Israel war on Gaza live: 11 Palestinians killed, strikes begin in Israel
- Israeli forces continue to pound the Gaza Strip, killing dozens of Palestinians, including 11 people sheltering at a school in Gaza City and four travelling in a car near Deir el-Balah.
- Hundreds of thousands of Israelis take to the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities in Israel, demanding a ceasefire deal after the bodies of six more captives were recovered from Gaza. There is also a general strike taking place across the country.
Palestinian journalist assaulted by Israeli soldiers in occupied West Bank
Israeli forces have attacked a Wafa news agency photographer Mohammed Abu Zeid in Ramallah.
The agency reported that the soldiers also confiscated the memory card from his camera.
Abu Zeid said he was assaulted with rifle butts, verbally abused and breifly detained by the soldiers.
Attack on Palestinian journalists have intensified since Israel’s war on Gaza began on October 7. According to preliminary figures by the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 111 journalists and media workers are among those killed since the start of the war on October 7.
The Gaza government media office says the figure is at least 172.
Strikers hope to apply ‘economic pressure’ on Israeli government
As Israelis take to the streets to force the government to agree to a ceasefire deal, it’s still “difficult” to say how much this will change Netanyahu’s mind, as the country’s Labour Court rules the general strike must end early, according to Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut.
“Even though some of these strikes might end early, people are still going to be protesting in the streets. The last time we saw a large labour union strike like this was when the country was protesting a different issue, and it had an impact on the government that actually allowed them to change course in their legislation,” Salhut said.
She added that it’s the “economic pressure” that the demonstrators and the labour union are hoping to apply on Netanyahu and the government so that “there can be a deal, ultimately to release the captives”.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews protest mandatory military service
Dozens of Israeli protesters gathered near a recruitment office in the Tel HaShomer neighbourhood to protest the military enlistment of their community, public broadcaster Kan reported.
Footage showed protesters blocking a road leading to the recruitment office, carrying signs showing opposition to their conscription as police were present at the scene.
In June, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish men for military service.
The exemption of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men has long been a source of anger among the secular public. That divide has widened during the nearly 11-month-old war in Gaza.
The military has called up tens of thousands of soldiers and says it needs all the manpower it can get. Casualties continue to mount, with the number of soldiers reported killed exceeding 600.
What are Israel’s protests and general strike about – and how big are they?
Histadrut, which called the one-day general strike on Monday, is Israel’s largest trade union and represents approximately 800,000 workers.
It has been backed by Israel’s main manufacturers and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector. As a result, large parts of Israel’s economy have been shut down.
Thousands of people took to the streets, closing down roads and demanding the government change its course of action to save the remaining captives, estimated to be 100, still in Gaza.
Alongside the general strike, Israeli activists working with the family members of captives in Gaza have announced they intend to hold a series of protests nationwide on Monday.
According to a statement by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, demonstrators had planned to block important roads and intersections, along with entrances to many government and regional offices.
More on Israeli court order to end general strike
The chairman of the labour union Histadrut says he has instructed workers to go back to work following the order by an Israeli labour court to end the general strike by 2:30pm (11:30 GMT), Israeli media outlet N12 is reporting.
“We live in a state of law and respect the court’s decision. Therefore I instruct everyone to return to work at 2:30pm,” Arnon Bar-David said, according to N12.
“It is important to emphasise that the identification strike was an important move and I stand behind it.”
Israel appoints new Gaza division army general
Brigadier General Barak Hiram has taken control of the army’s Gaza division after its former general, Avi Rosenfeld, quit over its failure to prevent the October 7 Hamas attack, The Times of Israel reported.
Rosenfeld first announced he was quitting in June after saying he “failed” to protect the Israeli border communities from the attack.
He was the second senior army officer to resign over the attack.
