Summary of the day …
The US has said that “gaps” remain between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal. Talks are set to continue in Doha on Wednesday and in Cairo on Thursday, after an Israeli delegation headed by Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar returned on Tuesday from Cairo. Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed efforts for a Gaza truce with CIA director William Burns in Cairo on Tuesday
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that at least 26 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday by Israeli strikes on Gaza. The health ministry in Gaza, which is Hamas-led, now puts the casualty toll at 38,243 killed and 88,033 people wounded since 7 October
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has said the latest forced evacuation orders from Israel’s military has put all of its medical facilities in Gaza City out of order
Israel’s military claims that during a week of fighting in the Shejaiya area, it has “engaged in close-quarters combat with terrorist cells and eliminated more than 150 terrorists, dismantled terrorist infrastructure and encountered and destroyed booby-trapped buildings and explosives”
The recent deaths of several more children from malnutrition in the Gaza Strip indicate that famine has spread throughout the territory, a group of independent human rights experts mandated by the United Nations has said. Gaza health authorities say at least 33 children have died of malnutrition, mostly in northern areas
The family of Daniella Gilboa, an Israeli soldier being held captive in Gaza, have allowed the publication of a video featuring her which Hamas released in January. Although the release of the video had been reported at the time, it was not widely shown. In releasing the footage, her mother Orly Gilboa told Israeli media that she hoped it would underline the importance of securing a hostage release deal
Two people were killed on Tuesday in an Israeli strike on a vehicle belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group in the Damascus countryside near the Lebanese border. Earlier another Hezbollah member was killed in southern Lebanon. Israeli media reports that at least 350 Hezbollah operatives have been killed since 7 October
Overnight Israel attacked targets in the northern Syrian city of Baniyas. The Syrian army reported no casualties but some slight damage to property
Israel’s military has said it intercepted two explosive drones approaching Israel from Lebanon. It also said it intercepted an aerial target approaching Israel from the east, and a projectile fired into southern Israel from Rafah in the Gaza Strip
Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm claim to have located 12 explosive devices and neutralised a booby-trapped car. Earlier Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, claimed to have detonated a high-explosive device aimed at Israeli security forces in the area
Hezbollah has release drone imagery of Israeli military infrastructure in the occupied Golan Heights. If follows a previous release of video which showed that the Iran-backed militant group was able to carry out surveillance of Israeli infrastructure in the Haifa area
Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant has approved a plan on Tuesday to start drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into Israel’s military, a move likely to further strain relations within Benjamin Netanyahu’s fractious right-wing coalition, Reuters reports.
His government relies on two ultra-Orthodox parties that are fiercely opposed to the conscription plans. Previously ultra-Orthodox men were exempted on religious grounds, but Israel’s army is seeking to bolster its ranks after nine months of war in the Gaza Strip.
Israelis are bound by law to serve in the military for 24-32 months. The longtime military waiver for the ultra-Orthodox has sparked protests in recent months by Israelis angry that the risk of fighting in Gaza is not being equally shared. For their part, ultra-Orthodox protesters have blocked roads under the banner “death before conscription”.
Israel’s army radio reports that Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar has returned from his trip to Egypt, where he was discussing a potential ceasefire and hostage release scheme.
Two killed in Israeli strike on a Hezbollah vehicle in Syria
Two people were killed on Tuesday in an Israeli strike on a vehicle belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group in the Damascus countryside near the Lebanese border, according to a war monitor.
AFP reports:
Hezbollah has traded almost daily cross-border fire from Lebanon with the Israeli army since October in support of Palestinian ally Hamas, with Israel targeting operatives from the group in both Lebanon and neighbouring Syria.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said:
At least two people were killed and one was wounded in an Israeli drone strike on a Hezbollah car.
The car was targeted near a Syrian army checkpoint on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon, the monitor said.
Since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in the country, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters, including from Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The strikes intensified after the Israel-Gaza war began on 7 October, killing at least 24 Hezbollah fighters in Syria since, according to an AFP tally.
Famine has spread throughout the Gaza Strip, warns human rights experts
The recent deaths of several more children from malnutrition in the Gaza Strip indicate that famine has spread throughout the territory, a group of independent human rights experts mandated by the United Nations has said.
Gaza health authorities say at least 33 children have died of malnutrition, mostly in northern areas which had until recently faced the brunt of the Israeli military campaign, says Reuters.
Since early May, the war has spread to southern Gaza, hitting aid flows into the territory amid restrictions by Israel, which has accused UN agencies of failing to distribute supplies efficiently.
In Tuesday’s statement, the group of 11 rights experts cited the deaths of three children aged 13, 9-years-old and six months from malnutrition in the southern area of Khan Younis and the central area of Deir Al-Balah since the end of May.
The experts said:
With the death of these children from starvation despite medical treatment in central Gaza, there is no doubt that famine has spread from northern Gaza into central and southern Gaza.
Their statement, signed by experts including the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, condemned “Israel’s intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people”.
Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva said the statement amounted to “misinformation”.
It added:
Israel has continuously scaled up its coordination and assistance in the delivery of humanitarian aid across the Gaza Strip, recently connecting its power line to the Gaza water desalination plant.
In a Khan Younis hospital on Monday, Palestinian woman Ghaneyma Joma told Reuters she feared her son would die of starvation.
While seated on the floor next to her motionless son, who had an intravenous drip attached to his wrist, she said:
It’s distressing to see my child … lying there dying from malnutrition because I cannot provide him with anything due to the war, the closing of crossings and the contaminated water.
Formally, whether or not a famine exists is determined by a UN-backed global monitor called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which makes an assessment based on a set of technical criteria.
Last month the IPC said Gaza remained at high risk of famine as the war continues and aid access is restricted.
More than 495,000 people across Gaza – more than one-fifth of the population – are facing the most severe, or “catastrophic”, level of food insecurity, it said, down from a forecast of 1.1 million in the previous update.
Updated
Gaza negotiations will resume in Doha on Wednesday then Cairo on Thursday, according to Egypt’s Al-Qahera News.
The news outlet cited a senior source as saying:
There is an agreement over many points.
Updated
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has discussed efforts for a Gaza truce with CIA director William Burns in Cairo and an Israeli delegation.
AFP reports:
Sisi’s office said the two men “discussed the latest developments in joint efforts to reach a truce and ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip,” where Israeli troops, backed by tanks and warplanes, stepped up their operations in Gaza City on Monday.
Mediators Egypt and Qatar have been engaged in months of negotiations aimed at reaching a truce and hostage release deal for Gaza.
The talks have intensified in recent days after Hamas signalled it was ready to drop its insistence on a lasting Israeli ceasefire in the first phase of any truce deal.
Updated
The national news agency in Lebanon reports that an Israeli drone has targeted the village of Aita al-Shaab, which is close to the UN-drawn blue line which divides Israel and Lebanon.
In an update on its official Telegram channel, Israel’s military has said it intercepted two explosive drones approaching Israel from Lebanon. It said that the drone were destroyed before entering Israeli airspace, and as a consequence warning sirens were not sounded.
This picture from the news wires shows a Palestinian child sitting among the rubble of a house hit by an Israeli strike in Nusairat refuge camp in the central Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah has release drone imagery of Israeli military infrastructure in the occupied Golan Heights. If follows a previous release of video which showed that the Iran-backed militant group was able to carry out surveillance of Israeli infrastructure in the Haifa area.
The Hezbollah terror group has published a new propaganda video showing drone footage of Israeli military bases in the Golan Heights.
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) July 9, 2024
The end of the video also shows an Israeli city, which Hezbollah says will be featured in an upcoming clip.
The publication of the footage comes… pic.twitter.com/mi07SymTT3
In its latest operational briefing, Israel’s military claims that over a week of fighting in the Shejaiya area, it has “engaged in close-quarters combat with terrorist cells and eliminated more than 150 terrorists, dismantled terrorist infrastructure and encountered and destroyed booby-trapped buildings and explosives.”
It claims to have destroyed six tunnels amounting to 6 km in length.
The claims have not been independently verified.
The news wires are carrying pictures of Younis Joma, one of the malnourished children in Gaza, with his mother Ghaneyma as he receives treatment at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.
Palestinian news agency Wafa is now reporting that at least 26 Palestinians have been killed so far today by Israeli strikes on Gaza. Al Jazeera reports that the figure includes nine people, of whom at least five were children, killed by an Israeli drone attack on the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
Reuters reports that Egyptian media has said a delegation will go to Doha on Wednesday to continue Gaza ceasefire talks.
The health ministry in Gaza, which is Hamas-led, has said that at least 50 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military assault in the last 24 hours, and a further 130 wounded. This takes the total since 7 October to at least 38,243 killed and 88,033 people wounded.
Over the same period of time, Israel says that 324 of its troops have been killed during ground operations in Gaza.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and US CIA director William Burns have met in Cairo to discus efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire, Reuters reports the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.
Israeli media reports that a suspicious package was received by far-right interior security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir this morning. It did not contain explosives, and is now being tested for dangerous substances. Ben-Gvir has been vocal in his insistence that he will not agree to any ceasefire or hostage release deal with Hamas.
Israel’s military has claimed that it successfully intercepted a projectile fired into southern Israel from Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
The Times of Israel is reporting that Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm have located 12 explosive devices and neutralised a booby-trapped car.
Earlier Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, claimed to have detonated a high-explosive device aimed at Israeli security forces in the area.
Video and still images circulating on social media have shown what appears to be smoke from large explosions over the city. Israeli forces have also been videoed on the ground appearing to demolish buildings with heavy machinery.
Associated Press reports that in the latest forced displacement of people in Gaza, thousands of Palestinians have been escaping eastern districts of the southern city of Khan Younis and parts of Gaza City in the north after Israel ordered evacuations there.
Israel has been ordering people to move having given numbers to all the blocks in Gaza, and issuing orders like this one from yesterday.
#عاجل ‼️ نداء عاجل الى كل السكان والنازحين المتواجدين في مناطق الصبرة، الرمال، تل الهوا والدرج في بلوكات 687, 688, 690, 693, 702, 703, 704, 705, 724, 725, 777, 783, 784, 835
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) July 8, 2024
من أجل أمنكم - عليكم الاخلاء بشكل فوري الى مآوي دير البلح في المنطقة الإنسانية pic.twitter.com/CGFFL9fsJW
Almost all of Gaza’s population is now crammed into an Israeli-declared “humanitarian safe zone” covering about 60 square kilometers (23 square miles) on the Mediterranean coast, centered on a barren rural area called Muwasi.
Despite the name it has given it, Israel has carried out deadly airstrikes in the “safe zone.”
Conditions are squalid in sprawling camps of ramshackle tents set up by the displaced – mostly plastic sheeting and blankets propped up on sticks. With no sanitation systems, families live next to open ponds of sewage and have little access to drinkable water or humanitarian aid.
Hassan Nofal, a 53-year-old employee of the Palestinian Authority, told Associated Press he, his wife and six children fled their home in the northern refugee camp of Jabaliya in October. First they went to the central town of Deir al-Balah, then to Gaza’s southernmost city Rafah. They had to flee again when Israel launched an offensive there in May and moved to Khan Younis. Last week, they fled Khan Younis to a tent in Muwasi.
“Being displaced to a new place, it’s hard to deal with bugs and living on sandy ground,” he said. “We get sick because it gets hot during the day and slightly cold in the night.”
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has said the latest forced evacuation orders from Israel’s military has put all of its medical facilities in Gaza City out of order.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli security forces have detained another 16 people in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The number is said to include children.
Israeli media is reporting that Hezbollah have announced the death of another of its members after an Israeli attack. Hebrew outlet Ynet reports that Ali Hussein Vizani is the 365th Hezbollah member killed since 7 October.
Israel, Hezbollah and other anti-Israeli forces have exchanged almost constant fire between northern Israel and southern Lebanon since the surprise Hamas attack inside southern Israel on 7 October. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes in both countries due to the fighting.
At the weekend Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said that even if there was a ceasefire agreed with Hamas in Gaza, it would not apply to the north of Israel and the conflict with Hezbollah. However, when the last ceasefire and hostage release deal was in place in later 2023, there was a lull in fighting in the north.
Al Jazeera reports that Israel has killed another three Palestinians this morning in an airstrike on the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood west of Rafah. The strike comes after at least 16 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza earlier.
The UKMTO has released more details of an incident off the coast of Yemen. It said all crew and a vessel are safe after reporting an explosion near it, about 180 nautical miles (330 km) east of Yemen’s Nishtun. Nishtun is on Yemen’s southern coast, close to Oman.
The family of Daniella Gilboa, who is being held hostage in Gaza, have allowed the publication of a video featuring her which Hamas released in January. Although the release of the video had been reported at the time, it was not widely shown.
In the video Gilboa, a 19-year-old soldier captured from the Nahal Oz base on 7 October, says where she is being held is under constant bombardment, that she misses her family, and she accuses the Israeli government of abandoning her and other hostages. The circumstances under which the video were filmed remain unclear.
In releasing the footage, her mother Orly Gilboa told Israeli media that she hoped it would underline the importance of securing a hostage release deal.
Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, has claimed to have detonated a high-explosive device aimed at Israeli security forces who were engaged in a raid on the Nur Shams camp in Tulkarm.
More details soon …
The national news agency in Lebanon is reporting that civil defence teams have been firefighting in the south of the country after a series of airstrikes by Israel. It listed Maroun al-Ras, Hanine, Ayta Al-Shaab, Shakra, and Rmeish as the areas affected.
Overnight Israel has also struck at targets in Syria and in Gaza.
Here is the video clip of US national security spokesperson, John Kirby, saying gaps remain between Israel and Hamas in ceasefire negotiations.
In a statement Israel’s military has claimed to have “eliminated dozens of terrorists and located numerous weapons” in Gaza City. It says it was acting “following intelligence indicating the presence of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist infrastructure in the area”.
It says it continues to operate in the Shejaiya neighbourhood, and to have “eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters combat and aerial strikes” in Rafah, in the south of the territory.
The claims have not been independently verified. Israel says that 324 of its soldiers have been killed during the ground offensive in Gaza since it began on 27 October, twenty days after the surprise Hamas attack inside southern Israel.
Sirens have sounded in northern Israel. Earlier Israel’s military said it intercepted a suspiscious aerial target approaching Israel from the east.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) has reported an incident off the coast of Yemen, where Houthis have repeatedly launched attacks against shipping they claim has Israeli links.
It is currently unclear how many Palestinians have been killed this morning by Israeli airstrikes. An earlier death toll of three in Nuseirat refugee camp given by Al Jazeera has been revised up to seven. It reports Israeli aircraft bombed a house belonging to the Freih family.
Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting that 16 people have been killed. In addition to the seven in Nuseirat refugee camp, it reports six others were killed in a Israeli strike that targeted a house in the north of Gaza City where, it said, “medical teams were able to recover an infant alive”. Three others were killed, and three wounded, in a separate strike.
Jordan’s news agency Petra has reported “17 martyrs as a result of the occupation bombing of the Gaza Strip”.
17 شهيدا جراء قصف الاحتلال على قطاع غزة#بترا pic.twitter.com/cvmJPWnJuF
— Jordan News Agency (@Petranews) July 9, 2024
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank Israel’s security forces have staged operations in Tulkarm and in Hebron.
Israeli forces used heavy industrial vehicles to cause damage in Tulkarm, with a journalist for the Wafa news agency reporting that “a large number of occupation vehicles and heavy bulldozers stormed the city from its western axis, amid intense flights of drones at a low altitude.”
In Hebron two people were reported detained, including a Palestinian child. Wafa reported that Israeli forces used “live bullets, stun grenades and gas bombs” after confrontations broke out.
A witness in Beit Ummar told Wafa that “the Israeli soldiers broke into several houses, destroyed their doors, tiles and contents, detained their owners inside individual rooms, [and] beat them.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
Overnight Israel has attacked targets in the northern Syrian city of Baniyas. The Syrian army reports no casualties and slight damage to property.
Al Jazeera reports that at least three Palestinians have been killed by an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. It stated that “many others were injured and some people were still missing, feared under the rubble.”
Health authorities in Gaza say that over 38,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s military campaign against the territory.
Overnight Israel’s military claimed that “based on intelligence and using precise munition, the IAF struck several terrorists who were conducting terrorist activities, using the structures of a school in the area of Nuseirat as cover.”
The claims have not been independently verified. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israel’s military has said in a statement that it intercepted “a suspicious aerial target that approached southern Israel from the east”. It said “the target did not cross into Israeli territory” and it was intercepted successfully by a fighter jet.
The claims have not been independently verified.
US says ‘gaps’ remain between Israel and Hamas on ceasefire deal
Welcome to our latest live coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis. Here are your headlines …
The White House national security spokesperson John Kirby says gaps still remain between Israel and Hamas as ceasefire talks continue in Cairo, reports Reuters.
Speaking at a briefing, Kirby said CIA director Bill Burns and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk were in Egypt, meeting with their Egyptian, Israeli and Jordanian counterparts on Monday. He added that there will be follow-on discussions in the next few days. Kirby said:
We’ve been working this very, very hard. And there are still some gaps that remain in the two sides in the positions, but we wouldn’t have sent a team over there if we didn’t think that we had a shot here
“We’re trying to close those gaps as best we can,” he added.
But Hamas has accused the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of obstructing negotiations for a truce and hostage release deal, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
In a statement, Hamas said the Israeli prime minister “continues to place more obstacles in front of the negotiations”.
The group accused Netanyahu of escalating “his aggression and crimes against our people” in what it said were “attempts to forcibly displace them in order to thwart all efforts to reach an agreement”.
In other developments:
People in Gaza City have reported one of the heaviest attacks by Israeli forces since 7 October, sending thousands of Palestinians fleeing from an area already ravaged in the early weeks of the nine-month-old war. The latest Israeli incursion into the eastern sector of Gaza City came as Israel’s far-right coalition parties threatened again to stop ongoing negotiations in Qatar for a ceasefire, arguing that halting the fighting now would be a huge mistake
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said he would provide prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a “political safety net” in order to get a deal through the Knesset if his coalition partners pull out of government. Lapid said “Netanyahu is a bad, failed prime minister, and he is to blame for the 7 October disaster, but the most important thing is to bring the kidnapped people back home”
Israeli media reported that security sources were dismayed by a statement by Netanyahu on Sunday setting out Israeli pre-conditions for a ceasefire deal. One source told Hebrew media outlet Ynet that it was “inappropriate conduct that will harm the chance of returning the abductees home”
The Palestinian death toll from the conflict has risen to 38,193 Palestinians according to the health authority in Gaza. Israel’s military says it has lost 324 troops during its ground operation. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict
Israel’s military has claimed that in the Shujaiya area of Gaza City it has destroyed a Hamas headquarters which it says was converted from a school and health clinic “from civilian use to terrorist purposes”. The claims have not been independently verified
Israel’s military confirmed it was responsible for killing Mustafa Hassan Salman, a Hezbollah member, inside Lebanon. The Iran-backed militant group announced his death earlier on Monday. Israel’s statement said he was “an operative in Hezbollah’s rockets and missiles unit, who took part in the planning and execution of numerous terror attacks against the state of Israel”
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson has warned Israel that it would support Lebanon against any Israeli aggression, which would “increase tension and threaten security in the region”. Nasser Kanaani said “Defending Lebanon is a fundamental principle for Iran”
Updated
