Gaza live: Israeli protesters demand ceasefire as war enters 10th month

Israeli forces displaced at least 60,000 people from Gaza City on Thursday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.

"Humanitarian partners are reporting new displacement… Yesterday, the Israeli military ordered people living in 28 residential blocks in areas east of Gaza City to immediately evacuate… At least 60,000 people were displaced from this area, which spans over seven square kilometres," Dujarric told reporters.

US defence and intelligence officials are concerned that an Israeli invasion of Lebanon could further ignite Iran's allies in the region and cement Tehran's military cooperation with Russia.

The fears of what current and former US officials described to Middle East Eye as "secondary" and "tertiary" effects of an Israeli ground attack on Hezbollah are being driven by US intelligence that claims Russia is considering stepping up its support for Iran's so-called Axis of Resistance.

In Yemen, Russian President Vladimir Putin has considered providing Houthi rebel fighters with anti-ship ballistic cruise missiles, a senior US official told MEE, citing intelligence, and speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive report.

"If Israel attacks inside Lebanon it would likely prompt a further deepening of the military relationship that Iran has with Russia in order to help Hezbollah defend itself," William Usher, a former senior Middle East analyst at the CIA, told MEE.

READ MORE: US officials concerned Israeli offensive on Hezbollah could drag in Russia

"Kamal Adwan Hospital will cease operations in the coming hours if the much-needed fuel to power the generators is not provided," the hospital's director Hussam Abu Safiya told Anadolu news agency on Friday.

The hospital's closure will mean the death of patients, including babies in the nursery unit, he added.

In recent days, dozens of children have been admitted to the hospital due to malnutrition.

On Friday morning, a blood donation campaign for Gaza in Amman, Jordan, saw a large turnout of citizens and union members.

More than 4,000 citizens applied to donate blood.

The unions had called on all members of society to participate in the blood donation campaign, following calls from all hospitals in northern Gaza, which are suffering from a severe blood shortage after 266 days of relentless bombing on the besieged enclave.

Helicopters were seen evacuating Israelis from Rafah and Shujaiya more than once, according to media reports.

"Al-Qassam fighters are engaged in fierce close quarter combat with enemy forces invading the Shujaiya neighbourhood, east of Gaza City, causing deaths and injuries among their ranks, which have been evacuated in helicopters," the Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, published in a statement.

Israeli settlers have stormed and occupied a house belonging to a prominent Islamic endowment in Jerusalem, prompting threats of legal action.

Video footage released on social media appeared to show the house, owned by the waqf (endowment) of Muhammad Ali al-Khalidi, being forced into by Israeli settlers under police protection:

@manc.palestine.action ♬ original sound - Manchester Palestine Action

In a statement, the custodians of the waqf said they would be taking legal action over the incident, which occured as the property was left temporarily vacant after the former occupant died.

"This case will be pursued by all available legal means by the custodians of the waqf, as there is no denying the ownership of the house, notwithstanding false allegations that the property was purchased," they said.

"As a waqf property, it cannot be sold and is the property of the Khalidi family. The Khalidi family custodians of the waqf are intent on confronting this assault and promptly evicting the occupiers."

The Council of the European Union has announced sanctions on entities linked to members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

In a statement, the body said it was listing six individuals and three entities responsible for participating in the financing of Hamas and PIJ or "enabling their violent actions."

Among those sanctioned was Jamil Yusuf Ahmad Aliyan, a PIJ official and leader of the Muhjat AlQuds Foundation, which the council described as an "Iran-funded organisation whose primary mission is to provide financial support to the families of PIJ fighters and prisoners."

In addition they said they were listing Ali Morshed Shirazi, a senior member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Quds Force (IRGC-QF) official serving as Bureau Chief of the Palestine Branch.

"With today’s listings, a total of 12 individuals and three entities are sanctioned under the framework of restrictive measures against Hamas and the PIJ," said the council.

"Those listed under the sanctions regime are subject to an asset freeze. The provision of funds or economic resources, directly or indirectly, to them is prohibited. Additionally, a travel ban to the EU applies to the natural persons listed."

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) has warned that nearly 100,000 tonnes of rotting waste is piling up near displacement camps in central Gaza, risking the further spread of disease.

“It’s among the population and it’s building up without anywhere to go. It just keeps getting worse," said Unrwa aid worker Louise Wateridge, speaking to journalists via videolink.

"And with the temperatures rising, it’s really adding misery to the living conditions here."

She added that humanitarian missions such as waste collection had effectively halted due to Israeli refusals to allow fuel imports.

Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's move to promote Israeli settlements in the West Bank is aimed a pursuing a "war of genocide" against Palestinians.

Smotrich announced earlier today that the Israeli security cabinet approved his proposal to legalise five West Bank outposts and sanction the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli government did not confirm his statement.

Abu Youssef said the settlements were "illegal colonies that violate all international resolutions".

"The decisions by the occupation government aim to pursue the war of genocide against our Palestinian people," he told Reuters.

What will be the outcome of the complaint filed on 17 April by three NGOs before the French anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office in Paris against a French-Israeli soldier for alleged crimes of torture and acts of barbarism in Gaza?

The soldier, who is believed to be from Lyon, in east-central France, has been identified as the author of a video posted on social media at the end of March that has sparked outrage and condemnations.

The video purportedly shows Israeli soldiers making Palestinian detainees get off a truck. The prisoners, believed to have been kidnapped in Gaza, are blindfolded and dressed in white jumpsuits. Some have their suits undone and appear shirtless.

One can hear the person filming the video insulting them in French: “fuckers”, “sons of bitches”, “motherfuckers”, “bunch of bitches”.

“You saw those little sons of bitches there, look, he pissed himself,” the French-speaking man says.

READ MORE: Can the complaint against a French-Israeli soldier accused of torture succeed?

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox public and leadership were prepared for the High Court’s verdict on Tuesday.

They were not surprised that the court ruled members of their community were not exempt from military service.

They expected this decision, knowing which way it was heading, and some even anticipated a worse outcome.

The court also ruled that the state could no longer fund ultra-Orthodox education services, a severe blow to a community reliant on such aid. But some ultra-Orthodox Jews, known in Hebrew as the Haredim, had feared the court would impose severe sanctions on students of religious seminaries, yeshivas, who refuse to enlist.

READ MORE: Israel’s ultra-Orthodox leaders failed. That’s why they may stick with Netanyahu

A trio of rights group is suing the Dutch government again, arguing that a ban on supplying F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel is not being respected.

In a landmark verdict in February, an appeals court ordered the Netherlands to stop delivering parts of fighter jets used by Israel in its war on Gaza.

The court said at the time there was a "clear risk" that these planes would be involved in the breaking of international humanitarian law.

The rights groups returning to court say the order has not stopped the jet parts from ending up in Israeli planes.

"Unfortunately, everything indicates that these parts end up in Israel from the Netherlands via other routes," said Oxfam Novib, one of the groups involved in the case.

The Dutch government "has continued delivering (parts) to other countries, including the United States. And that contravenes the order of the court," Liesbeth Zegveld, a lawyer representing the rights groups, told the court.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said that over 625,000 children in Gaza have been out of school for more than eight months due to Israel's war on the enclave.

It adds that 300,000 of them were Unrwa students prior to the war.

"Play and learning activities provided by Unrwa teams are critical in preparing children to get back to school and restore their right to education," the agency said on X.

More than 625,000 children in #Gaza have been out of school for over 8 months – 300,000 of them were @UNRWA students before the war

Play and learning activities provided by @UNRWA teams are critical in preparing children to get back to school and restore their right to education pic.twitter.com/lRTbSFpYFW

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) June 28, 2024

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that the security cabinet had approved his proposal to legalise five West Bank outposts and implement a series of sanctions on the Palestinian Authority (PA).

However, there has been no official confirmation from the Israeli government or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.

The five outposts set to be legalised are "Evyatar in the northern West Bank, Sde Efraim and Givat Asaf in the central West Bank, and Heletz and Adorayim in the southern part of the territory", according to The Times of Israel.

The reported sanctions on the PA include the cancellation of exit visas for PA officials, restrictions on their movement and the transfer of enforcement responsibilities from the PA to Israel over a nature preserve in the Judean desert.

At least 11 Palestinians have been killed and 40 wounded in an Israeli army attack on the al-Mawasi area near Rafah, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

Al-Mawasi serves as a shelter for displaced Palestinians in Gaza and was designated as a humanitarian zone by Israel.