July 26, 2025 – Israel-Gaza news

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

Israeli National Security Minister and head of Jewish Power party Itamar Ben-Gvir gives a statement to members of the press in Jerusalem, January 16, 2025.

Israel’s far-right national security minister denounced the government’s decision to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, calling it “a surrender to Hamas” and saying he was excluded from the deliberations.

“On Saturday night, I was informed by a source in the Prime Minister’s Office that during Shabbat a security consultation took place without me,” Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote Saturday night on social media.

Shabbat is the Jewish day of rest, which falls on a Saturday. During Shabbat, observant Jews normally refrain from work, outside of emergencies.

Israel’s military announced Saturday that it would open corridors for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza and pause combat operations in certain areas, amid global outrage over civilians starving to death in the enclave.

Ben-Gvir has been vocal about pressing on with the war in Gaza and has consistently opposed any negotiated ceasefire with Hamas.

He referred to the decision as a “surrender” which would endanger Israeli soldiers and delay the return of the remaining hostages.

Some context: Israel imposed an 11-week blockade on all aid into the strip beginning in March, finally restarting distribution in late May through the controversial US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed trying to access aid in the months since, according to the UN, and aid groups are warning “mass starvation” is spreading across Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces has begun making controversial airdrops into Gaza, and the military says it will implement “humanitarian pauses” in parts of the enclave on Sunday, as well as establishing corridors for United Nations convoys to make aid deliveries.

Israel’s announcements Saturday came as global outrage over Gazans starving to death in the besieged Palestinian enclave reached a boiling point.

If you’re just joining us, here’s what you should know:

Dire conditions on the ground:

Israel’s aid announcements:

Protests:

Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy that reached Gaza City from northern Gaza on Saturday.

A “humanitarian pause” in fighting for parts of Gaza will begin Sunday local time, the Israel Defense Forces told CNN, without specifying the intended length of the pause.

The IDF said the pauses will take effect in designated “densely populated areas” even as fighting would continue elsewhere.

Some context: The announcement Saturday of “humanitarian pauses,” the establishment of corridors for United Nations aid deliveries and controversial airdrops come on the heels of growing international condemnation over the dire conditions on the ground in Gaza due to Israel’s siege on the Palestinian enclave.

At least 127 people in the enclave have died of starvation or malnutrition since the conflict began in October 2023, according to Gaza’s health ministry. That figure includes a 5-month-old baby who died in her mother’s arms Friday. In Gaza hospitals, doctors are fainting from hunger while trying to save starving patients.

The Israel Defense Forces will open “additional humanitarian corridors” in Gaza on Sunday, Israeli Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter said in a statement.

The ambassador’s remarks follow a statement from the Israeli military announcing that it planned to open the corridors to allow United Nations convoys to make aid deliveries. It also said it was “prepared to implement humanitarian pauses” to fighting in parts of the enclave.

An image released by the Israel Defense Forces that is said to show preparations for the humanitarian aid airdrop in Gaza.

The Israeli military has begun dropping humanitarian aid into Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed to CNN.

Remember: An Israeli security official told CNN on Friday that the country planned to allow foreign countries to airdrop aid into Gaza, as international condemnation of the starvation crisis in the enclave grew. The country’s military said in a statement a few hours ago that its military would also coordinate airdrops with international aid organizations.

The practice of dropping aid into the enclave has been dismissed by aid groups as expensive, inefficient and dangerous for those on the ground. The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees called the plan a “distraction” Saturday.

Medical teams at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza could be forced to treat patients on the street outside the medical facility due to severe overcrowding.

Hospital staff no longer have any space inside to treat trauma patients, the head of nursing at the hospital, Dr. Mohammad Saqer, told CNN on Saturday.

Saqer said the hospital — one of the few remaining medical facilities in southern Gaza — is not only receiving hundreds of people shot and injured while seeking aid at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid points, but is also seeing hundreds of cases of malnutrition “pouring in.”

The US- and Israel-backed GHF was created to replace the United Nations’ aid role in Gaza and has been widely criticized for failing to improve conditions as the starvation crisis deepens. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while trying to get food, hundreds of them near GHF sites, according to the UN. The GHF disputes this.

Saqer said unless the situation improves in the coming hours, the hospital will be forced to place patients outside the hospital walls on mattresses and have medical crews attend to them there.

A still from a livestream shows armored personnel intercepting the Handala, with those aboard surrendering immediately.

A Gaza-bound ship carrying aid and activists was intercepted by Israeli forces Saturday night within 70 nautical miles of its intended destination, according to the human rights group Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC).

“The occupation has disabled our cameras and all communication has been lost,” the organization’s spokesperson told CNN in a message.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment.

A YouTube livestream showed armed personnel boarding the ship while the activists on deck, all wearing life jackets, held their hands in the air in surrender. One of the helmeted personnel appears to manipulate the camera on the deck, turning it around. The group’s livestream ended soon after that.

The Handala, named for a famous Palestinian cartoon character, is part of the FFC, which has attempted numerous times to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza via sea and deliver aid to Palestinians there.

A few hours before the ship was intercepted, the FFC released a statement saying that the Handala was steering toward Egypt in an effort to avoid being boarded.

Two members of the French and European parliaments are aboard, as well as Christian Small, a US trade unionist.

More background: The apparent end of Handala’s journey toward Gaza comes a little over a month after another ship from the Freedom Flotilla, the Madleen, was similarly intercepted on its way to the enclave.

That ship, crewed by a group that included climate activist Greta Thunberg, was also laden with aid. Israeli authorities towed their ship to Ashdod, and all aboard were deported from Israel afterwards.

Humanitarian aid is airdropped over Gaza City on March 25, 2024.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed it will coordinate airdrops with humanitarian organizations and said it could implement “humanitarian pauses” in parts of Gaza as a starvation crisis in the Palestinian enclave generates widespread international outrage.

Israel’s plan for foreign nations to airdrop aid into Gaza has been sharply criticized by humanitarian groups as expensive, inefficient and dangerous for those on the ground.

The military also said Saturday that it was ready to allow “humanitarian pauses” in fighting in the enclave.

The IDF ended its statement by explicitly denying there is starvation in Gaza: “The IDF emphasizes that there is no starvation in the Gaza Strip; this is a false campaign promoted by Hamas.”

At least 127 people in the enclave have died of starvation or malnutrition since the conflict began in October 2023, according to Gaza’s health ministry. That figure includes a 5-month-old baby who died in her mother’s arms yesterday. In Gaza hospitals, doctors are fainting from hunger while trying to save starving patients.

An Israeli soldier stands by by humanitarian aid packages waiting to be picked up on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom Crossing Point on July 24.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Saturday that it is opening “designated humanitarian corridors…to enable the safe movement of UN convoys delivering food and medicine to the population.”

We’ll update you as we learn more.

People raise pictures of Israeli hostages during a protest calling for their return in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

The family members of Israelis still held captive by Hamas renewed their protests in Tel Aviv Saturday evening local time, slamming the Israeli government for failing to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and return their loved ones.

The rallies, which have become a fixture in Tel Aviv since the start of the conflict in October 2023, have seen emotional outpourings, condemnation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and direct appeals to US President Donald Trump to intervene.

Here are more images from the latest protest:

A woman walks along a wall bearing the message "bring them home" during a protest in Tel Aviv.

A woman wipes away tears at a Tel Aviv rally calling for the return of hostages still held in Gaza.

Protesters gather in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

People carry signs during Saturday's protest in Tel Aviv.

People raise pictures of Israeli hostages during a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel on Saturday.

The family members of Israeli hostages criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to bring home those captured during the October 7 attacks and appealed to US President Donald Trump to intervene.

“The fact that the hostages are still in captivity is a complete and utter failure! The people of Israel will not forgive this government for dragging its feet at the cost of the blood of our soldiers and the hostages,” Einav Zangauker said at Tel Aviv’s Begin Gate ahead of a protest today.

“We’ve tried everything. They told us that military pressure would bring back the hostages … it didn’t happen,” said Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker.

“If the negotiations collapse, then my son Matan will collapse with them,” she said.

Plea to US: Yehuda Cohen — whose son, Nimrod, is believed to be alive — told reporters in Tel Aviv, “We appeal here to the American administration: Our children don’t have time for more rounds of negotiations.”

Around 90 food trucks were unloaded at Gaza aid crossings Friday, according to the Israeli agency that manages the flow of aid into the territory.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said on Saturday that over 100 trucks were also collected by the United Nations and other international organizations from the Gazan side of the border on Friday.

But aid agencies say the amount of food reaching Gaza’s population is a fraction of what is needed.

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) head Philippe Lazzarini said his agency has the equivalent of 6,000 trucks in Jordan and Egypt waiting for the green light to get into Gaza. He called on Israel to “lift the siege, open the gates and guarantee safe movements.”

The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that troops fired “warning shots” near aid trucks in northern Gaza, but added that it was not currently aware of any casualties.

Medics working in the territory have said six people were killed and more than 160 injured while waiting for aid in northern Gaza in two separate incidents Friday night and Saturday morning.

“IDF troops carried out warning shots to distance the crowd in the area, in response to an immediate threat posed to them,” it said.

“The IDF is not aware of any casualties as a result of IDF fire,” it added.

Late Friday, a statement on the official Telegram group for medical services in Gaza said medical crews had “recovered 133 injured people and six martyrs from those waiting for aid in the northern Gaza Strip.”

An additional 30 people were injured waiting for aid in northern Gaza on Saturday morning, the same organization said in a later post.

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Chaos and gunfire as Palestinians crowd aid trucks amid starvation crisis

00:47 • Source: CNN

Horn blaring, a truck swerves down a dusty road in northern Gaza at high speed, carrying a group of people clinging onto what appear to be white sacks of aid.

Moments later, one of the men is flung from the vehicle onto the ground — as another clings to the roof of the truck — shortly followed by the sound of gunfire.

The scene, captured in a social media video geolocated by CNN to the north-west of Gaza City, provides an insight into the chaotic state of aid distribution in the territory amid a deepening starvation crisis. CNN cannot confirm the exact nature of the incident nor the motives of the individuals approaching the vehicle.

In another video geolocated to the same area of northern Gaza, more gunfire rings out as a group of men surround and climb on top of the truck.

On Saturday, Al-Sharafi Brothers, a transport company in Gaza, issued a plea to Palestinians to avoid approaching aid trucks in “unsafe areas,” to protect their own safety and that of others.

It said that, due to instructions issued by Israel, aid truck drivers are unable to stop except in designated safe areas.

For context: The Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, created to replace the United Nations’ aid role in Gaza, has been criticized for failing to improve conditions as starvation spreads

Additionally, Israel has denied creating famine in Gaza and accused Hamas of “engineering” food shortages.

Returning to the topic of airdrops into Gaza now, after CNN’s earlier reporting on the UK’s plan to move forward with deliveries and criticism of the practice from aid agencies.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini has just described these aid airdrops as a “distraction & screensmoke” and pleaded with Israel to “open the gates” to trucks instead.

“Airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving civilians,” Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), posted on X.

Lazzarini added that UNRWA has the equivalent of 6,000 trucks in Jordan and Egypt waiting for the green light to enter Gaza via land borders, which he says is a much easier and effective way to get aid supplies into the besieged territory.

“Airdrops will not prevent aid diversion, principled humanitarian assistance will. It reaches those in need,” Lazzarini said.

Smoke billows following Israeli strikes in Gaza City on July 13.

A senior Hamas official said that the militant group is surprised by both the US decision not to continue ceasefire negotiations and statements from US officials blaming Hamas for the breakdown of the talks.

“We are surprised by the statements made by U.S. President Trump, and earlier by U.S. Special Envoy Mr. Witkoff, which contradict the assessment of the mediators regarding the movement’s position and do not align with the actual progress that had been made in the negotiations,” said Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas’ political bureau.

US negotiators withdrew from ceasefire talks this week after the US deemed Hamas was neither “coordinated” nor “acting in good faith.”

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, said he was looking into “alternative options” for getting the remaining hostages out of Gaza. There are still 50 hostages in Gaza, of whom Israel believes only 20 are still alive.

Al-Rishaq said that the mediators in the talks — Egypt and Qatar — had “expressed satisfaction and appreciation for our serious and constructive approach.”

Al-Rishaq also said Hamas had “emphasized reducing the depth of the buffer zones where the occupation remains during the 60-day period” that Witkoff had proposed for the ceasefire, during which Israeli hostages would be released, hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons would be released, and aid would flow.

The US must “play a genuine role in pressuring the occupation government to seriously engage in reaching an agreement that ends the aggression and leads to a prisoner exchange deal,” Al-Rishaq added.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks in London on July 10.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is pressing ahead with plans to air-drop aid into Gaza and evacuate injured children, his office said Saturday.

Starmer today spoke to his French and German counterparts, PA Media reported.

The move comes as Starmer faces growing pressure from within his own party to take stronger action over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and follow France in recognizing Palestinian statehood.

We’ve been reporting this morning on the desperate situation faced by people in Gaza, with a total of 127 now recorded since the conflict began as having died from starvation or malnutrition by Gaza’s health ministry.

According to the UN’s World Food Programme, nearly 100,000 women and children alone are suffering from severe acute malnutrition in the Gaza Strip.

CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta details the medical reality of these life-threatening conditions in the video below:

Dr. Sanjay Gupta details life-threatening hunger in Gaza

02:39 • Source: CNN

This bowl of plain rice was shared between two doctors during their 24-hour shift — their only meal that day.

Doctors in Gaza have been giving CNN first hand accounts of life inside hospitals in the Strip as the ongoing hunger crisis grips.

The testimonies have revealed the very people who are trying to keep the gravely malnourished population alive are suffering along with their patients.

One medic, Dr. Mohammad Saqer, is 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.

“My fellow doctors caught me before I collapsed and gave me IV fluids and (sugar). There was a foreign doctor who had a packet of Tango juice and prepared it for me. I drank it immediately,” Dr. Saqer told CNN. “I am not diabetic – this was hunger. There’s no sugar. There’s no food.”

Read more here.