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

Reconciliation talks between the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah due to be held in China this month have been delayed and no new date has been set, Hamas and Fatah officials told Reuters on Monday.

After hosting a meeting of Palestinian factions in April, China said Fatah - which is led by President Mahmoud Abbas - and Hamas had expressed the will to seek reconciliation through unity talks in Beijing. Fatah and Hamas officials had previously said the meeting would take place in mid-June.

Reporting by Reuters

The leader of the French far right, Jordan Bardella, is currently unfavourable to the recognition of a Palestinian state, believing "it would be recognising terrorism" after the Hamas-led attacks in Israel on 7 October, which triggered the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza.

“I am not saying that this should not remain a horizon but to recognise a Palestinian state as we speak would be to recognise terrorism,” Bardella said during a press conference.

“This would grant political legitimacy to an organisation which provides in its charter for the destruction of the State of Israel,” he added, referring to Hamas.

There are "catastrophic levels of hunger" across the Gaza Strip resulting from "human action," Unrwa chief Philippe Lazzarini said on Monday.

"In the last nine months, we have witnessed unprecedented failures of humanity in a territory marked by decades of violence," Lazzarini told the UN agency's advisory commission.

"Children are dying of malnutrition and dehydration, while food and clean water wait in trucks."

Israeli forces have in recent weeks tightened their eight-month siege of the Gaza Strip, blocking the delivery of life-saving food and medical items. 

They have also increased attacks on aid and service workers.

The Israeli policy has worsened the starvation crisis, especially in the northern Gaza Strip, where four children died of malnutrition over the past week.

"The breakdown of civil order has resulted in rampant looting and smuggling that impede the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid," Lazzarini said. 

"Gazans are clinging to life, displaced repeatedly across a ravaged territory."

Middle East Eye reported earlier that former minister and general Gadi Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of contradicting war cabinet decisions when he said he would accept only a "partial" ceasefire and prisoner swap deal, which would only see some of the captives released. 

Eisenkot went further in his criticism of Netanyahu's comments, according to Haaretz. 

He said that until two weeks ago - when Eisenkot left the war cabinet in protest against Netanyahu's management of the war - there were only two options being discussed. 

One is the widely reported three-phased deal, which would lead to a permanent ceasefire and release of all the captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and the other was a complete deal in one stage. 

"The prime minister's statement about a partial deal is contrary to the war cabinet's decision," he said. 

"Maybe it was a Freudian slip, maybe just a thought. But I think it requires an immediate clarification in light of the mental turmoil caused to the families of the hostages, and its fatal harm to Israel's civic strength.

"There are soldiers who are fighting right now and their goal is to release the hostages. I think that an immediate clarification by the prime minister is required as to what he meant."

Many Palestinians are getting food poisoning from eating expired canned food as food shortages worsen while famine and diseases spread, the local government in Gaza said on Monday.

According to the government media office, children are most affected by the deteriorating starvation crises, caused by an Israeli siege banning basic food items from entering the Palestinian enclave. 

"The occupation [authorities] are imposing a policy of systematic starvation and treatment prevention," the office said in a statement.

"Famine and diseases are increasing among the residents of the Gaza Strip, especially among children"

The hunger crisis in Gaza peaked in March, with dozens of children dying of malnutrition and residents being forced to eat grass as Israeli forces repeatedly killed aid-seeking people. 

Under mounting international pressure, Israel “slightly” improved food access in some areas, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), after its forces killed several foreign aid workers and a UN-backed report warned famine was imminent. 

However, Israeli authorities have in recent weeks tightened life-saving food deliveries again, leading to another spike in malnutrition cases, according to health officials.

At least four children have died of malnutrition over the last week, Hussam Abu Safia, Kamal Adwan Hospital director, said on Saturday.  

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks about being open to only a "partial deal" with Hamas contradicts decisions made by the now-disbanded war cabinet, former minister and general Gadi Eisenkot said.

Netanyahu on Sunday he would agree only to a temporary pause and the release of some of Israeli captives held in Gaza. 

His comments have caused anger in Israel among opposition who demand all captives be released in a comprehensive deal that includes an end to the war.

The mother of on Israeli captives said they have no future in the country if the government doesn't save her son, as anger among at Netanyahu grows after he said he would agree to a "partial deal" with Hamas that releases only some of the captives. 

"I'm not someone who yells," Niva Wenkert, mother of captive Omer Wenkert, said at the Knesset finance committee on Monday, according to Haaretz. 

"But on one day Netanyahu tells us that there's a deal on the table, and that the hostages will be released and the other day he says something different. How can I not go crazy?

"I'm a law-abiding citizen and a Zionist. But if my country doesn't save my son, we have no future here."

Gil Dickmann, a cousin of captive Carmel Gat, said Netanyahu was "sabotaging" his own deal with his remarks on Sunday. 

"There was a deal that was supposed to bring them all back, and suddenly it turns out that the proposal that everyone except Netanyahu supports, is Netanyahu's own deal," Dickmann said. 

"We don't understand it. Does this mean that [Israel] gave up on all the hostages? There's no partial deal. It's like a partial pregnancy or a partial victory. It's a complete failure," he added.

Greece's foreign minister said on Monday that threats by Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah against Cyprus were unacceptable and the European Union would stand by member states against all such threats.

"It is absolutely unacceptable to make threats against the sovereign state of the European Union," Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis told reporters on arrival in Brussels for a monthly foreign ministers meeting. "We stand by Cyprus and we will all be together in all kinds of global threats coming from terrorist organisations."

Reporting by Reuters

European foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that the Middle East was close to seeing the conflict expanding into Lebanon as tensions between Israel and Hezbollah escalate. 

"The risk of this war effecting the south of Lebanon and spilling over is every day bigger," Borrell told reporters ahead of a foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg. "We are on the eve of the war expanding."

Reporting by Reuters

Up to 21,000 Palestinian children are estimated to be missing in the Gaza Strip, Save the Children said on Monday. 

They include 4,000 who are likely trapped under the rubble and presumed dead and 17,000 who are unaccompanied and separated from their families, the charity said.

An unknown number are buried in unmarked graves, while others have been forcibly disappeared by Israeli forces, including those "detained and forcibly transferred out of Gaza [with] their whereabouts unknown to their families amidst reports of ill-treatment and torture".

Jeremy Stoner, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East, said: “Families are tortured by the uncertainty of the whereabouts of their loved ones. No parent should have to dig through rubble or mass graves to try and find their child’s body. No child should be alone, unprotected in a war zone. No child should be detained or held hostage".

Stoner said a ceasefire was needed "desperately" to help "support the missing children who have survived and to prevent more families from being destroyed".

United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Monday it has received a report of an incident 246 nautical miles southeast of Yemen's Nishtun.

UKMTO added that authorities are investigating the incident.

Reporting by Reuters

Israeli protesters blocked a coastal highway north of Tel Aviv on Monday morning, calling for a strike and replacement of the government. 

According to Israeli media, demonstrators the government of Benjamin Netanyahu of "abandoning" the captives in Gaza while the north in "burning". 

They called for a general strike that shut down the economy "until the failed government is replaced," Channel 13 reported.

מפגינים חוסמים את כביש החוף באזור גלילות: "קוראים להשבתת של המשק עד שהממשלה המושחתת והכושלת בתולדות המדינה תוחלף"https://t.co/Fav0budnv6@sivan_alkalak
(צילום: אודי סלמנוביץ) pic.twitter.com/6FDKSezjz9

— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) June 24, 2024

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza, now in its 262nd day:

• Palestinian doctor Hani al-Jafarawi was killed in an Israeli targeting of a clinic in Gaza City, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday. He became the 500th medical worker to be killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip since 7 October. 

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he opposes an agreement with Hamas that leads to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, in what appeared to be a rejection of the Israeli proposal outlined by Biden last month. 

• The captives' families forum "strongly condemned" Netanyahu's remarks and accused him of "walking back" from Biden's Israeli-backed plan. 

• Hamas also criticised Netanyahu, saying his comments prove Israel rejects the ceasefire and prisoner swap deal on the table. 

• The US military confirmed an attack by the Yemeni Houthi group on Sunday on the Greek-owned carrier Transworld Navigator by a suspected uncrewed aerial system (UAS) attack, which caused reportedly caused "minor injuries and moderate damage to the ship".