Gaza live: Concerns about all-out regional war rise following Golan Heights deadly attack

The death toll from an Israeli air strike on Khadija Girls' School in Deir al-Balah has risen to 30, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

The school was sheltering hundreds of displaced people. At least 100 others were wounded in the attack, the ministry added. 

The Israeli army shelled a field hospital in the Khadija Girls's School in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens, according to a statement by the Gaza government.

Its media office says the school was hit by three rockets fired from Israeli warplanes.

"We hold the Israeli occupation and the American administration fully responsible for the continuation of these massacres of displaced people and civilians," the statement read.

A child in Deir al-Balah's al-Aqsa Hospital has died of malnutrition and dehydration, Al Jazeera reports.

UN experts had previously warned that famine is already present across the Gaza Strip due to the war and Israel's blockade.

Israeli air strikes have targeted a girls school housing displaced people west of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, according to local reports. 

Khadija Girls' School was bombed on Saturday morning, killing and wounding scores of Palestinians.

The Israeli military ejected Palestinians from southern neighbourhoods of Gaza's Khan Younis region so it could "forcefully operate" there, telling them to relocate to an area in al-Mawasi, a statement from the military said on Saturday.

On Friday, the Israeli military said its troops battled Palestinian fighters in Khan Younis, destroying tunnels and other infrastructure. 

The military said its calls telling Palestinians to flee Khan Younis on Saturday were communicated to the population via several mediums. It added that the order was a temporary one.

Palestinians have long said that no areas are safe in Gaza, and that Israeli forces have frequently targeted them in so called "safe zones". 

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

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least ten Palestinians on Friday evening, according to the Civil Defence

• Over 180,000 Palestinians have fled Israeli bombardments around Khan Younis in southern Gaza within the past four days, according to the United Nations

• In its most recent update on the Gaza situation, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees reported that 199 Unrwa staff members have been killed since the war started in October

• "Come on in, come on in," former US President Donald Trump said to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida earlier on Friday

• Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump criticised US Vice President Kamala Harris’s recent comments about the Gaza war, calling them “disrespectful” to Israel, during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida

• Israel is seeking changes to a plan for a Gaza truce and the release of hostages by Hamas, complicating a final deal to halt nine months of combat that have devastated the enclave, according to a Western official, Palestinian and two Egyptian sources told Reuters

• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will drop the UK's objection to an arrest warrant being issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying it was a matter for the court

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said

• Israeli forces attacked worshippers attending Friday prayers in East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, injuring one man, the Wafa news agency reported

• Peace Now, an Israeli group advocating for a two-state solution and the end of Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands, reported that Israel has set up at least 25 outposts, "most of them agricultural outposts", in the occupied West Bank since the war in Gaza began

• The United Nations world heritage organisation, Unesco, has added Saint Hilarion monastery, one of the oldest monasteries in the Middle East, located at the site of Tell Umm Amer in Gaza, to its List of World Heritage in Danger amid the ongoing war in Gaza

• Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has accused US Vice President Kamala Harris of favouring a Gaza ceasefire deal that would see Israel "surrendering" to Hamas

• Quoting an Israeli official, the Times of Israel reports that the US is no longer considering sanctioning Israel's far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.

Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least ten Palestinians on Friday evening, according to the Civil Defence.

The statement reported that six Palestinians died and others were wounded in air strikes on two homes: one in az-Zawayda in central Gaza and the other in Khan Younis in the south.

Another statement from the Palestinian Civil Defence mentioned that an Israeli air attack on a gathering in the al-Kateeba area of Khan Younis killed two more Palestinians.

A third statement noted that an Israeli strike on a gathering in western Gaza City resulted in two deaths and multiple injuries

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will drop the UK's objection to an arrest warrant being issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying it was a matter for the court.

The announcement, made by a spokesperson for the new prime minister on Friday, overturns the previous government's objection to the ICC prosecutor's application for a warrant for Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant.

"On the ICC submission... I can confirm the government will not be pursuing (the proposal) in line with our long-standing position that this is a matter for the court to decide on," the spokesperson told reporters.

Sources within the Labour Party told Middle East Eye about the plans on Thursday, along with intentions to restrict arms sales to Israel over its war on Gaza.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) said in a statment that it was a "relief" to see the objection being dropped.

Read more: UK dropping its objection to ICC arrest warrant for Israel's Netanyahu

Egyptian, Qatari, and US mediators are scheduled to meet with Israeli negotiators in Rome on Sunday to push for a Gaza ceasfire, according to Egyptian state-linked media.

Al-Qahera news, which is connected to Egyptian intelligence, reported that a senior official announced, "A four-way meeting between Egyptian officials and their American and Qatari counterparts, along with Israel’s intelligence chief, will be held in Rome."

The official cited by Al-Qahera News stated that Egypt insists on "an immediate ceasefire" as part of the agreement. The deal should also "ensure the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza" and "safeguard the freedom of movement" for civilians in the Palestinian territory.

Additionally, Cairo seeks a "complete Israeli withdrawal from the Rafah crossing" connecting Gaza to Egypt, the official added.

More Israelis believe Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is better suited to lead the country than opposition leader Yair Lapid, former premier Naftali Bennett, and National Unity chair Benny Gantz, according to a new television poll, The Times of Israel reported. 

In a Channel 12 news survey, 32 percent of respondents preferred Netanyahu for prime minister, while 28 percent favoured Lapid. Additionally, 31 percent said neither, and four percent were unsure.

When asked to choose between Netanyahu and Bennett, 33 percent preferred Netanyahu, 32 percent supported Bennett, 31 percent believed neither was suitable, and four percent were undecided.

The poll indicates a rise in support for Netanyahu, coming two days after his address to a joint session of Congress in Washington.

However, the poll also found that 65 percent of respondents said the speech did not change their views on the prime minister. Moreover, 48 percent believed he went to Washington for personal interests. 

Over 180,000 Palestinians have fled Israeli bombardments around Khan Younis in southern Gaza within the past four days, according to the United Nations.

The UN humanitarian agency Ocha reported that recent "intensified hostilities" in the Khan Younis area have sparked "new waves of internal displacement across Gaza" more than nine months into the Israeli war.

Ocha stated that "approximately 182,000 people" have been displaced from central and eastern Khan Younis between Monday and Thursday, with "hundreds of others" still stranded in eastern Khan Younis.

A report released this week by California Highway Patrol, the agency responsible for clearing the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) pro-Palestine encampment on 2 May, argues that 57 “less lethal” rounds fired at protesters were justified.

Former police lieutenant Jeff Wenninger, who specialises in investigating officers’ use of force, criticised the report for having no evidence to back up its justification.

The report said that officers encountered “assaultive resistance” from students who threw “frozen water bottles, bottles containing urine and other unknown fluids, full 12 oz soda cans, pieces of plywood, wooden poles, and various sized fire extinguishers (full and emptied)".

It also alleged that officers were “sprayed with fire extinguishers and other unknown chemical irritants, causing temporary blindness and difficulty breathing".

Wenninger, alongside a second law enforcement expert who reviewed video footage recorded by the newspaper, CalMatters, found that the protesters did not appear to attack or threaten officers.

Read more: US: Lieutenant criticises police report on clearing UCLA pro-Palestine encampment

The Palestinian athletes have just made their entry into the Olympic Games on a boat in the Seine.

"Out of the ashes, we always rise," said the Palestinian Mission to the United Nations in a post on X.

Around 350 Palestinian athletes have been killed by Israeli forces over the past 10 months, according to Palestine’s Olympic Committee.

The Palestinian body wrote to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this week, calling for Israel to be banned from the Games over its war on Gaza.

Former US President Donald Trump gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a warm welcome at his Mar-a-lago resort in Florida on Friday, setting the mood for a highly anticipated meeting between the Israeli leader and Republican presidential nominee.

“Come on, let's get a good, beautiful picture,” Trump said, pulling Netanyahu into his chest for a tight handshake and greeting the Israeli premier’s wife with a kiss on both cheeks.

The meeting is the first between Netanyahu and former US president in four years. It comes as US-Israeli ties are under more pressure than at any time in recent history, as Israel's war in Gaza coincides with a tight 2024 presidential election race between Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Trump and Netanyahu enjoyed a close relationship during the former's term in office, but the ties hit a rough spot after Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden for his 2020 election win, refusing to side with Trump’s debunked claims that the election was stolen from him.

“F**k him,” Trump told Axios at the time.

Read more: Trump embraces Netanyahu, cooling speculation of rift between two

In its most recent update on the Gaza situation, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees reported that 199 Unrwa staff members have been killed since the war started in October.

Unrwa also provided the following details:

• At least 563 displaced Palestinians have died in Unrwa premises in Gaza, with another 1,789 injured.
• 190 Unrwa installations have sustained damage.
• Less than half of its health centres - 10 out of 26 - are operational as of 21 July