Israel-Gaza war live: US says weapon transfers continuing as normal after Netanyahu claims some being withheld
The PM claimed weapons would allow Israel to ‘finish the job’, but US secretary of state Antony Blinken said only one shipment was under reviewSee all our Israel-Gaza coverageIt has gone 10.30am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. This is our latest live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that the US is withholding weapons and implied that it is slowing Israel’s offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.The Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, has said a decision on an all-out war with Hezbollah was coming soon, as Israel generals announced late on Tuesday that they had signed off planning for an offensive into Lebanon. The escalating rhetoric came after the release of video footage from a Hezbollah surveillance drone’s overflight of the northern city of Haifa, which included images of sensitive sites and civilian neighbourhoods.US envoy Amos Hochstein said on Tuesday that Washington was seeking to avoid “a greater war” following an escalation in fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military along Lebanon’s southern frontier in recent weeks. Hochstein described the situation along the border as “serious”Lebanon’s prime minister Najib Mikati said his nation did not seek “escalation”, but cautioned that there should be an end to “the ongoing violations of Lebanese sovereignty and the acts of systematic killing and destruction committed by Israel”. On Monday an Israeli spokesperson said they would secure the return of displaced Israelis to their homes “militarily or diplomatically”.The UN says it has been unable to distribute aid entering Gaza from the Israel-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing because of lawlessness and panic among hungry people in the area, despite Israel’s daytime pause in military activity. “Fighting is not the only reason for being unable to pick up aid … The lack of any police or rule of law in the area makes it very dangerous to move goods there,” spokesperson Farhan Haq said.A series of Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday resulted in the deaths of at least 17 Palestinians in two of the Gaza Strip’s historic refugee camps, as tanks advanced further into the southern city of Rafah, according to reports from residents and medics.The UN human rights chief on Tuesday warned that the rights situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was drastically deteriorating, while there had been “unconscionable death and suffering” in Gaza. Volker Türk, UN high commissioner for human rights, said as of 15 June, 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”The conflict in Gaza has created unprecedented soil, water and air pollution in the region, a UN report said on Tuesday. Israel’s official social media account accused the UN, under the leadership of secretary-general António Guterres, of becoming “a tool for Hamas propaganda”. Continue reading...
The PM claimed weapons would allow Israel to ‘finish the job’, but US secretary of state Antony Blinken said only one shipment was under review
It has gone 10.30am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. This is our latest live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that the US is withholding weapons and implied that it is slowing Israel’s offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The Israeli foreign minister, Israel Katz, has said a decision on an all-out war with Hezbollah was coming soon, as Israel generals announced late on Tuesday that they had signed off planning for an offensive into Lebanon. The escalating rhetoric came after the release of video footage from a Hezbollah surveillance drone’s overflight of the northern city of Haifa, which included images of sensitive sites and civilian neighbourhoods.
US envoy Amos Hochstein said on Tuesday that Washington was seeking to avoid “a greater war” following an escalation in fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli military along Lebanon’s southern frontier in recent weeks. Hochstein described the situation along the border as “serious”
Lebanon’s prime minister Najib Mikati said his nation did not seek “escalation”, but cautioned that there should be an end to “the ongoing violations of Lebanese sovereignty and the acts of systematic killing and destruction committed by Israel”. On Monday an Israeli spokesperson said they would secure the return of displaced Israelis to their homes “militarily or diplomatically”.
The UN says it has been unable to distribute aid entering Gaza from the Israel-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing because of lawlessness and panic among hungry people in the area, despite Israel’s daytime pause in military activity. “Fighting is not the only reason for being unable to pick up aid … The lack of any police or rule of law in the area makes it very dangerous to move goods there,” spokesperson Farhan Haq said.
A series of Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday resulted in the deaths of at least 17 Palestinians in two of the Gaza Strip’s historic refugee camps, as tanks advanced further into the southern city of Rafah, according to reports from residents and medics.
The UN human rights chief on Tuesday warned that the rights situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was drastically deteriorating, while there had been “unconscionable death and suffering” in Gaza. Volker Türk, UN high commissioner for human rights, said as of 15 June, 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”
The conflict in Gaza has created unprecedented soil, water and air pollution in the region, a UN report said on Tuesday. Israel’s official social media account accused the UN, under the leadership of secretary-general António Guterres, of becoming “a tool for Hamas propaganda”. Continue reading...
