Gaza blockade has destroyed food, farms and aid supplies: Media Office

Gaza’s Government Media Office has accused Israel of committing a “documented crime of starvation” against the territory’s residents, saying its blockade has destroyed food supplies, agriculture and livestock while preventing aid from reaching those in need.

It said annual vegetable production has collapsed from 405,000 tonnes to 28,000 tonnes since the war began while 665 cattle, sheep and poultry farms have been destroyed.

Relief convoys have been “targeted, detained and looted”, the office said, calling it “an unprecedented humanitarian crime” supported by video, audio and testimony from international organisations.

The statement cited recorded remarks by Israeli officials, including former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s pledge to cut off “electricity, food, water [and] gas” to Gaza and comments from far-right Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich that they would “not allow a single grain of wheat” into the territory.

The office also accused Israel of banning foreign journalists from entering Gaza to “cover up genocide, starvation, forced displacement and destruction”, saying Israel has reversed a pledge to allow media access.

“The occupation [Israel] is using food as a weapon of war and slowly killing civilians through starvation and siege,” the statement said while calling for urgent international intervention and accountability before international courts.

Gaza suffering reaches ‘unimaginable’ levels: 27 countries

Britain, Canada, Australia, Japan and 23 of their European allies say the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached “unimaginable levels” and have called on Israel to allow aid into the Palestinian enclave.

“Famine is unfolding before our eyes. Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation,” the foreign ministers of the countries said in a joint statement published by Britain.

“We call on the government of Israel to provide authorisation for all international NGO aid shipments and to unblock essential humanitarian actors from operating,” the statement said.

Shrouds running out as Israel intensifies attacks, Gaza hospital warns

As Israel intensifies deadly attacks, officials at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, have launched an appeal for shrouds as the growing number of fatalities has led to a shortage of burial materials for the victims.

In a social media post verified by Al Jazeera, an official at the hospital’s laundry department warned that the increasing lack of shrouds would force un the coming days the workers to bring out those killed uncovered.

Norway’s wealth fund confirms divestment from Israeli jet engine group

The CEO of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, Nicolai Tangen, says the fund has sold its shares in Israel’s Bet Shemesh Engines Holdings, which makes engine parts for Israeli fighter jets deployed in the war on Gaza.

Tangen made the comments at a news conference a day after the fund announced it was divesting from 11 of the 61 Israeli companies it holds stakes in.

The fund didn’t initially confirm which companies it was divesting from, but its holdings in Bet Shemesh had come under recent scrutiny after they were revealed by Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.

Deputy CEO Trond Grande also told reporters that the fund is planning to divest from more Israeli companies as part of an ongoing review due to the situation in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Norway’s biggest pension fund excludes Israeli drone supplier

Norway’s largest pension fund, KLP, says it is excluding Israeli technology firm NextVision from its investments because it supplies the Israeli military with components for drones deployed in Gaza. The company reported $115m in revenue in 2024.

“The exclusion was prompted by an unacceptable risk that the company is contributing to, or is itself responsible for, serious violations of the rights of individuals in situations of war or conflict,” said KLP in a release.

The Nordic pension fund has previously dropped numerous firms for their links to Israel’s war on Gaza or occupation of the West Bank. Last year, it said it would stop investing in US bulldozer-maker Caterpillar Inc due to the risk that equipment it sells to Israel would be used to demolish Palestinian homes. Back in 2021, the fund severed ties with 16 other firms due to their links to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli defence minister, military chief clash over army appointments: Report

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz has accused Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir of approving promotions in the military “without prior coordination and agreement”, in the latest sign of tension between the country’s political and military leadership, according to the Times of Israel.

Katz made the accusation after the list of promoted officers were leaked by the press, and said in a statement that he had “no intention of discussing or approving any of the appointments or names” in the document.

The Israeli military responded by publishing the list of promotions, saying Zamir is “the sole authority under regulations for appointing commanders at the rank of colonel and above” and that the staffing discussion “was scheduled in advance, in accordance with regulations”.

Among those listed to be promoted is Barak Hiram, set to become head of the Israeli military’s Operations Division.

According to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, Hiram drew controversy for ordering tank and shell fire on a house in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023, where 13 Israeli captives were held. He was later cleared by an investigation that said he acted “professionally in the face of a difficult and complex reality”.

Israeli opposition chief backs call for general strike in support of Gaza captives

Yair Lapid says even supporters of the current government should take part in the strike starting on Sunday.

“Strike out of solidarity. Strike because the families have asked, and that’s reason enough. Strike because no one has a monopoly on emotion, on mutual responsibility, on Jewish values,” he said on X.

Lapid’s post followed a call on Sunday by about 20 parents of captives still held in Gaza for a strike.

On Monday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main group representing the captives’ relatives, backed the idea.

The group accused the government of sacrificing the captives who remain in Gaza “on the altar of an endless, aimless war”.

Israeli court orders Netanyahu to testify three times weekly in corruption case

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be required to testify three times a week in his corruption trial starting in November, judges overseeing the case have ruled, according to Israeli media.

The Jerusalem District Court said there will be four hearings per week from November, with Netanyahu testifying in three of them until the end of his cross-examination. The trial, which began in 2020, has faced repeated delays.

The court is currently on recess, with the next hearings scheduled for September.

Judges also ordered an examination of moving future hearings to a court in Beit Shemesh instead of the Tel Aviv District Court, where proceedings have been held so far.

The Jerusalem District Court building cannot host the hearings during the war as it lacks an adequate bomb shelter.

Prosecutors have accused Netanyahu of using the Gaza war to shield himself from proceedings, citing the conflict as a reason for postponements. Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing in the corruption case.

Israeli forces carry out more raids in the West Bank

According to the Wafa news agency, the latest Israeli operations in the occupied territory involved:

If the Government is abusing anti terrorism laws to harm UK citizens then why do all the arrests for supporting PA result on no convictions and immediate release? Not doing a very good job of abusing the terrorism laws to harm UK citizens are they?

‘Israel cannot shut up Gaza’: Israeli commentator

Gideon Levy, a journalist and columnist for Israeli news outlet Haaretz, has spoken about the Israeli army’s targeted killing of the Al Jazeera team in Gaza, including journalist Anas al-Sharif.

Levy called Anas a “courageous journalist who enabled us to see what was going on in Gaza” and said his killing follows a longstanding pattern of Israel targeting journalists whose coverage it is threatened by.

“Ever since the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin [in the occupied West Bank], you see that journalists are targeted,” Levy said. “It was true about Shireen Abu Akleh, even though the Israeli army denied it at first, as it usually does. It’s true until this very moment. The figures tell us the whole story, and the figures are horrifying.”

However, Levy said the killings cannot stop the world from seeing the reality on the ground in Gaza.

“Israel cannot shut up Gaza,” he said. “So, even if this is the intention, Gaza will not be less covered now because of those killings. Gaza is becoming such a horrible place that even Netanyahu cannot prevent the world from knowing."

Israeli media has largely ‘betrayed its mission’ during Gaza war

Israeli journalist and columnist Gideon Levy said the Israeli media’s coverage of the Gaza war has largely hidden the truth from the public and labelled it “propaganda”.

He added that many journalists in Israel “are totally convinced that quoting the army spokesman is journalism … most people don’t understand what journalism means and I don’t think they will understand soon.”

“We have a free media betraying its mission in an unprecedented and shameful way over the last 22 months,” he said. “And the average Israeli who watches Israeli TV and reads the mainstream Israeli newspaper is not exposed to the truth, but it is exposed to a non-stop stream of brainwash.”

Gaza City seizure plan appears aimed at keeping war going indefinitely: Ex-Israeli PM

Ehud Olmert, who was Israel’s prime minister from 2006 to 2009, says the “only possible interpretation” of the Israeli government’s widely criticised plan to seize control of Gaza City is to keep the war going “indefinitely”.

“We are trying to understand what may be the goal or the objective of this military operation, and we are not sure that we can understand it,” he told Al Jazeera from Tel Aviv.

“All the former chiefs of staff of the Israeli army and senior generals, and the commanders of Mossad and the secret service are all having the same opinion: that this war should end now, that there is not any objective where for a military operation which is worth the cost – and the cost may be Israeli soldiers, the hostages and also Palestinians in Gaza, which we definitely don’t want to and don’t need to kill.”

Earlier this month, hundreds of former Israeli security chiefs urged US President Donald Trump to bring an end to Israel’s war on Gaza.

Israeli fighter pilots protest demanding Gaza ceasefire deal

Pilots and reservists with Israel’s air force are staging a protest outside of the army’s headquarters in Tel Aviv, demanding an end to the war in Gaza.

A statement from organisers, reported by Israeli media, said the protest called for “an immediate end to the futile war” and urgent action to secure the return of captives.

Participants are voicing opposition for plans to expand the assault, local media said.

Hamas delegation arrives in Cairo for ceasefire consultations

Egypt’s state-affiliated Al-Qahera News channel said the delegation, headed by senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, will hold talks with Egyptian mediators on the framework, which comes as Israel pushes ahead with a phased occupation strategy approved by its security cabinet last week.

Under the Israeli plan, the first stage would force around one million residents out of Gaza City to the south, encircle the city, and launch incursions into residential areas.

A second stage would involve seizing central refugee camps, many of which have already suffered widespread destruction during the war.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said that Cairo, working in coordination with Qatar and the US, is seeking a “comprehensive agreement” that would halt the Israeli war and secure a full deal between Israel and the Palestinian armed group.

Egypt says working ‘very hard’ to secure Gaza ceasefire

We have been reporting on the status of ceasefire and the presence of Hamas delegation in Egypt.

Egypt said it was working with mediators Qatar and the US to broker a 60-day ceasefire as part of a renewed push to end Israel’s war on Gaza.

“We are working very hard now in full cooperation with the Qataris and Americans,” Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters during a news conference in Cairo.

“The main objective is to go back to the original proposal – to have a ceasefire for 60 days, with the release of some hostages and some Palestinian detainees, and the flow of humanitarian and medical assistance to Gaza without restrictions, without conditions.

“We are talking with Hamas, with the Israelis and pushing for a deal” based on a recent US plan, Abdelatty said.

Last month, more than two weeks of negotiations in Doha failed to secure a breakthrough in talks for a ceasefire and the release of captives.