Main events on June 2nd
- Ongoing Israeli bombardment across the Gaza Strip killed at least 45 Palestinians, many in the enclave’s north, as a crippling aid blockade continues and starvation spreads.
- The Israeli army has ordered Palestinians in several areas of southern Khan Younis to evacuate as troops reportedly converge on Gaza’s second-largest city.
- In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces shot and killed a 14-year-old boy during a raid near Ramallah, one of several violent incursions there.
- Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a ballistic missile attack on Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, which Israel said was intercepted.
- United Nations chief Antonio Guterres demanded an investigation into the killing of Palestinians seeking food aid at US- and Israel-operated sites.
- Matthew Miller, a US State Department spokesman under former US President Joe Biden, admitted it is “without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes” in Gaza.
‘World is watching’: UN experts demand safe passage for Freedom Flotilla
UN legal experts have called for the protection of a ship operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition as it sails to besieged Gaza carrying food, water and medical supplies.
“Aid is desperately needed for the people of Gaza to forestall annihilation, and this initiative is a symbolic and powerful effort to deliver it,” the UN experts said in a joint statement. “Israel should remember that the world is watching closely and refrain from any act of hostility against the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and its passengers.”
The experts emphasised the legal right of Palestinians to receive aid through their own territorial waters, and of the vessel to navigate freely in international waters. They voiced concern for the safety of those on board, referencing a previous Freedom Flotilla ship reportedly bombed by a drone off Malta’s coast in early May.
Israel has enforced a complete blockade on Gaza for 17 years, intensifying it since March 2, with aid almost entirely cut off.
