Closing summary
It’s 3.40am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv and we’re about to wrap up this live coverage. You can find our full report on the latest developments here, and below is a recap of the key news lines. Thanks for reading.
The French president announced that France would recognise Palestine as a state. Emmanuel Macron posted on X on Thursday that he would formalise the “solemn” decision at the UN general assembly in September, saying: “There is no alternative.”
Israeli leaders including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu fiercely condemned Macron’s announcement. In a statement echoing his senior ministers, Netanyahu said Macron’s decision “rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became”.
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said the Trump administration would recall its consultation team from Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar. Witkoff said on X: “We have decided to bring our team home from Doha for consultations after the latest response from Hamas, which clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza … Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith.”
Israel also recalled its negotiating team following Hamas’s response, effectively suspending weeks of Qatar-mediated talks that had shown only limited progress.
Hamas called France’s recognition of a Palestinian state “a positive step” and urged all countries to do the same despite Israeli opposition. Saudi Arabia hailed the French recognition as a “historic decision”, while Ireland deputy prime minister Simon Harris called it an “important contribution towards implementing the two state solution”.
Keir Starmer said he would hold an “emergency call” on Friday with France and Germany on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, urging a ceasefire and steps towards Palestinian statehood. “The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible,” the British prime minister said. “We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe.”
The UN said on Thursday it did not know how many truckloads of aid were awaiting distribution inside the Gaza border because Israel had not granted it access. International criticism is growing over the plight of the more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 100 aid and rights groups have warned that “mass starvation” is spreading.
Updated
Looking now at Syria, the country has rejected Kurdish demands to keep their weapons, AFP quoted a government source as saying on Thursday, as a new round of talks on the Kurds’ integration into the state was set to begin.
The Kurds, who control large swathes of the north and east, are negotiating with the central government on the integration of their civil and military institutions into the state.
The source told the state broadcaster Al-Ikhbariya:
Talking about refusing to hand over weapons or maintaining an autonomous military force is completely unacceptable.
According to the source, such a position “contradicts the principles of unifying the national army and the agreement reached last March between Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi”.
In March, interim president Sharaa and SDF commander Abdi signed a deal to incorporate Kurdish institutions into the Syrian state. Talks have since been held regularly but progress has stalled.
Recent unrest in the south including Sweida province – where the new authorities have attempted to subdue the Druze minority – as well as ongoing violence targeting the Alawite community have deepened Kurdish concerns.
The Kurdish news agency Hawar said a planned meeting on Thursday in Paris between Kurdish representatives and a Syrian government delegation was postponed.
Three-quarters of United Nations members recognise a state of Palestine – with France now set to join them in September after President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement.
According to an Agence France-Presse tally, at least 142 countries out of the 193 UN members have now recognised or plan to recognise a Palestinian state.
They include most Middle Eastern, African, Latin American and Asian countries, but not the US, Canada, most of western Europe, Australia, Japan or South Korea.
Updated
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) has said his frontline staff are fainting from hunger as the number of people dying of starvation in Gaza continues to climb.
“This deepening crisis is affecting everyone, including those trying to save lives in the war-torn enclave … when caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing,” Philippe Lazzarini said on Thursday.
William Christou and Angela Giuffrida also report that at least 45 people have died of hunger in the past four days. The UN and aid groups blame Israel’s blockade of almost all aid into the territory for the lack of food.
Lazzarini said a colleague in the territory had told him: “People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses.”
See here for the full report:
Updated
Here are some of the latest images from Gaza coming in over the newswires as the number of people dying of starvation in the Palestinian territory continues to rise.
Continuing with the UK, a cross-party committee of MPs has said Israel is not listening to Britain and ministers should “immediately” recognise the state of Palestine.
The UK’s actions over the ongoing conflict and “in the years preceding have often been too little, too late”, the foreign affairs committee has said as it called for further sanctions “against settlers”, PA Media is reporting.
Prime minister Keir Starmer is facing increasing pressure to fulfil Labour’s promise to recognise Palestine as the conflict continues.
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is among those who have called for the move. A “majority” of MPs on the committee have also backed it, according to the chairwoman, Dame Emily Thornberry.
In the committee report, the MPs said that “some of Israel’s recent actions in Gaza are difficult to justify given the death toll among civilians” and pressure should be put on Tel Aviv “for this conflict to end and for hostages to be released”.
The MPs said:
It seems that the Israeli government is not listening to the UK. And while it listens to the US government, it only does so sporadically.
Starmer to hold emergency call with France and Germany on Gaza
British prime minister Keir Starmer has said he will hold an emergency discussion on Friday with France and Germany on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, urging a ceasefire and steps towards Palestinian statehood.
“I will hold an emergency call with E3 partners tomorrow, where we will discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need while pulling together all the steps necessary to build a lasting peace,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
Starmer said the Gaza situation was grave and “has reached new depths and continues to worsen. We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe.”
The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible.
The PM also said in the statement, which was posted on X:
A ceasefire will put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution which guarantees peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis.
The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible. pic.twitter.com/ca1vl5zM3j
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) July 24, 2025
Updated
More here from Saudi Arabia on it hailing France’s recognition of a Palestinian state
“The kingdom praises this historic decision, which reaffirms the international community’s consensus on the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent state,” the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement, cited by AFP.
Saudi Arabia has hailed France’s recognition of a Palestinian state as “historic”, Agence France-Presse is reporting.
As detailed earlier, the French announcement has been fiercely condemned by Israeli leaders, including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Updated
Hamas calls French recognition of Palestinian state 'a positive step'
Hamas has responded to Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that France will recognise Palestine as a state, calling it a positive move and urging all countries to do the same despite Israeli opposition.
“We consider this a positive step in the right direction toward doing justice to our oppressed Palestinian people and supporting their legitimate right to self-determination,” the militant group said in a statement, cited by the Associated Press, after the French president said France would formally state its recognition in September.
Hamas added:
We call on all countries of the world – especially European nations and those that have not yet recognised the state of Palestine – to follow France’s lead.
Updated
Interim summary
French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that France will recognize Palestine as a state. In a post on X, Macron said he will formalize the “solemn” decision at the UN General Assembly in September, saying “there is no alternative”. The announcement was fiercely condemned by Israeli leaders, including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The decision also likely puts pressure on UK prime minister Keir Starmer to follow suit and recognize a Palestinian state.
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said that the Donald Trump administration has decided to bring its consultation team home from the Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha. In a post on X, Witkoff said: “We have decided to bring our team home from Doha for consultations after the latest response from Hamas, which clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza. While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith.”
Israel also recalled its negotiating team following Hamas’s response, effectively suspending weeks of Qatar-mediated talks that had shown only limited progress.
The United Nations said on Thursday it did not know how many truckloads of aid were awaiting distribution inside the Gaza border because Israel has not granted it access. International criticism is growing over the plight of the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 100 aid and rights groups have warned that “mass starvation” is spreading.
Updated
As we reported earlier, the US and Israel have abandoned ceasefire talks, blaming Hamas for a “lack of desire” to reach an agreement.
The announcement suggested a setback for diplomatic efforts to end the relentless siege, destruction and ruin of Gaza that has devastated the territory for more than 21 months, writes my colleague Joseph Gedeon.
Israel also recalled its negotiating team following Hamas’s response, effectively suspending weeks of Qatar-mediated talks that had shown only limited progress. It’s also unclear what “alternative options” are under consideration.
The announcement comes as Gaza endures cataclysmic humanitarian conditions. More than 1,000 desperate and hungry people in Gaza have been killed in recent weeks trying to fetch food according to the UN, with at least 85 Palestinians killed Sunday alone.
The World Health Organization on Wednesday described the situation as “man-made mass starvation” caused by restrictions on aid deliveries.
Read the full story here
Netanyahu 'strongly' condemns France's recognition of a Palestinian state
In a statement echoing his senior ministers, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Macron’s decision “rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 24, 2025
We strongly condemn President Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the October 7 massacre. Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became.
“A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel — not to live in peace beside it. Let’s be clear: the Palestinians do not seek a state alongside Israel; they seek a state instead of Israel,” Netanyahu added.
Ultra-nationalist Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote in French on X that Macron has given Israel “another” and “more compelling” reason “to finally apply Israeli sovereignty over the historic regions of Judea and Samaria, and to put an end once and for all to the dangerous illusion of a single state”.
Je remercie le président Macron de fournir une raison supplémentaire — et des plus convaincantes — pour enfin appliquer la souveraineté israélienne sur les régions historiques de Judée et Samarie, et pour en finir une bonne fois pour toutes avec l’illusion dangereuse d’un État…
— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) July 24, 2025
Updated
Irish PM signals support of Macron
Macron is also receiving support from some allies, including from Simon Harris, the deputy prime minister of Ireland, who called the decision an “important contribution towards implementing the two State solution”.
I welcome the announcement by President Macron that 🇫🇷 will recognise 🇵🇸 in September.
— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) July 24, 2025
This is an important contribution towards implementing the two State solution, which offers the only lasting basis for peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike. https://t.co/cvzQ8xC0Vj
Updated
Israel's defense minister accuses France of 'surrender to terrorism'
Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, said France’s intention to recognize Palestine as a state was a “surrender to terrorism”.
“Instead of standing with Israel in this time of trial, the French president is acting to weaken it,” Katz wrote on X. “We will not allow the establishment of a Palestinian entity that would harm our security, endanger our existence, and undermine our historical right to the Land of Israel. We are all united to prevent this grave danger.”
הכרזת מקרון על כוונתו להכיר במדינה פלסטינית היא חרפה וכניעה לטרור ומתן פרס ורוח גבית למרצחי ואנסי החמאס, שביצעו את הטבח הנורא ביותר בעם היהודי מאז השואה.
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) July 24, 2025
במקום להתייצב לצד ישראל בעת מבחן זאת, נשיא צרפת פועל להחליש אותה.
לא נאפשר הקמת ישות פלסטינית שתפגע בביטחוננו ותסכן את קיומנו…
Updated
Israeli politicians condemn Macron's statement
We’re beginning to get reaction from Israel via Haaretz, which is reporting that Israeli justice minister Yariv Levin said France’s decision contributed to terror and called for annexing the West Bank.
According to Haaretz, former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett called France’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state a sign of “moral collapse” not diplomacy.
“It rewards mass murder and tells Islamist terrorists: kill Jews, and the world will hand you a state,” he said, according to the outlet. “This shameful decision will be tossed this into the dustbin of history.”
Amir Ohana, speaker of the Knesset, accused Macron of being a “collaborator” and said the decision sent the message that “terrorism pays off”.
Macron just awarded Hamas a prize for committing the October 7 massacre.
— Amir Ohana - אמיר אוחנה (@AmirOhana) July 24, 2025
This shameful act is nothing less than a betrayal by one of the so-called “leaders” of the free world. It sends a chilling message: terrorism pays off.@EmmanuelMacron will be remembered as a collaborator…
Updated
Macron’s announcement, which he’d hinted at for months, comes as international pressure builds on Israel to end the nearly two-year conflict and allow more humanitarian aid into the devastated strip where aid groups are warning of “mass starvation”.
France’s decision is significant – it is the biggest and most influential country to recognize Palestine as a state.
More than 140 of the nearly 200 UN member states recognize the State of Palestine, including several European nations, but the US and most of its close allies do not. The Guardian has reported that Keir Starmer is under pressure from cabinet ministers for the UK to immediately recognise Palestine as a state.
Macron has been outspoken against rising antisemitism in France and Europe, and expressed solidarity with Israel in the wake of Hamas’s 7 October attack. But the French president has grown increasingly frustrated with Israel’s war, particularly in recent months as global outcry grows over Israel’s killing of starving civilians in Gaza.
Updated
France to recognize Palestine as a state
French president Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that France will recognize Palestine as a state.
In a post on X, Macron said he will formalize the “solemn” decision at the UN General Assembly in September, saying “there is no alternative”.
“The urgent need today is to end the war in Gaza and to rescue the civilian population,” he said. “Peace is possible.”
Fidèle à son engagement historique pour une paix juste et durable au Proche-Orient, j’ai décidé que la France reconnaîtra l’État de Palestine.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) July 24, 2025
J’en ferai l’annonce solennelle à l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies, au mois de septembre prochain.… pic.twitter.com/7yQLkqoFWC
Updated
Interim Summary
Here’s a look at where things stand:
UK prime minister Keir Starmer said that that “suffering and starvation in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible.” Starmer’s comments come as Israel’s aid restrictions on aid across Gaza have led to widespread condemnation as Palestinians currently trapped in the strip face severe famine and diseases amid Israel’s war.
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said that the Donald Trump administration has decided to bring its consultation team home from the Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha. In a post on X, Witkoff said: “We have decided to bring our team home from Doha for consultations after the latest response from Hamas, which clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza. While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith.”
Iran is ready to engage in talks on its nuclear program with the United States, but only if Washington takes meaningful steps to rebuild trust, deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Thursday. Iran is set to meet Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3 nations, and the European Union’s deputy foreign policy commissioner on Friday in Istanbul. They will be the first talks since Iran’s 12-day war with Israel in June, which involved US B-52 bombers striking nuclear-related facilities in Iran.
The United Nations said on Thursday it did not know how many truckloads of aid were awaiting distribution inside the Gaza border because Israel has not granted it access. International criticism is growing over the plight of the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 100 aid and rights groups have warned that “mass starvation” is spreading.
At least six people were killed and dozens injured in an explosion in northern Syria’s Idlib province, officials said on Thursday. There was no official statement on the cause of the blast, reports the Associated Press. The UK-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the explosion took place in an ammunition depot.
The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency has said his workers are fainting at work from hunger. Philippe Lazzarini wrote on ‘X’: “‘People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses’: a colleague in #Gaza told me this morning. “This deepening crisis is affecting everyone, including those trying to save lives in the war-torn enclave. Unrwa frontline health workers, are surviving on one small meal a day, often just lentils, if at all.
Updated
The US state department said on Thursday that the US will not attend the conference on a two-state solution next week.
The latest announcement from the state department comes as US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said that the Donald Trump administration has decided to bring its consultation team home from the Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha.
A group of far-right Israeli politicians and settlers met in parliament this week to discuss a plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza, annex the territory and turn it into a hi-tech, luxury resort city for Israelis.
The Guardian’s William Christou and Quique Kierszenbaum report:
The scheme, titled “The master plan for settlement in the Gaza Strip”, envisions the construction of 850,000 housing units, construction of hi-tech “smart cities” that trade cryptocurrency, and a metro system that runs across the territory. It took its inspiration from an idea shared by the US president, Donald Trump, in February, when he pledged to turn Gaza into the “riviera of the Middle East”.
The text of the plan, which boasts of the economic benefits to Israel, said: “The right of the people of Israel to settle, develop and preserve this land is not just a historical right – it is a national and security obligation.”
The plan, seen by the Guardian, would require Gaza’s existing population of about 2 million to be emptied out. Legal experts warn that forcible displacement on such a scale would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing.
For the full story, click here:
UK prime minister: 'Suffering and starvation in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible'
UK prime minister Keir Starmer said that that “suffering and starvation in Gaza ins unspeakable and indefensible.”
Starmer’s comments come as Israel’s aid restrictions on aid across Gaza have led to widespread condemnation as Palestinians currently trapped in the strip face severe famine and diseases.
Starmer added that “we all agree” on the pressing need for Israel to change course and allow aid into Gaza, adding that he will hold an emergency call with France and Germany on Friday to discus how to stop the killing of Palestinians by Israel.
Updated
An Israeli official told Reuters on Thursday that Hamas’s response to the Gaza ceasefire talks was not sufficient to allow progress but that Israel intended to continue the talks.
The comment from the Israeli official comes as the US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff announced that the US has decided to bring home its ceasefire consultation team from Doha.
According to Witkoff, Hamas “does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith.”
US to bring its Gaza ceasefire consultation team home from Doha
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said that the Donald Trump administration has decided to bring its consultation team home from the Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha.
In a post on X, Witkoff said:
We have decided to bring our team home from Doha for consultations after the latest response from Hamas, which clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza. While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith.”
He went on to add:
“We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza. It is a shame that Hamas has acted in this selfish way. We are resolute in seeking an end to this conflict and a permanent peace in Gaza.”
Israel has confirmed that its troops killed two Palestinian teens overnight in the occupied West Bank, but said its forces targeted people throwing firebombs.
Ahmad Ali Asaad Ashira al-Salah, 15, and Mohammad Khaled Aliyan Issa, 17, were shot dead on Wednesday night, in the town of al-Khader, south of Bethlehem.
The Israeli army confirmed the report to AFP, saying its forces had killed two people from a group of “several terrorists”.
“During an (Israeli army) operation adjacent to the area of Al-Khader... soldiers identified several terrorists hurling Molotov cocktails toward a central highway in the area,” it added. “The soldiers responded with fire toward the terrorists, eliminating two of them.”
A series of explosions killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 100 at a weapons depot in northwestern Syria on Thursday, a monitor said.
“Multiple blasts at a weapons and ammunition warehouse belonging to the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 100 in Maaret Misrin, in northern Idlib province,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Those killed included a woman and a child, said the Britain-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground.
The TIP is a jihadist group active in the Idlib region made up of Uighur fighters who joined the Syrian civil war to fight against former president Bashar al-Assad.
In Gaza on Thursday, the distribution of food to desperate Palestinians was a picture of chaos.
Women going to fetch aid for their families said US contractors organising distribution asked them to come to pick up goods and then fired tear gas and pepper spray at them.
“The Americans said “go, go”, and then said no, get back. They sprayed us with pepper spray so we went away. Five minutes later they shot tear gas at us ... is this American humanitarian aid?” said Mervat al-Sakani.
The US contractors are part of an effort the US and Israel have backed to take the lead on aid distribution from the United Nations, through a group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
The Hostages Families Forum, which represents the family members of those being held in Gaza, expressed “concern” that the Israeli mediation team had been recalled to Israel after Hamas delivered a new response to a proposal for a truce and hostages deal. They urged Israeli and American leaders to act quickly.
“Each day that passes endangers the hostages chances of recovery and risks losing the ability to locate the fallen or gain vital intelligence about them,” the statement said.
A senior Hamas source told Reuters on Thursday that the group’s response said no negotiation sessions had yet been held on a prisoner exchange, which it described as a top priority, and that it had submitted a new framework on the matter to mediators.
A senior Israeli official was quoted by local media as saying the new text was something Israel could work with. However, Israel’s Channel 12 said a rapid deal was not within reach, with gaps remaining between the two sides, including over where the Israeli military should withdraw to during any truce.
Iran condemned on Thursday a symbolic vote by Israeli lawmakers endorsing the annexation of the occupied West Bank, which Tehran’s foreign ministry said proved Israel’s “expansionist” motives.
The non-binding vote on Wednesday was “another sign of the expansionist... character of this regime, and we condemn it”, said a foreign ministry statement.
Yotam Ottolenghi, the Jerusalem-born British chef and bestselling author, said the level of hunger in Gaza is “shocking beyond belief.”
In a post on social media, he said he’s adding his voice to global calls for Israel to halt its attacks on Gaza and let aid flow without restriction.
“The sequence of events leading to this moment - with victims on both sides - cannot justify withholding food from a whole population,” he said. “This goes against any value I was raised on.”
Ottolenghi wrote a book with Palestinian Sami Tamimi called “Jerusalem,” covering Arab and Jewish cooking in the holy city.
Prominent religious Jewish leaders in the United States are calling on Israel to investigate a surge of settler violence against Palestinians and the recent killing of an American citizen by Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
In a statement released Wednesday, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Union for Reform Judaism and the American Conference of Cantors said Israel must undertake a “full investigation” into the death of Sayfollah Musallet, a Palestinian-American from Tampa, Florida, who Palestinian authorities say was beaten to death by Israeli settlers while visiting family in the West Bank.
A terminally ill 73-year-old Israeli woman has been charged with plotting to assassinate prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a rocket launcher, prosecutors said on Thursday.
According to the indictment, the woman, an anti-government activist from Tel Aviv whose identity has not been released, decided to kill Netanyahu after she learned of her diagnosis.
She consequently decided to “sacrifice” her life in order to “save” the state of Israel from the current government, the prosecutor quoted her saying.
She reportedly shared her plan with another activist and asked him to help her purchase a rocket-propelled grenade to carry out the assassination.
Updated
Israel brought its delegation home from Gaza ceasefire talks for consultations on Thursday after Hamas delivered a new response to a proposal for a truce and hostages deal.
The Israeli prime minister’s office thanked mediators for their efforts and said the negotiators were returning home for “further consultations”. Earlier it said Israel was reviewing the response from Hamas.
Two sources familiar with the negotiations in Qatar said Israel’s decision to bring its delegation back home did not necessarily indicate a crisis in the talks.
A senior Hamas source told Reuters that there was still a chance of reaching a Gaza ceasefire agreement but it would take a few days because of what he called Israeli stalling.
The source said Hamas’ response included requesting a clause that would prevent Israel from resuming the war if an agreement was not reached within the 60-day truce period.
Iran ready to engage in talks on nuclear program with US but only if Washington 'takes meaningful steps to rebuild trust', says Iranian minister
Iran is ready to engage in talks on its nuclear program with the United States, but only if Washington takes meaningful steps to rebuild trust, deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Thursday.
Iran is set to meet Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3 nations, and the European Union’s deputy foreign policy commissioner on Friday in Istanbul. They will be the first talks since Iran’s 12-day war with Israel in June, which involved US B-52 bombers striking nuclear-related facilities in Iran.
Gharibabadi said in a social media post on Thursday that to enter negotiations, Iran sought “several key principles” to be upheld, reported Associated Press.
He said these included “rebuilding Iran’s trust – as Iran has absolutely no trust in the United States – avoiding the use of talks as a platform for hidden agendas such as military action, though Iran remains fully prepared for any scenario; respecting and recognizing Iran’s rights under the non-proliferation treaty, including enrichment in line with its legitimate needs; and the lifting of sanctions.”
Friday’s talks will be held at the deputy ministerial level, with Iran sending deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-e Ravanchi. A similar meeting was held in Istanbul in May.
Updated
UN says it does not know how much aid is waiting outside Gaza because Israel has not granted access to crossings
The United Nations said on Thursday it did not know how many truckloads of aid were awaiting distribution inside the Gaza border because Israel has not granted it access.
International criticism is growing over the plight of the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 100 aid and rights groups have warned that “mass starvation” is spreading.
The Israeli military denied on Wednesday that it was blocking humanitarian aid from entering the Palestinian territory, claiming that 950 truckloads of aid were on the Gaza side of the border waiting for international organisations to collect and distribute it.
“Despite our repeated requests, Israel has not allowed the UN to be present at the crossings, which are militarised areas,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA.
“We therefore cannot verify the amount of supplies currently at the crossing,” he told AFP.
Laerke explained that the UN needed multiple authorisations from the Israeli authorities: firstly to get aid across the border from Israel into the Gaza Strip, where it is dropped off – the trucks returning to Israel – followed by another approval to drive trucks from inside Gaza to the crossing point to pick it up.
“It is very important to stress that it is not just about denials of requests to pick up the cargo,” he added. “Israel – as the occupying power and a party to the conflict – must facilitate humanitarian operations all the way till it reaches people who need it to survive.”
This means that, beyond simply authorisation, “they must provide the green light for trucks without unnecessary delays; allow teams to use multiple, safer routes; and order troops to stay away from the convoys, and never shoot at civilians along the allocated routes – or anywhere else”, Laerke said.
“Without the full set of conditions in place, safe and principled delivery cannot take place at scale. So even when approved, those missions are often impeded on the ground.”
At least six people killed and dozens injured in explosion in Idlib province, Syria
At least six people were killed and dozens injured in an explosion in northern Syria’s Idlib province, officials said on Thursday.
There was no official statement on the cause of the blast, reports the Associated Press. The UK-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the explosion took place in an ammunition depot.
The Syrian civil defence, also known as the White Helmets, reported that at least six people were killed in the blast, which took place in the town of Maarat Misrin, north of the city of Idlib, on Thursday.
“This is the death toll only of those recovered by Syrian civil defence teams, who continue to search for those trapped under the rubble,” the White Helmets said in a statement.
Syrian minister of emergency and disaster management Raed al-Saleh said in a post on social media platform X that teams were transporting the wounded and dead despite “continued recurring explosions in the area, which are hampering response efforts”.
The state-run news agency, SANA, reported 140 injured in addition to the six killed, citing health officials, without giving further details.
Updated
Israel recalls Gaza truce negotiators for consultations after Hamas response
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Thursday it was recalling its Gaza negotiating team to Israel for consultations, a day after the Palestinian group Hamas handed its response on a ceasefire proposal to mediators.
Updated
There have been 45 starvation deaths in four days this week and two deaths today so far, according to deaths reported by hospitals in Gaza.
By comparison, only 68 deaths are attributed to all other days since 7 October 2023, new stats from the Ministry of Health in Gaza show.
More than 40 of the 113 recorded starvation deaths in Gaza occurred over a four-day period this week.
A meeting between Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani and Israeli strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer is expected to take place in Paris on Thursday, a senior diplomat told AFP.
“There will be a Syrian-Israeli security meeting in Paris today, and Tom Barrack will facilitate it,” the diplomat said, referring to the US special envoy for Syria.
The diplomat added that Shaibani and Dermer, ministers from the two countries technically at war, will meet.
Several dozen French passengers were removed from a flight leaving the Spanish city of Valencia for Paris for what Spanish police and the airline on Thursday described as unruly behavior.
The carrier, Vueling, denied reports that Wednesday’s incident, which involved the removal of 44 minors and eight adults from flight V8166, was related to the passengers’ religion.
Some Israeli news outlets reported that the students are Jewish and that their removal was religiously motivated, a claim that was repeated by an Israeli minister online.
Spain’s Civil Guard said the minors and four adults are French nationals. A Civil Guard spokesperson said the agents involved were not aware of the group’s religious affiliation.
'People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses,' says Unrwa
The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency has said his workers are fainting at work from hunger.
Philippe Lazzarini wrote on ‘X’: “‘People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses’: a colleague in #Gaza told me this morning.
“This deepening crisis is affecting everyone, including those trying to save lives in the war-torn enclave. Unrwa frontline health workers, are surviving on one small meal a day, often just lentils, if at all.
“They are increasingly fainting from hunger while at work. When caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing.”
“People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses”: a colleague in #Gaza told me this morning.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 24, 2025
Meanwhile, according to @UNRWA latest findings: one in every five children is malnourished in Gaza City as cases increase every day.
When child malnutrition…
Updated
The Israeli military said eight soldiers were wounded on Thursday when a driver deliberately rammed his car into a bus stop in what police called a “terror attack”.
The army said two soldiers were “moderately injured” and six “lightly injured” in the attack at the Beit Lid junction near Kfar Yona in central Israel.
“The soldiers were evacuated to a hospital to receive medical treatment and their families have been notified,” it said in a statement.
EU says all options on table if Israel does not deliver on improving Gaza aid
Israel has made some efforts towards improving the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population in Gaza, but the situation remains dire, an European Commission spokesperson said on Thursday.
He added that the EU is assessing the situation and that all options remain on the table if Israel does not deliver on an agreement made with the EU earlier this month about improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
This agreement includes the substantial increase of daily trucks for food and non- food items to enter Gaza, the opening of several other crossing points in both the northern and southern areas, and the reopening of the Jordanian and Egyptian aid routes.
Updated
Israeli police investigate 'terror attack' after car rammed into bus stop
Israeli police said they were hunting a man who deliberately rammed his car into a bus stop on Thursday, wounding eight people in what they called a “terror attack”.
One witness said the driver cut her off the road near the central town of Kfar Yona, then “turned his wheel to the right, full gas, as fast as he could, and hit as many people as he could”.
Kineret Hanuka, 45, told AFP: “I saw only blood and heard them screaming: ‘It hurts!’ … It was so hard for me to see this.”
Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) first responders said they received a report at 9:25 am (0625 GMT) that a vehicle crashed into a bus stop near Kfar Yona.
A man and woman in their 20s were taken to hospital and said to be in a “moderate condition, with injuries to the chest and limbs”, the MDA said.
Three others were in a “mild-moderate condition, with injuries to the head and limbs”, it added. Three people were described as having “mild” injuries.
Updated
Palestinian health officials said Thursday that two Palestinian teenage boys were killed by Israeli fire on Wednesday night in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israel’s military said its forces had fired at Palestinians throwing molotov cocktails toward a highway, killing two near the West Bank town of Al-Khader.
Palestinian health officials named the teens killed as Ahmed Al-Salah, 15, and Mohammed Khaled Alian Issa, 17.
Violence has spiraled in the occupied West Bank since the war that began with Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attack on Israel. Over 955 Palestinians have been killed there by Israeli fire during that time, according to the United Nations, many during raids Israel says are to stamp out militancy.
Updated
The United Nations said Thursday that Taliban authorities were committing human rights violations, including torture and arbitrary detention, against Afghans forced to return by Iran and Pakistan.
Large-scale deportation campaigns launched by Iran and Pakistan have forced millions of Afghans to return to Afghanistan, including more than 1.9 million people so far in 2025, the overwhelming majority from Iran.
“People returning to the country who were at particular risk of reprisals and other human rights violations by the de facto (Taliban) authorities were women and girls, individuals affiliated with the former government and its security forces, media workers and civil society,” the UN said in a statement accompanying the release of the report.
“These violations have included torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrest and detention, and threats to personal security.”
Israel's minister of strategic affairs arrives in Paris ahead of talks
Israel’s minister of strategic affairs is in Paris on Thursday ahead of nuclear talks between European powers and Iran on Friday in Istanbul, said four sources, including a source close to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Two of the sources said Ron Dermer would discuss those upcoming talks and Iran’s nuclear programme with officials in the French capital.
Senior diplomats from France and Germany will hold the direct face to face talks with Iran since Israel and the United States struck Iran’s nuclear facilities in June.
Updated
Israeli forces on Thursday hit the central Gaza towns of Nuseirat, Deir Al-Balah and Bureij.
Health officials at Al-Awda Hospital said three people were killed in an airstrike on a house in Nuseirat, three more died from tank shelling in Deir Al-Balah, and separate airstrikes in Bureij killed a man and a woman and wounded several others.
Nasser hospital said three people were killed by Israeli gunfire while seeking aid in southern Gaza near the so-called Morag axis between Khan Younis and Rafah. The Israeli military said Palestinian militants had fired a projectile overnight from Khan Younis toward an aid distribution site near Morag. It was not immediately clear whether the incidents were linked.
Israel’s military on Thursday said it had identified a projectile launched towards aid points in southern Gaza a day earlier, as Hamas said it had targeted an “enemy command and control site” in the area.
It came as international criticism mounted over the humanitarian situation for Gaza’s population of more than two million, with Israel denying its responsibility for chronic food shortages and instead blaming Hamas.
“Last night, the (Israeli military) identified a projectile launched from the Khan Yunis area in southern Gaza, toward the area in which the aid distribution sites in Rafah are located,” an army statement read.
It added the projectile fell around 250 metres (820 feet) from an aid site adjacent to the so-called Morag Corridor between the southern cities of Khan Yunis and Rafah.
International news agencies Agence France-Presse (AFP), Associated Press (AP) and Reuters as well as the BBC called on Israel on Thursday to allow journalists in and out of Gaza which is subject to a strict blockade.
“We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families,” the media groups said in a joint statement, adding: “We once again urge the Israeli authorities to allow journalists in and out of Gaza.”
Updated
Mohammed’s skeletal arms stick out of a romper with a grinning emoji-face and the slogan “smiley boy”, which in a Gaza hospital reads as a cruel joke. He spends much of the day crying from hunger, or gnawing at his own emaciated fingers.
At seven months old, he weighs barely 4kg (9lbs) and this is the second time he has been admitted for treatment. His face is gaunt, his limbs little more than bones covered in baggy skin and his ribs protrude painfully from his chest.
“My biggest fear now is losing my grandson to malnutrition,” said his grandmother Faiza Abdul Rahman, who herself is constantly dizzy from lack of food. The previous day the only thing she ate was a single piece of pitta bread, which cost 15 shekels (£3).
“His siblings also suffer from severe hunger. On some days, they go to bed without a single bite to eat.”
For months Israel kept food shipments to Gaza far below starvation rations. Now the death toll is rising rapidly. Read our full report here:
Top US Envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to head to Italy Thursday to meet top Israeli negotiator Ron Dermer and discuss the ceasefire deal on the table, according to Israeli and US officials.
The deal under discussion is expected to include a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Aid supplies would be ramped up and the two sides would hold negotiations on a lasting truce.
Hamas earlier Thursday submitted a response to the latest ceasefire proposal which an Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, billed as “workable.”
A senior Israeli official was quoted by local media as saying the new text of Hamas’s revised response to a proposed ceasefire and hostage release deal was something Israel could work with.
However, Israel’s Channel 12 said a rapid deal was not within reach, with gaps remaining between the two sides, including over where the Israeli military should withdraw to during any truce.
A Palestinian official close to the talks told Reuters the latest Hamas position was “flexible, positive and took into consideration the growing suffering in Gaza and the need to stop the starvation”.
The war between Israel and Hamas has been raging for nearly two years since Hamas killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages from southern Israel in the deadliest single attack in Israel’s history.
Israel has since killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, decimated Hamas as a military force, reduced most of the territory to ruins and forced nearly the entire population to flee their homes multiple times.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israel is reviewing a revised response from Hamas to a proposed ceasefire and hostage release deal, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Thursday, as Israeli air and ground strikes continued to pound the Gaza Strip.
Hamas confirmed it had handed over a new proposal, but did not disclose its contents. A previous version, submitted late on Tuesday, was rejected by mediators as insufficient and was not even passed to Israel, sources familiar with the situation said.
There have been two major sticking points in talks: details on an Israeli military withdrawal, and on how to distribute aid during a truce.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet includes far-right parties that oppose any agreement that ends without the total destruction of Hamas.
“The second I spot weakness in the prime minister and if I come to think, heaven forbid, that this is about to end with us surrendering instead of with Hamas’s absolute surrender, I won’t remain (in the government) for even a single day,” finance minister Bezalel Smotrich told Army Radio.
Gaza is suffering man-made mass starvation caused by the Israeli blockade of aid into the territory, the head of the World Health Organization has said, as more than 100 agencies urged Israel to let supplies in. “I don’t know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it’s man-made, and that’s very clear,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference from Geneva. “This is because of [the] blockade.”
Ten more Palestinians died overnight to Wednesday from starvation, the Gaza health ministry said, bringing the total number of people who have starved to death to 111. The World Health Organization said on Wednesday 21 children under the age of five were among those who died of malnutrition so far this year.
A family of seven - freelance journalist Wala al-Jaabari, her husband and their five children - were among more than 100 people killed in 24 hours of Israeli strikes or gunfire, according to health officials on Wednesday. Iman al-Shaer, another relative who lives nearby, said the family hadn’t eaten anything before the bombs came down. “The children slept without food,” he said. The World Health Organization said on Wednesday 21 children under the age of five were among those who died of malnutrition so far this year.
Brazil is finalising its submission to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel’s actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. South Africa filed a case in 2023 asking the ICJ to declare that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention. In its statement, the Brazilian government accused Israel of violations of international law “such as the annexation of territories by force,” and it expressed “deep indignation” at violence suffered by the civilian population.
Dozens of former UK ambassadors and diplomats have piled pressure on Keir Starmer to recognise a Palestinian state amid growing international revulsion at the harrowing scenes in Gaza in a letter signed by more than 30 former UK ambassadors and 20 former senior British diplomats at the United Nations. “The risks of inaction have profound, historic and catastrophic implications,” it said. The state of Israel “cannot be secure from threats in the future if the question of Palestine is not taken forward to a political settlement”.
The archbishop of York condemned the dehumanisation of people in Gaza as “depraved” and “barbaric”. It was “a stain on the conscience of the international community”, and Israel’s “war of aggression” was a “grave sin”, said Stephen Cottrell, the de facto leader of the Church of England.
Israel’s president Isaac Herzog visited the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and told soldiers that there were “intensive negotiations” about returning the hostages in Gaza, adding that he hopes that they will soon “hear good news”, a statement from the president’s spokesperson reported.
Updated
