Syria monitor says one killed from Israeli strike

Earlier, as we reported, Israel’s military claimed to carry out a strike in southern Syria’s Mazraat Beit Jinn area, targeting a Hamas member. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights now reports that the attack hit a vehicle in the area, killing one person and injuring two others.

The observatory says Israel has carried out 61 attacks – 51 by air and 10 by ground – in Syria so far this year.

Lebanon union condemns Israeli attacks on farmers

In a statement carried by Lebanon’s National News Agency, the Federation of Farmers’ Unions condemned two separate incidents involving Israeli forces and farmers in the country’s south.

The federation said a farmer was struck by Israeli fire from a drone in Hula, wounding him and destroying his tractor. It did not say when the incident occurred. The federation also said a Lebanese shepherd in the Shebaa Farms was “kidnapped” by Israeli forces.

Despite Israel and Hezbollah reaching a ceasefire agreement in November of last year, Israel has continued to conduct strikes on Lebanese territory. Lebanon says the attacks are a blatant violation of the ceasefire.


_{Smoke rises from an explosion in Lebanon’s Shebaa Farms area}


Israeli drone kills person in southern Lebanon despite ceasefire

One person has been killed in a new Israeli attack in southern Lebanon, the latest violation of a ceasefire agreement. A drone fired a missile at a motorcycle on a road between Chehabieh and Kfar Dounine, near Tyre, killing one person, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Israeli forces have conducted near-daily attacks in southern Lebanon claiming to target Hezbollah despite a truce reached last November. Lebanese authorities have reported nearly 3,000 Israeli violations of the truce, including the deaths of more than 200 people since November.

Under the ceasefire deal, Israel’s army is supposed to fully withdraw from southern Lebanon but it has refused to comply. Israel still maintains a military presence at five border outposts.

Israeli media: US and Israel want to end UNIFIL mission

Several Israeli news organisations report the US and Israel will seek an end to the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

The peacekeeping mission has been active since 1978 after Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon. It was in force during Israel’s occupation from 1982 to 2000 as well as the 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel.

The peacekeeping mission’s positions repeatedly have come under fire in the most recent fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

The US is a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, which must pass a resolution to extend UNIFIL’s expiring mandate. A vote is expected in August.

Get those pesky independent observers out of the way of Israel's continued violations of the 'ceasefire'

Can the US end UNIFIL mandate?

Israeli media report the United States will use its permanent member status on the UN Security Council to end UNIFIL’s mandate. The plan has not been officially announced. Any of the five permanent members of the UNSC can use their veto power to block the extension of a peacekeeping mission’s mandate.

The Trump administration has been pivoting away from the UN, and has been particularly critical of peacekeeping missions and the funding they require. UNIFIL’s current mandate for its 10,000 peacekeepers, which was renewed for a year in 2024, will expire on August 30 of this year.

Israel’s aid distribution points are ‘human slaughterhouses’

Israeli forces are turning US-run aid distribution centres into deadly ambush sites following yet another mass shooting of hungry aid seekers earlier at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites, the Government Media Office says.

It said in a statement that at least 13 Palestinians were killed and 153 wounded after Israeli troops and US security contractors opened fire on crowds near two aid distribution points – one east of Rafah and another near Wadi Gaza Bridge.

The attacks bring the total toll since the centres began operating on May 27 to 125 killed, 736 injured, and nine missing, according to the office.

The statement described the aid zones – set up in Israeli military-controlled areas – as “human slaughterhouses” where starving Palestinians are lured and then shot dead.

“These are war crimes and crimes against humanity,” it said, calling for an independent international investigation and the immediate suspension of GHF’s delivery model, which has been criticised by rights groups and the UN as one that violates humanitarian principles.

Red Cross reports surge in Gaza mass casualty attacks

The humanitarian organisation says it had to activate its mass-casualty procedure at its field hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza, 12 times over the last two weeks.

That coincides with the launch of the Israel-and-US-backed controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been widely criticised by the humanitarian community.

The Red Cross said it received 933 medical cases, including 41 people declared dead on arrival. The toll is “higher than all mass casualty incidents over the 12 months prior combined”.

“An overwhelming majority of patients from the recent incidents said they had been trying to reach assistance distribution sites”.

The healthcare system in Gaza is extremely fragile. To avert preventable deaths, the services of the remaining health-care facilities must be preserved and reinforced. pic.twitter.com/LhPBz6mSpy

— ICRC in Israel & OT (@ICRC_ilot) June 8, 2025

Israel says it finds Mohammed Sinwar’s body in Gaza

The Israeli military says it has found the body of Mohammed Sinwar in Gaza and verified his identity after repeatedly claiming it killed the de facto Hamas leader in May.

Sinwar’s body was located in an “underground passageway beneath the European Hospital” in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the army alleged. Gaza’s Government Media Office previously called Israel’s claims of the existence of tunnels underneath hospitals “fabricated, flawed and full of loopholes”.

Sinwar is believed to have taken over from his brother Yahya Sinwar, the former military leader of Hamas, who was killed by Israel in October.


“Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth”, a law of propaganda often attributed to the Nazi Joseph Goebbels.

Tunnels below the European hospital have already been debunked by various organizations, for example:
https://news.sky.com/story/gaza-hospital-attack-analysis-contradicts-israels-evidence-justifying-airstrike-13367823
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-05-15/ty-article/.premium/idf-claimed-hamas-dug-tunnel-under-gaza-school-but-shared-footage-of-a-nearby-hospital/00000196-d05d-d9a9-a99e-f35d73540000

Now they installed a vertical pipe claiming it's a tunnel under the European hospital

That looks brand new, fresh sand and all, then the video cuts to some old completely different footage.

Pathetic lies. It could still be true they did kill Sinwar somewhere else, but not in illusionary tunnels under the hospital.

Palestinian groups decry US-backed Gaza aid site ‘death ambushes’

Palestinian resistance factions have accused the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation of involvement in “death ambushes”, noting daily massacres at the aid sites under the guise of humanitarian relief.

In a joint statement, the factions said the true aim is to dismantle the role of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, paving the way for forced displacement and ethnic cleansing.

The groups cautioned Palestinians against trusting “false promises” by Israel and its allies, and warned any individuals or groups cooperating with the foundation would be considered collaborators and legitimate targets.

They urged international legal bodies and human rights organisations to investigate the “suspicious intelligence role” played by the US project, linking it to the killing of more than 126 Palestinians at its aid dispersal sites.

The factions demanded the full return of aid distribution under UN agencies, especially UNRWA, which they said has the experience, legal mandate, and neutrality to carry out the mission safely.


_{Palestinians gather meagre amounts of aid at a site run by the Israel-and-US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah}

MSF says it treated some of those wounded while seeking aid

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says 13 wounded individuals and one person who was dead on arrival came to its clinic in the al-Mawasi area of southern Khan Younis today. MSF said the injured and dead were “carried in donkey carts, on bicycles, or on foot”.

The wounded were all men between the ages of 17 and 30. The victims said they were shot in the Shakoush area while travelling to a food distribution site in Saudi Village.

Those in critical condition were transferred to Nasser Hospital, the medical charity said.

‘Dangerous levels’: Al-Shifa Hospital has fuel for three days

Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital and Al-Ahli Arab Hospital are within 24 hours of needing to cease operations over a lack of fuel. In a statement, the Health Ministry said Al-Shifa was recently supplied with enough fuel to last three more days. It called for a more enduring solution.

“Emergency measures and temporary solutions cannot ensure the continuity of healthcare services as the wounded and sick increasingly need intensive care,” it said. “The fuel shortage crisis, which requires electricity to operate generators, continues to worsen to dangerous levels in the remaining functioning hospitals in the Gaza Strip,” it said.

Gaza people risk their lives for hungry children at aid points

Starving people in Gaza continue to search for food but many are now avoiding the deadly aid distribution sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). At a charity kitchen in northern Gaza City, displaced Palestinian Umm Ghassan said she has been unable to collect aid from a GHF centre.

“There were so many people and there was a lot of shooting. I was afraid to go in, but there were people who risked their lives for their children and families,” Ghassan said.

Dozens of hungry Palestinians have been killed near GHF distribution points since late May, according to Gaza health authorities and rescuers.

‘Smiles don’t lie’: Israel hails deadly Gaza aid scheme

The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund has been roundly criticised by humanitarian and rights observers.

They have warned the scheme is not adequately equipped to deliver aid to vulnerable Palestinians in Gaza, with chaotic and deadly distributions in recent days underscoring those concerns.

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has decried the aid programme as “humanitarian washing”, while former UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said the scheme has turned Gaza into a “human abattoir”.

But Israel has down played the human toll the approach has had, instead maintaining the set up is needed to prevent aid from falling into the wrong hands. In its latest defence, Israel’s Foreign Ministry posted a video showing images of Palestinians receiving aid.

“No fuel for terror. Just real aid,” it said. “Smiles don’t lie. Hamas does.”

Hundreds of trucks. Millions of meals. Every Single Day.

One of the largest humanitarian aid operations in the world is currently reaching the people of Gaza - enabled by Israel.

No fuel for terror. Just real aid.

Smiles don’t lie. Hamas does. pic.twitter.com/GUdq3mASDV

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) June 8, 2025

No violence at aid centres, says US-Israel-backed group

An unnamed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) official says there’s been no violence in or around its aid distribution sites, all three of which delivered food on Sunday, The Associated Press reports.

Gaza medical officials, however, say at least 13 people were killed and more than 100 wounded after Israeli tanks and troops opened fire on hungry Palestinians in southern Gaza.

Al-Awda Hospital said it received the body of a man and 29 wounded people near a GHF aid distribution point in central Gaza. Israel’s military said it fired “warning shots” in the area at around 6:40am but didn’t see any casualties.

The GHF closed the sites temporarily last week to review safety measures with Israel’s military, and has warned people to stay on designated access routes. More than 120 aid seekers have been killed since the controversial foundation took over deliveries last month. The new aid hubs are set up inside Israeli military zones where independent media have no access.

So fucking sick of the US lying for Israel. From Biden seeing 40 beheaded babies with his own eyes to Miller confessing he was lying for the regime all along.

Sky News’ interview with Gaza-return British surgeon explains Netanyahu’s defiance

Rifat Jawaid explains why Trevor Phillips’ interview with Dr. Victoria Rose this morning wasn’t objective journalism. This can best be described as an exercise to give legitimacy to lies spread by Benjamin Netanyahu. Dr. Rose has just returned from Gaza free spending a month treating victims there.

End the American Genocide in Gaza

What’s unfolding in Gaza is not just genocide, it is the complete annihilation of a people and a place. Entire communities erased. Families buried. Hospitals bombed. Medical workers killed. The healthcare system has been deliberately destroyed, and mass starvation is being used as a weapon of war.

This is all American now. The bombs, the vetoes, the blockade of ceasefires, all backed, funded, and shielded by the United States. The so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a militarized, dehumanizing operation weaponizing food and water to trap, surveil, and kill. Aid under drones. Bread used as bait. All while children die silent deaths from starvation. A humanitarian Alibi.

Silence is complicity. Action is the only option.

Main events on June 8th

• At least 13 Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces and US security contractors opened fire on a crowd seeking aid from the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
• Israeli attacks across Gaza left dozens other dead with hospital sources saying at least 44 Palestinians have been killed since dawn on Sunday.
• Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the Madleen, a vessel launched by Freedom Flotilla Coalition, will not be allowed to reach Gaza, with the ship’s crew reporting navy speedboats circling.
• Israeli media reported the US plans to end the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, which is up for renewal at the end of August.

Madleen crew says alarm sounded over possible interception

In a post on Telegram, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has written: “Alarm has been sounded on the Madleen. Life jackets are on preparing for interception.”

BREAKING!!! - 11:18PM UK time; I am with the flotilla online. They have just been reached by the Israel speedboats - 5 vessels circling the flotilla. The captain is instructing the team to stay calm and seated, with their passports and life jackets on. I hear them speaking with…

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) June 8, 2025

At this moment Israeli occupation gunboats are intercepting Flotilla boat.. pic.twitter.com/1HILoF98b7

— MoTaz (@motazazaiza9) June 8, 2025

Freedom Flotilla Coalition says surrounding boats have left

In an audio message on the coalition’s Telegram, activist Thiago Avila says the boats that surrounded the Madleen have now left.

“This, unfortunately, has been a very unlikely false alarm. We have been surrounded by many lights all at once and they were circling our boat. But in the end they kept going their own way,” he said.

“Could be IOF [Israel occupation forces] vessels, but in this case they just left and we don’t know,” he added. “We’re not sure.”

I just spoke again with the Flotilla, incl its Comm Room in Catania

All looks calm and safe now. Speedboats watching; but the flotilla continues its sailing.

It will be a long night. And as they say and we say, "we are together". https://t.co/ya43ZyN7yF

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) June 8, 2025

‘Psychological warfare’ as two boats remain near the Madleen

“We are very close to Gaza, approximately 100 miles away,” the German activist added. “We sounded the alarm because we saw exactly four vessels approaching us all at the same time, two of which had blue lights,” she said. “We had many lights suddenly surrounding us,” she added.

Acar says two of the boats came as close as 200 meters from the Madleen before leaving, while the other two vessels remain nearby. “Two of them are still right in front of me, they just stopped,” she said.

“We have reason to believe that this is psychological warfare,” she added. “It’s just a way of intimidating us and a way to make us turn back and not tried to challenge the illegal blockade on Gaza.”

Two drones hovering over the Madleen

The crew on board the Madleen is now taking cover as two drones are hovering overhead, says UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese.

“Two drones over the Madleen. They say they are quadcopters, the dangerous ones. TEAM IS TAKING COVER,” Albanese wrote on X.

Updates: Two drones over the Madleen. They say they are quadcopters, the dangerous ones.
TEAM IS TAKING COVER. https://t.co/wdObMs28eG

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) June 8, 2025

GRETA'S SHIP IS SEIZED

https://www.threads.com/@booksbowsandcoffee/post/DKqMvozvyjK/the-iof-has-boarded-the-madleen-all-connection-with-the-madleen-and-its-crew-has


_{The IOF has boarded the Madleen. All connection with the Madleen and its crew has been lost.}

Drones drop white substance on Madleen as communications blocked

The Gaza Freedom Flotilla says that quadcopters have surrounded the Madleen and are “spraying it with a white paint-like substance”.

“Communications are jammed and disturbing sounds are being played over the radio,” the flotilla said in a post on Instagram.

Israeli forces intercept the Madleen, cut off comms

Contact has been lost with the Madleen after Israeli commandos intercepted it in international waters.

They demanded that everyone on board turn off their phones, and we have lost contact with Al Jazeera Mubasher journalist Omar Faiad as well as our live feed.

International Solidarity Movement co-founder, Huwaida Arraf, confirmed that they have also lost contact with the Madleen.

‘Eyes were burning’ after white substance dropped on Madleen

Here’s more from Huwaida Arraf, the co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement, which is supporting the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

“Just moments ago, communication seemed to be cut,” Arraf told Al Jazeera from Sicily. “So, we have lost all contact with our colleagues on the Madleen.”

“Before that, we know that they had two drones hovering above them that dropped some kind of chemical on the vessel. We don’t know what that chemical was,” she said.

“Some people reported that their eyes were burning. Before that, they were also approached by vessels in a very threatening manner.” So at least for the last hour, hour and a half, they have been threatened by Israeli forces.”

“The last we saw, were able to hear from them, they were surrounded… by Israeli naval commandos and it looked like the commandos were about to take over the vessel.”

Madleen crew told to throw phones over board

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition has shared a video showing the crew in the moments before the ship was intercepted by Israeli forces. The crew sat wearing life vests, with their hands in the air and threw their phones in the water.

SOS messages to follow#alleyesonMadleen pic.twitter.com/O02sv5c1jW

— Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@GazaFFlotilla) June 9, 2025

Francesca Albanese says she lost contact with Madleen

As we’ve been reporting, the support crew for the Madleen say that communications on board the ship have been cut. UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese also says she has lost contact with the ship.

“I heard the soldiers speaking while the captain was on the phone with me,” says Albanese.

“I lost connection with the captain as he was telling me that ‘another boat is approaching’.”

BREAKING
1AM UK time. Israeli speedboat reached Madleen. "At the time the boat was intercepted no one is wounded" the captain asked me to record. I heard the soldiers speaking while the captain was on the phone with me. I lost connection with the captain as he was telling me that… https://t.co/BVzbjd4zyK

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) June 9, 2025

Israeli MFA says Madleen being taken to Israel’s Ashdod port

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that Israeli authorities intercepted the Madleen.

“The ‘selfie yacht’ of the ‘celebrities’ is safely making its way to the shores of Israel,” the ministry said in a post on X.

The post accused “Greta and others” of attempting “to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity”. The post also claimed that sufficient aid has reached Gaza in the past two weeks.

However, Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza after allowing some food to return to the Strip following its longest-ever total blockade. Dozens of people have been killed while trying to reach aid distribution sites, including at least 13 Palestinians on Sunday alone.

Israel does not have authority over Gaza

A video obtained by Al Jazeera shows a uniformed officer telling the people on board the Madleen that there are other means of delivering aid, before the ship was intercepted.

“If you wish to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, you’re able to do so through the port of Ashdod,” the uniformed officer says. “We have established channels and distribution centres.”

However, UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese told Al Jazeera this is not accurate.

“Israel has no authority over Gaza. This is the thing. Israel needs to end the siege.”

“The people of Gaza need to be helped.”

US Muslim group says Israeli attack on Madleen a ‘blatant act’ of piracy

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned Israel seizing the Freedom Flotilla ship and its crew.

“We strongly condemn the cowardly and illegal Israeli attack on the Madleen’s as it approached Gaza with desperately-need humanitarian supplies,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad.

“This is a blatant act of international piracy and state terrorism,” he said.

“The Israeli occupation has no legal right to blockade the Gaza coast, much less to drop chemical weapons on humanitarian aid boats and abduct their passengers in international waters,” Awad added.

Awad called on the Israeli government to immediately release the ship’s crew.

“We applaud Greta Thunberg and the other activists of the Madleen who bravely risked their safety and freedom to help the starving people of Gaza,” he said.

"We strongly condemn the cowardly and illegal Israeli attack on the Madleen's as it approached Gaza with desperately-need humanitarian supplies. This is a blatant act of international piracy and state terrorism." @NihadAwad
READ: https://t.co/nWvdxAuqtl https://t.co/3tSOQVAAK5

— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) June 9, 2025

‘If you’re watching this, I’ve been kidnapped… we count on you’: Thiago Avila

Brazilian activist Thiago Avila also posted a video he recorded in case of the Madleen being intercepted.