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Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 34 People in Gaza, Officials Say, as Some Aid Restrictions Are Eased 

A mourner carries the body of a Palestinian killed in an overnight Israeli strike, according to medics, during a funeral at Nasser hospital, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 28, 2025. (Reuters)
A mourner carries the body of a Palestinian killed in an overnight Israeli strike, according to medics, during a funeral at Nasser hospital, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 28, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 34 People in Gaza, Officials Say, as Some Aid Restrictions Are Eased 

A mourner carries the body of a Palestinian killed in an overnight Israeli strike, according to medics, during a funeral at Nasser hospital, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 28, 2025. (Reuters)
A mourner carries the body of a Palestinian killed in an overnight Israeli strike, according to medics, during a funeral at Nasser hospital, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 28, 2025. (Reuters)

Israeli strikes killed at least 34 Palestinians in multiple locations across Gaza on Monday, local health officials said, a day after Israel eased aid restrictions in the face of a worsening humanitarian crisis in the territory.

Israel announced Sunday that the military would pause operations in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi for 10 hours a day until further notice to allow for the improved flow of aid to Palestinians in Gaza, where concern over hunger has grown, and designate secure routes for aid delivery.

Israel said it would continue military operations alongside the new humanitarian measures. The Israeli military had no immediate comment about the latest strikes, which occurred outside the time frame for the pause Israel declared would be held between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Aid agencies have welcomed the new aid measures, which also included allowing airdrops into Gaza, but said they were not enough to counter the rising hunger in the Palestinian territory.

Images of emaciated children have sparked outrage around the world, including from Israel's close allies. US President Donald Trump on Sunday called the images of emaciated and malnourished children in Gaza “terrible.”

Israel has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war. In March, it cut off the entry of all goods, including fuel, food and medicine to pressure Hamas to free hostages.

Israel partially lifted those restrictions in May but also pushed ahead on a new US-backed aid delivery system that has been wracked by chaos and violence. Traditional aid providers also have encountered a similar breakdown in law and order surrounding their aid deliveries.

Most of Gaza's population now relies on aid. Accessing food has become a challenge that some Palestinians have risked their lives for.

The Awda hospital in central Gaza said it received the bodies of seven Palestinians who it said were killed Monday by Israeli fire close to an aid distribution site run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The hospital said 20 others were wounded close to the site.

Elsewhere, a woman who was seven months pregnant was killed along with 11 others after their house was struck in the Muwasi area, west of the southern city of Khan Younis. The woman's fetus survived after a complex surgery, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

One strike hit a two-story house in the western Japanese neighborhood of Khan Younis, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, said the Nasser Hospital, which received the casualties.

The Israeli military and GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on those strikes.

In its Oct. 7, 2023, attack, Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. It still holds 50, more than half Israel believes to be dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 59,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish between fighters and civilians, but the ministry says over half of the dead are women and children. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.

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Arab World

What Outcomes Will Hezbollah MP’s Visit to Tehran Have on Lebanon?

Lebanese lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah, a member of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc. (AFP)
Lebanese lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah, a member of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc. (AFP)
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What Outcomes Will Hezbollah MP’s Visit to Tehran Have on Lebanon?

Lebanese lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah, a member of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc. (AFP)
Lebanese lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah, a member of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc. (AFP)

The importance of Lebanese lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah’s latest visit to Tehran lies not in the trip itself. Hezbollah’s alliance with Iran is public and well established. What stands out is its timing and the way it was announced.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry disclosed the visit as the Lebanese state seeks to chart a political course free from regional rivalries and assert that decisions concerning Lebanon must run through state institutions.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said two days ago that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi received Fadlallah, a member of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, in Tehran. Hezbollah’s representative in Iran, Abdallah Safieddine, attended the meeting.

The ministry said the talks covered the latest developments in Lebanon and Israeli attacks. Araghchi reaffirmed Iran’s support for Lebanon and its “defense of its territorial integrity, dignity and national sovereignty.”

Fadlallah praised Iran’s position and what he called its strong diplomacy, urging a unified Islamic stand against Israel.

Outcomes of the visit

Ministerial sources said Hezbollah’s relationship with Iran “requires no interpretation. It is an alliance both sides openly take pride in.”

“At a time when Lebanese officials are working to separate the two tracks, this visit again raises questions about whether the party respects the role of the state and the positions of its officials,” they said.

The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat: “This is certainly not the first time a Hezbollah official has visited Tehran, nor will it be the last. But it may be the first time such a visit has been announced in this way — through an official statement from the Iranian Foreign Ministry.”

“That gives the meeting an official character that goes beyond receiving a Lebanese lawmaker. It appears almost as a meeting between officials of two states.”

Still, the sources said the key question was what the visit would produce: whether it would ease the process now underway or make it even more difficult, particularly because Fadlallah is responsible for negotiations with the Lebanese presidency.

“Will Hezbollah cooperate with the state in the process it is managing, particularly over negotiations with Israel? Or will it continue rejecting decisions made by state institutions and escalate further?” they asked.

The question is even more pressing as Iranian-American negotiations falter and threaten repercussions in Lebanon, they warned.

Communications cut

The sources said communications between President Joseph Aoun and Hezbollah had been cut, with no recent contact. The only remaining channel is with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Hezbollah’s key ally.

The visit came days after the United States imposed new sanctions on Hezbollah, targeting 10 individuals and a network Washington accused of moving funds between Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force and the Lebanese group.

Hezbollah responded by declaring its pride in its relationship with Iran and reaffirming its commitment to the “path of resistance.”

El Hage: They challenge the state every day

Lebanese Forces parliamentary bloc member Razi El Hage said there was “nothing unusual” about Fadlallah’s visit to Tehran.

Hezbollah has never let a day pass without treating Iran as the foundation of the equation. The group opposed the state and sought to place Lebanon within the framework of Iranian-American negotiations, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“This is not a new challenge to the state. They challenge it every day through their positions and their insistence on keeping Lebanese decision-making tied to foreign powers,” El Hage said.

“They must understand that the clock will not be turned back. The state has embarked on a course from which there can be no retreat.”

“They are making the decision to slaughter Lebanon,” El Hage added.

“Our position will remain firm. We will not retreat from our demand that the state alone hold decision-making authority and continue along the path it has begun.”

El Hage also called on the government to enforce its decisions more firmly, saying the state must prove it can assert its authority and protect Lebanon from attempts to keep it an arena for other countries’ conflicts.

Lebanese decisions first

Fadlallah’s visit came as President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have taken clear positions on keeping Lebanon out of other countries’ conflicts.

Aoun previously said Iran was “using Lebanon as a bargaining chip” in its negotiations with the United States.

He said he was working to implement a policy of distancing Lebanon from regional conflicts and insisted that decisions affecting the country’s sovereignty and security must rest exclusively with the Lebanese state.

Salam previously said: “Once again, the South and its people are paying the price for a decision they did not take. If I may address Iran directly: have mercy on our south and stop treating it as a bargaining chip in your negotiations.”

“Lebanon is not a mailbox for others’ messages, nor a battlefield for their wars,” he stated.

Arab World

Yemen’s PLC Urges Deterrent Measures against the Houthis

PLC Chairman Dr. Rashad al-Alimi chairs the council meeting attended by all its members and Prime Minister Shaya Zindani. (Saba)
PLC Chairman Dr. Rashad al-Alimi chairs the council meeting attended by all its members and Prime Minister Shaya Zindani. (Saba)
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Yemen’s PLC Urges Deterrent Measures against the Houthis

PLC Chairman Dr. Rashad al-Alimi chairs the council meeting attended by all its members and Prime Minister Shaya Zindani. (Saba)
PLC Chairman Dr. Rashad al-Alimi chairs the council meeting attended by all its members and Prime Minister Shaya Zindani. (Saba)

Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council has raised the level of military, security, and intelligence readiness to confront the Houthi escalation, stressing that government forces are now prepared to take the initiative.

It warned that any new escalation by the Iranian-backed group will carry a direct cost for its leadership, capabilities, and funding sources.

PLC Chairman Dr. Rashad al-Alimi chaired a council meeting attended by all its members and Prime Minister Shaya Zindani.

The meeting was dedicated to discussing military, security, and economic developments, alongside the state's strategic options to counter the Houthi escalation, at a time when several fronts are witnessing increased military movements and attacks targeting civilian areas and vital installations.

The council stressed that the state is proceeding with its efforts to restore its institutions, impose its authority over the entire Yemeni territory, and end the Houthi coup.

The armed forces have become more prepared to fulfill their constitutional duties, deter Houthi attacks, and prevent the group from achieving any field or morale gains, it added.

The council was briefed on the latest developments on the ground. It also discussed a number of urgent economic and security measures aimed at improving living conditions and combating terrorism, smuggling, and organized crime.

The PLC said it was taking "legitimate and necessary" measures to protect citizens, sovereign installations, and national interests, including preemptive actions against threats, command and control centers, and military capabilities that are being used or prepared to target government forces, civilians, and vital facilities.

It praised the performance of the armed and security forces over the past weeks, highlighting their capability in foiling Houthi attacks, inflicting losses, and achieving military targets.

The council stated that recent government operations sent a message that targeting cities, civilians, and national installations "without cost" is no longer possible, warning that any new escalation will have direct consequences.

Arab World

Families Evacuated as Algeria Wildfires Threaten Residential Areas

Every summer, northern Algeria is hit by forest fires, a phenomenon exacerbated by drought and climate change. (Reuters file)
Every summer, northern Algeria is hit by forest fires, a phenomenon exacerbated by drought and climate change. (Reuters file)
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Families Evacuated as Algeria Wildfires Threaten Residential Areas

Every summer, northern Algeria is hit by forest fires, a phenomenon exacerbated by drought and climate change. (Reuters file)
Every summer, northern Algeria is hit by forest fires, a phenomenon exacerbated by drought and climate change. (Reuters file)

Algerian civil protection authorities said Wednesday that they had evacuated several families in the country's northeastern province of Jijel as wildfires there threatened residential areas.

Videos circulating on social media showed panicked residents sheltering inside a building as thick smoke filled the air.

The civil protection said there were 37 active blazes nationwide, five of which were in Jijel.

The rescue body did not say how many people had been evacuated or displaced because of the fires.

Algeria has grappled with wildfires over the summer, with at least six people killed in several provinces last month, according to the authorities.

Every summer, northern Algeria is hit by forest fires, a phenomenon exacerbated by drought and climate change.

Dozens of people have been killed in recent years, and thousands of hectares of forest and farmland destroyed, along with numerous homes.