Mazzaltov World News provides you with the latest live coverage of Current Affairs, Sports, Health, Weather, Entertainment, Business and Travel News from around the world.Here’s where things stand on Monday 4 August 2025:
- At least 74 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn on Monday, including 36 aid seekers, as the United Nations warns that 28 children are dying a day from Israeli bombardment and lack of aid.
- A nurse at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah was killed when he was hit by an airdropped box of aid, a medical source has told Al Jazeera.
- Hamas says it is open to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delivering aid to Israeli captives in Gaza if Israel opens “humanitarian corridors” to deliver aid to all people in Gaza.
- That comes as authorities in Gaza say an average of 84 trucks have entered the besieged enclave a day since Israel somewhat eased restrictions on July 27. Aid organisations say at least 600 aid trucks are needed per day to meet the territory’s basic needs.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 60,933 people and wounded 150,027. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023 attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Terminating my tenure against law: Israeli attorney general
Gali Baharav-Miara has responded to the government’s move to dismiss her, a move which, as we reported earlier, has been paused by the Israeli High Court.
“The government’s decision just made to terminate my tenure violates the law,” she said as quoted by the Yedioth Ahronot newspaper .
She added that “political pressures and actions contrary to law will not deter us from continuing to perform our duties with statesmanship, professionalism and integrity”.
“We will continue to assist the government in advancing its policies in accordance with the law, enforce the law equally and uphold the rule of law,” she said, according to the report.
Germany should consider Israel sanctions: MP
A senior lawmaker in German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition has said Berlin should consider sanctions on Israel including a partial suspension of weapons exports or the suspension of a European Union-wide political agreement, according to a report.
The call by Siemtje Moeller, the deputy leader of the Social Democrats (SPD) parliamentary faction, reflects a sharpening of rhetoric from Berlin against Israel which has yet to yield any major policy changes however.
Moeller, whose SPD joined a coalition with Merz’s conservatives this year, wrote a letter to members to her party after returning from a trip to Israel with Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul last week.
“My assessment is that the Israeli government will move little without pressure,” she said in the letter as reported by the Reuters news agency.
Recognition of a Palestinian state should not be “taboo”, she said, adding that Israeli statements that there were no restrictions on aid to Gaza were not convincing.
Moeller also called for the immediate and unconditional release of the captives held by Hamas. She said Hamas must no longer play a role in a political future in Gaza.
UN says aid deliveries remain severely restricted
Despite Israeli vows to allow more aid to access Gaza, a spokesman for the UN Secretary General has said the “realities on the ground remain largely the same”.
“Aid that has entered remains by far insufficient for the starving population, and our convoys continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid,” Farhan Haq told reporters, adding some missions take up to 18 hours to complete, with teams sometimes forced to wait 10 hours on dangerous, congested roads.
He added that no shelter supplies have entered the enclave since March. While some food aid has been able to enter, it is often “offloaded by the hungry crowds before reaching its destinations”.
The high energy biscuits and baby formula brought into Gaza for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers “still a fraction of what is needed”.
Meanwhile, malnutrition among children “is reaching catastrophic levels”, he said.
Israel’s justice minister says attorney general not wanted
Yariv Levin has said Gali Baharav-Miara should resign, accusing the attorney general of trying to “force herself” on a government that does not want her.
The statement comes after a unanimous cabinet decision to dismiss her from office, which was frozen by an interim order by the Israeli High Court in the last few hours.
“It would be appropriate for you to refrain from an attempt, which will not succeed, to force yourself on a government that has no confidence in you and which cannot effectively cooperate with you,” Levin told Baharav-Miara in a letter cited by The Times of Israel.
“This is how anyone who puts the good of the country and the management of its affairs before their personal interests, and who respects the elected government and proper and democratic governance,” he added, according to the report.
Members of the Israeli government have denied the effort to remove Baharav-Miara is connected to her role in prosecuting Netanyahu’s corruption case.
Israel says Lebanon strike killed one
The Israeli military has confirmed its strike today on Khiam in the Nabatieh governorate of southern Lebanon.
It said the strike killed a member of Hezbollah.
Hezbollah and Israel agreed to a ceasefire in November 2024, but Israel has violated the agreement on a near-daily basis.
Israel has repeatedly claimed that Israel and the Lebanese government have failed to meet the terms of the ceasefire.
Ex-Israeli security officials’ letter to Trump underscores ‘hopelessness’
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow at the UK-based Chatham House, has said today’s letter from 600 former Israeli security officials underscores that little faith remains in Netanyahu’s government.
That was evidenced, Mekelberg said, in their decision to address the letter to US President Donald Trump, who they see as the only individual with the leverage to force a stop to the war.
“We are talking here about 600 of the most senior former security officials,” Mekelberg said.
“They don’t even write this letter to the Israeli government because they gave up on this government,” he said. “It comes from a sense of hopelessness. They think that the only way to get out of this situation is to ask President Trump to intervene.”
If you’re just joining us
Let’s bring you up to speed:
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- Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed at least 74 people today, including 34 aid seekers, Gaza’s hospital sources tell Al Jazeera.
- Six more people have died from famine or malnutrition in the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of hunger-related deaths to 181, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
- “Palestinians are devastated and hungry,” reports Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary from central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah. “Starvation is spreading across every single inch of the Gaza Strip.”
- The Israeli government has unanimously voted to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who has led the corruption trial against Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. But Israel’s High Court has blocked the move until it can rule on its legality.
- US House Speaker Mike Johnson has visited an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, where a Republican official reported that he referred to the Palestinian territory as “the rightful property of the Jewish People”.
Israel’s Herzog calls on ICRC to act ‘by all means’ to help captives
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog says he has spoken by phone with International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger and urged the humanitarian organisation to urgently intervene to get aid to Israeli captives in Gaza.
In a post on X, Herzog referred to “horrifying images” of captives Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski, who were seen gaunt and frail in recently released footage from Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“I stressed that their lives are in imminent danger,” Herzog said of his conversation with Spoljaric.
“I asked of her that the Red Cross should act immediately and by all means at its disposal, in order to assist the hostages, and provide them immediately with food and critical medical care.”
The ICRC, which has acted as an intermediary in past captive exchanges between Hamas and Israel, has so far not had access to captives held in Gaza.
On Sunday, Hamas’s Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said the group is open to the ICRC delivering aid to Israeli captives, but that humanitarian corridors must first “be opened in a normal and permanent manner for the passage of food and medicine to all our people in all areas of the Gaza Strip”.
Turkiye’s Erdogan congratulates UK for Palestinian recognition remarks
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has congratulated British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for his statements over the recognition of a Palestinian state, according to Erdogan’s office.
Erdogan and Starmer discussed bilateral relations in a phone call, as well as regional and global issues, the statement by his office said.
It added that the Turkish president also emphasised the importance of taking steps to compel Israel to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza and a two-state solution.
The United Kingdom joined France, Canada, Portugal and Malta in announcing earlier this month the intention to recognise a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu weighing expanding Israeli operations in Gaza: Reports
Israeli media have reported that the Israeli prime minister has been weighing expanding operations in Gaza.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported the plan could include efforts to seize the entire enclave, but a decision would be made during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Israeli media also reported that the plans being considered involve the military launching operations in areas where captives are believed to be held.
We’ll bring you more information as we get it.
Gaza Civil Defence says 60 percent of its vehicles not operating
In a statement on Telegram, the organisation says the situation is due to a lack of sufficient fuel and maintenance parts needed to repair vehicles.
It said: “We were able to secure a small amount of fuel from some humanitarian and relief organisations, amounting to no more than 15 percent of the daily professional requirement.”
“We are now merging our response to some daily tasks that do not pose a direct threat to citizens’ lives, while postponing some tasks,” the statement also said, calling the situation “a major humanitarian disaster”.
Health workers in Gaza ‘give me hope’: Aid worker
As we reported earlier, Al Jazeera has spoken to MSF project coordinator Caroline Willemen from Gaza City.
While Willemen explained the dire conditions and acknowledged how far off future reconstruction and rehabilitation remain, she said she is given hope every day by her Palestinian colleagues.
“I have never seen more humanity than I have encountered in Gaza, and that is the one thing that gives me hope that, yes, it is possible,” she said.
“We need the international community to step up to their moral obligation to make this stop and to help the recovery. But I have an unwavering belief in the fact that it is possible when I see Palestinian colleagues work every single day.”
What is Netanyahu on trial for?
As we reported earlier, Israel’s government voted today to fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who is heading a corruption trial against PM Benjamin Netanyahu. The controversial move has since been frozen by Israel’s top court.
Nevertheless, it has sparked accusations that Netanyahu is trying to shield himself from accountability.
So what exactly is Netanyahu on trial for?
- The Israeli prime minister is charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, including for allegedly taking lavish gifts from businessmen in return for political favours and striking policy and regulatory deals for more favourable news coverage.
- Facing up to 10 years in prison, Netanyahu has been accused of dragging out and even exacerbating the Gaza war to avoid the trial, which began in 2020.
- However, US President Donald Trump has come to Netanyahu’s defence, urging Israel to pardon him and calling the prosecutors targeting him “out of control”. Trump has even suggested the US could leverage its aid to Israel to protect Netanyahu.
- The latest standoff has raised the prospect of a constitutional crisis, as critics accuse Netanyahu of continually using his executive powers to stall the trial.
PA slams US House Speaker Johnson’s visit to illegal West Bank settlement
As we reported earlier, US House Speaker Mike Johnson has travelled to the illegal Israeli settlement of Ariel in the occupied West Bank, where he said the Palestinian territory is the “rightful property” of the Jewish people.
In a statement on X, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned his visit and “inflammatory statements on the annexation of the West Bank”.
“The ministry considers this a blatant violation of international law, international legitimacy resolutions, and the Arab and American efforts to stop the war, halt the cycle of violence, and achieve calm,” it said.
The statement added: “The ministry also views it as an encouragement of settlement crimes, settlers’ actions, and the confiscation of Palestinian lands, in clear contradiction with the declared US position regarding settlements and settlers’ attacks.”
‘Steep uptick in gunshot wounds’ near aid sites
James Smith, an emergency physician who spent several weeks volunteering in Gaza, has described Israel’s continued attacks in the enclave as “profound barbarity”.
“This is really an escalation in the intensity of Israel’s violence,” Smith told Al Jazeera from London, adding that his medical colleagues in Khan Younis, Deir el-Balah and Nuseirat are reporting “a steep uptick in gunshot injuries” in casualties near aid distribution sites.
“Absolutely every one of these patients will require long-term rehabilitative care,” Smith said.
“Given that hospitals and health centres are responding every day to not only one mas casualty incident, but often upwards of 10 distinct mass casualty incidents, the ability to prioritise long-term rehabilitation is extremely difficult,” he said.
