Hamas delegation in Egypt receives new Gaza truce plan, reports say – Middle East crisis live

Negotiators in Cairo receive proposal calling for 60-day truce and hostage release in two batches, says Palestinian official

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, said on Monday it had decided to exclude six companies with connections to the West Bank and Gaza from its portfolio, following a review of its Israeli investments.

The $2tn wealth fund did not name the companies it had decided to exclude, but said these would be made public once the divestment was completed, Reuters reports.

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Israel’s foreign minister revokes visas of Australian representatives to Palestinian Authority

Penny Wong calls decision, which follows Australia’s refusal of a visa for the far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman, ‘unjustified’

Israel’s foreign minister has revoked the visas of Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority, citing Australia’s “unjustified refusal” to grant visas to Israeli figures and its intention to recognise Palestinian statehood.

In a post to X on Monday night, Gideon Sa’ar said the decision was made following the Albanese government’s cancellation of Simcha Rothman’s visa on Monday ahead of his speaking tour this month.

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Far-right Israeli politician barred from Australia ahead of speaking tour

Simcha Rothman – a supporter of plan to remove Palestinians from Gaza – was scheduled to appear at events in Sydney and Melbourne

A far-right Israeli politician, who has described Palestinian children in Gaza as “enemies” and called for Israel’s total control of the West Bank, has been denied entry into Australia ahead of an upcoming “solidarity tour”.

Simcha Rothman, a member of the Knesset for the far-right party Religious Zionism, was scheduled to appear at two public events in Sydney and Melbourne in August and two private events billed as a “solidarity tour”.

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Hundreds of thousands of protesters gather in Tel Aviv to demand end to Gaza war

One of largest rallies in Israel since start of conflict follows general strike to press government to stop military action

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have gathered in Tel Aviv to call for an end to the war in Gaza and the release of hostages, one of the largest demonstrations in Israel since the start of the fighting in October 2023.

The rally on Sunday evening was the culmination of a day of nationwide protests and a general strike to pressure the government to halt the military campaign. “Bring them all home! Stop the war!” shouted the vast crowd, which had converged on the so-called Hostage Square in Tel Aviv plaza – a focal point for protesters throughout the war.

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Ex-Israeli intelligence chief said 50 Palestinians must die for every 7 October victim

‘It does not matter if they are children,’ said Aharon Haliva in recorded comments calling the death toll ‘necessary’

The Israeli general who headed military intelligence on 7 October 2023 has said 50 Palestinians must die for every person killed that day and “it does not matter now if they are children”, in recordings broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12 TV station.

Aharon Haliva said the toll in Gaza, which he put at more than 50,000 dead, was “necessary” as a “message to future generations” of Palestinians.

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Israeli media ‘completely ignored’ Gaza starvation – is that finally changing?

A growing focus on hunger in Gaza in the global media has led some Israeli outlets to report on it for the first time

Images of Palestinian children in Gaza, emaciated by hunger under the blockade imposed by Israel, and of families grieving the more than 61,000 people killed in the territory have stirred outrage among foreign governments and much of the global public. Inside Israel, however, the reaction has been markedly different.

In a poll conducted in late July by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), more than three-quarters of Jewish Israelis – 79% – said they were either “not very troubled” or “not troubled at all” by reports of famine and suffering among Gaza’s Palestinian population.

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Israeli unit tasked with smearing Gaza journalists as Hamas fighters – report

Israeli-Palestinian magazine says IDF ‘legitimisation cell’ set up to blunt global outrage over killing of media staff

A special unit in Israel’s military was tasked with identifying reporters it could smear as undercover Hamas fighters, to target them and to blunt international outrage over the killing of media workers, the Israeli-Palestinian outlet +972 Magazine reports.

The “legitimisation cell” was set up after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack to gather information that could bolster Israel’s image and shore up diplomatic and military support from key allies, the report said, citing three intelligence sources.

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‘Hellish’: heatwave brings hottest nights on record to the Middle East

Temperatures did not drop below 36C in Sedom, Israel on Tuesday night, while several parts of Jordan stayed above 35C on Monday

Jordan and Israel have suffered through their hottest nights on record, with nocturnal temperatures in the Levant well above levels that scientists consider “hellish”.

Temperatures on Monday night did not go below 35C (95F) in Ghor es-Safi and Aqaba in Jordan, while in the capital, Amman, they stayed above 31.8C.

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Far-right Israeli minister taunts jailed Palestinian leader in prison visit

Itamar Ben-Gvir posts video footage showing him making threatening remarks to a gaunt Marwan Barghouti

Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has posted video footage in which he is seen taunting the imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti in jail, prompting strong condemnation from Barghouti’s family and Palestinian leaders.

The 13-second clip shows Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician on whom the UK and several other countries imposed sanctions this year for incitement to violence against Palestinians, making threatening remarks to Barghouti while Israel’s prisons minister, Kobi Yaakobi, an ally of Ben-Gvir stands nearby.

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Israeli minister posts video online confronting Palestinian detainee in his prison cell – as it happened

Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir posts video showing him confronting Marwan Barghouti, who has spent more than 20 years in Israeli custody

At least 16 Palestinian people, including five aid seekers, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn, Al Jazeera is reporting, citing medical sources.

Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Gaza:

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Israeli minister says Sydney Harbour Bridge protesters ‘useful idiots’ who fell for terrorist propaganda

Sharren Haskel accuses demonstrators of ‘marching with terrorist organisations’ but organisers reject her claims and say people are ‘outraged’

An Israeli government minister has said the thousands of Australians who marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to protest against the killing in Gaza were “naive” and “useful idiots” for Hamas.

Sharren Haskel, Israel’s deputy foreign affairs minister, also claimed during Friday’s interview on ABC radio that there was not a “real famine” in Gaza.

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Israel appears set to approve highly controversial 3,400-home West Bank settlement

Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has said he believes E1 plan will ‘bury the idea of a Palestinian state’

Israel appears set to give formal planning approval to a highly controversial settlement project for more than 3,400 new homes that has been frozen for decades and which critics say would split the occupied West Bank in half.

Strongly opposed by the international community, the so-called E1 plan would extend the existing Jewish settlement of Ma’ale Adumim towards Jerusalem, further cutting occupied east Jerusalem from the West Bank, and further separating the north and south of the territory.

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Aid groups say Israel’s new registration rules are ‘weaponising aid’

Lifesaving goods for starved people in Gaza blocked by vague rules on anti-Israeli activity, say humanitarian bodies

More than 100 aid organisations working in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank have accused Israel of dangerously “weaponising aid” in its application of new rules for registering groups involved in delivering humanitarian assistance.

The letter represents the latest broadside from the international aid community against Israel after the EU, Britain and Japan on Tuesday called for urgent action to stop “famine” spreading in the Gaza Strip.

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‘Censorship’: over 115 scholars condemn cancellation of Harvard journal issue on Palestine

In an open letter, writers denounced abrupt scrapping of a Harvard Educational Review issue dedicated to Palestine

More than 115 education scholars have condemned the cancellation of an entire issue of an academic journal dedicated to Palestine by a Harvard University publisher as “censorship”.

In an open letter published on Thursday, the scholars denounced the abrupt scrapping of a special issue of the Harvard Educational Review – which was first revealed by the Guardian in July – as an “attempt to silence the academic examination of the genocide, starvation and dehumanisation of Palestinian people by the state of Israel and its allies.”

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Israeli airstrikes on Tehran killed inmates in ‘apparent war crime’ – report

Human Rights Watch also finds that Iran abused survivors of June attack, which killed 80 people

Israeli airstrikes on Tehran’s Evin prison in June killed scores of detainees, visitors and staff in what Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called an “apparent war crime”. Iranian authorities have since subjected survivors to abuse, enforced disappearances and inhumane detention conditions, the rights group said.

HRW’s investigation, based on satellite imagery, videos and witness accounts, found the 23 June Israeli airstrikes destroyed visitation halls, prison wards, the central kitchen, the medical clinic and administrative offices. No evident military targets were identified in the facility, which held more than 1,500 prisoners at the time, many of whom had been jailed for peaceful activism.

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Recognising Palestinian state must not distract from ending Gaza mass deaths, UN expert says

Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for the occupied territories, calls for practical actions and warns against distracting ‘attention from where it should be: the genocide’

The United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied territories has warned that moves to recognise a Palestinian state should not distract member states from stopping mass death and starvation in Gaza.

“Of course it’s important to recognize the state of Palestine,” Francesca Albanese told the Guardian after several more countries responded to the mounting starvation in Gaza by announcing plans to recognize an independent Palestine. “It’s incoherent that they’ve not done it already.”

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‘It’s a horrible picture’: Gaza faces new threat from antibiotic-resistant disease

Fatal infections more likely due to malnutrition, injuries and lack of medical facilities under Israel’s blockade

Gaza is facing a new threat as diseases resistant to antibiotics spread across the devastated territory, research has revealed.

Medical supplies are desperately scarce and tens of thousands of people have been injured in the 22-month war, while many others have been weakened by malnutrition, so the high levels of drug-resistant bacteria will mean longer and more serious illnesses, a more rapid transmission of infectious diseases and more deaths, experts said.

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Palestinian reporters killed, international reporters banned – Israel’s other Gaza war is over narrative

Members of press and influencers covering devastation are being silenced despite protection under international law

Israel is running two Gaza campaigns: one for military control of the strip; another for narrative control of how the world understands what happens there.

In theory, Palestinian journalists and social media influencers documenting starvation, mass killing and other Israeli war crimes in Gaza are protected civilians under international law.

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Palestinian activist killed by settler filmed his shooting, footage shows

B’Tselem publishes film showing killing of Awdah Hathaleen after suspect released by court over ‘weakened’ evidence

Awdah Hathaleen, the prominent Palestinian activist who was killed late last month by an extremist Jewish settler in the West Bank, filmed the moment he was shot, newly released video footage reveals.

Hathaleen, who worked on the filming of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which examined settler violence against the Palestinian community of Masafer Yatta, was killed by Yinon Levi, a settler who was already under sanctions in the UK and EU for violent acts against Palestinians.

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Mourners gather amid outrage over Israeli troops’ killing of journalists in Gaza – live updates

UN condemns killing of Anas al-Sharif and colleagues, calling it a ‘grave breach of international humanitarian law’

Anas al-Sharif among five journalists killed in Israeli airstrike

Reporters Without Borders has condemned the “acknowledged murder by the Israeli army” of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif in Gaza, who the armed forces admitted they had targeted, along with several of his colleagues.

The press freedom campaign group told news agency AFP it “strongly and angrily condemns the acknowledged murder by the Israeli army” of al-Sharif and other journalists.

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