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Israeli strike damages graves and destroys mosque in Deir el-Balah, Gaza

Israeli strike damages graves and destroys mosque in Deir el-Balah, Gaza
By Lyndal Rowlands, Usaid Siddiqui, Jillian Kestler-D'Amours and Farah Najjar
Published On 2 Jun 2025

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2 Jun 2025 - 22:59
 (22:59 GMT)

Thanks for joining us

Before you go:

The head of the United Nations has demanded an investigation into the killing of more than 30 aid-seeking Palestinians in Gaza. Read more here.

US-and-Israel-backed “humanitarian” hubs in Gaza are yet another deadly public relations stunt, writes Belen Fernandez in this opinion piece.

Read more on an aid ship carrying activists risking their lives to break Israel’s siege of Gaza.

And you can follow all our coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza here.

2 Jun 2025 - 22:55
 (22:55 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

We’ll be closing this live page soon. Here’s a recap of the day’s major developments:

  • Ongoing Israeli bombardment across the Gaza Strip killed at least 45 Palestinians, many in the enclave’s north, as a crippling aid blockade continues and starvation spreads.
  • The Israeli army has ordered Palestinians in several areas of southern Khan Younis to evacuate as troops reportedly converge on Gaza’s second-largest city.
  • In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces shot and killed a 14-year-old boy during a raid near Ramallah, one of several violent incursions there.
  • Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a ballistic missile attack on Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, which Israel said was intercepted.
  • United Nations chief Antonio Guterres demanded an investigation into the killing of Palestinians seeking food aid at US- and Israel-operated sites.
  • Matthew Miller, a US State Department spokesman under former US President Joe Biden, admitted it is “without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes” in Gaza.
2 Jun 2025 - 22:50
 (22:50 GMT)

Greta Thunberg: ‘Silence is more dangerous than sailing to Gaza’

A new Freedom Flotilla vessel is sailing towards Gaza to try to break Israel’s siege after the first mission was halted when a drone attack hit and damaged the ship in international waters.

Activist Greta Thunberg is on board the Freedom Flotilla mission, among 11 other international activists attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

She said that silence is more dangerous than sailing to Gaza.

2 Jun 2025 - 22:40
 (22:40 GMT)

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.

2 Jun 2025 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)

‘World is watching’: UN experts demand safe passage for Freedom Flotilla

UN legal experts have called for the protection of a ship operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition as it sails to besieged Gaza carrying food, water and medical supplies.

“Aid is desperately needed for the people of Gaza to forestall annihilation, and this initiative is a symbolic and powerful effort to deliver it,” the UN experts said in a joint statement.

“Israel should remember that the world is watching closely and refrain from any act of hostility against the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and its passengers.”

The experts emphasised the legal right of Palestinians to receive aid through their own territorial waters, and of the vessel to navigate freely in international waters.

They voiced concern for the safety of those on board, referencing a previous Freedom Flotilla ship reportedly bombed by a drone off Malta’s coast in early May.

Israel has enforced a complete blockade on Gaza for 17 years, intensifying it since March 2, with aid almost entirely cut off.

2 Jun 2025 - 22:20
 (22:20 GMT)
Explainer

A look at Israel’s targeted assault on the Gaza health sector

Israel has carried out an assault on Gaza’s healthcare sector, targeting hospitals and other medical facilities since its military bombardment began.

According to the latest update from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):

  • The World Health Organization (WHO) documented 29 attacks on healthcare in Gaza between May 2 and 22.
  • “According to WHO, at least 94 percent of hospitals in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed,” OCHA said.
  • Between May 14-28, “four partially functional hospitals had to suspend operations” because of Israel’s attacks, bringing the number of partially functioning hospitals down to 18.
  • Al-Awda Hospital – northern Gaza’s last functioning hospital – was repeatedly hit by Israel in May before the military ordered its closure last week.

For more on what happened at al-Awda Hospital, check out our story here.

2 Jun 2025 - 22:10
 (22:10 GMT)

Call for UN peacekeepers in Gaza to halt Israel’s starvation policy

UN legal experts have urged the General Assembly to invoke a 1950 UN resolution to deploy a peacekeeping force to Gaza to put an end to Israel’s “starvation and genocide”.

Calling the current situation “the most horrific” phase of the Gaza crisis, the experts urged the UN General Assembly to authorise peacekeepers to accompany humanitarian aid trucks under the “Uniting for Peace” mechanism.

Uniting for Peace – a resolution passed during the Korean War by the UN General Assembly – was designed to circumvent any Soviet veto that would have blocked the Security Council’s efforts to defend South Korea from North Korean aggression.

“Member states have a legal obligation and a moral imperative to stop starvation and genocide in Gaza,” the UN experts said.

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid enter the Gaza Strip from Egypt [File: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP]
2 Jun 2025 - 22:00
 (22:00 GMT)

Amnesty urges action to stop Israel’s use of starvation as weapon of war

Amnesty International says the recent killings of Palestinians at aid distribution points in Gaza harken back to the so-called “flour massacres” last year, “when desperate individuals seeking food were killed by Israel’s military”.

“Such deadly patterns must not be allowed to continue,” the rights group wrote on social media, calling for an independent probe into this week’s deadly violence.

Amnesty also stressed that humanitarian aid distribution “must be conducted through safe, dignified, and effective means” and “managed by professional humanitarian workers, not security contractors” – as is the case with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

“The international community, notably led by the USA, has permitted this appalling humanitarian catastrophe & genocide to unfold for far too long,” it added.

“The use of starvation of civilians as a method of war is a war crime that the global community must urgently put an end to.”

2 Jun 2025 - 21:45
 (21:45 GMT)

WATCH: Genocide of the Palestinian people ‘starts with words’

Journalist Rula Jebreal says US media narratives have been complicit in the normalisation of Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people.

See more in our video below:

2 Jun 2025 - 21:35
 (21:35 GMT)
Houthi

Death toll rises to 45 as Israel intensifies strikes on Gaza

At least 45 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn, medical sources tell Al Jazeera.

The majority of those killed were in northern Gaza, including six children who died after a home was bombed in Jabalia.

Since Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas on March 18, 4,201 Palestinians have been killed and 12,652 injured, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

2 Jun 2025 - 21:30
 (21:30 GMT)

WFP says insecurity will remain unless Gaza sees surge in aid

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) says it cannot confirm reports that Palestinians have been gunned down while seeking food at an aid distribution site in Gaza, but the agency noted UN chief Guterres has called for an investigation into what happened.

“An estimated 2.1 million people are experiencing extreme hunger in Gaza, with many at risk of starvation. Unless we flood Gaza with food, insecurity and unrest will remain a challenge,” the WFP said.

2 Jun 2025 - 21:20
 (21:20 GMT)

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.”

US Senator Lindsey Graham [File: Nathan Howard/Reuters]
2 Jun 2025 - 21:10
 (21:10 GMT)

Iran warns Israel over attack on its nuclear facilities

Iran has warned that Israel will “regret” any strikes on the country’s nuclear facilities as tensions rise between the two regional foes.

“Any threat against peaceful nuclear installations is a gross violation of international law,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a press conference in Cairo. “If Israel commits such a mistake, it will be the one to regret it.”

The Iranian minister accused Western powers of applying double standards regarding nuclear issues in the Middle East.

“Unfortunately, we have seen both official and unofficial Israeli figures threatening to use nuclear weapons in Gaza, yet the West has ignored these threats,” Araghchi said. “At the same time, they continue to pressure Iran over its peaceful nuclear programme.”

The top diplomat reiterated Iran is ready to provide assurances to any party concerned over its civilian nuclear efforts.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi [File: Majid Asgaripour/West Asia Press Agency via Reuters]
2 Jun 2025 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)

Houthis claim responsibility for missile attack near Tel Aviv

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for a ballistic missile attack that targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.

Earlier, the Israeli army said the missile was intercepted by its air defence system.

Yahya Saree, spokesperson for the Houthis, said in a statement that the attack “successfully achieved its goal” and managed to halt air traffic and force Israelis into shelters.

The Houthis have previously launched missiles towards the airport. They have also attacked numerous vessels in the Red Sea linked to Israel and its allies in what they say are acts of solidarity with the besieged people of Gaza.

Military spokesman of Yemen’s Houthi group Yahya Saree [File: Mohammed Huwais/AFP]
2 Jun 2025 - 20:45
 (20:45 GMT)

US congresswoman attacks UN chief over call to probe Gaza aid killings

Elise Stefanik, a US congresswoman, has attacked UN chief Antonio Guterres as an “anti-Semite”.

Stefanik – a staunch supporter of Israel – described as “outrageous” Guterres’s call for an independent investigation into the Israeli military’s deadly shootings of Palestinian aid seekers in Gaza over the past several days.

“This is outrageous and the culmination of morally bankrupt leadership as Secretary General of the UN,” she wrote on X.

As we’ve been reporting, the Health Ministry in Gaza says at least 75 Palestinians have been killed since the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began distributing limited food aid in Gaza last week.

Despite Israeli and US denials that Palestinians were shot dead while trying to get food parcels, witnesses have said Israeli soldiers opened fire on the crowds of desperate people.

Stefanik had been tapped by Trump to be the US ambassador to the UN, but her nomination was withdrawn in March to keep her congressional seat in the Republican Party’s hands.

Stefanik has said she agrees with the assertion by far-right Israeli politicians and settlers that ‘Israel has a biblical right to the entire West Bank’ [File: Rod Lamkey Jr/AP]
2 Jun 2025 - 20:30
 (20:30 GMT)

Israeli forces storm Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza

Israeli soldiers have raided the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya after medical staff and dozens of people, including critically ill patients, were forced to flee the facility.

Quoting witnesses, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said about 55 people, including a child in intensive care, were forced to leave the hospital after nearly 10 days without access to food or water.

The forced evacuation was carried out in coordination with international organisations, Wafa said, adding that it occurred during fears of incoming Israeli air strikes.

Witnesses said there are concerns Israeli forces may destroy the hospital, which has been targeted multiple times throughout the war, despite serving as one of the last functioning medical centres in northern Gaza.

2 Jun 2025 - 20:15
 (20:15 GMT)

Photos: Palestinians struggle to get food at community kitchen

Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP]
The United Nations and other humanitarian groups say the starvation crisis in Gaza is getting worse [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP]
The UN said this week that all of Gaza’s population faces famine [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP]

2 Jun 2025 - 20:05
 (20:05 GMT)
Houthi

Two killed in Israeli attack on house in Gaza City

A spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defence agency says people have also been injured in Israel’s bombardment of the house in the city’s Tal al-Hawa area.

The home belonged to the al-Nadim family, the spokesperson said in a post on Telegram.

2 Jun 2025 - 20:00
 (20:00 GMT)

If you’re just joining us

Let’s bring you up to speed on the latest developments:

  • Gaza’s Health Ministry confirms 75 Palestinians have been killed since the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) started its aid operations last week.
  • The Israeli army has ordered Palestinians in several areas of Gaza’s Khan Younis city to immediately flee, warning that it “will operate with great force”.
  • Israeli air strikes have killed at least two Palestinians and wounded several in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah. At least 38 people have been killed since dawn in the enclave.
  • A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says Israeli authorities have prevented five UN missions from distributing potable water to displacement camps in Jabalia in northern Gaza.
  • Matthew Miller, a US State Department spokesman under former President Joe Biden, has admitted it’s “without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes” in Gaza. His comments have drawn criticism that Miller refused to speak out while in office.
2 Jun 2025 - 19:52
 (19:52 GMT)

More survivor accounts of Israeli forces shooting Gaza civilians amid denials

Israel’s military, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), and the US ambassador to Israel have all denied that desperate civilians in Gaza were gunned down while attempting to receive food aid.

One 33-year-old at the scene on Sunday told AFP news agency it was “before sunrise” when gunfire erupted as crowds gathered before heading to the GHF aid distribution site 1 kilometre (0.6 mile) away.

“Of course it was the Israeli army who shot live bullets,” said the witness, who declined to be named for fear of Israeli reprisals.

“Thousands of people were waiting at al-Alam roundabout … but the army fired and everyone ran away. There was fear and chaos. I saw with my own eyes martyrs and wounded in the area.”

Another witness in the crowd, Mohammed Abu Deqqa, 35, said, “At first, we thought they were warning shots. But it didn’t take long before the shooting intensified.

“I began to see people lying on the ground, covered in blood. That was around 5:30am. People started running, but many couldn’t escape. The bullets were chasing people even as they tried to flee.”