Palestinian armed group hit the Israeli 99th Division with rockets and mortar fire along the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza on Wednesday, while fighters in southern Rafah attacked Israeli forces there with rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shelling.

The latest battlefield update from US-based defence think tanks, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP), also reports that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was told that western Rafah would be the next target of Israeli attacks.

Israel’s military has not issued new evacuation orders in Rafah, the ISW/CTP report, but a Palestinian activist has reported that the Israeli military issued a warning to people in western Rafah’s “al-Alam of a military operation in the next 24 hours”.

Three Palestinian groups also conducted “indirect fire attacks” on Israel from Gaza on Wednesday, according to the ISW/CTP report.

NEW | Hamas issued new demands in the ceasefire negotiations with Israel. Hamas portrayed its new demands as technical iteration rather than an outright rejection of the proposal likely to frame Israel as the party that is obstructing ceasefire talks. pic.twitter.com/S1NdL5ddP4

— Critical Threats (@criticalthreats) June 13, 2024

We are receiving reports of intense attacks from Israeli “air, land and sea” forces on the al-Mawasi area of southern Gaza that stretches from Rafah city to Deir el-Balah in the central area of the territory.

Thousands of displaced people have sought shelter in the al-Mawasi area where the attacks are taking place, Al Jazeera Arabic reports.

Israeli ground forces operating in the centre of Rafah are reported to be using explosives to destroy buildings in the city’s centre, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

Israel’s deliberate ploy to target education institutes in Gaza has not only “disrupted immediate educational activities but also eroded the foundation for sustained societal growth and development”, according to Talal al-Hathal, Director of the Al Fakhoura Programme at Education Above All foundation in Qatar.

“Targeting critical educational infrastructure dismantles hope for many Palestinians in Gaza where education is an important and critical tool for survivability and equality, contributing to better outcomes for Palestinians in their future life,” al-Hathal told Al Jazeera.

“Education serves as a critical tool for survival, empowerment, and long-term development in the region, offering a pathway to a more stable and prosperous future.

“By targeting educational facilities, the aggressors strip away the prospects of enlightenment, opportunity and progress, deepening the cycle of despair and deprivation in the region.”

In April, UNICEF said eight out of 10 schools in Gaza are damaged or destroyed with an estimated 620,000 children out of school.

Nearly half of Gaza’s population is under 18, and its education system was already struggling after five wars in 20 years.

Al-Aqsa Hospital has been relying on electricity from generators for more than eight months. Now, it’s relying on only one generator. It has been calling every single day for fuel and medical supplies.

The hospital still has a dialysis department and incubators. But all its patients will be at risk if the hospital does not receive fuel and the sole remaining generator stops working.

Besides, it has not received medical supplies for months now.

Speaking from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network, says thousands of families are being severely affected by the lack of food and water.

Shawa said Israel has blocked essential supplies such as food, medicine, water, and electricity since the onset of the war. He highlighted that, even on good days, a maximum of 200 trucks bring in humanitarian aid, which is insufficient to meet the needs of the population.

People need food. People need meat. Nothing is available. People are telling us that even canned food is not available now.

A few aid trucks have entered with flour, but it’s not reaching everyone. It does not cover the needs of 1.1 million Palestinians in Deir el-Balah right now. People in the northern parts of Gaza are also starving. They are saying there is a new famine, with many unable to find food. There are no vegetables, no fruits.

UNICEF says at least 3,000 Palestinian children are at risk due to malnutrition. Yesterday, according to Al-Aqsa Hospital, an eight-year-old girl died due to malnutrition.

We’ve been reporting on the independent UN Commission of Inquiry report that found Israeli authorities are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The report also found that Israel has “weaponised the withholding of life-sustaining necessities” through the “siege it imposed” on the Gaza Strip.

In a section of the report titled “total siege”, the commission listed a number of causes of food insecurity in Gaza, beyond restrictions and delays imposed by Israeli forces on humanitarian aid supplies at the enclave’s borders.

The causes of food insecurity include:

• Destruction and prevention of local food production, including agriculture, fishing and baking in Gaza.
• Preventing the import of adequate food supplies.
• Dangers faced by humanitarian workers in distributing the limited food supplies available.
• Cutting off water pipelines.

_{Palestinians walk by the rubble of al-Nuseirat Bakery that was destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on October 18}

A UN-backed inquiry has concluded that war crimes have been committed by Israel, Hamas as well as other Palestinian groups, during the now eight-month conflict.

The independent Commission of Inquiry report, released on Wednesday, covers the period from the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza, with the period of investigation ending December 31, 2023.

The report is unflinchingly graphic, including details of sexual violence, torture and mutilations carried out on unarmed citizens.

_{Israeli forces have committed crimes against humanity of extermination, murder, gender persecution, forcible transfer, and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment, a UN-backed inquiry has reported}

Photos, videos show vandalised mosque in Rafah

UK’s opposition Labour Party has pledged to recognise a Palestinian state as a contribution to a renewed peace process.

“Palestinian statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people,” said Labour’s election manifesto – the collection of policies it would enact if it forms the next government.

“We are committed to recognising a Palestinian state as a contribution to a renewed peace process which results in a two-state solution with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state.”

The current Conservative-led government has previously said the UK could formally recognise a Palestinian state before the end of a peace process, and that Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip must be given “the political perspective of a credible route to a Palestinian state and a new future”.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has applauded Spain’s PM for his stance on the ongoing Gaza crisis.

“I congratulate my dear friend, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, for his stance on Gaza, on behalf of myself and my nation,” Erdogan said in an address at a business forum in the Spanish capital, Madrid, adding that Sanchez “has been etched in the hearts of our Palestinian brothers”.

“The genocide that has been going on in Gaza for 250 days hurts everyone with a conscience.”

Last month, Spain formally recognised Palestine as a state, with Sanchez saying it was a “historic move towards justice and the only route to achieve peace”. Erdogan also took aim at what he called Israel’s “spoiled attitude”, saying the Netanyahu government “responds to calls for a ceasefire by shedding blood”.

“No country with a conscience can accept this,” Erdogan said.

Israel’s government ‘destructive, disastrous’

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says Israel stands behind the UN-backed ceasefire proposal despite there being no public announcement by Netanyahu.

Sullivan, speaking on the sidelines of the G7 summit, said the aim is to bridge the remaining gaps with Hamas, which, the US says, issued a reply to the ceasefire proposal requesting several amendments, to quickly strike a deal.

Israel’s PM Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed that Israel will not end the war before defeating Hamas.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that some of the amendments proposed by Hamas to the United States’s proposal for a truce in Gaza are not “workable”, but efforts to reach an agreement are continuing.

G7 summit to discuss Gaza ceasefire

More than half of Gaza’s agricultural land, crucial for feeding the war-ravaged territory’s hungry population, has been degraded by conflict, satellite images analysed by the UN show.

Using images taken between May 2017 and 2024, United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) found that 57 percent of Gaza’s permanent crop fields and arable lands essential for food security had shown a significant decline in density and health.

“This deterioration is attributed to conflict-related activities, including razing, heavy vehicle movement, bombing, and shelling,” UNOSAT said, adding that the decline marked a 30 percent increase in damaged agricultural land since it published its last analysis in April.

Israeli violence against Palestinian children highlighted by new UN report

Fires have broken out in 15 locations in the occupied Golan Heights and Upper Galilee after 150 rockets were launched from Lebanon at northern Israel, Israeli daily Maariv reports.

_{Israeli firefighters work following rocket attacks from Lebanon near the border on its Israeli side, on June 13}

Fires break out in southern Lebanon

Group of Seven leaders are very concerned by the situation on the Israel-Lebanon border and endorse US efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, according to a draft communique due to be released following this week’s G7 summit.

Western leaders reiterated their unwavering commitment to a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, side-by-side, the statement says.

In addition, they called on Israel to refrain from a full-scale offensive in Rafah, “in line with their obligations under international law”.

Residents said Israeli helicopters targeted Rafah with Hamas fighters reporting fighting on the streets in the southern city despite Blinken saying a ceasefire was still possible.

Israeli ground forces have been operating in Rafah, near the Egyptian border, since early May despite widespread international alarm over the fate of displaced people crowded into the city.

Western areas of Rafah came under heavy Israeli fire from the air, sea and land, residents said.

“There was very intense fire from warplanes, Apaches and quadcopters, in addition to Israeli artillery and military battleships, all of which were striking the area west of Rafah,” one of them told AFP.

The Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, said its fighters were battling Israeli troops on the streets of the same area.

US President Joe Biden says he has discussed a Gaza ceasefire during the Group of Seven summit and that he has not lost hope.

Asked if he was confident, Biden said, “No. Hamas has to move.”

Previously, Hamas said it has shown “full positivity” in the attempts to reach a ceasefire agreement with Israel. However, US Secretary of State Blinken has said some changes to the US-sponsored deal proposed by the Gaza-based group are not workable.

Hamas isn't going to agree to a hostage/prisoner swap without a permanent ceasefire. If Biden and Israel can't guarantee the phases are linked, Hamas won't play ball. The ICC needs to request an arrest warrant for Biden as well.

Biden tried to trick Hamas into a hostage/prisoner exchange while leaving the door open for Israel to continue/resume slaughtering and destroying the rest of Gaza. Hence all Blinken's pressure on Hamas to accept the 'deal'. Hamas has been dealing with Israel since their creation in the late 80s. Asking them to trust US/Israel is not going to work.

Some noise from Israel

Israeli minister accuses Gantz of wanting to end Gaza war

Israel’s UN ambassador again rails against army’s addition to UN child harm list

UN: 155 percent increase in violations against children in Israel and Palestine

The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation reports that the cabinet will discuss the escalation of hostilities in Israel’s north this evening.

Hezbollah has pledged to increase the intensity of its attacks on Israel after the Israeli army killed one of its senior commanders days ago.

Israeli officials have repeatedly promised that the country will restore security in its northern region, either by diplomacy or military means. Reports indicate that the US is currently scrambling behind the scenes to prevent the outbreak of all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has signed an order to deduct $35m of Palestinian tax revenues and transfer the funds to Israeli families whose members were killed in Palestinian attacks.

Israel collects Palestinian tax as part of the 1994 Paris agreement between the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) and it deducts 3 percent of the amount as a collection fee. The total revenue is estimated to be approximately $220m a month, making it the main source of income for the Palestinian Authority.

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, says this an “unprecedented” step for Israel.

“They’ve legislated Palestinian money away, giving the finance minister in Israel the power to do with that money as he sees fit, whether it’s to compensate Israeli families affected by Palestinian attacks or to even direct it elsewhere and now he’s putting that into action,” Odeh said.

“This could potentially open the floodgates to a very serious financial crisis in the Palestinian Authority (PA) rooted in the political fact that Israel controls every aspect of life not just of ordinary Palestinians, but of the coffers of PA that is supposed to take care of them.”