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Relatives of hostages and other demonstrators gathered in Tel Aviv on Wednesday to demand the Israeli government accept a deal to release those taken by Hamas on October 7. The protest comes as US Secretary of Sate Antony Blinken said that mediators would keep trying to close an elusive cease-fire deal which has global support but has not been fully embraced by Israel or Hamas.

STORY: :: Gaza City, Gaza Both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes in the early stages of the war in Gaza, a U.N. inquiry found on Wednesday (June 12). It also says Israel's actions constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses. ::Beeri, Israel The findings were from two parallel reports published by the U.N. Commission of Inquiry. One focusing on the October 7 Hamas attacks, ::Gaza City, Gaza and another on Israel's military response in Gaza. Israel did not cooperate with the commission, which it says has an anti-Israeli bias. Israel's diplomatic mission to the U.N. in Geneva rejected the findings. Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ::Beeri, Israel According to Israeli tallies, 1,200 people were killed and about 250 were taken hostage in the October 7 attack. ::Rafah, Gaza The Palestinian health ministry says the military retaliation in Gaza has since killed over 37,000 people. The reports, which cover the conflict through to the end of December, found that both sides committed war crimes... ....including torture; murder or wilful killing; outrages upon personal dignity; and inhuman or cruel treatment. The report added Israel also committed additional war crimes including starvation as a method of warfare. ::Khan Younis, Gaza The COI statement said some of the war crimes such as murder also constituted crime against humanity by Israel. Using a term reserved for the most serious international crimes knowingly committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilians. ::Re'im, Israel On the report on the October 7 attack, the commission verified four incidents of mass killings in public shelters. It said that suggests militants had "standing operational instructions." It also identified "a pattern of sexual violence" by Palestinian armed groups but could not independently verify reports of rape. The evidence gathered by such U.N.-mandated bodies has sometimes formed the basis for war crimes prosecutions and could be drawn on by the International Criminal Court. ::Israel Defense Ministry In May, the ICC prosecutor's office has requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chief Yoav Gallant. The COI findings will be discussed by the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva next week.

An analyst for the International Crisis Group said Tuesday the U.N. Security Council's vote approving a resolution on a Gaza cease-fire was "an important vote, but it is a symbolic one" aimed at ending the eight-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. (AP video: Joseph B. Frederick)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged leaders gathered at a humanitarian conference for Gaza to press Hamas into accepting a cease-fire deal with Israel.

STORY: ::Angry scenes erupt as Israel's parliament votes on a law to conscript ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military ::The families of Gaza hostages demand more action to get their loved ones home ::June 10, 2024 ::Jerusalem The move comes a day after centrist former general Benny Gantz quit the government in a dispute over the strategic aims of the Gaza war. The vote and confrontations underscored the volatile mix of forces buffeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now increasingly dependent on his allies from the hard right. The conscription bill, which must still pass further readings and committee hearings after the late night vote, would see a gradual entry into the military of some ultra-Orthodox Jews, who have traditionally resisted serving in the armed forces. As parliament prepared to vote on the bill, there were angry exchanges at a meeting of the finance committee, where members of some of the hostage families waylaid Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and demanded the government do more to bring the captives home. Smotrich, who has ruled out any deal with Hamas and has opposed proposals for a ceasefire deal which would bring the hostages back in an exchange for Palestinian prisoners, dismissed the families' campaign as cynical.

STORY: U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT FOR JUNE 2024, JOONKOOK HWANG: “The draft resolution has been adopted…”
 The United Nations Security Council backed a plan on Monday for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It’s the plan U.S. President Joe Biden outlined on May 31, aimed at ending the eight-month-long war. Monday’s resolution welcomes that proposal, says Israel has accepted the deal and calls on Hamas to agree to it. HWANG: “Those in favor of the draft resolution…” // “…please raise their hand.” Fourteen security council members voted in favor. :: HWANG: “Abstentions?” Russia abstained. Its ambassador asked what Israel had specifically agreed to. Hamas welcomed the adoption of the U.S.-drafted resolution. In a statement the militant group said it’s ready to cooperate with mediators over implementing the plan's principles. :: May 31, 2024 JOE BIDEN: “It’s time for the war to end…” The resolution supports a three-phase ceasefire plan laid out by Biden, which he described as an Israeli initiative. Negotiators from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar have been trying to hash out a ceasefire for months. :: Released October 7, 2023 Hamas says it wants a permanent end to the war in Gaza and Israeli withdrawal from the enclave of 2.3 million people. Israel is retaliating against Hamas, which rules Gaza, over the October 7 attack by its militants. More than 1,200 people were killed and over 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. :: May 31, 2024 More than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli assault, according to Gaza health authorities.

STORY: BLINKEN: "If you want a ceasefire, press Hamas to say yes. ." U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday shuttled between Cairo and Jerusalem pushing a proposed truce in Gaza. Blinken met first with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Afterward, he told reporters that the greatest obstacle in reaching a ceasefire was that Hamas had yet to accept the terms of a deal outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden last month. "So, the only party that has not accepted, the only party that has not said yes, is Hamas. That’s who everyone is waiting on. That’s who the Palestinians in Gaza are waiting on. It’s who the Israelis are waiting on. It’s who the hostage and the hostages' families are waiting on." Blinken then flew to Israel, where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a statement, Netanyahu said his country remained "committed to total victory." A Hamas official told Reuters on Monday that Blinken's comments were biased toward Israel. :: Released October 7, 2023 The war has now entered its ninth month, since Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people and took some 250 others hostage in a rampage through southern Israel. In response, Israel launched an assault on the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians and reduced most of the enclave to wasteland. :: Source: Israeli Military Israel's military on Monday released video it said showed scenes from a weekend operation that resulted in the rescue of four hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7 and recovered from the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip. :: June 9, 2024 Palestinian officials said the operation, which involved airstrikes and ground troops, killed 274 people, making it one of the deadliest assaults of the war. Anas Alyan picked through the ruins of his home. "This is our house. We were safely sitting in it and suddenly, several consecutive explosions happened. We did not know what was happening. I was sitting upstairs in my apartment, I went down to my parents' floor and found all my relatives thrown because of the Jewish (Israeli) soldiers. They were firing at us with mortar rockets, at the living room. All my relatives were wounded. There was also a lot of gunfire - F16, quadcopters, drones. It was horrible. Soldiers in this area were all firing." Israeli forces said they were aware of under 100 Palestinians killed and did not know how many were combatants. :: Source: Hamas Armed Wing Hamas's military wing released this video on Sunday purporting to show its fighters battling Israeli tanks in the streets of Rafah, in southern Gaza. Israeli forces began an operation in the city last month despite White House pressure to hold off. :: June 7, 2024 Around half of the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million people had been sheltering in Rafah before last month's assault, and a million have had to flee again.