Live Updates: Israel, Hezbollah exchange fire despite calls for restraint

Tuesday, July 30, 2024

14:36 GMT — Israel, Hezbollah exchange fire despite calls for restraint

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged deadly fire, following a rocket attack from Lebanon despite calls for restraint.

Israeli medics said a 30-year-old man, was killed following a rocket attack on the northern kibbutz of HaGoshrim.

The Israeli army meanwhile reported its forces were "striking the sources of fire", which were in Lebanon.

It had said earlier that it struck around 10 Hezbollah targets overnight in seven different areas of south Lebanon, killing one fighter from the Iran-backed group.

14:50 GMT — Many bodies recovered in Khan Younis after Israeli withdrawal

Palestinian medics recovered the bodies of at least 42 people in Khan Younis in southern Gaza following Israeli army withdrawal from the area, local authorities have said.

"The bodies of 42 victims were recovered in the past few hours," Ismail Thawabta, head of Gaza's government media office, said.

"We expect the number of deaths to rise as there are still many bodies under the rubble," he added.

14:16 GMT — Gaza official: 300 killed in Khan Younis as Israeli army ends assault

The civil defence agency in Gaza has said that an Israeli operation in and around the territory's second city of Khan Younis killed about 300 people since it began last week.

"Since the beginning of the Israeli ground invasion of the eastern part of Khan Younis province, the civil defence and medical teams have recovered approximately 300 bodies of martyrs, many of them decomposed," agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said.

The Israeli military launched the assault on July 22 to halt rocket fire from the area, which already saw heavy fighting earlier this year.

14:14 GMT — Israeli politicians call for removing 'extremists' from government

Calls have grown inside Israel for the removal of "extremists" from the government following the storming of two military bases to protest the arrest of Israeli soldiers accused of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee.

"A handful of rioters breaks into IDF (army) bases and dismantles our country, the rule of law and the IDF," former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement on his X account.

"Stop the madness immediately," Bennett also said.

Benny Gantz, a former War Cabinet member, called those who stormed the two military bases an "extremist minority," adding that the majority of Israelis "oppose violence and anarchy." "The violent acts that we have seen in recent hours lead us to the abyss and endanger the security of the state and the unity of Israeli society," he said.

13:52 GMT — Lebanon's Hezbollah fires at Israeli warplanes in Lebanese airspace

Lebanon's Hezbollah has said it fired at Israeli warplanes that broke the sound barrier in Lebanese airspace.

Hezbollah added that it forced the warplanes to turn back.

13:35 GMT — UN agency reports hepatitis outbreak in Gaza amid Israeli war

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has reported an outbreak of hepatitis across Gaza amid relentless Israeli attacks on the enclave.

In a statement, the UNRWA said nearly 40,000 cases of hepatitis have been recorded in Gaza since the start of the Israeli war on Oct. 7, 2023.

"800 to 1,000 new hepatitis cases are reported weekly from UNRWA health centres and shelters across Gaza," it added.

"Desperate sanitary conditions facilitate the spread of diseases including Hepatitis A," UNRWA said.

13:11 GMT — Palestinian prisoner group demands international inquiry into abuse allegations

The association representing Palestinian prisoners has called for an international inquiry into allegations of abuse of detainees in Israeli jails since the start of the war in Gaza, following an outcry by right-wing protesters over an Israeli investigation.

Qadura Fares, head of the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission said there had been multiple reports of abuse at Sde Teiman, the military facility in southern Israel at the centre of the investigation.

"Every day, as we witness the massacres against our people in Gaza, we hear horrific and harsh testimonies from legal teams and detainees who are released," he said in a statement.

He said the Israeli investigation and the detention of nine Israeli soldiers was a "farce" aimed at misleading world opinion.

12:02 GMT — Gaza death toll surges to 39,400

The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 39,400 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in almost 10 months of Israel's war on the Palestinian enclave.

The toll includes 37 deaths in 24 hours, according to ministry figures, which also list 90,996 people as having been wounded in Gaza since the beginning of the war on October 7 last year.

11:29 GMT –– Oxfam projects 7,000 Gaza casualties during UK parliament recess

Nearly 7,000 people in Gaza are projected to be killed or injured if Israel's military offensive continues unabated during the UK Parliament's summer recess, according to new analysis by Oxfam.

The humanitarian organisation estimates that over 1,800 people, including more than 600 children, will be killed, and over 5,000 will be injured within the 33-day recess period.

Oxfam's calculations, based on UN cumulative impact reports from May 8 to July 22, indicate that 1,831 individuals in Gaza will be killed and 5,016 injured due to ongoing Israeli military actions.

10:53 GMT –– Israel army says it hit around 10 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

The Israeli army said it had struck overnight approximately 10 Hezbollah targets in seven different areas of southern Lebanon, and killed one fighter from the Lebanese armed group.

The army also "struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility, terror infrastructure sites, military structures, and a launcher in southern Lebanon", the army said.

10:02 GMT — Gaza death toll surges to 39,400

The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 39,400 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in almost 10 months of Israel's war on the Palestinian enclave.

The toll includes 37 deaths in 24 hours, according to ministry figures, which also list 90,996 people as having been wounded in Gaza since the beginning of the war on October 7 last year.

09:29 GMT –– Oxfam projects 7,000 Gaza casualties during UK parliament recess

Nearly 7,000 people in Gaza are projected to be killed or injured if Israel's military offensive continues unabated during the UK Parliament's summer recess, according to new analysis by Oxfam.

The humanitarian organisation estimates that over 1,800 people, including more than 600 children, will be killed, and over 5,000 will be injured within the 33-day recess period.

Oxfam's calculations, based on UN cumulative impact reports from May 8 to July 22, indicate that 1,831 individuals in Gaza will be killed and 5,016 injured due to ongoing Israeli military actions.

The analysis coincides with criticisms of the UK Government's continued arms sales to Israel, which are feared to contribute to violations of international law in Gaza. These arms sales include components for F-35 fighter jets, which are regularly employed in air strikes.

08:17 GMT –– Israeli court considers extending detention of soldiers accused of assaulting Palestinian detainee

The Israeli military court in Beit Lid will consider extending the detention of nine soldiers, accused of assaulting a Palestinian detainee from Gaza at the Sde Teiman Prison.

The Israeli military is preparing to prevent a right-wing incursion into the Beit Lid base, after they stormed it on Monday and clashed with the police, according to the Israeli public broadcaster KAN.

The authority indicated that the session is expected to be held at 2 pm (1100GMT).

0953 GMT –– Israel army says it hit around 10 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

The Israeli army said it had struck overnight approximately 10 Hezbollah targets in seven different areas of southern Lebanon, and killed one fighter from the Lebanese armed group.

The army also "struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility, terror infrastructure sites, military structures, and a launcher in southern Lebanon", the army said.

07:07 GMT –– Row erupts between top Israeli ministers over delayed response to rioters storming military bases

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant doubted National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's role in failing to take prompt action against Israeli rioters who stormed two military bases where soldiers were being held in custody for gang molestation of a Palestinian detainee.

Gallant urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to investigate whether Ben-Gvir prevented or delayed police action against Israeli rioters at the Sde Teiman and Beit Lid military bases in southern and central Israel.

The defence minister stressed the prime minister to "take a firm stand against the coalition members who participated in the riots," the Israeli daily Haaretz said.

06:38 GMT –– Hezbollah member killed in Israeli strike in southern Lebanon

One more Hezbollah member was killed in an Israeli air strike on a home in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese official news agency NNA said the Israeli air strike took place in the southern Beit Lif town.

In a statement later, the Hezbollah group identified the member as Hasan Hussein Malik (Bader) which said he was killed "on the road to Jerusalem", in reference to the Hezbollah's fight in support of the Palestinian resistance facing the Israeli devastating onslaught in Gaza.

The new fatality brought the number of Hezbollah fighters killed in clashes with Israeli forces since October 8, 2023 to 387, according to an Anadolu news agency tally.

05:48 GMT –– French ex-Olympic ambassador says she is being targeted for supporting Palestine

French former basketball player Emilie Gomis, who was removed from her role as an Olympic ambassador for criticising Israel on Instagram, says she has been targeted to show what will happen to those who support the Palestinians.

Speaking to Anadolu news agency, Gomis said she shared an Instagram story on October 9 last year to explain what colonialism can do to a country and why the October 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel happened.

She never anticipated the fallout from sharing the Instagram story, Gomis said.

In the Instagram story, Gomis posted a message showing maps of France from 1947, 1967, and 2023, with the Israeli flag gradually covering the tricolor flag to replace it on French territory.

"What would you do in this situation?" she asked in the post.

As the daughter of a Senegalese immigrant, Gomis said the issue is very important to her. "I just wanted to raise awareness and draw attention to it."

Gomis was chosen for the Paris 2024 ambassador role in November 2021.

05:13 GMT –– Lice, scabies, rashes plague Palestinian children in Gaza's tent camps

Skin diseases are running rampant in Gaza, health officials say.

The cause, they say, is the appalling conditions in overcrowded tent camps housing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes, along with the summer heat and the collapse of sanitation that has left pools of open sewage amid 10 months of Israel's bombardment and offensives in the territory.

Doctors are wrestling with more than 103,000 cases of lice and scabies and 65,000 cases of skin rashes, according to the World Health Organization.

In Gaza's population of some 2.3 million, more than 1 million cases of acute respiratory infections have been recorded since the war began, along with more than half a million of acute diarrhea and more than 100,000 cases of jaundice, according to the United Nations Development Programme.

04:14 GMT –– Lebanon on high alert as diplomats race to contain escalation

Lebanon stands on high alert as as diplomats race to contain escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said a flurry of diplomatic activity has sought to contain the anticipated Israeli response.

"Israel will escalate in a limited way and Hezbollah will respond in a limited way... These are the assurances we've received," Bou Habib said in an interview with local broadcaster Al-Jadeed.

Several analysts told AFP news agency that this was likely to be the case, with Israel wary of having to fight wars on two fronts.

The United States, France and others were trying to contain the escalation, Habib added, while Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that "talks are ongoing with international, European and Arab sides to protect Lebanon and ward off dangers".

04:01 GMT –– US anti-Muslim incidents rose about 70% in first half of 2024

Discrimination and attacks against Muslims and Palestinians rose by about 70 percent in the US in the first half of 2024 amid heightened anti-Muslim hate due to Israel's war in Gaza, the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group said.

Human rights advocates have reported a global rise in anti-Muslim hate, anti-Palestinian bias and anti-Semitism since the eruption in October of Israel's war on Gaza which has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis.

In the first six months of 2024, CAIR said it received 4,951 complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian incidents, a rise of nearly 70 percent compared with the same period in 2023.

In 2023, CAIR documented 8,061 such complaints in the whole year, including about 3,600 in the last three months after the war broke out.

02:09 GMT –– Netanyahu denies adding new conditions to US-backed truce proposal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office denied Monday that he made changes to a US-backed truce proposal after being accused him of setting new conditions.

In a statement, Netanyahu's office claimed that Hamas is to be blamed for preventing an agreement and accused it of being the one insisting on several changes to the original proposal.

According to Israeli media, however, Netanyahu's latest conditions weren't included in the proposal announced by US President Joe Biden in May, which Biden said Israel had agreed to.

01:46 GMT –– Israel's Sde Teiman prison restricts Gazan detainees' freedom

Israel's Sde Teiman prison, a military installation in the Negev desert in southern Israel, houses thousands of Palestinians arrested by Israeli forces in Gaza in the course of their devastating onslaught since October 7.

Since the early days of Israel's war on the enclave, the prison, dubbed "Israel's Guantanamo Bay", was always in the forefront of the news as reports emerged on the scale of torture and violations committed against Palestinian detainees inside the facility, which is far from the oversight of rights groups.

According to Israel's Army Radio, 10 soldiers were recently detained for questioning as part of an investigation into the gang-rape of a Palestinian detainee from Gaza in the prison.

01:06 GMT — Hezbollah moves missiles as Israel threatens to attack Lebanon

Lebanon's Hezbollah group has started moving precision-guided missiles as Israel threatens to launch an attack on Lebanon following the weekend strike that killed 12 children in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

An official with a Lebanese group told The Associated Press that Hezbollah’s stance has not changed and that the group does not want a full-blown war with US-backed Israel, but if war breaks out it will fight without limits.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military activities, said Hezbollah since Sunday has started moving some of its "smart precision-guided missiles" to use if needed.

02:50 GMT — Israel faces backlash amid fresh evidence of war crimes

Israel is facing a fresh wave of war crimes accusations after footage emerged of its troops demolishing a reservoir of drinking water in southern Gaza, along with gruesome reports of soldiers gang-raping a Palestinian hostage at a prison in the Negev Desert.

A force in the city of Rafah from the 401st Brigade of the Armored Corps "blew up the central reservoir last week on the orders of the brigade commanders," the Israeli daily Haaretz said.

One of the soldiers posted a video of the explosion on social media with the caption "Destruction of the Tel Sultan water reservoir in honour of Shabbat," it noted.

03:19 GMT — Egypt continues efforts to contain Israeli escalation against Lebanon

Egypt has established contacts with "relevant parties" in an attempt to contain Israel's current escalation against Lebanon and prevent the region from devolving into a major war.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty during phone calls with Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati and his Lebanese counterpart Abdullah Bou Habib informed them of his contacts with relevant parties to contain Israeli aggression, according to a statement released by his ministry following the conversations.

The top diplomat informed Lebanese officials on Egyptian contacts to avoid dragging the region into a wide-scale war.

For our live updates from Monday, July 29, 2024, click here.