Live: 54 Palestinians killed, 831 wounded in 24 hours

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates from Israel's ongoing war on Gaza:

• Harvard University said on Tuesday it will comply with the demands of President Donald Trump's administration to turn over employment forms for thousands of university staff, but for the time being, was not sharing records for those employed in roles only available to students. The government has been probing universities over pro-Palestinian protests

• Several countries that have not previously recognised a Palestinian state said in a statement on Wednesday that they are considering changing their position. Australia, Canada, Finland, New Zealand, Portugal, Andorra and San Marino are among the countries that signed the statement.

• Israel attacked targets in Syria's Druze-majority Sweida province on Tuesday, according to a war monitor, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

• Israeli fire has killed at least two Palestinians and injured other aid seekers waiting for aid near the Netzarim Corridor in the central Gaza Strip, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

• Palestinian Civil Defence said its teams had pulled the bodies of five Palestinians from the rubble of the Dahdouh family home after Israeli strikes hit it north of Al-Barham Street in the Al-Zeitoun neighbourhood, east of Gaza City, the Palestinian Information Centre reported.

The minister of foreign affairs of Bolivia gave an emotive speech at the UN conference on a two-state solution on Tuesday.

Celinda Sosa Lunda said the situation in Palestine had grown more worrying in recent days as Israel intensified its use of hunger as a weapon of war – inflicting hunger on women and elderly people.

"As a mother, how much pain do I feel in my heart to see a child, to see a baby die because of a lack of milk and due to a lack of water," she said.

"That’s not something we can turn a blind eye to. Gaza has become a land of walking corpses. Hundreds of people have been killed on their way to find food and water".

She said that they all needed to make sure this meeting lead to results.

"Those who are financing this war are guilty and complicit in these crimes taking place in Palestine and that must be punished. We must establish precedence so this never happens in any other country again," she said.

She recommended two measures - all countries speak out about the situation of mass hunger and the UN declare relevant measures to stop starvation as a weapon of war and the International Court of Justice to sanction Israel for the crime of subjecting Palestinians to starvation.

"Lomg live a free Palestine," she said at the end of her speech.

The body of Awdah Hathaleen, who was part of the Oscar-winning No Other Land film crew, has not been released to his family for burial after he was fatally shot by Israeli settler Yinon Levi on Monday, Al Jazeera reported.

The father-of-three was taken away by an ambulance from the illegal settlement of Carmel on Monday, and later died in hospital. Israeli authorities have refused to release his body so that he can be laid to rest as soon as possible, a rite that is part of Islamic burial practices. 

The English teacher and renowned activist was taken by an ambulance from the illegal settlement of Carmel after he was shot on Monday evening.

Haaretz reported on Tuesday that the Israeli military is not permitting Hathaleen to be buried in Umm al-Kheir, the village he was shot and lived in.

Israeli police disrupted a gathering of people who had come to mourn him, including members of his family on Tuesday.

Every weekend for the past three weeks, demonstrators have banged pots and pans outside Capital One’s Cafe in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The protestors are targeting Capital One, one of the ten largest banks in the US, which operates five “cafes” in Boston, because it is part of a consortium of six banks that have loaned $545m to Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest defence contractor.

The cafes are designed to attract young consumers through a mix of cafe spaces, customer perks, and banking services. 

The picketers are led by Boycott, Divestment Sanctions Boston (BDS Boston), a local pro-Palestine group that has been campaigning against Elbit Systems for years. 

You can read more here.

An Israeli settler who killed a beloved English teacher and activist who was part of the Oscar-winning No Other Land film crew has been released on house arrest on Tuesday, Al Jazeera reported.

A magistrate court in Jerusalem declined to keep Yinon Levi, who has been sanctioned by the US and other countries.

Levi was then placed under house arrest while Israeli police are to investigate him on charges of reckless manslaughter of Awdah Hathaleen and use of an unlawful firearm, Haaretz reported.

A video of him shared by the co-director of No Other Land on Instagram on Monday shows him firing indiscriminately at Palestinians in Umm al-Kheir.

On his flight back to the US from Scotland on Tuesday, President Donald Trump denied that he gave UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer the green light to recognise a Palestinian state, multiple news outlets reported.

Trump told reporters on Air Force One that acknowledging a Palestinian state would be “rewarding Hamas”.

"You're rewarding Hamas if you do that. I don't think they should be rewarded," he said.

His comments are a U-turn from what he told Starmer during a meeting on Monday between Starmer and Trump in Aberdeen, and mirror the Israeli foreign ministry’s earlier comments on Tuesday.

The UK government said they are prepared to recognise a Palestinian state in September at the United Nations General Assembly in response to public anger over Israel using starvation as a weapon of war.

Israel on Tuesday criticised the UK government's decision to support a two-state solution. 

In a post on X on Tuesday, the Israeli foreign ministry said: "The shift in the British government’s position at this time, following the French move and internal political pressures, constitutes a reward for Hamas and harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of hostages".

Revelations from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request have raised questions around the British Museum’s claim that it had no say in a decision to host an event for the Israeli embassy, as it “cannot undermine” UK foreign policy.

On 13 May, the museum hosted an event organised by the Israeli embassy celebrating the anniversary of Israel's 77th Independence Day.

Amid mounting anger from staff, who previously told Middle East Eye that they had been kept in the dark about the event, the museum issued statements insisting that, as an arms-length body, it cannot “deviate from or undermine the UK government's foreign policy”.

But a response to an FOI request asking for documentation evidencing this requirement reveals that the museum does not hold any legal advice or policy documents to support the claim, indicating that it did have a choice about whether or not to host the event.

You can read more here.

The UK has said it will formally recognise the state of Palestine in September unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution before then.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has come under pressure from members of parliament to back a two-state solution. Recently, 220 MPs signed a letter to the prime minister calling on him to recognise a Palestinian state. The letter was also addressed to Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

Starmer recalled his cabinet from their summer recess to greenlight the plan.

Lammy also made the announcement at the United Nations conference on Tuesday in New York.

The Israeli military stormed the funeral procession of a Palestinian man that was part of the crew on the Academy Award-winning documentary No Other Land on Tuesday, Wafa news agency reported.

Human rights activist and teacher Awdah Hathleen, 31, was fatally shot by an Israeli settler on Monday while he was trying to prevent settlers from bulldozing Palestinian lands in the village of Khirbet Umm al-Khair, southeast of Yatta, in the Hebron Governorate. He died from his injuries on Tuesday.

Osama Makhamreh, a human rights activist, witnessed Israeli soldiers assaulting mourners, forcing them out of the funeral procession, and declaring the entire area a closed military zone.

During the incident, the soldiers detained two foreign activists who were present to show solidarity with Hathleen's family.

After forcefully dispersing mourners, Israeli soldiers sealed off Khirbet Umm al-Khair, preventing residents, activists, and members of human rights organisations from entering or attending the funeral.

Israeli soldiers then protected Israeli settlers as they resumed their expansion of the Carmel settlement on the Palestinian village of Khirbet Umm al-Khair on Tuesday evening.

Since the beginning of the year, Palestinian residents from the villages have endured having their land confiscated, homes demolished, physical assault, and restricted access to their water sources and land, according to Wafa.

Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that Israel will move to annex parts of the Gaza Strip if a ceasefire agreement with Hamas is not reached, according to Israeli media.

The remarks were made during a war cabinet meeting on Monday, which included Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

According to the Israeli news outlet Walla, Netanyahu presented a new strategic and political plan that marks a shift from Israel's previous approach during more than 20 months of war in Gaza.

Netanyahu is said to have told the cabinet that “Israel does not intend to wait indefinitely” for Hamas to respond to a proposed temporary ceasefire brokered by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

If no agreement is reached soon, Israel will reportedly begin annexing territory within the Gaza Strip. 

Also read: Netanyahu 'presents plan to annex parts of Gaza'

Israeli soldiers killed at least seven Palestinians and wounded many others who were waiting for humanitarian aid in both Khan Younis and near Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Wafa news agency reported. 

The soldiers killed four civilians in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, and injured dozens of others after Israeli forces targeted aid seekers.

In a separate attack, Israeli tanks opened fire on Palestinians waiting for aid in the Al-Sudaniya area in northern Gaza, leaving at least three civilians dead and several others wounded.

Israeli forces have killed 81 Palestinians across Gaza so far today, Al Jazeera reported quoting medical sources. 

The figure includes at least 32 aid seekers. 

Israeli forces have been shooting and killing Palestinian aid seekers as conditions in the enclave deteriorate, with over 1,000 Palestinians killed while seeking aid since May. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that Gaza is on the brink of famine. 

Citing the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)'s latest alert, Guterres in a post on X wrote: "The facts are in - and they are undeniable. Palestinians in Gaza are enduring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions. This is not a warning. It is a reality unfolding before our eyes."   

Israeli settlers have launched an attack on the Christian village of Taybeh, east of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. The incursion began at dawn on Monday.

They set fire to two cars owned by Palestinian residents and spray painted racist graffiti on walls in the village.

“You’ll regret it later,” read one message, not clarifying what the villagers had done to earn the settlers’ wrath.

Once the settlers left, the Israeli military raided the village spreading further panic among residents.

The campaign of settler intimidation, with Israeli army backing, coincides with the establishment of a new Israeli settlement near Taybeh in June.

Monday’s attack is the second on this small Palestinian village in as many weeks.

Just a fortnight earlier on 14 July, settlers set the village’s historic Church of Saint George alight, along with its adjoining graveyard.

That attack was severe enough to prompt rare condemnation of Israeli settlers by the American ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.

“It’s my desire to do everything possible to let the people of this peaceful village know that we will certainly insist that those who carry out acts of terror and violence in Taybeh - or anywhere - be found and be prosecuted,” he said.

Also read: Israeli settlers repeat attack on Palestinian Christian village in occupied West Bank

French lawyers have submitted a request to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for an investigation into the role of French officials "in the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide" by Israeli forces against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

In a 56-page communication made public by the French investigative media outlet Blast on Monday, the 114 lawyers named President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu and 19 lawmakers of the National Assembly's European Affairs Committee.

A communication to the ICC is the equivalent of a criminal complaint to the court on an alleged crime falling under its jurisdiction. 

It is addressed to the Office of the ICC Prosecutor in accordance with Article 15 of the Rome Statute, which states that the prosecutor may open proprio motu investigations (i.e. on their own initiative) based on information relating to crimes within the court’s jurisdiction.

The lawyers, representing an NGO called Pour la Justice au Proche-Orient ("for justice in the Middle East") note that: "Far from taking concrete measures to prevent the ongoing genocide against the Palestinians, the members of the French executive cited in this communication have continued to support the criminal actions of the government of Israel by providing military, political, economic, diplomatic and propaganda support to that state, including by providing the means to commit the crimes in question."

Also read: Over 100 lawyers ask ICC to investigate Macron and French ministers for Gaza genocide complicity