Kelly Campa, Johanna Moore, Annika Ganzeveld, and Nicholas Carl



Information Cutoff: 2:00 pm ET

The IDF announced on June 16 it has begun executing a daily 11-hour “tactical pause” along a route east of Rafah to increase humanitarian aid delivery into the southern Gaza Strip. The IDF stated that it decided to suspend military activities daily between 0800 and 1900 local time along an approximately 10.5 kilometer route that leads from the Kerem Shalom crossing along Salah ad Din Road to al Fukhkhari, south of Khan Younis. The IDF stated that there will be no changes to how humanitarian aid enters the Gaza Strip. UN officials previously said in May 2024 that heavy fighting around Kerem Shamon crossing made it too dangerous for UN trucks inside the Gaza Strip to reach the crossing. Scott Anderson, who is a senior official at UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), said that the pauses should allow UNRWA and other aid groups to coordinate with trucks at Kerem Shalom crossing in safer conditions and without needing to coordinate with the IDF. The IDF has previously announced “tactical pauses” in several neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip to facilitate humanitarian aid delivery to Palestinian civilians. The new 11-hour daily tactical pauses are longer and cover a larger area than the IDF’s previous pauses.

Israel will only continue ceasefire negotiations with Hamas based on the US-proposed ceasefire agreement supported by the UN Security Council, according to an unidentified senior Israeli negotiator. The official said that Hamas made “substantial” changes to “dozens of sections” in the proposal. The official called on mediators to ensure that negotiations follow the outline of the proposal. Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh claimed that Hamas and other Palestinian militias have shown “great flexibility,” ignoring the fact that Hamas has not changed its maximalist negotiating position since December 2023. Haniyeh accused Israel of rejecting Hamas’ flexibility to “circumvent and deceive” negotiators to rescue remaining Israeli hostages and continue military operations in the Gaza Strip. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that Egyptian and Qatari mediators will approach Hamas to inquire whether the group will accept the US-proposed ceasefire.

Key Takeaways:

• Gaza Strip: Palestinian fighters have continued to defend against Israeli forces in western Rafah. The IDF announced on June 16 it has begun executing a daily 11-hour “tactical pause” along a route east of Rafah to increase humanitarian aid delivery into the southern Gaza Strip.

• West Bank: Israeli forces engaged the al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in al Faraa refugee camp, Tubas, and Balata refugee camp, Nablus.

• Southern Lebanon and Golan Heights: The IDF intercepted a ”suspicious aerial target” over Lebanese airspace approaching Nahariya.

• Yemen: United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported two explosions near a vessel approximately 40 nautical miles south of al Mokha, Yemen.

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ISW–CTP has launched an interactive map of Israeli ground operations to accompany our daily campaign assessments of the Israel–Hamas war. This product complements the daily static maps that ISW-CTP produces with high-fidelity and, where possible, street-level assessments of the war in Israel.

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