Aid centres closed again today in Gaza following Israeli attacks on crowds
AID DISTRIBUTION SITES run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) are to remain closed again today, while Israeli strikes killed at least 10 people in the Palestinian enclave this morning.
The GHF's aid centres were closed yesterday after the Israeli army declared the access roads 'combat zones' and following multiple incidents in which Israeli forces have opened fire on crowds of hungry people.
The UN has said the entire population of the Palestinian territory is at risk of famine due to Israel's blocking of aid.
The highly controversial and shadowy organisation has been condemned by humanitarian organisations and UN agencies, who say the operation does not comply with humanitarian principles.
The GHF said its centres would be closed today 'due to maintenance and repair work being done at the sites'.
It said it was working to make the distribution of food boxes 'as safe as possible, despite the difficult circumstances'.
'We strongly urge all those heading to our locations to follow the routes set by the IDF to ensure safe passage,' the GHF said in a post on Facebook last night.
This morning, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 10 people.
'Ten martyrs so far resulting from Israeli strikes since dawn,' agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told the AFP news agency.
He said the strikes had targeted an area where displaced civilians were sheltering in the southern city of Khan Younis and houses in Gaza City and the central town of Deir el-Balah.
According to the health ministry in Gaza, at least 4,335 people have been killed since Israel broke a ceasefire with Hamas resumed its campaign on 18 March, taking the war's overall toll to 54,607, most of whom were civilians.
US vetoes UN resolution
Last night in New York, the United States used its veto power to prevent the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution that would have demanded an unconditional ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza.
'Today, the United States sent a strong message by vetoing a counterproductive UN Security Council resolution on Gaza targeting Israel,' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement after the 14 to 1 vote.
Advertisement
US Ambassador Dorothy Shea vetoes the US Security Council resolution
Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
He said Washington would not support any text that 'draws a false equivalence between Israel and Hamas, or disregards Israel's right to defend itself.
'The United States will continue to stand with Israel at the UN.'
The draft resolution had demanded 'an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties.'
It also called for the 'immediate, dignified and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups,' and demanded the lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office thanked US President Donald Trump 'for once again showing our enemies that there is no daylight between us'.
That is the only way to destroy the Hamas terrorists who are still holding 58 innocent hostages in the dungeons of Gaza. The civilized world should demand their immediate and unconditional release.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM)
June 4, 2025
Bodies of hostages recovered
Netanyahu also said today that Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of two people who were captured during the Hamas-led attack of October 2023.
In an operation conducted by Israeli intelligence services and the military, 'the bodies of two of our hostages, held by the murderous terrorist organisation Hamas, were returned to Israel,' Netanyahu said in a post on X.
He said the two dead hostages were Judy Weinstein-Haggai and Gadi Haggai, who 'were murdered on 7 October and abducted to the Gaza Strip'.
' The heart aches for this most terrible loss,' he said.
'We will not rest nor be silent until we bring all our hostages home—both the living and the fallen.'
The Hamas-led attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Another 251 people were also taken hostage, most of whom have been released in captive exchanges during ceasefires.
With reporting from AFP
Need more information on what is happening in Israel and Palestine? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to navigating the news online.
Visit Knowledge Bank
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Learn More
Support The Journal
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
28 minutes ago
- Irish Independent
Letters: Elon Musk's break with Donald Trump may offer opportunities to Ireland and rest of the EU
This is no ordinary falling-out. For once, Mr Trump is confronting a rival with genuine leverage – technological, communicative, financial and, perhaps, psychological. The implications could extend far beyond American shores. If this rupture holds, I could see Mr Musk pivoting towards Brussels, offering the EU and countries like Ireland his full innovation portfolio – satellites, electric vehicles, AI – at preferential rates. He may well find European regulators less volatile than a president nursing a grudge. Enda Cullen, Tullysaran Road, Armagh Tesla boss made a mistake trusting president, but he will be formidable enemy Monica Hesse doesn't hold back on the character of billionaire Elon Musk ( 'Good riddance to Musk, who did not need to do any of this', Irish Independent, June 4). But that's what drives billionaires, that's how they get there. Sitting back is not within Musk's DNA. While it is hard to have any sympathy for a billionaire who gets fired, he was naive to trust Trump. Perhaps if nothing else, Musk will be a man scorned and a formidable enemy for President Trump. In that his destructive stint into politics may prove invaluable and electrifying to America and democracy at large. Aidan Roddy, Cabinteely, Dublin 18 Billionaire's attack could turn Republicans against their leader and his bill For months, US president Donald Trump has been heralding his 'big, beautiful' spending bill as being a key piece of his agenda, containing tax cuts for the rich and benefits cuts for the vulnerable. We now know that this will also add trillions to America's debt, to the point that some are now sounding the alarm, warning of a 'debt bomb' about to hit the US economy. What the White House didn't bet on was that one of those leading critics would be Elon Musk, who has turned fire on his former boss in spectacular fashion, calling the legislation a 'disgusting abomination' and ominously warning US senators that voters will fire those politicians who 'betray America'. I am not an advocate of Musk but on this one , I believe that he's not wrong. It leaves me wondering: will the words of Musk spook Republicans into defying Donald Trump? I am also curious as to how the president will react to Musk's missives. John O'Brien, Clonmel, Co Tipperary ADVERTISEMENT Learn more Israel will stop at nothing in its war on Gaza, so it's time for Ireland cut all ties The US representative to the UN, Dorothy Camille Shea, repeated Washington's message as part of the veto of a resolution calling for an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, that Israel has the 'right to defend itself'. Unsurprisingly, there was no mention of the right to life for Palestinians. This was the latest example of the United States' unwavering support of Israel's annihilation of Gaza. Israel's UN representative, Danny Danon, eerily replied to the veto: 'Don't waste more of your time.' He added that no resolution, no vote, 'will stand in our way'. If the UN can't put a stop to the carnage, then it falls to small nations such as our own to take a stand, and at least to end our own complicity. The Irish Government must, like TCD, cut all ties with Israel. It must enact the Occupied Territories Bill, enact the Arms Embargo Bill, and stop the Central Bank regulating Israeli war bonds. After 20 months, 56,000 Palestinians are dead. How many more need to die before our Government honours its obligations as a signatory to the Genocide Convention? Aisling Brady, Drumcondra, Dublin 9 Thunberg's voyage to Palestine offers haunting echoes of famine ship Kudos to Martina Devlin for highlighting the humanitarian ship Madleen on its way across the Mediterranean with vital food, medicine and other essential supplies ('Greta Thunberg's aid ship for Gaza won't get through – but that doesn't make it a failure', Irish Independent, June 6). Readers may recall the story of the Jeanie Johnston, now parked on Dublin's Custom House Quay and which began its journey in Blennerville, just outside of Tralee. This replica 'famine ship' tells the unique story of Ireland's past and the thousands of Irish people who crossed the Atlantic to escape starvation and destitution. Not one soul was lost on the original ship, which crossed the ocean dozens of times. Former RTÉ journalist Fintan Drury, whose new, deeply researched book on what is happening in Gaza, Catastrophe, asks: 'Where is the outrage?' He convincingly argues that what is now being perpetrated on a defenceless people did not begin on October 7, 2023, but rather eight decades earlier ('Author hoping to convert Kerry readers not convinced of Palestinian cause at talk in Listowel', The Kerryman and Irish Independent, May 28) The Madleen ship may be turned away by Israel but world is watching as Netanyahu and co deliberately use starvation as a shocking and cowardly tactic in their latest attempt to suppress an indigenous race. Tom McElligott, Listowel, Co Kerry Income tax may be deeply unfair, but its burden should fall evenly on us all The news that so many workers are exempt from income tax in one way or another presents a real moral dilemma (Irish Independent, June 5). On the one hand, income tax is a 200-year-old hangover from the Napoleonic wars; an immoral way for the State to monetise our waking hours that has no place in a free and democratic society in which the particularly altruistic can donate what they please to the Exchequer. As such, bully for those who don't have to pay it, whatever the reason. On the other hand, if the blight of income tax is to exist, it should be applied evenly, if for no other reason than to reduce the burden it places on those of us who do have to pay it. In that sense, the workers who don't pay should have to, with a view to reducing what is due from the rest of us. Killian Foley-Walsh, Kilkenny city
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Book review: Unravelling every wrongdoing
'The prevailing narrative is one thing. The truth is quite different.' When the evidence of nefarious wrongdoing is so ubiquitous and overwhelming — as it is in Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza — perhaps the greatest achievement for any writer is simply to be discerning. Journalist, media entrepreneur, and migration activist Fintan Drury has handled the almost impossible task of framing the unframeable in his latest book, Catastrophe: Nakba II. In the book, he eschews hyperbole and emotional outrage and speaks directly to the symptoms of Zionism and its catastrophic effects on the Palestinian people — from the original Nakba in 1948 until today. Written and impeccably researched in real time, the book provides a compelling and concise account of the contemporary history of the Middle East, the birth of an ethno-terror state, and Western complicity in its manifestation from violent philosophy to brutal protagonist. An Israeli citizen, who relocated his family from Tel Aviv to Paris, said: 'Israel is a very different now to a decade or two ago; the IDF is different to when I did my three years mandatory service 20 years ago. Truth is a casualty.' File picture: AP 'Israel is a coloniser; aided by the West,' he writes. 'It has been allowed not just to establish itself as a sovereign state with internationally accepted boundaries, but one that has methodically extended its territory in contravention of multiple UN resolutions and international law.' Such straightforward opinions might otherwise seem subjective had Drury not backed them up with unimpeachable detail. Unable to travel to Gaza, he might well have stayed at home and still produced a book of considerable merit given the evidence remotely available. Instead, he travelled to Lebanon, Jordan, the occupied West Bank, and Paris to include incredibly worthwhile testimony that — among other things — provides nuance to the oft-misunderstood complex relationship between Lebanon and Palestine. Buried within another testimony from an Israeli citizen, who relocated his family from Tel Aviv to Paris, was a nugget of truth too jarring to ignore: 'Israel is a very different now to a decade or two ago; the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] is different to when I did my three years mandatory service 20 years ago. Truth is a casualty.' Perhaps, but the 'truth' Drury lays bare repeatedly confirms that the IDF — and the state it purports to defend — was no different 20 years ago than it is today. The only difference — as Drury explains — is that the restrictions and boundaries the international community once imposed upon it no longer exist. The Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, gave them the excuse to test that theory, and the results are now visible on the faces of emaciated Palestinian children. What is perhaps most revealing is the carefully teased out confessionals from inside Israel, by Israelis. Not because they elicit sympathy, but because their indifference is so flagrant. There is also insight into an inherently racist educational system that has contributed so much to the maturation of an apartheid state, especially as it seeks to punish any voice from within who questions government policy. Parallels between the Troubles and the Palestinian cause have often proven lazy and reductive. Not so here. Few are better placed than Drury to carefully examine the strategy and consequences of internment. One Israeli non-governmental organisation quoted references the weaponisation of a scabies outbreak among Palestinian prisoners to impose even more hardship on detainees. It's a horrific image, and one that is depressingly consistent with the tone and tenor of this book. With excellent pacing and an admirable ability to make the complex comprehensible, Drury prosecutes the roles of the Israeli Knesset, international media, and UNRWA, as well as the ambivalence of modern society as they pertain to Palestine. Crucially, he neatly presents irrefutable facts regarding what Gaza and the occupied territories looked like on October 6 — the day before — as a method of framing every horror since. Some will absurdly argue this book is antisemitic. Others may say Drury does not go far enough, that the reality unfolding on the ground in Gaza and elsewhere renders the objectivity he covets obsolete. To his immense credit, he lets the facts scream from the page. This is an essential book. One that should be read and understood today, before the horror becomes history, and that history is repeated. Read More Israel has used detention and starvation to bring Palestine to heel
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Colin Sheridan: Manscaping of society has gone on for far too long
Considering the latest bromantic melodrama emanating from the sadistic reality TV show that is the USA, I'm thinking of writing a non-fiction book called The Penis Apologist in which I make a case that men should not be allowed to run for public office for a century — at least. The ban would be worldwide, and effective immediately. Where snap elections cannot take place, the closest female relative to the outgoing official's nemesis will be jettisoned in until a plebiscite is possible. In the case of Keir Starmer, for example, Jeremy Corbyn's wife would take charge. Their qualifications are irrelevant, just as they've been irrelevant for men. The same standard will apply to the general staff of all militaries. I understand there will be considerable pushback to this idea from all sides. From the feminists, who might argue that I am appropriating the legacy trauma of women everywhere. From the Andrew Tate acolytes, who will argue treachery to a non-existent brotherhood. From the centrists, who will accuse me of flagrant populism and suggesting I have hopped aboard a bandwagon — or a fallopian flotilla — all in the name of ingratiating myself to the sisterhood. To all of them, I simply say: This isn't working The manscaping of society has gone on for far too long and the results of the masculine monopoly have proven to be much too disastrous for humankind, for the planet, for the arts, culture, and academia. The only thing men have not ruined all by themselves is sport — both the watching of it and the playing of it. That, and drinking silently in pubs. Literally every other thing has been tainted to some degree by an inglorious arms race between men intent on one thing: Winning a big micky contest. The cost of that megalomaniac pursuit has been catastrophic. War. Famine. Drought. Climate change. Kanye. And now, in the case of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, a break-up so unedifying they make Kim Kardashian look like Grace Kelly. Women themselves are not entirely blameless. Maggie Thatcher didn't exactly woo the working class with a mother's touch. Kamala Harris may have proven slightly less duplicitous a president than Donald Trump, but she was too incompetent to defeat him. Liz Truss, Suella Braverman, and Priti Patel were nearly as bad as Boris Johnson, which is a quite the reach. Ursula von der Leyen displays all the empathy of a data centre, and I wouldn't trust Giorgia Meloni as far as I could throw her. Closer to home, the nuns — as a collective — did considerable damage, especially to women Despite all of this, I still think men have had the reins for long enough. All its brought us is disaster. As of this year, only 13% of the world's nations are led by women. Historically, only about one third of United Nations member states have ever had a woman serve as head of government. According to UN figures, women hold just 23% of ministerial positions globally in 2025. The same study notes women are more often assigned portfolios related to social affairs, while defence, foreign affairs, and finance remain predominantly the purview of men. In terms of wealth, women constitute approximately 13.3% of the world's billionaires. According to Forbes' rich list published this year, out of 3,028 billionaires globally, only 406 are women. Let's put the diversity, equity and inclusion argument to one side for a moment. Clearly, that was beyond our abilities to properly implement, probably because it was men responsible for it. Perhaps we don't even need to try that hard. Perhaps we should just seek to put the best people in the jobs with the most power. Perhaps, after many millennia of evidence, men are not those people. Perhaps the best people to be in power are those who do not seek it out. 'Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave my heart into my mouth. I love your majesty according to my bond; no more nor less.' So said Cordelia, the youngest of King Lear's daughters, when the narcissistic monarch sought some sycophancy before dividing up his kingdom. Cordelia the character was, of course, a work of Shakespeare's imagination. However, she endures in my mind as the antithesis of what we have come to expect from Trump, Putin, Biden, Boris Johnson, Churchill, Blair, Kennedy, Clinton, Netanyahu, Musk, Bezos et al. If we flipped it entirely, we should really let the children be in charge. We'd eat nothing but Nutella with every meal, but you'd be guaranteed wars would quickly end, the hungry would be fed, and there'd be no such thing as genocide. What is absolutely certain is that they could not do any worse.
