Eight killed in Israeli attack on Nuseirat refugee camp

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that eight Palestinians have been killed, and a number of others injured, in an Israeli bombing of a house west of Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Two injured by shelling in Gaza City

At least two Palestinians have been wounded when Israeli forces shelled Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood after waging an earlier assault attack on its Daraj neighbourhood.

Footage shared by our colleagues on the ground shows piles of rubble along the street that was attacked, as rescuers search through the debris.

Israeli military using Lebanon distraction to scale up attacks across Gaza

The Israeli military is taking advantage of the distraction it has caused in Lebanon to carry out more deadly attacks in the Gaza Strip, including two separate attacks in Nuseirat that targeted apartments and residential buildings.

This is a repeat of the scenario for the past couple of months where displaced families taking shelter are attacked, together with their children. One would imagine that the attacks in Lebanon would have eased the situation across Gaza but it’s quite the contrary.

There is growing fear that the distraction in the north will lead to more attacks in Gaza.

Israeli forces bomb car in Syria, killing at least one

Syrian state media says the vehicle, which was reportedly travelling towards Damascus airport, was carrying a “senior figure”.

Injuries, electricity damage after intense Israel, Hezbollah crossfire

Yesterday’s strikes in southern Lebanon were described as perhaps the most intense since the start of the war.

Lake Qaraoun was lit with explosions around it. Mahmoudieh, Ksar al-Aroush and Birket Jabbour, all these areas were hit by Israeli air strikes. There were also strikes in the western area of Deir Qanoun.

For now, there have been no reports of deaths, but there have been reports of injuries. Israel is said to have mainly targeted Hezbollah launchers.

Later in the night, Hezbollah launched three huge rockets towards the Israeli town of Metula. We saw pictures of huge fires, and there are reports of damage to electricity infrastructure. This just shows the intensity of Hezbollah and Israel’s crossfire.

During the night, Lebanese people also received messages with a kind of threat. No one knows where these messages came from.

Hezbollah says one member killed as Israel pounds southern Lebanon

Hezbollah has announced the death of one member amid intensified Israeli air raids in southern Lebanon. The group did not elaborate on where its member was killed.

Lebanon’s state news agency NNA reported raids in several towns in southern Lebanon, including Yaroun, Aitaroun, Mays al-Jabal, Taybeh and Kfar Kila. It also reported artillery shelling in Aita al-Shaab.

Dozens of rockets target northern Israel

Israeli media are reporting that rockets have been fired from Lebanon towards northern Israel. About 60 of the rockets were fired towards the Israeli town of Safed, where falling debris caused fires to break out, according to Israel’s Channel 12.

A second round of about 70 rockets followed, The Times of Israel reported without specifying the exact targeted areas. It is unclear if there are casualties from the attacks.

Israeli forces hold bodies of two Hezbollah fighters

A security source tells Al Jazeera that Israeli forces have seized the bodies of two Hezbollah fighters on the southern border of Lebanon. The fighters were killed a few days ago in an Israeli attack in the Wadi Hunin border area.

Hezbollah claims rocket attack targeting Israeli military site

Hezbollah says it has fired a volley of rockets at a military barracks in northern Israel. The target of the attack, according to Hezbollah, was the headquarters of Israel’s 188th Armoured Brigade, which operates under the country’s Northern Command.

Hezbollah said the attack was in support of the Palestinian people’s “valiant and honorable resistance” as well as retaliation against the Israeli military’s latest attacks in southern Lebanon.

Twenty more rockets target northern Israel

Another 20 rockets have now been fired at northern Israel’s Mount Meron area with most falling in open areas, Israel’s Army Radio reports. This brings the total number of rockets launched towards Israel in the past few hours to 150.

At least one person has been injured, according to Israel’s Ynet news site.

Israeli aircraft putting out fires in Safed

_{A man attempts to extinguish flames following a rocket attack from Lebanon in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights}

Israel Hayom media outlet is reporting that Israeli aircraft are helping extinguish fires in Safed caused by Hezbollah rocket attacks earlier today.

The Israeli army said it detected 140 rockets being fired from Lebanon at various areas in northern Israel.

Hezbollah said the attack was in support of the Palestinian people’s “valiant and honourable resistance” as well as retaliation against the Israeli military’s latest attacks in southern Lebanon.

Israeli military says no injuries from rocket attacks

Israel’s military claims the barrage of rockets fired towards northern Israel caused no injuries, and that the country’s rescue services is working to put out fires sparked by falling debris. It listed the targeted areas as the occupied Golan Heights, the Upper Galilee region and the town of Safed.

The military said its air defences took down some of the rockets, while others fell in open areas.

Israeli drone attack targets Beirut

Israel’s military says it has carried out a “targeted strike” in Beirut. Local reports on social media describe a massive explosion and smoke rising in the city’s southern Dahiyeh area.

Senior Hezbollah commander may have been target of Beirut attack

Israeli media have been reporting that a very senior official of Hezbollah was the target of this attack. The Israeli army has put out warnings to the Israeli people, saying everything is on the table and to be prepared. There are now renewed calls for people to stay near bomb shelters.

The promise that Israel seems to be delivering is that that will put military pressure on Hezbollah to push them to agree to a ceasefire deal.

Oh the strategy that is not working with Hamas.... Try it on Hezbollah that's much bigger and better equipped...

 
Initial death toll in Beirut stands at 3: Ministry

Lebanon’s health ministry says three people have so far been confirmed killed in the attack in Beirut’s southern district. It said in a statement that 17 people have been brought to the hospital.

Death toll in Beirut attack rises to 8: Ministry

Lebanon’s health ministry has issued a statement saying eight people have now been confirmed killed in southern Beirut. It added that hospitals have so far received 59 injured, including eight in critical condition.

Israel on a rampage, emboldened by US support

The latest attack carried out by Israel on the southern Beirut suburbs is the latest proof that Israeli forces feel emboldened by the US’s unwavering support to “do anything they want”, says Rami Khoury, a professor at the American University of Beirut.

“Israel on a rampage,” Khoury told Al Jazeera, adding that while he does not believe an all-out regional war to be imminent, an escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah appears inevitable.

Israel has long sought to defeat Hezbollah, which is better equipped than Hamas and has closer ties to Iran. “The problem is it has tried this many times without success,” Khoury added.

Lebanese envoy to UK warns Israeli invasion will be ‘doomsday’: Report

Rami Mortada, Lebanon’s ambassador to the UK, has told The Times newspaper that an Israeli ground invasion into his country will lead to a “doomsday” scenario of an all-out regional conflict on multiple fronts and the radicalisation of a new generation in Europe.

He warned that his country’s armed forces – who are trained by the British – would not “stand idly” by and watch if Israel were to put boots on the ground or “mount a heavy aerial attack”.

Mortada said the region was on a “perilous path” with the prospect of Iran and its proxy forces in Yemen, Iraq and Syria all joining the conflict should the crisis escalate.

“We are facing all the risks of an all-out regional conflict and that’s what we have been tirelessly trying to avoid,” he said, adding that Hezbollah had become a “formidable fighting force” in recent years and Israel should learn from history and its past “humiliating” defeats, such as an inconclusive month-long war it fought with the Shia group in 2006.

Hezbollah claims to have hit Israeli base with rockets

Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group has claimed to have struck Israel’s Meron military base in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights with “volleys of Katyusha rockets”. It said the attack came in response to Israel’s attack in southern Lebanon, without mentioning Israel’s latest attack in Beirut’s southern neighbourhood.

Israel shells bus west of Gaza City: Civil defence

Gaza’s civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal says Israel shelled a bus near al-Abbas Junction, west of Gaza City. He said the attack “killed and wounded” three people.

Israeli army says one of its troops badly wounded in Gaza

In a post on X, the Israeli military said the soldier was “seriously injured” in the southern Gaza Strip and taken to a hospital for treatment. The announcement comes as Israeli forces continue to pound the besieged enclave, including its central and southern areas, where more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.


Three children among 13 killed in Israeli attacks on Rafah

At least 13 Palestinians, including three children, have been killed in Israeli air strikes on two homes in the Mesbah area of southern Gaza’s Rafah city, medical sources tell Al Jazeera.

‘Horrific’ scene as rescuers try to reach site of deadly Rafah attack

We’ve been getting horrific reports of what has happened in Rafah where two residential homes were completely destroyed, killing at least 13 people.

Civil defence crews are scrambling to reach the scene of the attack as fighting between Hamas and Israel rages in the area. There are still people buried in the debris.

Israel has also escalated raids elsewhere in the Gaza Strip. Over the last few hours in the north, a civilian vehicle was targeted, killing at least three Palestinians and wounding nine others.

Just in the last 20 minutes, a house was also hit in the western side of Gaza City. Day by day, the hope for displaced people here of a cessation of fighting and a return to northern Gaza is dwindling.

Three children, all siblings, killed in Israeli attack on southern Rafah

Today there was an intensification of attacks on southern Rafah city. Civil defence workers say they’ve now managed to get to the scene where Israeli air strikes earlier destroyed two homes.

Fifteen bodies were retrieved with three children, all siblings, killed in the attack, Nasser Hospital data shows.

In Gaza’s north, an Israeli drone attack blew up a car, killing three people and wounding nine others. The family in the vehicle was heading to a wedding in Gaza City. Quadcopters are being used extensively on Salah al-Din Road to hit anyone who is moving.

In central Gaza, where we are now, we’ve heard loud explosions in the past hour. In Bureij refugee camp, a house was targeted with no casualties reported. And one Palestinian was wounded in an Israeli strike on a car in Nuseirat camp.

Southern battles rage as Israeli forces push into Rafah city

Israeli tanks and troops, backed by fighter jets, met fierce resistance from Hamas fighters as they advanced further into the northwestern area of Gaza’s Rafah city.

Heavy gunfire and explosions also echoed in eastern areas of the southern city where Israeli forces – seeking to destroy Hamas since May – blew up several houses, residents say.

“Our fighters are engaged in fierce gun battles against Israeli forces who advanced into Tanour neighbourhood in Rafah,” the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, said in a statement.

“Qassam fighters managed to target a Zionist force that had taken refuge inside a house with a TBG rocket-propelled grenade, killing and wounding its members. Helicopters were monitored landing to evacuate them.”

Israeli settlers assault Palestinian man in Hebron: Report

In the village of at-Tuwana, the occupied West Bank, south of Hebron, Israeli settlers assaulted a Palestinian resident, Wafa news agency reports. Farmer Hafez Bilal al-Arini was grazing his sheep when he was attacked, it said.

The assault came amid a surge in Israeli military and settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, which has unfolded in the shadow of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip. More than 700 people have been killed in the occupied territory either by the Israeli military or Israelis from illegal settlements since October 2023.

Palestinian shot, in serious condition, in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces in a watchtower shot the man with live rounds near the entrance of Bethlehem as raids and violence continue against Palestinians in the occupied territory. The wounded man was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, citing local medical sources.

US worried Israel’s finance minister will cut off Palestinian banks

Concern is growing with the administration of President Biden that Israel’s finance minister will sever Palestinian banks from Israel’s financial network, according to a report by US media outlet Axios.

Such a move, which the US administration fears could happen next month, would cause tumult in the occupied West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority depends on Israeli banks to process shekel transfers.

Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in an illegal settlement, has called for Israel to annex the occupied West Bank and taken steps to weaken the territory.

US wants Israel to explain ‘abhorrent behaviour’ as troops push bodies off roof

Videos appearing to show Israeli forces throwing Palestinian bodies off a roof in the occupied West Bank are “deeply disturbing”, the White House says.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said if the footage is corroborated “it clearly would depict abhorrent and egregious behaviour by professional soldiers”.

“We reached out immediately to our Israeli counterparts about it, and we pressed them for more details. They have assured us that they’re going to investigate this and that there will be proper accountability if it’s warranted,” said Kirby.

“We’re going to be very eager to see what the [Israeli army] investigation finds and, as always, we expect that investigation be done thoroughly and transparently.”

Video of the incident, circulated widely on social media, shows Israeli troops tossing bodies off a roof of a multi-story house in the city of Qabatiya after a deadly raid.

UN calls for ‘transparent’ probe into Israeli troops abusing bodies

Asked about footage showing Israeli troops throwing bodies of Palestinians off a roof in the occupied West Bank, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric says the video was “frankly grotesque and inhumane”.

“From what we’ve seen this morning, we’re obviously very concerned about the deteriorating situation in the occupied West Bank, including the latest Israeli military operation,” Dujarric said at a news conference.

Dujarric stressed the importance of a “transparent” investigation and called for those responsible to be held accountable.

As Israeli attacks surge, President Biden says Gaza truce ‘realistic’

Reaching a Gaza ceasefire is still realistic, US President Joe Biden says at the White House, telling reporters: “We have to keep at it until we get it done, but we’ve got a way to go.”

Asked if getting an agreement may be slipping out of reach in the final months of his presidency, Biden said he still had hope and his national security team continues its efforts.

“If I ever said it wasn’t realistic, we might as well leave,” Biden said. “A lot of things don’t look realistic until we get them done.”

The Biden administration has been accused of not doing enough to rein in Israel, including halting weapons transfers. after nearly a year of war on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians.

‘Netanyahu knows the Americans cannot stop him’

Israeli political analyst Akiva Eldar says most of the Israeli public supports Netanyahu as he and his “radical right” ministers continue to pound the Gaza Strip.

“Domestically, he’s leaning on a solid coalition in parliament. The Israeli public is tired, there is a fatigue and the army is exhausted. So I’m not sure how long it will last,” Eldar told Al Jazeera.

But he added: “Netanyahu is obsessively looking at the polls and it looks like in the last few weeks – since Israel was able to target leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas – his position is improving in the polls. So he’ll keep doing this.

“What we need here to put an end to this is a responsible adult. Right now, the American administration and the American people are busy with their own elections. And Netanyahu takes advantage of this, and he knows the Americans cannot stop him and he can keep doing what he’s been doing for the last year.”

Gaza ceasefire ‘nowhere in sight'

It’s important to remember Israel’s war on Gaza is nearing one year. There’s been a clear escalation over the last week in attacks. Family members of captives in Gaza spoke to American media this morning saying they don’t want a wider war because the chances of a ceasefire deal will be zero.

It’s worth mentioning these ceasefire talks haven’t really been going anywhere over the last several months. They have been stalled – essentially dead on arrival – because of hard “red lines” that Netanyahu has implemented.

But the public is already fatigued protesting the war on Gaza. The United States has said a ceasefire deal could calm all the tensions, but that is nowhere in sight.

Gaza war leaves Biden’s foreign policy reputation ‘in tatters’

One reason US President Joe Biden has been saying they are still working on a Gaza ceasefire is because his reputation is in tatters.

He came into office claiming to be a foreign policy expert, former chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, with all his butting heads in the Obama administration when he was vice president, saying he knew best.

He was always chafing at the idea that Donald Trump achieved the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which is the normalisation of relations with Israel.

What he is now potentially doing is leaving his successor with a full-scale regional conflict, and he’s leaving his own foreign policy legacy as the man known as “Genocide Joe”.

Israeli strategy always to control region and ‘neutralise’ opposition

Israel’s “consistent strategy” for the past few decades has been to “dominate Palestine and the surrounding area to the point it neutralises any opposition to it,” Rami Khoury, a professor at the American University of Beirut, said.

“But it just doesn’t work … human beings who are subjugated will resist,” Khoury told Al Jazeera.

Israel’s violent policies have pushed groups to become “more proficient at resistance”, both politically and militarily, he said.

Some 80 percent of the world is supporting the Palestinians because “they understand that what’s going on now is the last colonial uprising and colonial struggle for independence in the entire world”.

‘This is an ethnic cleansing campaign’ in Gaza

Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute, says American officials are not working as hard as they suggest at securing a lasting truce deal in Gaza.

“If they were really adamant about a ceasefire, then they would exert pressure on Israel,” Elmasry told Al Jazeera, adding the United States holds “all of the leverage over Israel”.

“Those who are waiting for the US to finally apply pressure are in for a rude awakening,” he added.

Elmasry said Washington has been funding “Israel’s genocide” and consistently shielded its government at the United Nations. “The plan all along was to destroy Gaza … This is an ethnic cleansing campaign,” Elmasry said.

While Israel has failed to achieve all of its “objectives”, the war on Gaza will likely continue, he said.

Muslim-American coalition urges support for pro-Palestine candidates, not Harris

A coalition of Muslim-American groups announced it will not endorse Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the November presidential election.

Instead, it encouraged Muslim voters to support pro-Palestine candidates such as Green Party nominee Jill Stein, Justice for All nominee Cornel West, or others who back a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel.

“After extensive consultation, discussion, and deliberation, the American Muslim 2024 Election Task Force has decided to encourage American Muslims to vote for any presidential candidate of their choosing who supports a permanent ceasefire in Gaza,” it said in a statement.

Explaining the reason why the groups cannot endorse Harris’s candidacy, the coalition cited her refusal to consider cutting off weapons shipments to Israel for its war on Gaza, which has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women.

“As a matter of principle, we simply cannot support a presidential candidate who participated in enabling a genocide and then refused to lay out any concrete plans to end that genocide, all while refusing to even acknowledge that a genocide is occurring.”

UN official says ‘devastating war on Gaza’ must end

Rosemary Anne DiCarlo, the UN’s under-secretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, addressed the UN Security Council on Israel’s expanding war on Gaza, which she called “devastating”.

“The number of fatalities tragically keeps increasing. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed … many of them children,” DiCarlo said.

She reiterated the need for an urgent ceasefire and called for a “massive scale-up” of humanitarian aid to Gaza, where acute malnutrition and disease are spreading after nearly one year of attacks.


_{A Palestinian boy suffering from malnutrition at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis}

Gaza ceasefire ‘absolute and urgent priority’

Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, addressed the Security Council on the “tragic situation” unfolding in the Middle East.

“It is bound up with the war in Gaza, the spiralling violence in the West Bank including East Jerusalem, and Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territories,” Turk said.

He noted the “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza, adding he is “outraged by the inconceivable toll of human suffering”.

Ending the war on Gaza and avoiding a regional conflict is an “absolute and urgent priority”, he added.

Kick the US out of the UN?