Israeli president congratulates Keir Starmer on election win

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has congratulated incoming UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on what is set to be a landslide election victory for the Labour Party.

“As he prepares to enter Downing Street as Prime Minister, I look forward to working together with him and his new government to bring our hostages home, to build a better future for the region, and to deepen the close friendship between Israel and the United Kingdom,” Herzog wrote on X.

Starmer has repeatedly refused to say whether Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide and has said he will only review weapons sales from the UK to Israel on a case-by-case basis.

In his post, Herzog also thanked outgoing Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for “standing with the Israeli people especially during this most difficult period”.

I send my warmest congratulations to @Keir_Starmer. As he prepares to enter Downing Street as Prime Minister, I look forward to working together with him and his new government to bring our hostages home, to build a better future for the region, and to deepen the close friendship…

— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) July 5, 2024

Several Labour candidates lose seats in UK to independent pro-Palestine campaigners

In Blackburn, Labour’s Kate Hollern lost to Adnan Hussain, who said in his online statement to voters that he promises “to make your concerns against the injustice being inflicted against the people of Gaza be heard in the places where our so-called representatives failed”.

High-profile Labour candidate Jonathan Ashworth was unseated by Shockat Adam in Leicester South.

“Our constituency MP refused to vote for a ceasefire to end the bloodshed in Gaza, resulting in the needless deaths of thousands of innocent civilians,” Adam said on his website.

In Dewsbury and Batley, independent candidate Iqbal Mohamed, whose key focus areas include a ceasefire and peace agreement in Gaza, beat Labour candidate Heather Iqbal, while in Birmingham Perry Barr, the former Labour MP Khalid Mahmood lost to the independent Ayoub Khan, according to UK media.

In November last year, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer voted against a motion demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Later in June, during a radio interview as the death toll in Gaza rose to 38,000, Starmer stated he would not “pronounce that something is either genocide or not” and reaffirmed Israel’s “right to self-defence”.

Israeli rights group highlights killing of Palestinian children in call for ceasefire

Leading Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in a hard-hitting video highlighting that Israeli forces have killed a reported 14,000 children in Gaza, and 110 Palestinian children have been killed in the occupied West Bank.

“No child should experience the trauma of war,” the group says.

No child should experience the trauma of war.
Ceasefire now! pic.twitter.com/fzdikTJpSy

— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem) July 4, 2024

Israeli jets, attack helicopters hit more than 50 sites across Gaza in one day: Monitors

Israeli fighter jets and an attack helicopter fired on two UNRWA-operated schools in Gaza City causing multiple casualties at the Musa bin Nusair School, war monitors report, in what Israel said was an operation against locations used to “plan and direct” attacks against its forces.

The Israeli air force attacked more than 50 targets across Gaza in total on Thursday, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) say in their latest report on fighting in Gaza.

According to the US-based think tanks, Israeli troops operating in the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza City reported close-range battles with Palestinian fighters on Thursday, while Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad units continued to target Israeli forces with powerful “explosively formed penetrators”.

The sustained use of such “sophisticated weapons and tactics” among Palestinian fighters in Shujayea remains consistent with previous analysis by the ISW and CTP that Hamas has “at least partially” rebuilt its fighting force in the area since Israeli forces pulled out in April.

A barrage of rockets was also launched from Gaza towards areas in southern Israel on Thursday, the ISW/CTP reports.

2/ The IDF Southern Command directed an airstrike targeting Palestinian fighters in two UNRWA schools in Gaza City on July 4.

The IDF 98th Division continued operations to degrade a partially reconstituted Hamas battalion in Shujaiya, Gaza City, on July 4.

The IDF 99th Division… pic.twitter.com/RaNFevMwg0

— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) July 4, 2024

Two children trapped under rubble after deadly strike in Gaza City’s Daraj area: Civil defence

Gaza’s civil defence has recovered the bodies of two women and rescued an unidentified number of injured people following an attack on a house in Gaza City’s Daraj neighbourhood.

The rescue service said on Telegram that two children were still trapped under the rubble of the Bardawil family home. Two bodies and seven injured people were taken from the Bardawils’ house to the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, medical sources said.

Witnesses confirmed a number of dead were still under the rubble of the destroyed building. “We were inside our house, and we heard an explosion … All the young men went to help the injured,” a witness said.

Fuel shortage forced closure of six out of seven bakeries in Deir el-Balah

Only one of seven bakeries operated in Deir el-Balah yesterday due to the lack of fuel. We are talking about the bakeries that are serving 1.8 million Palestinians who are squeezed in the middle of the Gaza Strip after being displaced multiple times.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has been providing those bakeries with fuel, flour, salt and yeast. But there is a shortage of fuel now and the bakeries face the risk of shutting down. So, the humanitarian situation remains dire despite the ongoing ceasefire negotiations.

At least five people, including three children, were killed overnight after a bombing of a residential house in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. There have also been a couple of air strikes in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis and artillery shelling in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

No news coming out of Shujayea after days of Israeli ground invasion

There is no news coming out of Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood where an Israeli ground invasion is continuing. The Israeli forces are not letting ambulances, firefighters or journalists reach that area.

Heavy shelling and air strikes are being heard. The Palestinians who were trapped there and were requesting evacuation have gone quiet. People are worried for their loved ones.

Israel claims it has killed 100 Palestinian fighters in Gaza City’s Shujayea area

The Israeli army claims its ground forces from Division 98 have killed “about 100 terrorists, more than 100 terrorist infrastructures and located weapons” since the beginning of its ground invasion of Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood.


Footage documents bodies ‘piled up’ at Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s Khan Younis

Video footage verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad news agency has documented a large number of Palestinian bodies received by Nasser Hospital’s morgue in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis.

The bodies were recovered from Khan Younis and Rafah after intense Israeli air attacks, said Palestinian journalist Hassan Eslayeh, who posted the video on his Telegram channel.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza, including in Jabalia and Gaza City to the north, as well as Khan Younis to the south, in the past 48 hours.

Medical sources have reported that Nasser Hospital, the last functioning medical facility in Khan Younis, and the Kuwaiti Field Hospital near Rafah are expected to shut down as their generators are running out of fuel.

Settlers attack Israeli soldiers, Palestinian vehicle near illegal West Bank outpost

Israeli settlers have attacked Israeli soldiers and a Palestinian vehicle near a recently destroyed illegal outpost in the occupied West Bank, Israel’s Army Radio reports.

Ten settlers attacked Israeli soldiers stationed at the Givat Assaf Junction near Tzur Harel, east of Ramallah, with rocks. On Wednesday, Israeli authorities evacuated and destroyed an illegal outpost in the area.

Army Radio also reports that the settlers threw rocks at a Palestinian vehicle near the city of Nablus, injuring a Palestinian girl. A security official told Army Radio that attacks from extremist settlers in the occupied West Bank are growing as they “are getting a boost from politicians”.

Brother of al-Quds Brigades Jenin Battalion founder among 4 killed in Israeli raid: Reports

Ahmad al-Amouri, a brother of the founder of the al-Quds Brigades Jenin Battalion Jamil al-Amouri, was killed during an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp, according to local reports.

Wissam Bakr, director of the Jenin Government Hospital, confirmed that four bodies were brought to the hospital, alongside seven critically wounded people, the Wafa news agency reports.

Israeli military units stormed Jenin with multiple military vehicles early today and encircled a house, Wafa reports.

The Israelis used loudspeakers to demand the surrender of one of those inside, before attacking the house with a shoulder-fired missile, it added.

Caption translation: Clashes continue around the house, which is besieged by the occupation forces in the “Harsh al-Saada” area in Jenin amid heavy smoke.

Jenin death toll rises to seven

Israeli forces assault PRCS emergency crew near Nablus

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says its emergency crew has been assaulted by Israeli forces in the town of Beita, south of the occupied West Bank’s Nablus.

Earlier, scenes broadcast by local Palestinian accounts on Telegram showed Israeli forces firing tear gas canisters during their incursion into the town, during which clashes with Palestinians broke out.

Israeli military carries out overnight attacks on southern Lebanon

Israel’s air force attacked Hezbollah targets in the al-Jebbayn and Kafr Hamman areas of southern Lebanon while artillery hit a target in the Naqoura area, the military said in a post on social media.

Earlier, Israel said its forces had attacked “terrorist infrastructure” in the Meiss el-Jabal and Ayta ash Shab areas.

Hezbollah chief Nasrallah meets Hamas delegation to discuss Gaza

Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group, has received a Hamas delegation led by a member of the group’s political bureau, Khalil al-Hayya, according to Lebanese television station al-Manar.

The allies against Israel discussed recent security and political developments in Gaza, and touched upon the open fronts in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq, the report said.

They also reviewed the ongoing Israel-Hamas negotiations in Doha, and discussed proposals to “end the aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza”, emphasising the need for a continuous coordination between Hezbollah and Hamas, said al-Manar.

US is ‘fed up’ with Netanyahu’s manoeuvring and deception: Analyst

Hassan Barari, an international affairs professor at Qatar University, has told Al Jazeera that Hamas and Israel are closer than ever to a ceasefire agreement, and that President Joe Biden’s administration wants to apply pressure to keep up the momentum.

“I think the American administration is fed up with Netanyahu’s manoeuvring and deceptions over the last two months. And this is true, especially when Hamas has agreed and has responded in a positive way to the American guideline and framework,” Barari said, adding that the questions remain over whether Israel is negotiating in good faith.

He added that the Israeli government itself is divided within its ranks between those who actually support a truce and those who are adamantly opposed to it because they want to continue the war.

“Those people, especially the right-wing people like [Finance Minister] Smotrich and [National Security Minister] Ben-Gvir, strongly believe that they can restore occupation of Gaza in order to pave the way for something similar [to] the West Bank,” he said.

“Netanyahu needs to probably leave his position as a fence-sitter and choose whether he wants to [be] ultranational Zionist or he wants to serve the interests of Israel. And those interests of Israel require the Palestinian state and require some sort of agreement with the Palestinians.”


Biden needs a ceasefire asap to have any chance of getting re-elected. There's little time left to mend the widening divide among the Democrats on the stance of Gaza. The longer this goes on, the more protest votes (or not voting) against Biden.


CNN already suggest in their title the latest round was initiated by Biden

A framework is in place on hostage, ceasefire deal after Biden-Netanyahu call, senior administration official says

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/04/politics/biden-netanyahu-call/index.html

The framework for a hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is “now in place” according to a senior administration official. That acknowledgement comes on the heels of President Joe Biden’s call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.

The call came as Israel and Hamas appear to be on the brink of a framework agreement for a deal, an Israeli source familiar with the negotiations has told CNN. Hamas recently provided a response to the framework to Qatari and Egyptian mediators, a move Israeli officials believe will enable the two parties to enter detailed negotiations to reach an agreement. A deal, however, is still not finalized nor is it assured.

Please don't speak on things you lack knowledge of. It makes you look silly. That's literally the opposite of how things are going. Israel has been periodically massacring Palestinian's before October 7th for years and no reports on it. It's only when Palestinian terrorist slike Hamas kill Israelis is it international news. Where was your outrage for the Palestinian civilians being killed in the West Bank in 2023 before October 7th? Where was your outrage when Netanyahu and his Likud party was funding Hamas in order to ensure they came to power in Gaza? If Hamas had shot up a family's van leaving the war zone, gave the okay for Israel to send an ambulance to tend to the 6 years old little girl that survived, and then blew up the ambulance you'd be having a conniption fit. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2024/hind-rajab-israel-gaza-killing-timeline/

Hamas says it rejects plans to deploy foreign forces to Gaza

Hamas says it rejects any statements and positions that support plans for foreign forces to enter the Gaza Strip. The group said the administration of the Gaza Strip is a purely Palestinian matter.

“The Palestinian people … will not allow any guardianship or the imposition of any external solutions or equations,” it added.

The group also called on all Arab and Muslim countries to apply pressure to stop the Israeli aggression in Gaza.

Palestinian group rejects deployment of foreign forces to Gaza

The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a Palestinian group allied with Hamas, says it considers any attempt to deploy international or other forces in Gaza as “an aggression” and will deal with it as occupying forces.

Its statement echoes a similar statement by Hamas made earlier in the day.

Not that the UN Peacekeeping forces in Lebanon have any effect nor that Israel takes care not to target UN workers, but there needs to be a way to distribute aid without chaos. I get it, when the world has conspired against you for 76 years, who can you trust.

Now I have no idea these new "ideas" for a ceasefire can be. Maybe it was foreign forces to keep the peace as the timing of these statements suggest.

'Hamas said' is about as useless as 'Israel said', too many conflicting voices speaking for the group.

Hamas says it expects quick response to its new ideas for ceasefire

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan has told AFP that the group expects a response “likely today or tomorrow morning” to its new ideas for halting the Gaza war and freeing the captives.

With Israeli negotiators scheduled to arrive in Qatar for talks with mediators, Hamdan said the group’s military wing remains “in a good condition that allows it to continue” to fight Israeli forces.

New UK Foreign Secretary Lammy backs ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza

The United Kingdom’s newly appointed Foreign Secretary David Lammy has reiterated his support for international efforts to secure an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and the release of remaining captives.

“The job now is to get to work with tireless diplomacy to support an immediate ceasefire and move towards getting those hostages out,” Lammy told UK broadcasters in his first comments after being appointed as the country’s top diplomat.

Mothers of captives take to the streets in Israel to demand ceasefire deal

The mothers and relatives of captives held in Gaza have marched in the streets of Tel Aviv to demand that the Netanyahu government reach a deal with Hamas to bring their loved ones home.

“Mothers, parade for the release of our children. We have 120 hostages in Gaza [and] we are waiting for them to come home,” Daniela Gilboa, the mother of a soldier who was taken captive in Gaza, said.

Gilboa called on the parties to agree on a ceasefire deal currently being discussed in Doha. “We ask all of you, all the people that are involved in it, please make it happen. Please bring our children back home,” she said.

Netanyahu has been under increasing pressure from the Israeli public to reach a deal. The Association of Families of Israeli Prisoners Detained in Gaza on Wednesday said that if the deal is not accepted, millions of Israelis will take to the street in protest.

Negotiations for Gaza ceasefire to continue next week, Netanyahu says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says Israel’s spy chief David Barnea has left the Qatari capital Doha after an initial meeting with mediators, trying to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Negotiations will resume next week, the office said, adding that a new delegation will be sent. In its statement, the office also said that gaps remain between the two sides.

The renewed push to end the bloodshed in Gaza came after Hamas said it presented new “ideas” to mediators on how to reach a final deal.

More talk, still no results, only more death.