Gaza live: Israel to build 'different government' in Gaza, says defence minister

The fiscal situation of the Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank, has worsened in the last three months, "significantly raising the risk of a fiscal collapse," the World Bank said on Thursday amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Reuters reported.

"The rapidly widening gap between the amount of revenues coming in, and the amount needed to finance essential public expenditure, is driving a fiscal crisis," it said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is suspected of carrying out war crimes in Gaza and has an arrest warrant pending over him, will soon address a joint session of Congress in the US, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Thursday.

“Tonight I’m happy to announce something else to you. We will soon be hosting Prime Minister Netanyahu at the Capitol for a joint session of Congress,” Johnson said to applause at the Israeli embassy’s annual Independence Day reception in Washington, D.C.

The Israeli military has bombed an apartment complex in Gaza City, killing at least 10 people, the Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported.

Women and children were killed in the strike on the apartment, which belongs to the al-Ayoubi family and is located in the Shabiyah area of ​​Gaza City, northern Gaza.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a congressional hearing earlier this week that the several leaks to the media regarding private discussions and frustrations about Israel's military conduct in Gaza should have never happened.

"It's deeply unfortunate that discussion was leaked to the press when it was a private discussion between us and Israel," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.

"Leaks are an unfortunate part of the business that we're all engaged in. It's really regrettable, but it happens. But also, something that's not a leak is the fact that we've been both public and private about the fact that we have deep concerns about a major military operation in Rafah."

The congressional hearing highlighted a major discussion around the US-Israel relationship and the levers of pressure available to the Biden administration concerning Israel's military operations in Gaza.

Read more: Biden's approach to Rafah and Gaza aid is 'monument to American fecklessness'

It's day 231 of Israel's war on Gaza. This is a recap of the last few hours to get you up to speed this morning:

• Al-Aqsa Hospital will shut down if no fuel is provided for its generators, the hospital warned
• Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 15 children, with Israel targeting Fatima al-Zahraa school were women and children are sheltering
• Israeli forces have killed at least 38 Palestinians in air and artillery strikes across Gaza
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he has a “surprising plan” to combat Hezbollah in southern Lebanon
• CIA chief Bill Burns is set to travel to Europe in the coming days to meet with his Mossad counterpart David Barnea, in a bid to restart hostage talks