French grandmother files legal complaint over Gaza genocide

The grandmother of two children with French citizenship killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza has filed a legal complaint, accusing Israel of genocide and murder, her lawyer says, as reported by AFP news agency.

Jacqueline Rivault filed her complaint with the “crimes against humanity” hub of the Court of Paris, lawyer Arie Alimi said.

Rivault hopes the fact that her daughter’s children, aged six and nine, were French means the country’s judiciary will decide it has jurisdiction to designate a magistrate to investigate the allegations.

The complaint states that “two F16 missiles fired by the Israeli army” killed Janna, six, and Abderrahim Abudaher, nine, in northern Gaza on October 24, 2023.

They and their family had sought refuge in another home “between Faluja and Beit Lahia” after leaving their own two days earlier due to heavy bombardment, the 48-page document stated.

One missile entered “through the roof and the second directly into the room where the family was”, it said. Abderrahim was killed instantly, while his sister Janna died shortly after being taken to hospital.

The complaint argues the “genocide” allegation is based on the air strike being part of a larger Israeli project to “eliminate the Palestinian population and submit it to living conditions of a nature to entail the destruction of their group”.

UNICEF spokesperson calls for end to ‘brutal war against childhood’

The United Nations Children’s Fund spokesperson, James Elder, has pointed to the psychological trauma experienced by children in Gaza while on a visit to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in the central part of the Strip.

In a video posted on his Instagram account, Elder told the story of 11-year-old girl Jina, who was paralysed from the waist down following an air strike two days ago.

“Jina is still completely unaware of what happened to her. She is now in a state of deep despair and just wants to get out of here, but she cannot get medical evacuation,” he said. “Doctors assure me that there is currently no possibility of treating her paralysis.”

The latest UNICEF statistics indicate that 50,000 children have been killed or injured since the start of the war in Gaza.

“If we consider that every classroom has 25 children, this means that the equivalent of 2,000 classrooms of children have been affected by this disaster,” he said. “Therefore, this tragedy must end.”

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKh8qN1zcLS

EU chief backs ICC after US sanctions judges over Netanyahu warrant

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has reiterated European backing for the International Criminal Court, after the US slapped sanctions on four judges it accuses of “illegitimate and baseless actions” against Washington and its allies, including Israel.

“The Commission fully supports the [ICC and] its officials. The ICC holds perpetrators of the world’s gravest crimes to account [and] gives victims a voice,” the European Commission chief posted on X.

“It must be free to act without pressure. We will always stand for global justice [and] the respect of international law.”

On Thursday, the Trump administration followed through on a threat to sanction officials associated with the court, issuing sanctions against four judges.

Two of the judges, Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin and Beti Hohler of Slovenia, were sanctioned for their role in the ICC issuing arrest warrants for Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November, according to the US State Department.

The Commission fully supports the @IntlCrimCourt & its officials.

The ICC holds perpetrators of the world’s gravest crimes to account & gives victims a voice.

It must be free to act without pressure.

We will always stand for global justice & the respect of international law.

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) June 6, 2025

Costa hints EU could penalize Israel over Gaza offensive

https://www.politico.eu/article/antonio-costa-europe-council-gaza-palestine-israel-eeas-foreign/

A new EU review is likely to find Israel is falling short of its human rights obligations, one of the bloc’s leaders warned, as diplomats push for concrete action to be taken against the country.

“The situation in Gaza is of course completely unacceptable,” European Council President António Costa said in comments first reported by POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook. The EU’s diplomatic service, he added, is currently assessing whether Israel is meeting its obligations under international law.

“But watching your televisions and reading your newspapers, I think it’s not difficult to anticipate what is the conclusion that they obtain,” he added.

The European External Action Service (EEAS) has been tasked with looking at the EU’s Association Agreement with Israel, which enshrines respect for human rights and democratic principles as “an essential element” underpinning cooperation between the two. A broad coalition of 17 EU member countries, led by the Netherlands, pushed for the review — which will be presented at a meeting of foreign affairs ministers on June 23.

Four diplomats, granted anonymity to speak frankly about the process, said pressure is growing on the European Commission to bring forward proposals that would see ties in areas like trade downgraded if Israel is found to be in breach of those provisions.

...

While upending the Association Agreement would require the unanimous support of all 27 member countries and would come up against resistance from the likes of Hungary and the Czech Republic, officials are eyeing alternative moves that could scale back parts of the pact and would only need a qualified majority vote.

“We need to take decisions by a majority, by qualified majority, or by unity,” Costa said of the Council’s deliberations process. “We should wait for the assessment and then discuss what kind of decision we want to take and what kind of majority we need to take the decision.”

Sure wait 2.5 more weeks before discussing further, no rush... 

Israel issues new forced displacement orders for north Gaza

The Israeli army’s Arabic language spokesperson has issued the order via a post on X “To all residents of the Gaza Strip located in Blocks 608, 609, 615, 616 in the northern Gaza Strip area … This is a warning before the attack,” he said. These areas of the Gaza Strip are located east of Jabalia in the north.

The spokesman claimed, without providing evidence, that the areas in question are used to launch rockets. Roughly 80 percent of the Gaza Strip is currently under some kind of forced displacement order, leaving Palestinians fewer places to flee to.


Israel confirms it is arming Hamas rivals in operation opposition calls ‘complete madness’

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/06/middleeast/israel-arming-hamas-rivals-gaza-intl

Israel is arming local militias in Gaza in an effort to counter Hamas in the besieged enclave, officials say, as opposition politicians warned that the move endangers national security.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the covert enterprise on Thursday, calling it “a good thing.” In a video posted on social media, Netanyahu said Israel had “activated clans in Gaza which oppose Hamas,” and that it was done “under the advice of security elements.”

Former defense minister and Netanyahu rival Avigdor Liberman divulged the move on Israel’s Ch. 12 News on Wednesday, saying that Israel was distributing rifles to extremist groups in Gaza and describing the operation as “complete madness.”

“We’re talking about the equivalent of ISIS in Gaza,” Liberman said one day later on Israel’s Army Radio, adding that Israel is providing weapons to “crime families in Gaza on Netanyahu’s orders.”

“No one can guarantee that these weapons will not be directed towards Israel,” he said, a warning echoed by one of the officials who spoke with CNN. After Liberman’s revelation, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement saying, “Israel is acting to defeat Hamas in various ways upon the recommendation of the heads of the security establishment.”

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Meanwhile, Hamas said the plan revealed “a grave and undeniable truth.” In a statement, the militant group said: “The Israeli occupation army is arming criminal gangs in the Gaza Strip with the aim of creating a state of insecurity and social chaos.”

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Opposition politicians ripped Netanyahu for the plan to arm militias and the secrecy around it, lambasting it as a continuation of the Israeli leader’s decision to allow millions of dollars in cash to travel from Qatar to Gaza beginning in late 2018. They accused him of strengthening Hamas in the past as an alternative to the rival Palestinian Fatah faction, and now arming gangs as an alternative to Hamas.

“After Netanyahu finished handing over millions of dollars to Hamas, he moved on to supplying weapons to groups in Gaza affiliated with ISIS – all improvised, with no strategic planning, and all leading to more disasters,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said on social media.

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Yair Golan, head of the left-wing Democrats party, said in a post on social media: “Instead of bringing about a deal, making arrangements with the moderate Sunni axis, and returning the hostages and security to Israeli citizens, he is creating a new ticking bomb in Gaza.”

At least 110 Palestinians killed seeking aid since GHF began: Gaza gov’t

Gaza’s Government Media Office has released a breakdown of casualties linked to the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution points in Gaza.

It says that since the distribution centres began operations in late May, Israeli forces have killed 110 Palestinians and injured 583. At least nine people are reported missing.

Here’s a detailed look at the casualties:

Four Israeli soldiers killed in building collapse in Khan Younis

The Israeli military has released the names of two of the soldiers who were killed. The names of the other two soldiers have not yet been made public.

A fifth soldier was also injured in the incident, the army said.

Eight Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza this week

The Israeli army did confirm, along with the Israeli prime minister, that four Israeli soldiers were killed and five others wounded today after a blast caused a building to collapse in Khan Younis.

They said the military was operating on the ground there, going to clear a building, and that’s when some sort of explosive went off, causing the building to collapse on top of those soldiers.

Now this would take the total number of Israeli soldiers killed this week alone to eight: Three were killed earlier in the week in Rafah, one in the north in Shujayea, and now four in Khan Younis.

Researchers say Israel routinely attacks areas it instructed people to flee to

Forensic Architecture, a UK-based research group, says it has documented “a pattern of Israeli attacks” on areas that it told Palestinian civilians in Gaza to evacuate to.

“Our research confirms that the Israeli military carried out multiple attacks in areas towards which civilians had been directed, either on the same day as the evacuation order, or on the day after,” the group said on social media.

In one example, Forensic Architecture said the Israeli army told people to move west from their neighbourhoods in eastern Gaza City. The next day, it attacked a residential building to the west of the areas subject to the evacuation order.

The organisation said it documented 34 evacuation orders between March 18 and June 3 that directed “civilians from evacuation zones to undefined areas, which often later come under attack by the Israeli military”.

FA has documented a pattern of Israeli attacks on areas into which they have previously instructed civilians in Gaza to evacuate. Our research confirms that the Israeli military carried out multiple attacks in areas towards which civilians had been directed, either on the same… pic.twitter.com/giFqpsOwGK

— Forensic Architecture (@ForensicArchi) June 6, 2025

Injured Palestinian boy recounts attack on Gaza aid site

UNICEF has shared a video of a Palestinian boy who suffered serious injuries after Israeli soldiers fired at people trying to get desperately needed aid at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation site in the enclave.

“The pole next to me was targeted with a shell. The shrapnel flew into my abdomen and back,” Abed Al Rahman, 13, told the UN agency.

“I still have shrapnel inside my body that they couldn’t remove. I’m in real pain,” he said, laying on his bed, his body covered in bandages. “Since 6am, I have been asking for painkillers but they don’t have any. There’s nothing to hep me.”

“I still have shrapnel inside my body that they couldn’t remove.”

Abed Al Rahman, 13, recounts to UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder what happened at an aid distribution point in Gaza.

Humanitarian aid must be delivered with neutrality, independence and impartiality. pic.twitter.com/3Rg5qwuvLf

— UNICEF (@UNICEF) June 6, 2025

_{Activists in Israel march to demand an end to Israeli attacks on Gaza, the release of captives, and an end to the starvation of civilians}

French foreign minister ‘determined’ to recognise Palestinian state

Speaking during an interview with French radio station RTL, Jean-Noel Barrot did not say explicitly when France would recognise the State of Palestine.

But the French foreign minister said that an upcoming UN conference on the two-state solution – co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia – would allow countries “to make commitments to remove all the barriers on the path towards the creation – the existence even – of a Palestinian state”.

Barrot was pressed on whether France would recognise a Palestinian state on its own – even if no other countries followed suit – during the UN conference.

“This is not the option I’m considering,” he responded. “France could have made a symbolic decision. That’s not the choice we made because we have a particular responsibility.

“If we do this, it’s to change things and make it so that the existence of this Palestinian state is as credible as possible.”

ILO upgrades Palestine to non-member observer state

The International Labour Organization (ILO) decision gives the State of Palestine additional rights at ILO meetings, including the ability to submit proposals and amendments.

Several global trade unions welcomed the move, with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) hailing it as “a sign of hope and a strong gesture of solidarity with the Palestinian people”.

“This recognition by the ILO marks an important step towards broader international acknowledgement of Palestinian statehood,” ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle said in a statement.

Statement by the Representative of the State of Palestine to UN in Geneva, Ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi:

Despite Israeli efforts to block the resolution, Palestine’s status has been elevated to Observer in the International Labour Organization by an overwhelming majority.@ilo pic.twitter.com/B2e0efXtIV

— State of Palestine UNOG (@PalestineUNOG) June 6, 2025

‘Incredibly damning’: Group slams Canada weapons exports to Israel

A human rights group in Canada has slammed the Canadian government after official data showed the country exported nearly $14m (more than 18 million Canadian dollars) in weapons to Israel in 2024.

“In the face of all the horrors we have witnessed in Gaza, Canada’s arms trade with Israel has not stopped. In fact, it has continued at historically high rates,” said Michael Bueckert, acting president of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME).

Canada announced last year that it would not issue any new exports permits for weapons to Israel amid the war on Gaza.

But rights advocates had said the decision didn’t go far enough, as existing permits were still in place. They also noted that Canadian-made weapons components could still reach Israel via the United States without needing a permit.

The government said today that the nearly $14m in weapons sent to Israel in 2024 “all utilised permits destined to Israel were issued on or prior to January 8, 2024”, the date it announced a suspension of new permits.

CJPME’s Bueckert called on Canada to stop its “cynical ‘pauses’ and half-measures that fail to address Canada’s complicity in genocide”, urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to “impose a full arms embargo and bring an end to military trade with Israel once and for all”.

Main events on June 6th

Israel’s starvation of Gaza should come as no surprise: Expert

Noah Sylvia, a research analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in the UK, writes that the Israeli policy of starvation should instead be viewed as “a logical conclusion of a campaign aimed at the destruction of life in the Strip”.

The Israeli military “has attempted to destroy every facet of life in Gaza, from eradicating infrastructure to mass killings of Palestinians”, Sylvia explained, and as a result, “starving a population is but a natural extension” of those efforts.

In a commentary piece published on the RUSI website, he said that, “unless the international community takes meaningful action against Israel, there is no reason to expect that either this violence or the starvation of two million people will end”.

“The next steps are clear: governments must immediately suspend all arms sales, military aid, and military cooperation with Israel, impose sanctions, and support the international legal mechanisms investigating these atrocities,” he added.

Gaza faces famine risk as aid distribution centers close amid Israeli blockade

On Friday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said all its aid distribution centres were closed until further notice, despite a growing hunger crisis in the territory. In a Facebook post, the GHF said details about reopening would be announced later, and advised people to stay away from aid distribution hubs “for their safety”.

Contradicting the above message in later announcements yesterday, the GHF said two of its hubs had completed their daily food distribution, and a total of 471,240 meals had been handed out on Friday alone.

Aid agencies have warned that all residents in Gaza face the threat of famine after Israel imposed a severe blockade on the territory in March, blocking the entry of food, medicine and fuel. Amid international pressure, Israel allowed some aid to enter Gaza last month, but aid groups have warned the amounts are inadequate.

Operations at the GHF group’s aid distribution hubs were halted earlier this week following several incidents of deadly violence near the sites, in which Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinian aid seekers.

In addition, the Israeli army issued a warning yesterday that threatened “extreme danger” to Palestinians if they approached any of the aid points between the hours of 6am and 6pm, or 03:00 and 15:00 GMT.

Israeli drone returns to the skies of Beirut

Residents of the Lebanese capital can hear the loud buzz of an Israeli drone this morning over their homes and businesses.

Though the exact model of the drone is unclear at this time, Israel typically sends the Hermes 9000, an armed, unmanned aerial vehicle capable of staying in the sky for long durations. It is produced by Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.

The presence of the drone comes two days after Israel carried out a series of strikes on Beirut for the fourth time since the ceasefire between it and Hezbollah went into effect last November. Lebanese authorities have termed the strikes as a violation of that ceasefire.

Israel has issued threats following those strikes, saying the capital will have no calm unless Hezbollah is disarmed.

Iran secures sensitive Israeli documents, including nuclear plans: State media

Iranian intelligence has reportedly secured “vast troves of strategic and sensitive” documents and information belonging to Israel, including “thousands of files” tied to the country’s nuclear infrastructure, state media outlet IRIB is reporting.

“The volume of the documents is such that merely reviewing them and analysing the accompanying images and videos requires a significant amount of time,” IRIB said, quoting unnamed sources.

“The sheer volume of the materials and the need to securely transfer the entire shipment into the country necessitated a period of media silence,” the sources told IRIB, noting that all items have now reached their “secure locations”.

Last month, Israeli police said they had arrested several suspects in relation to a leak of classified documents from the prime minister’s office that contained sensitive information on the war in Gaza.

The IRIB report, while mentioning the incident, did not say if the arrest of the suspects was related to the securing of the documents by Iranian intelligence.

More than 1,000 Palestinian fruit trees uprooted in May alone, in occupied West Bank

Israeli settlers cut down about 100 olive trees in a plain between the villages of al-Mughayyir and Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports. The trees belonged to two Palestinian farmers.

In May, settlers uprooted more than 1,000 trees, including 695 olive trees in the governorates of Hebron, Ramallah, Salfit, Tulkarem and Nablus, the report added.

Since Israel’s war on Gaza started in October 2023, many villagers have endured escalating restrictions from the Israeli military and attacks from settlers who have been stealing their olives and setting fire to their groves.

Eight arrested in southern occupied West Bank: Report

Israeli forces have arrested eight Palestinians in the Hebron district, the Wafa news agency is reporting. Five of them were detained near a water spring in the town of Nahalin, west of Bethlehem, Wafa added.

Additionally, in the village of al-Mafqara in the Masafer Yatta area, two Palestinian brothers were detained by Israeli soldiers while tending to livestock near their home, it said, while another person was arrested from the town of Ash-Shuyukh, northeast of Hebron.

Israeli army continues to demolish homes in West Bank, gives residents ‘3 hours to collect belongings’

The Israeli army is demolishing residential buildings in Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank for a second consecutive day, Wafa news agency has reported.

This is part of Israel’s plan to demolish 106 buildings in Tulkarem and Nur Shams, according to a notification the Israeli army delivered to residents of the two sites more than a week ago, the report said. Palestinians were given three hours to enter their homes and take their belongings, it added.

The two refugee camps – along with that of Jenin – have been subject to Israel’s longest and most destructive military operation in the Palestinian territories in decades. Since it was launched on January 21, Israeli soldiers have conducted large-scale demolitions that the UNRWA said “seek to permanently change the characteristics of the camps”.

The operation has resulted in the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since the 1967 war, with some 40,000 people forced from their homes. The three places are now nearly empty of their residents, the UN agency said.

Palestinian killed, 2 wounded by Israeli gunfire at West Bank crossing

Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man and wounded two others at the Meitar-Tarqumiya crossing near Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society confirmed the casualties but did not provide details about the shooting.

The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, cited unnamed sources as saying the deceased was a young man. The wounded individuals were from the town of Idhna, in western Hebron, and sustained moderate injuries.

Israeli forces fired live rounds at the three men near the separation barrier in al-Dhahiriya in southern Hebron, the news agency said.