Closing summary
Two people are dead in south Lebanon as a result of an Israel strike on Monday, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. One of those killed was a paramedic, according to Ali Abbas, a rescue worker who spoke to AFP.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah hit northern Israel in a drone attack early on Monday, in response to what it called “attacks and assassinations” carried out by Israel in several villages in south Lebanon. The Israeli military says the attack wounded two soldiers and set off a fire.
Nasser Kanaani, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said Tehran was not looking to escalate tensions but punishment was ‘“necessary” as a response to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and to prevent further instability. “No one has the right to doubt Iran’s legal right to punish the Zionist regime,” said Kanaani.
Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said it is “justified and moral” to let two million civilians in Gaza die of hunger unless Israeli hostages are returned. Speaking at a press conference in Israel, Smotrich complained that international pressure meant the government had “no choice” but to bring in aid.
Nearly half of Hamas’ military battalions in Gaza have revived some of their fighting capabilities, according to a CNN special report, despite Netanyahu’s claims that Israeli forces are near their intended goal of eliminating Hamas. Speaking to Congress on 24 July, Netanyahu said, “Victory is in sight.” But analyses by the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project, the Institute for the Study of War and CNN show that despite the heavy bombardment of the Strip at least eight battalions remain combat effective.
Israel has handed over 80 unidentified Palestinian bodies to the Gaza’s civil defence agency, according to Gazan officials. Gaza’s civil defence director Yamen Abu Suleiman told AFP that no information was provided with the bodies, and so there is no clear idea where they came from. “We do not know if they are martyrs [killed in Gaza] or prisoners from [Israel’s] jails”, he added.
Yair Lapid, the Israeli opposition leader, has criticised Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over its handling of the threat of attack from Iran. At a meeting of the centrist party he leads, Yesh Atid, Lapid said there is no “deterrence and no government”.
Russia’s security council secretary, Sergei Shoigu, arrived in Tehran on Monday for talks with the Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian, reports Russia’s Interfax news agency. In February, Reuters reported that Iran had provided with Russia with a significant number of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.
The Israeli defence secretary, Yoav Gallant, met with US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin overnight to discuss Israel’s preparation for an expected Iranian retaliatory attack. Gallant briefed Austin on the “security developments in the region and IDF readiness to defend Israel against potential threats posed by Iran and its proxies”.
Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, has spoken of his concern at the “rising risk of a wider conflict in the Middle East”. In a statement, Türk urged all parties and influential states “to act urgently to de-escalate what has become a very precarious situation”.
That’s all from the Middle East crisis live blog. Thanks for following along.
Updated
Israel has handed over 80 unidentified Palestinian bodies to the Gaza’s civil defence agency, according to Gazan officials.
“We received 80 bodies inside 15 bags, with more than four martyrs in each bag, each wrapped in a single shroud,” Gaza’s civil defence director Yamen Abu Suleiman told AFP.
Abu Suleiman said no information was provided with the bodies, and so there is no clear idea where they came from.
“We do not know if they are martyrs [killed in Gaza] or prisoners from [Israel’s] jails,” he added.
The bodies were buried at the Turkish cemetery, near Khan Yunis, the main city in the southern part of Gaza, AFP journalists said.
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