Live Updates: Gaza City under heavy Israeli attack as mediators push for truce

Thursday, July 11, 2024

1013 GMT — 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.

1056 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."

1043 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.

1032 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.

0836 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.

0831 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.

0810 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.

0810 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.

0441 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.

0117 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.

2241 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.

2212 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.

2044 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.