Israel strikes southern Beirut after forced evacuation orders as Gaza deaths rise

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Hamas's lead negotiator said the group was ready to enter a new round of talks aimed at sealing a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, where rescuers said Israeli strikes killed at least 37 people on Thursday.

Negotiator Khalil al-Hayya made the declaration in a speech marking the start of Eid al-Adha festivities, typically a joyous date on the Muslim calendar, but one many Gazans say they will not be able to celebrate this year amid crushing shortages.

"We reaffirm that we are ready for a new, serious round of negotiations aimed at reaching a permanent ceasefire agreement," Hayya said, adding the group was in contact with mediators.

Talks aimed at brokering a new ceasefire have failed to yield a breakthrough since the last brief truce fell apart in March with the resumption of Israeli operations in Gaza.

The international medical organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned that Israeli-imposed displacement orders and movement restrictions in Gaza have pushed Nasser Hospital to the brink of collapse.

“Throughout this war, Israeli forces have repeatedly ordered hospitals to turn away patients and have restricted access to medical care, effectively working to shut down these vital facilities,” MSF said in a statement.

Nasser Hospital, the last functioning referral hospital in southern Gaza, is described by MSF as a critical lifeline for thousands. The organization is calling for its immediate restoration and protection.

Jose Mas, MSF’s head of emergency programs, said that rendering the hospital inoperative would be a “death sentence” for the critically ill, severely injured, and pregnant women needing urgent care.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has also urged the protection of both Nasser and al-Amal hospitals amid the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has condemned recent Israeli strikes, calling them a "systemic and deliberate attack on Lebanon’s security, stability, and economy", especially as the country prepares for Eid al-Adha and the start of the summer tourism season.

In a statement from his office, Salam urged the international community to act swiftly to deter Israel from "continuing its aggressions" and to pressure it to fully withdraw from Lebanese territory.

The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon also appealed for restraint, calling for a halt to any actions that could further undermine the ceasefire. The UN urged all parties to use diplomatic channels to prevent further escalation and avoid deepening the regional crisis.

Hamas political leader Khalil al-Hayya said the group did not reject the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal involving U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. In a pre-recorded speech, al-Hayya stated that Hamas had requested amendments to the proposal to ensure a permanent end to the war, not to derail the talks.

He emphasised Hamas’s willingness to continue negotiations and confirmed ongoing communication with mediators. Israel ended a previous truce in March and resumed military operations in Gaza.

Witkoff, speaking Thursday, insisted Hamas must accept the deal "so the remaining living hostages can return" and the bodies of the deceased can be recovered.

Hamas, however, claimed it had accepted an earlier version of the ceasefire proposal, which was later revised by Witkoff to reflect new Israeli conditions. According to Hamas, it only objected to the revised terms, not the original framework, and accused Witkoff of unfairly blaming the group for undermining the process.

Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee has issued fresh evacuation warnings, this time targeting the southern Lebanese village of Ain Qana. Residents have been urged to stay clear of two specific buildings that appear likely to be struck.

Ain Qana lies east of the coastal city of Sidon and is the latest location in Lebanon to face Israeli warnings.

Israeli airstrikes have begun targeting the Dahiyeh neighbourhood in southern Beirut, shortly after the military announced its intention to strike the area.

Video footage showed explosions in the area, which is known as a Hezbollah stronghold. According to the Israeli military, the strikes are aimed at underground facilities used for drone production by Hezbollah.

Before launching the attack, Israel issued mandatory evacuation orders for four areas within Dahiyeh, warning residents to move at least 300 meters away from identified buildings linked to the group.

The Israeli army said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen on Thursday, after air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem and other cities.

"Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted," the army said in a statement.

The streets of Beirut's southern suburbs were paralysed by heavy traffic jams on Thursday as residents fled an Israeli evacuation warning.

AFP photographers saw massive numbers of people trying to flee the area, which the Israeli military said housed Hezbollah facilities. Lebanese media reported that the area was nearly emptied of inhabitants and had been sealed off and said there had been "warning strikes".

The Israeli military has issued evacuation orders for parts of southern Beirut, warning residents in the neighbourhoods of Hadath, Haret Hreik, and Borj el-Barajneh to leave immediately.

In a message posted in Arabic on social media, Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee stated that those living near specific buildings in these Dahiye suburbs are "required to evacuate," claiming the sites are located near Hezbollah infrastructure. The post included a map highlighting the targeted locations.

The warning suggests that Israeli strikes on the area may be imminent. This comes amid ongoing tensions, despite a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah that has been in place since November of last year.

Southern Beirut has already been targeted by Israeli airstrikes on several occasions since the truce was declared.

British Palestinians have issued an urgent appeal to the UK government to intervene in Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war, accusing it of aiding a “systemic genocide” in Gaza through continued arms exports and political support.

At a press conference in London on Thursday, organised by the British Palestinian Committee (BPC) and the UK Gaza Community, speakers delivered harrowing testimony from Palestinians in the UK and aid workers still inside Gaza. MPs and medical professionals also voiced support.

"What is happening in Gaza is directly impacting British Palestinians," Sara Hussein, director of the BPC, said. "The UK government is not a bystander, it is an active participant. A British trade envoy was sent to Israel in the midst of genocide. That sends a chilling message - it's business as usual."

The UK has faced growing pressure to halt arms sales to Israel. Despite warnings from rights groups and a ruling from the International Court of Justice that genocide was "plausible", investigations show British-made components are being used in weapons deployed over Gaza.

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At least 52 Palestinians have been killed by Israel today across Gaza. 

According to hospital sources around the besieged territory, 31 bodies arrived at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis.

Another seven arrived at the al-Ahli Arab hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital. And another 14 arrived at the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

A ship carrying activists, including Greta Thunberg, to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid rescued four migrants on Thursday after they had jumped into the sea from another vessel to avoid being picked up by Libyan authorities.

The vessel Madleen, which is operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, was alerted by the European Union's Frontex border control agency and arrived at the location in the Mediterranean where it found 30-40 people on a "boat that was rapidly deflating." As the Madleen launched its own inflatable rescue boat, a Libyan coast guard vessel approached at high speed, the coalition said.

"To avoid being taken by the Libyan authorities, four people jumped into the sea, and began desperately swimming toward the Madleen,'' which rescued them.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition protested the return of the other migrants to Libya, where human rights campaigners have said they face abuse and even torture. It also has called on Italy, Greece and Malta to pick up those now on board the Madleen and bring them to safety in Europe.

Four of the refugees rescued by #MadleenFlotilla are from Sudan—a country ravaged by a bloody war that no one in Europe seems to speak about.

Once these refugees arrive in Libya, they are met not only with negligence but with torture and abuse.

Many who attempt to cross the… pic.twitter.com/PpbZeHlCY6

— Refugees In Libya (@RefugeesinLibya) June 5, 2025

Hundreds of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) staff staged a protest in Geneva on Thursday, condemning the "militarisation" of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army.

The protesters carried a large banner reading "Gaza: All red lines have been crossed," demanding an end to the Israeli blockade and the delivery of sufficient aid to the Palestinian population.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Thursday that the Lebanese army had dismantled "more than 500 military positions and arms depots" belonging to Hezbollah in the south of the country.

"The state continues its action... to restore its authority over the entire national territory... and to have a monopoly on arms," Salam said in a televised address. The effort follows a ceasefire agreement between the militant group and Israel which ended a war between them last November.

French dock workers at a southern port are blocking the shipment of military material bound for Israel in protest at Israeli actions against Palestinians in Gaza, their union said.

The stevedores at the port in Fos-sur-Mer outside Marseille have refused to load crates of links used to assist the rapid fire of bullets aboard the cargo vessel, the CGT trade union said.

Links are small metal pieces, used to connect machine gun bullets and allowing rapid bursts of fire. There has been concern in media and among rights groups that they have likely been used against civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Christophe Claret, leader of the dock workers in the port, said they had been notified that the ship was due to be loaded on Thursday with the material.

Les dockers de Fos-sur-Mer annoncent qu'ils refusent de charger les armes à destination de l'armée israélienne !

Le peuple français refuse d'être complice du génocide à Gaza.

Solidarité internationale ! https://t.co/tv2kZvT4oF pic.twitter.com/g0CiWQDiru

— Clémence Guetté (@Clemence_Guette) June 4, 2025

Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday condemned the country's banks that have refused to provide services to Israeli settlers sanctioned by the European Union last year, and warned they may have to pay compensation to them.

In a letter to the banking supervisor, Smotrich said Israeli banks should not follow a "zero risk" policy since it leads to the abandonment of Israeli clients "under the guise of compliance with foreign sanctions."

In a statement quoting his letter to the regulator, Smotrich called on banks to use their legal, economic, and international strength to fight "unjust sanctions".

"The banks' enormous profits enable them to take measured risks on behalf of their clients — especially when it comes to a national moral injustice," Smotrich, who leads the far-right Religious Zionism party, said.

Should banks continue to comply with sanctions and harm clients, Smotrich said he intended to promote immediate legislation that would require banks to pay substantial compensation to affected customers.

The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund said Thursday it resumed food distribution in the war-torn Palestinian territory, after pausing operations for a day following deadly shootings.

"GHF can confirm that we were open for distribution today," the group said in an email to AFP, adding it had delivered 1.4 million meals at two separate sites and 8.4 million meals since opening on May 27.

The rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition in Gaza has nearly tripled since a ceasefire earlier this year when aid flowed more freely, according to data collected by humanitarian groups and released by the U.N. on Thursday.

The report was issued at a time when aid distribution in the Palestinian enclave is under intense scrutiny because of deadly Israeli shootings close to the operations of a new U.S.-backed system.

Rescuers in the Gaza Strip said 37 people were killed Thursday in Israeli attacks across the Palestinian territory, raising an earlier toll.

"Thirty-seven people have been martyred in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip... today, up until this moment," civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told AFP.

Visiting EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica said Thursday that a 175 million euro package for war-torn Syria was a "clear message" of support for its reconstruction.

Suica announced the package in Damascus Wednesday, saying it would focus on sectors including energy, education, health and agriculture, helping rebuild Syria's economy, support its institutions and promote human rights.

"I came here... with a clear message that we are here to assist and help Syria on its recovery," Suica told AFP in an interview on Thursday.

"We want that reconstruction and recovery will be Syria-owned and Syria-led," she said, on the first visit by an EU commissioner since a transitional government was unveiled in late March.

"We want to see Syria to be a regular, normal, democratic country in the future," she added.

Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Thursday that recognising a Palestinian state at the moment would send "the wrong signal".

Speaking at a Berlin press conference with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar, he said that "negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians must be concluded" first, before the recognition of a Palestinian state.

Spain, Ireland and Norway last year recognised a Palestinian state, and French President Emmanuel Macron has recently stepped up his support for the idea, leading Israel to accuse him of a "crusade against the Jewish state".

Last week Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed to build a "Jewish Israeli state" in the occupied West Bank, a day after the government announced the creation of 22 new settlements in the Palestinian territory.

Wadephul said Thursday that he was "concerned about the extremely tense situation in the West Bank" and that the German government "rejects" the creation of new Israel settlements there as illegal under international law.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul criticised Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip at a press conference with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar in Berlin on Thursday, again calling for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into the enclave.

"That is also the prevailing international law," he said.

Wadephul also decried the Israeli government's announcement that it would allow 22 more settlements in the occupied West Bank, saying it threatened the two-state solution further.

The European Union should maintain its pact governing political and economic ties with Israel, which was placed under review last month due to the situation in Gaza, he added.

Germany would continue to deliver weapons to Israel, he added, saying the country had the right to defend itself.

Iran on Thursday "strongly" condemned the United States for vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire and full humanitarian access in Gaza.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement that the US move to block the resolution, which was supported by 14 of the 15 members of the council, demonstrated "the country's complicity in the crimes of the Zionist regime (Israel) and strongly condemned it."

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday during a trip to Paris accused Israel of carrying out "premeditated genocide" in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

"It's a premeditated genocide from a far-right government that is waging a war against the interests of its own people," he said at a joint press conference with France's President Emmanuel Macron.

Gaza's health ministry said in a statement that the number of people killed in the territory since 7 October 2023 has risen to 54,677, with 125,530 wounded, most of them civilians.

At least 70 people were killed in the last 24 hours, the ministry says, and 189 wounded people were admitted to Gaza hospitals in that same period.

Thousands more are believed to be beneath the rubble.

Groups of Jewish Israeli settlers on Thursday stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem under heavy Israeli police protection, performing religious rituals and provoking worshippers, reports said.

Settlers have stormed the compound several times in recent days, commemorating when Israel captured East Jerusalem and Islam's third holiest site on 27 June 1967 following the Six-Day War.

مجموعات المستوطنين تقتحم المسجد الأقصى المبارك حماية قوات الاحتلال. pic.twitter.com/Sv2jhW3Vwx

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) June 5, 2025

An Israeli strike on the Baptist Hospital in Gaza killed three journalists on Thursday, Al Araby TV reported.

The journalists were identified as Suleiman Hajjaj, Ismail Badah, and Samir al-Rifai.

Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani condemned on Wednesday Israeli strikes in retaliation for overnight rocket fire, saying they were aimed at destabilising his country.

Israel bombed southern Syria after the military reported that two projectiles were fired into Israeli territory, with media reports saying these were the first launched from Syria since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.

Two unknown groups claimed responsibility for the launches, while Syrian authorities denied responsibility and said they would "never be a threat" to anyone in the region.

Shaibani said that the Israeli attacks were "coordinated provocations aimed at undermining Syria's progress and stability".

"These actions create an opening for outlawed groups to exploit the resulting chaos," the top Syrian diplomat told a news conference in Damascus alongside visiting EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica. "Syria has made its intentions clear: we are not seeking war, but rather reconstruction," he added.

Syrian forces shot dead eight members of the Alawite minority at a checkpoint on Wednesday, a war monitor said, after reporting that five men were found dead following their detention.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said that "security checkpoint personnel carried out a field execution of eight civilians, including three women, and injured five others - all Alawite" travelling in "a civilian passenger bus" in the central Hama province.

The Observatory said the personnel at the checkpoint "stopped the bus and opened fire on it, then forced the surviving passengers off and shot them as well".

There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities.

The United Nations Secretary General named Major General Diodato Abagnara on Wednesday as head of mission and force commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Abagnara is succeeding Lieutenant General Aroldo Lazaro Saenz, according to a UNIFIL statement.

Il Segretario Generale delle Nazioni Unite, @antonioguterres, ha annunciato oggi la nomina del Generale di Divisione Diodato Abagnara @Esercito come Comandante di @UNIFIL_.
"Incarico di grande responsabilità in una regione cruciale nonché un riconoscimento dell'importante ruolo… pic.twitter.com/1daAzkOMF9

— Ministero Difesa (@MinisteroDifesa) June 4, 2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday the bodies of two Israelis killed in Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack and held in Gaza had been returned to Israel.

Netanyahu said the bodies of Judy Weinstein-Haggai and Gad Haggai from Kibbutz Nir Oz were returned to Israel "in a special operation by the (security agency) and the (military) in the Gaza Strip."

A CNN investigation has found that Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid site in Rafah as people gathered for food on Sunday.

The US-based network interviewed a dozen eyewitnesses who described Israeli troops firing intermittently at the crowd throughout the morning. 

CNN also verified and geolocated several videos showing gunfire erupting near a roundabout where hundreds of Palestinians had assembled, around 800 metres from an Israeli-controlled aid area in Tal as-Sultan, southern Rafah.

While none of the videos captured who fired the shots, weapons experts cited by CNN said the pattern of fire matched Israeli army machine guns.

Bullet casings recovered from victims were also consistent with Israeli military weapons, according to the report.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a little-known group supported by the US and Israel, has extended the closure of its aid distribution centres in Gaza for a second day. 

Operations were halted on Wednesday and will remain suspended until "maintenance and repair" work is finished, the group said in a Facebook post.

The GHF said its sites "will not open as early as Thursday morning" and that updates on reopening times would be shared once the work is complete. 

It also urged people heading to its centres to stick to the Israeli army’s designated routes for what it described as "safe passage."

The announcement came hours after Israeli forces fired on Palestinians gathering near one of the group’s centres in Rafah, the fourth such incident in recent days.  At least 27 people were killed and around 90 wounded in the attack.