Gaza live: Dozens killed and wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza and Yemen
Live Updates
There will be very little change to President Joe Biden's widely unpopular approach to Israel's war on Gaza if he is reelected, a leaked draft of the Democratic Party's platform for 2024 has revealed, indicating the party's refusal to envisage any new headway in ending a war that has killed close to 40,000 Palestinians in 10 months.
The 80-page platform, released by Politico and which will be endorsed next month during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, includes a two-page section on the Middle East, in which it categorically condemns the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel that took place on 7 October and reiterates that "the United States wants to see Hamas defeated".
The platform lists examples of Biden's unwavering support for Israel's war on Gaza, including the sending of arms shipments and providing a diplomatic shield for Israel at the United Nations during votes for a ceasefire and regarding concerns about human rights violations.
It also mentions that Biden is working "at the highest levels" to secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
READ MORE: US elections 2024: Democratic Party platform backs Biden's approach to Gaza, Middle East policy
Special envoy to the UAE foreign ministry Lana Nusseibeh has made comments signalling a willingness by the UAE to send forces to a multinational “stabilisation” mission for post-war Gaza, The Financial Times has reported.
The UAE is the first country to issue such remarks.
Nusseibeh reportedly told The Financial Times the UAE had discussed the plans with the US as a step to fill the vacuum in Gaza and address its massive humanitarian and reconstruction needs.
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.
The school was housing hundreds of displaced people.
Another school sheltering hundreds of displaced people was bombed in Zeitoun neighborhood in the southeast of #Gaza City earlier today. At least two Palestinians were killed and five others were injured as a result.
— Maha Hussaini (@MahaGaza) July 18, 2024
At least two people were killed and more than a dozen were injured in an Israeli strike on a three-story house in Jmaijmeh in south Lebanon, three security sources said on Thursday.
The search for survivors in rubble is reportedly ongoing.
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.
According to health officials and residents, Israeli tanks also pushed deeper into Rafah in southern Gaza.
The Israeli military said in a statement its forces killed two senior Islamic Jihad commanders in two air strikes in Gaza City, including one that the Israeli army said had taken part in the attack on 7 October.
Depending on his recovery from Covid-19, US President Joe Biden hopes to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week, the White House said on Thursday.
Netanyahu is to address the US Congress next week. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that "we have every expectation that the two leaders will have the chance to see each other while Prime Minister Netanyahu is in town".
US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk began his trip to the United Arab Emirates and Jordan on Thursday to join Gaza ceasefire talks, an American official told Reuters.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, had no further details on his planned discussions at this time.
Washington has issued counterterrorism sanctions targeting individuals and entities linked to Sa'id al-Jamal, a financial facilitator for Yemen's Houthis.
The Treasury department said it would affect a dozen individuals and vessels, including Malaysian and Singaporean national Mohammad Roslan Bin Ahmad and Chinese national Zhuang Liang, "who have facilitated illicit shipments and engaged in money laundering for the network."
Since November, the Houthis have launched drone and missile attacks on international shipping as an act of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza under Israeli bombardment.
In his latest column, Middle East Eye editor-in-chief David Hearst argues that in its first two weeks in office, the new Labour government under Keir Starmer has shattered any hope of the UK changing course on Palestine.
He writes: "Last week, Starmer and Lammy flew to the US for the Nato summit. Others might say for instructions. Washington doubled down, saying it would pursue its own objection that the ICC had no jurisdiction over Israel.
Lammy’s next trip was to Israel, where he astonished many by shaking hands with Netanyahu, one of the men accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan.
The timing of Lammy’s handshake could not have been worse.
The meeting took place just hours after Netanyahu had authorised an air strike on al-Mawasi in Khan Younis which had previously been designated a safe zone. Over 90 Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded."
You can read the full column below.
Opinion: Keir Starmer ignores election anger over Palestine at his peril
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.
This is the first stage of a military conscription drive targeting around 3,000 Haredi community members, as the army seeks to address manpower shortages amid its ongoing 0nslaught on Gaza.
This comes after Israel's Supreme Court ruling in June, which reversed exemption from military service for ultra-Orthodox students at religious seminaries.
Hamas has said National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir's "storming" of Al-Aqsa Mosque earlier today is a "dangerous escalation", and called on the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and Arab League to "take serious action to stop these systemic violations".
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) said the far-right minister had "violated the sanctity" of the mosque, and called out "Islamic and Arab silence" over Israeli crimes.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine warned Ben Gvir he's "playing with fire" and called for a "broader mobilisation to confront" Israeli incursions on holy sites.
Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, has circulated footage of its fighters launching rockets at several Israeli communities, including Ashdod, Ashkelon and Sderot.
مشاهد بثتها سـ.رايا القدس لما قالت إنها لرشقة صاروخية استهدفت بها أسدود وعسقلان وسديروت#حرب_غزة #الأخبار pic.twitter.com/NL8rrpqSlA
— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) July 18, 2024
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement condemning far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir's 'invasion' of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The security minister broke into the mosque this morning, flanked by Israeli troops who barred Palestinians from accessing the site. This is the fifth time Ben Gvir has stormed the complex since becoming a minister in December 2022.
The foreign ministry said that the invasion is part of Israeli efforts towards the "Judaisation" of the area and attempts to "empty it of its original owners".
الخارجية والمغتربين// تدين اقتحام المتطرف بن غفير للمسجد الأقصى وتطالب بتدخل دولي لحماية المقدسات
— State of Palestine - MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) July 18, 2024
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemns the extremist Ben Gvir’s invasion of Al-Aqsa Mosque and calls for international intervention to protect holy sites.… pic.twitter.com/pzrgV7Ef7x
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.
Pax said that a combination of Israel's continuous bombardment and its fuel blockade on the strip have "decimated" the system, leaving hundreds of thousands of tonnes of uncollected human waste.
Furthermore, it said that Israeli forces are blocking access to Gaza's three official landfills, according to local authorities.
It added that the uncollected waste could form a "chemical soup" which could contaminate water supplies and farmland, and eventually "penetrate the food chain and find their way back to humans.
“While the danger for Gaza is imminent, the overall region could soon confront grave ecosystem and public health problems," the group warned.
