July 25, 2025 - Israel-Gaza news

Our live coverage of the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip has moved here.

Two of the remaining sticking points in negotiations over a potential ceasefire deal in Gaza are the exchange of prisoners for hostages and the schedule for Israel’s withdrawal, a senior Hamas official told CNN on Friday.

The official said Hamas had submitted two proposals on those topics shortly before the US and Israel pulled their delegates out of talks Thursday, accusing the militant group of acting in bad faith.

First proposal:

Second proposal:

After Israel pulled its delegation, a spokesperson for the Israeli foreign ministry said that “Israel had agreed to the (US) framework for a hostage release and ceasefire, but Hamas has only hardened its stance, and in fact, there has been a regression in its position during the negotiations.”

CNN’s Dana Karni contributed to this report.

A Palestinian man inspects the damage around a house hit in an Israeli strike in western Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

If you’re just joining us, you may remember that the US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Thursday recalled US negotiators from Gaza ceasefire talks, saying Hamas was being “selfish” and that it did not appear to be “acting in good faith.” Israel had pulled its negotiators from talks earlier in the day.

If you want to get a quick rundown of developments in talks throughout this week, read here.

Here’s what has happened since the negotiators were recalled:

Hamas response: A senior official of the Hamas political bureau, Basem Naim, said it was not an accurate representation. Naim said that just days ago, Witkoff had said that both sides had agreed on “three out of four points and are close to a breakthrough.” What Hamas presented “can lead to a deal” if Israel “wants one,” he said.

Trump’s reaction: President Donald Trump said that Hamas did not want to make a deal on a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza. The group’s unwillingness to agree to a truce means it’s now time to “finish the job” and “get rid” of the group, he said.

Israel’s stance: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel is considering “alternative options” to bring hostages home and end Hamas’ rule in Gaza.

The talks will go on: Egypt and Qatar said they will move forward in mediating for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, saying in a joint statement that the latest suspension in talks is “normal in the context of these complex negotiations.”

You can also hear CNN’s Erin Burnett’s interview with Cardinal Pizzaballa here on YouTube

A Palestinian woman caresses a child's head as they wait at a food distribution point in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on July 19.

Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as a moral crisis that challenges the global conscience, noting that both UN humanitarian workers and children in the enclave are starving.

Beyond the UN, a group of more than 100 international humanitarian organizations warned earlier this week that they were “witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.”

All of Gaza’s 2.1 million people are now food insecure, without reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious and healthy food, the UN said this week. According to Gaza’s health ministry, 900,000 children are going hungry, and 70,000 already show signs of malnutrition.

Guterres vowed that the UN will “continue to speak out at every opportunity, but words don’t feed hungry children.”

A Palestinian medic works in the intensive care unit of the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis on July 11.

Medical staff in Gaza are now rationing themselves to one meal every two or three days as they treat patients during a severe aid shortage, according to a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) doctor who recently returned to the US from the enclave.

She said that when she left the enclave three months ago, staff were eating only one meal per day and that she had thought at the time that things couldn’t get worse — but staff were now having to make a single meal last twice or three times as long.

“It’s impossible what we are asking from them,” she said of medical staff who she said are hungry and exhausted. Children have been “crying for food,” she added.

“The things that they are crying about is that they’re hungry, rather than their third degree burns or their amputation,” she said, stressing the need for food to be allowed in at scale.

More than 100 aid groups this week sounded the alarm in a joint statement, and said their own colleagues are suffering from the lack of food aid in Gaza amid Israel’s blockade. Israel has said it will allow aid air drops, something the UN has warned will be expensive and dangerous.

Durrani said one in four young children and pregnant women coming into MSF clinics in Gaza are malnourished and that the “tiny amount of food that air drops will provide in this dangerous and ineffective manner is not going to work.”

Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen in Gaza City.

Doctors in Gaza describe fainting from lack of food while trying to save starving patients. Mothers are waking up during the night to check that their starving children are still alive. Red Cross staffers in Gaza are struggling to find enough food and clean water due to the aid crisis in the enclave.

This is the state of crisis in Gaza. Here are the key things to know:

Starvation: At least nine more Palestinians died of starvation in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 122 since October 2023, according to the director general of Gaza’s health ministry.

Of the nine who died in the past day, two were children, he said. A total of 83 children have died from hunger and malnutrition since Israel began its blockade, he added.

Aid:

Latest on diplomacy:

Palestinians fill jerrycans with water delivered in Gaza City on July 17.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said many of its 350 staffers in Gaza are struggling to find enough food and clean water amid the aid crisis in the enclave.

The group described the situation as “abhorrent.”

The ICRC called for the “rapid, unimpeded and impartial delivery of humanitarian relief across Gaza” and the release of all remaining hostages. It also called for its teams to be able to resume visits to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention centers.

Some context: Earlier this week more than 100 international humanitarian organizations called on Israel to end its blockade of Gaza, restore the full flow of food, clean water and medical supplies to the enclave, and agree to a ceasefire. In a joint statement the 111 agencies warned that supplies in the enclave are now “totally depleted” and that humanitarian groups are “witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.”

People attend a protest in Sakhnin, Israel, on Friday.

A large crowd marched through Sakhnin, a majority-Palestinian city in northern Israel, demanding an end to the war in Gaza today.

The protesters, many of whom were Palestinian citizens of Israel, hoisted photos of emaciated Palestinians in Gaza, as well as signs with slogans such as “Food, Water, Justice – Not Bombs!” and “We Stand Together Against Starvation.” One smiling little boy carried a placard in Arabic reading, “I’m for the right of the Palestinian people to establish an independent state.”

Though Israeli cities have seen numerous anti-war protests since Hamas’ attack on October 7 and Israel’s crushing response, most have focused on the hostages held in Gaza. In Sakhnin, protesters came to raise their voices against Israeli violence toward Palestinians, whether in Gaza or in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Protesters banged pots, pans and drums as they chanted. Many wore the black and white keffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian national identity. A bespectacled man led other protesters in call-and-response chants until he was hoarse, in between drags from his cigarette.

Watch CNN’s Jeremy Diamond’s report below

Protesters hold up a Palestinian flag during a rally in Berlin on June 21.

The UK, France and Germany have condemned Israeli threats to annex the occupied West Bank.

Israel approved significant new budget transfers for investment in transportation infrastructure in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, with far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich saying the project would “implement de facto sovereignty” over the territory.

Gaza crisis: The E3 countries also called for access to basic needs like food and water to be given to the population of Gaza “without further delay” calling Israel’s withholding of essential humanitarian aid “unacceptable.”

Israel rejects accusations of a humanitarian blockade, insisting it is trying to prevent Hamas from stealing supplies – claims aid agencies have denied. Israel has also pushed back on calls to allow more aid in, saying there are truckloads waiting at the border to be collected by aid agencies. The UN and others on the ground say Israel does not always give permission to move aid or approves routes deemed too dangerous.

An Israeli security official said Friday that the country would allow foreign nations to airdrop aid into Gaza in the coming days, even though aid agencies have warned airdrops are both costly and dangerous.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer seen on July 10 in London, England.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the recognition of Palestinian statehood is necessary for a lasting peace.

In a statement from his office today, Starmer said that he is working on a “pathway to peace” in the region alongside “our closest allies.”

His statement comes a day after France said it would recognize Palestinian statehood.

The UK leader said he would focus on “practical solutions” that would help those suffering in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and that recognition of a Palestinian state needed to be part of a “wider plan” that results in both a two-state solution and lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis.

“The appalling scenes in Gaza are unrelenting,” Starmer said. “The continued captivity of hostages, the starvation and denial of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, the increasing violence from extremist settler groups, and Israel’s disproportionate military escalation in Gaza are all indefensible.”

An internal US government review found no evidence of widespread theft by Hamas of US-funded humanitarian aid in Gaza, contradicting the State Department’s claims that were used to justify backing a controversial private organization that took over aid distribution in the enclave.

The analysis, conducted by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), looked into 156 incidents of waste, fraud, and abuse reported by partner organizations between October 2023 and May 2025.

The review of the incidents, which was first reported by Reuters, “found no affiliations” with sanctioned groups or foreign terrorist organizations, according to a presentation seen by CNN.

Egypt and Qatar said they will move forward in mediating for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, saying that the latest suspension in talks is “normal in the context of these complex negotiations,” according to a joint statement posted by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on social media.

The statement continues by denouncing unspecified “leaks circulated in some media outlets” that are “undermining these efforts.”

Yesterday, US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff announced he was withdrawing the US from negotiations in Doha, blaming Hamas for “a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire” and saying that the US would “consider alternative options” to bring home the remaining hostages. Hamas in turn rejected Witkoff’s remarks as “psychological warfare.”

Hidaya Al Mtawwaq cares for her son Mohammad in Gaza City on Friday.

Each evening, Najah Hashem Darbakh goes to sleep not knowing if her baby will wake up the next morning.

Her daughter, 11-month-old Sila, is one of 1 million children in Gaza facing starvation and malnutrition — as Israel’s siege on Gaza following the Hamas-led October 7 attacks has wrought lethal starvation on Palestinians.

“In this room alone, four children have died from malnutrition,” Darbakh told CNN on Friday. “I am terrified my daughter will be the fifth.”

The Palestinian baby, displaced in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, is suffering from chronic diarrhea, Darbakh said. She weighs just three kilograms (about 6.6 pounds).

Several mothers in Gaza told CNN they cannot find enough milk to feed their babies. Others rely on chamomile tea or water, as infant formula stocks dwindle.

Further north, Hidaya Al Mtawwaq cradles her 3-year-old son, Mohammad, inside a bare tent near the Al-Ahli Al-Arabi Hospital in Gaza City. He weighs just 6 kilograms (about 13 pounds) — down from 9 kilograms (about 20 pounds) a few months ago.

“He can’t stand on his feet,” Al Mtawwaq told CNN. “If there’s food, we eat. If there isn’t, we have no power except to rely on God.”

A man stands at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on July 9.

As Gaza’s hunger crisis deepens, the very people who are trying to keep the gravely malnourished population alive are suffering along with their patients.

Dr. Mohammad Saqer is hungry. So ravenous that he sometimes struggles to keep upright while treating his desperately ill patients at the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza. On Thursday, he fainted while working at the ward. And then, moments after recovering, he returned to finish his 24-hour shift.

Dr. Fadel Naim, a surgeon and the director of the Al-Ahli Al-Arabi hospital, in the north of the Strip, told CNN that many of his colleagues have also fallen over from hunger and malnutrition, including two who collapsed during surgeries this week.

The firsthand testimonies of the two doctors tally with what a group of more than 100 international humanitarian organizations said earlier this week, when they warned that they were “witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.”

Read more about the situation inside Gaza.

At the end of June, US President Donald Trump said he believed a ceasefire in Gaza would be agreed to “within the next week.” Four weeks later, the US has abruptly pulled negotiators out of talks, with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff saying the US will now “consider alternative options to bring the hostages home.”

Here’s what has happened in the past week:

July 21: An Israeli source told CNN that talks were progressing “slowly” but major roadblocks had been resolved, adding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was under US pressure to reach a deal. Two other sources said the US has communicated to Hamas that it is running out of patience. Hamas said it was exerting all efforts to reach a deal.

July 22: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce he was “very optimistic” on the possibility of a ceasefire. Bruce told CNN Witkoff would travel to Qatar later in the week for discussions if the talks reach an advanced stage.

July 23: An Egyptian source told CNN that Hamas had submitted a response, but it didn’t meet mediators’ expectations. Another source said Hamas has been told to re-submit its response, expressing pessimism about a truce. Hamas later said it had submitted a counterproposal.

July 24: Multiple officials familiar with the talks told CNN there was growing optimism about reaching the deal after Hamas submitted its counterproposal. But later in the day, Israel said it was recalling negotiators from Qatar. The US followed suit, with Witkoff saying Washington “will now consider alternative options.”

July 25: Netanyahu said Witkoff “got it right,” and that Israel is also “considering alternative options.” A source with direct knowledge of the talks told CNN the US pullback was “an earthquake.” A senior Israeli official, however, told CNN talks have “not at all” collapsed, and there is still an opportunity for the negotiations to resume if Hamas revises its demand for the number of prisoners to be released.

French President Emmanuel Macron waits for the arrival of a guest at the Elysee Palace in Paris on July 23.

US President Donald Trump says the decision by France to recognize a Palestinian state will have no effect on the conflict, dismissing the move as pointless.

“Look, he’s a different kind of a guy,” Trump told CNN of his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron. “He’s OK. He’s a team player, pretty much. Here’s the good news: What he says doesn’t matter.”

“It’s not going to change anything,” Trump went on, suggesting the decision would amount to little.

Macron’s late-night announcement on social media that he would recognize a Palestinian state at September’s United Nations General Assembly came as a surprise to many. France becomes the first Western member of the UN Security Council and first G7 nation to do so.

The decision sparked an angry reaction from Israel, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it “only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace.”

“It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th,” Rubio said.

Trump sounded less troubled by the decision, framing it instead as a useless exercise.

President Donald Trump said the US contributed $60 million to Gaza aid and that “we’re going to do more” — adding that he hopes it reaches the enclave while claiming “the food gets taken.”

“People don’t know this, and we didn’t certainly get any acknowledgment or thank you. But we contributed $60 million to food and supplies and everything else,” Trump told reporters at the White House today.

“We hope the money gets there because, you know, that money gets taken. The food gets taken,” he claimed.

“We’re going to do more. But we gave a lot of money,” he said.

More than 100 international humanitarian organizations have called on Israel to end its blockade of Gaza, restore the full flow of food, clean water and medical supplies to the enclave, and agree to a ceasefire.

Israel has said it is allowing ample aid into the besieged Palestinian territory and has previously blamed Hamas for its decision to halt aid shipments, alleging the militant group was stealing supplies and profiting from it. Hamas has denied this allegation.

Mediators are continuing discussions on a possible Gaza ceasefire and they remain engaged with Israel and Hamas, a source with knowledge of the talks tells CNN.

The United States and Israel pulled back from negotiations in Qatar yesterday, with US envoy Steve Witkoff saying Hamas was negotiating in bad faith.

The talks were being mediated by Qatar, the US and Egypt.

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce speaks during a press conference in Washington, DC on May 6.

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce called France’s plan to recognize a Palestinian state “a ridiculous and insulting development” and claimed it “makes it more difficult to achieve a ceasefire” in Gaza.

Bruce also claimed that a Palestinian state “will be a launchpad for the annihilation of Israel.”

Both Trump administration and Israeli officials have strongly protested the announcement by French President Emmanuel Macron, who said a two-state solution is “the only way to meet the legitimate aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians” and must “be achieved as quickly as possible.”

Past US administrations had been in favor of a path to a two-state solution.

In an interview with Kate Bolduan on CNN, Bruce argued that the recognition of such a state sends “the message to the world” to “be barbarians.”

“The civilized world can stop this, and it’s not by rewarding Hamas or the terrorist groups in this framework that: this is the action, if you take it, we will reward you,” she said.