The Israeli army shelled the town of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, on Thursday June 13, after a tour of the Middle East by the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, who is seeking to bring about a ceasefire. -fire between Israel and Hamas.
Information to remember
⇒ Israel accuses the UN of “slander” against its army
⇒ Israeli bombings on southern Gaza
⇒ Record number of 120 million forcibly displaced at the end of April
Israeli bombings on southern Gaza
Heavy artillery fire and airstrikes targeted several sectors of Palestinian territory early Thursday, including the town of Rafah, which borders Egypt, according to AFP correspondents. Hamas’ military wing said it was engaged in street fighting against Israeli soldiers in western Rafah, where witnesses reported fire from Apache helicopters.
For its part, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas called early, Thursday, June 13, in a press release on the United States to put “pressure” on Israel with a view to reaching a ceasefire permanent in the Gaza Strip.
After more than eight months of war, the United States is striving to obtain an agreement based on a plan announced by President Joe Biden, on which the Palestinian Islamist movement sent the mediating countries an initial response, while Israel has not made its position officially known.
Israel accuses UN of “slander” against its army
Israel accuses a UN commission of inquiry of making “false accusations and slander” against its army, according to the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a little more than eight months after the start of the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“The report is full of false accusations and slander against Israeli army soldiers,” Oren Marmorstein, spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said Wednesday evening on the social network X. Published Wednesday in Geneva, this report asserts that Israel is committing crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, where the war was sparked by the bloody Hamas attack on October 7 in Israel.
Record number of 120 million forcibly displaced at the end of April
The world had a record number of 120 million forcibly displaced people at the end of April, a number which continues to increase and “a terrible indictment on the state of the world”, denounced the UN on Thursday. The wars in Gaza, Sudan and Burma have significantly contributed to increasing the number of people forced to flee their places of residence for more than a year, underlined the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in its annual report. “War remains the major driver of mass displacement,” explained UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi during a press briefing in Geneva.
At the end of last year, 117.3 million people were displaced. This is almost 10 million more than a year earlier and marks 12 consecutive years of increase. There are also almost three times as many people forcibly displaced as in 2012 and the number of displaced people is now equivalent to the population of Japan.
Hamas Health Ministry announces new death toll of 37,232
The Ministry of Health of the government of Gaza, territory controlled by Hamas, announced Thursday a new death toll of 37,232 since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement more than eight months ago.
At least 30 people have been killed in the past 24 hours, a statement said, adding that 85,037 people had been injured in the Gaza Strip since October 7.
Houthi attack damages commercial ship in Red Sea
Yemeni Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for an attack in the Red Sea on Wednesday evening against a Greek-owned commercial ship, which “caused severe flooding” and damage on board according to the US military. In a statement, the Houthis said they carried out a “military operation targeting the Tutor ship in the Red Sea, using a maritime drone, aerial drones and ballistic missiles.”
Earlier, security company Ambrey and Britain’s maritime safety agency UKMTO said a merchant ship issued a distress call on Wednesday after being hit in the Red Sea off Yemen.
More than 8,000 children under five treated for acute malnutrition in Gaza
More than 8,000 children under the age of five have been treated in the Gaza Strip for acute malnutrition and 28 have died, the World Health Organization revealed on Wednesday. A significant proportion of the population of this Palestinian territory, which is the subject of an intense campaign of reprisals after the bloody October 7 attack against Israel, is now facing a catastrophic level of lack of food and conditions close to famine, explained WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a press briefing in Geneva.