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

The head of Hamas' political wing, Ismail Haniyeh, said on Tuesday that "If Israel thinks that harming my family members will change my position and the resistance to the occupation, then it is delusional."

Haniyeh added that every person killed in the Gaza Strip is like a family member to him.

On cease-fire and hostage release negotiations, Haniyeh said that "Hamas showed great flexibility and agreed to all the proposals for a cease-fire on the condition of the war ending and [the Israeli army] withdrawing from the Strip. We stand by our principles, and any agreement must include a full cease-fire."

Haniyeh's statement follows the killing of his sister by Israeli forces on Tuesday. 

According to medical sources, at least 10 people of the Haniyeh family were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their home in the Beach refugee camp, western Gaza City.

Over the past several days, a New York-based Palestinian organisation has faced a slew of attacks for protesting a scheduled rally in the Bronx for progressive politicians Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman and Bernie Sanders.

The political rally came at a sensitive time for Bowman, who faces a serious primary challenger in George Latimer, a more centrist Democrat who has received the backing of Aipac, the largest pro-Israel lobby in America.

Within Our Lifetime (WOL), which organised Saturday's counterrally, had several demands for Bowman, namely to rescind his endorsement of President Joe Biden, stop equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism, and to recognise the Palestinian right to resist and the right for liberation.

Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of WOL, told Middle East Eye that they weren't calling on constituents to not vote for Bowman, but rather the rally was a call to hold him accountable after the congressman had branded himself as being pro-Palestine.

Read more: A protest against Jamaal Bowman revealed the limits of progressive support for Palestine

A Palestinian child, Azzam al-Shaer, died of malnutrition as a "result of the ongoing hunger war practiced by Israel" in Gaza, a Al-Jazeera journalist reported on Tuesday in a post on X. 

Israel’s war in Gaza has reduced the besgied territory’s health system, leaving staff unable to treat malnourished children.

A report published Tuesday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which assesses global food insecurity and malnutrition, warned that almost all of Gaza will face famine within the next three months.

The German Ministry of Education has drawn up lists of professors who don't toe the government line on Gaza in a bid to deprive them of future funding in academia, a move that is likely to stifle academic freedom.

The revelations were made by the German broadcaster Das Erste on Monday and included controversial details, including resistance from some academics reticent about informing on their colleagues.

One of the emails from an academic warns the Ministry of Education: "I do not want to hide from you that it caused great unease among colleagues to mark names on lists. In my view, this statement is absolutely covered by the right to freedom of expression."

"If you still want to have the list sent to you, then of course I will do that," said the academic in reference to pro-Palestinian statements made by some academics.

In response to the concerns expressed, the ministry replied: "Good moning. I find this attitude very difficult, to put it mildly. I ask you to follow our wishes."

An investigation highlighting the Israeli military’s targeting of journalists in Gaza has heaped further pressure on the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), which has come under fire for rescinding an award from Palestinian reporter Maha Hussaini last week. 

The Guardian published a report on Tuesday into Israel’s loosening of its interpretations of the laws of war, including by considering some journalists to be legitimate targets. 

At least 103 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel’s war on Gaza since 7 October, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Other organisations believe the number is higher. 

The Guardian noted that Israeli officials had consistently characterised journalists killed in Gaza as “terrorists”, while providing little evidence. 

The investigation comes just days after IWMF withdrew its Courage in Journalism Award from Hussaini, who was initially awarded the prize on 10 June for her reporting for Middle East Eye in war-torn Gaza. 

Following false allegations made by conservative US publication the Washington Free Beacon, the IWMF rescinded the award. 

Read more: Report on Israeli targeting of journalists adds to scrutiny of women’s foundation

The Israeli high court ruled on Tuesday that ultra-Orthodox men previously exempt from military services must be drafted, in a major blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition. 

The decree also states that ultra-Orthodox men studying in religious seminaries, known as yeshivas, can no longer receive government funding if they refuse to serve without being formally exempt. 

The military draft exemption of ultra-Orthodox men, ongoing for decades, has polarised Israelis since the early days of the state.

Members of the ultra-Orthodox community, otherwise known as the Haredim, strongly oppose service in the military, while secular and non-Orthodox Jews say the exemption violates the principle of equality.

The debate over the exemptions grew in recent months amid the Israeli wars in Gaza and Lebanon, which increased the need for additional soldiers. 

Read more: Israeli high court rules ultra-Orthodox men must serve in the military

A high risk of famine persists across the Gaza Strip as almost the entire population faces high levels of acute food insecurity or worse, including half a million suffering starvation, according to a global hunger monitor. 

The report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) published on Tuesday found that over 20 percent of Gaza's 2.2 million population households go entire days and nights without eating, amid the eight-month Israeli war and siege on Gaza. 

More than half of Palestinian households have exchanged their clothes for money to buy food, while a third have had to pick up trash to sell, the UN-backed report added. 

In March, the IPC warned that famine was imminent in Gaza, projecting it could happen by the end of May. 

The report piled pressure on Israel, which had for months imposed a tight siege on the Palestinian enclave blocking the delivery of basic life-saving food and medical items. 

Read more: Famine threat persists as half a million starving, monitor finds

Ali, in northern Gaza, goes out every day, in the midst of persistent Israeli bombs and shelling, looking for food for his family.

“My family, the kids, all of them wait for me to come and say ‘there is food’ or ‘I brought vegetables’,” the Palestinian man tells Middle East Eye. 

But most days, he says, he comes back empty-handed and despondent.

“We stopped talking about ‘When will the war be over?’ and started talking about ‘When will the food come in?’” he added. 

For over eight months, the Israeli military has imposed a tight siege on the Gaza Strip, severely limiting the flow of life-saving essential food and medical items. 

Read more: In Israeli-starved Gaza, hunger is 'worse than bombings'

Israel's capture and subsequent closure of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has prevented at least 2,000 Palestinian patients from leaving Gaza for treatement, a World Health Organisation official said on Tuesday.

Before the closure, "approcimately 50 critical patients a day left Gaza... [which] means that since the 7th of May at least 2,000 people have been unable to leave Gaza to receive medical care," said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Movement through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, nearby to the Rafah crossing, has been impeded by insecurity and logistical challenges.

Peeperkorn said that at least 10,000 people were in need of evacuation from Gaza. He said it was an underestimate, and that even more were in need of critical care for war traumas and chronic diseases.

"We need more routes for medical emergency evacuation (medevac), we would like to see Kerem Shalom and other routes also opened for medevac where patients can then be referred to the referral hospitals in East Jerusalem and the West Bank," Peeperkorn said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced 19 million euros ($20.3m) in additional aid to Gaza.

The minister, who was in Jerusalem as part of an effort to prevent the Gaza war from escalating to other fronts, also criticised some elements of Israel's government.

"Increasing settler violence is spreading fear and terror in the West Bank and digging ever deeper trenches of hatred," she said. "Parts of the Israeli government coalition are stirring up trouble and endangering long-term Israeli security interests with their aggressive settler policy."

The Gaza health ministry said that the Palestinian death toll of Israel's war on Gaza has risen to 37,658, with 32 people killed in the past 24 hours.

Additionally, 86,237 people have been wounded since the start of the war.

Around 96 percent of the Gaza Strip's population, or 2.15m people, face "high levels of acute food insecurity through September 2024", a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) shows.

While the entirety of Gaza's territory is classified as an emergency (IPC Phase 4), over 495,000 people, or 22 percent of the population, are still facing "catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 5)".

The IPC says that this phase means that households face "an extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion of coping capacities".

This prediction, which stretches from 16 June to 1 September, marks an increase from the last report from 1 May to 15 June, where 343,000 people (or 15 percent of the population) were classified in the IPC Phase 5.

As land crossings are shut down and Israel continues its assault on Gaza, very little food and aid is reaching the Palestinian population, particularly in the north.

Israel will spend the coming weeks trying to resolve the conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon and would prefer a diplomatic solution, national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said on Tuesday.

Hanegbi said his country has been discussing with US officials the possibility that an end of intense Israeli operations in Gaza might give room for an "arrangement" to be reached with Hezbollah.

Israel national security adviser: We will devote coming weeks to try to resolve Lebanon conflict, preferably with diplomacy @Reuters

— Tala Ramadan (@TalaRamadan) June 25, 2024

Dozens of Israeli reservist soldiers have signed a letter stating their unwillingness to serve with the army in Gaza.

"Following the decision to enter Rafah over a [hostage] deal, we announce that our conscience does not allow us to come forward," the letter reads.

While most of the signatories acknowledge that they are in the minority amongst their peers, some of them told Haaretz they did not see where this war was heading, particularly the operations in Rafah, which they say risked killing the hostages rather than saving them.

Certain acts, such as "indiscriminate shooting" and Israel not signing a deal with Hamas, encouraged the soldiers to sign this letter.

The signatories include 16 members of the Intelligence Corps and seven from the Home Front Command. Others come from infantry, combat engineering and armour units, while two others serveds in elite units.

While many Muslim-majority states have condemned Israel for the conduct of its war in Gaza, Azerbaijan stands out for its relative quiet.

Baku, which will soon attract more global attention as it prepares to host Cop29 in November, has long enjoyed closer ties to Israel than many of its near neighbours. In recent years, the friendship has blossomed further.

Israel is now the top destination for Azeri crude oil, while key weaponry for Baku’s victory in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war was supplied by Israel.

But ties are driven by more than just material benefits, with shared geopolitical concerns, especially regarding Iran, further oiling the relationship.

Israel calls Azerbaijan a "strategic partner", enjoying close historical ties. When Azerbaijan declared independence in 1991, Israel was one of the first states to recognise the new state. A small Jewish community in Azerbaijan, of between 7,000 and 16,000 people, ensures a cultural connection, but the political relationship has been the priority.

READ MORE: Azerbaijan: Israel’s quiet friend, opinion by Christopher Phillips