UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations said on Monday that it has only been able to bring minimal flour into Gaza since Israel lifted an aid blockade three weeks ago and that has mostly been looted by armed gangs or taken by starving Palestinians.

The organization has transported 4,600 metric tons of wheat flour into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing, the only entry point Israel allows it to use, Deputy UN spokesperson Fahan Haq told reporters.

Haq said aid groups in Gaza estimate that between 8,000 and 10,000 metric tons of wheat flour were needed to give each family in Gaza a bag of flour and “ease the pressure on markets and reduce desperation.”

“Most of it was taken by desperate, starving people before the supplies reached their destinations. In some cases, the supplies were looted by armed gangs,” Haq said.

According to World Food Programme guidelines, 4,600 metric tons of flour would provide roughly eight days’ worth of bread for Gaza’s 2 million residents, based on a standard daily ration of 300 grams per person.

Haq called for Israel to let in far more aid via multiple crossings and routes.

The UN has mostly delivered flour along with limited medical and nutrition items since Israel lifted the 11-week blockade in mid-May. Experts warn Gaza is at risk of famine, with the rate of young children suffering acute malnutrition nearly tripling.

Israel and the United States want the UN to work through the controversial new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but the UN has refused, questioning its neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarizing aid and forcing displacement.

Israel and the United States have accused Hamas of stealing aid from the UN-led operations, which the militants deny.

The GHF uses private US security and logistics firms to operate. It began operations in Gaza on May 26 and said on Monday so far it has given out 11.4 million meals.

Israel makes the UN offload aid on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, where it then has to be picked by the UN and aid groups already in Gaza. The UN has accused Israel of regularly denying access requests.

AN-REUTERS

NICE – French President Emmanuel Macron called on Israel to quickly free activists, including Greta Thunberg, on a boat that was seized Monday as it headed for Gaza in an operation that sparked angry protests in several European cities.

Tens of thousands of people staged rallies after Israel stopped the boat, the Madleen, that was carrying 12 activists.

In France, rallies in Paris and at least five other cities were called by left wing parties. Jean-Luc Melenchon, head of the France Unbowed (LFI) party, called the seizure of the Gaza boat by the Israeli military “international piracy.”

In Switzerland, several hundred people blocked train stations in Geneva and Lausanne to protest Israel’s military operations in Gaza, media reports said.

Some 300 protesters carrying Palestinian flags occupied two tracks at Geneva’s main station for about an hour, leading to delays and cancellations, the reports said. A similar protest was staged in nearby Lausanne, where police cleared the tracks.

Macron, meanwhile, urged the immediate liberation of French nationals among the 12 activists on the vessel.

Macron had “requested that the six French nationals be allowed to return to France as soon as possible,” his office said.

France was “vigilant” and “stands by all its nationals when they are in danger,” he added.

The French government had also called on Israel to ensure the “protection” of the activists. Macron also called the humanitarian blockade of Gaza “a scandal” and a “disgrace.”

Israel’s foreign ministry said earlier that “all the passengers of the ‘selfie yacht’ are safe and unharmed,” and it expected the activists to return to their home countries.

Israel has virtually sealed off Gaza as part of its military operation in the Palestinian territory since the Hamas militant group’s attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

AN-AFP

WASHINGTON, June 9 – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would support the arrest of California Governor Gavin Newsom over possible obstruction of his administration’s immigration enforcement measures, amid protests in the state.

Trump border czar Tom Homan threatened on Saturday to arrest anyone who obstructed enforcement efforts in the state, including Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

Both sharply criticized the Republican president’s deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles.

REUTERS

TUNIS, Tunisia – A convoy of buses and private cars departed for Gaza from Tunisia’s capital Monday as part of efforts to spotlight Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid to the territory, even as Israeli authorities stopped a high-profile flotilla from landing there.

The overland effort — organized independently but moved up to coincide with the flotilla — is made up of activists, lawyers and medical professionals from North Africa. It plans to traverse Tunisia, Libya and Egypt before reaching Rafah, the border crossing with Egypt that has remained largely closed since Israel’s military took control of the Gaza side in May 2024.

The Tunisian civil society groups behind the convoy said their aim is to demand “the immediate lifting of the unjust siege on the strip.” They asserted that Arab governments haven’t pushed enough to end the 20-month war between Israel and Hamas.

After a 2½-month blockade of Gaza aimed at pressuring Hamas, Israel started allowing in some basic aid last month. Experts, however, have warned of famine in the territory of over 2 million people unless the blockade is lifted and Israel ends its military offensive.

The convoy set off as the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an aid ship that set sail from Sicily earlier this month, was seized by Israeli forces in what activists said were international waters. Those aboard, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, were detained.

The overland convoy drew widespread attention in Tunisia and Algeria, where it began Sunday, with some people waving Palestinian flags and chanting in support of the people of Gaza.

“This convoy speaks directly to our people in Gaza and says, ‘You are not alone. We share your pain and suffering,’” Yahia Sarri, one of the convoy’s Algerian organizers, wrote on social media.

The North African activists do not expect their convoy to be allowed into Gaza. Regardless, it provides “a message of challenge and will,” said Saher al-Masri, a Tunis-based Palestinian activist.

Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s population.

The convoy plans to gather supporters in towns south of Tunis before crossing into Libya, where clashes between rival militias have turned deadlier in recent months. Organizers said they planned the land crossings with relevant authorities leading up to the convoy’s departure.

AP

GAZA, June 9, 2025 – At least seven Palestinian civilians were killed and several others injured on Monday evening when an Israeli drone strike targeted a tent sheltering displaced people west of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to medical sources in the Gaza Strip.

The tent, located in the Al-Mawasi area to the west of Khan Younis—designated as a “safe zone” for displaced residents—was struck amid continued Israeli military attacks across the enclave.

In a separate development, Israeli artillery also shelled areas north of Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

Since the early hours of Monday, Israeli attacks on multiple areas across the Gaza Strip have resulted in the killing of 51 Palestinians, according to health authorities.

WAFA

JERUSALEM, June 9 – Israeli forces have taken command of a charity vessel that had tried to break a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and the boat with its crew of 12 including activist Greta Thunberg is now heading to a port in Israel, officials said on Sunday.

The British-flagged yacht Madleen, which is operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), was aiming to deliver a symbolic amount of aid to Gaza later on Monday and raise international awareness of the humanitarian crisis there.

However, the boat was boarded during the night before it could reach shore, the FFC said on its Telegram account. The Israeli Foreign Ministry later confirmed that it was under Israeli control.

“The ‘selfie yacht’ of the ‘celebrities’ is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. The passengers are expected to return to their home countries,” the ministry wrote on X.

All passengers were safe and unharmed, the ministry later added. “They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over.”

Among the 12-strong crew are Swedish climate campaigner Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.

“The crew of the Freedom Flotilla was arrested by the Israeli army in international waters around 2 a.m.,” Hassan posted on X. A photograph showed the crew seated on the boat, all wearing life jackets, with their hands in the air.

The yacht is carrying a small shipment of humanitarian aid, including rice and baby formula. The Foreign Ministry said it would be taken to Gaza. “The tiny amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the ‘celebrities’ will be transferred to Gaza through real humanitarian channels,” it wrote.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the military on Sunday to prevent the Madleen from reaching Gaza, calling the mission a propaganda effort in support of Hamas.

Israel imposed a naval blockade on the coastal enclave after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.

The blockade has remained in place through multiple conflicts, including the current war, which began after a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed more than 1,200 people, according to an Israeli tally.

Gaza’s health ministry says over 54,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign. The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s more than 2 million residents are facing famine.

The Israeli government says the blockade is essential to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas.

The United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has supported the FFC operation and on Sunday, urged other boats to challenge the Gaza blockade.

“Madleen’s journey may have ended, but the mission isn’t over. Every Mediterranean port must send boats with aid & solidarity to Gaza,” she wrote on X.

REUTERS

JERUSALEM, June 9 – Israeli forces have boarded a charity vessel attempting to reach the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said early on Monday.

The British-flagged yacht Madleen, operated by the pro-Palestinian FFC, had departed from Sicily on June 6 and had hoped to reach Gaza later in the day, when the interception occurred, the group said on its Telegram account.

Among those on board the boat are Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Shortly before the FFC statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry posted a video on X showing the Israeli Navy communicating with the Madleen over a loudspeaker, urging it to change course.

“The maritime zone off the coast of Gaza is closed to naval traffic as part of a legal naval blockade,” a soldier said. “If you wish to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, you are able to do so through the (Israeli) port of Ashdod.”

The yacht, with its 12-person crew, was carrying a symbolic shipment of humanitarian aid, including rice and baby formula.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the military on Sunday to prevent the Madleen from reaching Gaza, calling the mission a propaganda effort in support of Hamas.

Israel imposed a naval blockade on the coastal enclave after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.

The blockade has remained in place through multiple conflicts, including the current war, which began after a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed more than 1,200 people, according to an Israeli tally.

Gaza’s health ministry says over 54,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign. The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s more than 2 million residents are facing famine.

The Israeli government says the blockade is essential to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas.

REUTERS

JERUSALEM, June 8 – Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Sunday said he had ordered the military to prevent an aid ship, the Madleen, from reaching the Gaza Strip.

The vessel, part of the international Freedom Flotilla Coalition, is carrying activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, and humanitarian supplies. Organizers said the ship was in international waters off the coast of Egypt and expected to approach Gaza’s coastline later in the day.

“The flotilla is led by a gang of antisemitic and anti-Israel Hamas propagandists, and they will not reach the coast of Gaza,” Katz said in a statement, directly addressing the activists. “Turn back now.”

He instructed the Israeli Navy to intercept the vessel and “take any necessary measures” to stop it, asserting that Israel would not permit any violation of the maritime blockade, which he said is aimed at preventing weapons from reaching Hamas.

The current voyage comes approximately one month after another of the coalition’s ships, the Conscience, reported being damaged by a drone attack in international waters near Malta.

Israel has imposed a strict blockade on the Gaza Strip since 2007, when the Islamist group Hamas took control of the territory. The measures were significantly tightened after Hamas’ deadly assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The war, now in its 21st month, has precipitated a severe humanitarian crisis.

United Nations agencies and humanitarian groups have repeatedly warned of imminent famine in the densely populated territory of 2.3 million people. The UN says the entire population is facing life-threatening food insecurity.

XINHUA

LOS ANGELES, June 7 – President Donald Trump’s administration said it would deploy 2,000 National Guard troops on Saturday as federal agents in Los Angeles faced off against a few hundred demonstrators during a second day of protests following immigration raids.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that the Pentagon was prepared to mobilize active-duty troops “if violence continues” in Los Angeles, saying the Marines at nearby Camp Pendleton were “on high alert.”

Federal security agents on Saturday confronted protesters in the Paramount area in southeast Los Angeles, where some demonstrators displayed Mexican flags. A second protest in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday night attracted some 60 people, who chanted slogans including “ICE out of L.A.!”

Trump signed a presidential memorandum to deploy the National Guard troops to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester,” the White House said in a statement. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, told Fox News that the National Guard would be deployed in Los Angeles on Saturday.

California Governor Gavin Newsom called the decision “purposefully inflammatory.” He posted on X that Trump was deploying the National Guard “not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle,” adding: “Don’t give them one. Never use violence. Speak out peacefully.”

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that if Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass can’t do their jobs “then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”

The protests pit Democratic-run Los Angeles, where census data suggests a significant portion of the population is Hispanic and foreign-born, against Trump’s Republican White House, which has made cracking down on immigration a hallmark of his second term.

REUTERS

LOS ANGELES, June 7 – Federal agents in Los Angeles on Saturday faced off against demonstrators protesting immigration raids following Friday’s protests that senior White House aide Stephen Miller condemned as an “insurrection” against the United States.

The security agents on Saturday engaged in a tense confrontation with protesters in the Paramount area in southeast Los Angeles, where one demonstrator was seen waving a Mexican flag and some covered their mouths with respiratory masks.

A live video feed showed dozens of green-uniformed security personnel with gas masks lined up on a road strewn with overturned shopping carts as small canisters exploded into gas clouds.

A first round of protests kicked off on Friday night after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted enforcement operations in the city and arrested at least 44 people on alleged immigration violations.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that “1,000 rioters surrounded a federal law enforcement building and assaulted ICE law enforcement officers, slashed tires, defaced buildings, and taxpayer funded property.”

Reuters was unable to verify DHS’s accounts.

Miller, an immigration hardliner and the White House deputy chief of staff, wrote on X that Friday’s demonstrations were “an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States.”

The protests pit Democratic-run Los Angeles, where census data suggests a significant portion of the population is Hispanic and foreign-born, against Trump’s Republican White House, which has made cracking down on immigration a hallmark of his second term.

Trump has pledged to deport record numbers of people in the country illegally and lock down the U.S.-Mexico border, with the White House setting a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3,000 migrants per day.

But the sweeping immigration crackdown has also included people legally residing in the country, including some with permanent residence, and has led to legal challenges.

In a statement on Saturday about the protests in Paramount, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office said: “It appeared that federal law enforcement officers were in the area, and that members of the public were gathering to protest.”

ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to a request for information about the protests or potential immigration sweeps on Saturday.

REUTERS

ROME – Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of Rome on Saturday against the war in Gaza in a protest called by Italy’s main opposition parties, who accuse the right-wing government of being too silent.

Protesters held a banner reading “Stop the massacre, stop complicity!” at the start of the march, which moved peacefully through the center of Rome amid a massive display of rainbow, Palestinian and political party flags.

The protest attracted a diverse crowd from across the country, including many families with children. According to organizers, up to 300,000 people participated in the rally organized by the leftist opposition to ask the government for a clear position on the conflict in Gaza.

“This is an enormous popular response to say enough to the massacre of Palestinians and the crimes of (Israeli leader Benjamin) Netanyahu’s government,” the leader of Italy’s center-left Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, told reporters at the march.

“There is another Italy that doesn’t remain silent as the Meloni government does,” she said, referring to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Meloni was recently pushed by the opposition to publicly condemn Netanyahu’s offensive in Gaza, but many observers considered her criticism too timid.

”(The Italian government) is not reacting despite an abnormal massacre, despite an absolutely cruel and inappropriate reaction. The (Italian) government remains silent,” said Nadin Unali, a Tunisian demonstrator at the march.

Earlier this week, the Italian premier urged Israel to immediately halt its military campaign in Gaza, saying its attacks had grown disproportionately and should be brought to an end to protect civilians.

Israel faces mounting international criticism for its offensive and pressure to let aid into Gaza during a humanitarian crisis.

Gaza has been under an Israeli blockade for nearly three months, with experts warning that many of its 2 million residents are at high risk of famine.

The war broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 hostages. They are still holding 56 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive.

Since then, Israel has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians in its military campaign, primarily women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures.

AN-AP, 7.6.2025

KYIV, June 7 – Russia attacked the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv at night and in the evening with drones, missiles and guided bombs, killing at least four people and injuring more than 60, including a baby, local officials said on Saturday.

One of Ukraine’s largest cities, Kharkiv is located just a few dozen kilometres from the Russian border and has been under constant Russian shelling during more than three years of war.

“Kharkiv is currently experiencing the most powerful attack since the start of the full-scale war,” city mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said on the Telegram messenger early on Saturday.

Dozens of explosions were heard in the city through the night and Russian troops were striking simultaneously with missiles, drones and guided aerial bombs, he said.

Multi-storey and private residential buildings, educational and infrastructure facilities were attacked, Terekhov noted.

Photos by local authorities and Reuters showed burnt and partially destroyed houses and vehicles, and of rescuers carrying those injured to safety and removing debris.

Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov said that one of the city’s civilian industrial facilities was attacked by 40 drones, one missile and four bombs, causing a fire, adding there may still be people under the rubble.

In the evening, Russian aircraft once again attacked Kharkiv with guided bombs, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called “another brutal murder”.

“It was a brutal blow to the city in broad daylight, and in fact, they have been attacking our city of Kharkiv for the entire day,” Zelenskiy said in his evening statement.

“Last night, there was a massive drone strike on Kharkiv, and now there are aerial bombs. Dozens of people have been injured in the past 24 hours.” he said.

The Ukrainian military said Russia launched 206 drones, two ballistic and seven other missiles against Ukraine overnight.

It said its air defence units shot down 87 drones while another 80 drones were lost – in reference to the Ukrainian military using electronic warfare to redirect them – or they were drone simulators that did not carry warheads.

Ten locations were hit, the military said.

REUTERS

JERUSALEM/CAIRO, June 7 – The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday, as Israeli airstrikes killed 55 people, according to local medics.

Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian militant group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.

Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the U.S.- and Israeli-backed aid group, said on Saturday it was unable to distribute assistance to Palestinian civilians, blaming threats by Hamas, which Gaza’s dominant militant group denied.

Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.

There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas.

The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.

The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.

The military said on Saturday it had killed As’ad Abu Sharaiya, who served as the head of the Mujahideen, but there was no confirmation from the group.

Israel has in recent weeks expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as U.S., Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.

Medics in Gaza said 55 people in total were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the enclave on Saturday.

At least 15 Palestinians were killed and 50 wounded by airstrikes in the Gaza City district of Sabra in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, local health authorities said.

More than one missile landed in the area. The target seemed to have been a multi-floor residential building, but the explosion damaged several other houses nearby, according to witnesses and media.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment. It later warned people to evacuate the nearby district of Jabalia, saying it was going to strike there after rockets were launched by militants in the vicinity.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday that Gaza’s hospitals only had fuel for three more days and that Israel was denying access for international relief agencies to areas where fuel storages designated for hospitals are located.

There was no immediate response from the Israeli military or COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that coordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it had uncovered “an underground tunnel route, including a command and control center from which senior Hamas commanders” operated beneath the European Hospital compound in southern Gaza.

It added that it had located several bodies of militants whose identities were “under examination”.

The Israeli government and military said last month it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas’ Gaza chief, but Hamas did not confirm his death.

REUTERS

AMMAN – The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has sharply criticized Israel for barring international journalists from entering the Gaza Strip, calling the ongoing restriction a “ban on reporting the truth.”

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, said the Israeli authorities’ refusal to grant access to foreign media since the beginning of the war in Gaza was unprecedented in modern conflict.

“This is unlike any other conflict in contemporary history,” Lazzarini wrote in a post on X. “It essentially prevents journalists from reporting the truth from the Gaza Strip.”

He warned that the continued ban on international coverage had grave consequences, describing it as “the perfect recipe for fueling media misinformation, deepening polarization, and obscuring humanity.”

Lazzarini called for an immediate end to the ban on foreign media organizations and urged Israel to facilitate access for international journalists. He also called for support for Palestinian journalists who remain in Gaza and continue to report under extremely difficult and dangerous conditions.

“The world must not be kept in the dark,” he said.

The remarks come amid growing international concern over press freedom in Gaza, where Palestinian reporters have borne the brunt of the conflict with limited external scrutiny due to access restrictions.

AN, 7.6.2025