TRANSCRIPT
As Israel once again orders the evacuation of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the city of Khan Younis, Hamas is urging mediators to present a ceasefire plan based on previous talks instead of embarking on new negotiations.
The United Nations says Israel has forcibly evacuated around 75,000 Palestinian people from Khan Younis in recent days as it again expands operations into the region.
Many displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis are being forced to flee in the dark, with evacuation instructions covering districts in the centre, east and west, making it one of the largest such orders since October.
Among the displaced people is Umm Ra'fat al-Mghaiar. She says there's nowhere left to go.
"Where do I go? I don't know where to go, I'm sitting here, I don't know where to go because there is no place. All the places are crowded, there is no place to go and here we are sitting, waiting for God's relief. We have not taken out our belongings yet. The building collapsed on our belongings."
Despite repeated offensives on Khan Younis, Israel says it is still targeting Hamas militants in the area.
The order follows a series of strikes on schools in Gaza, in which Israel has so far killed at least 90 people and injured scores more.
Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh has condemned the attacks.
"I am Expressing clear and explicit condemnation of the brutal Israeli aggression that took place on the Al-Tabeen School in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza. This aggression constitutes an additional crime that is added to the record of shame in the series of crimes, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and gross violations that the Israeli authorities and the Israeli occupation army have been practising, and continue to practice in Gaza and the West Bank, in clear violation of the rules of international law and international humanitarian law."
Many of the schools struck were being used by displaced Palestinians as makeshift shelters, with over 50 per cent of the buildings in Gaza reduced to rubble by Israeli attacks.
According to the United Nations, 477 out of 564 school buildings in Gaza had been directly hit or damaged as of July 6, with more than a dozen targeted since.
The repeated attacks on civilians sheltering in schools has renewed calls for the United States to end its support for Israel.
When asked about the tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians killed, Vice President Kamala Harris has repeated the United State's support of Israel's right to self defence.
HARRIS: "You know, yet again, there are far too many civilians who have been killed. I mean, Israel has a right to go after the terrorists that are Hamas. But as I have said many, many times, they also have, I believe, an important responsibility to avoid civilian casualties."
REPORTER: "Madam Vice President, you've been saying that since October 7th, and that has been the administration's policy for many, many months now as tens of thousands of civilians have been killed. I mean, there are people who are asking for limitations on arms to Israel, any kind of change. What do you say to those folks who are looking for more than we should look out for civilians?"
HARRIS: "Well, look first and foremost, and the President and I have been working on this around the clock. We need to get the hostages out. We need a hostage deal, and we need a ceasefire. And I can't stress that strongly enough."
Meanwhile, Hamas is calling on Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators to implement the ceasefire plan put forward by Joe Biden.
With another round of negotiations scheduled for Thursday, Hamas says it wants the deal implemented as soon as possible.
The renewed negotiations were proposed last week by mediators who say there is no more time to waste.
The ceasefire deal was proposed by US President Joe Biden in May and included a three phase plan.
In an interview with CBS, Joe Biden says the deal is still viable.
"The plan I put together, endorsed by the G7 endorsed by the UN Security Council centre, is still viable, and I'm working literally every single day to and my whole team to see to it that it doesn't escalate into a regional war, but it easily can."
The European Union's Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell has called on the EU bloc to impose more sanctions on Israel after he says Israeli ministers made comments inciting war crimes.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for cutting off all fuel and aid to the enclave and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said starving children in Gaza would be “justified and moral”.
United Nations Human Rights spokesman Jeremy Laurence says the comments are unacceptable.
"The high commissioner is shocked and appalled by the words of Minister Smotrich, according to whom, letting two million Palestinians in Gaza starved to death could be justified and moral in order to free hostages. He condemns these words in the strongest terms, which also incite hatred against innocent civilians. The starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime."
