Gaza live: Several dead including Hezbollah commander after Israeli strike on southern Beirut

French prosecutors have dismissed a complaint from a group of NGOs alleging that a French-Israeli soldier committed crimes of torture and barbarism during the war in Gaza.

France's National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office closed the complaint on 2 September, AFP reported, citing a judicial source. 

The allegations were based on a video, dated January but shared on social media in March, purportedly posted by the soldier in question. It shows Israeli soldiers making Palestinian detainees - believed to have been kidnapped in Gaza - get off a truck. The Palestinians are dressed in white jumpsuits and blindfolded. 

Read the full story by clicking below.

French prosecutor drops complaint against Israeli dual national accused of crimes in Gaza

Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, a man and a woman, during a raid in the city of Tulkarm, in the northern occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Israeli forces opened fire as they raided the city, wounding eight Palestinians.

Israeli forces also surrounded and stormed the Palestine Red Crescent Society emergency centre in the city, ordering paramedics and other crew members to leave, the PRCS said on X.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the army also raided al-Awda, a youth rehabilitation centre in the Tulkarm refugee camp, detained six staff members and deployed snipers at windows.

The Israeli military said in a statement that the raid is part of its ongoing large-scale military operation in the West Bank, which has seen several cities and towns raided in recent weeks.

The Israeli military is close to completing its mission in the Gaza Strip and the focus is moving to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said.

"The centre of gravity is moving northward, we are near to completing our tasks in the south, but our mission here is not yet done," Gallant told troops on Israel's northern border, according to Israeli newspaper Haartez.

"This mission is to change the security situation and return the residents [of northern Israel] to their homes."

Responding to troops who said not enough has been done on the northern border, Gallant said "Be ready, this is not similar to other [situations]."

Gallant delivered his remarks at the end of an exercise simulating ground combat in Lebanon.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Israel's killing of a US-Turkish activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi during a protest in the occupied West Bank last week was "unprovoked and unjustified".

"No one should be shot and killed for attending a protest," Blinken told a news conference in London, in his harshest comments to date against the Israeli military.

"In our judgment, Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way that they operate in the West Bank, including changes to their rules of engagement."

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Tuesday expressed shock about a missile strike in a "humanitarian zone" in al-Mawasi, an area near the city of Khan Younis, stressing the urgent need for a ceasefire.

"We're meeting at a critical moment - a critical moment for securing a ceasefire in Gaza, with the shocking deaths in Khan Yunis this morning only reinforcing how desperately needed that ceasefire is," Lammy told a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Palestinians have been desperately digging for their loved ones in the deep craters left by an Israeli air strike on a so-called humanitarian zone, where "entire families have disappeared in the sand", the civil defence said.

Um Mahmoud, a displaced Palestinian in al-Mawasi, described seeing women and children "torn to shreds" after the strikes.

"We have been here for nine months, we have not seen a single resistance member entering the area," Um Mahmoud told Middle East Eye.

Alaa al-Shaer, who has been staying in the displacement camp with his family, said he had a message to Israelis "conducting a genocide against us".

"I have my sister, my sons, my daughters. Would I logically put between them someone wanted by the Israelis? This does not make sense."

"The Israelis said, 'go to the safe areas' and that is what people did," he added.

As the sun rose, more people headed to the area to try to support rescue efforts. Others were looking through the remains of their tents, in apparent attempts to salvage anything from them.

Those trying to leave struggled to work their way through the giant craters left in the ground.

Tearfully standing outside Khan Younis' Nasser Hospital, a woman mourned her sister, who was killed in the attack.

"My sister was martyred, she was 35 years old," she told MEE. "Her husband disappeared when the Israelis took him six months ago."

The woman, who was just a street away from her sister's tent, says she is survived by six daughters and two sons.

"How can you see a girl get orphaned? No mother, no father, no grandparents, no one," she said.

Read more: Massive Israeli strike on 'humanitarian zone' tents kills at least 40

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it was highly likely its forces accidentally shot dead a US-Turkish activist during a protest in the occupied West Bank last week.

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was killed with a shot to the head on Friday in the town of Beita, during a peaceful demonstration against illegal Israeli settlements.

The Israeli military said an inquiry had "found that it is highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF (Israeli army) fire".

It added that the fire "was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot".

An activist, who witnessed the incident, told Middle East Eye that Eygi and other volunteers from the International Solidarity Movement retreated when soldiers cracked down on the demonstration.

The activist said Israeli forces shot tear gas into the crowd before firing two rounds of live ammunition at the group, one of which struck Eygi in the head.

"When she was shot, she was standing there doing absolutely nothing with one other woman - it was a deliberate shot because they shot from a very, very, very far distance," said the activist, who did not want to be identified.

"It was a deliberate shot to the head." 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara would do everything possible to ensure "that Aysenur Ezgi's death does not go unpunished".

"We will continue our fight against Israel at the highest level by taking it to the (International) Court of Justice," he said.

Israel's military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 41,020 Palestinians and wounded 94,925 others since 7 October, the Palestinian health ministry said on Tuesday.

The toll includes 32 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry.

A campaign to vaccinate a final 200,000 children in north Gaza against polio began on Tuesday although health and aid officials said the operation was complicated by access restrictions, evacuation orders and shortages of fuel.

The campaign in north Gaza follows the vaccination of more than 446,000 Palestinian children in central and south Gaza earlier this month.

Vaccination centres are in areas that are militarily very active, difficult to reach and isolated if things go wrong, Sam Rose, a deputy director of Unrwa, told Reuters.

"There are some nerves, but we'll have to make it work," he said.

The images below from the al-Mawasi refugee camp in Khan Younis were taken by photographer Bashar Taleb for the AFP news agency.

They depict Palestinians surveying the crater left by a bombing attack on a group of tens overnight on Tuesday.

Israel killed at least 40 Palestinians in the attack, which happened in a so-called "humanitarian zone".

45,000 6-year-olds in Gaza should have been starting their first day of school today.

Under international humanitarian law, students, teachers and schools are protected. Warring parties must not direct attacks against them.https://t.co/TfK6PB3OY4 pic.twitter.com/D92upnx2t4

— Melissa Fleming 🇺🇳 (@MelissaFleming) September 9, 2024

The war on Gaza has had a devastating impact on children in the besieged Strip, with at least 14,200 killed by Israel and tens of thousands displaced or missing, according to Unicef.

Those who have survived the onslaught so far are also facing unprecedented disruption to their education.

According to the UN children's agency, 625,000 children have lost a year of their education since the conflict started on 7 October last year.

“Children in the Gaza Strip have lost their homes, family members, friends, safety and routine,” said Adele Khodr, Unicef's Middle East and North Africa regional director.

“They have also lost the sanctuary and stimulation provided by school, putting their bright futures at risk of being dimmed by this terrible conflict.”

Monday would have marked the start of the new school year in Gaza, but the ongoing war continues to deprive hundreds of thousands of children of this fundamental right, UN agencies warn https://t.co/OCk4C9UAEC

— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) September 9, 2024

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Hamas's military capabilities had been severely damaged after more than 11 months of war and that it no longer existed as a military formation in Gaza.

"Hamas as a military formation no longer exists. Hamas is engaged in guerrilla warfare and we are still fighting Hamas terrorists and pursuing Hamas leadership," Gallant told foreign journalists.

Reporting by AFP

Israel's Civil Administration, an agency of the country's defence ministry, has warned Palestinians in the village of Khirbet Zanuta, occupied West Bank, that their homes would be demolished by 1 October if they do not relocate.

The warning comes weeks after the residents had won a case in Israel's High Court of Justice, which ordered the army and the police to let them return to their homes.

The residents had escaped their village in October last year, following recurrent attacks and harassment at the hands of Israeli settlers.

The Israeli army barred residents who returned to the village from repairing their homes or even restoring the metal roofs of their dwellings that they had taken with them when they left in October.

This means residents have had to live without roofs since their return.

Israel's Tuesday attack on al-Mawasi, an area it has described as a "humanitarian zone", has killed at least 40 Palestinians.

Craters up to nine metres in depth were created by the strikes, according to Gaza's emergency agencies.