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

A deadly Israeli airstrike in Gaza City targeted a group of people near a school in the Zeitoun neighborhood.

According to the Wafa news agency and local reports, the air raid killed at least three Palestinians and injured many others.

The victims were taken to Gaza City’s Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, Wafa reports.

As the Israeli military operation in Jenin and its environs in the occupied West Bank enters its second week, the situation has only gotten bleaker for Palestinians in the area.

The Jenin municipality said on Sunday that the Israeli army has bulldozed 70 percent of the city’s streets and water has been cut off from 80 percent of homes.

Additionally, 20 kilometres of water and sewage networks, communication and electricity cables have been demolished.

Out of the 33 Palestinians who have been killed since Israeli forces launched their largest invasion of the West Bank since the Second Intifada, 19 were in Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry says.

Seven of those killed were children, including a 16-year-old Palestinian girl, Lujain Musleh, who was shot dead by Israeli forces in the town of Kafr Dan in the Jenin governorate on Tuesday.

Read more: Life for Jenin residents 'in paralysis' as Israeli operation enters second week

Several US officials told the New York Times that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "seeking to run out the clock until the American election" to secure a deal over captives held in Gaza. They suggested that Netanyahu might face less pressure to make concessions if Trump wins.

The report indicates that US officials aim to finalise a "final" proposal for the deal with negotiators by Wednesday or Thursday.

The main points of contention are the number of prisoners to be exchanged for the captives and the terms and timing of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza-Egyptian border.

Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant stated that the military's ongoing major assault in the occupied West Bank, which has resulted in at least 39 Palestinian deaths, is part of a strategy he referred to as “mowing the lawn”.

The term “mowing the lawn” is commonly used by Israeli generals to describe their periodic large-scale military operations against Palestinians, involving soldiers, tanks, artillery, naval forces, and aircraft to cause extensive damage to infrastructure and civilian areas.

Gallant noted that while the current focus is on countering “the rise of terror,” a more comprehensive strategy to “pull out the roots” will eventually be required.

The International Criminal Court is pursuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for potential war crimes in Gaza.

Speaking to senior military officers on Wednesday, Gallant claimed that “the process involves an attack to prevent terror. We are mowing the lawn now, but eventually, we will need to pull out the roots,” he said.

He also noted that there is “no other option” but to deploy “all the forces, everyone who is needed, with full strength.”

The Wafa news agency reports that Ali Dar Ali, a correspondent for Palestine TV, was among five Palestinians arrested during Israeli raids in the Ramallah and el-Bireh governorate.

According to the agency, Ali was detained after a raid on his home in the village of Burham. 

Israeli forces conducted a series of arrests in early-morning raids across the occupied West Bank on Thursday. 

August saw the highest number of rockets fired from Lebanon amid the ongoing war, the Israeli Shin Bet security agency claimed on Thursday.

The report revealed that 1,307 rockets were launched at Israel from the northern front, including Lebanon and Syria, averaging just over 40 per day. This surpasses July's total of 1,091 rockets, June's 855, May's 1,000, April's 744, March's 746, February's 534, and January's 334.

Most of the rockets were fired from Lebanon, with only 116 launched from Gaza in the past month.

Families of American-Israeli captives held by Hamas have urged the White House to consider a unilateral deal to secure their release. This option is currently being discussed within the Biden administration, according to five sources familiar with the matter speaking to NBC.

Administration officials have assured the families that they will consider "every option," but sources indicate that a deal with Hamas involving Israel remains the preferred approach.

The general strike called this week by Israel’s largest labour union, Histadrut, marks a significant escalation in the ongoing protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. 

These protests, which erupted after the bodies of six Israeli hostages were found in a tunnel network under Gaza, have grown into the largest domestic demonstrations since the war on Gaza began on 7 October. 

The involvement of Histadrut adds a new dimension to the unrest, transforming it into a nationwide upheaval.

Families of the hostages have openly accused Netanyahu of betraying their loved ones, saying he has prioritised his personal political strategy over their safe return, as the prime minister insists on maintaining control of the strategically significant Philadelphi Corridor in Gaza. 

Read more: Could Israel's general strike spur a policy shift?

Israel's ongoing war on Gaza is projected to leave at least 625,000 students without access to education.

Over the past year, nearly 10,000 students and more than 400 teachers and staff have been killed by Israeli strikes.

More than 85 percent of school buildings have been damaged or directly hit, and all 12 of Gaza's universities have been bombed or destroyed by Israel.

In addition to losing a full academic year, Palestinian students now face the start of a new academic year with no prospects of attending school.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has urged the Israeli government to resume negotiations on a two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict.

"Those members of the Israeli government who question the two-state solution in word and deed are endangering Israel's long-term security," Baerbock stated before departing for crisis talks in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel. She emphasised that negotiations on a two-state solution are the only path to lasting peace and combating terrorism in the long term.

On Friday, Baerbock is set to meet with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, followed by talks in Ramallah with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa.

Baerbock also cautioned against escalating violence in the West Bank, warning that nothing would be gained "if a new, young generation now becomes radicalised because they have to watch the destruction on their doorstep." She added, "The Palestinians have a right to live in security and dignity."

At least five Palestinians were killed and one wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in Tubas, West Bank, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Thursday.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza, now in its 334th day: 

• Since 7 October 2023 Israel has killed at least 40,861 Palestinians with more than 94,398 wounded and an estimated 10,000 still missing, likely dead and buried under rubble
• At least three individuals were killed, and another critically injured when an Israeli strike targeted a vehicle in Tubas, located in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency
•  Amnesty International has called for an investigation into the Israeli military's campaign to expand a "buffer zone" in the occupied Gaza Strip, labelling it as potential war crimes involving wanton destruction and collective punishment
• The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) told Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun that he has received threats from supporters of both Israel and Russia after initiating charges against their leaders
• Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report that an Israeli attack on tents sheltering displaced people near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza has killed at least four people

Israel’s long-term security will be more at risk if it doesn’t enter a US-backed ceasefire proposal, a senior US official told Reporters, in a sharp rebuke to Israeli criticism of the talks.

“We have taken account of Israel’s security concerns in this negotiation, and if anything, not getting into this deal is more of a threat to Israel’s long-term security than actually concluding the deal and that includes the issue of the Philadelphi corridor,” the senior US official said.

The official also suggested that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Israel would indefinitely remain at the Philadelphi Corridor is hurting the talks.

“Staking out concrete positions in the middle of negotiations isn’t always particularly helpful”.

Hamas has now released a statement saying that “new proposals” in the ceasefire talks are not necessary.

“What is required now is to pressure Netanyahu and his government and oblige them to what has been agreed upon”, the statement said. 

The group released its statement shortly after a senior US official confirmed that an initial ceasefire proposal handed to Hamas in May did not include plans for an Israeli presence on the Philadelphi Corridor.

“Netanyahu’s decision not to withdraw from the Salah al-Din [Philadelphi] axis aims to thwart reaching an agreement," Hamas said.

“We warn against falling into Netanyahu’s trap and tricks, as he uses negotiations to prolong the aggression against our people”.

Israel’s demand to keep troops along the Philadelphi corridor was a new position in ceasefire talks that Israel had not included in a proposal to Hamas in May, a senior US official confirmed.

The fate of who control’s the corridor as emerged as one of the main blockages to a ceasefire, the senior official said.

“A dispute emerged whether the Philadelphia Corridor, which is effectively a road on the border of Gaza and Egypt, is a densely populated area,” the senior US official said.

The US said Israel agreed to withdraw from populated areas of Gaza during phase one of the three-phase ceasefire deal, making the description of the area key. 

In its latest proposal, Israel agreed to withdraw some troops, which the US official said “is technically consistent with the deal,” but Hamas is insisting on the original May proposal, the US official said. 

“It’s become a bit of a political debate in Israel,” the official added.

The official also said the killing of six hostages in Gaza has “called into question Hamas’s readiness to do a deal of any kind,” adding that the talks were “pretty frustrating”.

Hamas and Israel are also at odds on what Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails would be freed as part of an exchange.

“Until that is worked out, you’re not going to have a deal”.