Middle East: Activist convoy enters Libya en route to Gaza

 A caravan of hundreds of activists has arrived in Libya on its way to the Rafah border crossing in the Gaza Strip, in an attempt to challenge Israel's blockade on humanitarian aid entering the territory.

Some 1,500 people were part of the convoy, which included activists and pro-Palestinian supporters from Algeria and Tunisia.

The group was well received and many in Libya are expected to join.

The convoy is composed of cars and buses and it plans to cross the Libyan cities of Tripoli, Misrata, Sirte, and Benghazi, heading to  the Saloum Crossing which borders Egypt.

Activists are hoping to reach the Rafah Crossing separating Egypt and Israel.

But the Egyptian government has reportedly detained or questioned more than 200 pro-Palestinian activists in Cairo who were seeking to reach the Rafah crossing.

Israel has urged Egyptian authorities to halt the activists, saying Egypt must "prevent the arrival of jihadist protesters at the Egypt-Israel border," with Defense Minister Israel Katz saying the protest "would endanger the safety of (Israeli) soldiers and will not be allowed."

Israel imposed a total humanitarian blockade of Gaza on March 2. Amid growing international pressure, Israel began allowing a trickle of aid into Gaza in late May — namely through the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Egyptian authorities have reportedly detained or questioned more than 200 pro-Palestinian activists in Cairo and deported three dozen more ahead of an international march that aims to remove a blockade on humanitarian aid to war-torn Gaza.

Thousands of people plan to travel to Egypt's Rafah border crossing with the Palestinian territory on Friday as part of the Global March to Gaza.

The march's spokesperson, Saif Abukeshek, told AFP news agency that those detained included nationals from the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Morocco and Algeria.

He said, however, that enough people remained to carry out the march.

March participants are set to travel by bus to the city of El-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula before walking 50 kilometers (30 miles) toward the border with Gaza.

They are to camp there before returning to Cairo on June 19.

Israel has called on Egyptian authorities "to prevent the arrival of jihadist protesters at the Egypt-Israel border," with Defense Minister Israel Katz saying the protest "would endanger the safety of (Israeli) soldiers and will not be allowed." 

Egypt has warned that only those who received authorization would be allowed to travel the planned march route.

After 21 months of war against the Palestinian group Hamas in response to the deadly raids it led in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Israel is facing growing international pressure to allow more aid into Gaza, which the United Nations has dubbed "the hungriest place on Earth."

Israel says its military has carried out an incursion into southern Syria, during which it arrested seven people who it said were members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The Israeli military said its operation was "based on intelligence gathered in recent weeks" and led to the arrest of "several Hamas terrorists" planning "multiple terror plots" against Israeli civilians and Israeli troops in Syria. There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

A spokesperson for Syria's Interior Ministry confirmed to Reuters news agency that the raid had taken place in the town of Beit Jinn, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of the capital, Damascus, but said those arrested were all civilians from the area and that one person had been killed by Israeli fire.

The area of the raid was outside the region that has been occupied by Israeli forces since the fall of former President Bashar Assad.

The Britain-based war monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said one person had been killed, while putting the number of arrested at nine. 

So far, the Israeli military has not confirmed the death, telling Reuters only that shorts were fired when one of the suspected Hamas members tried to flee and "a hit was identified." 

The incident follows an Israeli drone strike four days earlier in the same region, in which one person was killed and a vehicle destroyed.

Israel has carried out repeated strikes in southern Syria, which it says have targeted arms depots and smuggling routes allegedly used by Hamas and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Internet and fixed-line communication services have been cut in Gaza after a key line was severed during an Israel military operation, the telecom provider Paltel and the Palestinian telecoms authority said on Thursday.

They said the Israeli military was stopping technicians from entering the area to carry out repairs.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said the outage was hindering communication with first responders, thus making it harder to deal with emergencies.

"The emergency operations room is also struggling to coordinate with other organizations to respond to humanitarian cases," the organization said.

Telecommunications in the Palestinian enclave have repeatedly been disrupted since the start of the war almost two years ago.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Thursday passed a resolution formally declaring Iran in "non-compliance" with its nuclear non-proliferation obligations, diplomats at the agency's closed-door board of governors meeting confirmed.

The resolution states that Iran has repeatedly failed to provide the UN nuclear watchdog with full and timely cooperation regarding "undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations" since 2019.

The motion drafted by the United States, Britain, France and Germany was carried by 19 votes in favor, out of 35 in total, diplomats told AFP news agency.

Earlier on Thursday, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran would not abandon its right to enrich uranium because of rising tensions in the region.

Israel on Thursday accused Hamas of deliberately targeting humanitarian workers in Gaza, following reports that five members of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) were killed while on their way to a distribution center.

In a statement posted on X, Israel's Foreign Ministry said the killings were carried out in cold blood and called it the latest example of Hamas "weaponizing suffering in Gaza."

"After threats, lies, and disruption, they turned to cold-blooded murder," the ministry said, adding, "They showed no mercy."

The GHF said a bus transporting some of its Palestinian employees was attacked Wednesday evening, leading to at least five dead.

The controversial group took over aid distribution after Israel banned UN and other international agencies from entering Gaza. The UN has accused the GHF of being used to forcibly displace Palestinians to the south of Gaza and said hundreds of people have already been killed while seeking aid from its distribution sites.

Scores of aid workers have been killed by Israel attacks in Gaza.

In its post on X, Israel also criticized the United Nations for not responding to the incident. "Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, your silence is shameful," the ministry said.

Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by the US, the EU and Israel, among others.

Representatives from Iran and the US will meet in Oman on Sunday for a sixth round of negotiations aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program, Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said on Thursday.

"I am pleased to confirm the 6th round of Iran-US talks will be held in Muscat this Sunday," he said in a post on X.

The announcement comes amid increasing tensions in the region and the failure of earlier rounds of talks to reach an agreement.

US President Donald Trump said US personnel were being moved out of the Middle East due to faltering nuclear talks with Iran threatening to derail the security situation.

"Well they are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place," Trump told reporters in Washington when questioned about reports of personnel being moved.

"We've given notice to move out and we'll see what happens."

When asked how the tensions in the region could be dialed down, Trump then added: "They can't have a nuclear weapon, very simple. We're not going to allow that."

According to reports, the US embassy in Iraq was preparing for a partial evacuation, with permission being granted for voluntary departures from Bahrain and Kuwait.

The State Department updated its worldwide travel advisory on Wednesday reflecting the latest developments. "On June 11, the Department of State ordered the departure of non-emergency US government personnel due to heightened regional tensions," the advisory said.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran if talks over its nuclear programme fell flat.

The US president on Wednesday said he was growing less confident that Tehran would agree to stop enriching uranium, which is a key US demand.

Iran's Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh on Wednesday that if Iran were to be attacked, then it would retaliate by hitting US bases in the region. The US has military bases in Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, among others.

Israeli lawmakers early on Thursday rejected a preliminary vote to dissolve the parliament, the Knesset said in a statement.

The bill submitted by the opposition was voted down 61-53.  A 61-vote majority was needed in the 120-seat parliament.

The vote could have been a first step leading to a snap election. Polls have predicted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition would lose at the ballot box.

The US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has accused the militant group Hamas of killing at least five people in an attack on a bus carrying its aid workers to one of its distribution sites. 

The group said in a statement that at around 10 p.m. local time on Wednesday (1900 GMT) "a bus carrying more than two-dozen members of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation team... was brutally attacked by Hamas."

"We are still gathering facts, but what we know is devastating: there are at least five fatalities, multiple injuries, and fear that some of our team members may have been taken hostage," the statement added.

DW could not immediately verify GHF's account of the events

Despite objections from the UN, the GHF has taken over aid distribution in the Gaza Strip.

The privately-run GHF has only been allowed to operate in the Gaza Strip with the endorsement of Israel and the US.

Other humanitarian groups, including the UN's own network of aid agencies, remain blocked from entering the region.

Because of this, GHF's operation has come under widespread condemnation for not operating under humanitarian principles.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that the bodies of two hostages have been recovered from Gaza by the army and the Shin Bet security agency.

"We will not rest and we will not be silent until all our hostages — the living and the fallen alike — are brought home," he said in a statement.

Read more about the two hostages whose bodies were found.

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