Israel continues its deadly assault on Gaza, as Lebanon tensions rise

An Israeli strike has wounded five people when it hit a two-storey building in the town of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon, state media reported.

Israel carried out some 10 strikes on border regions, Lebanon's national news agency NNA said.

An Israeli strike destroyed the building in Nabatiyeh around 10:00 pm (1900 GMT), it said, adding the five people who were in the vicinity of the structure were wounded and taken to hospital.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strike.

Hezbollah on Wednesday claimed six attacks against Israeli military positions in the border region.

The Israeli army has stormed the al-Ahmad Medical Complex in Jenin and deployed snipers on residential buildings adjacent to it, according to local media reports.

Israeli forces are closing the streets leading to al-Shifa and Jenin hospitals, reports said.

Israel, under pressure from Western allies to ease a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, is preparing to boost electricity to a desalination plant so it can produce more water for people in the enclave, an Israeli security official and a Western official told Reuters on Wednesday.

The Israeli plan, the details of which were shown to Reuters, is to directly supply electricity from Israel to a large water desalination facility in Khan Yunis, the two sources said.

The facility was established with United Nations funding in 2017 to provide drinking water to areas in Deir al-Balah, Khan Yunis and the Mawasi area, where many Gazans have fled due to fighting.

Senior US officials told visiting Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday that the United States is maintaining a pause on a shipment of heavy munitions for Israel while the issue is under review, a top US official has said.

The official, briefing reporters about White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan's meeting with Gallant, said the two governments remain in discussions about the single shipment of heavy bombs, which was paused by President Joe Biden in early May over concerns the weapons could cause more Palestinian deaths in Gaza.

The United States has been involved in discussions with United Nations agencies and the Israeli government in the past few days to try and work through security challenges the UN is facing to deliver humanitarian aid in Gaza, the State Department said.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters Washington is continuing to push to resolve their "legitimate concerns about the safety and security of their personnel." 

Pro-Palestine activists and technology workers have disrupted the Amazon Web Services Summit in Washington, DC, to protest Amazon and Google’s $1.2bn contract with the Israeli government and military called Project Nimbus.

The contract, signed in 2021, aims to provide cloud computing infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology services to Israel, which has faced condemnation for its war on Gaza.

United Nations experts and several countries have accused Israel of inflicting a genocide on the Palestinians as part of its military offensive.

Since the contract was signed, Amazon and Google workers have called on their companies to end Project Nimbus and carried out demonstrations in protest.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken briefly spoke to the aftershocks of Israel’s war in Gaza, as he gave remarks on the upcoming Report on Religious Freedom. The annual report evaluates conditions in 200 countries across the world.

“Since [7 October] and the subsequent conflict in Gaza, both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have increased significantly across the globe,” he said.

“Here in the United States, reports of hate crimes and other incidents targeting both Muslims and Jews have gone up dramatically.”

Germany has urged its citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible due to the risk of escalating violence between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded near-daily cross-border fire since the war on Gaza began on 7 October. 

Tensions have been rising in recent days with growing exchanges of fire.

On Wednesday Berlin's foreign ministry updated its travel guidance for the country, saying: "German nationals are urgently requested to leave Lebanon".

"The current heightened tensions in the border area with Israel could escalate further at any time," the ministry said.

There is also an "increased risk of terrorist attacks" in Lebanon, which could be directed against Western foreigners or large hotels, it said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock cautioned on Tuesday that "miscalculation" could trigger all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, urging the need for "extreme restraint" as tensions soar.

"With every rocket across the Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel, the danger grows that a miscalculation could trigger a hot war," Baerbock said on X during a visit to Beirut, referring to the demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon.

Yemen’s Houthis have said they had targeted a ship in the Israeli port of Haifa with a number of drones in a joint military operation with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

The operation targeted the Portuguese-flagged container ship MSC Manzanillo, the group’s military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised speech.

For its part, a spokesperson for the Israeli military said its forces were not aware of any such incident, and there was no indication of anything unusual at Haifa’s port.

The Houthi group has been launching drone and missile strikes in shipping lanes since November, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

In dozens of attacks, they have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least three seafarers.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has condemned a recent social media post by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, saying it was an attempt to cover up Israel's crimes.

Earlier on Wednesday, Katz had denounced Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a "war criminal" for actions taken along the Turkey-Syria border.

In his social media post, Katz addressed the Turkish president directly: “Be quiet and shame on you.”

But the Turkish Foreign Ministry quickly responded.

"We consider the disrespectful post by the Israeli Foreign Minister targeting our esteemed president as a tone that can only be adopted by an official of a state accused of genocide," said a ministry statement.

It emphasised that such accusations are part of Israel’s efforts to obscure its own criminal actions.

Criticising the social media post, the ministry said: "Such slander and lies are part of Israel’s efforts to cover up the crimes it has committed."

Turkey will continue to fight for peace and justice, the post said.

In a meeting on Wednesday, European Union Representative Josep Borell said he and Lebanese Foreign Minister Bou Habib discussed ways to ensure there is an "immediate de-escalation" across the Blue Line - the borderline between Lebanon and Israel.

He also indicated they would ramp up efforts to find a political solution to lessen tensions.

"Lebanon, Israel and the region cannot afford another war. The EU would be affected too," he said in a post on X.

Met w/ Lebanese Foreign Minister Bou Habib. We discussed how to ensure immediate de-escalation across the Blue Line & how to reinforce efforts towards a political solution acceptable to all.
Lebanon, Israel & the region cannot afford another war. The EU would be affected too. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/0ChxGnDNrO

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) June 26, 2024

The United Nations aid chief said on Wednesday he was concerned by the possible spread of the Gaza war across the region, including to the West Bank, despite aid agencies being adequately prepared for that prospect.

The UN human rights office has said that 528 Palestinians, including 133 children, have been killed by Israeli security forces or settlers in the West Bank since the Gaza war began, and has "serious concerns of unlawful killings" in some cases.

"We are worried about the potential for further tragedy and deaths and the events in the West Bank, as well as, of course, the threats and the possibilities [of conflict] in Lebanon," Martin Griffiths, who heads the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters in Geneva.

"There's a lot of preparedness on the aid side. That's not the problem," he said. "The problem is stopping this war getting worse and stopping the people of Palestine from their right to their future. That's the worry that I think we should all have."

Griffiths said demands for unimpeded humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip still stood.

"We want all those crossing points open, we want safety and security protocols, we want deconfliction which we can rely on, and that we want aid workers and health institutions not being victims of the war," he said, also calling for a ceasefire.

Griffiths said it was "astonishingly cruel" that, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), more than 495,000 people across Gaza were facing the most severe, or "catastrophic", level of food insecurity.

That figure is down from a forecast of 1.1 million in the previous update three months ago, but is still more than one fifth of Gaza's population.

Griffiths said the new figure was "outrageous" but that it indicated some aid was making it to Gazans.

A ship operated by Russian shipping group Sovcomflot rescued the crew of a tanker taking in water off Yemen's coast this week, the state-owned company, which is under Western sanctions, said on Wednesday.

Sovcomflot tanker NS Africa was sailing southeast of the port of Nishtun in southern Yemen on 23 June when it responded to a distress call by the Lavant tanker whose crew had abandoned ship and were in a life raft in the open sea.

"At 1410 local time, the crew of the tanker NS Africa... carried out an operation to rescue 19 sailors, among whom were citizens of India, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Indonesia," SCF said in a statement.

SCF added that the rescued seafarers were scheduled to disembark in the Egyptian port of Suez on 29 June with none of the crew missing or injured.

Lavant's operators could not be located for comment.

Maritime security sources said the vessel was unlikely to have been targeted by Yemen's Houthis.

Iran-aligned Houthi militants first launched drone and missile strikes on the trade route in November in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. In over 70 attacks, they have sunk two vessels, seized another and killed at least three seafarers.

It is unknown whether the Verbena cargo ship, which was attacked by the Houthis earlier in June, was still afloat after it was separately abandoned by its crew.

Palestinian armed faction Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade says it shelled the positions of Israeli soldiers and vehicles in Rafah in southern Gaza.

The group says it used mortars.

A U.S.-operated temporary pier delivering aid to war-ravaged Gaza faces a mountain of logistical challenges, the most recent of which is looting, officials said on Wednesday.

"I have never seen a more challenging or more complex environment for the humanitarian community to work," said Doug Stropes, Division Chief for the USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, who cited his experience of working both in Latin America and Africa.

In addition to working in a conflict zone and the logistical challenges of the pier itself, looting aid trucks now "appeared to have expanded beyond just self-distribution", he said.

"It expanded recently beyond just those in need stopping the vehicles and getting the assistance out, and it appears to be organised - not in the sense of a large scale organisation but there are organised elements that are stopping and taking the commodities from the trucks," he said.

The UN humanitarian chief voiced alarm Wednesday at the prospect of Israel's war on Gaza spreading to Lebanon, warning that it was "potentially apocalyptic".

Martin Griffiths, the UN humanitarian coordinator, told reporters in Geneva that he saw Lebanon as "the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints", pointing to southern Lebanon in particular.

He said he had been discussing with colleagues in Jerusalem about the prospects of what might happen there. "It's beyond planning. It's potentially apocalyptic," he said.

Griffiths, whose term finishes this week, warned that a war involving Lebanon "will draw in Syria... it will draw in others".

And "it will of course have an impact on Gaza; of course it will have an impact on the West Bank". It's very alarming," he said.

"But we are all worried that it may only be the beginning."

Israel's top court ruled unanimously on Tuesday that the state must draft ultra-Orthodox Jewish men into military service, potentially destabilising Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition.

The High Court of Justice's decision on the politically charged issue comes as calls grow for ultra-Orthodox men, historically exempt from mandatory service, to enlist as Israel wages war on Gaza and prepares for potential fighting in Lebanon.

"The executive branch has no authority to order not to enforce the Security Service Law for yeshiva students in the absence of an appropriate legislative framework", the court said.

The justices ruled that without a law granting exemptions to students at Jewish seminaries, "the state must act to enforce the law".

They also ordered the state to stop funding yeshivas whose students evade military service.

The court's ruling was a response to petitions from civil society groups advocating mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox men.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews adhere to a strict interpretation of Jewish custom and largely live in insular communities in Israel and elsewhere.

They make up about 13 percent of Israel's nearly 10 million population.

In Israel, military service is mandatory for Jewish men while religious women are exempt.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says it has received six trucks containing medical aid and other health supplies from Morocco.

It posts on social media platform X that it received the supplies through the Karm Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing between Israel and southern Gaza.

"The PRCS will distribute these supplies to several hospitals suffering from a severe shortage of medical supplies and medicines," the humanitarian organisation adds.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society received six trucks loaded with medical aid, medicines, and health supplies from the Kingdom of Morocco through the Karm Abu Salem crossing in the southern Gaza Strip. The PRCS will distribute these supplies to several hospitals suffering from a… pic.twitter.com/SrmwRDtfAA

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) June 26, 2024

Warning sirens sounded in the Gaza envelope in Israel, with Palestinian media reporting that fighters launched a barrage of rockets from the strip.

The Gaza envelope is a part of southern Israel near the Palestinian enclave.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey stood in solidarity with Lebanon amid growing tensions with Israel and called on regional countries on Wednesday to also support Beirut.

Cross-border strains between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah have been escalating in recent weeks, stoking fears of an all-out Israel-Hezbollah war. Shelling across the border has led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from areas on both sides of the frontier.

In a speech to his AK Party lawmakers in parliament, Erdogan said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned to spread the Gaza war to the region.

"It seems that Israel has now turned its eyes on Lebanon after destroying and burning Gaza. We see Western countries giving Israel support behind the scenes," Erdogan said.

"Netanyahu's plans to spread the war to the region will lead to a big catastrophe," he said, adding that the Western support for Israel was "pitiful".

"Turkey stands with the brotherly people and state of Lebanon. I call on other countries in the region to stand in solidarity with Lebanon," he said.

(Reuters)

Sweltering summer weather is worsening conditions in Gaza where nearly all the 2.3 million inhabitants have been driven from their homes by Israel's military campaign and where there is almost no electricity and little clean water.

Families living in tents, in crowded shelters in UN schools or crammed into private homes, face the rising summer temperatures without air condition, showers or a functioning health system amid rising rates of malnutrition and disease.

In a school classroom shared as a shelter among different families in Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, Amal Nsair, 38, is worried that the rising heat and humidity and the increase in mosquitoes and other insects will harm their health.

Her son cannot sleep and she has nothing to cool him except a fan made from cardboard. The family's home was in Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza Strip, which they fled earlier in the war.

"My son's body is full of heat. In the past I would wash him but I need water. I'm very worried about my husband's health too. He has lost half his weight from carrying water," she said.

Temperatures in Gaza this week are forecast above 30 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) and recent years have brought a series of lethal heatwaves across the Mediterranean as the summer advances.

Gaza's electricity was largely provided from Israel, but this was cut off as soon as the war began along with fuel for the territory's only power station. Diesel to supply private generators was largely exhausted soon afterwards.

"Insects and mosquitoes are biting us all night long. I don't sleep so that I can apply cream on my child, any kind of ointment or cream so he does not get bitten by the mosquitoes. They are scratching all night," said Nsair.

(Reuters)

Four Palestinians were killed and others wounded after Israeli bombing targeted a group of people gathering in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

The number of people killed in Israel's war on Gaza has risen to 37,718, with 86,377 injured, according to the territory's health ministry.

The ministry says Israeli forces carried out four "massacres against the families in the Gaza Strip" with 60 killed and 140 injured people arriving at hospitals in the last 24 hours.

Israel's war on Gaza began in October.

Five Palestinians have been killed after Israeli artillery shelling targeted a flat in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Israeli bombing targeted Al-Baraksat area northwest of Rafah, killing and leaving people wounded, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Israeli artillery has targeted Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza with heavy shelling, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Israeli protesters have closed a street in Tel Aviv, demanding a captive-exchange deal with Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.

Norway's largest pension fund said Wednesday it had divested from US industrial group Caterpillar because of the risk its equipment was being used by the Israeli army in Gaza.

"For a long time, Caterpillar has supplied bulldozers and other equipment that has been used to demolish Palestinian homes and infrastructure to clear the way for Israeli settlements," Kiran Aziz, head of responsible investments at KLP, said in a statement.

"It has also been alleged that the company's equipment is being used by the Israeli [army] in connection with its military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas attack on 7 October last year," she added.

Because of this, there is a "risk that the US company may be contributing to human rights abuses and violation of international law in the West Bank and Gaza", KLP said.

The fund said that since Caterpillar "cannot provide us with assurances that it is doing anything in this regard, we have decided to exclude the company from investment".

KLP – not to be confused with Norway's massive sovereign wealth fund – said that earlier this month it owned Caterpillar stock valued at 728 million kroner ($68.6 million), which it had now divested.

The fund has around $90 billion under management.

In April 2021, KLP excluded companies linked to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including telecom equipment giant Motorola.

A pro-Israeli candidate beat a pro-Palestinian rival in New York on Tuesday in the most expensive House primary ever, a vote which exposed the Democratic Party's internal divisions over the war in Gaza.

George Latimer, backed by former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, ousted incumbent Jamaal Bowman, who has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and advocated for a ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.

Latimer, 70, is a supporter of Israel and has called for the return of captives captured by Hamas before any eventual ceasefire.

The election for New York's 16th district was also the most expensive House of Representatives primary in history, with an estimated $23 million spent on campaigning.

Israel's war on Gaza dominated the candidates' debate, which became a tug-of-war between the progressive, pro-Palestinian faction of the Democratic Party and the centrist, pro-Israeli front.

Senator Bernie Sanders told a rally in support of Bowman that "never before in history [has] powerful special interest spent so much money trying to defeat a candidate".

"This election is not about Jamal versus Mr Latimer. This election is about whether or not the billionaire class and the oligarchy will control the United States government," Sanders said at a rally in the Bronx on Saturday.

More than $23 million was spent on the election as of last week, according to AidImpact, a political advertising tracking group cited by local media.

Of that, $16 million was poured into campaigns against Bowman, mostly funded by affiliates of the AIPAC Jewish lobby group.

Israeli warplanes have struck a home in Al-Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City, The New Arab's Arabic edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reports.