Gaza live: Fresh Israeli order forces over 170,000 Palestinians to leave their homes

Israeli member of parliament Zvi Sukkot, a member of the far-right Religious Zionist Party, said Israel should act in the occupied West Bank the same way it is acting in the Gaza Strip.

"We still see processions of armed men," he said. "Maybe we are waiting for them to try to shoot someone? This is a disturbing event, an unacceptable reality. Nablus should look like Rafah as long as it exports terror, Tulkarm like Khan Younis, Jenin like Jabalia."

Israeli forces have killed at least 620 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the war on Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

"התחושה ביהודה ושומרון שלא נפל האסימון כמו שנפל בעזה. אנחנו עדיין רואים תהלוכות של חמושים. אולי אנחנו מחכים שהם ינסו לירות במישהו? זה אירוע מטריד, מציאות בלתי מתקבלת על הדעת. שכם צריכה להיראות כמו רפיח כל עוד היא מייצאת טרור, טול כרם כמו חאן יונס, ג'נין כמו ג'באליה"@tzvisuccot pic.twitter.com/DkOeHJvcLk

— ערוץ כנסת (@KnessetT) August 8, 2024

Palestine's foreign ministry released a statement demanding the International Criminal Court (ICC) issue an arrest warrant for Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Smotrich had made a statement in which he said his government should allow the starvation of two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which he says would be justified, but that the international community would not allow it.

"Smotrich’s statements are an explicit admission of adopting and bragging about the policy of genocide," the ministry said, adding that the comments are a "direct expression of the ugliest forms of fascism".

Following the aid organisation World Central Kitchen (WCK)'s announcement of the death of Palestinian worker Nadi Sallout in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, the Israeli army said it was unaware of any incident that involved harm to an aid worker.

"According to a preliminary examination and the information emerging from the conversation with the WCK organisation, there is no known incident of harm to an employee of the organisation while working in the last few days," the military said.

The Israeli army and the Shin Bet intelligence agency said they have killed Hamas fighter Nael Sakhl in a recent attack on the Gaza Strip.

The military claimed on X that Sakhl was killed in an attack on 24 July.

It says Sakhl directed attacks against Israelis in the occupied West Bank.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas on the matter.

Nagasaki's mayor said on Thursday it was "unfortunate" that US and British ambassadors have refused to attend a ceremony marking the 1945 atomic bombing of the Japanese city because Israel was snubbed.

But he defended the decision not to invite Israel to Friday's annual event, repeating that it was "not political" but to avoid possible protests related to the Gaza conflict.

"It is unfortunate that they have communicated to us that their ambassadors are not able to attend," Shiro Suzuki told reporters.

"We made a comprehensive decision not for political reasons. We want to conduct a smooth ceremony in a peaceful and solemn environment."

Reporting by AFP

US Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris had her speech in Detroit, Michigan interrupted by pro-Palestine protesters on Wednesday.

"Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide. We won’t vote for genocide," the protesters reportedly chanted.

Harris initially responded to the protesters saying she is "here because we believe in democracy. Everyone’s voice matters, but I am speaking now. I am speaking now".

As the protest continued, the nominee changed her tone.

"You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking," she said.

Michigan has a sizable Arab American minority, many of whom disapprove of the Democratic party's handling of the war on Gaza.

Harris was criticised on social media users for the response she has chosen in what was reportedly the first rally interruption she has faced since replacing Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee.

No matter what some people might think of protests like this, condescension hasn’t historically played well for Dems. Especially in swing states like Michigan.

I’m sure the Harris campaign considered this might happen in Detroit, and it’s telling if this is their response. https://t.co/Y47MkCaZXw

— Tariq Kenney-Shawa (@tksshawa) August 8, 2024

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

• Israeli strikes on Khan Younis and Gaza City have killed six people on Wednesday night, the Wafa news agency reports
• The World Health Organisation said that it aims to vaccinate 600,000 Gaza children under the age of eight for polio
• The number of Palestinians displaced in the occupied West Bank has doubled since 7 October, reaching 3,070 due to home demolitions, settler violence and land confiscation, The UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA reports
• According to Axios, Israel told the US it would respond disproportionally should Hezbollah's retaliation for the assassination of its commander harm Israeli civilians

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• Since 7 October, the death toll stands at 39,677, with over 91,645 wounded and 10,000 missing. Around 70 percent of the victims are children and women

• Israeli attacks have killed 620 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank in the past 10 months since 7 October, the Palestinian health ministry said on Wednesday.

• The United States has communicated to Iran and Israel that conflict in the Middle East must not escalate, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday, even as the Pentagon warned that it would not tolerate attacks against its forces in the region

• Turkey has submitted its formal bid to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to join South Africa's genocide case against Israel, Anadolu news agency is reporting

• Acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri said that Iran expects support for its right to defend itself against Israeli attacks

• Pro-Israel advocacy groups and dual US-Israeli citizens have sued President Joe Biden over an executive order that imposes financial and immigration sanctions on those involved in settler violence in the occupied West Bank

• The assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh threatens to plunge the Middle East into a broader conflict, warned Gambian Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara, chair of a Saudi-based Islamic bloc, at a summit

• Reacting to the far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s suggestion on Monday that starving Palestinians in the besiged Gaza Strip is “justified and moral”, even if it leads to the deaths of two million civilians from hunger, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stated that he expects the Israeli government “to distance itself from his word”

The American and British ambassadors to Japan have announced they will skip an upcoming ceremony commemorating the victims of the US’s 1945 atomic bombing because the city’s mayor did not invite the Israeli ambassador. 

The Russian and Belarusian ambassadors have also been excluded from the event this Friday by Japanese authorities.

The Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony is intended to mark the 79th anniversary of the US atomic bomb attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima that killed tens of thousands of Japanese civilians, with many more later dying from radiation poisoning. 

The attacks in August 1945 preceded Japan’s unconditional surrender to the US and the end of the Second World War. 

Julia Longbottom, the UK’s ambassador to Japan, told local reporters that Israel is exercising self-defence in Gaza and should not be treated in the same way as Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Read more: US and UK to boycott Nagasaki bombing memorial after Israel disinvited

US Congresswoman Cori Bush has lost her primary election to the Aipac-backed candidate and St Louis City prosecutor, Wesley Bell, in what Palestinian and progressive activists say is a devastating setback to the burgeoning pro-Palestinian movement in Congress that has been building up over the past few years.

Bush, a nurse and community activist from St Louis, Missouri, who spent more than a year on the frontlines of the Ferguson protests against police brutality in 2014, was one of the most prominent voices and legislators propping up Palestinian rights, as well as labour and housing issues.

Several weeks into the war on Gaza, and as Democrats and Republicans alike were pushing for Israel to continue its assault on the Palestinian enclave, Bush led a resolution in Congress calling for a ceasefire. Several days into the war, she was calling for an end to US military aid to Israel.

Read more: What Cori Bush's loss means for pro-Palestine voices in US Congress

It's been 10 months since Israel's war on Gaza began, and Governor Tim Walz, the newly appointed vice-presidential nominee on Kamala Harris' ticket, has yet to meet with Palestinian families from his home state of Minnesota, anti-war activists have told Middle East Eye.

The accusations are in stark contrast to the public image being conjured up by the Democratic Party establishment to present Walz, along with presidential hopeful Kamala Harris, as more sympathetic and empathetic towards the carnage suffered by Palestinians over the past 10 months.

In March, Walz lauded the "uncommitted movement", describing the initiative to pressure President Joe Biden to call for a ceasefire as "engaged". 

"These are voters that are deeply concerned as we all are. The situation in Gaza is intolerable. And I think trying to find a solution, a lasting two-state solution, certainly the President’s move towards humanitarian aid and asking us to get to a ceasefire, that’s what they’re asking to be heard. And that’s what they should be doing," Walz said.

"We’ve gone through this before. And we know that now we make sure we’ve got eight months [to the election]. We start bringing these folks back in. We listen to what they’re saying," the governor added.

Read more: Anti-war activists in Minnesota: 'Governor Walz has refused to meet Palestinian families'

Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital received the body of a Palestinian killed in an attack on the nearby town of al-Qarara, according to the Palestinian news agency, Wafa.

In a separate attack, three siblings - Ahmed, Osama, and Lily Abu Khater - were killed when their home, located east of Khan Younis, was struck.

Gaza’s civil defence reported that its teams have recovered the bodies of three Palestinians killed in an attack on Yaffa Street in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City.

Pro-Israel mayor Jeremy Levi in Canada’s Quebec Province recently received permission to build a municipal security force following a call by Liberal Party of Canada MP Marco Mendicino to establish "protective zones" around members of parliaments' offices.

Levi is mayor of Hampstead, one of Quebec’s wealthiest municipalities, and a vocal supporter of Israel’s war on Gaza. He has repeatedly called for the arrest and deportation of pro-Palestinian protestors.

Levi was recently granted the power to appoint special constables “in emergencies for a period not exceeding seven days”. The special constables will have the authority to “prevent and repress offences under the municipal by-laws in all or part of the municipality's territory” under Quebec law.

What differentiates police officers from special constables is that the latter are sworn peace officers who have been granted police powers to enforce specific legislation in a specific context or area.

Read more: Canadian mayor opposed to pro-Palestinian protests allowed to appoint 'special constables'

Reports of rape, torture and abuse of Palestinian prisoners by Israel's military are deeply concerning, the White House said on Wednesday, according to a report from Reuters.

"It is essential that the rule of law and due process prevail," said White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre.

The Israeli military, which runs some detention facilities where Palestinian prisoners have been held, has rejected allegations of systematic abuse.

The UN and Israeli human rights organisations have reported that the abuse of Palestinians prisoners is widespread and systematic. 

Al-Jazeera is reporting that an Israeli attack on a house in the town of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis, has killed at least four Palestinian, including a woman.