‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 262: Netanyahu says he refuses to end the war on Gaza

Casualties 

• 37,598 + killed* and at least 86,032 wounded in the Gaza Strip. Among the killed, 27,706 have been fully identified. These include 7,779 children, 5466 women, and 2418 elderly. In addition, around 10,000 more are estimated to be under the rubble.*
• 553+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. These include 135 children.**
• Israel revised its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,140.
• 665 Israeli soldiers have been killed since October 7.***

* Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on its ًWhatsApp channel on June 23, 2024. Some rights groups estimate the death toll to be much higher when accounting for those presumed dead.

** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to the PA’s Ministry of Health on June 23, this is the latest figure.

*** These figures are released by the Israeli military, listing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” According to the head of the Israeli army’s wounded association to Israel’s Channel 12, The number of Israeli soldiers wounded exceeds 20,000 including at least 8,000 permanently handicapped as of June 1. Israel’s Channel 7 reported that according to the Israeli war ministry’s rehabilitation service numbers, 8,663 new wounded joined the army’s handicap rehabilitation system since October 7, as of June 18.

Key Developments 

• Israel has killed 167 Palestinians and wounded 379 across Gaza since Thursday, June 20. This raises the death toll since October 7 to 37,598 and the number of wounded to 86,032, according to the Gaza health ministry.
• Israel’s war minister Gallant begins on Monday top-level meetings in Washington to discuss the continuation of the war in Gaza and a possible attack on Lebanon.
• Netanyahu says in his first full interview with Israeli media that he is not ready to end the war.
• The Israeli army says that most of its operations in Rafah are over.
• Israel bombs a medical clinic in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood, killing its director and another health worker.
• Save The Children says that 17,000 children in Gaza are unaccompanied by any parent or related adult and that an estimated 21,000 children are missing.
• The Palestinian education ministry says that 85% of schools and colleges in Gaza have been put out of service and that 110 education facilities of all levels have been destroyed or damaged, including all the universities in the Gaza Strip, while 321 facilities were partially damaged.
• The U.S. military joint chief of staff says that an Israeli war on Lebanon would increase the possibilities of broader conflict in the region and that the U.S. would not be able to assist Israel as it did during the Iranian attack last April.
• The head of Iran’s land forces says that the “axis of resistance” will not stand idle if Hezbollah and Lebanon are attacked.
• Lebanon organizes a tour for foreign diplomats in Beirut’s Rafiq Al-Hariri International Airport’s facilities and warehouses, in response to a report by the UK’s Daily Telegraph claiming that the airport is being used to store weapons.
• Hezbollah attacks Israeli military bases near Safad in the upper Galilee, while Israel strikes the towns of Kufr Kala, Rashya al-Fukhar, Dheira, and Marjayoun.
• West Bank: In a leaked recording, Israeli finance minister describes in detail a secret plan to cement Israel’s control over the West Bank “without being accused of annexation”, and says that Netanyahu is fully on board.
• West Bank: Israel raids Nablus, Jenin, and Qalqilya, and kills four Palestinians including two children.
• West Bank: Israel demolishes five Palestinian houses in Jericho.

Netanyahu says that the war will not end as Gallant starts talks with U.S. officials

In his first interview with Israeli media, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he wasn’t ready to end the war in Gaza, in a clear contradiction of  U.S. claims in the past weeks.

Speaking to the Israeli Channel 14 TV, Netanyahu said that he was only ready to reach a partial, temporary release of some of the Israeli captives, and then resume the war later. “I refuse to leave Hamas in existence, the war will not end,” he added.

In reaction, Hamas said in a statement that Netanyahu’s remarks confirm his rejection of the UN Security Council ceasefire resolution and the deal proposal of U.S. President Joe Biden. The Palestinian group added that its insistence that the deal has to include a clear clause about the permanent end of the war was intended to cut short Netanyahu’s attempt to prolong the war.

Netanyahu also said during the interview that the U.S. had been delaying the delivery of weapons to Israel for four months. “We can continue to fight with what we have,” said Netanyahu, “but we prefer to have more,” he added.

Netanyahu’s declarations came as his war minister Yoav Gallant started a series of meetings with U.S. officials in Washington. Gallant is expected to discuss the continuation of the war in Gaza and a possible war with Lebanon, with officials at the Pentagon and the White House. Netanyahu’s declarations could undermine Gallant’s mission, which is trying to breach differences between Israel and the U.S. over the way the war is conducted.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Joint Chief of Staff, Gen. Charles Brown said on Sunday that a war between Israel and Lebanon might provoke a larger conflict in the region, as Iran and its allies wouldn’t accept the threat to Hezbollah’s existence. Brown added that the U.S. might not be able to assist Israel in the same way it did last April, during Iran’s rocket and drone attack.

Also on Monday, the chief of land forces in the Iranian army said that “the axis of resistance will not stand idle if Hezbollah and Lebanon are attacked.”

In Israel, the opposition leader Yair Lapid said on social media that he advocates Israelis watch Netanyahu’s interview to decide for themselves if he is qualified to lead Israel’s government.

Meanwhile, thousands of Israelis continued to protest in Tel Aviv and other cities, demanding Netanyahu’s resignation and a ceasefire deal that would guarantee the release of Israeli captives.

Israeli strikes continue across Gaza, fighting in Rafah

Israeli strikes on Palestinian civilians continued across the Gaza Strip over the weekend. Strikes concentrated in Rafah, south of the Strip, especially in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood and parts of the western side of the city, where hundreds of thousands have fled since early May. Strikes also intensified in the central Gaza Strip, especially in the Nuseirat camp, the Mighraqa village, and the town of al-Zahraa.

In Gaza City, Israeli forces bombed on Monday a primary attention clinic in the Daraj neighborhood, killing two medical staff, including the director of ambulance services in Gaza, Dr. Hani Jaafarawi.

Simultaneously, the Palestinian resistance groups reported several attacks on Isralei troops across the strip. In the Shaboura refugee camp, in the center of Rafah, Palestinian fighters reportedly ambushed advancing Israeli forces, while in the Netzarim corridor, south of Gaza City, members of Hamas’s military wing attacked an Israeli command center with mortar shells.

Meanwhile, international warnings increased about the humanitarian situation in the Strip due to the ongoing Israeli assault. On Sunday, the international NGO Save the Children said that some 17,000 Palestinian children in Gaza were unaccompanied by any parent and that around 21,000 children were still missing.

The education ministry in Gaza also reported that 85% of schools in Gaza were destroyed or damaged and that 110 education facilities, including all of Gaza’s universities, had been destroyed, while 321 education facilities were partially damaged.