Closing summary
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has declared Gaza City “a dangerous combat zone” as the military prepares for an assault on the shattered remains of Gaza’s largest city. In a post on X, the IDF wrote: “In accordance with the situational assessment & directives of the political echelon, starting today at 10:00, the local tactical pause in military activity will not apply to the area of Gaza City, which constitutes a dangerous combat zone.”
The US is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority ahead of the United Nations general assembly meeting in September, the US state department said in a statement on Friday. The restrictions mean that Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas would likely not be able to travel to New York to deliver an address to the annual gathering, as he typically does, Reuters reports. Israel’s foreign minister has hailed the US decision as a “bold step” on Friday.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military said earlier this week that the evacuation of Gaza City is “inevitable”. Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will launch its Gaza City assault while simultaneously pursuing a ceasefire, though talks have stalled.
Israel has recovered the body of hostage Ilan Weiss from the Gaza Strip, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has confirmed. The body of a second person, whose identity has not yet been cleared for publication, was also retrieved, the statement added.
At least 63,025 Palestinian people have been killed and 159,490 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Friday. At least 59 Palestinian people, including 23 aid seekers, were killed in the last 24 hours alone, the ministry said.
Israel targeted the Houthi group’s chief of staff, defence minister and other senior figures in airstrikes on Sanaa in Yemen on Thursday, and was still verifying the outcome, an Israeli military official said on Friday. Yemeni government sources told Reuters that Asaad al-Sharqabi, who oversaw the group’s defence ministry, was killed in the strikes.
Gaza City is being gripped by famine caused by Israel’s restrictions on aid and the assault will only deepen the widespread suffering of the civilian population there and could forcibly displace an estimated one million Palestinian people. A joint statement from a number of UN organisations including Unicef and the World Food Programme said “it would have further devastating consequences for civilians where famine conditions already exist”.
Israel rejected the findings of the report, saying they were based on “Hamas lies laundered through organisations with vested interests”, and denied the existence of a famine in Gaza.
Mohammed Abu Afash, the director of the medical charity, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, has told Al Jazeera that the southern part of the territory is extremely dangerous for civilians as the Israeli military is targeting areas it claims are safe zones. Afash told Al Jazeera that the army is targeting people who are waiting for food and residents sheltering in their homes, and that southern Gaza cannot accommodate the volume of people who will be displaced from Gaza City by Israel’s assault.
More than 500 staff at the UN have urged its human rights chief, Volker Türk, to describe Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide being committed against the Palestinian people. In a letter to Türk, staff reportedly claimed that the legal criteria for genocide – which, under international law, is defined as committing one or more acts with the intention to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group – has been met.
The UN security council has voted to extend the body’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for a further 16 months, but ordered it finished at the end of 2026 under Israeli and US pressure. UNSC members voted unanimously on Thursday to extend the mandate for the UN interim force in Lebanon (Unifil) ahead of its expiration on Sunday, prompting relief from Lebanese officials who rely on it.
A spokesman for Gaza’s only Catholic church said some 440 people who have taken shelter there had unanimously agreed to stay, despite word that the IDF has declared Gaza City “a dangerous combat zone” and is preparing for an assault on the shattered remains of Gaza’s largest city.
Farid Jubran told The Associated Press on Friday that five clergy have also stayed in the church to assist those sheltering, which include women, children and older people.
