Gaza war: Hamas accepts ceasefire resolution as Israel's deadly strikes continue

The New Arab's live blog on Israel's war in Gaza has ended, and will resume tomorrow at 0900 am.

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Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian man and injured two others in a raid in the Kafr Dan village, west of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Israeli special forces reportedly made their way into the village and cordoned off the house of al-Abed family, and asked a young man inside through loudspeaker to turn himself in, before army reinforcements were deployed in the village.

The soldiers fired shoulder-fired missiles towards the house, killing a man and wounding two others, 

Wafa said the soldiers prevented ambulances from reaching the scene and opened fire at them.

Approximately 25 people were arrested late Monday for willful disruption of university operations and after pro-Palestinian demonstrators attempted to set up an encampment  at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The individuals were cited, issued 14-day orders to stay away from UCLA and then released.

Only 100,000 Palestinians are left in the city of Rafah, UNRWA said on Tuesday, over a month after Israeli forces began its military operation n Rafah. 

Almost all displaced people have fled the area, leaving fewer than 100,000 still left, according to the UNRWA.

As a result, there are now 1.7 million displaced people in Gaza – more than 70 percent of the population – with many of the displaced having been forced to move multiple times, the UNRWA said in its latest situation update.

Israeli forces have arrested at least 15 Palestinians in overnight raids, including former prisoners, the Commission for Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said.

Raids took place in Ramallah, Qalqilya, Nablus, Bethlehem and Hebron in the occupied West Bank and in occupied East Jerusalem.

“The arrests included incidents of physical assault, beatings, threats to the detainees and/or their families, in addition to vandalism and destruction of property,” the groups said in a statement.

An Israeli government official said on Tuesday the latest Gaza proposal would allow Israel to achieve all the objectives it needs to meet before it can end the war.

"Israel will not end the war before achieving all its war objectives: destroying Hamas' military and governing capabilities, freeing all the hostages and ensuring Gaza doesn't pose a threat to Israel in the future," said the official who asked not to be identified.

"The proposal presented enables Israel to achieve these goals and Israel will indeed do so."

Lebanese official media said a civilian was killed on Tuesday in an Israeli strike in the country's south, with the local water company saying he was an employee, as cross-border violence escalates.

The death came after Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group said it targeted an Israeli military position following overnight strikes in eastern Lebanon that killed three of its fighters, hours after the Iran-backed movement downed an Israeli drone.

The official National News Agency said that "an enemy drone carried out a strike" in Naqura, a coastal town on the Israeli border, later reporting that a "civilian who was seriously wounded" in the raid had died.

The agency published a statement from the South Lebanon Water Establishment announcing that one of its employees was killed "while he was carrying out his duty to ensure the continuity of the water supply" in Naqura.

The statement urged official and international bodies to condemn the strike and pressure Israel "to stop its attacks on vital and relief sector employees and workers immediately".

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday announced $404 million in new US assistance for the Palestinians, as he urged other countries including US critics also to give money to address Gaza's humanitarian crisis.

"Some have expressed great concern over the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza, including countries with the capacity to give a lot, have provided very little or nothing at all," Blinken told an emergency aid conference in Jordan, in a likely reference to US adversaries China and Russia.

Leaders at an emergency summit on Gaza's humanitarian crisis pleaded Tuesday for greater aid access into the war-ravaged territory and backed a US-proposed ceasefire as the only long-term solution.

Jordan invited leaders from around the world to its Dead Sea coast for urgent talks as aid groups warn that conditions are worse than ever in Gaza, with virtually the whole population of more than two million people relying on sporadic aid deliveries.

"The horror must stop," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the conference.

"The speed and scale of the carnage and killing in Gaza is beyond anything in my years as secretary-general," he said.

UN humanitarian coordination Martin Griffiths described the Gaza war as a "stain on our humanity" and appealed for $2.5 billion to meet the humanitarian needs of Gazans from April until December.

Guterres voiced his backing for a ceasefire plan put forth by US President Joe Biden, under which Israel would withdraw from Gaza population centres and Hamas would free hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Rescue teams and citizens today recovered three bodies in the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp west of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

The rescue crews and citizens were able to recover the bodies of three Palestinians, who were killed in Israeli airstrikes earlier today on the camp.

Humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip cannot wait for a ceasefire and cannot be subject to a political agenda, Jordan's King Abdullah said during a conference on Tuesday

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called on Tuesday on nations to force Israel to stop using hunger as a weapon and remove obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday it was the responsibility of the United Nations Security Council and the international community to press Israel to open all land crossings into the Gaza Strip.

"The responsibility of the Security Council and all parties of the international community remains great in putting pressure on Israel in order to open all land crossings into the Gaza Strip and hand them over to the new government to let all relief and medical supplies in," he said during a conference. 

The death toll in Gaza has reached 37,164 casualties, the Health ministry said.

Over 2,000 trucks carrying humanitarian aid and commercial goods are "waiting in Egypt and ready to enter Gaza," the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations said on a statement on X.

"Due to intense military operations, the Rafah crossing remains closed. The EU advocates for sustained, unimpeded, and safe humanitarian access," it said.

More than 2,000 trucks carrying humanitarian aid and commercial goods are waiting in Egypt, ready to enter Gaza.

Due to intense military operations, the Rafah crossing remains closed.

The EU advocates for sustained, unimpeded, and safe humanitarian access. pic.twitter.com/I1EPHr38Td

— EU Civil Protection & Humanitarian Aid 🇪🇺 (@eu_echo) June 11, 2024

US Secretary of State Blinken said he believes there is a "strong consensus" among Israeli leaders to move forward the Gaza ceasefire plan, while speaking in Tel Aviv after a series of meetings with Israeli officials,

Blinken said Netanyahu, who he met yesterday, reiterated his support for the plan. Blinken said he received positive signals from Defence Minister Gallant and other Israeli officials.

"This proposal and moving forward on it is the first step, we want to see it come to fruition."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday a Hamas statement of support for a UN resolution backing a proposal for a ceasefire in the Gaza war was a "hopeful sign" though word from the militant group's leadership in the enclave was vital.

Conversations on plans for Gaza after the Israel's war in Gaza ends will continue on Tuesday afternoon and in the next couple of days, Blinken said in Jerusalem after talks with Israeli leaders. "It's imperative that we have these plans."

Blinken met Israeli officials on Tuesday in a concerted push to end the eight-month-old war a day after President Joe Biden's proposal for a ceasefire was approved by the UN Security Council.

On Tuesday, however, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri, said it accepted the ceasefire resolution and was ready to negotiate over the details, adding that it was up to Washington to ensure that Israel abides by it.

He said Hamas accepted the formula stipulating the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a swap of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel.

"The US administration is facing a real test to carry out its commitments in compelling the occupation to immediately end the war in an implementation of the UN Security Council resolution," Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

Blinken said the Hamas statement was "a hopeful sign" but definitive word was still needed from the Hamas leadership in Gaza. "That's what counts, and that's what we don't have yet."

Hamas accepts a UN Security Council ceasefire resolution and is ready to negotiate over the details, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters on Tuesday.

The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday that the civilian deaths in Gaza during the Israeli operation to secure the release of four hostages and their holding by armed groups in densely populated areas could amount to war crimes.

"Hundreds of Palestinians, many of them civilians, were reportedly killed and injured," said Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN human rights office.

"Furthermore, by holding hostages in such densely populated areas, the armed groups doing so are putting the lives of Palestinian civilians, as well as the hostages themselves, at added risk from the hostilities. All these actions, by both parties, may amount to war crimes.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had "reaffirmed his commitment" to a Gaza ceasefire proposal during their meeting in Jerusalem.

"I met with Prime Minister Netanyahu last night and he reaffirmed his commitment to the proposal," Blinken said, adding that Hamas's welcoming of a UN vote on the US-drafted ceasefire resolution was a "hopeful" sign.

Israel's military said on Tuesday sirens warning of possible incoming rockets sounded in the northern port city of Haifa.

Earlier on Tuesday, the military said it had intercepted "a suspicious aerial target" off the coast of Haifa, where no injuries or damage were reported

Hamas says one of its commanders was among those killed by Israeli forces on Monday in Ramallah, Al Jazeera and AFP reported. 

In a statement, the Palestinian group named Mohammed Jaber Abdo as among the four Palestinians killed in Monday night’s incident in the West Bank.

The Palestinian health ministry said four Palestinians were killed on Monday by Israeli "occupation fire" in the town of Kfar Naima, north-west of Ramallah, the Palestinian health ministry said.

A general strike was called in Ramallah by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in response to the killings, along with a pre-planned rally for Palestinians jailed by Israel.

The Israeli military said it shot at a group of four people who attempted to flee in a vehicle and tried to "run over forces" when Israeli police went to Kfar Naima to arrest a suspect. One Israeli officer was lightly hurt, an army statement said.

Jordan will host a summit Tuesday on the urgent humanitarian response for Palestinians enduring more than eight months of devastating war in Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of looming famine.

The summit seeks to bring together leaders and aid officials to "determine means for enhancing the international community's response to the humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip", according to the Jordanian royal court.

The conference is jointly organised by the UN, Jordan and Egypt on the Dead Sea coast and will be attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as well as Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

Jordan's foreign ministry said the conference would discuss "preparations for early recovery, and seek commitments for a collective and coordinated response to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza".

"The main purpose of this summit is to reach consensus over practical measures to meet the immediate needs" in Gaza, the ministry added in a statement.

Israeli forces shot and wounded a Palestinian man at dawn on Tuesday,  during a military incursion of Balata camp, east of Nablus, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) announced that a young man was injured by live bullets in the thigh during the incident near the West Bank city, Wafa said.

Additionally, Israeli forces shot and injured a 60-year-old Palestinian as he was on his way to perform the dawn prayer, in the town of Abu Dis, southeast of occupied Jerusalem.

The elderly man was identified as Ahmed Hamdan.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday that four soldiers had been killed in fighting in southern Gaza the previous day, more than eight months into its war against Hamas militants.

The soldiers were "killed in fighting in south Gaza" on Monday, the military said in a statement, without elaborating on the circumstances of their deaths.

Israeli public broadcaster Kan said that the soldiers were killed in an explosion in a building in Gaza's far-southern city of Rafah.

On Monday evening, Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said its fighters had "booby-trapped" a building in the Shabura refugee camp in Rafah.

"The Qassam mujahideen were able to detonate a booby-trapped house inside which a Zionist force was holed up ... leaving members of the (Israeli) force dead and wounded," the group said in a statement.