Israel kills at least 51 in Gaza as UN warns of rising starvation toll

The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad published a video Thursday of an Israeli-German hostage who was abducted and taken to Gaza in October 2023 during the attack that sparked the war in the territory.

In the six-minute video, the man, Rom Braslavski, speaking in Hebrew, is seen watching recent news footage of the hunger crisis in Gaza. He identifies himself and pleads with the Israeli government to secure his release.

Israeli settlers reportedly attacked an auto repair shop in the village of Bazariya, northwest of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

According to Wafa news agency, settlers approached from the eastern outskirts of the village and clashed with local residents. A local official cited by Wafa confirmed the confrontation.

Meanwhile, Palestinian media reported a separate settler assault on a village in the Ramallah area. In response, Israeli soldiers and police forces stormed the town of Silwad and the village of Khirbet Abu Falah just hours after the settler attacks.

عاجل | مواجهات عنيفة خلال تصدي الشبان لهجوم المستوطنين، على أطراف قرية دير جرير، شمال شرق رام الله. pic.twitter.com/A3YrVd1FEL

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) July 31, 2025

US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee will enter Gaza on Friday to inspect aid distrubution and meet with residents of the war-wracked territory.

"Tomorrow, Special Envoy Witkoff and Ambassador Huckabee will be traveling into Gaza to inspect the current (aid) distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists.

The UN's agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has posted a message from a staffer in Gaza, Dahlia, asking if she will be able to find food to feed her children.

In the video, Dahlia can be heard saying: "A small piece of bread becomes a treasure. A spoonful of rice is a reason to smile. My children ask for food, but the silence that follows is louder than any bomb."

"Will I find bread to feed my children today?," our colleague Dahlia asks herself every morning in #Gaza.

While being hungry and drained herself, she continues to work, writing reports and documenting the pain of the people.

The world must listen to Dahlia. These atrocities… pic.twitter.com/EEznoS9KJx

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) July 31, 2025

Israel said it carried out strikes on Thursday on sites used by Hezbollah to manufacture and store missiles in Lebanon, where Israel has launched multiple attacks despite a November ceasefire.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said the targets included "Hezbollah's biggest precision missile manufacturing site", and the military said it had hit "infrastructure that was used for producing and storing strategic weapons" in south Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that he welcomed recent steps taken to recognise a Palestinian state by France, Britain and others.

"We find the recent humanitarian reactions coming from Europe, particularly from France and Britain, very valuable. We welcome every step taken toward recognition of the State of Palestine," Erdogan said.

Speaking in Ankara, Erdogan said he had called French President Emmanuel Macron to congratulate him on his decision adding that supporting a two-state solution would be the most effective stance against Israel's policies.

Israel is launching airstrikes in the Beqaa Valley in north Lebanon, according to The Times of Israel, citing Lebanese media. 

Hamas' armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said that it has conducted attacks against Israeli troops in north Gaza, targeting a vehicle in Gaza City's Tuffah neighbourhood, and conducting an attack against an Israeli soldier on a Tank east of Tuffah, according to Al Jazeera.

Additionally, sniper attacks were conducted in the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza City, and a mortar attack was conducted in Morag near Khan Younis.

Adel Madi, a 27-year-old Palestinian youth, passed away at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis due to starvation, severe malnutrition, and the lack of essential medicine and basic treatment, his body ravaged by hunger and weakened by illness amid the complete absence of life’s most basic necessities.
 

The Portuguese government will consult the president and parliament on the question of recognising the State of Palestine at the UN in September, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro's office said Thursday.

Portugal "is considering recognition of the Palestinian state, as part of a procedure that could be concluded during the high-level week of the 80th United Nations General Assembly, to be held in New York in September", the statement said.

The United States is imposing sanctions on Palestinian Authority officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, saying the groups are undermining peace efforts, the State Department said in a statement on Thursday.

The move prevents those targeted from receiving visas to travel to the Untied States, the statement said. "It is in our national security interests to impose consequences and hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments and undermining the prospects for peace."

France's foreign minister on Thursday said a U.S. and Israel-backed aid distribution system in Gaza had generated a "bloodbath" and had to cease activity.

"I want to call for the cessation of the activities of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the militarised distribution of humanitarian aid that has generated a bloodbath in distribution lines in Gaza, which is a scandal, which is shameful, and has to stop," Foreign and European Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters after meeting his Cyprus counterpart in Nicosia.

Another two Palestinian children have died of starvation today, Gazan medical sources have confirmed.

The latest deaths take the total number of hunger-related deaths to 159, including 90 children.

In a post on Truth Social, US President Donald Trump said: "The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!"

Gaza's Ministry of Health updates its 24-hour death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza, saying that 111 Palestinians have been killed and 820 wounded. This includes 91 Palestinians seeking aid.

In total, the ministry said that 60,249 Palestinians have been killed and 147,089 have been wounded since the start of Israel's war on the enclave.

Germany's foreign minister said Thursday that Israel was increasingly isolated diplomatically over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the push by some countries to recognise a Palestinian state.

Johann Wadephul said in a statement before heading to Israel that the recent UN conference on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - boycotted by the US and Israel - showed that "Israel is finding itself increasingly in the minority".

Gaza's Ministry of Health has said that in the last 24 hours, Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed 101 Palestinians and wounded a further 625 others.

In total, the ministry said that 60,239 Palestinians have been killed and 146,894 have been wounded since the start of Israel's war on the enclave.

Sweden on Thursday called on the EU to suspend the trade section of its association agreement with Israel over its conduct of the war in Gaza.

"The situation in Gaza is absolutely appalling, and Israel is failing to fulfil its most basic obligations and agreements on emergency aid. Sweden therefore demands that the EU freeze the trade section of the association agreement as soon as possible," Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a post to X, calling on the Israeli government to allow "unhindered humanitarian aid into Gaza."

Another Palestinian has died from starvation, according to sources at Nasser Medical Complex speaking with Al Jazeera, meaning a total of 155 Palestinians have died of starvation in the enclave. 

US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff has landed in Israel, according to Haaretz, citing his office. Witkoff's office also said that ht would meet with Israeli officials to discuss Israel's war on Gaza.

Israel's 98th Division has pulled out of Gaza, according to the Israeli military, months after it entered Khan Younis as part of Israel's renewed offensive on the enclave, as well as areas of Gaza City in June.

The withdrawal leaves four Israeli divisions in Gaza. 

Canada's support for Palestinian statehood makes a trade deal with Ottawa "very hard", US President Donald Trump said early Thursday.

"Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine. That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them. Oh' Canada!!!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that Israeli forces fired on starving Palestinians near a UN aid convoy at a border crossing in Gaza on Wednesday.

In a video posted on X, OCHA said that "Israeli forces were firing warning shots just inches from a crowd waiting for a UN convoy with food supplies," and that Israeli fire continued even as people began rushing the convoy. 

No one should be forced to risk their life to eat.

Every day, @UN teams collect critical supplies from Gaza’s crossings, bringing them to those struggling to survive.

But movement is often delayed, and desperate crowds who gather to offload, are met with gunfire.#Gaza today⬇️ pic.twitter.com/ag8NcwZlm1

— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) July 30, 2025