Updates: Israel kills over 90 in Gaza, including aid seekers, in one day
These were the updates on Israel’s war on Gaza and attacks on Syria and Lebanon for Thursday, July 17.
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- Israeli attacks across Gaza have killed more than 90 people in the last 24-reporting period, including dozens of aid seekers, according to health officials.
- Condemnation grows as Israeli attack on the only Catholic church in the besieged territory kills at least three people and wounds 10.
- In Syria, government forces are withdrawing from the southern region of Suwayda as part of a ceasefire agreed with the Druze minority.
- The Syrian president accuses Israel of sowing divisions and trying to “ignite tension and chaos” in his country after Israel’s military hit the heart of Damascus in what it says was support for the Druze.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 58,667 people and wounded 139,974, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
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Stay up to date with our latest coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza here.
Read our piece on Sayfollah Musallet, an American-Palestinian in the occupied West Bank who was killed by Israeli settlers here.
Watch our video on a Palestinian child recounting losing her legs and family in an Israeli attack in Gaza here.
Here’s what happened today
This live page will be closing soon, but before we do, here are all the major developments of the day:
- Israeli attacks across Gaza killed 56 people on Thursday, including dozens of aid seekers, according to health officials.
- In a rare move, Israel issued a statement stating it “deeply regrets” targeting Gaza’s only Catholic church in an attack that killed three people, after widespread international condemnation.
- UN chief Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson said Israel has refused to renew visas for the heads of at least three UN agencies working on Gaza.
- According to US news outlet Axios, sources close to the ongoing ceasefire negotiations said they believed a ceasefire deal could be reached soon following an updated offer presented to Hamas and Israel by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
- The foreign ministers of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkiye called Israel’s attacks on Syria a “flagrant violation of international law”.
- White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said US President Trump continues to support “Syria’s pathway to a peaceful and prosperous country” and will continue to work on de-escalation as violence there continues.
- According to the Syrian state news agency, SANA, Israel carried out an air strike in the vicinity of Syria’s Suwayda. These reports are unconfirmed.
- At least 84 parliamentarians across nine political parties called on the British government to impose widespread sanctions on Israel over its repeated violations of international law.
- Slovenia said it will blacklist far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich as “persona non grata”, accusing them of inciting violence against Palestinians.
Photos: Israelis demand release of Gaza captives at Jerusalem rally
Israeli army arrests three Palestinians after settler attack in West Bank: Report
Israeli forces have arrested three Palestinians after settlers attacked the community of al-Maleh in the northern Jordan Valley, the Wafa news agency is reporting.
Wafa said Israeli settlers stormed al-Maleh, firing live ammunition and terrifying residents.
Local sources also told the news agency that the settlers destroyed Palestinian property and tried to steal residents’ livestock.
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have faced a surge of Israeli military and settler violence amid the Gaza war.
LISTEN: What is the real motive behind Israel’s involvement in Syria?
Since the fall of Syria’s former President Bashar al-Assad, Israel has repeatedly bombed and extended its occupation, saying it’s defending the Druze minority.
Al Jazeera’s Inside Story speaks to experts on the long-term implications of Israel’s actions in Syria.
Listen to the discussion below:
In this episode:
- Akiva Eldar – Author, Lords of the Land: The War for Israel’s Settlements in the Occupied Territories, 1967-2007
- Gamal Mansour – Lecturer and political scientist, University of Toronto
- Stephen Zunes – Professor of politics at the University of San Francisco
WATCH: How has Canary Mission been used to target pro-Palestine activists?
Canary Mission, an anonymous pro-Israel group and website, has been blacklisting pro-Palestinian students, professors and activists for more than 10 years.
Now, the Trump administration has revealed that it has been using the list to target academics for deportation. What impact has this had?
Al Jazeera’s podcast, The Take, explores this question and more in the episode below.
Four people killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon
At least two people have been killed after an Israeli drone strike on the town of Qabrikha in Lebanon, after one woman succumbed to her injuries, the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre, affiliated with the Ministry of Public Health, said.
The latest deaths come after two people were killed in Israeli raids on the town of Naqoura and the Toul-Kafour highway.
UN expert calls for end of Israel’s ‘femi-genocide’ against Palestinian women, girls
The UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls says Palestinian women and girls in Gaza face “the intentional destruction of their lives and bodies, for being Palestinian and for being women”.
“There is more than one way to subject a people to genocide. Destroying them in whole or in part psychologically is one of them,” Reem Alsalem said.
“The horrors that Palestinian mothers, in particular, continue to endure – watching their children slowly starve, killed, maimed, and buried alive – is killing them repeatedly in a single day. The psychological trauma they, and all Palestinians in Gaza, are suffering knows no boundaries.”
Alsalem added that Israel is using reproductive violence in its bombardment and blockade of Gaza, including via the destruction of the enclave’s health system. She noted that 150,000 pregnant and lactating women do not have access to essential care.
“An estimated 17,000 of these women and 60,000 children under five now suffer from acute malnutrition. At least 60 children have died from starvation since March 2025, following Israel’s blockade on food, medical supplies, and humanitarian aid,” she said.
Syria’s president thanks Qatari, Saudi and Turkish leaders for support
Ahmed al-Sharaa has reiterated that his government “remains committed to protecting” Syrians of all sects amid recent sectarian violence.
In a readout of his talks with the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye today, Syria’s SANA news agency said the Syrian president also said this week’s violence is the result of “arms proliferation and foreign interference”.
Al-Sharaa said Syria is committed ” to hold accountable all those who break the law and refuse to submit to the authority of the state, in order to preserve the unity of the country and safeguard the dignity and security of citizens”, SANA said.
‘Is it making a difference? Absolutely’: UK celebrities rally for Gaza
Khalid Abdalla remembers sitting on his father’s shoulders as a three-year-old, peering over a sea of heads and waving flags as chants of “free Palestine” rose around him.
It was the early 1980s, a time when hearing “Palestine” was rare in the United Kingdom.
The details of those moments in Glasgow are faint, but he remembers how important the protest felt to his father and the crowds around them.
“I’ve had a relationship with protest for Palestinian liberation since then,” Abdalla told Al Jazeera.
Decades later, the Egyptian-British actor – most known for his roles in The Kite Runner and The Crown – is still marching. But now he carries the weight of his public platform.
“After October 7, my first act was at The Crown premiere in LA, with ‘Ceasefire Now’ written on my hand,” he said.
Read more here.
Photos: Mourners attend funeral of two Palestinians killed at Gaza church
Israeli forces kill one person in Tubas, occupied West Bank
One person was killed after receiving critical gunshot wounds by Israeli forces in the Wadi Far’a area, in the occupied West Bank district of Tubas, Wafa reported.
Earlier today, Israeli special forces raided the area and surrounded a house where 47-year-old Firas Ahmad Raja Soboh was shot inside and subsequently detained while severely wounded.
According to the Palestinian General Authority for Civil Affairs, the Health Ministry was officially informed of Soboh’s death.
Moreover, Wafa reported that Israeli forces were withholding his body.
‘Hard to believe’ Israeli probe into church attack will yield accountability
Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
The brief statement from the Israeli prime minister [came] after pressure from US President Donald Trump for him to address the situation at hand.
Whenever there is pressure on the Israelis – whenever there is international pressure on Netanyahu specifically, that’s when the Israelis release some sort of statement about wrongdoing.
Just last week, when there were at least 10 Palestinians – mostly children – who were killed waiting in a queue at a water distribution site, after the international outcry, that’s when the Israelis said there was a malfunction with their munition.
What Netanyahu is saying here [about the church strike], he didn’t really admit that it was a mistake. He said Israel expresses sorrow and is investigating the situation, saying that it was “stray ammunition”.
But it’s a little bit hard to believe any sort of Israeli investigation that happens after 21 months of war because the military oftentimes absolves itself of any sort of wrongdoing, and there is no one held accountable.
Israeli army says shell fragments ‘mistakenly’ hit Gaza church
The military says an initial investigation into the deadly attack on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City “suggests that fragments from a shell fired during operational activity in the area hit the church mistakenly”.
“The cause of the incident is under review,” it said in a post on X.
As we’ve been reporting, Israel has routinely hit religious sites across Gaza in its war on the enclave, including churches and mosques.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, earlier told Vatican News that an Israeli tank hit the church “directly”.
Israel refuses to renew visas of at least three UN agency leaders in Gaza
Israel has refused to renew visas for the heads of at least three UN agencies working on Gaza, UN chief Antonio Guterres’s spokesman has confirmed.
Visas for the local leaders of the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA), the human rights agency OHCHR, and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, have not been renewed in recent months, Stephane Dujarric confirmed.
Tom Fletcher, the UN’s humanitarian chief, told the UN Security Council this week that the United Nations’ humanitarian mandate is not just to provide aid to civilians in need and report what its staff witnesses, but to advocate for international humanitarian law.
“Each time we report on what we see, we face threats of further reduced access to the civilians we are trying to serve,” he said. “Nowhere today is the tension between our advocacy mandate and delivering aid greater than in Gaza.”
Fletcher added: “Visas are not renewed or reduced in duration by Israel, explicitly in response to our work on protection of civilians.”
WATCH: Syrian leader pledges security for all, slams Israeli strikes on Damascus
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa says protecting the country’s Druze citizens and their rights is a priority as he announces that local leaders will take control of security in the city of Suwayda in a bid to end sectarian violence in the south and in the wake of deadly Israeli strikes in Damascus.
Al-Sharaa’s remarks came after the Syrian government and Druze leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou announced a new ceasefire in the city and said the army had begun withdrawing from Suwayda.
Dozens of Syrian military vehicles were seen leaving the city overnight.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reports from the outskirts of Suwayda, Syria:
Israeli air strike hits vicinity of Syria’s Suwayda: Report
Israel has carried out an air strike in the vicinity of Syria’s Suwayda, Syrian state news agency SANA said on Thursday.
These strikes come despite a new ceasefire deal struck after four days of clashes between Druze armed groups, Bedouin tribes and government forces that have left hundreds dead.
US asked Israel to investigate Gaza church attack: State Department
A US State Department spokesperson says the Trump administration has asked Israel to investigate the strike on the Gaza City church that killed at least three people and injured 10 others.
“In this case, of course it was an accident,” Tammy Bruce told reporters during a briefing in Washington, DC. “I think the response from Netanyahu is an appropriate start.”
As we just reported, the Israeli prime minister’s office said Israel deeply regrets the strike on the church, which it said was caused by “stray ammunition”.
“We have asked that Israel investigate the strike still, of course, and ensure that all civilians – including Christian civilians, remain safe,” said Bruce, who also read out a statement by the Israeli Foreign Ministry expressing “deep sorrow” over the incident.
Israel has routinely targeted religious sites across Gaza since it began bombarding the territory in October 2023.
Israel says it ‘deeply regrets’ attack on Gaza’s Catholic church
Israel has reiterated that it “deeply regrets” an attack on Gaza’s only Catholic church, which it says was caused by a “stray ammunition hit. ”
A statement by PM Netanyahu’s office on X said, “Every innocent life lost is a tragedy. We share the grief of the families and the faithful.”
“We are grateful to Pope Leo for his words of comfort. Israel is investigating the incident and remains committed to protecting civilians and holy sites,” it added.
At least three people were killed in the attack, which has been widely condemned by world leaders and Pope Leo.
Israel trying to ‘weaken’ Damascus during attacks on Syria
Ibrahim Al-Assil, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, says the “strategic goal” discussed by Israeli officials for Suwayda is to “keep Damascus weak”.
This is about preventing “[Syrian interim President] Ahmed al-Sharaa from consolidating power inside Syria”, Al-Assil told Al Jazeera.
“When it comes to the south, there are also strategic calls by Israel. One of them is to offer support to the Druze community,” he added.