Tuesday, June 18, 2024
1026 GMT — At least 37,372 Palestinians have been killed and 85,452 have been wounded in Israel's military offensive in Gaza since October 7, the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave said in a statement.
The toll includes at least 25 deaths in the past 24 hours, the statement said.
0959 GMT — UN human rights chief: situation in occupied West Bank 'drastically deteriorating'
The United Nations human rights chief has warned that the rights situation in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, was rapidly deteriorating, while there had been "unconscionable death and suffering" in Gaza.
"The situation in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is dramatically deteriorating," Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the opening session of the UN Human Rights Council.
He said that as of June 15, 528 Palestinians, 133 of them children, had been killed by Israeli security forces or settlers since October, in some cases raising "serious concerns of unlawful killings."
0905 GMT — US wants to avoid 'greater war' along tense Lebanon-Israel border, envoy says
US envoy Amos Hochstein has said that Washington was seeking to avoid "a greater war" following an escalation in cross-border fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military along Lebanon's southern frontier in recent weeks.
Hochstein described the situation along the border as "serious" and said that was why US President Joe Biden had dispatched him to Lebanon.
Hochstein was in Lebanon for one day of meetings following a brief trip to Israel.
0715 GMT — Hamas sees disbanding of Israel's War Cabinet as victory for Palestinian resistance
The Palestinian resistance group Hamas has declared that the Israeli government’s decision to disband the War Cabinet, which was formed to manage the war on Gaza, is a victory for the Palestinian resistance.
In a statement, Izzat al Rishq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said the armed resistance, led by Hamas' armed wing Al Qassam Brigades, "dismantles the Zionist (Israeli) War Cabinet that was originally formed eight months ago to dismantle the (Palestinian) resistance."
0421 GMT — Israeli strike kills several Palestinians in Gaza's Nuseirat
An Israeli air strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza has killed several Palestinians, according to local media.
A number of people were also injured in the attack, according to the WAFA news agency.
The Israeli military carried out a series of air strikes on various parts of Gaza as Palestinians marked the second day of the Muslim festival Eid al Adha, killing and injuring several people, according to medical sources and witnesses.
0331 GMT — Israeli army says it struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon
The Israeli military has said that its warplanes carried out strikes on targets belonging to the Hezbollah group in southern Lebanon.
A military statement said that fighter jets struck a Hezbollah military building and infrastructure in the Aitaroun area.
A Hezbollah military building in the village of Ayta ash Shab and infrastructure in Chaqra in southern Lebanon were also targeted, according to the statement.
0315 GMT — Thousands of Israelis protest Netanyahu gov't, demand prisoner swap with Hamas
Tens of thousands of Israelis have gathered in the streets near Israel's parliament in Jerusalem to protest the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demand early elections and a prisoner swap with Hamas.
The protesters filled the nearby streets, carrying Israeli flags and photos of Israeli prisoners held in Gaza. Some signs depicted Netanyahu with a red “X” and the text “Evil Demon” in Hebrew and English.
Demonstrators chanted slogans like “Bring down the deceptive government,” “Elections now,” “Traitors” and “Shame,” according to Anadolu’s monitoring of Israeli media outlets that live-streamed the protest.
0304 GMT — Illegal Israeli settlers attack Palestinian villages in occupied West Bank during Eid al Adha
Illegal Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinian villages and properties in several areas of the occupied West Bank that were marking the second day of the Muslim holiday Eid al Adha.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that illegal settlers attacked Palestinian residents in the town of Deir Dibwan east of Ramallah.
The agency said a group of settlers invaded the town's outskirts, gathered in the area and threw stones at residents, resulting in three injuries.
In the northern West Bank, WAFA said illegal settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles in the town of Huwara south of Nablus.
In the south, the agency noted that settlers established an illegal outpost on privately owned Palestinian land east of Hebron on Monday.
0221 GMT — Israel's opposition leader says Netanyahu 'sells our fighters'
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has accused warmonger Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of undermining national security and betraying the country's soldiers amid the army's ongoing war in besieged Gaza.
Lapid's remarks came ahead of a meeting of a parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and defence to discuss a draft law that lowers the age of exemption from mandatory service for Haredi yeshiva students that is set to be voted on in its second and third readings before becoming law.
"Tomorrow, the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee will begin discussions on the evasion and refusal law. This is a betrayal of the fighters, a betrayal of the reservists, a betrayal of the Israeli middle class, and a betrayal of the IDF (army)," Lapid wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"The Israeli government undermines the security of the state. Netanyahu sells our fighters. Him and his smile," he added.
0128 GMT — Key Democrats approve major US arms sale to Israel: Report
Two key Democrats in the US Congress have signed off on a major arms sale to Israel that includes 50 F-15 fighter jets worth more than $18 billion, The Washington Post reported.
Citing three unnamed US officials, it said Representative Gregory Meeks and Senator Ben Cardin agreed to support the deal under heavy pressure from the Biden administration.
Meeks told the Post that he had been in close contact with the White House about the package and urged the administration to push Israel over humanitarian efforts and civilian casualties. According to the paper, he said the F-15s will be delivered "years from now."
Cardin's spokesperson said the sale went through the "regular review processes." "Any issues or concerns Chair Cardin had were addressed through our ongoing consultations with the Administration, and that's why he felt it appropriate to allow this case to move forward," Eric Harris, the communications director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was quoted as saying by the Post.
0112 GMT — 'Best way' to resolve tensions on Israeli-Lebanon border is Gaza ceasefire: US
The US State Department has said that a ceasefire in besieged Gaza would make resolving the border tensions between Israel and Lebanon "much easier."
Spokesperson Matt Miller said the US had been worried about an escalation in the north and the possibility of a full-scale conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah group since the very early days after October 7.
"But our assessment of the situation continues to be that the best way to get a diplomatic resolution in the north, which we think all sides ultimately prefer, is to reach a ceasefire in Gaza, and so the two are related," said Miller during a press briefing.
"It doesn't mean you can say with 100 percent certainty that you wouldn't be able to get a ceasefire in the north without resolution in Gaza, but certainly having a ceasefire in Gaza makes a resolution in the north much, much easier," he added.
2312 GMT — US claims it destroyed Houthi radars, uncrewed vessel and drone
The US military claimed it had destroyed four Houthi radars, one uncrewed surface vessel and one drone in the past 24 hours.
The radars and uncrewed surface vessel were destroyed in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, US Central Command said in a post on the social media site X.
The drone was destroyed over the Red Sea.
2107 GMT — Biden administration has no say over Israel's war Cabinet: State Dept
A spokesperson for the US Department of State has said the Biden administration plays no part in deciding who is and who is not part of Israel's war Cabinet and will work with whatever government Israel decides on.
Matthew Miller spoke at a briefing for reporters, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the war Cabinet following the departure days earlier of Benny Gantz, a centrist former military chief.
Miller said that though the Biden administration will not hesitate to speak out on policy differences with Israeli officials, it has no say on who makes up the government and that Israel can select its own leaders.
2038 GMT — Israeli intelligence ignored warning of October 7 — report
Israeli security authorities ignored an intelligence document last September that predicted the Hamas surprise blitz of October 7, an Israeli state-run media outlet reported.
The report, revealed by the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, claimed the document, dated September 19 – about three weeks before the attack that Israel has described as the worst in its history – was prepared by the military intelligence unit 8200.
The outlet cited unnamed Israeli security sources saying the document "was known to intelligence leadership and, at least, to the Gaza command" of the Israeli military.
The report noted that despite the warning, Israeli security authorities ignored the intelligence document.
For our live updates from Sunday, June 16, 2024, click here
