Gaza death toll rises

Gaza’s Ministry of Health says at least 116 bodies and 463 wounded people arrived at hospitals across Gaza over the past 24 hours.

Since Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas on March 18, at least 6,315 Palestinians have been killed and more than 22,064 wounded.

Since the start of the war in October 2023, at least 56,647 people have been killed and 134,105 wounded by Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Israeli army admits Palestinians killed by ‘inaccurate, uncalculated’ artillery fire

Israeli media outlet Haaretz is reporting that senior Israeli officers have admitted that Palestinians had been killed due to “inaccurate and uncalculated” artillery fire by the army.

The report said that the Israeli army “confirmed that in the most serious incident involving shelling of civilians, between 30 and 40 people were targeted – some killed, others wounded to varying degrees”.

Last week, Israeli soldiers told Haaretz that they received orders to shoot at civilians gathering to collect aid at distribution sites in Gaza. More than 600 aid seekers have been killed by Israeli forces.

Red Cross ‘deeply alarmed by intensifying hostilities in Gaza’

The Red Cross said it was deeply worried as Israel’s army expanded its operations in Gaza, warning that the Palestinian territory’s few remaining functional medical facilities were already overwhelmed.

“The International Committee of the Red Cross is deeply alarmed by the intensifying hostilities in Gaza City and Jabaliya, which have reportedly caused dozens of deaths and injuries among civilians over the past 36 hours,” the ICRC said in a statement.

“The intensification of hostilities comes as Gaza’s already-decimated healthcare system struggles to absorb a relentless surge in critical cases.

“Nearly all public hospitals in Gaza are shut down or gutted by months of hostilities and restrictions on the entry of critical medicine, supplies and equipment.”

More than 165 aid groups call for end to US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

More than 165 major international charities and nongovernmental organisations have called for an immediate end to the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the secretive entity set up by the US and Israel to push aside the UN and established international aid groups.

”The number of aid distribution points has dropped from 400 to just four military-controlled sites,” the group said in a statement. The US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has forced “two million people into overcrowded militarised zones where they face daily gunfire and mass casualties while trying to access food”, it added.

The NGOs alleged the GHF was designed to “sustain a cycle of desperation, danger, and death”.

“Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families. The weeks following the launch of the Israeli distribution scheme have been some of the deadliest and most violent since October 2023,” the group said in a joint news release, adding that GHF brings “nothing but starvation and gunfire to the people of Gaza”.

The UN and other aid groups have repeatedly emphasised that they are capable of delivering sustainable aid to the people of Gaza, if Israel lifts its blockade that has brought more than two million Palestinians to the brink of famine.

Since May 27, about 600 Palestinians have been killed and 4,200 wounded while waiting for food at aid distribution sites operated by GHF.

The GHF responded in a statement, saying established aid groups should stop “bickering and throwing insults from the sidelines” and join the group headed by an evangelical leader, Johnnie Moore Jr, who is a close ally of Donald Trump.

Israeli soldiers arrest Palestinians across West Bank

Israeli forces launched a series of raids this morning across the occupied Palestinian territory, arresting at least 11 people in Hebron and closing entrances to several towns in the governorate.

Five more arrests were made northwest of Ramallah, with another three in Nablus, according to Wafa. During a raid on the Aktaba suburb east of Tulkarem, Israeli soldiers arrested two young men and reportedly used a child as a human shield.

Several more arrests were reported in Kafr Ra’i, south of Jenin, where Israeli forces used a schoolyard as an interrogation centre. Another raid took place in the Dheisheh refugee camp, south of Bethlehem.

Israel has killed 1,000 Palestinians in occupied West Bank since October 2023

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has escalated its violence in the occupied West Bank, killing at least 1,000 Palestinians.

As the world was distracted by Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed more than 56,331 people and uprooted nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, Israel ramped up its violent raids on the West Bank, as well as its silence as Israeli settlers attack and kill Palestinian villagers.

The most recent casualty was Samer Bassam al-Zagharneh, a young man who was shot by Israeli soldiers on July 1.

Israeli troops kill 2 Palestinians in occupied West Bank

The Palestinians, including a 15-year-old, were killed in separate incidents, the Health Ministry says.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the teen’s shooting. In the second incident, it said, a “suspicious individual” was seen trying to cross into Israel from the southern West Bank, prompting soldiers to open fire.

Israel is attacking the refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarem, Nur Shams, Far’a and Nablus, causing mass displacement.

It has used some of the same tactics it deployed in Gaza, such as laying a complete siege on the camps and uprooting most of the inhabitants, according to Forensic Architecture, a research group that investigates and monitors human rights abuses.

Israeli settlers torch Palestinian olive trees near Nablus

Israeli settlers set fire to large areas of agricultural land in the Palestinian village of Duma, south of Nablus, destroying hundreds of olive trees, according to officials cited by the WAFA news agency.

Abdullah Ziyada, head of the village council, said settlers from the illegal Yitzhar outpost ignited fields along a bypass road.

Palestinian residents, supported by civil defence crews, tried to contain the blaze. However, settlers and Israeli forces reportedly blocked access to the village’s main water source near al-Murabba checkpoint, preventing firefighters from refilling their trucks.

The burning of olive trees, central to many Palestinian livelihoods, comes amid rising settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli settlers establish new illegal outpost near Jericho in West Bank

Israeli settlers have established a new illegal outpost northwest of Jericho in the eastern occupied West Bank, the fifth in the same area, according to a Palestinian rights group.

Settlers erected tents, brought in excavation and levelling equipment and began fencing off the site in the Muarrajat area in recent days, the Al-Baidar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights said in a statement.

The organisation described the outpost as “one of the most dangerous recent developments” in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

“This isn’t just about claiming a plot of land – it’s a calculated political project disguised as a pastoral outpost,” the group said.

The outpost marks the fifth such site along the Muarrajat road, a vital corridor linking northern and southern parts of the West Bank and separating Jericho from the central region, the statement added.

“Settlers operate as unofficial arms of the Israeli government backed by weapons, public funding, and a permissive legal framework, while impoverished Bedouin communities are choked by restrictions.”

As of the end of 2024, approximately 770,000 Israeli settlers lived in the West Bank, across 180 illegal settlements and 256 outposts, including 138 classified as agricultural or pastoral, according to Palestinian reports.

Two wounded in Israeli attack on southern Lebanon

Two people, including a child, received light injuries after an Israeli drone struck southern Lebanon, according to the Health Ministry. It said in a short statement that the attack hit a house on the road leading to the Jabal al-Ahmar area in the Nabatieh district.

The Israeli military, which has been regularly hitting Lebanon despite the ceasefire with Hezbollah, has not commented on the drone attack.

Trump ‘wants to save lives’ in Gaza: White House

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says Trump and administration officials are in constant communication with Israeli leaders, and bringing an end to the war on Gaza is a priority.

“It’s heartbreaking to see the images that have come out from both Israel and Gaza throughout this war, and the president wants to see it end. He wants to save lives,” Leavitt said.

Trump will host Netanyahu for talks at the White House next Monday, AP reported. Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer – a close Netanyahu ally – is in Washington, DC this week for talks with senior officials on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran and other matters.

If he really wanted to save lives he would have stopped Netanyahu already. Instead he send more bombs, just yesterday.

Trump says hopes for Gaza ceasefire ‘sometime next week’

Trump said the US is pushing for a truce in Gaza by “sometime next week”.

He was was asked by reporters if a ceasefire could be in place before a visit by Netanyahu to the White House, set for July 7. “We hope it’s going to happen, and we’re looking for it to happen sometime next week,” Trump responded as he departed Washington for Florida.

Trump has previously urged Israel to “make the deal in Gaza,” but on the ground, Israel has continued to pursue its offensive across the Palestinian territory.

The news comes just a day after the Trump administration approved a $510m arms deal to Israel.

Trump says Israel agreed on conditions for 60-day ceasefire in Gaza

US President Trump said: “Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War.”

“The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring Peace, will deliver this final proposal. I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better – IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” he wrote on social media.

Netanyahu ministers scorn Supreme Court hearing on Shin Bet appointment

Members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition are unhappy that the Supreme Court is reviewing the appointment of the next head of the security agency, Shin Bet.

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit had to halt the hearing on the attorney general’s blocking of the prime minister from nominating the next chief after firing Ronen Bar, due to a conflict of interest.

The session was suspended after Likud lawmaker Tali Gotliv began shouting and interrupted the proceedings.

In a post on X, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the exclusive authority to appoint the head of the Shin Bet lies with the government of Israel. “Not with the electric company, not with the water authority, and not with the Supreme Court. Only with the government of Israel,” he wrote.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev echoed the same message and asserted that the next head of Shin Bet will be army general David Zini, who has been tapped by Netanyahu.

According to Israeli law, the Supreme Court cannot vote to appoint the head of Shin Bet, but can launch judicial reviews to evaluate whether the government followed legal procedures and adhered to preserving the agency’s professional independence.

Pro-Palestine activists protest at UK branches of Israel’s Elbit Systems

Activists with the UK-based Palestine Action group have demonstrated at buildings belonging to Elbit Systems, which manufactures weapons being used to kill Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Footage verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency showed a sit-in in front of the company’s factory in Kent, where protesters sprayed red paint on the main road leading to the factory, symbolising Palestinian blood that has been shed.

In Bristol, activists blocked the only road leading to the company’s headquarters using a truck they climbed onto and chained themselves to.

Protesters also climbed onto the roof of the headquarters of Gardtek, a main supplier to Elbit. British police arrived at the sites, but the sit-ins continued.

Pro-Palestinian protesters in Lithuania decry ties with Israel

Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists gathered outside Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry in the capital to protest against the visit of Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.

The demonstrators rallied on Juozo Tumo-Vaizganto Street in Vilnius, waving Palestinian flags and holding placards, Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reported.

They chanted “While Europe finances, Israel bombs”, “Let Gaza live”, and “Since when has Lithuania supported the occupier?”

The protest coincided with a meeting between Saar and Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys, who were expected to discuss bilateral ties, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the Middle East.

Police were present at the scene, but the protest remained peaceful.

Last week, President Gitanas Nauseda described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “catastrophic”, stressing that Europe must act to prevent more civilian casualties.

UN report lists companies complicit in Israel’s ‘genocide’: Who are they?

The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) has released a new report mapping the corporations aiding Israel in the displacement of Palestinians and its genocidal war on Gaza, in breach of international law.

Francesca Albanese’s latest report, which is scheduled to be presented at a news conference in Geneva on Thursday, names 48 corporate actors, including Microsoft, Alphabet Inc – Google’s parent company – and Amazon.

A database of more than 1,000 corporate entities was also put together as part of the investigation.

“Companies are no longer merely implicated in occupation – they may be embedded in an economy of genocide,” it said, in a reference to Israel’s ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip.