Gaza live: Dozens killed and wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza and Yemen

Brazil has adopted a free trade agreement with the Palestinian Authority, in a show of support for the Palestinian people.

"The agreement is a concrete contribution to an economically viable Palestinian state, which can live peacefully and harmoniously with its neighbours," Brazil's foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The statement said that Brazil, which recognised a Palestinian state and allowed a Palestinian embassy to be built in its capital in 2010, ratified an agreement between the Mercosur trade bloc in South America and the PA, which had been signed in 2011.

It is not yet clear whether other Mercosur members will follow Brazil's lead. It is highly unlikely that Argentina's far-right government of President Javier Milei will adopt the agreement. 

Palestinian ambassador in Brasilia, Ibrahim al-Zeben, called the decision "courageous, supportive and timely".

The Israeli army approved a "free-for-all" for its soldiers in Gaza that allowed for the almost indiscriminate killing of civilians, according to army sources.

Israeli soldiers told +972 Magazine that they had regularly executed Palestinian civilians just for entering an area the military defined as a “no-go zone”.

Two soldiers also described a systematic policy of setting Palestinian homes on fire after occupying them.

Often, the sources said, soldiers would fire at random to blow off steam.

"I personally fired a few bullets for no reason, into the sea or at the sidewalk or an abandoned building," said an Israeli reservist who served in northern Gaza.

Read more: Israel approved 'free-for-all' killings in Gaza war

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has approved a plan to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military.

Israel's far-right coalition government relies on two ultra-Orthodox parties, whose leaders are fiercely opposed to conscription.

Israel's army is attempting to bolster its ranks as it's war on Gaza enters its tenth month. 

Following talks with senior military officials, Gallant approved their recommendations for first call-up of ultra-Orthodox men into the military over the coming month, the defence ministry said on Tuesday.

The order is for an initial screening and evaluation to determine potential recruits, it said.

Israelis are bound by law to serve in the country's military for between  24 and 32 months. Palestinian citizens of Israel are mostly exempt, while ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students have also been largely exempt.

Israel's Supreme Court ruled last month that the country must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students.

In recent months, ultra-Orthodox protesters have blocked roads and used the slogan "death before conscription".

In his latest column, Middle East Eye editor-in-chief David Hearst says that the new Labour government must recognise Palestine, refund the UN refugee agency for Palestinians (Unrwa), respect international law and engage the Muslim community. 

He writes: "The message that electorates around the western world are giving their leaders is something quite different.

In order to become credible, you have to earn it. You have to listen to what your people are telling you. Starmer glided to power by saying as little - either as an opposition leader or as an election candidate - as he could possibly say.

Does anyone remember one thing he said, one policy he proposed in this election? I can’t. 

That’s fine for getting into power, but not for staying in power. To stay in power, Starmer has to show there has in fact been a change of government. 

He notably failed to do that as leader of the opposition, where he was in lockstep with Sunak over Gaza."

You can read the full column below. 

Opinion: Starmer needs to break with the failed playbook on Palestine, Israel and Ukraine

An ex-bodyguard to Hezbollah's leader and an Iranian commander were killed in an Israeli air strike on a vehicle in the Damascus countryside along the Syria-Lebanon border, according to L'Orient Today.

Citing security sources, it reported that Hajj Abou Fadl Karanbach, a former bodyguard of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and Ali Sohani, a senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed.

Another person was wounded during the attack on Tuesday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 

Famine has spread through the Gaza Strip, with several more children having died due to malnutrition, a group of independent human rights experts mandated by the UN have said.

At least 33 children have died of malnutrition since the war began, mostly in northern Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The group of 11 rights experts cited the deaths of three children aged 13, nine and six months, from malnutrition in Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah since the end of May.

"With the death of these children from starvation despite medical treatment in central Gaza, there is no doubt that famine has spread from northern Gaza into central and southern Gaza," the experts said on Tuesday.

Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, was among the signatories to the statement.

The statement condemned "Israel's intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people".

Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva said the statement was "misinformation".

"Israel has continuously scaled up its coordination and assistance in the delivery of humanitarian aid across the Gaza Strip, recently connecting its power line to the Gaza water desalination plant," the mission said.

Shipping giant Maersk said one of its vessels was targeted by a flying object near the Gulf of Aden early on Tuesday.

No injuries to the crew or damage to the ship were reported on the Maersk Sentosa vessel, the shipping giant told Reuters.

The captain of an unnamed merchant ship reported an explosion close to the vessel off the coast of Yemen, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Tuesday.

Yemen's Houthi movement has launched drone and missile attacks on global shipping in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab Strait and Gulf of Aden since November, as an act of solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli bombardment.

Hezbollah released a new nearly 10-minute long video of its "hoopoe" drone series, this time showing its drone filming several Israeli military and civilian sites in the occupied Golan Heights.

The first video, released weeks ago, focused largely on Haifa and other surrounding areas in northern Israel.

#بالفيديو | الإعلام الحربي في المقاومة الإسلامية ينشر مشاهد إستطلاع جوي لقواعد استخبارات ومقرات قيادية ومعسكرات في #الجولان العربي السوري المحتل عادت بها طائرات القوة الجوية في المقاومة الإسلامية.#الميادين #الهدهد pic.twitter.com/VImIZ2GYXP

— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) July 9, 2024

Gaza's health ministry said that the Palestinian death toll from Israel's war on Gaza has risen to 38,243, with 50 people killed in the past 24 hours.

Additionally, 88,033 people have been wounded since the start of the war on 7 October.

Syria's defence ministry said in a statement that while the overnight Israeli strike on Baniyas caused material damages, no casualties were reported.

"At approximately 12:20 am (21:20 GMT)… the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea… targeting a site near the city of Baniyas," the ministry said.

A new investigation by Israeli outlets +972 Magazine and Local Call has found that Israeli soldiers have been shooting Palestinians, including civilians "virtually at will" during their operations in Gaza.

Israeli soldiers told the outlets of near-total absence of firing regulations, "with troops shooting as they please, setting homes ablaze, and leaving corpses on the streets" all with their commanders's blessings.

"There was total freedom of action," B., an anonymous soldier who served in Gaza, said. "If there is [even] a feeling of threat, there is no need to explain — you just shoot."

B. said that when someone is approaching. "it is permissible to shoot at their centre of mass [their body], not into the air. It’s permissible to shoot everyone, a young girl, an old woman."

Even when dealing with Israeli hostages in Gaza, soldiers "didn’t have a specific directive", as the incident in which the army accidentally killed three hostages did not cause any significant changes to the open-fire regulations.

Soldiers even freely fired at civilians entering so-called "no-go zones", and their corpses are often left to rot, only removed ahead of the arrival of humanitarian aid convoys so that "images of people in advanced stages of decay don’t come out".

A school for Palestinian children demolished by Israeli authorities in Hebron Hills, occupied West Bank was funded by a consortium of donor governments from Europe, the UK and Canada, reports find.

Martin Konecny, director of the Brussels-based EuMEP (European Middle East Project) advocacy group, said the unwillingness of governments "to hold Israel to account is emboldening it to continue and accelerate these crimes".

Yehuda Shaul, co-director of Ofek – The Israeli Center for Public Policy, shared an image showing the several donor governments who contributed to building the school, which catered to 60 children from kindergarten to fourth grade.

@MartinKonecny you're right. The school was built from international aid given by various international donors. Here's a picture of the sign of donors that was stuck on the now demolished school building. https://t.co/jSUfBbyoqK pic.twitter.com/apODtfZauD

— Yehuda Shaul (@YehudaShaul) July 9, 2024

An Israeli strike on the Freih family home in Nuseirat, central Gaza, killed seven people, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza reports.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates:

• Several Palestinians have been killed and wounded in an Israeli strike on a home in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza
• Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City was forced to shut down after Israeli soldiers made patients and medical personnel leave the hospital
• One young man and three children were injured by shrapnel during the Israeli army's storming of the Askar refugee camp in the occupied West Bank
• Israel launched an attack on Syria's port city of Baniyas
• The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it attacked southern Israel's Eilat with drones

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

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• Gaza death toll rises to 38,193, additionally, 87,903 people have been wounded since the start of the war

• The Guardian reports that the new Labour government is expected to drop a challenge recently submitted to the International Criminal Court questioning the court's request for an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

• Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday that a ceasefire and a prisoner swap deal under discussion to end the war in Gaza would constitute a defeat for Israel and he wants no part of it

• Medical sources have told Al Jazeera that 436 cancer patients have died due to the siege on the Gaza Strip and the lack of treatment since the start of the war

• The head of Israel's biggest opposition party said on Monday he would lend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his support in parliament to keep him in office if members of the ruling coalition quit over a ceasefire deal

• Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of obstructing ceasefire negotiations during ongoing discussions aimed at ending the conflict in Gaza

• France “strongly condemns” Israel’s recognition of five new settlements which would see thousands of new homes being built in the occupied West Bank. Israel also declared thousands of hectares of land in the Jordan Valley as state land

• Canada has called on Israel to reconsider its approval of new settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, arguing that the decision violates international law

• According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), at least 196 of its workers have been killed by Israel since the start of war