Women, children among dead in Israeli strike on Gaza City school

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UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy stated that he had a conversation with Blinken to discuss ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza, emphasizing that the US and UK are “working in lockstep to bring all parties to an agreement.”

In a post on X, he added, “An immediate end to the fighting in Gaza and the release of all hostages is vital."

An immediate end to the fighting in Gaza and the release of all hostages is vital.

I spoke with @SecBlinken today to discuss ongoing ceasefire negotiations.

The UK and US are working in lockstep to bring all parties to an agreement.

— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) August 20, 2024

Lebanon's health ministry said early Wednesday that Israeli strikes in the country's east killed one person, just over a day after similar strikes in the area and hours after four died in the south.

"Israeli enemy strikes on the Bekaa" valley killed one person "and wounded 19 others", the health ministry said, noting the toll was provisional and without saying if they were civilians or fighters.

The strikes around midnight came little more than a day after similar raids in the Bekaa region that Israel said targeted "Hezbollah weapons storage facilities".

They also came as Hezbollah said four of its fighters had been killed, after the health ministry said Tuesday that four people were killed in Israeli strikes in the southern border village of Dhayra.

Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani affirmed to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that his country is committed to its role as a mediator in the Gaza ceasefire talks, along with Egypt and the United States, the Qatari foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

Qatar will continue efforts and communication to end the war, the ministry said in a statement.

The death of Hamza Abdul Rahman Murtaja in an Israeli attack on the Mustafa Hafez school has raised the number of journalists killed in Gaza since 7 October to 170, according to the Government Media Office.

The organization released the names of all the journalists who lost their lives, claiming they were targeted in an effort to "silence the Palestinian narrative and conceal the truth."

Hamza’s brother, Yasser, who was also a journalist, was killed by an Israeli sniper in 2018 while covering the "Great March of Return".

Lebanon's health ministry said four people were killed Tuesday in Israeli strikes in the country's south, while Hezbollah said its militants launched barrages of rockets and drones at Israeli forces.

Israeli forces have traded near daily cross-border fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian group Hamas, since the war on Gaza began in October.

But fears of a major escalation have grown in recent weeks after the Israeli killing of a top Hezbollah commander.

On Tuesday, Lebanon's health ministry said "Israeli enemy strikes on the village of Dhayra" killed four people and wounded two others, after earlier reporting three dead.

An evaluation of the deaths of six captives, whose bodies were recovered from Gaza by Israeli forces on Tuesday, suggests that they suffocated due to a gas leak in a tunnel during an Israeli military attack, according to a report by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

The report indicates that the captives, who were taken from Khan Younis, likely died from suffocation in the tunnel where they were being held, as a result of the Israeli military operation. The incident reportedly took place around six months ago during an attack by the 98th Division in Khan Younis. Evidence gathered from the scene supports this preliminary assessment, which remains under investigation, according to the newspaper

A sticker on an Israeli bus stop near an illegal outpost in the Jordan Valley, where attacks on Palestinian structures have been on the rise, including today, reads: “Join today to build new settlements” on the “eastern” bank of the Jordan River.

“Come join to build settlements in Jordan”

A few miles away from the displaced and ruined Palestinian community, on a settler bus stop, there's a sticker that says: "come join to establish new settlements on river jordan's EAST BANK (not west bank)." The settlers who… https://t.co/KTBM6Vxcty pic.twitter.com/0lHql6cJTs

— Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) August 20, 2024

In war-ravaged Gaza, death appears to be the "only certainty" for 2.4 million Palestinians with no way to escape Israel's relentless bombardment, a UN official said Tuesday, recounting the growing desperation across the territory.

"It does feel like people are waiting for death. Death seems to be the only certainty in this situation," Louise Wateridge, a spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, also known as UNRWA, told AFP from Gaza.

For the past two weeks, Wateridge has been in the Gaza Strip, witnessing the humanitarian crisis, fear of death and spread of disease as the war rages on.

"Nowhere in the Gaza Strip is safe, absolutely nowhere is safe. It's absolutely devastating," Wateridge said from the Nuseirat area of central Gaza -- a regular target of Israel's aerial assaults.

A US official on Tuesday criticised "maximalist" remarks attributed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on maintaining control of the Gaza-Egypt border, saying it was not helpful to reaching a ceasefire with Hamas.

"Maximalist statements like this are not constructive to getting a ceasefire deal across the finish line," said the senior official travelling with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the Middle East, requesting anonymity to talk about sensitive discussions.

Such remarks "certainly risk the ability of implementing-level, working-level and technical talks to be able to move forward (once) both parties agree to a bridging proposal," he said.

The official said that Blinken stood by his public statement in Tel Aviv on Monday that Netanyahu had agreed to a US proposal to bridge the gaps on a ceasefire laid out on May 31 by President Joe Biden.

Netanyahu, in reported remarks to families of victims of attacks, said that Israel would insist on maintaining control of the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt which Israeli forces seized from Hamas in the more than 10-month war.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry reports that at least two people have been killed in Dheira, with the National News Agency indicating that Israeli jets conducted two air strikes on the southern Lebanese village.

There could be a long wait for Iranian retaliation against Israel, Iran's Revolutionary Guards spokesperson Alimohammad Naini said on Tuesday.

The Middle East has been bracing for Iran's avowed retaliation over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it was behind the killing.

"Time is in our favour and the waiting period for this response could be long," Naini said, referring to potential retaliation against Israel.

He said "the enemy" should wait for a calculated and accurate response.

Peace Now, an Israeli anti-occupation organisation, shared footage of a rally in Tel Aviv where participants called on the Israeli government to end the war on Gaza and secure the return of the captives.

Stop the war.

Hostage deal now! pic.twitter.com/CHv5wHFYHu

— Peace Now (@peacenowisrael) August 20, 2024

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed his condolences for the death of Israel-British national Nadav Popplewell who was held in Gaza and discussed efforts to secure a ceasefire in a phone call on Tuesday.

Starmer told Netanyahu that “regional de-escalation” was in everyone’s interest while expressing continued support for Israel’s “right to self-defence,” a statement from 10 Downing Street said.

“The Prime Minister also urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to ensure greater access to detainees held by Israel, the increased delivery of aid to Gaza and to ensure international law was upheld at all times.”

An Israeli drone strike on a crowded street in Deir al-Balah has killed eight people including women and children, according to local reports.

Injured children were rushed to al-Aqsa Hospital nearby, which is suffering with a shortage of medical supplies due to an Israeli blockade on aid deliveries into Gaza.

Al Jazeera correspondent Hind Khoudary said she saw many wounded children coming into the hospital in ambulances and that there was no warning sign prior to the attack.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to implement a ceasefire deal before all the captives "die".

In a post on X on Tuesday, Lapid said: “Enough with the briefings, enough with the tweets, enough with the rhymes in front of cameras."

“All of Netanyahu’s attempts to sabotage the negotiations should stop. Deal now, before they all die."

His remarks come after the Israeli military retrieved the bodies of six elderly male hostages who were found in a tunnel under Khan Younis, the military said.

Palestinian families have been forced to move again following the Israeli army's call for the evacuation of the Hamad area in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

Photos show men, women, and children carrying belongings like mattresses, buckets and bags and walking by foot or with a donkey cart.

UN agency OCHA has reported that 86 percent of the Strip is under evacuation orders, with some 13,500 people been forced to move over the past three days.

Humanitarian conditions remain dire with shortages of water, food and medicine widely reported. The shortage has caused a surge in the cost of basic items like sugar, vegetables and coffee.

(Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The Hostages Families Forum said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “abandoning” the hostages and “torpedoing” a deal to release them, in comments during a meeting earlier on Tuesday.

According to Times of Israel, the families met with Netanyahu following the retrieval of six dead hostages by the Israeli military from Gaza.

Netanyahu reportedly said that Israel won’t leave the Egypt-Gaza border or the “Netzarim Corridor” which runs across Wadi Gaza despite Hamas and Egyptian officials’ opposition to Israeli military presence there. The issue has been a sticking point of ceasefire talks.

“The prime minister’s remarks are effectively a torpedoing of the hostage deal,” the forum said in comments carried by Times of Israel. “Netanyahu won’t face that abandoning the hostages leads to their being murdered in captivity.”

Palestinian journalist Hamza Abdul Rahman Murtaja was killed by an Israeli strike on Mustafa Hafez School in Gaza City on Tuesday where hundreds of families were sheltering, Gaza's government media office said.

In a statement released on Tuesday, it said Murtaja was the 170th media worker to be killed during the war. It said he was a photographer and journalist for a number of local outlets.

Al Jazeera's Gaza correspondent Hind Khoudary said civil defence teams were still working to pull bodies from under the rubble, with some 12 people, including women and children, found so far.

An Israeli government bulldozer demolished the two-story home of a Palestinian family on Tuesday near the town of Bethlehem, claiming that the property does not have a permit.

Palestinian news agency Wafa said that the house belonged to Saher Salim Ayash in Khirbet al-Deir which falls under Area C of the West Bank –under full Israeli control as laid out in the Oslo accords.

Israeli forces were blocked off the streets surrounding the property and fired tear gas, according to the report.

It also said that its photojournalist was briefly detained by Israeli military.

Israel has a policy of demolishing Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank under claims that properties have been built without permits in areas which fall under its control such as Area B and Area C.

But rights groups have documented how Israel rarely issues building permits to Palestinians leaving many families with little other choice.

Hamas said on Tuesday that US President Joe Biden's comment that the Palestinian group was backing away from a Gaza ceasefire agreement with Israel was "misleading".

Biden, responding to questions on a ceasefire deal, said: "Israel says they can work it out, they're prepared. But I was told Hamas is now backing off."

While boarding a plane after giving a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday, he added: "It remains to be seen. We're going to keep pushing."

Hamas said Biden's statements do not reflect the true position of the movement, which says it has been keen to reach a cessation of hostilities.

"The proposal recently presented to us goes against what the parties had agreed on July 2, this is considered an American response and acquiescence to the terrorist Netanyahu's new conditions and his criminal plans towards the Gaza Strip," Hamas added, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

(Reuters)

The waiting period for Iranian retaliation against Israel could be long, Iran's Revolutionary Guards spokesperson said on Tuesday, according to state media.

The Middle East has been bracing for Iran's avowed retaliation over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it had any involvement in the killing. 

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu informed the families of captives in Gaza that he is "not sure" a ceasefire will occur, according to a report from Israeli news site Walla.

"I’m not sure there will be a deal, but if there is a deal – the deal will be one that preserves … Israel’s strategic assets," Netanyahu told the captives’ family members in a meeting on Tuesday.

During the meeting, Netanyahu also doubled down on maintaining control over the Philadelphi Corridor, which has become a major sticking point in the continuing ceasefire negotiations, reported Walla.

Israel will not withdraw from the area "under any circumstances", Netanyahu said, despite "enormous" pressure.

Gaza's civil defence agency said an Israeli strike on a school-turned- shelter killed at least 12 people on Tuesday.

"Our crews retrieved 12 martyrs from the Mustafa Hafiz school, which was bombed by the Israeli occupation west of Gaza City," agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told news agency AFP.

Bassal had earlier given a toll of seven dead and 15 wounded in the strike, which he said had hit the second floor of the school building.

The latest death toll figure could not be independently verified.

US President Joe Biden said Monday that protesters against Israel's war in Gaza who demonstrated outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago "have a point".

"Those protesters out in the street, they have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed, on both sides," Biden said in his farewell speech to the convention, adding that it was time to "end this war."

During a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi cautioned that the Gaza war could escalate across the region in ways that are "difficult to imagine," according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency.

Al-Sisi called for an end to the conflict in Gaza.

Blinken was in Cairo to explore potential avenues for progress on a Gaza ceasefire and a deal for the release of hostages, with significant points of contention still unresolved ahead of talks scheduled for later this week.

Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 40,173 Palestinians and wounded 92,857 since Oct. 7, the Palestinian enclave's health ministry said on Tuesday.

Israel retrieved the bodies of six hostages from the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza, the military said on Tuesday, as negotiations continued in an effort to bring back more than 100 who remain in the besieged enclave.

The return of the six bodies leaves 109 hostages still believed to be in Gaza, around a third of whom are thought to be dead, with the fate of the others unknown.

The return of the bodies came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was due to meet officials in Egypt as he continues a visit to the region aimed at bridging differences between Israel and Hamas over a deal to end the fighting in Gaza and return the hostages.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the bodies of Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Abraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell and Chaim Peri were recovered from tunnels under Khan Younis in southern Gaza after a "complex operation".

"We will continue working to achieve the goals of this war - returning the hostages to Israel and dismantling Hamas," he said in a statement.

The Hostages Families Forum, an organisation that represents most hostage families, welcomed the news but renewed its call on the government to conclude a hostage release deal with Hamas.

"The immediate return of the remaining 109 hostages can only be achieved through a negotiated deal. The Israeli government, with the assistance of mediators, must do everything in its power to finalise the deal currently on the table," it said.

At least 10 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike on a school housing displaced families west of Gaza City, the enclave's civil defence authorities said.

The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas militant base embedded inside the school.

Hamas denies Israeli allegations that it uses schools and hospitals for military purposes.

(Reuters)

The Israeli military said on Tuesday its jets struck a "Hamas command and control center" inside the Mustafa Hafez school in Gaza City.

It claimed the Hamas used the center to plan attacks and said that "numerous steps" were taken to reduce harm to civilians prior to launching the strike.

However, Gaza's civil defence said seven people were killed in the attack on the school, according to an early report from AFP.

Israel's military has repeatedly struck schools sheltering displaced people, killing dozens of women and children.

The health ministry in Gaza said Tuesday that at least 40,173 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory in more than 10 months of war with Israel.

The toll includes 34 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to ministry figures, which also listed 92,857 people as wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants launched a deadly attack on Israel on October 7.

The health ministry added that the many bodies are stuck under rubble and in areas out of reach of emergency crews.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan has criticised US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement regarding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepting an updated proposal on the Gaza ceasefire deal.

Hamdan said that the statement "raises many ambiguities" because it is "not what was presented to us nor what we agreed on".

Hamdan told Reuters that "Hamas has already assured the mediators that it does not need new negotiations or new ideas, and there is a proposal that we have agreed to and we need to implement it, which is based on Biden's proposal as well".

Hamdan also told Al Jazeera that talks of an updated proposal means “Washington's failure to oblige Netanyahu to Biden's proposal, which Hamas agreed to”.

Ceasefire talks in Doha concluded on 16 August after the presentation of "a proposal that narrows the gaps" between Israel and Hamas that is consistent with the principles set out by President Biden on 31 May.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to visit Egypt today to meet with President Abdul Fatah al-Sisi on the ongoing Gaza ceasefire negotiations.

Blinken is also scheduled to hold talks with the Egyptian foreign minister and general intelligence director in the Mediterranean Sea resort of Al-Alamein, according to the US Department of State.

Later in the day, America's top diplomat is scheduled to fly to Doha to hold talks with the Qatari emir on the same issue.

The Israeli military says it has recovered the bodies of six hostages taken in the Hamas-led 7 October attack on southern Israel.

The military said in a statement Tuesday that its forces recovered the bodies in an overnight operation in southern Gaza. 

It identified the hostages as Yagev Buchshtab, Alexander Dancyg, Avraham Munder, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell and Haim Perry, without saying when or how they died.

Five of the hostages were over 50 years old when they were captured, and three had family members who were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November.

"Kibbutz Nir Oz announces with great sadness the murder of the late Avraham Munder, 79, in captivity in Gaza after suffering physical and mental torture for months," the community said in a statement.

Palestinian militants had abducted Munder, his wife, daughter and grandson during the 7 October attack.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it launched several rocket salvos at Israeli army positions in the annexed Golan Heights on Tuesday "in response" to Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon the previous day.

Hezbollah fighters launched "intense rocket barrages" at two Israeli army positions in the occupied Golan Heights "in response to the Israeli enemy's attack on the Bekaa" Valley -- which a source close to Hezbollah said targeted weapons depots in the eastern region.

The Israeli military confirmed that around 55 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanese territory.

A UN convoy delivered fuel supplies to Gaza City in the enclave’s war-ravaged north, the organisation said late on Monday.

The fuel will help power bakeries and health facilities, but the UN said it was "far from enough" and reiterated its call for a ceasefire and "sustained humanitarian access".

For months, the Israeli military has imposed access restrictions to northern Gaza which has made it difficult for medical and aid convoys to reach civilians, aid agencies have said.

A UN convoy has entered Gaza City on a humanitarian mission, delivering critical fuel to help keep essential services like bakeries and health facilities running.

But this is far from enough.

A ceasefire & sustained humanitarian access are needed to save lives. pic.twitter.com/khxE3ekJhm

— United Nations (@UN) August 19, 2024