Israel's army chief, Herzi Halevi, promised today that he would "find" the new leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinvar, and eliminate him.
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US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said today that newly elected Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has the power to secure a cease-fire agreement in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The Palestinian Health Service in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip said eight people were killed in two Israeli airstrikes today.
A house in a refugee camp in the west of that city and tents for displaced people east of Khan Yunis were hit.
According to Palestinian data, the total number of dead in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has risen to 39.677, and the number of wounded to 91.645, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
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Little is known about Sinvar. He was born in 1962 in Gaza. He became a member of Hamas in 1987, immediately after the founding of that group. He was arrested by the Israelis in 1988 and sentenced to four life sentences for allegedly single-handedly killing two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinian collaborators. He has been one of the most wanted members of Hamas in Israel for years and is at the very top of the "kill list"
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The United States of America (USA) will not tolerate attacks on its soldiers in the Middle East, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
He said this while commenting on the attack on the Al Asad military base in Iraq, in which several American soldiers were injured on Monday.
Austin and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken held a joint press conference after meeting with their Australian counterparts in Annapolis.
Austin said that they are closely following the latest developments in the Middle East and, as Anadolia reports, they are sensitive to the issue of ensuring the security of both Israel and American soldiers.
"Without a doubt, the US will not tolerate attacks on our soldiers serving in the region," Austin said.
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An Israeli army spokesman announced evacuation orders for several districts in Beit Hanun and Beit Lahia, two now largely destroyed towns that Israeli tanks entered at the start of Israel's ground invasion.
"Hamas and terrorist organizations are firing rockets from your area towards the State of Israel. The Israeli army will act strongly and immediately against them," he said in a message sent via SMS or social media to Palestinian residents.
"For your safety, evacuate immediately to known shelters in the center of Gaza City," the message added.
In the nearby Gaza City neighborhood of Al-Tufa, an Israeli airstrike on a house killed three Palestinians, health officials said, the Guardian reports.
War-weary Gazans have expressed concern after Hamas appointed Yahya Sinwar as its new leader, fearing that his past as the movement's military commander could hamper the truce efforts they desire, the Guardian reports.
"We don't know how Hamas thinks or what made them choose Yahya Sinwar as their leader, especially when his whereabouts are unknown," 29-year-old Mohamad Al Sharif told AFP in the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah.
"He is a fighter. How will the negotiations go?" asked a displaced man originally from Gaza City, adding: "We want nothing but an end to the war."
Ibrahim Abu Daka (35) expressed disappointment at the choice of Sinvar to succeed Haniyeh, who was considered by some to be a pragmatist.
"In my opinion, the appointment of Yahya Sinwar as the leader of Hamas was not appropriate at this critical stage," he told AFP.
US Ambassador to Japan Ram Emanuel will not attend the commemoration of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9 because the Israeli ambassador was not invited.
In today's statement from the US Embassy, it is stated that Ambassador Emanuel will not attend the ceremony on Friday because the event was "politicized" by the decision of the Nagasaki authorities not to invite a representative of Israel.
Instead, he will honor the victims of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in a ceremony at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo, the statement added.
The atomic bomb dropped by the US on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 destroyed the city, killing 140.000 people. A second bomb dropped three days later on August 9 on Nagasaki killed another 70.000 people. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, ending World War II. On the other hand, the organizers in Hiroshima invited the Israeli ambassador to attend the ceremony on August 6, which was attended by 50.000 people, including Ram Emanuel and other delegates, while the Palestinian representatives were not invited.
Nagasaki government officials said they had been told that an official from the US consulate in Fukuoka would represent the US at Friday's ceremony. Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom and the European Union are also expected to send low-level envoys to Nagasaki.
Envoys from those countries signed a joint letter expressing mutual concern over Israel's exclusion, calling on Nagasaki to reverse the decision and invite Israel to the ceremony, saying that treating the country on the same level as Russia and Belarus, the only other countries not invited, would deeply wrong.
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More than 39.677 Palestinians have been killed and 91.645 injured in the Israeli military offensive in Gaza since October 7, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Israel's military has issued new evacuation orders for an area in northern Gaza that was heavily bombed at the start of the war about 10 months ago, the Guardian reports.
The army said it would respond to a Hamas rocket attack from the Beit Hanun area a day earlier and called on residents to move to Gaza City, much of which has already been destroyed.
Beit Hanoun, which is close to the border, was one of the first targets of a massive bombardment and ground invasion launched after the October 7 attack by Hamas that sparked the war.
Israeli forces repeatedly returned to areas where past air and ground operations had caused widespread destruction, as militants regrouped. The vast majority of Gaza's 2,3 million people have been displaced within the narrow coastal strip since the war began - often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands of people sought shelter in overcrowded tent camps.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told reporters on Tuesday that it was up to Yahya Sinwar, the new head of Hamas's political bureau, to help broker a truce because he "was and remains the main decision-maker," the Guardian reports.
The US sent additional warships and fighter jets to the region in support of Israel, and President Joe Biden called on Jordan's King Abdullah II, whose country helped shoot down Iranian drones and missiles in an attack on Israel in April.
This was followed by a call to Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and another to Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El Sisi, whose countries are key mediators seeking a truce in the ten-month war in Gaza.
Blinken also spoke with senior officials in Qatar and Egypt.
"We are engaged in intense diplomacy, almost non-stop, with a very simple message - all sides must refrain from escalating," Blinken said after joining other senior officials at the White House meeting.
Turkey will today join South Africa's lawsuit against Israel for the genocide in Gaza before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
"Turkey's intervention is pushing the international community to recognize and respond to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza," a Reuters source said.
Turkey announced in May that it would join the case brought by South Africa as it stepped up measures against Israel over the Gaza attack, adding that its application would follow the necessary legal preparations.
Israel has repeatedly dismissed the case's allegations of genocide as baseless, arguing in court that its operations in Gaza are self-defense and aimed at Hamas militants who attacked Israel on October 7.
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