Gaza live: Palestinian death toll passes 37,000 after brutal Israeli attack on Nuseirat

Israeli Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to discuss the proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir in an upcoming meeting, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Monday. 

Ben Gvir said over the weekend he would leave the government if the proposed plan goes ahead, leaving Netanyahu's governing coalition in tatters. 

The Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich has met with rabbis of religious Zionism to discuss his party's future in the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud, Kann news broadcaster reported on Monday.

According to the report, sources say the far-right minister was considering leaving the government even before a potential Gaza ceasefire deal goes ahead. 

Smotrich has in recent days criticised a reportedly Israeli-proposed deal that matches most components of a draft deal Hamas previously agreed to. 

The deal would effectively end the war and release all Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in stages.  

פרסום ראשון | השר סמוטריץ' נפגש ביממה האחרונה עם רבני הציונות הדתית ודן איתם בהמשך דרכו בממשלה. גורמים המעורים בפרטים מעריכים - "הוא לא יחכה לעסקה" >>> https://t.co/oc2rbVVLSK@shemeshmicha (צילום: אורן בן חקון, פלאש 90) pic.twitter.com/WaBnof6qNN

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 3, 2024

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

It's just after 7:45 in Palestine and Israel. Here are the latest updates from Israel's ongoing war on Gaza now in its 241th day.

• Israeli air strikes overnight killed 22 Palestinians, including at least nine children, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa. The strikes were reported in the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza, Khan Younis and Rafah. 

• Another suspected Israeli raid killed 17 people in the countryside of Syria's Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights. The war monitor said 12 of those killed were members of Syrian and foreign pro-Iran armed groups.  

• The Palestinian civil defence said its emergency-and-rescue teams have recovered 7o dead Palestinians from the Jabalia refugee camp following a deadly 20-day Israeli assault. It added that many more are dead and buried under rubble but they don't have the resources to recover them. 

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held separate phone calls with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz to discuss the proposed ceasefire deal in Gaza, the State Department said on Sunday, according to Reuters.