Israel’s war on Gaza updates: Israeli strikes on al-Mawasi kill at least 90

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Read about the Israeli attack on al-Mawasi that killed at least 90 people here.

Learn more about how the world reacted to Israel’s attack here.

For all of our coverage of the Gaza conflict, click here.

We will be closing the live blog soon. Here’s a recap of the day’s main events.

• At least 90 people have been killed and 300 wounded in an Israeli air attack on the al-Mawasi refugee camp, an Israeli-designated “safe zone”.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he was unable to confirm whether the attack had achieved its declared aim of killing Hamas’s military commander Mohammed Deif.
• Khalil al-Hayya, the deputy head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, says Netanyahu’s claims about targeting Deif were false and aimed at achieving a “fake victory”.
• Countries across the region, including Turkey, Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, have condemned the deadly raids and renewed calls for a ceasefire.
• A separate Israeli attack has killed at least 20 people who had gathered to pray near the ruins of a mosque at the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City.
• Hamas said following the “massacre” in Gaza City that the attack “will not shake the determination of our people and their courageous resistance or deter them from the choice of remaining steadfast on this land.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has reiterated in a statement via his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric that the war in Gaza must end.

Dujarric said that Guterres is “shocked and saddened” by the Israeli air raids that killed at least 90 Palestinians in al-Mawasi.

“The [Israeli military] stated that they were targeting two senior members of Hamas,” the statement said. “The Secretary General underlines that international humanitarian law including the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack must be upheld at all times.”

NEW: Statement from Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on Israeli airstrikes that killed dozens of people at Al-Mawasi – an area that was designated as a humanitarian 'safe' zone. ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/yX7HLSNjek

— Gabriel Elizondo (@elizondogabriel) July 13, 2024

The United Arab Emirates had denounced Israeli abuses in Gaza, including “the most recent targeting of camps for displaced people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, which led to numerous deaths and injuries to dozens of innocent civilians”.

In a statement, the UAE’s Foreign Ministry “reaffirmed the need for an immediate ceasefire to prevent further loss of life, reiterating the importance of protecting civilians and civilian institutions, according to the international law including international treaties”.

The UAE established formal diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 and enjoys close security and trade ties with the country.

Israel’s National Security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer will meet with US officials in Washington, DC, “at the start of the week”, the Israeli government has said.

The meetings come as the Biden administration says it is pushing to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.

Netanyahu is set to speak at the US Congress on July 24. The Israeli prime minister is also expected to hold talks with Biden at the White House during his visit.

National Security Adviser and National Security Council Director Tzachi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer will, at the start of the week, hold meetings at the White House in Washington, in the framework of the Strategic Dialogue Forum between the US and Israel.

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 13, 2024

Catherine Russell says Palestinian families are being forced to flee repeatedly with nowhere safe to go.

“Children must be protected. Hostages must be released. The suffering must end,” she wrote in a social media post.

It's been another brutal week for children in Gaza.
 
More children reportedly killed & injured including in today’s attack in Khan Yunis.

Families forced to flee again & again but nowhere is safe.
 
Children must be protected. Hostages must be released. The suffering must end.

— Catherine Russell (@unicefchief) July 13, 2024

The Israeli army left massive destruction in Gaza City after repeated ground invasions of several neighbourhoods.

Civilians have nowhere to go after their homes have been reduced to rubble.

Oman has joined other countries in condemning Israel’s strikes on al-Mawasi, saying the attack was “an explicit act of terrorism and new evidence of the policy of deliberate extermination… towards the Palestinian people”.

The country’s foreign minister said in a statement that the raids, which targeted “unarmed civilians”, were in clear breach of international law.

Israel’s attack on Palestinians sheltering in al-Mawasi, a designated “safe zone”, is a “phase in the Netanyahu government’s efforts to completely annihilate the Palestinians”, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has said in a statement.

“While Israel is expected to reciprocate Hamas’ positive response to the ceasefire, its preference for bloodshed proves once again that the Netanyahu government is trying to prevent the negotiation of a lasting ceasefire,” it added.

“The countries that support Israel must put an end to this barbarity.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier said that the war in Gaza was a “genocide” rather than a war of self-defence and that Turkey and all nations in the region would not feel safe as long as the conflict was allowed to continue.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin held a phone call with his Israeli counterpart Yaov Gallant after the al-Mawasi attack.

“Secretary Austin and Minister Gallant reaffirmed the shared goals of ensuring the enduring defeat of Hamas and securing the release of all hostages, and the Secretary emphasized the importance of taking all necessary steps to minimize civilian harm,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

Israeli media outlets had reported that Israel did not give the US prior knowledge of the al-Mawasi raids, which Netanyahu said targeted top Hamas commander Mohammed Deif.

Hamas has stressed that Deif was not harmed in the attack.

The Palestinian group says its political chief Ismail Haniyeh held phone calls with officials in Egypt and Qatar, which are mediating ceasefire talks with Israel, as well as other regional countries after the deadly Israeli attacks in Gaza today.

“He underscored that at a time when Hamas has been dealing positively and responsibly with the latest proposal for a deal to end the aggression against our people, the Israeli position articulated by Netanyahu has been to put obstacles to prevent reaching an agreement,” Hamas said in a statement.

Netanyahu had said earlier that Israel would not give up its “right” to resume the fighting as part of a deal with Hamas. He also argued that the Israeli attack that killed 90 people in al-Mawasi would send a clear message that “Hamas’s days are numbered”.

Hamas said Haniyeh asked the mediators in Egypt and Qatar to “do what is needed with the US administration and others to stop the massacres against our people”.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah says the group’s attacks against Israeli targets fulfil the “duty” to support Palestinians and are not a “favour”.

Nasrallah also decried the attack on al-Mawasi, which killed dozens of Palestinians.

“Today, the occupation carried out a large massacre against displaced people in al-Mawasi in Khan Younis. Then it justified it by saying it wanted to target [Hamas] leaders,” he said. “Are there worse injustices and oppression in the world?”

Hezbollah and Israel have engaged in near daily cross-border clashes, raising fears of an all-out war. Hezbollah has pledged to continue its military operations until the war on Gaza ends.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that Israel and the US were responsible for the attack on the al-Mawasi refugee camp that killed at least 90 people.

“The Palestinian presidency condemns the slaughter and holds the Israeli government fully responsible, also the US administration that provides all kinds of support to the occupation and its crimes,” Abbas said in a statement published by his office.

He also hit out at Hamas for the ongoing war in Gaza. “The presidency sees that by escaping national unity, and providing free pretexts to the occupation state, the Hamas movement is a partner in bearing legal, moral and political responsibility for the continuation of the Israeli war of genocide in [the] Gaza Strip,” the statement said.

Hamas rejected the president’s statement, saying it equates the victim with the aggressor. “We call for withdrawing these regrettable comments, stressing that the Zionist occupation and US administration bear responsibility for these massacres,” the group said in a statement.

The village of Artas in the occupied West Bank has been suffering from a lack of water due to Israeli restrictions, pushing residents to turn to a small stream for survival.

The Israeli military says one of the soldiers was seriously wounded after Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel.

The attack has killed at least 90 Palestinians. Israeli officials said the air raids targeted top Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, but the Palestinian group has denied the claim, stressing that Israel targeted defenceless civilians.

According to the Palestinian Civil Defence, a staff member has succumbed to wounds sustained in the Israeli attack on al-Mawasi, Khan Younis.

Ahmad Hamoudeh is the second civil defence member killed in the attack.

Khalil al-Hayya says Hamas has been flexible in seeking a deal to end the war in Gaza.

Netanyahu had said that his conditions for an agreement include retaining the “right” to resume the fighting until Israel achieves its goals.

“The conditions that Netanyahu is presenting … are clear evidence that he does not want a deal, and he does not want to return the Israeli captives, and he does not want to stop this mad war in the region,” al-Hayya told Al Jazeera Arabic.

Francesca Albanese has said: “Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza is so intense that another massacre of 20 civilians today, in a refugee camp (in Gaza City) received almost no media coverage given the much larger simultaneous massacre in al-Mawasi (now with a death toll of 90).”

We reported earlier that the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza said 20 Palestinians are now confirmed dead after Israel bombed people who had gathered to pray near the ruins of a mosque in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City.

And by the way: Israel's genocidal war in Gaza is so intense that another massacre of 20 civilians today, in a refugee camp (in Gaza City) received almost no media coverage given the much larger simultaneous massacre in al-Mawasi (now with a death toll of 90).#alshati#Mawasi https://t.co/HyCBP1Nc26 pic.twitter.com/cY4MzD6mIY

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) July 13, 2024

The OHCHR has said it condemns the continued Israeli military use of weapons “with area effects in populated areas of Gaza, including in areas which [the military] has itself designated as humanitarian zones, killing many civilians”.

The Office said that the Israeli military reportedly “fired several Air Dropped Munitions in al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, next to a makeshift camp hosting around several hundreds of people”.

The attacks hit multiple civilian objects, including tents for the internally displaced, a food kitchen for them and a water salination plant where people were gathering to collect water, leading to tens of fatalities, the OHCHR said.

Israeli quadcopter drones also reportedly targeted emergency rescue workers.

The Office said that the use of “weapons with wide area effect in densely populated areas” has led to “disproportionate harm to civilians and damage to civilian infrastructure”, suggesting a “pattern of willful violation of the disregard of International Humanitarian Law principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution”.