Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
Closing summary
The Guardian’s live coverage of the crisis in the Middle East is coming to a close. Here’s a round-up of today’s key events:
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted that ceasefire efforts in Gaza are now focused on a comprehensive deal that would release the remaining hostages all at once, rather than in phases. “I want all of them,” he said of the hostages. “The release of all the hostages, both alive and dead – that’s the stage we’re at.” He added that Israel’s demands haven’t changed, and that the war will end only when all hostages are returned and Hamas has surrendered.
The Israeli military said that chief of staff Eyal Zamir has approved the “main concept” for an attack plan in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports. There are no further details yet, but we bring you updates when we get them. The approval of the plan amid a rift between Israel’s political leaders and its military commanders.
A Hamas official said that Israeli forces were making “aggressive” incursions into Gaza City on Wednsday, after the military approved the framework for a new offensive in the territory. “The Israeli occupation forces continue to carry out aggressive incursions in Gaza City,” Ismail Al-Thawabta, director general of the Hamas government media office in Gaza.
Israeli gunfire killed at least 25 people seeking aid Wednesday, health officials and witnesses said. Witnesses and staff at Nasser and Awda hospitals, which received the bodies, said people were killed on their way to aid distribution sites and while awaiting convoys entering the strip.
The Israeli military said it struck a group of militants in Gaza who were disguised as aid workers and using a car with the logo of international charity World Central Kitchen. The charity confirmed that the men and the vehicle were not affiliated with it. “We strongly condemn anyone posing as World Central Kitchen or other humanitarians, as this endangers civilians and aid workers,” it said in a statement.
Palestinian officials said an Israeli settler shot and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, AFP reports, while the IDF confirmed an off-duty soldier shot someone it said was throwing rocks.
The confrontation marks the latest fatal clash in the Palestinian territory, where violence has surged since the start of the Gaza war.
“Thameen Khalil Reda Dawabsheh (35 years old) was killed by settler gunfire in the town of Duma, south of Nablus,” the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry said in a statement.
Contacted by AFP, Duma village council head Suleiman Dawabsheh said that a confrontation broke out when a group of Israeli settlers trespassed on land north of the town while farmers worked on their land.
Israeli gunfire kills 25 people seeking aid in Gaza
Israeli gunfire killed at least 25 people seeking aid Wednesday, health officials and witnesses said, AP reports.
Witnesses and staff at Nasser and Awda hospitals, which received the bodies, said people were killed on their way to aid distribution sites and while awaiting convoys entering the strip.
Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Updated
The defence ministers of Turkey and Syria signed a memorandum of understanding on military training and consultancy after talks in Ankara on Wednesday, Reuters reports, citing Turkey’s defence ministry.
The neighbours had been negotiating a comprehensive military cooperation agreement for months, after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad in December. Earlier Turkey’s foreign minister warned Israel off what he said were attempts to destabilise Syria (see 13.12).
Egyptian security sources said the ceasefire talks would discuss the possibility of a deal that would see Hamas relinquish governance in Gaza and concede its weapons.
A Hamas official told Reuters the group was open to all ideas if Israel ends the war and pulls out. However, “Laying down arms before the occupation is dismissed is impossible,” the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
Arab states and much of the international community want post-war Gaza to be governed by the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited governance in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The authority’s foreign minister, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, told reporters it was ready to assume full responsibility in Gaza. Hamas would have no role and be required to hand over arms, she added, calling for an international peacekeeping force and withdrawal by Israel.
Hamas says it is ready to quit Gaza governance for a non-partisan technocratic entity agreed by all Palestinian parties. Israel says it does not trust the Palestinian Authority to rule Gaza.
AFP carries some more quotes from Turkish foreign minister, who earlier said Israel was interfering in Syria for its own ends.
“Certain actors are bothered by the positive developments in Syria,” Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said after talks with Syria’s Asaad al-Shaibani in Ankara, referring to Israel and Kurdish YPG fighters operational in northeastern Syria.
“Israel is currently one of the biggest actors in this dark picture,” he said of its ongoing military incursions since the overthrow of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad late last year.
“The emergence of chaos in Syria ... appears to have become a priority for Israel’s own national security,” he said.
Standing next to him, Shaibani also warned against efforts to foster chaos in Syria.
“We’re facing new challenges that are no less dangerous than those we encountered during the years of war, foremost among them are repeated Israeli threats ... through airstrikes,” he said.
Fidan said efforts to destabilise Syria could be clearly seen in the March bloodshed in the coastal Alawite heartland of Latakia and in the recent deadly violence that gripped the southwestern Druze-majority province of Sweida as well as in the Kurdish-dominated northeast.
Shaibani said foreign actors were exacerbating the unrest within Syria.
“We are also confronting multiple foreign interventions, both direct and indirect... (that) push the country toward sectarian and regional strife,” he said without giving details but warning against “any reckless attempts to exploit events here”.
No group in Lebanon is permitted to bear arms or rely on foreign backing, President Joseph Aoun told a senior Iranian official on Wednesday, days after the cabinet approved the objectives of a US-backed roadmap to disarm the Iran-aligned Hezbollah group.
Reuters reports that during a meeting in Beirut with Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s top security body, Aoun warned against foreign interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs, saying the country was open to cooperation with Iran but only within the bounds of national sovereignty and mutual respect.
According to a statement from his office, Aoun said
The friendship we seek with Iran must be with all Lebanese, not through one sect or component alone.”
He added that recent language used by some Iranian officials had not been helpful, and reaffirmed that the Lebanese state and its armed forces were solely responsible for safeguarding all citizens.
A US-brokered ceasefire late last year ended a 14-month-old war between Israel and Hezbollah that had caused widespread destruction in southern Lebanon.
Eyewitness reports civilians fleeing Gaza City amid explosions
Agence France-Presse has more on the bombardment of Gaza City with Sabah Fatoum, 51, who lives in a tent in its Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, telling the news agency by phone that “the explosions are massive” in the area.
There are “many air strikes and tanks are advancing in the southern area of Tal al-Hawa with drones above our heads,” she said.
“The tanks are still there, and I saw dozens of civilians fleeing” to the west of the city, she added.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City have intensified in recent days, with the residential neighbourhoods of Zeitoun and Sabra hit “with very heavy air strikes targeting civilian homes, possibly including high-rise buildings”.
Israel’s military pounded Gaza City on Wednesday prior to its planned takeover, with another 123 people killed in the last day according to the Gaza health ministry
The 24-hour death toll was the worst in a week and added to the massive fatalities from the nearly two-year war, according to Reuters.
Hamas says Israel making 'aggressive’ incursions into Gaza City
A Hamas official said that Israeli forces were making “aggressive” incursions into Gaza City on Wednsday, after the military approved the framework for a new offensive in the territory.
“The Israeli occupation forces continue to carry out aggressive incursions in Gaza City,” Ismail Al-Thawabta, director general of the Hamas government media office in Gaza, told AFP.
“These assaults represent a dangerous escalation aimed at imposing a new reality on the ground by force, through a scorched earth policy and the complete destruction of civilian property.”
Israeli planes and tanks bombed eastern areas of Gaza City heavily overnight, residents said, with many homes destroyed in the Zeitoun and Shejaia neighbourhoods, Reuters reports.
Al-Ahli hospital said 12 people were killed in an airstrike on a home in Zeitoun.
Tanks also destroyed several houses in the east of Khan Younis in south Gaza, while in the centre Israeli gunfire killed nine aid-seekers in two separate incidents, Palestinian medics said. Israel’s military did not comment.
Last night in a TV interview Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated an idea – also enthusiastically floated by US president Donald Trump – that Palestinians should simply leave the territory housing more than 2 million people after nearly two years of conflict.
“They’re not being pushed out, they’ll be allowed to exit,” he told Israeli television channel i24NEWS. “All those who are concerned for the Palestinians and say they want to help the Palestinians should open their gates and stop lecturing us.”
Arabs and many world leaders are aghast at the idea of displacing the Gaza population, which Palestinians say would be like another “Nakba” (catastrophe) when hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out during a 1948 war, news wire Reuters says.
Israel’s planned re-seizure of Gaza City – which it took in the early days of the war before withdrawing – is probably weeks away, officials say. That means a ceasefire is still possible though talks have been floundering and conflict still rages.
Britain, France and Germany have told the UN they are ready to reimpose UN-mandated sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme if no diplomatic solution is found by the end of August, according to a joint letter obtained by AFP.
The letter to UN secretary general Antonio Guterres and the UN security council says the three European powers are “committed to use all diplomatic tools at our disposal to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon” unless Tehran meets the deadline.
All three have stepped up warnings to Iran about its suspension of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
That came after Israel launched a 12-day war with Iran in June, partly seeking to destroy its nuclear capability. The US staged its own bombing raid during the war.
Iran’s top security chief vowed in Lebanon that his government would continue to provide support for Hezbollah, AFP reports, after the Lebanese government ordered the army to devise a plan to disarm the Tehran-backed militant group.
Ali Larijani’s trip to Lebanon comes after Iran expressed opposition to a government plan to disarm Hezbollah, which before a war with Israel last year was believed to be better armed than the Lebanese military.
“If ... the Lebanese people are suffering, we in Iran will also feel this pain and we will stand by the dear people of Lebanon in all circumstances,” Larijani, the head of the National Security Council, told reporters after landing in Beirut.
Dozens of Hezbollah supporters gathered along the airport road to welcome Larijani. He briefly stepped out of his car to greet them as they chanted slogans of support.
In Lebanon, Larijani is scheduled to meet president Joseph Aoun and prime minister Nawaf Salam, as well as parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who is close to Hezbollah.
Iran has suffered a series of blows in its long-running rivalry with Israel, including during 12 days of war between the two countries in June.
Hezbollah’s grip on power has slipped since a war with Israel ended in a November 2024 ceasefire and the new Lebanese government, backed by the United States, has moved to further restrain it.
New Zealand PM says Benjamin Netanyahu has 'lost the plot'
New Zealand’s prime minister has said that Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu had “lost the plot”, accusing him of going too far in his efforts to wage war on Gaza, AFP reports.
“What’s happening in Gaza is utterly, utterly appalling,” said prime minister Christopher Luxon.
“Netanyahu has gone way too far. I think he has lost the plot,” added Luxon in unusually candid comments.
“He is not listening to the international community and that is unacceptable.”
New Zealand on Monday hinted it could join the likes of Australia, Canada, France and Britain in recognising a Palestinian state.
“New Zealand has been clear for some time that our recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if,” foreign affairs minister Winston Peters said.
“Cabinet will take a formal decision in September over whether New Zealand should recognise a state of Palestine at this juncture – and if so, when and how.”
The approval of the new Gaza plan by IDF chief of staff, Eyal Zamir comes amid a rift between Israel’s political leaders and its military commanders.
Israel’s decision to approve a plan to occupy the Gaza Strip has reportedly deepened tensions between the government and the country’s military leadership, while also exposing fresh fractures within the army’s senior ranks and straining relations with reservists summoned for what could become the most dangerous phase of the war, the Guardian’s international corespondent Lorenzo Tondo wrote on Sunday.
In the seven days leading up to the pivotal meeting of Israel’s security cabinet at which the plan was approved, the chief of staff Zamir, had repeatedly voiced his misgivings over the move to fully occupy the territory, warning that taking over Gaza would plunge Israel into a “black hole” of prolonged insurgency, humanitarian responsibility and heightened risk to hostages.
Zamir’s dissent ignited a political storm, with the son of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing the army’s chief of staff of mutiny. Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, urged the chief of staff to “clearly state he will fully comply with the political leadership’s instructions, even if the decision is to occupy Gaza”.
Some Israeli reports suggested Zamir could resign, though he now appears to have approved the new plans.
IDF chief of staff approves 'main concept' for new Gaza attack plan
The Israeli military said that chief of staff Eyal Zamir has approved the “main concept” for an attack plan in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports. There are no further details yet, but we bring you updates when we get them.
On Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected to complete the new Gaza offensive “fairly quickly”.
Last week Israel’s security cabinet approved the plans to seize control of Gaza City. The plan was met with international criticism and from Israel’s opposition. Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the decision to send Israeli forces into Gaza City a disaster, saying it defied the advice of military and security officials.
Updated
Cogat, the Israeli military agency that deals with humanitarian logistics in Gaza, has posted an update on aid deliveries into the territory:
“Close to 320 trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.
Aid collection: Close to 320 trucks were collected and distributed by the UN and international organizations.
Fuel: 3 tankers of UN fuel entered for the operation of essential humanitarian systems.
Airdrops: 97 pallets of aid were airdropped in cooperation with the UAE, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and France.
Humanitarian personnel: A rotation coordination of humanitarian personnel has been successfully completed. We will continue expanding our efforts to facilitate humanitarian aid for the civilian population of Gaza.”
Yesterday foreign ministers from 25 countries signed a statement calling for a “flood” of aid to be let into Gaza, which is suffering from an acute shortage of food because of Israel’s blockade.
IDF says it struck militants disguised as aid workers
The Israeli military said it struck a group of militants in Gaza who were disguised as aid workers and using a car with the logo of international charity World Central Kitchen, AP reports.
The army said it carried out an airstrike on the men after confirming with the charity that they were not affiliated with it and that the car did not belong to it.
World Central Kitchen confirmed that the men and the vehicle were not affiliated with it. “We strongly condemn anyone posing as World Central Kitchen or other humanitarians, as this endangers civilians and aid workers,” it said in a statement.
The military shared video footage showing several men in yellow vests standing around a vehicle with the charity’s logo on its roof. The military said five of the men were armed.
The charity, founded in 2010, dispatches teams that can quickly provide meals on a mass scale in conflict zones and after natural disasters.
In a TV interview with an Israeli broadcaster last night, Benjamin Netanyahu revived calls to “allow” Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip, as the military prepares a broader offensive in the territory, AFP reports.
Past calls to resettle Gazans outside of the war-battered territory, including from US president Donald Trump, have sparked concern among Palestinians and condemnation from the international community.
Netanyahu told Israeli broadcaster i24NEWS that “we are not pushing them out, but we are allowing them to leave”.
“Give them the opportunity to leave, first of all, combat zones, and generally to leave the territory, if they want,” he said, citing refugee outflows during wars in Syria, Ukraine and Afghanistan.
Israel has tightly controlled Gaza’s borders for years.
“We will allow this, first of all within Gaza during the fighting, and we will certainly allow them to leave Gaza as well,” Netanyahu said.
Opening summary: Netanyahu indicates truce talks focused on release of all hostages
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hinted that ceasefire efforts in Gaza are now focused on a comprehensive deal that would release the remaining hostages all at once, rather than in phases.
Arab officials told the AP news agency last week that mediators Egypt and Qatar were preparing a new framework for a deal that would include the release of all remaining hostages in one go in return for a lasting ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal.
The long-running indirect talks appeared to break down last month, but a Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo for fresh talks on Tuesday.
In an interview with Israel’s i24 News network on Tuesday, Netanyahu was asked if the window had closed on a partial ceasefire deal.
“I think it’s behind us,” Netanyahu replied. “We tried, we made all kinds of attempts, we went through a lot, but it turned out that they were just misleading us.”
“I want all of them,” he said of the hostages. “The release of all the hostages, both alive and dead – that’s the stage we’re at.”
He added that Israel’s demands haven’t changed, and that the war will end only when all hostages are returned and Hamas has surrendered.
Other key updates include:
The United Nations has warned that starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at the highest levels since the war began. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric reported the warning from the World Food Program and said Gaza’s Health Ministry told UN staff in Gaza that five people died over the last 24 hours from malnutrition and starvation. The ministry says 121 adults and 101 children have died of malnutrition-related causes during the war.
The foreign ministers of 25 countries including the UK, Australia, France, Spain and Japan as well as two signatories from the EU released a joint statement saying that “humanitarian suffering in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels”. The statement called for the government of Israel to let in a “flood” of aid.
The World Health Organization said Israel should let it stock medical supplies to deal with a “catastrophic” health situation in Gaza, before Israel enacts plans to seize control of Gaza City.
Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office has said Israel is blocking the entry of more than 430 food items into the territory, despite allowing some aid trucks through last month under international pressure.
Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday revived calls to “allow” Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip, as the military prepares a broader offensive in the territory. Israel tightly controls Gaza. It is not clear where Gazans would go should they be allowed to leave the territory.
Australia prime minister Anthony Albanese said his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu was “in denial” about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, a day after announcing Australia would recognise a Palestinian state for the first time.
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