Live: Hamas agrees to release 10 Israeli captives

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates on Israel's war on Gaza and developments in the occupied West Bank:

• Hamas is seeking clear guarantees that the ceasefire will eventually lead to the war's end, the source close to the group said. Two Israeli officials said those details were still being worked out.

• In a statement early on Friday, Hamas said it was discussing the ceasefire proposal with other Palestinian factions and would submit its response to mediators once those talks conclude.

• The interior ministry in Gaza on Thursday warned residents of the coastal enclave not to assist the US-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, saying deadly incidents near its food distribution sites endangered hungry people.

• Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinian youths as they confronted Israeli settlers entering the town of Beita, south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.

• Israeli fighter jets bombed tents housing displaced Palestinians across Gaza on Friday, killing at least 25 people in the al-Mawasi area, a beach in Khan Younis, and near the Taiba Towers, Al Jazeera Arabic reported, citing local and hospital sources.

• US President Donald Trump has said he wants “safety” for people in Gaza, as Hamas seeks assurances that the new US-backed ceasefire proposal will lead to the war’s permanent end.

• At least 101 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza on Thursday, medical sources told Al Jazeera, including at least 51 people who were waiting for humanitarian aid.

• An Israeli drone strike on a vehicle near Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, has killed at least one person and injured three others despite Israel's months-long truce with Hezbollah.

A 230kg bomb dropped by Israeli fighter jets on a beach cafe in Gaza on Monday was manufactured in the US, The Guardian reported on Wednesday. 

Fragments identified by ordnance experts - as well as the huge crater left following the strike - show that the parts were that of the US-made MK-82 general purpose 230kg bomb. The incident  killed at least 33 Palestinians including an internationally renowned male photographer, a female visual artist, a female boxer, and a one-year-old child. 

Experts say the use of such munition on civilians may constitute a war crime, the report said. 

Meanwhile, the US state department approved the sale of the same bombs to Israel the same day as the attack on the cafe. The Defence Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement, "The Government of Israel has requested to buy three thousand eight hundred forty-five (3,845) KMU-558B/B Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kits for the BLU-109 bomb body and three thousand two hundred eighty (3,280) KMU-572 F/B JDAM guidance kits for the MK 82 bomb body.

"The US is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defence capability," it added.

DSCA said the principal contractor would be the Boeing company, located in St. Charles, Missouri.

The United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, called on the international community to completely cut trade and financial ties with Israel during a presentation she gave at the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday.

Central to her presentation was a report she compiled - naming more than 60 companies that she says are  involvement in what she calls "the transformation of Israel's economy of occupation to an economy of genocide".

Companies named in the report include firms such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Palantir, Chevron, BP, Caterpillar, Glencore, Booking.com, Airbnb, Volvo, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Lockheed Martin, Fanuc, Leonoardo, Rada Electronic Industries among others.

Albanese also called for a full arms embargo, and withdrawal of international support for the “economy of genocide”.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the survival of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is at stake if fuel is not allowed into the strip.

"I am appalled by the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza", he said in a post on X. 

"The last lifelines for survival are being cut off. Without an urgent influx of fuel, incubators will shut down, ambulances will be unable to reach the injured and sick, and water cannot be purified.

"The UN has a clear and proven plan, rooted in the humanitarian principles, to get vital assistance to civilians – safely and at scale, wherever they are. I renew my call for an immediate permanent ceasefire and for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages."

A footballer who never got a chance to meet his newborn son has died on Thursday from injuries he sustained from an Israeli airstrike, Wafa news agency reported on Thursday, citing the Palestinian Football Association (PFA). 

Muhannad Al-Lili, a player for the Khadamat Al-Maghazi Club, sustained injuries from an Israeli airstrike that targeted his home in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza last Monday.

According to the PFA, a drone launched a missile that struck Muhannad’s third-floor bedroom, and resulted in severe head trauma and a major hemorrhage. He battled his injuries for days before he succumbed to them.

Al-Lili reportedly tried to leave Gaza to join his wife, who had traveled to Norway for work shortly before Israel's war on Gaza started. He was unable to secure safe passage to leave and never had the chance to meet his newborn son, who was born overseas during the war.

Al-Lili began his football career with Khadamat Al-Maghazi, rising through the youth ranks to eventually lead the senior team to the Palestinian Premier League in the 2016/2017 season. He later transferred to Shabab Jabalia, where he played for two seasons and helped the team become runner-up in the 2018/2019 Premier League campaign.

He subsequently joined Gaza Sports Club, but a cruciate ligament injury prevented him from playing. He returned to the field with his original club, Khadamat Al-Maghazi.

Al-Lili's death brings the total number of Palestinian football players to 265 according to the PFA.

Zarah Sultana has resigned from the UK's Labour Party after 14 years to lead a new party with former Labour leader and independent MP Jeremy Corbyn.

"Today, after 14 years, I'm resigning from the Labour Party," she said in a statement on Thursday evening local time.

"Jeremy Corbyn and I will co-lead the founding of a new party, with other Independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country."

Sultana cited the Starmer government's support for Israel's war on Gaza as a reason for leaving, saying that "this government is an active participant in genocide. And the British people oppose it."

You can read more here.

Pope Leo XIV appointed Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, as a member of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue on Thursday.

The dicastery plays a vital role in promoting mutual respect and collaboration between the Catholic Church and followers of other religions worldwide.

The death toll from Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Thursday has risen to 92 Palestinians, Wafa news agency reported, citing medical sources.

Almost half the people - 45 civilians - were killed waiting for humanitarian aid.

At least seven civilians were killed and dozens injured when Israeli forces targeted a crowd gathered near the Tahlia area in eastern Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. 

At least 13 people were killed while an unknown number of people were injured in Israeli air strikes targeting Gaza City and Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Four civilians were killed when an Israeli drone strike hit a civilian vehicle near the Al-17 roundabout, west of Deir al-Balah.

In another air strike, four Palestinians were killed and several were wounded in the Al-Ghafari neighbourhood on Yafa Street, east of Gaza City. The victims have been identified as Mohammad Saeed Ghazal, Amjad Khalil al-Bahtini, and Mohammad Khalil al-Bahtini.

Additionally, one person was killed and several were injured during Israeli artillery shelling in the eastern part of Gaza City.

A new Associated Press (AP) report detailing how American contractors guarding aid distribution sites used live ammunition, stun grenades and pepper spray against starving Palestinians seeking food has sparked fierce criticism online.

Published on 2 July, the article is based on testimonies from two American contractors, videos, internal messages and forensic audio analysis. Both whistleblowers said they came forward due to what they described as “dangerous and irresponsible practices” at sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the controversial US- and Israel-backed organisation operating in the besieged enclave. 

Online reaction to the report was swift, with hundreds of people slamming the private military contractors and the distribution hubs.

You can read more here.

A Hamas security official told Al Jazeera Arabic that Israel is trying to create issues that will lead to the destabilisation of the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera Arabic reported on Thursday. 

The official said Hamas had prevented attempts by Israel to smuggle spy equipment and new phones to collaborators in the Gaza Strip.

The official also said agents had been smuggling large quantities of drugs from Israeli intelligence officers assigned to the aid teams managing the aid distribution points. The official said the drugs were being brought in and used to “ensnare young people, bring them down, and assign them to security and espionage missions”. 

Middle East Eye reported on 27 June how opioids were reported to be found in flour bags distributed by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund.

Israeli military on Thursday briefly detained a group of foreign activists in the village of Umm al-Khair, located in the Masafer Yatta area, south of Hebron in the West Bank, Wafa news agency reported, citing local sources.

Israeli soldiers, accompanied by Israeli settlers, stopped the activists while they were documenting incidents of violence against Palestinian residents. Witnesses reported that several of the detained individuals were forced to sit on the ground under the sun for an extended period.

The activists were in the area to show solidarity with the local community, which has faced repeated settler violence and threats of displacement.

The Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land depicts the community of Masafer Yatta resisting against their forced expulsion by the Israeli military.

Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Jan Egeland warned of a fuel crisis in Gaza, after the besieged strip had "run out of fuel", and urged diplomats and donors to act.

In a post on X on Thursday, he said: "Gaza has run out of fuel. Reserves are gone. The last drops are being rationed to keep bare-minimum services alive. No fuel means no water, no food distribution, no health care, no telecoms - 2.1 million lives on the brink. This is no longer a logistical issue - it is life or death.

He said that NRC water trucks have dropped from 64 to 33 sites, reaching only 85,000 people with 4.5 litres per person per day, barely enough to drink, and far below the 15-litre survival standard.

He said that half the sites depend on a municipal water utility, which has just 10 days of fuel left, and after that, their water stops completely.

"Time is up," he added. "Donor states and diplomats must press Israel to allow immediate fuel. Fuel is not a side issue — it is the backbone of humanitarian aid. Denial will collapse the entire system, with catastrophic consequences for civilians. All man-made."

At least seven Palestinians were killed and dozens more critically wounded after Israeli soldiers targeted civilians waiting for humanitarian aid in Khan Younis on Thursday, reported Wafa news agency.

Eyewitnesses said the attack occurred near the desalination area east of Khan Younis, where a crowd had gathered in hopes of receiving urgently needed supplies.

Medical sources in the Gaza Strip confirmed that the death toll from Israeli fire on aid seekers has risen to 45 since the early hours of Thursday morning. 

Four pro-Palestine activists appeared before a London court on Thursday after counter-terrorism police charged them with breaking into Britain’s largest military air base.

Last month, members of the group Palestine Action filmed themselves entering RAF Brize Norton on electric scooters, where they spray-painted two Voyager aircraft with red paint.

The Ministry of Defence accuses the activists of causing $9.5 worth of criminal damage.

The four defendants, aged between 22 and 35, were denied bail at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London and will be remanded in custody until 18 July.

Earlier, Counter Terrorism Policing South East charged them with conspiracy to commit criminal damage and conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the UK.

An urgent hearing to challenge the proscription will be held at the High Court in London on Friday.

The challenge was backed by Amnesty International and other human rights groups and lega experts.

You can read more here.

An Israeli drone has targeted a car on the Khaldeh highway in southern Lebanon, according to the Lebanese state-run National News Agency. 

The Israeli army said it "eliminated a terrorist", who it said was responsible for smuggling weapons and advancing attacks against Israel on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Middle East Eye could not independently verify the claim. 

Despite a ceasefire declared on 27 November 2024, Israel has launched attacks on Lebanon on a near-daily basis.