Day: June 12, 2025
193-member assembly likely to adopt text calling for unconditional and permanent ceasefire, days after US vetoed similar effort in security council
Israel has recovered the remains of two more hostages in Gaza yesterday, AP reports.
Israeli authorities identified one of the hostages recovered as Yair Yaakov who was killed during the 7 October 2023 attack and whose body was taken into Gaza. His partner and two children were also taken captive and released in a ceasefire deal early in the war.
The second hostage’s identity was not disclosed.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said the bodies were retrieved in a “complex” operation without disclosing details. The Israeli military said they were recovered from Khan Younis.
The US is drawing down the presence of staffers who are not deemed essential to operations in the Middle East and their loved ones due to the potential for regional unrest. The state department said yesterday that it’s ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the US embassy in Baghdad. The department also is authorising the departure of nonessential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait, giving them the option to leave those countries. In addition, US Central Command said Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth “has authorised the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations” across the Middle East.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government survived an opposition bid to dissolve parliament this morning, as lawmakers rejected a bill that could have paved the way for snap elections. Out of the Knesset’s 120 members, 61 voted against the proposal, with 53 in favour. The opposition had introduced the bill hoping to force elections with the help of ultra-Orthodox parties in the governing coalition angry at Netanyahu over the contentious issue of exemptions from military service for their community.
Hospitals said 21 people in Gaza were killed on their way to collect aid from food distribution sites on Wednesday. The Israeli army said it fired warning shots in central Gaza toward “suspects that posed a threat to troops.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of attacking aid workers en route to a distribution centre on Wednesday, saying at least five people were killed. “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,” GHF said in a statement.
Israel’s government is issuing “clearly illegal” orders that must not be obeyed, a group of Israeli military intelligence officers have said, announcing they will no longer participate in combat operations in Gaza. In a letter addressed to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the defence minister, Israel Katz, and the head of the military, the group of 41 officers and reservists said the government was waging an “unnecessary, eternal war” in Gaza.
