Live: Strike announced in Israel amid mounting anger at Netanyahu
Live Updates
Israeli occupation forces have imposed a siege on the eastern neighbourhood of Jenin in the West Bank, completely restricting the movement of Palestinian citizens.
The director of Jenin Governmental Hospital told Al Jazeera:
"The occupation forces have surrounded the hospital, obstructing the movement of ambulances and searching them. We are currently relying on the remaining fuel stock available at the hospital."
Throughout the past 11 months of Israel’s war on Gaza, the Israeli army has killed scores of Palestinian scientists, academics and artists, along with their families.
Many have been targeted in air assaults, often without warning. Some were crushed to death under debris. Israel’s relentless strikes have also killed hundreds of teachers and thousands of students while decimating Gaza’s university infrastructure.
Such violence is not new. The Israeli military has a long and bloody history of targeting Palestinian cultural life.
Last month marked the anniversary of the death of one of the pioneers of Palestinian literature, Ghassan Kanafani, who was killed more than half a century ago by a Mossad-planted car bomb in Beirut.
READ MORE: Israel's killing of Palestinian intellectual leaders is an incalculable loss, opinion by Asem al-Jerjawi
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan criticised Netanyahu's government, saying: "It is endangering the future of the entire region to maintain its position. Everyone who remains silent on the Gaza issue, especially those who support Israel unconditionally, is under a burden. Israel’s barbarity must finally come to an end."
Fidan made these remarks at a press conference in Ljubljana with his Slovenian counterpart, urging the international community to push for a ceasefire.
"Israel is not only committing genocide in Gaza, but it is now extending this war to the West Bank, Lebanon and potentially other nations it deems as enemies, which we cannot know or predict," Fidan added.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said it is ready to roll out a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza but emphasised that its success depends on humanitarian pauses.
The agency and its partners are preparing to vaccinate 650,000 children in the war-torn enclave.
In a post on X, Unrwa said that the deteriorating conditions caused by the ongoing war have “fuelled the spread of disease across the Gaza Strip".
Months of deteriorating conditions caused by ongoing war and siege have fuelled the spread of disease across the #GazaStrip@UNRWA and partners are ready to roll out a #polio vaccination campaign for over 640,000 children, but humanitarian pauses will be critical. pic.twitter.com/sftWcfjjY1
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 30, 2024
The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has accused Israeli authorities of forcibly disappearing Palestinians from Gaza.
In a statement, the advocacy group said that the authorities failed to provide clear information about the number of detainees captured in Gaza or the deaths in custody.
The group called on the international community to hold Israel accountable.
Israel's prison administration reported in early August that at least 1,584 detainees had been taken from Gaza, but PPS said this figure is likely an underestimate.
The co-founder of Palestine Action has been charged with violating the Terrorism Act after a series of speeches in Manchester and Bradford.
Richard Barnard stands accused of "expressing an opinion that is supportive of a proscribed organisation contrary to section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000".
Barnard, 41, will appear before the Westminster Magistrates' Court on 18 September, where he also faces two charges of encouraging or intending to encourage criminal damage.
The charges stem from an investigation by the specialised Counter Terrorism Policing North West (CTPNW) unit into a demonstration held on 8 October in Manchester after Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel.
Police have accused Barnard of expressing an opinion or belief in support of a proscribed organisation, namely Hamas, and of encouraging criminal damage.
Read more: Police charge co-founder of Palestine Action under Terrorism Act:
Medical workers at Nasser Hospital have told the NGO, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) that they have been inundated in the past two days with civilians who were targeted while sheltering in their tents in designated "safe zones" surrounding the hospital.
Surgeons at the hospital have also reported that they are being forced to operate without new surgical gowns or abdominal packs, which are essential for surgery on bleeding abdomen injuries.
Gaza's ministry of health said this week that 60 percent of their drugs are at zero stock, while MAP staff have reported that around 83 percent of the central drug store's supplies of medical disposables, including orthopaedic, ermergency and basic ICU equipment, are at zero stock.
MAP also reported that repeated evacuation orders have now forced displaced people to the beaches where they have limited access to toilets and water.
The Israeli government has extended an order permitting the recruitment of 350,000 reservists until the end of the year, Israeli news site Haaretz is reporting.
Just 17 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza are operating, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
Michael Ryan, Director of Global Emergency Response at the World Health Organization (WHO) said in an online discussion that the hospitals are operating partially under the strain of structural damage, and shortages of fuel, medical supplies and staff.
WHO has documented 1,098 attacks on healthcare facilities in the occupied Palestinian territories between October 7, 2023, and August 22, 2024. Of these, 492 occurred in Gaza, resulting in 747 deaths and 969 injuries.
The armed wing of Hamas has confirmed the killing of its Jenin commander, along with three other members, in an Israeli strike on the occupied West Bank town.
In a statement on Telegram, the group said that commander Wissam Ayman Hazem, Maisarah Masharqa and Arafat Amer had been killed in the attack, following fierce clashes with Israeli forces in the area.
This follows an announcement by the Israeli army that it had killed the three fighters.
Mira, a 9-year-old severely injured in an Israeli bombing attack in Gaza, arrived on Friday in South Africa where she and two other Palestinian children will receive medical treatment.
She was greeted by a crowd at the OR Tombo International Airport in Johannesburg, near the private hospital which will provide the children with medical for complex fractures and burns, and psychosocial support.
Seventeen-year-old Lina and 1-year-old Sanad, also wounded by Israeli bombing, were set to follow Mira. Eight companions, parents and siblings will join them.
Their evacuation, the first-ever to bring children wounded in the war in Gaza to the country, was secured by the US-based Palestinian Children's Relief Fund.
Since January, PCRF has organised and ensured the evacuation of more than 120 Palestinian children from Gaza to the US and Middle Eastern and European countries.
“We extend our heartfelt thanks to the South African community for their invaluable support in making this mission possible,” said Tareq Hailat, head of PCRF’s Treatment Abroad Program.
“We are committed to expanding this crucial effort, as many more children in Gaza remain in urgent need of medical attention.”
Around 5,000 people have been evacuated for medical treatment outside of Gaza since October 2023, with another 10,000 who still need to be evacuated, the World Health Organisation said last month.
The UK government said on Friday it was "deeply concerned" by Israel's ongoing operation in the occupied West Bank, warning that risk of instability was serious and that there was an urgent need for de-escalation.
"We continue to call on Israeli authorities to exercise restraint, adhere to international law, and clamp down on the actions of those who seek to inflame tensions," a spokesperson for UK's Foreign Office said in a statement.
"We recognise Israel's need to defend itself against security threats, but we are deeply worried by the methods Israel has employed and by reports of civilian casualties and the destruction of civilian infrastructure," the spokesperson added, reiterating that the UK also "strongly condemns settler violence".
An Israeli air strike has hit a humanitarian aid convoy laden with medical supplies and fuel for an Emirati-run hospital in Rafah, killing several workers.
Israeli forces claimed the attack targeted “armed assailants” who were attempting to hijack the convoy, which was organised by the US charity, Anera.
But Anera said that several employees of the transportation company it had worked with had been killed in the attack.
READ MORE: Aid workers killed in Israeli strike on humanitarian convoy
The current genocidal war against the Palestinian people is not being waged by Israel alone.
It is a western genocide perpetrated by the US, UK, France, Germany, and the rest of the EU and Nato countries.
That Israel was established as a western imperial outpost to ensure its control and pillage of the Arab world is hardly news. Yet many today are confounded by the West's colossal support for Israeli genocide, apparently believing that the western slaughter of Palestinians began only after 7 October.
The military and political effort to establish Israel as a western military station began in 1917 when Britain issued the Balfour Declaration with the support of other colonial and imperial powers.
Ever since, the western imperialist and racist war against the Palestinian people has not abated.
READ MORE: Why Israel's genocide in Gaza is a western war on the Palestinian people, opinion by Joseph Massad
The UN's agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) suspended their services in several camps in the occupied West Bank due to continuous Israeli attacks, the head of the agency said on X.
"Israeli security forces’ operations in northern West Bank continue impacting Palestine Refugees," Philippe Lazzarini said.
"Tens of thousands of people in four refugee camps have been impacted by this operation, including through destruction of public and private infrastructure."
Israeli security forces’ operations in northern #WestBank continue impacting Palestine Refugees.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) August 30, 2024
Among the people reported killed are children & one person with disabilities.
More than 150 Palestinian children were killed in the West Bank since the war started on 7 October…
