Israel war on Gaza live: 40,074 Palestinians killed since October 7
- Israeli military attacks have killed 69 people and injured 136 more in the latest 48-hour reporting period, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
- Israel has ordered mass evacuations in northern and southern Gaza, including areas in the south it previously designated as “safe zones”, while at least 16 people – including nine children – were reported killed in an overnight Israeli attack on displaced people in central Gaza’s az-Zawayda.
‘Uncommitted’ delegates bring Gaza-war message to Democratic convention
Next week, thirty delegates from across the US representing voters who cast ballots in protest of Democrats’ pro-Israel policies will be heading to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago.
Initially, the movement aimed to encourage primary voters across the country to cast their “uncommitted” ballots to protest Joe Biden’s “ironclad” support for Israel, but now that the primary season is over, it has set its sights on the DNC.
Biden wants a ceasefire but Netanyahu is ‘trying to extend the conflict’
Sultan Barakat, professor of public policy at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, says mediators involved in the ongoing truce talks claim that they were “bridging” the gaps in the ceasefire proposal, which indicates that neither side has accepted its original framework.
He told Al Jazeera that the most important aspect of the current talks is the potential to “defuse the retaliation from Iran” after the assassination last month of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in return for a ceasefire in Gaza.
An added aspect that would be of concern for Israel is the potential that captives in Gaza may be killed not just by their own bombing campaigns but by Hamas’s guards, as occurred earlier in the week.
US President Joe Biden wants a ceasefire to allow Kamala Harris to “regain some of the Muslim and Arab votes”.
In contrast, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to continue the war, he said, adding that his strategy has to be to ramp up attacks on Gaza every time there are truce talks, making it very difficult for Palestinians “even to accept to consider an end to this war”.
Hamas official dismisses Biden ceasefire optimism as ‘illusion’: Report
A senior Hamas official has dismissed Biden’s optimism after the American leader said a Gaza ceasefire was closer after talks in Doha.
“To say that we are getting close to a deal is an illusion,” Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement sent to AFP. “We are not facing a deal or real negotiations, but rather the imposing of American diktats.”
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Let’s bring you up to speed:
- Israeli air attacks have continued in central and southern Gaza. One strike killed six people, two of them children, in a home in Nuseirat, according to the Wafa news agency.
- Palestinians in az-Zawayda are mourning the death of 15 people, including nine children, killed from an overnight Israeli strike.
- A new Israeli order tells residents of parts of Maghazi camp to flee, further shrinking Gaza’s “humanitarian zone” for the second day in a row.
- Hezbollah claimed a series of rocket and drone attacks in northern Israel, injuring several Israeli soldiers and sparking fires in open areas.
- An Israeli air strike hit a motorbike near southern Lebanon’s Tyre, injuring one person, reports Lebanon’s an-Nahar media.
- An Israeli delegation has stayed in Doha to try to “bridge remaining gaps” with mediators after two days of ceasefire talks wrapped up in the Qatari capital, reports Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom from the city.
- Mediators are more optimistic than when the talks began, but are awaiting detailed responses from Israel and Hamas representatives, said Jamjoom.
Mediators suggest gaps could ‘narrow’ in ceasefire talks
At the moment, you still have a technical team from Israel in Doha trying to work through these details before another meeting in Cairo before the end of next week.
In the statement released last night after these two days of ceasefire talks, the mediators, the US, Qatar and Egypt, all said that they believe these gaps could be narrowed, hopefully, within the coming week.
Before the talks started in Doha, many diplomats close to the talks expressed reservations and scepticism about how exactly it [a deal] could be accomplished.
That’s because every iteration of the talks in the last few months has not led anywhere.
But if you look at the language in the statement released about this proposal presented by the US and supported by Egypt and presented to Israel and Hamas, the mediators felt confident that enough had been done and that perhaps these gaps could be narrowed even more in the days ahead.
This is the final chance to effect a ceasefire deal before a wider regional war could occur, and everybody wants to prevent that.
This was high-stakes diplomacy. It was done at a crucial time, and right now, indications are that the mediated countries believe that they could potentially narrow these gaps even further within the coming week and maybe finally reach some kind of ceasefire.
About 55 rockets fired from Lebanon to Israel: Army
The Israeli military has confirmed the rocket attack targeting the Israeli settlement of Ayelet HaShahar, which was previously announced and claimed by Hezbollah.
Some of the rockets fell in open areas, and there were no casualties, the army said.
“As a result of the rockets, several fires developed in the area with fire brigades now working on the scene,” it said.
Earlier today, a soldier was seriously wounded and another one was slightly injured in another attack on a military position near the northern community of Misgav Am, the statement also said, adding that the troops were being treated.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the rocket attack as well as a drone attack earlier.
One injured in southern Lebanon after motorcycle struck
An air attack has hit a motorcycle near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, reports Lebanon’s National News Agency.
The attack, to the east of Tyre, injured one person who has been rushed into an ambulance, it said.
Lebanon’s an-Nahar news site reported the Israeli military carried out the attack, which comes after a rocket barrage claimed by Hezbollah hit areas in Israel’s north.
We’ll bring you more on this as soon as possible.
Medics find six bodies in Jabalia
Emergency medics with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) have recovered the bodies of six people killed by an Israeli attack in the Jabalia refugee camp, according to the group.
The medics also rescued one person injured from the attack, it said.
The victims were brought to a local hospital, according to footage shared by the group.
Egyptian FM says ceasefire possible ‘if there is political will’: Report
Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reports that the Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty says “if there is a political will, it will be possible to reach a ceasefire in Gaza” before the resumption of talks in Cairo.
At a news conference on Saturday morning, he is quoted as saying that “there are some gaps in the negotiations, and we are working on closing them”, adding that there were “ongoing efforts to renew the talks and reach an agreement”.
Hezbollah claims rocket attack on northern Israel as fires spread
Fires caused by incoming rocket have now broken out in at least 10 places in northern Israel, reports The Times of Israel.
Hezbollah in a statement said it had fired the volley of rockets at Israel, targeting the kibbutz of Ayelet HaShahar for the first time.
The Lebanese group said it launched the rocket salvo to retaliate against an earlier Israeli attack in Lebanon’s Nabatieh that killed 10 people.
Protests held outside homes of several Israeli ministers: Report
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that dozens of Israelis have gathered outside houses of ministers and public officials across the country, protesting against the government and calling for a deal to secure the release of the captives held in Gaza.
The newspaper reports that some of the protesters, some blindfolded and others holding signs, were scattered along Likud politician Yuli Edelstein’s route as he was making his way to his synagogue.
Only 11% of Gaza is part of ‘humanitarian zone’: UNRWA
Israel’s latest evacuation orders have pushed thousands more families out of their homes and shrunk Gaza’s declared “humanitarian zone” even further, says the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Now, the “humanitarian zone” encompasses just 11 percent of the war-torn enclave, said the UN agency, with displaced people left in “chaos and fear”.
As we reported earlier, Israel issued two new evacuation orders today — telling residents of numerous neighbourhoods in northern and central Gaza to flee immediately.
Fire, power outages in northern Israel after missile barrage: Reports
Numerous projectiles have been intercepted in northern Israel, according to Israeli media and footage verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad.
The incoming projectiles or fragments have sparked a fire in Israel’s Biriya forest, while power has gone out in the towns of Safed and HaGlilit, reports Israel’s Ynet news site.
‘Israeli strikes keep wiping out whole families’
The attack carried out in az-Zawayda has brought significant damage to the warehouse that people were taking clear refuge in after being displaced from the north of the Strip.
The death toll is incredibly shocking, with 16 being killed, according to medical sources.
The toll is rising, and more air strikes continue to hammer the vast majority of residential houses in the central areas.
One of the latest attacks has targeted a residential square on the western side of the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least seven Palestinians from the same family.
We are observing that the latest Israeli strikes have been wiping out whole families.
This is a clear escalation practised by the Israeli army in areas that are supposed to be safe humanitarian zones.
