Live: 54 Palestinians killed, 831 wounded in 24 hours

The AFP Journalists’ Association has issued a stark warning that its staff in Gaza are at risk of starving to death.

One of the 10 freelancers working with the French news agency posted on social media on 19 July: “I don’t have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can’t work.”

AFP said many of its Gaza-based journalists can no longer carry out their duties due to extreme hunger. “Their heartbreaking calls for help are now daily,” the association said.

While the journalists continue to receive their monthly salaries, AFP noted there is often nothing available to purchase, or basic goods are sold at unaffordable prices.

“We fear we will hear news of their deaths at any moment, and that is unbearable,” the group said.

“Since AFP’s founding in August 1944, we’ve lost colleagues in war zones, seen others wounded or imprisoned—but never have we watched someone die from hunger. We won’t accept it.”

An Israeli airstrike on Deir al-Balah in central Gaza has killed two people and left several others wounded, a medical source at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital told Al Jazeera Arabic.

Israeli special forces have abducted Dr Marwan al-Hams, director of Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital and spokesperson for the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, outside the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) field hospital in the southern part of the enclave.

The Palestinian health ministry said on Monday that Hams, who also oversees field hospitals in the Gaza Strip, was on his way to visit the ICRC facility in northern Rafah when undercover Israeli soldiers opened fire, killing one person and wounding another civilian, before capturing him.

The person killed was a local journalist who had been conducting an interview with al-Hams at the time of the attack.

"This cowardly act targeted one of the most prominent humanitarian and medical voices who has conveyed to the world the pain of starving children, the suffering of wounded patients deprived of medication, and the cries of mothers at hospital gates," the ministry said in a statement.

"It clearly reflects a deliberate intention to silence the truth and obscure the suffering of an entire people enduring one of the worst health and humanitarian disasters."

Read more: Israeli special forces abduct director of hospital in Gaza

At least 14 people sheltering in tents at Gaza’s Al-Shati refugee camp were killed overnight in an Israeli strike, according to medical staff at Al-Shifa Hospital.

The shelling targeted displaced families in the northern part of the camp, located west of Gaza City, early Tuesday.

Doctors told the Palestinian news agency Wafa that 25 others were wounded in the attack, including women and children.

Urged in parliament to do more for Palestinian children in Gaza who need medical treatment, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said last week he would be "happy to do more" if requests were made to bring them to the UK.

There is, in fact, a request on the table that is still awaiting a decision.

A British coalition of doctors, lawyers and humanitarians asked the government over a month ago to facilitate and help fund a group of 20 to 40 Palestinian children to receive treatment in the UK that is no longer available in Gaza’s devastated healthcare system.

The request from Project Pure Hope (PPH) comes as children with treatable conditions who have been proposed for medical evacuation are dying before they make it out.

UN data shows Israeli authorities have drastically limited the number of patients permitted to leave the Palestinian enclave in recent months.

Read more: Children in Gaza die as David Lammy says UK is 'happy to do more' to help

Sirens rang out across parts of Israel after its military said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen on Tuesday.

The projectile, reportedly launched by Yemen’s Houthi movement, was shot down before it reached Israeli territory, according to the Israeli army.

The incident came just one day after Israeli warplanes struck Houthi sites in the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah.

Israel has accused the group of targeting vessels linked to Israel and launching long-range missiles towards its territory. 

In a statement, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree has said that the groups strikes are a direct response Israel’s continued bombardment of Gaza adding that operations would continue until Israel ends its offensive on Gaza and lifts the siege.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates on the Israeli war on Gaza:

• Israeli tank shelling killed at least 12 Palestinians and wounded dozens in a tent encampment in western Gaza City early Tuesday, local health officials said.

• Israeli forces pushed into southern and eastern Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, intensifying its assault on the besieged Paletinian population.

• 26 nations, including the UK, France, and Canada, called for an immediate ceasefire and condemned the "inhumane killing of civilians" near aid sites. Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the demand as "disconnected from reality."

• Belgian authorities briefly detained two Israelis attending a music festival after the Hind Rajab Foundation accused them of war crimes in Gaza, Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed.

• Israeli strikes damaged a WHO staff residence and warehouse in Deir al-Balah on Monday, the agency said. Airstrikes hit the building three times, igniting fires, causing severe damage, and endangering staff and families, including children.

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

- Eleven Palestinians have been killed by Israel as they scrambled to collect aid from a rare delivery by a World Food Programme convoy on Monday.

- Israeli special forces shot and killed a journalist, Tamer al-Za'anin, during an operation where they also arrested the director of the Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, Dr Marwan al-Hams. 

- The World Health Organisation's (WHO) staff residence in Deir al-Balah was attacked three times by the Israeli military the agency's chief said. The main WHO warehouse was also attacked, and that building is located within what has now become a forced evacuation zone. 

- The spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday that Israel's forced displacement orders in Gaza are cutting off Palestinians from sources of clean water. 

- When asked repeatedly if there is evidence of Hamas looting aid trucks, as the US and Israeli governments have alleged, the head of the World Food Programme said her agency has "not seen that".

- The Israeli foreign ministry on Monday rejected the joint statement published by over 20 countries, including Canada, Australia, the UK, and Europe, calling for an end to its war on Gaza, "as it is disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas". 

- The Hamas political bureau, meanwhile, said it is "exerting all our efforts and energies around the clock to end this escalating suffering" in Gaza, which it called a "top priority" for its leadership.

The World Health Organisation's (WHO) staff residence in Deir al-Balah was attacked three times by the Israeli military on Monday, the agency's chief said. The main WHO warehouse was also attacked, and that building is located within what has now become a forced evacuation zone. 

"Israeli military entered the premises, forcing women and children to evacuate on foot toward al-Mawasi amid active conflict. Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X. 

"Two WHO staff and two family members were detained. Three were later released, while one staff remains in detention," he added. "32 WHO staff and family members were evacuated to the WHO office once access became possible."

The agency "demands the immediate release of the detained staff and protection of all its staff", Ghebreyesus said. 

The Quds News Network, citing health officials in Gaza, reported that 11 Palestinians have been killed by Israel as they scrambled to collect aid from a rare delivery by a World Food Programme convoy on Monday.

US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has come under fire for defending her decision to support a bill which will see more military aid go to Israel's Iron Dome air defence system.

The New York lawmaker voted against an amendment by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene last week that sought to block $500m in Congress' annual defence spending bill for Israel's Iron Dome programme.

Fellow Democrats Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar had supported Taylor Greene's amendment, which eventually lost in a 422-6 vote.

In a post on X on Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez claimed that Green's amendment did "nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of US munitions being used in Gaza".

Read more: At least one person defaced AOC's campaign office with red paint

In a statement issued late on Monday evening local time in Gaza, the Hamas political bureau said it is "exerting all our efforts and energies around the clock to end this escalating suffering" in Gaza, which it called a "top priority" for its leadership.

"While we recognise the extent of the blackmail practised by the occupation through committing massacres against our people - in a desperate attempt to extract concessions it has failed to impose at the negotiating table - we affirm that we are proceeding with responsibility and rationality, and with the utmost speed possible, in completing our consultations and communications with Palestinian forces and factions, in order to reach an honourable agreement that leads to stopping the aggression, ending the genocide, and achieving our people’s goals of reconstruction," the group said. 

US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Monday that he has finally resolved a visa issue that led to hurdles for American Evangelical Christian groups coming to Israel.

"Starting in January, a change in the manner which visas for Christian organizations had been processed for decades led to serious challenges bureaucratically and financially for the groups," Huckabee said in a statement posted to his X account.

"Upon arriving in Israel as Ambassador, I learned that the changes in the process were creating delays, costs, and significant burdens with paperwork. After a meeting with the Minister of Interior, we thought the problem was settled but organizations continued to have issues. I informed the Prime Minister’s Office of the problem and pointed out how detrimental it was to the relationship of the State of Israel with the American evangelical community," he explained. 

"The Christian organizations did not at any time ask for different or special treatment, but merely a return to what has been an efficient and satisfactory process for many years," Huckabee added. 

"Attorney Calev Myers, an Israeli attorney who represents some 150 Christian groups in Israel, was instrumental in outlining the request and the Prime Minister’s Office was supportive and involved in the resolution along with the Minister of the Interior," he said. 

Evangelical Christians outnumber Jewish Americans in their staunch support for Israel in the US, and are represented by groups such as Christians United For Israel, among others, with influence on lawmakers in Washington. 

The spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday that Israel's forced displacement orders in Gaza are targeting the sources of clean water.

"As you are well aware over the weekend, the Israeli military issued another displacement order in Deir al-Balah spanning four neighborhoods... [dealing] yet another devastating blow to the already fragile lifeline keeping people alive across the Gaza Strip," Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

"This directive cuts through Deir al-Balah all the way to the Mediterranean Sea, further fragmenting the Strip and pushing people into overcrowded, unsafe areas with no shelter and no access to the most essential supplies needed to survive," he added. "Initial estimates indicate that between 50,000 to 80,000 people were in the area at the time the order was issued, including 30,000 families sheltering in 57 various displacement sites."

Within the newly designated areas is the Southern Gaza desalination plant and other vital water infrastructure. The plant is a main source of drinking water for internally displaced people in al-Mawasi, and it serves hundreds of thousands of people, producing about 2,500 cubic meters of water per day. The loss of this facility would be catastrophic for the people who depend on it for access to fresh water," Dujarric said.

"As of early July, 80 percent of water sanitation and hygiene facilities fall within the Israeli militarised zone or in areas that have been placed under displacement orders". 

Guterres, meanwhile, stated on Monday that he is "appalled by the accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing".

The head of the United Nations food agency, the World Food Programme (WFP), told CNN on Monday that Israeli tanks and soldiers fired on starving Palestinians who had gathered to receive a rare delivery of aid after the WFP finally received permission from Israel to enter Gaza through the Zikim gate in the north. 

"This is one of the worst tragedies we've seen so far," Cindy McCain said.

"We began our trek down the road, and what we saw were thousands of people running towards us, and they were hungry. They're starving. And and all of a sudden, the Israeli tanks, Israeli guns, Israeli weapons from all kinds started firing on the crowd. And it was something that I hope never happens again," she added.

The UN had previously confirmed, however, that some 800 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as they tried to collect food parcels from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Several videos shared by journalists and civilians on the ground show US and UK military contractors appearing to use kettling tactics to fence in aid seekers before opening fire. 

"We are not coordinating, and we do not work with GHF," McCain told CNN.

When asked repeatedly if there is evidence of Hamas looting aid trucks, as the US and Israeli governments have alleged, McCain said the WFP has "not seen that".

Raids on delivery trucks can be by civilians, she indicated, saying that "these people are starving to death. It is looting, but they're hungry, and so that does occur".