Israel presence in Philadelphi Corridor part of Netanyahu’s wider plan

While US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reiterated his claim that a Gaza deal is within reach despite some remaining critical issues, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “made it perfectly clear that he will never withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor”, Qatar University’s international relations professor Hassan Barari has told Al Jazeera.

Netanyahu’s keenness to maintain control of the southern edge of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt, which he has previously described as “the gateway to Iran”, is part of a “bigger game than what Blinken is thinking of”, Barari said.

While the US is likely pushing for Israel to withdraw from the area, “Netanyahu is telling them: Don’t even dream of that”, the analyst added.

Nearly half of Israelis favour ceding control of Philadelphi Corridor: Poll

A new poll released by Israel’s Maariv newspaper suggests that 48 percent of Israelis support relinquishing control of the Philadelphi Corridor in southern Gaza to secure the release of Israeli captives.

Only 37 percent favour maintaining control of the area bordering Egypt, even if it means sacrificing a deal.

The results show significant opposition to the stance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly insisted on keeping Israeli forces stationed at the corridor.

Despite this, Netanyahu remains one of the most popular Israeli leaders, according to the Maariv poll conducted by Lazar Research, outperforming all major prime ministerial contenders, except Naftali Bennett.

In a head-to-head matchup, the poll suggests that 49 percent of Israelis find Bennett, a former prime minister and head of the New Right party, more suitable for the premiership, compared with 34 percent who prefer Netanyahu.

Will Waltz be able to do something as VP?



Side deal between US, Hamas to return US captives ‘not possible’: Report

A White House official has told CNN that the US will not propose a unilateral deal to Hamas to release US citizens held captive in Gaza, despite earlier reports it was considering the option.

“Because of Hamas’s demands, there has not been a formal offer for a side deal made because no such deal is possible,” CNN quoted the unnamed US official as saying.

Yesterday, the White House and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put out conflicting messages about the prospect of Israel and Hamas reaching a ceasefire. US National Security spokesman John Kirby said that only “implementing details” remained to be hashed out, while Netanyahu said “there’s not a deal in the making”.

Ben-Gvir requests inclusion of West Bank in Israel’s war objectives

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has requested that PM Netanyahu include the defeat of Hamas in the occupied West Bank among the goals of the war in Gaza.

Ben-Gvir said in a post on X – accompanied by a copy of a formal letter – that Israel must avoid a repetition of the October 7 attack by Hamas. “We must not repeat the mistakes, war on Hamas – also in Judea and Samaria!,” he said, using the Israeli name for the West Bank.

Ben-Gvir has repeatedly and openly called for Israel’s annexation of the West Bank.

Israel should stop sending food to Gaza: Israeli MP Lieberman

Israeli MP Avigdor Lieberman has called for Israel to halt food shipments to Gaza, stating that such deliveries are “intolerable” while Hamas continues to hold Israeli captives.

“We must stop this lifeline immediately,” Lieberman wrote in a post on X. “No food products, no cigarettes and no additional luxuries.”

Back in May, the International Court of Justice unanimously ruled that Israel must do all it can to ensure food arrives in Gaza, warning that Palestinians there face the growing prospect of famine.

Suggesting that it's Israel that's sending food? All Israel does is blocking aid shipments.

UNICEF says Israelis refusing to facilitate polio vaccine campaign

UNICEF says it is making every effort to distribute the polio vaccine in Gaza during the agreed-upon pauses in fighting. However, it reported that Israel continues to deny medical teams access to communities in certain areas of southern Gaza.

Six killed, others wounded in latest Israeli attacks on Gaza

At least six more Palestinians have been killed in attacks on Gaza this evening, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.

It cited local medical sources as saying medics transported the dead and wounded to al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza after an Israeli air strike hit a home belonging to the Shehadeh family west of the Nuseirat refugee camp in northern Gaza.

At least one of the dead Palestinians was killed when Israeli warplanes attacked people near a mosque in northern Gaza City’s al-Basra neighbourhood.

The latest attacks bring the total number of Palestinians killed across Gaza today to at least 33, medical sources said.

Israel carries out deadly strikes on homes in central and northern Gaza

Horrific attacks continue in the northern and central areas of Gaza. Within the past few hours, an air strike targeted a residential home in Nuseirat refugee camp, killing four members of one family and wounding several others.

The family arrived at the hospital here fully cloaked in blood and dust from the bombardment. It’s become a pattern where unpredictable bombs fall from the sky.

In the northern part of the Strip, a residential home with a displaced family inside was targeted. Nine people were killed in this attack. Not evacuation centres, not even hospitals, are safe in Gaza.

Megiddo Prison guards humiliate detainees, Haaretz reports

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz is reporting that personnel at the Megiddo Prison’s security wing have handcuffed and humiliated detainees.

Photos and videos obtained by the daily show dozens of detainees lying on their stomachs in handcuffs, some without shirts, while a guard dog barks above them.

Last month, a report by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said more than a dozen Israeli prison facilities have been converted into a network of camps “dedicated to the abuse of inmates” since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Prisoners group says abuse of jailed Palestinians ‘exceeds imagination’

Gaza’s Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs says what’s been revealed by rights groups and testimony of released prisoners about the harsh conditions faced by detainees held in Israeli prisons is only a “small part of the ugly and bleak” reality.

Palestinians held in Israeli jails are “consistently and continuously” being killed, tortured, and suffer brutal intimidation tactics that “exceeds imagination”, it said.

The commission accused the Israeli government of turning these facilities into torture and killing chambers, using the “most heinous and most humiliating means in a manner that violates all the rules of international and humanitarian law”.

It called on the international community to put an end to these practices.

_{Palestinians assess damage in Jenin}

Repairs in Jenin will take ‘months’ after Israeli raid: Mayor

As we’ve been reporting, Israeli forces announced their withdrawal from the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank this morning after a 10-day military operation that caused widespread destruction.

Jenin’s Mayor Nidal Obeidi described the raid as an “earthquake” to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

He told Wafa that Israeli bulldozers destroyed more than 20km (12.5 miles) of the city’s road network.

Obeidi said clearing the rubble left in the wake would take only days, but that repairs to the water and sewage networks damaged or destroyed would take months, adding that the city was completely cut off from water during the raid by the Israeli company that supplies it.

“What happened in Jenin comes within the policy of collective punishment of the Palestinians, and what the extent of the destruction shows indicates that the occupation aims to deport the population as part of a declared policy,” he told Wafa.

Jenin represents the ‘right of return’, making it an Israeli target

After a deadly and destructive 10-day military incursion, Israeli forces have pulled out of the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, and residents have buried their dead.

Ibrahim Fraihat, an associate professor on conflict resolution at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said the camp was created after the 1948 expulsion of Palestinians from what is now Israel and it remains a powerful symbol of the right of return.

“Under international law, they have the right to return to their homes, so it is very important for them [the Israelis] to target these refugee camps,” Fraihat told Al Jazeera.

“The Israeli government wants to send a message that no one is immune, that all Palestinians are a target. It goes to the larger vision of depopulating these areas and to be in control of the West Bank.”

Israeli settlers beat Palestinian in village near Nablus

A group of Israeli settlers has stormed the Palestinian village of Qaryut near Nablus and attacked local residents, the Wafa news agency reports. The settlers threw stones at residents’ homes and beat at least one person, according to relief workers quoted by the agency.

The attack followed the killing by Israeli forces of a Turkish-American activist in the nearby village of Beita.

Israeli forces raid Burin village near Nablus in occupied West Bank

Israeli troops have stormed Burin amid heavy gunfire and detained at least one Palestinian, the Wafa news agency reports. It quoted local sources as saying several people suffered tear gas inhalation during the confrontation.

Two injured in Israeli attacks on towns in southern Lebanon

Lebanon’s health ministry says one person has sustained injuries after Israeli forces fired artillery shells on the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila. The wounded individual has been taken to the Marjayoun Governmental Hospital, state news agency NNA reports.

Another person was taken to the same hospital after inhaling “phosphorous” from shells fired by Israeli forces on the town of Burj al-Muluk, in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh, it added.

The report comes as the Israeli military announced it struck “more than 15 launchers and military infrastructures” allegedly belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

‘Israel is crossing all lines’: Nablus governor on killing of foreign activist

Nablus Governor Ghassan Daghlas has commented on the killing of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi. The 26-year-old was fatally shot in the head by Israeli forces in Beita near the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank during a weekly protest.

“This is her life, a foreign citizen holding American nationality … during peaceful popular protests,” Daghlas said.

“All legal measures will be submitted to the International Criminal Court,” he added in a statement. “The bullets do not distinguish between a Palestinian, a child, a woman, or any nationality.”

“Now her life is lost, she is an American citizen holding American nationality, which means Israel is crossing all lines,” the governor continued. “We appeal to President Biden to stop all support to the occupying state because the occupying state is working hard to bomb hospitals and kill children and kill foreigners, including American nationals.”

There was no immediate comment from the US embassy, and the Israeli military said it was looking into the report.

US ‘to act as necessary’ over killing of American citizen: Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the US “deplores” the death of American citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the occupied West Bank and will “act as necessary” to find out what happened.

Ezgi Eygi, 26, was shot in the head by Israeli forces in the town of Beita near Nablus during a protest against illegal Israeli settlement expansion.

Asked if the US would take action against Israel, Blinken said: “First things first – let’s find out exactly what happened and we will draw the necessary conclusions and consequences from that.”

Earlier, the White House said in a statement it was “deeply disturbed” by the killing of a US citizen. Palestinian medics said the activist, who also had Turkish citizenship, was shot in the head and later died at hospital.