Israel war on Gaza updates: Israeli forces intensify attacks, kill dozens

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You can read more about what Hamas said about ceasefire negotiations, here.

To learn more about Israeli forces intensifying attacks in Shujayea, read this.

And to follow all our coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, read more here.

Here’s what happened today:

• The Palestinian Red Crescent Society says it has evacuated its temporary headquarters in Khan Younis due to “direct shelling”.
• Israeli forces attacked a water distribution point in Gaza City, killing four members of the al-Ghazi family, including a child.
• Hamas remains “ready to deal positively with any proposal that secures a permanent ceasefire”, says Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official.
• Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says Israel’s settlement expansion plan and brutal war on Gaza post obstacles to “just peace” in the region.
• The Israeli military says two of its soldiers have been killed in Shujayea in northern Gaza.
• Gaza’s Health Ministry says 40 Palestinians have been killed and 224 wounded in the latest 24-hour reporting period.
• Mass demonstrations in Tel Aviv have called for the resignation of Netanyahu’s government and a captive exchange deal.

“When very little amount of aid comes through, of course there is going to be a huge rush from the population to go and get it,” said UNWRA spokesperson Louise Wateridge, adding that people in Gaza are “desperate”.

“The only answer to that is to provide more aid,” she said in a video on X.

"When very little amount of aid comes through, of course there is going to be a huge rush from the population to go and get it."@UNWateridge explains that people in #Gaza need everything. "These are very desperate times. […] The only answer to that is to provide more aid." pic.twitter.com/G03aggeQeE

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) June 29, 2024

Hezbollah is preparing for different scenarios as the low-level conflict between Israel threatens to spin out into something larger.

Justin Salhani, reporting from Beirut, takes a look at what could happen, here.

Speaking at a weekly news briefing, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the spokesperson of Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Pakistan decries the indiscriminate Israeli bombing of civilians’ houses in Beit Lahiya in the northern part of the Strip, resulting in several casualties.

Baloch said her country calls for an immediate ceasefire to end the atrocities.

Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official based in Lebanon, says the Palestinian group is still ready to discuss any truce proposal that ends the nearly nine-month conflict.

“Once again, Hamas is ready to deal positively with any proposal that secures a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a serious swap deal,” Hamdan told a news conference in Beirut.

Arab mediators’ efforts, backed by the United States, have so far failed to conclude a ceasefire, with both sides blaming each other for the impasse. Hamas says any deal must end the war for good and bring full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in fighting until Hamas, which has governed Gaza since 2007, is “eradicated”.

Hamdan said the group had yet to receive a new ceasefire proposal from mediators.

Meanwhile, an estimated 130,000 Israelis converged in Tel Aviv on Saturday night demanding an immediate truce deal to bring the captives home.

Read the full report here.

A family member of a captive who was held by Hamas in Gaza says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on not stopping the war as part of the prisoner exchange deal is “what stands between us and our loved ones”.

“Continuing the war means that the captives will be killed by the government of Israel. The blood is on your hands,” Ella Metzger, the daughter-in-law of Yoram Metzger, who died in Hamas captivity aged 80, said at an antigovernment protest in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

“Time and time again, Netanyahu derails all deals at the last minute. Netanyahu must be prevented from blocking the deal next time.”

According to a UN-backed report, half a million people in Gaza are experiencing “catastrophic” hunger. The report highlighted a “high and sustained risk of famine” in the besieged territory.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary reports.

Palestinians in Lebanon have watched Israel’s assault on Gaza with simmering anger and are now facing the prospect of a similar fate if Israel wages an all-out war against the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

But many Palestinians in Lebanon say they’re prepared to fight.

Read more here as Mat Nashed reports from Shatila refugee camp, Beirut, Lebanon.

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has responded to what he said was a threat by Iran to destroy Israel if it attacks Hezbollah in Lebanon by saying “a regime that threatens destruction deserves to be destroyed”.
• The Arab League slammed Israel’s decision to expand its settlements.
• The Israeli military said two of its soldiers have been killed in Shujayea in northern Gaza.
• Saudi Arabia has called on its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country amid rising concerns over an all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel.
• Mass demonstrations are taking place in Tel Aviv demanding the resignation of Netanyahu’s government and calling for a captive exchange deal.

We’ve published several new pieces covering various aspects of the war over the past day or so.

Here are a few highlights:

• News: Israeli forces intensify attacks in Shujayea as Gaza death toll rises
• Video: Israel’s Smotrich promises “a million” new settlers under expansion plan
• Analysis: Are Hezbollah and Israel ready for war?

And there’s plenty more here.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has said it evacuated its temporary administrative headquarters in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, “due to shrapnel falling on the building and direct shelling, which posed a danger to the staff working inside”.

According to the UN Human Rights Office, 500 health workers in Gaza have been killed since October 7. At least 33 of them were Red Crescent employees.

🚨The Palestine Red Crescent Society fully evacuated its temporary administrative headquarters in the Mawasi Khan Younis area due to shrapnel falling on the building and direct shelling, which posed a danger to the staff working inside.#NotATarget #Gaza

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) June 29, 2024

A Palestinian man, who has a mental health condition, went missing for a month and has returned to his family in Gaza with life-threatening injuries.

His family claims he was detained by Israeli forces in Rafah and subsequently handed over to the Red Cross.

Doctors have stated that he urgently needs treatment outside of Gaza to survive.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reports from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

CAUTION: Viewers may find images in this report disturbing.

Israel Katz has responded to what he said was a threat by Iran to destroy Israel if it attacks Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“My response to Iran is clear: If Hezbollah does not cease its fire and withdraw from southern Lebanon, we will act against it with full force until security is restored and residents can return to their homes,” he said in a post on X.

“A regime that threatens destruction deserves to be destroyed,” Katz added.

Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit has condemned the Israeli decision in a statement, describing it as a “complete and final reversal of the Oslo Accords, a return to square one, and an entrenchment of the blatant occupation logic”.

The Oslo Accords signed in 1993 were an agreement between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel, involving arrangements for Palestinian self-government in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Aboul Gheit called on “the international community to see the Israeli government for what it truly is: A racist, right-wing government uninterested in peace, seeking to dismantle any semblance of Palestinian authority, including in ‘Area B’, which under the Oslo Accords, is under Palestinian civilian control”.

The statement came following the Israeli security cabinet’s approval of a plan to legalise five settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, issue tenders to build thousands of housing units in the settlements, and impose sanctions on the Palestinian Authority.

It was a step taken by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to counter recognition of Palestinian statehood and actions against Israel in international courts.

The Israeli military says two of its soldiers have been killed in Shujayea in northern Gaza.

It identified them as Staff Sergeant Yair Avitan, 20, of the Paratroopers Brigade, and Sergeant First Class Yakir Shmuel Tatelbaum, 21, from the settlement of Maaleh Adumim in the occupied West Bank.

The army also said that a soldier from the 13th Battalion of the Golan Brigade, and a soldier from the “Rotem” Battalion of the Givati Brigade were seriously injured in fighting in northern Gaza.

Their deaths bring the toll of soldiers killed in the ground offensive which began at the end of October to 318.

Saudi Arabia has called on its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country amid rising concerns over an all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel, according to the Saudi state news agency SPA.

The kingdom’s embassy has urged Saudis to leave Lebanon “immediately”, the agency reported.

Several countries, both in the region and Western, in recent days have advised their citizens against travelling to Lebanon.

Qatar has denounced the Israeli decision to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank, calling the step “the latest in a series of continuous violations of international legitimacy resolutions”.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Israel’s policy to expand settlements, and forcibly displace Palestinians, as well as its continuing brutal war on the Gaza Strip, “are obstacles to efforts to prevent the expansion of the cycle of violence in the region and achieve a comprehensive and just peace”.

Qatar stressed the need for the international community to unite in pushing Israel to stop its unilateral steps and comply with international resolutions.

“The ministry renews the firm and permanent position of Qatar in supporting the Palestinian cause and the steadfastness of its people, based on the resolutions of international legitimacy and the two-state solution, in order to ensure the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Mass demonstrations are taking place in Tel Aviv demanding the resignation of Netanyahu’s government and calling for a captive exchange deal, according to social media footage verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad.

Footage on social media showed thousands of Israelis waving Israeli flags as they demonstrated.

וואווו
מתוך קניון עזריאלי – רחוב בגין ועד כיכר הדמוקרטיה ומעלה קפלן pic.twitter.com/eaw7oBF3XP

— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) June 29, 2024

Translation: Wow. From Azrieli Mall – Begin Street to Democracy Square and up Kaplan.

קפלן מפוצץ – צולם מתוך הקניון – המונים pic.twitter.com/iSk2GYWRUb

— לירי בורק שביט (@lirishavit) June 29, 2024

Translation: Kaplan blown up – taken from inside the mall – crowds.

Another Hezbollah fighter has been killed during fighting with Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese group.

The fighter was identified by Hezbollah as Abbas Atawi, 38, from the town of Shaqra in southern Lebanon.

At least 353 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces since October, according to Anadolu. Israel and the armed Lebanese group have been engaged in tit-for-tat attacks since the war in Gaza began.