[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?

[Sharma Ji]

Gretard yahan bhi ghuss gai lol

 

[Saif]

Israeli strike kills 12 in south Gaza

THE civil defence agency in Gaza said an Israeli strike on a tent housing displaced Palestinians near the southern city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday killed at least 12 people...

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Israeli strike kills 12 in south Gaza
Gaza City - Palestinian Territories 05 June, 2025, 04:42

THE civil defence agency in Gaza said an Israeli strike on a tent housing displaced Palestinians near the southern city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday killed at least 12 people.

At least 12 people were killed, including several children and women, in a strike by an Israeli drone this morning on a tent for displaced persons' near Khan Yunis, the agency's spokesman Mahmud Bassal said, adding that four more people had been killed in other strikes. Since a truce collapsed in March, Israel has intensified its operations to destroy Hamas, the Palestinian group whose October 7, 2023 attack triggered the war in Gaza. Hamas's unprecedented attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 4,240 people have been killed in the territory since Israel re- sumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,510, mostly civilians. Meanwhile, a US and Israeli-backed group operating aid sites in the Gaza Strip announced the temporary closure of the facilities on Wednesday, with the Israeli army warning that roads leading to distribution centres were​

 

[Saif]

Gaza doctors give their own blood to patients after scores gunned down seeking aid

Doctors in the Gaza Strip are donating their own blood to save their patients after scores of Palestinians were gunned down while trying to get food aid, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday. Around 100 MSF staff protested outside the UN headquarters in Geneva against

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Gaza doctors give their own blood to patients after scores gunned down seeking aid

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 05, 2025 21:45
Updated :
Jun 05, 2025 21:45

Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from Israel, Jun 4, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Doctors in the Gaza Strip are donating their own blood to save their patients after scores of Palestinians were gunned down while trying to get food aid, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday.

Around 100 MSF staff protested outside the UN headquarters in Geneva against an aid distribution system in Gaza run by an Israeli-backed private company, which has led to chaotic scenes of mass carnage.

“People need the basics of life...they also need it in dignity,” MSF Switzerland’s director general, Stephen Cornish, told Reuters at the protest.

“If you’re fearing for your life, running with packages being mowed down, this is just something that is completely beyond everything we’ve ever seen,” he said. “These attacks have killed dozens...They were left to bleed out on the ground.”

Cornish said staff at one of the hospitals where MSF operates had to give blood as most Palestinians are now too poorly nourished to donate.

Israel allowed the private Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to begin food distribution in Gaza last week, after having completely shut the Gaza Strip to all supplies since the beginning of March.

Gaza authorities say at least 102 Palestinians were killed and nearly 500 wounded trying to get aid from the food distribution sites in the first eight days.

Eyewitnesses have said Israeli forces fired on crowds. The Israeli military said Hamas militants were to blame for opening fire, though it acknowledged that on Tuesday, when at least 27 people died, that its troops had fired at “suspects” who approached their positions.

The United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Wednesday supported by all other Council members, which would have called for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza and unhindered access for aid.​

 

[Saif]

Anger as US blocks Gaza ceasefire resolution at UN Security Council

UN Security Council members criticized the United States Wednesday after it vetoed a resolution calling for a ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access in Gaza

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Anger as US blocks Gaza ceasefire resolution at UN Security Council

AFP United Nations, United States
Published: 05 Jun 2025, 10: 50

UN Security Council meeting Reuters file photo

UN Security Council members criticized the United States Wednesday after it vetoed a resolution calling for a ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access in Gaza, which Washington said undermined ongoing diplomacy.

It was the 15-member body's first vote on the situation since November, when the United States -- a key Israeli ally -- also blocked a text calling for an end to fighting.

"Today, the United States sent a strong message by vetoing a counterproductive UN Security Council resolution on Gaza targeting Israel," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement after Wednesday's 14 to 1 vote.

He said Washington would not support any text that "draws a false equivalence between Israel and Hamas, or disregards Israel's right to defend itself.

"The United States will continue to stand with Israel at the UN."

The draft resolution had demanded "an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties."

It also called for the "immediate, dignified and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups," and demanded the lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Hamas, whose unprecedented attack inside Israel on 7 October, 2023 sparked the war, condemned the "disgraceful" US veto, reiterating accusations of "genocide" in Gaza, something Israel vehemently rejects.

The veto "marks a new stain on the ethical record of the United States of America," the group said in a statement, accusing Washington of "legitimizing genocide, supporting aggression, and rationalizing starvation, destruction, and mass killings."

'Moral stain'

Pakistan's ambassador to the UN Asim Ahmad meanwhile said the failed resolution would "remain not only a moral stain on the conscience of this council, but a fateful moment of political application that will reverberate for generations."

China's ambassador to the UN Fu Cong said: "today's vote result once again exposes that the root cause of the council's inability to quell the conflict in Gaza is the repeated obstruction by the US."

The veto marks Washington's first such action since US President Donald Trump took office in January.

Israel has faced mounting international pressure to end its war in Gaza.

That scrutiny has increased over flailing aid distribution in Gaza, which Israel blocked for more than two months before allowing a small number of UN vehicles to enter in mid-May.

The United Nations, which warned last month the entire population in the besieged Palestinian territory was at risk of famine, said trickle was far from enough to meet the humanitarian needs.

'Judged by history'

"The Council was prevented from shouldering its responsibility, despite the fact that most of us seem to be converging on one view," said France's ambassador to the UN Jerome Bonnafont.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, said after the Security Council vote he would now ask the General Assembly to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire.

Israel's ambassador to the UN Danny Danon however said that the Palestinian plan to put the resolution to a vote at the General Assembly, where no country can veto it, was pointless, telling countries "don't waste more of your energy."

"This resolution doesn't advance humanitarian relief and undermines it. It ignores a working system in favor of political agendas," he said.

"The United Nations must return to its original purpose-promoting peace and security-and stop these performative actions," Rubio said.​

 

[Saif]

16 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, health officials say

Sixteen Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military in Gaza on Friday, according to local health authorities, as a US- and Israeli-backed group said it had handed out aid in the enclave after earlier saying that its distribution sites were closed. The military had no immediate comment on the

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

16 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, health officials say

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 06, 2025 20:36
Updated :
Jun 06, 2025 20:36

Palestinians gather to collect what remains of relief supplies from the distribution center of the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 5, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Stringer

Sixteen Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military in Gaza on Friday, according to local health authorities, as a US- and Israeli-backed group said it had handed out aid in the enclave after earlier saying that its distribution sites were closed.

The military had no immediate comment on the reports of deaths in war-shattered Gaza. Health authorities said strikes had killed people in Gaza’s Jabalia, Tuffah and Khan Younis areas.

Witnesses and medics told Reuters that Israeli planes and tanks had intensified strikes on Jabalia and nearby Beit Hanoun since the early hours.

The Israeli military issued evacuation orders to residents of certain blocks in northern Gaza on Friday, spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted on X.

The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) told Reuters by email it had delivered aid on Friday, despite earlier announcing on its official Facebook page that its distribution sites were closed until further notice and that people should stay away from the sites “for their safety” after a series of deadly shootings.

The GHF opened two sites in southern Gaza on Thursday after closing all of its centres the previous day in the wake of shootings in the vicinity of its operations. It has so far operated four distribution centres.

The organisation bypasses traditional relief agencies and has been criticised by humanitarian organisations, including the United Nations, for alleged lack of neutrality, which it denies.

Palestinians collecting aid from GHF sites told Reuters that there was no clear distribution system, describing the process as disorganized and chaotic. Footage released this week by the organisation has shown similar scenes at one of its sites.

GHF halted distributions on Wednesday and said it was pressing Israeli forces to improve civilian safety beyond the perimeter of its operations after dozens of Palestinians were shot dead near the Rafah site over three consecutive days.

The Israeli military said on Sunday and Monday that its soldiers had fired warning shots. On Tuesday, it said, forces also fired warning shots before firing towards Palestinians that it said were advancing towards troops. GHF has said that aid was safely handed out from its sites without any incident.

Military spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X on Friday that Palestinians would have ‘free movement’ to aid distribution sites between 06:00 and 18:00, but warned that outside those hours the area would be a ‘closed military zone’ and movement would pose a significant risk to life.

Israel has re-intensified an offensive against Gaza’s dominant Hamas militant group since breaking a two-month-old ceasefire in March in a war triggered by Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct 7, 2023.​

 

[Saif]

Israeli airstrikes kill 55, body of Thai hostage retrieved from Gaza

The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday, as Israeli airstrikes killed 55 people, according to local medics. Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinia

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Israeli airstrikes kill 55, body of Thai hostage retrieved from Gaza

REUTERS
Published :
Jun 08, 2025 00:05
Updated :
Jun 08, 2025 00:05

Palestinians search for casualties at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, June 7, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Ebrahim Hajjaj

The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday, as Israeli airstrikes killed 55 people, according to local medics.

Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian militant group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.

Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the U.S.- and Israeli-backed aid group, said on Saturday it was unable to distribute assistance to Palestinian civilians, blaming threats by Hamas, which Gaza’s dominant militant group denied.

Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.

There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.

The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.

Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as U.S., Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.

Medics in Gaza said 55 people in total were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the enclave on Saturday.

At least 15 Palestinians were killed and 50 wounded by airstrikes in the Gaza City district of Sabra in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, local health authorities said.

More than one missile landed in the area. The target seemed to have been a multi-floor residential building, but the explosion damaged several other houses nearby, according to witnesses and media.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment. It later warned people to evacuate the nearby district of Jabalia, saying it was going to strike there after rockets were launched by militants in the vicinity.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday that Gaza’s hospitals only had fuel for three more days and that Israel was denying access for international relief agencies to areas where fuel storages designated for hospitals are located.

There was no immediate response from the Israeli military or COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that coordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it had uncovered “an underground tunnel route, including a command and control center from which senior Hamas commanders” operated beneath the European Hospital compound in southern Gaza.

It added that it had located several bodies of militants whose identities were “under examination”.

The Israeli government and military said last month it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas’ Gaza chief, but Hamas did not confirm his death.

US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS

The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.

Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the GHF said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations.

The GHF, which has been fiercely criticised by humanitarian organisations for alleged lack of neutrality, said it was unable to distribute any humanitarian aid on Saturday because Hamas had issued “direct threats” against its operations.

“These threats made it impossible to proceed today without putting innocent lives at risk,” the GHF said in a statement in which it also said it intended to resume aid distribution “without delay”.

A Hamas official told Reuters he had no knowledge of such “alleged threats”.

On Wednesday, the GHF suspended operations and asked the Israeli military to review security protocols after Palestinian hospital officials said more than 80 people had been shot dead and hundreds wounded near distribution points between June 1-3.

Eyewitnesses blamed Israeli soldiers for the killings. The Israeli military said it fired warning shots on two days, while on Tuesday it said soldiers had fired at Palestinian “suspects” who were advancing towards their positions.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to the U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.

The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.

Israel’s military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave.​

 

[Saif]

Israel army announces 4 soldiers killed in Gaza, thousands more troops needed

Israel's military announced Friday the deaths of four soldiers in Gaza, saying it needed thousands more troops to press its offensive, just as the premier's coalition faces the prospect of collapse over ultra-Orthodox conscription.

en.prothomalo.com

Israel army announces 4 soldiers killed in Gaza, thousands more troops needed
AFP Jerusalem
Published: 07 Jun 2025, 09: 45

An Israeli soldier stand atop a tank at a position along the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip on June 5, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. AFP

Israel's military announced Friday the deaths of four soldiers in Gaza, saying it needed thousands more troops to press its offensive, just as the premier's coalition faces the prospect of collapse over ultra-Orthodox conscription.

News of the soldiers' deaths came as Gaza's civil defence agency reported 38 killed Friday in Israeli attacks across the territory, where Palestinians observed the Eid al-Adha holiday under the shadow of war for a second consecutive year.

Military spokesman Effie Defrin said the four soldiers were killed as they "were operating in the Khan Yunis area, in a compound belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation".

"Around six in the morning, an explosive device detonated, causing part of the structure to collapse," he said, adding that five other soldiers were wounded, one of them severely.

"The losses suffered today by the occupation in Khan Younis... illustrate what the occupation forces will face wherever they are present," said a statement attributed to Abu Obeida, spokesman for the armed of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, while urging the Israeli public to "force its leaders to end the war of extermination or prepare to receive more of its sons in coffins".

The deaths bring to 429 the number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza since the start of the ground offensive in late October 2023.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his condolences to the soldiers' families, saying they "sacrificed their lives for the safety of all of us".

Israel recently stepped up its Gaza campaign in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose 7 October, 2023 attack sparked the war.

Conscription row

Asked by a reporter about the issue of ultra-Orthodox conscription, which has emerged as a thorn in the side of Netanyahu's government, Defrin said "this is the need of the moment, an operational necessity".

The army was short around 10,000 soldiers, he added, including about 6,000 in combat roles, adding that "tens of thousands more notices will be issued in the upcoming draft cycle".

The conscription issue has threatened to sink Netanyahu's government, with ultra-Orthodox religious parties warning they will pull out of his coalition if Netanyahu fails to make good on a promise to codify the military exemption for their community in law.

At the same time, much of the public has turned against the exemption amid the increasing strain put on reservists' families by repeated call-up orders during the war.

In April, a military representative told a parliamentary committee that of 18,000 draft notices sent to ultra-Orthodox individuals, only 232 received a positive response.

Netanyahu's office announced shortly after 1:00 am on Friday that he had met with a lawmaker from his Likud party who has recently pushed for a bill aimed at increasing the ultra-Orthodox enlistment and toughening sanctions on those who refuse.

The premier's office said "significant progress was made", with "unresolved issues" to be ironed out later.

Netanyahu also faced scrutiny after he admitted to supporting an armed group in Gaza that opposes Hamas.

Knesset member and ex-defence minister Avigdor Liberman had told the Kan public broadcaster that the government, at Netanyahu's direction, was "giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons".

The European Council on Foreign Relations think tank describes the group a "criminal gang operating in the Rafah area that is widely accused of looting aid trucks".​

 

[Saif]

Gaza rescuers say Israel fire kills 36 including 6 near aid centre

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 36 Palestinians on Saturday, six of them in a shooting near a US-backed aid distribution centre...

www.newagebd.net

Gaza rescuers say Israel fire kills 36 including 6 near aid centre
Agence France-Presse . Gaza City, Palestinian Territories 07 June, 2025, 19:09

Palestinians visit the graves of their loved ones on the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, on June 6, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. | AFP photo

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 36 Palestinians on Saturday, six of them in a shooting near a US-backed aid distribution centre.

The shooting deaths were the latest reported near the aid centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund in the southern district of Rafah and came after it resumed distributions following a brief suspension in the wake of similar deaths earlier this week.

An aid boat with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, was meanwhile nearing Gaza in a bid to highlight the plight of Palestinians in the face of an Israeli blockade that has only been partially eased.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT), ‘six people were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the Israeli occupation near the Al-Alam roundabout’.

Gazans have gathered at the roundabout almost daily since late May to collect humanitarian aid from the GHF aid centre about one kilometre (a little over half a mile) away.

AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls compiled by the civil defence agency or the circumstances of the deaths it reports.

The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired ‘warning shots’ at individuals that it said were ‘advancing in a way that endangered the troops’.

Samir Abu Hadid, who was there early Saturday, told AFP that thousands of people had gathered near the roundabout.

‘As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians,’ Abu Hadid said.

The GHF, officially a private effort with opaque funding, began operations in late May as Israel partially eased a more than two-month aid blockade on the territory.

UN agencies and major aid groups have declined to work with it, citing concerns it serves Israeli military goals.

Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine.

The aid boat Madleen, organised by an international activist coalition, was sailing towards Gaza on Saturday, aiming to breach Israel’s naval blockade and deliver aid to the territory, organisers said.

‘We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast,’ German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP. ‘We are all good,’ she added.

In a statement from London, the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza -- a member organisation of the flotilla coalition -- said the ship had entered Egyptian waters.

The group said it remains in contact with international legal and human rights bodies to ensure the safety of those on board, warning that any interception would constitute ‘a blatant violation of international humanitarian law’.

The Palestinian territory was under Israeli naval blockade even before the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that sparked the Gaza war and the Israeli military has made clear it intends to enforce the blockade.

‘For this case as well, we are prepared,’ army spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said on Tuesday, when asked about the Freedom Flotilla vessel.

‘We have gained experience in recent years, and we will act accordingly.’

A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar attempt to breach Israel’s naval blockade, left 10 civilians dead.

The Israeli military has stepped up its operations in Gaza in recent weeks in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the war.

During the attack, militants abducted 251 hostages, 55 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 the Israeli military says are dead.

In a special operation in the Rafah area on Friday, Israeli forces retrieved the body of Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta, Defence Minister Israel Katz said.

‘Nattapong came to Israel from Thailand to work in agriculture, out of a desire to build a better future for himself and his family,’ Katz said.

He was ‘brutally murdered in captivity by the terrorist organisation Mujahideen Brigades’, the minister charged.

The Mujahideen Brigades is an armed group close to Hamas ally Islamic Jihad that Israel has also accused over other deaths of hostages seized from Kibbutz Nir Oz near the border.

The military said Nattapong’s family and Thai officials had been notified of the operation to recover his body.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura said the country was ‘deeply saddened’ by his death.​

 

[Saif]

Egyptian, Turkish FMs discuss Gaza ceasefire efforts

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty reaffirmed Cairo's ongoing efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza during a phone call on Sunday with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, Egypt's Foreign Ministry said. The two ministers discussed the "brutal Israeli aggression" in Gaza and the worsening hum

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Egyptian, Turkish FMs discuss Gaza ceasefire efforts

FE ONLINE DESK
Published :
Jun 09, 2025 00:17
Updated :
Jun 09, 2025 00:17

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty reaffirmed Cairo's ongoing efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza during a phone call on Sunday with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, Egypt's Foreign Ministry said.

The two ministers discussed the "brutal Israeli aggression" in Gaza and the worsening humanitarian crisis in the enclave, reports Xinhua.

According to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Abdelatty highlighted Egypt's role in pushing for a ceasefire, the release of hostages and detainees, and the delivery of humanitarian, medical, and shelter aid to Gaza.

Türkiye has not issued an official statement, but Turkish media, citing unnamed diplomatic sources, said Fidan also spoke with his Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts on Sunday to discuss developments in Gaza and efforts to end the conflict.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza rescuers say Israeli fire kills 36, six near aid centre

Gaza's civil defence agency said Saturday that Israeli forces had killed at least 36 Palestinians, six of them in a shooting near a US-backed aid distribution centre.

en.prothomalo.com

Gaza rescuers say Israeli fire kills 36, six near aid centre
AFP Gaza City, Palestine
Published: 08 Jun 2025, 10: 10

A plume of smoke erupts during Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip as pictured from across the border in southern Israel on 5 June, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. AFP

Gaza's civil defence agency said Saturday that Israeli forces had killed at least 36 Palestinians, six of them in a shooting near a US-backed aid distribution centre.

The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired "warning shots" at individuals it said were "advancing in a way that endangered the troops".

The shooting deaths were the latest reported near the aid centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in the southern district of Rafah, and came after it resumed distributions following a brief suspension in the wake of similar deaths earlier this week.

Meanwhile, an aid boat with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, was nearing Gaza in a bid to highlight the plight of Palestinians in the face of an Israeli blockade that has only been partially eased.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT), "six people were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the Israeli occupation near the Al-Alam roundabout", where they had gathered to seek humanitarian aid from the distribution centre around a kilometre away.

AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls compiled by the civil defence agency or the circumstances of the deaths it reports.

Samir Abu Hadid, who was there early Saturday, told AFP that thousands of people had gathered near the roundabout.

"As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians," Abu Hadid said.

The GHF said in a statement it had not distributed aid on Saturday because of "direct threats" from Hamas.

Later Saturday, the Israeli army said an operation in Gaza City resulted in the killing of Asaad Abu Sharia, reportedly head of the Mujahideen Brigades.

The armed group is close to Hamas ally Islamic Jihad that Israel has also accused over deaths of hostages seized from Kibbutz Nir Oz near the border.

The army said he had taken part in the bloody attack on Nir Oz when Hamas launched its 7 October, 2023 attack on Israel.

It said he was "directly implicated" in the killings of Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, a family who became a symbol of seized hostages for many in Israel.

Activist boat nears Gaza

The GHF, officially a private effort with opaque funding, began operations in late May as Israel partially eased a more than two-month-long aid blockade.

UN agencies and major aid groups have declined to work with it, citing concerns it serves Israeli military goals.

On Saturday, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that the overall toll for the Gaza war had reached 54,772, the majority civilians. The UN considers these figures reliable.

The war was sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the UN warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine.

The aid boat Madleen, organised by an international activist coalition, was sailing towards Gaza on Saturday, aiming to breach Israel's naval blockade and deliver aid to the territory, organisers said.

"We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast," German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP, saying they expected to reach Gaza by Monday.

The Palestinian territory was under Israeli naval blockade even before Hamas's October 2023 attack and the Israeli military has made clear it intends to enforce it.

A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar attempt to breach Israel's naval blockade, left 10 civilians dead.

Evacuation order

The Israeli military has stepped up its operations in Gaza in recent weeks in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the war.

On Saturday, the military issued evacuation orders for neighbourhoods in northern Gaza, saying they had been used for rocket attacks.

Also on Saturday, Hamas released a photograph of one of the remaining hostages, Matan Zangauker, appearing to be in poor health, with a warning that he would not survive.

His mother, Einav Zangauker, speaking at a protest in Tel Aviv, said "I can no longer bear this nightmare. The angel of death, Netanyahu, continues to sacrifice the hostages".

During the October 2023 attack, militants abducted 251 hostages, 55 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 the Israeli military says are dead.​

 

[Sharma Ji]

Time for a Mohammed remix ?



@Mainerik

 

[Saif]

Israeli forces boarded Gaza-bound boat carrying Greta Thunberg, says Aid group

The organisers of a Gaza-bound aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists said Israeli forces intercepted the vessel on Monday, after Israel vowed to prevent it from reaching the Palestinian territory.

en.prothomalo.com

Israeli forces boarded Gaza-bound boat carrying Greta Thunberg, says Aid group
AFP Cairo
Published: 09 Jun 2025, 09: 53

The organisers of a Gaza-bound aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists said Israeli forces intercepted the vessel on 9 June 2025. Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC)

The organisers of a Gaza-bound aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists said Israeli forces intercepted the vessel on Monday, after Israel vowed to prevent it from reaching the Palestinian territory.

The Madleen aimed to deliver aid and challenge Israel's decades-long naval blockade of Gaza.

AFP lost contact with the activists onboard early Monday morning after the organisers said alarms sounded and life jackets were being prepared for a possible interception.

"Connection has been lost on the 'Madleen'. Israeli army have boarded the vessel," the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the activist group operating the vessel, posted on Telegram. It added that the passengers had been "kidnapped" by Israeli forces.

The activist group posted a series of pre-recorded videos from those onboard, including one from Thunberg.

"If you see this video we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters," she said.

Mahmud Abu-Odeh, a Germany-based press officer with the coalition, told AFP that "the activists seemed to be arrested".

Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered Israel's army to stop the ship from reaching Gaza or violating a blockade he described as needed to prevent Palestinian militants from importing weapons.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the activists' boat was instructed to change course as it approached "a restricted area" early Monday. About an hour later, it said the boat was being towed to Israeli shores.

"The passengers are expected to return to their home countries," the ministry wrote on social media.

"The tiny amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the 'celebrities' will be transferred to Gaza through real humanitarian channels," it added.

Swedish climate campaigner Thunberg is among a multi-national group of activists aboard the Madleen, which departed from Italy on 1 June to raise awareness about the humanitarian plight in Gaza.

The United Nations has repeatedly warned of famine, malnutrition and disease throughout the 21 months of the Israel-Hamas war.​