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

The Israeli army said it killed three Palestinians attempting to cross the Gaza border from the Rafah area.

Two men were killed in an air raid, while the third was killed by tank fire.

An Israeli strike on an Unrwa school killed at least 32 people in the Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza, according to the Wafa news agency.

The school was reportedly housing thousands of displaced people, most of whom were women and children.

The Israeli army said the school contained a Hamas compound, and that its strike killed fighters involved in the 7 October attack on Israel.

The Gaza government’s media office strongly rejected these claims.

“The occupation uses lying to the public opinion through false fabricated stories to justify the brutal crime it conducted against dozens of displaced people,” Ismail al-Thawabta, the director of the media office, told Reuters.

READ MORE: Israeli strike on Unrwa school kills dozens in central Gaza

Good evening Middle East Eye readers. 

Our live coverage will soon be closing for the day.

Here are the today's main developments: 

- Gaza's death toll has risen to 36,586

- Hundreds of Israelis have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque ahead of the far-right annual "flag march" through occupied East Jerusalem

- Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that negotiations with Hamas "will only be conducted under fire" 

- Oxfam has warned that there is roughly one toilet per 4,130 people in Gaza’s al-Mawasi evacuation zone

- Yemen's Houthis targeted three vessels in the Read Sea and Arabian Sea

- "Peace in the Middle East cannot be achieved without the creation of an independent state of Palestine", Putin said while speaking to international journalists 

- A Hezbollah drone attack on the Israeli town of Hurfeish, in the Western Galilee, injured at least 11 people  

In a letter submitted to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli judge Aharon Barak, who represented the country against charges of genocide at The Hague, says his resignation stems from “personal family reasons”.

Barak served as an ad hoc judge on behalf of Israel at the International Court of Justice on South Africa’s case accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

During Russia’s flagship annual economic forum in St Petersburg, which marked the first time that President Vladimir Putin took questions from international journalists since his inauguration, Putin condemned the war in Gaza as a "total destruction of the civilian population".

Meanwhile, Israel's military pounded central Gaza with heavy air strikes on Wednesday.

The Russian president also said that peace in the Middle East cannot be achieved without the creation of an independent state of Palestine and that Moscow is ready to help resolve the crisis in Gaza.

“When we stand up for our Palestinian brothers and sisters, we stand up for humanity as a whole, for freedom, justice, and peace,” Erdogan said in an address at the 8th Anatolian Media Awards ceremony in Ankara on Wednesday.

He also reiterated that Turkey, which has provided aid to Gaza in the last months and suspended trade with Israel, will continue to stand in solidarity with “the oppressed and against the oppressor”.

Far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government visited the annual “Flag Day" march outside Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate on Wednesday.

National Security Itmar Ben Gvir and Finance visitor Bezalel Smotrich visited the protestors.

The far-right march, which passes through Muslim-majority neighbourhoods in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City, commemorates the occupation of the city by Israel in 1967.

Yemen's Houthis conducted three military operations in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, targeting three vessels, the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Wednesday.

One of the targeted vessels, "Maersk Seletar", is reportedly from the US, Saree said.

The UN peacekeeping mission Unifil warned that an escalation of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah would be a “disaster for the entire region”, after Israel warned it was prepared for an offensive in Lebanon.

“We hope that the international community will play a broader role than in the past to reach a solution to the current situation,” a Unifil spokesperson told Al Jazeera Arabic.

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has escalated this week, while the Lebanese army foiled an attack on the US embassy in Lebanon on Wednesday.

Qatar welcomed Slovenia’s decision to recognise an independent Palestinian state on Wednesday.

In a statement on X, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Gulf state “welcomes the Slovenian Parliament's ratification of the government's decision to recognize the State of Palestine”.

"[Qatar] considers it an important step that reflects the growing support of the international community for the two-state solution towards achieving peace and stability in the region”.

Slovenia joins Ireland, Spain and Norway in recognising an independent Palestinian state.

The US has downplayed concerns about a potential Israeli offensive on southern Lebanon, saying being “ready” for military action is different than “conducting it”.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller made the comments when asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s warning of an operation in Lebanon.

“We don’t want to see that escalation of the conflict which would just lead to further loss of life from both Israelis and the Lebanese people and would greatly harm Israel’s overall security and stability in the region,” Miller said.

"Saying that they [Israel] are ready for military operation, if necessary, [is] different than saying that they have made a decision to conduct a military operation.

Israel’s ultra-right win National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said at today’s Jerusalem Flag March: “We send a message to Hamas: Jerusalem is ours. Damascus gate is ours. The Temple Mount is ours. With the hand of God, the full victory is ours.”

“Scenes like this from Jerusalem today do not speak of the deep spiritual connection to the city that Jews have felt for thousands of years. They speak of blind hate that these kids have been taught,” Germany’s ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, wrote on X.

The annual “flag march”, which passes through Muslim-majority neighbourhoods in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City, commemorates the occupation of the city by Israel in 1967.

Far-right Israelis attacked journalists and Palestinian shop owners and chanted Islamophobic slurs, as hundreds marched through to celebrate Israel’s domination of the city.

Earlier today, hundreds of Israelis stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque, under heavy protection from Israeli police, ahead of the march. 

Scenes like this from Jerusalem today do not speak of the deep spiritual connection to the city that Jews have felt for thousands of years. They speak of blind hate that these kids have been taught. pic.twitter.com/3dnQtxS8Zn

— Steffen Seibert (@GerAmbTLV) June 5, 2024

Hezbollah on Wednesday launched a drone attack from Lebanon that struck the Israeli town of Hurfeish, in the Western Galilee.

In a published statement , the group said the attack was a response to Israel’s attacks Tuesday on the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura.

“We are in a process where we will continue and wear down the enemy. Any negotiations with the Hamas terror organisation will only be conducted under fire,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.

Gallant's remarks came after he flew over the Gaza Strip in a fighter jet on Wednesday.

Haaretz journalist Nir Hasson and several cameramen were attacked by far-right Israeli activists in Jerusalem's Old City while covering the "Flag Day" marches.

Israeli media said Hasson and the cameramen were attacked by a group of around 30 youths, who kicked them and knocked them to the ground.