Central and northern Gaza face relentless Israeli attacks as civilians flee again

The live blog has now ended and will be back again at 9am. You can read more of The New Arab's coverage of Israel's war on Gaza here.

Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to US President Joe Biden, met with French officials on Wednesday and discussed French and American efforts to restore calm in the Middle East, a White House official said.

"France and the United States share the goal of resolving the current conflict across the Blue Line by diplomatic means, allowing Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return home with long-term assurances of safety and security," the official said, referring to the demarcation line between the two neighbors.

(Reuters)

Pro Palestine protestors climbed the roof of Australia's Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday, TV footage showed.

Footage showed four people dressed in dark clothes on the roof of the building, unfurling black banners including one reading "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free", a common refrain of Pro Palestine protestors.

(Reuters)

The UN denounced on Wednesday reports of "unacceptable" abuse and even torture of Palestinian detainees, in particular since Hamas's 7 October attack inside Israel, demanding an investigation.

The United Nations has long raised concerns about conditions for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, but warned that the situation appeared to have worsened since the war began.

Asked about a recent case where Israel's military acknowledged its troops had tied a wounded Palestinian to a military vehicle during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, UN rights chief Volker Turk said it was "sickening to see such totally unacceptable treatment".

"There must be a transparent and independent investigation to know what happened and to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice," Turk said at a news conference in Geneva.

Turk's spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani urged the need for accountability in the case, warning that without it, "brazen violations like this will continue with impunity".

"At some point you run out of words of condemnation to use for such incidents," she told AFP.

An Israeli military evacuation order covering a third of the Gaza Strip has "wiped out" the United Nations' attempts to improve humanitarian aid deliveries via the Karem Abu Salem crossing, a senior UN aid official said on Wednesday.

Israel has been critical of UN-led aid operations in the enclave of 2.3 million people, where the UN says distribution is not only hampered by Israel's nine-month long war on Gaza, but also lawlessness.

Israel's military announced this month a daily daytime pause in attacks to facilitate the collection of aid from Karem Abu Salem, but the UN has said the lawlessness means it is still too dangerous and it is Israel's responsibility to restore public order and safety in Gaza.

Andrea De Domenico, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said that in the past few weeks there had been a lot of discussions with Israel on how to improve the situation.

"We have been engineering a lot of solutions and trying and testing, improving and failing - at times - and now with this evacuation order all this has been, again, wiped out," he told reporters on Wednesday.

De Domenico said alternative plans were now blocked by the evacuation order, but he hoped a protection agreement could be reached with the Israeli military for some areas.

(Reuters & The New Arab Staff)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, according to a press release from the State Department. 

"The Secretary and the Foreign Minister discussed ongoing diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza that provides for the release of the hostages, a significant and sustained increase in humanitarian assistance, and improved humanitarian access throughout Gaza," the press release said. 

The two also discussed the post-war scenario in Gaza, as well as ways to deescalate the situation on the Israel-Lebanon border and Houthi attacks against shipping in the Red Sea.

The US military's Central Command said on Wednesday its forces successfully destroyed two radar sites in Houthi controlled areas of Yemen and two uncrewed surface vessels in the Red sea in the past 24 hours. 

July 3 U.S. Central Command Update

In the past 24 hours, U.S. Central Command forces successfully destroyed two Iranian-backed Houthi radar sites in Houthi controlled areas of Yemen and two uncrewed surface vessels (USV) in the Red Sea.

It was determined the radar sites and… pic.twitter.com/wqFg1mWpyr

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 3, 2024

(Reuters)

Hamas said on Wednesday its leader Ismail Haniyeh conducted calls with Qatari and Egyptian mediators around ideas to reach a deal to end the war in Gaza.

The group added its leader also communicated with Turkish officials about the latest developments.

(Reuters)

Israeli media is reporting that Israeli sources with knowledge of the Gaza ceasefire negotiations are optimistic about the renewed effort to achieve a deal. According to Haaretz, Israeli sources said that the Hamas document is a "positive document" and could be the basis for advancing negotiations. 

Meanwhile, Yedioth Ahronoth is reporting that sources told the publication the Hamas response was "the best offer so far", whilst also reiterating it could be used for further talks. The Yedioth Ahronoth report noted the sources questioned whether the document would "be enough for the Israeli cabinet." 

According to US publication Axios, Israeli sources said that even if negotiations move forward a bid to secure a ceasefire could "take several weeks to reach an agreement".

However, the Times of Israel is reporting that security sources speaking to the publication have suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to harm the talks.

The suggestion was based off the negative messaging from Netanyahu's office that talks were stuck on Hamas' insistence on barring Israel to resume the fighting after the first phase, and that the office waited several hours before confirming the government had received a response.

An Israeli soldier has been killed during battles in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City, the Israeli military announced. The soldier was killed by anti-tank missile fire, and a further three soldiers were wounded during the fighting. 

323 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the beginning of Israel's ground operation in Gaza. 

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society shared footage of its teams transporting four people who were killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza City today, with another wounded person being taken to hospital. 

🚑Palestine Red Crescent teams transported four martyrs and an injury following an Israeli attack today on a residential apartment in #Gaza City.
📷Filmed by PRCS volunteer: Yousef Khader pic.twitter.com/TR2TrBLzl9

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) July 3, 2024

Hamas exchanged "some ideas" with mediators to end Israel's war in Gaza, the Palestinian group said in a statement on Wednesday, citing an official source.

(Reuters)

Israel is studying Hamas' response to a proposal that would include a hostage release deal and ceasefire in Gaza, according to a statement from Israel's Mossad spy agency.

"The mediators of the hostage deal have given the negotiating team Hamas' response to the hostage deal outline. Israel is examining the response and will respond to the mediators," said a statement released by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, on behalf of Mossad.

(Reuters)

A senior official in Israel's Shin Bet Intelligence Agency has been reprimanded following an investigation into the release of the director of Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital, according to Israeli publication Haaretz.

According to Palestinian news agency WAFA, a Palestinian man was shot and injured by an Israeli settler whilst herding his sheep south of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

The report added that the man was in a stable condition in hospital.

According to Israeli publication Haaretz, the Israeli military announced that two houses in Zarit were struck by Hezbollah rockets that were fired from its latest barrage. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza war with Jordan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi on Wednesday.

They discussed a ceasefire deal to release hostages and which "provides a concrete roadmap for ending the war in Gaza," a handout from the State Department read.

"They also discussed the post-conflict period and diplomatic efforts to achieve an enduring end to the crisis in Gaza that provides lasting peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike."

Israel transferred 435 million shekels ($116 million) of withheld tax revenue to the Palestinian Authority, the first such transfer since April, the Israeli and Palestinian finance ministries said on Wednesday.

Israel collects tax on goods that pass through Israel into the West Bank on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and transfers the revenue to Ramallah under a longstanding arrangement between the two sides.

Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has withheld sums earmarked for administration expenses in Gaza. Israel also deducts funds for electricity, water and costs to treat Palestinians in Israeli hospitals.

Even after these deductions, Palestinian officials say the amount is far below taxes collected each month.

The ultranationalist Smotrich has been opposed to sending funds to the PA, which uses the money to pay public sector wages.

Israel also deducts funds equal to the total amount of so called martyr payments, which the PA pays to families of militants and civilians killed or imprisoned by Israeli authorities.

(Reuters)

The Australian government knew about damages caused to an Australian war cemetery by Israeli forces in Gaza this year but did not act, a parliamentary hearing has revealed.

Senator David Shoebridge questioned a representative from Australia’s defence ministry about a "very disturbing" CNN report from January this year on the desecration of multiple graves in Gaza by Israeli forces.

Shoebridge, from the Green Party, acknowledged that 263 Australian soldiers were buried in a war cemetery in the besieged Gaza Strip, asking the defence ministry representative about what damage had been done to the burial sites.

Read more here.

Hezbollah said it fired "100 Katyusha rockets" at two Israeli positions on Wednesday after an Israeli strike in south Lebanon killed a senior commander from the group.

"As part of the response to the attack and assassination that the enemy carried out" in the southern coastal city of Tyre, Hezbollah fighters attacked two Israeli positions in the annexed Golan Heights "with 100 Katyusha rockets", a statement from the group said.

Israel has approved a huge 12.7 square kilometre (4.9 square mile) land seizure in the occupied West Bank that a watchdog group said Wednesday was the biggest in three decades.

The Israeli agency handling land affairs for the occupied territories declared the land in the Jordan Valley "state property" in June, according to a declaration obtained by AFP on Wednesday after being revealed by the Peace Now group.

Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in two military operations in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli sources said Wednesday.

One night-time air strike killed four men at a refugee camp near the town of Tulkarm, which has seen a surge in violence as Israel has intensified raids.

The Palestinian Authority health ministry said the four were "killed as a result of the occupation's bombing of Nur Shams camp".

اربعة مجاهدين من كتيبة طولكرم يرتقون الى العلا شهداءً الى جوار نبيهم ورفاقهم بقصف صهيوني غادر وجبان

لا حول ولا قوة الا بالله pic.twitter.com/VVJSvWMH8X

— أحمَدْ (@Qassam127) July 2, 2024

One man was killed by Israeli fire in a separate Israeli operation in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

The statement identified the man as Nidal Ziad al-Amer, 23.

اغتيال نضال عامر في مخيم جنين قبل قليل

ابن القائد زياد العامر pic.twitter.com/ysSusT9daS

— ليث (@laith_eid) July 3, 2024

Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah confirmed the death of its commander in an Israeli drone strike on Wednesday following reports from Reuters news agency.

The group said Muhammad Nima Nasser, known as Hajj Abu Nima, had died. He was reportedly a senior commander of the Aziz unit.

Nasser, who was 59 was from the town of Hadatha in southern Lebanon.

Videos shared online showed a vehicle on fire near the town of Tyre in south Lebanon.

اغار الطيران المسير المعا دي قبل قليل مستهدفا سيارة في منطقة الحوش جنوب شرق مدينة صور وعلى الفور تحركت سيارات الاسعاف باتجاه المكان pic.twitter.com/ATxjQRGD0O

— مصدر مسؤول (@fouadkhreiss) July 3, 2024

In a second statement on Hezbollah's Telegram channel, it said it targeted Israeli 'spy equipment' at 4pm local time at Al-Malikiyah site.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement's armed wing, Al Quds Brigades, said on Wednesday some Israeli hostages have attempted suicide after it started treating them the same way Israel treated Palestinian prisoners.

"Some enemy prisoners have attempted suicide as a result of the extreme frustration they are feeling due to their government's neglect of their cause," Al Quds Brigades spokesperson Abu Hamza said in a post on Telegram.

"We will keep treating Israeli hostages the same way Israel treats our prisoners," he added.

The Palestinian militant group did not specify what measures it had taken against Israeli hostages.

Arab mediators' efforts, backed by the United States, have so far failed to conclude a ceasefire in Gaza.

(Reuters)

A senior field commander in Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli strike on Wednesday outside of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, two security sources told Reuters.

The sources said that the commander was responsible for a section of Hezbollah's operations along the border frontier, where the group has been exchanging fire with the Israeli military since October in parallel with the Gaza War.

They said that he was of the same rank and importance to the group as Taleb Abdallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike in June and was the most senior Hezbollah field commander to be killed by the Israeli military in the last eight months of hostilities.

Hezbollah fired its largest barrages of drones and rockets in retaliation for Abdallah's killing. There was no immediate comment from the group on the senior commander killed in Wednesday's strike.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

(Reuters)

Almost all the patients in the European Gaza Hospital and the Red Cross field hospital decided to flee following Israeli military evacuation orders for the surrounding area in southern Gaza, the WHO said Wednesday.

On Monday, 270 patients reportedly self-evacuated along with medical staff, and on Tuesday, the Gaza health ministry evacuated more patients, the World Health Organization said.

"Now only three patients remain at the European Gaza Hospital and three at the ICRC field hospital. Most patients have been referred to Nasser Medical Complex," the WHO said, citing figures from Tuesday.

The Israeli army on Monday ordered the evacuation for most areas east of Khan Yunis and Rafah along the Egyptian border. It did not explicitly announce a military operation, but such orders have typically preceded major offensives.

Though the European Gaza Hospital itself is not under evacuation instructions, the order has impacted operations.

"As witnessed several times during the ongoing war, insecurity in a hospital's proximity and lack of access for patients, health workers, and humanitarians to resupply fuel, medical supplies, water and food can make hospitals non-functional very quickly," the WHO said.

Gaza's health ministry has released its daily report which states that a further 28 people were killed over the past day in Israeli attacks, including massacres against three families. 

Hospitals also received 125 injured patients, the report said.

The death toll now stands at 37,953 and 87,266 people injured since the war broke out on 7 October.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday urged Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to prevent a "conflagration" between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, during a telephone call between the two leaders.

Macron "reiterated his serious concern over a deepening of tensions between Hezbollah and Israel... and underscored the absolute need to prevent a conflagration that would harm the interests of Lebanon as well as Israel," the French presidency said in a statement.

"The two leaders discussed the diplomatic efforts underway towards this," the Elysee Palace said, ahead of a visit by the US envoy for the conflict, Amos Hochstein, to Paris on Wednesday.

Hochstein is scheduled to meet with Macron's Lebanon envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian following visits to Israel and Lebanon in June to try to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.

Read more here.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday its forces had continued targeted, intelligence-based operations in Rafah, dismantled several military sites and killed Palestinian militants.

Hamas' armed wing said it had shelled two Israeli tanks in a neighbourhood west of Rafah and fired mortar bombs at Israeli forces attacking Shejaia, an eastern suburb of Gaza City in the centre of the enclave.

The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, an allied group, said it had shelled an Israeli military bulldozer in Rafah, and fired on Israeli army positions east of Shejaia.

(Reuters)

At least 26 civilians have been killed in Gaza since dawn, according to reports.

Al Jazeera Network, citing medical sources, said that Israeli attacks have killed at least 26 people, including seven bodies which were recovered in Tal as-Sultan in Rafah.

Two people were wounded in a stabbing attack in an Israeli mall on Wednesday, Israeli police said.

Police called it a suspected terror attack and said the attacker was "neutralised". The mall is in Karmiel, northern Israel.

Israeli medics said they were treating two men in their 20s, one in a very serious condition and the other fully conscience. 

(Reuters)

The Israeli military said its jets struck "Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure" in several areas of southern Lebanon overnight on Tuesday.

In a statement released early on Wednesday, it said the areas of Blida, Yaroun, Tayr Harfa, Labbouneh and Chihine were by airstrikes.

Lebanese newspaper L'Orient Today reported that civil defence teams were attending to a "completely destroyed" house in Tayr Harfa near the city of Tyre following the night-time strikes.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said over the weekend that his country is in a state of war, as nine months of clashes between Israel and Hezbollah heighten fears of an Israeli invasion of the country.

Israeli police clashed with Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank as they dismantled an illegal settler outpost early on Wednesday, according to video footage of the police operation seen by Reuters.

The video showed police excavators destroying makeshift structures at the Oz Zion outpost. Settlers sat down across a small road to block access for the police, but officers dragged them out of the way, the video showed.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli authorities about the operation.

Israel is under international pressure to curb settlement expansion in the West Bank, which Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state alongside Gaza.

The outpost, in a rural area, is illegal under Israeli and international law. Israeli police have in the past taken steps against some illegal settlement activity in the West Bank, but Palestinian groups say in many cases the police do not enforce the law, especially since the start of the war in Gaza.

Three Palestinians were killed on Wednesday morning by an Israeli drone strike in al-Maghazi camp in central Gaza, according to local media reports.

A drone strike hit a civilian car killing three inside who were rushed to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Some 17 others were injured in the attack on a civilian area, the report said.

[Image credit: Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images]

A dozen former US government officials who quit over US support for Israel's war in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday accused President Joe Biden's administration of "undeniable complicity" in the killing of Palestinians in the enclave.

In a joint statement, the 12 former government officials said the administration was violating US laws through its support for Israel and finding loopholes to continue shipping weapons to its ally.

Both the White House and the State Department had no immediate comment on the statement.

"America's diplomatic cover for, and continuous flow of arms to, Israel has ensured our undeniable complicity in the killings and forced starvation of a besieged Palestinian population in Gaza," the former officials said in the statement.

They urged the US government to use its "necessary and available leverage" to bring the war to an end and to ensure the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel. They also demanded that the US government support Palestinian self-determination and fund an "immediate expansion of humanitarian assistance" in Gaza.

Wafaa Elwan's five-year-old son cannot sleep in the Gaza tent city where she and her seven children shelter, but it is not the guns of war that cause his daily nightmare.

"My son can't sleep through the night because he can't stop scratching his body," the anxious mother said.

The boy has white and red blotches over his feet and legs, and more under his T-shirt. He is one of many Gazans suffering from skin infections ranging from scabies to chicken pox, lice, impetigo and other debilitating rashes.

More than 150,000 people in the Palestinian territory have contracted skin diseases in the squalid conditions into which displaced Gazans have been forced since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on October 7, according to the World Health Organization.