Gaza live: Israeli attack hits Unrwa centre

The number of US troops stationed in Jordan has soared to a two-decade high amid Israel's war on Gaza, according to a new congressional report.

US President Joe Biden informed Congress on 7 June that the US had deployed 3,813 to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, a nearly 20 percent increase in troop numbers from December.

The troop levels are higher than at any time since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, according to US troop levels reported at the time.

The surge in troop numbers coincides with Israel's war on Gaza, which has seen the relatively stable Kingdom of Jordan cast into the centre of soaring tensions between the US and Iran.

In January, a drone attack by an Iraqi militia on a remote US military outpost in Jordan killed three US soldiers and wounded at least 40 more.

Read more: US troop numbers in Jordan surge to record high amid Gaza war

According to the Palestine Ministry of Health, Israeli forces shot and killed 39-year-old Bilal Adel Abdel Fattah Bello south of Bethlehem on Tuesday.

Since the onset of Israel's war on Gaza, Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank have escalated, resulting in over 500 deaths and the detention of more than 9,100 individuals.

Editors on Wikipedia have voted to label the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as "generally unreliable" regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on Tuesday. 

As a result the ADL is being added to a list of sources that are either banned or partially restricted.

A majority of editors also voted to deem the organisation unreliable on the topic of antisemitism because it acts primarily as a pro-Israel organization, tending to label legitimate criticism of Israel as antisemitism.

The US is now considering temporarily dismantling and relocating its pier off the coast of Gaza for the second time over fears of poor conditions.

After it was previously damaged and repaired two times in the past month, the US-built pier meant to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians now also faces the question of whether the United Nations will even continue using it to distribute aid.

The mounting obstacles set out in front of the pier in its short lifespan are demonstrative of what former US officials, aid agencies and government watchdogs say is a US public relations stunt that serves to divert attention away from Israel's ongoing destruction of Gaza, as well as Israel's restriction of aid to the strip.

"This pier has been an immense and costly distraction from the work that we need to do and the problems we need to solve," Scott Paul, who leads humanitarian policy at Oxfam, told Middle East Eye.

Read more: The Gaza Pier: A public relations stunt doomed from the start

Footage shared by a Palestinian activist on Instagram shows civil defense teams and medical workers retrieving the body of a deceased individual from the Tas al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah.

The video, verified by Al Jazeera, also depicts medical personnel assisting several injured individuals following Israeli strikes. 

Two top Democrat holdouts in US Congress have put their support behind an $18bn sale of 50 F-15 fighter jets to Israel, lifting the last remaining hurdle for the sale to move forward, several major newspapers have reported.

Congressman Gregory Meeks, a ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs commitee, and Senator Ben Cardin, who currently chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, both announced that they signed off on the deal under pressure from President Joe Biden's administration after the lawmakers had held up supporting the deal over their concerns about Israel's conduct in the war on Gaza.

"Any issues or concerns Chair Cardin had were addressed through our ongoing consultations with the [Biden] administration, and that's why he felt it appropriate to allow this case to move forward," Eric Harris, communications director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the Washington Post in a statement.

Read more: Two top congressional Democrats approve $18bn sale of F-15 fighter jets to Israel

The head of the Israel's Northern Command Major General Ori Gordin and head of the Operations Directorate Majory General Oded Basiuk approved Lebanon battle plans today, the military said on Tuesday according to the Times of ISrael

In a statement, the Israely army said “operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved”.

The military also made decisions regarding “accelerating the readiness of the forces on the ground,” the military adds.

The Lebanese movement Hezbollah on Tuesday broadcast footage purportedly taken by a surveillance drone over the northern Israeli port city of Haifa, in an apparent warning to Israel against starting a war. 

The nine-minute video, published by the Hezbollah-linked Al Mayadeen TV and Al Manar, pinpointed several locations, including military sites and civilian infrastructure, as tensions simmer between the group and Israel.

Al Mayadeen described the video as an "exceptional recording and precise survey" of Israeli targets.

The Israeli army says it carried out a series of strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“The unit led dozens of operations using explosive and collection drones against Israel and [Israeli] forces. The [Israeli military] will continue to thwart the unit’s operations in the area,” it posted on X.

According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency Israeli forces launched a raid in the southern Lebanese town of al-Barghalia, targeting a motorcycle and inflicting injuries. It's unclear how many people have been killed or wounded. 

Palestine is in a political deadlock, at the heart of which lies a longstanding and unresolved representation gap. 

The legitimacy of resistance against occupation cannot be denied. As a member of the Republican People’s Party, which organised Turkey’s War of Independence, I feel a deep connection to the Palestinian cause. 

But as with any political action, the issue of representation is crucial. In this regard, the lack of elections in Palestine since 2006 has led to a significant representation gap.

One of the main reasons for the cancellation of Palestinian elections planned for 2021 were fears that Israel would not allow voting in occupied East Jerusalem, thus violating the Oslo Accords.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) understandably viewed this as a violation of its sovereignty over a region that is an integral part of Palestine. One of the aims of Israel’s occupation and repression is to undermine the legitimacy of the Palestinian cause in the eyes of the world. 

Read more: Marwan Barghouti's imprisonment is denying Palestinians a path to unity

The Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz has threatened Hezbollah following the release of drone footage showing surveillance of the Israeli port city of Haifa.

“[Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah is bragging today that he photographed the Haifa ports, which are operated by huge international companies from China and India, and is threatening to damage them,” Katz said in a post on X.

“We are getting very close to the moment of deciding on changing the rules of the game against Hezbollah and Lebanon. In an all-out war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be severely beaten.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned that there is "momentum potentially in the direction" toward war between Israel and Hezbollah.

"I don't think any of the potential belligerents actually want to see a war or conflict spread," Blinken said.

"And yet you have momentum potentially in that direction because with the forth that goes on every day, there's always the possibility of miscalculationm," he added.

Jerusalem’s deputy mayor has urged municipality workers to deny waste collections and lawn mowing services to the French consulate for Palestinians, in the latest instance of simmering tensions between France and Israel. 

On Tuesday, far-right deputy mayor Aryeh King posted a letter on X which he had sent to the Jerusalem municipality’s sanitation department. 

"In view of the treacherous and anti-Israel conduct of Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frederic Macron, the president of France who passed resolutions in his government whose purpose is to harm the state of Israel and Israeli industry, I ask you to order the employees… to immediately stop the service of removing the garbage from the French Consulate building," the letter stated.

The consulate is situated on Paul Emile Botta Street, in the Yemin Moshe neighbourhood just outside occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City. 

Read more: Jerusalem waste collection at centre of latest spat between France and Israel

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he told the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that "it's inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel. Israel, America's closest ally, fighting for its life, fighting against Iran and our other common enemies."

Netanyahu added, "During World War II, Churchill told the United States, 'Give us the tools, we'll do the job.' And I say, give us the tools, and we'll finish the job a lot faster".