Indonesia to treat 2,000 wounded Palestinians: Government

Indonesia has announced plans to treat 2,000 wounded Palestinians from Gaza in a medical facility on one of its uninhabited islands.

The facility will be on Indonesia’s Galang Island, off its island of Sumatra and south of Singapore, said presidential spokesperson Hasan Nasbi, without giving a timeframe.

The patients will be taken back to Gaza after they recover, he said, stressing that the exercise is not a permanent evacuation.

The plan comes months after President Prabowo Subianto’s offer to shelter wounded Palestinians drew criticism from Indonesia’s top clerics for seeming too close to US President Donald Trump’s suggestion of permanently moving Palestinians out of Gaza.

In response to Trump’s suggestion, Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry, which backs a two-state solution to resolve the Middle East crisis, said at the time that it “strongly rejects any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians”.

Residential areas attacked by Israeli forces again in southern, central Gaza

Israel is still launching deadly air strikes on residential areas. In one of the latest attacks, a makeshift tent in southern Gaza’s al-Mawasi area was targeted with no advance warning.

Elsewhere, near the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, a huge air strike targeted a residential flat. Five civilians inside were killed, with a father alongside his wife and children among the victims.

In the past few minutes, we heard a huge explosion that reverberated across the entire central area of Gaza. Right now, the sound of drones can be heard in the sky.

Israel’s military escalation continues without any sign of abating. And civilians are still bearing the brunt of this conflict.

At least 200,000 children in Gaza suffer from severe malnutrition: NGOs chief

Amjad Shawa, the head of the NGO Network in Gaza, has told our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic that at least 200,000 children in the Gaza Strip suffer from severe malnutrition.

The lack of baby formula and nutritional supplements causes the death of many of them, he said, adding that pregnant women live in extremely harsh conditions due to malnutrition.

Hunger-related deaths reach 197 in Gaza: Ministry

Gaza Strip hospitals recorded four new deaths “due to famine and malnutrition over the past 24 hours”, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

This brings the total number of hunger-related deaths in Gaza to 197, including 96 children.

Two-year-old girl dies of malnutrition

Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis has reported a second child death from malnutrition today, according to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic. The latest child is a two-year-old girl who died in the al-Mawasi area, they report.

Gaza death toll rises

At least 98 Palestinians, including 51 aid seekers, have been killed and 603 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

The count includes four people who starved to death in the past 24 hours, it said, raising the hunger-related death toll to 197, including 96 children. Two bodies were also recovered from the rubble of previous Israeli attacks, the ministry statement said on Telegram.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed a total of 61,258 Palestinians and injured 152,045 since October 7, 2023, the ministry added.

The total number of aid seekers killed since May 27, when Israel introduced a new aid distribution mechanism through the controversial GHF, has reached 1,706, with more than 12,030 injured, the statement said.

Poll in five nations reveals strong support for curbing arms exports to Israel

A majority of people in five nations – Brazil, Colombia, Greece, South Africa and Spain – believe that weapons companies should stop or reduce trade with Israel as its onslaught on Gaza continues, a poll reveals.

Spain showed the highest support for weapons deals to be halted, with 58 percent of respondents saying they should stop completely, followed by Greece at 57 percent and Colombia at 52 percent.

In Brazil, 37 percent of respondents believed arms companies should completely stop sales to Israel, while 22 percent believed they should be reduced. In South Africa, those levels stood at 46 and 20 percent, respectively.

“The people have spoken, and they refuse to be complicit. Across continents, ordinary citizens demand an end to the fuel that powers settler colonialism, apartheid and genocide,” said Ana Sanchez, a campaigner for Global Energy Embargo for Palestine.

Injured children from Gaza arrive in US for treatment

Three young Palestinian children injured during Israel’s war in Gaza have travelled to the US state of California to receive emergency treatment.

“One of them has severe burns, the others have complex traumatic injuries or orthopaedic injuries,” said Mohammed Subeh, a volunteer physician who previously worked and treated the children in Gaza, told Al Jazeera. “We’ve been working on this [to bring them to the US] for over a year now.”

Great to see something positive, but 3 children is all they could evacuate?

Just 92 aid trucks entered Gaza on Wednesday: Media Office

Gaza’s Government Media Office has said that only 92 aid trucks entered the enclave yesterday – far less than the 500-600 that the United Nations estimates are needed daily to meet basic needs.

“What has entered so far does not exceed 14 percent of the intended quota, as the occupation [Israel] prevents the entry of approximately 6,600 aid trucks, continues to close the crossings, and undermines the work of humanitarian organisations,” the office said in a statement.

It also said that most of the aid that did make it in was prevented from reaching its intended recipients due to widespread “looting and robbery”, which it described as the result of “deliberate security chaos” orchestrated by Israel.

“We hold the occupation [Israel] and its allies fully responsible for the humanitarian catastrophe,” said the office.

Child dies during aid airdrop in Khan Younis: Hospital

A child in Khan Younis has died while trying to retrieve airdropped aid in Khan Younis, our colleagues on the ground cite Nasser Hospital as saying.

UN agencies have long warned that airdrops are inefficient and dangerous. Much of the aid falls into unsafe or inaccessible areas and people often have to navigate chaotic crowds to try to retrieve it.

_{Palestinians run towards parachutes airdropping aid over northern Gaza, August 7}

‘People are tearing each other apart’ for limited aid

We’ve spoken to displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza as they scramble to try to secure a portion of the limited aid being airdropped into the besieged enclave.

Ismail al-Fayoumi said he walked a long distance to try to get food for his family. He came away with a single bag of milk.

“May God ease our situation,” he told Al Jazeera. “We hope they start bringing aid officially, through proper warehouses, not through airdrops. People are tearing each other apart for it, and the amount is so limited. What can a single pack like this do for an entire family?”

Another displaced man, Mustafa Tanani, likened the situation to “a battle”. “We come from far away and end up with nothing,” he said. “The planes are dropping aid for nothing – look where they threw it, up there between the buildings. It’s dangerous for us. There’s even a box hanging up high – it’s too risky to go and get it.”

Israeli attacks on Gaza schools part of effort to displace Palestinians

Moataz El Fegiery, vice president of the EuroMed Rights coalition, says today’s Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on “unlawful” Israeli attacks on schools sheltering displaced civilians in Gaza undercuts Israel’s claims that the facilities are used by Hamas.

“It provides substantial evidence to refute the story marketed by Israel internationally that there are civilian sites which are used by Hamas fighters. It’s very clear from this report that there is no evidence” to back that up, El Fegiery told Al Jazeera.

As we reported earlier, HRW investigated deadly Israeli strikes on Gaza schools-turned-shelters and found “no evidence of a military target”, thus making them “unlawfully indiscriminate”.

El Fegiery added that Israel’s goal since the beginning of the war has been to transform Gaza into an unlivable place, thereby pressuring Palestinians to leave.

“This report, we need to look at it in a broader context,” he said of HRW’s findings.

“Israel has an intention to target these institutions so they [can] achieve massive killings and casualties among civilians. But at the same time, [they want to] spread a climate of fear and terrorise civilians so they can leave the territory.”

Israel demolishes Palestinian prisoner’s family home in Hebron: Report

Israeli forces have stormed Hebron’s Abu Katila neighbourhood and raided the family home of a Palestinian prisoner before demolishing it, according to the Wafa news agency.

During the operation, Israeli forces sealed off roads in the area and fired stun grenades, tear gas and bullets in the area, the report said.

Rights groups have long criticised Israel’s policy of demolishing homes of some Palestinian prisoners as a form of “collective punishment” that may amount to war crimes.

Israeli drone attack kills five in eastern Lebanon: Ministry

The Lebanese Health Ministry is reporting that an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle has killed five people.

Ten others were wounded in the attack on Masnaa Road in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa region, not far from the border with Syria.

Israeli air strike kills man in southern Lebanon: Reports

An Israeli drone attack has killed a man in the village of Kfar Dan, near Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanese media reports.

The strike targeted the man while he was in his car, reports Lebanon’s An-Nahar news site.

Netanyahu says Israel intends to take control of ‘all of Gaza’

The Israeli prime minister has been asked in an interview with Fox News if Israel will “take control of all of Gaza”.

“We intend to,” Netanyahu answered, “in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of [sic] Gaza and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel.

“That’s what we want to do. We want to liberate ourselves and liberate the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas.”

Netanyahu also said in the interview that Israel doesn’t want to be “a governing body” in Gaza.

“We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We don’t want to govern it.”

Israeli army chief indicates he will continue opposing Gaza occupation plans despite pressure

We have been reporting on the Israeli military opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reported plan to escalate the Gaza war further and order the enclave’s full occupation.

Now, Israeli Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Eyal Zamir has downplayed disagreements between the country’s political and military echelons by saying “a culture of disagreement” is a “vital component” of the military.

In the remarks made during an assessment this morning with the military’s top brass, Zamir said: “We will continue to express our positions without fear, in a substantive, independent and professional manner.”

His comments were published by the Israeli army hours before a cabinet meeting this evening to discuss the Gaza occupation plans, indicating he will continue to push against the proposal, The Times of Israel newspaper reported.

“We are not dealing with theory; we are dealing with matters of life and death, with the defense of the state, and we do so while looking directly into the eyes of our soldiers and the citizens of the country,” Zamir said.

UK’s envoy to Israel warns full-scale occupation of Gaza would be ‘huge mistake’

British Ambassador to Israel Simon Walters has cautioned Israel against going ahead with a full-on occupation of the enclave, which PM Netanyahu is reportedly expected to approve this evening.

The Israeli military “has done all that it can do in Gaza – it’s not going to achieve any more by fighting any longer,” said Walters in comments carried by the Times of Israel newspaper. “Extending the war any further will simply lead to more deaths – deaths of soldiers, deaths of Palestinians, and, likely, deaths of hostages.”

He went on to say that ousting Hamas is only possible through “politics and diplomacy, and giving Gazans an alternative [authority] to Hamas” in postwar Gaza”.

UK police charge three people after Palestine Action ban

British police has said they had charged the first three people in England and Wales with supporting activist group Palestine Action since it was banned under “anti-terrorism” laws.

Jeremy Shippam and Judit Murray, both 71, and Fiona Maclean, 53, were charged under Britain’s Terrorism Act of 2000 following their arrest at a protest in central London on July 5, the capital’s Metropolitan Police force said.

A spokesperson for the force said there had already been seven charges in Scotland, which has a separate legal system.

The announcement comes ahead of a planned protest in support of the group outside the UK Parliament on Saturday, with organisers saying more than 500 people are expected to attend.

“I would strongly advise anyone planning to come to London this weekend to show support for Palestine Action to think about the potential criminal consequences of their actions,” Met Police Commander Dominic Murphy said in a statement.

Nice fascist statement. If you want to lock up your elderly for being against genocide, UK is the place to be.

Israeli captive’s mother fears Netanyahu ready to ‘condemn’ son ‘to death’

The mother of 25-year-old Israeli captive Matan Zangauker has urged Israelis to protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s expected plan to expand military operations in Gaza, a move she believes endangers the remaining captives.

In a video statement shared on X, Einav Zangauker accused Netanyahu and his cabinet, who are meeting tonight to discuss the plan, of seeking to “sentence Matan, my son, and all the living hostages to death by starvation and torment”.

“This madness must be stopped!” she said. “This is your moment, the people, to come out of your homes and save our future!” she said, calling on fellow Israelis to rally outside tonight’s security meeting.

“Come fight with us, for life, for the State of Israel, for the future of us all.”

Protest flotilla with Israeli captives’ relatives heads in direction of Gaza: Report

A protest flotilla organised by relatives of Israeli captives has set off towards Gaza, according to the Israel Hayom newspaper. The flotilla, joined by about 20 of the relatives, is being coordinated with Israeli forces and will not come too close to the enclave’s coast, the media reports.

Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid said the flotilla action is a “desperate move by families who are worried about the fate of their loved ones”. They hope their journey sends a message to the government and also somehow reaches the captives themselves, she said.

“One of the [captive’s] fathers actually has a megaphone and is addressing his son, hoping he can hear, telling him to hold strong, that the families are behind him,” our reporter said.

“It’s also a message to the government that time is running out and that the life of their loved ones has to be a priority,” she added.

_{A woman uses a megaphone as families of captives held in Gaza sail from the Ashkelon marina to the Gaza maritime border, on August 7}