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

Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have called on the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) to withdraw its recognition of Israel in retaliation for the Israeli parliament's approval of a bill that rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The groups made the announcement on Thursday following a meeting in Qatar between Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and Islamic Jihad chief Ziad Nakhaleh and his deputy Mohammed al-Hindi, according to a statement made by Hamas.

Hamas and the PIJ said that the Palestinian people have a right to establish their own state with Jerusalem as its capital.

The immediate and ever present threat of death is the primary concern for the 2.3 million Palestinians who live in the besieged Gaza Strip amidst Israel's devastating military campaign.

As of early July, 35 percent of the territory's buildings have been destroyed, at least 38,900 people are confirmed to have been killed, while another 10,000 are buried under rubble.

According to UK medical journal the Lancet, the total death toll caused by the conflict could be as high as 186,000.

Israel faces charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice and its leader Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a potential International Criminal Court arrest warrant for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

With near total political and military backing from its allies in Washington DC and no tangible progress in attempts to reach a ceasefire, the devastation will likely continue for months.

For the people of Gaza, there is a Gaza that was and a Gaza that is.

READ MORE: Daybreak in Gaza: New anthology aims to preserve a culture being destroyed

Unrwa, an agency of the UN, is the chief source of humanitarian support for Palestinians in Gaza and the wider region.

But it has come under sustained attack, not only militarily but also financially and diplomatically, since the Israeli war on Gaza began on 7 October. The UK government has followed other countries by restoring funding which was suspended earlier this year - but the US, formerly Unrwa's main donor, has still to do the same.

READ MORE: What is Unrwa - and why has its funding been cut?

The UK's new Labour government said on Friday that the country will resume its funding of Unrwa.

The move comes months after the UK, among with several other donor countries, had paused funding due to Israel accusing Unrwa members of taking part in the 7 October Hamas-led attack.

British Foreign Minister David Lammy told parliament he was reassured that the agency had taken steps to "ensure it meets the highest standards of neutrality".

"I can confirm to the house that we are overturning the suspension of Unrwa funding, Britain will provide £21m in funds" to the agency, he said.

Following an assessment with Israeli army officials regarding the Houthi drone attack, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said his country will respond.

"The defence establishment is working to immediately strengthen all defence systems, and will settle the score with anyone who harms the State of Israel or directs terror against it," he said in remarks provided by his office.

Palestine's Wafa news agency reports that illegal Israeli settlers have attacked Palestinian cars in Nablus, occupied West Bank.

The settlers have also reportedly blocked the Huwwara road south of the city while protected by Israeli forces.

مستعمرون يهاجمون مركبات المواطنين جنوب نابلس

— Wafa News Agency (@WAFA_PS) July 19, 2024

Hezbollah says it struck an Israeli military base in the occupied Kfarshuba Hills using locally manufactured "Wabel" heavy rockets.

They just keep coming. On the weekend, Israel launched another devastating air strike on Gaza, killing at least 90 Palestinians and wounding hundreds more, including women, children and rescue workers. 

Once again, Israel targeted refugees displaced by its earlier bombs, turning an area it had formally declared a “safe zone” into a killing field. 

And once more, western powers shrugged their shoulders. They were too busy accusing Russia of war crimes to have time to worry about the far worse war crimes being inflicted on Gaza by their Israeli ally - with weapons they supplied. 

The atrocity committed at al-Mawasi camp, packed with 80,000 civilians, had the usual Israeli cover story - one rolled out to reassure western publics that their leaders are not the utter hypocrites they appear to be for supporting what the World Court has described as a “plausible genocide”. 

Israel said it was trying to hit two Hamas leaders - one of them Mohammed Deif, head of the group’s military wing - although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed uncertain as to whether the strike was successful. 

READ MORE: Israeli soldiers tell story of savage cruelty in Gaza - one given blessing by the West, opinion by Jonathan Cook

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on 13 August, Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing a diplomatic source.

An Israeli strike on the Abu Shakyan family home in the Nuseirat refugee camp killed eight people, the Wafa news agency reports.

Children are reportedly among those killed.

Israel's military said they shot down a suspected drone coming from Lebanon on Friday morning.

The Israeli army said that the explosive-laden drone that hit Tel Aviv this morning was detected but not intercepted by air defences due to human error.

No warning sirens were therefore activated.

A reported drone attack on central Tel Aviv, Israel killed one person and injured several others, according to the Israeli army.

Yemen’s Houthis seemed to claim responsibility for the attack, saying they “carried out a specific military operation, which consisted of targeting one of the important targets in the occupied Jaffa region, what is now called Israeli Tel Aviv”.

Calling their new drone “Yafa”, named after the old city, that is now part of modern-day Tel Aviv, the Houthis, known as Ansar Allah, claimed it is capable of bypassing Israel’s interception systems.

The Times of Israel report that eight people have been hospitalised following the drone explosion, which seems to have avoided detection from Israel’s defences.

READ MORE: Yemen's Houthis claim deadly drone attack on Tel Aviv

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

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• Israeli forces bombarded the Gaza Strip's historic refugee camps in central Gaza and struck Gaza City in the north on Thursday, killing at least 21 people

• At least two people have been killed and eight wounded in an Israeli strike on an Unrwa school in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, according to several reports

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a surprise visit to Israeli troops in the area around Rafah, in southern Gaza

• A report by a Dutch activist group has found that Palestinians in Gaza are "drowning" in human waste, after the months-long Israeli assault on the strip has brought the waste collection system to collapse

• The UN's agency for Palestinian refugees has said that only 10 out of 26 of its health facilities remain operational

• Amnesty International has released a report documenting cases of torture of 27 Palestinian former detainees, including a 14-year-old boy

• Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has approved the first raft of draft orders which will be issued on Sunday to around 1,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews, aged 18-26

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a surprise visit to Israeli troops in the area around Rafah, in southern Gaza.

He reportedly told troops that the military pressure combined with a demand to bring back 120 hostages still being held in Gaza was producing results.

"This double pressure is not delaying the deal, it is advancing it," he said, according to a statement from his office.

Itamar Ben Gvir, a member of Netanyahu's governing coalition, has suggested that Israel delay the ceasefire agreement in order to help former US President Donald Trump defeat Joe Biden in the upcoming election, according to an Israeli news report.