The Abu Shabab armed group in Gaza coordinates with the Israeli military

The overwhelming majority of the Abu Shabab armed group are either “convicted murderers, thieves, collaborators, drug dealers or members of ISIS [ISIL] in Sinai or in Gaza itself”, Muhammad Shehada, senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, tells Al Jazeera.

He said the armed group “shares the same predicament with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu: Criminals on the run from authority who know that as soon as the genocide in Gaza is over, they might be in prison”.

He said there is a clear connection between the Israeli military and the armed group, which is proven by the fact that its fighters can operate in areas the Israeli military designates as “extermination zones”.

“To have in the very deep heart of Rafah that Israel wiped out completely, allowing [the Abu Shabab armed group] to have a military complex and warehouses to store giant piles of looted aid … there is a zero-percent chance that this is not coordinated with Israel”, Shehada said.

‘No willingness’ among Palestinians in Gaza to join Abu Shabab armed group: Report

The Abu Shabab armed group, which Israel is reported to have armed in the Gaza Strip, is struggling to establish a real grip on the ground, according to a report by Israeli media outlet Ynet News.

Despite the fact that some 400 people in Gaza have joined its ranks, it has only managed to establish a foothold in the Rafah buffer zone and suffers from deep distrust among Palestinians, Ynet reported.

The outlet said there is “no willingness” among Palestinians in Gaza to join its ranks.

It quoted a father from Gaza who said, “Who would trust Abu Shabab? This is a group of people who looted, stole and killed. He [leader Yasser Abu Shabab] himself was in prison. How do you know he won’t kill me or my children? It sounds like a death trap.”

Israeli attack on al-Tuffah kills 20 people

The death toll has risen in this attack on the Gaza City neighbourhood, and among those killed are at least nine children, a source at al-Ahli Arab Hospital tells Al Jazeera’s team on the ground.


_{Palestinians gather at the site of a tent camp that was struck in an Israeli raid on Friday, in Gaza City, June 28}

Several children killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza City neighbourhood

The Israeli military carried out two deadly strikes within a span of 20 minutes.

The first was on a residential home where flying debris and shrapnel left several people wounded, followed by a second attack just a few minutes later on a market street very close to the area, in Yafa Street on Tuffah neighbourhood, where nine people were reported killed.

They were all transferred to al-Ahli Hospital. Inside the hospital, one of the persons in a phone call described the scene as very chaotic.

The hospital is really in bad shape; it doesn’t have the capacity to provide much-needed medical care for injuries. As for now, they are looking into alternative options to transfer those wounded to other hospitals in the area, whether it’s privately owned clinics or al-Shifa Hospital.

This area has been attacked relentlessly by the Israeli military – just in the past three hours, 11 people were killed close to that area, bringing the total number of people who were killed in Yafa Street, in the eastern part of Gaza City, to 20 people so far, including several children.

There were also drone strikes on other parts of the Gaza Strip, including in the city of Khan Younis and the Bureij refugee camp.

What we’re witnessing now is a significant increase, a surge in air attacks across the Strip, causing further civilian casualties, a sheer level of destruction and enforced displacement.

_{At least 81 people have been killed in the past 24 hours in the besieged enclave, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry}

Situation ‘catastrophic’ at site of Israeli attack on Gaza City

Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili is reporting from one of the many sites across Gaza attacked by Israel in recent hours. This strike was on a residential building in Gaza City, in which at least 20 Palestinians were killed, including nine children. Rescue workers are now trying to find survivors trapped under the rubble.

“The fire is breaking out right now, and civil defence forces are trying to put the fire out,” al-Khalili said. “The situation is catastrophic here, as the Israeli military is intensifying its attacks, resulting in the displacement of many Palestinians in this neighbourhood.”

He added that the area struck is densely populated, where thousands of Palestinians live.

‘The whole block is nearly wiped out’: Survivor of Gaza City attack

A survivor from a strike on a residential building in Gaza City recounts the attack, in which at least 20 Palestinians were killed, including nine children.

“We were sitting peacefully when we received a call from a private number telling us to evacuate the entire block immediately – a residential area belonging to the al-Nakhalah family. As you can see, the whole block is nearly wiped out,” one resident, Mahmoud al-Nakhala, told Al Jazeera.

“We still don’t know why two three-story homes were targeted … It’s heartbreaking that people watch what’s happening in Gaza – the suffering, the massacres – and stay silent. At this point, we can’t even comprehend what’s happening here anymore”, he continued.

Civil defence crews are working to remove people from under rubble.

“We are currently in the east of al-Tuffah neighborhood. Warplanes are bombing the area, and right now we are working to extinguish the fires,” Mohammed Essa told Al Jazeera.

“As you can see, the destruction is massive.”

Israeli military says it carried out an air strike in southern Lebanon

The Israeli military claims to have eliminated a Hezbollah antitank commander earlier today in the town of Kunin in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has not commented on the claim.

On Friday, at least one person was killed and more than a dozen others wounded in Israeli air attacks in the same area of southern Lebanon, according to the country’s health ministry.

After the attack, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun accused Israel of continually violating the US-brokered ceasefire deal by keeping up strikes on Lebanon.

The ceasefire deal stipulates that southern Lebanon must be free of any non-state arms or fighters, Israeli soldiers must leave southern Lebanon as Lebanese troops deploy there, and all fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border must stop.

Israeli troops remain in at least five posts within Lebanese territory, and its air force regularly launches air raids, which it claims target rank and file Hezbollah members or people affiliated with the group.

_{The aftermath of Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Friday}

At least two killed in Israeli attack on south Lebanon

Lebanon’s Public Health Emergency Operations Center, affiliated with the country’s Ministry of Public Health, says in a statement that an Israeli attack on a motorcycle in the village of Mahrouna has killed two people.

One of those killed was a woman, who succumbed to “severe wounds”, according to the statement. Three other people were also wounded in the attack.

The EU demonstrates ‘blatant’ double standards in its treatment of Israel

The lack of action and double standards demonstrated by the European Union when it comes to Israel’s aggression have damaged its credibility, Lynn Boylan, an Irish member of the European Parliament representing Sinn Fein, tells Al Jazeera.

She said the failure to hold Israel accountable, after nearly two years of its war on Gaza, stands in stark contrast to the “swift action taken” by the EU when it came to Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“The double standards are so blatant … and citizens are telling me that every single day that they are ashamed of the EU … that why should any country respect trade agreements or any other form of agreement or negotiation or cooperation with the EU, when Israel is able just to tear up international law with no consequences,” she said.

EU a ‘willing partner’ in Israel’s ‘genocide, apartheid and military occupation’

Israel’s stance that it faces an “existential threat” from Hamas and Iran has no validity, says Giorgia Gusciglio, the Europe coordinator of campaigns for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement promoting economic pressure against Israel.

“Israel has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity. The International Court of Justice has said that Israel is violating the rights of self-determination of the Palestinian people,” she told Al Jazeera.

“It’s committing the crime of apartheid. It’s the crime against humanity. So it keeps violating all human rights, all international law measures, and it keeps doing so thanks to EU colonial hypocrisy and double standards.”

Gusciglio asserted that the EU, in fact, is a “willing partner” in Israel’s “genocide, apartheid and military occupation”.

“It keeps acting as a poodle for the US and Israel. It keeps undermining international law, enabling Israel to do unspeakable horror, and this is only possible thanks to military, financial, political, diplomatic and other forms of unconditional support.”

Guscigli added that the EU should terminate the EU-Israel Association Agreement, as well as stop the sale and transfer of weapons to and from Israel.

‘Students, universities stepping up to cut ties with Israel as EU stands by’

The EU’s double standard in sport and culture, from football to the Eurovision song contest, which has seen Russia excluded but not Israel, is rooted in “colonial hypocrisy”, says Giorgia Gusciglio, the Europe coordinator of campaigns for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement promoting economic pressure against Israel.

“The EU [has] always protected and given carte blanche to Israel to do whatever it wants,” Gusciglio told Al Jazeera.

Universities are “taking matters in their own hand”, she said.

“Many universities are … no longer collaborating with Israeli institutions. They’re not waiting for the EU to act.” “This is a massive testament to the mobilisation of students, academics.”

Public outrage over Israel’s aid blockade has not led to government action: European MEP

The images that have emerged over the past few weeks of Palestinians being starved by Israel’s blockade of Gaza have been “impossible for any politician anywhere in the world to defend”, Lynn Boylan, an Irish member of the European Parliament representing Sinn Fein, tells Al Jazeera.

Even in countries such as Germany, which has been a staunch ally of Israel, citizens have been contacting their politicians and saying, “this must stop,” she noted, adding “unfortunately, then we’ve seen the distraction of [Israel’s conflict with] Iran, and the focus moved away from Gaza.

Boylan said the daily footage of Palestinians being targeted at the aid distribution sites as they “desperately try to get food and water for their children and themselves” has now become normalised.

“The commentary that we heard was as a direct result of both the imagery and the people power and putting pressure on the German government… hasn’t manifested”, she said.

_{Smoke rises during an Israeli attack as Palestinians ride a horse-drawn cart along a road used by aid seekers}

‘The EU is 60,000 Palestinian lives too late,’ says HRW expert

The EU has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the unconditional release of captives, but it has chosen not to impose sanctions or suspend its trade agreement with Israel.

At a summit this week in Brussels, member states discussed an EU report that found Israel was likely violating its human rights obligations under the EU-Israel Association agreement, which governs its trade ties with the bloc. Rather than imposing sanctions, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said, “We will contact Israel to present our findings and look at how we can improve the situation on the ground.”

Such communications, however, are failing to make an impact, according to Claudio Francavilla, the associate EU director at Human Rights Watch. “The truth is that they’ve been contacting the Israeli authorities for about 21 months now, and clearly, that hasn’t worked,” he told Al Jazeera from Brussels.

“There must be a place, a time when people realise that dialogue alone is not working and … has completely failed. If anything, the EU is about 60,000 lives too late in trying to move beyond the dialogue. People are being killed every day before our eyes.”

The question now, said Francavilla, is at what point the EU will stop with the dialogue and start using “non-verbal forms of communication, such as the suspension of the association agreement”.

Inaction on Gaza is anti-Palestinian, not pro-Israel: HRW

EU leaders have decided not to take action against Israel over its war on Gaza, despite a recent report finding that Israel may have breached its human rights obligations under the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

Who’s driving EU policy on Israel? “It’s not one single country, it’s certainly a bloc,” said Claudio Francavilla, associate EU director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

According to Francavilla, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Italy are the main countries preventing EU action on Israel. They consider themselves “pro-Israel”, but “what they’re doing is not pro-Israel, it’s anti-Palestinian, it’s anti-international law, it’s anti-human rights,” he said.

Some countries are trying to do more, Francavilla told Al Jazeera, citing Spain, Slovenia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Belgium. “This is not enough,” he said. “The EU is a bit of a victim of its own architecture when it comes to foreign policy.”

While most EU foreign policy measures must be adopted unanimously by member states, some do not, including trade measures. Francavilla said the EU could suspend the Association Agreement and ban trade with settlements by a qualified majority vote, noting that it’s important to continue pressuring the five countries blocking EU action to allow for such a vote.

Hind Rajab Foundation files complaint to the ICC against Israeli brigadier general

The Belgium-based Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) has filed a complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Brigadier General Yehuda Vahn.

HRF, which was formed in 2024, has pulled together lawyers and activists from around the world to prepare cases against Israeli soldiers based on social media content shared by the soldiers themselves.

HRF says Vach was in command of the “establishment and enforcement of an unlawful ‘kill zone’ in the Netzarim Corridor, a zone it said is characterised by ‘the deliberate targeting of civilians — particularly children — by sniper teams and mobile armoured patrols operating with impunity under Vach’s orders”.

“The complaint was based on powers of attorney obtained from the families of two Palestinian children who were summarily executed by Vach’s troops”, HRF said in a statement. ​

Is Germany missing in action on holding Israel accountable?

EU leaders have called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of captives, but they have stopped short of sanctioning Israel. Germany is the largest and most influential of a five-country bloc that is leading EU policy on this, according to Claudio Francavilla, the Brussels-based associate EU director at Human Rights Watch.

He told Al Jazeera Germany has been clear that the protection of Israel and its existence — its raison d’etat — is one of the principles at the foundation of the German state. German politicians are willing to accept blame for not moving against Israel over Gaza, seeing it as a “tiny fraction of the suffering that they inflicted on the Jewish people during the Holocaust”.

But Germany is also committed to international law, Francavilla said, and is “missing in action when it comes to their obligations”. He pointed to the UN Genocide Convention, which requires all parties to “employ all reasonable means to stop or prevent a genocide when it’s unfolding,” not only after a final legal determination.

“By protecting Israel from any form of accountability, they are condemning the Palestinians to suffer everything that they’ve been going through,” he said.

Settler attacks continue across the occupied West Bank

The Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported several settler attacks in the occupied West Bank today. They include:

BDS Win: Activists Force Shipping Giant Maersk to Cut Israeli Settlement Ties

Lea Kayali, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), discusses a huge win for their “Mask Off Maersk” campaign: shipping giant Maersk announced they are cutting ties to companies with links to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. After months of pressure from activists, including in-depth reports exposing Maersk’s transport of F-35 fighter jets used to genocide Palestinians, Kayali discusses why the campaign will continue to push Maersk to drop all its business with Israel.

Iran’s smart counter after Trump changes tune on future attacks on nuclear sites



Iran has sharply changed its stand on the reported damage of its nuclear sites by US bombers. Contrary to earlier statements rejecting Donald Trump’s claims, Iran has now performed a U-turn by agreeing with the US president. This, Rifat Jawaid explains, appears to be a clever move by Tehran to ward off future attacks by Israel or the US as Tehran embarks on rebuilding its air defence system and revamping the compromised intelligence apparatus.