Dozens killed in Nuseirat school massacre as Gaza assault continues

The New Arab's live blog on Israel's war on Gaza has now ended, and will resume tomorrow at 0900am. Thank you for following.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has paid tribute to the 188 staff who have been killed by Israel in its war in Gaza, including 135 employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

"That is by far the highest number of our personnel killed in a single conflict or natural disaster since the creation of the United Nations – a reality we can never accept,' Guterres said in remarks to the UN’s annual memorial service for fallen staff on Thursday.

"Some were killed with their families by bombardment of their homes; others were at work, both in offices and shelters," he said.

Guterres said “full accounting” for every death was needed.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called Thursday for an end to hostilities along the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel, warning of the risk of a broader conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting the northern border area after eight months of war with Hamas that has devastated Gaza, warned Wednesday that Israel was "prepared for a very intense operation" along the border.

Daily exchanges of artillery fire between Hezbollah and Israel have intensified in recent days as Israel wages war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Both groups are backed by Iran and allies of each other.

"As the exchanges of fire across the Blue Line continue, the Secretary-General renews his calls to the parties to urgently cease fire," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement, referring to the demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon.

"These exchanges of fire could trigger a broader conflict with devastating consequences for the region," he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the US Congress on July 24, AP source says.

Hamas has not given its response on a tabled plan for a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza and an exchange of hostages and prisoners, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman said Thursday.

"Mediators have not yet received a response from the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) regarding the latest proposal," Majed al-Ansari told Qatar's state news agency.

Hamas had "indicated that it is still studying the proposal", Ansari added, explaining mediation efforts were ongoing.

Qatar, with the United States and Egypt, has been engaged in months of negotiations over details for a ceasefire in Gaza.

But except for a seven-day pause beginning in November, which led to the release of more than 100 hostages, there has been no break in the fighting.

Seeking to restart talks, US President Joe Biden said last week Israel was offering a new three-stage roadmap.

Egypt on Thursday said it had received encouraging signals from Hamas over a potential deal with Israel, according to state-linked Al-Qahera News, citing a high-level source.

The comments came a day after meetings began between Hamas representatives, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel in Doha.

The hospital where bodies were brought after the Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in the Gaza Strip amended its records to show fewer women and children were among those killed.

The al-Aqsa Hospital initially reported nine women and 14 children were among 33 people killed in the Israeli attack.

The hospital morgue later corrected those records to show the dead included three women, nine children, and 21 men. It was not immediately clear what caused the discrepancy.

Mediation efforts between Qatar, the US and Egypt for a ceasefire in Gaza are still ongoing, Doha's Foreign Ministry confirmed.

Britain's opposition Labour Party is expected to include a pledge to recognise a Palestinian state at an appropriate time in peace talks in its election manifesto, the Guardian newspaper reported, citing people with knowledge of the document.

The manifesto, which sets out the party's policies ahead of the vote on July 4, will also pledge to ensure that recognizing a Palestinian state is not vetoed by a "neighbouring country", the newspaper reported.

Labour leader Keir Starmer said last month that he wanted to recognise a Palestinian state if he won power, but that such a move would need to come at the right time in a peace process.

Foreign Secretary David Cameron, a Conservative, said in January that Britain could formally recognise a Palestinian state if Palestinians had shown "irreversible progress" towards a two state solution, according to reports at the time.

Labour's pledge appears to be similar in substance, but including it in the manifesto could help to appease some voters who have been critical of the party's stance on the war in Gaza.

Video footage showing Palestinians taking away bodies has shown one of the weapons fired by an Israeli fighter jet can be traced to US-based company Honeywell, Al Jazeera said.

The United States warned on Thursday that Israel will see a "massive" negative impact if the Palestinian Authority collapses as Washington again pressed its ally to let revenue flow.

"We have made clear to the government of Israel in some very direct conversations that there is nothing that could be more counter to the strategic interests of Israel than the collapse of the Palestinian Authority," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

"If you saw the Palestinian Authority collapse and instability spread across the West Bank, it's not just a problem for the Palestinians," he said, "it is also a massive security threat for the state of Israel."

Under peace agreements in the 1990s, Israel collects money for the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited autonomy in parts of the occupied West Bank.

Israel then disburses the money to the PA.

But Israel has been blocking revenue since Hamas on October 7 carried out its massive attack in Israel, triggering a relentless retaliatory military campaign.

A host of French celebrities, including artists, influencers, actors and activists have called on President Emmanuel Macron to recognise the Palestinian state in an open letter.

Over 230 French internet personalities published a joint open letter on Tuesday addressed to Macron, urging him to recognise Palestine as a state, following the examples of Spain, Norway and Ireland.

"We witness a real-time genocide, filmed, documented, playing on our screens on a daily basis," they added, calling for "action".

"How many more dead until France takes a clear and humanist position? How many more crimes against humanity?" the signatories asked. "Spain, Ireland and Norway took the path to human dignity by officially recognising Palestinian statehood, joining the 143 countries that officially recognise the existence of a Palestinian state."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned on Thursday an Israeli air strike on a UN school in the Gaza Strip, where some 6,000 displaced people were sheltering, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

"He underscores that U.N. premises are inviolable, including during armed conflict and must be protected by all parties at all times," Dujarric said. "The Secretary-General calls on all parties to respect and protect civilians."

The United States called Thursday on Israel to be transparent over a strike on a UN school in Gaza, including on whether children were killed.

"The government of Israel has said that they are going to release more information about this strike, including the names of those who died in it. We expect them to be fully transparent in making that information public," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

The Israeli military said it carried out a precision strike on a Hamas compound inside the school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA.

Miller said the United States believed Israeli assessments that Hamas has at times hidden in civilian infrastructure, but said it was waiting for information on the latest strike.

"We've seen the claims that 14 children were killed in this strike, and certainly, when you see - if that is accurate - that 14 children were killed, those aren't terrorists," he said.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Mustafa said on Thursday in Baghdad that the Palestinian Authority was ready to re-establish "unified" Palestinian leadership after the Gaza war.

The Palestinian leadership has been split since 2007, with the PA, led by Mahmud Abbas, holding limited authority in the occupied West Bank, while the Islamist Hamas controls the Gaza Strip.

"We are ready, as Palestinians, to assume our responsibilities from the day after (the Gaza war ends) in order to help... restore the unity of the Palestinian people and leadership," Mustafa said during a news conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.

"We also need to be well prepared for the creation of a (Palestinian) state and the responsibilities that this entails," he added.

Mustafa was speaking days after Spain, Ireland, Norway and Slovenia recognised a Palestinian state.

The PA's role post-war is uncertain, due in part to its limited influence in Gaza and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's opposition to a Palestinian state.

There are divisions within the Israeli government on post-war plans for Gaza.

In March, the United States said a "revitalised" Palestinian Authority could help stabilise both the West Bank and Gaza, a notion Netanyahu has rejected, accusing the PA of "supporting" and "financing terrorism".

The United States is waging a diplomatic offensive to persuade Hamas to accept a ceasefire plan laid out by President Joe Biden, working with the United Nations and world leaders favorable to the Palestinians.

Biden, whose support for Israel has alienated parts of his base five months before razor-tight elections, on May 31 took his boldest move by publicly unveiling the plan to halt the conflict and eventually end the war.

On Thursday, the White House released a statement by Biden and 16 other world leaders that called on Hamas to agree, saying, "There is no time to lose."

"It is time for the war to end and this deal is the necessary starting point," it said.

Joining the statement were the leaders of European powers Britain, France and Germany.

But also included was Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who has infuriated Israel by recognizing a Palestinian state and joining a South African-led case at the International Court of Justice that accuses Israel of "genocide."

Also joining the White House statement were two Latin American leftist presidents whose comments on the conflict have angered Israel - Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Colombia's Gustavo Petro - as well as their ideological rival on the continent, Argentina's Javier Milei, a staunch defender of Israel.

A senior Hamas official said Thursday that US President Joe Biden's proposed Gaza ceasefire deal was "just words", and the Palestinian group had not received any written commitments related to a truce.

Biden presented last week what he labelled an Israeli three-phase plan that would end the conflict, free all hostages and lead to the reconstruction of the devastated Palestinian territory without Hamas in power.

But Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official based in Beirut, told AFP: "There is no proposal -- they are just words said by Biden in a speech."

"So far, the Americans have not presented anything documented or written that commits them to what Biden said in his speech," he said from the Lebanese capital.

The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces killed three Palestinians on Thursday in a raid on the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said another 13 people had been wounded in the raid.

The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, said in a statement that its fighters were engaged in "violent clashes" near the Jenin refugee camp.

The head of the International Labour Organisation on Thursday criticized the decimation of Palestinian workers' labour rights since the start of the war on Gaza and called for an end to new restrictions blocking them from working in Israel.

Israel's treatment of Palestinian workers, under scrutiny for decades by the UN labour body, has increased since 7 October, with criticism focused on more than half a million job losses and Israel's exclusion of some 200,000 Palestinians from Israel for security reasons.

"This has been the hardest year for Palestinian workers since 1967," ILO Director-General Gilbert Houngbo told the Geneva meeting, referring to the date of the war when Israel seized the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt.

Labour rights had been "decimated", he said in a speech presenting an ILO report on Palestinian working conditions while asking Israel to reopen its labour market.

(Reuters)

Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it carried out two joint military operations with Yemen's Houthis on Israel's Haifa port, a statement on their telegram channel said on Thursday.

(Reuters) 

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Thursday called for a probe into an Israeli strike on a UN-run school in Gaza that medics said killed at least 37 people.

"Reports coming from Gaza time and again show that violence and suffering are still the only reality for hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. This appalling news must be independently investigated," Borrell wrote on X.

Reports coming from Gaza time and again show that violence and suffering are still the only reality for hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.

This appalling news must be independently investigated, in line with last @CIJ_ICJ order. 🧵 1/2 https://t.co/LkumJqZZpP

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) June 6, 2024

The Israeli military denied on Thursday a claim by Yemen's Houthis that, together with an Iraqi militia, they had attacked ships in Israel's northern Haifa port.

"It's not true," military spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said. 

(Reuters)

The NAACP urged President Joe Biden on Thursday to "indefinitely" halt all weapons deliveries to Israel and pressure the US ally to end its war on Gaza sending a reminder that his support for Israel could hurt him among Black voters in November's election.

The 115-year-old civil rights group said Israel had a right to defend itself 7 October, urged Hamas to return the captives and "stop all terrorist activity." It also urged Israel to "commit to an offensive strategy that is aligned with international and humanitarian laws." Israel faces accusations at the International Court of Justice that it has violated the genocide convention, which it denies.

The NAACP, which has advocated for racial justice and rights for Black Americans, said the US must use its influence with Israel to bring a permanent ceasefire to Gaza. According to health authorities in the enclave, Israel's campaign has killed over 36,000 Palestinians, caused widespread hunger and displaced most of the population from their homes.

"The NAACP calls on President Biden to draw the red line and indefinitely end the shipment of all weapons and artillery to the state of Israel and other states that supply weapons to Hamas and other terrorist organizations. It is imperative that the violence that has claimed so many civilian lives immediately stop," the organization said in a statement first provided to Reuters.

(Reuters) 

Yemen's Houthi group said on Thursday it launched two joint military operations with the Iraqi Islamic Resistance against ships at Israel's Haifa port.

"The first targeted two ships carrying military equipment in the port of Haifa, while the second targeted a ship that violated the decision to ban entry to the port," Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised statement.

The Houthis, who control Yemen's capital and most populous areas, have attacked international shipping in the Red Sea since November in solidarity with the Palestinians in Israel's war on Gaza, drawing US and British retaliatory strikes since February.

(Reuters)

Egypt has received "positive signs" from Hamas over a proposed Gaza truce and hostage release deal, state-linked Al-Qahera News said Thursday, citing a high-level source.

"Hamas leaders have informed us that they are studying the truce proposal seriously and positively," it quoted the unnamed source as saying, adding that Hamas was expected to respond "in the coming days".

The UN Palestinian refugee agency's (UNRWA) chief said Thursday that Israel had carried out a strike on one of its Gaza schools "without prior warning" to thousands of displaced sheltering there.

"Another UNRWA school turned shelter attacked," Philippe Lazzarini wrote on social media platform X, adding that the agency had earlier provided Israeli forces with the building's coordinates.

WAFA reports an Israeli military court has extended the detention of one of its journalists, Rasha Harzallah, a journalist working for the Palestinian News and Information Agency WAFA, for five days.

The Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) said the court in Salem extended the detention from the city of Nablus for it to submit a "charge sheet" under what the occupation calls "incitement."

Hamas has welcomed Spain joining South Africa's case, accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.

“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.”

The United States, Britain, Canada, Germany and several other countries have called on Hamas, which rules Gaza, to accept a proposal announced by US President Joe Biden for a permanent ceasefire in the enclave, according to a joint statement.

The statement also came from the leaders of Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Denmark, France, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain and Thailand, according to the White House.

"At this decisive moment, we call on the leaders of Israel as well as Hamas to make whatever final compromises are necessary to close this deal," the statement said. 

(Reuters) 

The Gaza Health Ministry has said 36,654 have been killed and 83,309 have been injured since 7 October.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 25,000 Palestinians need treatment but are prevented from receiving treatment outside the Gaza Strip after Israel took control of the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

"No sick or wounded person has been able to leave the Gaza Strip," the ministry said.

"This exposes the lives of thousands to avoidable complications and death, and these are cases that can be treated and saved if they were allowed to go to specialized centres outside the Gaza Strip."

The director of the Gaza government media office, Ismail Al-Thawabta, and a Gaza health ministry official told Reuters on Thursday that 40 people were killed and 73 were wounded in an Israeli attack on the Nuseirat school in the Gaza Strip.

The two officials added that 14 children and nine women were killed in the strike.

Earlier, UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma told Reuters that the number of those reported killed in the Israeli offensive on the Nuseirat school was between 35 and 45, adding the number could not be confirmed at this stage.

The Israeli military said it assessed that there were 20-30 fighters located in the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency school. 

(Reuters)

At least one person has been killed, and another has been injured after an Israeli strike targeted a motorbike in the southern Lebanese town of Aitaroun - according to Lebanese media. 

مراسل "#النهار": قتيل وجريح جرّاء غارة من مسيّرة استهدفت درّاجة نارية في ساحة #عيترون

— Annahar (@Annahar) June 6, 2024

Spain will join South Africa's genocide case before the International Court of Justice against Israel's actions in Gaza, its foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Thursday.

Spain is the second European nation after Ireland to join the case, which has also been joined by countries including Chile and Mexico. 

(Reuters)

Colombia's trade ministry is recommending restrictions on coal sales to Israel, Bloomberg News said on Thursday, citing an internal document and a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The report added that the ministry is seeking limits on coal shipments from a committee on tariffs and foreign trade.

(Reuters) 

The Israeli military said Thursday a soldier was killed in the north where troops are engaged in near-daily border clashes with Lebanon's Hezbollah.

The soldier "fell fighting in the north" on Wednesday, the military said in a statement, after two explosive drones were launched from Lebanon against the town of Hurfeish in northern Israel.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has found that 9 out of 10 children in the Gaza Strip are experiencing severe food poverty, surviving on two or fewer food groups per day.

"This is evidence of the horrific impact the conflict and restrictions are having on families’ ability to meet children’s food needs – and the speed at which it places children at risk of life-threatening malnutrition," the charity said.