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Here’s where things stand on Sunday 20 July 2025:
- At least 115 people, including 92 aid seekers, killed by Israeli attacks across Gaza. More than 200 people wounded.
- Two more Palestinians, including a 35-day-old infant, have died of malnutrition at Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital.
- Tens of thousands of people marched in Tel Aviv, urging US President Donald Trump to reach a deal to end the war and bring back about 50 captives remaining in Gaza.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 58,895 people and wounded 140,980. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023 attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Israeli forces launch more raids across occupied West Bank
Israeli soldiers in armoured vehicles stormed the town of Qabatiya in the occupied West Bank’s Jenin, firing live ammunition at civilians, with no injuries reported so far.
The Wafa news agency reported that a number of Palestinian children were tear gassed during an Israeli raid on the town of Tuqu, located southeast of Bethlehem. The Israeli forces had positioned themselves in several neighbourhoods before advancing.
South of Tubas, Israeli forces stormed the Wadi al-Fara area and took up positions on a main street in the area. Another raid was reported in the town of al-Mazaraa ash-Sharqiya, located east of Ramallah.
PIJ says fighters targeted Israeli command post in Khan Younis
The al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said its fighters targeted an Israeli military command post in northern Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
The group reported that shortly after the attack, an Israeli evacuation helicopter landed at the site and that gunfire and smoke grenades were used in the area, suggesting possible casualties or injuries among Israeli forces.
Israeli army chief says continued war plans ready in Gaza visit
The Israeli army has released footage of chief Eyal Zamir visiting and cheering soldiers in the northern Gaza’s long-besieged neighbourhood of Shujayea.
He was quoted as saying by the military that Israeli ground forces have reached considerable “operational achievements” and that the army has presented the government with different scenarios to continue the war on Gaza.
Zamir said the fighting is “advancing the defeat of Hamas” and “creating the potential for a hostage deal”.
The Israeli military also released more footage of destruction in Gaza, showing two months of ground assault on Khan Younis in the south by its Paratrooper Brigade. More buildings were shown being blown up by Israeli forces, with the army labeling them “terrorist infrastructure”.
Gaza-bound aid ship ‘Handala’ sabotaged before departure, activists say
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition says the Handala, a Gaza-bound aid ship, was sabotaged before its departure from Gallipoli, Italy.
A rope was found tightly wrapped around the engine propeller, and a corrosive chemical was discovered in the water tank, injuring two crew members.
Despite the attacks, the vessel has set sail towards Gaza, carrying international activists and humanitarian supplies including baby formula, medicine, and toys. The journey is expected to take about a week.
The International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza condemned the sabotage attempts and called on the international community to guarantee the vessel’s safe passage and prevent any acts of “Israeli piracy”.
The voyage follows a similar mission by the vessel Madleen six weeks ago, which included activists such as Greta Thunberg and French-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan.
Several children suffer from tear gas inhalation during Israeli raid near Bethlehem
Several Palestinian children were injured from tear gas inhalation after Israeli forces stormed the town of Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports.
According to Tayseer Abu Mifreh, the head of the Tuqu municipality, Israeli soldiers fired stun grenades and tear gas at a group of children playing football near the municipal building, leading to multiple cases of suffocation.
Earlier, Israeli forces had entered the town and deployed in several neighbourhoods, including the area surrounding the municipality, Wafa said.
OCHA says children in Gaza dying before aid can reach them
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says families in Gaza are facing “catastrophic hunger,” with children “wasting away” and some dying before food reaches them.
In a post on X, OCHA said people searching for food are risking their lives, with many being shot at. The agency described the situation as “unconscionable” and stressed that unimpeded humanitarian access is both a legal and moral imperative.
The post comes as Israeli forces killed at least 92 people waiting for aid across Gaza today, bringing the total number of hungry aid seekers killed since May to over 900.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital warns of fuel shortage, urges urgent intervention
The spokesperson for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, Khalil al-Daqran, has issued an urgent appeal to the international community and UN agencies to secure fuel supplies and prevent a collapse of the enclave’s healthcare system.
Speaking to reporters, al-Daqran accused Israel of deliberately targeting the health sector, saying most power generators have been destroyed and fuel is nearly impossible to obtain.
“We receive hundreds of patients daily suffering from exhaustion due to hunger,” he said. “The international community must act immediately to bring in medicine and fuel, and pressure Israel to stop its systematic destruction of Gaza’s health infrastructure.”
‘No one can claim they didn’t know’: UNRWA decries Gaza media blackout
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has condemned the ongoing ban on international media entering Gaza, saying the “livestream of horrors” has continued for 650 days and warning that “no one can claim they didn’t know”.
In a post on X, the agency said its teams continue to work despite being “starving and exhausted,” and reiterated its call to lift the siege and allow the entry of urgently needed supplies, including food and medicine.
Another Palestinians dies of starvation: al-Ahli Hospital
A source at the hospital, located in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, reports that a person with special needs has succumbed to medical complications that arose from malnutrition.
Yesterday, at least two Palestinians, one a weeks-old infant, also died of malnutrition, as Israel’s blockade of Gaza continues.
Two civil defence aid workers killed in separate Israeli attacks on Gaza
Gaza’s civil defence says its aid station in the so-called “humanitarian zone” of al-Mawasi in Khan Younis was directly hit by Israeli fire, resulting in the death of one aid worker and injury of five other personnel.
Hani Mohammed al-Dabbour was killed in the latest attack, marking a violation of international law, the organisation said in a statement, calling on the international community for action.
Ahmed Ramadan Mohammed Miqdad, another civil defence worker, was separately killed by Israeli gunfire in the northern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military has now directly targeted civil defence points in “humanitarian” zones 11 times since the start of the war. Gaza aid workers with the civil defence have lost 134 colleagues, and 336 more have been wounded.
Israeli forces set homes ablaze in Nur Shams refugee camp
Israeli forces set fire to several homes in the Nur Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources cited by Wafa news agency.
Soldiers reportedly torched homes in the al-Manshiya neighbourhood while maintaining a tight siege on the camp for the 162nd consecutive day. Military vehicles and infantry units have been widely deployed in the area, turning evacuated homes into military outposts and opening fire on anyone attempting to approach the camp.
Over recent weeks, Nur Shams has witnessed widespread demolition, with 48 residential buildings already destroyed, part of an Israeli plan to raze 106 buildings across the Nur Shams and Tulkarem camps, Wafa said. Bulldozers have opened wide roads through neighbourhoods, dividing communities and displacing thousands, it added.
In the adjacent Tulkarem camp, Wafa said Israeli forces continued demolition work that began last week, now targeting additional residential buildings. The military campaign, now in its 175th day, seeks to demolish 104 buildings housing about 400 homes.
The ongoing incursion has forcibly displaced more than 5,000 families – more than 25,000 residents – from both camps. More than 600 buildings have been completely destroyed, while 2,573 homes have sustained partial damage, it added.
Bringing in Egypt ‘only way’ to manage aid to Gaza: Lapid
Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid claims food distribution by the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and other international organisations “doesn’t work and only strengthens Hamas”.
Distribution by food centres run by the notorious Gaza Humanitarian Foundation also does not work and “only causes deaths, injuries and harsh international criticism”, he wrote in a post on X.
“When will this government understand that only by bringing in the Egyptians to manage Gaza will the chaos in Gaza end?” Lapid said.
This comes as mediated ceasefire talks, in which Hamas has demanded that aid distribution in Gaza is returned to international organisations capable of doing it, have not led to a breakthrough.
Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth has quoted unnamed senior Israeli officials as saying that Israel does not intend to send a delegation of senior officials to Doha, and that there are no indications that US special envoy Steve Witkoff will arrive in the Qatari capital to finalise an agreement.
Palestinian factions accuse Israel of using starvation as a weapon
In a joint statement, Palestinian factions – including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and several others – said they are following the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza with deep concern, describing it as a “systematic genocide” through starvation, bombardment, and blockade.
They accused the Israeli government, with the backing of the US administration and silence from European and international institutions, of carrying out a comprehensive war aimed at breaking the will of the Palestinian people.
The statement warned that Israel’s actions constitute a war crime under international law and surpass previous atrocities in scale and brutality.
They called for holding Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government fully accountable for the siege and starvation policies, and blamed the US for enabling the assault by failing to pressure Israel to stop.
The factions decried the silence of the international community, especially the European Union.
They urged Palestinians worldwide and Arab and Islamic nations to mobilise politically and in the media to “stop the genocide” and “end the siege”.
UNRWA chief says food crisis in Gaza ‘man made’
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini says they are getting daily messages from staff in Gaza about the lack of food available in the enclave amid an ongoing Israeli siege.
“How can one respond to such messages of despair? Shames me & doubles the sense of helplessness. All man – made, in total impunity. Food is available only a few kilometres away,” Lazzarini wrote on X.
He added that UNRWA had enough stock at the borders for the entire population for the next three months, but they had been blocked from bringing in aid “since March 2. ”
“Political will is needed. Inaction is complicity & makes us lose our humanity,” Lazzarini urged.
Gaza health official warns women, children ‘collapsing’ due to hunger
Mohammed Abu Afash, the director of Medical Relief in Gaza, says women and children in Gaza are seen “collapsing” due to malnutrition and hunger.
Hunger in Gaza is affecting everyone, Abu Afash told Al Jazeera Arabic, warning that the coming days could be “catastrophic” if aid is not allowed into the besieged enclave.
The already battered healthcare system and dwindling facilities are unable to provide any relief to those suffering from malnutrition and dehydration, he said.
“We are heading into the unknown. Malnutrition among children has reached its highest levels,” Abu Afash warned.
He said hospitals are already overwhelmed and will be further strained by the surge in malnutrition cases, especially as they continue to operate without fuel.
Abu Afash’s comments come as the director of al-Shifa Hospital said the Public Service Hospital has completely ceased operations after running out of fuel. He also warned that the al-Ahli Arab Hospital has only 12 hours left before it is forced to shut down entirely due to dwindling fuel supplies.
‘They killed us with the gas,’ aid seekers in northern Gaza recount attack
At least 67 aid seekers were killed after an Israeli attack near the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza.
Ahmed Hassouna, who was trying to bring food back from the GHF aid site, said an Israeli tank “came at us from the side”.
“There was a young man with me, too – and they started firing gas at us. They killed us with the gas. We barely made it out to catch a breath, they suffocated us with the gas,” Hassouna told Al Jazeera.
Moreover, Rizeq Betaar, who was also at the Zikim crossing, said they saw a young man lying on the ground with no ambulances in sight.
“We were the ones who carried him on the bicycle. We’re still trying to get him to help — may all of this go into our book of good deeds, O Lord. There are no ambulances, no food, no life, no way to live anymore. We’re barely hanging on. May God relieve us”, Betar told Al Jazeera.
WFP: One in three people in Gaza going days without food
Nearly one in every three people in Gaza is going days without anything to eat, the World Food Programme has warned, with thousands on the brink of catastrophic levels of hunger.
The agency said food aid is the only way many can access meals and reiterated its call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire, along with safe and unhindered humanitarian access to those in need.
Dozens of Palestinians, mostly children, have lost their lives due to hunger and malnutrition in recent days, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
WFP: Aid convoy to northern Gaza fired on after crowd gathers
The World Food Programme (WFP) says one of its aid convoys came under fire in northern Gaza earlier today, after a large crowd of civilians gathered in hopes of receiving food assistance.
In a statement, WFP said the convoy of 25 trucks had entered through the Zikim crossing and was headed to areas facing “extreme food insecurity”.
After a short delay in gaining access to the north, the convoy was met by large crowds of desperate residents before being fired upon, resulting in multiple casualties, including deaths and injuries, according to reports.
WFP said it is working with local authorities to gather more information about the incident and reiterated that violence targeting civilians seeking humanitarian aid is “unacceptable”. The agency renewed its call to protect civilians and humanitarian workers delivering life-saving assistance.
The statement comes as 73 aid seekers have been killed by Israeli forces across Gaza today, including at least 30 in the north.