Dozens killed in Gaza as Israel weighs ceasefire plan
The Palestinian news agency WAFA said at least 50 people had been killed in airstrikes and other incidents, with many casualties reported among those desperately queuing for food.
Here are the latest headlines from around Gaza, Israel and the wider Middle East on Saturday, July 5.
Israel is considering how to respond to Hamas's positive reaction to the latest US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal.
Israeli media reported on Saturday that the Israeli government had received the Palestinian group's response on the Gaza ceasefire proposal with details currently being examined.
The Security Cabinet is set to meet later on Saturday after the end of the Jewish sabbath at sundown, according to Israeli media reports.
Sources in the Gaza Strip say that dozens of people have been killed since early on Saturday morning as Israel prosecutes its offensive in the territory.
The Palestinian news agency WAFA said at least 50 people had been killed in airstrikes and other incidents, with many casualties reported among those desperately queuing for food.
Figures varied, with the AP news agency placing the number killed at 24 — 14 in airstrikes and 10.
The AFP news agency put the total number killed at 32, including 8 who had been killed by Israeli fire near an aid distribution hub in southern Gaza.
Gazan authorities reported at least 70 people have been killed in the territory by the Israeli military in the last 24 hours. These were said to include 23 people near aid distribution sites.
Israel's offensive in Gaza since the October 7 terror attacks has killed more than X Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's Health Ministry.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but the UN and multiple humanitarian organizations consider the casualty numbers broadly reliable.
Welcome to our latest updates from Gaza, Israel and the wider Middle East.
As Israel is studying a US-led plan for a ceasefire, the civilian death toll in Gaza was climbing again on Saturday. A proportion of the casualties were among those seeking food in the enclave.
Meawhile, two US workers were injured in an attack on the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in what the group said was a targeted attack.
We'll be providing updates on these stories and others from the region right here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Hamas: Militia leader Abu Shabab must surrender or face trial for treason, insurrection
The ultimatum stated that Abu Shabab is accused of "treason, collaborating with hostile entities, forming an armed gang, and insurrection." Hamas's Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday that a court has issued a 10-day ultimatum to Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a Gazan militia, to surrender or face trial. Abu Shabab is the leader of a well-armed Bedouin clan defying Hamas's control of the Palestinian enclave. The ministry's statement said the decision was taken by what it called a 'Revolutionary Court.' Abu Shabab, who does not recognize the authority of Hamas and accuses them of hurting the interests of Gazans, has 10 days to surrender, it said. The ultimatum stated that Abu Shabab is accused of 'treason, collaborating with hostile entities, forming an armed gang, and insurrection.' Additionally, residents of the Gaza Strip were asked to provide information on his whereabouts and warned that anyone withholding such information would be considered as harboring a fugitive who failed to appear in court. The court urged Palestinians to inform Hamas security officials about the whereabouts of Abu Shabab, who has so far remained beyond their reach in the Rafah area of southern Gaza held by the IDF. There was no immediate response from his group to the surrender order. Hamas, which accuses Abu Shabab of looting UN aid trucks and alleges that he is backed by Israel, has sent some of its top fighters to kill him, two Hamas sources and two other sources familiar with the situation told Reuters last month. Abu Shabab's group told Reuters at the time that it is a popular force protecting humanitarian aid from looting by escorting aid trucks, and it denied getting support from Israel or contacts with the Israeli army. It accused Hamas of violence and muzzling dissent. Israel has said it has backed some of Gaza's clans against Hamas but has not said which. Abu Shabab previously denied to Army Radio that his militia had received any backing from Israel, though it is unclear how Hamas would treat his interview with an Israeli media outlet, given the terror group's restrictive laws against communicating with Israelis. He asserted that the militia's weapons were collected from local people. Yisrael Beytenu chairmanAvigdor Liberman previously claimed that Israel was arming opposing militia groups and crime families, a claim denied by the Prime Minister's Office.
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'No stopping a civil war against Hamas,' Gaza militia chief Abu Shabab tells KAN
This follows an earlier interview with Army Radio, where Abu Shabab denied working with Israel but added that he hadn't ruled out cooperating with the IDF on aid distribution in the future. Yasser Abu Shabab, leader of the allegedly Israel-backed, anti-Hamas Popular Forces group, revealed to Israeli public broadcaster KAN on Sunday that his militia is actively working against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, particularly operating in the Rafah area. "There is no stopping a civil war against Hamas," Abu Shabab said in the interview. He told KAN that those who comprise his militia do not belong to any political or organizational ideology. However, Abu Shabab told Army Radio in an interview last month that he denied working with Israel and confirmed his group's relationship with the Palestinian Authority. In that interview, he said that he wouldn't rule out cooperating with the IDF on issues such as humanitarian aid distribution in the future. In Sunday's KAN interview, he said, "We have tasted the bitterness and injustice inflicted on us by Hamas and we have taken it upon ourselves to confront this aggression," KAN quoted him as saying. "We support any legitimate force that will adopt the idea of removing injustice and corruption." The militia leader has also emphasized that the Popular Forces receive logistical and financial assistance from several sources but refrained from naming specific sources. Abu Shabab claimed that after Hamas leaves power, the Popular Forces will rule the enclave afterwards. "Hamas knows and understands this; the Popular Forces will be the heirs in Gaza after they are crushed and defeated," KAN quoted him. He noted that there is no dispute between his group and the Palestinian Authority (PA). "There is administrative coordination regarding certain goals, but not military; the PA has nothing to do with arming the Popular Forces organization or providing assistance; any coordination is only administrative." Abu Shabab's interview with KAN came a few days after Hamas announced that its Interior Ministry issued a 10-day ultimatum for him to surrender or face trial. The ultimatum states that Abu Shabab is accused of 'treason, collaborating with hostile entities, forming an armed gang, and insurrection.' When asked by KAN about the ultimatum, he said, "They [Hamas] committed the crime of October 7. They are the cause of the trouble of the Palestinian people, the persecution of civilians, and the killing of innocents. They should put themselves on trial, not other people." Liran Aharoni contributed to this report.
News24
15 minutes ago
- News24
Hezbollah demands Israel ‘stop its aggression... release the prisoners' as US proposes disarmament
US envoy Thomas Barrack proposed that Lebanon disarms Hezbollah. Israel continues its occupation of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem insists the organisation still needs its weapons. A US envoy met Lebanese officials in Beirut on Monday to discuss a proposed plan to disarm Hezbollah, hours after Israel launched new air strikes and a cross-border ground assault. The Israeli escalation was seen by Lebanese officials and diplomats as an attempt to ratchet up pressure on Hezbollah, whose leader Naim Qassem said in a televised speech on Sunday that the group still needed arms to defend Lebanon from Israel. Hezbollah emerged badly damaged from a war with Israel last year that eliminated much of the group's leadership, killed thousands of its fighters and left tens of thousands of its supporters displaced from their destroyed homes. The group has been under pressure in recent months both within Lebanon and from Washington to completely relinquish its weapons. It is weighing shrinking its arsenal, sources told Reuters last week, without disarming in full. US envoy Thomas Barrack's proposal, delivered to Lebanese officials during his last visit on 19 June, would see Hezbollah fully disarmed within four months in exchange for the withdrawal of Israeli troops occupying several posts in south Lebanon and a halt to Israeli air strikes. Lebanon formed a committee to draft a response. Hezbollah was expected to provide its own feedback to its ally, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, to incorporate into a counter-proposal being prepared in time for Barrack's Monday visit. The group did not make its response public, but two sources familiar with its deliberations said Hezbollah had told Berri it would not discuss giving up any more arms before Israeli troops fully left Lebanon and without guarantees Israel would stop targeting group members. Hezbollah had already relinquished a number of weapons depots in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese army in line with a US-brokered truce that ended last year's war. The truce also stipulates that Israeli troops withdraw. Hezbollah has pointed to the troops' continued occupation of at least five posts in southern Lebanon as a main violation. AFP reported that Qassem said on Sunday his group would not surrender or lay down its weapons in response to Israeli threats, despite pressure on the Lebanese militants to disarm. 'This (Israeli) threat will not make us accept surrender,' Qassem said in a televised speech to thousands of his supporters in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, during the Shi'ite Muslim religious commemoration of Ashura. Lebanese leaders who took office in the aftermath of a war between Israel and Hezbollah last year that left the Iran-backed group severely weakened have repeatedly vowed a state monopoly on bearing arms, while demanding Israel comply with a November ceasefire that sought to end the hostilities. Qassem, who succeeded longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah after an Israeli strike killed him in September, said the group's fighters would not abandon their arms and asserted that Israel's 'aggression' must first stop. Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP Lebanese authorities say they have been dismantling Hezbollah's military infrastructure in the south near the Israeli border. Qassem said Israel must abide by the ceasefire agreement, 'withdraw from the occupied territories, stop its aggression... release the prisoners' detained during last year's war, and that reconstruction in Lebanon must begin. Only then 'will we be ready for the second stage, which is to discuss the national security and defence strategy' which includes the issue of group's disarmament, he added. Supporters dressed in black for Ashura marched through Beirut's southern suburbs before his speech, waving Hezbollah banners as well as the Lebanese, Palestinian and Iranian flags. Some also carried posters of the slain leader Nasrallah. Hussein Jaber, 28, originally from south Lebanon, said the group's weapons 'can't be handed over, not now, not later. Those who think Hezbollah will turn in its arms are ignorant.' In his speech, Qassem also said his movement 'will not accept normalisation with the Israeli enemy', after Israel's top diplomat said his government was 'interested' in such a move. Lebanon, which is technically still at war with Israel, did not comment. Syria, also mentioned by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, said it was 'premature' to discuss normalisation.
