Gaza live: Israel strike kills 30 Palestinians, mostly children
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Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on Monday that any possible Israeli attack on Lebanon would have serious consequences.
Speaking to French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Pezeshkian warned of severe consequences as Israel continues to blame Iran-backed Hezbollah for an attack on the Israel-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children.
Cyprus said it was on standby to help with the evacuations of civilians from the Middle East if a standoff between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon escalates further.
Beirut is bracing for a possible escalation after a rocket killed 12 young people in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday.
The US and Israel both accuse Lebanon of perpetrating that attack on Majdal Shams - claims the Iran-backed group denies.
Last October, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Cyprus was prepared to help evacuate citizens from the Middle East since the start of the war.
“We have established the manner in which the scheme will operate, if needed,” Kombos said.
“We are all hoping it won’t be necessary, but should that not happen, Cyprus will continue to operate as a safety bridge in facilitating the departure of civilians from any embattled zone in our area."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Druze community in the town of Majdal Shams after a deadly rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Writing about his visit on X, Netanyahu said that Israel's response "will come, and it will be hard" and repeated the claim that Hezbollah had perpetrated the attack that killed 12 young people - a claim the Iran-backed group denies.
Netanyahu also told the Druze community to not "lose hope in the face of the acts of harassment by the evil axis of Iran and Hezbollah."
Earlier, images posted online showed hundreds of residents from Majdal Shams held protests opposing Netanyahu's visit, and attempting to stop him entering the town, labelling him a criminal and fascist.
https://t.co/2hJiCk8Rv3 pic.twitter.com/6cJmwA9oam
— ישראל היום (@IsraelHayomHeb) July 29, 2024
Turkey accused Israel of threatening Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after he threatened to intervene in Gaza.
Taking to X, Turkey's head of communications, Fahrettin Altin, said anyone who threatens Erdogan does so "at their own peril."
Erdogan on Sunday told ruling party officials in televised remarks that: "Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them [Israel]."
The Turkish President did not clarify what he meant by his comments, but they drew Israeli officials' ire.
Israel's Foreign Minister Mike Katz said Erdogan "follows in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and threatens to attack Israel."
Israeli media is reporting that the Israeli army has arrested nine Israeli soldiers on suspicion of abusing a Palestinian detainee from Gaza inside the Sde Teiman prison.
The Times of Israel reported that the incident led Israel's military advocate general, Major General Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi, to open an army investigation.
The arrest of the nine soldiers prompted strong reactions from the country's far-right politicians.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich condemned Yerushalmi for opening the investigation and described the nine soldiers as "heroic warriors", while National Security Minister Itamer Ben Gvir and his Otzma Yehudit party demanded the release of the nine soldiers.
Residents of Majdal Shams in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights staged a protest against a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the area.
Now: Residents protest as Netanyahu visits the site of the rocket attack in which 12 kids were killed in Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan pic.twitter.com/9VrnCbljur
— Oren Ziv (@OrenZiv_) July 29, 2024
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has discussed preventing a new war in the Middle East with his Israeli and Lebanese counterparts, Israel Katz and Bou Habib, he said on Monday.
"Breaking the spiral of violence is possible," he wrote on social media platform X.
He said the Italian government was committed to peace and stability, including through Italy's presence in the United Nations' Unifil contingent.
Min @Antonio_Tajani spoke with 🇮🇱Min @Israel_katz and 🇱🇧Min Bou Habib🗣️"We aim to prevent a new war. Breaking the spiral of violence is possible. We are committed to peace and stability, including through @UNIFIL_ 🇮🇹contingent that must be protected. Respect of 🇺🇳Res.1701 is key" https://t.co/OUBoya5hjO
— Italy MFA (@ItalyMFA_int) July 29, 2024
Reporting by Reuters
A spokesperson from the German foreign ministry has advised its citizens to "urgently" leave Lebanon amid fears of an imminent Israeli strike, according to Reuters.
Air France and low-cost carrier Transavia France have suspended their flights between Paris and Beirut due to the "security situation" in Lebanon, a spokesman for the companies said on Monday.
The announcement, which follows a similar decision by Germany's Lufthansa, came a day after Israel vowed to retaliate following rocket fire that killed 12 people in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
Israel blamed Hezbollah for the strike but the Lebenese armed group denied responsibility.
Reporting by AFP
Britain welcomes the Lebanese government's call for a cessation of all violence after an attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Britain's foreign minister said following a call with Lebanon's prime minister.
"I spoke to (Lebanon's) Prime Minister @Najib_Mikati today to express my concern at escalating tension and welcomed the Government of Lebanon’s statement urging for cessation of all violence," David Lammy wrote on X on Monday.
"We both agreed that widening of conflict in the region is in nobody’s interest."
Reporting by Reuters
It is clear now that US Vice President Kamala Harris will be the Democratic nominee.
This is significant, and while it is meaningful for the issues of Palestine and the genocide in Gaza, those who are hoping that Harris will depart significantly from President Joe Biden's lock-step support for Israel are probably going to be disappointed.
First, though, advocates for Palestine must recognise the critical victory that Biden's decision to step aside represents.
Gaza was far from the only reason Biden quit, and it's not the most discussed one. But it played a much larger role than Washington policy wonks want to admit.
Biden was already an unpopular candidate. Polls showed that most Democrats didn't want him to run again in 2024, long before the 7 October attack and Israel's subsequent genocide in Gaza.
But Gaza set key constituencies against Biden in huge numbers. Polls might have only shown a drop of a few percentage points, but any political observer worth their salt understood that Biden had little chance of winning.
The disastrous debate performance was the final straw.
So now we have Harris going against Donald Trump.
There are some very clear differences between those two candidates that will determine, for many people, how to choose between them. But on Palestine, and particularly on the genocide in Gaza, there is a lot of speculation about what Harris might do, for better or worse.
Two questions need to be addressed: One, is Harris any better than Biden on Palestine? And two, is it possible for Trump to be worse?
Read more: Will Kamala Harris make any difference on Gaza? by Mitchell Plitnick
Israeli forces have killed at least 39 Palestinians and wounded 93 more in the past 24 hours, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
This brings the Palestinian death toll since 7 October to 39,363, with more than 90,923 wounded and an estimated 10,000 missing, likely dead and buried under rubble.
Health officials report that around 70 percent of the victims are children and women.
German airline group Lufthansa said Monday it had suspend its services to Beirut until 5 August after Israel threatened reprisals for a deadly rocket strike over the weekend.
The group's flights to Lebanon were cancelled as a result of "current developments in the Middle East", a Lufthansa spokesman told AFP.
It was reported earlier that Lufthansa has suspend flights to Beirut up to and including 30 July.
Reporting by AFP and MEE
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been forced to flee their shelters "almost every day" due to repeated Israeli displacement orders, with nowhere safe to go, Unrwa said on Monday.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said these orders have impacted 86 percent of the Gaza Strip.
People in #Gaza are exhausted. Almost every day they are forced to flee their makeshift shelters, with nowhere safe to go: only 14% of the #GazaStrip has not been impacted by evacuation orders from the Israeli authorities.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) July 29, 2024
This has to stop: Gaza needs a #CeasefireNow https://t.co/tsZgMLmcHm
Israel has included "fundamental changes" to the ceasefire proposal, a senior Israeli official told Channel 12.
It is doubtful that mediators will pass the latest version of the proposal to Hamas, the report added.
“It is very doubtful that this proposal will pass the mediators. It is doubtful that they will agree to roll the proposal over to Hamas in light of the fundamental change in it,” the unnamed senior official said.
According to multiple media reports, Israel has presented three new major changes to the proposal, including placing an inspection mechanism on the return of displaced Palestinians from south to north Gaza.
Israel also wants to maintain a presence along the Egypt-Gaza border and demands a list of living captives that would be released in the first phase of the deal.
