Summary of the day …
Israel’s prime minister visited the site where fires broke out in northern Israel earlier this week after rocket attacks launched from Lebanon. Benjamin Netanyahu said “Whoever thinks he can hurt us and we will respond by sitting on our hands is making a big mistake. We are prepared for very intense action in the north. One way or another, we will restore security to the north”. The mayor of the Kiryat Shmona criticised Netanyahu for failing to invite him on the visit to the city, criticising it as “cheap politics during wartime”
Violent clashes broke out in Jerusalem during the annual Jerusalem flag day march which commemorates the anniversary of Israel taking control and occupying East Jerusalem in 1967. At least two journalists were injured as right-wing Israeli youths marched chanting anti-Arab and anti-Islamic slogans. Israeli peace activists have been taking part in the “flower parade”, where they hand flowers to Palestinian residents as an alternative to the flag march
Israel is phasing out the use of a military-run detention camp for Palestinians captured during the Gaza war where rights groups alleged there has been abuse of inmates, justice officials said on Wednesday. In late May, Lorenzo Tondo and Quique Kierszenbaum reported for the Guardian that whistleblowers had described harrowing treatment of detainees at the camp. The claims included inmates regularly being kept shackled to hospital beds, blindfolded and forced to wear nappies, and reports of a man having his limb amputated as a result of injuries sustained from constant handcuffing
The Israeli military said it has started “operational activity” in two areas of central Gaza in a possible broadening of its ground offensive. The military said Wednesday its forces were operating “both above and below ground” in eastern parts of Deir al-Balah and Bureij
Israel’s government has raised the number of reservists the IDF is authorised to call up from 300,000 to 350,000
Gaza’s Hamas-led health ministry claimed 36,586 people had been killed and 83,074 wounded in Israeli attacks since 7 October. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict
Israeli far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Wednesday his party would “disrupt” the ruling coalition until Netanyahu discloses details of the prospective Gaza deal amid renewed truce efforts
The US embassy in Lebanon has said that it will remain closed for the rest of the day, but expects to open as normal on Thursday. This follows the earlier incident when a gunman opened fire on the compound. They were wounded in an exchange of fire with troops and detained
Hezbollah said on Wednesday it had targeted Israel’s Iron Dome air-defence system in Ramot Naftali with a guided missile
Al Jazeera reports that an Israeli court has upheld the government’s ban on it operating in Israel
Al Jazeera reports that an Israeli court has upheld the government’s ban on it operating in Israel.
The US embassy in Lebanon has said that it will remain closed for the rest of the day, but expects to open as normal tomorrow. This follows the earlier incident when a gunman opened fire on the compound. They were wounded in an exchange of fire with troops and detained.
Here are some more images from the flag march in Jerusalem being sent over the newswires.
Nir Hasson of Haaretz has been posting video clips of clashes in Jerusalem to social media.
תקיפה של פעיל ישראלי pic.twitter.com/XnUOx3Oc0D
— نير حسون Nir Hasson ניר חסון (@nirhasson) June 5, 2024
Kan News in Israel has reported that another journalist has been injured during clashes at the Jerusalem flag day marches. It reports that Haaretz journalist Nir Hasson was attacked in the Old City. Kan reports that national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is expected to make his attendance at the march shortly.
The mayor of the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, which Benjamin Netanyahu visited today, has criticised the prime minister for not inviting him to the visit. Avichai Stern accused Netanyahu of “cheap politics during wartime”.
Al Jazeera reports that earlier four people were killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza City’s Remal neighbourhood. Earlier Gaza’s Hamas-led health ministry claimed 36,586 people had been killed and 83,074 wounded in Israeli attacks since 7 October. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Reuters reports Hezbollah said on Wednesday it had targeted Israel’s Iron Dome air-defence system in Ramot Naftali with a guided missile.
More details soon …
Clashes break out in Jerusalem ahead of flag march
Clashes have broken out in Jerusalem ahead of the flag day march. The Times of India reports they took place just inside the Damascus gate when Israelis threw stones and attacked local residents.
Images appear to show right-wing Israeli activists assaulting a freelance member of the Palestinian press, Saif Kwasmi. Kwasmi was previously detained by Israeli security forces in April, and said he was beaten during that detention.
The provocative Jerusalem Day parade by thousands of Jewish nationalists celebrates Israel’s capture and occupation of East Jerusalem and its holy sites in the 1967 war, a move that is not internationally recognised. It has often featured violent clashes between marchers and Palestinian residents of the Old City, as well as anti-Arab hate speech and vandalism of Palestinian property, although last year’s march passed relatively peacefully.
The Times of Israel reports:
A marcher tried to knock down a Times of Israel reporter’s phone while filming the violence. Protesters chanted “Death to the Arabs.”
Haaretz reports that Israeli minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Knesset member Yitzhak Kreuzer entered the Temple Mount compound along with hundreds of Jewish worshippers.
A gunman who attacked the US embassy near Beirut was shot and captured by Lebanese soldiers after a Wednesday morning shootout that injured an embassy security guard, the military and embassy officials said.
The attack took place as tensions simmered in the tiny Mediterranean country, where months of fighting between Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops has displaced thousands along the border, following years of political deadlock and economic hardship.
Local media reported that there was a gunfight involving at least one attacker, and lasted almost half an hour.
Joe Abdo, who works at a gas station near the compound said he heard “around 15 to 20 rounds of gunfire” while working that morning. “We ran here to see what’s happening and suddenly, the army blocked us from going up,” he told The Associated Press.
A Lebanese security official and two judicial officials familiar with the case said the gunman appeared to be a lone attacker. They identified him as a resident of the eastern Lebanese border town of Majdal Anjar near Syria. Earlier, the Lebanese military identified the suspect as a Syrian national.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not cleared to speak to the press.
The military raided both Majdal Anjar and nearby Suweiri, where they detained relatives of the suspect, but did not find other gunmen or evidence of a possible extremist cell, the officials added.
The suspect was shot in the stomach and leg before being captured and taken to the military hospital in Beirut, according to the officials.
A US Embassy spokesperson said in a statement that one embassy security guard was injured in the attack.
“With respect to his privacy we cannot say more, but we wish him a full recovery,” said the spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations.
Here are the latest images coming across the wires from Gaza:
The Israeli military said it has started “operational activity” in two areas of central Gaza in a possible broadening of its monthslong ground offensive against Hamas.
The military said Wednesday its forces were operating “both above and below ground” in eastern parts of Deir al-Balah and Bureij, a built-up Palestinian refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. It said the operation began with airstrikes on militant infrastructure, after which troops began a “targeted daylight operation” in both areas.
Israeli far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on Wednesday his party would “disrupt” the ruling coalition until Benjamin Netanyahu discloses details of the prospective Gaza deal amid renewed truce efforts.
“As long as the Prime Minister continues to hide the details of the deal, Otzma Yehudit will disrupt his coalition,” the national security minister, Ben-Gvir wrote on X, revealing deepening ruptures in the country’s wartime coalition.
Hamas has issued a statement critical of the Jerusalem day flag march, which is due to take place today. In the statement Hamas said “The march of flags in occupied Jerusalem is an aggression against our peoples and holy sites.”
Reuters reports that an Israeli police spokesperson has said more than 3,000 police would be on duty in Jerusalem to “maintain the routine of life as much as possible”.
“Israelis proceeding through Israel with Israeli flags is not incendiary, it’s just a national holiday that’s going to be taking place,” they said.
Many Palestinian shopkeepers shutter their businesses for fear of racist violence, and last year, Reuters notes, the event saw groups of Jewish youths chant slogans including “Death to Arabs”.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported the Jerusalem governorate said “the march of flags in the streets of Jerusalem is an assault on the status quo in the occupied city, and a continuation of the Israeli occupation’s measures aimed at Judaizing it. Israel is exploiting the aggression against Palestinian people in Gaza to advance the Judaization of the holy city.”
Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is in charge of the police, said last week he would be participating and encouraged supporters to join.
Israeli peace activists in Jerusalem have been taking part in the “flower parade”, where they hand flowers to Palestinian residents as an alternative to the Jerusalem day flag parade which is scheduled for later today.
Jordan’s foreign ministry has condemned Israel today for failing to protect the holy sites in Jerusalem.
It criticised Israel’s government for “carrying out the so-called flag march in occupied Jerusalem, and the accompanying aggression against the Palestinians and extremist racist practices, imposing restrictions on the access of worshipers to the blessed al-Aqsa mosque and restricting the movement of Palestinians in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem.”
دانت وزارة الخارجية وشؤون المغتربين قيام أحد الوزراء المتطرفين في الحكومة الإسرائيلية وأعضاء من الكنيست الإسرائيلي ومتطرفين، اليوم، باقتحام المسجد الأقصى المبارك/ الحرم القدسي الشريف تحت حماية شرطة الاحتلال الإسرائيلية، والممارسات الاستفزازية التي تنتهك حرمة المسجد الأقصى… pic.twitter.com/7Z4yU3TY0n
— وزارة الخارجية وشؤون المغتربين الأردنية (@ForeignMinistry) June 5, 2024
The Times of Israel reports that Israel’s government has raised the number of reservists the IDF is authorised to call up from 300,000 to 350,000.
Israel’s military has posted to its official Telegram channel to claim that “a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon was successfully intercepted in the area of Metula”.
The office of Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has posted some images of him being briefed on the ground in northern Israel during a visit there today.
PM Netanyahu was briefed on the operational situation, recent events, management of the defensive battle and actions taken to defend the communities in the north, as well as Brigade and Northern Command actions against the Hezbollah terrorists and infrastructure in Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/TH7NeV1iG2
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) June 5, 2024
Here is the full quote from Netanyahu issued to the media:
We said, at the start of the war, that we would restore security in both the south and the north – and this is what we are doing.
Today I am on the northern border with our heroic fighters and commanders, as well as with our firefighters. Yesterday the ground burned here and I am pleased that you have extinguished it, but ground also burned in Lebanon.
Whoever thinks he can hurt us and we will respond by sitting on our hands is making a big mistake.
We are prepared for very intense action in the north. One way or another, we will restore security to the north.
The Israeli military said it has started “operational activity” in two areas of central Gaza.
The military said Wednesday its forces were operating “both above and below ground” in eastern parts of Deir al-Balah and Bureij, a built-up Palestinian refugee camp dating back to the 1948.
Associated Press report the IDF claimed the operation began with airstrikes on militant infrastructure, after which troops began a “targeted daylight operation” in both areas.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that dozens of Palestinian civilians have been killed overnight.
Al Jazeera is reporting that local sources have told it that 75 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks in central Gaza in the last 24 hours. It reports “the attacks have hammered the densely populated Bureij and Maghazi refugee camps, as well as neighbourhoods east of Deir el-Balah.”
The Israeli government banned Al Jazeera from operating inside Israel in May.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us from Gaza over the newswires.
Netanyahu: Israel prepared for 'strong action' in north near Lebanon
Here are the fuller quotes from Benjamin Netanyahu, who was touring northern Israel near the UN-drawn blue line which has separated Lebanon and Israel since 2000 and said that Israel was prepared for strong action in the region. Earlier this week Israel’s military and emergency rescue teams fought large fires set of by rockets fired into Israel.
Reuters reports Netanyahu said:
Whoever thinks that they can harm us and we will sit idly by is making a big mistake. We are prepared for a very strong action in the north. In one way or another we will restore security to the north.
Israel has been almost constantly exchanging fire with anti-Israeli forces in southern Lebanon since 7 October. Tens of thousands of civilians in both countries have been displaced from their homes.
Updated
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured the country’s northern boundary with Lebanon on Wednesday, and said that Israel was prepared for strong action in the north, Reuters reports.
More details soon …
Updated
Gunman wounded after shots fired at US embassy in Lebanon
A gunman fired shots at the US embassy in Lebanon on Wednesday and was wounded in an exchange of fire with troops, the Lebanese army said.
In a statement, the Lebanese army said “Army units deployed around the US embassy in Awkar are conducting an inspection of the surrounding area and working to implement the necessary security measures to maintain the security of the area.”
تُجري وحدات الجيش المنتشرة في محيط السفارة الأميركية في عوكر عملية تفتيش للبقعة المحيطة، وتعمل على تنفيذ الإجراءات الأمنية اللازمة لحفظ أمن المنطقة.#الجيش_اللبناني #LebaneseArmy pic.twitter.com/D3pJ7OuIHr
— الجيش اللبناني (@LebarmyOfficial) June 5, 2024
The embassy said small arms fire was reported near its entrance in the morning. The facility and staff were safe, it added.
A security source told Reuters a member of the embassy’s security team was wounded in the attack and that Lebanese soldiers wounded an attacker in the stomach.
The embassy lies north of Beirut in a highly secured zone with multiple checkpoints along the route to the entrance. It moved there after a suicide attack in 1983 on a previous site which killed more than 60 people. In September, shots were fired near the embassy with no injuries reported.
Israel says it will end use of detainment camp at centre of human rights abuse claims
Israel is phasing out the use of a military-run detention camp for Palestinians captured during the Gaza war where rights groups alleged there has been abuse of inmates, justice officials said on Wednesday.
Reuters reports state attorneys told Israel’s supreme court that inmates held at the Sde Teiman site would be gradually transported to permanent holding facilities. The transfers have started and most prisoners would be relocated within a couple of weeks.
In late May, Lorenzo Tondo and Quique Kierszenbaum reported for the Guardian that whistleblowers had described harrowing treatment of detainees at the camp. The claims included inmates regularly being kept shackled to hospital beds, blindfolded and forced to wear nappies, and reports of a man having his limb amputated as a result of injuries sustained from constant handcuffing.
The facility, located approximately 18 miles from the Gaza border, included an enclosure where up to 200 Palestinian detainees from Gaza were said to be confined under severe physical restrictions inside cages.
Haaretz reports that nine Israeli soldiers were wounded, two seriously, when ammunition stored at a base in southern Israel exploded. It reports the IDF is investigating the incident.
A demonstration is being held in Tel Aviv in Israel in favour of a peace deal that would free Israeli hostages being held captive in Gaza.
The IDF has reported that aircraft infiltration sirens that sounded in northern Israel this morning were a false alarm.
Incident involving gunfire at US embassy in Lebanon
There is some breaking news that small arms fire has been reported at the US embassy in Lebanon. A suspect has been taken to hospital after forces opened fire. There are no reports of casualties among embassy staff.
More details soon …
Updated
The Palestine Red Crescent Society says it retrieved six bodies from a Palestinian house east of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, after, it claimed, Israeli forces “targeted several houses with artillery shells.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
Welcome and opening summary
Hello, welcome to our latest live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis. I’m Martin Belam and I’ll be with you for the next while.
Israel says it is ready for an offensive along the northern border with Lebanon and is nearing a decision, the chief of staff said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
It is as the Hezbollah movement said it was not seeking to widen the conflict but was ready to fight any war imposed on it.
Israeli military chief of general staff Herzi Halevi said in a recorded statement:
We are prepared after a very good process of training up to the level of a General Staff exercise to move to an offensive in the north,” he said in a recorded statement … We are approaching a decision point.
Hezbollah deputy leader sheikh Naim Qassem told broadcaster Al Jazeera that the group’s decision was not to widen the war but that it would fight one if it was imposed on it. Qassem said the Lebanon front would not stop until the Gaza war stops, Al Jazeera quoted him as saying.
The IDF says it struck two Hezbollah launchers in southern Lebanon overnight, as well as hitting three military structures.
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, which has been fought in parallel to the Gaza war, has intensified in recent days, adding to concerns that an even wider confrontation could break out between the heavily armed sides.
Meanwhile, US president Joe Biden is appearing to tone down his criticism of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after saying that there is “every reason” to draw the conclusion that Netanyahu is prolonging the war in Gaza for his own political self-preservation. Biden made the remarks in an interview with Time magazine published on Tuesday morning. Later on Tuesday, Biden was asked whether Netanyahu was “playing politics with the war”, and Biden said: “I don’t think so. He’s trying to work out a serious problem he has.”
More on that in a moment but first, a summary of the latest developments:
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is facing growing pressure at home and internationally to support a new ceasefire plan for Gaza, a move he is resisting over fears it will collapse his government.
The Israeli prime minister said that Biden, in advancing a plan to wind down the war in Gaza, had published only some of the details. “The war will be stopped for the purpose of returning hostages and then we will proceed with other discussions,” David Mencer, an Israeli government spokesperson, quoted Netanyahu as saying.
The Rafah border crossing critical to aid deliveries into Gaza from Egypt can not operate again unless Israel relinquishes control and hands it back to Palestinians on the Gaza side, Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry said. “It is difficult for the Rafah crossing to continue operating without a Palestinian administration,” he said in a press conference with his Spanish counterpart in Madrid.
About 55% of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, damaged or possibly damaged since the war erupted in October, according to preliminary satellite analysis by the UN. The analysis showed more than 137,000 buildings affected, according to Unosat, the UN satellite analysis agency.
Some people in Gaza are now reduced to drinking sewage water and eating animal feed, the WHO’s regional chief said Tuesday, pleading for increased aid access immediately to the besieged territory. Hanan Balkhy, the World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean regional director, also warned that the war between Israel and Hamas had a knock-on impact on healthcare across the wider region. The child health expert spoke to Agence France-Presse in an interview at the WHO headquarters in Geneva. Inside Gaza, “there are people who are now eating animal food, eating grass, they’re drinking sewage water,” she said. Children are barely able to eat, while the trucks are standing outside of Rafah.”
France’s President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Palestinian Authority should “ensure the governance” of the Gaza Strip, the presidential office said. Macron in phone talks backed the proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal presented by US President Joe Biden, reports Agence France-Presse. “This deal should reopen a credible perspective for the implementation of a two-state solution, the only one able to provide Israel with the necessary security guarantees and to respond to the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians,” he said.
Slovenia recognised a Palestinian state on Tuesday after its parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of the move, reports Associated Press. “Dear people of Palestine, today’s final decision of Slovenia is a message of hope and peace,” Slovenia’s Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said on the social media platform X. “We believe that only a two-state solution can lead to a lasting peace in the Middle East. Slovenia will tirelessly continue to work on the security of both nations, Palestinians and Israelis.” Slovenia’s decision came days after Spain, Norway and Ireland recognised a Palestinian state, a move that was condemned by Israel.
A group of UN experts has called for all countries to recognise a Palestinian state to ensure peace in the Middle East. The experts, including the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories, said recognition of a Palestinian state was an important acknowledgment of the rights of the Palestinian people and their struggle towards freedom and independence.
The US House of Representatives voted Tuesday to advance a largely symbolic bill calling for sanctions on the international criminal court after its prosecutor applied for an arrest warrant against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
