| Highlights from yesterday |
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Right-wing Israeli groups storm Al-Aqsa Mosque
Israeli police barred Palestinian worshippers from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque as more than 2,300 right-wing Israelis stormed the compound under police protection during Tisha B’Av.
Palestinian officials say the incursions aim to undermine the site’s longstanding status quo.
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Hundreds of Israeli colonists storm Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
Palestine’s Jerusalem governorate says more than 1,300 colonists have entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound since the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av began on Wednesday evening.
Under the longstanding status quo arrangement governing the compound – known to Jews as the Temple Mount – only Muslims are permitted to pray there. Al-Aqsa is Islam’s third-holiest site and a symbol of Palestinian national identity as well as Judaism’s holiest place. Tisha B’Av marks the Romans’ destruction of the ancient temple in 70 AD and is observed as a day of Jewish mourning.
According to the governorate, Israeli police allowed colonist groups of about 150 people at a time into the compound, where participants donned tefillin, carried out what it described as “epic prostration” in the mosque’s eastern section, prayed and sang loudly.
Israeli forces, meanwhile, imposed tight restrictions at the mosque’s gates and across occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City, barring most Palestinian worshippers from the site. Only a small number were able to attend dawn prayers, the governorate said, before Israeli forces allegedly assaulted several of them.
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More than 2,300 colonists enter Al-Aqsa Mosque
As mentioned above, hundreds of colonists have entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound since the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av began on Wednesday evening.
Now, according to the Islamic Waqf Department in Jerusalem, the number has risen to more than 2,300 colonists who have entered the compound under heavy protection from Israeli forces.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also entered the compound. Palestinian officials said Israeli forces imposed tight restrictions at the mosque’s gates, prevented large numbers of Palestinian worshippers from entering, turned away school students, and assaulted several worshippers.
The Jerusalem Governorate described Ben-Gvir’s entry into Al-Aqsa as a dangerous escalation and said it reflects official Israeli backing for actions previously associated with extremist groups.
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More than 4,200 Israelis storm Al-Aqsa compound
More than 4,200 far-right Israeli activists have entered Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem during the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av, according to Palestinian officials.
The figure has risen sharply from the more than 2,300 visitors as mentioned earlier.
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir also entered the site under heavy police protection on Thursday.
Tisha B’Av is a Jewish day of mourning commemorating the destruction of two ancient Jewish temples believed by Jewish people to have stood at the site, which Muslims know as Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jews as the Temple Mount.
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Jordan, Hamas condemn large-scale Al-Aqsa Mosque incursions
Jordan has condemned the incursion into Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, along with more than 2,000 colonists and other Israeli officials.
The official spokesperson for the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Fouad Majali, warned that such actions violate the site’s historical and legal status quo. Amman urged the international community to pressure Israel to halt what it described as ongoing violations against Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.
A similar condemnation arrived from Palestinian group Hamas who warned that these “blatant acts of aggression will backfire on the occupation and its colonists”.
“Our people and our resistance will not stand idly by in the face of the desecration of our holy sites,” the group said in a statement.
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Stabbing reported near Alon Moreh colony in occupied West Bank; Israeli military "investigating"
The Israeli military says it has received reports of a stabbing near the Alon Moreh colony in the occupied West Bank.
The military said the incident is "under investigation."
Colonies and outposts built on occupied land are illegal under international law.
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Two Palestinians shot after stabbing attack near Israeli colony: Medics
According to the Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom, two Palestinians were “neutralized” at the scene. It was not clear if they were killed or wounded.
The service also said the victim of the stabbing was a 51-year-old man who is currently receiving medical treatment. He is in serious condition, medics said.
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Israeli army says it closes Beit Furik village after stabbing attack
The Israeli military said two “terrorists” stabbed an Israeli civilian and efforts were under way to extinguish a fire near the colony of Itamar, a few kilometers southeast of Nablus.
Another civilian at the scene “neutralised both terrorists”, the military said.
The wounded Israeli, whom medics earlier said was a 51-year-old man, was taken by helicopter to hospital.
The army blamed Palestinians from Beit Furik for the fires, while the Palestinian news agency Wafa said the fires were started by Israeli colonists from the area.
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Israeli army says attacker killed after new alleged stabbing assault in West Bank
The Israeli military says its forces have killed a suspect after an alleged stabbing attack in the Ganey Gan area in the northern occupied West Bank.
In a statement, the military said one person was wounded in the attack, adding that its troops “operating at the scene eliminated the terrorist”. It said forces were continuing operations in the area and that “details are being verified”.
The reported incident comes after a separate stabbing attack earlier in the occupied West Bank near the illegal colony of Itamar, southeast of Nablus, in which the military said two attackers stabbed an Israeli civilian.
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Hamas praises stabbing attack in occupied West Bank
A statement made on the Telegram channel of the movement has commended the attack that took place near Nablus as a “heroic stabbing operation”.
It said: “This operation comes amid widespread anger and in response to the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, the escalating attacks by Israeli occupation forces and colonist militias in the West Bank, and their incursions and schemes in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
“This heroic operation, which followed the desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the colonist attacks east of Nablus, affirms that our Palestinian people will not allow this aggression to go unpunished, and that the resistance will remain alive and growing as long as the occupation remains on our land and desecrates our holy sites,” the statement added.
The Israeli military said earlier that an Israeli civilian was stabbed in the incident and efforts were under way to extinguish a fire near the colony of Itamar, southeast of nearby Nablus.
It said a civilian had “neutralised both terrorists” who had undertaken the attack.
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Houthis congratulate new Hamas leader al-Hayya
Houthi army leader Yusuf al-Madani says Khalil al-Hayya’s election “to this great responsibility at this exceptional and historic juncture reflects the steadfastness of the leadership and the greatness of the struggle”.
“The Palestinian cause and the injustice inflicted upon Gaza will remain our fundamental and central issue, one that is not subject to compromise,” he said in the statement, adding that the Houthis “will not permit a return to war and aggression against the Gaza Strip”.
Al-Madani concluded: “We reiterate our complete readiness to resume military escalation immediately, should the Israeli enemy attempt to launch another aggression or war against the Gaza Strip.”
On Monday, al-Hayya replaced Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in combat with Israeli forces in October 2024 as Hamas fought a full-scale, two-year war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Hayya, a former deputy chairman of the Palestinian group and one of five members of its leadership council, won an internal ballot in a run-off against former political leader Khaled Meshaal, Hamas said in a statement on Monday.
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Chickenpox outbreak spreads across Gaza’s overcrowded tent camps
More than 1,000 days of war and displacement have forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into overcrowded tent camps. A lack of space, clean water, and basic sanitation is making it harder to contain the spread of chickenpox.
Families are living in cramped conditions, where isolating anyone who falls ill is nearly impossible.
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UK lawmakers demand new PM take action against Israel on Gaza genocide
More than 70 UK lawmakers have signed an open letter to newly appointed Prime Minister Andy Burnham, calling on him to recognize the findings of an independent UN commission that concluded Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.
The findings were published last month and concluded that Israel was deliberately targeting children.
The letter also calls on Burnham to heed an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July 2024, which found that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories is unlawful. The ICJ said Israel must withdraw from Palestinian territory immediately, dismantle all colonys, compensate affected Palestinians, and help facilitate the return of displaced people.
The ICJ also said that all states should stop aiding or assisting Israel’s occupation.
UK lawmakers are also demanding a full arms embargo on Israel, sanctions, and a ban on trade that supports Israeli colonys.
Peter Leary, deputy director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, welcomed the letter.
“For far too long the British government has willfully ignored its responsibilities under the Genocide Convention and the findings of the International Court of Justice while actively supporting Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinian people,” Leary said.
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UN chief warns situation in Middle East ‘getting out of control’
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Thursday that an “alarming disregard for international law” is driving worsening crises across the Middle East, telling the UN Security Council that conflicts are “increasing in number, complexity, length and scope”, while “impunity is spreading”.
“The situation is getting out of control,” he said. “It is teetering on the edge of the unimaginable.”
Guterres called for navigational rights around the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb to be “fully restored,” stressing “diplomacy is the only way forward.”
On Gaza, he said civilians still pay a heavy price despite the ceasefire, with killings continuing “as Israel increases its control of Gaza” and conditions remaining “intolerable”.
In the occupied West Bank, he warned of “creeping annexation”, violence and “large-scale displacement”, adding: “The region is being pulled into an ever-widening circle of confrontation.”
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Raids, colonist attacks reported across occupied West Bank
A series of attacks and raids have been reported across the occupied West Bank today, according to Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, including arson attacks by Israeli colonists and military operations in Hebron.
Wafa reported that Israeli colonists torched Palestinian-owned farmland in the village of Jalud, south of Nablus. Local activists said the colonists set fire to a tract of cultivated land in the al-Bayyada area, near poultry farms, before opening fire at residents who rushed to extinguish the blaze.
Separately, Wafa also reported that Israeli forces closed the Bab az-Zawiya area of Hebron, the city’s main commercial district. It said a large force of Israeli soldiers raided the area and sealed off Bir as-Sabi Street leading to the market.
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Israel strikes Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza
Israeli forces have warned people to evacuate buildings and facilities in Gaza City, Jabalia refugee camp and Beit Lahiya ahead of planned attacks.
Separately, an Israeli air strike destroyed a home in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to our colleagues on the ground.
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At least two killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza City
At least two people have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a house on al-Jalaa Street in Gaza City, citing a source at al-Shifa Hospital.
They also report that Israeli air strikes have destroyed homes in the Bureij and Jabalia refugee camps, as well as in the Zeitoun and Tal al-Hawa neighborhoods of Gaza City.
Separately, a source at the Baptist Hospital told our colleagues on the ground that several people were injured in an Israeli air strike targeting a building in the Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.
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Top UN food official warns humanitarian situation in Gaza still critical
Ross Smith, the UN World Food Program’s director of emergency preparedness and response, has told Al Jazeera that “things are not fine in Gaza”.
“It is still a critical, desperate humanitarian situation,” Smith said.
“So we need continued attention to the needs of people inside Gaza, we need continued support of humanitarian access to reach the people where they are in Gaza, and we need to continue to fund those humanitarian operations,” he said.
“All three of those things are critical to support people.”
New analysis from UN agencies has found that an estimated 1.4 million people, 67 percent of Gaza’s population, are still experiencing “crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity”, down slightly from 1.6 million at the end of last year.
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