Closing summary
This blog is now closing. Thank you for following along. Below is a roundup of today’s stories:
Israeli tanks returned to the southern Gaza City of Khan Younis on Friday, forcing thousands to evacuate along congested roadways, as Palestinian fighters continued to attack Israeli troops from the ruins. Families fled eastern Khan Younis in vehicles and on foot, belongings heaped on donkey carts and motorcycle rickshaws as they made their slow escape along congested roads. The Israeli military dropped leaflets ordering residents and displaced people sheltering in the city to evacuate from an area that has already seen repeated waves of fighting.
A crude oil tanker was struck four times in suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea. The Houthis did not immediately claim the assaults, though they follow a months-long campaign by the rebels targeting shipping through the Red Sea corridor over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Dozens of countries, academics and rights groups have filed legal arguments either rejecting or supporting the international criminal court’s power to issue arrest warrants in its investigation into the war in Gaza and the 7 October attacks by Hamas in Israel. The slew of written submissions are likely to delay a decision by a panel of judges on whether to issue warrants and comes despite a 2021 ruling that the court has jurisdiction over territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.
The US was among those filing legal arguments to the international criminal court. Most of the legal arguments focus largely on the issue of whether the court’s power to issue warrants for Israeli leaders is overruled by a provision of the 1993 Oslo Accords peace deal. As part of the deal, the Palestinians agreed that they don’t have criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals. The US argued that the Oslo Accords “preserved in Israel exclusive jurisdiction over acts committed by Israeli nationals. Therefore, the Palestinians could not have delegated to the Court jurisdiction they never had.”
Lebanon would struggle to meet even a fraction of its aid needs if full-scale war with Israel erupts, a senior official said, as it seeks increased donor support amid persistent border clashes. Nasser Yassin, the minister overseeing contingency planning for a wider conflict, told Reuters Lebanon would need $100m monthly for food, shelter, healthcare and other needs in a worst-case scenario.
Reuters spoke to residents living in Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, who have been on edge since an Israeli airstrike on their neighbourhood last week killed the top military commander of Hezbollah, along with five civilians. As a result, many are looking to flee the area.
The same thing happened in 2006 when Israel and Hezbollah were at war and Israeli strikes flattened buildings in the suburb. Back then, Bilal Sahlab drove his family to a secluded mountain town, rented an apartment and waited out the bombing. Now, that is no longer an option. A five-year economic meltdown has devalued the local pound, cost him his savings, and brought his monthly salary down from more than $5,000 to barely $500.
So he sent his wife and children to live with his in-laws in the mountainous Aley region east of Beirut for their safety, while he stayed in Dahiyeh to keep working.
“It’s safer for them up there,” he told Reuters, breaking down into tears. “I can’t go up because I need to work to contribute to their expenses.”
After last week’s strike, residents of Dahiyeh told Reuters that they had begun searching for apartments either in Aley or further east in the Bekaa Valley.
But when demand rose, monthly rent prices in those areas spiked, sometimes reaching $1,000 – far too expensive for those of modest means.
Fatima Seifeddine, 53, found an apartment for $500 a month in the Bekaa. But her monthly salary of just $300 as a university janitor meant it was out of reach.
“Back in 2006, we moved from place to place until we ended up in a hotel hosting displaced families – but there are no options like that now,” she told Reuters by phone. Even staying with family has become a challenge.
The night of the strike, Majed Zeaiter, a 50-year-old man who drives a van taxi in Dahiyeh, drove his wife and five children more than 50 kilometres (30 miles) north to Afka to stay with his brother’s family in a small apartment.
“The situation scares me … it’s a crisis situation, and when you think about war you’re afraid for your children,” he told Reuters. “The bombing, the war – with every month that passes, the situation gets worse.”
All seven of them slept in one room for the night. But his brother wasn’t earning enough to host them, so early the next morning Zeaiter drove back to Dahiyeh to keep working.
The United Arab Emirates has urged Israel and Hamas to accept an invitation from mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US to resume Gaza ceasefire negotiations on 15 August, Reuters reports, citing a statement from the foreign ministry.
Reuters reports that a man who was seriously wounded by a Hezbollah drone attack on Israel earlier this week succumbed to his wounds on Friday, hospital officials said.
The man was identified as Michail Samara, 27, by the spokesperson for Galilee Medical Center, Gal Zaid.
Samara was brought to the hospital in serious condition after Lebanon’s Hezbollah launched a drone attack Tuesday on northern Israel, wounding at least seven people, in response to the killing of one of its fighters in an Israeli airstrike.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged cross-border fire since 8 October. On the Israeli side, the fighting has killed more than 20 soldiers and more than 20 civilians. In Lebanon, about 100 civilians and more than 430 militants have been killed.
Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force chief Ismail Qaani says in a letter to the new leader of Hamas that Tehran will avenge the killing of his predecessor who was killed in the Iranian capital last week, the Associated Press reports.
The letter, of which a copy was seen by the AP, came days after the leadership of Hamas chose Yahya Sinwar as its new leader replacing the late Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed during a visit to Iran.
Since Haniyeh was killed in an explosion during a visit to Iran, tension has been rising in the region as Tehran blamed Israel for his death and vowed to retaliate.
“We are preparing to avenge his blood, a painful and difficult incident that happened in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is our duty,” Qaani told Sinwar about Haniyeh. He didn't elaborate on how Teheran will avenge Haniyeh’s death.
Qaani said that Haniyeh’s blood will “make the harsh punishment to the Zionist entity at the hand of the Islamic Republic” harsher that previous ones.
He was apparently referring to the mid-April missile and drone attack that Iran launched against Israel to avenge an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian Consulate in the Syrian capital in which two Iranian generals were killed.
Qaani vowed in the letter to Sinwar that Tehran “will be with you on the road of resistance until we achieve the divine promise which is to clear Jerusalem."
Thousands evacuate Khan Younis as Israeli tanks return to city
Israeli tanks returned to the southern Gaza City of Khan Younis on Friday, forcing thousands to evacuate along congested roadways, as Palestinian fighters continued to attack Israeli troops from the ruins, residents and the military have told Reuters.
Families fled eastern Khan Younis in vehicles and on foot, belongings heaped on donkey carts and motorcycle rickshaws as they made their slow escape along congested roads.
With Israel and Lebanon braced for a possible escalation in fighting, leaders from the US, Egypt, and Qatar attempted a last-ditch effort to revive efforts to halt the fighting in Gaza, scheduling a new round of talks for 15 August.
In recent weeks Israeli forces which swept into nearly the entire Gaza Strip over more than ten months of war have been returning to the ruins of areas where they previously claimed to have driven Hamas fighters out.
In the latest assault, the military dropped leaflets ordering residents and displaced people sheltering in eastern Khan Younis, Gaza's main southern city, to evacuate from an area that has already seen repeated waves of fighting.
Families packed into buses and cars, many seeking shelter in Al-Mawasi, a sandy stretch of ground along the coast, though some expressed fear that it has been attacked in the past despite being designated as a safe zone by Israeli forces.
"We don't know where are we going, to the beach to Al-Mawasi, any place we will stay at. There is no safe place here. They struck everywhere, they already struck Al-Mawasi and many people were killed. There is no safety, the safety is with God," said displaced man Ahmed al-Farra.
Um Raed Abu Elyan said she and her family were "running from the fire, we are running with our children from fear".
Asked where would she go she replied: "God knows, we are walking now. They said to go to humanitarian areas, but there is no safe place here in Gaza. It is all destroyed and damaged."
The Israeli military said troops hit dozens of targets belonging to Hamas militants in Khan Younis and Rafah close to the Egyptian border, seizing arms depots, destroying infrastructure and killing dozens of fighters equipped with weapons including rocket propelled grenades.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, has said that “two in every three buildings in Gaza are damaged or destroyed” and that “with a ceasefire comes equally the urgency to rebuild the social fabric & community ties.”
Two in every three buildings in #Gaza are damaged or destroyed according to latest from @UNOSAT.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) August 9, 2024
Every day this war goes on, the destruction of a whole community continues.
Beyond the brick & stone.
These are people’s homes, schools, markets and places of worship.
The… pic.twitter.com/ijImPBin8Z
Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, has also said that “we need a ceasefire in Gaza now,” backing the mediation efforts.
We need a ceasefire in Gaza now. That’s the only way to save lives, restore hope for peace, and secure the return of hostages.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) August 9, 2024
Thus I strongly support the efforts led by the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar to help achieve the peace and stability the region needs.
The Israeli military said a “3km long multi-story underground tunnel route was located and dismantled in central Gaza.”
🔴𝟯𝗸𝗺 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗲 was located and dismantled in central Gaza.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 9, 2024
The tunnel consisted of multiple branches with several rooms, weapons and means for long-term stay used by terrorist operatives were located. pic.twitter.com/vWuxE2HaAp
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, has said the bloc “joins Egypt, Qatar & the US in their call for concluding, without delay, the ceasefire & hostages release deal.”
“We reiterate our full support to their mediation to put an end to the unbearable cycle of suffering,” he said, adding that “the deal will also pave the way for regional de-escalation.”
The EU joins Egypt, Qatar & the US in their call for concluding, without delay, the ceasefire & hostages release deal.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) August 9, 2024
We reiterate our full support to their mediation to put an end to the unbearable cycle of suffering
The deal will also pave the way for regional de-escalation.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has spoken out about the situation in the region.
“The war in Gaza must stop. This must be clear to everyone,” he said.
“It is crucial for the people of Gaza, for the hostages, and for the stability of the region, which is at stake today. Full support from France to the American, Egyptian, and Qatari mediators,” he added.
The war in Gaza must stop.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 9, 2024
This must be clear to everyone.
It is crucial for the people of Gaza, for the hostages, and for the stability of the region, which is at stake today.
Full support from France to the American, Egyptian, and Qatari mediators.
Lebanon would struggle to afford $100m a month needed for aid if full-scale war erupts, minister says
Lebanon would struggle to meet even a fraction of its aid needs if full-scale war with Israel erupts, a senior official said, as it seeks increased donor support amid persistent border clashes, Reuters reports.
Nasser Yassin, the minister overseeing contingency planning for a wider conflict, told Reuters Lebanon would need $100m monthly for food, shelter, healthcare and other needs in a worst-case scenario.
“A small fraction, even 10 to 15 percent of that, would be huge for the government. We will need donors to step up,” Yassin said.
International aid is already falling short. Lebanon has received only a third of the $74m sought over the course of the 10-month conflict between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel.
“Humanitarian funding in many places has been reduced to a minimal level of just keeping heads above water. Some organizations are even slashing funding for critical life-saving matters,” Yassin added.
Lebanon’s state, hollowed out by a five-year economic crisis left to fester by ruling elites, struggled to provide basic services even before the current conflict began alongside the Gaza war.
Nearly 100,000 Lebanese, mainly from the south, have been displaced, as well as more than 60,000 Israelis, according to official figures.
While Israel houses its displaced in government-funded accommodation, Lebanon relies on ill-equipped public schools or informal arrangements such as staying with family or friends.
An 7 August government document seen by Reuters outlines two scenarios other than the conflict remaining at its current levels.
A “controlled conflict” displacing 250,000 people, requiring $50m in monthly funding for three months.
An “uncontrolled conflict” displacing 1 million or more, needing $100m monthly for three months.
The document emphasises the urgent need for additional resources, noting current stocks and shelter capacity are “far from adequate”.
“Additional resources are urgently needed to respond to ongoing needs and to prepare and respond to increasing needs in event of escalation,” it says.
Yassin said Lebanon’s food supply would last four to five months under an Israeli blockade similar to the 2006 war.
However, diesel supplies would last only about five weeks – a concern given the country’s reliance on generators to power everything from hospitals and bakeries to the internet due to limited availability of state electricity.
Delay to potential arrest warrants of Israeli and Hamas leaders likely after countries and rights groups, including US, file legal arguments to ICC
Dozens of countries, academics and rights groups have filed legal arguments either rejecting or supporting the international criminal court’s power to issue arrest warrants in its investigation into the war in Gaza and the 7 October attacks by Hamas in Israel, the Associated Press reports.
The submissions filed this week come as a panel of judges considers a request by the court’s chief prosecutor for warrants against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defence minister Yoav Gallant, and the recently promoted leaders of Hamas.
The court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, sought warrants in May, accusing Netanyahu, Gallant, and three Hamas leaders – Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh – of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Both Haniyeh and Deif have since been killed. Sinwar, Hamas’ top official in Gaza who masterminded the 7 October attacks, was subsequently named the group’s new leader.
Israel strongly rejects the court’s request for warrants for its leaders and insists it adheres to international law in the devastating conflict in Gaza that was triggered by the Hamas-led attacks.
The slew of written submissions is likely to delay a decision by a panel of judges on whether to issue warrants and comes despite a 2021 ruling that the court has jurisdiction over territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.
Most of the legal arguments focus largely on the issue of whether the court’s power to issue warrants for Israeli leaders is overruled by a provision of the 1993 Oslo Accords peace deal. As part of the deal, the Palestinians agreed that they don’t have criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals.
Among more than 50 filings, the opinions are divided over whether, under the terms of the deal, Palestinians can delegate the power to issue arrest warrants to the court.
Israel didn’t file written arguments, but its staunch ally, the United States, did, arguing that the Oslo Accords “preserved in Israel exclusive jurisdiction over acts committed by Israeli nationals. Therefore, the Palestinians could not have delegated to the Court jurisdiction they never had.”
But others cautioned judges against accepting that reading of the accords.
“The ‘delegation’ theory would shatter the Court’s jurisdiction into 124 fragments, irregularly shaped by thousands of national laws and international agreements,” wrote Adil Haque, a professor of law at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey.
The ICC has 124 member states, including the State of Palestine. Israel and the United States aren’t members and don’t accept the jurisdiction.
The Palestinians argued in their written filing that accepting the argument “would usher in a new and retrogressive era of international order where politics and impunity prevail over justice and accountability.”
The United Kingdom was the first country to seek to file a written brief, but withdrew its request late last month after new prime minister Keir Starmer took office after winning a landslide election victory over the Conservative party of Rishi Sunak, whose administration filed its request in June.
But the UK request triggered a host of other filings that are now under consideration.
The criminal case at the ICC is separate to an ongoing dispute at the International Court of Justice, which also is based in The Hague. In the ICJ case, South Africa, a longtime ally of the Palestinians, has accused Israel of genocide in the war in Gaza. That case is likely to take years to settle.
Updated
Pakistan would support all efforts to prevent war escalating in the Middle East, its foreign ministry said on Friday, as fears grow of a wider conflict involving Israel and Iran, Reuters reports.
"Pakistan will support all efforts to prevent a war in the Middle East," said foreign ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch at a media briefing. She did not comment on whether Pakistan had been in contact with Washington over the issue.
She denied reports by the Jerusalem Post newspaper that Pakistan was planning to provide Shaheen-III medium-range ballistic missiles to Iran.
Pakistan does not have diplomatic ties with Israel. It has seen a stark improvement in previously rocky ties with neighbouring Iran that culminated in tit-for-tat military fire between the two nations in January. Iran's president visited in April and the nations have said they are boosting trade ties and regional cooperation.
Pakistan's deputy prime minister and foreign minister Ishaq Dar had spoken by phone with Iran's foreign minister in recent days, Baloch said, and had attended an emergency meeting convened by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in Saudi Arabia this week where he condemned Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip and called for a ceasefire and better access for humanitarian aid.
"He also called for preventing further escalation of violence and tensions," she added.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards navy has new cruise missiles equipped with highly explosive warheads that are undetectable, Reuters reports, citing the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
"A large number of cruise missiles have been added to the Guards' navy fleet. These new missiles have capabilities of highly explosive warheads that are undetectable and can cause extensive damage and sink their targets," Tasnim said.
Some more details on the vessel that was struck in a suspected Houthi attack from Reuters:
The Delta Blue crude oil tanker reported a third and fourth incident in the last 24 hours off Yemen’s port of Mokha, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Friday.
The crew and vessel are safe and proceeding to their next port of call, the UKMTO said in an advisory note.
The latest incidents included an attack by an uncrewed surface vessel and another by a missile that landed near the ship, UKMTO said.
On Thursday the ship’s captain reported that two small craft had approached and fired a rocket-propelled grenade which exploded near the Liberia-flagged Delta Blue about 45 nautical miles south of Mokha.
Each of the two small boats had four people on board, UKMTO said.
Hours later, another missile exploded close to the tanker, it said.
Athens-based Delta Tankers manages the vessel, according to LSEG data.
Crude oil tanker in Bab el-Mandeb Strait targeted in suspected Houthi attack
The Associated Press reports that three suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, including one that saw private security guards shoot and destroy a bomb-loaded drone boat, authorities said on Friday.
Reuters reports that the vessel was a crude oil tanker owned by an Athens-based company.
The Houthis did not immediately claim the assaults, though they follow a months-long campaign by the rebels targeting shipping through the Red Sea corridor over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
After a recent two-week pause, their attacks resumed after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, amid concerns of a wider regional war. Iran backs the Houthis as part of what it calls a regional “Axis of Resistance.”
In the first attack, a rocket-propelled grenade exploded close to the ship Thursday, according to the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. Two smaller craft, with men aboard wearing white and yellow raincoats, launched the RPG, the UKMTO said.
The second attack came early Friday, with a missile “exploding in close proximity to the vessel,” the UKMTO said. “The vessel and crew are reported to be safe.”
The private security firm Ambrey reported that the ship was hit by a drone that caused no injuries or physical damage.
“The vessel was assessed to be aligned with the Houthi target profile,” Ambrey said. “The vessel was assessed to have been targeted earlier in the day.”
Then came the third attack with the drone boat, where private security guards on board “opened fire and (were) able to successfully destroy the vehicle,” Ambrey said.
Though the Houthis did not immediately claim the attack, it sometimes can take hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults. They’ve also claimed others that apparently haven’t happened.
Updated
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Friday that a ship had reported being attacked for the fourth time with a missile splashing in the Red Sea close to it 45 nautical miles south of Yemen’s Mokha, Reuters reports.
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to the today's live blog.
The Israeli military has renewed evacuation orders to Palestinian residents in several districts in eastern Khan Younis, saying it would act forcefully against militants who had fired rockets from those areas.
The army posted the evacuation order on X, and residents of the southern Gaza city said they had received text and audio messages.
Residents said dozens of families had begun to leave their homes and head west towards Al-Mawasi, an area designated as a humanitarian zone by Israel but one that is already severely overcrowded by displaced families from around the enclave and which lacks basic necessities including food, water and proper shelter.
The site has also previously been the target of Israeli attacks despite its designation including one in July in which at least 90 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more injured when Israel bombed the area in what it said was a bid to kill Hamas military chief, Mohammed Deif.
Khan Younis, Gaza’s second largest city, has also already been devastated by the Israeli assault reduced largely to piles of cement and rubble.
More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main news.
The leaders of the US, Egypt and Qatar have called on Israel and Hamas to resume urgent negotiations in order to finalise a ceasefire and hostage release deal, saying there were no excuses “from any party for further delay”. The three countries, which have been trying to mediate a deal, said in a joint statement the talks could take place in either Doha or Cairo on 15 August, adding that it was “time to bring immediate relief both to the longsuffering people of Gaza as well as the longsuffering hostages and their families.”
Israel’s Channel 12 on Wednesday broadcast security camera footage that reportedly showed the sexual assault of a Palestinian detainee from Gaza at Sde Teiman military detention camp. Last week, the detention of the soldiers accused of involvement in the alleged abuse sparked violent riots. The surveillance footage showed what appeared to be Israeli soldiers lifting up a blindfolded prisoner and taking him out of sight of the camera. They then covered themselves and the prisoner with their riot shields as they encircled him.
Israeli forces stepped up strikes across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least 25 people, Palestinian medics said. The continued battles with Hamas-led militants came as Israel braced for potential wider war in the region.
The Israeli military said it had struck an area where two schools were situated in Gaza on Thursday, which it claims had Hamas command centres embedded within. “The school compounds were used by Hamas terrorists and commanders as command-and-control centres, from which they planned and carried out attacks against Israel Defense Forces troops and the state of Israel,” it said.
Israel has given notice it will no longer accredit Norwegian diplomats serving the occupied Palestinian territories, Norway’s foreign ministry said on Thursday, calling it “an extreme act” by the Israeli government. Later in the day, Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said the decision was due to Norway’s “anti-Israel conduct”.
