Media Report 2025.06.02
Israel and Hamas accuse each other of attack on civilians at Gaza aid site
ABC | Matthew Doran & Cherine Yazbeck | 2 June 2025
- More than 30 Palestinians were killed during gunfire at a southern Gaza aid distribution site on Sunday morning.
- Hamas accused Israeli forces of opening fire on civilians, but Israel and the organisation running the aid distribution sites rejected the allegation and blamed Hamas for the chaos.
- Fields hospitals were overwhelmed by patients following the incident at the distribution site near Rafah in the strip’s south.
International aid organisations have again condemned the new aid distribution model being enforced in Gaza, labelling it as a “death trap” after more than 30 Palestinians were killed and dozens more injured following gunfire at a site on Sunday morning.
Field hospitals were overwhelmed by the dead and injured following the incident at the distribution site near Rafah in the strip’s south, where thousands of desperate Palestinians had converged to grab supplies for their families.
Hamas accused Israeli forces of opening fire, but the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the US-Israeli backed organisation that is running the distribution sites, have rejected those allegations.
The IDF in turn accused Hamas of sending gunmen to the site, releasing drone footage it said showed armed fighters taking aim at civilians.
The ABC has not been able to independently verify the footage.
Ikram Nasser, 37, was among the Palestinians who had gone to the site, arriving on Saturday night to ensure her family was among the first in line when gates opened.
She said Israeli drones were flying over the area announcing the site would open at 6am Sunday, telling Palestinians they needed to wait and “be disciplined.”
“We stayed hidden all night, because if a plane or tank spotted you, they would open fire,” Ms Nasser told the ABC.
“When the drone told us to enter, we entered.
“We had not even walked 200 metres, as soon as we were 200 meters away soldiers surrounded us and they started firing at us — from this side, the other, all around.
“People were like sheep.”
Ms Nasser said she was still searching for two of her brothers, who were missing amidst the carnage, and accused authorities of refusing to let ambulances into the site to treat the injured and gather the dead.
“We brought a garbage trolley, and we put three or four on top of each other and take them to the ambulance outside,” she said.
“I feel I am born again today. I will never ever go to these distributions again. I’d rather starve to death.
“I have no flour, no sugar, I have no food, nothing, no formula for my son — yet I will not go anymore.”
Israel accuses Hamas of disrupting aid
In a statement, the military said an initial review of the situation found “the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false”.
IDF spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin accused Hamas of trying to undermine efforts to distribute aid.
“Hamas is doing his best, his utmost to stop us from doing so,” he said in a video statement.
“He’s spreading rumours, fake news, he’s trying bluntly and violently to stop the people of Gaza from reaching those distribution centres.
“I urge you not to believe every rumour spread by Hamas.”
The IDF later released footage from an Israeli drone it said showed armed gunmen on the ground, not in military uniforms, opening fire on the civilians.
It accused Hamas of trying to disrupt the operations, and fuel chaos among the population.
GHF released footage from security cameras at the site that it insisted backed up that position.
The videos, which do not have timestamps and are mute, show thousands of people streaming into the facility near Rafah.
They do not appear to show gunfire or injuries, but do tell a story of immense desperation from a population starving.
Aid system a ‘death trap’
Many of the dead and injured were taken to field hospitals in southern Gaza, rather than to established facilities further north of the Rafah site.
Marwan Al-Hams, director of Gaza’s field hospitals, said 31 people were killed and at least 179 were injured.
“The shots were aimed at the upper body — head, neck, and chest,” he told the ABC.
“It seems IDF is sending a clear message to the hungry — we will kill you from the sky with planes and missiles, or on the ground through starvation and attacks near aid distribution centres.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its field hospital in Rafah had taken the bulk of the patients, and that it was the “highest number of weapon-wounded in a single incident since the establishment of the field hospital over a year ago”.
“It far surpassed the capacity of the hospital,” the ICRC said in a statement.
“The reality on the ground in Gaza is that for months now, civilians have had to navigate the areas affected by intense hostilities to find food and safe water for their families.
“The high number of dead and injured patients received in a short amount of time is indicative of the increasing danger to civilians who have already struggled to survive for almost 20 months of unimaginable hostilities.”
The head of the United Nations’ Palestinian aid agency UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini said the Israeli-American backed aid distribution model was a “death trap”.
“This humiliating system has forced thousands of hungry and desperate people to walk for tens of miles to an area that’s all but pulverised due to heavy bombardment by the Israeli army,” he said.
“Aid deliveries and distribution must be at scale and safe.
“In Gaza, this can be done only through the United Nations including UNRWA.”
Mr Lazzarini added there were “competing narratives” and “disinformation campaigns” at play.
“International media must be allowed into Gaza to independently report on the ongoing atrocities including this morning’s heinous crime,” he said.
Israel refuses to allow international media into Gaza, and has only facilitated access under choreographed IDF supervision during the war.
No international crews have entered Gaza since the January ceasefire was enforced, and the Foreign Press Association is challenging the ban.
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Palestinians gunned down while trying to reach food aid site in Gaza, hospital says
Witnesses say Israeli forces opened fire on people near distribution point run by Israel-backed foundation
The Guardian / Reuters, AP | Lorenzo Tondo & Malak A Tantesh | 2 June 2025
More than 30 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on Sunday as they went to receive food at an aid distribution point set up by an Israeli-backed foundation in Gaza, according to witnesses, and a hospital run by the Red Cross confirming it was treating many wounded.
Witnesses said Israeli forces had opened fire as Palestinians headed toward the aid distribution site in Rafah run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
“My brother went to receive aid from the American distribution points in Rafah when the bullets started raining down on them,” Yarin Abu al-Naja, 44, said. “The Israeli soldiers had started shooting at the people there. My brother went with two of his friends. One of them was critically injured in the head, the other was killed, and my brother was shot in the back.”
“He was transported to the hospital by a donkey cart – no ambulances can reach the area, and there were dozens of injured and dead,” Naja added. “We saw him placed on the ground. There were no available beds due to the large number of casualties and dead arriving from the same location. The scenes were horrific – people missing limbs, hands or legs, others decapitated, or with open abdomens.”
Media reports said dozens of people were being treated at the hospital after the latest incident at the controversial site in Rafah. Officials at the field hospital did not say who opened fire but added that another 175 people were wounded.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said (ICRC) its field hospital in Rafah received a “mass casualty influx” of 179 people, 21 of whom were declared dead upon arrival. “All patients said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site,” the ICRC added, describing it as “the highest number of weapon-wounded in a single incident since the establishment of the field hospital over a year ago”.
Local health authorities said at least 31 of the dead were taken to Nasser hospital.
The Red Crescent also reported a further 14 Palestinians were injured near a separate aid distribution site in central Gaza.
The Israeli forces denied “firing at civilians”. However, an Israel Defense Forces official admitted that Israeli soldiers fired “warning shots toward several suspects who advanced toward the troops on Saturday”, near the aid distribution site, without specifying who the suspects were.
The Israeli-backed aid foundation claimed that it delivered aid “without incident” early on Sunday and has denied previous accounts of gunfire around its sites, which are in Israeli military zones where independent access is limited.
Israeli forces had given orders that no one should approach the hub before 6am local time. Multiple witnesses said people had begun lining up from 5am, and dozens were said to have surged forward and started running towards it. When the crowds reached the Flag Roundabout, about 0.6 miles (1km) away, Israeli forces started shooting at the crowd, witnesses said.
“I went with my brother Shuhada to get food for our children,” Hani Baraka, 43, said. ‘‘The area was very crowded. At the start, a quadcopter drone came and gave orders, saying it was still too early to open the gates and that they would open them at 6am. It seems people moved forward earlier than the time set by the army. The soldiers panicked and began firing at the crowd. My brother was shot in the head and killed instantly.”
“On its way back, the drone hit a hanging wire and fell to the ground,” Baraka added. “People rushed toward it, and then the Israeli soldiers opened fire on us. Army snipers surrounded the area and started shooting at the crowd.”
The GHF has hired private security firms, but according to witnesses, the private contractors did not open fire on the crowd.
“Inside the gate, there were armed American soldiers, but they did not fire at us,” Baraka said. “They only threw plastic stun grenades in the square to scare people and clear the area once the aid ran out.”
Reuters footage showed ambulance vehicles carrying injured people to Nasser hospital. Other clips emerged showing people running and ducking, with apparent gunfire audible in the background. One piece of footage seems to have been filmed in the Salah al-Din Road, just south of an aid distribution site in the Netzarim corridor.
Doctors at Nasser hospital reported chaotic scenes, with dozens of bodies being brought in.
“The situation in the hospital is catastrophic, due to the massacre of the hungry in Rafah city, near the aid distribution centre,” said Dr Marwan al-Hams, 53, a medic in the emergency department at Nasser hospital. “Most injuries were shot in the upper parts of the body – the head, chest, and abdomen – as the Israeli army was reportedly firing from high altitudes using aircraft or quadcopters. A witness on the scene said that shots were also fired from a crane and from tanks.”
The hub is part of a controversial new aid system.
On 28 May, Hamas accused Israel of killing at least three Palestinians and wounding 46 near one of the GHF’s distribution sites, an accusation the group denied. The Israeli military said its troops fired warning shots in the area outside the compound to re-establish control as thousands of Palestinians rushed to an aid distribution site.
Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies in March, saying Hamas was seizing deliveries for its fighters, which the group denies. Earlier this month, a global hunger monitor said half a million people in the strip faced starvation.
The IPC estimated that nearly 71,000 children under the age of five were expected to be “acutely malnourished”, with 14,100 cases expected to be severe in the next 11 months.
The UN and other humanitarian organisations have rejected the new system for food distribution, saying it would not be able to meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and allowed Israel to use food as a weapon to control the population.
The latest incident took place as Hamas and Israel exchanged blame over a faltering effort to secure a ceasefire.
Hamas said on Saturday it was seeking amendments to a US-backed ceasefire proposal, but Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff rejected the group’s response as “totally unacceptable”.
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Gaza doctor who lost nine children in Israeli airstrike dies from wounds in same attack
Hamdi al-Najjar, 40, was critically injured when Israeli forces bombed the family house in Khan Younis
The Guardian | Lorenzo Tondo & Malak A Tantesh| 1 June 2025
A Palestinian father who had lost nine of his 10 children in an Israeli airstrike has died from wounds sustained in the same attack, local health officials have said.
Hamdi al-Najjar, 40, a doctor at Nasser hospital, was critically injured when Israeli forces bombed the family house in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on 23 May, killing nine of his children. He had just returned home after accompanying his wife Alaa, a paediatrician at the Nasser medical complex, to work when the building was struck. He had initially survived alongside his son Adam, 11, who is still in hospital.
Even by the terrible standards of the Gaza conflict, their deaths had shocked the international community.
Footage shared by the director of Gaza’s health ministry and verified by the Guardian showed the burnt, dismembered bodies of Najjar’s children being pulled from the rubble of their house near a petrol station as flames engulfed what remained of the family’s home.
Alaa had received the bodies while she was still at work. Sources at the Nasser hospital who transferred the children’s bodies one by one to the morgue said their mother was not able to identify them, so bad were the burns.
Doctors told the Guardian her husband was suffering from severe injuries – brain damage and fractures caused by shrapnel, along with shrapnel wounds and fractures in the chest. He was placed on a ventilator and fitted with medical tubes.
On Sunday, they said, he passed away from the severe wounds sustained in the attack.
Following an appeal issued by Adam’s uncle, Ali al-Najjar, 50, and reported by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said the country was ready to receive Adam for medical care and was working to arrange his evacuation on 11 June.
Italy had expressed a willingness to evacuate both the father and mother as well, but due to Najjar’s critical condition, transferring him out of Gaza was deemed too dangerous. His wife had agreed for their son, Adam, to be taken to Italy with an aunt and three cousins, but said she would remain by her husband’s side.
After Najjar’s death, sources within the Italian foreign ministry have indicated that his wife may also be evacuated to Italy.
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More than 30 aid seekers killed in Gaza
Canberra Times / AAP| Nidal Al-Mughrabi & Hatem Khaled | 2 June 2025
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8981245/more-than-30-aid-seekers-killed-in-gaza/
More than 30 Palestinians were killed and nearly 170 injured in Gaza near a food distribution site, the health ministry says, as witnesses report Israeli soldiers fired on people trying to collect aid and Israel denied it.
The US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said food was handed out without incident on Sunday at the distribution point in Rafah and there were no deaths or injuries.
GHF released undated video to support its statement that showed dozens of people gathering around piles of boxes. Reuters could not independently verify the video or what took place.
Witnesses said the Israeli military opened fire as thousands of Palestinians gathered to receive food aid.
Israel’s military said an initial inquiry found soldiers had not fired on civilians while they were near or within the distribution site.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry said 31 people were killed with a single gunshot wound to the head or chest from Israeli fire as they were gathered in the Al-Alam district aid distribution area in Rafah. It said 169 were injured.
Residents and medics also said an Israeli tank had opened fire at thousands of people en route to the Rafah site.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah received 179 casualties, most with gunshot or shrapnel wounds.
“All patients said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site. This is the highest number of weapon-wounded in a single incident since the establishment of the field hospital over a year ago,” the Red Cross said.
The UN has said most of Gaza’s two million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade on aid entering the strip.
The GHF aid plan, which bypasses traditional aid groups, has come under fierce criticism from the UN and humanitarian organisations which say GHF does not follow humanitarian principles.
There were chaotic scenes as hungry Gazans rushed its sites last last week. Hamas reported deaths and injuries in the tumult and Israel said its troops fired warning shots.
Because the GHF distribution points are few and all in south Gaza, UN officials have said its plans force Palestinians, especially in the north, to relocate and face unsafe conditions.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN’s Palestinian relief agency, condemned Sunday’s deaths and said in a statement on X that “aid distribution has become a death trap”.
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office accused Israel of using aid as a weapon, “employed to exploit starving civilians and forcibly gather them at exposed killing zones, which are managed and monitored by the Israeli military”.
At Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis city where some casualties were brought, Gaza paramedic Abu Tareq said there was “a tragic situation in this place. I advise them that nobody goes to aid delivery points”.
Israel denies that people in Gaza are starving because of its actions, saying it is facilitating aid deliveries and pointing to its endorsement of the new GHF distribution centres and its consent for other aid trucks to enter Gaza.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing supplies intended for civilians and using them to entrench its hold on Gaza. Hamas denies looting supplies and has executed a number of suspected looters.
Reda Abu Jazar said her brother was killed as he waited to collect food near the Rafah aid distribution centre.
“Let them stop these massacres, stop this genocide. They are killing us,” she said.
The Red Crescent reported that 14 Palestinians were injured on Sunday near a separate GHF aid site in central Gaza.
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Musician’s health toll over Gaza war jab
The Age (& Sydney Morning Herald)| Melissa Cunningham | 2 June 2025
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has revealed his mental health suffered a heavy blow after he stormed offstage during a solo show in Melbourne last October when heckled by a pro- Palestine protester.
Yorke on Saturday posted an eight-page statement on Instagram about the war in Gaza, saying he remained in shock his “supposed silence” was perceived by some as complicity with Israel. In the post he also called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu an extremist.
During the encore of Yorke’s second show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on October 31, a male audience member yelled about the “Israeli genocide of Gaza”. He screamed, in part, “How many dead children will it take for you to condemn the genocide in Gaza?”
Yorke responded: “Hop up on the f—ing stage and say what you wanna say. Don’t stand there like a coward, come here and say it. You want to piss on everybody’s night? OK, you do it, see you later then.”
Yorke, who had already played for two hours at the sold-out Melbourne gig, took his guitar off and walked off the stage. The crowd was booing loudly before chanting for Yorke, who returned a couple of minutes later and played Radiohead hit Karma Police.
In the statement, Yorke ad dressed the incident, saying “some guy shouting at me from the dark last year … didn’t really seem like the best moment to discuss the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”. Yorke said his silence since then had been an attempt to show respect for all those who were suffering and those who had died during the conflict. However, he said this had allowed “opportunistic groups to use intimidation and defamation to fill in the blanks”.
“I regret giving them this chance,” Yorke said. “This has had a heavy toll on my mental health.” The rock star added that Netanyahu and his Israeli administration were “extremists” who “need to be stopped”, and he condemned Hamas for “choosing to hide behind the suffering of its people”.
Yorke said in his statement it was “self-evident” from his music that he “could not possibly support any form of extremism or dehumanisation of others”.
Radiohead faced criticism in 2017 for a concert in Tel Aviv despite calls for them to boycott Israel as part of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement.
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‘Scores shot’ near Gaza food point
The Age (& Sydney Morning Herald) / Reuters, AP | Mohammad Jahjouh & Samy Magdy | 2 June 2025
Cairo/Jerusalem: At least 21 people were killed and scores were wounded yesterday while on their way to receive food in the Gaza Strip, according to a Red Cross field hospital and multiple witnesses.
The witnesses said Israeli forces had fired on crowds about a kilometre from a new aid site in Gaza set up by controversial new group the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is backed by Israel and the US. The Israeli army said it was “unaware of injuries caused by [Israeli military] fire” at the site but the matter was under review.
Gaza is on the brink of famine after an 11-week blockade Israel enacted in March to put pressure on militant group Hamas. Under international pressure, Israel allowed some food and medical supplies to start entering Gaza again last month and instigated a new distribution system, but aid groups say it is nowhere near enough to feed the population of about 2.3 million people, and that the new system violates humanitarian principles.
A US ceasefire proposal which Israel has accepted would allow for the entry of aid into Gaza and a 60-day pause in fighting, alongside the release of 28 hostages held by Hamas. The militant group at the week end said it was seeking amendments to the proposal. The US said Hamas’ response to the plan was “totally unacceptable”.
Officials at the Red Cross field hospital yesterday said at least 21 people had been killed and another 175 people were wounded while trying to receive food. They did not say who opened fire. But witnesses said Israeli forces had opened fire after thousands of people heading towards the GHF distribution site in the hours before dawn congregated about one kilometre away to wait for the site to open.
The witnesses said Israeli forces ordered people to dis perse and come back later, before opening fire. An Associated Press reporter saw dozens of people being treated at the field hospital.
GHF said in a statement it had delivered aid “without incident” early yesterday. It rejected “false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos” at its distribution sites, which are in Israeli military zones where in dependent access is limited.
Multiple witnesses have said Israeli troops had fired on crowds near the delivery sites, which began operating last week under a new system where people have to pass through Israeli checkpoints and undergo screening to reach the aid distribution centres. Before yesterday, at least six people had been killed and more than 50 wounded, according to local health officials.
The foundation says the private security contractors guarding its sites have not fired on the crowds. The Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions.
One witness said he saw at least 10 bodies with gunshot wounds and several other wounded people near the aid centre yesterday morning.
“There was fire from all directions, from naval warships, from tanks and drones,” Amr Abu Teiba, who was in the crowd, said.
Witness Ibrahim Abu Saoud said the military fired from about 300 metres away and that he saw many people with gunshot wounds, including a young man who he said had died at the scene. “We weren’t able to help him,” he said.
Another witness, Mohammed Abu Teaima, 33, said he saw Israeli forces open fire and kill his cousin and another woman as they were heading towards the distribution site. He said his cousin had been shot in his chest and died at the scene. Many others were wounded, including his brother-in-law, he said.
“They opened heavy fire directly toward us,” he said as he waited for word on his wounded relative.
Israel and the US say the new aid system in place in Gaza is aimed at preventing Hamas from siphoning off assistance. Israel has not provided any evidence of systematic diversion, and the UN denies it has occurred.
UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to work with the new system.
In response to the US cease f ire plan, Hamas said it was willing to release 10 living hostages and hand over the bodies of 18 dead in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, but it also reiterated demands for an end to the war and for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, which Israel rejects.
Israel has previously rejected Hamas’ conditions, instead demanding the disarmament of the group and its dismantling as a military and governing force, along with the return of all 58 remaining hostages.
The Israeli military also said on Saturday it had killed Hamas’ Gaza chief, Mohammad Sinwar, in a strike on a hospital in southern Gaza on May 13.
The war began when Hamas led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.
Israel’s military campaign has killed over 54,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants.
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Never again: Aussie holocaust survivors shine a light of hope into the dark
The Australian | Liam Mendes | 2 June 2025
For those attending the first national reunion in more than 40 years of Australian Holocaust survivors there was a determination to embrace the present and to celebrate light over darkness.
In a poignant show of resilience, unity and a celebration of life, about 85 survivors attended the event at the NSW parliament on Sunday afternoon. They were joined by NSW Premier Chris Minns and Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon.
The event, arranged in “direct response” to the alarming rise in anti-Semitism following the October 7, 2023, terror attacks by Hamas, was masterminded by Holocaust survivor Eddy Boas – who survived the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as a child.
Mr Boas, who was three years old when transported to the concentration camp, did not want to talk about the horrors of the past.
“Let’s talk about our life in Australia, that’s our new life,” he said.
“As Jews, I know we’re having a hard time at the moment, but believe me, be positive, it will all go away and you’ll go back to this country the way it was, I hope.”
Mr Minns spoke about Yvonne Engelman, who survived Auschwitz, and who died last month at the age of 98. “When I think of Yvonne, I think there is no better retort to the evil of Nazism than a long life, a happy life that’s been well lived,” he said.
He praised the Jewish comm-unity’s contribution to society, saying the nation “owes an unpayable debt to your generation of Jewish migrants, people who came to this country and changed it undeniably for the better”.
“When you look at our skyline, when you visit our hospitals, or work in the business world, if you spend time in science and philanthropy and the arts, it’s clear the benefits of Jewish migration to our country are obvious,” he said.
“We have a responsibility to have not just this generation of Jewish migrants, but all people who call Australia home of the Jewish faith, we owe it to you to have your back to live up to that pledge of never again.”
Mr Maimon said the event was not only about honouring survivors, but honouring the truth behind the six million Jews killed.
“Men, women and children murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators, aided by the silence and complicity of ordinary people who choose not to act,” Mr Maimon said.
“Yes, there were righteous individuals, angels, who risked everything … (but) most stood by allowing evil to unfold, but you, with unimaginable strength, march forward. You refuse to be erased, your presence here today, along with your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, is a declaration. It is living proof of the Nazi regime failure.”
Ernie Friedlander was at the age of nine saved by a German soldier who helped him and his mother escape from being transported to a concentration camp. The rest of his family were killed. “I learned not to dwell on the past, but to see light going into the darkness of my past,” he said. “It is important that we move on and appreciate what Australia has to offer, Australia is a very good country, and we got to appreciate it. What’s happening now is actually an attack on Western society … we don’t realise at this stage the danger of destabilisation which is taking place, it’s an attack on democracy, so we need to consolidate and be aware and wake up to the danger that we are facing in Australia. You know what is important? Not to discriminate, not to stereotype people, because that is very important, again, because racism is destructive.
“We shouldn’t pick on individuals, we should see the individual as a human being.”
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US slams Hamas response to deal
The Australian / Agencies | Michael R. Gordon & Summer Said | 2 June 2025
US special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Saturday that Hamas’s response to the Trump administration proposal to pause the fighting in the Gaza Strip was “totally unacceptable”, setting back hopes that a breakthrough in the 20-month-long conflict with Israel might be at hand.
The proposed agreement calls on Hamas to release 10 of the nearly 20 hostages Israel believes are still alive. The bodies of other hostages would also be handed over.
In return, Israel would release a much larger number of Palestinians it is holding, and a 60-day ceasefire would be put in place, according to a draft viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
On Friday, President Donald Trump said Israel and Hamas were “very close” to a ceasefire deal, which would set the stage for talks to permanently end the conflict. But after reviewing Hamas’s response on Saturday, Witkoff said in a social-media post that Hamas’s response “only takes us backward”.
“Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week,” wrote Witkoff, who would preside over those negotiations.
Basem Nain, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said the group had not rejected Witkoff’s proposal but was objecting to new Israeli demands.
He added that Hamas wanted guarantees that the new talks would “end the war on Gaza”. US officials say Israel agreed to the proposal, which was then presented to Hamas.
Hamas has suggested changes including the staggered release of the 10 hostages, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and returning to a system in which humanitarian aid was delivered by the UN.
Most of Hamas’s leadership has been killed in the fighting, but it still seeks to recruit new members.
A major concern of Hamas is that the proposed deal would enable Israel to resume its military campaign after the ceasefire expires. Israel says its ultimate goal is to end Hamas’s control over the enclave, and arrange for its fighters to put down their arms while its leaders leave the strip.
An Israeli source said that any Hamas amendments to the original proposal would be taken as a rejection of the Witkoff proposal.
Israel has previously called for Hamas to completely disarm and for its leaders to go into exile. It has also refused to agree on wording that would call for a withdrawal of its military.
Soon after the statement was made, air raid sirens sounded in Israeli communities around the Gaza border as three rockets were fired.
A statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters, a body established by the families of those who were kidnapped in the attacks of October 7, 2023, said the Israeli government should agree to the terms if it secured the release of hostages.
“We wish to remind everyone that war is a means, not an end in itself,” the group said. “The vast majority of the Israeli public is united around one consensus – bringing back all 58 hostages in a single operation, even at the cost of ending the war.”
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For a real perspective, PM should take up Israel’s invitation
The Australian | Letters | 2 June 2025
Chris Kenny makes a powerful case for Anthony Albanese to visit Israel and engage meaningfully in the issues that are distressing for so many Australians (“On the ground in Israel, the sense of betrayal is palpable”, 31/5-1/6). As Kenny writes, the conflict is not about Palestinian statehood but about the destruction of the state of Israel. Hamas successfully uses elements of the press and social media to vilify Israel with demonstrably false claims of genocide and apartheid.
Yet Hamas itself is a genocidal death cult that is willing to sacrifice its own people and uses human hostages as bargaining chips. It is obscene, and of great concern, that Hamas’s actions are supported by members of our community in the name of freedom for Palestinians. Israel deserves our full support in its goal to defeat Hamas and deliver lasting peace to the region. A visit by Anthony Albanese is long overdue.
Allan Kalus, Windsor, Vic
In writing about the war in Gaza, Henry Ergas points to the grim realities of World War II in Europe and quotes Winston Churchill, who vowed that no means would be spared to ensure “every trace of Hitler’s footsteps, every stain of his infected, corroding fingers would be sponged and purged from the surface of the Earth” (“New Age of Appeasement”, 30/5-1/6).
After December 1944 Nazi Germany had no hope of victory. But Hitler refused to surrender. The Allies then kept bombing German cities until May 6, 1945. No matter how many Palestinians die, Hamas refuses to give up power in Gaza and release the hostages. It doesn’t care how many more Palestinians die. But in a recent joint statement by Australia, France, Canada and the UK it’s Israel that’s being urged to stop the fighting.
It’s hardly surprising that Chris Kenny found during his recent visit to the Jewish state that Israeli officials used terms such as “backstabbed” and “betrayed” when referring to the poorly informed criticism from Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong on Israel defending itself (“On the ground in Israel, the sense of betrayal is palpable” 31/5-1/6).
Anthony Bergin, Reid, ACT
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Hamas ‘rejects’ peace
Daily Telegraph (& Newscorp tabloids) | 2 June 2025
GAZA CITY: Hamas’s offer to hand over 10 live Israeli hostages and 18 dead captives, along with other amendments to a US-backed ceasefire proposal, has been slammed as “totally unacceptable” by Tel Aviv and Washington.
The militant group’s response – the most promising sign of progress toward a peace deal since March – accepted some of the terms of the original proposal drawn up by Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy.
But, as well as handing over a handful of the remaining hostages they abducted in the raid on Israel in October 7, 2023, they included extra conditions.
“Our response includes principles that would lead to a permanent ceasefire, the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, and guarantees for the continued flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza residents,” Hamas said
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed Mr Witkoff’s assessment that the response was “unacceptable”, accusing Hamas of clinging “to its rejectionism”.
Israel last week warned Hamas to either accept the deal and free the hostages held in Gaza “or be annihilated”.
In a statement on Saturday, Hamas said it had “submitted its response.”
“As part of this agreement, 10 living prisoners of the occupation held by the resistance will be released, in addition to the return of 18 bodies, in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners,” it added.
A source in the group’s political bureau said it had offered “a positive response to Mr Witkoff, but with emphasis on guaranteeing a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal” from the Gaza Strip.
Mr Witkoff said Hamas’s response was “totally unacceptable and only takes us backward”, urging the group to “accept the framework proposal we put forward”.
“That is the only way we can close a 60-day ceasefire deal in the coming days in which half of the living hostages and half of those who are deceased will come home to their families and in which we can have … substantive negotiations in good faith to try to reach a permanent ceasefire.”
Hamas has long maintained that any deal should lay out a permanent end to the war.
Israel has baulked at that prospect, insisting on the need to destroy the group to prevent a repeat of the 2023 attack. “Israel will continue its efforts to bring our hostages home and to defeat Hamas,” Mr Netanyahu’s office said.
Of the 251 hostages taken, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 Israel says are dead.
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Rejection of hate
Daily Telegraph | Letters | 2 June 2025
Rejection of hate
Despite ‘hot-blooded’ issues, including the Israel-Palestine divide that came to the fore in the recent federal election, the traditional Labor Party was returned to office with a record majority.
Indeed, Joe Hildebrand’s “Result is a rejection of outrage and hate” (31/5) is on the money.
If anything, the election outcome perhaps highlights the prevailing wisdom of the silent Australians; the majority choosing not to be caught up with overseas conflicts and not wishing to import these intractable problems to our shores.
We are the lucky country in choosing to be peaceful and pragmatic, and electing mainstream or traditional parties which focus on middle moderate Aussies aspirations to be peaceful and pragmatic.
Put simply, we choose not to be caught up with complex, divisive, imported conflicts on our electoral radar. It is noteworthy that as a largely successful, multicultural nation, our comparatively mild squabbles put other nations’ often extreme conflicts to shame.
Steve Ngeow, Chatswood
UN ineffective
Shame on the United Nations, shame on all Western leaders except President Trump, and shame on you PM Anthony Albanese.
Shame on all of you for your call for sanctions on Israel. Shame on you for deriding a peace-loving country for defending itself from continuous terrorist attacks by the evil Hamas regime. The Jewish nation has been the most persecuted people in modern history. Yet you continue to pour your support into the barbaric Hamas terrorists.
Have you forgotten it was Hamas who carried out the unprovoked attack on October 7, 2023. They murdered, butchered and defiled 1800 innocent civilians, taking over 250 hostages, of which 58 remain in captivity. It is these murderous barbarians that should be brought to justice, not the victim Israel.
With war raging all across the globe what is the point of a United Nations Council. They are as ineffective as the World Health Organisation in bringing peace and unity in a world currently at war, not just with itself but the planet as well.
Barry Lloyd, Bateau Bay
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Jews targeted in new protest low
Courier-Mail | Mikaela Mulveney & Stella McKenna | 2 June 2025
Pro-Palestinian protesters have gatecrashed a private Jewish event at a popular Brisbane pub, with one partygoer claiming they were jostled, screamed at and had something thrown at them by some among the crowd as they entered.
Jewish leaders condemned the protesters’ actions as a new low, while Premier David Crisafulli said he wanted all multicultural groups to be able to celebrate what made them special.
It is understood members of the Jewish community attended a private function at The Wickham in Fortitude Valley to celebrate the Jewish holiday Shavuot.
Attendee Aaron claimed he was jostled and had something thrown at him as he attempted to enter the building.
“I had people, you know, five inches from my face, shouting that I was a baby killer, and I should be ashamed of myself and that all Zionists are terrorists, etc, and all I was trying to do was go to a Jewish function to celebrate a festival that happened to be a dance party,” he said.
“It was something that was terrifying and intimidating … I was scared once I was in there, it would be very difficult to get out.”
Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies president Jason Steinberg condemned the incident. “This was a mob ready to disrupt a Jewish event on the streets of Brisbane, in a pub, and it’s unacceptable that it happened, and it’s a terrible situation for our community, who have been feeling unsafe since the seventh of October 2023, and an incident like this makes us feel less safe,” Mr Steinberg said.
“It was a fun time for people to gather and in a very challenging time where we haven’t felt safe as a community or felt very happy about the rise in anti-Semitism, so for this group to target us in that way is a new low.”
Details of the event were kept hidden from the public, Mr Steinberg said, and he was surprised to learn the protesters had found out about it.
Mr Crisafulli said on Sunday: “I make this point, I want multicultural groups to be able to celebrate what makes them special, and to be able to be a part of the state.”
Videos from the protest show people with Palestinian flags chanting “from the river to the sea” and “free, free Palestine” as they made their way to The Wickham’s entrance.
Former Greens councillor and lord mayoral candidate Jonathan Sriranganthan live-streamed the event, praising protesters who showed their “opposition to Zionism on the streets of Brisbane”.
There is no suggestion Mr Sriranganthan engaged in any wrongdoing, nor that any of the claims pertained to him.
“They’re not causing any real disruption, they’re just out here voicing their opposition to Zionism and The Wickham’s decision,” Mr Sriranganthan said. He later told The Courier-Mail he took issue with reports of violence.
‘The event was very chill and has been mischaracterised from some of the reports I have seen,” he said.
“I think we have a responsibility to protest against the genocide in Gaza and use our voices on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of people killed during this war.
“It is important to protest against a political lobby group.
“The protest was organised by workers at The Wickham who were not comfortable with the group’s presence.
“It is important to stand with workers.”
Police were investigating and no arrests had been made.
“Officers engaged with the group and remained at the scene to keep the peace and ensure the safety of venue patrons,” a spokesperson said.
The Wickham was approached for comment.
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This shocking display shames us
Courier-Mail | Editorial | 2 June 2025
For Jews, the Shavuot holiday is very special. Traditionally marking the wheat harvest in biblical times, it is also coincides with the date that the faithful believe Moses revealed the 10 commandments to the Israelites. There are many ways to observe the holiday, but the partaking of meals and being “in a state of joy” is most common.
For younger people, that means a dance party. And that is what members of Brisbane’s Jewish community had in mind when they booked a private room at The Wickham in Fortitude Valley on Saturday night.
They, of course, realise that tensions have been high in some parts of the community since the shocking Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the IDF’s brutal, ongoing operation in Gaza that followed. That’s why they booked a private room.
It is difficult to believe what happened next could take place in modern Australia, but it did.
Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside on Wickham St, chanting and screaming at them.
“I had people, you know, five inches from my face, shouting that I was a baby killer, and I should be ashamed of myself and that all Zionists are terrorists, etc, and all I was trying to do was go to a Jewish function to celebrate a festival that happened to be a dance party,” one attendee said.
Former Greens councillor Jonathan Sri last night said the protest was organised by workers at The Wickham.
‘I think we have a responsibility to protest against the genocide in Gaza and use our voices on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of people killed during this war,” he said.
He appeared at the protest on livestream where he called the party a “Zionist event”, however it is not suggested he engaged in any of the acts claimed above.
“I think it’s kind of cool that people have mobilised at short notice to Zionism on the streets of Brisbane. They are not causing any real disruption, they are just out here voicing their opposition to Zionism and The Wickham’s decision (to host the event),” Mr Sri said in a video he filmed outside of the Wickham, while the protesters chanted “from the river to the sea” behind him.
There is so much to call out here.
That “river to the sea” chant, let’s not forget, calls for the annihilation of the state of Israel.
The Jewish attendees were not “on the streets”. They were in a private function.
The “Zionist event” could probably best be compared with a Christmas party. Religious in origin but secular in practice. It is this failure to separate the actions of the Israeli military from the lives of everyday Australian Jews that is responsible for the wave of anti-Semitism that is sweeping Australia.
And it is disgraceful for Mr Sri or anyone else to fail to see that distinction, and to feel they can hold anyone of the Jewish faith accountable for the actions of Israel. Premier David Crisafulli probably put it best yesterday when he said; “I want multicultural groups to be able to celebrate what makes them special, and to be able to be a part of the state.”
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