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ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR: THE LATEST

• A day after an Israeli airstrike at a school in Gaza killed at least 33 people, the Israeli military on Friday bombed another school compound in northern Gaza, killing three people. In both airstrikes, the Israeli army said Hamas terrorists were operating from within the schools. On Friday, Israel also released the names of 17 terrorists it said were killed in Thursday’s strike.

• Twenty-eight people, including children, were killed in Israeli airstrikes overnight across central Gaza. Strikes hit the Nuseirat and Maghazi refugee camps and Deir al-Balah and Zawaiyda towns on Friday. Israel’s army said its troops had killed dozens of terrorists hiding in tunnel shafts and also destroyed infrastructure in the area.

• A drone launched from Lebanon, likely by the Hezbollah terror group, landed in an open area in the Jezreel Valley, near Nazareth, in northern Israel on Friday afternoon, The Times of Israel reported. An interceptor missile was launched and sirens sounded in towns adjacent to Nazareth soon after the attack.

• Hours later, Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher and other infrastructure in southern Lebanon earlier on Saturday. Troops also shelled several locations with artillery and mortars to “remove threats”, the military said. The Israel Defense Forces said a siren in the northern community of Matat was triggered by two rockets launched from Lebanon.

• Pro-Palestinian activists demanding an end to the war in Gaza and American support for Israel plan to surround the White House during a weekend protest, prompting additional security measures, including anti-scale fencing. Reuters said the demonstrations were planned on Saturday, marking eight months of Israel’s war in Gaza.

• United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has added Israel’s military to a global list of offenders for committing violations against children in 2023, said Israel’s UN envoy Gilad Erdan, describing the decision as “shameful.” Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad will also be listed, said a diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity. The global list is included in a report on children and armed conflict that Guterres is due to submit to the UN Security Council on June 14.

• Jerusalem has fumed over the announcement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying, “The UN has put itself on the blacklist of history today when it joined the supporters of the Hamas murderers. The IDF is the most moral army in the world and no delusional decision by the UN will change that.”

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Middle East next week, the US State Department said on Friday, as Washington tries to put pressure on Israel and Hamas to accept a ceasefire proposal that President Joe Biden laid out last week. In his eighth visit to the region since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, the diplomat will visit Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Qatar and meet with their senior leaders.

• The White House has said it was still awaiting an official response by Hamas to the latest hostage deal and ceasefire proposal for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron will discuss the issue during a meeting on Saturday.

• Israel has advanced a pilot program in Gaza that could serve as a precursor to establishing alternative civilian rule in the Gaza Strip to replace Hamas, the Kan public broadcaster reported. According to Hebrew media, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant recently presented the cabinet with a plan for “humanitarian bubbles” to be formed inside the Palestinian enclave, in which Palestinians proved to have no affiliation to Hamas or other terror groups will be responsible for overseeing the distribution of humanitarian aid inside specific neighbourhoods.