Live: Hamas agrees to release 10 Israeli captives

Former Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf will write to the chair of the British parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee urging an investigation into former Foreign Secretary David Cameron, Middle East Eye can reveal. 

The development comes after MEE reported on Monday that on 23 April 2024, Cameron privately threatened to defund and withdraw from the International Criminal Court if it issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.

Cameron, then foreign secretary in Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government, made the threat in a heated phone call with Karim Khan, the British chief prosecutor of the court. At the time, Yousaf was the Scottish first minister.

MEE revealed details of the call based on information from a number of sources - including former staff in Khan’s office who are familiar with the conversation and have seen the minutes of the meeting.

"I absolutely believe there should be an investigation," Yousaf told MEE on Thursday.

Read more: Former Scottish leader demands probe over David Cameron's threat to ICC

Israel’s governing coalition narrowly survived a no-confidence vote on Thursday, following a last-minute effort to convince ultra-Orthodox parties to withdraw their support for a motion to dissolve parliament.

Tensions had been running high for days, with Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) threatening to back the move to topple the government and trigger early elections.

The political crisis was sparked by the government's failure to pass legislation exempting ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service - a long-standing demand of both Shas and UTJ.

Likud MP Yuli Edelstein, chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, said that compromise with the religious parties was reached late on Wednesday. 

"I am pleased to announce that after long deliberations we have reached agreements on the principles on which the draft law will be based," said Edelstein.

Read more: Israel’s coalition survives vote to dissolve parliament over army draft tensions

Israel’s largest state-owned defence company, which is directly involved in the war on Gaza, has received millions of euros in EU defence funding, an investigation has revealed.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is participating in EU-funded projects through the Greek company Intracom Defense, which it acquired in May 2023.

According to a report published on Wednesday by Investigate Europe, the French newsroom Disclose and the Greek outlet Reporters United, Intracom Defense is currently involved in 15 European Defence Fund (EDF) projects worth at least €15m (around $17.5m).

Seven of them were awarded after October 2023 and its sale to IAI. Among them are the Triton and Marte projects, which started in December 2024 to develop AI-driven cybersecurity technology and tank systems for combat.

Intracom Defense’s most significant involvement is as the lead coordinator of Actus, a four-year programme aimed at developing drone technologies for weapon integration and other capabilities for European use.

Read more: EU Commission and states indirectly fund Israeli military industry, report says

Egyptian authorities have detained and questioned more than 200 people who arrived in Cairo to participate in the Global March to Gaza, an international action intended to break Israel’s siege on the territory, the organisers said on Thursday.

According to the march organisers, some 4000 people from over 40 countries had booked flights to Cairo, with many already arriving ahead of the planned march.

The activists had flown to Cairo to join a grassroots land convoy which set off from the Tunisian capital on Monday in the hopes of reaching Egypt’s Rafah border with Gaza as a “symbolic act” to spotlight Israel’s crippling 18-year siege on the territory.

Thousands of volunteers from Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia left the Tunisian capital in a 100-vehicle convoy to raise international awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and deliver life-saving aid, organisers said. An online tracker shows that they are in the Libyan city of Misrata as of Thursday afternoon.

They also said that the Egyptian government has yet to officially respond to their request for permission to proceed with the march but that they are planning to proceed with it anyway. 

Read more: Egypt detains nearly 200 foreigners who flew in to join Gaza march

The UK is "currently" involved in training members of the Israeli army on British soil, according to Ministry of Defence officials.

In response to a question from a Labour MP, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces admitted the training was ongoing despite government concerns over Israel's assault on Gaza.

"As part of routine defence engagement with Israel, the UK is currently training a limited number of Israeli Defence Forces personnel on UK-based training courses," Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard said on Wednesday.

The UK has been largely supportive of Israel during its war on Gaza, which began in October 2023.

This is despite allegations of genocide and war crimes committed by Israeli soldiers against Palestinian civilians.

More than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israel’s war on Gaza, which several countries, as well as many international rights groups and experts, now qualify as an act of “genocide”.

Read more: UK defence ministry 'currently' training Israeli army personnel

Iran's response to any Israeli aggression will be "more forceful and destructive" than in past offensives, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Hossein Salami told state media on Thursday.

The comments came after Tehran said it had been alerted of a potential attack.

Israel and Iran exchanged fire on two occasions last year, the first such direct attacks between the two countries.I

At least 60 Palestinians have been killed by Israel while seeking food aid in Gaza, according to the health ministry.

Most of the deaths on Wednesday took place as starving Palestinians approached a food distribution centre run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), near Netzarim in central Gaza.

At least 25 people were killed and dozens wounded after Israeli forces opened fire. A further 14 people were killed by the Israelis as they were moving towards another GHF distribution site, in Rafah.

The emergency department at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City said it had admitted dozens of people in recent days who had been killed or wounded while waiting for aid.

"Many Gazans went to the Nabulsi and Netzarim areas to receive aid and were shot at and shelled with tanks," said Mutaz Harara, the head of Al-Shifa's emergency department.

Read more: At least 60 Palestinians killed by Israel while seeking aid in Gaza

After more than 72 hours in Israeli custody, following the interception of the Madleen Freedom Flotilla by Israeli forces on Sunday night, six volunteers are now being transferred to Ben Gurion Airport for deportation, human rights group Adalah said in a statement today.

Israeli immigration authorities reportedly informed lawyers at Adalah, who are representing most of the crew from the ship. 

“The six volunteers expected to be deported today or early tomorrow morning are Mark van Rennes (the Netherlands), Suayb Ordu (Turkey), Yasemin Acar (Germany), Thiago Avila (Brazil), Reva Viard (France), and Rima Hassan (France). Adalah lawyers are reportedly facing difficulties visiting them at the airport,” the statement says. 

Two other volunteers, Pascal Maurieras (France) and Yanis Mhamdi (France), remain in custody at Givon Prison under the authority of the Israel Prison Service, ahead of their deportation tomorrow afternoon.

“While in custody, volunteers were subjected to mistreatment, punitive measures, and aggressive treatment, and two volunteers were held for some period of time in solitary confinement. Adalah protested this inhumane treatment to the Israeli authorities and demanded that it cease,” the statement added.

Israeli attacks have killed at least 42 people in Gaza since the early hours of this morning, with at least 24 killed while waiting for aid, Al Jazeera is reporting, citing sources from Gaza’s hospitals.

Israel's foreign ministry accused Hamas of "weaponizing suffering in Gaza" following yesterday's Hamas attack on a bus, which killed five Gaza Humanitarian Foundation workers. 

"Hamas is weaponizing suffering in Gaza - denying food, targeting lifesavers, and forsaking its own people", Israel's foreign ministry said in a statement on X.

After threats, lies, and disruption, they turned to cold-blooded murder:

Last night Hamas brutally killed at least 5 Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid workers, en route to a distribution center to deliver today’s essential aid.

They showed no mercy.

Hamas is weaponizing… pic.twitter.com/r1t5pmtpz7

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) June 12, 2025

The Palestinian Authority on Thursday said internet and fixed-line communication services were down in Gaza following an attack on the territory's last fibre optic cable, AFP is reporting. 

"All internet and fixed-line communication services in the Gaza Strip have been cut off following the targeting of the last remaining main fibre optic line in Gaza," the PA's telecommunications ministry said in a statement, accusing Israel of attempting to cut off Gaza from the world.

A group of 17 children from Gaza, accompanied by 50 family members, arrived in Italy for medical treatment.

Among the group is Dr Alaa al-Najjar and her son Adam Hamdi al-Najjar, who lost his father and nine siblings in an Israeli air strike which targeted their home in the southern city of Khan Younis last month. 

Adam, who suffered multiple fractures, arrived with his mother at Milan's Linate Airport, where he was received by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani before being transferred to the city's Niguarda Hospital.

Five Palestinians, including two children, were killed early Thursday morning as a result of Israeli shelling in the southern Gaza Strip, Wafa news agency is reporting.

According to medical sources, a woman and her child were killed in the town of Abasan al-Kabira and the tent of a displaced family was bombed in the al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis, killing Abdul Wahab Abu Haddaf, his wife, and his son.

In the past 24 hours, 80 citizens were killed and dozens wounded, including 57 food seekers, medical sources say.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest updates from Israel's war on Gaza:

• The US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation accused Hamas of attacking a bus on Wednesday carrying Palestinians working with the organisation, leading to at least five deaths and multiple injuries

• The United Nations General Assembly will vote on Thursday on a draft resolution that demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza after the US vetoed a similar effort in the Security Council last week

•  Israel's parliament rejected early on Thursday a preliminary vote to dissolve itself, after an agreement was reached regarding a dispute over conscription

Palestinians in the village of al-Lubban al-Sharqiya, south of Nablus in the West Bank face potential displacement from their homes after Israeli settlers started both an online and physical campaign to demolish homes, according to Wafa news agency.

Israeli settlers have threatened to demolish more than 20 homes in the village, located on the main road linking the cities of Nablus and Ramallah.

For the fifth consecutive day, dozens of Israeli settlers have stormed the main entrance to the village and performed Talmudic rituals, obstructing people coming in and out.

The Israeli military have supported the settlers by sealing off the iron gate at the main entrance to the village according to Wafa.

The in-person campaign started 12 days ago, and Israeli settlers have closed off the main entrance to the village seven times over the past 12 days.

On Sunday evening, the campaign intensified after Israeli settlers shared posts on social media calling for the Israeli military to demolish homes and infrastructure on the main street of the village.

Wafa said the settlers have posted incendiary material against the villagers - particularly against schools located on the main street.

The Israeli settlers also announced they would demonstrate every evening at 7:30pm local time at the main entrance and close the village until demolition is carried out.