Live blog: Slovenia parliament recognises Palestine as a state
Israel's war on Gaza, now in its 242nd day, has killed at least 36,550 Palestinians — with 71 percent of them being women, children and infants –– and wounded 82,959 since Oct. 7.
Fifty-two members of the 90-member parliament voted in favour of the motion. / Photo: AA Archive
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
1956 GMT –– Slovenia's parliament has passed a decree recognising a Palestinian state, pushing ahead with a vote despite an opposition motion seeking to derail it.
Fifty-two members of the 90-member parliament voted in favour of recognising a Palestinian state, following a similar move by three other European nations last week.
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1919 GMT –– Fighting rocks Gaza as major powers push for truce
The Tel Aviv's brutal war on Gaza raged on unabated, with the Israeli military reporting its fighter jets struck around "65 terror targets" across Gaza and that troops located tunnel shafts and weapons in the southern city of Rafah.
1834 GMT –– Some Palestinians 'drinking sewage water' in Gaza: WHO
Some Palestinians in Gaza are now reduced to drinking sewage water and eating animal feed, the WHO's regional chief said, pleading for increased aid access immediately to the besieged territory.
Inside Gaza, "there are people who are now eating animal food, eating grass, they're drinking sewage water," Hanan Balkhy, the World Health Organization's Eastern Mediterranean regional director, said. "Children are barely able to eat, while the trucks are standing outside of Rafah."
1755 GMT –– Macron tells Netanyahu Palestinian Authority should govern Gaza
France's President Emmanuel Macron told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Palestinian Authority should "ensure the governance" of Gaza, the presidential office said.
Macron in phone talks backed the proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and prisoners swap deal presented by US President Joe Biden.
"This deal should reopen a credible perspective for the implementation of a two-state solution, the only one able to provide Israel with the necessary security guarantees and to respond to the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians," he said.
Gaza must be an integral part of a future Palestinian state, and a reformed and reinforced Palestinian Authority, with the help of the international community, should ensure its governance
1745 GMT –– Brush fires sparked by rockets from Lebanon blaze in north Israel
Israeli authorities were on alert for new brush fires, after munitions fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah the previous evening ignited several blazes across northern Israel.
1714 GMT –– Italy’s University of Palermo suspends Erasmus with Israeli universities
Italy’s University of Palermo has suspended Erasmus exchange agreements with Israeli universities, state news agency ANSA reported.
University’s academic senate cited "the lack of essential security guarantees to which those involved in the cooperation partnerships would be exposed in this particular and delicate moment of international crisis."
The board also announced that measures aiming to support Palestinian education system will be taken.
1708 GMT –– Saudi Arabia, US discuss Biden’s Gaza ceasefire proposal
The top diplomats of Saudi Arabia and the US discussed a Gaza ceasefire proposal laid out by US President Joe Biden.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan received a phone call from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during which they explored the latest developments in Gaza, and Biden’s proposal for a ceasefire and captive swap between Hamas and Israel, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the group could not agree to a deal unless there is a clear Israeli position on a permanent ceasefire and complete withdrawal from Gaza.
"We asked the mediators to get a clear Israeli position to commit to a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal from Gaza," he told a press conference in Beirut.
1645 GMT –– Israel signs $3B deal with US for 25 F-35 fighter jets
Israel said it signed a $3 billion deal to buy a third squadron of 25 advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets manufactured by Lockheed Martin, with the delivery to commence in 2028.
"At time when some of our adversaries aim to undermine our ties with our greatest ally, we only further strengthen our alliance," Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement announcing the deal.
1612 GMT –– Majority of Germans against Israel’s war on Gaza: survey
A majority of Germans disapprove of Israel's military offensive in Gaza, a new poll found.
As many as 61 percent of Germans said they are against Israel's military actions in Gaza, while only 33 percent voiced support for the offensive.
The representative poll was commissioned by the German weekly magazine Stern, and was conducted by the Forsa research institute on May 30-31.
1535 GMT –– Israel to form 'rapid response forces' in West Bank settlements
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced plans to establish “rapid response forces” in settlements near the border with the occupied West Bank.
I ordered the es tablishment of intervention forces that would be based on the residents of the settlements and graduates of the combat units - another step that would strengthen the security elements
1530 GMT –– UN decries 'unfathomable' killings in West Bank since October 7
The UN rights chief has demanded an end to violence in the occupied West Bank, saying it was "unfathomable" that more than 500 Palestinians had been killed there since October 7.
In a statement, slammed by Israel, Volker Turk said at least 505 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank by the Israeli military, other security forces and West Bank settlers since the war in Gaza erupted nearly eight months ago.
1526 GMT –– Gaza’s children live 'endless nightmare' amid Israeli assault: UN agency
Gaza’s children live an “endless nightmare” amid Israel’s deadly offensive on the seaside enclave, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said.
“Bombardments, forced displacement, lack of food and water and no access to education are traumatising an entire generation,” it added in a statement.
The UN agency said its psychosocial support teams continue working “to give relief and hope to children in Gaza.”
1525 GMT –– Suspected explosive found outside Israeli firm in Sweden: police
Swedish police said that a suspected explosive had been found outside an Israeli military technology firm in Gothenburg and was likely intended to target the company.
A "suspected explosive object" was found outside the offices of Elbit Systems, known for its unmanned aerial systems, in Sweden's second-largest city in the early morning hours of Monday, police said.
Police cordoned off the area for a few hours while the national bomb squad was called to the scene, and the object was safely removed.
1520 GMT –– World Central Kitchen so far supplied 50M meals in Gaza
World Central Kitchen has delivered more than 50 million meals in Gaza and hopes to continue to expand in the wartorn area, according to the aid group, which suspended operations in April when seven of its workers were killed by an Israeli strike.
World Central Kitchen restarted operations about a month after the airstrike
The aid group said it now has two main kitchens in operation in Gaza, and another 65 community kitchens spread throughout the small seaside enclave.
The US-based charity founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres restarted operations about a month after the air strike.
1518 GMT –– Iran's acting FM meets Assad, discusses Gaza with officials in Syria
Iran's acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani met Syrian regime leader Bashar al Assad in Damascus and discussed Israel's war on Gaza with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad.
Bagheri Kani travelled to Syria after meetings in Beirut on Monday, his first trip abroad since becoming Iran's acting top diplomat following the deaths of his predecessor and Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month.
1515 GMT –– Israeli firefighters battle to extinguish fires after Hezbollah rocket fire
Israeli firefighters are battling to put out three fires in Upper Galilee near the border with Lebanon following Hezbollah rocket fire, according to local media.
1510 GMT –– Erdogan calls on global community to protect Gaza children
On International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the global community to protect the "honour and dignity, as well as the children of Gaza.”
I call on all states to protect the honor and dignity of humanity, as well as the children of Gaza, and to take a clear stance against the out-of-control Israeli barbarism
1325 GMT –– Up to 11,000 Palestinians need urgent medical evacuation: WHO
A minimum of 7,000 to over 11,000 Palestinian patients need immediate medical evacuations, Hanan Balkhy, the WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, has said at a meeting in Geneva with the Association of the Accredited Correspondents to the United Nations.
Balkhy said that those patients who need evacuation are required to receive treatment in specialised hospitals. She also underlined the "significant" ripple effects on Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria as the immediate neighbours of the occupied Palestinian Territory.
"If you're talking about leaving nobody behind, we are already leaving significant numbers behind from Gaza, but also, when there's pressure on already fragile health systems in the neighbouring countries," she said. "So we have a lot of work ahead of us."
An Israeli air strike hit a civilian area in the Bureij refugee camp in Palestine’s Gaza, causing further harm and destruction as Israel continues its relentless attacks on the enclave pic.twitter.com/A7sVkXXwda
— TRT World (@trtworld) June 4, 2024
1320 GMT –– Hamas criticises US, West's calls on group to accept Gaza truce proposal
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri has criticised Washington and the West's calls for it to accept a ceasefire proposal advanced by US President Joe Biden, saying it was "as if it is Hamas who is hampering the deal".
In comments reported by Hamas media, Abu Zuhri said Israel was not serious about reaching a deal in Gaza and was still manoeuvring under US cover.
Hamas said on Friday it had a positive view of the contents of the proposal.
1317 GMT –– Children unfed all day, thousands for one toilet in Gaza: Oxfam
Palestinians displaced by the Gaza war are living in "appalling" conditions, with children sometimes going for a whole day without food and thousands sharing the same toilet, Oxfam warned.
Oxfam said more than two-thirds of Gaza's population is estimated to be crammed into less than a fifth of the besieged territory.
A food survey by aid agencies in May found that 85 percent of children did not eat for a whole day at least once in the three days before the survey was conducted
1315 GMT –– Netanyahu could be prolonging Gaza war for political aims: Biden
US President Joe Biden said Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu may be stalling on ending the war in Gaza for political reasons, according to an interview with Time magazine.
The comments in the May 28 interview were made a few days before Biden detailed a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, and as the Israeli prime minister struggles with deep political divisions at home.
Asked whether he thought Netanyahu was prolonging the war for his own political reasons, Biden said: "There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion."
1309 GMT –– 14 bodies found after Israeli army withdrew from parts of Gaza
The medical teams on ground have recovered the bodies of several Palestinians after the Israeli military vehicles withdrew from the southeastern parts of Gaza City.
The Civil Defense recovered at least 14 bodies from the roads and under the rubble of destroyed homes in Tel al-Hawa area in Gaza City, according to eyewitnesses.
The Israeli firing and shelling on the area have hindered the teams from recovering more bodies, witnesses added.
Meanwhile, the Civil Defense said they recovered three bodies from under the rubble of a destroyed home for the Ghabayen family in the Al-Daraj neighborhood, eastern Gaza City, following an Israeli airstrike.
1308 GMT –– Biden’s proposal provides roadmap for permanent truce in Gaza: Qatar
Qatar said the principles outlined by US President Joe Biden provide a roadmap for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
On Friday, Biden said Israel presented a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave.
The plan includes a ceasefire, a hostage-prisoner exchange, and reconstruction of Gaza.
1304 GMT –– Ben-Gvir calls for destroying Hezbollah in Lebanon amid fires in northern Israel
Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called to destroy the Lebanese group Hezbollah amid rising tensions across the border between Israel and Lebanon.
"Now the IDF's [Israeli army] job is to destroy Hezbollah,” he said in a video message.
0916 GMT — Firefighters continue to battle fires in northern Israel caused by rockets fired from Lebanon
Israeli firefighting teams continued to battle against the fires that broke out as a result of rockets fired from southern Lebanon.
According to the Times of Israel news website, the Fire and Rescue Services said its teams brought under control by morning most of the fires which were sparked by rockets and drones launched from Lebanon.
The fires led to the closure of several major roads in the Galilee area, it added.
The Israeli Army Radio reported a fresh fire in the Biriya Forest near Safad in northern Israel, with two firefighting teams dispatched to the scene to put it out.
It added that the fire erupted as a result of falling shrapnel after rockets were intercepted.
0833 GMT –– UN rights chief urges end to killings in occupied West Bank
The UN human rights chief has urged for an end to killings in the West Bank by Israeli forces.
"As if the tragic events in Israel and then Gaza over the past eight months were not enough, the people of the occupied West Bank are also being subjected to day after day of unprecedented bloodshed. It is unfathomable that so many lives have been taken in such a wanton fashion," Volker Turk said in a statement.
"The killing, destruction and widespread human rights violations are unacceptable and must cease immediately," Turk said.
He stressed that any allegation of unlawful killings must be "thoroughly and independently" investigated and those responsible held to account.
0640 GMT –– Israeli army kills 2 Palestinians near Tulkarem city, holds their bodies
Two Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army near the Tulkarem city in the northern West Bank.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa identified the two as Abdel-Fattah Salahaddin and Ahmed Rajab, both from the Tulkarem refugee camp.
It added that the Israeli army held their bodies.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli forces opened fire on a Palestinian car near an Israeli military checkpoint in western Tulkarem.
The Israeli army prevented the ambulance teams from reaching the site of the shooting, the witnesses added.
The coordination committee of the Palestinian groups in Tulkarem announced a day of mourning over the killing of the two Palestinians.
Ashraf Shannon has the latest from Deir al Balah on overnight Israeli attacks that killed at least 21 Palestinians across besieged Gaza pic.twitter.com/v6azsfDrCH
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) June 4, 2024
0017 GMT –– US seeks UN backing for proposed Gaza truce, hostage deal
The US has said it wants the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution backing the proposal outlined by President Joe Biden to end Israel's war on Gaza.
It circulated a one-page draft text to the 15-member council. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the US, France, Britain, China or Russia to pass.
The draft "stresses the importance of the parties adhering to the terms of the deal once agreed, with the aim of bringing about a permanent cessation of hostilities."
"Numerous leaders and governments, including in the region, have endorsed this plan and we call on the Security Council to join them in calling for implementation of this deal without delay and without further conditions," US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement.
Israel's war on Gaza, now in its 242nd day, has killed at least 36,479 Palestinians — 71% of them women, children and infants — and wounded 82,627, officials say, with 10,000+ residents feared buried under debris of bombed homes
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) June 3, 2024
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2325 GMT –– Israel bombing kills four, including one child in Bureij camp
Israeli missile strike on a residence in the Bureij camp has resulted in the killing of four Palestinians while multiple people have been wounded, WAFA news agency reports.
According to WAFA correspondent, Israeli warplanes targeted the Al Maghari and Al Ahlam residential towers. They also shelled two more towers in the camp.
Israeli tanks opened heavy fire at citizens' homes in the vicinity of the University College of Applied Sciences in the Tel Al Hawa neighbourhood, southwest of Gaza City, and the Al Sabra area, according to news reports.
Israel strikes Bureij and Nuseirat camps in central Gaza, killing and wounding scores. Wounded Palestinians have been transported to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah pic.twitter.com/aOhRXSVeZF
— TRT World (@trtworld) June 4, 2024
2200 GMT –– Police arrest pro-Palestine demonstrators inside San Francisco building housing Israeli Consulate
San Francisco police have detained a group of pro-Palestine demonstrators who entered the lobby of the building housing the Israeli consulate after they refused to leave, authorities said.
An unspecified number of people were "detained for potential arrest," police said in a statement on Monday. "Officers have been making multiple warnings to the individuals to disperse and exit the private property on their own."
About 50 people were inside the building on the ground floor. Police led protesters out of the building one-by-one and loaded them into police vehicles, their hands bound by zip ties.
Protesters, who were voicing opposition to Israel's incursion into Gaza, had said they planned to stay until forcibly removed, the San Francisco Chronicle reported from the scene.
For our live updates from Monday, June 3, 2024, click here.
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