• An Israeli attack on a funeral killed at least seven Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the Gaza Strip.

The Elders say leaders must act as Netanyahu’s government seeks to ‘make Palestine disappear’

Four members of the Elders have called on the Security Council to prevent the Netanyahu government from achieving its aim of making Palestine “disappear physically, economically, culturally and politically”.

Former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, former First Lady of South Africa Graca Machel, former Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark and Pakistani lawyer Hina Jilani made the statement after a visit to the occupied West Bank, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon.

In particular, the advocacy group founded by Nelson Mandela expressed concern about new illegal Israeli colonies in the occupied West Bank, led by far-right Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.

“International handwringing and regret will be of no value to Palestinian men, women, and children if the E1 settlement proceeds to cut through the West Bank and seals off East Jerusalem,” the Elders said.

“The UN Security Council must act to ensure that the path forward is firmly grounded in international law,” they said.

“Palestine must not disappear. Leaders must accept responsibility and act now.”

EU urges Israel to halt settlement expansion as colonists attack children

The European Union has renewed its call on Israel to halt the expansion of colonies in the occupied West Bank, warning that continued construction and other unilateral measures threaten the viability of a future Palestinian state.

An EU spokesperson on Friday urged Israel to stop the legalization of colony outposts, land appropriation, demolitions, forced evictions of Palestinians, and other actions that “undermine the viability of the two-state solution”.

The statement came days after Israel’s security cabinet approved the allocation of 1.3 billion shekels ($427.8m) to establish 34 new colonies in the occupied West Bank.

The renewed diplomatic pressure comes amid continuing violence in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians, including children, have been injured in incidents involving Israeli settlers and Israeli forces.

Israeli attacks on Gaza kill 14, including mourners attending funeral

Multiple Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 14 Palestinians, more than half of them in a drone strike on a funeral procession.

Nine months into its so-called “ceasefire” with Hamas, Israel continues to violate it on a near-daily basis.

Eight people were killed when an Israeli strike targeted a gathering of civilians in the Balata market area of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Friday, Gaza’s civil defense agency and a hospital said.

At least 20 others were injured, the al-Awda Hospital added.

Witnesses said the drone targeted Palestinian mourners gathered outside the Ahmad Yassin Mosque as they waited to begin a funeral procession for a Palestinian killed in a separate attack earlier in the day in the same area.

Palestinian teenager succumbs to gunshot wounds

A Palestinian teenager has succumbed to gunshot wounds that he sustained in an Israeli attack on his village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa quoted local sources as saying Fadi Hamdallah al-Naasan,17, was injured about a week ago during a raid by Israeli forces on the village, while the villagers were confronting a settlers’ attack.

The surrounding villages and towns are subjected to continuous attacks by settlers on citizens and their property, in addition to ongoing raids by Israeli forces.

Israeli forces prevent dawn prayer, deploy toxic gas west of Bethlehem

The Israeli army has prevented the call to dawn prayer in the village of Husan, west of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, according to a local media report.

Citing a security source, the Wafa news agency says soldiers stormed a mosque, prevented the call to prayer and the performance of prayers, and forced the worshippers to leave, before firing stun grenades and toxic tear gas at them.

Israeli forces also closed all entrances and gates leading to the villages of al-Arqoub, southwest of Bethlehem, the Palestinian news agency reported.

They assaulted a resident from the town of Nahalin while he was crossing the main gate that separates the town from the rest of the governorate.

Three killed by Israeli attack on Gaza City

A source with the Ambulance and Emergency Services has told Al Jazeera that three Palestinians have been killed and several wounded by an Israeli air attack on the al-Zeytoun neighborhood this morning.

Israeli forces arrest 10 Palestinians in the Hebron Governorate

Israeli forces have arrested 10 people, including an elderly man, this morning after storming their homes in Hebron Governorate in the occupied West Bank, Wafa reports.

Osama Makhamra, an activist against colony activity in southern Hebron, told Wafa that forces arrested the elderly Ibrahim Ismail Al-Jabour and his son Anas from their home in Khirbet Hawara, east of Yatta town, after they confronted illegal settlers who had released their livestock in the vicinity of citizens’ homes.

Soldiers also set up several military checkpoints at the entrances to Hebron, its towns, villages and camps, and closed a number of main and secondary roads.

‘Yellow Line’ is fragmenting Gaza, erasing civil and urban life

The expansion of the “Yellow Line” is not simply moving these yellow blocks a few meters (feet) westward of the Gaza Strip. It’s actually affecting people in a very negative way.

We’re looking at the shrinking size of the Gaza Strip over and over. Over the past months, it has reached the point where close to 65 percent of the total area of the Gaza Strip is under Israeli military control.

There is more territorial control by the Israeli army, very consistent with Netanyahu, who unequivocally said it will be expanding, taking over more of the territory.

It’s not just moving these blocks but shrinking the size, fragmenting the Gaza Strip, and leaving it in smaller, disconnected areas, such that moving from one place to another is very, very difficult.

It also leads to the erasure of urban life. It’s not about just destroying these physical structures, but the fact that people cannot return to these areas. These steps erase any form of civil or urban life in those areas.

There is a loss of livelihood. Many of these areas have schools, public facilities, warehouses, and storage facilities for international organisations, such as the United Nations, and others operating across the Gaza Strip.

All of these have become inaccessible. The impact is very negative and is directly affecting people’s livelihoods across the Strip.

Netanyahu is war criminal, belongs in The Hague, says Mamdani

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani says Netanyahu belongs “in the Hague” and is “a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court”.

Netanyahu is expected to visit New York City for the UN General Assembly in September.

The mayor told a US media outlet that he was unclear on whether he had the legal authority to order the New York Police Department, which he oversees, to arrest a foreign leader like Netanyahu. He said he was in “an active conversation” with the city’s Law Department over the matter.

Six killed in Israeli attack on Gaza City apartment

Six people have been killed by an Israeli air strike that hit an apartment in a building on Naser Street, west of Gaza City, reports our colleague Hani Mahmoud in Gaza.

Belgium bans imports of goods from occupied Palestinian territory

The Belgian federal government has approved a series of measures, including an import ban on goods originating from the occupied Palestinian territory.

The import ban was part of an agreement reached by the government last year in response to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Details on how the ban will be implemented have yet to be finalized, according to Belga News Agency.

AIPAC blocks online donations for Democratic officials who voted to cut Israel aid

The political action committee of the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC has removed the option to donate through its online portal to US House Democrats that it previously endorsed who recently voted to halt US military aid to Israel, according to US media reports.

The move affects more than a dozen lawmakers, including Katherine Clark, the second-highest-ranking House Democrat, Politico and other news outlets reported.

“AIPAC members are deeply appreciative of their representatives who stand on principle and are disappointed by those who don’t,” AIPAC spokesperson Deryn Sousa told Politico in a statement.

Happening in the occupied West Bank

Reported by the official Palestinian Wafa news agency:

• A 17-year-old Palestinian died this morning a week after being shot by Israeli forces near al-Mughayyir, a village of about 4,000 residents northeast of Ramallah. Israeli forces sealed off the entrance to the village ahead of his funeral procession.
• A Palestinian man was shot and wounded by Israeli forces in the Wadi al-Hummus area, east of Bethlehem.
• Israeli forces raided several Palestinian homes, including in Mithlon, southeast of Jenin, and in Ya’bad, to the southwest of the city.
• Israeli forces prevented the dawn call to prayer and the holding of Fajr prayers in the village of Husan, west of Bethlehem, as well as forcing worshippers to leave one of its mosques.

Death toll from Israeli strike on Zeitoun neighborhood rises

Three people have been killed in an Israeli strike on the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City earlier today.

Officials are now reporting that four people were killed and another was critically wounded in the attack.

This attack is separate from one on an apartment on Naser Street.

‘Truly catastrophic’ displacement continues in Gaza

Israel’s military has continued expanding its so-called “Yellow Line” – areas where civilians are ordered to leave under threat of military action.

But for thousands of Palestinians, the constant forced displacement threats don’t just mean leaving home. It often means never returning.

“My home is now just 20 meters inside the “Yellow Line”. I had only recently built it before the war, but I never spent a single night in it. Today, I am homeless,” Ahmed Abu Mary said.

“Many families have been displaced two or three times, forced to leave behind their tents, homes and everything they own. The situation is truly catastrophic. As for us, we have been displaced more than three or four times,” he said.

Israel’s military expansion is being enforced through a combination of forced displacement threats and heavy bombardment of the designated areas.

The Israeli military says the restricted zone now covers nearly 70 percent of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli strike kills woman in Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City

A Palestinian woman has been killed and several people wounded in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, after Israeli forces fired artillery at a group of people, according to our source in the ambulance and emergency service.

This incident is separate from an earlier attack in Zeitoun, in which we reported that four people were killed and another was critically wounded.

Our sources in Gaza hospitals report that 24 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli raids on several areas of the Strip since yesterday

Since dawn, ten Palestinians have been killed, including three children, in Israeli raids on Gaza City.