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Live blog: Israeli army announces ‘tactical pauses’ in southern Gaza
Israel’s war on Gaza, now in its 254th day, has killed at least 37,296 Palestinians — majority of them women, children and infants –– and wounded 85,197, with more than 10,000 feared dead under debris and 9,500-plus abducted by Israel.
An Israeli solider drives an armoured personnel carrier in southern Gaza city of Rafah. / Photo: Reuters
REUTERS
An Israeli solider drives an armoured personnel carrier in southern Gaza city of Rafah. / Photo: Reuters
Sunday, June 16, 2024
0418 GMT — The Israeli military has announced a “tactical pause” in its offensive in southern Gaza, AP and AFP news agencies reported.
The army said the pause would begin in the Rafah area at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT, 1 a.m. eastern) and remain in effect until 7 p.m. (1600 GMT, noon eastern). It said the pauses would take place every day until further notice.
The pause is aimed at allowing aid trucks to reach the nearby Israel-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, the main entry point for incoming aid, and travel safely to the Salah a-Din highway, a main north-south road, to deliver supplies to other parts of Gaza, the military said.
It said the pause was being coordinated with the UN and international aid agencies. The crossing has suffered from a bottleneck since Israeli ground troops expanded their offensive deep into Rafah in early May.
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2330 GMT — Cargo ship hit by Houthi rebels is abandoned: US
The crew of a bulk cargo carrier that was damaged in a missile attack by Yemen’s Houthis in the Gulf of Aden has abandoned the ship, the US military said.
The Houthis have been targeting vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November 2023 in attacks they say are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Those attacks surged this week.
The crew of the M/V Verbena — a Palauan-flagged, Ukrainian-owned, Polish-operated ship — issued a distress call because it could not control fires touched off by the attack with two cruise missiles from the Houthis on Thursday, US Central Command said.
Another cargo ship rescued the crew, CENTCOM said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.
2300 GMT — One more Israeli soldier dies from injuries in southern Gaza
The Israeli army announced the death of another soldier who died from injuries sustained days earlier in a battle with Hamas resistance in southern Gaza, following the killing of eight soldiers in Palestinian fighters’ ambush.
“Sergeant Ya’ir Roitman, aged 19 and a fighter in the Givati Brigade, died from his injuries after being seriously wounded on Monday during battles in southern Gaza,” it said in a statement.
The Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said Roitman “was injured when Palestinian fighters detonated a building under siege in the city of Rafah last Monday.”
2200 GMT — Israel’s ban on entry of sacrificial animals deprives Palestinians in Gaza of Eid al-Adha rituals
Israel’s ban on the entry of sacrificial animals deprives hundreds of thousands of families in Gaza of the opportunity to observe Eid al Adha and perform the sacrificial rituals as part of Islamic religious practices, the Gaza media office said.
In a statement on the eve of Eid al Adha, the office said “the occupation forces committed a new crime” by preventing the entry of sacrificial animals by closing all crossings in Gaza, including the occupation and closure of the Rafah border crossing, and the Karem Abu Salem crossing.
It called this ban “a clear violation of human rights and a total disregard for human and Islamic values.”
For our live updates from Saturday, June 15, 2024, click here.
SOURCE: TRTWORLD AND AGENCIES
