► Israeli bombings on Gaza
In the Gaza Strip, besieged by Israel, artillery fire targeted Rafah on Monday June 24 as well as the Palestinian camp of Nousseirat, in the center, and the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, in the north, where fighting was reported.
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According to civil defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal, two medical workers were killed in an airstrike on Al-Daraj Hospital in Gaza City, including Hani Al Jafarwari, the director of the ambulance service and emergencies at the Gaza Ministry of Health.
This ministry announced a new death toll of 37,626 since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement more than eight months ago. At least 28 people have been killed in the past 24 hours, he said in a statement, adding that 86,098 people had been injured in the Gaza Strip since October 7. Furthermore, at least “500 health professionals were killed directly” since the beginning of “Israeli aggression”.
The Israeli army announced that it would continue its “targeted operations” in the Rafah sector and there be “eliminated armed terrorists” et “dismantled tunnel entrances”.
► The release of hostages is Israel’s priority, according to its defense minister
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, visiting Washington, pledged to work for the return of hostages from Gaza and called for close cooperation with the United States, after the rare tensions of recent weeks.
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Yoav Gallant met with the head of the CIA, Bill Burns, the main American responsible for negotiations aimed at obtaining a cease-fire and freeing the hostages held by Hamas. He then spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“I would like to emphasize that Israel’s primary commitment is to return the hostages, without exception, to their families and homes”declared Yoav Gallant before starting his meetings. “We will continue to make every effort to bring them home”he added.
► Macron and Abdallah II call for lifting restrictions on sending aid to Gaza
Emmanuel Macron and King Abdullah II of Jordan called on Israel to lift all « restrictions » land transport for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, the French presidency indicated in a press release.
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During a lunch at the Élysée, they repeated the “need to put in place, without further delay, an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza and once again called for the release of all hostages”including that of two French people.
► The Israeli army announces the death of a hostage held in Gaza
The Israeli army and the Hostage Families Forum announced the death of a Bedouin soldier, killed on October 7 during the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel and whose body was taken to the Gaza Strip.
Families of hostages in Gaza: “The Israeli government makes us internal enemies”
Until now presumed hostage of Hamas, Sergeant Major Mohammad Alatrash, a 39-year-old Bedouin from the village of Moulada (southern Israel), “fell in combat and then was held hostage by a terrorist organization”the army said in a statement.
The Hostage Families Forum said “deeply mourn the loss of Sergeant Major Mohammad Alatrash”, “Fallen in combat on October 7 then taken to Gaza by Hamas terrorists”. Il “leaves behind two wives and 13 children”added the main hostage association in its press release.
► Relatives of hostages condemn Netanyahu’s comments
The main association of relatives of the hostages condemned comments by the Israeli prime minister on a “partial agreement” in the Gaza Strip, which would allow the release of a ” part “ hostages.
“Ending the fighting in Gaza without the release of the hostages would constitute an unprecedented national failure and move away from the aims of the war”, wrote the Families Forum in a press release. The press release adds that the return of the hostages is a matter of “responsibility and duty (…) of the Prime Minister. »
On Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the phase « intense » fighting in the Gaza Strip was ending, while insisting that the war was not over.
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“The intense phase of the fighting against Hamas is about to end. This does not mean that the war is about to end, but the war in its intense phase is about to end in Rafah”declared Benjamin Netanyahu during an interview with the Israeli channel Channel 14.
“After the end of the intense phase, we will be able to redeploy some forces towards the north, and we will do so (…)”added the Prime Minister.
► “Widespread looting and smuggling” prevent aid distribution
Looting and smuggling “are generalized” in the Gaza Strip and “prevent” the delivery of humanitarian aid, denounced the head of the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
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“The collapse of civil order is giving rise to widespread looting and smuggling which hampers the delivery of humanitarian aid (including population) desperately needs »said Philippe Lazzarini during a meeting in Geneva of the advisory commission responsible for supervising the conduct of the agency.
“Over the past nine months, we have witnessed an unprecedented failure of humanity in a land scarred by decades of violence”underlined the UNRWA official.
In Gaza, impossible mourning: “We pray alone or in the middle of the ruins”
“Palestinians and Israelis have suffered terrible losses and suffered enormously (…) Gaza has been decimated. For more than 2 million Gazans, it is hell. A nightmare from which they cannot wake up”insisted the head of the agency.
Faced with the difficulties of bringing aid into the territory – only the Kerem Shalom crossing point between Israel and Gaza is currently open –, “hunger is at a catastrophic level” in the territory, according to UNRWA. “Children are dying from malnutrition and dehydration, while food and clean water wait in trucks” on the border with Israel or Egypt, pending the possible reopening of the Rafah crossing, closed since the beginning of May.
► Hezbollah announces two new drone attacks
Lebanese Hezbollah announced on Sunday that it had targeted two military sites in northern Israel using explosive drones, seriously injuring a soldier, in response to the death of a leader of an allied Islamist group in an Israeli strike in eastern Lebanon.
War in Gaza: Israel intensifies its military operations
The pro-Iranian movement also published a new video showing what it presents as sites in Israel with their coordinates, without identifying them, five days after revealing images of Haifa taken according to it by a drone which flew over this major port from northern Israel.
On Saturday, a Lebanese security source indicated that a leader of the Lebanese Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya, close to Palestinian Hamas, had been killed in an Israeli strike targeting his vehicle in Khiara in the Bekaa. The Israeli army confirmed that it “eliminated” this official accused of supplying weapons to Hamas.
