Hamas is currently reasserting control in Khan Yunis by actively recruiting new fighters, specifically targeting young adolescents who are around 18 years old from both southern and northern Gaza, as reported by the Jerusalem Post.

This resurgence of Hamas's presence in Khan Yunis began following the IDF's withdrawal on April 7. On Sunday, Army Radio and various sources verified that Hamas's growing influence in Khan Yunis is approaching a critical point.

There is mounting apprehension that, due to the influx of reinforcements and the development of training camps, Hamas may soon start reassembling its battalions in the region.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ All targetting of ATACMS missiles is entered by US specialists, using their own data, and such actions will not go unanswered, the Russian Defense Ministry said after the Ukrainian shelling of Sevastopol.

Responsibility for the strike on Sevastopol lies primarily with the US, which supplied the weapons to Ukraine, as well as with the Zelensky regime, the ministry added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

What is known so far about the Ukrainian missile strike on the Russian city of Sevastopol in Crimea

◻️ Today at 12:15 local time, Ukrainian militants launched a missile strike on the city of Sevastopol using five American ATACMS tactical missiles equipped with cluster warheads.

◻️ During the defense against the missile attack by air defense forces, four American ATACMS missiles were intercepted.

◻️ The explosion of the cluster warhead of the fifth American missile in the air resulted in numerous casualties among the civilian population of Sevastopol.

◻️ 124 people were injured as a result of the attack. Among the 27 injured children, five are in critical condition, according to the Ministry of Health. The death toll from the ATACMS missile strike by Ukrainian forces on Sevastopol has risen to three, the governor said.

◻️ All flight missions of American ATACMS tactical missiles are conducted by American specialists based on their own satellite reconnaissance data, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

◻️ Ukrainian forces purposely choose mass gatherings of people for shelling, Russian FM spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️ Full statement of the Russian Defense Ministry on the Ukrainian attack on Sevastopol:

◾️ Today at 12:15 p.m. a deliberate terrorist missile attack was carried out on the city of Sevastopol by five American ATACMS missiles equipped with cluster warheads;

◾️ Four US-made ATACMS missiles were intercepted;

◾️ The detonation of the fragmentation warhead of a fifth US-made missile in mid-air resulted in numerous casualties among civilians in Sevastopol;

◾️ All flight assignments for US ATACMS operational-tactical missiles are entered by US specialists based on the US's own satellite intelligence data;

◾️ Therefore, responsibility for the deliberate missile strike on civilians in Sevastopol lies primarily with the United States, which supplied these weapons to Ukraine, and with the Zelensky regime, from whose territory this strike was carried out;

◾️ Such actions will not go unanswered.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️The number of casualties after the Ukrainian Armed Forces' attack on Sevastopol has risen to five, including three children and two adults, according to the governor.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Putin expressed condolences to the families of those killed in Sevastopol, said the regional governor Razvozhayev.

He called almost immediately after the attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, noted the governor:

"The President instructed federal authorities to provide all necessary assistance to Sevastopol. A plane has been dispatched from Moscow. After receiving initial treatment, the children will be transferred to the best hospitals in Moscow."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Israel's Defense Minister heads to US amid Biden-Netanyahu arms hold-up spat

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is heading to Washington in a scramble to get the US to unfreeze a weapons shipment to Tel Aviv, Israeli media reported.

Despite having received billions-worth of US military aid, Israel has been infuriated by delays in supplies of heavy bombs.

Gallant is reportedly seeking to address the issue, telling reporters before setting off that the upcoming “meetings with the senior government officials are critical for the future of the war.”

Besides the delayed arms shipment, Gallant is scheduled to discuss "phase three" of operations in Gaza’s city of Rafah with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other officials.

The latest phase of Israel’s assault will focus on more localized operations against Hamas. Israel's plans for an offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon is also reportedly on the agenda, along with Iran’s nuclear program.

The trip comes as tensions soared further between US President Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu after the Israeli PM unleashed a barrage of criticism targeting the White House in a recent video.

Netanyahu slammed the May freeze on a heavy bomb shipment to Israel as “inconceivable”. Washington’s move came in response to Tel Aviv’s decision to go forward with its Rafah invasion despite pressure from the US to hold off.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, in connection with the shelling of Sevastopol, called on the UN Secretariat to "acknowledge the people killed by the Kiev regime using American weapons on the beach and condemn the act of terrorism."

Earlier, at the UN Secretary-General's office, commenting to Sputnik on the Ukrainian shelling, they had limited themselves to stating that "it is necessary to avoid casualties among the civilian population."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

‘Humiliated’ Pentagon ‘miscalculated’ floating Gaza aid pier pounded by rough seas

The floating pier built by the US military for humanitarian deliveries to Gaza turned out to be nothing but a wasteful boondoggle due to simple “miscalculations,” Stephen Morrison, a senior vice-president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said as quoted by The Guardian.

“They just miscalculated… They didn’t fully understand what was going to happen with the weather … So the DoD [Department of Defense] walks away, humiliated in a fashion,” Morrison said.

The Pentagon's $230 million project in the eastern Mediterranean proved too fragile to withstand stormy seas. In addition, the project has been plagued by poor security. The Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) structure, which includes a floating dock and pier, was only usable for just 12 days after it was launched on May 17. Since then, no more than 250 truckloads of humanitarian assistance have arrived via the corridor. The structure, which was designed to endure waves of 0.5 to 1.25 meters, was battered by a storm on May 25 and had to be towed away for repairs. Unfortunately, more rough weather led to the dismantling of the structure once again.

Poor security also meant that the arriving aid was dumped on the beach on most days because there were no trucks to deliver it to warehouses in the enclave.

Since the pier project was unveiled by Joe Biden in March, critics have suggested it had less to do with any concern for the plight of Palestinians, and was more likely a “humanitarian cover” for US support of Israel.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️In Derbent, Russian Republic of Dagestan, unknown individuals opened fire from automatic weapons at a synagogue and a church, as stated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Scott Bennett: Sevastopol beach attack with US ATACMS missiles is a crime against humanity

💬 “Today there was an attack upon the Sevastopol beach area in which [several] people have been killed and the number is growing. Two children, a three-year-old and a nine-year-old were killed and two adults by ATACMS, US missile munitions fired by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, no doubt guided and managed by United States military personnel who are experts in the management of those weapons systems,” former US State Department counterterrorism analyst Scott Bennett told Sputnik.

The attack on Sevastopol deliberately targeted a civilian beach, an area without any military presence, making it a crime against humanity and a war crime, he emphasized.

Bennett urged the US to investigate the attack, otherwise “the United States has blood on its hand and is a willing participant in these ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

The incident should be included in a whistleblowing report to the US Ambassador to Russia as evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of international law, US constitutional principles and various treaties, he added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️In Makhachkala, Russian Republic of Dagestan, unknown assailants fired at a traffic police checkpoint on the street. According to preliminary information, one police officer has been injured, reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️In Russia's Makhachkala, one police officer was killed and six others injured, according to the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs. There are no reported casualties among civilians, preliminary reports indicate.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Why Article 5 won't provide guaranteed defense for Ukraine if it joins NATO

The Kiev regime has repeatedly urged the West to accept it into NATO. However, even if Ukraine were admitted, it would not have been guaranteed greater assistance than it already receives or even NATO boots on the ground.

💬 "When it comes to debates about US policy toward its alliance partners – and whether it should admit new members like Ukraine – it is important for both sides to appreciate that alliance commitments are not quite as binding, either legally or politically, as the conventional wisdom suggests," Dan Reiter, a professor of political science at Emory University, and Brian Greenhill, an associate professor of political science at the University at Albany, State University of New York, wrote for The Conversation.

Reiter and Greenhill explained that the NATO treaty's language contains loopholes that let member countries remain out of other members' wars without having to break their alliance commitments.

US congressmen and legal experts also pointed out that Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty doesn't automatically trigger a military response from the rest of the alliance. Under Article 11 any such response should be considered by NATO member states "in accordance with their respective constitutional processes."

Furthermore, any NATO member state may decide that instead of responding with force, it will send military equipment to NATO allies or impose sanctions on their rival, as per the Brennan Center for Justice (BCJ), a US nonprofit law and public policy institute.

The aforementioned assistance has already been provided to Ukraine even though it's not a member of the alliance. NATO's rejection of French President Emmanuel Macron's suggestion to put the bloc's boots on the ground in Ukraine showed that Western allies are not willing to die for the Kiev regime and still fear triggering an all-out conflict with Russia.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Investigators have arrived at the scene of the shooting in the Russian city of Makhachkala to establish the circumstances of the incident, according to authorities (video from social media)

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Ukraine's ATACMS were targeted to pass over crowded place, coordinated by US drone

💬 "Fallen cluster munitions hit the beach. There is a high density of people there, hence there are so many victims," Nikolai Kostikin, an expert from the Moscow-based Bureau of Military-Political Analysis think tank, told Sputnik. "The [missiles'] route was set to pass over crowded places. There have already been similar examples."

The Ukrainian military attacked the Russian port city of Sevastopol, Crimea, on June 23 with five US-made ATACMS missiles armed with cluster submunitions. Four missiles were shot down; one deviated and exploded over the city killing at least five and injuring 124, including 27 children, according to the Russian Health Ministry.

💬 “A political task here is a show of force and the West’s readiness to support Ukraine. And the death of civilians fits into this plan as a way to intimidate [Russia]," Alexey Sukonkin, a Russian military observer, told Sputnik.

At the moment when ATACMS were launched at Sevastopol a US RQ-4 Global Hawk long-range surveillance drone was detected over the Black Sea, according to military correspondent Aleksey Borzenko. It was earlier reported that Ukraine is pairing the 300-kilometer range variant of ATACMS with drone systems to coordinate missile strikes on Russia.

"This drone was practically used to direct the missiles that were going to Crimea," Borzenko told Sputnik. "I believe that it is necessary to create a large unmanned zone in the Black Sea – between 100 and 300 miles – in the aftermath of the tragedy. These Global Hawks should not be allowed to get to the distance from which they could direct ATACMS missiles."

The US is responsible for the missile strike on Sevastopol's civilians, as all targeting data for ATACMS missiles are provided by US specialists, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The head of the Russian Republic of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, on the attacks in Russia's Derbent and Makhachkala:

◻️ An operational headquarters has been established in Dagestan following the emergency situation involving gunfire in Derbent and Makhachkala

◻️ Melikov noted that unknown individuals attempted to destabilize the public situation.

◻️ The head of Dagestan called on everyone to remain calm and promised to provide detailed information about the emergency situation later.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt