Israel war on Gaza updates: Gaza gov’t says 3,500 children at risk of dying

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Netanyahu has criticised Biden for “withholding weapons” to Israel in recent months as it presses its war on Gaza. Read more about that here.

Here’s a breakdown of what’s going on as several antigovernment groups in Israel launch a week of resistance against the government.

And to follow all of our coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza, read more here.

Here’s a quick look at the latest news:

• UN says lawlessness in Gaza impedes aid deliveries despite Israeli military pause.
• US newspaper The Washington Post reports, citing Israeli officials, that Israel is “close to achieving” its goals in Rafah.
• The Israeli military announced that operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were “approved and validated”.
• Sources tell Al Jazeera that Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, has met with Hamas officials in Doha.
• Dr Iyad al-Rantisi, 53, a prominent Palestinian doctor, died while in Israeli police custody just six days after he was detained, Israeli outlet Haaretz reported.
• Netanyahu says that Blinken has assured him that the Biden administration is working to cancel restrictions on arms deliveries to Israel.

Several groups in Israel have launched a week of resistance against the government.

They are calling for a deal to release the captives taken by Hamas-led groups that attacked Israel on October 7.

They are also angry at how the current government is performing and are demanding early elections to choose a new government.

Here’s a breakdown of what’s going on.

The top United Nations human rights official has warned of the worsening situation for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the “unconscionable death and suffering” in the Gaza Strip.

“The situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is dramatically deteriorating,” Volker Turk told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva today.

He said 528 Palestinians, 133 of them children, were killed by Israeli military forces or settlers from the start of the war on Gaza in October to June 15, “in many cases raising serious concerns of unlawful killings”.

In the same period, 23 Israelis were killed in clashes with Palestinians in the West Bank and Israel, including eight members of security forces, according to the UN’s high commissioner for human rights.

Read more here.

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

“There were no injuries or damage reported to US, coalition or merchant vessels in the incident,” CENTCOM added.

“It was determined 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 a ship hit by the Houthis last week, the Tutor, 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

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised the administration of US President Joe Biden for “withholding weapons” to Israel in recent months as it presses its war on Gaza.

Netanyahu said in a video statement on Tuesday that it was “inconceivable” that the United States had been “withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel”.

“Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken assured me that the administration is working day and night to remove these bottlenecks. I certainly hope that’s the case. It should be the case,” Netanyahu said, referring to talks the top US diplomat held in the country last week.

Read more here.

Israel’s war on Gaza has forced nearly 2 million people from their homes and now, they are seeking refuge in every available space.

Watch our video report below:

Three Palestinian young people were shot tonight by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank town of Beit Ummar, south of Hebron, according to the Wafa news agency.

Media activist Muhammad Awad told the agency that clashes broke out in the al-Dhahr area, during which Israeli soldiers fired live bullets towards the three young men.

Israel’s military said on Sunday there would be a daily pause in its attacks, from 05:00 GMT until 16:00 GMT, until further notice along the road that leads from Israel via the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing to the Philadelphi Corridor and northwards in Gaza.

The UN welcomed the move, spokesperson Farhan Haq has said, but added that “this has yet to translate into more aid reaching people in need”.

He said the area between the crossing and the Philadelphi Corridor was very dangerous.

“Fighting is not the only reason for being unable to pick up aid … The lack of any police or rule of law in the area makes it very dangerous to move goods there,” he said.

“But we are ready to engage with all parties to ensure that aid reaches people in Gaza, and we’ll continue to work with the authorities and with security forces, trying to see what can be done to have security conditions,” Haq said.

“When aid gets to a place, people are starving, and they’re worried that this may be the last food that they see,” he said. “They have to be assured that there’s going to be a regular flow of goods so that there’s not a panic when we get to the area.”

As the practice of torture persists across the world, too often medical workers are at risk of becoming complicit.

One country that has come under the spotlight recently regarding medical complicity in torture has been Israel.

For years, human rights organisations have reported “widespread and systematic” use of torture by Israeli security forces and prison authorities. The Israeli NGO Public Committee against Torture (PCATI) has filed over 1,400 torture complaints against Israeli authorities since 2001.

Since October 7, allegations of ill-treatment and torture of Palestinians in Israeli detention have sharply increased. According to media reports, at least 40 Palestinians have died in Israeli military detention and 16 in prison over the past eight months.

These numbers represent a substantial increase when compared to the average of four deaths per year from 1967 to 2019.

Read more of this opinion piece here.

The Lebenese armed group says its forces bombed the Balasan factory in Israel’s Sasa kibbutz with Falaq missiles.

The factory specialises “in arming and protecting vehicles” for the Israeli military, Hezbollah added in a statement on its Telegram channel.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health says 39-year-old Bilal Adel Abdel Fattah Bello was shot by Israeli forces south of Bethlehem.

Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank have intensified since the war on Gaza began on October 7, with more than 500 people killed and more than 9,100 people detained.

US newspaper The Washington Post reports, citing Israeli officials, reports that Israel is “close to achieving” its goals in southern Gaza City, weeks after it began its military operation there against the wishes of its major allies.

According to the paper’s report, this signals “the possibility that months of major military operations might soon give way to a new, less-intense phase” of Israel’s war on the Palestinian enclave. This could include a scaling down of the relentless air raids and ground assaults that, as of today, have killed at least 37,372 people and injured 85,452.

However, this does not mean 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.”

The rebel group used helicopters to attack the Bahamas-flagged ship on November 19.

They captured the Bulgarian ship master and chief officer, along with 17 Filipinos and other sailors from Ukraine, Mexico and Romania, the ship managers said.

“There is nothing to be gained by the Houthis in keeping the 25 crew members,” said the ship managers, who requested they be released to their families without further delay.

The Houthis have been launching scores of drone and missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November in support of the Palestinians under Israeli attack in Gaza. They have sunk at least one ship, seized another vessel and killed three seafarers in several attacks.

The International Chamber of Shipping, which represents ship owners, has called the Houthi attacks “unacceptable acts of aggression which threaten the lives of innocent seafarers and the safety of merchant shipping”.

The Israeli military announced that operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were “approved and validated”.

“As part of the assessment of the situation, operational plans for the attack in Lebanon were approved and implemented and decisions were made to continue accelerating the readiness of the forces in the field,” the military said in a statement.

The United States, in response, said it does not want to see a wider regional war in the Middle East, according to the Pentagon.

“I’m not going to get into hypotheticals and speculate on what might happen other than to say no one wants to see a wider regional war,” Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, told reporters when asked about Israel’s move.

Israel’s approval comes as US special envoy Amos Hochstein was in Lebanon today after meeting with Israeli leaders, to seek “urgent” de-escalation on the Israel-Lebanon border.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said last week that it would “temporarily” remove the pier from its anchored position in Gaza and tow it to Ashdod, Israel, because of expected high seas.

“In terms of the JLOTS (Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore), we expect it will go operational again this week, and I don’t have a specific date to give you right now,” US military spokesman spokesman Pat Ryder told reporters.

“First of all, that the pier is a temporary measure. I don’t have any dates to announce in terms of when it will cease operations.”

Aid groups have argued that the US dock is not an adequate substitute for delivering humanitarian assistance via land routes.