Israel orders Palestinians to evacuate Gaza’s Khan Younis; military leaders ‘want ceasefire’ - New York Times

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Israeli military leaders want a ceasefire in Gaza because they believe that’s the best way to free the hostages and to allow soldiers to recuperate in case a war with Hezbollah breaks out. It also said there were shortages of some munitions and spare parts.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels conducted the largest number of attacks on commercial ships so far in 2024 in June, fresh proof that the group’s threat to trade intensified in recent weeks.

Israel orders evacuation from city in Gaza as Hamas regroups

Israel ordered Palestinians to leave parts of Gaza’s Khan Younis ahead of a possible new assault, underscoring its struggle to stop militants from regrouping in areas that were previously cleared.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned people in eastern neighbourhoods of the second-biggest city in Gaza to evacuate. The military said warplanes hit the area overnight after 20 rockets were fired from there toward Israel. While there were no injuries among Israelis, it was one of the worst missile barrages from Gaza in weeks.

Israeli ground forces began fighting in Khan Younis late last year and by February said they’d mostly defeated Hamas’ units. Israel then pulled some troops out in April and said it was ending its mission in the city.

Much of Khan Younis has been reduced to rubble but some residents moved back in the past two months, and Israel’s evacuation order was met with anger.

“Where shall we go?” said Ahmed Al-Shami, who is in Khan Younis. He said hundreds of people spent the night on the street with their belongings because they could not find transportation to leave.

Another inhabitant, Kholoud Abu Baraka, said she and her family managed to reach Al-Mawassi, an area designated a safe zone by Israel, but it was too crowded to pitch their tent.

Many Palestinians were gathering near the Nasser Hospital in the west of Khan Younis.

The IDF has tended to quickly move troops out of areas in Gaza that it has cleared of fighters belonging to Hamas or other groups such as Islamic Jihad. While that’s part of a strategy to avoid occupying cities in the Mediterranean enclave, the US and others warn it’s creating a power vacuum and allowing combatants to reassemble.

On 23 June, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said fighting in the southern city of Rafah would be over “very soon.” Yet while Israel has presented that as the last major battle in Gaza, its officials say Hamas won’t be fully defeated before the end of the year.

The IDF’s latest moves in Khan Younis come as tensions worsen with Hezbollah, another Iran-backed group. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday there was “momentum” towards outright conflict between Israel and the Lebanon-based militants, which Washington and Paris are trying to prevent.

Hezbollah, like Hamas, is designated a terrorist organisation by the US. It’s considered the most powerful militia in the Middle East and a war with Israel would probably draw in the US as well as Iran, which sees the group as more important than Hamas.

Tehran would support Hezbollah directly and via other allied militias in the region in the event of a full-blown conflict, Kamal Kharrazi, foreign affairs adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in an interview with the UK’s Financial Times.

“There would be a chance of expansion of the war to the whole region, in which all countries including Iran would become engaged,” he said.

Israeli assets have weakened in the past two weeks as the prospect of a new war has increased. The government’s dollar bonds are among the worst performing in emerging markets, while the shekel is trading near a 10-week low against the dollar, though it’s strengthened slightly in the past two days.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire almost daily since Hamas’ attack on southern Israeli communities on 7 October, which triggered the war in Gaza.

Hamas killed around 1,200 people and took 250 hostage. Almost 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel began an air and ground offensive, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Israeli military leaders want a ceasefire in Gaza because they believe that’s the best way to free the hostages and to allow soldiers to recuperate in case a war with Hezbollah breaks out. It also said there were shortages of some munitions and spare parts.

Soon after, Netanyahu issued a statement reiterating his aim of continuing the conflict in Gaza until Hamas was destroyed and the hostages were released.

“The government directed the IDF to achieve these war objectives and the IDF has all the means to achieve them,” Netanyahu said. “We will not capitulate to the winds of defeatism.”

Houthis mount biggest month of attacks on ships this year

Yemen’s Houthi rebels conducted the largest number of attacks on commercial ships so far in 2024 in June, fresh proof that the group’s threat to trade had intensified in recent weeks.

There were 16 confirmed attacks on ships in June, according to figures published by the naval forces operating in the region. That’s the most for any single month in 2024 and was only eclipsed in December when more vessels were still sailing through the region. Separate figures published by the Washington Institute show a similar trend.

Attacks by the Houthis ramped up in June, having shown signs of diminishing in the preceding months. The incidents included the second confirmed sinking of a vessel, as well as the first successful attack with a seaborne drone. The attacks are helping to contribute to the second-largest increase in a gauge of global sea transport on record as vessels sail thousands of extra miles around Africa.

Tracking the exact number of incidents can be tricky as different agencies use different definitions for attacks. Some may also go unreported.

Ryanair pilots demand right to refuse Israel flights 

Some Ryanair pilots have asked the airline for the right to turn down flights to Tel Aviv as concerns grow about flying to the country during the war.

Two pilot organisations, Germany’s Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) and the Ryanair Transnational Pilot Group (RTPG), have asked Ryanair to review the crewing policy for Israel flights. The approach would better match what’s in place at other airlines such as Deutsche Lufthansa and EasyJet, the RTPG wrote in a letter to Ryanair in early June.

Airlines have taken different approaches to flying to the Middle East after the Israel-Hamas conflict intensified in October. EasyJet paused services to Israel until October while Wizz Air, British Airways and Air France-KLM resumed flights earlier this year. Ryanair restarted Tel Aviv flights in June following the reopening of the airport’s low-cost terminal. Israel’s airspace remains open after closing in April.

The VC, a German union representing almost 10,000 members, wrote an open letter to Ryanair last week supporting the RTPG’s earlier letter about the navigational and security concerns around flying to Israel and Jordan. Both organisations have called on Ryanair to implement a “comprehensive daily risk assessment” to allow crews to decide whether they should fly to destinations in conflict zones.

“Whether a deployment to Tel Aviv is accepted should be decided by the pilots themselves due to the situation in the Middle East and the resulting restrictions and mental stress,” the VC said in a statement.

Ryanair declined to comment. DM

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