Palestinian men walk past damaged buildings after an overnight Israeli strike in al-Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip on June 3, 2024. (Photo by Eyad Baba / AFP)
Doha, Qatar: Fresh strikes were reported across Gaza Strip overnight as mediators urged for a truce deal.
Overnight strikes killed more than 20 in various parts of the country.
Meanwhile the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said Sunday that all 36 of its shelters in Rafah "are now empty", after at least a million people fled the city.
"The humanitarian space continues to shrink", UNRWA said, adding that about 1.7 million people were now sheltering in southern Gaza's main city of Khan Yunis and in central areas.
Watch this page for more live updates:
[8:20pm Doha Time] Foreign Ministers of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE and Egypt issue joint statement supporting mediation efforts in Gaza
The foreign ministers of the State of Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and the Arab Republic of Egypt held a virtual meeting on Monday, June 3, where they discussed the developments in mediation efforts undertaken by the State of Qatar, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the United States to reach an exchange deal that leads to a permanent ceasefire, the release of hostages and detainees, and sufficient delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip. Full article here
[7:23pm Doha Time] Gaza residents see ‘no escape from this genocide’
Reporting from Deir Al Balah, Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud said: "It has been quite difficult the past eight months. This is not only because of the humanitarian catastrophe and hard living conditions created by the intense bombing campaign across the Gaza Strip, but also because people have to endure more of it happening at the worst time possible."
He added: "Right now, what people are going through is beyond imaginable. It’s quite difficult from where we’re reporting from. The health facilities are struggling to provide proper medical intervention, and save lives."
"In the vicinity of this area, we’re seeing thousands and thousands of displaced families coming to this area, and quite honestly, people are trying to set up their tents close to this health facility because they think there is some sort of safety here," he stated in a statement.
"However, this has been shattered in past experiences of what happened at Shifa Hospital, the Indonesian Hospital, and Nasser Hospital, where people took these places as a refuge and ended up being killed inside these health facilities."
"As one person described it, not only is there no safe place, there’s no escape from this genocide."
[6:30pm Doha Time] ‘Situation in hospitals today is beyond catastrophic’
Dr Dorotea Gucciardo from Glia, a group that 3D prints open-source medical equipment for low-resource areas, has said the situation in hospitals across Gaza is “beyond catastrophic”.
“What we’ve been witnessing since October is a complete systematic destruction of hospitals by the Israeli military, starting in the north and working their way to the south,” she told Al Jazeera.
“There are few operating facilities. we have one semi-functioning hospital [in Deir el-Balah]. Patients are unable to access the healthcare that they need and doctors are unable to provide the resources that they require in order to provide health services,” Gucciardo added.
The situation has worsened, she said, after the Israeli military ordered Palestinians in Rafah to evacuate.
“We had a lot of patients who were requiring healthcare who weren’t accessing it because they were afraid, or they were on the move and couldn’t access it because they were now displaced, once again,” Gucciardo said.
[6:29pm Doha Time] According to preliminary satellite analysis conducted by the UN, some 55 percent of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, damaged or possibly damaged since war erupted in the Palestinian territory eight months ago, up until May 3, 2024.
[3pm Doha Time] UN experts call for all countries to recognise Palestine
A group of UN experts have called for all countries to recognise a Palestinian state to ensure peace in the Middle East.
The experts, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories, said the recognition was an important acknowledgement of the rights of the Palestinian people.
“This is a pre-condition for lasting peace in Palestine and the entire Middle East – beginning with the immediate declaration of a ceasefire in Gaza and no further military incursions into Rafah,” they said.
“A two-state solution remains the only internationally agreed path to peace and security for both Palestine and Israel and a way out of generational cycles of violence and resentment.”
The call comes less than a week after Spain, Ireland, and Norway officially recognised a Palestinian state.
[2pm Doha Time] More than half of Gaza structures destroyed or damaged: UN
Some 55 percent of all structures in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed, damaged or possibly damaged since war erupted in the Palestinian territory eight months ago, according to preliminary satellite analysis by the UN.
The analysis showed more than 137,000 buildings affected, UNOSAT, the United Nations satellite analysis agency, said on X, formerly Twitter. Read more
[12:45pm Doha Time] 3,500 children in Gaza at risk of starvation: Government Media Office
Gaza’s Government Media Office warns that more than 3,500 children under the age of five are at risk of dying due to shortages of food, nutritional supplements and vaccinations.
These children are experiencing severe malnutrition, harming their physical development and making them vulnerable to infectious diseases, said the media office in a statement.
“Their conditions are getting worse and more difficult as they are deprived of the vaccinations and medication doses allocated to them,” it said.
[11am Doha Time] Rescuers recover body of woman killed in central Gaza
Medics with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) have recovered the body of a woman who was killed in Abu al-Ajeen area, east of Deir el-Balah.
Footage posted by the group shows medics carrying the woman’s body, covered in a blanket, into a hospital to be prepared for burial.
She is among dozens of casualties reported in Israel’s latest wave of attacks on the Strip.
????The Palestine Red Crescent ambulance teams transported the body of a woman who was killed and delivered by citizens to the Al-Mahatta area east of Deir al-Balah after being injured in the Abu Al-Ajeen area.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) June 3, 2024
???? Filmed by volunteer: Mousa Al-Qatawi. #Gaza pic.twitter.com/coHn3JAX8X
[10:15am Doha Time] In Photos: Palestinians mourns their relatives, killed by Israeli army strike, during a funeral at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah.
Pictures by Bashar Taleb / AFP
[9:30am Doha Time] Mothers, children mourn another night of deadly attacks on central, southern Gaza
As Gazans woke up, sounds of artillery bombardments in multiple areas in the central parts of the Gaza Strip could be heard, which has been the main focus for the Israeli military attacks in the past 24 hours.
At least 10 Palestinians have been reported killed in the central areas.
Since the early hours of this morning, there have been reports of mothers and children crying over the loss of their loved ones. Families were directly targeted without receiving any kind of prior warning. They are asking for an immediate ceasefire that would bring an end to the fighting.
The situation continues to be difficult also in the far south of the Gaza Strip. Including Khan Younis city where at least 10 Palestinians have been killed in an air strike that destroyed a residential building and at least three Palestinian children were among the victims.
Another of the victims today is a Palestinian fisherman who has been killed on the Deir el-Balah coast. The Israeli naval force opened fire as he was trying to make a living in the ongoing financial crisis that Palestinians have been going through.
[8:30am Doha Time] Australia welcomes Biden ceasefire proposal
Australia has become the latest country to urge all parties to agree to the terms of a ceasefire proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong welcomed the proposal in a post on X.
“What we have seen in Rafah underlines why Australia and the international community have been united in opposition,” said Wong.
“We reiterate to the Netanyahu government: this cannot continue,” Wong added.
[8am Doha Time ] Israeli attacks on homes, refugee camps kill 22
At least 12 Palestinians, including children and women, were martyred in a series of Israeli airstrikes that targeted Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip early Monday.
Ten citizens, including three children, were martyred and others were injured in an Israeli bombardment that targeted two homes in Al-Rumaydah east of Khan Younis city, the Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) reported, citing health sources.
Additionally, two citizens were martyred and others were injured in an Israeli bombardment that targeted a home in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
An Israeli airstrike targeted the vicinity of the European Gaza Hospital near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Injuries were also reported in an Israeli strike that targeted a home in the Saudi neighborhood west of Rafah, while a similar airstrike targeted Ariba area north of the city in southern Gaza.
Earlier today, ten citizens were martyred in Israeli strikes on the Al-Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps in central Gaza.
[7:30am Doha Time] Palestinian Municipality declares Jabalia and Beit Hanoon in northern Gaza as ‘disaster areas’
Palestinian municipal authorities have declared Jabalia and Beit Hanoon in the northern Gaza Strip as “disaster areas”.
About the disaster declaration on Sunday, Naji Sarhan, the head of the emergency committee for north Gaza, said, “The Jabalia refugee camp and Beit Hanoon town are now disaster areas."
“The people of northern Gaza live in difficult humanitarian conditions with most residents lacking food, medicine and fuel,” Sarhan added.
Sarhan pleaded for the UN and other international organisations to “intervene immediately to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip”.
According to the emergency committee, the infrastructure destroyed by Israeli forces in the north of Gaza includes:
50,000 housing units
35 water wells
Several schools and other facilities run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA)
Drainage networks
Roads
