Israel’s war on Gaza updates: US shuts down $230m floating pier mission

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Read about why Israel steps up its attacks when Gaza ceasefire talks advance here.

Watch Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour tell the UN Security Council that “Gaza is going down as the most documented genocide in history” here.

Learn more about how Israel seeks to rewrite the laws of war here.

For all of our coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, click here.

We will be closing the live blog soon. Here’s a recap of the day’s main events.

• Israeli attacks have killed Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, with the enclave’s Ministry of Health reporting on Wednesday that 81 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks in the preceding 24 hours.
• The US military has ended a much-criticised $230m project to set up a floating aid pier off the coast of Gaza, only two months since it became operational.
• Protesters in Israel have demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bring the captives home and resign.
• Netanyahu dismissed demands for the creation of a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 attacks saying, “First, I want to defeat Hamas”.
• Israeli firefighters have had to bring blazes under control after overnight rocket attacks from Lebanon towards towns and cities across the border.
• An Israeli negotiating team arrived in Cairo for truce discussions as Israel and Hamas consider the latest proposal, airport officials told The Associated Press.

We reported earlier that US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the UNSC that “Palestinian civilians are living in hell” in Gaza, amid a severe shortage of food, water and medicines.

Thomas-Greenfield also provided an update on mediated truce talks, saying that the “United States, Qatar, Egypt and so many of our other partners remain persistent”.

She said there had been some progress and that “Israel and Hamas have now both agreed to the ceasefire framework” the Security Council endorsed in a US-backed proposal in early June, but added “there are still gaps to be closed”.

The council adopted a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on March 25, with the United States abstaining. The council then adopted a second resolution, endorsing a US-backed ceasefire proposal, on June 10.

More on the visa restrictions imposed on Elor Azaria by the US earlier on Wednesday.

Israeli opposition politician Benny Gantz, who served in Israel’s war cabinet until his resignation last month, said that Israel had “an independent, robust judicial system that is both capable and willing to punish under Israeli law”.

“I want to convey to our American friends – there is no justification to interfere in Israel’s legal processes,” he added.

Azaria was captured on video walking up to an injured Palestinian, Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, and killing him in 2016. He was sentenced to only 18 months by an Israeli court but ultimately served almost nine months before his release in 2018.

The former US aid director for the West Bank and Gaza, Dave Harden, said that the now-closed pier was “interesting in theory, but in practice, an absolute failure – and my concern is who will be held accountable?”

“The pier, in concept, was an interesting idea from my perspective, because it created some potential facts on the ground so that the Gazans for once could actually have something in their favour where they could import basic commodities, either now or in the future,” said Harden, who is now the managing director of Georgetown Strategy Group.

“What we have not seen is a robust opening of the crossings … I think this goes first to the Israelis, and second to the Americans,” Harden added.

“And in the meantime, the Gazans themselves continue to suffer. This was a tragedy compounding a tragedy.”

The parents of an Israeli-American captive held in Gaza will give a speech at the Republican National Convention this evening, in an effort to increase pressure to secure the release of their son.

Ronen and Orna Neutra told The Hill on Tuesday that they wanted “everybody to work together” to secure the release of their son, 22-year-old Omer.

“We are calling on the two parties and the administration to work hand in hand, put the pressure on all the parties involved, to make sure that they reach a deal now. It’s urgent. People are dying here. There is a real opportunity on the table,” Ronen Neutra said.

Many leading Republicans have backed the continued heavy bombing of Gaza, rather than focus on a ceasefire deal that would secure the release of the captives, as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s opponents in Israel blame him for stalling on a deal.

Separately at the RNC, pro-Palestinian protests that rocked US campuses earlier this year are going to be on the agenda, with Jewish students expected to speak about what they claim has been anti-Semitism on campus. Pro-Palestinian voices – including many Jews – have said that accusations of anti-Semitism are an attempt to smear voices defending Gaza.

The Republican mainstream has sought to portray the protesters as dangerous radicals, with Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane, reporting from the RNC in Milwaukee, noting that the party’s election platform calls for foreign students protesting the war in Gaza to have their visas revoked.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said that Israeli forces had committed “four massacres” in the previous 24 hours, killing 81 people.

Some of the reported deaths on Wednesday include:

• Nine Palestinians, including three children, killed in an Israeli air strike near Cairo School in the Remal neighbourhood, western Gaza City
• An Israeli air strike killed four people in the Shati refugee camp, to the east of Gaza City
• An elderly man was killed in an Israeli air strike on a house in the western part of Nuseirat camp, in the centre of Gaza
• Five Palestinians, including three children and a woman, were killed in an Israeli air strike on the home of the Alayan family in Abasan, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza
• An Israeli air strike on al-Shakshouk, northwest of Rafah, killed two Palestinians

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said that comments made by Matt Brooks, the CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, were “apparent support for the genocidal idea of carpet-bombing Gaza”, which spoke “volumes about the systematic, racist dehumanization of the Palestinian people”.

“Genocide is wrong, no matter its victim,” the CAIR national communications director, Ibrahim Hooper, added. “Republican elected officials should renounce this genocidal rhetoric, as well as the Israeli government’s ongoing use of American taxpayer dollars to bomb churches, mosques, hospitals, schools, refugee camps, and innocent men, women and children across Gaza.”

Speaking at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, Brooks said that he believes Donald Trump will “provide a blank cheque to Israel” to “finish the job quickly” in Gaza if elected.

“If you need to carpet bomb the area, do it. Just get it done. Rip the band-aid off. Finish the job because Hamas needs to be destroyed,” Brooks said.

The Israeli military has claimed that over the past 264 days of war in Gaza it succeeded in “eliminating half of the leadership of Hamas’ military wing”.

It said on X that this included “6 brigade commanders, over 20 battalion commanders and approximately 150 company commanders”.

The military also said it hit “over 60,000 terrorist targets in Gaza”.

Israel presented no proof for its assertions, and despite claims to have eliminated much of Hamas’s military capabilities, continues to be fight battles across the enclave.

🚨For the past 264 days, IDF ground, air and naval forces have been operating in Gaza in order to achieve the goal of eliminating the threat of Hamas.

Here is a summary of our operational activity so far:

🔺Eliminating half of the leadership of Hamas' military wing; including 6… pic.twitter.com/glr4cmous8

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) July 17, 2024

The progressive US senator has been backing the embattled president, who is facing calls to end his re-election bid after a disastrous debate performance last month.

But in an interview with the New Yorker, Sanders acknowledged that many voters are disappointed with Biden and the Democratic Party over their unconditional support for Israel.

Biden said earlier this week that he has done more for Palestinians than anyone else – comments that further stoked outrage amongst Palestinian rights activists. Sanders had a difficult time defending that position when asked about the president’s remarks.

“The president at least believes that we ought to feed starving children in Gaza and get humanitarian aid there,” Sanders said. “You’ve got Republicans who don’t even want humanitarian aid to go in there.”

Biden has authorised billions of dollars worth of weapons and bombs for Israel to carry out its offensive in Gaza, which many experts describe as a genocide.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing heated opposition in the Knesset from opposition lawmakers for his management of Israel’s war in Gaza, and over stalled talks aimed at having the captives released.

Protests in Israel – sometimes numbering in the tens of thousands – have demanded Netanyahu bring the captives home, and resign.

The clashes in the country’s parliament on Wednesday come before Netanyahu’s planned visit to Washington next week, where he is set to address a joint session of the US Congress.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid demanded to know whether Netanyahu would use the occasion to announce he’d accepted a captives deal.

If not, Lapid said, don’t go to Washington. Go to Qatar or Cairo or stay here and hold discussions around the clock.

He added, “don’t go give a speech in the air-conditioning in Washington while the hostages are dying of suffocation in Gaza’s tunnels”.

Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with Biden, who has defended Israel’s war in Gaza and condemned Hamas, but called for greater efforts to relieve the humanitarian crisis and pushed for a ceasefire that would allow more aid and a return of Israeli captives.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says an Israeli court has rejected an appeal by 11 Palestinian families against eviction from their homes in occupied East Jerusalem, placing 66 people at risk of forced displacement.

“More than 600 structures have been demolished in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the beginning of 2024 due to the lack of building permits, displacing more than 750 people,” the body said in its latest update.

Israel has intensified evictions, land confiscation and home demolitions, despite settlement expansion into Palestinian territory being prohibited under international law.

#WestBank:
❗️An Israeli court ruling rejects appeal against eviction of 11 Palestinian families in East Jerusalem; +60 ppl risk displacement

❗️Israeli military operation in Nur Shams refugee camp damages dozens of residential buildings, stores, sewage and water networks

More 👇

— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) July 17, 2024

Commenting on the closure of the $230m aid pier, Senator Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the US Senate Armed Services Committee, was sharply critical of President Joe Biden.

“This chapter might be over in President Biden’s mind, but the national embarrassment that this project has caused is not,” Wicker said. “The only miracle is that this doomed-from-the-start operation did not cost any American lives.”

“I have been calling for an end to the election-year gimmick since its primetime inception at the State of the Union,” Wicker added. “While I am glad it has finally concluded, we cannot buy back the $230m needlessly spent, and significant questions remain about the Biden administration’s poor planning for this mission.”

Republicans have criticised the pier as a waste of money, and Wicker said the money could have been used on counter-drone interceptors to protect US troops in Iraq and Syria. The senator avoided any Israeli responsibility for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and instead has sought to pin the blame on Hamas. The United Nations and international aid organisations are demanding that Israel allow more access for aid, warning of starvation in the Palestinian enclave.

A 19-year-old man was wounded when Israeli forces opened fire on a group of Palestinians in Beit Dajan, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, the Red Crescent has said.

According to the official news agency Wafa, clashes broke out when soldiers raided the town, firing live ammunition, tear gas and sound bombs.

Israeli soldiers also raided the villages of Iraq Burin, Madama, and Burka – all near Nablus.

Amid the photos of students and lecturers – some on their phones, others attentive – shared on Facebook, one stood out – a man sitting quietly to the side, his eyes focused on the presentation, his face calm.

The science seminar at the Islamic University of Gaza had drawn a gathering of students and academics, but it was the picture of Talal al-Dabash, the university’s veteran security guard, that elicited the most enthusiastic responses on social media.

“The smiling face of the university,” wrote one of Talal.

Messages described him as “respectful”, “kind-hearted” and “humble”.

“The most loving person I’ve ever known,” said one.

That was in December 2022. The same photo resurfaced a few days ago. This time, the accompanying messages announced that the 50-year-old father of six daughters and two sons had been killed in an Israeli bombing as he performed Dhuhr, the noon prayer, on Saturday, July 13 in a mosque in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. At least 21 others were killed alongside him. That same day 90 people were killed in an Israeli attack on the al-Mawasi area in southern Gaza.

Read more here.