Good evening Middle East readers. 

Our live blog will soon come to an end. Here are today's main developments:

- Palestine's first ever Olympian dies in Gaza from lack of treatment due to Israel's war

- Israeli air strikes in Rafah killed three Palestinians on Friday

- The US will impose sanctions on an Israeli group on Friday for attacking humanitarian aid convoys bound for starving civilians in Gaza

- Israeli jets and artillery struck southern Lebanon on Friday, after dozens of missiles were launched towards northern Israel

- Two hostages killed during Israeli strike on Rafah, Hamas says

- The UN has called for calm in response to Israeli soldiers allegedly attempting to start fires in southern Lebanon 

- EU's chief diplomat expressed his concern over the withholding of funds by the Israeli government to the Palestinian Authority

The US is now considering temporarily dismantling and relocating its pier off the coast of Gaza for the second time over fears of poor conditions.

After it was previously damaged and repaired two times in the past month, the US-built pier meant to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians now also faces the question of whether the United Nations will even continue using it to distribute aid.

The mounting obstacles set out in front of the pier in its short lifespan are demonstrative of what former US officials, aid agencies and government watchdogs say is a US public relations stunt that serves to divert attention away from Israel's ongoing destruction of Gaza, as well as Israel's restriction of aid to the strip.

"This pier has been an immense and costly distraction from the work that we need to do and the problems we need to solve," Scott Paul, who leads humanitarian policy at Oxfam, told Middle East Eye.

"This was a way of avoiding addressing the most critical obstacles to humanitarian assistance in Gaza, and so I think it's fair to say that it has not met even the administration's modest expectations for it."

Read more: ?The Gaza Pier: A public relations stunt doomed from the start

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the G7 summit in Italy, in part to discuss the war on Gaza, according to a statement by Turkey’s Communications Directorate.

Earlier today, Lula said in a post on X: “In Gaza, we see the legitimate right to defence transform into the right to revenge. We are faced with the daily violation of humanitarian law, which has victimised thousands of innocent civilians, especially women and children.”

Erdogan and Lula have both been outspoken against Israel’s actions in Gaza, with Brazil supporting South Africa’s case charging Israel with genocide at the ICJ.

More than one in three people say they are boycotting a brand viewed as supporting a side in Israel's war on Gaza, with oil-rich Gulf states and large Muslim-majority countries leading the way.?

The latest edition of an annual Trust Barometer report from public relations firm Edelman underscored how sharp divides over the war are causing consumers across the globe to take a stance with their wallets.

The survey polled 15,000 consumers across 15 countries, including France, Saudi Arabia, the UK and the US.

The poll didn't say who respondents sided with in the war, but out of the top five countries listed as engaged on boycotting brands over Gaza, three are Muslim-majority nations: Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Indonesia. India also has a sizeable Muslim minority. Germany was the fifth country.?

Read more:? One in three people are boycotting brands over Israel's war on Gaza, poll finds

In a post on X on Friday, EU's chief diplomat expressed his concern over the withholding of funds by the Israeli government to the Palestinian Authority.

“A solution shall be found within the existing mechanism. The weakening of the Palestinian Authority has to stop.”

Earlier this week, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich signed an order to deduct $35m of Palestinian tax revenues and transfer the funds to Israeli families whose members were killed in attacks by Palestinian fighters.

Since the 1994 Paris agreement, Israel collects Palestinian tax and redistributes its revenue. The total revenue is estimated to be approximately $220m a month, making it the main source of income for the Palestinian Authority.

Last month, reports emerged that Smotrich is reportedly withholding some $46m in tax revenue for the PA in response to the PA's attempt to press the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

The UN has called for calm in response to Israeli soldiers allegedly attempting to start fires in southern Lebanon by launching fireballs with catapults, as an intensifying conflict in Israel's north has raised fears of a full-fledged war.

“We are encouraging all parties to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from any action or statement,” deputy spokesman for the UN Secretary General Farhan Haq said at a news conference.

On Friday, Israeli jets and artillery struck southern Lebanon, as dozens of missiles were launched towards northern Israel.

"The danger of a wider conflagration is very real", Haq added.

A 14-year-old Palestinian boy Mostafa Iyad Hijazi died from starvation in northern Gaza where over 200 children are at risk of death, a video released by Al Jazeera shows.

Health monitors in Gaza accuse Israel of blocking nutritional supplements.

At least 28 children have died of enforced dehydration and starvation imposed by the Israeli military, according to Palestinian health officials.

On Wednesday, the Houthis attacked the Greek-owned ‘Tutor’ ship in the Red Sea, leaving the vessel unable to manoeuvre and at risk of sinking.

The crew of the ship has now been evacuated, and the abandoned ship is drifting in the Red Sea, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said on Friday.

One sailor from Tutor remains missing, officials in the Philippines said.

Hamas's military wing, the Qassam Brigades, says that two Israeli hostages held by Hamas were killed in an Israeli air raid in Rafah several days ago, according to a post on their Telegram channel.

"Your army deceives you and continues to deceive you. Your government only wants to recover the hostages in coffins," Hamas posted in a statement, addressing Israeli citizens.

The identities of the captives were not revealed, nor was any further information provided.

Protesters in Yemen's capital rally to show support to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, 14 June 2024.?

The US has imposed sanctions on an Israeli group which attacked humanitarian aid convoys bound for starving civilians in Gaza, according to a report in Reuters.

Washington will target Tsav 9, which has ties to Israeli army reservists and settlers in the occupied West Bank, over activities including the blocking, harassing and damaging of aid shipments.

The financial sanctions will be imposed under an executive order on West Bank violence which US President Joe Biden signed in February.

On 13 May, Tsav 9 members looted and set fire to two aid trucks near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

"For months, individuals from Tzav 9 have repeatedly sought to thwart the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, including by blocking roads, sometimes violently, along their route from Jordan to Gaza, including transiting the West Bank," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, as cited by Reuters.

"They also have damaged aid trucks and dumped life-saving humanitarian aid onto the road."

The move will freeze any assets held by the group under US jurisdiction, and also bans Americans from dealing with the group.

Israeli jets and artillery struck southern Lebanon on Friday, after dozens of missiles were launched towards northern Israel.

Warning sirens sounded in northern Israel on Friday morning as around 35 missiles were fired from southern Lebanon into areas near the border Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona.

Israeli television footage showed damaged buildings and cars, as well as bush fires. There were no reports of casualties. 

In response, Israel's military said its artillery attacked launch sites operated by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and its jets also hit Hezbollah infrastructure in the areas of Odaisseh and Kfarkela.

The Israeli military said fighter jets and anti-aircraft systems had intercepted 11 of the 16 drones launched by Hezbollah over the past three days.

"The Israeli Air Force is continuing to operate at all times to thwart terrorist activities and protect Israel's skies from any threat," it said in a statement.

Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, has said in a statement on Telegram that two Israeli captives held in the Gaza Strip were killed by an Israeli air strike on the southern city of Rafah a few days ago.

Middle East Eye could not independently verify the claim.  

Israeli emergency services said on Friday that they were dealing with a string of fires in northern Israel after dozens of missiles were fired from southern Lebanon into the area around the border town of Kiryat Shmona.

The Israeli military said that warning sirens had sounded in northern Israel and emergency services said teams were searching the area, where they reported there was property damage but no casualties.

Television footage on Friday showed damaged buildings and cars as well as brush fires in several locations caused by strikes or falling debris amid heatwave conditions, Reuters reported.

The United States will impose sanctions on an Israeli group on Friday for attacking humanitarian aid convoys bound for starving civilians in Gaza, US officials told Reuters.

The sanctions will target Tsav 9, a group with ties to Israeli army reservists and Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, over activities including blocking, harassing and damaging aid shipments.

Palestinians have been desperately in need of aid as Israel continues its war on Gaza, which is now in its eighth month and has killed at least 37,000 people, according to the enclave's health ministry. Israel has also faced accusations of blocking aid, which it denies, and there have been protests against the delivery of aid at border crossings.