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

Israel is fighting in a “clash between barbarism and civilisation”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress.

“America and Israel must stand together,” he said. “When we stand together something very simple happens. We win. They loose,” Netanyahu said.

“We will win,” he said, drawing a comparison between the 7 October attack on southern Israel and Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941 and the 9/11 Twin Tower attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has entered Congress, where he is being met with widespread applause.

The warm reception contrasts with protestors who have gathered in Washington DC to protest against Israel’s war on Gaza.

Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, wore a Palestinian flag pin and keffiyeh on Wednesday, as part of her boycott of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit.

Tlaib posted a photo on X, alongside Hani Almadhoun from the Gaza Strip.

“Joining me in the chamber today is Hani Almadhoun, who has lost over 150 members of his extended family in Netanyahu’s genocide. After witnessing his sister forced to eat animal feed, he and his family were determined to start a soup kitchen to feed their starving neighbours,” she said.

A 16-year-old was injured after Israeli soldiers raided a village east of the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli soldiers stormed Beit Dajan village, firing a barrage of live ammunition, tear gas canisters and stun grenades, according to Palestinian New Agency Wafa.

The teenager was shot in the foot and arrested before he was allowed to enter an ambulance, according to Wafa.

Some Jewish and Israeli-American organisations, including those groups who are ardent supporters of Israel, are refusing to give an audience to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Middle East Eye reports that organisations like the liberal Zionist J-Street and Americans for Peace Now, to the expressly anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace have rejected the prime minister's visit while several lawmakers and senators have refused to attend his address.

“We’re against Netanyahu’s arrival. For us, the main call right now is to stop the genocide but the long-term is to dismantle the apartheid system and to find a statewide solution that ensures equal rights, freedom, and safety for all people between the river and the sea,” Ruslana, an organiser with Shoresh, a US-based group of Israelis that describes itself as anti-Zionist, told MEE.

Read More: 'Responsible for a genocide': Jewish-American groups reject Netanyahu visit to US

The death toll from Israel’s assault on Khan Younis in the last 48 hours has climbed to 129 people, according to Palestinian health officials.

Israel ordered a forced displacement of the city, which has been pummelled since 7 October.

In the last 48 hours, at least 416 people have also been injured from Israel’s assault, and 237 houses and residential buildings have been destroyed.

Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed at least 55 Palestinians in the last 24 hours, a staggering death toll, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to address a special session of Congress.

Israel targeted Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Younis, where Palestinian first responders reported distress calls from trapped residents.

The new Israeli raids have continued to uproot Palestinians, who are being forcibly displaced from their homes in Khan Younis.

Palestinian fighters and Israeli troops are continuing to engage in fierce fighting while Israel’s leader is in Washington DC.

Hamas said its fighters had detonated a bomb against an Israeli army personnel carrier in Bani Suhaila.

Meanwhile, Israel reported two soldiers were seriously injured fighting in the southern Gaza border city of Rafah.

Four Palestinians have been killed after Israel bombed a car belonging to the Khan Younis electric company they were driving in, according to Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera cited a video it obtained that shows the bodies of the killed Palestinians along with bystanders rushing to aid the injured, which include children.

It’s only noon in Washington DC, but thousands of pro-Palestinian and antiwar activists from all over the US are already fanned out across the city to raise their ire against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the US officials he is meeting. 

"Netanyahu and the members of Congress he will be addressing are partners in crime," Hatem Abu Dayyeh, national coordinator for the US Palestinian Community Network, said in a statement shared with Middle East Eye.

"We are gathering to express our outrage not only with Netanyahu but also with the US political elite who are indispensable to Israel's ability to massacre Palestinians."

Pro-Palestine demonstrators have reportedly disrupted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stay at The Watergate Hotel in Washington DC.

A video posted on social media showed protesters with Palestinian flags facing off against the police. The scene was noisy, but the demonstration remained peaceful. 

An image of the Israeli prime minister’s face, captioned “Wanted: Arrest Netanyahu”, was projected on the exterior of the iconic hotel in Washington.

Several other videos shared on X appeared to show swarms of insects being released in the hotel. One X user said mealworms and maggots were placed on dining tables, and crickets were unleashed on some hotel floors.

MEE could not independently verify the videos.

The activist group Palestine Action announced its launch in Germany on Wednesday.

The group posted a video of activists spray-painting a building they identified as belonging to Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems. Middle East Eye could not immediately verify the video. 

“Palestine Action Germany is officially launched and has begun with an action against the Israeli-owned Elbit weapons facility in Ulm,” the group said on X. “Israel’s biggest weapons firm is not safe anywhere".

A 15-member family is under threat of eviction from their home in Batan al-Hawa, Silwan, in 10 days, according to the Israeli rights group, Ir Amim.

The Shehadeh family received an eviction notice on 14 July, instructing them to vacate their home within 20 days, according to the group. from 4 August, the family will be forcibly removed from the premises.

Ir Amim said that the latest eviction order comes weeks after a district court ruled to evict 11 more families from the same village, where 85 Palestinian families face displacement.

Keir Starmer, at his first prime minister's questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday, spoke at length about UK aid to Ukraine, and a Russian attack on a hospital two weeks ago. He then turned to the Middle East, reaffirming his support for Israel's "right to security" and the need for a ceasefire, but failed to mention the many hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children slaughtered in Gaza and the West Bank by Israel since then. 

The new government's first King's Speech was overshadowed this week by a crackdown on left-wing Labour MPs for defying the whips on capping child benefits, seven of whom were suspended, a move that has shocked some Labour supporters.

Like Boris Johnson five years ago, who as a new prime minister expelled 21 moderate Conservative MPs, Starmer has started his government with a purge, in line with the authoritarian streak he has displayed since he became Labour leader. This intolerant approach to dissent could store up problems in the future.

Continuity with Conservative policies also applies to the Labour government's approach to the Middle East and Israel. There was barely a soon-to-be-banned cigarette paper between Rishi Sunak and Starmer at PMQs.

It appears that the Starmer government will not meaningfully shift UK policy on Gaza and the escalating regional conflict. It's been argued that this is due to the “structural realities" of declining British power and influence, and its need to remain close to the US and Europe in supporting Israel, despite the horrors it has inflicted on Palestinians.

READ MORE: Labour, Israel and the problem of David Lammy, Opinion by Joe Gill

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris separately on Thursday, the White House said in a statement.

Biden and Netanyahu are set to discuss "developments in Gaza and progress towards a ceasefire and hostage release deal”, in addition to the US’s “ironclad commitment to Israel’s security, including countering Iran’s threats to Israel and the broader region”, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in the statement.

The statement added that the leaders will also meet with families of hostages still held in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refuted National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir's claims that Jewish people can pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem.

A decades long agreement stipulates that only Muslims are permitted to pray at the holy site.

“Israel’s policy of maintaining the status-quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change,” the Prime Minister's office said in a statement on X.

The Prime Minister's Office:

Israel's policy of maintaining the status-quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change.

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 24, 2024