Gaza live: Israel strike kills 30 Palestinians, mostly children

Lebanon's Hezbollah says its air defence unit fired on Israeli war planes that broke the sound barrier in Lebanese air space.

The group said in a statement on Telegram that the air craft were forced “to retreat behind the borders inside occupied Palestine”.

Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said that nearly 40,000 cases of hepatitis have been recorded in Gaza since 7 October.

In a report, the agency said that its health centres and shelters across the enclave record 800 to 1000 new cases every week.

It warned that diseases are spreading rapidly across the strip amid dire sanitary conditions.

“The Hepatitis A outbreak is spreading in Gaza during the war. Families are displaced and live in dire and inhuman conditions in overcrowded camps and shelters. They lack clean water, hygiene kits, and proper waste and sewage management. This crisis continues to make it extremely hard for the UNRWA health programme to respond to the needs of the sick," the report said. 

Al Jazeera Arabic reports that the Israeli military targeted the entrance of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The attack resulted in the deaths of at least 10 people and left an unknown number wounded.

On Monday, the Israeli army issued new forced displacement orders for residents of the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps, impacting approximately 29,000 people who have no safe place to relocate.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, stated that over 86 percent of Gaza is affected by these forced displacement orders. 

At least 39,400 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's onslaught on Gaza since 7 October, Gaza’s health ministry said on Tuesday. 

More than 90,996 Palestinians have also been wounded during this period. 

At least 37 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours, with an additional 73 people wounded, the statement added. 

A leading source in Hezbollah has told Al Jazeera Arabic that the organisation is taking Israeli threats seriously and has made full preparations for any potential conflict.

The source emphasised that any Israeli strike, regardless of its size, is considered an act of aggression.

Several foreign envoys have reportedly contacted Hezbollah, urging them to refrain from responding to an anticipated Israeli attack on Lebanon in the coming days. However, Hezbollah has rejected this suggestion, stating that they will definitely respond to any Israeli attacks.

The Civil Defence in Gaza has announced the recovery of 42 bodies in Bani Suhaila following the retreat of Israeli occupation forces from areas east of Khan Younis.

Efforts are ongoing to recover additional bodies, as the roads have been closed and 90 percent of the infrastructure has been destroyed.

The death toll could be much higher, with 200 reports of missing Palestinians in eastern Khan Younis.

The Civil Defence has accused Israeli forces of preventing the retrieval of the wounded, resulting in their deaths and the decomposition of their bodies.

The spokesperson for the Civil Defence in Gaza told Al Jazeera that the number of martyrs in Khan Younis has surpassed initial expectations, with at least 300 confirmed people killed by Israeli forces.

Palestinians are just now returning to Khan Younis after being forcibly displaced last week by an Israeli assault.

The invasion displaced at least 180,000 Palestinians in the first four days, with many forced to leave their belongings behind, according to the United Nations.

In the official West and its mainstream regime media, there exists a specialised dictionary and thesaurus to translate to the western public all matters Israeli and Palestinian.

Officials and journalists must also adhere to a special grammatical syntax, particularly when using verbs in the active or passive voice.

This definitional and translational practice is central to the politics of western representation. It guarantees ideological uniformity on the issue of Israel and Palestine within the whole range of the respectable political spectrum, which, at least in the US, is so narrow between the Democratic and Republican parties that it could be measured in millimetres.

After 7 October, the enforcement of this dictionary and lexicon was intensified to give cover to Israel's savagery in Gaza.

This included the demand that government and media officials could not cite the Palestinian health ministry's statistics on the casualties of Israel's genocide without prefacing it with "Hamas-run" to cast doubt on the numbers.

Read more: Why the West created a new dictionary for Israel and Palestine

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin does not believe a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is inevitable, and expressed a preference for a diplomatic resolution.

Austin shared these views during a joint press conference in Manila, Philippines, after security discussions with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their Philippine counterparts, Gilberto Teodoro and Enrique Manalo. 

Greece’s Aegean Airlines said on Tuesday that it had cancelled flights to Beirut until 1 August, due to the current increase in tensions between Israel and Hezbollah. 

“We are constantly evaluating the developments following the instructions of the competent authorities,” the airline said.

Palestinians are returning to Khan Younis after being forcibly displaced last week by a new Israeli assault.

The invasion displaced at least 180,000 Palestinians in the first four days, with many forced to leave their belongings behind, according to the United Nations.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has released footage showing decomposing bodies in the streets of Khan Younis.

Al Jazeera Arabic reports that at least 20 decomposing bodies have been recovered from Rafah and eastern areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza following Israel's withdrawal from these regions.

An Israeli soldier accused of raping a Palestinian detainee claimed that the man was injured at a different facility and only later arrived at the Sde Teiman base where the soldier was stationed. Therefore, the detained soldiers have no connection to the alleged incidents, Haaretz reported. 

“He denies everything. It’s all nonsense; nothing happened,” said his lawyer, Efraim Demri. “It is very sad that our soldiers, who have been serving the state since October 7, are being dragged into a bizarre investigation based on a false and absurd complaint from a notorious criminal,” he added.

“We must not forget that this is a Hamas commander from Shujaiya. We must not fall into their trap; they deserve death. We believe the investigation will conclude with nothing,” the Israeli lawyer said about the Palestinian detainee without providing evidence. 

In response to demonstrators breaking into the Beit Lid base, far-right Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich said that civil protests were "justified".

"The civil protest against the terrible injustice towards the reservists in Sdei Teiman is justified and I support it with all my heart. In contrast to the hypocritical left who made breaking the law, refusing and burning the state a method for a year and a half under the auspices of the attorney general, we have a responsibility to the state," said Smotrich.

"Therefore: I call on everyone to maintain the law and the integrity of the army and the people," Smotrich said, "Not to break into the bases and not to confront our brothers the soldiers and the police, and to maintain the borders of the protest," he added.

Dozens of Israeli right-wing rioters broke into the Israeli army's Beit Lid base in central Israel earlier on Monday.

Nine Israeli soldiers in the notorious Sde Teiman detention centre were arrested on Monday on suspicion of raping a Palestinian detainee, sparking a riot where far-right activists and MPs stormed the facility.

They are being held at the Beit Lid base and rioters have sought to seemingly break them free or show their support.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has urged Israel to avoid the "trap" of retaliation, expressing deep concern about the escalating situation in Lebanon and the potential for a wider regional conflict.

During an official visit to China, Meloni emphasised the need for the international community to promote moderation. She also noted that China, with its strong connections to both Iran and Saudi Arabia, could play a key role in these efforts.