Live: At least 75 killed in Israeli strikes on second day of Eid al-Adha

Israeli forces have arrested 19 Palestinians, including activists and at least five former prisoners, in dawn raids in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office (ASRA) said in a report on Telegram.

The wife of a former prisoner was also arrested in Nablus, the report said, warning that the raids are part of Israel’s escalated targeting of released prisoners and their families through night raids and arrests.

The death toll from Israel’s strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, has risen to 18, according to Al Jazeera, citing a medical source at Nasser Hospital. Children were among those killed by the attack, the sources said.

The Palestinian Information Center reported that Israeli strikes also killed two people and wounded others at the Al-Dreimli family home in the Sabra neighbourhood, south of Gaza City.

A 13-year-old Palestinian boy was shot and wounded by Israeli forces early on Wednesday during a military raid in the city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

The boy sustained a gunshot wound to the leg during an Israeli incursion into the city's Arab neighbourhood and was taken to the hospital for treatment, it said.

Israeli forces also raided the nearby Aqbat Jabr refugee camp and the Ain al-Sultan camp in northern Jericho before withdrawing from the area.

At least ten civilians, including children, were killed in an Israeli drone strike targeting a tent sheltering displaced families at a school in western Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Quds news network reported, citing local sources.

One Palestinian was killed and several others were injured earlier this morning as Israeli warplanes bombed a tent in Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, the network said in a separate report. 

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are the latest updates from the Israeli war on Gaza, now in its 606th day: 

• The UN Security Council will vote Wednesday on a resolution calling for a ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access in Gaza, a measure expected to fail due to a US veto.

• Aid centres run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US and Israel-backed agency, will temporarily close on Wednesday for renovation, it said after Israel killed at least 27 Palestinians at the GHF aid site on Tuesday.

• Syrian state news agency and security sources reported a series of Israeli strikes, the first major ones in nearly a month, targeting several sites in the Damascus countryside, Quneitra and Daraa.  Israel said a pair of rockets were fired at its side of the Golan Heights from southern Syria and blamed the Syrian government for the attack.

• The Syrian foreign ministry said that it “has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region” and is working to rein in armed, non-state actors in southern Syria as the government condemned the Israeli attack, saying it resulted in “heavy human and material losses” and violated Syria’s sovereignty.

•  The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile from Yemen.

• The Israeli military announced that one reservist was killed in northern Gaza on Tuesday, and that another was seriously wounded in the same incident.

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning

Here are the day's key developments:

- Israeli forces killed at least 27 Palestinians on Tuesday as they attempted to reach a US-run aid distribution site in Rafah, according to the Palestinian health ministry. This brings the total number of those killed after being invited to collect food boxes at 102. 

- The United Nations said it is "unacceptable" that civilians are risking and losing their lives just trying to get food in Gaza, and called for an independent investigation into the events.

- The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which assisted in the business operations of the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), has quit following mounting criticism over the organisation's aid delivery and distribution model, the Washington Post reported. 

- US State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Tuesday blasted reporters at the daily briefing for focusing their questions on the civilian casualties at the GHF aid site, instead of the number of meals that were delivered. 

- The US has warned Britain and France against recognising a Palestinian state at a UN conference later this month, Middle East Eye can reveal.

- Israel said it launched multiple air strikes on parts of rural Daraa in Syria, in response to what it says were projectiles coming from Syrian territory. The Syrian foreign ministry denied the claim that the country was used as a launch pad.

Israel confirmed late on Tuesday that it launched multiple air strikes on parts of rural Daraa in Syria, in response to what it says were projectiles coming from Syrian territory. 

Syria's foreign ministry said it remains committed to not posing a threat to any of its neighbours, and condemned Israel's bombings which resulted "in significant human and material losses," the statement said. 

Israel carried out a "flagrant violation" of Syrian sovereignty, the foreign ministry added, urging the international community to pressure Israel to halt its attacks. 

Members of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, a vessel named Madleen, posted a video to social media late on Tuesday, urging viewers to share their "distress signal" after they spotted a drone overhead. 

The Madleen was some 80 kilometres away from Greece in the Mediterranean, on its way to Egypt, when the drone flew above it, then either turned back, or turned off its lights, the volunteer crew said. 

Their goal upon arrival in Egypt is to walk to the Rafah crossing on foot, in a bid to highlight Israel's siege on Gaza. Israel, however, has fired on such vessels before, namely in 2010 when it killed Turkish citizens on board the Mavi Marmara. 

The scandal-plagued Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said on its Facebook page late on Tuesday that Palestinians should not head to its aid distribution site in Rafah on Wednesday, as it will be closed for "renovations, organization, and efficiency improvements".

"Due to ongoing upgrades, entry into distribution center areas is strictly prohibited! Please avoid visiting the site and adhere to general instructions. Operations will resume on Thursday," the post said. 

In a separate post on Facebook a few minutes prior, GHF said it "distributed 20,160 food parcels, equivalent to 1,159,200 meals" on Tuesday. 

According to local health officials, at least 27 Palestinians trying to retrieve those meals were killed by Israeli forces on site, and dozens more were wounded.

Israel insisted that Palestinians rushed the site and caused chaos. 

In its statement, GHF wrote: "We understand your need, but we ask that you do not rush into the sites or bring vehicles, donkey carts, or bicycles. This is to maintain order and cooperate with the staff coming to serve you as you arrive at the distribution centers. Chaos and rush disrupt the flow of work and lead to the closure of centers for maintenance and repair, as happened at two of our sites."

Gaza has been sealed off entirely by Israel since early March, and there is a famine underway in the enclave, multiple human rights watchdogs have said. 

The 10 elected members of the United Nations Security Council have asked for the full 15-member body to vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution that demands "an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties", unnamed diplomats cited by the Reuters news agency said.

Reuters reported that the draft text demands the release of all captives held by Hamas and other groups in Gaza, and the immediate lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid for safe and unhindered distribution at scale. 

A resolution in the Security Council requires nine out of 15 votes in order to pass. 

- with reporting from Reuters

US President Donald Trump’s course correction of his foreign policy team is shifting into overdrive with Iran hawks and staunchly pro-Israel officials axed, including one who drew the ire of "America First" Trump allies.

The officials being dismissed are all those with previous track records opposing what are shaping up to be Trump’s most significant Middle East endeavours: swiftly lifting sanctions on Syria and negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran.

The reshuffle comes after Trump’s landmark visit to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar last month. In a speech in Riyadh, Trump tore into "interventionists" and the American "nation builders".

Read more: Eric Trager, Merav Ceren, and Morgan Ortagus were all let go from their positions

US State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Tuesday blasted reporters at the daily briefing for focusing their questions on the civilian casualties at the US-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid site, instead of the number of meals that were delivered. 

"Everyone has wanted food and aid to go through into Gaza. It is a war zone, and different kinds of decisions have to be made. People put their lives at risk to get the aid into those kinds of regions. And this is one of those cases," she said. "We'll find out through the [Israeli forces] investigation what occurred."

Earlier in the day, the White House confirmed that it is going to "look into reports" of casualties. Gaza health officials and eyewitnesses have said at least 27 people were killed by Israeli bullets on Tuesday as they tried to secure food boxes from the scandal-plagued GHF aid mechanism.

"I think we are now at seven million meals distributed to date. Now, obviously we would like perfection. There is no perfection in under any circumstance," Bruce said.

"We are fighting a great deal with these [media] stories about who's responsible, the focus on Israel, the nature of who's been attacking in that region, the responsibility of Iran... these questions are critiques of an environment that we've talked about regularly, every day, every time I'm up here," she told reporters. 

"I thought after three months of being harangued in this room by many of you about, 'Don't you care about the starving Gazans?' Seven million meals and now we're being harangued about 'It's not by the right people.'"

From aboard a flotilla bound for Gaza, Greta Thunberg told Middle East Eye that while governments had failed Palestinians, it fell “on us to step up and be the adults in the room”. 

The prominent Swedish climate activist spoke to MEE’s live show from international waters in the Mediterranean Sea, where she said spirits aboard the Madleen - the latest vessel attempting to break Israel's siege on Gaza - were high. 

“We are currently on our way towards Gaza as part of the Freedom Flotilla mission,” Thunberg said on Tuesday. “Spirits are very high.” 

She and 11 other activists set off from Sicily on Sunday, carrying urgent supplies for besieged and starving Palestinians. 

Read more: “We are just human beings, very concerned about what's happening, and do not accept what is going on.”

The United Nations said on Tuesday it is "unacceptable" that civilians are risking and losing their lives just trying to get food in Gaza, after local health officials said at least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens more were wounded trying to reach a US-Israeli-run aid distribution site. 

"The secretary general [Antonio Guterres] continues to call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for the perpetrators to be held to account," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

- with reporting by Reuters

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which assisted in the business operations of the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), has quit following mounting criticism over the organisation's aid delivery and distribution model. 

According to the Washington Post, the consulting firm withdrew its team operating in Tel Aviv on Friday, with a spokesperson for BCG indicating that the company had terminated its contract with GHF.  

Since launching operations last Tuesday, GHF has said - without providing evidence - that it handed out tens of thousands of food boxes to Palestinians, a fraction of what aid agencies say is needed to address the mass starvation unfolding in the Strip.

The new aid system, which limits food distribution to a small number of hubs guarded by American security contractors, seeks to wrest distribution away from aid groups led by the United Nations.