Six children among 10 people killed at water collection point by Israeli strike
Israel and Hamas appeared no closer to a breakthrough in talks meant to pause the 21-month war and free some Israeli hostages.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington last week to discuss the deal with the Trump administration, but a new sticking point has emerged over the deployment of Israeli troops during the truce, raising questions over the feasibility of a new deal.
Israel wants to keep forces in what it says is an important land corridor in southern Gaza. Hamas views the insistence on troops in that strip of land as an indication that Israel intends to continue the war once a temporary ceasefire expires.
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip attend a rally demanding their release from Hamas captivity in Tel Aviv, Israel (Oded Balilty/AP)
Israel says it will only end the war once Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile, something it refuses to do.
Hamas says it is willing to free all the remaining 50 hostages, less than half said to be alive, in exchange for an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces.
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Throughout the war in Gaza, violence has also surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where funerals were held Sunday for two Palestinians, including Palestinian-American Sayfollah Musallet, 20, who was killed in an attack by Israeli settlers, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
In Gaza, officials at Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza said it received 10 bodies after an Israeli strike on a water collection point in Nuseirat, also in central Gaza.
Among the dead were six children, the hospital said.
The Israeli military said it struck more than 150 targets over the past day, without commenting directly on the specific strikes. Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militant group operates out of populated areas.
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In the October 7 2023 attack that sparked the war, Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 57,800 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.
The ministry, under Gaza's Hamas-run government, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
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The Guardian
27 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘Humanitarian city' would be concentration camp for Palestinians, says former Israeli PM
The 'humanitarian city' Israel's defence minister has proposed building on the ruins of Rafah would be a concentration camp, and forcing Palestinians inside would be ethnic cleansing, Israel's former prime minister Ehud Olmert has told the Guardian. Israel was already committing war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, Olmert said, and construction of the camp would mark an escalation. 'It is a concentration camp. I am sorry,' he said, when asked about the plans laid out by Israel Katz last week. Once inside, Palestinians would not be allowed to leave, except to go to other countries, Katz said. Katz has ordered the military to start drawing up operational plans for construction of the 'humanitarian city' on the ruins of southern Gaza, to house initially 600,000 people and eventually the entire Palestinian population. 'If they [Palestinians] will be deported into the new 'humanitarian city', then you can say that this is part of an ethnic cleansing. It hasn't yet happened,' Olmert said. That would be 'the inevitable interpretation' of any attempt to create a camp for hundreds of thousands of people, he said. Olmert did not consider Israel's current campaign was ethnic cleansing because, he said, evacuating civilians to protect them from fighting was legal under international law, and Palestinians had returned to areas where military operations had finished. The 'humanitarian city' project is backed by Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israel's refusal to withdraw from the area Katz envisages for the camp is a sticking point in the faltering negotiations for a ceasefire deal, Israeli media have reported. Olmert said that after months of violent rhetoric, including calls from ministers to 'cleanse' Gaza and projects to build Israeli settlements there, government claims that the 'humanitarian city' aimed to protect Palestinians were not credible. 'When they build a camp where they [plan to] 'clean' more than half of Gaza, then the inevitable understanding of the strategy of this [is that] it is not to save [Palestinians]. It is to deport them, to push them and to throw them away. There is no other understanding that I have, at least.' Israeli human rights lawyers and scholars have described the plan as a blueprint for crimes against humanity and some have warned that if implemented, 'under certain conditions it could amount to the crime of genocide'. Other Israelis who have described the planned 'humanitarian city' as a concentration camp have been attacked for invoking comparisons to Nazi Germany, when the government says it is designed to protect Palestinians. Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial centre, accused one journalist of 'a serious and inappropriate distortion of the meaning of the Holocaust'. Olmert, who led Israel from 2006 to 2009, spoke to the Guardian on the day funerals were held in the occupied West Bank for two Palestinian men, one an American citizen, who had been killed by Israeli settlers. The latest deaths came after a campaign of violent intimidation that has forced the residents of several villages to flee their homes over the past two years. The attacks were war crimes, Olmert said. '[It is] unforgivable. Unacceptable. There are continuous operations organised, orchestrated in the most brutal, criminal manner by a large group.' The attackers are often called 'hilltop youth' in Israel and described as fringe extremists. Olmert said he preferred the term 'hilltop atrocities' to describe the young men whose campaign of spiralling violence was carried out with near-total impunity. 'There is no way that they can operate in such a consistent, massive and widespread manner without a framework of support and protection which is provided by the [Israeli] authorities in the [occupied Palestinian] territories,' he said. Olmert described extremist cabinet ministers who backed violence in Gaza and the West Bank – where they have authorised major settlement expansions and control law enforcement with a view to expanding the borders of Israel – as a greater threat to the country's long-term security than any external foe. 'These guys are the enemy from within,' he said. Extreme suffering in Gaza and settler atrocities in the West Bank were fuelling growing anger against Israel that cannot all be written off as antisemitism, Olmert said. 'In the United States there is more and more and more expanding expressions of hatred to Israel,' he said. 'We make a discount to ourselves saying: 'They are antisemites.' I don't think that they are only antisemites, I think many of them are anti-Israel because of what they watch on television, what they watch on social networks. 'This is a painful but normal reaction of people who say: 'Hey, you guys have crossed every possible line.'' Attitudes inside Israel might start to shift only when Israelis started to feel the burden of international pressure, he said, calling for stronger international intervention in the absence of serious political opposition at home. He also criticised the Israeli media for its failure to report on violence against Palestinians. Olmert backed the initial campaign against Hamas after the 7 October 2023 attacks. But he said that, by this spring, when the Israeli government 'publicly and in a brutal manner' abandoned negotiations for a permanent end to fighting, he had reached the conclusion his country was committing war crimes. 'Ashamed and heartbroken' that a war of self-defence had become something else, he decided to speak out. 'What can I do to change the attitude, except for number one, recognising these evils, and number two, to criticise them and to make sure the international public opinion knows there are [other] voices, many voices in Israel?' he asked. He attributed what he called war crimes to negligence and a willingness to tolerate unconscionable levels of death and devastation, rather than an organised campaign of brutality. '[Did commanders] give an order? Never,' Olmert said. Instead, he believes the military looked away when things were done that would inevitably 'cause the killing of a large number of non-involved people'. He said: 'That is why I cannot refrain from accusing this government of being responsible for war crimes committed.' Despite the devastation in Gaza, as the last Israeli premier to seriously attempt to reach a negotiated solution with Palestinians, Olmert still hopes that a two-state solution is possible. He is working with the former Palestinian foreign minister Nasser al-Kidwa to push for one internationally, and even believes that a historic settlement could be in reach – an end to the war in Gaza in exchange for normalisation of ties with Saudi Arabia – if only Netanyahu was able or willing to take it. Instead Olmert was stunned to see Netanyahu, a man who has an arrest warrant for war crimes from the international criminal court, nominating Donald Trump for a Nobel peace prize. Additional reporting by Quique Kierszenbaum
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Fears that 'anti-Jewish' summer camp accused of backing Iran could radicalise children as young as nine
A summer camp sponsored by an Islamic charity accused of backing Iran could expose children as young as nine to extreme views, it has been claimed. Camp Wilayah, which is run by the Ahlulbayt Islamic Mission (AIM) charity, offers activities including archery and abseiling, as well as lectures and discussions. The four-day camp in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire is described as a 'unique opportunity' for children aged nine to 14 to build on their Islamic values. According to the charity's website, girls who attend must wear a hijab and loose clothing. They will also be separated from the boys for the duration of the camp, except for daily prayers, talks and a team photo. Camp Wilayah costs £180 per child to attend and has been run by Ahlulbayt Islamic Mission for a number of years. The Islamic organisation which is based in Cricklewood, north-west London, has been accused of backing Iran's theocratic regime. In posts on social media, the charity has repeatedly praised Tehran's leader Ayatollah Khamenei - and even described his books as a 'great read'. The organisation has also refused to condemn the terror group Hamas and said in the wake of the October 7 attacks that 'Zionists brought this disaster upon themselves'. Meanwhile in another post on Instagram from last year, young children can be seen drawing and colouring in Palestinian flags and watermelon symbols. Legal lobby group UK Lawyers for Israel has criticised the planned activities at the camp - saying they could incite hatred towards Jewish people. It said in a comment to The Telegraph: 'AIM's deep ideological alignment with the Iranian regime and its record of extremist propaganda presents an unacceptable risk to children. 'We hope the local authority and other agencies will act decisively to protect vulnerable young people from exposure to harmful and radicalising content.' UK lawyers for Israel has written to Brentwood Council in London and Hertfordshire Council asking for Camp Wilayah to be banned. The group warned councillors: 'There is compelling reason to believe that the event may be used as a platform to radicalise children, incite hatred or violence, and glorify terrorist ideology.' Pictured: An advert for this year's camp on the charity's website Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick also raised concerns that children should be allowed to attend camps run by 'supporters of the Iranian regime'. A spokesperson for Hertfordshire County Council said: 'We are aware of concerns around this planned activity camp, and we are working with partners to understand the situation and whether it raises any safeguarding issues.' MailOnline has contacted AIM for comment. There is no evidence the charity poses a risk to children and in a statement on their website it says its goal is to 'promote peace' and 'create a better world for everyone'. It reads: 'We at AIM are committed in our efforts to spread peace, tolerance and co-existence; and to promote social harmony as contained in our rich and abundant Islamic heritage. 'AIM believes that the continual pursuit of its objectives will create a better world for everyone.' Aim also described the camp as an 'amazing place to enjoy the outdoors, make new friends, learn and build on Islamic values'.
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Netanyahu aide faces indictment over Gaza leak
JERUSALEM, July 13 (Reuters) - An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces indictment on security charges pending a hearing, Israel's attorney general said on Sunday, for allegedly leaking top secret military information during Israel's war in Gaza. Netanyahu's close adviser, Jonatan Urich, has denied any wrongdoing in the case which legal authorities began investigating in late 2024. The prime minister has described probes against Urich and other aides as a witch-hunt. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement that Urich and another aide had extracted secret information from the Israeli military and leaked it to German newspaper Bild. Their intent, she said, was to shape public opinion of Netanyahu and influence the discourse about the slaying of six Israeli hostages by their Palestinian captors in Gaza in late August 2024. The hostages' deaths had sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged hostage families, who accused Netanyahu of torpedoing ceasefire talks that had faltered in the preceding weeks for political reasons. Netanyahu vehemently denies this. He has repeatedly said that Hamas was to blame for the talks collapsing, while the militant group has said it was Israel's fault no deal had been reached. Four of the six slain hostages had been on the list of more than 30 captives that Hamas was set to free were a ceasefire to be reached, according to a defence official at the time. The Bild article in question was published days after the hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza. It outlined Hamas' negotiation strategy in the indirect ceasefire talks and largely corresponded with Netanyahu's allegations against the militant group over the deadlock. Bild said after the investigation was announced that it does not comment on its sources and that its article relied on authentic documents. A two-month ceasefire was reached in January this year and included the release of 38 hostages before Israel resumed attacks in Gaza. The sides are presently engaged in indirect negotiations in Doha, aimed at reaching another truce.
