Key events
Israel’s security agency Shin Bet has published figures suggesting that August saw more rockets fired into Israeli-controlled territory from Lebanon than any other month since the Hamas attack launched on southern Israel on 7 October last year.
The Times of Israel reports that the Shin Bet figures show that 1,307 rockets were fired during August from what it termed “the northern front”, which includes parts of Syria. That was up from 1,091 in July and 855 in June.
The data said that during August about 116 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza, where Israel has been mounting a lengthy military operation which it claims is targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives in the territory.
In an early morning operational update Israel’s military forces have claimed to have struck in Gaza what it called a “command and control centre” which it said was used by both Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The IDF said it had been located in what it described as “the humanitarian area in Deir al-Balah”.
Haaretz reports helicopters were used in the attack. The IDF claims to have taken steps “to mitigate the risk of harming civilians”.
Palestinian news sources have reported that an attack by Israeli forces outside al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah resulted in the deaths of five civilians. Images distributed from the hospital show children being treated for injuries on the hospital floor.
Palestinian news sources have claimed that one of six people killed overnight by Israeli forces included a 16-year-old boy, named by the Wafa news agency as Majed Fida Abu Zeina.
It reports that the Palestine Red Crescent Society said it was able to transer Zeina to hospital after Israeli security forces initially prevented medical assistance reaching the child. Reports says he was shot by Israeli forces in in the Far’a camp, south of Tubas.
Five young men were also killed by Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank when their vehicle was bombed in Tubas city, according to Wafa’s reports.
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Hamas has said there is no need for new ceasefire proposals for Gaza and pressure should be put on Israel to agree to a US plan that the Islamist group had already accepted.
The US is expected to present a new truce proposal aimed at breaking an impasse between Hamas and Israel soon. Benjamin Netanyahu faces pressure from within Israel to seal a deal that would free remaining hostages, after Israeli authorities announced on Sunday the deaths of six whose bodies were recovered from a Gaza tunnel.
In a statement posted on Telegram early on Thursday, Hamas said that Netanyahu was attempting to thwart an agreement by insisting that Israel will not withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor in southern Gaza. The issue has become a central obstacle in the talks. The Israeli PM has been widely accused of trying to prolong the war for his own personal and political gain.
“We warn against falling into Netanyahu’s trap and tricks, as he uses negotiations to prolong the aggression against our people,” the Hamas statement said, adding that it had accepted a 2 July proposal put forward by the US.
But late Wednesday Netanyahu claimed it was Hamas that was stalling the talks.
“We’re trying to find some area to begin the negotiations,” he said Wednesday. “They [Hamas] refuse to do that … [They said] there’s nothing to talk about.”
Netanyahu maintains that Israel must retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border to prevent weapons smuggling to Hamas, which has demanded a complete withdrawal from the area.
In other developments:
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Palestinian medics reported Thursday that five people had been killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a car in the occupied West Bank area of Tubas. “Five killed and (one) seriously wounded in a strike (on) a car in Tubas,” the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement. The Israeli military said its aircraft “conducted three targeted strikes on armed terrorists” in the Tubas area.
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A large number of Israeli troops stormed the Faraa refugee camp in Tubas governorate, where explosions were heard, eyewitnesses told AFP news agency. Israel launched a massive offensive across the northern West Bank on 28 August, leaving widespread destruction and killing dozens of people including children.
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UK prime minister Keir Starmer has defended his government’s partial suspension of arms exports to Israel, saying the move is “a legal decision”. He said Monday’s announcement to suspend 30 of 350 arms exports licences did not signify a change in UK support for Israel’s right to self-defence, and that the UK’s allies “understand” the move.
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The United States has announced criminal charges against Hamas’ top leaders over their roles in planning, supporting and perpetrating the 7 October attack in southern Israel. The charges against Yahya Sinwar, the militant group’s chief, and at least five others accuse them of orchestrating the attack, which killed 1,200 people, including more than 40 Americans.
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The US has said it is time to “finalise” a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the Gaza war, after Netanyahu’s refusal to bow to pressure. Washington will work “over the coming days” with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar “to push for a final agreement,” said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
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However, an Israeli far-right minister has stepped up pressure on Netanyahu to end negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire aimed at securing the release of hostages. National security minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for an end to indirect talks with Hamas, which Israel has accused of executing six hostages whose bodies were found in a Gaza tunnel last week.
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The main United Nations agency for Palestinians says it is making good progress in rolling out a polio vaccine to children in Gaza, but called for a permanent ceasefire in the 11-month war to ease humanitarian suffering. UNRWA said that three days into the campaign in areas of central Gaza around 187,000 children have received the vaccine. The campaign will move to other areas of the enclave in the second stage.
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The Gaza health ministry says that at least 40,861 people have been killed in the war between Israel and Palestinian militants, now nearing its 12th month.