Israel sends tanks into Gaza's Deir Al Balah, families of hostages concerned
Tank shelling in the area hit houses and mosques, killing at least three Palestinians and wounding several others, local medics said.
"UN staff remain in Deir al-Balah, and two UN guesthouses have been struck, despite parties having been informed of the locations of UN premises, which are inviolable. These locations - as with all civilian sites - must be protected, regardless of evacuation orders," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
To the south in Khan Younis, an Israeli airstrike killed at least five people, including a husband and wife and their two children in a tent, medics said.
In its daily update, Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 130 Palestinians had been killed and more than 1,000 wounded by Israeli gunfire and military strikes across the territory in the past 24 hours, one of the highest such totals in recent weeks.
There was no immediate Israeli comment on the Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis incidents.
Israeli sources have said the reason the army had stayed out of the Deir al-Balah districts was because they suspected Hamas might be holding hostages there. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to be still alive.
Families of the hostages have expressed concern for their relatives and demanded an explanation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz, and the army chief on how they will protect them.
"The people of Israel will not forgive anyone who knowingly endangered the hostages - both the living and the deceased. No one will be able to claim they didn't know what was at stake," the Hostage Families Forum Headquarters said in a statement.
Gaza health officials have warned of potential "mass deaths" in coming days from hunger, which has killed at least 19 people since Saturday, the Hamas-run territory's Health Ministry said.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was appalled by an accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza "where the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing," Dujarric said.
"He deplores the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition," said Dujarric.
"Israel has the obligation to allow and facilitate by all the means at its disposal the humanitarian relief provided by the United Nations and by other humanitarian organizations."
Health officials say hospitals have been running out of fuel, food aid, and medicine, risking a halt to vital operations.
Health Ministry spokesperson Khalil Al-Deqran said medical staff have been depending on one meal a day and that hundreds of people flock to hospitals every day, suffering from fatigue and exhaustion.
Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gulf Today
26 minutes ago
- Gulf Today
UAE strongly condemns, denounces storming of Al-Aqsa Courtyard; warns against escalation
The United Arab Emirates strongly condemned the storming of Al-Aqsa Courtyard by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli Minister of National Security, alongside settlers, under the protection of the Israeli police, considering it a provocative escalation and an unacceptable act of extremism. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) called on the Israeli government to assume full responsibility, condemn these hostile acts, and hold all those involved accountable, particularly ministers and officials within the Israeli government. The UAE affirmed that the continued attacks by Israeli extremists and their incitement to hatred and violence constitute a systematic extremist campaign that not only targets the brotherly Palestinian people but also threatens social peace, and risks further escalation. Furthermore, the UAE emphasised the need to respect the historical and legal status quo of Al-Aqsa Mosque, ensure the protection of all holy sites, and uphold the custodial role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in overseeing the endowments and managing the affairs of Al-Aqsa Mosque. WAM
Middle East Eye
29 minutes ago
- Middle East Eye
Trump administration removes clause that cuts funding to states boycotting Israel
A clause in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (Fema) guidelines threatening US states and territories that boycott Israel with the denial of federal funds for natural disaster preparation was discreetly removed from its terms and conditions directives on Monday after backlash. The change in status came after media reports on Monday explained how funding was conditional on states following Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conditions laid out in April. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) announced on Friday it was making nearly $1bn available to states to protect themselves from natural disasters, such as floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and fires, as well as terrorist attacks and cyber disruptions. However, before being removed, the clause said: 'Discriminatory prohibited boycott means refusing to deal, cutting commercial relations, or otherwise limiting commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies or with companies doing business in or with Israel or authorized by, licensed by, or organized under the laws of Israel to do business,' according to 11 agency grant notices reviewed by Reuters. DHS, which oversees Fema, reportedly removed this clause from section 17 on anti-discrimination under its terms and conditions. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Fema had announced on Friday it was making nearly $1bn available to states to protect themselves from natural disasters, such as floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and fires, as well as terrorist attacks and cyber disruptions. This $1bn allocation, which will apply to 15 different grant programmes, is part of the "Notices of Funding Opportunity amounting to more than $2.2 billion available to state, local, tribal and territorial governments to help them protect American citizens", Fema states on its website. DHS sent Middle East Eye a statement on Monday, saying: 'There is no FEMA requirement tied to Israel in any current NOFO. No states have lost funding, and no new conditions have been imposed. 'FEMA grants remain governed by existing law and policy and not political litmus tests. DHS will enforce all anti-discrimination laws and policies, including as it relates to the BDS movement, which is expressly grounded in antisemitism. Those who engage in racial discrimination should not receive a single dollar of federal funding.' BDS refers to the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which aims to "pressure Israel to comply with international law". Existing law Although the clause has been removed, more than 30 US states already have laws that require 'public entities to certify they do not and will not boycott Israel'. However, public outcry over the worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza has led to institutions and companies coming under increasing pressure to divest from Israeli and international companies investing in Israel. The momentum for the BD movement in the US was spearheaded by students on college campuses across the country last year due to outrage over the war on Gaza, which to date has killed over 60,000 Palestinians, wounded over 100,000 and decimated the strips infrastructure. While many institutions have refused pressure to divest from Israel, a handful of institutions like Union Theological Seminary have applied new investment screenings to divest from companies profiting from Israel's war on Gaza. San Francisco State University also agreed to disclose its investments quarterly and added new screening policies for investment decisions last year. Following this agreement, San Francisco State University agreed to pull investments from three companies it claimed do not meet its human rights standards, including aerospace and defence company Lockheed Martin, stock positions in Italian defence company Leonardo, and US-based data analysis enterprise, Palantir Technologies.
Middle East Eye
29 minutes ago
- Middle East Eye
Most Israelis not bothered by reports of suffering and famine in Gaza, new poll shows
The vast majority of Israelis say they are not troubled by reports of famine and suffering in Gaza, a new poll released by the Israel Democracy Institute shows. The survey shows that 79 percent of Jews in Israel were not troubled, or troubled at all, whereas 86 percent of 'Arab' respondents were somewhat or very troubled by the reports about the war on Gaza. 'Arab' respondents in the survey refer to Palestinian citizens of Israel. When the question was broken down by political affiliation, it shows that there is far greater concern among the left for the suffering and hunger, with 70 percent showing concern, whereas only 32 percent and six percent among the centre and right, respectively, are personally troubled by the reports. The survey was conducted between 27-31 July. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The world's leading hunger monitoring system last week issued a warning that the 'worst-case scenario of famine' is unfolding in Gaza due to the Israeli-imposed starvation and siege. 'Latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City,' the United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said in its report. The warning comes as at least 150 Palestinian children and adults in Gaza have succumbed to death from starvation since Israel's onslaught on Gaza began in October 2023. The low number of Israelis concerned about famine and suffering in Gaza may be correlated with the number of people who believe the Israeli army's reporting on the extent of the civilian casualties in Gaza. A clear majority of Israeli Jews, 70 percent, believe the Israeli army's reporting on the number of civilian casualties in Gaza, whereas the vast majority of Palestinian citizens of Israel, 63 percent, do not believe those numbers. The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza counts over 60,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza, with the vast majority of those civilians, women and children. Ministry numbers have been broken down by name, age and gender. 'You can see his bones': In Gaza, parents struggle against child starvation and Israeli war crimes denial Read More » The Israeli army, as of May of this year, puts the count at 30,000, with 14,000 of those labelled 'combatants'. Israel has yet to provide any methodology or verification of those numbers. The health ministry's numbers are widely accepted globally, with the British medical journal, The Lancet, having estimated that the 60,000 number is a vast undercount. When asked about the claim that 'Israel's actions are restricted by the fighting, but it is making substantial efforts to avoid causing unnecessary suffering to Palestinians in Gaza' was correct, the vast majority of Israeli Jews, 78 percent, believed it to be accurate. The Israeli public, however, does not align with the state on the issue of settler violence and accountability against them. Nearly half of the Israeli public, 44 percent, believe security forces are too lenient towards Israeli settler violence, whereas 23 percent think the response is appropriate, and 22 percent think they deal with them too harshly. The majority of Palestinian citizens of Israel, 61 percent, think security forces are too lenient on the issue. Bleak outlook Israel's war on Gaza has carried on for just under two years now, with lower-level armed conflict with other countries in the region, including Lebanon, Iran, Syria and Yemen. The seemingly intractable conflict could be taking a toll on the public's general outlook, as the survey shows that compared to findings in June, there has been a general decline in optimism across all four indicators of national mood. Those four indicators are the future of national security, democratic rule, the economy, and national cohesion. Only a minority of Israelis are optimistic, the survey found. The steepest declines came in security and democracy, which the authors of the survey said are two indicators that Israelis are historically most optimistic about. Just 40 percent of Israelis are optimistic about national security, with that number even lower at 38 percent for the outlook on democratic rule. The lowest level of optimism was reserved for national cohesion, with just 23 percent optimistic about its future and 28 percent optimistic about the country's economic future. According to the authors, the share of optimists among Palestinian citizens of Israel is far lower than that among Israeli Jews. The report's authors caveat this section, saying, "However, as the figure below shows, this does not constitute a new crisis, as these declines have essentially restored the situation that existed two and three months ago; thus, it is possible that the previous month's finding was anomalous." Israel's standing globally has also taken a hit, with the public in the US finding itself increasingly opposed to Israel's war on Gaza and a steady rise in sympathy for Palestinians. Middle East Eye reported on Tuesday that former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that Israel's reputation in the US was 'in collapse'. Gaza: Family of frail boy killed at GHF site months ago still haven't received his body Read More » Bennett, who served as prime minister from 2021 to 2022 for the New Right Party, accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of turning Israel into 'a leper state'. Bennet cited members of the Make America Great Again movement distancing themselves from Israel, with the country's friends having 'a hard time defending' it in the face of the ongoing starvation of Palestinians in Gaza. Recent data shows that Bennet's assessment of Israel's reputation in the US is correct. In a dramatic 10 percentage point drop since a poll from September 2024, only 32 percent of Americans said they support Israel's war on Gaza, new Gallup polling results released recently showed. As of July 2025, 60 percent of Americans said they disapprove of Israel's military action, and 52 percent said they see Netanyahu in a negative light - a significant shift from a year and a half ago. Netanyahu has also never been viewed this unfavourably in any of its previous polling stretching back to the 1990s, Gallup said, citing a 'continued deterioration in his image'.
