Closing summary
The medical charity Médecins du Monde accused Israel of violating international law with drone strikes on a building housing one of its offices in Gaza that killed eight people, none of them staff, the AFP reports. The France-based aid group said in a statement that the attack on Tuesday “constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law, which protects both civilian populations and humanitarian organisations operating in conflict zones”.
Israel’s government is issuing “clearly illegal” orders that must not be obeyed, a group of Israeli military intelligence officers have said, announcing they will no longer participate in combat operations in Gaza. In a letter addressed to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the defence minister and the head of the military, the group of 41 officers and reservists said the government is waging an “unnecessary, eternal war” in Gaza.
The EU has urged Israel not to tear up a waiver that allows Israeli banks to work with Palestinian banks. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich plans to revoke the waiver, which could ruin Palestine’s financial infrastructure. “The European Union is deeply concerned by the instruction by Israel’s finance minister Smotrich to cancel the waiver on cooperation with Palestinian banks, which could cut them off from the Israeli financial system, devastate an already crippled Palestinian economy, and may lead to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority,” EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni said.
A convoy carrying hundreds of activists has arrived in Libya after driving from Algeria and crossing through Tunisia on its way to the Gaza Strip to challenge Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid on the territory. The convoy is made up of at least 1,500 people, including activists and supporters from Algeria and Tunisia – with more expected to join from Libya, AP reported.
Israeli gunfire and airstrikes killed at least 41 Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday, most of them at an aid site operated by the U.S-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the centre of the coastal territory, local health officials said. Medical officials at Shifa and Al-Quds Hospitals said at least 25 people were killed by Israeli gunfire as they approached the aid site near the former settlement of Netzarim, and dozens were wounded.
Israel’s parliament is set to hold a preliminary vote on Wednesday to dissolve itself after a dispute over conscription, a first step that could lead to an early election, which polls show prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu would lose. The vote could still be pulled at the last minute, and even if it goes against Netanyahu, it would only be the first of four needed to bring forward elections.
US house speaker Mike Johnson will travel to Israel to address the Israeli parliament on 22 June, Punchbowl News reported on Wednesday. Johnson is expected to meet with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem during the brief trip, the report said.
A 10-year-old Palestinian boy who survived an Israeli airstrike in Gaza last month which killed his father and nine siblings was due to arrive in Italy on Wednesday for treatment, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). Adam and his mother, paediatrician Alaa al-Najjar, were due to fly to Milan in northern Italy on Wednesday evening alongside his aunt and four cousins, foreign minister Antonio Tajani said.
Israel deported activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday, a day after the Gaza-bound ship she was on was seized by the Israeli military, reports the Associated Press (AP). Speaking upon arrival in Paris en route to her home country of Sweden, Thunberg called for the release of the other activists who were detained on the Madleen. She described a “quite chaotic and uncertain” situation during the detention.
The US has condemned the decision by the UK, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and Australia to sanction two Israeli ministers over “egregious abuses” of human rights in Gaza, reports the PA news agency. Donald Trump’s secretary of state Marco Rubio said that the travel ban and asset freeze imposed on Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich “do not advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire” and called for the measures to be reversed.
Hamas has killed 50 fighters in recent months from a Palestinian gang armed by Israel in Gaza, according to a statement released amid reports that Israeli troops directly intervened this week to protect the faction. According to media reports in Israel, clashes between Hamas fighters and members of a militia led by Yasser abu Shabab, known locally for his involvement in criminal activity, erupted early on Tuesday in Rafah.
Israel’s government is issuing “clearly illegal” orders that must not be obeyed, a group of Israeli military intelligence officers have said, announcing they will no longer participate in combat operations in Gaza.
In a letter addressed to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the defence minister and the head of the military, the group of 41 officers and reservists said the government is waging an “unnecessary, eternal war” in Gaza.
The letter, which was shared online late on Tuesday, said the group would refuse to take part in a “war designed to preserve the rule of Netanyahu” and appease “anti-democratic and messianic elements in [his] government”.
The letter’s signatories are not named but are identified as members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)’s intelligence directorate, which has played a key role in the 20-month offensive in the Gaza Strip, particularly through the selection of bombing targets.
Addressing the impact of the offensive on civilians in the territory, the group wrote: “When a government acts for ulterior motives, harms civilians and leads to the killing of innocent people – the orders it issues are clearly illegal, and we must not obey them.”
The intelligence officers said Netanyahu’s government had given a “death sentence” to the Israeli hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza when it “chose to collapse” the ceasefire deal in March.
The group, which is understood to include members of the elite military surveillance division Unit 8200, claimed that “many hostages have already been killed by IDF bombings” and accused the government of continuing to “abandon their lives”.
