Palestinians are reporting some of the heaviest bombardments in weeks in areas east of Gaza City, even as international outcry mounted over the targeted killing of five Al Jazeera journalists and another freelance reporter.
Israeli tanks and planes pounded three eastern suburbs of Gaza City on Monday after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the military to speed up its plans to take over the enclave.
Netanyahu’s new offensive to occupy the entire enclave has been condemned by a host of countries including the UK, France and Germany, who have called on the United Nations to intervene. Mourners gathered in large numbers to attend the funeral of six journalists killed while sheltering in a tent near Al Shifa hospital, including Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif.
The Israeli military had accused Al-Sharif of being a “Hamas terrorist”, something Al Jazeera has denied.
The UN’s human rights office condemned the killings, calling it a grave breach of international law.
Sir Keir Starmer's office said the British government was "gravely concerned" and demanded an independent investigation.
Key Points
- International leaders accuse Israel of losing 'humanity and reason'
- Israeli strike kills five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza
- Rights group says 'no credible evidence' slain journalist was linked with Hamas
- UN rights office says Israel breached international humanitarian law
‘It was horrific’: Witnesses tell how Israeli missiles tore through journalists’ tent in Gaza City
08:00
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Shweta Sharma
Sheltering in tents on the grounds of the Shifa hospital complex in Gaza City, the Al-Jazeera journalists had just bid each other good night. Another day of reporting on the violence, starvation and brutality in their besieged homeland had ground to an end.
Fifteen minutes later, Israeli missiles tore through the sky and eviscerated the tent.
Anas al-Sharif, 28, one of the news channel’s most prominent voices in Gaza, was killed alongside reporter Mohammed Qreiqeh and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa. A sixth journalist, a freelance, was killed nearby.
Sharif had been intentionally targeted by the Israelis, who accused him of being the head of a Hamas terror cell but offered no credible evidence to back up their claim. There was no explanation for the killing of the other men alongside him.
Read The Independent’s ground report from Gaza City.
Trump says Hamas cannot remain in Gaza after 7 October attack
07:45
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Shweta Sharma
President Donald Trump said on Monday that Hamas must be removed from the Gaza Strip in light of the 7 October 2023 attack, which killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and saw 250 taken hostage.
While stopping short of backing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to invade and occupy Gaza City, Mr Trump told Axios he agreed Hamas should be exiled over the threat it poses to Israel.
“I have one thing to say: remember Oct 7, remember Oct 7,” Mr Trump told Axios.
He confirmed speaking with Netanyahu on Sunday and said military action was “the best way forward” to deal with the group.
Mr Trump acknowledged concerns that such an operation could endanger the roughly 50 remaining hostages, but said it was always going to be “very rough to get them” out, adding:
“[Hamas] are not going to let the hostages out in the current situation.”
Since 7 October attack, more than 61,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's military campaign, according to Gaza health officials.
PEN America says killing of Gaza journalists could be war crime
07:17
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Shweta Sharma
PEN America, a New York-based free speech nonprofit, has said Israel’s killing of six journalists in Gaza “raises grave concerns” and “could amount to a war crime”.
“This attack not only wiped out an entire team of journalists – at a time when there are fewer and fewer voices able to report from Gaza – but also took six more Palestinian lives in an onslaught that has already claimed thousands of lives,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, managing director of the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center at PEN America.
“The fact that [Anas] al-Sharif’s family, friends, and colleagues must now defend him from unsupported accusations rather than being able to mourn him and honour his legacy as a journalist adds to the disgraceful nature of this crime,” added Gerntholtz.
It noted that al-Sharif was previously part of a Reuters team which in 2024 won a Pulitzer Prize in the category of Breaking News Photography for coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
“The targeted killing of journalists is a war crime under international human rights law. PEN America unequivocally condemns the Israeli government’s use of lethal force against journalists, and calls for an independent and impartial investigation into these killings,” it added.
The state-sponsored killing of journalists is another way to limit freedom of speech
07:06
,
Shweta Sharma
The life of journalist Anas al-Sharif is worth no more and no less than any other life lost during the war in Gaza, or in the terrorist atrocities, perpetrated by Hamas, that preceded it. But his targeted killing – alongside that of the four other Al Jazeera staff members who died with him – does raise further significant questions about the way in which Israel has conducted the war.
Read The Independent’s editorial on the killing of journalists in Gaza.
Mapped: Which countries recognise Palestine as a state?
07:00
,
Shweta Sharma
Australia will recognise a Palestinian state at next month’s United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced.
It comes after the UK, France and Canada recently announced their plans to recognise Palestine, with Britain saying it would only refrain from doing so if Israel takes urgent steps to end the war.
Israel and the US have been critical of the decisions, similarly saying they are a “reward for Hamas”.
Canada, France and Britain were the first major Western powers to put forward plans to recognise a Palestinian state – a move that could heap pressure on other allies to do the same.
Trump administration not considering Gaza aid airdrops, officials say
06:45
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Shweta Sharma
While the Biden administration carried out multiple waves of food airdrops into Gaza, US officials say the option has not been seriously discussed under Donald Trump, despite his public concern over starvation in the enclave during Israel’s nearly two-year war against Hamas.
One source described airdrops as “absolutely unrealistic,” saying they could never meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.1 million residents.
Aid groups have long criticised the method as largely symbolic, warning that heavy packages can pose dangers to civilians and stressing that open land routes are essential to deliver aid at scale.
Close US allies, including Jordan, the UAE and Britain, have carried out airdrops into Gaza in recent months.
But a US official, speaking anonymously, told Reuters it “just hasn’t been part of the discussions” in the Trump administration.
A diplomatic source also said they were unaware of any American interest in joining the effort, noting uncertainty over whether Israel would even grant US forces airspace access.
A White House official said the administration was open to "creative solutions" to the issue.
"President Trump has called for creative solutions 'to help the Palestinians' in Gaza. We welcome any effective effort that delivers food to Gazans and keeps it out of the hands of Hamas," the White House official said.
In photos: Gazans mourn six journalists killed in Israeli strike
06:30
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Shweta Sharma
Pictures showed mourners gathered outside Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital on Monday for the funeral of six journalists killed in an Israeli strike, including five Al Jazeera staff and freelance reporter.
Among the dead was 28-year-old correspondent Anas al-Sharif, whose body, wrapped in a white shroud, was carried alongside his colleagues’ through the hospital courtyard and narrow alleyways to their graves.
Men in blue journalists’ flak jackets walked among the crowd.
The other Al Jazeera staff killed were correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa.
A sixth journalist, Mohammed al-Khaldi, was also killed. He worked as a freelance reporter.
The killing of Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif in Gaza is an attack on truth itself
06:00
,
Holly Evans
The news of Anas al-Sharif’s killing hit me like a physical blow. A journalist with Al Jazeera, Anas was not my friend in the everyday sense – we never shared coffee, never walked the streets of Gaza together. But he was my neighbour.
He was born in the same place I was born: Jabalia refugee camp. His family’s home stood in the same crowded lanes where I grew up, among the same walls scarred by decades of displacement and war.
Over the past 674 days, I saw him every single day – not in person, but through my screen. When the rest of the world looked away, Anas was still there, reporting from the very heart of my city, from the streets where my family still lives. At a time when no one else dared to enter northern Gaza, he walked through the rubble, speaking into his camera, delivering not just the news, but fragments of home.
Read the full article here:
‘It was horrific’: Witnesses tell how Israeli missiles tore through journalists’ tent in Gaza City
06:00
,
Holly Evans
Sheltering in tents on the grounds of the Shifa hospital complex in Gaza City, the Al-Jazeera journalists had just bid each other good night. Another day of reporting on the violence, starvation and brutality in their besieged homeland had ground to an end.
Fifteen minutes later, Israeli missiles tore through the sky and eviscerated the tent.
Anas al-Sharif, 28, one of the news channel’s most prominent voices in Gaza, was killed alongside reporter Mohammed Qreiqeh and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa. A sixth journalist, a freelance, was killed nearby.
Read the full article here:
Blinken criticises France, UK, Australia and Canada's plan to recognise Palestinian state
05:55
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Shweta Sharma
Former US secretary of state Antony Blinken has argued that France, the UK and Canada’s move to “unconditionally recognise” Palestine is “morally right” but “beside the more pressing realities.”
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Mr Blinken said the focus should be on averting famine, freeing hostages and ending the Gaza war.
He warned that recognition alone would not create a Palestinian state or end the suffering, calling instead for a “time-bound, conditions-based path” to recognition.
He said Israel could not accept a state led by Hamas, one that is militarised or aligned with Iran and others who reject Israel’s right to exist.
The three countries’ decision comes amid anger at Israel’s continuing atrocities and starvation in Gaza.
Mr Netanyahu’s government has refused to commit to a ceasefire, pressing ahead with an offensive on Gaza City, where over a million Palestinians are sheltering.
Mr Blinken also criticised Israel’s lack of a plan to withdraw from Gaza, saying continued occupation would fuel insurgency and “bleed Israel militarily and morally.”
Defiant Netanyahu vows to ‘finish the job’ in planned takeover of Gaza
05:00
,
Holly Evans
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that Israel “has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas”, as he addressed foreign media in Jerusalem.
Defending a planned military offensive, Mr Netanyahu asserted that “our goal is not to occupy Gaza, our goal is to free Gaza”. He also pushed back against what he called a “global campaign of lies” amid growing condemnation of the plan both inside and outside Israel.
Mr Netanyahu remarked that chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, one of Israel’s strongest backers, had “buckled under” by announcing that Germany won’t authorise exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza until further notice.
Read the full article here:
Madonna urges Pope Leo to visit Gaza 'before it's too late'
04:28
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Shweta Sharma
Madonna has appealed to Pope Leo to travel to Gaza on a humanitarian mission to help starving Palestinian children, warning that “there is no more time.”
In an Instagram post on Monday, the American singer – who was raised a Roman Catholic – urged the pontiff to bring “light to the children before it’s too late.”
“Most Holy Father. Please go to Gaza and bring your light to the children before it’s too late. As a mother, I cannot bear to watch their suffering. The children of the world belong to everyone. You are the only one of us who cannot be denied entry.”
Madonna said she was appealing to Pope Leo because “politics cannot effect change” but “consciousness can.”
The post, shared on her son Rocco’s birthday, described her plea as the best gift she could give him – asking “everyone to do what they can to help save the innocent children caught in the crossfire in Gaza.”
Since beginning his papacy in May, Pope Leo has been outspoken in his criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza, repeatedly voicing concern for Palestinian civilians under Israeli bombardment. It is unclear whether prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government would allow him entry to the enclave.
Australian PM says Netanyahu in denial about humanitarian situation in Gaza
04:15
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Shweta Sharma
Speaking about his phone call with the Israeli leader, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said Benjamin Netanyahu was "in denial" about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
His comments came a day after Australia joined a number of countries in plans to recognise a Palestinian state for the first time.
Mr Albanese said on Tuesday that the Netanyahu government's reluctance to listen to its allies contributed to Australia's decision to recognise a Palestinian state.
"He again reiterated to me what he has said publicly as well, which is to be in denial about the consequences that are occurring for innocent people," Mr Albanese said in an interview with state broadcaster ABC, recounting a Thursday phone call with Mr Netanyahu discussing the issue.
‘Give us the flour – or we will kill you’: Gaza’s starving face impossible choices
04:00
,
Holly Evans
To get a bag of flour for his starving three children, Nedal AbuSharbi arms himself with a knife to protect against thieves and prepares to be shot by the Israeli military.
There is so little food in Gaza – in the grip of famine due to a punishing Israeli blockade and the war – that lawlessness has taken over around the land crossings where the few aid trucks are able to get in.
Now, the desperation is more acute with news that, rather than returning to the negotiating table, Israel is to widen its already devastating offensive and take full military control of the besieged Strip, starting with the remains of Gaza City, where Nedal is sheltering with his family.
Read the full article here:
Israel plans to widen coming offensive beyond Gaza City into last areas not under its control
03:00
,
Holly Evans
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel plans to widen its coming offensive beyond Gaza City to the last areas not yet under Israeli control, and where most of Gaza's 2 million residents have sought shelter as the territory slides toward famine.
The mobilization of forces is expected to take weeks, and Israel may be using the threat of a wider offensive to try to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages or surrendering after 22 months of war sparked by its Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel.
Any expansion of Israeli operations is likely to bring even more death and destruction to the war-ravaged territory, around 75% of which is already largely destroyed and controlled by Israel. A wider offensive would also force more people to flee and further disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid during a severe hunger crisis.
Read the full article here:
Watch: ‘ Every airstrike could cost him his life’
02:00
,
Holly Evans
International leaders accuse Israel of losing 'humanity and reason'
01:00
,
Holly Evans
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese on Monday added his country to a list moving toward recognition of a state of Palestine, along with France, Britain and Canada.
He said his government's decision aimed to build momentum toward a two-state solution, which he called the best path to ending violence and bringing leadership other than Hamas to Gaza.
"The situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world's worst fears," he said. "The Israeli government continues to defy international law and deny sufficient aid, food and water to desperate people, including children."
Also on Monday Italy's Premier Giorgia Meloni announced new aid to Gaza in a phone conversation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
She stressed the need to bring hostilities with Israel to an immediate halt and "shared her deep concern about recent Israeli decisions that appear to be leading to further military escalation," her office said in a statement.
Meloni reiterated that "the humanitarian situation in Gaza is unjustifiable and unacceptable."
Italy's Defense Minister Guido Crosetto also told the Italian daily La Stampa that Israel's government has "lost reason and humanity" over Gaza and raised the possibility of imposing sanctions.
Egypt renew efforts for peace talks
Tuesday 12 August 2025 00:00
,
Holly Evans
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty confirmed Monday that Egypt is pushing for negotiations to reach a deal that would end the war in Gaza, release Israeli hostages, guarantee aid entry and ultimately agree on a political road map that would lead to establishing a Palestinian state.
Deploying international forces to support establishing a Palestinian state was previously proposed throughout the war, but Israel has opposed the idea.
Abdelatty's comments in a news conference in Cairo came as mediators from Egypt and Qatar were working on a new framework that would include the release of all hostages — dead and alive — in one go, in return for an end of the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip, according to two Arab officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met with the Qatari prime minister in Spain on Saturday to discuss new efforts.
Killing of Gaza journalists 'silencing some of few journalistic voices left'
Monday 11 August 2025 23:15
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Holly Evans
Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza was "silencing of some of the few journalistic voices left" in the region, Ireland's deputy premier has said.
The National Union of Journalists held protests at the Spire in Dublin and in Writer's Square in Belfast on Monday evening to condemn the killing of reporters and camera operators in Gaza by Israel.
Ireland's deputy premier and foreign affairs minister Simon Harris said he is to engage with his EU counterparts in relation to Gaza on Monday.
"Can I say firstly, just to extend the sympathy and solidarity of the people of Ireland with Al Jazeera and the journalists - the five staff members of Al Jazeera and the one other reporter - who have been killed in a horrifying attack in Gaza," he said speaking outside Government Buildings on Monday.
"In many ways, it is the silencing of some of the few journalistic voices left in Gaza.
"Of course, any attack on any civilian - including, of course, any attack on any journalist - should always be absolutely condemned for what it is.
"At a time when the people of Gaza desperately need to see a ceasefire, an end to the violence, a surge in humanitarian aid, and of course, the release of the hostages, all of the indications from (Israeli President Benjamin) Netanyahu is of an Israeli government intended to go in the complete opposite direction to that.”
Bullets and dead bodies witnessed in central Gaza as Israeli bombardment continues
Monday 11 August 2025 22:45
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Holly Evans
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said its Saraya Field Hospital received about 30 injured from the Zikim area after Israeli bombardment saw at least 34 people killed on Monday.
Al-Shifa hospital received five bodies and over 70 wounded, said Mohamed Abu Selmiya, the hospital's director.
Relatives said casualties included children and an infant. Witnesses to gunfire near the Morag corridor said they saw barrages of bullets and later dead bodies, describing the grim scene as a near-daily occurrence.
The AP spoke to five witnesses who were among the crowds in central Gaza, the Teina area and the Morag corridor. All said that Israeli forces had fired toward the crowds.
"The occupation (forces) targeted us, as they do every day," said Hussain Matter, a displaced father of two who was in the Morag corridor. "Out of nowhere, you find bullets from everywhere."
Ahmed Atta said he helped carry a wounded man from the Teina area who had been shot in his shoulder and was bleeding. "It's a pattern," Atta said of the Israeli gunfire toward aid seekers.
Aid seekers were killed from 3 kilometers (nearly 2 miles) to just hundreds of meters (yards) from sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to Nasser and Awda hospitals.
Recap watch: Gaza from above: Chilling footage shows devastation of enclave
Monday 11 August 2025 21:00
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Bryony Gooch
Recap: ‘Give us the flour – or we will kill you’: Gaza’s starving face impossible choices
Monday 11 August 2025 21:00
,
Bryony Gooch
‘A desperate attempt to silence voices’: Israel accused over the ever-growing death toll of journalists in Gaza
Monday 11 August 2025 20:00
,
Bryony Gooch
Watch: Fury grows in Israel over Netanyahu’s defiant bid to ‘finish the job’ in Gaza
Monday 11 August 2025 19:00
,
Bryony Gooch
Comment: The killing of Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif in Gaza is an attack on truth itself
Monday 11 August 2025 18:00
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Bryony Gooch
Anas al-Sharif grew up in the same war-scarred streets of Gaza as I did – and his frontline reporting while under Israeli bombardment helped connect me to my people in their darkest hour, says exiled writer Ahmed Najar. Now, his silencing feels like a crime against history.
Read more here:
Israel offensive could take weeks to start, leaving door open for ceasefire says officials
Monday 11 August 2025 17:00
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Bryony Gooch
Israel's new offensive in Gaza City could take weeks to start, leaving the door open for a ceasefire, officials say.
This comes as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the occupation plan would get underway “fairly quickly and end the war with Hamas’ defeat.
Two officials who were at a security cabinet meeting on Thursday to approve the plan told Reuters that the evacuation of civilians from affected areas may only be completed by the start of October, giving time for a deal to be pursued.
The plan raised international alarm over the harm it could bring to the shattered enclave, where a hunger crisis has worsened.
On Sunday, Netanyahu summoned foreign journalists to explain the blueprint, which includes what he described as a surge of humanitarian aid.
Netanyahu said that Israel will first allow civilians to leave the battle zones before forces move in on Gaza City, which he described as one of Hamas' last two remaining strongholds, whose defeat will bring an end to the war.
Watch: Australia to recognise Palestinian state at United Nations in September
Monday 11 August 2025 16:30
,
Bryony Gooch
In pictures: Aftermath of Al-Shifa hospital bombing where six journalists died
Monday 11 August 2025 16:00
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Bryony Gooch
Israel says 280 aid trucks entered Gaza on Saturday
Monday 11 August 2025 15:30
,
Bryony Gooch
Israeli military body Cogat, which co-ordinates the entry of aid into Gaza, has shared its latest figures of aid entering the war-torn strip.
This includes:
- Over 280 trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.
- 300 trucks were collected and distributed by the UN and international organizations.
- Tankers of @UN fuel entered for the operation of essential humanitarian systems.
- 131 pallets of aid were airdropped in cooperation with the UAE, Jordan, Germany, Belguim, Italy, The Netherlands and France.
Humanitarian summary Aug. 10:
— COGAT (@cogatonline) August 11, 2025
Aid entry: Over 280 trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings.
Aid collection: 300 trucks were collected and distributed by the UN and international organizations.
⛽️Fuel: Tankers of @UN fuel entered for the… pic.twitter.com/EnKEB6SwGO
Watch: Moment Netanyahu claims government's plan to take over Gaza City is 'best way' to end war
Monday 11 August 2025 15:00
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Bryony Gooch
Five people have died of malnutrition in past 24 hours, says Gaza health ministry
Monday 11 August 2025 14:45
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Bryony Gooch
On Monday, Gaza’s health ministry said five more people had died of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza in the past 24 hours. That raised the number of deaths from such causes to 222, including 101 children, since the war began, the ministry said.
Israel says it has scaled up the entry of aid and commercial goods into Gaza in past weeks. Palestinian and U.N. officials say the aid is a fraction of what Gaza needs.
Pictured: The six journalists killed in an airstrike near Al-Shifa hospital
Monday 11 August 2025 14:30
,
Bryony Gooch
