Gaza live: Israeli protesters demand ceasefire as war enters 10th month

The Israeli army confirmed that it launched a new operation in Gaza's Shujaiya neighbourhood on Thursday.

Palestinians had already reported heavy bombings, tank advancements and mass displacement.

The Israeli military said the operation began after receiving intelligence about Hamas operatives and infrastructure in the area, which had already been largely destroyed by several Israeli attacks in recent months.

The army says they struck dozens of Hamas sites in the neighbourhood.

"They already destroyed our area before. There is nothing left to destroy now," a resident of the neighbourhood told Middle East Eye on Thursday.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) surveyed over 1,000 Palestinian families displaced from Rafah following Israel's military operations in the area.

The survey found:
          - 83 percent reported no access to food.
          - 52 percent had no access to a dignified shelter.
          - On average, nine people stayed in the same shelter.
          - 57 percent lacked access to safe water.
          - Almost everyone had no access to adequate latrine facilities.  

Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing famine like conditions: wasting among children; people cooking meals out of tree leaves or animal fodder; families completely without food; only unsafe water available.

2/3

— Jan Egeland (@NRC_Egeland) June 27, 2024

Judges at the International Criminal Court ruled on Thursday that the UK can submit legal arguments to judges reflecting on the prosecution’s request for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

According to Court documents made public, the UK, an ICC member state, filed a request earlier in June to provide written information on whether “the court can exercise jurisdiction over Israeli nationals, in circumstances where Palestine cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals [under] the Oslo Accords”, referring to the 1993 agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

The UK argues that Palestinian authorities cannot have jurisdiction over Israeli nationals under the accords, and therefore cannot transfer that jurisdiction over to the ICC to prosecute them.

Meanwhile, the US’s controversial $230m Gaza pier could be removed as soon as today due to difficult sea conditions, according to the AP.

READ MORE: ICC allows UK to submit arguments disputing the prosecution of Israelis in Gaza case

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of today's key developments:

• Gaza's death toll has risen to 37,765 people 

• Israel launched a large attack on Gaza City's Shujaiya neighborhood 

• Another child has died of malnutrition in Gaza

• Twenty-one Gaza cancer patients arrived in Egypt for treatment

• Canada has imposed sanctions on seven Israeli settlers accused of taking part in violence in the occupied West Bank

• During a "day of strike and resistance" protesters marched to the Israeli prime minister's official residence, demanding immediate elections and a deal to release hostages held in the Gaza Strip

• The US is preparing to deliver 500-pound bombs as part of a weapons shipment to Israel that was suspended last month over concerns about Israel’s ongoing military assault in Rafah

A senior US Republican lawmaker has called on US President Joe Biden's administration to shut down the Gaza pier and focus on moving aid into the besieged enclave by land.

"I urge the administration to immediately cease this failed operation before further catastrophe occurs and consider alternative means of land and air-based humanitarian aid delivery," Republican Congressman Mike Rogers wrote in a letter sent to the Biden administration according to Reuters.

Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, complained that the pier - which cost $230m - is a waste of taxpayer money and has put US lives in danger, according to Reuters. The letter was sent to White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The pier was announced with fanfare by the Biden administration but now the US is considering temporarily dismantling and relocating it. Rights groups and Palestinians have criticised it as a costly distraction from the immediate need to press Israel to open more land routes into Gaza.

READ MORE: Top US Republican lawmaker calls for Gaza pier to be shut, replaced by land routes

The US is preparing to deliver 500-pound bombs as part of a weapons shipment to Israel that was suspended last month over concerns about Israel’s ongoing military assault in Rafah.

The matter was discussed this week during a visit to Washington by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a US  official said on Thursday. 

The shipment was paused by President Joe Biden in early May over concerns that the weapons could cause more Palestinian deaths in Gaza.  

During a "day of strike and resistance" protesters marched to the Israeli prime minister's official residence, demanding immediate elections and a deal to release hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, 2,000 people reportedly also rallied in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private residence in Caesarea.

Yemen's Houthis targeted "vessel SEAJOY" in the Red Sea with a drone boat and a number of missiles and drones, the Houthi’s military spokesman Yahya Saree said on Thursday.

The Houthis, who govern the most populous parts of Yemen, have staged attacks on ships in the waters off the country for months in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Canada has imposed sanctions on seven Israeli settlers accused of taking part in violence in the occupied West Bank, as well as five entities, including settler organisations.

The move marks the second time in just over a month that Canada has taken such measures.

"We remain deeply concerned by extremist settler violence in the West Bank and condemn such acts, not only for the significant impact they have on Palestinian lives, but also for the corrosive impact they have on prospects for lasting peace," Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement.

Protests broke out in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak today following a unanimous ruling by Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday declaring that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men for military service.

The ruling will overturn a longstanding practice under which the Jewish Haredim, the branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterised by its strict interpretation of religious practices, is exempt from Israel's military.

Prime Minister Netanyahu's coalition government relies on two ultra-Orthodox parties that regard conscription exemptions as key to keeping their constituents in religious seminaries and out of the military.

Leaders of those parties said they were disappointed with the ruling but issued no immediate threat to the government.

Norway has denounced an Israeli lawsuit against Unrwa, the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees, as “a politically motivated campaign aimed at weakening the agency.”

The lawsuit, which was filed by families of Israeli hostages in Gaza in New York on Monday, accuses the agency of assisting Hamas through the building of infrastructure and by paying employees in US dollars.

“We strongly oppose the attack on Unrwa and their staff, including the Norwegian diplomat who previously served as Deputy Commissioner-General of the agency,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement.

Eide said that the Norway "will continue to stand up for UNRWA and support their work,” adding that the agency is "the backbone of humanitarian efforts in Gaza.”

The first group of patients to be evacuated from Gaza since Israeli forces closed the Rafah crossing in May has arrived in Egypt, AFP is reporting, citing an Egyptian medical source.

The group of twenty-one cancer patients arrived via the Kerem Shalom crossing.

They are due to travel to the United Arab Emirates where they will receive treatment, according to the source.

According to Gaza's Health Ministry, 25,000 children in Gaza need treatment abroad.

A senior Republican lawmaker has written to the Biden administration demanding the closure of its floating aid pier off the coast of Gaza, which was intended to boost aid deliveries to the enclave.

Mike Rogers, the House Armed Serbices Committee Chairman, said that the temporary pier was a "failed operation," and that the administration should consider "alternative means of land and air-based humanitarian aid delivery."

While Rogers has long called for the pier's closure, this is the first time he has written formally to the administration to demand its dismantling.

An Israeli drone strike has killed a person riding a motorcycle in the town of Sohmor in southern Lebanon.

Footage circulated online showed ambulances rushing to the area, while a photo revealed the burnt remains of the motorcycle.

معلومات عن استهداف درّاجة ناريّة في بلدة سحمر- البقاع الغربي.#البقاع_الغربي #سحمر #لبنان #العدو_الإسرائيلي #ليبانوس pic.twitter.com/7VfCXpOvjb

— Lebanos (@lebanosnews) June 27, 2024

Israel conducted air strikes targeting the Aitaroun village in the Nabatieh governorate in southern Lebanon, Lebanese media are reporting.

An image circulated online by the Bint Jbeil online newspaper showed smoke rising from residential buildings. This was later followed by a photo of a house reduced to rubble.

🚨غارة عنيفة استهدفت بلدة عيترون pic.twitter.com/R7ty0QmvAQ

— bintjbeil.org (@bintjbeilnews) June 27, 2024

من مكان الغارة في عيترون pic.twitter.com/dYSStbwqHD

— bintjbeil.org (@bintjbeilnews) June 27, 2024