Live: Hamas agrees to release 10 Israeli captives

Hospital sources in Gaza told Al Jazeera Arabic that Israeli forces have killed at least 27 Palestinians since dawn today, with 11 of the dead reported to be civilians waiting for humanitarian aid.

The attacks targeted multiple areas across the Gaza Strip as Israel’s bombardment continued throughout the day. Medical teams are struggling to cope with the rising toll amid severe shortages and overwhelmed facilities.

We will bring you more updates as they come in.

A spokesperson for the Steadfastness Convoy to Break the Siege on Gaza says authorities in eastern Libya have stopped their group from advancing and severed their internet connection.

The convoy remains stationed in the coastal city of Sirte.

Meanwhile, the Global March to Gaza reports that Egyptian authorities have turned back 40 activists en route to Rafah, returning them to Cairo and seizing their passports.

At least three Palestinians have been killed and several others injured after an Israeli air raid struck a tent sheltering displaced civilians near the ruins of Al-Khalidi Mosque, northwest of Gaza City, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

The area had been hosting families forced to flee earlier bombardments.

Israeli air raids and artillery shelling on Saturday have killed at least 15 Palestinians and left several more wounded in both the northern and southern parts of the Gaza Strip, according to local reports.

Several Palestinians have been killed and wounded after Israeli forces opened fire on civilians waiting for aid north of the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to local media reports.

Palestinian outlets say the incident took place near the Wadi Gaza Bridge, where groups had gathered in hopes of receiving humanitarian assistance. Reports describe “martyrs and wounded” as a result of the attack by Israeli occupation forces.

Meanwhile, Al-Awda Hospital confirmed that 27 people were injured after Israeli drones targeted crowds along Salah al-Din Street, south of the Gaza Valley. The hospital is currently treating the wounded.

Two Palestinian peace activists who were detained upon landing in the US during a trip sponsored by a synagogue were deported from San Francisco on Friday, friends and fellow activists have told Middle East Eye. 

Eid Hathaleen and Awdah Hathaleen, cousins from the Masafer Yatta village of Umm al-Khair in the occupied West Bank, possessed valid visas and, after being detained, had their visas revoked upon landing in the US on Wednesday. 

Eid, an artist and photographer, and Awdah, an English teacher and contributor to Israeli magazine +972, landed in San Francisco on a flight from Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday.

The trip was sponsored by Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont, California. The cousins were scheduled to speak at churches, synagogues, and other establishments as part of an interfaith humanitarian mission that was supposed to take them from California to Washington, DC, and then Boston. 

Read more: US deports two Palestinians who landed with valid visas for an interfaith mission

Israeli forces have kept up their military campaign in the occupied West Bank, targeting Tulkarm city and its refugee camps for yet another day.

According to Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, the Israeli army’s presence in Tulkarm city has entered its 138th straight day, with operations in the nearby Nour Shams camp ongoing for the 125th day.

Homes continue to be torn down as part of what locals say is a sweeping demolition plan.

Bulldozers have been razing residential structures in central Tulkarm camp for the eighth day in a row. The campaign reportedly aims to demolish 106 buildings across the Tulkarm and Nour Shams camps. Of these, 58 are in Tulkarm alone, particularly in the Balawneh, Al-Akasha, and Al-Nadi neighbourhoods — the latter home to over 250 residences and dozens of businesses.

Meanwhile, a strict military cordon remains in place around both camps. Infantry units have taken up positions in alleyways, entrances, and residential areas, effectively barring residents from returning to their homes or salvaging their possessions.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza, now in its 616th day: 

• Heavy shelling hits northern Gaza as Palestinian sources report ongoing Israeli attacks in the region.

• Palestinian economy faces collapse after Israel moves to cut ties with Palestinian banks, warns the Palestinian Monetary Authority.

• France postpones UN two-state solution conference, with President Macron pledging to reschedule it “as soon as possible”.

• US refuses to release pro-Palestinian student leader despite court order to release him. Pro-Palestinian student protest leader Mahmoud Khalil remained in US detention Friday despite an expected release, his lawyer said, following allegations of inaccuracies in his permanent residency application.

• Activists blocked from Gaza protest march in Libya and Egypt. Organisers state: “Forty participants of the Global March to Gaza have had their passports taken at a checkpoint on the way out of Cairo.”

The Trump'  administration refused Friday to comply with a court order demanding the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a negotiator in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University who has been held for three months in a detention center awaiting deportation.

On Wednesday, Judge Michael Farbiarz of the federal district court in New Jersey, near New York, issued an order saying the government could not detain or deport Khalil based on claims by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that his presence on American soil posed a threat to US security. 

The judge then gave the government until Friday morning to release Khalil.

However, as of Friday afternoon, the government had not released Khalil and indicated in court documents that they had no intention of doing so.

"The Court has never held that it would be unlawful for the defendants (the government, editor's note) to detain Khalil on another charge leading to his deportation," the US Justice Department lawyer wrote in these documents. 

Five Palestinians sustained injuries as rocket shrapnel fell near Sa'ir, north of the city of Hebron in the West Bank, reported Wafa news agency on Friday.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, it evacuated five people, including three children, who were aged six, seven and 12, to a hospital after being injured by the rocket shrapnel.

Organisers say that pro-Palestinian activists seeking to march to Gaza with the stated aim of breaking Israel's blockade on the territory were stopped Friday in both Libya and Egypt, AFP reported on Friday. 

"Forty participants of the Global March to Gaza have had their passports taken at a checkpoint on the way out of Cairo," organisers said in a statement.

"They are being held in the heat and not allowed to move," the statement said, adding that another "15 are being held at hotels".

The activists are from France, Spain, Canada, Turkey and the United Kingdom, it said.

"We are a peaceful movement and we are complying with Egyptian law."

The group urged embassies to help secure their release so they could complete their voyage.

It later sent video footage to AFP showing Egyptian security forces intervening to break up impromptu sit-ins.

Women were "molested and carried like cattle onto the bus", according to a message from Florence Heskia, one of the protesters stuck on the road.

The Global March to Gaza had earlier said around 4,000 participants from more than 40 countries would gather in Cairo on Friday to head to the war-devastated Palestinian territory.

According to the plan, participants were set to travel by bus to the city of El-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula before walking 50 kilometres towards the border with Gaza.

They would then camp there before returning to Cairo on 19 June.

Separately, the "Soumoud" convoy, meaning "steadfastness" in Arabic, which took off from Tunisia, was also stopped Friday morning at the entrance to the Libyan city of Sirte, controlled by the forces of Khalifa Haftar.

"The caravan was barred from passing through at the entrance to the city of Sirte," Tunisian organiser Wael Naouar said in a video posted to Facebook on Friday.

The convoy, which is carrying about a thousand Tunisian, Algerian, Moroccan and Mauritanian activists, requires authorisation from Egyptian authorities to reach Gaza.

One person was arrested in central Cairo on Friday after activists attempted to gather there amid a heavy security presence, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.

On Thursday, the organisers of the Global March to Gaza said Egyptian authorities had detained more than 200 activists in Cairo.

Some were deported from Egypt while others were released.

"We did not expect the violence with which many people were arrested, deported and threatened," Hichem al-Ghaoui, a coordinator of the Global March, said Thursday on TikTok.

On Wednesday, Egypt's foreign ministry said that while it backs efforts to put "pressure on Israel", any delegations visiting the border area must receive approval through official channels.

Israel has imposed a lockdown on Palestinian cities and villages across the West Bank on Friday, shutting down all checkpoints and iron gates in conjunction with its attack on Iran.

According to Israeli media, the sweeping restrictions are described as an “exceptional measure” in response to the ongoing war, effectively halting all Palestinian movement between towns, villages, and cities until further notice.

The closure has significantly disrupted daily life for Palestinians, preventing access to workplaces and cutting off communities from essential services, including healthcare, education, and social support.

Israel Hayom reported that large numbers of Israeli troops have been deployed to the occupied West Bank to reinforce existing forces. However, the Israeli military has not disclosed the exact number.

Meanwhile, alert units in Israeli settlements have been instructed to raise their readiness levels in preparation for potential emergencies. The Israeli army has also been ordered to maintain heightened alert across checkpoints and military installations in the occupied West Bank.

The extensive network of Israeli checkpoints - estimated at around 900 - along with dozens of iron gates at town and village entrances, has long restricted Palestinian mobility, effectively turning many communities into isolated enclaves.

In contrast, Israeli settlers enjoy freedom of movement throughout the area.

Reporting by Fayha Shalash in Ramallah.

A Palestinian detainee from Tulkarm named Raed Ismail Asasa, 57, has died in Israeli custody, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society.

Asasa, a married father of two boys and a girl, worked as a labourer in Israel.

Thousands of Palestinian workers in Israel have been detained since October 2023.

Asasa had been held for 27 days and was transferred to an Israeli hospital on 9 June. He died on Friday, and the circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 10 and wounded dozens more on Friday across the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military launched air strikes targeting residential areas in the eastern part of Gaza City.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces shelled gatherings of civilians in al-Waha and al-Sudaniya areas northwest of Gaza City, according to Wafa news agency, 

Israeli forces also reportedly opened fire on Palestinians waiting for food aid at al-Shuhada junction.

Israel closed Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday without giving any confirmation on when it will reopen the complex for Palestinian worshippers.

Aoun Bazbaz, director of international affairs, diplomacy, and tourism at the Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem, told Middle East Eye that he was concerned Israel was using its escalation with Iran as cover to take further control of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

“The Israelis have claimed that the closure was to ‘protect the people’ - but only Waqf employees have been allowed to enter Al-Aqsa since,” Bazbaz said, adding that the real problem is that no guarantees were given about when it will reopen. "That uncertainty is deeply suspicious,” he said.

“There’s no doubt that Israel is using the current war conditions to impose new restrictions and create new facts on the ground,” he told MEE. He added: “While the world - and particularly the Islamic world - is focused on Gaza and Iran, Israel is quietly advancing its plans at Al-Aqsa.”

Bazbaz said that for over 20 years, Israelis have been working on dividing the mosque in terms of time and space and "99 percent of that plan has now been implemented. The daytime hours are for raids and tourists. It’s become the new normal”.

Bab al-Rahma, the eastern section of the complex, has been given another name. It has effectively become a place of worship for settlers - an undeclared temple. "Just yesterday, they were dancing there, thanking [National Security Minister] Ben Gvir for what he’s done at Al-Aqsa,” he said.

He added that the changes in the last six or seven months have been incredibly fast that even the media has not fully covered what is happening. "I told my wife yesterday, based on what I've seen recently, I wouldn’t be surprised if they soon force worshippers to book appointments through an app just to pray at noon or in the evening," Bazbaz added.

“Now, with the war on Iran, we are seriously concerned that even more restrictions are coming.”

Read more: Israel blocks access to Al-Aqsa Mosque after Iran strike