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PA to Present List of Demands to US Point Man for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh visits a Palestinian prisoner that Israeli authorities released following a hunger strike. (dpa)
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh visits a Palestinian prisoner that Israeli authorities released following a hunger strike. (dpa)
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PA to Present List of Demands to US Point Man for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh visits a Palestinian prisoner that Israeli authorities released following a hunger strike. (dpa)
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh visits a Palestinian prisoner that Israeli authorities released following a hunger strike. (dpa)

Palestinians will likely make several demands to the Biden administration’s point person for Israeli-Palestinian affairs, Hadi Amr, scheduled to visit the region to meet officials from both sides.

Amr’s stopover is unique in that it is the first visit by a senior US official since the formation of the new Israeli government and also comes as the Palestinian Authority is going through a deep domestic political crisis over the killing of political activist Nizar Banat by security forces.

The deputy assistant secretary of state for Israeli-Palestinian affairs is expected to meet senior officials from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Prime Minister’s Office, and Ministry of Defense, according to a report by Hebrew news website “Walla! NEWS”.

Meanwhile, in Ramallah, Amr will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other government officials.

According to Israeli officials who spoke to Walla! NEWS, one reason for the trip is to allow Amr to meet new Israeli officials and discuss the new government’s policies on the West Bank and Gaza.

Specifically, he is expected to raise the reconstruction of Gaza and the new UN mechanism to transfer a Qatari grant to Gaza.

Israeli officials also expect him to raise the Israeli military’s demolitions of homes in the West Bank, a practice the Biden administration recently criticized.

In Ramallah, Amr will likely discuss the internal political crisis as well as chances for advancing peace.

According to a report prepared by the Israeli Channel 12, the Palestinian Authority has prepared a list of “confidential” demands that it plans to present to the Biden administration before resuming US-sponsored talks with Israel.

These demands will probably include reopening some Palestinian institutions in east Jerusalem, restoring the previous status quo at al-Aqsa Mosque, and enhancing the status of the PA’s envoys.

Stopping home evictions of Arab Jerusalemites and releasing the fourth batch of Palestinian prisoners, according to an old agreement with Israel that has not been completed yet, will presumably also figure high on the list of the PA’s demands.

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Arab World

Israeli Strike Kills World Cup Screening Organizer in Gaza Just Before Kickoff

Palestinians watch a broadcast of the 2026 FIFA World Cup match between Argentina and Egypt in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 07 July 2026. (EPA)
Palestinians watch a broadcast of the 2026 FIFA World Cup match between Argentina and Egypt in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 07 July 2026. (EPA)
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Israeli Strike Kills World Cup Screening Organizer in Gaza Just Before Kickoff

Palestinians watch a broadcast of the 2026 FIFA World Cup match between Argentina and Egypt in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 07 July 2026. (EPA)
Palestinians watch a broadcast of the 2026 FIFA World Cup match between Argentina and Egypt in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 07 July 2026. (EPA)

An Israeli strike on Gaza just before the kickoff of the Egypt-Argentina World Cup match killed a top Palestinian aid official who helped organize public screenings of the game across the enclave, according to local health officials.

The blast turned what was supposed to be a moment of celebration — the live screening of a potential Argentina upset by an Arab team — into a reminder of how the near-daily Israeli strikes across Gaza are continuing to kill civilians despite a truce reached in October.

The bomb hit a car in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City at dusk Tuesday, killing passersby Mohamed al-Wahidi, an official at the Egyptian Committee in Gaza, 10-year-old boy Hamza al-Deri and his 8-year-old brother Fari. Ahmed Daghmush, 33, the driver of the car, was also killed. That’s according to Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, the director of Shifa Hospital which received the four bodies.

The Israeli military said that al-Wahidi, who helped organize the soccer screenings, was not a target of the strike. It said the strike was aiming for a Hamas fighter and that it was checking if Daghmush was the target of the strike.

Daghmush is a taxi driver not known to be affiliated with any armed group, Abu Selmiya said.

An Israeli strike hit the same street half an hour earlier, causing no casualties.

The Egyptian Committee for which al-Wahidi worked is the relief arm of the Egyptian government, which provides food, shelters and other assistance to Palestinians in Gaza. The committee also organized the initiative to put up screens across Gaza to watch football matches, it said.

Many in the Palestinian diaspora live right across the border in Egypt, which was a key mediator of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

Team Egypt's Gaza fanbase has only grown since the start of the tournament, as coach Hossam Hassan has spotlighted the plight of the Palestinian people in press briefings and on the pitch. He dedicated his team’s victory over Australia on Friday to both Egyptians and Palestinians and waved a Palestinian flag on the pitch.

In a Monday briefing before the match against Argentina, Hassan urged the world to do more for the Palestinian people.

“I urge you, I urge all media officers, all athletes worldwide, regardless of their identities, maybe we can convey a collective message that is as follows, let the Palestinian people be, let them exist, let them live a life of their own," he said.

Israel’s military says its strikes target fighters and it regrets harm to civilians. At least 1,027 people, including 258 children, have been killed since the truce took effect in October. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in that time.

The Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war stands at 73,098, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government and is staffed by medical professionals who maintain detailed records viewed as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.

The war began when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.

Arab World

Trump’s Board of Peace Planning Pilot ‘Humanitarian Zone’ in South Gaza, Says Official

Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 2, 2026, on the 1,000th day of war since the Hamas-led attack on Israel sparked the war in Gaza. (AP)
Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 2, 2026, on the 1,000th day of war since the Hamas-led attack on Israel sparked the war in Gaza. (AP)
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Trump’s Board of Peace Planning Pilot ‘Humanitarian Zone’ in South Gaza, Says Official

Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 2, 2026, on the 1,000th day of war since the Hamas-led attack on Israel sparked the war in Gaza. (AP)
Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 2, 2026, on the 1,000th day of war since the Hamas-led attack on Israel sparked the war in Gaza. (AP)

US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace is planning a pilot "humanitarian zone" in southern Gaza which would aim to accommodate tens of thousands of vetted Palestinian civilians, a board official told AFP.

The official said the zone could act as a "starting point" for the Palestinian technocratic committee meant to assume the day-to-day governance of Gaza's transitional phase out of war under Trump's 20-point plan.

The pilot zone, which the board is eyeing for Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, would be secured by multinational troops from the International Stabilization Force (ISF), a fledgling body which operates under the Board of Peace.

The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), the group of Palestinian technocrats established by the Board of Peace, would carry out screening and access control, supported by the ISF.

The concept of closed humanitarian zones, which has been discussed in various forms for several months, has raised serious reservations, with diplomats and NGO officials working in Gaza telling AFP on condition of anonymity that such a mechanism seems to them to be incompatible with international humanitarian law.

Movement in and out "will remain free for all unarmed civilians," the board official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Efforts to advance the US-backed ceasefire plan for Gaza have been stalled for months, with the NCAG stuck in Cairo and yet to actually enter the territory.

Since the truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect last October, Israeli forces have expanded their presence in Gaza, and now control more than 60 percent of the territory.

"There's one pilot project we're looking at particularly, that maybe you can get the NCAG a starting point, you can enable tens of thousands to come if they wish voluntarily to this area, and you start giving them a space where they exercise effective governance and they're the administration," the official said.

- 'Buffer' -

The official said the board was "looking at Rafah" as a location for the project but remained vague on its exact positioning. He said that no building work had begun.

Rafah, which sits at Gaza's southern edge, was effectively razed by Israeli bombing during the war and the area is now largely under Israeli military control.

The ISF would act as a "kind of buffer" separating the Palestinian population from the Israeli military, the official said.

"A screening mechanism will ensure that armed individuals and fighters cannot enter these safe humanitarian zones," he said.

"This function will not be performed by the Israeli military, which will have no contact with the civilian population and no role in separating these areas from the rest of Gaza," the official said.

The Board of Peace was formally established earlier this year as part of the US-backed ceasefire plan for Gaza endorsed by the UN Security Council.

It aims to facilitate a transition away from Hamas rule while supporting the restoration of civilian administration and basic services.

Diplomats and NGO officials working in Gaza say that grouping civilians into demarcated areas subject to access controls could amount to forced displacement of the population, restrict Palestinians' freedom of movement and undermine the principle of impartiality.

Arab World

Syria Says Damascus Blasts Killed One, Wounded 36

Syrian security personnel inspect a burned vehicles near the Four Seasons Hotel after two explosions rocked the area earlier while Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was meeting French President Emmanuel Macron at the presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP)
Syrian security personnel inspect a burned vehicles near the Four Seasons Hotel after two explosions rocked the area earlier while Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was meeting French President Emmanuel Macron at the presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP)
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Syria Says Damascus Blasts Killed One, Wounded 36

Syrian security personnel inspect a burned vehicles near the Four Seasons Hotel after two explosions rocked the area earlier while Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was meeting French President Emmanuel Macron at the presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP)
Syrian security personnel inspect a burned vehicles near the Four Seasons Hotel after two explosions rocked the area earlier while Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was meeting French President Emmanuel Macron at the presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP)

Syrian authorities said on Wednesday that the blasts that hit central Damascus during French President Emmanuel Macron's visit a day earlier killed one person and wounded dozens.

In a statement carried by state media, the Syrian health ministry said that "the final toll from the two explosions that occurred... near the Ministry of Tourism building in Damascus has reached one dead and 36 wounded".

The blasts near the hotel where Macron had spent the night came after his departure, and moments before Syrian state media announced his arrival at the presidential palace to meet with his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Macron became the first head of state from the European Union to visit Syria since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in 2024.