After almost eight months of war, deadly Israeli bombings continued to target the Gaza Strip on Monday June 3. The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken pressed Hamas on Sunday to accept the Israeli plan for a ceasefire in Gaza. “The secretary of state praised Israel’s willingness to reach a deal and said it was up to Hamas to accept it., declared his spokesperson, Matthew Miller, after a telephone call from Anthony Blinken to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The two managers called each other to talk about “the proposal to achieve a full ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of Hamas hostages. Follow our live stream.
A new “comprehensive” ceasefire agreement under discussion. The exchange between Anthony Blinken and Yoav Gallant comes as the American president affirmed, on May 31, during a press conference, that Israel had proposed a new agreement “overall” ceasefire in Hamas. This road map provides in a first phase, according to Joe Biden, a six-week ceasefire accompanied by an Israeli withdrawal from densely populated areas of Gaza, the release of certain hostages, notably women and the sick, and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Qatar, the United States and Egypt, mediators in the conflict, called Hamas and Israel on Saturday “to finalize” This agreement.
The offensive continues in Rafah. In Gaza, despite protests from the international community, the Israeli army continues its offensive in Rafah, a border town with Egypt in the south of the Palestinian territory, intended according to it to destroy the last battalions of the Islamist movement. The Palestinian Red Crescent said it was receiving calls for help from civilians but added that the bombings were making “very difficult” access to Rafah. Around a million Palestinians, according to the UN, have already fled the city in the face of advancing Israeli troops. In total, at least 19 people died in strikes and shootings during the night, including six in the Bureij refugee camp and ten in the Armadhiya sector, near Khan Younes, according to medical sources.
New strikes in Syria. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), Israel struck a factory near Aleppo in northern Syria on the night of Sunday to Monday, killing people there. “at least twelve pro-Iranian fighters of Syrian and foreign nationalities”. Since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011, Israel has struck this country hundreds of times, targeting the army of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime and the pro-Iranian groups based there and supporting it.
