Main events on July 9th
- Since dawn, Israeli attacks across Gaza have killed at least 74 people, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
- Talks to secure a ceasefire continue as Israel and Hamas put out statements on points of contention, including the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
- US President Donald Trump said there is a “very good chance” of a ceasefire deal, “this week or next”.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and Trump are “in lockstep” over Gaza, but reiterated he will not accept a truce deal “at any price”.
- Hamas said it is continuing to take part in truce negotiations, and announced it would release 10 living Israeli captives during the ceasefire.
- Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza issued a desperate warning as its fuel supplies run out, with the facility in the “crucial and final hours”.
- The US imposed sanctions on the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, citing her work on Gaza.
Plan to expel 2.3 million in Gaza is a ‘crazy fantasy’
The fallout continues over the Israel-US plan to forcibly displace all of Gaza’s people into a cramped camp housing hundreds of thousands.
Michael Milshtein, an Israeli expert on Palestinian affairs and former military intelligence officer, called the plan to move Palestinians south through the Morag corridor a “crazy fantasy”.
He said the current ceasefire negotiations could crumble over the Israeli demand because it signals to Hamas that Israel does not intend to withdraw forces after the ceasefire expires, something Hamas will not accept.
“For Hamas, it’s a no-go,” he said. “If those are the terms, I can’t see Hamas agreeing.”
‘We want a full ceasefire’
Aid groups say Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of law and order have made it extremely difficult to deliver humanitarian assistance to Gaza, leading to widespread hunger and fears of famine.
In the sprawling coastal al-Mawasi area, where hundreds of thousands of people live in tents after being forcibly displaced from their homes, Abeer al-Najjar said she struggled during the constant bombardment to get food and water for her family.
“I pray to God that there would be a pause, and not just a pause where they would lie to us,” she said, referring to an earlier ceasefire that Israel broke in March. “We want a full ceasefire.”
Her husband, Ali al-Najjar, said life has been especially tough in the summer, with little access to drinking water.
“We hope this would be the end of our suffering and we can rebuild our country again,” he said, before running through a crowd with two buckets to fill them from a water truck.
