Live: Six more Palestinians die of famine as Israel blocks Gaza aid

Former US ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew, who took over the post during the later half of the Biden presidency, told The New Yorker in an interview that the children of members of Hamas in Gaza make for legitimate Israeli targets. 

"The general pattern was that in-the-moment stories were inaccurate, and that the Israeli military and government establishment were not in a position to fully explain yet" what happened after any major attack in Gaza, Lew said.

"We could almost never get answers that explained what happened before the story was fully framed in international media, and then when the facts were fully developed, it turned out that the casualties were much lower, the number of civilians was much lower, and, in many cases, the children were children of Hamas fighters, not children taking cover in places," he added.

"Sorry, what did you just say?" the interviewer asked.

"They were often the children of the fighters themselves," Lew responded.

"And therefore what follows from that?" the interviewer asked.

"What follows is that whether or not it was a legitimate military target flows from the population that’s there... If you’re the commander of a Hamas unit and you bring your family to a military site, that’s different," Lew insisted. 

The US Democratic Party is split between progressives and moderates on whether to call for an arms embargo and suspension of military aid to Israel over Gaza.

The Democratic National Committee took up two resolutions during its summer meeting on Tuesday in Aurora, Illinois, which would lay out how the party responds to Israel’s war on Gaza, which has been deemed a genocide by international rights groups and scholars worldwide. 

The resolution calling for an arms embargo and an end to US military aid for Israel was introduced by 26-year-old DNC member from Florida, Allison Minnerly, reflecting young Democrats' anger at Israel.

Minnerly’s resolution was defeated in a vote that took place without protest. A separate resolution introduced by DNC chairman Ken Martin initially passed the committee, but he removed it, saying he wanted to find a path to keep the Democratic Party “unified”.

Read more: Democratic National Committee split over arms embargo on Israel

The United Arab Emirates late on Tuesday condemned in a statement the Israeli army's attacks on Syria, expressing its "total rejection" of what it called a violation of sovereignty.

This comes as Syrian media reports that six Syrian soldiers were killed by Israeli air strikes on Tuesday. 

"The ongoing Israeli incursions into Syrian territory constitute a flagrant violation of international law and the 1974 Disengagement Agreement between Syria and Israel, which Israel must respect," the Emirati foreign ministry said.

It called on the international community to "act immediately to stop the repeated attacks on Syrian territory, stop escalation and all that would increase tension in the region". 

The UAE, the statement said, has a "firm position towards supporting Syria's stability and sovereignty over all its territory, standing by the brotherly Syrian people, and supporting all endeavours aimed at achieving their aspirations for security, peace, a decent life, peaceful coexistence and development". 

The foreign ministry called on the international community to act immediately to stop the repeated attacks on Syrian territory, stop escalation and all that would increase tension in the region and threaten regional and international security and peace.

The University of California, Berkeley (UC-Berkeley) and Wayne State University (WSU) on Monday both found themselves placed on the Council of American-Islamic Relations' (Cair) list of campuses designated as hostile to pro-Palestinian speech.

Cair's “hostile campuses” list is meant to serve as a "comprehensive resource" to guide people interested in promoting "supportive learning environments" and features names of institutions "of particular concern due to reported incidents, policies, and discriminatory practices targeting Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, and other individuals opposing occupation, apartheid, and genocide," according to Cair's website.

Read more: Berkeley and Wayne State University labelled 'hostile' to pro-Palestinian activism

The Gaza Media Office, which serves as the enclave's information ministry, said on Tuesday that the Israeli army's claim that "Hamas targets" hid at Nasser Hospital and necessitated its bombing is "a pathetic attempt at deception". 

"The occupation's narrative regarding the Nasser Hospital massacre is merely an extension of an old approach the occupation follows in every crime: fabricating pretexts and inventing evidence to avoid international prosecution," the media office said in a statement.

"Its repeated accusations of military activities against hospitals and civilian infrastructure are intended to legitimise its bombing, which is a complete violation of all international laws," the statement said. "Throughout its genocidal war, the occupation has failed to substantiate its claims and lies that hospitals or civilian infrastructure are involved in military activities". 

The media office said that any "deliberate targeting" of hospitals, medical workers, rescue and civil defence teams, journalists, and aid providers constitutes a "flagrant violation" of Articles 18 and 19 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, as well as being a breach of Article 79 of Additional Protocol I. It also constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

"The occupation's narrative is a pathetic attempt at deception," the statement said.

"We call on the international community, the United Nations, the International Commission of Inquiry, and the International Criminal Court to take immediate, serious, and effective action to document this crime, along with thousands of other crimes, hold its perpetrators accountable, and reject any narrative that seeks to justify the killing of civilians". 

Israeli forces delivered retail demolition notices to Palestinian villagers in Husan, west of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, on Tuesday, the Wafa news agency reported. 

Ramzi Hamamra, head of the Husan Village Council, told Wafa that the commercial properties all belong to Palestinian residents.

The demolitions have long been a way of curtailing Palestinian development in the occupied West Bank, Wafa said. 

The spokesperson for the Israeli military said on Tuesday that none of the five journalists Israel killed in a double-bombing of Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza were "targets".

There were, however, six Hamas targets in the vicinity, the spokesperson said, suggesting that would justify the attack. 

The Israeli military will remain on Syrian territory near Mount Hermon, Defence Minister Israel Katz announced on Tuesday.

Syria said Israel deployed 60 soldiers on Monday to seize a strategic hilltop overlooking Beit Jinn, calling the invasion a violation of its sovereignty and a threat to regional security.

Residents said Israeli forces also detained six Syrians during the operation.

In a social media post, Katz defended the invasion as “necessary to protect the Golan and Galilee communities from threats”, citing 7 October 2023 as the main reason for Israel’s move.

Israel is “unwilling to reach an agreement”, having yet to respond to the ceasefire proposal accepted by Hamas earlier this month, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“We are in contact with all parties in pursuit of a ceasefire agreement, but there is no official Israeli response - neither acceptance, rejection, nor the presentation of an alternative proposal,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said.

“We do not take seriously the media statements in Israel and are awaiting an official response to the proposal,” he added.

The statements come after Hamas informed Egypt and Qatar on 18 August that it had accepted the proposal and was prepared to resume negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza. 

More than 200 former European Union ambassadors, senior diplomatic staff and ambassadors from EU nation states signed a public letter published on Tuesday calling for collective action over Israel’s war in Gaza and occupation of the West Bank.

The letter called on the EU to suspend arms exports, halt joint projects, cut academic and economic ties with Israeli institutions, impose sanctions, and restrict trade with settlements. 

Other measures include banning Israeli military port calls, prosecuting indicted war criminals entering their territory, and blocking Israeli government-related data from being processed in Europe.

“International law must lead by example with action not just with words,” the letter read.

Lebanon will present its plan to persuade Hezbollah to disarm on Sunday, US envoy Thomas Barrack said on Tuesday.

Speaking after meeting with President Joseph Aoun in Beirut, he added that Israel is expected to submit a corresponding framework for its military withdrawal.

Barrack stressed that the Lebanese proposal would not rely on military coercion but on measures to encourage Hezbollah to surrender its weapons. 

The envoy said Saudi Arabia and Qatar are prepared to invest in a southern Lebanon economic zone that would create jobs for Hezbollah members and supporters who give up their weapons.

On Monday, Israel signalled it would scale back its military presence in southern Lebanon if Beirut moved to disarm the group. However, Israeli strikes on Lebanon have continued in the weeks since the cabinet approved the plan.

Three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike near al-Istijaba Mosque, in the south of Gaza City, the Palestine News & Information Agency (Wafa) reported.

The agency that reported the killings said that Tuesday’s death toll had risen to 51, including 20 in northern Gaza, 13 in central areas, and 18 in the south.

Gaza mediator Qatar said on Tuesday that it was "still waiting" for Israel's response to a proposal for a truce and captive release deal in the Palestinian territory after Hamas agreed to the framework more than a week ago.

"We are still waiting for an answer," foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a regular news conference, adding "the statements that we are hearing right now do not fill us with confidence".

The UN insisted Tuesday that Israel must not only investigate the hospital strike that killed 20 people, including five journalists, the previous day, but also ensure those probes yield results.

"There needs to be justice," United Nations rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters in Geneva, adding that the large number of media workers killed in the Gaza war "raises many, many questions about the targeting of journalists".

His comments came after an Israeli strike on the Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis on Monday killed at least 20 people, including five journalists, sparking an international outcry.

"It's of course the responsibility of Israel, as the occupying power, to investigate - but these investigations need to yield results," he said.

"We haven't seen results or accountability measures yet. We have yet to see the results of these investigations, and we call for accountability and justice."

Kheetan said at least 247 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza in Israel's war on Gaza began almost 22 months ago.

Israeli forces have injured at least 18 people during their ongoing raid in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reported, citing the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

The wounded included a 12-year-old child shot in the back with live ammunition near the central vegetable market, a 71-year-old man hit with rubber-coated bullets, and several others injured by live rounds, shrapnel, or rubber bullets, the report said. Five more people, including two pregnant women, suffered from tear gas inhalation.

Israeli forces also dispersed a protest in al-Bireh that called for the return of bodies of Palestinians captured by Israel, and damaged a journalist’s vehicle with rubber bullets.