Gaza live: Israel strike kills 30 Palestinians, mostly children

At least three people were killed and many more wounded when the Israeli army bombarded al-Mawasi near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to Al Jazeera’s correspondent on the ground.

The Israeli army had previously declared the area a "safe zone".

Al Jazeera reported that at least 33 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip today.

Dozens of Israeli right-wing rioters have broken into the Israeli army's Beit Lid base in central Israel. Masked men and women can be seen breaking in and meeting little resistance.

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.

The Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence condemned far-right politicians who support soldiers arrested for the sexual abuse of a Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman prison in Israel.

The NGO said that these protesters are effectively endorsing severe and brutal mistreatment of Palestinians.

In a post on X, Breaking the Silence detailed the harsh conditions faced by Palestinian prisoners at the prison, highlighting issues such as:

"Tens of detainee deaths; indefinite restraints leading to amputations; medical procedures performed without anesthesia; sleep deprivation; brutal beatings; and sexual torture," the statement read. 

It is clear now that US Vice President Kamala Harris will be the Democratic nominee.

This is significant, and while it is meaningful for the issues of Palestine and the genocide in Gaza, those who are hoping that Harris will depart significantly from President Joe Biden's lock-step support for Israel are probably going to be disappointed.

First, though, advocates for Palestine must recognise the critical victory that Biden's decision to step aside represents.

Gaza was far from the only reason Biden quit, and it's not the most discussed one. But it played a much larger role than Washington policy wonks want to admit.

Biden was already an unpopular candidate. Polls showed that most Democrats didn't want him to run again in 2024, long before the 7 October attack and Israel's subsequent genocide in Gaza.

But Gaza set key constituencies against Biden in huge numbers. Polls might have only shown a drop of a few percentage points, but any political observer worth their salt understood that Biden had little chance of winning.

Read more: Will Kamala Harris make any difference on Gaza? by Mitchell Plitnick

The Israeli lawmaker from the ruling Likud party, Hanoch Milwidsky, said that "everything is legitimate" when asked whether it was justified to rape Palestinian prisoners. 

"To insert a stick in a person's rectum, is that legitimate?" asked Ahmad Tibi, a Palestinian lawmaker during a meeting. 

"Yes! If he is a Nukhba everything is legitimate to do him," screamed Milwidsky back. 

There has been widespread reporting that Palestinian prisoners are being tortured in Israeli prisons. 

The United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (Unrwa) said it received reports of mass ill-treatment of Palestinians taken captive from Gaza by Israeli forces, including detainees being urinated on and made to act like animals, and children being attacked by dogs.  

A report, released on Palestinian Prisoners' Day in April, warned that for the thousands of prisoners kept in detention by the Israeli army, physical, sexual and psychological abuse was routine.

"This included being subjected to beatings while made to lie on a thin mattress on top of rubble for hours without food, water or access to a toilet, with their legs and hands bound with plastic ties. Several detainees reported being forced into cages and attacked by dogs. Some released detainees, including a child, had dog bite wounds on their body," read the report.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for the reoccupation of southern Lebanon, in a speech in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem. 

"There is no way to restore security to the residents of the north without a war that will destroy Hezbollah, that will reoccupy southern Lebanon, and that will return the security strip that is today in our territory back to the territory of Lebanon,” said Smotrich.

Israel occupied a strip of land in southern Lebanon from the early 1980s until the Israeli army withdrew in May 2000.

“The Israeli people are ready for this. They see with their own eyes the results of flight and withdrawal. It started in Oslo, then the flight from Lebanon and Gush Katif and the thought that it is possible to gather behind walls, fences, and sensors and build on international guarantees,” he added.

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.

Israeli military police raided Sde Teiman but were met with resistance by soldiers, who reportedly barricaded themselved into the facility and used pepper spray to defend themselves before eventually being taken into custody.

The soldiers were suspected of abusing a Palestinian detainee, who according to Arab48 is suffering from "a serious wound in his rectum area".

The prisoner had been transferred from Sde Teiman in the Negev desert to a hospital in Beersheba, which is also in southern Israel. Haaretz said the prisoner is unable to walk.

Read more: Israeli soldiers suspected of raping Palestinian prisoner arrested, sparking far-right riot

Lebanese media is reporting that another Israeli drone struck a vehicle in the southern town of Kfar Roummane.

At least four people were wounded. 

Earlier, MEE reported that the Israeli army arrested nine soldiers on suspicion of abusing a Palestinian detainee from Gaza inside Sde Teiman prison.

Now, far-right protesters are gathering outside the Beit Lid base in central Israel, where the nine soldiers are being held.

These protesters are supported by several Israeli government ministers, including Negev, Galilee, and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf. Wasserlauf claimed that parliamentary immunity applies to lawmakers who break into military bases, following incidents where activists and members of Parliament stormed the base.

On Saturday, an explosive slammed into a football pitch in the Golan Heights' Majdal Shams, killing 12 children.

The apparent attack ratcheted up tensions between Israel, which occupies the Golan, and Lebanon's Hezbollah, which began clashing with the Israeli military along the Lebanese border in October in solidarity with Hamas and the Palestinians under attack in Gaza.

Though the slain children were not Israeli citizens - Druze that live in the occupied Syrian territory tend not to take Israeli citizenship - Israel has blamed Hezbollah and insisted that it will retaliate in Lebanon.

Hezbollah denies it was responsible, saying the children were killed instead by a misfired Israeli Iron Dome air-defence missile.

Middle East Eye breaks down the claims and counter-claims on the incident in Majdal Shams.

Read more: Golan Heights attack: The claims and counterclaims on Majdal Shams strike

Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of preventing a ceasefire in Gaza by adding further conditions and demands to a US-backed truce.

The Palestinian group said it received feedback from Israel after talks in Rome involving Israel, the United States, Egypt and Qatar.

"It is clear from what the mediators conveyed that Netanyahu has returned to his strategy of procrastination, evasion, and avoiding reaching an agreement by setting new conditions and demands," Hamas said in a statement on Monday.

Washington, which sponsors the talks, has repeatedly said a deal is close; the latest talks are over a proposal President Joe Biden unveiled in May.

Hamas wants a ceasefire agreement to end the war in Gaza, while Netanyahu says the conflict will stop only once Hamas is defeated. There are also disagreements over how a deal would be implemented.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on Monday that any possible Israeli attack on Lebanon would have serious consequences.

Speaking to French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Pezeshkian warned of severe consequences as Israel continues to blame Iran-backed Hezbollah for an attack on the Israel-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children. 

Cyprus said it was on standby to help with the evacuations of civilians from the Middle East if a standoff between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon escalates further. 

Beirut is bracing for a possible escalation after a rocket killed 12 young people in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday. 

The US and Israel both accuse Lebanon of perpetrating that attack on Majdal Shams - claims the Iran-backed group denies. 

Last October, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Cyprus was prepared to help evacuate citizens from the Middle East since the start of the war. 

“We have established the manner in which the scheme will operate, if needed,” Kombos said.

“We are all hoping it won’t be necessary, but should that not happen, Cyprus will continue to operate as a safety bridge in facilitating the departure of civilians from any embattled zone in our area." 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Druze community in the town of Majdal Shams after a deadly rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. 

Writing about his visit on X, Netanyahu said that Israel's response "will come, and it will be hard" and repeated the claim that Hezbollah had perpetrated the attack that killed 12 young people - a claim the Iran-backed group denies. 

Netanyahu also told the Druze community to not "lose hope in the face of the acts of harassment by the evil axis of Iran and Hezbollah."

Earlier, images posted online showed hundreds of residents from Majdal Shams held protests opposing Netanyahu's visit, and attempting to stop him entering the town, labelling him a criminal and fascist. 

https://t.co/2hJiCk8Rv3 pic.twitter.com/6cJmwA9oam

— ישראל היום (@IsraelHayomHeb) July 29, 2024

Turkey accused Israel of threatening Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after he threatened to intervene in Gaza. 

Taking to X, Turkey's head of communications, Fahrettin Altin, said anyone who threatens Erdogan does so "at their own peril."

Erdogan on Sunday told ruling party officials in televised remarks that: "Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them [Israel]."

The Turkish President did not clarify what he meant by his comments, but they drew Israeli officials' ire. 

Israel's Foreign Minister Mike Katz said Erdogan "follows in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and threatens to attack Israel."