Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is reported to be in discussions with rabbis linked to his Religious Zionist Party about the circumstances under which he would abandon the Netanyahu government.

Smotrich virulently opposes any ceasefire deal on Gaza that comes before destroying Hamas, and he has threatened to quit Netanyahu’s fragile coalition government if the prime minister goes ahead with a ceasefire plan unveiled by Biden.

According to the Israeli news site Kipa, Smotrich is expected to leave the government before it strikes any ceasefire accord.

Biden’s ceasefire proposal outlines a three-stage plan to end the war, freeing Israeli captives and releasing Palestinian prisoners, and the reconstruction of Gaza.

Israel will do ‘whatever necessary’ to bring captives home: Gantz

Videos verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad news agency have shown close-up scenes of the car targeted in an Israeli drone attack on the town of Kaouthariyet es-Saiyad, southern Lebanon’s Saida district.

The footage shows the targeted car catching fire and plumes of smoke rising.

🚨😳عاجل : اغار الطيران الاسرائيلي المسير مستهدفا سيارة بمنطقة كوثرية الرز قضاء صيدا الزهراني* pic.twitter.com/YAIGmfUaoa

— 🏴🚩جيهان حدرج🚩🏴 (@jihanhodrog) June 3, 2024

Translation: Initial information reported that there was an injury in the raid on the targeted car with four missiles from an enemy drone in the vicinity of Kaouthariyet es-Saiyad.

Israeli Army Radio reported that the aim of the attack was to assassinate a Hezbollah operative who was “strengthening” the Lebanese armed group. Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) also confirmed one death after the drone attack without naming the victim.

Hezbollah claims deadly drone attack on northern Israel

‘No one will hold Israel accountable’ as it targets medics in south Lebanon

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/6/3/no-one-will-hold-them-accountable-israel-targets-medics-in-south-lebanon

_{Seven young medical volunteers were killed in an Israeli strike. From left: Muhammad al-Farouq Atwi, Baraa Abu Qais, Abdullah Sharif Atwi, Abdulrahman al-Shaar, Muhammad Ragheed Hammoud, Ahmad al-Shaar and Hussein al-Shaar}

A spokeswoman for the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), a conservative opposition party led by former Prime Minister Janez Jansa, tells the AFP news agency that her party has filed a proposal to hold an advisory referendum on the decree for recognition.

The parliamentary vote, which was scheduled for Tuesday, will effectively be delayed by about 30 days.

Slovenia’s delay comes after Spain, Ireland and Norway recognised Palestinian statehood last week.

About 55 percent of all structures in Gaza have been destroyed, damaged or possibly damaged by the war, according to a preliminary satellite analysis carried out by the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNSOAT).

The analysis, which surveyed 137,000 buildings in the enclave, found:

• 36,591 destroyed structures
• 16,513 severely damaged structures
• 47,368 moderately damaged structures
• 36,825 possibly damaged structures

Central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah and northern Gaza’s Gaza City experienced the worst damage between April 1 and May 3, said UNOSAT.

🚨 This map shows a comprehensive satellite imagery-based assessment of damage and destruction in Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territory, as of 3 May 2024. #UNOSAT #Gaza pic.twitter.com/1Z7N15GR5t

— UNOSAT (@UNOSAT) June 3, 2024

Israeli forces advance in Khan Younis, Gaza City: Report

Netanyahu says Israel’s top priority is “destroying” Hamas, which will be pursued along with the recovery of captives held in Gaza, saying that both goals are part of a plan to wind down the war approved by the war cabinet.

“This is not something that I am adding now. This is not something that I am adding because I am under pressure within the coalition. It is something we agreed on unanimously in the war cabinet,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.

An Israeli government spokesperson also quoted Netanyahu as saying Biden had published only some of the details of his ceasefire proposal. “The war will be stopped for the purpose of returning hostages, and then we will proceed with other discussions,” David Mencer quoted Netanyahu as saying.

Families of captives have crashed far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s weekly Otzma Yehudit party meeting, forcing him to move from his regular location.

Knesset security prevented the families from entering the new meeting location, which led to angry shouting that could be heard from outside the meeting room. The protesters chanted “Yes, to Netanyahu’s deal” during a sit-in in front of the meeting doors.

Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat is currently being held captive in Gaza, told the Times of Israel newspaper: “When he [Ben-Gvir] heard us, the families of the hostages, coming in, he decided to run away. It looks like he’s a coward. Maybe he’s got something to hide.”

Ben-Gvir has repeatedly said he, along with his party, will quit the coalition government if a ceasefire deal is agreed before Hamas is “destroyed”, despite calls from the families urging ministers to accept it.

Far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir accused the Israeli leader of “whitewashing” a deal to wind down the war without defeating Hamas. Ben-Gvir told his parliamentary faction that Netanyahu invited him to read the proposal, but the premier’s aides twice failed to produce the document.

“This morning, I also went to the Prime Minister’s Office and there, once again, they refused to present the draft agreement to me,” said Ben-Gvir. “If you sign a reckless deal that will bring an end to the war without the collapse of Hamas, Otzma Yehudit [Ben-Gvir’s party] will dissolve the government.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries hailed what he called the “peace plan” proposed by President Biden to end the war in Gaza.

“Hamas must never again threaten the people of Israel. In that regard, the proposed peace plan is designed to cement Israel’s comprehensive military victory, while also ending the war,” Jeffries said in a statement.

Hamas is still active throughout Gaza and has been attacking Israeli forces daily. Biden presented a proposal on Friday for an “enduring ceasefire” he said was approved by Israel. But Israeli leaders were quick to stress they won’t end the war without achieving the goal of “destroying” Hamas.

The discrepancy between the US and Israeli statements has sparked confusion. Still, Jeffries joined other US and Western politicians in calling on Hamas to accept the deal.

Against the backdrop of the ongoing war on Gaza, Israeli authorities are preparing to mark June 5 as Jerusalem Day, which commemorates what they refer to as the “liberation” of East Jerusalem and “reunification” of the city.

East Jerusalem remains occupied, according to almost all the international community, and international law identifies it as such.

“Permitting such a parade to pass through Damascus Gate and the Muslim Quarter while the war is raging on and Israel under increasing international pressure is inconceivable. It is liable to only inflame tensions and escalate hostilities,” the non-profit Israeli rights group Ir Amim said in a statement.

The flag parade is an extreme right-wing nationalist march that has increasingly become a hostile display of Jewish supremacy, triumphalism, and incitement against Palestinians, said Ir Amim.

The parade attracts thousands of national-religious Jews, many of them young men, who aggressively march with Israeli flags through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem and engage in acts of provocation, violence, and destruction of Palestinian property with little to no police intervention.

_{Israelis attack Palestinian youth in Jerusalem’s Old City as they mark Jerusalem Day, an Israeli holiday celebrating the capture of the Old City in 1967}

Gaza war boosts to popularity of Hamas: Poll

Displaced people in Gaza used empty plastic bottles to try to remove raw sewage from their tents after a pipeline burst in the main southern city of Khan Younis.

Residents removed sodden carpets from their makeshift shelters as they began the long process of getting rid of the filthy water as children waded through a river of sewage that cut through a main road.

The spill made it almost impossible to live in the city where piles of debris and massive concrete slabs from bombed-out buildings line the streets. Workers in Khan Younis say they lack the proper equipment to repair the pipeline properly.

About 1.7 million people are now sheltering in Khan Younis and in central areas of the Gaza Strip, according to the United Nations. Tens of thousands have sought shelter there after being forced out of Rafah in the south by the Israeli military.

Footage of the attack shared by Palestinian journalists, including Al Jazeera Arabic’s Anas al-Sharif, shows an Israeli bomb hitting a multistorey building in the Bureij refugee camp, causing an enormous explosion.

It’s unclear how many people were harmed in the attack. Previous Israeli strikes on Bureij have killed at least 11 Palestinians, including three children, over the past 24 hours.

The Israeli military says four more of the Israeli captives abducted by Hamas on October 7 have died and their bodies are being held. The army identified the four men as Haim Perry, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper, and Nadav Popplewell, all of whom were filmed alive previously in videos posted by Hamas.

“We estimate the four of them were killed together in the area of Khan Younis a number of months ago … at the time [military] forces were operating in Khan Younis,” army spokesman Daniel Hagari said. “We are thoroughly examining the circumstances of their deaths and checking all possibilities.”

Last month, Hamas’s armed wing the Qassam Brigades released a video announcing Popplewell’s death, saying the British-Israeli national died of wounds sustained in an Israeli air strike.

The video was released amid growing domestic pressure on the Israeli government to secure the release of the remaining captives – estimated to number more than 120.

The army said the decision to announce their deaths was based on “intelligence”. All four of the men declared dead were kidnapped and taken into Gaza still alive, according to the Hostages Forum, a grassroots group representing the captives’ families.

“It is time to end this cycle of sacrifice and neglect,” the group wrote in a statement. “Their murder in captivity is a mark of disgrace and a sad reflection on the significance of delaying previous deals.”

The group called on the government to immediately approve the new ceasefire plan.

Three of the men were aged 80 or older. They appeared in a video in December released by Hamas under the title “Don’t Let Us Grow Old Here.” In the video, the three men appeared gaunt and were wearing thin white T-shirts.

“We are the generation who built the foundation for the state of Israel,” one man said. “We do not understand why we have been abandoned here.”

Three people have been killed and others injured in an Israeli missile attack on a home in the Bureij refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip, this morning, the Wafa news agency reports.

The attack hit the home of the Ghanem family in Block 10 of the Bureij refugee camp, it said. Wafa’s correspondent also reported that Israeli warplanes attacked four residential buildings in Bureij, including the Al-Ahlam Tower where five people were wounded. The injured were taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah.

Earlier, Israeli air attacks on Bureij killed at least 11 Palestinians, including three children.

The Palestinian group has paid tribute to the men killed in the occupied West Bank, who have been identified as Adam Farraj and Moataz Nabulsi.

Hamas said the two were killed in fighting with Israeli forces around the Balata refugee camp. “We commend the heroism of resistance fighters in Nablus and across the West Bank, who are dealing qualitative blows to the Israeli occupation,” a statement said.

It added such killings will not stem resistance in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports, citing a security source, that Israeli settlers stole 120 sheep belonging to a Palestinian citizen in Ein Samiya, east of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

Settlers have been regularly attacking Palestinian farmers and shepherds in recent months. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed by soldiers and illegal settlers since October 7 in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says a man who was shot in the chest in the Israeli attack in the occupied West Bank has succumbed to his wounds. It identified him as Ahmad al-Khdry, 30.

Chris Van Hollen has demanded that the Biden administration penalise far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich over his policies against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Earlier this year, Biden issued an executive order (EO) to impose sanctions on individuals “undermining peace, security and stability” in the West Bank. But only four private Israeli citizens have been sanctioned under the directive.

“In my view, Smotrich should be subject to sanctions under this EO,” Van Hollen said.

The finance minister has withheld taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority. And in March, he also declared 800 hectares (1,977 acres) in the occupied West Bank as Israeli state land. “You’ve got this person whose stated goal is for essentially Israel to take over the entire West Bank,” Van Hollen told the Center for American Progress, a liberal think-tank.

Andrea De Domenico, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), says: “The rule of the strongest is becoming the only rule that is prevailing.”

Delivering aid has become increasingly more difficult, he added. “Two days ago, we had the worst of all of our experiences in bringing in commodities where almost 70 percent of the convoy that we were able to put together for that day did not reach the final destination because it was intercepted by mostly, I think, by criminals but also by desperate people.

“The narrowing space that is left for civilians to conglomerate and live is becoming more and more limited and more and more crowded. It’s impossible as of today to move from al-Mawasi, where … some of our premises are, to go to Khan Younis or Deir el-Balah without literally navigating through a wave of people that are everywhere.

“A movement that normally would take 10 minutes, 15 minutes maximum, is taking simply one hour because people are everywhere.”

Earlier we reported that a sewage pipeline burst in Gaza’s second-largest city of Khan Younis has made the situation even worse for displaced people seeking shelter from Israeli attacks.

“All the tents were flooded with sewage water. This is no life,” said Abdullah Barbakh, surrounded by bombed-out buildings in the Palestinian city devastated by months of war.

“I implore all Arab countries and the entire world to see what is happening to us. We’re living in the middle of sewage.”

Khan Younis was a focus of the fighting in the early months of the war, but now it has become a hub for displaced people, many of whom have been forced to flee multiple times. About 1.7 million people are now sheltering in Khan Younis and in Gaza’s central areas.

Palestinians seek to join Gaza genocide case at World Court

Finance Minister Smotrich called for escalation against Hezbollah, telling Israel’s political and military leader the “time has come” to decisively deal with the Lebanese group.

Smotrich said in a social media post that a buffer zone against Hezbollah must be created inside Lebanon.

“The new concept led by the war cabinet has been going up in flames for many hours and is exploding in our faces,” he added, referring to the blazes set off by a Hezbollah rocket attack in northern Israel.

The Israeli military occupied parts of southern Lebanon between 1982 and 2000, setting up an Israeli-controlled zone that it argued was meant to protect Israel’s security. But Hezbollah regularly attacked Israeli troops inside the occupied area and launched rockets that reached Israel during that time.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah says it launched a squadron of drones towards the headquarters of the Israeli military’s Galilee formation in an intensification of cross-border strikes. Hezbollah also said it launched dozens of Katyusha rockets towards Israeli targets in the occupied Golan Heights.

Air raid sirens sounded numerous times across northern Israel, sending residents running for shelter. The Israeli military said it intercepted one drone from Lebanon carrying explosives and at least two others fell in northern Israel.