Israeli strikes ripped a huge crater, set tents ablaze and buried Palestinian families alive under sand in a safe zone in southern Gaza before dawn on Tuesday, killing or wounding scores of people, according to Palestinian officials.

Israel said it had struck a command center for Hamas fighters who it said had infiltrated the humanitarian area in al-Mawasi, a vast camp on sandy soil where the military has told hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to shelter since ordering them out of their homes. Hamas denied any fighters were present.

The Gaza civil emergency service said it believed at least 65 people had been killed or wounded, but it could not provide a breakdown of the casualties because many people had been buried and were still missing under the sand. Israel disputed the casualty figures.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office put the number of fatalities at more than 40. It said that at least 60 others were wounded in the strikes and many remained missing.

Hamas, the Islamist group that controlled Gaza before the conflict, denied Israeli allegations that gunmen were present in the targeted area, and rejected accusations it exploited civilian areas for military purposes.

 

Israeli police officers gunned down

Three Israeli police officers were killed on Sunday when their vehicle came under fire near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, Israeli officials said, adding to days of violence in the Palestinian territory.

Following the attack in the area of the Idna Tarqumiyah Junction, security forces surrounded a house in Hebron and killed a Palestinian suspected of carrying out the shooting, the military said.

Hundreds of Israeli troops have been carrying out raids across the West Bank since last Wednesday in one of their largest actions in the area in months, which Israel says is aimed at rooting out Iranian-backed Islamist militants.

 

UNGA to vote on Palestinian draft resolution

The United Nations General Assembly is likely to vote next week on a Palestinian draft resolution demanding Israel end "its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory" within six months.

The key aim of the draft resolution, written by the Palestinian Authority and seen by Reuters, is to welcome a July advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice that said Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements is illegal and should be withdrawn.

But while the advisory opinion by the United Nations' highest court - known as the World Court - said this should be done "as rapidly as possible," the draft General Assembly resolution puts a six-month timeline on it.

The vote would come just days before world leaders arrive in New York for their annual gathering at the United Nations.

Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon called on the General Assembly to "reject this disgraceful resolution outright and instead adopt a resolution condemning Hamas and calling for the immediate release of all hostages."

The ICJ advisory opinion was not binding but carries weight under international law and may weaken support for Israel. A General Assembly resolution also is not binding, but carries political weight.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem - areas of historic Palestine which the Palestinians want for a state - in the 1967 Middle East war and has since built settlements in the West Bank and steadily expanded them.

'Days' before Israel and Hezbollah 'full-on war'

A member of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee has said it is "a matter of days" before full-on war erupts between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Nissim Vaturi, from the ruling Likud party, told the Kan public broadcaster that when this happens, Beirut's Dahiyeh suburb — a major Hezbollah stronghold — "will look like Gaza."

The Times of Israel reported Vaturi as saying Netanyahu had briefed military officials Sunday and told them: "We must end this saga." He added that war in Lebanon should begin with a major pre-emptive strike, followed by a ground invasion.

 

Demands for inquiry 

The U.S. called on Israel on Monday to complete a full inquiry into the killing of an American Turkish woman last week in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, saying it believes Israel has begun such a probe.

Turkish and Palestinian officials said on Friday that Israeli troops shot 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who had been taking part in a protest against settlement expansion.

"Our understanding is that our partners in Israel are looking into the circumstances of what happened, and we expect them to make their findings public, and expect that whatever those findings are, expect them to be thorough and transparent," U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told a news briefing.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby later said Israel was understood to be "moving swiftly on this investigation" and was expected to present its findings and conclusions in the coming days.

Palestinian news agency WAFA said the incident took place during a regular protest march by activists in Beita, a village near Nablus that has seen repeated attacks on Palestinians by Jewish settlers.

Türkiye's President Tayyip Erdogan condemned Eygi's death, saying in a post on social media that Türkiye "will continue to work in every platform to halt Israel's policy of occupation and genocide". Israel denies its actions in occupied Palestinian territories amount to genocide.

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