Gaza live: Israeli attack hits Unrwa centre

Israeli forces have torched and destroyed facilities at the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, including halls used for travellers' arrival and departure, according to local officials and media reports. 

Pictures shared online showed what appeared to be the exterior of the departure hall damaged and blackened. Middle East Eye could not independently verify the authority of the photo. 

However, the report was confirmed by some media outlets and the Gaza-based government media office, which called for the urgent opening of crossings to alleviate the worsening starvation crisis. 

It also said "talk of a tactical pause was an Israeli lie," referring to an announcement on Sunday by the Israeli military that it would hold temporary pauses in fighting along a key road in Rafah to facilitate aid delivery. 

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the move as "unacceptable" and the military later backtracked on the announcement, saying operations in Rafah would not stop. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the war cabinet days after key opposition figure Benny Gantz quit it, the Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Monday.  

According to Haaretz, Netanyahu said he will continue to consult a limited "forum" for sensitive decisions.

The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world for aid workers where the Israeli war on Gaza has killed 193 Unrwa staff members so far, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Monday.

It is the highest death toll in UN history.

#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 police arrested Sheikh Yusef al-Baz, the imam of the Grand Mosque in Lod, or Lydd as it is known to Palestinians, on Monday, police said in a statement. 

According to the Times of Israel, al-Baz was detained for questioning over a recent sermon he gave. 

Al-Baz is repeatedly targeted by Israeli authorities. He recently served a sentence for "incitement" - a charge he denied.  

A number of key highways and roads north of Tel Aviv were blocked by anti-government protesters for the second day of the "week of week of disruption". 

According to Israeli media, a series of protest actions are set to take place this week calling for early elections and a prisoner swap deal with Hamas.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates from Israel's war on Gaza, now in its 255th day:

• Israeli air strikes at dawn on Monday have killed five Palestinians in Gaza City and the northern governorate, according to Wafa news agency. 

• Local Palestinian media said Monday morning that Israeli ground forces were advancing towards Gaza City's southeastern al-Zaytoun neighbourhood under the cover of heavy air strikes. 

• Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said late Sunday that Hezbollah was "bringing us to the brink of what could be a wider escalation" as cross-border fire intensified in recent weeks.

• Meanwhile, the White House said Amos Hochstein, a senior Biden adviser, will arrive in Israel on Monday for meetings to avoid further escalation between Israel and Lebanon. 

Good evening, Middle East Eye readers.

Our live coverage of Israel's assault on Gaza will shortly be closing for the evening.

Here are the main developments from day 254 of the conflict.

• Israeli forces have killed at least 41 Palestinians and wounded 102 more in the past 24 hours in four "massacres", according to the Palestinian health ministry. This brings the Palestinian death toll since 7 October to 37,337, with more than 85,299 wounded and an estimated 10,000 missing, likely dead and buried under rubble.
   
• Over 9,300 Palestinians, including at least 75 women and 250 children, remain in Israeli prisons and detention centres, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said in a statement on Sunday.
   
• Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood in Rafah, also targeting the ambulances trying to reach the casualties, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.
   
• Israeli air strikes on a house in the al-Bureij refugee camp killed four people on Sunday, including a nine-year-old girl, according to local media. 
   
• The Israeli military has claimed several drone strikes targeting what it said were Hezbollah targets in the southern Lebanese villages of Yaroun, Aamra, Kila and Marwahin.
   
• Palestinians in Gaza and occupied East Jerusalem marked Eid al-Adha amid ongoing Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces violently blocked Palestinians from accessing Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday to attend Eid prayer. Hundreds of people, mainly young men, were prevented at checkpoints in the Old City from reaching the religious site, with some being beaten by batons, pushed and shoved by Israeli officers. 
   
• The UN agency for Palestinians refugees (Unrwa) said that its teams had organised Eid activities for displaced children in a humanitarian zone in Mawasi, Khan Younis.
   
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Islamic world was celebrating Eid with sadness over the war in Gaza. 
   
• Hamas's response to the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal is consistent with the principles put forward in US President Joe Biden's plan, the group's Qatar-based leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said in a televised speech.
   
• The Israeli military on Sunday announced a "tactical pause" in fighting on a road south of Gaza to allow for aid deliveries into the strip. It appeared that the decision was taken without consultation with the political leadership. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the temporary "humanitarian pause" in parts of Rafah announced by the military was "not acceptable".
   
• The Israeli army has said that two more soldiers were killed in an attack in northern Gaza on Saturday, when an explosive device was detonated against their tank. This followed a Hamas ambush of a military vehicle with rocket-propelled grenades that killed eight soldiers in Rafah city on the same day.
   
• Israeli politician and former Likud lawmaker Moshe Feiglin invoked Adolf Hitler when urging in a TV interview the expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, whom he described as "Islamo-Nazis".

Intensified cross-border fire from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement into Israel could trigger serious escalation, the Israeli military said on Sunday.

"Hezbollah’s increasing aggression is bringing us to the brink of what could be a wider escalation, one that could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region," Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video statement in English.

Iran-backed Hezbollah last week launched the largest volleys of rockets and drones yet in the eight months it has been exchanging fire with the Israeli military, in parallel with the Gaza war.

After the relatively heavy exchanges over the past week, Sunday saw a marked drop in Hezbollah fire, while the Israeli military said that it had carried out several air strikes against the group in southern Lebanon.

The US and France are working on a negotiated settlement to the hostilities along Lebanon's southern border. Hezbollah says it will not halt fire unless Israel's military offensive on Gaza stops.

"Israel will take the necessary measures to protect its civilians - until security along our border with Lebanon is restored," Hagari said.

Israeli politician and former Likud lawmaker Moshe Feiglin invoked Adolf Hitler when urging in a TV interview the expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, whom he described as "Islamo-Nazis". 

In a panel discussion on Channel 12, Feiglin called for resettlement in Gaza and argued Israel should transform the Palestinian territory into a "Hebrew Gaza".

"We are not guests in our country, this is our country, all of it," he said in the video shared on Sunday in Israeli social media. 

"As Hitler said, 'I cannot live if one Jew is left'. We can't live here if one 'Islamo-Nazi' remains in Gaza."

Read more: Former Israeli MP invokes Hitler in call to expel Gaza's 'Islamo-Nazi' population 

Israeli air strikes on a house in the al-Bureij refugee camp killed four people on Sunday, including a nine-year-old girl, according to local media. 

At least seven Palestinians have been killed in strikes across the Gaza Strip today overall, as Palestinians marked the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Israeli soldiers detained a seven-year-old boy in the occupied West Bank as Palestinians celebrated the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha on Sunday, according to Wafa news agency.

Bahaa Hajj Mohammed was detained with three others from the village of al-Mughayyir north-east of Ramallah.

♦️صورة| قـــ ـوات الاحـــ ـتلال تعت ــــقل الطفل بهاء كاظم حج محمد من قرية المغير شمال شرق رام الله في أول أيام عيد الأضحى. pic.twitter.com/m0uDHzPMuY

— شبكة قدس فيد (@quds_feed) June 16, 2024

Israeli forces have killed at least 41 Palestinians and wounded 102 more in the past 24 hours in four "massacres", according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

This brings the Palestinian death toll since 7 October to 37,337, with more than 85,299 wounded and an estimated 10,000 missing, likely dead and buried under rubble.

Health officials report that over 70 percent of the victims are children and women.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Islamic world is celebrating Eid al-Adha with sadness over the war in Gaza. 

He made the comments in a call to Pakistani Premier Shehbaz Sharif to extend Eid greetings to him and the Pakistani people.

The Israeli military has claimed several drone strikes targeting what it said were Hezbollah targets in the southern Lebanese villages of Yaroun, Aamra, Kila and Marwahin, Haaretz is reporting.

It added that its forces intercepted a "suspicious aerial target" which was launched into Israeli territory.

The United Nations has welcomed an announcement by the Israeli military of a "tactical pause" in fighting along an aid corridor in southern Gaza, but emphasised that more "concrete measures" were needed to boost aid flows to the strip.

"This has yet to translate into more aid reaching people in need," Jens Laerke, spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told AFP via email.

"We hope this leads to further concrete measures by Israel to address longstanding issues preventing a meaningful humanitarian response in Gaza."