Live blog update| Israel's war on Gaza
This is an entry from: Gaza live: Israel strike kills 30 Palestinians, mostly children

Evening Recap

31 July 2024 23:53 BST

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the day's key developments:

  • Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's political bureau, has been killed by an airstrike in Tehran, Iran

  • US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated that Washington will help Israel if it faces reprisals following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran

  • Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, has released a statement calling the killing a “dangerous event” with “major repercussions across the entire region"

  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has clarified that the United States was unaware of the planned assassination on Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh before it occurred

  • The Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told soldiers that Israel is not interested in a war, but is preparing for all possibilities

  • Eight Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike on the town of Az-Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip

  • Two Aljazeera journalists, Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Ramy El Rify, were killed in an Israeli strike on Gaza City

  • Deputy chairman of the Houthi media authority Nasr al-Din Amer says Israel should expect a “wave of retaliation” following the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh

  • Israel will respond forcefully to any attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday during a televised speech

  • The New York Times published a report on Wednesday saying that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued an order for Iran to strike Israel directly, in retaliation for the killing of Haniyeh