Israel war on Gaza updates: Battles rage as Khan Younis attack intensifies

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For more on Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, read our key takeaways here.

Or watch our video on the Palestinian weightlifting champion who lost his place at the Paris Olympics 2024 because of Israel’s war on Gaza.

This live page will close soon. Here are today’s top updates:

• The Gaza Government Media Office has said 129 people have been killed in the past 48 hours in Khan Younis after Israel ordered residents to evacuate ahead of launching a new offensive against the southern city.
• Protesters flooded the US capital as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the US Congress. More than 100 US Congress interns boycotted the address.
• Footage has emerged showing a Hezbollah drone flying 50km (20 miles) south of Lebanon’s border and filming images of one of the most important Israeli airbases.
• US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller has defended the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) at a news briefing after the Israeli government advanced several pieces of legislation targeting the agency, one of which would effectively label the UN body as “terrorist”.

Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib held up a sign during Netanyahu’s speech at the US Congress that read “war criminal”, while wearing a traditional keffiyeh and a pin with the Palestinian flag.

The other side of her sign read “Guilty of genocide”.

The Democrat was accompanied by an invited guest, Hani Almadhoun, a Palestinian who lost more than 150 members of his extended family in Israel’s war in Gaza.

النائبة رشيدة طليب ترفع لافتة "مجرم حرب" خلال خطاب نتنياهو#فيديو #حرب_غزة pic.twitter.com/TRqF8WG7wd

— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) July 24, 2024

Translation: Representative Rashida Tlaib raises a “war criminal” sign during Netanyahu’s speech.

While the media focus on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, the humanitarian situation in Gaza “is in a nosedive”, the humanitarian organisation Mercy Corps has warned.

“No humanitarian goods are crossing into Gaza via Kerem Shalom [Karem Abu Salem] because the unloading zone has been full for weeks. High insecurity, lawlessness, and bombardments in areas under Israeli military operation make collection and distribution impossible,” Vice President of Global Policy and Advocacy Kate Phillips-Barrasso said in a statement.

“We have been warning for months about a looming famine and secondary diseases taking hold, and now we face the threat of a polio outbreak, with the virus detected in sewage samples, putting countless lives at risk to this crippling disease. While Netanyahu speaks to Congress, the slow-motion trainwreck in Gaza continues.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for more medical evacuations from Gaza after 16 people were transferred to Spain. Among them were 13 children with complex injuries, one child with a chronic heart condition and one suffering from cancer.

They crossed into Egypt before May 6, after which evacuations became almost impossible due to the closure of the Rafah Crossing, the organisation said. Only 23 people have been evacuated since then via the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing.

“These children are just the tip of the iceberg. Thousands of people of all ages still remain in Gaza who need to be medically evacuated and are at risk of dying if they are unable to quickly access the advanced medical care they need,” Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said in a statement.

“Patients who need evacuation outside of the Gaza Strip must be able to exit, preferably to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, but also to Egypt or Jordan and then onwards.”

The Israeli army has seized 1,300 square meters of land at an archaeological site in the town of Sebastia, northwest of Nablus, the mayor has told the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The mayor of Sebastia, Muhammad Azem, told the news outlet that the Israeli army stormed the town and handed over a decision to build military barracks.

Azem said establishing a military facility inside the archaeological site violated UNESCO laws and threatened to harm tourism in Sebastia.

He added that the plan was part of Israel’s effort to permanently extend its control to the Palestinian territory.

A second Israeli kibbutz has announced that the army retrieved from Gaza the body of captive Oren Goldin.

Goldin’s death had been previously announced by the Israeli military.

“This evening, we were informed about the rescue operation for the late Oren Goldin, a member of the kibbutz emergency team, who fell on October 7 during the attack by Hamas militants,” kibbutz Nir Yitzhak said in a statement.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has taken a swipe at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to announce a ceasefire deal that includes the release of the captives in Gaza during his speech at the US Congress earlier.

“Netanyahu had the opportunity to announce that he accepts the deal and returns the captives before they all die in the tunnels. He didn’t do it,” Lapid said in a video posted on X.

He added that Netanyahu spoke of October 7 “as if he had no idea who was the prime minister and who was responsible for the disaster.”

Netanyahu, who was serving as prime minister when Hamas fighters staged the attack that killed at least 1,139 people, has been under attack for failing to prevent it.

He has dismissed demands for the creation of a state commission of inquiry into these events, saying “first, I want to defeat Hamas”.

The Palestinian Health Ministry has released an updated comprehensive list of Palestinians killed in Israel’s nine-month war.

While the ministry releases a daily update to the overall death toll, this is the fifth time it has released a detailed list identifying the dead by name, age and gender.

The document, dated June 30, reported a total of 37,900 dead. That includes 28,185 names, and 9,715 others who remained unidentified.

The large numbers of unidentified deaths have drawn accusations from Israel that the ministry has inflated the death toll.

But Palestinian health officials say it takes time to identify the dead because the health system has been overwhelmed by the war and some bodies are badly disfigured or not immediately claimed by their families.

They also say the true death toll is likely much higher because thousands of bodies are believed to be trapped under the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes.

The body of a 56-year-old woman who was being held by Hamas in Gaza has been recovered, according to a statement by the Nir Oz kibbutz along the Israeli border, which was targeted in the October 7 attacks.

“Tonight we were informed that the body of Maya Goren was recovered in a military rescue operation,” the statement said, according to The Times of Israel. “After nine months, she was brought home for burial.”

Goren was identified as a teacher in Nir Oz. Her husband, Avner, also 56, was killed inside the couple’s home, according to the Israeli newspaper’s report.

Out of about 250 people who were taken on October 7, a total of 116 captives are believed to remain in the besieged enclave, with more than 40 confirmed dead in the Israeli military attacks.

Hamas senior official Sami Abu Zuhri has told Reuters that an alliance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from any party is a “treason to the blood of martyrs”.

In his speech addressing the US Congress earlier today, Netanyahu said the US and Israel can forge a security alliance in the Middle East to counter an Iranian “threat”, saying that all countries that will make peace with Israel should join such an alliance.

Israel’s national anthem was loudly jeered before its football team kicked off play at the Paris Olympics against Mali.

The Israel team arrived under a heavy police escort, with motorbike riders at the front and around a dozen riot police vans following behind.

Boos and whistles immediately rang out when it came to Israel’s anthem. Once play began, Israeli players were booed each time they touched the ball.

Security officials intervened in what appeared to be a heated argument between some fans, where one woman was holding a Palestinian flag.

France is under pressure to make the Paris Games safe. France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin previously said Israeli athletes would be protected 24 hours a day by elite police unit GIGN, which is in charge of counterterrorism and the protection of government officials, among other things.

Dozens of Palestinians are sleeping on the steps outside Gaza’s Nasser Hospital saying they have no other place to go after Israel launched an assault on Khan Younis.

Watch our video to hear what they have to say:

Bearing flags and posters of captives, hundreds of Israelis have marched along a busy street in Tel Aviv, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza as their prime minister addressed the US Congress.

“Get out of the AC, get out of your houses, come to the street!” one of the demonstrators called through a microphone to bystanders watching from bars and balconies in Israel’s largest city.

“We are not a parade! You are seeing here families whose children were kidnapped in their beds on a Saturday morning,” he shouted. “It could have been your family.”

Responding to Netanyahu’s speech, the Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said “45 minutes of speech and applause won’t erase the one sad fact: The words ‘Deal Now!’ were absent from the prime minister’s address.”

Hamas senior official Sami Abu Zuhri has told Reuters that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech addressing the US Congress shows he does not want to conclude a Gaza ceasefire deal.

“Netanyahu’s speech was full of lies and it will not succeed in covering up for the failure and defeat in the face of the resistance, [nor will it] cover up for the crimes of the war of genocide his army is committing against the people of Gaza,” Abu Zuhri said.

The group of statesmen, peace activists and human rights advocates have called on “political leaders worldwide, and especially those with influence on Israel, to enforce the historic ruling by the International Court of Justice and bring an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.”

In a statement posted on X, the international non-governmental organisation founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007 said that leaders must urgently focus on Gaza, intensifying efforts to secure a ceasefire, release call captives and Palestinian prisoners, and ensure “humanitarian access to address catastrophic hunger and the risk of famine across the whole of Gaza.”

The signatories include Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and chair of The Elders as well as Ban Ki-moon, former UN secretary-general.

The Elders call for bold action by world leaders to end Israel’s unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory.

Click 'Show more' read the statement in full:

The Elders today call on political leaders worldwide, and especially those with influence on Israel, to enforce the… pic.twitter.com/ioYclifNlm

— The Elders (@TheElders) July 24, 2024

Faisal Salameh, head of committee in charge of providing services to the camp, has said that consecutive Israeli military raids have led to the “complete destruction of infrastructure”.

“This includes waste management infrastructure, water pipes, power and telecommunications lines, as well as roads inside the camp,” Salameh said.

Tulkarem and its refugee camp have been subject to repeated and sometimes deadly Israeli army raids since October. They have led to roads being upturned and damage to underground infrastructure.

Salameh added that homes and businesses have also been damaged in the repeated Israeli military incursions – in addition to “cars, which have been targeted by military bulldozers”.

“Everything at the camp is a target for Israeli forces,” he said. “This is part of its policy of collective punishment.”

The military wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad say their fighters:

• Destroyed an armoured personnel carrier in the centre of Bani Suheila, in eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
• Shelled a group of soldiers and military vehicles in the northeast of Khan Younis.
• Targeted a group of soldiers and military vehicles at the Netzarim Corridor, which Israel set up during the war to separate northern Gaza from the south.