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Here’s where things stand on Tuesday 15 July 2025:
- Israel says it targeted Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon; Syria’s national news agency says Israeli air strikes hit Suwayda.
- Israeli forces continue to pound Gaza, a day after killing at least 78 Palestinians across Gaza.
- Settlers in the occupied West Bank have set fire to Palestinian land and vehicles in the village of Burqa, hours after church leaders and diplomats from more than 20 countries gathered in the town of Taybeh to call for an end to the violence.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 58,386 people and wounded 139,077, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023, attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Israeli raids continue across occupied West Bank
Palestinian sources said Israeli forces continued their raids on the Qalandia camp, north of occupied Jerusalem, and attacked and destroyed residents’ property.
At least 32 Palestinians have been detained across occupied West Bank by Israeli forces today.
Israeli raids continue across occupied West Bank
Israeli Israeli air strikes targeted Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon
As we reported earlier, Israeli air strikes targeted Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon this morning.
The Israeli army claimed it attacked Hezbollah positions being used by the group for training purpose.
Lebanese security sources said that Israeli jets carried out more than 10 attacks in several eastern locations early on Tuesday. According to residents, loud explosions could be heard in the region.
Qatar condemns Israeli strikes on Syria
At a news conference in Doha, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson has condemned Israel’s latest strikes on Suwayda in Syria.
“Qatar condemns Israel’s irresponsible actions in the region,” al-Ansari said. “Israel is not responsible for security of Syrian citizens.
“They are pointless actions and have proven to be gravely dangerous. We and the international community cannot accept the impunity that Israeli behaviour enjoys.
“The international community must take steps towards Israeli provocative actions in addition to what’s happening in Gaza.”
Ceasefire talks under way, Qatar says
Ceasefire negotiations are currently under way, a spokesperson for the Qatar Foreign Ministry says, adding that Israeli and Hamas delegations were both in Qatar’s capital, Doha.
Majed al-Ansari gave no more details and did not say whether an agreement was imminent.
Netanyahu, Katz confirm Israeli strikes on Syria
As reported earlier, Syria’s state news agency reported Israeli air strikes in Suwayda, a mainly Druze city in southern Syria.
Now, Netanyahu and Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a joint statement confirming “regime forces and weapons” were targeted in Suwayda “for the purpose of the regime’s activities against the Druze”.
In a separate statement, the Israeli army said the attacks followed the identification of convoys, including armored personnel carriers and tanks of the Syrian government forces moving towards Suwayda on Monday.
Analysts say Israel continues to attack Syria to entrench its control beyond the already occupied Golan Heights with the pretext of protecting the Druze.
One in 10 children screened in UNRWA clinics are malnourished
The UN agency’s health teams on the ground say that malnutrition rates in Gaza are increasing, especially since the Israeli siege was tightened more than four months, according to UNRWA’s Communication Chief Juliette Touma.
Touma added that one in 10 children screened were malnourished.
Last month, data from the Nutrition Cluster cited by OCHA showed that more than 16,500 children below the age of five since January were detected and treated for severe acute malnutrition in Gaza.
Berlin court rules ban on Palestinian doctor speaking in Germany is unlawful
The administrative court of Berlin has ruled that an order imposed on Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu-Sittah preventing him from speaking in Germany is unlawful, a court spokesperson tells Al Jazeera.
The court ruled that it was not to be expected that Abu-Sittah, a surgeon who has worked in Gaza, would commit a criminal offence or pose a threat to the democratic order in Germany by appearing at the Palestine Congress, where he had been invited to speak in April 2024.
The judges said they could not find any statements by Abu-Sittah since October 7, 2023, that were of a criminal nature or indicated support for terrorist organisations.
The court added that Abu-Sittah’s status as a historical witness whose testimony has been heard by the International Criminal Court should also have been taken into account by the Berlin authorities as well as his right to freedom of expression.
The state of Berlin had argued that Abu-Sittah was a supporter of Hamas because he participated in a news conference organised by the Palestinian Health Ministry outside al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
Attacks against Palestinians intensify in occupied West Bank: UN
There has been an increase in killings of and attacks against Palestinians by settlers and security forces in the occupied West Bank in recent weeks, the UN human rights office said.
“Israeli settlers and security forces have intensified their killings, attacks and harassment of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in the past weeks,” Thameen al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva.
Israeli ultra-Orthodox party quits coalition, shaking Netanyahu’s gov’t
An Israeli ultra-Orthodox party that has been a key governing partner of Netanyahu says it is leaving his coalition government.
United Torah Judaism’s two factions said they were bolting from the government over disagreements surrounding a bill that would codify broad military draft exemptions for their constituents, many of whom study Jewish texts instead of enlisting in the military.
“After the government repeatedly violated its commitments to ensure the status of Jewish seminary students,” the Degel HaTorah faction said in a statement, its lawmakers announced “their resignation from the coalition and the government”.
Once it comes into effect within 48 hours, it will leave Netanyahu with a slim majority in parliament and a government that could now more heavily rely on the whims of two far-right parties. Those parties oppose concessions in ceasefire talks with Hamas and have themselves quit or threatened to quit the government over moves to end or pause the war in Gaza.
What are the sticking points in the latest ceasefire proposal?
In Israel, two far-right members of the Israeli cabinet – Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir – have criticised the push for a ceasefire, demanding instead the destruction of Hamas, pushing on with the attacks on Gaza.
Looking to keep them on his side, Netanyahu is pushing for the Israeli army to hold much more of Gaza than it did when the last ceasefire came into effect in January.
The government has said it plans to build a concentration zone for some 600,000 people in this area, a plan which has been met with widespread local and international condemnation.
Hamas is fundamentally opposed to leaving so much land under direct Israeli control or the creation of the camp, and demands that Israeli forces withdraw to the lines established before the January ceasefire.
It has also pushed for stronger guarantees that any pause in hostilities would lead to a permanent end to the war.
Israeli attacks hit Syria’s Suwayda
Syria’s state news agency is reporting that Israeli air attacks have hit Suwayda.
Israel, which has attacked Syria in the past months under the pretext of protecting the Druze, said last week it hit several tanks heading towards Suwayda, where fighting between Bedouin tribes and local fighters has killed more than 30 people and injured 100.
Church leaders, diplomats condemn settler violence in West Bank
Top church leaders and diplomats called for Israeli settlers to be held accountable during a visit to the predominantly Christian town of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank, after settlers intensified attacks on the area in recent weeks.
Representatives from more than 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, Russia, China, Japan, Jordan, and the European Union, were among the delegates who visited the village in the West Bank on Monday.
Speaking in Taybeh, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III and Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa denounced an incident last week when settlers set fires near the community’s church.
They said Israeli authorities failed to respond to emergency calls for help from the Palestinian community.
Read the full story here.
Israeli air raids hit Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley
The Israeli army says its air force has hit what it calls several Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa Valley, eastern Lebanon.
The army said it hit camps of the Radwan Force, a special forces unit of the Lebanese armed group.
Hezbollah and Israel have repeatedly accused each other of breaching a ceasefire signed last November that halted more than a year of fighting.
According to the deal, both Israel has Hezbollah should have pulled out their forces from southern Lebanon. In breach to the agreement, Israel still maintains soldiers in at least five outposts in southern Lebanon, continues to carry out attacks on occasion, including ground operations.
Tensions simmer between Netanyahu and army over forcible transfer of Palestinians
The plan remains on the table because Netanyahu wants it implemented.
He is upset with the army because it seems that while the army is not outright rejecting it, it is not offering practical solutions or ways to implement it.
For now, there will be some back and forth, and Netanyahu has instructed the army to come to the table again and present a different plan, one with a shorter timeline and a smaller budget.
International actors have said this would amount to war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity – even genocide.
So there will be no outside funding for this concentration. Israel has to figure out how to do this on its own.
Israeli tactics in Gaza counterproductive, failing to win ‘hearts and minds’Colin Clarke, senior research fellow at The Soufan Centre, questions the Israeli army’s strategy in Gaza, with the bombing not slowing down and the continued killing of Palestinians at aid distribution sites set up by the controversial GHF.“It has been a disaster on all fronts on what is happening in Gaza and one can only wonder what the strategy here is by the Israelis,” Clarke told Al Jazeera.“Any tactical gains that the Israelis made militarily in Gaza are being erased by what we are seeing on a daily basis and are highly counterproductive.“The essence of effective counterinsurgency is to win hearts and minds of the population and we see day after day that is not what is happening and that is not what the Israelis are even attempting, so it’s head-scratching to say the least,” Clarke said.Since GHF began operating in May, more than 800 aid seekers in Gaza have been killed while trying to get food
Israeli tactics in Gaza counterproductive, failing to win ‘hearts and minds’
Colin Clarke, senior research fellow at The Soufan Centre, questions the Israeli army’s strategy in Gaza, with the bombing not slowing down and the continued killing of Palestinians at aid distribution sites set up by the controversial GHF.
“It has been a disaster on all fronts on what is happening in Gaza and one can only wonder what the strategy here is by the Israelis,” Clarke told Al Jazeera.
“Any tactical gains that the Israelis made militarily in Gaza are being erased by what we are seeing on a daily basis and are highly counterproductive.
“The essence of effective counterinsurgency is to win hearts and minds of the population and we see day after day that is not what is happening and that is not what the Israelis are even attempting, so it’s head-scratching to say the least,” Clarke said.
Since GHF began operating in May, more than 800 aid seekers in Gaza have been killed while trying to get food.
Eleven people killed in Israeli attacks today
Sources in Gaza hospitals have told our colleagues on the ground that at least 11 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn.
Evacuation threats force Palestinians into increasingly dangerous zones
Palestinians woke up to endless explosions, artillery shelling and air raids, especially in Shujayea and Jabalia.
These areas are where Israeli forces just issued an evacuation threat, calling Palestinians in eastern Gaza City to evacuate to the western part, where most Palestinians are currently displaced.
Israel attacked a house in Shati refugee camp, killing at least five Palestinians from the same family and wounding dozens. This is one of the most densely populated areas because it is a refugee camp, and many from the northern part of Gaza are seeking refuge and putting up tents there.
And despite the displacement order calling on Palestinians to move to the western part of Gaza City, that area is also being attacked.
They are also struggling to find food, and, with these continuous evacuation threats, they are left with no options. Wherever they go, they are still being attacked.
Israeli army says drone from Yemen intercepted
The Israeli army says a drone launched from Yemen has been intercepted but air raid sirens were not activated.
Israeli media reported that “a suspicious object” was intercepted in Eilat.
A recap of recent developments
- Israeli forces have killed at least 78 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, according to medical sources, including at least two people waiting for food aid.
- The Israeli military says three soldiers have been killed and another was injured during fighting in Jabalia in northern Gaza.
- The UN’s Population Fund has again warned that humanitarian operations in Gaza are on the brink of collapse due to fuel shortages caused by Israel’s blockade.
- Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has again criticised plans to build a so-called “humanitarian city” in Gaza, calling it a “crazy idea even by the standards of this government”.
- Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have set fire to Palestinian vehicles in the village of Burqa, hours after Church leaders and diplomats from more than 20 countries gathered in the town of Taybeh to call for an end to the violence.
- Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said that “nothing has changed” in Gaza since the European Union reached an agreement with Israel to increase aid deliveries into the enclave. The comments come ahead of an EU-Middle East meeting in Brussels.
Welcome to our coverage
Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza.
Stay with us for the latest news, reactions and analyses.
You can find all our earlier updates for today Tuesday, July 15, here.