Live: 54 Palestinians killed, 831 wounded in 24 hours

Our live blog is now closed until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

• The director of al-Shifa Hospital said hospitals in the Gaza Strip have documented the deaths of five Palestinians, including two children, from starvation in the past 24 hours. 

• This brings the total number of people who have died in Gaza from malnutrition to 127, including 85 children.

• The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza reported at least 57 people killed in the past day, with 512 wounded.

• The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, has criticised the use of airdropped aid in Gaza, warning it risks killing civilians seeking relief.

• Israeli troops stormed the Gaza-bound Handala vessel in international waters on Saturday, halting its attempt to deliver aid to Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

• Two senior Israeli army officers have told The New York Times there is no evidence that Hamas looted UN humanitarian aid in Gaza, directly contradicting a key justification used by the Israeli government to block food deliveries for months to more than two million people.

• Israel's close regional ally, the United Arab Emirates says it will resume airdropping aid into Gaza “immediately” as the humanitarian situation deteriorates further due to the ongoing Israel blockade.

• The Israeli military claims that it will reopen “humanitarian corridors” for UN convoys in Gaza and restart aid airdrops, measures aimed at easing a crisis largely caused by its own blockade of the besieged enclave.

Emma Fourreau, a French MEP and member of the Gaza-bound Handala mission, says Israeli forces have approached the vessel.

“The Israeli army is here,” she wrote on X, adding that she and others on board planned to toss their phones into the sea.

Her post came as Al Jazeera Arabic reported that three Israeli naval ships had moved close to the aid vessel, just hours after the crew reported spotting an Israeli drone overhead.

Footage shared via livestream by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition later showed at least six Israeli soldiers boarding the ship.

Activists on board could be seen sitting together with life jackets on, holding their arms in the air.

The Israeli military claims that it will reopen “humanitarian corridors” for UN convoys in Gaza and restart aid airdrops, measures aimed at easing a crisis largely caused by its own blockade of the besieged enclave.

The move comes after what the army described as a “situational assessment,” and follows months of Israeli restrictions that severely limited the entry of food, water, and medicine leading to a famine in Gaza.

The airdrop, coordinated with international aid organisations, will include seven pallets of items such as flour, sugar, and canned goods provided by foreign partners. Airdrops have been widely criticised by humanitarian officials as symbolic and insufficient compared to allowing sustained truck deliveries through land crossings.

The Israeli army also said it would support the expansion of a water desalination plant in Gaza by connecting it to Israeli electricity. Israel has itself destroyed much of Gaza's water and electricity infrastructure.

Aid groups and UN officials have long called on Israel to fully lift its blockade and grant unrestricted access to humanitarian assistance, warning that piecemeal efforts fall short amid deepening famine and widespread disease.

The Israeli army says a soldier wounded in combat last week in southern Gaza has died of his injuries during an operation in which another soldier was also wounded.

Separately, the military said another soldier was killed on Monday in what it described as an “operational accident” in Khan Younis.

According to the Israeli army at least 894 soldiers have been killed since Israels war on Gaza began on the 7 October. Fourteen of them died in July.

Israel's close regional ally, the United Arab Emirates says it will resume airdropping aid into Gaza “immediately” as the humanitarian situation deteriorates further due to the ongoing Israel blockade.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan made the announcement on X, describing the crisis as having reached a “critical and unprecedented level,” without naming Israel.

“We will ensure essential aid reaches those most in need, whether through land, air or sea. Airdrops are resuming once more, immediately,” he said. “Our commitment to alleviating suffering and providing support is resolute and unwavering.”

Airdrops, typically used as a last resort in war zones, have drawn criticism from aid officials, who argue they are no substitute for full-scale land access.

Unrwa chief Philippe Lazzarini earlier described the move as a costly and ineffective “distraction” that fails to address widespread hunger. He urged Israel to “lift the siege, open the gates [and] guarantee safe movements [and] dignified access to people in need”

Hamas say they struck two Israeli armoured personnel carriers with explosive devices, setting both vehicles ablaze.

In a statement on Telegram, Hamas’s armed wing added that it also launched a missile at a third military vehicle in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza.

“Our fighters observed a military excavator burying the vehicles to extinguish the fires, and a helicopter landing to evacuate,” the group said.

A mother wept as she cradled the shrouded body of her five-month-old baby, weighing barely 2kg, at a hospital in Gaza on Saturday.

Zainab Abu Haleeb, who died from malnutrition, is one of at least five Palestinians to have succumbed to starvation in the past 24 hours, as Israel’s siege continues to strangle the Gaza Strip.

The distraught mother told Middle East Eye that she had been pleading for months to be evacuated from Gaza and had already prepared the necessary documents.

“No one is listening to our pleas,” she said. “The girl suffered a lot during her sickness.”

She said that malnutrition, the lack of infant formula and the closure of crossings into Gaza had all worked against her daughter’s survival and the well-being of Gaza’s population as a whole.

Read more: Over 100,000 children in Gaza at risk of death due to Israeli blockade

Al Jazeera Arabic says Israeli forces have opened fire near an aid distribution point in northwestern Gaza, killing at least 10 people.

Citing local emergency services, they report that dozens more were wounded as people gathered to collect much-needed supplies.

The shooting adds to the rising toll from Israeli attacks across the enclave today, with at least 63 people confirmed dead.

The United States has voiced strong opposition to France’s decision to free Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and deport him to Lebanon.

“The United States opposes his release,” said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce in a statement shared on X. “His release threatens the safety of US diplomats abroad and is a grave injustice to the victims and the families of those killed,” claimed Washington

Washington also said it would continue backing efforts to seek justice in the case.

Abdallah, a pro-Palestinian Lebanese fighter, was jailed in 1984 for the killing of an American and an Israeli diplomat in France. After serving nearly four decades, a French appeals court ordered his release, citing the length of his imprisonment and his age, calling continued detention “disproportionate.”

Two senior Israeli army officers have told The New York Times there is no evidence that Hamas looted UN humanitarian aid in Gaza – directly contradicting a key justification used by the Israeli government to block food deliveries for months to more than two million people.

The unnamed officers, along with two other Israeli officials involved in aid oversight, said the UN’s aid distribution mechanism, long criticised by Israel, was in fact “largely effective in providing food to Gaza’s desperate and hungry population.”

“For nearly two years, Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid,” the Times reported, noting that this accusation has been repeatedly cited by the Israeli government as the reason for pushing Gaza's besiged population towards famine and restricting humanitarian supplies.

However, the officials admitted, “there was no evidence that Hamas regularly stole from the United Nations, which provided the largest chunk of the aid.”

Georgios Petropoulos, who coordinated UN humanitarian efforts with Israeli authorities during the war, voiced frustration over the long-standing accusations.

“For months, we and other organisations were dragged through the mud by accusations that Hamas steals from us,” Petropoulos said.

A member of the Handala aid boat told Al Jazeera that drones are currently flying over the ship as the crew prepares for a possible raid.

Jacob Berger, an American actor and activist, says they are "confident" in their mission despite what they may potentially face. 

"It is our duty to break this siege and this holocaust that is happening right before our eyes," he adds. 

The Handala boat, en route to Gaza in a bid to break Israel’s blockade, is reportedly less than 185km from the besieged enclave.

According to a live tracker, it has now passed the point where Israeli forces raided the previous humanitarian convoy, Madleen, in early June.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza reported at least 57 people killed in the past day, with 512 wounded.

"A number of victims remain under the rubble and on the streets, as ambulance and civil defense crews are unable to reach them at this time," the ministry added.

The death toll from the Israeli aggression has risen to 59,733, and over 144,477 others injured since 7 October, 2023.

An Israeli drone strike on a car in Tyre, southern Lebanon, kills one person . 

According to the state-media National News Agency, the vehicle was travelling between two towns in the area when it was hit. 

No statements have been released by the Israeli army as of yet. 

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, has criticised the use of airdropped aid in Gaza, warning it risks killing civilians seeking relief.

"Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving civilians. It is a distraction & screensmoke," he wrote in a post on X. 

Lazzarini called for an end to the siege on Gaza to allow UN aid to reach Palestinians by land.

"At UNRWA, we have the equivalent of 6,000 trucks in Jordan & Egypt waiting for the green light to get into Gaza. Driving aid through is much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper & safer. It’s more dignified for the people of #Gaza," he added.