Gaza live: Israeli protesters demand ceasefire as war enters 10th month

The Israeli army reported that the target of the Israeli strike in Baalbek, Lebanon, was a senior engineer working with Hezbollah’s air defence system.

According to Israel, the Hezbollah operative, Meitam Mustafa Al Ta'er, took part in the planning and execution of a variety of operations against Israel.

Hezbollah has not yet commented on the strike. 

The number of people killed by an Israeli strike on the al-Jaouni School, a shelter for those displaced by Israel’s war on Gaza run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), has risen to 16, according to the Government Media Office in Gaza.

More than 75 people were also wounded in the attack on the school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, which houses approximately 7,000 people.

"Since the beginning of the genocide war, the occupation [Israel] has bombed more than 17 schools and displacement and shelter centers inside the Nuseirat refugee camp," the statement reads, adding that only two hospitals are functioning in central Gaza, and they are "unable to provide health and medical services due to severe overcrowding and the many infections they have received over the past months."

CIA Director William Burns is expected to meet with his counterparts from Israel, Egypt, and Qatar ahead of renewed talks on the release of captives and a ceasefire in Gaza. 

Burns, along with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, and Mossad head David Barnea, are slated to meet next week to prepare for new ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

At the same time, Israeli teams are expected to travel at the start of the week to meet with representatives from mediator countries to finalise the details of the emerging agreement.

At least one person was killed in a drone attack in Baalbek, deep inside Lebanese territory, reported Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency on Saturday. 

According to the report, the victim was sitting in his vehicle, which was struck by the aircraft. 

According to footage from a Yesh Din investigation, around 20 settlers threw stones at homes in the village of Madama, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, and set an olive trees on fire.

Yesh Din reported that the settlers came from the Yitzhar settlement and were not stopped by Israel soldiers.

According to the Israel daily, Haaretz, the Israeli army stated, "earlier on Saturday, Israeli citizens arrived at the edge of Madama, set fire to several areas, and threw stones at the village. IDF forces quickly responded to the report, dispersing the citizens from the area."

At the same time, planes were called in to extinguish a fire in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah, which was also started by Israeli settlers.

The brings the total death toll of Palestinians journalists who have been killed by Israel since 7 October to 158.

Thirteen Palestinians, primarily women and children, lost their lives when Israeli aircraft targeted a central Gaza school, where displaced individuals had sought refuge, as reported by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

According to local sources, the airstrikes hit al-Jaouni School in Nuseirat, resulting in dozens of injuries.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said that children in Gaza are spending six to eight hours a day searching for food and water, carrying heavy weights and walking long distances.

"Sanitation facilities and infrastructure are severely compromised, forcing thousands of families to rely on seawater to wash, clean and even drink," the agency said on X.

Children in #Gaza can spend 6-8 hours a day collecting water & food, often carrying heavy weights & walking long distances

Sanitation facilities & infrastructure are severely compromised, forcing thousands of families to rely on seawater to wash, clean & even drink#CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/hUCXLf7rom

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) July 6, 2024

The new British government has appointed Richard Hermer, an experienced lawyer who has often spoken out against Israeli breaches of international law, as the country’s attorney general. 

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose Labour Party won a landslide majority in this week’s election, selected Hermer as the chief legal adviser to the government on Friday. 

The attorney general oversees the Government Legal Department, the Serious Fraud Office and the Crown Prosecution Service (which Starmer led between 2008 and 2013), among other responsibilities.

READ MORE: UK appoints new attorney general critical of Israeli rights violations

The Israeli army said that two other rockets fired from Gaza hit open areas in the Sderot kibbutz near the Palestinian enclave.

Rocket sirens were activated in the area earlier.

Red Alert [16:59:34] - 4 Alerts:

• איבים, שדרות, ניר עם
• Gaza Envelope — Nir Am Shooting Range#Israel #RocketAlert #RedAlert pic.twitter.com/gdzPrmxgDc

— ILRedAlert (@ILRedAlert) July 6, 2024

The AP reports that Hamas has given initial approval for a US-backed ceasefire deal in Gaza, dropping a key demand that Israel commits to a permanent ceasefire.

Quoting a Hamas official and an Egyptian official, AP says the first stage comprises of a "full and complete" six-week ceasefire that would see the release of several hostages including women, the elderly and the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli forces would also withdraw from populated areas in Gaza and allow displaced Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza.

Hamas and Israel would also be negotiating the terms of the second phase, which would see the release of the remaining male hostages, both civilians and soldiers, in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners.

The third phase would see "the return of any remaining hostages, including bodies of dead captives, and the start of a years-long reconstruction project," the officials told the AP.

Hamas still wants "written guarantees" from mediators that Israel will remain committed to negotiations towards a permanent ceasefire deal once the first phase goes into effect.

The Palestinian group's approval came after it got "verbal commitments and guarantees" from mediators that the war will not resume and that negotiations will remain ongoing until a permanent ceasefire is reached.

The Israeli army says a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip hit an open area in the Nahal Oz kibbutz in southern Israel.

Israeli rockets sirens are currently activated in the Nahal Oz kibbutz, near the border with Gaza.

Local media is reporting that Israeli authorities are preventing Palestinians from praying in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque ahead of the Islamic New Year.

قوات الاحتلال تستنفر في البلدة القديمة وتمنع دخول المصلين إلى المسجد الأقصى المبارك pic.twitter.com/xEhzv5Ym8s

— القسطل الإخباري (@AlQastalps) July 6, 2024

Fierce fighting and clashes are being reported in Gaza City's Shujaiya neighbourhood.

Hamas's armed wing said its fighters ambushed and clashed with Israeli soldiers in the neighbourhood, claiming to have "killed or wounded" seven of them with "appropriate weapons".

The Israeli army said their soldiers found long-ranged rockets in the area and demolished tunnel shafts and booby traps.

The army claims to see "renewed attempts by the enemy to establish itself in the area".