Closing summary
Several countries, including Pakistan and Qatar, voiced their support for the international court of justice’s landmark ruling on Friday that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is against international law.
In Cairo, international mediators, including the US, are continuing to push Israel and Hamas toward a phased deal that would halt the fighting and free about 120 hostages in Gaza. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, says that the long-sought ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was within sight.
At least 38,919 Palestinian people have been killed and 89,622 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement. Israeli military strikes across Gaza killed 37 Palestinians in the past 24 hours alone and destroyed several houses, Reuters reported. Residents in Rafah said tanks advanced deeper into northern areas of the southern city and took control of a hilltop in the west.
Among those reportedly killed on Saturday were local journalist Mohammad Abu Jasser, his wife, and two children, in an Israeli strike on their house in the northern Gaza Strip. Gaza’s government media office said Abu Jasser’s death raised to 161 the number of Palestinian media personnel killed by Israeli fire since 7 October.
A commercial vessel was attacked twice by drones off the coast of Yemen on Saturday but proceeded with its voyage despite sustaining damage, a British maritime security agency said. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the attack happened 64 nautical miles northwest of Mokha, Yemen. The vessel was first hit by an uncrewed aerial system that exploded close by, causing minor damage, UKMTO said, adding that crew members were not harmed.
We are closing this blog now, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here.
Updated
Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has welcomed the advisory opinion issued by the international court of justice (ICJ) that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful, calling it a “vindication of the legitimate struggle of the brave Palestinian people”.
He wrote on X:
I welcome the historic ICJ advisory opinion on Israel’s policies in occupied Palestinian territory. The ICJ ruling that Israel must end its occupation & illegal settlements is vindication of the legitimate struggle of the brave Palestinian people.
I urge the international community & UN to implement the ruling, ensuring Palestinian self-determination through a two state solution in line with relevant UN resolutions.
Proud that Pakistan contributed to the case, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to the Palestinian cause.
I welcome the historic ICJ Advisory Opinion on Israel's policies in Occupied Palestinian Territory. The ICJ ruling that Israel must end its occupation & illegal settlements is vindication of the legitimate struggle of the brave Palestinian people. I urge the international…
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) July 20, 2024
The advisory opinion by judges at the ICJ was not binding but carries weight under international law and may weaken support for Israel.
“Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law,” President Nawaf Salam said, reading the findings of a 15-judge panel.
The court said Israel’s obligations include paying restitution for harm and “the evacuation of all settlers from existing settlements”.
In a swift reaction, Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the opinion as “fundamentally wrong” and one-sided, and repeated its stance that a political settlement in the region can only be reached by negotiations.
At least three people were killed in an Israeli air attack in the as-Saftawi neighbourhood in the North Gaza governorate, according to reports. This information has not yet been independently verified by the Guardian.
Israel should cease all activity that violates international law, Iceland's foreign ministry urges
Iceland’s foreign ministry has said Israel should “cease all activity that violates international law” after the international court of justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories was against international law.
In a landmark opinion, the ICJ on Friday ordered Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories “as rapidly as possible” and make full reparations for its “internationally wrongful acts”. You can find out why the landmark ruling was so significant in this analysis piece by my colleague Peter Beaumont.
In a post on X, Iceland’s foreign ministry wrote on Saturday: “The ICJ’s advisory opinion is clear. Continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is unlawful, and so are its settlement activities.”
The ICJ's Advisory Opinion is clear. Continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is unlawful, and so are its settlement activities. Iceland calls on Israel to cease all activity that violates international law.
— MFA Iceland 🇮🇸 (@MFAIceland) July 20, 2024
Updated
Qatar’s foreign ministry has issued a statement in response to the international court of justice’s advisory opinion on the illegality of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and settlement building.
In a historic, albeit non-binding, opinion, the court found multiple breaches of international law by Israel including activities that amounted to apartheid.
In a a statement, the Qatari foreign ministry said:
The state of Qatar welcomes the advisory opinion of the international court of justice, stressing that Israel is under an obligation to end its illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territory and East Jerusalem.
The ministry of foreign affairs notes that the court’s opinion includes the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, as the court considered that they constitute “a single territorial unit, whose unity, contiguity, integrity and respect must be preserved”.
The court affirms that Israel is under an obligation to end its illegal presence on Palestinian land as soon as possible, as well as to cease all new settlements, evacuate all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territory and compensate all those affected by such illegal practices.
The ministry reiterates the state of Qatar’s support for the position of the court and its call to all states and international organizations not to recognize or support illegal Israeli practices.
The State of Qatar Welcomes International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion on Israel's Policies and Practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and East Jerusalem
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) July 20, 2024
🔗Read More: https://t.co/FrA6b3Axry#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/xS4BnwNHtC
Updated
In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said a 20-year-old man was fatally shot by Israeli forces on Friday evening. Commenting on the shooting, the Israeli army said its forces opened fire on a group of Palestinians hurling rocks at Israeli troops in the town of Beit Ummar.
Updated
Inside a Lebanese village where war with Israel has already arrived
Odaisseh had last been bombed four days ago. Israeli missiles would strike it again in the evening. But on this searing July morning, the small Lebanese village on the frontier with Israel was deathly quiet as three armoured cars with UN markings crept along its narrow main road.
“From here to the end of Odaisseh, we are not going to see people in the streets,” said Lt Col José Irisarri, a Spanish officer serving in a battalion of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon. “Only ambulances and paramedics.”
For months, Israel and the militant group Hezbollah have been exchanging fire over the “blue line” that demarcates Israeli-held territory from Lebanon. Fears are growing it could boil over into full-blown war. In Odaisseh, and other areas to which the Guardian gained access last week with a UN peacekeeping patrol, it appears that war has already arrived.
Long stretches of Odaisseh and a neighbouring village, Kafr Kila, have been reduced to jagged seas of concrete rubble, strewn with rebar, electrical cables and upturned furniture. A yellow Hezbollah flag was tangled in the wreckage of one Kafr Kila home. Shocks of bright-pink bougainvillea protruded from the ruins of others.
The few buildings along Odaisseh’s main road to be spared a direct hit still carry scars of the village’s repeated poundings by heavy bombs, their windows shattered and metal garage doors left writhing and twisted.
Summary of the day so far...
At least 38,919 Palestinian people have been killed and 89,622 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement. Israeli military strikes across Gaza killed 37 Palestinians in the past 24 hours alone and destroyed several houses, Reuters reported. Residents in Rafah said tanks advanced deeper into northern areas of the southern city and took control of a hilltop in the west.
Among those reportedly killed on Saturday were local journalist Mohammad Abu Jasser, his wife, and two children, in an Israeli strike on their house in the northern Gaza Strip. Gaza’s government media office said Abu Jasser’s death raised to 161 the number of Palestinian media personnel killed by Israeli fire since 7 October.
A commercial vessel was attacked twice by drones off the coast of Yemen on Saturday but proceeded with its voyage despite sustaining damage, a British maritime security agency said. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the attack happened 64 nautical miles northwest of Mokha, Yemen. The vessel was first hit by an uncrewed aerial system that exploded close by, causing minor damage, UKMTO said, adding that crew members were not harmed.
Updated
Israeli airstrikes have reportedly killed 37 Palestinians over past day
Israeli military strikes across Gaza killed 37 Palestinians in the past 24 hours and destroyed several houses, Reuters reported, as tanks advanced deeper into western and northern Rafah.
In the al-Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, an Israeli airstrike on a multi-floor building injured several people, including two local journalists, rescue workers said.
In the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the main focus of Israel’s offensive since May, residents said tanks advanced deeper into northern areas of the city and took control of a hilltop in the west.
Updated
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have launched dozens of drone and missile strikes against Israel-linked shipping since November in a campaign they say is intended to signal solidarity with Palestinians under attack from Israeli forces in Gaza.
The Houthis have attacked at least 88 commercial vessels in nine months, according to a tally by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank. The Houthis have used their control of Yemen’s western seaboard including ports such as Hodeidah to mount attacks.
The attacks have prompted some shipping companies to detour around southern Africa to avoid the Red Sea, a vital route that normally carries about 12% of global trade.
Updated
We reported earlier (see post at 09.21) that the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it had received a report of two attacks on a vessel northwest of Yemen’s city of Mokha, causing minor damage.
A maritime security source has now told Reuters that the vessel, which has been identified as a Liberia-flagged container ship, was attacked by drones. After the attack it kept maneuvering at maximum speed to escape as it was waiting support from a warship.
The UKMTO said the captain has “subsequently reported further UAS sightings”. Shipping company Asiatic Lloyd that owns and operates the ship said on Saturday that its crew and armed guards on board were all safe.
Updated
Sven Koopmans, the EU’s special representative for the Middle East peace process, has said he still believes a two-state solution – a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and in Gaza alongside Israel - is achievable despite opposition to it from Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister.
In an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP), he said Netanyahu’s government cannot indefinitely disregard European views on resolving the conflict, with Israel needing international support amid its war in Gaza.
Koopmans said:
I think that recently he was very explicit about rejecting the two-state solution.
Now, that means that he has a different point of view from much of the rest of the world.
The Dutch diplomat said one side’s rejection of “the outcome that we believe is necessary” does not mean efforts to seek a solution should cease.
Last month, the EU invited Israel to discuss Gaza and human rights. Israel agreed to a meeting after July 1, when Hungary, which supports Netanyahu’s government, assumed the EU presidency.
Koopmans said:
It is important that we have that discussion. I am sure that in such a meeting, there will be very substantive discussions about what we expect from our partner Israel. And that relates to things that we do not see at present.
Netanyahu has said previously that Israel must have security control over all land west of the River Jordan, which would include the territory of any future Palestinian state.
Number of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza rises to 161, government media office says
Six civilians, including local journalist Mohammad Abu Jasser and his wife and two children, were killed on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, reported.
Gaza’s government media office said Abu Jasser’s death raised the number of Palestinian media personnel killed by Israeli forces since 7 October to 161.
Updated
Death toll in Gaza reaches 38,919, says health ministry
At least 38,919 Palestinian people have been killed and 89,622 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The ministry has said thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the enclave.
Security services across the Middle East fear the conflict in Gaza will allow Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaida to rebuild across the region, leading to a wave of terrorist plots in coming months and years.
Officials and analysts say there is already evidence of increased Islamic militant extremism in many places, although multiple factors are combining to cause the surge.
In recent months, an IS branch in the Sinai desert has become more lethal, rising attacks by the group in Syria have caused concern, and plots in Jordan have been thwarted.
You can read the full story by the Guardian’s international security correspondent, Jason Burke, here:
Updated
At least two people have been killed and a number of others injured in an Israeli bombing that targeted a house in the Zarqa area of northern Gaza City, Al Jazeera Arabic reports. Journalists from Al Jazeera Arabic also described intense Israeli bombardment on the ad-Dawa area, north of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. These claims have not yet been independently verified by the Guardian.
Here are some of the latest images of Gaza coming out of the newswires:
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) has said that a vessel sustained minor damage after it was targeted in two attacks that occurred about 64 nautical miles northwest of Mokha, a city in Yemen. It said that no crew members were harmed.
UKMTO WARNING INCIDENT 103 ATTACK UPDATE 001
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) July 20, 2024
The Master reports two attacks: the first by an Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS); the second by an Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV), Both the vessel and the crew are safehttps://t.co/6mNrG6W5iO#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/p55VoxFt5O
Although no one has claimed immediate responsibility for the attack, the Houthi militia, which controls the most populous parts of Yemen and is aligned with Iran, has attacked ships off its coast for months, saying it is acting in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Updated
Jordan’s foreign minister has welcomed the International Court of Justice’s decision that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories and its settlement policy is unlawful.
“It is a clear ruling on the side of Palestinians people’s right to justice, freedom & statehood,” Ayman Safadi in a post on X. “The end of occupation is the only path to peace that will guarantee the rights and security of all.”
We welcome the ICJ ruling on the illegality of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. It is a clear ruling on the side of Palestinians people’s right to justice, freedom & statehood. The end of occupation is the only path to peace that will guarantee the rights and security of all.
— Ayman Safadi (@AymanHsafadi) July 19, 2024
In a historic, albeit non-binding, opinion, the ICJ found multiple breaches of international law by Israel including activities that amounted to apartheid. You can read more about the ruling in this story here.
Along with Egypt, Jordan is one of few countries in the Middle East with established diplomatic ties with Israel. But it has been highly critical of the Israeli army’s conduct, publicly accusing it of trying to remove Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank.
Updated
Israel-Hamas ceasefire close to the goalline, US secretary of state says
As we mentioned in the opening summary, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said that a long-sought ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was within sight.
Speaking at the Aspen security forum in Colorado on Friday, he said:
I believe we’re inside the 10-yard line and driving toward the goalline in getting an agreement that would produce a ceasefire, get the hostages home and put us on a better track to trying to build lasting peace and stability.
There remains some issues that need to be resolved, that need to be negotiated. We’re in the midst of doing exactly that.
The US has been working with Qatar and Egypt to try to arrange a ceasefire in order to free hostages held since the 7 October Hamas attacks, and get more humanitarian aid into the enclave devastated by Israeli airstrikes.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to travel to Washington next week and address a joint session of the US Congress on Wednesday. He is expected to meet Joe Biden if the US president has recovered from Covid-19 by then, the White House has said.
Netanyahu has reportedly said Israel needed control of the Palestinian side of Gaza’s border with Egypt to stop weapons reaching. It is a condition that conflicts with Hamas’s position that Israel must withdraw from all Gaza territory after a ceasefire.
He has also said that Israel must also be allowed to keep on fighting until its war aims of destroying Hamas and bringing home all hostages are achieved.
Updated
Opening summary
We are restarting our live coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza and the wider Middle East crisis.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has welcomed the international court of justice’s (ICJ’s) landmark ruling that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories violates international law, calling the decision “historic” and saying Israel must be compelled to implement it.
The Palestinian foreign minister, Riyad al-Maliki, called it a “watershed moment”.
It came after the UN court on Friday ordered Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories “as rapidly as possible” and make full reparations for its “internationally wrongful acts” in a sweeping and damning advisory opinion that says the occupation violates international law.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, would shortly transmit the advisory opinion to the 193-member world body and “it is for the general assembly to decide how to proceed in the matter”, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said.
The ICJ’s opinion said Israel should pay reparations to Palestinians for damages caused by the occupation. It also found that the UN security council, the general assembly and all states had an obligation not to recognise the occupation as legal and not to give aid or support toward maintaining it. The court’s findings are not binding but carry weight under international law.
Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the court’s opinion as “fundamentally wrong” and one-sided, and repeated its stance that a political settlement in the region could only be reached by negotiations. “The Jewish nation cannot be an occupier in its own land,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
The court’s opinion also angered West Bank settlers as well as politicians such as the far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, Reuters reported. The ICJ opinion was “contrary to the Bible, morality and international law”, said Israel Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council, one of the largest settler councils.
In other news:
Hamas demanded “immediate action” against the Israeli occupation after the ICJ ruling. In a statement the Palestinian militant group welcomed the decision, saying it puts “the international system before the imperative of immediate action to end the occupation”.
Israel threatened reprisals after a drone claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed a civilian in a Tel Aviv apartment building near a US embassy branch office. The pre-dawn attack drew condemnation from António Guterres and an appeal for “maximum restraint” to avoid “further escalation in the region”. Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant vowed revenge on Friday, posting on X: “The security system will settle the score with all who try to harm the state of Israel, or sends terrorism against it, in a decisive and surprising manner.” Military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israel believed the drone used was Iranian-made and upgraded so it could reach Tel Aviv from Yemen, at least 1,800km (1,100 miles) away.
Len Blavatnik, the second-richest man in Britain, is facing a series of protests in the UK after his Israeli television channel was accused of cancelling programmes to please Benjamin Netanyahu.
The UK announced it would resume funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa. Britain’s foreign minister, David Lammy, told parliament he was reassured that the agency had taken steps to “ensure it meets the highest standards of neutrality” and that the UK would provide £21m ($27m) to the agency.
The US secretary of state Antony Blinken said a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel that will release Israeli hostages in Gaza are “inside the 10-yard line”. “But we know that anything in the last 10 yards are the hardest,” Blinken said on Friday. International mediators, including the US, are pushing Israel and Hamas toward an internationally backed phased deal that would halt the fighting and free about 120 hostages in Gaza.
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) warned that “anarchy” was spreading in Gaza, with rampant looting, unlawful killings and shootings as the population faced an acute humanitarian crisis. Ajith Sunghay, head of OHCHR for Gaza and the West Bank, described unlawful killings and looting in the absence of law enforcement as linked to “Israel’s dismantling of local capacity to maintain public order and safety in Gaza”.
An Israeli airstrike killed a woman who was nine months pregnant in Gaza, but her baby survived after the mother’s body was rushed to a hospital delivery room, medical officials said. Ola al-Kurd, 25, was among seven people killed in an Israeli strike that hit the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, the Associated Press reports.
Dozens of people were killed in Israeli attacks on residential buildings across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Saturday morning, according to reports.
