Gaza war: Israeli hostilities in Gaza continue despite so-called 'pause'

The live blog has now ended. You can read more of The New Arab's coverage of Israel's war on Gaza here. 

At least 12 people have been killed in two airstrikes on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. According to Al Jazeera, one airstrike killed at least seven people, while another killed at least five people. 

An Israeli airstrikes on a house in Bureij refugee camp has killed at least one person with others wounded according to reports from Al Jazeera.

Additionally, an airstrike in Nuseirat refugee camp also killed one person and wounded others.

Two key Democrats in the US Congress have agreed to support a major arms sale to Israel that includes 50 F-15 fighter jets, 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.

(Reuters)

The US military said on Monday it had destroyed four Houthi radars, one uncrewed surface vessel and one drone in the past 24 hours.

The radars and uncrewed surface vessel were destroyed in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, US Central Command said in a post on the social media site X. The drone was destroyed over the Red Sea. 

June 17 U.S. Central Command Update

In the past 24 hours, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) forces successfully destroyed four Houthi radars and one uncrewed surface vessel (USV) in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

Additionally, USCENTCOM forces successfully destroyed one… pic.twitter.com/8YKqaeudXk

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) June 17, 2024

(Reuters)

Three people have been hospitalised at anti-government protests in Jerusalem saw the use of a police water cannon against protesters. 

In addition, eight people were arrested during the protest, which was held outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home. 

Aid organisation World Central Kitchen have begun constructing a fourth large-scale kitchen in Gaza which will be named after aid worker Zomi who was killed in an Israeli airstrike along with six other staff on 1 April.

"WCK's Maintenance and Construction Team is energized to begin work on our new Field Kitchen in central Gaza," WCK said in a post on X.

WCK’s Maintenance and Construction Team is energized to begin work on our new Field Kitchen in central Gaza. This will be our fourth large-scale kitchen in Gaza and will be named after Zomi, one of our seven team members killed in the April 1 IDF strike on a WCK humanitarian… pic.twitter.com/ALAJHxz4uP

— World Central Kitchen (@WCKitchen) June 17, 2024

The Israeli military announced it had conducted airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, including a buildings in Aitaroun and Ayta ash-Shab.

Anti-government protests have erupted outside the house of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as other areas of Jerusalem, calling for the government to resign and new elections be held. 

According to Haaretz, protesters lit a fire outside his house, although it was extinguished by a police water cannon.

Additionally, social media footage showed Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid outside the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem alongside demonstrators.

A Filipino sailor was killed when Yemen's Houthi rebels attacked a bulk cargo carrier last week, the White House said Monday, condemning their actions as terrorism.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Filipino seaman killed was on the M/V Tutor, a Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned ship that had "nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza."

The vessel suffered serious flooding and was abandoned after it was struck by a sea drone off rebel-held Hodeida on Wednesday, according to a security agency operated by the British navy.

Kirby also said that a Sri Lankan crew member was critically wounded in a separate Houthi attack on Thursday on the M/V Verbena, a Palauan-flagged, Ukrainian-owned, Polish-operated ship.

"This is pure terrorism. There's simply no other word for it. The Houthi claim of supporting Gazans is meritless," Kirby told reporters.

A senior Israeli negotiator told AFP Monday that tens of hostages held by Hamas are certainly alive and that Israel cannot accept halting the war until all captives are released in a deal.

"Tens are alive with certainty," the official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak publicly on the issue. "We cannot leave them there a long time, they will die."

US secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke with Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, according spokesperson Matthew Miller.

Miller said that the two spoke about Houthi's "continued reckless attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden", as well as "ongoing efforts to achieve an enduring ceasefire in Gaza, secure the release of all hostages, and facilitate a surge in humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza, as well as coordination for a post-conflict period."

Blinken also issued thanks for Saudi Arabia's delivery of aid to Gaza.

According to reports from Israel's Channel 12 and Germany newspaper Bild, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a meeting last week that the US would remove restrictions on weapons transfers.

According to the reports, Netanyahu warned Blinken that the restrictions would only escalate the conflict between Israel and its adversaries Hezbollah and Iran.

Eight Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire as merchants and civil guards waited for commercial trucks along the eastern road of the Gaza Strip, which is designated for commercial trucks to roll on, health officials told Reuters on Monday.

(Reuters)

A French court has upheld a decision by the government's defence ministry to ban Israeli arms companies form participating in the Eurosatory arms and defence industry exhibition following Israel's invasion of Rafah.

Seventy-four Israeli companies were set to attend the fair.

Al-Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen's Houthi movement, said on Monday that US 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. 

(Reuters)

At least 640 Palestinian children detained since October 7, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said on Monday.

Though many have been released, at least 240 others remain in Israeli detention, the group said.

Many have been subjected to torture, the group said, stressing that children in detention centres are "exposed to all kinds of retaliatory measures, including abuse, torture, as well as medical negligence".

The Palestine Red Crescent Society is working with the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee and the Gaza-based Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children to build a shelter in Deir el-Balah to accommodate Palestinians with disabilities.

There were approximately 50,000 people with disabilities in Gaza, at the beginning of the war.

Those with disabilities have put these individuals at greater risk during the war, with shelters being overcrowded and under-equipped, posing further threats to disabled people's safety.

The PRCS disaster risk management teams, in partnership with the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees and the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children, have started building the first shelter camp for people with disabilities in the Gaza Strip. Located in Deir al-Balah in central… pic.twitter.com/zAWkUFEGuL

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) June 17, 2024

US Presidential Special Envoy Amos Hochstein met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team in Jerusalem days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on a Middle East tour that a Gaza ceasefire was the best way to resolve the Hezbollah-Israel violence.

"I can confirm that (US President Joe) Biden's envoy met with our prime minister," Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told a press briefing.

It came as Mencer said Hezbollah has fired over 5,000 rockets, anti-tank missiles and explosive UAVs at Israeli territory since hostilities started.

"We are defending against Hezbollah aggression. There is no territorial dispute between Lebanon and Israel," Mencer said.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Monday that Auckland will be providing $5 million to the World Food Program and the United Nations Children's Fund, in a bid to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

In a post on X, Peters described the humanitarian conditions in Gaza as “catastrophic.”

"New Zealand will provide an additional $5 million to the World Food Program and UNICEF for food assistance, sanitation and health, and this will bring New Zealand's humanitarian assistance to the region to $22 million," he said.

Last week, New Zealand announced the resumption of its funding to UNRWA agency, after suspending it late last January.

In a reaction to Benjamijn Netanyahu's dissolving of his war cabinet earlier on Monday, opposition leader Yair Lapid said that it should be "his government that loses power instead".

Lapid, who heads Israel’s centrist Yesh Atid party, has been a prominent figure in anti-government protests sweeping Israel, and has criticised Netanyahu's leadership.

He has called on the government to strike a deal with Hamas to bring home the captives and repeatedly urged Netanyahu to resign.

The Government Media Office in Gaza said that Israel has killed another Palestinian journalist, identified as Mahmoud Qassem, known for his work with digital publication Palestine Online.

The office did not provide any further information on where and when Qassem was killed.

A total of 151 journalists have now been killed in Gaza, since the start of the war on October 7.

Norway said Monday that it was increasing its funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) by 100 million kroner ($9.3 million).

UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, has been in crisis since January, when Israel accused about a dozen of its its staff of involvement in the October 7 Hamas attack.

That prompted several countries, including top donor the United States, to suspend funding to the agency, though many have since resumed payments.

"UNRWA is the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza," Norway's minister for international development, Anne Beathe Kristiansen Tvinnereim, said in a statement.

"The war, accusations made by Israel, continuous attacks on the organisation and funds withheld by major donors, have put UNRWA in an extremely difficult financial situation," she said.

Israel has reportedly killed one man in a drone attack on a car on the outskirts of Salaa, Chehabiyeh in southern Lebanon.

Footage circulating on local social media accounts showed smoke rising from a hill with homes in the background. Other images showed a car visibly destroyed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon's southern region.

استشهاد شخص في الغارة التي استهدفت سيارة من نوع «رابيد» في #سلعا. pic.twitter.com/Sh3SexTlQH

— جريدة الأخبار - Al-Akhbar (@AlakhbarNews) June 17, 2024

The Palestinian Authority could collapse in the coming months, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said on Monday, citing a lack of funding, continuing violence and the fact that half a million Palestinians are not allowed to work in Israel.

"The situation is extremely dire. The Palestinian Authority, with whom we work closely, are warning us that they might be collapsing this summer," Barth Eide told Reuters.

"If it collapses, you could end up having another Gaza, which would be terrible for everybody, including the people of Israel," he added.

Norway chairs the international donor group to the Palestinians and is a backer of the PA

37,347 Palestinians killed and 85,372 wounded since start of Israel's war on October 7, Ministry of Health says. 

Hostilities continue in Rafah and southern Gaza despite the Israeli military's announcement on Sunday of tactical pauses in operations to allow humanitarian aid to enter, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, told reporters in Oslo on Monday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday criticised plans announced by the military to hold daily pauses in fighting along one of the main roads into the Palestinian enclave.

UNRWA only has funding until July, and after that "it is unknown", with funding being "month-to-month", the UN agency for Palestinian refugees' Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said.

At least 193 staff members from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza, they said in a statement on X on Monday.

"Gaza is the most dangerous places in the world for aid workers. Since the war began, 193 UNRWA colleagues have been killed -  the highest death toll in UN history.

"Despite this, our colleagues keep working to support families & provide aid amid the dire humanitarian crisis," UNRWA added.

#Gaza is the most dangerous places in the world for aid workers. Since the war began, 193 @UNRWA colleagues have been killed - the highest death toll in @UN history.

Despite this, our colleagues keep working to support families & provide aid amid the dire humanitarian crisis. pic.twitter.com/TNcpGToi1V

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) June 17, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the six-member war cabinet, an Israeli official said on Monday, in a widely expected move that came after the departure from government of the centrist former general Benny Gantz.

Netanyahu had faced demands from the nationalist-religious partners in his coalition, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to be included in the war cabinet, a move which would have intensified strains with international partners including the United States.

Anti-government protesters in Israeli have block a number of roads for the second consecutive day, the Times of Israel has reported, in a row in a call for elections and a hostage deal.

In addition, students at a number of high schools in the centre of the country have staged walk-outs, the Israeli daily said.

יום שיבוש ארצי כמחאה לבחירות עכשיו -
כביש החוף חסום
חן יצחקי צילום pic.twitter.com/DsJgPADQzC

— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) June 17, 2024

Israeli forces arrested three Palestinians in Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate, West Bank, Palestinian media said.

Those arrested have been identified as 20-year-old Amr Saleh Abd Hamed, Moataz Ali Hajar, after their homes were raided in in the town of Silwad, north of Ramallah. 20-year-old Mohammed Abdel Aziz Thabet Hamayel was arrested from the village of Kafr Malek, east of Ramallah, after his family’s home was raided and searched.

In the same context, today, Monday, Israeli occupation forces stormed the town of Ni'lin and the village of Deir Nizam in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate, the Palestinian official agency Wafa said.

Israel’s brutal military campaign in Gaza has killed hundreds of family members from the same bloodline, an unprecedented toll on the small community mostly made up of refugees and their descendants.

An Associated Press investigation analysed 10 strikes across the Gaza Strip between October and December that killed over 500 people. Nearly every Palestinian family has suffered grievous, multiple losses. But many have been decimated, particularly in the first months of the war.

This war has proven even deadlier than the displacement from Israel in 1948, said Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian-American historian at Columbia University, when 20,000 were killed in what is known as the Nakbah, or catastrophe.

"I don’t think anything like this has happened in modern Palestinian history," said Khalidi.

Among the families where numerous family members have been killed are the Al-Agha, Abu Naja, Tarzai, Souri, Salem and Doghmush families, as per the investigation.

Senior Joe Biden adviser Amos Hochstein will advance efforts to avoid further escalation along the "Blue Line" between Israel and Lebanon, said a White House official said.

Attacks between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon have led to worries of a deeper war across the Middle East.