Live blog: Palestine, Oman agree to foster Palestinian reconciliation

Friday, July 26, 2024

1826 GMT — Palestine and Oman agreed on unifying efforts to achieve an intra-Palestinian reconciliation.

This came during a phone call between Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi and Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Hussein al-Sheikh.

Al-Sheikh said on X that he discussed with the Omani foreign ministers all developments and stressed "the continuation of bilateral, Arab and international action to stop the ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people" in Gaza.

He said the phone call also addressed Israel’s recent decision to reject the establishment of a Palestinian state. "The best international response to them (Israel) is for the countries of the world to recognise the State of Palestine in order to preserve the two-state solution," he added.

On July 18, the Knesset Israel's parliament passed a resolution rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state.

"In order to preserve the two-state solution. HE Mr. Badr expressed his support for Palestinian reconciliation efforts. We agreed to unify Arab efforts to achieve this," al-Sheikh said.

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1806 GMT — Türkiye decries Israel's recent attacks on journalists

Türkiye slammed Israel's recent attacks on journalists, underlining their commitment to supporting media professionals reporting on the Palestinian plight.

"We wish a speedy recovery to the TRT News cameraman who was injured in occupiers' attack, and we extend our get-well wishes to the TRT family," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a written statement.

"We see that Israel has not realised for months that it cannot conceal the truth by attacking journalists," the ministry said.

"Brave and honourable journalists will continue to resolutely report the oppression happening in Palestine to the whole world, and our Ministry will stand by them in this struggle," it added.

1717 GMT — Palestinians face severe food crisis as global hunger worsens: UN report

Gaza, where 80 percent of the population is currently internally displaced, has experienced the world's worst food crisis, according to a new UN report.

The "2024 Food Security and Nutrition in the World" report, jointly prepared by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Program (WFP), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and World Health Organization (WHO), painted a grim picture of global hunger and food security.

The report reveals that between 713 million and 757 million people worldwide were undernourished last year, with an average of 733 million facing hunger, implying that one in every 11 people struggled with hunger.

Hunger levels rose from 2022 to 2023 in most parts of West Asia, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa. In Africa, the percentage of the population struggling with hunger increased to 20.4 percent. In Asia, it rose to 8.1 percent, in Latin America and the Caribbean to 6.2 percent, and in Oceania to 7.3 percent.

By 2030, an estimated 582 million people will be chronically undernourished, with nearly half of them living in Africa.

1616 GMT — Netanyahu meets Trump for talks seeking to ease tensions

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited former US president Donald Trump at Trump's Florida resort for a meeting that could ease tensions between two leaders who forged a close alliance during Trump's years in the White House.

Netanyahu met Trump, the Republican nominee in the 2024 US presidential race, a day after Netanyahu met Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running against Trump in the Nov. 5 US election.

The Israeli leader rearranged his US travel schedule to meet Trump. He landed in Palm Beach.

1556 GMT — Houthis reports four more US-UK air strikes on Yemen's Hudaida

The Yemeni Houthis (Ansar Allah) said four more US-UK air strikes targeted the Hudaida province in western Yemen.

In a briefed statement, the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported "a US-UK aggression targeted with four raids the Kamaran Island in the Al Hudaydah province."

The statement did not report any human casualties or material damage by the raids. There were also no comments by the US or the UK on the incident as of yet.

Kamaran Island is one of the Red Sea's largest Yemeni islands and part of the Hudaida province.

1553 GMT — CIA director to meet Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian officials in Rome on Gaza deal, Axios reports

CIA Director William Burns is expected to meet with senior Israel, Qatari and Egyptian officials in Rome on Sunday to bring the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal to a close, Axios reported on Friday, citing unidentified US and Israeli officials.

1542 GMT — UN seeks protection for civilians and aid workers in Gaza

A United Nations official called for urgent protection of the civilian population in Gaza, including the humanitarian workers.

"Protection is urgently needed for the civilian population in Gaza, but also for the humanitarian operations. Humanitarian staff and assets must be protected from all forms of violent attacks," Muhannad Hadi, Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator at the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO), told the Security Council meeting.

Almost ten months into the crisis, Hadi said a safe enabling environment for the provision of humanitarian assistance "still does not exist inside Gaza."

"Today the UN is not in a position to provide the necessary assistance to the people in Gaza, let alone to scale up unless specific factors are in place," he said.

He stressed that it is the responsibility of warring parties to protect humanitarian actors in the field.

"Duty of care to all humanitarian staff is one of our highest concerns. Today, the risks inside Gaza are unacceptable," Hadi added.

1444 GMT — Israel army readying 'decisive' push against Lebanon's Hezbollah

An Israeli military commander said that troops in the country's north were preparing for "a decisive offensive" against Lebanon's Hezbollah after months of deadly cross-border exchanges.

Israeli forces have traded near-daily fire with Hamas ally Hezbollah since the Palestinian resistance group's October 7 attack on southern Israel started the ongoing war in Gaza.

Major General Ori Gordin, Israel's commanding officer in the north, told troops that "we have already eliminated more than 500 terrorists in Lebanon, the great majority of them from Hezbollah", an army statement said.

1403 GMT — With nowhere else to hide, Palestinians shelter in former prison

After weeks of Israeli bombardment left them with nowhere else to go, hundreds of Palestinians have ended up in a former Gaza prison built to hold murderers and thieves.

Yasmeen al-Dardasi said she and her family passed wounded people they were unable to help as they evacuated from a district in the southern city of Khan Younis towards its Central Correction and Rehabilitation Facility.

They spent a day under a tree before moving on to the former prison, where they now live in a prayer room. It offers protection from the blistering sun, but not much else.

Dardasi's husband has a damaged kidney and just one lung, but no mattress or blanket.

"We are not settled here either," said Dardasi, who like many Palestinians fears she will be uprooted once again.

1354 GMT — Israeli police prevent hundreds from praying at Al-Aqsa Mosque

Israeli police prevented hundreds of Palestinian youths from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem for Friday prayers, witnesses told Anadolu.

Police officers stationed at the mosque's outer gates turned away hundreds of youths seeking to pray, the witnesses said, adding that the police assaulted some of them.

The witnesses said that police beat one young man near Lion's Gate, injuring his head. They also said that a member of the Turkish television network TRT was assaulted by police in the same area without any reason.

The Israeli police did not provide reasons for barring the large number of youths from entering the mosque or for the assaults. However, restrictions on youths entering the mosque have been tightening over the past few weeks.

1319 GMT — Germany differs with Netanyahu's claims of 'practically' no civilian deaths in Rafah

The German government begged to differ with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that there were "practically" no civilian deaths during Israel’s military attack on Rafah in southern Gaza.

"There are already far too many deaths in this conflict and it affects Gaza, and of course, it also affects Rafah and the region, and you know that the federal government is demanding significantly better protection for the people in Gaza, and explicitly Rafah," Foreign Ministry deputy spokesperson Kathrin Deschauer said at a press briefing in Berlin.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has repeatedly voiced her expectation in her talks with the Israeli side that civilians in Gaza need to be better protected, she added.

Deschauer was referring to Netanyahu’s speech in the US Congress on Thursday, when he claimed that a commander in Rafah told him that there had been practically no civilian deaths in the city, with the exception of “a single incident where shrapnel from a bomb hit a Hamas weapons depot and unintentionally killed two dozen people.” ​​​​

1223 GMT — One more Hezbollah fighter killed fighting Israeli army

One more Hezbollah fighter was killed in clashes with the Israeli army, the Lebanon-based group announced.

The group identified the fighter as Abbas Hussein Hammoud.

The new fatality brings the total number of Hezbollah fighters killed in combat with Israeli forces since Oct. 8 to 379, according to an Anadolu tally.

Fears have grown about a full-blown war between Israel and the Lebanese resistance group amid an exchange of cross-border attacks between the two sides.

1203 GMT — Britain halts efforts to challenge ICC jurisdiction over Israeli leaders

The United Kingdom said that it would not proceed with efforts to question whether the International Criminal Court (ICC) has jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister and defence minister, according to local media.

This decision came after the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan announced in May that he had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes.

Court documents made public in June revealed that Britain, an ICC member state, had initially filed a request to provide written observations on whether the court could exercise jurisdiction over Israeli nationals, given that Palestine cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals under the Oslo Accords.

Since then, Britain has elected a new government led by the Labour Party.
According to the Guardian, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson confirmed that the previous government had not submitted its proposal before the July 4 election.

1158 GMT — Nine out of 10 Palestinians in Gaza displaced forcibly — UNRWA

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said that nine out of 10 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced in Gaza.

In a statement, the agency said: "9 in every 10 people have been forcibly displaced in Gaza."

The agency added that "families seek shelter where they can: overcrowded schools, destroyed buildings, makeshift tents on the sand or amid piles of trash."

It stressed that "none of these places are safe. People have nowhere left to go."

1104 — US Vice President Harris urges Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire deal soon

United States Vice President Kamala Harris has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas soon so that dozens of hostages held by the Palestinian fighters in Gaza since Oct. 7 could return home.

Before heading to Florida to meet with former President Donald Trump, Netanyahu was in Washington, where he delivered a scathing speech to Congress in which he vowed to achieve "total victory" against Hamas and denounced American opponents of the war in Gaza as "idiots."

Hamas slammed the speech and accused Netanyahu of obstructing efforts to end the war and return the hostages.

1057 GMT — WHO sends over 1 million polio vaccines to Gaza to protect children

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children from being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said.

"While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99 percent worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it.

1009 GMT — Israel seeks changes to Gaza truce plan, complicating talks: sources

Israel is seeking changes to a plan for a Gaza truce and the release of hostages by Hamas, complicating a final deal to halt nine months of combat that have devastated the enclave, according to a Western official, a Palestinian and two Egyptian sources.

Israel says that displaced Palestinians should be screened as they return to the enclave's north when the ceasefire begins, retreating from an agreement to allow civilians who fled south to freely return home, the four sources told Reuters.

Israeli negotiators "want a vetting mechanism for civilian populations returning to the north of Gaza, where they fear these populations could support” Hamas fighters who remain entrenched there, said the Western official.

The Palestinian resistance group rejected the new Israeli demand, according to the Palestinian and Egyptian sources, however, a senior Israeli official said Hamas had not yet seen the latest proposals, which were expected to go out "in the coming hours".

"The messages from Hamas are bizarre because we haven't sent it yet, nobody has read it yet. Even the negotiators haven't got it yet. They will read it before transferring it to Hamas for their reaction," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

0830 GMT — Australia, Canada, New Zealand call for 'urgent' ceasefire in Gaza

Australia, Canada, and New Zealand called for an "urgent" ceasefire in Gaza, even as the Israeli war on the besieged Palestinian coastal enclave runs through the 10th month.

In a joint statement, the three nations said the situation in Gaza is “catastrophic.”

“The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue,” it said.

0825 GMT — 'There will not be a halt to Gaza war,' says Israeli security minister

The Israeli security minister said that "there will be no halt to the war" amid the US vice president's call for a cease-fire in Gaza.

The daily Haaretz reported on Thursday that after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, US Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris said: “It is time for this war to end and end in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity and self determination.”

In response, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said: "There will be no halt to the war, Madam Candidate,” referring to Kamala Harris.

0653 GMT — Gaza resists amid ongoing Israeli strikes on civilians

The Israeli army announced the killing of another soldier during battles in southern Gaza amid ongoing strikes on residential areas.

In a statement, the military said Corporal Moti Rave, 37, was killed in the battle in southern Gaza.

According to the Israeli forces' figures, the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the beginning of the war on October 7 has risen to 688, including 328 in ground battles that started on October 27.

2300 GMT — Palestinian leader dies in Israeli custody in West Bank

A Palestinian leader in the occupied West Bank has died in Israeli custody following a significant deterioration in his health, according to a Palestinian government body.

Mustafa Muhammad Abu Ara, 63, died after being transferred to a hospital from the Ramon jail in southern Israel, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs said in a statement.

"Before his arrest, he was suffering from serious health problems and needed intensive medical follow-up. However, from the moment of his arrest, Sheikh Abu Ara, like all prisoners, has faced unprecedented crimes ... since the beginning of the war of extermination."

2222 GMT — Hamas condemns torture of 6 Palestinians in Israeli prisons

Hamas condemned the torture of six Palestinians, including two women, who were released from Israeli prisons.

In a statement, the Palestinian resistance group cited testimonies from the released detainees given to Anadolu Agency. The Palestinians reported experiencing "severe torture and brutal beatings throughout their detention."

Hamas said the torture inflicted on them "highlights the conditions faced by thousands of prisoners and detainees in Israeli occupation and Nazi-style detention centres."

It emphasised that such torture is carried out "by human beasts devoid of any human values, inflicting the most heinous forms of abuse on innocent and defenceless people."

It said the released detainees "showed signs of poor health due to torture, neglect, starvation, insults and deprivation of sleep, underscoring the urgent need for serious action to expose what is happening in Israeli prisons and to rescue thousands of Palestinians detained in these so-called Nazi-style jails."

0036 GMT — Palestinian and Jewish protesters stage rare peace march

Chanting, "Yes, to peace, yes, to a deal", hundreds of Palestinian and Jewish Israelis marched noisily through Tel Aviv, demanding an end to the carnage in Gaza and the cycle of violence.

The protesters said their agenda starts with a ceasefire in the blockaded enclave, but ultimately, they want to reboot Palestinian-Israeli relations and breathe new life into the moribund peace movement.

2044 GMT — Pro-Palestine protesters hold a 'die-in' near the White House

Protesters against Israel's carnage in besieged Gaza held a "die-in" across from Lafayette Park and the White House as President Joe Biden met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The demonstrators poured red liquid onto the street, saying it symbolised the blood of those killed in Gaza.

Protesters chanted "Arrest Netanyahu" and paraded an effigy of the Israeli Prime Minister, draped in an orange jumpsuit stained with blood. The jumpsuit was emblazoned with "Wanted for Crimes Against Humanity."

For our live updates from Thursday, July 25, 2024, click here.