Israel kills 11 in strikes on Gaza; Hezbollah rejects “illusory” ceasefire as Israeli assault continues; House passes war powers resolution

Hezbollah rejects “illusory” ceasefire in Lebanon, demands Israeli withdrawal and end to aggression. Israeli officials signal that they will not respect ceasefire, continue strikes on Lebanon. Hezbollah reports strikes on Israeli officer, soldiers. Iranian foreign minister says ceasefire must cover Lebanon. President Donald Trump says Iran was “reciprocating” U.S. strikes, declares ceasefire still intact. Israel bombards Gaza, killing at least 11. Israeli forces and settlers carry out raids, assaults, and detentions across the occupied West Bank. More than 9,500 Palestinians reported missing in Gaza since October 2023, including thousands of women and children. House passes war powers resolution directing Trump to end Iran war. Rep. Rashida Tlaib proposes Lebanon War Powers resolution. Congress presses Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Israel. House moves forward on fusing U.S. and Israeli militaries. Sen. Bernie Sanders and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman meet to discuss proposal for public ownership stake in major AI companies. Jewish Columbia faculty file EEOC claims alleging harassment for supporting Palestinian rights. U.S. military kills two in latest boat strike in eastern Pacific. Haiti’s prime minister publishes electoral decree the country’s own electoral council says he secretly rewrote. U.S. investigates two more Mexican governors. Germany loses UN Security Council seat. Unrest in Mogadishu. Sudanese army and RSF clash in Al-Barka. Ukrainian strikes kill four in Russian-annexed Crimea. Islamic State-linked fighters kill 16 civilians in eastern Congo. China bans four New Zealand lawmakers for visiting Taiwan. FROM DROP SITE: Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill discusses U.S.–Iran negotiations , Gaza , and the U.K. government’s crackdown on pro-Palestine speech in an interview with Sky News’s Yalda Hakim. Drop Site is now live on WhatsApp. Get our latest reporting, podcasts, and breaking news, delivered directly. Join the channel here. This is Drop Site Daily, our free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday. Today’s edition is being sent to more than 750,000 subscribers. Help us grow that number by forwarding and recommending this newsletter. Subscribe 🛒 Get your “ Drop [Site] News/Not Bombs ” Hoodie here: Get Your Hoodie Palestinians mourn beside the bodies of relatives who were killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes during a funeral ceremony in Gaza City, Palestine, on June 04, 2026. Photo by Saeed M. M. T. Jaras/Anadolu via Getty Images. Subscribe Lebanon Hezbollah rejects “illusory” ceasefire, demands Israeli withdrawal and end to aggression: Hezbollah rejected a new ceasefire plan announced Wednesday by the U.S., Israel, and the Lebanese government that was negotiated without its participation. The United States, Israel, and Lebanon issued a joint statement Wednesday announcing that they had signed a ceasefire agreement reportedly conditioned on Hezbollah’s withdrawal from south of the Litani River, complete cessation of Hezbollah fire, and the creation of “pilot zones” under exclusive Lebanese Armed Forces control. It includes no provision requiring Israel’s withdrawal from the country, nor does it call for a complete cessation of Israeli strikes. In the statement, the three parties condemned Iran, citing its “ongoing activities that undermine stability throughout the Middle East.” The statement also notes that the U.S. has committed to supporting the Lebanese military in its attempt to assert control of the country. Talks between the parties are set to reconvene the week of June 22, when a “comprehensive agreement” will be under discussion. Hezbollah’s leader Naim Qassem rejected the “illusory” ceasefire proposal in a televised statement, saying it was “a roadmap for the annihilation of a section of the Lebanese ​people and the enslavement of the rest.” Qassem said that any ceasefire must include southern Lebanon, and “ending the comprehensive aggression, achieving a ceasefire, and securing Israel’s withdrawal.” “We did not make any commitment to any party to stop resisting as long as there is occupation,” Qassem added. Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun described ceasefire negotiations as difficult, saying the head of the Lebanese delegation Simon Karam suspended participation at one point due to Israeli intransigence, prompting Secretary of State Marco Rubio to intervene and revive the talks. Aoun called the resulting agreement “a last opportunity,” and said implementation could begin within 24 hours once all parties provide their approval. Israeli officials signal that they will not respect ceasefire, continue strikes: IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir declared on Wednesday, prior to the new ceasefire plan being announced, that “there is no ceasefire” for Israeli forces in Lebanon. “We are working to maximize the freedom of action that has been granted to us and will seize every opportunity to remove threats to the citizens of Israel and to our forces,” he said. He added that Israel would not withdraw from its self-declared “security zone” in southern Lebanon until it believes the “threats to northern Israeli communities have been removed”, and threatened to maintain troop positions along the so-called “Yellow Line” indefinitely. Similarly, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that the ceasefire with Lebanon grants the Israeli military the “freedom” to strike Beirut in response to any Hezbollah fire on Israeli communities. Katz stated that Israeli forces would continue their military operations within the country, remain in the security zone up to the “Yellow Line,” and press on in its efforts to “dismantle” Hezbollah’s infrastructure. Casualty count: At least 3,526 people have been killed, and 10,733 injured, in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March 2, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Israeli attacks on Lebanon continue Thursday: Five people were killed and four others were wounded in an Israeli strike on Sohmor in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Thursday, according to the state-run National News Agency. An Israeli attack on a motorcycle in Maaroub killed one person and wounded another. Three people were also killed in a strike on Al-Abassiya in Tyre. The Israeli military also issued an order to residents of southern Lebanon Thursday, demanding they not return to areas south of the Zahrani river, and stating that “anyone who travels south would be putting their life at risk.” A series of mortar attacks killed a UNIFIL peacekeeper on Thursday morning at a Spanish base near Marjayoun in southern Lebanon and wounded two others, the UN mission said. UNIFIL later reported that the peacekeeper was a Serbian national, though it has yet announced who was responsible for the attack. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez confirmed Thursday that a mortar attack wounded two Spanish members of the UN mission, and offered his nation’s “most absolute condemnation of the violence” on X. Hezbollah reports strikes on Israeli officer, soldiers: A Hezbollah explosive FPV drone struck the vehicle of IDF Northern Command chief Major General Rafi Milo in southern Lebanon on Thursday, hitting it just after he and an aide stepped out during a field visit to a village with other officers. No casualties were reported from the attack, according to Israeli public broadcaster Kan. Hezbollah also announced on Thursday that it targeted a gathering of Israeli vehicles and soldiers with drones in the town of Al-Qantara. Israel kills five paramedics in Lebanon: An Israeli airstrike on the town of Zebdine in the Nabatieh district killed one paramedic and wounded a second on Wednesday, according to the country’s Health Ministry. This was at least the fifth paramedic killed in Lebanon that day. Iran and Ceasefire Iranian foreign minister says ceasefire must cover Lebanon: In a wide-ranging interview with Al-Mayadeen earlier on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said any end to the war must halt hostilities across all fronts, declaring that, “Either the war stops in both Iran and Lebanon, or it doesn’t stop in either.” Araghchi said he personally lobbied Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to ensure Lebanon was explicitly included in any ceasefire text. Also concerning Lebanon, Araghchi called Hezbollah “an integral part of Lebanon’s political structure,” and complimented the party’s current Secretary General, Naim Qassem, for exceeding Iran’s expectations in the current conflict. Regarding negotiations, Araghchi said messages continue to be exchanged with Washington, but “no progress has been made in days.” He also argued that the 40-day war had disproved American assumptions that Iran was a “weak country,” stating that “the Americans were forced to seek negotiations,” because the Iranian people had united against it. Trump says Iran was “reciprocating” U.S. strikes, declares ceasefire still intact: President Donald Trump addressed this week’s hostilities in an Oval Office press gaggle on Wednesday. He told reporters that Iranian attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain were a direct response to prior U.S. military action, stating that Iran was “slightly provoked,” and stopped short of condemning the strikes. “There’s a reason for everything,” Trump said. Trump claimed that the broader ceasefire agreement remains in effect, and added that negotiations are progressing “very well.” “If it happens,” he said, referring to a potential ceasefire deal, “it may happen over the weekend.” Satellite imagery appears to show damage at U.S. air base in Kuwait following Iranian strikes: New satellite imagery released on Soar Atlas Thursday appears to show damage at the U.S. Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait following Wednesday’s Iranian attacks, undercutting the U.S. claim that all incoming missiles and drones were intercepted or failed. Khamenei warns of Israeli and U.S. attempts to sow division: Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that the United States and Israel, having failed militarily and suffered what he called “deep humiliation,” have shifted to a hybrid war aimed at sowing doubt, despair, and division within Iran. “Any action that breeds cynicism or despair among the people is a form of helping the enemy of this country and its people,” he said, urging Iranians to respond to these efforts with “steadfastness, clear-sightedness and unity.” Palestine Casualty count: Over the last 24 hours, 11 Palestinians were killed and 32 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,956 killed, with 173,043 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 947 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 2,935, while 781 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israel bombards Gaza City, killing at least 9: At least nine Palestinians were killed and 15 others were wounded in a wave of Israeli airstrikes that struck Gaza City shortly after midnight Thursday. The strikes hit homes in Al-Shati refugee camp, the Karama neighborhood, Tel al-Hawa, and Sheikh Radwan in Gaza City. Witnesses described widespread destruction and bodies burned beyond recognition after homes were hit while families were sleeping. One strike on an apartment in northwestern Gaza City killed five people, leaving a nine-year-old girl as the sole survivor among her relatives. Palestinian agencies say Gaza war generated 33.2 million tonnes of carbon emissions: The Israeli war on Gaza generated an estimated 33.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions—comparable to the annual emissions of some countries—according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and the Environmental Quality Authority via WAFA. About 1.9 million tonnes were linked directly to Israeli military operations and the remainder associated with debris removal and future reconstruction. In a joint statement marking World Environment Day, the agencies said Gaza is facing a severe environmental collapse, citing the destruction of more than 90% of wastewater infrastructure, the accumulation of around 710,000 tonnes of household waste and more than 60 million tonnes of rubble from the destruction of over 330,000 housing units. The statement also cited a recent UNOSAT report showing that about 86% of Gaza’s agricultural land had been damaged or destroyed by the end of June 2025, rising to 94% in northern Gaza. The agencies further reported a rise in Israeli environmental violations in the occupied West Bank, with 685 incidents recorded in 2025 compared with 535 in 2024. Israeli forces and settlers carry out raids, assaults, and detentions across the occupied West Bank: Israeli forces wounded five Palestinians during a Thursday raid on a home in Doha west of Bethlehem. In Nablus, dozens of Israeli military vehicles and a bulldozer stormed Joseph’s Tomb overnight, and in Beita, Israeli settlers reportedly beat a Palestinian man, according to Al Jazeera. Israeli