Gaza, from Trump guarantees to Hamas on end of war. IDF raids, 94 Palestinians killed. Iran reopens airspace

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene the security cabinet in Jerusalem this evening to discuss an agreement on hostages held in the Gaza Strip and military operations in the Palestinian enclave. Israeli media report this.

Israeli air strikes and shooting killed 94 Palestinians in Gaza, including 45 people who were trying to receive much needed humanitarian aid. This is according to hospitals and the Gaza Ministry of Health. Families mourned Thursday the bodies from an attack that struck a tent city overnight as displaced people slept in southern Gaza. At least 13 members of one family were killed, including at least six children under the age of 12. In central Gaza, a child stroked the face of his dead 6-year-old sister in the morgue of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital. The child and another of her siblings were among the eight people killed when an attack Wednesday night struck near a kiosk selling falafel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin urged his US counterpart Donald Trump to seek a diplomatic solution to conflicts in the Middle East, including the recent war between Iran and Israel. During the phone conversation, Putin stressed the importance of resolving all disputes and tensions exclusively through political and diplomatic means. Reporting the Russian leader's words was Putin's diplomatic advisor Yuri Ushakov, who told reporters how Moscow considers the use of dialogue to prevent further escalation in the region to be crucial.

"The Guardian reports that 94 more people were killed in Gaza by Israeli shelling overnight, 45 of them while trying to get humanitarian aid. Two days ago 21 people, including many women and children, murdered in a Gaza internet cafe while trying to communicate with the outside world. Netanyahu's government continues with its heinous crimes and is deliberately militarising aid and targeting the most crowded places of those seeking bread. Netanyahu must be stopped'. Thus the secretary of the PD, Elly Schlein.

"We will continue to press Giorgia Meloni to come out of her silence and firmly condemn Netanyahu's crimes, the dignity of our country is now also at stake. If they want to make a contribution to peace in the Middle East, they should suspend the EU-Israel cooperation agreement and the Memorandum of Military Cooperation between Italy and Israel and finally recognise the State of Palestine, as Spain, Norway and Ireland have done". "The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, on the initiative of the opposition members of the Italian delegation, including our own Enzo Amendola and Alessandro Alfieri, whom I thank, included in the final resolution the need for member countries to recognise the State of Palestine. We will not tire of repeating this, every day. What more is the Meloni government waiting for?".

An air raid targeted a car along the Khaldeh Highway, south of the Lebanese capital Beirut. This was reported by the Lebanese news agency NNA, which attributed the operation to an Israeli drone. Israeli forces (IDF) later confirmed on X that they had carried out the operation and had "struck and eliminated a terrorist". "He was involved in arms trafficking and carrying out attacks against Israeli civilians and military personnel on behalf of the Quds Force" of the Guardians of the Revolution, the Iranian Pasdaran, the IDF further specified.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Kibbutz Nir Oz today. His office told the Times of Israel. It would be the first visit to the small kibbutz since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023. Nir Oz was among the hardest hit by the Hamas attack, with 117 of the community's approximately 400 residents kidnapped or murdered during the massacre.ì

Manifestanti in piedi all'ingresso del Kibbutz Nir Oz, situato vicino al confine tra Israele e Gaza e attaccato da Hamas il 7 ottobre 2023, nel giorno in cui è prevista la visita del Primo Ministro israeliano Benjamin Netanyahu per la prima volta dall'attacco del 7 ottobre 2023, a Nir Oz, Israele, 3 luglio 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Gaza's Hamas-run Interior Ministry has warned residents of the coastal enclave not to 'collaborate' with the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (Ghf), saying that deadly incidents near its food distribution sites endanger refugees.

"It is strictly forbidden to deal with, work with, or provide any form of assistance or cover for the US Ghf organisation or its local or foreign agents," reads a statement from the Interior Ministry. "Legal action will be taken against anyone proven to be involved in cooperation with this organisation, including the imposition of the maximum penalties provided for under applicable national laws," another passage reads, without providing further details.

Further reading

Rafah, tonnes of aid stopped at the crossing and the risk of 'militarised' aid

21 May 2025

Hamas could provide a response to the new ceasefire proposal in the Gaza Strip 'by Friday', Reuters news agency reports, citing sources close to the negotiations.

Israel has committed one of the cruellest genocides in modern history in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians continue to endure unimaginable suffering. This was said today by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese.

"The situation in the occupied Palestinian territories is apocalyptic. In Gaza, people continue to endure unimaginable suffering. Israel is responsible for one of the cruellest genocides in modern history. Official figures count over 200,000 dead and wounded. Leading health experts estimate the real toll to be much higher,' said Albanese during the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met yesterday in Ankara with a Hamas delegation led by Muhammad Darwish, head of the Hamas Shura Council. This was reported by Turkey's Foreign Ministry. The meeting focused on recent developments in the ceasefire talks and the humanitarian situation in Gaza. To the Hamas representative, according to Turkish media reports, Fidan said Turkey will not allow recent regional tensions to 'overshadow the genocide in Gaza'.

Il ministro degli Esteri turco Hakan Fidan (Epa)

The torrid heat in Gaza has triggered a 'domino effect', exacerbating the difficulties of its two million inhabitants. Ap spoke to Gazawians and reported the alarm of NGOs who have long denounced that reduced water availability, inefficient sewage networks and reduced living space risk causing disease. This scorching summer coincides with a lack of clean water for the majority of Gaza's population, much of it displaced in tent cities. "There is no electricity. There is nothing,' said Rida Abu Hadayed, 'They cannot sleep. The children cry all day, until sunset'.

Many Palestinians in the besieged territory, international media report, have to walk long distances to get water and ration every drop, which limits their ability to wash and refresh themselves. Fuel is needed to pump water from wells and run desalination plants but, writes the Guardian, Israel has prevented it from entering the territory. 'We are only at the beginning of summer,' said Yousef, Hadayed's husband, 'and our situation is desperate. Our life in the tent is miserable,' he added. 'We spend our days pouring water on the children's heads and skin. Water itself is scarce. It is very difficult to get it. We stay up all night, dying from mosquito bites. We are the most tired people in the world."

Further reading

"I saw Gaza die in front of me, the world considers it expendable".

20 June 2025

The families of the Israeli hostages in Gaza Maxim Herkin and Bar Kuperstein authorised the publication of a Hamas propaganda video released in April. In the clip, the two are sitting with their backs against the wall. Herkin, with his hand bandaged, states that they are 'walking dead', reports the Times of Israel. "We don't feel like human beings," the abductee adds. The excerpt is part of a larger video released by the Family Forum calling for a comprehensive ceasefire agreement rather than another round of partial, staggered hostage releases. The 44-second clip has excerpts from several Hamas videos.

The latest ceasefire proposal for Gaza revolves around three central issues. The Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar wrote about it, pointing out that the agreement requires Israeli forces to withdraw to the positions they occupied before the last ceasefire failed on 2 March. At that time, the Israeli Defence Forces had not yet withdrawn completely from Gaza, remaining stationed along the so-called Philadelphia Corridor. The second point concerns humanitarian aid. According to the report, the UN mechanism for aid delivery would be reinstated, 'to ensure an uninterrupted supply'. Finally, the proposal includes a commitment to continue negotiations on the future of the ceasefire in a broader sense, even if no agreement on the end of the war is reached before the initial truce begins. The Times of Israel reports.

The Gaza civil defence says that 12 people were killed in an Israeli attack on a school housing displaced people.

According to evidence seen by the Guardian, the Israeli army (IDF) used a 500lb (230kg) bomb in the attack launched on Monday against a crowded beach café in Gaza. Fragments of the weapon found in the ruins of the al-Baqa café, photographed by the British newspaper, were identified by weapons experts as parts of a 230 kg MK-82 multi-purpose bomb, a US-made weapon used in many bombing campaigns in recent decades. The bomb used is a powerful weapon that generates a disruptive shock wave and scatters shrapnel over a wide area. International law experts have stated that the use of such munitions is almost certainly illegal and could constitute a war crime.

Hamas has reportedly accepted the guarantees contained in the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip proposed by the United States: this is what the Saudi daily Asharq publishes, citing sources close to the negotiations.

The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas proposed by the US requires the terrorist group to release 10 of the hostages still alive held in the Palestinian enclave and return the bodies of the 18 deceased hostages in its possession. The New York Times writes this, citing on condition of anonymity officials and Israelis informed about the agreement, according to which this process should take place in five stages over a period of 60 days. The newspaper explains that this is a significant change from an earlier American proposal submitted in May. That plan called for the release of all hostages within the first seven days of the ceasefire.

Hamas expressed 'satisfaction' with the formulation of the new proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza and noted that the mediators are making great efforts to reach an agreement between the parties. This was claimed by the Saudi media outlet Asharq News citing sources, relayed by Haaretz and Times of Israel. Hamas is reportedly expected to submit its official response to the proposal by tomorrow evening. However, the Saudi channel also that the Palestinian group continues to contest several points of the proposal. Its main concerns relate to the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip and the withdrawal of the IDF from areas of the Gaza Strip, which are mentioned in the proposal without giving specific dates or attaching maps. Asharq News also states that Hamas wants to treat the proposal with 'responsibility' and is willing to show flexibility as long as Palestinian interests are respected.