Israel’s war on Gaza updates: Hamas wants agreed ceasefire plan implemented

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To learn more about how Hamas reacted to the invitation for more ceasefire talks by mediators, read our piece, here.

To find out more about a Palestinian’s quest to make it to the Paris Olympics, read this.

And you can always find all our latest coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, here.

We will be closing this live page shortly but before we do, here’s a look at the day’s main developments:

• At least 22 Palestinians have been killed across Gaza amid ongoing Israeli attacks.
• Hamas urged mediators to pursue the implementation of the previous US-led deal instead of more negotiations to achieve a ceasefire.
• UNRWA said that more than 75,000 Palestinians in southern Gaza were forced to flee in the past few days after new Israeli evacuation orders were issued amid a third ground invasion of the city since October 7.
• The EU’s foreign policy chief said the bloc should include more sanctions in its Israel policy after two far-right ministers again publicly incited war crimes against Palestinians.
• Hezbollah confirmed that three fighters have been killed in Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon, and launched its own assaults in border fighting.
• An Israeli military court extended until Tuesday the detention of five soldiers who are accused of gang-raping a Palestinian prisoner.
• The military wing of Hamas reported that battles are ongoing in several neighbourhoods of Rafah in the south of the Strip and claimed responsibility for a shooting attack in Jordan Valley that killed an Israeli citizen.

As we reported earlier on this live page, an Israeli quadcopter dropped leaflets over the tents of displaced people in southern Gaza.

The leaflets, which had single cigarettes attached, said people who call a number with information about fighters in Gaza would receive more tobacco.

Here’s some footage that has been shared from Gaza:

"Do you want cigarettes or leaders?"

Israeli occupation drones dropped leaflets over the tents of displaced Palestinians in the Al-Mawasi area, demanding information about the resistance in Gaza and attempting to blackmail them with cigarettes attached to the leaflets. pic.twitter.com/LEICrbakpA

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) August 11, 2024

EU’s foreign policy chief has called for more sanctions on extremist Israeli behaviour after the latest comments by far-right Israeli ministers who are strongly opposed to a Gaza ceasefire deal.

“I urge the Israeli government to unequivocally distance itself from these incitements to commit war crimes and call it to engage in good faith in the negotiations facilitated by the US, Qatar and Egypt for an immediate ceasefire,” Josep Borrell wrote on X.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for cutting off all fuel and aid to the enclave and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said starving children in Gaza would be “justified and moral”.

While the World pushes for a ceasefire in #Gaza, Min. Ben Gvir calls for cutting fuel & aid to civilians.

Like Min. Smotrich sinister statements, this is an incitement to war crimes. Sanctions must be on our EU agenda.

I support UN @Volker_Turk in his strong condamnations. 1/2

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) August 11, 2024

George Totari’s song Leve Palestina is undergoing a major revival and has gained a new life since Israel’s brutal war on Gaza began on October 7.

With his long, greying hair, wide-rimmed spectacles and fiery eyes, the Swedish-Palestinian Christian musician, born in 1946 in Nazareth, remembers his hometown being transformed by illegal Israeli settlements and checkpoints when he was a child.

Read more here.

And here’s a video of the iconic song:

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, says people in Gaza are trapped and have nowhere to go.

In a post on X, he said more than 75,000 people have been displaced in southwest Gaza in the past few days.

“Some are only able to carry their children with them, some carry their whole lives in one small bag,” he added.

Lazzarini also said: “They are going to overcrowded places where shelters are already overflowing with families. They have lost everything and need everything. Unlike in other wars, the people of Gaza are trapped and have nowhere to go.”

Mohammed Mustafa, Palestine’s PM, has shared this video of a girl making a plea to the international community from the Gaza Strip.

After the Israeli air strikes on the school in Gaza City that killed more than 100 Palestinians, the girl says children are worn out.

“It’s not just me, we are all tired. All the children, all the youth have grown weary. Enough, enough,” she said. “We are fed up, oh world, we are fed up.”

Following the horrific massacre by Israeli occupation forces at a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in the al-Daraj neighborhood, east of Gaza, a deeply distressed Palestinian girl makes a heartrending plea to the world, with her tears conveying more than words ever could. pic.twitter.com/4mIAnjsMLT

— PM of Palestine (@PalestinePMO) August 11, 2024

The military wing of Hamas has claimed responsibility for the shooting attack in Jordan Valley earlier today that killed one Israeli and wounded another.

The Qassam Brigades said in a statement that 23-year-old Yonatan Deutsch, who was killed in the attack near an illegal Israeli settlement, was a “Zionist soldier”.

It said the attack was revenge for the more than 100 victims of the al-Tabin school bombing and emphasised that the Qassam Brigades fighters in the occupied West Bank have “renewed their allegiance” to Yahya Sinwar.

Dozens of Israeli demonstrators took to the streets in the northern Israeli port city to voice their demand for bringing back captives held in Gaza through a deal.

مظاهرة في حيفا تطالب بصفقة تبادل وتندد بسياسات نتنياهو#فيديو #حرب_غزة pic.twitter.com/ZdkpdnRPB5

— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) August 11, 2024

Translation: Demonstration in Haifa calls for exchange deal, denounces Netanyahu’s policies.

Israeli settlers have pelted cars with stones near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports.

In Khirbet Tel el-Himma, northern Jordan Valley, Israeli settlers attacked a house belonging to a Palestinian family and stole livestock, the news agency said.

In Yasouf, east of Salfit, settlers chopped down about 100 olive trees and annexed 6 dunams (6,000 square metres) of land to the settlement of Nofei Nehemia, the head of the village council told Wafa.

Medical sources in the Gaza Strip have confirmed to Al Jazeera that at least 22 Palestinians have been killed since this morning in Israeli attacks.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza has confirmed close to 40,000 deaths in the enclave since October 7, with thousands still missing or buried under rubble.

Palestinians have been on the move, especially after the Israeli forces issued new evacuation orders for Khan Younis.

Some of them slept on the footpaths without any tents, shelter, food, drinking water or toilet facilities.

Some of them told us that this is the 10th time they have been displaced from Khan Younis. Those Palestinians don’t know where to go because wherever they go they still get targeted.

The Israeli military ordered them to go to the western parts of Khan Younis, but those areas, including al-Mawasi, have also been repeatedly targeted.

According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), at least 75,000 displaced Palestinians evacuated the southern and western parts of Khan Younis in the past few days.

Israel’s attack on the school comes after Biden signed a statement with the heads of state from Qatar and Egypt last week saying that now is the time for a ceasefire. We’re seeing the US applying all the pressure on Iran and Hezbollah not to retaliate, but then we are seeing Biden also fast-track $3.5bn of weapons to Israel.

So it’s very much business as usual.

And Kamala Harris is very much the same. Both Harris and her most senior foreign policy adviser – more than anything – have emphasised Israel’s right to target that school. While Harris said too many civilians have been killed, she also said Israel has the right to go after Hamas.

It’s all about the vibes for her. Her vibe has been, “I talk a bit more about Palestinian civilians, but we’re in lockstep with Israel, and we don’t agree with an arms embargo”.

I think it’s also worth remembering that even though the candidate at the top of the ticket may have changed, the donors for Harris’s campaign haven’t. And perhaps they’re hoping that the vibes may help offset some of the calls from the base, from the demonstrators that we’re seeing at her rallies who are demanding that Harris be specific – not just vibes – and call for an arms embargo if she truly cares about civilian casualties.

Israel’s deadly attack on a school compound in Gaza City, which has killed more than 100 people, came soon after it agreed to send its negotiating team to attend a new round of ceasefire talks.

Qatar, Egypt and the US are pushing – once again – to try and finalise a deal. Al Jazeera’s Sara Khairat takes a look at why an agreement hasn’t been reached so far.

Watch the full report below:

Senior Hamas leader Osama Hamdan says the Palestinian group still wants to reach an agreement but will not allow Israel to dictate how the process advances.

“Our position is clear, and we are not waiting for a discussion on new papers and titles,” he told Lebanon’s Al-Manar television.

“There is a document we have agreed on, and we are waiting for the announcement of implementation mechanisms, including the cessation of aggression, its withdrawal, sending aid to the [Gaza] Strip, and launching reconstruction.”

Hamdan said Israel wants to avoid ending the war, adding “We won’t believe Netanyahu has agreed to the deal until he stops committing crimes and withdraws his forces from the Gaza Strip.”

The Hamas official said the group anticipates “an accomplishment once thought impossible” by the Iran-led axis of resistance amid a looming retaliatory attack.

The highest Islamic authority in Oman has congratulated Hamas on selecting Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar as the new political head of the organisation.

Prominent Muslim leader Ahmed bin Hamad al-Khalili said in a statement that he hopes the Palestinian can “follow the resistance in the correct path”.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly has said that “Canada condemns the Israeli strike that killed Palestinian civilians sheltering at a school in Gaza, including children.”

In a post on X, Joly said that Israel must uphold international humanitarian law, while saying that Hamas is putting civilian lives in danger.

“An immediate ceasefire is desperately needed, alongside the release of hostages,” she added.

2/2 An immediate ceasefire is desperately needed, alongside the release of hostages.

— Mélanie Joly (@melaniejoly) August 10, 2024

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because the Israeli government has banned the network.

Hamas has been accusing the Israelis, specifically PM Benjamin Netanyahu, of adding new conditions to the deal that’s on the table.

Netanyahu says it was Hamas that was adding conditions. But we do know Netanyahu went into the talks months ago with several major non-negotiable conditions.

Every time there’s some sort of movement on these negotiations, there’s a large-scale attack in Gaza and that derails the talks. That’s what Hamas mentioned in this statement as well with the over 100 killed in the school attack.

Hamas is asking the mediators to essentially present the original deal by US President Joe Biden, and Israeli media is reading into this as Hamas rejecting the talks altogether. But the statement did not say that. They are merely calling on mediators – before August 15 – to put the original deal on the table that Hamas and the Israelis had previously said they agreed to.

This is the three-phase plan that was outlined by the Americans on May 31.