Summary of the day …
Israel has started to deploy extra troops to its northern border in preparation for potential full-scale war with the powerful Lebanese group, Hezbollah. Troops under the banner of the Northern Command conducted a major training exercise drilling “extreme” scenarios in the area on Wednesday, overseen partly by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has warned that Israel’s military is capable of taking Lebanon “back to the stone age” in any war with Hezbollah
Israel’s military ordered more of Gaza’s civilians to move, instructing them to vacate a number of blocks in the Shujayea neighbourhood
A small number of children with cancer and other serious illnesses have been allowed to leave the Gaza Strip for treatment via the Kerem Shalom crossing
Israel’s military confirmed that one soldier was killed and 16 others injured in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank by an explosive device buried under a road which targeted their vehicles
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Isreali forces detain 28 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in the last 24 hours
In Israel anti-government protest again blocked highways, as demonstrators, including the families of some of those held hostage, demanded Benjamin Netanyahu’s government strike a deal for their release and hold elections
Syria’s national news agency reported that two people were killed inside Syria by an Israeli strike, and there were reports of several strikes by Israel inside Lebanon, one of which reportedly killed a target on a motorcycle
Hezbollah claimed to have targeted an Israeli Navy base near Rosh Hanikra with explosive-laden drones
A ship heading to Dammam, in Saudi Arabia, reported being struck in the Red Sea, where Yemen’s Houthis have been attacking ships they claim are linked to Israel
Al Jazeera is reporting that one person has been killed by an Israeli drone strike which targeted a motorcycle inside Lebanon.
Updated
Emanuel Fabian, military correspondent for the Times of Israel, reports that Hezbollah has claimed “responsibility for launching explosive-laden drones”.
He says the Iran-backed group said it targeted “an Israeli Navy base near Rosh Hanikra”.
Hezbollah claims responsibility for launching explosive-laden drones at the Western Galilee a short while ago.
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) June 27, 2024
In a statement, the terror group says it targeted an Israeli Navy base near Rosh Hanikra.
According to the IDF, at least one suspected drone impacted in the Rosh…
Lebanon’s national news agency has reported that Israel carried out a drone airstrike on the southern Lebanese town of Hula. Earlier Syria’s news agency Sana reported that two people had been killed by an Israeli strike on southern Syria. 47 Palestinians have been reported killed by Israeli strikes inside Gaza in the last 24 hours.
Here are some more pictures from today’s demonstrations in Israel against Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.
Reporting from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Tareq Abu Azzoum has told Al Jazeera that families there have begun evacuating after receiving orders from Israel’s military.
He says families have started to move from Shujayea neighbourhood to the southern part of Gaza City.
Israel has previously claimed it “takes all possible precautions to avoid causing loss of civilian life or injury, adopting all available means”, including an interactive map on a website, aimed at a population that has a limited electricity supply and which has been subjected to communications blackouts.
A Brussels charity, Human Smile, has got the backing of the European Commission and the Belgian ministry of defence to send 240 tonnes of aid to Gaza via Jordan after a “think outside the box” effort to get around continued obstructions to alleviate the suffering and starvation there.
The transport of the aid, which includes mattresses, sleeping bags as well as baby milk powder and hygiene products, will be covered by the Commission.
The cargo will be transported to Jordan by sea and delivered to the Hashemite Charity Organization of Jordan, before being transported to Gaza.
Commissioner for crisis management Janez Lenarčič said it was an important to establish new routes into Gaza.
“We must think outside the box and explore new ways of working together to alleviate the suffering of civilians in Gaza. It is essential that all land routes for aid to Gaza are opened and used to their full capacity. I urge all parties to allow rapid and unhindered humanitarian access to and inside Gaza.”
Updated
Gaza’s health ministry has released its latest death toll figures. At least 37,765 Palestinians have been killed and 86,429 wounded in Israel’s military offensive since October 7.
Israel’s military has reported that warning sirens have sounded near the Gaza border at kibbutz Nahal Oz in the south of the country.
Al Jazeera reports that in conjunction with a US humanitarian organisation 21 Palestinian children with cancer are being transferred out of Gaza for treatment.
Images on the news wires show families having tearful goodbyes with children as they are being transferred through the Kerem Shalom border crossing.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza and Israel.
Israel’s military has issued another one of its instructions to residents of Gaza to move from a series of blocks in the territory it has numbered to areas that Israel has designated as “safe”.
#عاجل الى جميع السكان والنازحين المتواجدين في منطقة الشجاعية والاحياء الجديدة، التركمان والتفاح في بلوكات:
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) June 27, 2024
321, 607, 617, 618, 619, 622, 623, 632, 686, 720, 721, 722, 751, 730, 731, 732, 734, 735, 736, 737, 834, 887, 888, 889, 890, 891, 892, 893
من أجل سلامتكم - عليكم الاخلاء… pic.twitter.com/gf6tsdpYj1
In a recent report on the conflict the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said:
Intensified hostilities following the issuance of evacuation orders and the Israeli military operation in Rafah have so far forced the displacement of about one million people, amid a decline in the entry of humanitarian aid.
Israel deploying extra troops to north near Lebanon
Israel has started to deploy extra troops to its northern border in preparation for potential full-scale war with the powerful Lebanese group, Hezbollah.
Troops under the banner of the Northern Command conducted a major training exercise drilling “extreme” scenarios in the area on Wednesday, overseen partly by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who said: “[the soldiers] are determined and devoted to the mission – to defend the country and achieve victory, nothing less.”
Over the past few weeks, fears have grown on both sides of the UN-drawn blue line that diplomatic efforts to deescalate the current tit-for-tat hostilities between the two sides will fail to prevent a slide into major conflict after a sharp uptick in cross border attacks.
Israeli officials said last week that plans for a ground offensive in Lebanon to drive the Iran-allied Shia militia back from the border had been signed off, prompting Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to issue more severe threats than he has made in the past. Several countries, including Germany and Canada, have issued travel warnings urging citizens to leave Lebanon.
Hezbollah began firing on Israel the day after Hamas’ 7 October attack in an effort to aid the Palestinian group fighting in Gaza and hostilities have steadily spiralled over the last eight months. At least 400 people have been killed in Lebanon, including dozens of civilians, and 19 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed in Israel.
Diplomatic efforts led by the US and France are still under way. Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said on Wednesday during a visit to Washington DC that Israel is still seeking a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
Associated Press is carrying more details of the incident in the Red Sea that we briefly reported on earlier. It writes:
The ship issued a radio call off the coast of the Houthi-held port city of al-Hudaydah, saying it had been struck, the private security firm Ambrey said. A warship in the area was responding to the attack, Ambrey added. Neither the British nor US militaries immediately reported the attack. The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack.
Reuters earlier reported that the ship involved had been heading to the eastern city of Dammam, in Saudi Arabia, and no injuries or damage were reported.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Isreali forces detain 28 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in the last 24 hours.
According to Wafa, the total number of Palestinians who have been detained in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since 7 October has risen to over 9,400.
Here are some of the latest images from Israel, where an anti-government demonstration has again attempted to block highways while demanding that Benjamin Netanyahu strike a deal to return Israeli hostages held by Hamas, and to call elections in Israel.
Haaretz reporter Bar Peleg has posted this video, which shows protesters blocking a road by setting a fire.
מפגינים ובני משפחות חטופים חוסמים את איילון דרום באזור רוקח והבעירו אש בכלוב ברזל עליו כתוב ״הצילו״ pic.twitter.com/khwWuShFcn
— Bar Peleg (@bar_peleg) June 27, 2024
The Times of Israel reports that families of the hostages have said of Netanyahu in a statement “It’s either a deal or burial. Netanyahu has given up on the hostages. They can be buried in Gaza so long as he keeps his seat.”
Five Palestinians killed and more injured in new Israeli strikes near Gaza City - reports
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that at least five people have been killed and more injured as Israel continues its bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
The agency said:
Medical sources reported that five people were killed, and others were injured, when the occupation warplanes bombed a house in Shujaiya neighbourhood, east of Gaza City.
The same sources added that a number of civilians were killed in the occupation’s artillery shelling east of Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
The claims have not been independently verified. The Hamas-led health authorities in Gaza put the number of people killed during Israel’s military assault on the territory at nearly 38,000, with more than an additional 86,000 wounded. Many more people, including children, are believed to be under rubble in the Gaza Strip after months of airstrikes. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Reuters is reporting that according to state-run media in Russia, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas may visit Russia in August.
Israel’s military has confirmed that one soldier was killed and another injured in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
In a statement on its official Telegram channel, the IDF said the injured soldier was “evacuated to receive medical treatment at a hospital” and that his family has been notified.
Haaretz reports that “16 other soldiers sustained light-to-moderate wounds in the incident”, which is in line with earlier reports from Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera has been banned from operating inside Israel by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
The details of the incident given by Haaretz are:
Members of the force were hit by an explosive device burried about a meter and a half underground, the army says, adding that a rescue force was then hit by a second explosive device.
The army added that military bulldozers scanned the area prior to the forces’ entry, including the road under which the explosives were buried.
Earlier this week Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, described in explicit terms his active effort to permanently annex the West Bank to Israel, saying it was his “life’s mission” to thwart a Palestinian state forming.
Since 7 October, settler violence across the West Bank has intensified, displacing entire villages, and the IDF conducts regular raids on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad cells as well as local brigades in Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarem on a near-nightly basis. More than 450 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in the past six months.
The global maritime risk management agency Ambrey has said it is aware of an incident 84 nautical miles (155km) west of al-Hudaydah on Yemen’s Red Sea coast, Reuters reports.
Anti-government protesters have again attempted to block a highway inside Israel, calling for Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to strike a hostage release deal and call elections.
As well as the protest on the highway, demonstrations are planned outside the homes of significant figures in the Israeli government, and there are continued calls for a general strike.
Haaretz quotes the Kaplan Force, which it says is leading the protests in Jerusalem, saying:
We will protest until he falls. The failed and most provocative prime minister will not stop the citizens’ demand to return the mandate to the people. Demonstrations at Netanyahu’s home were pivotal in dismantling his previous government, and will be again.
Herbew media outlet Ynet is carrying a story today that the IDF disputes the extent to which it has destroyed permanent buildings in Gaza during Israel’s months-long relentless bombardment of the territory.
Earlier this month the United Nations satellite analysis agency Unosat said its imagery suggested that more than 137,000 buildings had been possibly affected, which amounted to 55% of the structures in Gaza. Other satellite imagery projects have put the level of destruction even higher.
In Ynet today it says that the IDF, which claims its figures are more accurate, says that it has destroyed 16% of Gaza’s permanent structures and 36% of temporary structures, that is “35,952 permanent structures that the IDF destroyed in the Gaza Strip, and 84,276 temporary structures that were destroyed.”
The UN estimate is based on a satellite image taken on 3 May this year, and compared with images of Gaza taken a year earlier. Ynet reports the IDF figures are claimed to be more accurate on the basis “the IDF’s data is based on an almost daily visual collection, which is dedicated to this purpose and is done by advanced drones, large drones and close and sophisticated technological documentation in 3D, some of it also at street level.”
It continued, saying the figures may have a future use for the IDF:
They may also be presented to the international tribunals and foreign commissions of inquiry that will investigate the IDF and the state of Israel at the end of the hostilities, a stage when foreign investigative bodies from international organizations will also be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip.
Thousands of the buildings destroyed by the IDF do not necessarily belong to terrorists or Hamas, but are located near the border with Israel, and the IDF is destroying them to create a buffer zone between the western Negev and the cities and villages of the Gaza Strip.
Many Palestinians have been forced to flee their homes and live in makeshift tent camps with poor sanitation facilities for months on end while the IDF carries out its military assault on Gaza.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports three people have been killed and 11 wounded in a reported Israeli strike on south of Damascus.
More details soon …
Al Jazeera is reporting that one Israeli soldier has been killed in a blast in the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It states that 17 were injured. There has been no comment yet from Israel’s security forces.
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and the wider crisis in the Middle East.
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has warned that Israel’s military is capable of taking Lebanon “back to the stone age” in any war with Hezbollah militants, but insisted his government prefers a diplomatic solution on the Israel-Lebanon border.
Speaking to reporters as his trip to Washington wrapped up, Gallant also said he discussed with senior US officials his “day after” proposals for governance of postwar Gaza that would include local Palestinians, regional partners and the US, but that it would be “a long and complex process.”
More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main events.
US president Joe Biden’s top aides told Gallant that Washington would maintain a pause on a shipment of heavy bombs for Israel while the issue is under review, a senior US official told the Reuters news agency. The official said the allies remain in discussions about the single shipment of powerful munitions, which was paused by Biden in May over concerns they could cause more Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza.
Israeli forces pounded several areas across Gaza on Wednesday, and residents reported fierce fighting overnight in Rafah. Residents said fighting intensified in the Tel Al-Sultan neighbourhood in western Rafah, where tanks were also trying to force their way north amid heavy clashes. The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said fighters attacked Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accused western powers of backing what he said were Israeli plans to attack Lebanon and “spread war” throughout the region. “Israel is now setting its sights on Lebanon and we see that western powers behind the scenes are patting Israel on the back and even supporting them,” he told lawmakers from his ruling AKP party.
Vatican secretary of state, Pietro Parolin, on Wednesday urged warring parties in the Middle East to accept “peace proposals”, saying the region including Lebanon “doesn’t need war”. He told a press conference in Beirut, “the Middle East is going through a critical moment.”
The outgoing United Nations humanitarian chief warned that a spread of the war to Lebanon would be “potentially apocalyptic”. Martin Griffiths described Lebanon as “the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints”. A war involving Lebanon “will draw in Syria … it will draw in others”, he told reporters in Geneva. “It’s very alarming.”
