Closing summary
An Israeli security cabinet meeting, which had been expected to discuss Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for the “full occupation” of Gaza, has been postponed amid mounting tensions over whether the plan is feasible. Amid a stalling of ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, Israeli officials had briefed local and international media that the prime minister was considering an expansive offensive, aimed at taking full control of the Palestinian territory after 22 months of war against the militant group Hamas.
At least 61,020 Palestinian people have been killed and 150,671 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. At least 87 Palestinian people, including 52 aid seekers, were killed and 644 others injured in the last 24 hours alone, the ministry said.
The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah warned Tuesday that if Israel intensifies its military operations against his group, the Iran-backed armed faction will resume firing missiles toward Israel. Naim Kassem’s comments came as Lebanon’s Cabinet was meeting to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament.
The British consulate in Jerusalem has called for accountability for settler violence and the release of the body of Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian activist and journalist who was killed last week during an attack by Israeli settlers in the south Hebron hills. “We’re deeply saddened by the killing of Palestinian human rights defender Odeh Hathaleen,” the consulate posted on X on Tuesday.
Truck drivers trying to deliver aid inside Gaza say their work has become increasingly dangerous in recent months as people have grown desperately hungry and violent gangs have filled a power vacuum left by the territory’s Hamas rulers. Crowds of hungry people routinely rip aid off the backs of moving trucks, the local drivers said. Some trucks are hijacked by armed men working for gangs who sell the aid in Gaza’s markets for exorbitant prices.
More than 100 critically ill and injured children in Gaza hope to come to the UK as soon as possible after the government announced a scheme to provide those in severe need with NHS care. The British government announced on Sunday that it would evacuate children from Gaza to the UK for treatment under a scheme to be announced within weeks.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said 26 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes on Tuesday, including 14 who were waiting near an aid distribution site. Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal was told by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency that 8 people were killed by Israeli gunfire while waiting for aid near the southern city of Khan Younis.
The UN humanitarian aid organisation for children, Unicef, has said that 28 children have been killed on average every day in Gaza. “Death by bombardments. Death by malnutrition and starvation. Death by lack of aid and vital services,” Unicef wrote in the social media post, referring to the relentless deadly Israeli bombardments Palestinians are subjected to and the severe restrictions on aid that has caused famine conditions across the Strip.
Gaza’s government media office has posted to Telegram to say that only 95 aid trucks entered the territory on Monday. The media office said most of the aid trucks were looted due to the “security chaos sowed” by Israel with the ultimate aim of undermining the “cohesion of society”.
More than a dozen Democratic members of Congress have signed on to a letter that urges the Trump administration to recognise Palestinian statehood, in a draft copy shared with the Guardian. Congressman Ro Khanna of California is leading the letter addressed to the president and secretary of state Marco Rubio, and is joined by several House progressives, including Greg Casar of Texas, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, and Maxwell Frost of Florida.
Footage taken by the Guardian’s international correspondent, Lorenzo Tondo, shows the extent of the destruction of Gaza.
The Guardian traveled on a Jordanian plane delivering aid as starvation worsens in the territory…
Hezbollah threatens to resume firing missiles at Israel if it intensifies operations in Lebanon
The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah warned Tuesday that if Israel intensifies its military operations against his group, the Iran-backed armed faction will resume firing missiles toward Israel.
Naim Kassem’s comments came as Lebanon’s Cabinet was meeting to discuss Hezbollah’s disarmament. Beirut is under US pressure to disarm the group that recently fought a 14-month war with Israel and was left gravely weakened, with many of its political and military leaders dead.
Since the war ended in November with a US-brokered ceasefire, Hezbollah officials have said the group will not discuss its disarmament until Israel withdraws from five hills it controls inside Lebanon and stops almost daily airstrikes that have killed or wounded hundreds of people, most of them Hezbollah members.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of trying to rebuild its military capabilities. Israel’s military has said the five locations in Lebanon provide vantage points or are located across from communities in northern Israel, where about 60,000 Israelis were displaced during the war.
Since the ceasefire, Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for one attack on a disputed area along the border.
In a televised speech Tuesday, Kassem said Hezbollah rejects any timetable to hand over its weapons.
“Israel’s interest is not to widen the aggression because if they expand, the resistance will defend, the army will defend and the people will defend,” Kassem said. “This defense will lead to the fall of missiles inside Israel.”
Truck drivers trying to deliver aid inside Gaza say their work has become increasingly dangerous in recent months as people have grown desperately hungry and violent gangs have filled a power vacuum left by the territory’s Hamas rulers.
Crowds of hungry people routinely rip aid off the backs of moving trucks, the local drivers said. Some trucks are hijacked by armed men working for gangs who sell the aid in Gaza’s markets for exorbitant prices. Israeli troops often shoot into the chaos, they said.
Drivers have been killed in the mayhem, AP reported.
Since March, when Israel ended a ceasefire in its war with Hamas and halted all imports, the situation has grown increasingly dire in the territory of some two million Palestinians. International experts are now warning of a “worst-case scenario of famine” in Gaza.
Under heavy international pressure, Israel last week announced measures to let more aid into Gaza. Though aid groups say it’s still not enough, getting even that amount from the border crossings to the people who need it is difficult and extremely dangerous, the drivers said.
The British consulate in Jerusalem has called for accountability for settler violence and the release of the body of Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian activist and journalist who was killed last week during an attack by Israeli settlers in the south Hebron hills.
“We’re deeply saddened by the killing of Palestinian human rights defender Odeh Hathaleen,” the consulate posted on X on Tuesday.
“We call for the immediate and unconditional release of his body so his family can hold a respectful funeral in Um Al Khair. There must be accountability for settler violence. Impunity must end.”
On Monday, a video appeared to show an Israeli settler, Yinon Levi - who was sanctioned by US president Joe Biden, then removed from the sanctions list by Donald Trump - firing his gun wildly at residents of the village of Umm al-Khair at the time of the killing.
Levi was arrested by Israeli police for questioning and was later released on house arrest, the Guardian previously reported.
Hathaleen helped to make the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which depicted Palestinian life in the territory under Israeli rule. The killing comes amid an increasing wave of settler and Israel military violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank since October 2023.
A Palestinian boy drags containers of water amid shortages, at a distribution point in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip earlier today.
Geneva Abdul is a reporter and feature writer for the Guardian who focuses on foreign policy and diplomatic affairs
More than 100 critically ill and injured children in Gaza hope to come to the UK as soon as possible after the government announced a scheme to provide those in severe need with NHS care.
The British government announced on Sunday that it would evacuate children from Gaza to the UK for treatment under a scheme to be announced within weeks.
While campaigners welcomed the announcement, they urged ministers to move quickly, saying children awaiting urgent medical care in the UK had died waiting, or were forced to be medically evacuated to other countries.
“We have previously had children on the list but because approval takes so long, some of those children have ended up dying,” said Omar Din, a co-founder of Project Pure Hope (PPH) and a healthcare executive in NHS primary care. “The government needs to move at pace.”
You can read the full story here:
Gaza’s civil defence agency said 26 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes on Tuesday, including 14 who were waiting near an aid distribution site.
Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Bassal was told by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency that 8 people were killed by Israeli gunfire while waiting for aid near the southern city of Khan Younis.
Six more people were killed and 21 injured by Israeli fire in central Gaza while waiting for food near a distribution centre, according to Bassal.
The UN humanitarian aid organisation for children, Unicef, has said that 28 children have been killed on average every day in Gaza.
“Death by bombardments. Death by malnutrition and starvation. Death by lack of aid and vital services,” Unicef wrote in the social media post, referring to the relentless deadly Israeli bombardments Palestinians are subjected to and the severe restrictions on aid that has caused famine conditions across the Strip.
“Gaza’s children need food, water, medicine and protection. More than anything, they need a ceasefire, Now.” it added.
Updated
An Israeli security cabinet meeting, which had been expected to discuss Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for the “full occupation” of Gaza, has been postponed amid mounting tensions over whether the plan is feasible.
Amid a stalling of ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, Israeli officials had briefed local and international media that the prime minister was considering an expansive offensive, aimed at taking full control of the Palestinian territory after 22 months of war against the militant group Hamas.
However, senior Israeli military officers and former senior commanders warned the plan would endanger the lives of the remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas, risk further international isolation of Israel and require Israeli soldiers to administer a population in which Hamas fighters were still present.
Any move towards full occupation is likely to be strongly resisted by large parts of the international community, already horrified by the conduct of Israel’s military campaign.
Israel’s scorched-earth campaign has already obliterated large parts of Gaza, killing more than 60,000 people, mostly civilians, forcing nearly all of Gaza’s more than 2 million people from their homes and causing what a global hunger monitor last week called an unfolding famine.
That has caused widespread international anger and prompted several European countries to say they would recognise a Palestinian state next month if there was no ceasefire, amid mounting calls for sanctions against Israel.
The disquiet follows briefings to Israeli journalists on Monday saying that Netanyahu had decided the expanded offensive was a foregone conclusion.
“The die has been cast. We’re going for the full conquest of the Gaza Strip – and defeating Hamas,” the unnamed sources said, quoting Netanyahu.
Only 95 aid trucks entered Gaza on Monday - media office
Gaza’s government media office has posted to Telegram to say that only 95 aid trucks entered the territory on Monday.
The media office said most of the aid trucks were looted due to the “security chaos sowed” by Israel with the ultimate aim of undermining the “cohesion of society”.
We remind you that the Strip needs no less than 600 relief and fuel trucks daily to meet the minimum health, food and service requirements, amidst a comprehensive collapse of the infrastructure and the ongoing war of genocide.
We condemn the continued crime of systematic starvation, the closure of crossings and the prevention of the entry of aid, and we hold the occupation and its allies fully responsible for the worsening humanitarian disaster that affects more than 2.4 million people.
We call on the international community and the Arab world to take effective action to permanently open the crossings, ensure the flow of food and medical aid, and baby formula in sufficient and safe quantities, and hold the occupation accountable for its crimes against civilians.
Israeli officials have variously denied the existence of mass starvation, claimed without evidence that Hamas steals and hoards aid and blamed hunger on UN distribution failures. UN-backed food security experts said at the end of last month that a “worst-case scenario” famine was now unfolding in Gaza and called for an urgent ceasefire to alleviate “widespread starvation”.
Updated
Death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza reaches 61,020, says health ministry
At least 61,020 Palestinian people have been killed and 150,671 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
At least 87 Palestinian people, including 52 aid seekers, were killed and 644 others injured in the last 24 hours alone, the ministry said.
In a post on Telegram, the health ministry wrote:
A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the streets, as ambulances and civil defense crews are unable to reach them until now.
Over the past 24 hours, hospitals in the Gaza Strip recorded 8 new deaths due to famine and malnutrition, including a child, the ministry added in the Telegram post.
This brings the total number of Palestinian people who have died from famine and malnutrition to 188, including 94 children.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the newswires from Gaza:
Reuters is reporting that Israeli tanks pushed into central Gaza this morning but it was not clear if the move was part of a larger ground assault.
Palestinian people living in the last fifth of the territory Israel has not taken military control of – or put under evacuation orders – said any new move to occupy the area would be catastrophic.
“If the tanks pushed through, where would we go, into the sea? This will be like a death sentence to the entire population,” Abu Jehad, a Gaza wood merchant, told Reuters.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says one of its volunteers in Khan Younis, Abdel Majeed Adnan Salamah, was killed by Israeli forces as he searched for food in Gaza.
In a post on X, the PRCS wrote:
Since the start of the war, Abdel Majeed worked tirelessly with PRCS ambulance teams, risking his life to rescue the wounded and injured.
Two days ago, he left in search of food in the so-called the “US-Israeli aid zone” west of Rafah.
There, Israeli forces targeted him – along with other starving civilians. He never made it back. Abdel Majeed was killed while simply trying to survive.
Like all Gazans, our teams and volunteers are enduring severe hunger. Yet despite the exhaustion, they continue their life-saving work, committed to easing the suffering of others.
Abdel Majeed Adnan Salamah, 28, had been a dedicated volunteer with the Palestine Red Crescent in Khan Younis for the past seven years.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) August 5, 2025
🚑 Since the start of the war, Abdel Majeed worked tirelessly with PRCS ambulance teams, risking his life to rescue the wounded and injured.… pic.twitter.com/YLDYdJ9yQ6
Updated
Shrai Popat is a politics blogger for Guardian US
More than a dozen Democratic members of Congress have signed on to a letter that urges the Trump administration to recognise Palestinian statehood, in a draft copy shared with the Guardian.
Congressman Ro Khanna of California is leading the letter addressed to the president and secretary of state Marco Rubio, and is joined by several House progressives, including Greg Casar of Texas, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, and Maxwell Frost of Florida.
“This tragic moment has highlighted for the world the long overdue need to recognize Palestinian self-determination,” the letter reads. “Just as the lives of Palestinians must be immediately protected, so too must their rights as a people and nation urgently be acknowledged and upheld.”
The letter comes as human rights experts sound the alarm over the unfolding famine in Gaza, and as some of Israel’s key western allies, including France and Canada, have recently pledged to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly.
You can read the full story here:
Israeli forces killed at least 74 Palestinian people across Gaza on Monday - report
At least 74 Palestinian people were killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza yesterday, including 36 people seeking aid supplies, according to Al Jazeera, which cited medical sources in its reporting. We have not been able to independently verify this information yet.
At least 1,400 people have been killed while seeking aid since 27 May 2025, most of whom were killed near US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites, while other Palestinian people were killed along the routes of aid convoys, the UN said on Friday.
GHF aid sites replaced the traditional UN distribution mechanism in May after Israel accused Hamas of looting UN aid, a charge Hamas denies. Aid officials say little humanitarian assistance went astray during the short-lived ceasefire that came into effect in January.
Critics have argued that the GHF is a tool for the Israeli and US governments to politicise humanitarian aid and to distribute it in ways that will depopulate sectors of Gaza in apparent violation of international law.
US state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said that the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, discussed the “humanitarian situation in Gaza” and ceasefire negotiations in calls with the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, and French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot yesterday.
The Israeli government is reportedly exploring the idea of intensifying its military assault as ceasefire negotiations have stalled – which it blames on Hamas.
The US and Israel withdrew their negotiators from Doha, Qatar’s capital, 11 days ago and said they would explore “alternative options” to retrieve the hostages.
Updated
Israel has been widely accused of using food as a political weapon and of flagrantly breaking international law by collectively punishing the civilian population of Gaza by its aid blockade.
Aid organisations were bringing somewhere between 500 and 600 trucks a day into Gaza during the ceasefire earlier this year, but now Israeli restrictions mean only a trickle of aid is being allowed into the territory (only 36 aid trucks entered on Saturday, for example, according to Gaza’s government media office).
The Guardian’s chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison, has broken down in great detail how Israel has deliberately caused a famine in Gaza. Here is an extract from her piece:
The mathematics of famine are simple in Gaza. Palestinians cannot leave, war has ended farming and Israel has banned fishing, so practically every calorie its population eats must be brought in from outside.
Israel knows how much food is needed. It has been calibrating hunger in Gaza for decades, initially calculating shipments to exert pressure while avoiding starvation.
“The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger,” a senior adviser to the then prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said in 2006…
Data compiled and published by Israel’s own government makes clear that it has been starving Gaza. Between March and June, Israel allowed just 56,000 tonnes of food to enter the territory, Cogat records show, less than a quarter of Gaza’s minimum needs for that period.
Even if every bag of UN flour had been collected and handed out, and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had developed safe systems for equitable distribution, starvation was inevitable. Palestinians did not have enough to eat.
Israel will partially reopen private sector trade with Gaza to reduce its reliance on humanitarian aid, the defence ministry civil affairs agency for the Palestinian territories said on Tuesday.
“As part of formulating the mechanism, a limited number of local merchants were approved by the defence establishment, subject to several criteria and strict security screening,” Cogat said.
Israel imposed a total blockade on 2 March, partially lifted in May to allow a US-backed private agency to open food distribution centres but hundreds of Palestinians have since been killed around the sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
As Agence France-Presse reports, aid convoys and airdrops by Arab and European militaries resumed last month, as UN-mandated expert reports warned famine was unfolding in the war-torn territory.
The Cogat statement, posted on X, said private sector deliveries would be paid for by monitored bank transfers and be subject to inspections by the Israeli military before entering Gaza, “to prevent the involvement of the Hamas terrorist organisation”.
Permitted goods under the new mechanism will include food staples, fruit, vegetables, baby formula and hygiene products, Cogat said.
It is not clear how much trade will be involved. Palestinian and UN officials said Gaza needs about 600 aid trucks to enter per day to meet the humanitarian requirements – the number Israel used to allow into Gaza before the war.
Updated
New images of two skeletal hostages have horrified Israelis and added pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire, even as his government considers another expansion of the war, which has already destroyed much of Gaza and pushed it toward famine.
In the video released by the Islamic Jihad militant group, Rom Braslavski says injuries in his foot prevent him from being able to stand. In another video, released by Hamas, Evyatar David says he is digging his own grave and speaks of days without food.
The footage has stirred condemnation. UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres was “very shocked” by the videos, Associated Press reports.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was “appalled by the harrowing videos” and called for access to the hostages.
Hamas said it is ready to respond “positively” to Red Cross requests to deliver food to hostages, if humanitarian corridors for aid deliveries are opened in a “regular and permanent manner” in Gaza. It denied starving the hostages, saying they suffer from the same hunger as ordinary Palestinians.
Ofir Braslavski said that in the video of his son, the captors appear to be well-fed. “This hunger is on purpose,” he said.
Israel has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the hostages, which will take place on Tuesday. Israel’s goreign minister, Gideon Saar, said he will travel to New York for the meeting.
Updated
Opening summary: Netanyahu deciding on next steps amid reports he could escalate conflict
Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet this week to decide on Israel’s next steps in Gaza following the collapse of indirect ceasefire talks with Hamas, with one senior Israeli source suggesting more force could be an option.
On Saturday, during a visit to the country, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had said he was working with the Israeli government on a plan that would effectively end the war in Gaza.
But Israeli officials have also floated ideas that include expanding the military offensive in Gaza and annexing parts of the shattered enclave.
Israel’s Channel 12 cited an official from his office as saying that Netanyahu was inclining towards expanding the offensive and seizing the entire Palestinian enclave.
Elsewhere, a UN expert who first warned that Israel was orchestrating a campaign of deliberate mass starvation in Gaza more than 500 days ago, has said that governments and corporations cannot claim to be surprised at the horror now unfolding.
“Israel has built the most efficient starvation machine you can imagine. So while it’s always shocking to see people being starved, no one should act surprised. All the information has been out in the open since early 2024,” Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, told the Guardian.
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