Top US senator derides Greta Thunberg’s attempt to break Israel’s Gaza siege
We have a reaction from Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator, to the Swedish activist who joined an effort led by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) to break Israel’s naval siege on Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to the Palestinians there.
“Hope Greta and her friends can swim,” the prominent legislator wrote on X.
The post was taken as a threat by some users on X, as the FFC’s previous attempt to break the Israeli siege was dealt a blow by drone attacks that breached their ship’s hull. Activists at the time said they believed Israel was behind the attack.
Responses to Graham’s tweet on X included users who asked, “Why would a US senator be threatening a young climate activist?” and, “Why is a 69-year-old U.S. senator joking about the drowning of a 22-year-old Swedish activist? Is this where American politics is now?”
Thunberg as well as Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham are among those joining the mission, which set sail from Italy on Sunday.
US rights group denounces senator’s ‘hope they can swim’ post
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has warned that comments by US Senator Lindsey Graham about the aid flotilla heading for Gaza could signal “a green light” for Israel to attack the activists’ vessel.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg and Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham are among those joining the mission, which set sail from Italy to break Israel’s blockade.
On Sunday, Graham wrote on X: “Hope Greta and her friends can swim.” CAIR called his remarks “both inhumane and reckless”.
“By mocking peaceful, unarmed civilians risking their lives to deliver humanitarian aid, he is dehumanizing them and potentially signaling US sanction for Israel to repeat its past deadly state terrorism attacks on flotilla ships,” said Robert S McCaw, CAIR’s director of government affairs.
“These are not enemies, they are volunteers risking their lives. If Senator Graham has any sense of decency he should retract his statement and make clear that the United States does not condone violence against peaceful human rights defenders.”
Chile’s president vows to ramp up pressure on Israel as term winds down
Gabriel Boric has promised to step up the pressure against Israel over its war in Gaza during his government’s last nine months in office.
He made the comments during a wide-ranging three-hour speech to the National Congress in the coastal city of Valparaiso. The speech is his last annual address to Congress.
In comments that prompted huge cheers and jeers from opposite sides of Congress, Boric said he will introduce a law to ban imports from what he called “illegally occupied territories” and back efforts by Spain for an arms embargo against Israel.
Boric, an outspoken critic of Israel, had recently recalled military personnel from Chile’s embassy in the country and summoned the ambassador for questioning.
Germany’s Merz urges Netanyahu to let more aid into Gaza
The dpa news agency is reporting that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone on Sunday and urged him to let in more emergency aid into the Gaza Strip.
Following the call, a spokesman for Merz said that “it was urgent that Israel immediately allow sufficient humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and to ensure its safe distribution”, the agency reported.
Please, you're making our unconditional support look bad.
Last edited by SvennoJ - on 02 June 2025
US envoy says France can ‘carve’ Palestinian state out of Riviera
Mike Huckabee, the US’s ambassador to Israel, has lashed out at France’s advocacy for recognition of a Palestinian state ahead of a UN conference aimed at resurrecting the idea of a two-state solution.
France is co-chairing that conference along with Saudi Arabia this month. It also says it could recognise a Palestinian state itself this year.
Huckabee, in an interview with Fox News, called the initiative at the UN “incredibly inappropriate when Israel is in the midst of a war”. “October 7 changed a lot of things,” he said.
“If France is really so determined to see a Palestinian state, I’ve got a suggestion for them — carve out a piece of the French Riviera and create a Palestinian state. They are welcome to do that, but they are not welcome to impose that kind of pressure on a sovereign nation.”
What part of occupied territory does Huckabee not understand. And indeed Oct 7 changed a lot of things, the reaction to it exposed Israel as well as the US to the world.
UK PM Starmer says situation in Gaza ‘getting worse by the day’
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the situation in Gaza is getting “worse by the day” and that it is important to ensure the Palestinian enclave receives more humanitarian aid urgently.
“The situation is intolerable in Gaza, and getting worse by the day,” Starmer told reporters in Scotland, when asked whether the UK would take any action over the issue.
“Which is why we are working with allies … to be absolutely clear that humanitarian aid needs to get in at speed and at volumes that it is not getting in at the moment, causing absolute devastation,” he added.
Boulder, Colorado, attack on rally in support of Gaza captives: What we know
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/2/boulder-colorado-attack-what-we-know-who-are-the-suspect-and-victims
Eight people have been injured in an attack on a group of people in the United States city of Boulder, Colorado, who were campaigning for the release of captives held by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza.
Police arrested a man who on Sunday allegedly threw incendiary devices towards people. The FBI said it was investigating the attack as an “act of terror”.
In a social media post, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar described the attack as an anti-Semitic act.
An FBI team investigates an attack on demonstrators calling for the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza at the scene on Pearl Street in Boulder, Colorado, on June 1
https://apnews.com/article/boulder-terror-attack-colorado-c90a20758b3ebee597c84eb296e44e91
Witnesses said Soliman yelled “Free Palestine” as he launched the attack. An FBI affidavit said he confessed to the attack.
He told investigators “he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,” that he specifically targeted the Run for Their Lives group and that he had researched and planned the attack for more than a year, according to the affidavit.
Soliman was born in Egypt and he moved three years ago to Colorado Springs, where he lived with his wife and five children, according to state court documents. He previously spent 17 years living in Kuwait.
The Department of Homeland Security said Soliman filed for asylum in September 2022 and has been living in the U.S. illegally since his visa expired in February 2023.
The people injured in the Pearl Street attack range in age from 52 to 88. Their injuries — some serious and some minor — were consistent with reports of people being set on fire, Redfearn said. Authorities initially said there were eight victims, but said four others later were identified.
Israeli forces arrest at least 9 Palestinians in West Bank’s Dura city
Israeli forces have arrested nine Palestinians during a raid in Dura city, south of Hebron, according to the Wafa news agency, citing security sources.
The report said the troops raided the homes of those arrested, searched and ransacked their contents, and stormed the towns of ad-Dhahiriya, as-Samu, Beit Ummar, and several neighbourhoods in the city of Hebron.
Germany decries Israeli settlement expansion plan in occupied West Bank
Germany has condemned Israeli plans to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank, describing the move as “unacceptable”.
“We call on the Israeli government to halt the expansion of the settlements but, above all, the practice of land seizure, destruction of homes and expulsion of the Palestinian population,” Foreign Office spokesperson Josef Hinterseher said at a news briefing in Berlin.
Germany views the Israeli announcement “as unacceptable because it runs counter to a two-state solution” and it “naturally rejects any annexation efforts”.
The settlements are illegal under international law, but last week, the Israeli government said it will establish 22 settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank. That plan includes the “legalisation” of some outposts already built without government authorisation.
Israeli settlers storm village near Bethlehem
A group of Israeli settlers have stormed the Khalayel al-Louz area southeast of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, surrounding the home of resident Ibrahim Abayat. Quoting security sources, the Wafa news agency said the incursion sparked fear among the town’s residents.
The area has been subject to repeated attacks by settlers and Israeli forces, the latest of which included the demolition of a house and a sheep barn.
Settler violence across the West Bank has surged in recent months with Palestinians reporting frequent raids, vandalism and physical assaults. These attacks often occur under the protection of Israeli soldiers.
Israeli forces kill Palestinian teenager near Ramallah
Israeli forces shot and killed Yousef Fuad Abdel Karim Faqha, 14, in the town of Sinjil northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Faqha succumbed to his wounds after being shot by Israeli troops, and the Israeli military is holding his body, Wafa news agency reported.
Witnesses said Israeli forces later raided the home of a nearby resident, Ayed Ghafri, and erased footage from security cameras in the area where the boy was shot dead.
Israeli troops shoot another Palestinian teen near Nablus
Israeli forces have shot and injured a 17-year-old Palestinian boy during a raid on the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank. The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported its medical teams treated the teenager for gunshot wounds to both legs sustained during confrontations with Israeli soldiers.
Beit Furik has experienced repeated Israeli military incursions in recent days, the Wafa news agency said.
Israel demolishes record number of Palestinian buildings in East Jerusalem
The Israeli army demolished 33 Palestinian structures in occupied East Jerusalem last month, a record number this year. The destroyed buildings included 16 residential units and 17 non-residential structures, Israeli rights group Ir Amim said in a statement.
The demolitions brought the number of Palestinian structures razed by Israel in the occupied city to 93 – with 23 buildings demolished in January, 15 in February, 14 in March and eight in April.
Israel widely uses the pretext of a lack of construction permits to tear down Palestinian homes, as only a small number of permits are issued for Palestinians in East Jerusalem annually.
UN condemns Israel’s ‘militarised’ aid mechanism in Gaza
The UN’s human rights office (OHCHR) has joined the chorus of concern over the Israeli killings of Palestinian aid seekers at the GHF sites in southern Rafah and near the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza.
It said the killings on Sunday follow multiple reports of deadly attacks at the sites between May 27 and 31, which killed at least 19 Palestinians and wounded 80 others.
The office stressed “once more that Israel’s militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism violates international standards on aid distribution, endangers civilians, and is contributing to the catastrophic situation in Gaza”.
It added, “The weaponisation of food for civilians and restricting or preventing their access to other life sustaining services constitute a war crime and may constitute elements of other international crimes, including genocide.”
Instead of bread, ‘they gave him a bullet in his head’
Among those wounded on Sunday was Shuaib Abu Tayr, a father of four. He was shot in the head and is now “between life and death” at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, according to his sister-in-law Asmaa Abu Salah.
“He went for food and drinks for his children. His children need food, [they say] ‘we want food, dad’. This is the most difficult word,” she said.
“He went to get aid [distributed by] the US. He went to get a loaf of bread. Instead of giving him a loaf of bread, they [Israelis] gave him a bullet in his head … We responded to the US forces to come for aid, in order for [Palestinians] to get flour and food for the children and the young people, all of us are dying of hunger.”
This is famine parallel to genocide’
Gaza’s civilians face impossible choices: risk Israeli drone strikes at US-backed aid sites or starve as food prices soar and markets empty. The new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, replacing UNRWA, is accused of weaponising aid, with distribution points becoming “death traps”.
Hospitals battle malnutrition-induced anaemia, leaving even blood donors too weak to contribute. “This is famine parallel to genocide,” says one woman, describing hours-long queues for scraps of food.
Aid distribution being sabotaged by Israeli forces: PNGO chief
Amjad Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), has spoken to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic about the US-backed Israeli aid distribution system currently in place in the coastal enclave.
Here are his translated comments:
Hospital in southern Gaza overwhelmed amid ongoing Israeli attacks: MSF
Claire Menara, an emergency coordinator with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, says the staff are working in dire conditions, facing severe shortages of medical supplies.
“There is no room for all of the patients. We have patients in corridors… and more come in today, dead and wounded,” she told Al Jazeera.
“The cases are critical, and we don’t have enough supplies to treat them because of the [Israeli] blockade that has been going on now since March 2.”
Menara added that hospital staff were donating their own blood to help keep patients alive.
“We can’t continue like this. We need an immediate and sustained ceasefire and to be able to give aid at scale,” she added.
Gaza hospitals face imminent shutdown as fuel shortages worsen
Marwan al-Hams, the director of field hospitals at Gaza’s Health Ministry, has provided our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic with an update about the dire healthcare situation in the coastal enclave.
Here are his translated comments:
Israeli attacks continue across Gaza
Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that an unspecified number of Palestinians were injured in an Israeli attack on a house in the al-Barakah area, south of Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza.
Several people were also wounded as a result of Israeli artillery shelling in the Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City.
Israel kills 4 displaced people in southern Gaza’s al-Mawasi
Four Palestinians have been killed and dozens more injured after a tent in the al-Mawasi area, near Khan Younis, was hit by an Israeli attack.
Israel has designated al-Mawasi as a safe humanitarian zone, where most of the population of Rafah and Khan Younis has now been squeezed due to continuous evacuation orders. The makeshift tents are very close to each other. Some caught fire after the attack. The injured Palestinians are being treated for burns caused by the artillery shelling that struck the tent.
Palestinians are aware that al-Mawasi has been targeted multiple times, but say there is simply nowhere else for them to go, as most of their homes in the eastern parts of Khan Younis are now in an evacuation zone.
Israeli forces target southern Gaza hospital
Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that Israeli forces have demolished the wall of the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis, while also carrying out bulldozing activities in the vicinity of the hospital.
In May, an Israeli attack close to the European Hospital killed at least 28 people.
Israel prevents rescuers from reaching injured people near Rafah aid point
Palestinians were gathering in groups and trying to approach distribution points to see if any food would be delivered or handed out. As they moved closer to the distribution site, Israeli forces opened fire, killing three Palestinians.
Doctors treating the wounded reported that most injuries were caused by live ammunition. It is unclear whether the shots came from Israeli quadcopters or soldiers on the ground.
According to the Civil Defence teams, most of those injured are in serious or critical condition. The Civil Defence teams also stated that Israeli forces are preventing them from reaching and rescuing more of the injured since this morning.
Gaza death toll rises
At least 51 Palestinians have been killed and 503 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. The body of a person killed in a previous Israeli attack was also recovered from the rubble in the war-torn territory, the ministry said.
The total death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza has risen to 54,470 killed and 124,693 injured since October 7, 2023, it said. Israel has killed 4,201 Palestinians and injured 12,652 since breaking a ceasefire in March this year.
The number of aid seekers killed since May 27 has also risen to 75, following the killing of 35 people yesterday, the ministry said. The total number of aid seekers injured crossed 400, it said.
A mosque was hit in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah on June 2
Gaza reduced to ‘herded animals in pens’: UNRWA official
Speaking on the recent killings at GHF’s aid distribution points, the acting director of UNRWA in Gaza has described the situation in the coastal enclave as “horrific”.
“What’s happened over the last couple of days in a war … that we thought couldn’t plumb to new depths and things couldn’t get any worse, we’re seeing a new side of that,” Sam Rose told Al Jazeera from Oxford, UK.
“This is what people have been reduced to, literally to herded animals in pens,” he said. Rose warned that if “these scenes” did not prompt action from those “that have the influence to take action, then we’re lost”.
“We cannot comprehend any more what’s going on, what people are being put through in Gaza. It’s completely unimaginable and completely unacceptable,” he added.
Six children among 14 killed in attack on northern Gaza home: Civil Defence
Earlier, we reported citing Gaza’s Civil Defence that two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack on the al-Barash family home on Old Gaza Street in the northern area of Jabalia al-Balad.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for the rescue service, says the death toll has now reached 14, including six children and three women. More than 20 missing are still under the rubble, he added.
UN chief ‘appalled’ by deaths of Palestinians seeking aid
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says he is appalled by reports of Palestinian casualties while seeking aid in Gaza. He called for an independent investigation.
“It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,” Guterres said in a statement.
Family mourns father of 6 killed near Rafah aid point in Gaza
At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the family of 37-year-old Hussam Wafi, a father of six who was killed near the Rafah aid distribution point on Sunday, gathered to bid him farewell before his burial.
“The US and Israel, what do they tell us? Go and get your food and water, and the aid. When the aid arrives, they hit us. Is this fair?” Wafi’s brother Ali told Reuters.
Meanwhile, Wafi’s neighbour, Abu Youssef, told Reuters that the victims were “going peacefully” when they were killed. “They went to get food and water for their children, to get a can of hummus or fava beans, a box or whatever is available, and they got shot, they died,” he said.
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