Israel Hamas War Live Updates: Israel storms Gaza neighbourhood, orders Palestinians to go south

The United States is discussing with Israel the release of a shipment of 500-pound bombs that was suspended in May over worries about the military operation in Rafah, a US official said.

The matter was discussed this week during a visit to Washington by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the official said. Axios, citing a US and an Israeli official, earlier said the United States was preparing to deliver the bombs.

Top aides to President Joe Biden told Gallant that Washington was maintaining a pause on a shipment of heavy bombs for Israel while the issue is under review, a senior US official said on Wednesday.

Biden paused the single shipment in May over concerns they could cause more Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza. 

(Reuters)

Thousands of people demonstrated in central Jerusalem late Thursday, calling on the Israeli government to agree to a cease-fire deal with Hamas that would free dozens of hostages held by the militant group.

The crowd marched through central Jerusalem and gathered near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence. Many blew horns, held posters of captive hostages and chanted anti-Netanyahu slogans and called on him to to resign.

Police accused protesters of disturbing the peace and moved to break up the gathering after a group ignited a large fire on a central street.

(AP)

Amid escalating tensions and a volatile security situation in Lebanon, India and the United States have issued stern travel advisories, urging their citizens to exercise caution and reconsider travel plans to the Middle Eastern nation. Similarly, Russia's embassy in Beirut has advised its citizens to refrain from traveling to Lebanon until the situation stabilizes in the southern part of the country.

The Indian Embassy in Lebanon advised all Indian nationals to remain vigilant and maintain communication with the embassy through designated channels.

"In view of the current situation in Lebanon, all Indian nationals in Lebanon are advised to exercise caution and remain in contact with the Embassy of India in Beirut via our email address: cons.beirut@mea.gov.in or through the emergency helpline number +961-76860128," emphasized the embassy in a statement.

Likewise, the US Embassy in Lebanon highlighted the unpredictable security environment, warning US citizens to strongly reconsider any plans to visit Lebanon.

"The security environment remains complex and can change quickly," the embassy stated, specifically cautioning against travel to certain regions, including southern Lebanon, the Lebanon-Syria border area, and refugee settlements.

Yemen's Houthis targeted "vessel SEAJOY" in the Red Sea with a drone boat and a number of missiles and drones, the Iran-aligned group's military spokesman Yahya Saree said on Thursday.

The Houthi militia, which controls the most populous parts of Yemen, has staged attacks on ships in the waters off the country for months in solidarity with Palestinians fighting Israel in Gaza.

(Reuters)

Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have ruled that the United Kingdom can submit legal arguments regarding the prosecution's request for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Court documents made public revealed that the United Kingdom, an ICC member state, filed a request with the court earlier this month to provide written observations on whether "the court can exercise jurisdiction over Israeli nationals, in circumstances where Palestine cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals under the Oslo Accords."

Granting the UK's request may delay the judges' decision on the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant over Israel's war on Gaza, as requested by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan in May.

Khan announced that his office had "reasonable grounds" to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bear "criminal responsibility" for "war crimes and crimes against humanity."

Canada has imposed sanctions on seven Israeli settlers it said had taken part in extremist violence in the West Bank, the second time in just over a month Ottawa has taken such a step, Reuters reported.

The foreign ministry said it had also imposed punitive measures on five entities, including settler organizations.

"We remain deeply concerned by extremist settler violence in the West Bank and condemn such acts, not only for the significant impact they have on Palestinian lives, but also for the corrosive impact they have on prospects for lasting peace," Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement.

A merchant vessel reported being hit by a projectile in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen on Thursday, British security firm Ambrey said.

No injuries or damage were reported in the incident, which occurred 84 nautical miles west of Yemen's port of Hodeidah, Ambrey added.

The vessel was headed for city of Dammam in Saudi Arabia, according to news agecny Reuters.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations also said it had received a report of the incident.

UKMTO added that the vessel and crew were reported to be safe and the vessel was proceeding to its next port of call.
"The nature of the attack is reported as a waterborne improvised explosive device," UKMTO said in an advisory note.

Satellite images showing much of the Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab in ruins after months of Israeli air strikes offer a glimpse of the scale of damage in one of Hezbollah's main bastions in south Lebanon.

The images from private satellite operator Planet Labs PBC, taken on June 5 and analysed by Reuters, show at least 64 destroyed sites in Aita al-Shaab. Several of the sites contain more than one building.

Located in southern Lebanon where Hezbollah enjoys strong backing from many Shi'ite Muslims, Aita al-Shaab was a frontline in 2006 when its fighters successfully repelled Israeli attacks during the full-scale, 34-day war.

While the current fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Shi'ite Islamist movement is still relatively contained, it marks their worst confrontation in 18 years, with widespread damage to buildings and farmland in south Lebanon and northern Israel.

The sides have been trading fire since the Gaza war erupted in October. The hostilities have largely depopulated the border zone on both sides, with tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes.

At a press conference at Nasser Hospital on Thursday, Dr. Mohammed Zaqout, the head of Gaza's hospitals, said over 25,000 patients in Gaza require treatment abroad, including some 980 children with cancer, a quarter of whom need “urgent and immediate evacuation.”

He said the cases included in Thursday’s evacuation are “a drop in the ocean” and that the complicated route through Kerem Shalom and into Egypt cannot serve as an alternative to the Rafah crossing, according to Reuters.

Twenty-one critically ill children were set to exit Gaza on Thursday in the first medical evacuation since the territory's sole travel crossing was shut down in early May, Palestinian officials said. 

Family members bid a tearful goodbye to the children as they and their escorts left the Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis bound for the Kerem Shalom cargo crossing with Israel, AP reported. It was not clear where they would receive treatment. 

The Israeli military body that coordinates civilian affairs in Gaza did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Earlier, six of the children were transferred to Nasser Hospital from Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City. The evacuation was organized by the World Health Organization, which could not immediately be reached for comment. At a press conference at Nasser Hospital on Thursday, Dr. Mohammed Zaqout, the head of Gaza's hospitals, said the evacuation of the 21 children was being done in coordination with the WHO and three American charities.

Israel has stormed a neighbourhood in Gaza City and has told Palestinians to migrate to the south, and also bombed the city of Rafah in what it says are the final stages of an operation against Hamas militants there, Reuters reported.

Residents of the Shejaia neighbourhood in Gaza City said they were taken by surprise by tanks rolling in and firing in the early afternoon, with drones also attacking after overnight bombing.

"It sounded as if the war is restarting, a series of bombings that destroyed several houses in our area and shook the buildings," Mohammad Jamal, 25, a resident of Gaza City, told Reuters via a chat app.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said there were reports of people killed and wounded in Shejaia but their teams were unable to reach them because of the ongoing offensive. Three people were reported killed there in the earlier bombing, with five killed in the Sabra neighbourhood.

"To all residents and displaced people in the Shujaiya area and the new neighborhoods ... For your safety, you must evacuate immediately south on Salah al-Din Street to the humanitarian zone," army spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted on X.

At least 37,765 Palestinians have been killed and 86,429 wounded in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since October 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

With Reuters inputs

The Israeli military has released photos that it says show a staffer with the aid group 'Doctors Without Borders' wearing military fatigues at a gathering of Gaza militants, AP reported.

The military says that Fadi al-Wadiya, who was killed in an airstrike earlier this week, was a “significant operative” in the Islamic Jihad group and was involved in its rocket program.

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, did not respond to a request for comment on the photos, which were released late Wednesday. The aid group said earlier that it had no indication he was a militant.

Another child died of malnutrition in northern Gaza overnight and six people were killed and several wounded in renewed Israeli bombing of residential areas of Gaza City, Palestinian health officials said on Thursday.

In Rafah, a one-time place of refuge where Israel says it is close to completing an almost month-long operation against Hamas fighters, residents said the military had flattened several districts over the past few days, Reuters reported. Aid officials also say the enclave remains at high risk of famine, with almost half a million people facing "catastrophic" food insecurity.

"We are being starved in Gaza City, and are being hunted by tanks and planes with no hope that this war is ever ending," Mohammad Jamal, 25, a resident of Gaza City, told Reuters via a chat app.

The death of another girl in Kamal Adwan Hospital late on Wednesday raised the number of children who have died of malnutrition and dehydration to at least 31, a health official said, adding that the war made recording such cases difficult.

One Israeli soldier was killed and one severely injured during a military raid in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the military said in a statement.

The soldier "fell during operational activity in the area of Jenin," the statement said.

A suspected missile attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the Gulf of Aden, while a separate drone attack claimed by Iraqi militants allied with the rebels targeted the southern Israeli port city of Eilat, AP reported citing sources.

The attacks follow the departure of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower after an eight-month deployment in which the aircraft carrier led the American response to the Houthi assaults. 

Speaking to reporters, Defence Minister Gallant also said he discussed with senior US officials his "day after" proposals for governance of post-war Gaza that would include local Palestinians, regional partners, and the US, but that it would be "a long and complex process."

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Speaking to reporters, Defence Minister Gallant also said he discussed with senior US officials his "day after" proposals for governance of post-war Gaza that would include local Palestinians, regional partners, and the US, but that it would be "a long and complex process."

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The UN, aid groups and local officials are scrambling to build latrines, repair water lines and bring desalination plants back online. COGAT, the Israeli military body coordinating humanitarian aid efforts, said it's engaging in efforts to improve the “hygiene situation.” 

But relief can't come soon enough. “Flies are in our food,” said Adel Dalloul, a 21-year-old whose family settled in a beach tent camp near the central Gaza city of Nuseirat. They wound up there after fleeing the southern city of Rafah, where they landed after leaving their northern Gaza home.

"If you try to sleep, flies, insects and cockroaches are all over you,” he added.

-From AP

Gallant said he also discussed Israel's transition to the next phase in Gaza. The Israeli military says it is preparing to shift to lower-intensity operations against Hamas' remaining fighters.

Another focus of Gallant's meetings was Iran, Israel's regional arch-foe.

The US weapons will continue to flow to Israel as it battles Hamas militants in Gaza and faces Lebanese Hezbollah fighters on its northern border, an official said, as reported by Reuters, where increased hostilities have spurred fears of a wider regional conflict.

Gallant warned during his visit that Israel was capable of taking Lebanon "back to the Stone Age" in any war with Iran-backed Hezbollah but stressed that his government prefers a diplomatic solution being pursued by the United States.

US President Joe Biden's top aides told the visiting Israeli defense minister that Washington is maintaining a pause on a shipment of heavy bombs for Israel.

The official, briefing reporters about national security adviser Jake Sullivan's meeting with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, said the allies remain in discussions about the single shipment of powerful munitions.

At campuses across the US this spring, demonstrators sparred over the Israel-Hamas war. Texas' protest and others grew out of Columbia University's early demonstrations.

Last week, prosecutors in New York announced that dozens of Columbia students who were arrested for occupying a campus building as part of a pro-Palestinian protest would have their criminal charges dropped. 

The Manhattan district attorney's office said it would not pursue criminal charges for 31 of the 46 people initially arrested on trespassing charges inside the administration building.

Nearly 80 criminal trespass arrests stemming from a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas have been dismissed, a prosecutor, as reported by AP, the latest dropped charges against demonstrators arrested on college campuses across the US this spring.

Delia Garza, a Democrat who is the elected attorney for Travis County, said 79 criminal trespass cases that were dismissed all stemmed from the April 29 protest. She said cases involving other offenses remain pending.

Speaking to reporters, Defence Minister Gallant also said he discussed with senior US officials his "day after" proposals for governance of post-war Gaza that would include local Palestinians, regional partners, and the US, but that it would be "a long and complex process."

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned during a visit to Washington that Israel's military is capable of taking Lebanon "back to the Stone Age" in any war with Hezbollah militants but insisted his government prefers a diplomatic solution on the Israel-Lebanon border.

A US-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of strikes on May 30 killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, AP reported.

However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the Israel-Hamas war — including those bound for Iran. Late on Tuesday, Saree claimed an attack Monday on the Liberian-flagged, Greek-managed container ship MSC Sarah V. 

The Houthis claimed that they used a new hypersonic ballistic missile in the assault, which targeted a ship farther away than nearly all of the previous assaults they’ve launched in the Gulf of Aden.

The captain “of a merchant vessel reported a missile impacted the water near the vessel,” the UKMTO said.

The Houthis have targeted Eilat before with drones and missiles. 

However, an Iranian-backed umbrella group known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed the attack. That group recently began what it and the Houthis describe as joint operations over the Israel-Hamas war.

A suspected missile attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the Gulf of Aden, while a separate drone attack claimed by Iraqi militants allied with the rebels targeted the southern Israeli port city of Eilat, AP reported citing sources.

The attacks follow the departure of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower after an eight-month deployment in which the aircraft carrier led the American response to the Houthi assaults. 

The prospect of a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group terrifies people on both sides of the border, but some see it as an inevitable fallout from Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, particularly as cease-fire negotiations have faltered.

Such a war could be the most destructive either side has ever experienced.

Israel and Hezbollah each have lessons from their last war, in 2006, a monthlong conflict that ended in a draw. They’ve also had nearly nine months to prepare for another war, even as the United States tries to prevent a widening of the conflict that could spark a confrontation with Iran and endanger U.S. forces in the region.

(AP)

Israeli strike on a two-storey building has reportedly injured five people in the southern Lebanon region, the state media of Lebanon has reported. Those injured were in the vicinity of the building when the strike took place. All the injured have been admitted to hospital.

U.S. President Joe Biden's top aides told the visiting Israeli defense chief this week that Washington is maintaining a pause on a shipment of heavy bombs for Israel while the issue is under review, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.

The official, briefing reporters about national security adviser Jake Sullivan's meeting with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, said the allies remain in discussions about the single shipment of powerful munitions, which was paused by Biden in May over concerns they could cause more Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza.

Without providing specifics, the official said other U.S. weapons will continue to flow to Israel as it battles Hamas militants in Gaza and faces Lebanese Hezbollah fighters on its northern border, where escalating hostilities have spurred fears of a wider regional conflict.

(Reuters)

The U.N. food agency has suspended aid delivery from a U.S.-built pier linked to Gaza’s coastline due to security concerns after the Israeli military appeared to use the area in a June 8 hostage rescue.

Thousands of tons of food, medicines and other aid piled up on a beach in war-torn Gaza is not reaching those in need because of a dire security situation and lawlessness on the ground, a U.S. aid official said Wednesday.

Truck drivers are getting caught in the crossfire or have their cargo seized by marauding “gang-like” groups, said Doug Strope, with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The sense of desperation gripping ordinary Palestinians is only compounded by the combination of Gaza being an active combat zone and a prevailing “general sense of lawlessness,” Stropes told The Associated Press.

(AP)

Hospital officials in Gaza say an Israeli airstrike in the northern part of the strip has killed 13 people.

The victims of the Wednesday strike in the crowded city of Jabaliya north of Gaza City were taken to the nearby Kamal Adwan hospital, according to the acting head of the hospital, Dr. Husam Abu Safiya. It was not immediately clear how many killed in the strike were women and children.

(AP)

Israel's parliament advanced a bill on Wednesday that aims to permanently empower the government to ban foreign news organizations considered threats to national security, according to a report by AP 

Earlier this year, a temporary law granting such powers led to the closure of Al Jazeera's operations in Israel. The new bill argues that ongoing security threats justify the legislation, but critics view it as undemocratic and a danger to press freedom. 

In recent actions against Al Jazeera, Israel also restricted media coverage of events at the Gaza border, which included blocking live video feeds and temporarily seizing equipment from news agencies like The Associated Press.

Senior US officials told visiting Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday that the United States is maintaining a pause on a shipment of heavy munitions for Israel while the issue is under review, a top US official.

The official, briefing reporters about White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan's meeting with Gallant, said the two governments remain in discussions about the single shipment of heavy bombs, which was paused by President Joe Biden in early May over concerns the weapons could cause more Palestinian deaths in Gaza.

(Reuters)

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as stated in a White House release on Wednesday.

"In the statement, Mr. Sullivan reiterated the United States’ unwavering commitment to Israel’s security, particularly in light of threats posed by Iranian-backed terrorist groups like Hezbollah," the release stated.

"The discussion centered on current US initiatives aimed at promoting de-escalation and achieving a diplomatic resolution to ongoing tensions in Lebanon, with a focus on facilitating the safe return of Israeli and Lebanese families to their border residences."

Additionally, Sullivan affirmed to Gallant that President Joe Biden’s administration remains dedicated to ensuring Israel has "the necessary resources to defend itself and counter Iranian-backed adversaries."

The meeting also addressed Israel's operations in Gaza, emphasizing the importance of "enhancing and maintaining the flow of humanitarian aid."

Yemen's Houthis said on Wednesday they targeted a ship in Israel's Haifa port with a number of drones in a joint military operation with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

The operation targeted the Portuguese-flagged container ship MSC Manzanillo, the Iran-aligned Houthi group's military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised speech on Wednesday.

The Israeli military is not aware of any such incident, a spokesperson said, and there was no indication of anything unusual at Haifa port.

(Reuters)

An investigation conducted by AFP and several international media outlets has revealed that the news agency’s office in Gaza 'was probably hit by Israeli tank fire' on November 2, resulting in significant damage.

As part of the probe, multiple experts were interviewed and confirmed that the office was 'very likely' struck by Israeli tank fire.

'The GPS coordinates of our office were known to the Israeli authorities,' AFP stated in a video.

VIDEO: The AFP office in Gaza, which was badly damaged by a strike on 2 November, was probably hit by Israeli tank fire, according to an investigation by AFP and several international media, for which several experts were interviewed.#AFPVertical pic.twitter.com/uz63VbfNyU

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) June 26, 2024

The office had been evacuated about a month before the attack. The Israeli army has denied targeting the office and stated that an internal investigation is currently underway.

Martin Griffiths, head of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, expressed grave concerns about the potential escalation of the Gaza conflict spreading to the West Bank and possibly Lebanon.

“I see it as the flashpoint … It’s potentially apocalyptic,” Griffiths, whose term finishes at the end of the month, told reporters in Geneva, according to a report by Al Jazeera.

"We are worried about the potential for further tragedy and deaths and the events in the West Bank, as well as, of course, the threats and the possibilities (of conflict) in Lebanon," Griffiths said.

"There's a lot of preparedness on the aid side. That's not the problem," he said. "The problem is stopping this war getting worse and stopping the people of Palestine from their right to their future. That's the worry that I think we should all have."

Griffiths also mentioned that demands for unimpeded humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip still stood.

"We want all those crossing points open, we want safety and security protocols, we want deconfliction which we can rely on, and that we want aid workers and health institutions not being victims of the war," he said, also calling for a ceasefire.

Griffiths said it was "astonishingly cruel" that, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), more than 495,000 people across Gaza were facing the most severe, or "catastrophic", level of food insecurity.

That figure is down from a forecast of 1.1 million in the previous update three months ago, but is still more than one fifth of Gaza's population.

Griffiths said the new figure was "outrageous" but that it indicated some aid was making it to Gazans.

(With Inputs from Reuters)

Wrapping up a visit to Washington, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel was fighting against Hamas, not the people of Gaza.

"We are committed, and I am personally committed, to facilitating the delivery of essential humanitarian aid to Gaza. We only fight those who seek to harm us," Gallant said in a video statement. 

(Reuters)

Following the accusations by Turkey’s president that Western powers supported alleged Israeli plans to attack Lebanon and escalate regional conflict, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday labeled Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a ‘war criminal.’

In a statement on X, Katz wrote,“Erdogan announced his support for Hezbollah against Israel’s threats.”  

“Erdogan is a war criminal who slaughters innocent Kurds across the Syrian border and tries to deny Israel its right to self-defense against a terror organization attacking from Lebanon under Iran’s orders.”

“Be silent! Shame on you!,” Katz added.

The IDF reports that it struck multiple Hezbollah targets in Lebanon today. Israeli fighter jets targeted a building used by Hezbollah, an observation post, and additional infrastructure in southern Lebanon's Kfarchouba, Ayta ash-Shab, and Khiam.

It also shared a video of the strike.

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Meanwhile, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Kfar Kila, Burj al-Muluk, Tallet al-Aziziyah, and the Marjayoun Plain.

435 people have been killed in southern Lebanon since the conflict with Israel began, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. The ministry also reports that at least 1,366 people have been injured. Of these injuries, 35 percent were caused by explosions, 44 percent by shocks, and 16 percent by chemical exposure.

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An Israeli airstrike near the northern Jabalia camp killed three Palestinians and wounded others, according to medics. Residents and Hamas media stated that the casualties occurred among people gathered outside a store to access an internet signal to communicate with relatives.

In the central Gaza Strip's Nuseirat camp, tank shells hit an apartment, resulting in at least five deaths and multiple injuries, medics reported. The Israeli military did not provide an immediate comment on these incidents. Earlier, medics also reported two fatalities from an Israeli missile strike in Rafah.

Meanwhile, in Beit Lahiya, a northern Gaza town, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a house, killing four Palestinians and injuring several others, according to medics.

(With Inputs from Reuters)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of attempting to extend the conflict in Gaza to Lebanon, warning that such a move would result in a "great disaster."

Speaking to his ruling party's legislators on Wednesday, Erdogan emphasized Turkey's support for Lebanon and urged other nations in the region to show solidarity with the Middle Eastern country.

"Israel, which has devastated Gaza, is now targeting Lebanon," Erdogan asserted. "Netanyahu's plans to extend the war across the region, with Western approval, will lead to a great disaster."

"We must prevent this from happening. Turkey stands with the brotherly people and state of Lebanon, and we call on other countries in the region to stand in solidarity with Lebanon," he added.

(With inputs from AP)

Israeli attacks in Gaza have resulted in 60 fatalities and 140 injuries over the past 24 hours, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry also reported that more victims are likely trapped in areas inaccessible to rescue workers. These recent casualties increase Gaza’s total death toll to 37,718 since October 7, with 86,377 individuals wounded.

More than 37,718 Palestinians have been killed and 86,377 have been injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, news agency Reuters reported. 

Republicans in Congress have been hesitant to publicly criticize Israel and its handling of the Israel-Hamas war, but when Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met Tuesday with a high-ranking Republican on Capitol Hill, he was told it would be in Israel’s “best interest” if his military resolves the humanitarian aid issue that has plagued the war from months.

“My admonition (to Gallant) was to finish your military objective as quickly as possible so that you focus on humanitarian so that we can move into this peace process,” Rep. Michael McCaul, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told AP on Tuesday. It is a rare public statement that reflects the changing political climate for both Gallant and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is set to address an increasingly divided Congress in July.

With AP inputs

Suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels early Wednesday targeted a ship in the Gulf of Aden, while a separate attack claimed by Iraqi militants allied with the rebels targeted the southern Israeli port city of Eilat, authorities said. The attacks follow the departure of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower after an eight-month deployment in which the aircraft carrier led the American response to the Houthi assaults. Those attacks have reduced shipping drastically through the route crucial to Asian, Middle East and European markets in a campaign the Houthis say will continue as long as the Israel-Hamas war rages in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the Houthis faced allegations they seized commercial aircraft that brought back pilgrims from the Hajj amid a widening economic dispute between the rebels and the country’s exiled government. The Houthis have targeted Eilat before with drones and missiles. However, an Iranian-backed umbrella group known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed the attack. That group recently began what it and the Houthis describe as joint operations over the Israel-Hamas war.The Houthis did not immediately claim the ship attack, but it can take the rebels hours or even days before they acknowledge their assaults. 

With AP inputs

Israeli forces pounded several areas across Gaza on Wednesday, and residents reported fierce fighting overnight in Rafah in the south of the Palestinian enclave.

Residents said fighting intensified in the Tel Al-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah, where tanks were also trying to force their way north amid heavy clashes. The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said fighters attacked Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.

Since early May, ground fighting has focused on Rafah, abutting Egypt on Gaza's southern edge, where around half of the enclave's 2.3 million people had been sheltering after fleeing other areas. Most have since had to flee again.

Medics said two Palestinians were killed in one Israeli missile strike in Rafah earlier on Wednesday. The Israeli military said in a statement its forces killed a Hamas militant who had been involved in the smuggling of weapons through the border between Rafah and Egypt.

It said jets struck dozens of militant targets in Rafah overnight, including fighters, military structures and tunnel shafts. In the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, an Israeli air strike destroyed a house, killing four Palestinians and wounding several others, medics said.

Reuters

With US soldiers within shouting distance of Gaza’s bombed-out coast, the American military is taking another stab at delivering aid to hungry Palestinians by sea.

After several fits and starts, a $230 million pier is up and running again. The US military invited reporters for a tour of it on Tuesday, marking the first time international media has witnessed its operations firsthand.

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