Gaza live: Dozens killed and wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza and Yemen

At least 38,713 Palestinians have been killed and 89,166 wounded in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.

At least 49 people were killed and 69 wounded in Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.

Three Israeli settlers were lightly wounded in a shooting attack near a settlement in the northern West Bank.

Following the attack, the Israeli army raided the nearby Palestinian village of Ramin and closed all its entrances. Israeli forces stormed and searched several civilian homes, while snipers were posted on rooftops.

Settlers also gathered at the village’s main entrance, blocking Palestinians and cars from passing through.

The Israeli settlers were wounded by glass shards when their car came under fire near the settlement of Shavei Shomron in the northern West Bank.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has told two top Israeli officials of the "unacceptably high" civilian casualties in Israel's bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip, his spokesman said.

Blinken received two influential Israeli officials - Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi - "to express our serious concern about the recent civilian casualties in Gaza."

Casualties "still remain unacceptably high. We continue to see far too many civilians killed in this conflict," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

China on Tuesday expressed willingness to facilitate "reconciliation" between rival Palestinian factions, after Fatah said its officials would meet in Beijing this month with Hamas counterparts.

Fatah's central committee deputy secretary general Sabri Saidam said on Monday that the factions would meet with Chinese officials in Beijing on 20 and 21 July.

The Hamas delegation will be lef by its Qatar-based political chief Ismail Haniyeh, while the Fatah representation will be headed by deputy head Mahmoud Aloul, Fatah sources said.

"China has always supported all sides in Palestine to achieve reconciliation and unity through dialogue and negotiation," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

Three far-right groups that have been preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza have raised over $200,000 in donations from Israel and the US, the AP and Israeli investigative site Shomrim have found in an examination of crowdfunding websites and other public records.

The US and Israel have allowed tax-deductible donations to the groups, one of which is accused of looting or destroying supplies.

Groups working to get aid into the besieged Palestinian enclave told the AP and Shomrim that "incentivizing these donations by making them tax-deductible runs counter to America’s and Israel’s stated commitments to allow unlimited food, water and medicine into Gaza".

Donations have continued despite the US imposing sanctions on one of the groups.

Palestine's education ministry said that 9241 Palestinian students have been killed by Israeli forces since the start of the war on Gaza on 7 October, with another 15,182 being wounded.

9138 of the students killed were in Gaza, while 103 were killed in the occupied West Bank.

Additionally, 497 teachers and administrators have been killed and 3426 wounded in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and 357 have been arrested in the West Bank.

353 government schools, universities, university buildings and 65 Unrwa-run schools have been damaged, with 93 of them being completely destroyed and 139 severely damaged.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a halt to the recording of security consultations and cabinet discussions held in the underground operations centre of military headquarters, according to Haaretz.

The outlet reports that the Israeli army complied with the orders and stopped using automatic recording equipment in the days following 7 October.

Netanyahu reportedly preferred holding the meetings in his own office in Tel Aviv's defence headquarters, to ensure he was not reliant on military recordings.

"in accordance with the provisions of the regulations for the work of the government, all government meetings and ministerial committees have recordings and transcriptions made by the Prime Minister’s Office stenographers only," the prime minister's office told Haaretz.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

• An Israeli strike on a home in Nuseirat killed 11 people, including five children
• A 20-year-old Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces in al-Bireh, occupied West Bank
• Three Israeli settlers have reportedly been wounded by gunfire near the occupied West Bank's Nablus
• Turkey condemned Israel's attack on Gaza's Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital and said those responsible will face "justice in international courts"
• Unrwa's spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the past week was "one of the deadliest" in Gaza since the war began and rebuked Israel's destruction the agency's headquarters in Gaza City
• US President Joe Biden faced heavy backslash after claiming he has done "more for the Palestinian community than anybody"

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

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• At least 38,664 Palestinians have been killed and 89,097 wounded by Israel's war on Gaza since 7 October, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday

• The European Council has approved sanctions against five Israeli individuals and three entities over serious and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank

• "The government of Israel is repeatedly demonstrating to the world – this time in the designated safe area of al-Mawasi, and yesterday in a school housing civilians in Nuseirat – that it is willing to kill innocent men, women, and children to achieve its goals,” the British-headquartered charity Islamic Relief said on Monday

• It could take up to "fifteen years" to clear the roughly 40 million tonnes of rubble created by Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa)

• Three civilians have been killed and three were wounded in an Israeli strike on a building in Lebanon's town of Bint Jbeil on Monday, three security sources told Reuters

• At least 320 Palestinians have been killed or wounded and brought to hospitals throughout the besieged enclave, the Government Media Office in Gaza reported

• Former US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he had selected Ohio Senator JD Vance as his vice presidential running mate. Vance is known for his "America First" foreign policy and his support for Israel.

• Palestinian factions, including rivals Hamas and Fatah, will hold unity talks in China in July, according to senior officials from both groups who spoke to Reuters on Monday. These talks aim to resolve their longstanding divisions

The Council of the European Union has announced further sanctions on Israeli settlers and affiliated organisations for their actions in the occupied West Bank and for blocking aid to Gaza.

In a statement on Monday, the council said it had approved additional restrictive measures against five individuals and three entities under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime.

The five people sanctioned are Moshe Sharvit, Zvi Bar Yosef, Baruch Marzel, Ben-Zion “Bentzi” Gopstein and Isaschar Manne.

Both Gopstein and Marzel are prominent figures in the far-right Lehava movement, notorious for protesting and attempting to disrupt Arab-Jewish weddings in Israel and leading racist marches through Jerusalem's Old City.

Read more: EU ramps up sanctions on Israeli settlers and organisations

The UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, said parties to the war on Gaza must show political courage and agree to end the war.

“The extreme level of fighting and devastation in Gaza is incomprehensible and inexcusable,” Antonio Guterres wrote in a post on X.

“Nowhere is safe. Everywhere is a potential killing zone.”

 The US is considering a legal bid to question the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) authority in seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister over alleged war crimes in Gaza, Middle East Eye can reveal.

A US official briefed on the matter told MEE that the Biden administration is considering submitting an amicus curiae to the ICC, voicing its staunch opposition to the decision of the court’s chief prosecutor to seek arrest warrants for the Israeli officials, despite the US not being a signatory to the treaty that created the court. 

The deliberations, not previously reported, come amid a lobbying campaign at the highest levels of the Biden administration to prevent the UK from dropping its legal appeal against the ICC.

The US official, who spoke to MEE on condition of anonymity, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken personally asked his UK counterpart, David Lammy, to continue challenging the court’s jurisdiction over Israeli citizens.

Read more: US considers fresh legal bid questioning ICC jurisdiction over Israel

Palestinian factions, including rivals Hamas and Fatah, will hold unity talks in China in July, according to senior officials from both groups who spoke to Reuters on Monday. These talks aim to resolve their longstanding divisions.

The factions previously met in China in April to discuss reconciliation efforts to end roughly 17 years of political splits.

In an interview with YouTube personality Speedy Morman published on Monday, President Joe Biden discussed Israel's war on Gaza.

Filmed on Friday, 12 July 2024, Biden said that he had only provided “defensive” rather than “offensive” weapons to Israel.

“I made it very clear that they cannot use what we provide them to target civilian areas,” Biden asserted, without providing evidence.

Israel’s bombing of Gaza has been described as unprecedented, with the UN reporting that the vast majority of homes have been destroyed. Gaza’s economy contracted by 81 percent in the last quarter of 2023.

The UN has also reported that at least 370,000 housing units in Gaza have been damaged, including 79,000 completely destroyed, largely by US-supplied weapons.

"By the way, I’m the guy who did more for the Palestinian community than anybody. I’m the one who opened up all the assets. I ensured the Egyptians opened up the border to let goods through,” Biden added.

Since 7 October, at least 38,664 Palestinians have been killed and 89,097 wounded, largely by US-supplied weapons used by Israel.

Former US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he had selected Ohio Senator JD Vance as his vice presidential running mate.

Vance is known for his "America First" foreign policy and his support for Israel.

Earlier this year, Vance distinguished his opposition to Ukraine aid from his strong backing of Israel.

“I support Israel and their campaign against Hamas. I also admire the Ukrainians fighting against Russia, but I believe it's not in America’s interest to continue funding what seems like an endless conflict in Ukraine,” Vance said. “It’s odd to equate Israel and Ukraine as similar issues. They're fundamentally different, and we should analyze them separately.”

Vance described Israel as “one of the most dynamic and technologically advanced countries in the world”.

Jewish Insider characterised Vance as putting a "pro-Israel spin on the America First worldview” in his speech.

In an interview with CNN, Vance endorsed Israel's military actions in Gaza.

“Hamas initiated the conflict and now uses Palestinian civilians as shields. To learn from the past 40 years, our priority should be to dismantle Hamas as a military force,” he said. “You can't eliminate Hamas's ideology, but you can eliminate their commanders and military units, and I believe Israel should be empowered to do so.”