Gaza aid death toll hits 875, religious party quits Israeli government

TOP HEADLINES

• The UN rights office said it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza. READ MORE BELOW

• A religious party has quit Israel's ruling coalition in a dispute over military service, leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a razor-thin majority in parliament. READ MORE BELOW

• France, the UK and Germany will launch the UN snapback mechanism on Iran by the end of August at the latest if no concrete progress has been made on a nuclear deal by then. READ MORE BELOW

• Israel has launched strikes on Lebanon's Bekaa Valley and southwestern Syria. READ MORE BELOW

• The UN warned Tuesday that mass displacement in the West Bank had hit levels not seen since the start of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territory nearly 60 years ago.

• A BBC documentary about children's lives in Gaza narrated by the 13-year-old son of a deputy agriculture minister in the Hamas-run government breached the British public broadcaster's editorial guidelines on accuracy, an internal review said.

• A rescheduled United Nations conference this month will discuss post-war plans for Gaza and preparations for the recognition of a Palestinian state by France and others, France's foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in Brussels before a meeting of European Union foreign ministers.

• Gaza ceasefire talks remain in their "first phase" after more than a week of talks, even as mediators step up efforts to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas, Qatar said Tuesday. 

IN DETAIL

Aid point deaths reach 875

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday it had recorded at least 875 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and convoys run by other relief groups, including the United Nations.

The majority of those killed were in the vicinity of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites, while the remaining 201 were killed on the routes of other aid convoys.

The GHF uses private U.S. security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a U.N.-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation.

The GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest UN figures.

"The data we have is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical human rights and humanitarian organizations," Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has previously cited instances of violent pillaging of aid, and the U.N. World Food Programme said last week that most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza had been intercepted by "hungry civilian communities".

Religious party quits Israeli government

The United Torah Judaism (UTJ) has left Israel's ruling coalition in a dispute over military service, leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a tiny majority in parliament but still enough political support to secure a potential Gaza ceasefire.

Six UTJ members handed in resignation letters overnight from posts in parliamentary committees and government ministries, in protest against lawmakers' failure to guarantee future exemption from military conscription for ultra-Orthodox religious students.

Shas, a second ultra-Orthodox party closely allied with UTJ, may follow – and leave the government with no parliament majority.

The UTJ lawmakers said their walkout would come into effect after 48 hours, giving Netanyahu two days to try and resolve the crisis which has dogged his coalition for months.

Even if that fails, parliament goes on summer break at the end of July, which would give the prime minister a further three months to seek a solution before any loss of his majority could threaten his position.

European power trio to launch Iranian snapback

France, the United Kingdom and Germany will launch the U.N. snapback mechanism on Iran by the end of August at the latest if no concrete progress has been made on a nuclear deal by then.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced the move to reporters. 

"France and its partners are ... justified in reapplying global embargoes on arms, banks, and nuclear equipment that were lifted 10 years ago," Barrot told reporters ahead of a meeting with EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels.

"Without a firm, tangible, and verifiable commitment from Iran, we will do so by the end of August at the latest."

Israel strikes hit Lebanon and Syria

Israeli strikes on Lebanon's Bekaa Valley on Tuesday killed 12 people, the region's governor Bachir Khodr told Reuters, in the deadliest air strikes since last year's truce ended months of fighting between armed group Hezbollah and Israel.

A security source told Reuters that five of the dead were Hezbollah fighters. Khodr said seven of the dead were Syrian nationals, who often work in the agricultural fields of the Bekaa region.

Israel also carried out strikes against Syrian government forces in southwestern Syria for a second day on Tuesday, vowing to keep the area demilitarized and to protect the Druze minority as deadly clashes continued in the region at the Israeli frontier.

The upsurge in violence underlines the challenges facing interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa who has struggled to assert control over the area near the Israeli border since toppling Bashar al-Assad in December.

While Sharaa has been buoyed by rapidly improving ties with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, the violence has highlighted lingering sectarian tensions and distrust among minority groups towards his Islamist-led government - distrust that was deepened by mass killings of Alawites in March.