Thursday, July 11, 2024
15:05 GMT — Talks on ending the Gaza conflict have made progress on the issues of hostage releases and withdrawal of Israeli forces, but security arrangements and ceasefire guarantees are still being worked on, two Egyptian security sources have said.
The Egyptian sources said there had been agreement on preparations to free Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, as well as on the pullback of Israeli forces from residential areas of southern Gaza during the first six-week phase of a proposed deal. There was also agreement on a mechanism for administering Gaza after the war, they said.
However, differences remained over security arrangements at crossings into Gaza and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces, the sources added.
14:54 GMT — US imposes sanctions on Israeli settler outposts
The United States has imposed new sanctions against Israeli extremists over violence against Palestinians, including slapping financial restrictions on four settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank.
The State Department also blacklisted Lehava, which it described as the "largest violent extremist organisation in Israel" with more than 10,000 members.
"We strongly encourage the government of Israel to take immediate steps to hold these individuals and entities accountable. In the absence of such steps, we will continue to impose our own accountability measures," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
Settlement expansion has increased sharply since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022 at the helm of a hardline pro-settler coalition.
14:17 GMT — G7 condemns Israel's legalisation of West Bank outposts: statement
G7 foreign ministers have condemned the move by Israel to legalise five outposts in the occupied West Bank and slammed its decision to expand existing settlements and establish new ones.
"We, the G7 Foreign Ministers... join the UN and the European Union in condemning the announcement by Israeli Finance Minister (Bezalel) Smotrich that five outposts are to be legalised in the West Bank," read a statement that also rejected Israel's decision to declare over 1,270 hectares (3,100 acres) as "state lands".
14:04 GMT — Israeli weapons designed with shrapnel to give maximum harm: doctors
Surgeons volunteering in Gaza have reported catastrophic injuries among children caused by Israeli-made weapons designed to maximize shrapnel dispersion, resulting in severe casualties, according to The Guardian.
Doctors at Gaza's European Hospital and al Aqsa Hospital described performing numerous operations on children wounded by tiny fragments of shrapnel, which often leave barely visible entry points but cause extensive internal damage.
These weapons, they say, appear to be intentionally designed to increase the number of casualties, according to Amnesty International.
13:48 GMT — Several feared dead in Israeli strike on house in central Gaza
Several Palestinians are feared dead after an Israeli strike in central Gaza, according to witnesses.
The attack targeted a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, which flattened the building, while a number of nearby houses were damaged, witnesses said.
The Health Ministry has yet to issue an exact death toll from the attack.
13:31 GMT — Over 60 bodies retrieved from under rubble in Gaza City
Palestinian medics retrieved more than 60 bodies from under the rubble in the Shejaiya neighbourhood in Gaza City after Israeli troop withdrawal from the area, the Civil Defense Agency said on Thursday.
"Dozens of bodies are still trapped under the rubble in the neighbourhood," spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told a press conference. He said Israeli forces destroyed more than 85 percent of the residential buildings in the neighbourhood.
"Shejaiya has become a disaster area that is not suitable for habitation," he added.
13:29 GMT — Israeli delegation heading to Cairo for more Gaza talks: Netanyahu
An Israeli negotiation team will head on Thursday to Cairo to hold further Gaza ceasefire talks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said.
"A delegation headed by the head of the Shin Bet (domestic security service), together with representatives of the IDF (Israeli army), is scheduled to leave for Cairo this evening to continue the talks," the statement said, adding that Netanyahu met throughout the day with negotiators who returned from Doha.
12:38 GMT — Biden, US complicit in Israeli war crimes: Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said US President Joe Biden and his administration are complicit in what he called Israeli war crimes and violations of international law in the Gaza conflict, and he called for sanctions against Israel.
In an interview with Newsweek during the NATO summit in Washington, Erdogan said Israel's "brutal murder" of civilians, its strikes on hospitals, aid centres and elsewhere constituted war crimes.
"The US administration, however, disregards these violations and provides Israel with the most support. They do so at the expense of being complicit in these violations," Erdogan was quoted as saying.
"At this juncture, who will impose what kind of sanction against Israel for violating international law? That is the real question and no one is answering that," he said.
12:30 GMT — Israel 'stalls' Gaza truce to thwart talks: Hamas
Hamas has said in a statement that mediators have not yet provided the group with any updates regarding Gaza ceasefire negotiations.
It also accused Israel of "stalling" to gain time and the current round of talks.
"The occupation continues its policy of stalling to buy time to foil this round of negotiations, as it has done in previous rounds," the group said.
12:28 GMT — US announces $100M additional aid for Palestinians
The United States has announced that it is providing 100 million dollars in additional aid for Palestinians in besieged Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
A statement from USAID said the funding would assist the United Nations’ World Food Program.
It also said that through the funding, it would provide “logistics support for the safe and efficient delivery of lifesaving humanitarian aid across Gaza,” without elaborating.
Aid agencies have complained that goods are not reaching people in Gaza because of the dangerous security situation and growing lawlessness that is complicating aid delivery.
11:47 GMT — Very little aid enters Gaza due to Israeli attacks: UN
The United Nations is stressing that very little aid is getting to Palestinians from the Kerem Shalom border crossing because of lawlessness, ongoing fighting, and the lack of effective coordination with Israeli forces in Gaza.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric was responding to the head of the Israeli military body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs who told reporters at Kerem Shalom earlier that the United Nations needs to step up its ability to receive and distribute aid in Gaza.
Dujarric said the UN is trying its best to get to people in need, especially in central and southern Gaza, but "you have utter lawlessness, plus you have continuing conflict."
11:12 GMT — US 'cautiously optimistic' on Gaza truce
The US is "cautiously optimistic" about cease-fire talks between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, the White House has said.
"We are cautiously optimistic that things are moving in a good direction … There are still gaps remaining between the two sides. We believe those gaps can be narrowed, and that’s what (special Mideast envoy) Brett McGurk and CIA Director Bill Burns are trying to do right now," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told CNN.
10:56 GMT — Israeli defence minister, US envoy discuss hostage deal, munitions shipment
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said he met with visiting US envoy Brett McGurk on Thursday and discussed progress in reaching a Gaza ceasefire and captive swap deal.
Gallant, according to a statement from his office, said they also spoke about "the delivery of critical munition, some of which will be sent to Israel in the coming days."
10:43 GMT — Israel's threats must stop: Turkish President Erdogan
Israel's threats and attempts to spread the conflict must stop. Otherwise, our region will face the risk of deeper conflicts and even war,' Turkish President Erdogan has warned.
Those responsible for the current "barbarity in Gaza" will sooner or later be held accountable before international law, just like with the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, the Turkish president said on Thursday.
“Türkiye will continue to do our best to ensure that justice is served and the perpetrators of the massacre are held accountable,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a video message sent to a commemoration ceremony of the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
10:32 GMT — Death toll from Israel's relentless war in Gaza rises to 38,345
More than 38,345 Palestinians have been killed and 88,295 have been injured in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement.
Some 50 Palestinians were killed and 54 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.
10:13 GMT — Gaza City under heavy Israeli attack as mediators push for truce
Residents of Gaza City were trapped in houses and bodies lay uncollected in the streets under an intense new Israeli assault, even as Washington pushed for a peace deal at talks in Egypt and Qatar.
Hamas says a heavy Israeli assault on Gaza City this week could wreck efforts to finally end the war just as negotiations have entered the home stretch.
08:36 GMT — Israel arrests 15 more Palestinians in occupied West Bank raids
Israeli army forces detained 15 more Palestinians in military raids across the occupied West Bank, according to prisoners’ affairs groups.
A woman was among the detainees in the raids that targeted the cities of Qalqilya, Nablus, Tubas, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.
The new arrests brought to 9,625 the number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli army in the occupied territory since last Oct. 7, according to Palestinian figures.
08:31 GMT — Israel soldiers raid a camp in Nablus, injuring Palestinians
Four Palestinians, including a woman and a child, were injured at dawn on Thursday during Israeli occupation forces' raid into Balata camp, east of Nablus.
Sources in the Palestinian Red Crescent said that a young man, 26, was injured by live bullets in the abdomen during confrontations that broke out inside the camp, while a woman, 34, a child, 13, and a young man, 23, were injured with bruises after the occupation soldiers beat them during storming their homes in the camp.
The occupation forces stormed the east of the city of Nablus at dawn, amidst live bullets and tear gas and sound bombs. They raided several homes inside Balata camp, searched them, tampered with their contents, and detained two youths.
08:10 GMT — Israel continues ground, aerial, naval attacks across Gaza
The Israeli army continued to strike areas across Gaza involving ground, aerial, and naval attacks as its deadly onslaught enters day 279, several days into its ninth month, local media has reported.
Official Palestinian news agency Wafa said an Israeli raid hit a home in the al-Maghazi refugee camp and another in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
In Gaza City, Israeli army drones opened fire towards homes in the al-Sabra neighbourhood in the southern part of the city.
The Israeli navy opened its gun machines towards the shores of the town of al-Zahra and the Nuseirat refugee camp, Wafa also reported.
In southern Gaza, the Israeli army destroyed entire buildings in the city of Rafah, while army artillery struck the Shaboura neighbourhood in central Rafah.
08:10 GMT — Israeli army intercepts 5 rockets fired from southern Gaza
The Israeli army said its air defences intercepted a barrage of five rockets fired from an area in Rafah, southern Gaza, towards southern Israel.
The army did not report any casualties or material damage from the rocket attack.
Rocket warning sirens were heard in settlements adjacent to the Rafah area including Holit, Avshalom, Sdeh Avraham, and Kerem Shalom, according to the Times of Israel website.
No Palestinian group has so far claimed responsibility for the rockets firing.
04:41 GMT — Israel's Gaza City evacuation 'absolute madness' — rights group
The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, B’Tselem, has called Israel’s orders for Gaza City’s entire population to evacuate “absolute madness”.
In a post on social media, it demanded the international community to intervene and “demand that Israel immediately stop the war”.
“Based on Israel’s actions, it appears that it intends to continue fighting indefinitely, sowing destruction, and killing masses of people for the foreseeable future,” the group said in a series of posts.
01:17 GMT — US is 'cautiously optimistic' about Gaza ceasefire talks
The United States was "cautiously optimistic" about Gaza ceasefire talks, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told CNN, adding that gaps between the two sides could be narrowed.
"We are cautiously optimistic that things are moving in a good direction," Kirby said when asked if a ceasefire deal was close.
"There are still gaps remaining between the two sides. We believe those gaps can be narrowed, and that's what Brett McGurk and CIA Director Bill Burns are trying to do right now," he added.
22:41 GMT — Spain slams 'double standards' on Gaza during NATO summit
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has urged the West to reject "double standards" regarding the genocidal war in Gaza as he joined NATO leaders in supporting Ukraine.
"If we are telling our people that we are supporting Ukraine because we are defending the international law, this is the same as what we have to do towards Gaza," he said at NATO's 75th anniversary summit in Washington.
The Spanish leader said there should be a "consistent political position" in which "we don't have double standards."
Sanchez said the world needed to press to "stop this terrible humanitarian crisis" affecting the Palestinians and called for an international peace conference to push for a Palestinian state.
"We need to create the conditions for an immediate and urgent ceasefire," he said.
22:12 GMT — Erdogan invokes Gaza during talks with Scholz
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have held discussions on Israel's onslaught on besieged Gaza.
Erdogan told Scholz that pressure should be put on Israel to end its attacks on Gaza and not to miss the opportunity of a ceasefire, according to Türkiye's Communications Directorate.
He added that it is important to increase efforts to prevent conflicts from spreading to the region.
20:44 GMT — German politician says Israeli attack on Gaza school 'cannot be justified'
German left-wing politician Janine Wissler has said a recent Israeli attack on Al-Awda school in besieged Gaza, which was being used to shelter the displaced, is "appalling," calling it a "violation" of international humanitarian law.
"Israel's attack on a school in the Gaza Strip is appalling and cannot be justified in any way," Janine Wissler said on X.
"Bombing civilians who have sought refuge in a school is a violation of international humanitarian law," Wissler said, adding that an immediate ceasefire is "necessary."
Our live updates from Wednesday, July 10, 2024, click here.
