UN brings fuel into Gaza for first time in 130 days | LIVE

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⚡Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is ready to negotiate a permanent cease-fire in Gaza during a 60-day truce, provided that the Palestinian territory is demilitarized, in a video released Thursday as indirect negotiations are underway with Hamas. 

"At the start of this [60-day] cease-fire, we will begin negotiations on the definitive end of the war," Netanyahu said in a video from Washington, listing several conditions: "Hamas must lay down its arms, Gaza must be demilitarized, Hamas must no longer have military capabilities or governance."

"If this can be obtained through negotiation, all the better. Otherwise, we will achieve it by other means, through the strength of our heroic army," he added.

Israel will strike Iran again if threatened, says Israel Katz

"Israel's long arm will reach you in Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan and wherever you try to threaten or harm Israel. There is no place to hide," Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday at an air force graduation ceremony, according to a statement from his office cited by Reuters.

“If we have to come back, we will do so with even greater force,” he added.

UN gets fuel into Gaza for first time in 130 days, says UN spokesperson

A U.N. team was able to bring around 75,000 liters of fuel into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the first such delivery in 130 days, U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Thursday.

"The quantity that entered yesterday is not enough to cover even one day's energy needs. Fuel is still running out and services will cease to function if much larger volumes do not enter immediately," Dujarric said, Reuters news agency reports.

Drone strike in Mansouri: Hezbollah artillery commander in coastal area killed, says Israeli army

A drone strike on a moped in Mansouri (Sour district) at around 11 a.m. killed Mohammad Jamal Mourad, commander of Hezbollah's artillery in the coastal area, according to the Israeli army.

He was “responsible for numerous rocket attacks on the State of Israel during the war and, in recent months, for several attempts to restore artillery capabilities in the coastal region,” said the Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesperson, Avichay Adraee.

Israeli fighter jets fly over southern Lebanon, according to our correspondent in the region.

South Lebanon: Road accident between ambulance, UNIFIL vehicle

A road accident occurred this afternoon between an ambulance belonging to the al-Rissala Scouts Association, affiliated with the Shiite Amal movement, and a UNIFIL vehicle at the crossroads of the Burj Qalaway locality in the Bint Jbeil district, causing material damage, our correspondent in the South reports.

Rubio 'hopeful' of Gaza deal

U.S. diplomatic chief Marco Rubio said he was “hopeful” that a cease-fire agreement could be reached in the Gaza Strip, reports AFP.

"We are hopeful. I mean, at the end of the day, we hope that they will move on to proximity talks," Rubio told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian countries in Kuala Lumpur.

However, he warned that “we have already seen negotiations fail at this stage of the talks.” “I think we are getting closer, and I think we may be closer than we have been in a long time, and we are hopeful, but we also recognize that there are still challenges ahead,” he said.

In particular, he cited “Hamas' refusal to disarm, which would put an immediate end to this conflict” while Israel has, in his view, “shown a certain flexibility.”

10 children, 3 women killed by Israel in attack on Deir al-Balah

At least 10 children and three women were among 15 people killed by Israeli forces in “a brutal, horrific massacre targeting a medical point” in the enclave’s central city of Deir al-Balah, Gaza’s Government Media Office says, as cited by Al Jazeera.

“The medical point was providing nutritional and medical supplements to a group of sick children and women, as part of the occupation’s starvation policy against civilians, including 1.1 million children in the Gaza Strip,” the statement published on Telegram said.

“This direct targeting of a humanitarian medical facility is a flagrant violation of all international and humanitarian laws and confirms the occupation’s continued unabated crimes against defenceless civilians,” the office said, calling for the international community “to break its shameful silence.”

This handout picture released by Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah Media Centre on July 8, 2025 shows Houthi-affiliated fighters carrying out an attack on the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier Magic Seas at sea. (Credit: Ansarullah Media Center via AFP)

The Houthis sank two cargo ships in the Red Sea this week, the first flare-up in seven months in the group's years-long campaign to choke global shipping in protest over Israel's war on Gaza, where it has killed over 57,500 Palestinians since October 2023.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have targeted more than 100 merchant ships travelling through the Red Sea, sinking four vessels, seizing another and killing at least eight sailors.

Read a summary of some of those attack here. 👈

Civil defense left with only one fire truck for northern Gaza

Gaza's civil defense says it has been left without any vehicles to conduct rescue operations in the Gaza and North Gaza governorates, with the exception of a single firetruck, Al Jazeera reports.

In a statement, the organization said its emergency vehicles have either been destroyed by the Israeli military or rendered unusable for lack of spare parts or materials to do mechanical work.

In the other governorates, namely Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis and Rafah, three out of six firetrucks and four out of six ambulances that provided life-saving services to thousands of people are also out of operation.

773 Palestinians killed at Gaza aid centers since their opening

At least 773 Palestinians have been killed in the vicinity of the aid distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation since it began operating in late May, according to a statement from the Gaza media office cited by Haaretz.

According to the statement, 5,101 people were wounded and 41 are missing in incidents linked to the distribution centers.

Israeli soldiers admitted to Haaretz last week that they had been given order to fire on unarmed Palestinians at aid sites as a form of "crowd control." Video has also surfaced showing American mercenaries hired as security for the sites, firing on crowds of hungry Palestinians.

Washington considering sanctions against pro-Gaza UN voice Francesca Albanese

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday that the U.S. is considering imposing sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, over her calls for the International Criminal Court to act against U.S. and Israeli leaders and companies.

In a post on X, Rubio condemned Albanese’s “illegitimate and shameful efforts” to “encourage the International Criminal Court [ICC] to take steps against U.S. and Israeli officials, businesses and leaders.”

Read more here. 👈

EU strikes deal with Israel on aid for Gaza

The European Union has reached an agreement with Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, including increasing trucks for aid and opening crossing points and certain aid routes, the EU's top diplomat has said, cited by Reuters.

"These measures are or will be implemented in the coming days, with the common understanding that aid at scale must be delivered directly to the population and that measures will continue to be taken to ensure that there is no aid diversion to Hamas," Kaja Kallas said in a statement. 

A Palestinian woman ties her daughter's hair after an Israeli strike on the al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 9, 2025. (Credit: Omar al-Qattaa/AFP)

Israeli army has killed 52 Palestinians in Gaza today

The Gaza Strip's Civil Defense reports that 52 people have been killed since danw this morning by Israeli strikes and gunfire from Israeli troops across the enclave.

"The ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip has martyred 52 people since dawn today, including three people who were waiting to receive humanitarian aid," Mohammad al-Mughayyir, an official from the organization of first responders and paramedics, told AFP.

Israel claims bombing of cafe in Yohmor al-Shaqif targeted 'Hezbollah command center'

The Israeli army's Arabic-speaking spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, released a statement on X claiming that it had attacked "a Hezbollah military command center in Yohmor," in southern Lebanon's Nabatieh district.

Israel alleges the building, which housed a cafe that was closed at the time of the attack, was used by Hezbollah in order to organize its attacks against Israel.

Iran says IAEA cooperation depends on corrected 'double standards'

Continued Iranian cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency depends on the IAEA "correcting its double standards regarding Iran's nuclear file," President Masoud Pezeshkian told the European Council's president, Reuters reports, citing state media.

Cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog was suspended by the Iranian parliament in the week following the end of the 12-day Israel-Iran war, in late June. “This suspension will remain in effect until certain conditions are met, including the guaranteed security of nuclear facilities and scientists,” according to the bill, quoted by Iranian state media.

A Palestinian boy pulls a horse as he walks past a building destroyed by Israeli strikes, in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 10, 2025. (Credit: Eyad Baba/AFP)

GHF says closing all but one center, distributing boxes through 'community reps'

The U.S.-funded Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation announced yesterday that it will begin distributing aid directly to Gazans through so-called "community representatives," in addition to operating its existing centers, Haaretz reports.

However, Al Jazeera is reporting that the GHF announced it would be suspending operations at a number of its aid distribution sites in Gaza, leaving only one site still open, in southern Gaza.

The initiative aims to deliver 20,000 food boxes daily. The Strip has a population of around two million people, who are all living under conditions of complete siege. With no other source of supplies from the outside world except through the GHF.

Israeli drone strike on Mansouri kills one, injures two

The Ministry of Health's emergency operations center has confirmed that the Israeli drone strike on Mansouri, in southern Lebanon, killed one person. Two other people were also injured in the attack.

Three more pulled from Red Sea after Houthis sink ship

Rescuers pulled three more crew members and a security guard alive from the Red Sea this morning, maritime security sources told Reuters, a day after Houthi militants sank the Greek ship Eternity C and said they had rescued some of the crew and were holding them in Yemen.

This brings the total number of those rescued (not by the Houthis) so far to 10, including eight Filipino crew members, one Indian and one Greek security guard. The people found on Thursday had spent more than 48 hours in the water. Another 11 people are still missing.

"This fills us with more courage to continue to search for those missing, as the Greek vessel operator requested, and shows that our search plan was correct," said Nikos Georgopoulos, an official at the Greece-based maritime risk firm Diaplous.

Read the full report here. 👈

Driver killed in Israeli strike on Mansouri

According to information from our correspondent in the South, the person driving the moped that was attacked by an Israeli drone just moments ago in Sour district's Mansouri, was killed by the strike.

Israel has killed around 200 people in its attacks on Lebanon since agreeing to a cease-fire with Hezbollah in November 2024, according to our count.

Israel has killed 35 Palestinians since dawn

At least 35 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn, according to medical sources cited by Al Jazeera.

Around 17 of the victims , about half of the total death toll, were killed in the central city of Deir al-Balah, the outlet's correspondents reported.

Houthis say targeted Ben Gurion airport, after Israel intercepts missile

The Houthis confirmed they were behind the missile launched toward Israel earlier today, which the Israeli army said it had intercepted.

In his latest televised statement, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group launched a Zolfaghar ballistic missile toward Ben Gurion International Airport, Al Jazeera reports.

He said the launch “successfully achieved its objective” as it “caused air raid sirens to sound in more than 300 towns and cities, prompting millions of Zionists to rush to shelters, and halting air traffic at the airport.”

Saree vowed that the Houthis will continue their attacks on Israel, as well as Israel-linked shipping in the Red Sea, “in rejection of the crime of genocide committed” in Gaza.

⚡ An Israeli drone struck a moped in Mansouri, in southern Lebanon's Sour district, according to our correspondent Muntasser Abdallah.

There is no information yet regarding casualties from the attack, which comes in a long strike of strikes against individuals in southern Lebanon, which Israel often says are Hezbollah members, despite having agreed to a cease-fire with the party more than seven months ago.

Clouds of tear gas rise from the site in Aitit where UNIFIL peacekeepers have clashed with townspeople who requested army presence. (Photo sent to L'Orient Today by residents)

UNIFIL clashes with Aitit residents, launches smoke grenades

A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol entered the Sour district village of Aiti without a Lebanese Army escort this morning, prompting residents of the town to intercept the troops and request that they turn back and wait for the army to accompany it before re-entering the village.

When UNIFIL troops refused to turn back, the situation escalated into clashes in which peacekeepers launched smoke grenades at the residents to disperse them.

Israel bombs cafe in Yohmor al-Shaqif, south Lebanon, overnight

Shortly after 2 a.m., an Israeli drone fired two missiles at a closed cafe in Yohmor al-Shaqif, in Nabatieh district. There were no casualties in the attack,

Israeli tanks also bombarded the outskirts of the village of Aitaroun, in Bint Jbeil district.

A cease-fire has been in effect since November 2024, which Israel continues to violate on a daily basis, killing around 200 people since the ostensible truce came into effect, according to L'Orient Today's count.

Israeli army drops flares on southern Lebanon overnight

Our correspondent in the South, Muntasser Abdallah, reports that between 9:30 and 11 p.m. last night, the Israeli army fired flares (incendiary bombs) on several areas across southern Lebanon, with the supposed intention of starting fires across the dried-out landscape.

Israeli tanks fired flares on the outskirts of Wazzani, and drones dropped flares on the plains of Khiam and Wadi al-Asafir, and on a residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Blida, all in southern Lebanon's Marjayoun district, as well as near Yaroun, in Bint Jbeil district.

Secret White House meeting on Gaza truce saw 'clear progress'

Senior U.S., Israeli, and Qatari officials held secret talks at the White House on Tuesday, focusing on the main sticking points that are still preventing a Gaza cease-fire agreement, according to two sources cited by Axios.

That sticking point, sources said, is the lines to which the Israeli army would withdraw during the 60-day truce. A tense debate on that issue helped produce clear progress on that front, Axios reports.

Hamas sources, however, have listed other sticking points, in recent days, such as humanitarian aid and guarantees from the U.S. that the cease-fire will hold.

On Tuesday, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said he hoped for an agreement “by the end of the week” on a 60-day truce and the release of hostages, but Qatar said the talks “would take time.”

Netanyahu optimistic about cease-fire agreement

After two days of meetings with Trump in Washington on Monday and Tuesday, Netanyahu told FOX Business Network yesterday: “I think we are getting closer to an agreement. I think there is a good chance we will get it,” AFP reports.

Trump is urging the Israeli prime minister, who will be leaving Washington by the end of today, to reach an agreement to end the Israeli onslaught against Palestinians in Gaza, which Trump said was a "tragedy," in comments made to the press earlier this week.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also said an agreement was “possible.”

Gaza cease-fire could come in one or two weeks

Israel and Hamas may be able to reach a Gaza cease-fire and hostage-release deal within one or two weeks but such an agreement is not likely to be secured in just a day's time, a senior Israeli official told Reuters yesterday, in response to reports saying Netanyahu could announce a Truce as he wrapped up his Washington visit today.

The official said that if the two sides agree to a proposed 60-day ceasefire, Israel would use that time to offer a permanent cease-fire that would require Hamas to disarm.

If Hamas refuses, "we'll proceed" with military operations in Gaza, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Hamas agrees to release 10 hostages

Hamas said yesterday that it had agreed to release 10 hostages under ongoing efforts to reach a cease-fire in Gaza, saying ongoing talks for a truce were "tough" due to Israel's "intransigence," Reuters reports.

According to Hamas, the intense and ongoing cease-fire talks have several sticking points, including the flow of aid, withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, and "genuine guarantees' for a permanent cease-fire."

Israel collapsed the last cease-fire in Gaza before it reached the agreed-upon third stage, while in Lebanon, Israel bombs the country daily despite having agreed to a cease-fire more than seven months ago.

Good morning and welcome to today's live coverage of events in the region, specifically the progress, or lack thereof, toward a cease-fire in Gaza, which is being discussed in intense negotiations both in Doha, with Qatari, Israeli and Hamas delegations, as well as in Washington where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wrapping up his visit today.

☕ Read our Morning Brief to catch up on everything you need to know going into today. 👈