Israel’s horror show in Gaza: Hamas calls Nuseirat raid a ‘complex war crime’
- Hamas has accused Israel of committing a “complex war crime” with its bloody attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp which freed four captives, and claims three other captives, one of them a US citizen, were killed. Israel has denied the accusation.
- The death toll from Saturday’s raid rose to 274, including at least 64 children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. More than 700 Palestinians were injured, it added.
- Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz quit the unity government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of failure in the war on Gaza and calling for early elections.
- At least 37,084 people have been killed and 84,494 injured in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s attacks stands at 1,139 with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza.
Israel carries out raids across occupied West Bank
Israeli forces carried out a series of raids across the occupied West Bank overnight on Sunday.
Israeli soldiers raided homes in Qalqilya, arresting at least four Palestinians.
The towns of Arrabeh and Yabad and the village of Jalbun located in the Jenin governorate were raided but no arrests were made.
Israeli forces also stormed the town of Beitunia and the village of Tal in the early hours of Monday morning.
Two killed in Israeli attacks in occupied West Bank: Reports
Two men have been shot dead by Israeli forces in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.
One was killed at the Far’a camp, while the other was killed at the Tulkarem camp. Israeli soldiers also arrested a number of people before withdrawing early on Monday, reports said.
The Red Crescent said four people at Far’a were taken to hospital after they were injured by “shrapnel from an explosion” at the camp.
Australian police investigating after US’s Sydney consulate daubed with ‘Free Gaza’
Police in Australia are investigating after the US Consulate in Sydney was vandalised early on Monday.
Images shared on social media showed the words “FREE GAZA” daubed in red paint on the consulate’s windows, and inverted red triangles painted over the US insignia on the glass. The building, in the city’s northern suburbs, was cordoned off behind police tape. Sky News reported that the windows had been smashed at least 13 times with a hammer.
Police said security camera footage from the early hours of the morning showed a person in a hoodie spray painting the windows. They also appeared to be carrying a small sledgehammer.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the vandalism.
“People should have respectful political debate and discourse,” he told reporters after being asked about the incident. “Measures such as painting the US consulate do nothing to advance the cause of those who have committed what is of course a crime to damage property.”
Blinken due in Egypt in eighth visit to Middle East since Gaza war began
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to arrive in Egypt in a few hours on his eighth visit to the Middle East since the war in Gaza began,
Blinken is expected to push the US’s latest ceasefire plan – the one its diplomats are trying to move to a vote in the Security Council.
In Cairo, he will hold talks behind closed doors with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a key US partner in peace efforts. He is also expected to discuss ways to open the Rafah crossing, which has been closed since it was seized by Israel a month ago.
Blinken will then travel to Jerusalem for discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The US has said Israel has accepted the plan, but Hamas has not formally responded.
Blinken will also visit Jordan and Qatar before returning on Wednesday.
Concern at Security Council of US taking ‘complete control’ of conflict resolution process
Shihab RattansiReporting from Washington, DC
Various versions of the US draft resolution have been circulating for days.
This version does differ in some significant ways. First of all, it explicitly states that Israel has accepted the ceasefire deal – a previous version only said that a ceasefire deal was acceptable to Israel.
It removes any mention of the creation of buffer zones being unacceptable. There are thoughts that Israel does plan to create a buffer zone in Gaza, and it explicitly states that any ceasefire will continue after six weeks and be renewed as long as negotiations continue.
It welcomes the readiness of the US, Egypt and Qatar to work to ensure negotiations keep going until all the agreements are reached and phase two is able to begin,
But it’s still not a categorical, permanent ceasefire. That’s what some members of the Security Council want. They’ve been calling in the past for an immediate, permanent, unconditional ceasefire. They don’t want this now to supersede those calls, nor are they particularly keen on the US taking complete control over any sort of conflict resolution process that will be enshrined in this resolution.
WATCH: Wang Huiyao from Center for China and Globalization
What is China’s position on the war in Gaza? That was what Steve Clemons of Al Jazeera’s The Bottom Line asked Wang Huiyao, the director of the Center for China and Globalization, a Beijing-based think tank.
Wang, who is also a former adviser to China’s State Council, said many in China are devastated by the scale of the suffering in the war and want to see a ceasefire.
You can watch his interview and find out more about what he had to say here.
WFP ‘pauses’ delivery of Gaza aid through US-built pier
Cindy McCain, the director of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), says the distribution of aid through the US-built pier off Gaza has been “paused” because of concerns about safety amid the latest Israeli assaults on Gaza.
McCain made her comments after she was asked about operations at the pier in an interview with the US broadcaster CBS.
“Right now, we’re paused,” she said on the Face the Nation programme, adding that two of the WFP’s warehouses had also come under rocket fire and one person had been injured.
“I’m concerned about the safety of our people. We’ve stepped back for the moment … to make sure we’re on safe terms and on safe ground before we’ll restart. But the rest of the country is operational. We’re doing everything we can in the north and the south.”
McCain did not say when operations might resume at the pier, which was completed in mid-May but was then damaged in a storm, which meant operations were suspended for two weeks.
US calls for UN Security Council vote on Gaza ceasefire plan
The United States has requested a UN Security Council vote on its draft resolution backing the ceasefire plan it announced at the end of last month.
“Today, the United States called for the Security Council to move towards a vote… supporting the proposal on the table,” said Nate Evans, a spokesman for the US delegation, the AFP news agency reported.
Evans did not specify a date for the vote.