Closing summary
We are now closing the live blog. Here is a round-up of today’s events.
Israel has said it will deliver its response to international mediators by Friday over a new Gaza ceasefire plan accepted by Hamas amid mounting pressure for a ceasefire in a war that has claimed more than 62,000 Palestinian lives.
Israel is demanding the release of all 50 hostages held in Gaza, Israeli public broadcaster Kan cited the prime minister’s office as saying on Tuesday.
Qatar has expressed guarded optimism for the new ceasefire proposal, noting it was ‘almost identical’ to an earlier version agreed to by Israel, reports AFP. foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on Tuesday that Hamas had given a “very positive response”.
A ship loaded with 1,200 tons of food supplies for Gaza is approaching the Israeli port of Ashdod. It’s expected to dock on Tuesday as part of renewed efforts to alleviate the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory. Cypriot Foreign Ministry said Tuesday’s mission is led by the United Nations but is a coordinated effort — once offloaded at Ashdod, UN aid employees would arrange for the aid to be trucked to storage areas and food stations operated by the World Central Kitchen.
Israel is not letting enough supplies into the Gaza Strip to avert widespread starvation, the United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday, Reuters reports. “In the past few weeks, Israeli authorities have only allowed aid to enter in quantities that remain far below what would be required to avert widespread starvation,” UN human rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told a Geneva press briefing.
Gaza’s health ministry said that 62,064 Palestinians have been killed in the 22-month war in Gaza. Sixty Palestinians were killed and 343 others injured in the past 24 hours, it added, with two of the dead recovered. The ministry added that it recorded “three adult deaths due to starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours”, bringing the “total number of victims of famine and malnutrition” to 266, including 112 children.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese calling him a “weak politician” on Tuesday, amid an ongoing row between the two countries after Canberra declared it would recognise a Palestinian state.
The UN’s human rights office on Tuesday condemned a far-right Israeli minister for taunting a Palestinian prisoner in his cell and sharing the footage online, Reuters reports. National security minister Itamar Ben Gvir published a video on Friday last week showing him confronting Marwan Barghouti, the most high-profile Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody.
The UN security council has begun debating a resolution drafted by France to extend the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon for a year with the ultimate aim to withdraw it, AFP reports.
At least one humanitarian worker, on average, has been killed, injured, kidnapped, or detained every single day for the past 25 years and “65% of aid workers killed in 2025 were in Gaza”,Save the Children said to mark World Humanitarian Day.
Kate Forbes, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, called on “states, parties to conflict and global leaders to take immediate concrete steps to protect those who risk everything to save lives”. They called attacks on humanitarian personnel a “grave betrayal of humanity”.
To mark World Humanitarian Day, Kate Forbes, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, called on “states, parties to conflict and global leaders to take immediate concrete steps to protect those who risk everything to save lives”.
They said:
In 2025 alone, 18 staff and volunteers of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement were killed while carrying out their lifesaving work in Gaza, in Sudan, in South Sudan, in Iran, in Ethiopia and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Many others have been killed off duty – in their homes, with their families or simply going about daily life. Others have been injured, arbitrarily detained or kidnapped.
Deliberately targeting humanitarian organisations through false and harmful information adds to the threats faced by aid workers, notably by portraying them as legitimate targets.
They added:
The rules of war are clear: humanitarian personnel must be respected and protected. Every attack is a grave betrayal of humanity, and the rules designed to protect them and the communities they serve. Each killing sends a dangerous message that their lives were expendable. They were not.
We call on all states, parties to conflict and global leaders to take immediate concrete steps to protect those who risk everything to save lives. When humanitarian workers are protected, so is our shared humanity.
Record number of aid workers killed in 2024, UN says
A record 383 aid workers were killed in 2024, the United Nations said on Tuesday, calling the figures and lack of accountability a “shameful indictment” of international apathy - and warning this year’s toll was equally disturbing, AFP reports.
The 2024 figure was up 31% on the year before, the UN said on World Humanitarian Day, “driven by the relentless conflicts in Gaza, where 181 humanitarian workers were killed, and in Sudan, where 60 lost their lives”.
It said state actors were the most common perpetrators of the killings in 2024.
The UN said most of those killed were local staff attacked in the line of duty or in their homes.
Besides those killed, 308 aid workers were wounded, 125 kidnapped, and 45 detained last year.
“Humanitarians must be respected and protected. They can never be targeted,” UN secretary general António Guterres said in a statement.
“This rule is non-negotiable and is binding on all parties to conflict, always and everywhere. Yet red lines are crossed with impunity.”
He called for perpetrators to be brought to justice.
Israel demands release of all 50 Gaza hostages, Israeli broadcaster says
Israel is demanding the release of all 50 hostages held in Gaza, Israeli public broadcaster Kan cited the prime minister’s office as saying on Tuesday.
Death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza surpasses 62,000, says Gaza health ministry
Gaza’s health ministry has said that 62,064 Palestinians have been killed in the 22-month war in Gaza.
Sixty Palestinians were killed and 343 others injured in the past 24 hours, it added, with two of the dead recovered.
The number of Palestinians killed while trying to access food aid over the past 24 hours reached 31, with a further 197 people injured, the ministry said.
This brings the number of people killed while seeking aid to 1,996, with more than 14,898 people injured, it added.
The Gaza health ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
Israel to respond by Friday over Gaza truce plan accepted by Hamas
Israel has said it will deliver its response to international mediators by Friday over a new Gaza ceasefire plan accepted by Hamas amid mounting pressure for a ceasefire in a war that has claimed more than 62,000 Palestinian lives.
After last weekend’s mass protests in Israel demanding a deal to secure the release of the remaining 20 living Israeli hostages held in Gaza, it appeared that Hamas had reduced its demands for a prisoners-for-hostages exchange as well as over the scope of an Israeli-demanded “security buffer zone”.
Under reported details of the proposed plan, about half of the remaining living hostages, as well as bodies, would be released in a phased deal in exchange for about 150 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, some serving life sentences, during an envisaged 60-day ceasefire.
While Israel has said it is no longer interested in a partial deal, instead threatening an imminent new large-scale offensive to capture Gaza City, the details of the new ceasefire proposal bring it very close to the outline of a deal initially suggested by Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Read the full report here:
Mediators optimistic of agreement ahead of Israeli response to truce offer
Qatar has expressed guarded optimism for the new ceasefire proposal, noting it was ‘almost identical’ to an earlier version agreed to by Israel, reports AFP.
Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on Tuesday that Hamas had given a ‘very positive response’.
“We cannot make any claims that a breakthrough has been made. But we do believe it is a positive point,” he added.
Summary
Here is a summary of today’s event so far
A ship loaded with 1,200 tons of food supplies for Gaza is approaching the Israeli port of Ashdod. It’s expected to dock on Tuesday as part of renewed efforts to alleviate the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory. Cypriot Foreign Ministry said Tuesday’s mission is led by the United Nations but is a coordinated effort — once offloaded at Ashdod, UN aid employees would arrange for the aid to be trucked to storage areas and food stations operated by the World Central Kitchen.
Israel is studying Hamas’ response to a Gaza ceasefire proposal, of a potential deal for a 60-day truce and the release of half the Israeli hostages still held in the territory, two officials said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Israel is not letting enough supplies into the Gaza Strip to avert widespread starvation, said the United Nations human rights office on Tuesday, Reuters reports. “In the past few weeks, Israeli authorities have only allowed aid to enter in quantities that remain far below what would be required to avert widespread starvation,” UN human rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told a Geneva press briefing.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese as a “weak politician” on Tuesday, amid an ongoing row between the two countries after Canberra declared it would recognise a Palestinian state.
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said it recorded “three adult deaths due to starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours.” This brings the total number of victims of famine and malnutrition to 266, including 112 children, the ministry added.
The UN security council has begun debating a resolution drafted by France to extend the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon for a year with the ultimate aim to withdraw it, AFP reports.
The UN’s human rights office on Tuesday condemned a far-right Israeli minister for taunting a Palestinian prisoner in his cell and sharing the footage online, Reuters reports. National security minister Itamar Ben Gvir published a video on Friday last week showing him confronting Marwan Barghouti, the most high-profile Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody.
At least one humanitarian worker, on average, has been killed, injured, kidnapped, or detained every single day for the past 25 years and “65% of aid workers killed in 2025 were in Gaza”, Save the Children said to mark World Humanitarian Day.
Here are some images coming to us over the wires.
At least one humanitarian worker, on average, has been killed, injured, kidnapped, or detained every single day for the past 25 years and “65% of aid workers killed in 2025 were in Gaza”, Save the Children said to mark World Humanitarian Day.
“So far this year, 265 aid workers have been killed – a 54% increase from about this time last year – putting this year on track to surpass all previous death tolls,” the charity said.
“The sharp rise in fatalities over the past three years has been driven largely by the war in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed 173 humanitarian workers in 2025 alone – more than the total number of aid workers killed globally in 2022. Among them were two Save the Children staff members tragically killed in Gaza – we mourn their loss and demand justice for their families.”
Moazzam Malik, chief executive officer at Save the Children UK, said:
The promise of protection under international law is broken. Our work is underfunded, overstretched, and under attack. We cannot accept a world where those who save lives are targeted for it. The UK Government has long championed humanitarian principles, but these principles mean nothing without enforcement. Attacks on aid workers are war crimes. Words alone will not save lives. We need action, accountability, and the political will to investigate, prosecute, and end the cycle of impunity.
The UN’s human rights office on Tuesday condemned a far-right Israeli minister for taunting a Palestinian prisoner in his cell and sharing the footage online, Reuters reports.
National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir published a video on Friday last week showing him confronting Marwan Barghouti, the most high-profile Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody.
UN Human Rights Office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said the footage was unacceptable, adding: “The minister’s behaviour and the publication of the footage constitute an attack on Barghouti’s dignity.”
Barghouti, now in his sixties, was arrested in 2002 by Israel and sentenced in 2004 to life in prison on murder charges.
Regarded as a terrorist by Israel, he often tops opinion polls of popular Palestinian leaders and is sometimes described by his supporters as the “Palestinian Mandela”.
“International law requires that all those in detention be treated humanely, with dignity, and their human rights respected and protected,” said Kheetan.
He warned that the minister’s actions “may encourage violence against Palestinian detainees” and enable rights violations in Israeli prisons.
The latest Gaza ceasefire proposal agreed by Hamas is “almost identical” to an earlier plan put forward by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
Israel is studying Hamas’ response to a Gaza ceasefire proposal of a potential deal for a 60-day truce and the release of half the Israeli hostages still held in the territory, two officials said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Efforts to pause the fighting gained new momentum over the past week after Israel announced plans for a new offensive to seize control of Gaza City, and Egypt and Qatar have been pushing to restart indirect talks between the sides on a US-backed ceasefire plan.
The proposal includes the release of 200 Palestinian convicts jailed in Israel and an unspecified number of imprisoned women and minors, in return for 10 living and 18 deceased hostages from Gaza, according to a Hamas official.
Two Egyptian security sources confirmed the details, and added that Hamas has requested the release of hundreds of Gaza detainees as well.
The proposal includes a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces, which presently control 75% of Gaza and the entry of more humanitarian aid into the territory, where a population of 2.2 million people is increasingly facing famine.
Israel not letting in enough supplies into Gaza to avert widespread starvation - UN rights office
Israel is letting some supplies into the Gaza Strip but not enough to avert widespread starvation, said the United Nations human rights office on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
“In the past few weeks, Israeli authorities have only allowed aid to enter in quantities that remain far below what would be required to avert widespread starvation,” UN human rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told a Geneva press briefing.
He added that the risk of starvation in Gaza was a “direct result of the Israeli government’s policy of blocking humanitarian aid. Israel’s military agency that coordinates aid, COGAT, said Israel invests “considerable efforts” in aid distribution to Gaza.
Updated
Netanyahu calls Australia PM 'weak politician who betrayed Israel'
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese as a “weak politician” on Tuesday, amid an ongoing row between the two countries after Canberra declared it would recognise a Palestinian state.
“History will remember Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews,” read a post on the official X account of Netanyahu’s office, AFP reports.
Unrwa chief Philippe Lazzarini has marked world humanitarian day paying tribute to frontline Unrwa staff in Gaza.
In a post on social media, he said since the beginning of the war Unrwa staff had “paid a heavy price” with “nearly 360 personnel have been killed, several in the line of duty” and “hundreds have been injured”.
He added: “Nearly 50 personnel have been arrested or detained and some were tortured before their release. Our staff are however not giving up despite the hell they experience daily.
“I also pay tribute to @UNRWA teams across the region who continue to provide services especially education + primary health care amid immense challenges & against all odds.
“As UNRWA goes through existential threats, our teams #ActForHumanity.
“They deserve support, respect & admiration.
“They are committed to continue their mission until a just solution is found to the plight of #Palestine Refugees + until the decades-long conflict finally ends through diplomatic & peaceful means.
“It’s time
“It’s overdue.”
The ministry of health in the Gaza Strip said it recorded “three adult deaths due to starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours.”
This brings the total number of victims of famine and malnutrition to 266, including 112 children, the ministry added.
The UN security council has begun debating a resolution drafted by France to extend the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon for a year with the ultimate aim of withdrawing it, AFP reports.
Israel and the United States have reportedly opposed the renewal of the force’s mandate, and it was unclear if the draft text has backing from Washington, which wields a veto on the Council.
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), established in 1978, patrols Lebanon’s southern border with Israel. The mandate for the operation is renewed annually, and its current authorisation expires on 31 August.
The draft text would see the council indicate “its intention to work on a withdrawal of UNIFIL with the aim of making the Lebanese Government the sole provider of security in southern Lebanon, provided that the Government of Lebanon fully controls all Lebanese territory … and that the parties agree on a comprehensive political arrangement.”
The draft resolution under discussion also “calls for enhanced diplomatic efforts to resolve any dispute or reservation pertaining to the international border between Lebanon and Israel.”
The Council’s 15 members are expected to vote on the draft on 25 August.
Here are some images coming to us over the wires.
Ship with 1,200 tons of food supplies approaches Israeli port of Ashdod
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza.
A ship loaded with 1,200 tons of food supplies for Gaza is approaching the Israeli port of Ashdod.
It’s expected to dock on Tuesday as part of renewed efforts to alleviate the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.
The ship is loaded with 52 containers carrying aid such as flour, pasta, rice, baby food and canned goods, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
Israeli customs officials had security-screened it at Cyprus’ main port of Limassol.
About 700 tons of the aid are from Cyprus, bought with money donated by the United Arab Emirates to a fund set up last year for donors to help with seaborne aid.
“The situation is beyond dire,” Cyprus foreign minister Constantinos Kombos told AP.
The Cypriot foreign ministry said Tuesday’s mission is led by the United Nations but is a coordinated effort – once offloaded at Ashdod, UN aid employees would arrange for the aid to be trucked to storage areas and food stations operated by the World Central Kitchen.
The latest shipment comes a day after Hamas said it has accepted a new proposal from Arab mediators for a ceasefire. Israel has not approved the latest proposal so far.
Israel announced plans to reoccupy Gaza City and other heavily populated areas after ceasefire talks stalled last month, raising the possibility of a worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, which experts say is sliding into famine.
More than 200 Palestinians in Gaza have died of malnutrition or starvation in the war, according to health authorities.
Israel says its offensive is in self-defence after Hamas militants crossed the border into Israel in October 2023 killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 others hostage.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed reports of starvation in Gaza are “lies” promoted by Hamas.
Updated
