Gaza live: Israeli attack hits Unrwa centre

The European Union spokesman, Peter Stano, says that any threat to Cyprus is considered a warning to the entire bloc.

His remarks come after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said, in a televised speech yesterday, that Cyprus could be part of a war between his group and Israel, if it continues to allow Israel to use its military facilities for drills.

“The EU is Cyprus and Cyprus is the EU,” Stano said.

He added: “Any threat against one of our member states is a threat against the EU.”

Senior advisers to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Washington on Thursday.

The meeting is scheduled for today at 3pm (7pm GMT), according to a senior State Department official, and comes after the US cancelled a previous meeting with Israeli officials following Netanyahu's public criticism of the Biden administration.

“It will be a wide-ranging discussion about everything that’s going on with the Gaza war, our support to Israel, our efforts to get a better sense of how they’re trying to prosecute operations against Hamas, as well as continuing to talk about the importance of closing this deal,” said White House spokesperson John Kirby.

An unnamed White House official told Reuters that the two top US officials will be meeting with Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer as a larger, more formal “strategic dialogue”.

An Israeli army investigation has suggested there were large numbers of casualties as a result of friendly fire on 7 October.

During the operation to counter Hamas forces who had broken into southern Israel, there were "multiple incidents of our forces firing on our forces" according to the investigation, as reported by Israeli outlet N12.

The report added that the expected appointment of Brigadier General Barak Hiram to head of the army's Gaza Division is likely to be delayed with an acting head appointed until an investigation into events at Kibbutz Beeri on 7 October is completed.

According to reports, several Israeli captives being held by Palestinian fighters in Beeri were killed during crossfire with Israel's military, in what was described as "a delayed and chaotic military response". 

The Israeli military launched a rocket-propelled grenade at the house, according to witnesses. 

Hiram, who was in charge of recapturing the kibbutz from Hamas fighters, recalled telling his men: "Break in, even at the cost of civilian casualties."

The chief of the Israeli army met his counterparts from five Arab militaries in Bahrain last week, according to a report from Axios. The meeting was held in the presence of US Central Command, amid attempts by Washington to establish a plan for a post-war future in Gaza. 

It is unlikely, however, that anything viable emerged from the meeting, which was held in secret and included army generals from Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt. 

Such cooperation between Arab states and Israel is not popular among Arab peoples. Polls show that the vast majority of Arabs, 92 percent, say that the Palestinian question concerns all Arabs, and not just Palestinians.

Most Arabs also describe the US as biased towards Israel, saying Washington’s policy will harm American interests in the region.  

Such polls highlight the gap between Arab peoples and their governments on Palestine and on the US role in the Gaza war. They also show that US policy in the Middle East is delusional for ignoring this gap. 

Indeed, US ignorance of this gap has long been one of the reasons for anti-American sentiment in the region - and it will also be a reason for the failure of its plans for post-war Gaza governance. 

The US has a long tradition of supporting autocracies in the Middle East, while ignoring the rights and ambitions of Arab peoples. This is because US politicians believe that the Arab leaders they support can adopt foreign policies that achieve American interests. 

Opinion: Why Arab armies will not help the US secure post-war Gaza by Feras Abu Helal

The mother of an Israeli captive held in Gaza has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of blocking the return of her son and the rest of the captives. 

According to Army Radio, Einav Tsengaoker, mother of captive Matan, said the government was trying to "delegitimise" families and protesters as if they "have interests".

"Unfortunately, the prime minister is the one who is preventing us from accepting the abductees back and healing society," she added.

Earlier on Thursday, she addressed Netanyahu at a rally, saying: "You lost, you have no way to escape the guilt, it will go with you to the grave - you chose your political survival over the people and the abductees. I will not let you bury Matan and the other abductees in the name of your survival."

עינב צנגאוקר, אימו של מתן שנחטף לעזה, במסר לנתניהו בחסימת מחלף קיסריה: "הפסדת, אין לך איך לברוח מהאשמה, היא תלך איתך לקבר - בחרת את ההישרדות הפוליטית שלך על פני העם והחטופים. לא אתן לך לקבור את מתן ושאר החטופים בשם הישרדותך"@NOFARMOS pic.twitter.com/S65pw0PK3k

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) June 20, 2024

Israeli forces have killed at least 35 Palestinians and wounded 130 more in the past 24 hours, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

This brings the Palestinian death toll since 7 October to 37,431, with more than 85,653 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.

On 13 June, Hamas responded to persistent needling by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken over America's proposal for a pause in the Israeli massacre in Gaza.

The group said that it had “dealt positively… with the latest proposal and all proposals to reach a cease-fire agreement”. Hamas added, by contrast, that, "while Blinken continues to talk about Israel’s approval of the latest proposal, we have not heard any Israeli official voicing approval".

The full details of the US proposal have yet to be made public, but the pause in Israeli attacks and release of hostages in the first phase would reportedly lead to further negotiations for a more lasting ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in the second phase. But there is no guarantee that the second round of negotiations will succeed. 

As former Israeli Labor Party prime minister, Ehud Barak, told Israel Radio on 3 June: “How do you think [Gaza military commander] Sinwar will react when he is told: 'but be quick, because we still have to kill you, after you return all the hostages'?”

Meanwhile, as Hamas pointed out, Israel has not publicly accepted the terms of the latest US ceasefire proposal, so it has only the word of US officials that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has privately agreed to it.

In public, Netanyahu still insists that he is committed to the complete destruction of Hamas and its governing authority in Gaza, and has actually stepped up Israel’s vicious attacks in central and southern Gaza.

The basic disagreement that President Joe Biden and Blinken’s smoke and mirrors cannot hide is that Hamas, like every Palestinian, wants a real end to the genocide, while the Israeli and US governments do not. 

Opinion: To end Israel's genocide in Gaza, the world must sideline the US by Nicolas J S Davies, Medea Benjamin

Hamas issued a statement on Thursday "strongly condemning" the re-arrest of Aziz Dweik, the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, by Israeli forces from his home in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

The Palestinian movement, which Dweik is a member of, called the arrest "vindictive". 

"We hold the occupation fully responsible for his life and safety, and we affirm that attempts to break the will of Dr Aziz Dweik and the will of our heroic detainees will fail."

Dweik, 77, was arbitrarily arrested in October and placed under administrative detention without trial or charge for nearly nine months. He was released last week. 

In an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic days after his release, he accused Israeli forces of widespread abuse against Palestinian prisoners, including deliberate food deprivation and medical negligence. 

Fierce battles between Palestinian fighters and Israeli troops are ongoing in Rafah, Israeli and Arab media reported on Thursday morning. 

The fighting is taking place in western and central Rafah, areas that Israeli tanks and ground forces have been attacking for days. 

Some of the heaviest clashes are happening at the outskirts of al-Shabura refugee camp, a densely populated area about 2 km south-east of Rafah's city centre. 

As few as 50 Israeli captives remain alive in the Gaza Strip out of nearly 120 currently held there, based on the latest US intelligence and ceasefire mediators, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

The assessment is consistent with announcements made by the military wing of Hamas, which previously said around 70 captives were killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza or due to lack of medicine caused by the Israeli siege.

Israel has publicly confirmed the death of only 41 captives in Gaza so far.

Israeli forces raided the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday morning, according to local media.

Clashes reportedly erupted after Israeli special forces were spotted by Palestinians before the military sent reinforcement to the city. 

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza, now in its 258th day:

• An Israeli strike on citizens and merchants waiting for aid killed at least nine Palestinians and wounded others on Wednesday evening, medical sources have told Reuters. The strike targeted the group of Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip as they waited for convoys of aid trucks carrying goods through the Kerem Shalom crossing connecting Rafah with Israel. 

• In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces re-arrested Aziz Dweik, the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, days after releasing him. Dweik, 77, was arbitrarily arrested in October and placed under administrative detention without trial or charge for nearly nine months. 

• Israeli forces also carried out a drone strike in the West Bank city of Tulkarem on Thursday morning in what appeared to be a failed assassination attempt on a Palestinian member of a local resistance group. No one was hurt in the strike. 

• Two US officials told Reuters the military's floating pier in Gaza is expected to resume aid delivery operations on Thursday. 

Good evening, Middle East Eye readers.

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the day's key developments

• The Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Hamas is “an idea” that cannot disappear, stating that his country’s goal to wipe the group out is unachievable, and that anyone who promises to eradicate Hamas is “misleading the public”.
• The head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah said, in a televised speech, there would be “no rules” and “no ceilings” for his group if Israel starts a “full-scale war” against Lebanon, and warned that no place in Israel would stay safe from Hezbollah’s attacks.
• Nasrallah threatened Cyprus will be part of the war if it continued to allow Israel to use its military infrastructure for drills.
• Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides responded to Nasrallah’s comments describing them as “unpleasant” and stressed that his country remains far from any “military conflicts”.
• Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said his country’s army is undergoing a “ground and air readiness” in northern Israel, following Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s televised speech. He added there would be more strengthening in intelligence systems and preparations for “all possibilities”.
• The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Unrwa, estimates that around 65,000 displaced Palestinians are still in Rafah, southern Gaza.
• US Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood said the American pier built off the coast of Gaza was never meant to be the “ultimate saviour”. His remarks follow reports about the US plan to potentially dismantle the pier, after bad weather and infrastructural issues hindered its operations.

Israeli security officials have expressed their dissatisfaction towards the Netanyahu-led government’s lack of political strategy to bring the war on Gaza to a halt,  Haaretz reported.

The Israeli news outlet stated that officials have slammed, in closed meetings, Netanyahu’s demand to eradicate Hamas, without presenting a clear outline for his goals.

According to Haaretz, security and military officials said that Netanyahu’s unclear path would push the Israeli army to advance dangerously in Gaza.

President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides said his country remains far from any “military conflicts” and “positions itself as part of the solution rather than the problem”.

His remarks come in response to Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah’s televised speech, in which he warned – for the first time- that Cyprus could be part of his group’s war against Israel.

Christodoulides described Nasrallah’s threat towards Cyprus as “not pleasant” and “do not reflect reality," and emphasized that his country's role is no more than a “humanitarian facilitator," according to Cyprus media.

 "Our humanitarian corridor is a testament to our commitment to peace and stability," he told reporters at the University of Cyprus' graduation ceremony.

He adds: "Cyprus is not part of the problem, it is part of the solution."