Over the past week, Israeli attacks in Gaza have repeatedly resulted in the deaths of children, with the death toll since the October ceasefire reaching at least 1,108. On July 8, Israeli strikes killed at least eight people, including a 10-year-old in the al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone” and a six-year-old in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, according to Palestinian health officials.

The violence continued with the killing of Ahmad Nasser Saleem, a World Central Kitchen driver, who was shot dead with his hands raised while transporting aid from the Karem Abu Salem crossing. On July 12, nine-year-old Tala Jumaa Abu Matar was killed by Israeli fire near the Nuseirat refugee camp, as reported by medical sources cited by Wafa.

In Gaza, the Hamas-run government announced its resignation to make way for a technocratic committee yet to enter the area. Shortly after, on July 9, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decreed legislative elections for November 28, the first in 20 years.

Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, tensions have escalated. Israeli bulldozers uprooted over 300 olive and grape trees near Atuf in the northern Jordan Valley and cut water lines serving approximately 45,000 dunams of farmland as part of the “Crimson Thread” military road and wall project, according to Tubas official Mutaz Bisharat.

The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission reported that Israeli authorities issued 49 military land-seizure orders in the first half of 2026, surpassing the 47 orders issued in all of 2025, covering 2,093 dunams mostly along settler bypass roads including Route 60.

For five consecutive days, activist Osama Makhamreh documented settlers attacking the family of elderly Ibrahim Ismail al-Jabour in the Huwara area of Masafer Yatta. Soldiers reportedly protected the settlers, and by July 12, al-Jabour was detained while seven of his relatives, including two children, were injured.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on July 10 that food parcels distributed to over 53,500 people in early July covered only 75 percent of minimum caloric needs, with the suspension of high-energy biscuit top-ups to preserve dwindling emergency stocks.

These developments highlight ongoing humanitarian and political challenges in Gaza and the West Bank amid escalating violence and territorial disputes.

Sources