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

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.

In a statement posted on social media, the Canadian foreign ministry expressed strong opposition to Israel's actions.

"Canada firmly opposes the government of Israel’s decision to approve new settlements in the West Bank. Unilateral actions, such as financially weakening the Palestinian Authority and expanding settlements, are in contravention of international law," the statement reads.

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

In a statement released on Monday, the group urged mediators to step in and address what it described as Netanyahu's "maneuvers and crimes."

The promotion of a K-pop event taking place in Israel ahead of a state-sponsored festival in South Korea has sparked outrage and calls for a boycott from fans of the genre, who are accusing Seoul of "artwashing genocide".  

The K-Pop World Festival, an annual Korean pop talent competition hosted by the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), is an initiative that utilises the popularity of Korean culture - commonly referred to as the "Korean wave" - to promote the country globally.

Korean embassies around the world are responsible for organising a preliminary regional round, and selected finalists then make their way to the stage in South Korea.

After the South Korean embassy in Israel started promoting tickets for the 15 July auditions, K-pop fans took to social media in anger and called for boycotts with the hashtags #KpopFestivalOutWithZionism and #NoToArtwashingInKpop.

Read more: K-Pop World Festival: Fans criticise Israel's participation

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.

The statement says the moves are “extremely serious” and threaten the stability of the region. 

“Israeli colonization of the Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, constitutes a violation of international law,” said France.

“In addition to being a major obstacle to any just and lasting peace, this policy fuels tensions on the ground as violence perpetrated by settlers increases against the Palestinian population,” it added.

The armed wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have claimed attacks on several Israeli military targets across Gaza.

PIJ's Al-Quds Brigades said it destroyed two Israeli military vehicles in Tal al-Hawa, while Hamas's Qassam Brigades said it struck a group of soldiers with homemade 114mm short-range “Rajum” rockets in the so-called Netzarim Corridor, west of Gaza City. 

Meanwhile, Al-Quds Brigades claimed it shelled an Israeli military command centre in the Netzarim Corridor.

The Centre for Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights “Hurryyat” has accused the Israeli authorities of using "starvation tactics" against Palestinian detainees at a Ofer prison outside Ramallah.

The organisation reported that many detainees had shed significant amounts of weight and were violently punished by Israeli prison authorities if they asked for more food.

On 26 June, Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said he had ordered a further reduction in prisoner food rations, justifying the move as a "deterrent measure" to prevent Palestinians from committing "terrorist acts."

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.

Netanyahu has authorised his officials to resume negotiating a possible deal with Hamas to end the fighting in Gaza and swap Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners.

Some far-right partners in his coalition have said they will quit if the war ends before Israel has eradicated Hamas and freed the captive, an outcome that could bring down Netanyahu's government.

Yair Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid party, said at a meeting of his parliamentary faction: "There's a hostages deal on the table. It is not true that Netanyahu has to choose between the hostages deal and the continuation of his tenure as prime minister."

"Let him do the deal," Lapid said. "I promised him a safety net and I will keep that promise," he said, referring to a scenario if Netanyahu's coalition partners quit.

He said that was a difficult decision to make, given his opposition to Netanyahu, but "the most important thing is to bring the hostages home."

The two far-right parties in Netanyahu's coalition that are most implacably opposed to a ceasefire deal have a combined 13 seats in the Israeli parliament, while Lapid's party has 24 seats, according to the parliament's website.

Reporting by Reuters 

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.

"This deal is a defeat and humiliation of Israel," Smotrich told a meeting of the party he leads, which is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition.

"Mr Prime Minister, this is not an absolute victory. This is total failure. We will not be part of a deal of surrender to Hamas."

Reporting by Reuters

The level of destruction across the Gaza Strip is "unfathomable" Unrwa said on Monday.

"Houses, schools, hospitals and infrastructure have been turned to rubble," the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said in a post on X. 

At least 520 displaced Palestinians taking shelter at Unrwa facilities have been killed, it added. 

The level of destruction across the #GazaStrip is unfathomable. Houses, schools, hospitals and infrastructure have been turned to rubble.

Around 190 @UNRWA facilities have been impacted. At least 520 displaced people sheltering in our buildings have been killed. #CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/zfdiIn2Gw0

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) July 8, 2024

The University of Leicester’s Palestine Society has criticised the Global South Network’s invitation to Israeli Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ronnen to address an online event hosted at the university.

Ronen is one of 15 justices in Israel’s Supreme Court and has been involved in a number of rulings that entrench the illegal occupation of Palestinian land, as well as human rights violations against Palestinians.

Last year, Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank village of Anin requestedthat the gate in the Israeli-built separation wall between their farmland and their village be opened daily instead of twice a week. Ronnen rejected their petition. 

She also ruled along with other judges this January in support of the Israeli military barring foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip. 

READ MORE: University of Leicester criticised for event with Israeli Supreme Court justice

Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of attempting to sabotage ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks by issuing a new set of “non-negotiable” demands. 

The Israeli prime minister published his five red lines on Sunday night ahead of crucial indirect talks with the Palestinian group Hamas through mediators set to take place in Doha later this week. 

He said any deal must allow Israel to return to fighting until all “goals” of the war are achieved, some of which are seen as unachievable by the Israeli military. 

Hamas has sought guarantees that an initial pause would eventually lead to a permanent end to the war.

READ MORE: Netanyahu accused of sabotaging ceasefire efforts

The Israeli army issued new evacuation orders for Palestinians living in several areas of Gaza City As its latest operations and assaults in the city continue.

The areas include the Sabra, Rimal, Tal al-Hawa, and Daraj neighbourhoods.

Residents were ordered to leave to the Mawasi "humanitarian zone", which has also previously come under Israeli attacks.

Art has always played an essential role in Palestinian resistance to Israel’sattempts at symbolic and factual erasure. Palestinians protest, testify and document creatively through stories, music and videos circulating on social media, among other things.

However, Palestinians cannot tell their stories unhindered. Palestinian perspectives are marginalised, questioned, or supplanted by Israeli ones.

European guilt for the Shoah and the persistence of the Zionist myth of the return to the promised land have strongly hindered different perspectives on Israel’s establishment in the Global North.

Israel’s dominant narrative has overruled the reality of Palestinian victims of the Nakba, i.e. the transformation of historic Palestine into the state of Israel, established on 78 percent of its territory.

READ MORE: How Palestinian writing fights erasure

Gaza's health ministry said that 40 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on the enclave in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 38,193 since 7 October.

Additionally, 87,903 people have been wounded since the start of the war.

A letter published in the medical journal, the Lancet, estimates that the actual death toll of Palestinians killed in Gaza could exceed 186,000.

The official death toll of Palestinians killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October is 38,153, according to Gaza's health ministry.

However, the letter, published on Friday, emphasised that this figure is likely a dramatic underestimate and does not account for the thousands of people buried under the rubble or for the mounting “indirect” deaths as a result of Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s food distribution, healthcare and sanitation systems.

“The total death toll is expected to be large given the intensity of this conflict; destroyed health-care infrastructure; severe shortages of food, water, and shelter; the population’s inability to flee to safe places; and the loss of funding to UNRWA, one of the very few humanitarian organizations still active in the Gaza Strip," the letts said.

READ MORE: Death toll from Israeli assault could exceed 186,000, Lancet warns