Live: Strike announced in Israel amid mounting anger at Netanyahu

A Hamas source told the Lebanese news outlet Al-Mayadeen that the Cairo talks did not achieve clear progress, as Israel demands on maintaining a presence along the Egyptian-Gaza border during the first phase of the deal.

According to the source, Hamas supports the outline proposed in early July, which US President Joe Biden laid out, and rejects any Israeli presence in the corridor.

Any hope that Kamala Harris would condition or suspend arms and funding for Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza was killed by her speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Thursday.

In front of an excitable crowd chanting “USA, USA, USA”, Harris deployed familiar language: “I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself. Because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organisation called Hamas caused on October 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.”

The references to sexual violence and the festival massacre have long been deployed as a way to legitimise Israel’s war on the whole of Gaza, which has continued for nearly a year now. 

Meanwhile, Palestinians are raped in Israeli prisons, and Israeli politicians openly say this is justified. Harris, like most US leaders, had nothing to say about it.

Read more: Kamala Harris's speech killed any hope she would end the Gaza genocide

An Israeli airstrike targeted the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood, west of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip. Casualty details are currently unknown.

Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera Arabic reported that Israeli forces stormed the town of Burqa, east of Ramallah.

Israeli forces have raided the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and the village of Marda, north of Salfit, conducting house searches, according to Wafa.

Soldiers also raided the village of Shuqba, west of Ramallah, and az-Zawiya, a town south of Qalqilya, where they detained a young man, the news agency reported.

Israel's war on Gaza, accompanied by US support, has led to mass outrage among Muslim and Arab Americans and pro-Palestinian groups who have in response mobilised against the war in numerous ways.

Massive pro-Palestine protests have been organised on a regular basis, activists have targeted arms manufacturers, and dozens of student-led Gaza solidarity encampments popped up on university campuses across the country since the war began.

Electorally, two major Muslim and Arab-led initiatives have emerged out of the response to the war.

Though these groups appear to be aligned and are often seen as interchangeable, the groups are quite distinct.

The first group, Abandon Harris (formerly Abandon Biden), has vowed to do everything in its power to get voters to turn away from Harris and the Democratic Party for its continued support for the war on Gaza.

Read more: What separates the pro-Palestinian 'Uncommitted' and 'Abandon Harris' movements?

Read more: What separates the pro-Palestinian 'Uncommitted' and 'Abandon Harris' movements?

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation in the United States, demands that the administration of US President Joe Biden condemn the recent burning of Quran copies and destruction of mosques by Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

CAIR asserts that the desecration of Islam’s sacred text further demonstrates that the Israeli actions in Gaza are targeting both Islam and the Palestinian people.

One video reportedly shows Israeli soldiers burning and tearing copies of the Quran in the Bani Saleh Mosque in northern Gaza. Another video allegedly depicts Israeli forces destroying the Grand Mosque in Khan Younis, one of Gaza’s oldest mosques.

“By once again filming themselves burning Qurans and destroying mosques, the forces of the far-right Israeli government have confirmed that their war on the Palestinian people in Gaza is also a war on Islam itself,” said CAIR’s national executive director, Nihad Awad.

“The Biden administration must condemn this religious desecration and suspend weapons transfers to the Israeli government to end its campaign of slaughter and starvation in Gaza.”

Medical sources confirmed to Al Jazeera Arabic that Israeli raids on various areas in the central and southern Gaza Strip today resulted in the deaths of at least 71 Palestinians.

This comes amid forced expulsion orders issued by the occupying Israeli forces for Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

The Biden administration rebuked sceptics of its efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza on Friday, saying a flurry of media leaks suggesting that negotiations had all but collapsed were “inaccurate”.

“The process is moving forward in the way we had outlined,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. “There has been progress made. We need now for both sides to come together and work towards implementation.”

Kirby said ongoing talks in Cairo had been “constructive”. He confirmed two of the White House's top negotiators, CIA director Bill Burns and top Middle East advisor Brett McGurk, were in Egypt's capital.

The officials met with Egyptian spy chief Abbas Kamel, as the fate of the border between Egypt and Gaza emerges as the latest stumbling block to a ceasefire deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel maintain control of the border area called the Philadelphi Corridor, putting Israel at odds with both Hamas and Egypt.

Read more: US rebukes sceptics of ceasefire talks as diplomats meet in Egypt

The Palestine Red Crescent Society reports that its medics transferred the bodies of at least 14 Palestinians to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis.

Earlier, we reported that multiple attacks in or around Khan Younis had resulted in the deaths of at least 20 people, including women and children.

The Israeli army reported that three Israelis were killed in the Gaza Strip on Friday.

Two were killed in a blast in Gaza City, while another died in a nearby battle.

This brings Israel's death toll in its war on Gaza to 340.

A Palestinian woman was wounded in an attack by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank village of Susya, near Hebron.

According to a village resident, eight settlers with face coverings, along with a few teenagers, entered the village, forced their way into homes, and assaulted the woman with a club. The group also reportedly injured a man's arm.

Israeli police stated that the attackers were dispersed, but no arrests were made— a common occurrence in such incidents, where settlers often face little to no consequences for their actions and commonly work alongside Israeli security forces.

The Palestinian residents of Susya added that the settlers vandalised a security camera and a car. The police said an investigation has been launched.

Palestinians also reported that several days ago, settlers without face coverings attacked another village resident near his home before fleeing the scene.

The UK riots that began on 30 July following the fatal stabbing of three young girls have reignited the debate over the violent threat the far-right movement poses towards vulnerable communities such as migrants and Muslims.

A wave of misinformation and rumours spread on social media in the wake of the knife attack led to vandalism against British mosques and Muslim graveyards.

The riots also came on the heels of an election campaign in which right-wing media outlets and politicians like Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform Party, scapegoated Muslims and further incited against immigrants.

A poll released last week found that 92 percent of British Muslims feel "much less safe" after the far-right riots. Many expressed fear of leaving their homes, as one in six people reported to have personally experienced a racist attack, and two-thirds stated that they witnessed one against a fellow Muslim.

Read more: UK riots: How the far-right movement became mainstream

Israeli settlers stormed the town of Rojib, east of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian media reported. It remains unclear whether any property was destroyed or if there were any injuries. 

 

 Negotiations for an end to the 10-month-long war in Gaza have recently centred around two buffer zones controlled by Israel’s military. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that under a truce agreement, there would be no Israeli withdrawal from the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors.

The Philadelphi Corridor, a buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza, has existed for more than four decades, and has been maintained on the basis of two bilateral agreements between Cairo and Israel. 

The Netzarim Corridor, meanwhile, cuts through central Gaza, and was created in recent months by Israeli forces to monitor Palestinians. 

Palestinian groups have firmly rejected Israeli demands on maintaining a military presence in the two corridors, and believe that Netanyahu added these demands to derail negotiations. 

Middle East Eye breaks down what you need to know about the two zones. 

Read more: War on Gaza: What are the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors and why do they matter?

Hamas has denounced the actions of Israeli soldiers who burned copies of the Quran during a raid on the Bani Saleh mosque in the northern Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the Palestinian group said that footage from a soldier's body camera captured the incident, which they said highlighted the "extremist nature" of Israel and its forces, accusing them of being driven by "hatred and criminality".

Hamas further asserted that the soldiers' routine practice of documenting their operations in Gaza and sharing it on social media reflected what they called a "systematic criminal policy" directed by the Israeli government.