Israel heading for ‘decisive victory’ in Gaza: Army chief

The Israeli military has made great achievements in Gaza and is nearing a “decision point”, army chief Eyal Zamir has told soldiers during a tour inside the besieged enclave.

“All paths lead to one place. All the options we present to the political leadership have one goal: the return of the hostages and a decisive victory,” he said in footage of a meeting with top commanders in southern Khan Younis.

Zamir also held a situation assessment on the continuation of the land invasion of Gaza.


Israel wants to cram Palestinians in ‘humanitarian city’ built on ruins of Rafah

Israel’s defence minister reportedly says the government wants to establish a “humanitarian city” south of the Morag Corridor, the new military route that cuts off Rafah in southern Gaza from the rest of the besieged enclave.

This large complex would be built “on the ruins of Rafah”, Israel Katz said at a security briefing with army chief Eyal Zamir and members of the far-right government, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, which published images and footage of the meeting.

The aim of the complex would be to “concentrate the population of Gaza and separate it from Hamas”, Katz said, adding that the Defence Ministry is looking at the possibility of partnering with an international entity to oversee its management.

He again encouraged “voluntary migration” of Palestinians to other countries and said the government wants to maintain a military presence in Gaza “until all hostages are returned” regardless of any ceasefire agreement.

Main events on July 7th

• The Israeli military killed more than 60 Palestinians and wounded dozens of others in strikes across the Gaza Strip, including in an attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp.
• Talks are ongoing in Qatar between Israel and Hamas to reach a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza as more aid seekers are shot dead and hospitals run out of fuel.
• The Houthis in Yemen damaged a second ship in as many days in the Red Sea targeting a vessel with rocket-propelled grenades as two crew of the ship are missing.
• Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the government wants to create a “humanitarian city” on top of the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza to concentrate starving Palestinians.
• At least one person was killed after the Israeli military targeted a vehicle travelling in southern Lebanon’s Tyre district. Another was killed on a motorcycle in the same district.
• Israeli forces launched raids across the occupied West Bank and announced seizure of 74 hectares (183 acres) of land northeast of Ramallah as settlers again attacked Palestinians.

UN expert says global economy must ‘follow some rules’ over Israel

Francesca Albanese – the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories – has defended her report on the “economy of genocide” and has urged people to boycott companies involved in human rights abuses by Israel.

Albanese has accused 48 firms of profiting financially from Israel’s war on Gaza and occupation of the West Bank by supplying military equipment or purchasing Israeli government bonds.

“I first want to say this report is not a threat to the global economy. I’m not advocating for the end of the market. I’m just saying the market has to follow some rules,” she told Al Jazeera.

“And when state conduct turns into killing, slaughtering, maiming and starving adults and children alike – including babies – then we have crossed that red line.”

More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the war, now in its 22nd month, began. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced multiple times, cities and towns have been razed, hospitals and schools targeted, and 85 percent of the besieged and bombarded enclave is now under Israeli military control, according to the UN.

What did Trump, Netanyahu say at the White House?

We were told repeatedly it was going to be a private dinner with no media access, but inevitably, this changed, and the cameras were allowed in in time to get the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Nanyahu, presenting the US President a letter recommending that he be given the Nobel Peace Prize.

It was clear that discussions are going to centre on the situation in Gaza, in particular, getting a ceasefire in place and releasing those still being held captive.

But it would appear from the conversation that both leaders are thinking about the possible relocation of Palestinians to other countries as part of this process.

The US president also said he didn’t know whether there would ever be an independent Palestinian state, and the Israeli prime minister, commenting on the matter, said that whatever happened, Israel would always retain complete security over the area.

The issue of Iran was also brought up by the US president, and he said, “They want to meet and they want to work something out”. Later in the conversation, the issue of Syria came up, with the US president saying he decided to lift the sanctions against Syria to give that new country a chance.

This, he said, will also apply to the Iranian situation, saying that it would be possible to lift sanctions against Iran should some kind of negotiated deal be reached.

So, a wide-ranging conversation. The Israeli prime minister will be in Washington, DC, until Thursday, giving time for further discussions with members of the administration and, of course, meeting members of Congress.

Just wining and dining a wanted war criminal while casually discussing ethnic cleansing, nobody bats an eye anymore...

Netanyahu takes new tone on Palestinian state, touts Gaza displacement plann

Netanyahu said Israelis wouldn’t want a Palestinian state after what happened on October 7, which is a different tone from what the prime minister had previously said on this matter. He had said that he’s worked his entire political career trying to prevent a Palestinian state, and that he would continue to do so.

Netanyahu also said that both Israel and the US are actively working to find countries that would take Palestinians from Gaza.

This is something the Israelis have been saying for some time, calling it a “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from their homeland. But, of course, this has been condemned as ethnic cleansing.

The Israelis are also noting that there still is a negotiating team in the Qatari capital, Doha, and there is some movement towards getting to a ceasefire deal.

The US envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said that now more than ever, there is momentum. He himself is heading to the Middle East in the coming days to work on that very deal.

But Netanyahu says that despite all of this, until Israel achieves all of its goals and objectives in Gaza, the war would continue.

Talks of relocating Palestinians ‘recipe for catastrophe’: Ex-Israeli diplomat

Former Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas says just because there are ongoing reports and statements about relocating Palestinians in Gaza to other countries, it doesn’t mean that there is a “practical plan”.

“The fact that the Israeli defence minister blurts some ideas out, or even the prime minister, or even the president of the United States, doesn’t mean there is a plan,” he told Al Jazeera.

“In early February, Trump spoke about a Palestinian Riviera, and within 36 hours, he changed that from a Riviera for the Palestinians to the Palestinians will be expelled,” he added.

Pinkas explained that amid reports that the Boston Consulting Group, which has been asked to come up with a plan to relocate Palestinians, it “doesn’t mean it’s implementable, it doesn’t mean it’s practical”.

“[It] is a recipe for catastrophe because it ensures that no [post-war] agreement in Gaza is durable,” Pinkas said.

History shows Israeli settlements to follow ‘crazy plan’ to displace Palestinians from Gaza

Calls for displacement of Palestinians from Gaza will “soon be followed by [Israeli] settlements”, according to Sultan Barakat, a senior professor in public policy at Qatar Foundation’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University.

“History teaches us that every single achievement Israel has had over the last 78 years has started with floating a crazy plan, an unacceptable plan, an illegal plan, an inhuman plan and with time, they manage to implement it. That is, I think, the lesson we should reflect very carefully on,” Barakat told Al Jazeera.

“This is the reason why Netanyahu would not discuss anything outside Washington, DC. It’s not because he is very friendly with Trump necessarily, although Trump is very much supporting him. It’s because, in Washington, he is amongst the deep state of the United States, and he knows exactly that Trump cannot object to some of his ideas,” he added.

Trump-proposed Palestinian expulsion ‘integrated into Israeli war plan’

Ever since US President Donald Trump in February spoke about the controversial, possible forcible relocation of Palestinians out of Gaza, the Israeli government has adopted it as policy.

We keep hearing intermittently from different Israeli officials about how the military operations, the attacks in Gaza, the starvation of the population all serve the ultimate goal of what Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz described as voluntary emigration.

Now what we heard in more detail from the Israeli minister is how this will be implemented – and according to the reporting, Israel Katz told journalists Israel plans to concentrate all of the population of Gaza – starting with 600,000 – on the ruins of Rafah and build a tent city.

Israeli forces will be screening who enters that tent city; once they enter, they won’t be able to leave, they will be there “deradicalised”, according to the Israeli minister and then allowed, pushed, encouraged, or nudged to leave the Gaza Strip, in implementation, according to him, of the Trump plan.

We also heard a reference to that by Netanyahu, when he met Trump overnight at the White House, with the Israeli prime minister saying Palestinians should be allowed to leave and that countries that want to see them have a better life should take them in.

So this is not really a new development in Israeli policy; it’s one that has been integrated into the Israeli war plan ever since February.

‘Nothing humane’ about plan to forcibly displace all in Gaza

Tamara al-Rifai, a spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, says there’s a “siege on the international humanitarian system” with the takeover of aid distribution by the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

She said the reported forced displacement plan by Israel, backed by the United States, would create the “most overpopulated open-air prison in the world”. The proposal would see 2.1 million Palestinians herded into the “ruins of Rafah”.

“There’s nothing humanitarian or humane about seeking to confine the first 600,000 – but then the entirety of the population in Gaza – into a space that’s highly affected by the Israeli forces,” al-Rifai told Al Jazeera.

“It is not feasible given the level of destruction in Gaza. It is not feasible given the collapse of humanitarian action in Gaza. The [GHF] ‘mechanism’ is actually killing Gazans looking for food. We fear the worst may still come.”

UK opposes Gaza displacement plan, warns of measures on Israel if ceasefire not agreed

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said the UK would oppose plans to forcibly displace Palestinians after Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he wanted to move 600,000 Palestinians to a “camp in the ruins of the city of Rafah” in southern Gaza.

Lammy told a parliamentary committee of lawmakers the plan runs “contra to the proximity to a ceasefire that I thought we were heading towards”.

He said: “So I wonder if there’s some politicking going on for those within the government that, for some reason, stand opposed to this.”

When pressed on whether Britain would oppose any such plans, Lammy responded, “Yes”.

Moreover, Lammy warned of measures against Israel if a ceasefire was not reached.

Five Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza

The Israeli military says five soldiers were killed and two were seriously injured in an “incident” in northern Gaza.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that another 12 soldiers were also wounded when a bomb planted on the side of a road exploded near the soldiers who were on foot at the time, in Beit Hanoon at about 10pm local time [19:00 GMT] on Monday.

Doctors at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital treat patients using phone light amid warnings of fuel shortages


_{Earlier, the hospital had warned it was close to running out of fuel and that its generator had broken down}

Israeli attacks in Gaza City leave hospitals overwhelmed

Dozens of Palestinians injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza City, including many children, have been taken to al-Ahli Hospital for treatment. The influx of patients means that patients are being treated on the floor of a tent outside the hospital.