show to suspend a ban on Israeli firms, the lawyer for the Franco-Israeli chamber of commerce told AFP.

The Paris Commerce Tribunal said the decision by Coges Events to ban 74 Israeli exhibitors from Eurosatory was "discriminatory", said the lawyer, Patrick Klugman.

Coges Events said last month that the ban was ordered by the French government. No explanation was provided.

The defence fair is being held from June 17 to 21 at fairgrounds close to the main Paris international airport.

In response to the ban, the deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Arieh King, asked that rubbish collectors bypass the French consulate, though a City Hall statement said the request would not be implemented.

Israel's more than eight-month offensive on the Gaza Strip has destroyed 70 percent of the enclave's healthcare sector, the territory's health ministry said on Tuesday.

As of June 7, the World Health Organization (WHO) had documented 476 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza, which killed 727 people and injured 933.

Hezbollah on Tuesday published a nine-minute 31 second-long video of what it said was footage gathered from its surveillance aircraft of locations in Israel, including the city of Haifa's sea and air ports.

Haifa is 27 kilometres (17 miles) from the Lebanese border.

The group's head, Hassan Nasrallah, said in November that Hezbollah had been sending surveillance drones over Haifa.

هذا هو السبب في المعلومات الاستخباراتية الدقيقة والاصابات القاتلة والمدمرة التي يملكها حزب الله .
الهدهد عاد بمعلومات قيمة ومهمة وفي غاية السرية من ميناء حيفا .

المسيرات تخترق الحدود الشمالية للاستهداف وجمع المعلومات ، للمراحل القادمة .

اسرائيل متخوفه من حجم المعلومات… https://t.co/tol0Go39ph pic.twitter.com/b8kgKOGE1w

— Tamer | تامر (@tamerqdh) June 18, 2024

Israeli settlers in the West Bank have injured two Palestinians following an attack on the village of Burin, south of Nablus, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said on Tuesday.

Ambulance crews transferred the two victims who were identified as a 54-years-old woman and 50-year-old man to a nearby hospital, a spokesperson for the Red Crescent said.

Additionally, a group of Israeli settlers stormed the village and attacked several homes near the Burin Industrial School. 

The Israeli army has launched artillery shelling, striking the outskirts of the town of Shebaa in southern Lebanon,  Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting.

A French court on Tuesday ordered organisers of a defence trade show to suspend a ban on Israeli firms, the lawyer for the Franco-Israeli chamber of commerce told AFP.

The Paris Commerce Tribunal said the decision by Coges Events to ban 74 Israeli exhibitors from Eurosatory was "discriminatory", said the lawyer, Patrick Klugman.

Coges Events said last month that the ban was ordered by the French government. No explanation was provided.

The defence fair is being held from June 17 to 21 at fairgrounds close to the main Paris international airport.

In response to the ban, the deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Arieh King, asked that rubbish collectors bypass the French consulate, though a City Hall statement said the request would not be implemented.

An Israeli intelligence brief prepared weeks before Hamas's October 7 attack had warned military officials of the Palestinian group's preparations for an assault, according to Israeli public broadcaster Kan.

The conflict in Gaza has created unprecedented soil, water and air pollution in the region, destroying sanitation systems and leaving tons of debris from explosive devices, a United Nations report on the environmental impact of the war said on Tuesday.

Explosive weapons have generated some 39 million tons of debris, the report said. Each square metre of the Gaza Strip is now littered with more than 107 kilograms (236 lbs) of debris. That is more than five times the debris generated during the battle for Mosul, Iraq, in 2017, the report said.

The Gaza Strip's health ministry said Tuesday that at least 37,372 people have been killed in the territory during more than eight months of Israel's offensive.

The toll includes at least 25 deaths in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that a total of 85,452 people had been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7.

Jerusalem's deputy mayor, an ultranationalist Israeli politician, has asked for rubbish not to be collected from the French consulate after Paris barred Israeli firms from an arms show.

Organisers of the Eurosatory trade show just outside Paris said last month French authorities had banned Israeli firms, with the French defence ministry attributing the decision the Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip's Rafah city.

Deputy Mayor Arieh King posted on social media platform X a letter he had addressed to the municipal sanitation department, asking "to instruct Jerusalem municipal maintenance workers to cease immediately garbage removal service from the French consulate building".

A City Hall statement said King's request would not be implemented.

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein said on Tuesday that Washington was seeking to avoid "a greater war" following an escalation in cross-border fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military along Lebanon's southern frontier in recent weeks.

Hochstein described the situation along the border as "serious" and said that was why U.S. President Joe Biden had dispatched him to Lebanon.

The United Nations human rights chief on Tuesday warned that the rights situation in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was drastically deteriorating, while there had been "unconscionable death and suffering" in Gaza.

"The situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is dramatically deteriorating," said Volker Turk, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

He said that as of June 15, 528 Palestinians, 133 of them children, had been killed by Israeli security forces or settlers since October, in some cases raising "serious concerns of unlawful killings."

U.S. and British forces have carried out at least six airstrikes on Yemen's Hodeidah International Airport and four strikes on Kamaran Island near the port of Salif off the Red Sea, Al-Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen's Houthi movement, said on Monday.

The strikes on Kamaran mark the first time U.S.-led coalition forces have targeted the island since airstrikes on Houthi targets began in early February.

They follow the Iran-backed Houthis' first successful armed maritime drone strike and other missile assaults that damaged the Tutor and Verbena cargo ships last week. Both of the vessels are abandoned and adrift - with Tutor at risk of sinking, military and security experts said.

A senior adviser to US President Joe Biden will visit Beirut on Tuesday to discuss ways of ending months-long border clashes between Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israel.

Amos Hochstein is expected to meet with Lebanese officials such as caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Lebanon is still without a president.

Hochstein was in Israel on Monday as Washington seeks a diplomatic solution to end the conflict.

Two key Democrats in the U.S. Congress have agreed to support a major arms sale to Israel that includes 50 F-15 fighter jets worth more than $18 billion, the Washington Post reported on Monday, citing three unnamed officials.

Representative Gregory Meeks and Senator Ben Cardin have signed off on the deal under heavy pressure from the Biden administration after the two lawmakers had for months held up the sale, the Post reported.

"Any issues or concerns Chair Cardin had were addressed through our ongoing consultations with the (Biden)Administration, and that’s why he felt it appropriate to allow this case to move forward," Eric Harris, communications director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the Post in a statement.

Meeks told the paper that he had been in close contact with the White House and had urged them to pressure Israel over humanitarian efforts and civilian casualties. He said the F-15s would not be delivered until "years from now," according to the Post.

Thousands of Israelis protested against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government on Monday over the Gaza war and failure to negotiate the release of scores of hostages still held in the Palestinian territory.

Protests against Netanyahu's handling of the war have gathered pace, with tens of thousands taking to the streets of Israel's biggest city, Tel Aviv, every weekend.

But protesters travelled to Jerusalem to rally outside the Israeli parliament and Netanyahu's residence on Monday, clashing with police and urging new elections as part of what has been dubbed a week of disturbance by activists.