Israel war on Gaza updates: Simultaneous ground assaults on Rafah, Shujayea

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To read more about how residents in Gaza continue to flee Rafah in the south and Shujayea in the north as Israeli tanks push deeper into both areas, click here.

To learn more about the story of the family of a critically injured man in Gaza who allegedly faced torture in Israeli custody, watch this.

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

During protests by thousands of ultra-Orthodox men against their conscription into the military, Israeli Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf’s car was attacked, The Times of Israel reported.

According to some footage of the attack, protesters were seen attacking a car carrying Goldknopf, who heads the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, as he drove home in Jerusalem, the outlet said.

According to Hebrew media reports, the demonstrators threw stones at the minister’s car and yelled insults as he passed by.

Five people were arrested during the demonstrations during which protesters also lit fires in the street, the Times of Israel said.

Several people were killed and injured in an Israeli bombardment of the Sabra neighbourhood, south of Gaza City, the Wafa news agency reports, citing local sources.

Israeli artillery also bombed the Shaboura neighbourhood and the vicinity of Al-Awda Roundabout in the centre of Rafah, Wafa reports.

According to UN Women, at least 557,000 women in Gaza are facing severe food insecurity, UNWRA shared in a post on X.

“Constantly menaced by looming famine, Palestinian mothers struggle to feed their children and themselves. The difficulties they face every day are immense and growing,” the post reads.

According to @UN_Women, at least 557,000 women in #Gaza are facing severe food insecurity.

Constantly menaced by looming famine, Palestinian mothers struggle to feed their children and themselves. The difficulties they face every day are immense and growing. #CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/FKP4wEvbCJ

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) June 30, 2024

Let’s get up to speed:

• Al Jazeera has obtained exclusive footage showing Palestinian prisoners being used as human shields by the Israeli military in Gaza.
• Israel’s military says 18 of its soldiers were injured, one of them seriously, when a drone struck their position in the occupied Golan Heights, which borders Lebanon.
• The spokesperson for Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas says that “there is no legitimacy for any foreign presence on the Palestinian territories”, according to the Wafa news agency.
• A large number of people attended the funeral of Saeed Jaber, 24, who was killed in a bombing that targeted a house in the Nur Shams refugee camp.
• There are at least three victims of the Israeli shelling of a residential apartment in the Sheikh Radwan area of Gaza City.

Heavy battles and bombardment continue to hit Gaza City’s Shujayea district, months after Israel declared Hamas’s command structure dismantled in the northern area.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled the devastated neighbourhood, where the army said it has carried out raids and fought Palestinian militants both “above and below ground” in tunnels.

Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government.

Al Jazeera has obtained exclusive footage showing these Palestinian prisoners being used as human shields by the Israeli military in Gaza.

In some scenes, we can see one man clearly beaten and bloodied, with his hands tied behind his back, going up the stairs of a building that has been completely destroyed, searching for weapons or more Hamas fighters.

In that same video, you can see dead bodies all over the floor from when the building was destroyed. Additionally, we know that another prisoner was walking behind him with a camera strapped to his chest.

In another part of the video, we see Palestinian prisoners who are dressed in army gear, without any weapons, in some of these other buildings, [also] searching for weapons or Hamas fighters.

The Israeli military, tying a rope across the body of one Palestinian prisoner, forces him into a tunnel where he is being essentially suspended by this rope, which can be tugged by the army.

This is not the first example we’ve seen throughout this war of the Israeli army using Palestinians as human shields in either Gaza or the occupied West Bank.

Exclusive footage obtained by Al Jazeera shows Israeli forces using Palestinian prisoners as human shields during the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

The footage shows the Israeli forces tying prisoners with ropes, installing cameras on their bodies, and forcing them to enter destroyed residences and tunnels in search of explosives.

Many of these prisoners are seen wounded, many of them undressed.

We will bring you more soon.

As Israel’s war on Gaza rages on, 10-year-old Renad Attalah has become a symbol of resilience and hope, posting cooking videos on social media.

Watch our report below:

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from reporting inside Israel.

The Israeli military has released a statement saying that 18 soldiers were wounded in a drone attack. This is a continuation of the cross-border fire we’ve been seeing between the Israeli army and Hezbollah.

Also, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently holding a security assessment saying that the Israeli military is vowing to fight Hamas. And while speaking this morning at the country’s cabinet meeting, he said that the operation in Shujayea is considered a success for the Israeli military and that they’re going to continue however they see fit until there’s an absolute victory.

It is worth mentioning that the Israeli military has still been facing stiff resistance by Hamas fighters in northern Gaza, an area where they said they had nearly full operational control over.

Now when it comes to the north, the Israeli military said weeks ago that they have approved new battle and attack plans, meaning an offensive for how they’re going to deal with the threat on their northern border.

Israel’s military says 18 of its soldiers were injured, one of them seriously, when a drone struck their position in the occupied Golan Heights, which borders Lebanon.

The military said in a statement that the strike happened earlier today. It had since hit back at Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon with air strikes and artillery fire.

Israel and Hezbollah have been engaging in tit-for-tat attacks since the war on Gaza began.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has called for all crossings into Gaza to be opened to help aid get into the enclave.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic, with almost the entire population experiencing severe food insecurity,” the group said on X.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic, with almost the entire population experiencing severe food insecurity. All crossing points must be opened to ensure sustained, unimpeded humanitarian aid flows into all areas of the #Gaza Strip. #HumantarianAid #IHL pic.twitter.com/CI5gh4LdjN

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) June 30, 2024

The spokesperson for Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas says “there is no legitimacy for any foreign presence on the Palestinian territories”, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh added that the Palestinian people are the only ones who can decide who governs them.

“There is also no legitimacy for settlements or the policy of displacement that the occupation authorities are trying to implement on the ground through the bloody massacres they are pursuing,” he said. “The occupation government and its president will be delusional if they believe that they are able to determine the fate of the Palestinian people and perpetuate the occupation by bringing in foreign forces to replace the occupier in the Gaza Strip.”

A large number of people are attending the funeral of Saeed Jaber, 24, who was killed in a bombing that targeted a house in the Nur Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, according to social media footage verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad.

The armed group Palestinian Islamic Jihad later said “the martyred leader” was one of its commanders, adding that he had previously “survived several assassination attempts”.

Jaber’s killing “will strengthen our resistance” against Israel, the group said.

A speech was also delivered by the Tulkarem Brigade, another armed Palestinian group, during Jaber’s funeral.

Jaber was targeted by the Israeli military because he was accused of direct involvement in several “shooting and explosives attacks against civilians and Israeli forces” in the West Bank, the military said.

Gaza’s Civil Defence is now reporting that there were three victims of the Israeli shelling of a residential apartment in the Sheikh Radwan area of Gaza City, which we reported on earlier.

Footage obtained by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad showed scenes of chaos as people surveyed the damage left by the shelling.

Let’s get you up to speed:

• Thousands of ultra-Orthodox men are protesting against having to serve in the Israeli military.
• One person was killed and another wounded following Israeli shelling of a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood northwest of Gaza City.
• Israeli forces targeted the wanted leader of Nur Shams battalion but may have killed his cousin, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim reports from Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
• Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, has denied any discussions are taking place with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the formation of an official investigation committee into the deadly Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.
• Israel’s army said it is battling Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters both “above and below ground” in tunnels during the ground assault on northern Gaza City.
• The Health Ministry in the occupied West Bank reports one Palestinian was killed and five others were injured in an Israeli missile strike on the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem.

Israel’s national carrier El Al says its Warsaw to Tel Aviv flight was not allowed to refuel at Turkey’s Antalya airport after making an emergency landing.

Workers at the airport refused to refuel flight LY5102 before it could take off for Israel, El Al said in a statement.

Following the incident, the plane took off to Rhodes in Greece, where “it will refuel before taking off to Israel”, the airline said.

Turkish diplomatic sources confirmed the plane was allowed to make an emergency landing for medical reasons.

“Fuel was to be provided to the plane due to humanitarian considerations, but as the relevant procedure was about to be completed, the captain decided to leave of his own accord,” a Turkish diplomatic source said, the AFP news agency reported.

The war on Gaza has severely strained relations between Turkey and Israel, with all direct flights between the two countries cancelled since October 7.

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from reporting inside Israel.

The protests we’re looking at today include thousands of ultra-Orthodox men from the Mea She’arim neighbourhood, which is in West Jerusalem. What they’re saying is that they would rather serve time in prison than be conscripted in the Israeli military since that decision by Israel’s High Court last week, which unanimously decided that there would no longer be exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men.

There has been pushback from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government including the ultra-Orthodox parties who are coalition partners. But again, the attorney general’s office had sent a letter … to the country’s finance ministry saying that at least 3,000 Orthodox men needed to be drafted immediately and that they were no longer eligible for any sort of government grants, stipend or funds. So the ultra-Orthodox men say they’re going to continue protesting because they say they will not serve in the military.

This could surely mean the collapse of Netanyahu’s government if ultra-Orthodox men are in fact enlisted into the military and nothing legislation-wise can be done to stop it. It’s something that these parties were threatening for a long time.

This is an issue that has divided Israeli society for years, with Israelis who do serve in the military saying that it is simply unfair that they are the ones who have to carry the burden when it comes to security and defence.

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