Hezbollah rejects 'humiliating' US-brokered, Lebanon-Israel ceasefire deal

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Israeli airstrikes on Gaza killed at least 11 people on Thursday, a spokesman for the civil defence agency in the Palestinian territory told AFP.

Nine people were killed in strikes on apartments in the northwest and southwest of Gaza City, Mahmoud Bassal said.

Two others were killed in drone strikes in the southwest and the city centre, which targeted police, the spokesman said, adding that there were 15 wounded.

Despite a truce technically in effect since October, daily violence has rocked the Gaza Strip, over half of which is under Israeli military control in defiance of the ceasefire's terms.

Israel has killed at least 936 people since the ceasefire began, according to Gaza's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, surrounded by his counterparts from Arab and Muslim countries, called on the United States on Thursday to stop Israel's annexation of its territories.

"I know that President (Donald) Trump is capable, and he has the tools to stop Netanyahu in his tracks, in order not to keep the whole region in turmoil...and to move in the direction of peace and justice, that is why the majority of us are working with them," Riyad Mansour told press.

"We know that he told (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, including recently, stop the nonsense in Lebanon, stop the craziness. You know you are not allowed to annex the land."

The UN's geopolitical bloc Arab Group joined the ambassador to express "deep alarm" and regional solidarity against "rapidly escalating" Israeli settler aggression and military violence against Palestinians.

"Israel continues to implement policies that amount to accelerated annexation and a systematic dismantling of Palestinian rights," Saudi ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil said on behalf of the bloc.

"The Group stresses that Israel's recent measures are not isolated incidents but part of a coordinated strategy to entrench permanent control over Palestinian land, alter the demographic and geographic reality on the ground, and eliminate the possibility of the independence of the State of Palestine, as a sovereign, viable and contiguous State, in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions."

Others from the intergovernmental Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have echoed the demand to end Israel's annexation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank, where settlement expansion continues, and in Gaza, where the Israeli army has taken control of at least half the territory.

Speaking on behalf of OIC, Turkish deputy ambassador Fikriye Asli Guven called on the Security Council "to take urgent and effective measures to halt all annexation activities, settlement expansion, forcible displacement, and other unlawful practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and to ensure accountability in accordance with international law."

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that Washington did not need a deal with Iran to get enriched uranium from the country.

"We could get it right now. I don't think they could stop us if we wanted, but there's no reason to. It's entombed," he told reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump also said that he did not want to meet with Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

But he added that if Washington and Tehran reached a deal, it was possible that the two would meet and added: "If it happened ... I'd be respectful". 

The United States has switched its attention away from trying to end the Ukraine conflict since it launched its war against Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

"Naturally, we can all see and understand that the US administration is being forced to shift its attention and deal with this issue above all others," Putin told foreign journalists, including AFP, in Saint Petersburg.

An Israeli strike in eastern Lebanon killed five people on Thursday, while another attack near the southern city of Tyre killed three more, the Lebanese health ministry said.

The strikes also left eight wounded, including three children and two women. They came a day after the Lebanese and Israeli governments agreed a ceasefire plan for Israel's war with Hezbollah, which the group has rejected.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday condemned Iran's "outrageous" attack this week on a Kuwait airport that killed one person and wounded dozens.

Meeting Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah in Washington, Rubio "condemned Iran's outrageous and unacceptable attacks targeting Kuwait International Airport and other parts of the country and expressed condolences for those killed and injured in that attack," according to a State Department readout.

Israel announced on Thursday that it will open an embassy in Slovenia, marking what it said will be "a new chapter in relations" with the European country under the newly formed government in Ljubljana.

Ties between Israel and Slovenia had soured after the previous centre-left government of Robert Golob recognised Palestinian statehood in 2024 and also called Israel's military operations in Gaza a genocide.

With the formation of a new government under conservative Prime Minister Janez Jansa, however, Israel is now looking to rebuild its relationship with Slovenia.

"Today, I am proud to announce that Israel will open its first-ever embassy in Ljubljana," Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote on X.

He said the election of Jansa "marks a new chapter in relations between Israel and Slovenia".

"After years of the hostility of the previous government, we now have an opportunity to rebuild, strengthen, and deepen a real partnership.

"An Israeli embassy is more than a diplomatic mission... We are turning today a new page," Saar added as he announced plans to establish the embassy.

Under the previous government, Slovenia also announced a ban on all weapons trade with Israel over the war in Gaza.

It also declared a ban on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, citing ICC proceedings against him over alleged war crimes committed in Gaza.

That move followed the then government's ban against two Israeli far-right ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

It accused them of inciting "extreme violence and serious violations of the human rights of Palestinians" with "their genocidal statements".

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the killing of a Serbian peacekeeper in southern Lebanon, his spokesman said Thursday, demanding that those responsible be brought to justice.

The Serbian, who died from wounds sustained Wednesday from mortar fire at his base, is the seventh peacekeeper from the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) killed since Lebanon was drawn into the war in early March.

"The secretary-general again urges all actors to respect the cessation of hostilities announced on 16 April 2026," said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman.

The violence in southern Lebanon has come amid attacks by the pro-Iranian Hezbollah against Israel in retaliation for the Israeli-American offensive against Iran in late February.

"All attacks on peacekeepers must be promptly investigated, and those responsible must be effectively prosecuted and held accountable," Dujarric said, noting that UNIFIL had launched its own investigation.

Based on preliminary observations, "we understand that the position was struck by indirect fire from north of the Litani River," he added.

The Israeli army accused Hezbollah of being behind the attack late Wednesday in Ibl al-Saqi, which also wounded two others.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris supports the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, and expressed readiness at "moving forward" with this path "within the coordination mechanism" agreed upon in the US.

Speaking at a press conference in Montenegro, he aid: "We support the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel and anything that contributes to restoring peace, combatting terrorist activities, and fully consolidating Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

"France, as always, is ready to move forward on this path. There is an existing coordination mechanism between the United States and France. If the ceasefire is genuine, this mechanism must be reactivated to monitor and verify its implementation."

Macron listed the following as priorities now that the ceasefire has been agreed upon. These include a monopoly on weapons by the Lebanese army, Lebanese territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as maintaining the ceasefire for a lasting peace.

Four Iranian-flagged oil tankers passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, a first since April 15 and the US blockade of Iranian ports, according to maritime tracking firm Kpler.

In data published on Thursday, the firm detected the passage of the Hilda I, the Amber, the Silvia 1, and the Happiness I, which were carrying a total of seven million barrels of oil.

They all loaded their cargo in mid-April on Kharg Island, the country's main oil terminal, through which 90 percent of the Islamic Republic's crude oil normally transits.

The ships crossed the strait on Monday with their AIS transponders turned off.

Kpler relies primarily on satellite imagery to track ships transporting raw materials.

The four oil tankers typically transport Iranian crude to an offshore area off the coasts of Malaysia and Singapore, where they transfer the cargo at sea to other tankers (ship-to-ship) tasked with delivering it to the final customer, often in China.

Tehran adopted this practice to circumvent international sanctions.

The four tankers had initially continued their operations despite the conflict with Israel and the United States but had paused operations since April 13, when Washington imposed a blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Three other oil tankers linked to Iran had already defied the blockade on April 15, according to Kpler.

None had attempted to do so since then.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has welcomed the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel, saying it "offers a chance to prevent a return to full-scale hostilities".

'The best way to reduce the threat posed by Hezbollah i to strengthen the Lebanese state, empower its institutions, and restore its monopoly on the use of force," she said on X.

Kallas said the EU will support this effort by agreeing to provide an extra 100 million euros to the Lebanese Armed Forces.

The latest ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon offers a chance to prevent a return to full-scale hostilities.

But the death of a UNIFIL peacekeeper and continued skirmishes underscore the tenuous nature of what was agreed.

The best way to reduce the threat posed by Hezbollah…

— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) June 4, 2026

At least seven people have been wounded by an Israeli airstrike west of Gaza City, the Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported.

The incident occurred in the vicinity of Al-Quds Hospital in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of the city.

At least one person is in critical condition. 

Three people have been killed by an Israeli strike on the south Lebanese town of Al-Aabbassiyah, in Tyre District, according to the National News Agency (NNA), less than 24 hours after Israel and Lebanon reached a ceasefire agreement, which Hezbollah has rejected.

Israeli strikes have continued across Deir Antar in Bint Jbeil, Majdal Zoun, Kafr Tebnit, Arnoun, and Al-Mansouri.

The UN nuclear agency reaffirmed on Thursday that a lack of access to verify nuclear material in Iran posed a "proliferation concern", calling on the Islamic republic to "engage the agency constructively".

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not had access to some key nuclear facilities in Iran since Israel and the United States launched a 12-day conflict in June 2025 that saw strikes on nuclear sites.

Nuclear sites have also been struck in the war that erupted on 28 February. The IAEA has repeatedly urged access.

"While the agency acknowledged that the military attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities and sites have created an unprecedented situation, it is critical for the agency to conduct verification activities in Iran without delay," the IAEA said in a confidential report.

The report is to be discussed at an IAEA board of governors' meeting next week.

Prior to US strikes in June 2025, the IAEA calculated that Iran possessed approximately 440 kilogrammes of uranium enriched to 60 percent, which is close to the 90 percent needed to make a bomb and well above the 3.67-percent limit set by a 2015 now-defunct agreement with Iran.

Since June 2025, the fate of this stockpile has remained uncertain, with Tehran refusing access to IAEA inspectors at sites ravaged by US and Israeli strikes.

"The agency's lack of access to verify the previously declared highly enriched uranium and low enriched uranium for nearly a year - which is long overdue according to standard safeguard practices - is a matter of proliferation concern," it added.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Thursday that the army would begin deploying in "pilot zones" in the country's south, a day after Israel and Lebanon agreed in Washington to implement a ceasefire.

"The next step is practical and tangible: the deployment of the Lebanese army in pilot zones as a first phase," Salam said, according to remarks read out by Information Minister Paul Morcos after a cabinet meeting, adding that "this does not prejudice our right to a full (Israeli) withdrawal, but brings us closer to it".

According to a joint statement released after the Washington talks that Hezbollah has rejected, Israel and Lebanon agreed to create "pilot zones" in south Lebanon where the Lebanese army forces "will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors."