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Here’s where things stand on Thursday 7 August 2025:
- PM Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will “take control of all of Gaza” in an interview, claims authority to be handed over to a third party upon military victory.
- Gaza’s hospitals have recorded four new deaths “due to famine and malnutrition over the past 24 hours”, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry, raising the total number of hunger-related deaths to 197, including 96 children.
- Head of UN children’s fund, UNICEF, says 12,000 children in Gaza are experiencing “acute malnutrition”, as Israel continues its starvation policy.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 61,258 people and wounded 152,045. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023, attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive.
Ireland calls for accountability for Palestinian activist killed by Israeli settler
The Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Ireland has said that it condemns the slaying of Palestinian rights activist Awdah Hathaleen by an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank, where such acts of violence largely go unpunished by Israeli authorities.
“We condemn the killing of human rights defender [Hathaleen] in the West Bank,” the ministry said in a social media post. “Those responsible must be held accountable. There can be no impunity for perpetrators of settler violence. Ireland will continue to advocate for sanctions against individuals and entities involved.”
Israeli authorities released the shooter, Israeli settler Yinon Levi, who has said he is “glad” he killed Hathaleen and is reported to have returned to the scene of the shooting to continue harassing Palestinian residents. Israeli authorities have withheld Hathaleen’s body from his family.
WHO says acute malnutrition among children in Gaza reached new high in July
Global health officials say that July saw the number of children suffering from acute malnutrition in Gaza rise to the highest levels yet, as Israel’s siege continues to fuel rising deaths from starvation in the Gaza Strip.
“In July, nearly 12,000 children under five years were identified as having acute malnutrition in Gaza, the highest monthly figure ever recorded,” World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at WHO headquarters in Geneva.
He added that at least 2,500 of those children have reached a level of severe malnutrition, and that 29 children under the age of five had died from hunger as of July 29.
Many questions remain after Netanyahu’s Fox News interview
That interview gives us a bit of an inkling into the thinking of the prime minister.
He said something that we haven’t heard before, at least directly from him – which is that Israel is not interested in governing Gaza but rather, would hand it over to an Arab force that would not pose a threat to the security of Israel.
That is quite different from what we’ve been hearing from Israeli media about a full-blown occupation of Gaza.
But again, this is an interview that he gave to one of the American networks.
The [Israeli] security cabinet is meeting, and I think we’ll have to wait until after that to know exactly in which direction Israel is heading when it comes to Gaza.
If you’re just joining us…
Let’s bring you up to speed:
- A child has died while attempting to retrieve airdropped aid in Khan Younis, the latest death in a delivery method that UN agencies have condemned as dangerous and inefficient.
- In northern Gaza, a Palestinian man who recently visited an airdrop site described the desperation on the ground. “People are tearing each other apart for [the aid], and the amount is so limited,” the man told Al Jazeera.
- Land deliveries also remain critically low. According to the Gaza Government Media Office, only 92 aid trucks entered the enclave yesterday, and most were looted. The office has previously said that at least 600 trucks are needed to stave off Israel’s famine.
- British police say they have charged the first three people in England and Wales with supporting activist group Palestine Action since it was banned under “anti-terrorism” laws.
Netanyahu trying to cover up real goal of ethnic cleansing
Gideon Levy, an Israeli journalist at local newspaper Haaretz, says the Israeli prime minister’s remarks about another governing body taking over Gaza are “far-fetched” and not realistic.
“What does he mean, another force will take over Gaza? Who is going to get into Gaza, who will be willing to do so, except for the Israeli military, obviously?” Levy said to Al Jazeera.
“That’s another way of covering up the real intention – and I’m afraid that the intention is quite transparent: There is a goal for this war … to push all the people of Gaza to this ‘humanitarian’ concentration camp and then offer them to leave Gaza,” he said.
“Practically, [Israel is] aiming at an ethnic cleansing of Gaza.”
Israel is currently setting things in motion to carry out that plan, Levy added. “[Israel is] preparing an ethnic cleansing – we have to face it.”
Israel already controls all of Gaza
As we’ve just reported, Netanyahu says Israel plans to move forward with plans to control “all of Gaza” – the latest threat from Israeli officials to fully “occupy” the territory.
But legal experts stress that the enclave has been occupied by Israel since 1967 despite the withdrawal of Israeli forces and settlers in 2005. The International Court of Justice, the UN’s top tribunal, reaffirmed that position in a ruling last year.
“The Court notes that, for the purpose of determining whether a territory remains occupied under international law, the decisive criterion is not whether the occupying Power retains its physical military presence in the territory at all times but rather whether its authority has been established and can be exercised,” the ruling said.
The court also underscored that Israel continued to exercise key elements of authority over Gaza after the 2005 withdrawal, “including control of the land, sea and air borders, restrictions on movement of people and goods” and the collection of import and export taxes. “This is even more so since 7 October 2023,” it added.
Former UN official Michael Lynk likened Gaza to a prison where Israel retains control, making it the occupying power. “It’s like if the guards leave the prison, but they take all the keys with them; they’re still controlling how much food goes inside the prison each day and how much electricity goes into the prison each day,” Lynk told Al Jazeera in 2023.
“The people inside the prison are free to roam wherever they want within the confines of the prison but have no ability to be able to leave – that would be ‘effective control’ over the prison.”
US consulting firm helped model expulsion of Palestinians in Gaza to African nations: Report
The US firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) helped model plans for a possible expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza to the African nations of Somalia and Somaliland, according to a report by the Financial Times newspaper.
The British paper reported that BCG helped with that modelling as part of a post-war planning project for Israeli businessmen. The plan included the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza to countries such as Somalia, the breakaway region of Somaliland, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan.
The Financial Times first reported on BCG’s involvement in such efforts last month. BSG responded by disavowing the work and saying that the person in charge had been told not to do it.
The Associated Press also reported in March that the US and Israel had discussed expelling Palestinians in Gaza to Sudan, Somalia, and Somaliland.
Experts have said that the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, which Israeli officials have consistently called for, would be an act of ethnic cleansing and a likely war crime.
Netanyahu says Israel intends to take control of ‘all of Gaza’
The Israeli prime minister has been asked in an interview with Fox News if Israel will “take control of all of Gaza”.
“We intend to,” Netanyahu answered, “in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of [sic] Gaza and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel.
“That’s what we want to do. We want to liberate ourselves and liberate the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas.”
Netanyahu also said in the interview that Israel doesn’t want to be “a governing body” in Gaza.
“We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We don’t want to govern it.”
‘Hunger the latest killer in Gaza’: UNRWA
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) is once again calling to be allowed to do its job, distributing humanitarian aid freely in Gaza.
“Before the siege and the famine, UN and partners supported 2 million people across the Gaza Strip through community-based aid distribution,” the group wrote on X.
“Five months on, hunger is the latest killer. Four militarized distribution points cannot replace a coordinated humanitarian response.”
Israel continues to enforce a humanitarian blockade on Gaza, only allowing limited aid into the territory via airdrops and the notorious Israel and US-backed GHF.
The UN and other humanitarian groups have slammed the GHF as a militarised scheme that puts Palestinians in danger and does not adhere to humanitarian principles. More than 1,300 people have been killed while seeking aid at GHF-run distribution sites in the Strip since May.
Israeli army details northern Gaza operations over last month
The military has released a statement outlining a series of operations by the Givati Brigade in the Beit Hanoon area of northern Gaza.
It said the brigade struck “numerous targets” in coordination with the Israeli Air Force, including observation posts and sniper positions. Israeli troops also “dismantled dozens of tunnel shafts and several underground tunnel routes”.
The military claimed that as a result of the operations, Hamas’s battalion in Beit Hanoon “has ceased to function as an organised military force”.
‘People are tearing each other apart’ for limited aid
We’ve spoken to displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza as they scramble to try to secure a portion of the limited aid being airdropped into the besieged enclave.
Ismail al-Fayoumi said he walked a long distance to try to get food for his family. He came away with a single bag of milk.
“May God ease our situation,” he told Al Jazeera. “We hope they start bringing aid officially, through proper warehouses, not through airdrops. People are tearing each other apart for it, and the amount is so limited. What can a single pack like this do for an entire family?”
Another displaced man, Mustafa Tanani, likened the situation to “a battle”.
“We come from far away and end up with nothing,” he said.
“The planes are dropping aid for nothing – look where they threw it, up there between the buildings. It’s dangerous for us. There’s even a box hanging up high – it’s too risky to go and get it.”
UK police charge three people after Palestine Action ban
British police has said they had charged the first three people in England and Wales with supporting activist group Palestine Action since it was banned under “anti-terrorism” laws.
Jeremy Shippam and Judit Murray, both 71, and Fiona Maclean, 53, were charged under Britain’s Terrorism Act of 2000 following their arrest at a protest in central London on July 5, the capital’s Metropolitan Police force said.
A spokesperson for the force said there had already been seven charges in Scotland, which has a separate legal system.
The announcement comes ahead of a planned protest in support of the group outside the UK Parliament on Saturday, with organisers saying more than 500 people are expected to attend.
“I would strongly advise anyone planning to come to London this weekend to show support for Palestine Action to think about the potential criminal consequences of their actions,” Met Police Commander Dominic Murphy said in a statement.
Israeli army claims to have killed dozens of Hamas fighters in Gaza
The Israeli military says its troops killed dozens of fighters and dismantled tunnel shafts in Gaza City’s Daraj and Tuffah areas.
It claimed the soldiers located weapons in the area, including missile launchers, pistols, and ammunition. An additional missile launcher and launch canisters were also found in a cemetery in the area, the military said.
“Troops of the Southern Command continue to operate in the Gaza Strip against the terrorist organizations in order to protect the civilians of Israel,” it said.
As we have reported earlier, our team on the ground said “civilians are bearing the brunt of this conflict” with the Israeli forces continuing to target residential areas across the enclave.
Israeli army claims to have killed dozens of Hamas fighters in Gaza
The Israeli military says its troops killed dozens of fighters and dismantled tunnel shafts in Gaza City’s Daraj and Tuffah areas.
It claimed the soldiers located weapons in the area, including missile launchers, pistols, and ammunition. An additional missile launcher and launch canisters were also found in a cemetery in the area, the military said.
“Troops of the Southern Command continue to operate in the Gaza Strip against the terrorist organizations in order to protect the civilians of Israel,” it said.
As we have reported earlier, our team on the ground said “civilians are bearing the brunt of this conflict” with the Israeli forces continuing to target residential areas across the enclave.
Photos: People rush to get aid packages airdropped in Gaza
