Palestinians flee Israeli attacks as mediators push for Gaza ceasefire deal

TNA’s live coverage of the latest from the war on Gaza concludes for today. Join us again tomorrow at 0800 GMT for updates from the besieged Palestinian enclave.

The French foreign ministry has decried Israel’s decision recently for continued illegal settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.

In a official statement, the ministry criticised "the official recognition of five new settlements and the approval of plans to build 5,000 extra residential units in several settlements in the West Bank, as well as the seizure of 1,200 hectares [2,965 acres]" in the Jordan Valley.

The Foreign Ministry added that Israeli government’s decisions were "of a deep gravity due to their scales and their consequences on peace and stability in the West Bank and the region."

The US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has reached an agreement with Brown University to ensure compliance with federal laws prohibiting discrimination and harassment against students of Jewish, Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim descent.

Following an investigation, the university was found to have received approximately 75 reports of alleged harassment targeting Jewish, Palestinian, and Muslim students between October 2023 and late March 2024.

Initially, the university's response was limited to acknowledging receipt of the reports, listing support resources, and requesting meetings with the complainants.

Subsequently, the Office of Civil Rights confirmed that Brown University has taken significant steps to foster an inclusive campus environment, including conducting workshops for students and staff to combat anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim sentiments.

Additionally, the university has revised its protocols to prioritize the safety and well-being of all members of its community, especially those who are Israeli, Palestinian, Muslim, Jewish, or have connections to Palestine or Israel, and who may be affected by events such as the conflict in Gaza.

 Brazil has put into effect a free trade agreement with the Palestinian Authority that has been waiting for ratification for more than decade, in a show of support for the Palestinian people.

"The agreement is a concrete contribution to an economically viable Palestinian state, which can live peacefully and harmoniously with its neighbors," Brazil's foreign ministry said on Monday in a statement.

It said Brazil, which recognizes a Palestinian state and allowed a Palestinian embassy to be built in the Brazilian capital in 2010, ratified the agreement on Friday between the Mercosur trade bloc of South America and the Palestinian Authority that had been signed in 2011.

It was not clear whether other Mercosur members would follow suit. Argentina's right-wing government of President Javier Milei is not expected to do so.

The foreign ministries of Uruguay and Paraguay did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Palestinian ambassador in Brasilia, Ibrahim Al Zeben, called Brazil's decision "courageous, supportive and timely."

It is "the effective way to support peace in Palestine," he said in a message to news agency Reuters, adding that he hopes Palestine trade with Mercosur, currently only $32 million a year, will grow.

US Vice President Kamala Harris discussed her engagement with the Gaza conflict in an interview with The Nation, revealing that she has been actively questioning the situation from the outset.

"So the trucks are taking flour into Gaza. But here's the thing… I like to cook. So I said to my team: You can't make shit with flour if you don't have clean water. So what's going on with that?" she said.

"I ask questions like, What are people actually eating right now? I'm hearing stories about their eating animal feed, grass… so that's how I think about it."

Moreover, Harris expressed concern about the specific hardships endured by women in Gaza, particularly regarding access to sanitary hygiene products such as pads.

She emphasized that addressing these issues, though uncomfortable for some, is crucial for understanding the full extent of humanitarian needs.

Regarding the protests across the US in response to the war, Harris acknowledged the demonstrators' emotional response as appropriate given the gravity of the situation in Gaza.

"They are showing exactly what the human emotion should be, as a response to Gaza," she told The Nation.

"There are things some of the protesters are saying that I absolutely reject, so I don't mean to wholesale endorse their points. But we have to navigate it. I understand the emotion behind it."

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has reopened a health facility in southern Gaza's Khan Younis after it was severely damaged in January, it announced on social media platform X.

UNRWA highlighted the critical importance of this facility, especially since there are no other nearby health centres.

It plays a crucial role in providing essential healthcare services to displaced families who have returned to seek shelter in the area.

Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis stated recently it halted services due to fuel shortages, leading to only one hospital partially operational in southern Gaza.

Despite being designated as humanitarian "safe zones" by Israel, areas such as Khan Younis, Rafah, and al-Mawasi in southern Gaza have faced multiple attacks.

Our staff in Khan Younis managed to reopen an @UNRWA health centre after it was severely damaged in January

As there are no other health facilities in this part of Khan Younis the clinic is crucial to support the displaced families that moved back in the area looking for shelter pic.twitter.com/7Zxlw2dr85

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) July 8, 2024

US President Joe Biden will hold his first face-to-face talks with Britain's new Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House on Wednesday, the White House said on Monday.

Biden plans to "underscore the importance of continuing to strengthen the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom" in his meeting with Starmer, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

She said the two leaders would have the opportunity to discuss USA-UK cooperation across a range of issues from Ukraine to the Gaza war, and ensuring that Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons, as well as confronting Iranian-backed Houthi threats to commercial shipping.

The leaders also will discuss furthering cooperation in areas such as protecting advanced technologies and developing climate and clean energy solutions. 

PRCS spokesperson Nebal Farsakh highlights the ongoing displacement of nearly two million people in Gaza, where safety is scarce and residents, including the sick and injured, have no means of escape.

Farsakh emphasized the dire situation in a video posted on X, noting that families continue to struggle with insufficient aid, limited access to essential resources like food and water, and heightened health risks due to overcrowding.

PRCS urged immediate international intervention to address the crisis.

Nebal Farsakh, PRCS Spokesperson
Gaza’s crisis worsens: 2 million displaced, no safe place, scarce aid, and dire health risks. Nine months on, urgent international action needed. #Gaza #IHL pic.twitter.com/0IoauM3sQ4

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) July 8, 2024

John Kirby, the Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council, stated that Israel can do more to protect civilians in Gaza during its ongoing bombardment.

"[The] Israelis have taken some steps to be more precise, more discriminate and more careful in their operations. Is it enough? No. So we’re going to keep at it, we’re going to keep working on this," Kirby said.

Kirby mentioned that the US is continuing to work with Israel to improve their targeting.

When asked about specific actions the Biden administration is taking to pressure Israel, Kirby condemned indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas and reiterated the need for precision and caution.

"It’s never right to be conducting indiscriminate bombing of a civilian population," Kirby added.

"That’s why we continue to work with the Israelis to be more precise, to be more careful."

Yemen's Houthis said on Monday that they carried out a joint military operation with the Iraqi Islamic Resistance targeting Israel's port city of Eilat using "a number of drones'"

The Israeli military reported that its fighter jets targeted buildings used by Hezbollah in Maroun al-Ras.

Additional strikes hit infrastructure in Aita al-Shab and Hula. This action was in response to nine rockets launched from Lebanon at Upper Galilee, which caused no injuries.

Earlier, 10 rockets were fired at Kiryat Shmona and another five at Upper Galilee.

Senior US officials are in Cairo for talks to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but gaps still remain between the two sides, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday.

Kirby said CIA Director Bill Burns and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk were in Egypt, meeting with their Egyptian, Israeli and Jordanian counterparts, adding that there will be "follow-on discussions" in the next few days.

US and Israeli intelligence chiefs will travel to Doha on Wednesday for discussions on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, a source with knowledge of the talks told news agency AFP on Monday.

CIA director William Burns and the head of Israel's Mossad David Barnea "are travelling to Doha on Wednesday", the source said adding they would meet with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.

Qatar has been engaged in months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, with support from Egypt and the United States, in efforts to reach a truce in Gaza and a hostage release deal.

Barnea had been in Doha on Friday amid a fresh push by negotiators to reach a deal. Egypt was also due to hold meetings this week.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said discussions in the Qatari capital had focused on "securing a transition from an initial truce to a more sustainable period of calm".

Canada on Monday urged the Israeli government to reverse a decision to approve new settlement outposts in the West Bank, saying the move was in contravention of international law.

"Canada firmly opposes the government of Israel’s decision to approve new settlements in the West Bank. Unilateral actions, such as financially weakening the Palestinian Authority and expanding settlements is in contravention of international law," the Canadian foreign ministry said in a statement on social media X.

1/2 Canada firmly opposes the Government of Israel’s decision to approve new settlements in the West Bank. Unilateral actions, such as financially weakening the Palestinian Authority and expanding settlements is in contravention of international law.

— Foreign Policy CAN (@CanadaFP) July 8, 2024

The families of Israeli captives in Gaza have urged Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to delay his July 24 speech to the US Congress until a deal for their release is secured.

They emphasized that he must prioritise a deal with Hamas to end the war and exchange prisoners.

The families stated that a speech without securing the captives' release misses the war's primary objective.

"A speech without concrete action to seal the deal and bring our loved ones home is premature and misses the mark of this war’s top priority – the return of all the hostages," it said in a statement.

The Bank of Israel on Monday lowered its growth forecast for the country, on the assumption that the war in Gaza will continue at a higher intensity and for longer than previously thought.

The central bank revised its GDP growth forecast down to 1.5 percent in 2024 and 4.2 percent in 2025. The previous forecast in April anticipated growth of two and five percent respectively.

"The department assumes that the war will continue at a higher intensity until the end of 2024, and will wind down in the beginning of 2025," bank governor Amir Yaron said in a statement.

The bank anticipated inflation rising to three percent in 2024 from 2.7 percent in 2023. It also predicted the war would maintain a direct economic impact until the beginning of 2025.

"As long as the fighting lasts, GDP growth is expected to be impaired both on the supply side and on the demand side," it said.

In its last report, published in April, the bank's forecasters worked on the assumption that the war's "direct impact on the economy reached its peak in the fourth quarter of 2023, and that it will continue until the end of 2024 with decreasing intensity" and with no direct impact in 2025.

The latest report noted that "reserve mobilisation continues to impair the supply of labour in all industries." Construction was particularly hard hit by restrictions on Palestinian workers from the West Bank and a halt to employment from Gaza.

The bank also anticipated that "impaired sentiment toward Israel" internationally "will lead to a decline in demand for Israeli exports and in investments from abroad."

Hamas on Monday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of obstructing negotiations for a truce and hostage release in Gaza as mediators again push for a deal.

The devastating war in the Palestinian territory is nine months old but back-and-forth negotiations, which have lasted nearly as long, have failed to end it.

In a statement, Hamas said the Israeli prime minister "continues to place more obstacles in front of the negotiations".

The movement accused Netanyahu of escalating "his aggression and crimes against our people" in what it said were "attempts to forcibly displace them in order to thwart all efforts to reach an agreement".

As Israeli attacks raged in Gaza City on Monday, the Israeli military expanded its evacuation order in the territory's north, leaving thousands of Palestinians on the move.

Netanyahu's office reiterated in a statement on Sunday that "any deal will allow Israel to return and fight until all the goals of the war are achieved".

President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian reaffirmed Iran's anti-Israel stance on Monday, saying resistance movements across the region will not allow Israel’s "criminal policies" towards the Palestinians to continue.

"The Islamic Republic has always supported the resistance of the people of the region against the illegitimate Zionist regime," Pezeshkian said in a message to Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group.

The comments signalled no change in the regional policies of the incoming government under the relatively moderate Pezeshkian who defeated his hardline rival in last week’s runoff election.

"I am certain that the resistance movements in the region will not allow this regime to continue its warmongering and criminal policies against the oppressed people of Palestine and other nations of the region," Iranian media quoted Pezeshkian as saying.

The death toll of UNRWA workers who have been killed in Gaza since the start of Israel’s war has reached 196, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said more than 50 percent of the agency’s institutions have been destroyed and more than 500 people have been killed trying to seek refuge in these UN institutions.

At least 16 people were killed and 75 wounded in an Israeli strike on an UNRWA-run school on Saturday in Gaza City.

The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) said on Monday its teams have transported at least 30 wounded people from a facility in Gaza City to the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza.

Those who were transported had evacuated from the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza a day earlier, the group said, following orders to evacuate by the Israeli army.

The left-wing French MP and member of La France Insoumise Mathilde Panot, said that she will recognise the state of Palestine within two weeks, following the French elections which saw Marine Le Pen's far-right party fail to win in the country's snap elections on Sunday.

Israel's military said on Monday it was close to finishing its "operational investigation" into the handling of Hamas' October 7 attack on southern Israel.

It said the findings will first be presented to the communities along the border with Gaza that were attacked and the families of hostages being held in Gaza.

After that they will be made public. 

Israeli forces on Monday demolished three houses and sheep barns, bulldozed lands, health units and water tanks, and uprooted trees, in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron.

The army raided Khirbet Aqwiwis in Masafer Yatta and demolished the house of local resident Jibril Musa Al-Na'min, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

Israeli forces also demolished the Amira School in the Masafer Yatta, which serves 70 students from first to fifth grade.

The head of Israel's biggest opposition party said on Monday he would lend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his support in parliament to keep him in office if members of the ruling coalition quit over a ceasefire deal.

Netanyahu has authorised his officials to resume negotiating a possible deal with Hamas to end the war in Gaza and the release of Israeli captives.

Some far-right partners in his coalition have said they will quit if the war ends before Israel has "eradicated" Hamas, an outcome that could bring down Netanyahu's government.

Yair Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid party, said at a meeting of his parliamentary faction: "There's a hostages deal on the table. It is not true that Netanyahu has to choose between the hostages deal and the continuation of his tenure as prime minister."

"Let him do the deal," Lapid said. "I promised him a safety net and I will keep that promise," he said, referring to a scenario if Netanyahu's coalition partners quit.

He said that was a difficult decision to make, given his opposition to Netanyahu, but "the most important thing is to bring the hostages home."

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday a ceasefire and hostage release deal under discussion to end the war in Gaza would constitute a defeat for Israel and he wants no part of it.

"This deal is a defeat and humiliation of Israel," Smotrich told a meeting of the party he leads, which is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition.

"Mr. Prime Minister, this is not an absolute victory. This is total failure. We will not be part of a deal of surrender to Hamas." 

Almost half a million people in Gaza are facing catastrophic levels of hunger., the WFP in the Middle East and North Africa said in a astatement in X on Monday.

Hunger levels are exacerbated due to "unreliable access and limited stocks, families often not receiving the full rations and frequency they need", the NGO said.

"In June, WFP reached 1 million people. but that's not enough. A ceasefire is needed," they added.

At least 436 cancer patients have died due to the lack of treatment in the Gaza Strip since October 7, following the outbreak of Israel's war in Gaza, which has weakened the enclave's healthcare system dramatically, Al Jazeera said.

Dozens of cancer patients have been evacuated to Egypt and Turkey to receive treatment over the months.

The Lebanese Hezbollah group said one of its fighters, Mustafa Hassan Salman, also known as Abu Hassan, had been killed in Lebanon, Al Jazeera reported.

In a post on X, the Israeli army said it took responsibility for the killing, stating it used an aircraft at night to kill Salman in the El Qleaa area in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military added that Salman was part of Hezbollah’s "rocket and missile unit".

38,193 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, the health ministry in Gaza said on Monday, with 87,903 injured.

The toll includes at least 40 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said.

Gaza City's Al-Ahli hospital was reportedly been hit by two missiles late on Sunday, before an evacuation was ordered on Monday.

Richard Sewell, the dean of St George’s College in Jerusalem, said he received information regarding the incident.

"Today the complete evacuation of the hospital has been ordered," Sewell  said on X. "Full information yet to be received. Deeply distressing," he added.

I am just hearing that our Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City was hit by two missiles last night. Today the complete evacuation of the hospital has been ordered. Full information yet to be received. Deeply distressing.

— Richard Sewell (@sgcjerusalem) July 8, 2024

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has called for "independent investigations" into the Israeli army bombing of an UNRWA school housing 2,000 internally displaced persons in the Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza.

Commissioner-General of the UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini posted on his official account on the social media platform "X": "More than half of UNRWA facilities have been hit. 520 people were killed and nearly 1,600 were injured. Those responsible must be held accountable for violating international law."

Israeli  forces have detained at least 30 Palestinians from the West Bank, including children and former prisoners overnight and Monday morning, the Palestine Prisoner's Society (PPS) said.

The PPS said the arrests mostly took place in Ramallah, Jenin, and Hebron, while the rest of the detentions were distributed among the governorates of Qalqilya, Bethlehem, Nablus, Jericho, and Tubas.

The Israeli raids involved severe beatings, threats against detainees and their families, as well as property destruction and vandalism.

At least four Palestinians have been killed in Gaza City's Shujaiya area, which has been under heavy attack in recent days by the Israeli military, Al Jazeera said.

Extremist Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday it would be a huge mistake to stop Israel's military offensive in Gaza now.

Smotrich, who heads a pro-settler party which is part of Prime Minister Netanyahu's governing coalition, made the comment as Israeli officials continued talks via mediators about a possible ceasefire deal with Hamas.

He wrote on social media platform X: "Hamas is collapsing and begging for a ceasefire. This is the time to squeeze the neck until we crush and break the enemy. To stop now, just before the end, and let him recover and fight us again, is a senseless folly."

Israeli raids on the Qlaileh area in the Tyre district targeting a motorcycle has killed one person and injured another, Lebanon's National News Agency said o Monday.

A correspondent in Marjayoun in southern Lebanon also reported that the town of Burj al-Muluk was hit by heavy artillery shelling after midnight, causing material damage to property.

Israeli settlers late on Sunday bulldozed and destroyed the entrance to the occupied West Bank city of Salfit, after closing the iron gate for several hours.

The settlers, from the settlement of Ariel, placed cement cubes with the aim of obstructing Palestinians' mobility and preventing them from entering or exiting the city.

The iron gate was later reopened, but the road infrastructure remained largely destroyed, making it difficult for vehicles to pass.

The settlers have closed the gate and destroyed the infrastructure several times over the past few days, Wafa added.

Israel's military said in a statement early on Monday it launched multiple air and artillery strikes overnight on what it said were Hezbollah military targets in Lebanon.

The strikes came after the Iranian-backed militant group said on Sunday it had launched a drone attack in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

The head of Israel's Shin Bet domestic intelligence service, Ronen Bar, has flown to Egypt to continue talks aimed at agreeing a ceasefire deal in Gaza, broadcaster Channel 7 broadcaster said on Monday.