Source: Mondoweiss.net
Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets on the Galilee after Israel’s assassination of one of its senior commanders.
Casualties
- 38,011 + killed* and at least 87,445 wounded in the Gaza Strip. Among the dead, 28,200 have been fully identified. These include 7,779 children, 5466 women, and 2418 elderly people as of May 1. In addition, around 10,000 more are estimated to be under the rubble.*
- 561+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. These include 136 children.**
- Israel revised its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,140.
- 677 Israeli soldiers have been recognized as killed, and 4021 as wounded by the Israeli army since October 7.***
* Gaza’s branch of the Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed this figure its daily report, published through its WhatsApp channel on July 4, 2024. Some rights groups estimate the death toll to be much higher when accounting for those presumed dead.
** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health on July 3, this is the latest figure.
*** These figures are released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” The number of Israeli soldiers wounded according to declarations by the head of the Israeli army’s wounded association to Israel’s Channel 12 exceeds 20,000 including at least 8,000 permanently handicapped as of June 1. Israel’s Channel 7 reported that according to the Israeli war ministry’s rehabilitation service numbers, 8,663 new wounded joined the army’s handicap rehabilitation system since October 7, as of June 18.
Key Developments
- Israel kills 134 Palestinians, wounds 476 across Gaza since Monday, July 1, raising death toll since October 7 to 38,011 and number of wounded to 87,445, according to Gaza health ministry.
- Hezbollah launches over 250 rockets and 20 guided drones at Israeli positions, at distances of up to 35 kilometers into the Galilee and the Golan heights, in response to Israel’s assassination of a Hezbollah senior commander in Tyre, southern Lebanon. Hezbollah commander identified as Muhammad Naameh Naser, 59, head of the “Aziz” unit.
- Israel bombs surroundings of southern Lebanese towns of Kufr Shuba, Rashaya al-Fakhar, and Kuf Hamam.
- U.S. envoy Amos Hockstein arrives on Wednesday in Paris to discuss de-escalation between Israel and Lebanon.
- Office of PM Netanyahu and Mossad announce receiving Hamas response to amended U.S. ceasefire proposal. Israeli cabinet set to meet today to discuss Hamas response.
- Israeli Channel 12 quotes Israeli officials saying that Hamas response “for the first time allows for making progress in negotiations.”
- Israeli captives’ families demand Netanyahu accept deal, warn “millions will take to the streets” if he doesn’t.
- Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot says Israel’s security branches angry at Netanyahu and Smotrich attempts to sabotage deal.
- Israeli army recognizes killing of 7 soldiers since Monday, July 1, and 50 wounded, including 39 in Gaza.
- Palestinian resistance factions announce attacks on Israeli troops in Shuja’iyya, Rafah, and Netzarim corridor.
- Israeli airstrikes target 12 family houses since Monday, July 1, in Gaza City, Nuseirat, Rafah, and Khan Younis.
- The Palestinian health ministry announces partial halt of operations in Naser Hospital in Khan Younis due to lack of fuel for power generators.
- UN says 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced at least once since October 7.
- In West Bank, Israeli army kills 4 Palestinians in airstrikes on Tulkarem.
- Israeli government approves confiscation of 13 square kilometers in Jordan Valley area, becoming largest single Israeli land grab in past 30 years.
Hamas responds positively to amended U.S. deal, but Israeli security branches accuse Netanyahu of sabotage
The Israeli Mossad and the office of Israel’s Prime Minister announced on Wednesday that mediators in the ceasefire talks gave Israel Hamas’s response to the U.S.-amended ceasefire proposal. Benjamin Netanyahu is set to head a cabinet meeting later on Thursday to discuss Hamas’s response. Meanwhile, Israel’s Channel 12 quoted a high-ranking Israeli official saying that Hamas’s response “for the first time allows for making progress in negotiations.”
For its part, the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported that the heads of Israel’s security forces were “angry at the attempts of Netanyahu and Smotrich to sabotage the deal,” pointing accusations at Netanyahu of obstructing communication channels with mediators beforehand.
The families of Israeli captives in Gaza warned that they would increase their protests to include “millions in the streets” if Netanyahu doesn’t accept the deal this time. Protests demanding a captive exchange deal and new elections in Israel have been escalating in recent weeks, and on Wednesday, protesters demonstrated outside Netanyahu’s residence in Cesarea, blocking main highways between Tel Aviv and Haifa….