The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they unfold.
Israel summons Armenian ambassador in protest at its recognition of Palestine
The Foreign Ministry says it has summoned the Armenian ambassador for a “stern reprimand” following the country’s announcement that it will recognize the state of Palestine.
Armenia is the latest country to make such an announcement since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas following the terror group’s October 7 attack — following Slovenia, Ireland, Spain and Norway’s moves earlier this year. Israel has weighed how to react to the measures, and has reportedly proposed downgrading ties with the nations in question.
Residents of Rafah report heavy fighting in southernmost Gaza city
Residents of Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, tell Reuters that the Israeli military appears to be trying to complete its capture of the city with intensive firefights.
Tanks were reportedly forcing their way into the western and northern parts of the city, having already captured the east, south and center. Israeli forces are said to have fired toward the city from planes, tanks and ships off the coast.
Some residents say the pace of the Israeli raid has been accelerated over the past two days, with nonstop sounds of explosions and gunfire.
“The entire city of Rafah is an area of Israeli military operations,” Ahmed Al-Sofi, the mayor of Rafah, says in a statement carried by Hamas media.
The IDF first began operating in the city in mid-May after months of stalling amid heavy international pressure against the move.
Doctors to stage rallies on Sunday decrying police brutality against medics at protests
The Israel Medical Association announces that medical staff in hospitals and clinics around Israel will hold protest rallies for one hour during the workday on Sunday.
The action is to protest police violence against doctors who were providing medical assistance to the injured at anti-government demonstrations over the past two weeks, says Professor Zion Hagay, chairman of the IMA.
Dr. Tal Weissbach, a gynecologist, is at risk of losing vision in one eye after being hit in the face by a police water cannon earlier this week. She was wearing a brightly colored vest identifying her as a physician on volunteer duty. The police also arrested volunteer doctor Udi Baharav as he administered first aid to an injured woman at a June 8 rally in Tel Aviv that called for elections and a deal to free hostages held in Gaza.
The time of each rally will be determined to minimize the impact on patients.
“The Israel Medical Association calls on the government of Israel, the Health Ministry and the Israel Police to heed our urgent call and immediately improve the protection of doctors,” Hagay says.
Armenia announces its recognition of the state of Palestine
The Foreign Ministry of Armenia announces that it is recognizing the state of Palestine.
In a statement on its website, the ministry cites as its reasoning the “catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza” as well as the “establishment of lasting reconciliation between the Jewish and Palestinian peoples.”
It calls for an immediate ceasefire and the release of the hostages “without preconditions.”
Reaching a two-state solution is “the only way to ensure that Palestinians and Israelis can realize their legitimate aspirations,” the statement adds.
IDF says it struck rocket launcher embedded in ‘humanitarian zone’ for displaced Gazans
A Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket launching site, embedded within a shelter for displaced Palestinians in the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone” in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza, was struck by a drone yesterday, the military says.
Before carrying out the airstrike, the IDF said that “much effort was made to reduce the risk of harm to uninvolved [civilians].”
“Terror organizations continue to place weapons and terror infrastructure in the heart of the civilian population, putting them at risk and using them as a human shield,” the military says in a statement.
The strike comes as troops continue to operate in southern Gaza’s Rafah and in the Netzarim Corridor in the Strip’s center.
Sirens sound in kibbutz near Gaza border; IDF: false alarm
Sirens warning of a possible drone attack sound in Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha near the border with the Gaza Strip.
The military later says that the sirens were a false alarm.
Five dead, dozens hurt in wildfires in southeastern Turkey, says minister
Five people have died and dozens hurt as wildfires swept through several villages in southeastern Turkey overnight, the health minister says.
“Five people died and 44 were injured, 10 seriously,” when the blaze swept through two areas near the southeastern city of Mardin, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca writes on X.
Mother of hostage Romi Gonen: ‘I know she’s alive, I have no doubt’
Meirav Leshem Gonen, the mother of Romi Gonen, who is being held captive in Gaza, says she has no doubt that her daughter is alive following reports that there may be fewer than 50 hostages still alive in the Strip.
“People are dying there, it’s already been proven, it’s not something we need the Wall Street Journal for,” Leshem Gonen tells Kan’s Reshet Bet radio.
She says they last received a sign of life of Romi — who was kidnapped at the Supernova festival — from the hostages who were freed in a deal in late November, “but I know that she’s alive, I have no doubt, these reports don’t bother me in relation to Romi specifically but rather because of the fact that we are all one family.”
Israel must secure the freedom of the living hostages but also bring back the bodies of those who have been killed for burial in Israel, Leshen Gonen says.
Two reservists killed, 3 seriously wounded in central Gaza mortar attack, IDF announces
Two IDF reservists were killed in a Hamas mortar attack in the central Gaza Strip yesterday, the military announces.
The soldiers are named as:
Sgt. First Class (res.) Omer Smadga, 25, of the Alexandroni Brigade’s 9203rd Battalion, from Ganot Hadar.
Sgt. First Class (res.) Saadia Yaakov Derai, 27, of the Alexandroni Brigade’s 9203rd Battalion, from Tel Aviv.
Another three soldiers of the Alexandroni Brigade were seriously wounded in the incident, the IDF says.
Smadga is the son of Oren Smadga, who won an Olympic bronze medal in judo for Israel in 1992. Derai is the son of Laly Derai, a news commentator who previously ran for the Likud primary and works for the Hamaniot nonprofit which aids orphans in Israel.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the mortar fire yesterday, saying it targeted a military position near Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood.
Their deaths bring the toll of slain troops in the ground offensive against Hamas and in operations on the Gaza border to 314. The toll includes a police officer killed in a hostage rescue mission.
US military says 1.4 million pounds of aid unloaded since Gaza pier reopened
More than 656 metric tons, or 1.4 million pounds, of aid were delivered through the U.S. military-built pier in Gaza on Thursday in the hours after it resumed operations, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder says.
The pier was re-anchored to the beach in Gaza and started operating Wednesday after the military temporarily removed it due to difficult weather conditions, Ryder says. Aid groups have decried the pier as a distraction that took pressure off Israel to open more land border crossings, which are far more productive.
Since the pier opened on May 17, more than 4,100 tons, or 9.1 million pounds, of food and aid have been delivered by sea and unloaded in Gaza. However, much of the aid has lingered in the storage area right by the pier, so although it was delivered to Gaza, it has not been distributed.
Ryder directed questions regarding aid distribution to the United Nations’ World Food Program.
The UN has suspended cooperation with the US-led pier project since June 9, claiming that the Israeli military used the area around the pier in a hostage rescue that killed more than 270 Palestinians.
The US and Israeli militaries say no part of the pier was used in the raid. The UN is concerned that any such use — or even a perception of it by fighters and ordinary people in Gaza — makes their continued role in the project untenable.
At issue is the safety of humanitarian workers, and humanitarian groups’ principles of neutrality, the UN says.