Live: 54 Palestinians killed, 831 wounded in 24 hours

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Palestinians dying from want of a "hunk of bread or a mouthful of water" was unacceptable, news agency AFP has reported. 

During a speech in Istanbul, Erdogan criticised Israel's actions, which have led to a severe shortage of food in Gaza, starving 113 Palestinians to death. 

"No one endowed with a minimum of human dignity can accept this cruelty, in which dozens of innocent people die every day because they cannot find a hunk of bread or a mouthful of water," he said.

Israel has faced several demands from United Nations agencies and international capitals to protect civilian lives and to allow aid into Gaza.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said Israeli forces "must stop killing people" at food distribution points, and UN rights chief Volker Turk warned Israel that it was violating international law. 

Four Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike targeting the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza City, according to ambulance crews and emergency medical staff, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

Several others were wounded in the attack, which hit a densely populated area already battered by months of bombing. Emergency workers continue to search through the rubble for survivors.

Dozens of former UK ambassadors and diplomats have called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to recognise a Palestinian state, The Guardian reported on Wednesday. 

In a joint letter, more than 30 former UK ambassadors and 20 former senior British diplomats at the UN said that the “deadly status quo” in Gaza, amid Israel’s two-year war on the enclave, could be broken by the recognition of Palestine. 

“The risks of inaction have profound, historic and catastrophic implications,” the letter said, adding that Israel “cannot be secure from threats in the future if the question of Palestine is not taken forward to a political settlement”.

“In the face of the current horror and impunity, words are not enough … A partial suspension of arms sales, delays on trade talks and limited sanctions are far from the full extent of the pressure the UK can bring to bear on Israel,” the letter added. 

It called recognising a Palestinian state a “foundational first step towards breaking the deadly status quo”.  

The signatories of the joint statement included ex-UK ambassadors to Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Pakistan, Qatar, Syria and Turkey.

Read more: Dozens of former UK diplomats call on Keir Starmer to recognise Palestine

The director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza has said that two more deaths have been recorded due to severe malnutrition and dehydration, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

The director also warned of an unprecedented number of deaths if food and medicine are not delivered.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in a statement has said that with the recent deaths, the total number of those killed due to famine and malnutrition has reached 113.

Brazil is finalising its submission to join South Africa's genocide case against Israel's actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice, news agency Reuters has reported. 

In its statement issued on Wednesday, Brazil's foreign ministry accused Israel of violations of international law "such as the annexation of territories by force," and it expressed "deep indignation" at violence suffered by the civilian population.

Spain, Turkey and Colombia have also sought to join the case against Israel among other countries. 

Israel has shot dead 21 Palestinian civilians since dawn today, Al Jazeera Arabic has reported quoting hospital sources.

Seven among those killed were Palestinians seeking aid. 

Hungarian authorities have barred Irish rap group Kneecap from performing at the Sziget Festival and entering the country, following the band’s outspoken condemnation of Israel’s war on Gaza.

The Belfast-based trio, known for backing the Palestinian cause during live shows, were accused by Hungary of spreading “antisemitic hate speech” and praising Hamas and Hezbollah. The decision was announced on Thursday by government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs, who claimed their rhetoric threatens national security, Reuters reported.

Kneecap have repeatedly condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza as war crimes and genocide. At Britain’s Glastonbury Festival, frontman Mo Chara (Liam Og O hAnnaidh) used the stage to denounce Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians.

The group has rejected accusations of supporting Hamas or Hezbollah, stating: “We condemn all attacks on civilians, always.”

Festival organisers said they had not been informed of the ban and pushed back against calls to cancel the act, saying: “There is no place for hatred, incitement, prejudice, or any form of racism or antisemitism.”

The Government Media Office in Gaza has said that more than 500,000 flour bags per week are needed in the enclave to avoid a humanitarian collapse. 

Gaza’s hospitals have recorded more than 115 deaths related to “famine and malnutrition” amid a near-total Israeli blockade, it said in a statement issued on Telegram, adding that false narratives regarding the entry of aid trucks are being spread. 

“We categorically deny these claims, as they are completely untrue and represent a dangerous alignment with the misleading narrative of the ‘Israeli’ occupation, and a deliberate distortion of the truth of the ongoing crime,” it added.

The media office called on "all countries of the world, without exception, to immediately break the siege, permanently open the crossings, and allow the entry of baby milk and aid to more than 2.4 million people besieged in the Gaza Strip”.

Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza has confirmed that three Palestinians were killed and several others wounded after Israeli forces opened fire on people waiting for humanitarian aid south of Khan Younis.

The victims were reportedly gathered in hopes of receiving food when they were targeted by occupation forces.

Israeli forces have conducted raids across the occupied West Bank and arrested more than 25 Palestinian civilians this morning, Wafa news agency has reported.

Those arrested include 10 people from Beit Ummar town in the north of Hebron.

Israel has killed two Palestinians in southern Gaza and eight others in the centre of the enclave, Al Jazeera Arabic has reported, citing medical sources. 

Among those killed were Palestinians seeking aid, bringing the total number of deaths since dawn to 17.

The Government Media Office in Gaza says famine and severe malnutrition have claimed the lives of 115 Palestinians, as Israel’s blockade continues to choke the flow of food, clean water, and medicine into the enclave.

Authorities warn the death toll could rise, with aid access still severely restricted and entire families reportedly going days without food.

The UN’s humanitarian agency, Ocha, has warned that Gaza is enduring an unprecedented hunger crisis, describing aid deliveries as “a trickle” compared to the soaring needs on the ground.

“Ocha warns that the hunger crisis in Gaza has never been so dire,” the agency said in a new update. “All too often, civilians approaching UN trucks are shot at.”

Israel has accused the UN agency of bias. Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, said without any proof this week that there is “clear evidence of Hamas affiliations within Ocha’s ranks”.

On Wednesday, Israeli authorities announced they would impose tighter restrictions on Ocha, including vetting hundreds of its employees and refusing to extend the visa of its head of office.

The UN has pushed back, saying Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “has full confidence in [Ocha’s] professionalism and impartiality”.

“Any punitive measures will only add to the obstacles preventing humanitarians from reaching people facing hunger, displacement and deprivation,” the agency said

Columbia University announced new sanctions against student activists on Tuesday, suspending or expelling dozens of students for their participation in pro-Palestine protests.

The suspensions will last between one and three years and will require students to write an apology letter if they wish to return to the university.

The disciplinary proceedings primarily targeted students involved in the takeover of Butler Library to host a teach-in honouring the Palestinian writer Basel al-Araj, who was killed by Israeli forces in 2017. Protesters renamed the library “the Basel al-Araj Popular University”.

“The sanctions issued on July 21 by the University Judicial Board were determined by a UJB panel of professors and administrators who worked diligently over the summer to offer an outcome for each individual based on the findings of their case and prior disciplinary outcomes,” Columbia wrote in a statement. 

Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) said in a statement: “Once Barnard joins Columbia in announcing charges, these will be the most suspensions for a single political protest in Columbia campus history and hugely exceed sentencing precedent for teach-ins or non-Palestine-related building occupations.”

Read more: Columbia University suspends or expels almost 80 students for pro-Palestine protest

An Israeli source told The Times of Israel that Hamas’s revised response to a ceasefire proposal for Gaza is “workable,” signalling a possible shift after months of deadlock.