Gaza live: Biden moves ahead with military aid for Israel as it launches ground assaults on Rafah

US Central Command announced it performed another airdrop of humanitarian assistance over northern Gaza, this time doing it in coordination with Jordan's military.

The UN says that northern Gaza is under “full-blown famine”, and aid experts have said that airdrops are insufficient methods of getting enough food and other supplies into Gaza.

Footage earlier this week showed several Palestinians falling from an unstable rooftop after trying to reach an aid package that was airdropped into Gaza.

A group of Israeli settlers on Thursday launched several attacks on the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) in East Jerusalem, setting fire to the perimeter of the building.

There were no injuries reported, however, the fire caused extensive damage to the property, according to Unrwa.

Video footage shared on social media shows several fires surrounding the building, with a group of Israelis cheering in the background.

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of Unrwa, said that the attack has forced him to shut down the compound, given the ongoing security risk to staff members of the UN agency.

Read more by clicking below.

Unrwa closing Jerusalem headquarters after Israeli settler arson attacks

More than 1,600 Columbia University alumni signed a letter pledging to withhold "all financial, programmatic, and academic support" to the university until a list of 13 demands is met. 

"Columbia University maintains an undisclosed number of investments with entities known to fund or profit from the Israeli military occupation, meaning that Columbia is financially and morally enabling the ongoing indiscriminate killing of Palestinians," the letter, addressed to President Nemat Minouche Shafik and the Trustees of Columbia University, begins. 

The website where the letter is posted updates new signatories and has a financial contribution ticker at the bottom, which at the time of publishing, reads: $68,354,601 financial contributions at risk.

Read the full story by clicking below.

Columbia University alumni pledge to withhold financial support over Gaza war

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-aligned militias, said it launched a drone strike on an Israeli military base.

The group said the attack was "in response to the massacres committed” by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel's military has yet to comment on any damage.

Hamas's armed wing said it detonated a booby-trapped tunnel in Rafah, as Israeli forces continue to attack the city in southern Gaza.

Israel's military confirmed the explosion and said three soldiers were wounded.

The Israeli military has the amount of munitions it requires to proceed with its operations in Rafah, as well as operations in other parts of Gaza, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.

On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden said Washington would suspend arms transfers if Israel invades Rafah.

Israel has already launched an operation into Rafah, seizing the crossing with Egypt, but the Biden administration says this is not the "full-scale" invasion it is opposed to.

A senior Hamas delegation left Cairo for Doha early on Thursday, and sources familiar with the negotiations are telling MEE that they did not entertain any changes to the proposal they accepted earlier this week after Israel walked away from the deal.

Sources told MEE that the Palestinian group was still committed to the deal proposed by mediators earlier in the week, but Hamas was leaving Cairo after two days of talks with mid-ranking Israeli officials that failed to yield a breakthrough.

For more on this, check out the full story by clicking below.

Hamas delegation leaves Cairo after Israel rejects ceasefire proposal

A senior Israeli official told Reuters that during negotiations in Cairo, Israel submitted its reservations about the latest ceasefire proposal, and added that Israel will proceed with its operation in Rafah as planned.

The official said that this round of negotiations in Cairo is over.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said that if Israel undertakes a major invasion of Rafah, it will not advance Israel and the US's objective of defeating Hamas. 

"Smashing into Rafah, in his view, will not advance that objective," Kirby said in a news briefing.

Israel has already launched an operation into Rafah, seizing the crossing between Egypt and Gaza, but Washington says this operation is not the full-scale invasion that it is opposed to.

Reuters is reporting, citing two Egyptian officials, that Israel's delegation and CIA director William Burns have left Cairo after talks regarding the potential ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

Slovenia has initiated the procedure for the recognition of a Palestinian state, the country's Prime Minister Robert Golob said.

The move, which was announced in March, is being used as leverage to end Israel's war in Gaza.

"The horrors we see every day in Gaza are inadmissible and must stop," Golob was quoted as saying on the government's X account.

"I call on Israel to put an immediate end to its attacks on Gaza and to use the negotiating table."

The date of Slovenia's official recognition depends on the ongoing negotiations around a ceasefire, but Golob said 13 June would be the latest they would push the recognition.

The leader Yemen's Houthi movement, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said that the group would continue to target ships of any company linked to supplying or transporting goods to Israel regardless of their destination.

He said this was in retaliation to "the Israeli aggression on Rafah" in southern Gaza, according to Reuters.

Israeli contestant Eden Golan's dress rehearsal performance at the Eurovision Song Contest was met with boos and shouts of "Free Palestine" from the audience.

"Easily the most booing I've ever heard at #Eurovision but no major disruptions of Israel at the first show with a crowd," journalist Ben Rothenberg posted on X, formerly Twitter.

One person who said they attended the show said several members of the audience left during Eden Golan's performance of "Hurricane", and returned for the following contestant.

"Eurovision ignored public backlash and outrage from other musicians over Israel being allowed to perform at Eurovision while it continues its genocidal slaughter in Gaza," posted another user alongside a clip from the show.

To read the full story, click below.

Eurovision: Israel's contestant booed on stage as boycott calls continue

The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights said hospitals and blood banks in the North Sinai governorate have declared a critical state of emergency as they prepare to receive an influx of wounded Palestinians.

The measure is part of a contingency plan in the event the Rafah crossing reopens after it was taken over by the Israeli army in recent days, medical sources told the foundation.

The sources said that public and central hospitals have been recommended to release patients who are in recovery to ensure capacity to receive Palestinians.

Germany's Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger rebuked a letter of support from around 100 lecturers at Berlin universities in support of pro-Palestine protesters.

"This statement from educators at Berlin universities is staggering. Instead of taking a clear stand against hatred of Israel and Jews, university occupiers are being turned into the victims and violence trivialised," Stark-Watzinger told tabloid Bild newspaper.

Dozens of lecturers from several universities in Berlin signed a letter declaring they stand with their students and "defend" their right to peacefully protest, "regardless of whether we agree with the specific demands of the protest camp".

"We call on the Berlin university management to refrain from police operations against their own students as well as from further criminal prosecution," the statement continued.

Berlin conservative mayor, Kai Wegner, also criticised the letter, saying: "I have absolutely no sympathy for the authors of this pamphlet."