Live: 54 Palestinians killed, 831 wounded in 24 hours

A Gaza-bound boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists and humanitarian aid left Sicily on Sunday, over a month after Israel detained and deported people aboard a previous vessel.

The Handala, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left the port of Syracuse shortly after noon (1000 GMT), an AFP journalist saw, carrying about 15 activists.

Several dozen people, some holding Palestinian flags and others wearing keffiyeh scarves, gathered at the port to cheer the boat's departure with cries of "Free Palestine".

The former Norwegian trawler -- loaded with medical supplies, food, children's equipment and medicine -- will sail for about a week in the Mediterranean, covering roughly 1,800 kilometres, in the hope of reaching Gaza's coast.

In early March, Israel imposed a total aid blockade on Gaza amid an impasse in truce negotiations, only partially easing restrictions in late May.

The boat will make a stop at Gallipoli, in southeastern Italy, where two members of the hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI) are expected to join.

The initiative comes six weeks after the departure of the Madleen, another ship that left Italy for Gaza transporting aid and activists, including Greta Thunberg.

Israel authorities intercepted the Madleen about 185 kilometres west of Gaza's coast.

"This is a mission for the children in Gaza, to break the humanitarian blockade and to break the summer silence on the genocide," said Gabrielle Cathala, one of the two France Unbowed party members set to board the boat on July 18. "I hope we will reach Gaza but if not, it will be yet another violation of international law" by Israel, she added.

Reporting by AFP

Israeli bulldozers continued to raze agricultural land in the village of Raba, east of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, for a second consecutive day, according to local officials cited by the Wafa news agency.

The land clearing is reportedly part of preparations for constructing a military road near the Jabar al-Masalma area on the village’s outskirts.

Israeli troops also raided the town of Turmus Aya, northeast of Ramallah, and sealed off the only exit from the town of Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem, Wafa reported.

An Israeli airstrike on Sunday hit a group of civilians walking through central Gaza City, killing 11 people and injuring around 50 others, according to Gaza’s Civil Defence. Among the dead was Dr. Ahmed Qandil, a specialist in general and laparoscopic surgery, who was en route to Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital when the strike happened.

All casualties were taken to Al-Ahli Hospital. The strike hit the Samer and Ma’hol intersection, the civil defence said.

In a separate incident, Civil Defence said that one of its officers, Lt. Ahmad Ismail al-Bureim, was killed in Israeli attacks targeting displaced people in the Abasan area of Khan Younis. His death brings the number of Civil Defence personnel killed since the start of the war to 131.

Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Palestinians so far on Sunday.

The British Consulate in Jerusalem condemned the killing of two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, saying on X that “extremist settlers face no consequences for their actions” and stressing the need for accountability.

On Friday, Israeli settlers beat to death 20-year-old U.S. citizen Seifeddin Musalat and fatally shot Mohammed Shalabi in an attack north of Ramallah.

At least nine U.S. citizens have been killed by Israeli forces since 2022, including Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Al Jazeera reported. 

Gaza’s Civil Defence said at least 31 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes early Sunday, including women and children, up from 29.

Officials at Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza said they received 10 bodies following an Israeli strike on a water collection point in Nuseirat, including six children.

About 20 children and 14 adults were queuing for water Sunday morning when the strike hit. Many walk roughly 2 kilometres to access water from the site.

Separately, an Israeli strike on a home in the central town of Zawaida killed nine people, including two women and three children.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said Sunday the bodies of 139 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours.

Hospitals also received 425 wounded, the ministry said in its daily report. 

The new deaths brought the death toll from the Israel-Hamas war to 58,026 since Oct. 7, 2023, the ministry said. Another 138,520 have been wounded, it said.

It said the tally includes 7,450 dead and 26,479 wounded since Israel resumed the war on March 18, shattering the ceasefire after nearly a two-month hiatus.

The ministry also said the bodies of 28 people have arrived at hospitals over the past 24 hours in aid-related casualties, in addition to more than 180 injured people. The total number of aid-related deaths reported at hospitals from designated aid distribution areas has now reached 833, with over 5,432 injuries, the ministry added.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes on Sunday killed at least 29 Palestinians, including six children near a water distribution point.

The attacks came with apparent deadlock in a week of indirect talks in Qatar between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas for a ceasefire in the territory.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP that Gaza City was hit by several strikes overnight and in the early morning, killing eight, "including women and children" and wounding others.

An Israeli air strike hit a family home near the Nuseirat refugee camp, south of Gaza City, resulting in "10 martyrs and several injured", Bassal said.

In central Gaza, six children were among eight people killed when a drone "hit a potable water distribution point in an area for displaced people" in the Nuseirat camp, he added.

Several other people were wounded, he said. In the territory's south, three people were killed when Israeli jets hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the coastal Al-Mawasi area, according to the civil defence spokesman.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are some of the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza: 

• At least 110 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip on Saturday. The death toll included 34 people fatally shot near an aid distribution site in Rafah and 28 others killed in Israeli airstrikes.

• The Red Cross reported its busiest day in over a year, as heavy bombardment continued amid stalled ceasefire talks, as Hamas and Israel accused the other of blocking attempts to strike a deal.

• The first fuel delivery in over 130 days -- just 150,000 litres -- was allowed in this week, far short of what is needed to support hospitals and essential infrastructure.

• Israel's war on Gaza has now killed over 57,800 Palestinians, according to the Strip's Health Ministry, with more than half reported as women and children. 

• In the occupied West Bank, Palestinian-American Seifeddin Musalat was beaten to death by Israeli settlers. His family is urging the U.S. to investigate, as reports say settlers blocked medics.

• The Government Media Office in Gaza reported that at least 67 children have died from malnutrition since the start of Israel's war, warning that 650,000 more children under five are at "real and immediate risk of acute malnutrition in the coming weeks."

• UK police arrested at least 71 protestors opposing the ban on Palestine Action, while nearly 60 Labour MPs urged Foreign Secretary David Lammy to condemn Israel's plan to forcibly transfer Palestinians in Gaza to Rafah.