Live: Strike announced in Israel amid mounting anger at Netanyahu

The Israeli rights group, B'tselem has published footage of an Israeli settler threatening to rape a Palestinian during an eviction attempt near Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

The footage shows a group of masked settlers trying to evict a man and his wife from their land in the Wadi Tarhim area near Hebron.

In the video, one of the settlers is heard saying to the Palestinian man that he wishes he would meet him in Sde Teiman prison, where Israeli forces subject detainees to sexual assault.

“Rape in the name of God, as they say. You understand what I mean?” the settler says.

The assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh has once again underscored Israel’s lack of strategic direction. 

Tel Aviv has proven itself incapable of being a partner in any framework of peace, stability or cooperation. It remains incapable of interrogating its past, confronting its present, or envisioning a clear future. 

Israel is caught in the liminal space of being a project and a state, juxtaposed between an apartheid regime and a democratic nation, straddling the line between a start-up country and a mature nation. It oscillates between historical prophecy and modern reality, balancing the dichotomy of religious fanaticism and rule of law. 

It is an ethnocratic and overtly racist state, but it is heralded by western capitals as the “only democracy in the Middle East”. While actively engaged in ethnic cleansing, it simultaneously clamours for its “right to exist”.

This identity crisis feeds a vicious cycle. This mindset, which has long believed that Palestinian resistance can be quelled through occupation, massacres, exile, genocide and assassinations, will inevitably escalate the conflict.

The existence of Israel as a project in the Middle East is not particularly striking. Amid regional countries emerging from the wreckage of world wars, themselves still nascent states, the fact that the victorious powers forcibly established Israel in the Middle East was unsurprising. It was a challenging endeavour, but one realised with the unwavering support of the victors. 

What is truly remarkable is the Palestinian resistance that has persisted for nearly a century, despite the overwhelming asymmetry in military, economic and diplomatic power.

Read more: Israel is rudderless, and Washington is going down with the ship by Taha Ozhan

The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for a three-day hhumanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to enable polio vaccinations. 

"The quick spread of polio threatens all children in Gaza, already weakened by displacement, deprivation and malnourishment," Borrell said on X. 

"I urge an immediate 3-day humanitarian ceasefire to enable vaccination by WHO and UNICEF – independent of wider negotiations.

"Our humanity demands it."

The quick spread of polio threatens all children in Gaza, already weakened by displacement, deprivation & malnourishment.

I urge an immediate 3-day humanitarian ceasefire to enable vaccination by @WHO & @UNICEF – independent of wider negotiations.

Our humanity demands it.

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) August 27, 2024

Iran will support any ceasefire deal agreed by Hamas, the country’s foreign minister told his Qatari counterpart on Monday, a day after the latest round of negotiations with Israel faltered.

Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani travelled to Tehran to brief the Iranian government on the latest developments in the mediation efforts to end Israel's military campaign in Gaza and tensions in the region. 

“We will support any agreement that our friends in the Palestinian resistance and Hamas approve,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Thani, according to the Iranian foreign ministry.

Read more: Iran to back any Gaza ceasefire deal agreed by Hamas, foreign minister says 

Hundreds of Palestinians with cancer, evacuated to Egypt during the Gaza war, are either going without medical treatment or receiving limited care in Egyptian hospitals, Middle East Eye can reveal.

According to a survey carried out by the Gaza-based cancer charity Towards Hope and Peace, at least 361 Palestinian cancer patients say they are not receiving the medical assistance they need after leaving the embattled Gaza Strip for Egypt.

Many of the patients and family members, including some of the dozen MEE interviewed, said they were told before leaving Gaza that they would be taken to third countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, for further treatment.

Egypt, which has taken around 6,000 Palestinian patients from Gaza into their hospitals since last October, was only intended to be a stop along the way.

But doctors and NGO staff say medical evacuations taking Palestinian patients out of Egypt have dwindled since this spring, leaving many stuck in facilities without cancer specialists, equipment or necessary medicine.

"We are left alone and dumped here," Linda Abu Mansi, a 24-year-old photographer who is now the caretaker of her 19-year-old sister, Hend, who has breast cancer, told MEE.

Read more: Palestinian cancer patients stranded in Egypt struggle to find care 

Israeli forces have killed at least 41 Palestinians and wounded 113 others in the past 24 hours, according to the Palestinian health ministry. 

This brings the death toll since 7 October to 40,476, with more than 93,647 wounded and an estimated 10,000 missing, likely dead and buried under rubble.

Health officials report that over 50 percent of the victims are children and women.

Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 30 Palestinians so far on Tuesday morning, according to Palestinian media. 

Saudi Arabia has condemned Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's call to build a synagogue in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem. 

Riyadh described the call as part of "extremist and inflammatory statements" made by Israeli officials as of "ongoing provocations of the feelings of Muslims around the world". 

“The kingdom stresses the need to respect the historical and legal status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, renewing its call to the international community to assume its responsibilities in putting an end to the humanitarian catastrophe endured by the brotherly Palestinian people and activating serious mechanisms to hold Israeli officials accountable for the ongoing violations of international laws, norms and resolutions,” the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry said. 

#بيان | تعرب وزارة الخارجية عن إدانة المملكة العربية السعودية تصريح وزير في حكومة الاحتلال الإسرائيلي دعا فيه لإقامة كنيس يهودي في المسجد الأقصى المبارك. pic.twitter.com/JRgmr4avT5

— وزارة الخارجية 🇸🇦 (@KSAMOFA) August 26, 2024

Activists and families of Israeli captives blocked the key Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv on Tuesday morning, calling for a ceasefire deal with Hamas to exchange captives for Palestinian prisoners.  

Signs held by protesters accused Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu of "burying the captives" and "abandonment".

מפגינים בעד עסקה להשבת החטופים, בהם משפחות חטופים, חוסמים את איילון דרום סמוך למחלף השלוםhttps://t.co/0ihjuMHdh8 | @OrRavid pic.twitter.com/MHGZD98RUI

— החדשות - N12 (@N12News) August 27, 2024

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest updates from Israel's war on Gaza, now in its 325th day: 

• Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 12 people on Tuesday morning, according to local media reports. Five people were killed in an attack in Gaza City, while seven others were killed in central Gaza's Maghazi refugee camp. Strikes were also reported in Khan Younis. 

• Israeli attacks that killed scores of civilians in Rafah earlier this year should be investigated as war crimes, Amnesty International said on Tuesday. Israeli tanks shelling a makeshift camp for internally displaced in the Israeli-designated "humanitarian zone" people killed at least 23 civilians, an investigation by the human rights group found. 

• America's top general, Charles Q. Brown Jr., has said the risk of a broader war in the Middle East between Israel and Hezbollah has "somewhat" eased. 

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

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• Gaza's health ministry said that 40,435 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the enclave since 7 October, 30 of them in the last 24 hours

• Five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank on Monday, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement

• Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has said that if he could, he would build a synagogue on the Al-Asqa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem

• The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said that only three out of 18 of central Gaza's Deir al-Balah water wells are functioning, leading to an 85 percent water shortfall

• The first batch of polio vaccines has arrived in the Gaza Strip, weeks after alarms were raised over the first confirmed case of the disease in the enclave in the past 25 years

• White House national security spokesperson John Kirby announced on Monday that negotiations underway in Cairo to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza will continue for the next few days as parties try to overcome differences

• The Israeli military said that its fighter jets had conducted more attacks against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon hours after it announced it

• Palestinian journalist Ali Nayef Ta’ima was killed on Monday in Gaza, according to the Government Media Office, bringing the total number of journalists killed since 7 October to 171

• Israeli settlers shot dead one Palestinian and wounded three others in the occupied West Bank's Bethlehem, the Palestinian health ministry said early on Tuesday local time

Palestinian journalist Ali Nayef Ta’ima was killed on Monday in Gaza, according to the Government Media Office, bringing the total number of journalists killed since 7 October to 171.

Ta’ima was killed after an Israeli air strike targeted a civilian vehicle he was riding in the al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

“The Government Media Office condemns in the strongest terms the targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists by the ‘Israeli’ occupation,” it said, adding that Ta’ima had worked with several media outlets.

Israeli settlers shot dead one Palestinian and wounded three others in the occupied West Bank's Bethlehem, the Palestinian health ministry said early on Tuesday local time. 

“As the school year is just about to begin, Columbia SJP has been permanently banned from Instagram. Our account was permanently deleted at 124k followers at the same time as our backup account, and when we made a new page it was deleted within 2 days”, a post on X by the group reads.

As the school year is just about to begin, Columbia SJP has been permanently banned from Instagram. Our account was permanently deleted at 124k followers at the same time as our backup account, and when we made a new page it was deleted within 2 days.

— Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (@ColumbiaSJP) August 26, 2024

Students and faculty who use the term "Zionist" when criticising support for Israel may be violating New York University’s updated hate speech policies, Haaretz reported on Monday.

“Using code words, like ‘Zionist,’ does not eliminate the possibility that your speech violates the NDAH [nondiscrimination and anti-harassment] policy,” according to NYU’s new student community standards, which were published late last week.