Israel war on Gaza live: Palestinians released from prison allege torture
- Palestinian fighters are targeting Israeli armoured vehicles with “particularly lethal” improvised explosive devices in southern Gaza battles, indicating they retain stockpiles of such weapons after four months of heavy combat in Khan Younis.
- Eight Palestinians are released from Israeli prisons with a 17-year-old boy telling Al Jazeera he was tortured for information on Hamas and the whereabouts of captives held in Gaza.
Israeli evacuation orders, attacks ‘devastating Gaza’s health system’
Tens of thousands more Palestinians have been internally displaced again this week in Gaza after the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders, something the UN reports is further devastating the battered health system.
“People can’t access essential healthcare services, particularly ones suffering from chronic diseases,” according to the agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA. “Hospitals are stretched way beyond their capacity.”
The Israeli military earlier confirmed bombing at least 60 targets throughout the enclave with health authorities in Gaza recording at least 30 fatalities in the past 24 hours.
Israeli intelligence officer dies of wounds from car attack
An Israeli intelligence officer has died of wounds sustained in a car-ramming attack in central Israel this month.
A military statement said Ariel Topaz, 24, an officer with the Intelligence Directorate’s Research Division, was seriously wounded along with three others in a car attack near Ramla, north of Jerusalem, on July 14.
A Palestinian driver was also killed in the incident.
21 EU lawmakers call for trade ban with illegal Israeli settlements after ICJ ruling
The landmark ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that termed Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory as unlawful must lead to a “drastic change” in European Union policy, according to 21 members of the European Parliament.
They write to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a letter that the 27-member bloc must align itself with the findings of the UN’s highest court.
They also demand “an EU ban on trade with settlements” based on the ICJ opinion that states must “take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories”.
“The ICJ’s historic opinion must be regarded as a pivotal moment for the EU to recalibrate its policy towards Israel set as to bring about the end of its unlawful occupation, enable the two-state solution to the conflict, ensuring freedom and safety for both peoples, and resolutely defend the international legal order,” the letter reads.
Will the UK drop objection to ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu?
The United Kingdom’s new Labour government faces a key test of its foreign policy towards Gaza ahead of a deadline for a potential legal challenge against arrest warrants the International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking for Israel’s top leaders.
In May, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes committed during Israel’s war on Gaza.
The UK has not issued a formal challenge to the arrest warrants yet. The former Conservative government had only managed to gain court approval to submit arguments before the July 4 UK elections, which the Conservatives lost, leaving the challenge up in the air.
‘No space for a single tent’ in al-Mawasi after Khan Younis invasion
The Palestine Red Crescent Society says the Israeli military is pounding the Khan Younis governorate in southern Gaza for a fourth consecutive day, forcing thousands more people to flee.
“In the so-called ‘humanitarian area’ in al-Mawasi, there is no space even for a single tent due to the overwhelming number of people desperate for safety,” PRCS said.
“The Israeli occupation prevents displaced persons from Gaza and the north from returning to their homes.”
According to the UN, at least 150,000 Palestinians fled Khan Younis earlier this week after Israel launched its latest invasion of the city.
Israel steps up West Bank raids after ICJ ‘illegal occupation’ ruling
Deadly Israeli military raids and arson attacks by Israeli settlers are becoming increasingly frequent in the occupied West Bank.
The rocketing number of such disturbing events comes after Israel’s occupation was confirmed as illegal by the UN’s world court, the International Court of Justice.
Multiple Hezbollah attacks on Israeli positions
The armed Lebanese group says it has launched five attacks on Israeli positions with the latest targeting buildings in the Shtola settlement to retaliate for air strikes on Tayr Harfa in southern Lebanon on Wednesday night.
Hezbollah said another strike achieved a direct hit on a building used by Israeli soldiers in al-Manara as artillery fire targeted another area near the border.
The group said its fighters fired “antiaircraft missiles” at Israeli warplanes inside Lebanese airspace in the southern part of the country, forcing them to retreat. It also claimed an attack on Israeli “spy equipment” near the border.
‘Israel allowed 710 aid trucks to enter Gaza in July while 500 trucks needed per day’
The international charity ActionAid UK reports that humanitarian workers are continuing to deliver aid to Palestinians in Gaza despite the dangers but supplies are dwarfed by actual needs on the ground.
The group cited UN data in saying 710 aid trucks have been allowed by the Israeli military to enter the enclave so far this month when Gaza needed at least 500 trucks of aid per day before October 7.
“Twenty trucks carrying ActionAid supplies, including period products and hygiene kits, have been stuck in Egypt for at least two months due to the backlog created by restrictions on entry points into Gaza, with efforts to coordinate entry still ongoing,” it said.
It vehicles are among the 1,500 UN or NGO trucks bound for Gaza that are currently waiting in Egypt, according to a recent snapshot assessment published by ActionAid and other organisations.
Israel has killed 39,175 people in Gaza offensive since October 7: Ministry
Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip has also wounded 90,403 people since October 7, Gaza’s Health Ministry says.
A total of 30 Palestinians have been killed and 146 wounded in the latest 24-hour reporting period, it said in a statement.
The bodies of a number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defence teams cannot reach them, it added.
Israel accuses Hamas of firing rocket that hit UN-run school
The Israeli military, which has hit numerous UN-run schools in Gaza this month, killing dozens of civilians, claims that a Hamas rocket has hit a UN-run school.
It accuses the Palestinian group of trying to target Israel but said its rockets fell short and hit Khan Younis in southern Gaza, leading to casualties.
Al Jazeera could not independently verify the Israeli claim.
Hamas has not responded to the claim yet.
South Africa has a new top diplomat. What does that mean for Palestine?
When South Africa brought a case against Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) late last year, its foreign ministry led the charge.
Now, after national elections in May, South Africa has a new top diplomat. But will its foreign policy change?
Palestinians in Gaza ‘exhausted by the continuous displacement’: UNRWA
The UN’s agency for Palestinians refugees (UNRWA) says many Palestinian families are continually forced to move around inside the Gaza Strip, where there is no safe place.
“Children are crying and screaming, everybody is in this horrible position once again. It keeps happening over and over and over,” said UNRWA spokeswoman in Gaza Louise Wateridge.
“They are forced from place to place, promised safety where there is none.”
‘It was depressing’: Gaza resident disappointed with Netanyahu’s US address
The Israeli prime minister’s speech at the US Congress has disappointed many displaced Palestinians who hoped for a clearer signal of an imminent end to the war in Gaza.
“It was depressing, he didn’t even mention ceasefire at all, not even once,” said Tamer al-Burai, a resident of Gaza City, now displaced in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
“People awaited some surprise, a ceasefire announcement by Netanyahu as a gift to [US President Joe] Biden, but they slept with much disappointment, as Netanyahu said he was determined to pursue war,” Burai told Reuters via a chat app.
Palestinians in Gaza continue to be forced south: UN
Palestinians in the devastated northern part of the Gaza Strip, where the trickling flow of humanitarian aid has been slower than other parts of the enclave amid Israeli military attacks, are continuing to be forced to move south, according to the UN.
The organisation said it is working with its partners to register and deliver aid to them, as they are forced to trek dangerous roads and drag the little belongings they have.
Israeli military ‘surrounding’ Palestinian villages in West Bank after shooting
The Israeli military has confirmed that three soldiers were wounded in the drive-by shooting attack near an-Nabi Elyas in the occupied West Bank that we reported on earlier, saying none of them was hurt badly.
It says the soldiers were patrolling the area, adding that Israeli forces are now increasing their presence in the area and “surrounding” adjacent Palestinian villages in an attempt to find the perpetrators.
Hundreds of wounded Palestinians arrive at field hospitals daily: ICRC
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says its members, as well as those of the Red Crescent in the Gaza Strip, are trying to protect the families of its members while also providing medical aid in a “catastrophic situation”.
Mousa Krezem, a member of the organisation in the besieged enclave, said he has been displaced four times in Rafah in the south, where the Israeli military is advancing with a deadly ground invasion.
“I am currently living in a tent,” Krezem said.
The Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah, which has 60 beds, continues to provide medical care to about 200 people daily, the ICRC said.
Herzog in Italy for talks
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has arrived in Rome to meet his Italian counterpart, Sergio Mattarella, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, according to the Israeli media.
Herzog, who was previously in France, is scheduled to return to Paris to attend the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics tomorrow evening.
Released prisoners in Gaza show signs of torture
The Israeli military has released a group of at least eight Palestinian prisoners in central Gaza, with some showing signs of severe torture.
The group, which included two women, arrived at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah in the morning after being released from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
“The prisoners who were released are completely exhausted. One of the females was unable to walk and was carried inside the emergency department on a stretcher,” said Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah.
Khoudary said those released were not arrested at the same time. One of the male prisoners, an aid truck driver, was arrested at the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing. One of the released women said she was arrested when she visited the occupied West Bank with her child for treatment.
“They all said they were tortured, they all said they were threatened. They all said they were deprived of medicine and clothes. They were asked about Hamas members and Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip.”
Israel arrests 22 Palestinians in overnight raids in West Bank: Rights groups
Israeli forces have arrested at least 22 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank overnight, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.
The two organisations said those arrested included journalists and former prisoners as well as a child.
The detentions took place in Ramallah, Hebron, Tulkarem and the occupied East Jerusalem.
Since October 7, Israeli forces have arrested more than 9,800 Palestinians, they said.
Israeli captives’ families decry ‘crisis of trust’ with government
The families of those still held in the Gaza Strip are demanding an urgent meeting with the Israeli negotiating team that is expected to depart for Cairo for more talks soon.
They said in a statement that the prime minister has not responded to their inquiries about a ceasefire-and-exchange deal for two weeks.
“This foot-dragging is a deliberate sabotage of the chance to bring our loved ones back. It effectively undermines the negotiations and indicates a serious moral failure,” they said about the delay in sending negotiators for advanced talks.
