Israel war on Gaza updates: 60 bodies found in Shujayea after Israeli raid

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To learn more about the latest US sanctions being enacted against illegal Israeli settlers over violence in the occupied West Bank, read this story.

And for all of our coverage of the Gaza conflict, click here.

We’ll be closing this live page soon. Here’s a recap of the day’s main events:

• Civil defence workers have recovered at least 60 bodies in northern Gaza City’s Shujayea area after a two-week Israeli assault rendered the neighbourhood unliveable, with 85 percent of homes destroyed.
• Civilians fleeing Gaza City say people were shot dead during forced evacuations after Israel’s military ordered the entire population of 300,000 people to leave.
• Prime Minister Netanyahu has said he remains committed to the ceasefire framework being negotiated but accused Hamas of making demands that contradict it and reiterated fighting won’t stop until Israel’s war goals are reached – including defeating Hamas.
• Hamas official Husam Badran has said Netanyahu is “personally responsible” for disrupting current talks.
• An Israeli inquiry has found the military “failed to protect” the residents of settlements attacked by Palestinian fighters on October 7, and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said he should be investigated, along with Netanyahu, for failures related to the Hamas-led attack.

Israel’s war in Gaza went without mention in NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg’s final speech at the NATO summit in Washington, despite some leaders warning that silence over the situation in Gaza could undermine the alliance’s commitment to human rights.

Earlier in the day, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned that the perception of a “double standard” towards Ukraine and Gaza could weaken efforts to rally non-European nations to the defence of a “rules-based” international order.

US President Joe Biden also failed to mention the conflict and instead rekindled a debate over his candidacy for the November presidential election when he accidentally referred to his Ukrainian counterpart as Russia’s “President Putin” as he introduced Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Israeli forces have raided the town of Marda in Salfit, in the northern occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

It cited local sources as saying a “large force” of Israeli soldiers stormed the town and raided several homes, causing material damage.

At least one man has been detained, it added.

The Americans still say they’re “cautiously optimistic” that a deal will be struck, according to White House official John Kirby, who added: “We believe we are close to reaching a ceasefire agreement, but we have not reached that point yet, and we cannot be complacent”.

On the Israeli side, Netanyahu has continued his line of saying that he supports a ceasefire deal – but emphasises that any deal shouldn’t stop Israel from continuing to fight in Gaza to defeat Hamas. The Israelis said a negotiating team was headed to Cairo to hold more talks.

Hamas official Husam Badran told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu was to blame for “disrupting the negotiations” and “manipulating … matters to serve his personal interests”. A Hamas statement on Thursday said that the group had not been provided with any updates on the negotiations.

And a Palestinian Islamic Jihad official told Reuters that the latest round of talks was over, with no agreements yet.

Samantha Power, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) administrator, said she has received Israeli pledges to allow aid workers to move more quickly and safely throughout the Gaza Strip.

In an interview with The Associated Press news agency, Power said that Israel has also taken new steps to increase the flow of aid through its port of Ashdod, just north of Gaza. The move could give donors a new option for delivering aid as the US shutters its troubled maritime pier off Gaza’s coast.

“We have not seen the kind of humanitarian system to this point that has allowed humanitarians to move efficiently and safely to the degree that we need,” Power said. “This week and through this visit, we have secured an agreement.”

“My whole career has been working in and around conflict areas,” said Power. “I have never seen a more difficult conflict environment for humanitarians to work in.”

The UN says that since May, the amount of aid reaching it to distribute in Gaza has fallen to some of the lowest levels in the war.

Israeli forces are continuing to seal shut vital border crossings in Gaza as famine looms. Tonnes of supplies have piled up on the Gaza side of Israeli-controlled border crossings because the UN says it is unable to collect them for distribution.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said only five of the UN agency’s trucks carrying medical supplies were allowed into Gaza last week, while more than 34 were waiting in El Arish, the closest Egyptian city to the Rafah border crossing, and 40 in Ismailia, in northeastern Egypt.

The Israeli military earlier claimed that it had allowed 261 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Yet, the UN and other international organisations continue to report on Israeli restrictions on aid delivery to the besieged enclave, amid the spread of famine after more than nine months of war.

Only five @WHO trucks of medical supplies were allowed into #Gaza last week.

More than 34 of our trucks are waiting at the Al Arish crossing, and 850 pallets of medical supplies are awaiting collection.

A further 40 trucks are waiting at Ismailiya in Egypt.

WHO calls for the… pic.twitter.com/95MReUn1RI

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) July 11, 2024

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation quoted informed sources as saying that progress has been made towards a ceasefire deal in Gaza, but that disagreements have not been completely resolved. The negotiating team is expected to review the outcomes of the Doha meetings tonight before the members of the Ministerial Council for Political and Security Affairs.

Sources familiar with the negotiations told Haaretz that Israel vetoed the release of 15 “heavyweight prisoners” from Hamas, which the group says hold symbolic significance. Mediators are still looking for a possible compromise.

Israeli Channel 13 reported that Netanyahu’s earlier announcement that he is seeking to retain control over the Rafah crossing and the Philadelphi Corridor would likely hinder a deal.

Mossad chief David Barnea told Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth that pressure on Gaza must be increased to obtain more from the ongoing negotiations.

Hind Khoudary reports from Deir el-Balah in Gaza:

Mourners carried the body of a teenage boy who was shot and killed by Israeli forces earlier today during a raid on the town of Meithalun, southeast of Jenin in the West Bank, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

Ali Hassan Ali Rabaia’s body was transferred to the Turkish Hospital in Tubas after he was shot. Mourners carried his body from the hospital and moved towards his home for final farewells.

Israeli forces have killed more than 500 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7.

The armed wing of Hamas says its fighters attacked a group of Israeli soldiers with mortar shells in Tel Zourob, southwest of Rafah.

It said its fighters also struck Israeli army vehicles in the area.

Israeli fighter jets have attacked more locations in southern Lebanon, including Taybeh and Kfar Kila.

The Israeli military said on its official Telegram channel that the attacks targeted Hezbollah “military structures” among other “terrorist” sites.

The military also said it struck “a suspicious aerial target” launched from Lebanon.

Israeli settlers have set fire to a Palestinian shop and attacked homes in the town of Bazariya, northwest of Nablus, the Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported.

It added that the settlers pelted vehicles with stones and closed the road between Nablus and Jenin. The Israeli army set up checkpoints following the incident.

Israeli settler militias set fire to a shop and attack Palestinian homes in the town of Bazariya, northwest of Nablus. pic.twitter.com/VCJwPL0J0x

— Wafa News Agency – English (@WAFANewsEnglish) July 11, 2024

Its 11:30pm (20:30 GMT) in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel. Let’s bring you up to speed with the most significant developments in the past few hours:

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he remains committed to the Gaza ceasefire framework currently being negotiated, but accused Hamas of making demands that contradict it. Netanyahu reiterated that the fighting, however, would not stop until all of Israel’s war goals are reached – which include the defeat of Hamas.
• Hamas official Husam Badran said that Netanyahu was “personally responsible” for disrupting the current talks.
• Israeli forces have shot and killed 17-year-old Ali Hassan Ali Rabaia during a raid on the town of Meithalun, southeast of Jenin in the occupied West Bank. Two others have been reportedly wounded in confrontations.
• An Israeli army inquiry has found that the military “failed to protect” the residents of settlements attacked by Palestinian fighters on October 7 – and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that he should be investigated, along with Netanyahu, for failures related to the Hamas-led attack.
• The US Treasury Department has issued a notice on its website saying it will sanction five Israeli entities and three people in the West Bank.
• The Israeli army has claimed attacks on southern Lebanon, saying that the strikes targeted Hezbollah “military structures” among other sites.
• The US said it expects to wind down its operations of a pier designed to increase the flow of much-needed humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as it faces technical issues.

Husam Badran, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, has told Al Jazeera that “it has become evident” to all parties involved in negotiating a ceasefire deal in Gaza that Netanyahu is “personally responsible” for disrupting the current talks and previous rounds due to personal considerations as well as those of his far-right government.

Badran claimed that while Hamas adopted a constructive approach, the Israeli prime minister “has shown no real positivity that could lead to a solution”.

The official added that Netanyahu has sought to put the blame on Hamas but that mediators, including the US, were aware that Netanyahu was “hindering any agreement”.

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Israel and the Occupied Territories has said that its hotline received hundreds of calls in recent days from people desperate for help.

“Entire families are trapped and desperately seek security. The huge needs are beyond our capacity to respond,” the organisation said in a statement on X.

The ICRC said that communities are exhausted, having endured fighting and displacement, while also receiving unclear evacuation orders from the Israeli military.

It said that the struggle to survive is robbing people of their dignity, which is why international humanitarian law must be respected.

Months of hostilities, displacement, and fear have exhausted civilians in Gaza.

International humanitarian law must be respected – civilians must be spared from the impacts of fighting. pic.twitter.com/dIRpNr4KE1

— ICRC in Israel & OT (@ICRC_ilot) July 11, 2024

The Biden administration has been more eager than before to reach a ceasefire, even a permanent one. That’s why it came out with that three-phase plan so the Netanyahu government can [buy into it].

Netanyahu is not biting, and he continues to insist that there are red lines and that the war will continue and it will achieve its objectives.

Hamas disagrees because Netanyahu’s objective is to destroy Hamas. But something seems to be happening behind the scenes [with] the Egyptians, Americans and Israelis. That’s where the security arrangement for the day after is happening: The Americans are trying to figure out who is going to be responsible for the security in Gaza.

There could also be some progress on the Qatari-American-Israeli front about the captives: who is out, who is in, who’s going to be released, the names of the Palestinian prisoners with the longest sentences and so on.

There’s more on the Israeli army’s inquiry into the events of October 7, as we have further details from army spokesperson Daniel Hagari’s press conference presenting the probe.

Hagari said that the Israeli army had failed to confront thousands of Hamas and other Palestinian fighters who launched the attack, and in particular had failed to protect the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri, which saw some of the heaviest fighting.

“The fighters of Kibbutz Be’eri were alone for the first seven hours,” Hagari said, adding that “major mistakes” occurred.