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Gaza live: Fresh Israeli order forces over 170,000 Palestinians to leave their homes

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Gaza live: Fresh Israeli order forces over 170,000 Palestinians to leave their homes
Doha ceasefire negotiations to enter second day
Key Points
Gaza death toll surpasses 40,000
Palestinian killed in West Bank settler attack
Abbas says he plans to visit Gaza

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2 months ago

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This blog page has ended. TO keep following our live updates, please go here.

2 months ago

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

  • An Israeli strike on a family home in al-Zawaida, central Gaza, killed 15 members of the same family, including nine children and three women, the AFP reported.
  • An Israeli air strike on Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, killed at least 10 Syrian citizens, including two children, Lebanon's state news agency said.
  • Israel has issued new evacuation orders for neighbourhoods in and around the al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.
  • US President Joe Biden told reporters he is "optimistic" about a truce deal in Gaza but that negotiations are "far from over".
2 months ago

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

Here are some of the day's key developments:

  • The Israeli army issued new evacuation orders for displaced Palestinians north of Khan Younis and east of Deir al-Balah and has once again reduced the size of the so-called "humanitarian zone"

  • In its latest update on Gaza, the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that over 170,000 Palestinians living in sites, shelters and centres for displaced people have been impacted by an evacuation order issued by Israel earlier today

  • Washington has condemned armed Israeli settler attacks on the occupied West Bank town of Jit overnight, which killed at least one Palestinian

  • Unicef and the WHO are calling for a humanitarian pause for seven days in Gaza to launch two rounds of a polio vaccination campaign at the end of August in the beseiged strip

  • The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement on Friday that it has detected the first confirmed case of polio in the Gaza Strip in the city of Deir al-Balah, a 10-month-old baby who had not received any polio vaccination dose

  • United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday urged parties in the Gaza conflict to provide concrete assurances for humanitarian pauses to allow a polio vaccination campaign, reported Reuters

  • Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the UN rights office, condemned the attack in Jit, an occupied West Bank village, calling it "horrific"

  • The Israeli Haaretz newspaper, citing a senior security official, reports that the investigation into the settlers' attack on the village of Jit in the occupied West Bank revealed that soldiers arrived shortly after the incident but did not arrest the perpetrators

2 months ago

Lebanon's Hezbollah movement published a new video on Friday showcasing what seems to be a developed underground missile-launching facility along with an extensive tunnel network.

Titled “Our mountains are our storehouses”, the four-and-a-half minute video shows what seems to be Hezbollah operatives moving through a wide array of illuminated tunnels, with motorbikes and even wide trucks carrying missiles driving through them.

The footage shows a sign that reads “Imad 4”, an apparent reference to top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a car bombing in Damascus in 2008 that the movement blamed on Israel.

The release of the dramatic, polished video comes as negotiators seeking a Gaza ceasefire are currently meeting in Doha, and diplomatic efforts from the US, France and Arab state have increased to avoid a wider war between Lebanon and Israel.

Excerpts from speeches by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah are played at the beginning and end of the video, with Hebrew and English subtitles.

Read more: Hezbollah releases video showing missiles in advanced tunnel system

Hezbollah operatives salute the "Imad 4 Facility" in an underground tunnel in their latest video (Hezbollah/Screenshot)

 
2 months ago

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) has stated that Israel's recent evacuation orders in Gaza are worsening the "endless nightmare of death and destruction" in the war-ravaged enclave.

As reported, these latest orders include areas of Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah that were previously considered part of Gaza's "humanitarian zone," further shrinking the area designated as "safe" within the Strip.

"Once again, fear spreads as families have nowhere to go," the Unrwa said in a post on X. "People remain trapped in an endless nightmare of death and destruction on a staggering scale."

2 months ago

Israel's foreign minister told western allies including the UK and France that it expects them to attack Iran if it were to launch a retaliatory strike on Israeli territory.

"If Iran attacks, we expect the coalition to join Israel not only in defence but also in attacking significant targets in Iran," Foreign Minister Israel Katz told his UK and French counterparts, David Lammy and Stephane Sejourne, according to a statement from the Israeli office.

Lammy and Sejourne were on a foreign visit to Israel at the time of the remarks, where they were focused on trying to de-escalate tensions in the region and lobby for a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel.

"It would be inappropriate to speak of an Israeli response while we work towards a diplomatic solution... We are working to prevent Iranian retaliation," Sejourne told reporters in Jerusalem.

A UK government source told The Times that it would be "highly unlikely" the UK would participate in a direct attack on Iran but the country would come to Israel's defence.

Read more: Israel says it expects UK, allies to join fight if Iran launches retaliation

Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz (C) prepares to pose for a picture with his French and British counterparts, Stephane Sejourne (R) and David Lammy, ahead of their meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem on 16 August 2024 (Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP)

2 months ago

A Hamas source has spoken to Al Jazeera on the current round of talks held in Doha, Qatar.

Here are his translated comments:

  • The occupation continues to evade and obstruct and insists on adding new conditions to obstruct the agreement
  • The new US proposal responds to the conditions of the occupation and aligns with them
  • We reaffirm our commitment to what we agreed to on July 2, based on the Biden declaration and the UN Security Council resolution
  • We call on the mediators to pressure the occupation and oblige it to implement what was agreed upon
  • Any agreement must ensure the cessation of aggression against our people and the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip
  • Any agreement must also include providing urgent relief and a genuine prisoner exchange deal
2 months ago

In its latest update on Gaza, the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that over 170,000 Palestinians living in sites, shelters and centres for displaced people have been impacted by an evacuation order issued by Israel earlier today.

This order for southern Gaza now includes parts of Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah that were previously considered part of Gaza's "humanitarian zone", further reducing the size of the area deemed "safe" within the strip.

OCHA also noted that essential stockpiles for "disinfecting drinking and domestic water" are expected to last only one more month.

2 months ago

Within the last week, social media has been inundated with a debate between two communities that have been allied for decades: progressive Black Americans and Palestinian Americans. 

Since Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic candidate for the 2024 presidential election, some Black Americans – who previously opposed President Joe Biden – have changed their minds about not voting for the Democratic party. 

Tiktok creator Tori Grier told her followers that although she doesn’t fully support Harris, she would rather, as a Black woman, have her in office than Donald Trump. 

In response, an anonymous commenter said that Grier should take the Palestine flag emoji out of her name if she was going to vote for Harris. Grier then removed the flag and said that she wouldn’t publicly support Palestine again.

Read more: 'Have we forgotten?': Black and Pro-Palestinian progressives clash over Kamala Harris

Palestinians demonstrate against police brutality in support of US protesters over the death of George Floyd in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on June 8, 2020 (ABBAS MOMANI / AFP)

 
2 months ago

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp says the perpetrators of the settler attack in Jit “must be held accountable”.

“The Israeli authorities need to take measures to protect communities and to prevent violence,” he posted on X.

Armed Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian town of Jit, east of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, killing at least one man overnight Thursday.

The Palestinian health ministry identified Rashid Mahmoud Abdel Qader Sadda, 23, as the victim. He was shot in the chest by one of the armed settlers.

Several other Palestinians were wounded in the attack, one of them critically.

2 months ago

Musicians at the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) have passed a vote of no confidence in its board after it cancelled a show by a pianist who had dedicated a performance to Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. 

In a letter to the management, the musicians said the scandal had brought the orchestra "into disrepute" and highlighted "years of unresolved concerns", Australia's Herald Sun reported on Friday.

"We believe it is the duty of senior management to lead and manage in accordance with the MSO's values and behaviours, however, it has become apparent that these values no longer appear to be aligned with those of the orchestra and staff," the letter stated.

On Sunday, British-Australian pianist Jayson Gillham premiered a five-minute piece called Witness.

"Over the last 10 months, Israel has killed more than 100 Palestinian journalists," Gillham told the audience, ahead of performing the piece.

Read more: Melbourne orchestra leaders voted out for removing pianist over Gaza tribute

Pianist Jayson Gillham dedicated a five-minute piece to journalists killed in Israel's war on Gaza (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra website)

2 months ago

In the past 24 hours, at least 46 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including seven who died in Israeli air strikes targeting residential buildings in Jabalia, Gaza's largest refugee camp.

2 months ago

The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement on Friday that it has detected the first confirmed case of polio in the Gaza Strip in the city of Deir al-Balah, a 10-month-old baby who had not received any polio vaccination dose.

2 months ago

Al-Aqsa TV reported that two Palestinians were wounded after being run over by an Israeli military vehicle in the village of Deir al-Sudan, northwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. 

2 months ago

Crunch talks over a ceasefire deal and the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza concluded after a second day in the Qatari capital Doha.

Sources from within the Palestinian movement Hamas told Middle East Eye on Friday that “the Israeli delegation’s primary efforts were to add Netanyahu’s conditions to be part of Biden’s proposal.”

The sources added that “Hamas categorically rejects Netanyahu’s conditions”.

Commenting on media reports on the latest Doha negotiations, the source said: “All the Israeli and international media leaks portraying the talks as positive, are unfounded and misleading. They [the Israelis] seek to gain time hoping to contain the regional escalation following the assassination of Haniyeh.”

Read more: Hamas 'categorically rejects' attempts to add Netanyahu’s conditions to Gaza ceasefire proposal

Palestinian rescuers stand on the rubble of destroyed buildings following Israeli bombardment near the Great Omari Mosque in the Old City of Gaza City on 4 July 2024 (Omar al-Qattaa/AFP)