Closing summary
Thank you for following along today. Below is a roundup of today’s stories:
Gaza official says 300 people have been killed in an Israeli assault on Khan Younis. Thousands of Palestinians returned home on Tuesday after the assault came to an end. Gaza’s civil defence agency said Tuesday that the Israeli operation in and around the city killed about 300 people since it began last week.
An Israeli civilian has been killed by rocket fired from Lebanon, Israel’s N12 news channel reported. The Israeli military said 10 rockets had been fired from Lebanon and that one of them hit kibbutz Hagoshrim, causing one casualty.
Two air defence bases in southern Syria have been struck by Israeli missiles overnight, a war monitor has said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported no casualties in the overnight strikes in Daraa province, which abuts the armistice line separating Syrian and Israeli forces on the Golan.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin does not believe that a fight between Israel and Hezbollah is inevitable, and said Washington would like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion. “While we’ve seen a lot of activity on Israel’s northern border, we remain concerned about the potential of this escalating into a full-blown fight. And I don’t believe that a fight is inevitable,” Austin said. “We’d like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion.”
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday called on Israel not to fall into the “trap” of retaliation, saying she was “very, very worried” by the situation in Lebanon and by the risk of a regional escalation. Speaking during an official visit to China, Meloni said the international community should continue sending messages of moderation, and that China could help in these efforts, having “solid ties” with Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Nine Israeli soldiers are due to appear before a military court for an initial hearing Tuesday on what a defence lawyer says are allegations of sexual abuse of a Palestinian at a shadowy facility where Israel has held prisoners from Gaza during the war, the Associated Press reports.
An investigation by The Associated Press and reports by rights groups have exposed abysmal conditions at Sde Teiman, where most of the thousands detained in Gaza have been held. Israeli authorities have generally denied abuses in detention facilities for Palestinians.
The investigation into the soldiers stoked tensions between the military command and hard-line nationalists in prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government who advocate even harsher treatment in Israel’s conduct of the 10-month-old war in Gaza.
The soldiers’ detention Monday triggered protests by supporters demanding their release, including members of parliament and at least two government ministers. Several hundred broke into the facility in southern Israel and then into the military base where the soldiers were held.
Defense lawyer Nati Rom, who represents three of the soldiers, did not elaborate on the nature of the alleged sexual abuse and said they were innocent. The military has said only it was looking into allegations of “substantial abuse.”
300 killed in Israeli assault on Khan Younis, Gaza’s civil defence says
Gaza official says 300 people have been killed in Khan Younis as army ends assault.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Tuesday that an Israeli operation in and around the territory’s second city of Khan Younis killed about 300 people since it began last week.
“Since the beginning of the Israeli ground invasion of the eastern part of Khan Younis province, the civil defence and medical teams have recovered approximately 300 bodies of martyrs, many of them decomposed,” agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
The Israeli military launched the assault on 22 July to halt rocket fire from the area, which already saw heavy fighting earlier this year.
Last week, it said troops had retrieved the bodies of five Israelis from the area.
They had been killed during the Hamas attacks of 7 October and their bodies taken back to Gaza, the military said.
On Tuesday, the military said it had completed the operation in the area of Khan Younis and claimed to have killed “over 150 terrorists”.
It said troops also “dismantled terror tunnels, weapons storage facilities, and terrorist infrastructure and located weapons”.
The Associated Press has this dispatch from Beirut Airport where business appeared to be resuming as normal despite fears of conflict arising.
Fears of an escalation in the simmering conflict between Hezbollah and Israel have prompted some airlines to cancel flights to Lebanon, but business appeared to be proceeding as usual Tuesday at the Beirut airport, where many travelers greeted the warnings with a shrug.
Hadi Sharqawi, 24, a Lebanese student in Italy, arrived Tuesday after two days of flight cancellations, to spend a month and a half with his family as he normally does in the summer. He is from the town of Kharayeb, which is in southern Lebanon although relatively far from the border where clashes have been ongoing for 10 months.
“As far as the threats, they didn’t influence me at all to not come to Lebanon,” Sharqawi said. “Even if there are threats, we will still come.”
Seventy-one-year-old Mohammad Mokhaled, from the southern town of Jarjouh, who was waiting to pick up his daughter Tuesday, agreed.
“We are not scared of the situation, because we are used to this,” he said. “We hear airstrikes regularly and the breaking of the sound barrier, and it doesn’t affect us.”
Amal Ahmadieh, 23, was leaving Tuesday to return to Qatar, where she works in a restaurant, after a vacation in Lebanon. Ahmadieh said she was leaving as originally scheduled and had not pushed up her flight due to security concerns.
“Honestly everyone was telling me that the situation was not good but I wanted to come to see my friends and my family,” she said. “Whatever happens, at the end of the day, this is my country.”
Updated
Israeli civilian killed by rocket fired from Lebanon, N12 news reports
An Israeli civilian has been killed by rocket fired from Lebanon, Israel's N12 news channel is reporting.
The Israeli military said 10 rockets had been fired from Lebanon and that one of them hit kibbutz Hagoshrim, causing one casualty.
UK foreign secretary David Lammy said the Labour government doesn’t believe it is now the “right time” to recognise a Palestinian state, but remains committed to a two-state solution in Commons.
Lammy was responding to a question by Adnan Hussein, an independent MP from Blackburn, who asked if the foreign secretary agreed that recognising a Palestinian state was vital for upholding international law.
Lammy told MPs: “I disagree with him that it is recognition that will bring about peace. It is the Biden plan that is on the table at the moment that we would like to see Hamas accept and of course the leadership of Israel accept. That is what will give us a ceasefire and get us to a place where we can get that two-state solution.”
Answering a prior question by Labour MP Paula Barker on what the government would do if Israel blocked a pathway to a political solution, Lammy said no one has a “veto” on recognising a Palestinian state adding that it is a “just cause”.
Hezbollah said it fired at Israeli warplanes, Reuters reported citing a statement.
David Lammy has reiterated a warning to British citizens in Lebanon.
“My message to British nationals in Lebanon is clear – leave,” he said.
“My message to British nationals in Lebanon is clear – leave.” @DavidLammy
— Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) July 30, 2024
⚠️The FCDO also advises against travel to Lebanon.
Read the current travel advice here: https://t.co/NlKYKGCj70 pic.twitter.com/vesnPxoXBr
Thousands of Palestinians returned to their homes in Khan Younis on Tuesday after Israeli forces end week-long incursion.
Reuters are reporting thousands of Palestinians returned to their homes in the ruins of Gaza’s main southern city Khan Younis on Tuesday, after Israeli forces ended a week-long incursion there which they claim aimed to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
Palestinian health officials said rescue workers had so far recovered 42 bodies of Palestinians killed in the Israeli incursion into eastern Khan Younis. Gaza’s Civil Emergency Service said more searches were under way with 200 people still reported missing.
The Israeli military said its forces killed more than 150 Palestinian gunmen during the week-long raid, destroyed militant tunnels and seized weapons.
After the Israeli forces left, people streamed back to their homes on foot and with donkey carts carrying their belongings. Many found their houses damaged or destroyed.
Witnesses said army forces had bulldozed the main cemetery in Bani Suhaila, the town on the eastern outskirts of Khan Younis that was the main focus of the raid, as well as houses and roads nearby.
“I am coming back and I have faith in God. I don’t know whether we will live or die, but it is all for the sake of the homeland,” said Etimad Al-Masri, who had walked for at least five kilometers back to her home.
“Despite the suffering, we are patient and God’s willing we will have victory.”
Many residents said they had been displaced from their homes several times.
“We hope there will be a ceasefire and calm. We hope that they act on a ceasefire so that we can live in security and safety,” said Walid Abu Nsaira, holding some of his belongings on his shoulder as he walked back home.
Updated
Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik spoke to Dr Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, the deputy medical coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Palestine, as part of the Gaza voices series.
He is working on the ground in Gaza. Here is an extract from the piece:
We managed to evacuate a patient from Gaza City, a woman in her mid-20s. She was pregnant. She had an explosive injury from an airstrike on her home. She lost her husband, her kids, her leg was amputated, and she lost her baby as well. It was really very difficult for everyone, for the medical staff, to see this case.
Updated
Greece's Aegean Airlines said on Tuesday that it cancelled flights to Beirut until 1 August, due to the current situation, Reuters reports.
"We are constantly evaluating the developments following the instructions of the competent authorities," the airlines said.
US defence secretary says Hezbollah-Israel conflict not inevitable
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin does not believe that a fight between Israel and Hezbollah is inevitable, and said Washington would like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion, Reuters reports.
“While we’ve seen a lot of activity on Israel’s northern border, we remain concerned about the potential of this escalating into a full-blown fight. And I don’t believe that a fight is inevitable,” Austin said. “We’d like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion.”
Austin made the comments on Tuesday at a joint press conference in Manila, after security talks between himself, US secretary of state Antony Blinken and their Philippine counterparts, Gilberto Teodoro and Enrique Manalo.
Updated
Druze leaders in the annexed Golan Heights have distanced themselves from Israeli threats to retaliate against Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, who Israel blamed for a deadly rocket strike on a Druze Arab town in the territory, the AFP reports.
Most of Majdal Shams’s around 11,000 mainly Druze residents still identify as Syrian more than half a century after Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria and later annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community.
On a visit to the town on Monday, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Israel would deliver a “severe response” to the strike, which killed 12 children aged between 10 and 16 as they played football in the town on Saturday.
In a statement issued after his visit, Druze lay and religious leaders said the community rejects the “attempt to exploit the name of Majdal Shams as a political platform at the expense of the blood of our children”.
Noting that the Druze faith “forbids killing and revenge in any form”, the community leaders said “we reject the shedding of even a single drop of blood under the pretext of avenging our children”.
Skin diseases are running rampant in Gaza, health officials have told the Associated Press, due to appalling conditions in overcrowded tent camps housing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes.
Palestinians say they have no soap to wash themselves, their children or their clothes during the summer heat. The sanitation system has collapsed amid Israel’s bombardment and offensives, the UN says.
The World Health Organization has reported more than 160,00 cases of lice, scabies and skin rashes. At one hospital, doctors report hundreds of skin disease cases a day, including a steady stream of children, covered in spots, scabs, rashes and lesions that turn into worse infections.
Israeli strikes hit Syrian air defence bases
Two air defence bases in southern Syria have been struck by Israeli missiles overnight, a war monitor has said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported no casualties in the overnight strikes in Daraa province, which abuts the armistice line separating Syrian and Israeli forces on the Golan.
Syria’s state-run media did not report any strikes.
The move marks a further rise in tensions on Israel’s northern border after a deadly rocket strike on the annexed Golan Heights killed 12 over the weekend.
Italian PM tells Israel not to fall into 'trap' of retaliation
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday called on Israel not to fall into the "trap" of retaliation, saying she was "very, very worried" by the situation in Lebanon and by the risk of a regional escalation, Reuters reports.
Speaking during an official visit to China, Meloni said the international community should continue sending messages of moderation, and that China could help in these efforts, having "solid ties" with Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Middle East.
Lebanon is on high alert after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a “harsh” response to a deadly rocket strike on the occupied Golan Heights, saying, “the state of Israel will not and cannot let this pass”.
Diplomatic efforts to avert an escalation in the exchanges of fire between the militant group Hezbollah and Israel – which have taken place almost daily since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war – were in high gear, with the US leading the drive.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday, emphasising the “importance of preventing escalation” and discussing efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to months of conflict.
White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that Israel had every right to respond to the Golan strike, but that nobody wanted a broader war.
“As for conversations over the weekend, you bet we’ve had them and we had them at multiple levels,” he added. “But I’m not going to detail the guts of those conversations.”
Lebanon’s deputy parliament speaker Elias Bou Saab, who said he had been in contact with US mediator Amos Hochstein since Saturday’s Golan attack, told Reuters Israel could avert the threat of major escalation by sparing the capital, Beirut, and its environs.
“If they avoid civilians and they avoid Beirut and its suburbs, then their attack could be well calculated,” he said.
Israeli officials have said that their country wants to hurt Hezbollah but not drag the region into all-out war.
More on that soonest. In other key developments:
Two senior Israeli defence officials have told Reuters that Israel wants to hurt Hezbollah but does not want to drag the region into an all out war, while two other officials said the country was preparing for the possibility of a few days of fighting. “The estimation is that the response will not lead to an all-out war,” said the diplomatic source. “That would not be in our interest at this point.”
The US is leading a diplomatic dash to deter Israel from striking Lebanon’s capital Beirut or major civil infrastructure in response to a deadly rocket attack on the Golan Heights, five people with knowledge of the drive said according to Reuters. The focus of the high-speed diplomacy has been to constrain Israel’s response by urging it against targeting densely populated Beirut, the southern suburbs of the city that form Hezbollah’s heartland, or key infrastructure like airports and bridges, said the sources who requested anonymity to discuss confidential details that haven’t been previously reported.
An Israeli drone strike outside the southern Lebanese town of Shaqra on Monday killed two people and wounded three, including a child, according to the Lebanese civil defense. The rescue service did not say whether those killed were fighters or civilians.
About 300 friends, supporters and relatives of the slain children protested against a visit by Netanyahu on Monday to the soccer field in Majdal Shams in the Golan Hieghts where Saturday’s strike took place. They shouted that he was exploiting the bloodshed for political gain and called for an end to the violence. Some held up pictures of the children, saying they wanted no more deaths.
Western governments have called for calm and some have advised their citizens to leave Lebanon. The foreign ministry in Berlin called on the about 1,300 German nationals who were believed to be in the country to get out “as long as there is still time”. Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani discussed preventing a new war in the Middle East with his Israeli and Lebanese counterparts, Israel Katz and Bou Habib on Monday.
The Cypriot foreign minister said the country is on standby to assist in the evacuation of civilians from the Middle East if a standoff between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon escalates. “We are all hoping it won’t be necessary, but should that not happen, Cyprus will continue to operate as a safety bridge in facilitating the departure of civilians from any embattled zone in our area,” said Constantinos Kombos.
An investigation by the Israeli military into the alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee at a notorious military detention camp for prisoners captured in Gaza has sparked protests from members of Israel’s far right. The Israeli military said on Monday the office of its advocate general ordered an inquiry “following suspected substantial abuse of a detainee” at the Sde Teiman facility, which holds Palestinian detainees, including alleged members of Hamas’s elite Nukhba forces involved in the 7 October attack. The detentions prompted outcry from a coalition of extreme-right members of parliament and their supporters who attempted to storm the military base in protest.
