We start with news that a Hamas leader in the West Bank has died in Israeli custody after a deterioration in his health condition, a Palestinian governmental body has said.

Mustafa Muhammad Abu Ara, 63, died after being transferred to a hospital from the Ramon jail in southern Israel, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs said in a statement.

“Before his arrest, he was suffering from serious health problems and needed intensive medical follow-up. However, from the moment of his arrest, Sheikh Abu Ara, like all prisoners, has faced unprecedented crimes ... since the beginning of the war of extermination.”

Abu Ara, who was arrested in October last year, was subjected to torture and deprived of medical treatment, the Palestinian body said. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

In a statement, Hamas said it mourned his passing and held the occupation responsible for his “assassination through deliberate medical neglect”.

Former prisoners and rights groups have accused Israel of the widespread abuse of Palestinian prisoners including beatings, dog attacks, the prolonged use of stress positions and sexual assault since the start of the Israel-Gaza war on 7 October.

At least 18 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since then, the Palestinian Prisoners Association said last month.

In other developments:

Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has pressed Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu on the “dire” humanitarian situation in Gaza in talks that she described as frank, adding “I will not be silent.” In comments that were closely watched for signs of a shift from Joe Biden’s policy approach, the US vice-president said after her meeting with Biden: “What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time.”
US President Joe Biden also held talks with Netanyahu, who told him: “From a proud Jewish Zionist to a proud Irish-American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the state of Israel.” In a statement, the White House said Biden had pressed Netanyahu on closing “remaining gaps” on a ceasefire deal, as well as finding a “durable end to the war in Gaza”.
After the meetings, a senior Israeli official suggested that Harris’ comments could make a ceasefire deal less likely, according to Israeli media. “It’s to be hoped that the vice president’s comments at the press conference aren’t interpreted by Hamas as meaning that there’s daylight between the United States and Israel, which would make a deal less likely,” the senior diplomatic figure said according to Haaretz newspaper.
Netanyahu was set to meet Donald Trump at Mar-al-Lago for the first time in nearly four years on Friday. He is expected to try to mend ties with the Republican presidential nominee, who broke ties with him in 2021 after the Israeli prime minister became one of the first world leaders to congratulate Biden for his presidential election victory.
US state and local officials have invested $1.7bn of public money in Israel Bonds – an organization that sells Israeli bonds to fund that nation’s government and buttress its military – since 7 October. An investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has revealed contacts between buyer and seller that experts say may cross a line.
At least 39,175 Palestinians have been killed and 90,403 have been wounded in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Темы и теги

Израиль Военные Действия

Газой ХАМАС палестинский власть израильский заключение война израиль живой лидер хамас