Gaza War: Shuja’iyya a “ghost town”, press demands access to the Palestinian enclave

► Civil protection announces discovery of about 60 bodies in Shuja’iyya

About 60 bodies were found under the rubble of buildings in Shuja’iyya, a Gaza Strip neighborhood from which the Israeli army announced its withdrawal on Wednesday after a two-week military offensive, the Gaza Strip Civil Defense reported on July 11.

“When Israeli occupation forces withdrew from Shuja’iyya, civil defense teams, with the help of residents, managed to find about 60 martyrs,” Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for Gaza’s civil defense, said in a statement.

► Netanyahu demands Israeli control over border area with Egypt

Israel demanded to retain control over the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt, which it captured in early May, in order to prevent “arms smuggling” from Egypt to Hamas, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The demand to keep the “Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah border crossing” is one of Israel’s “four principles” in the ceasefire negotiations in Gaza and the release of hostages, Netanyahu said. Hamas, for its part, demanded that the Israeli army evacuate the area.

► Over 60 international media outlets demand “independent” access to the Gaza Strip

More than 60 international media outlets published an open letter calling on Israeli authorities to grant the press “immediate and independent” access to the besieged Gaza Strip after nine months of devastating war.

Among the media outlets that called on the “Israeli authorities” to “immediately lift the restrictions imposed on foreign media entering the Gaza Strip” and “grant independent access to international news organizations wishing to visit the area,” the letter said.

After nine months of war, “international journalists still have no access to Gaza except for rare escort trips organized by the Israeli army,” complained the 64 signatories, including The Guardian and The New York Times. The statement added that the restrictions placed an “impossible and unreasonable burden” on local journalists covering the war.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based group that coordinated the open letter, more than 100 journalists have been killed since the war began, making this conflict one of the most devastating for the press. The remaining journalists work under conditions of “extreme deprivation.”

► New US sanctions against Israeli settlers in the West Bank

The United States on Thursday announced new sanctions against Israeli extremists accused of inciting violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

“Today we are imposing sanctions on three individuals and five Israeli organizations linked to violence against civilians in the West Bank,” the State Department said in a statement, specifically targeting the Lehava organization led by Ben Zion Gopstein. As Israel’s main supporter, Washington accused the extremist organization of being “involved in repeated acts of violence against Palestinians.”

The State Department also approved four settlement outposts that “have been used as a base for violent actions to displace Palestinians.” “Such outposts have been used to disrupt pastoral farming, restrict access to wells, and launch violent attacks on neighboring Palestinians,” the State Department added.

► G7 condemns legalization of settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank

The G7 foreign ministers condemned the Israeli government’s announcement that it would legalize five settlement outposts and confiscate 1,270 hectares of land in the occupied West Bank.

In a statement, the Italian presidency of the Group of 7 also condemned “the decision to expand existing settlements in the occupied West Bank by approving 5,295 new housing units and three new settlements”.

► Israeli army announces completion of operations in Shuja’iyya

In the Gaza Strip, heavy fighting continues under Israeli army fire, despite the completion of a major Israeli operation in the eastern part of the city the day before. The war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has left the city completely devastated in its tenth month.

“The soldiers (…) have completed their mission in the Shuja’iyya area, which lasted about two weeks,” a military statement said. The offensive led to the destruction of “eight tunnels” and the elimination of “dozens of terrorists” as well as the destruction of “combat bases and booby-trapped buildings.”

► 350,000 people on the run

According to UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, the recent fighting has forced 350,000 people to flee their homes; almost the entire population of the area has already been displaced by the war.

“We have been displaced for the twelfth time. How many more times must we endure this? A thousand times? Where will we end up?” asks Oum Nimr al-Jamal, a Palestinian who fled Gaza with her family.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry announced that 38,345 deaths have been reported in the Palestinian territories since the start of the war with Israel, which is now in its tenth month.

► Pedro Sanchez calls for consistency between Ukraine and Gaza

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, one of the EU’s most critical critics of Israel, called on Washington’s representatives in the West not to apply “double standards” with regard to the war in Gaza.

“If we tell our people that we support Ukraine because we defend international law, we must do the same for Gaza,” he said on the sidelines of the NATO summit, where heads of state and government announced new aid for Kyiv.

The socialist prime minister called for a “consistent political stance” on this issue without “double standards”. “We must create the conditions for an immediate and urgent ceasefire,” he added, warning of the danger of escalation on the Lebanese border.