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Gaza residents will be provided with tents and other shelter equipment starting from Sunday ahead of relocating them from combat zones to the south of the enclave "to ensure their safety," the Israeli military said on Saturday, Reuters reported.

This comes days after Israel said it intended to launch a new offensive to seize control of northern Gaza City, the enclave's largest urban centre, in a plan that raised international alarm over the fate of the demolished strip, home to about 2.2 million people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Sunday said that before launching the offensive, the civilian population will be evacuated to what he described as "safe zones" from Gaza City, which he called Hamas' last stronghold.

The shelter equipment will be transferred via the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza by the United Nations and other international relief organisations after being inspected by defence ministry personnel, the military said, according to Reuters.

Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said he will approve plans to build more than 3,000 homes in a controversial settlement project in the occupied West Bank - a move he said will prevent the creation of a Palestinian state, Associated Press reported.

The so-called E1 project between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim settlement has been frozen for decades amid fierce opposition internationally. Building there would effectively cut off the West Bank from occupied East Jerusalem and significantly obstruct its territorial contiguity. 

"The plan will bury the idea of a Palestinian state," Smotrich said, according to Israeli media.

Settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this, according to Associated Press.

Israeli gunfire killed at least 25 people seeking aid in Gaza on Wednesday, health officials and witnesses said, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again called for what he refers to as the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the war-ravaged territory, Associated Press reported.

Netanyahu wants to realize U.S. President Donald Trump’s vision of relocating much of Gaza’s population of over 2 million people through what he refers to as “voluntary migration” — and what critics have warned could be ethnic cleansing, according to Associated Press.

“Give them the opportunity to leave! First, from combat zones, and also from the strip if they want,” Netanyahu said in an interview aired Tuesday with Israeli TV station i24 to discuss the planned offensive in areas that include Gaza City, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people shelter. “We are not pushing them out but allowing them to leave.”

Israel will allow gradual and controlled entry of goods to Gaza through local merchants, COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

"This aims to increase the volume of aid entering the Gaza Strip, while reducing reliance on aid collection by the U.N. and international organisations," the agency said.

On Sunday, Hamas said it was prepared to coordinate with the Red Cross to deliver aid to hostages it holds in Gaza, if Israel meets certain conditions, after a video it released showing an emaciated captive drew sharp criticism from Western powers, according to Reuters.

Canada said on Monday it delivered humanitarian assistance through airdrops to Gaza, which has been under a devastating Israeli military assault for almost 22 months, with Ottawa again accusing Israel of violating international law, Reuters reported.

"The (Canadian Armed Forces) employed a CC-130J Hercules aircraft to conduct an airdrop of critical humanitarian aid in support of Global Affairs Canada into the Gaza Strip. The air drop consisted of 21,600 pounds of aid," the Canadian government said in a statement.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that it was Canadian Armed Forces' first humanitarian airdrop over Gaza using their own aircraft, according to Reuters.

Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet this week to decide on Israel's next steps in Gaza following the collapse of indirect ceasefire talks with Hamas, with one senior Israeli source suggesting more force could be an option, Reuters reported.

Last Saturday, during a visit to the country, U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had said he was working with the Israeli government on a plan that would effectively end the war in Gaza.

But Israeli officials have also floated ideas including expanding the military offensive in Gaza and annexing parts of the shattered enclave, according to Reuters.

A group of some 600 retired Israeli security officials, including former heads of intelligence agencies, have written to US President Donald Trump to pressure Israel to immediately end the war in Gaza, BBC reported.

"It is our professional judgement that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel," the officials said. 

"Your credibility with the vast majority of Israelis augments your ability to steer Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and his government in the right direction: End the war, return the hostages, stop the suffering," they wrote, according to BBC.

Israeli gunfire killed at least 30 Palestinianswaiting for humanitarian aid in northern Gaza on Wednesday, according to the Hamas-run civil defence agency, BBC reported.

A Gaza civil defence spokesperson told the AFP news agency that Israeli fire wounded around 300 more people. Israel said details of the incident "are still being examined".

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said they fired "warning shots" after Gazans gathered around aid trucks 3km southwest of the Zikim crossing, but they were "not aware of any casualties" from IDF gunfire.

Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said his facility had received 35 bodies following the incident, according to AFP.

The Israeli military announced on Sunday a daily pause of its operations in parts of Gaza and the establishment of new aid corridors, after months of international pressure over a worsening hunger crisis spreading in the Palestinian enclave, Reuters reported.

The military said it would cease activity in Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice, areas where it had not renewed ground operations since March, when it resumed its Gaza offensive.

Designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place permanently from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m., the military said.

The Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on Sunday that aid started moving towards Gaza from Egypt. Hours earlier Israel began aid airdrops in what it described as an effort to ease the humanitarian conditions in the enclave, according to Reuters.

Pro-Palestinian group Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) says Israeli troops have boarded a boat that was trying to bring food aid to the Gaza Strip by sea, BBC reported.

It said the Handala vessel was intercepted in international waters. 

Video footage purportedly showed activists on board with their hands up as several armed soldiers took control of the vessel.

The Israeli foreign ministry said the country's navy stopped the boat "from illegally entering the maritime zone of the coast of Gaza" and breaking the blockade there, according to BBC.

Israel's military says it has "recently" made an airdrop of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, following weeks of international pressure and a growing hunger crisis in the Palestinian territory, BBC reported.

In a statement early on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the airdrop "included seven packages of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food". 

Israel earlier said it was prepared to open humanitarian corridors to allow UN convoys into Gaza. 

This came amid calls for Israel to let more aid into Gaza and amid warnings of mass starvation following months of limited supply to the territory's two million people. Israel denied what it called "the false claim of deliberate starvation" in Gaza, according to BBC.

Nepal took part in the “Unistream Social Innovation Delegation 2025” in Israel.

Umesh Jang Rai, team leader for Biomedical Engineering Research and Innovation at the National Innovation Center (NIC), Kirtipur, Kathmandu, represented Nepal in the Delegation hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel on July 19.

In 2022, the Embassy of Israel had established a Research & Development Hub and a full-fledged Israeli-styled high-tech classroom at the NIC to foster innovation, collaboration, and digital learning in Nepal.

The Delegation brings together emerging talented individuals in the field of innovation from around the world, including participants from Nepal, South Korea, India, Serbia, and other nations, for a week-long immersion into Israel’s vibrant social innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, reads a statement issued by the Embassy of Israel in Kathmandu.

Participants of the delegation have been engaging in a diverse schedule of professional visits, insightful meetings and networking opportunities with key figures of Israel’s innovation initiatives.

The itinerary highlights a visit to the Israeli NGO- Save A Child’s Heart, the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, the Unit 8200 Accelerator, and the Sderot Medical Center.

Delegates will also attend the Unistream Competition at Expo Tel Aviv.

Besides, they will visit Kibbutzim KFAR AZA- one of the sites of Hamas October 7 attack and meet with a survivor of the attack.

Additional engagements feature meetings with prominent Israeli Innovators, visit to Technion University, DruzeTech and the Druze community.

Participants will further explore various leading social techs such as Hilma, Shalva National Center, and the PICO Kids. The experience will be complemented by cultural visits to the historic Old City of Jerusalem and Jaffa by the Mediterranean Sea, offering participants a broader understanding of Israel’s cultural and social landscape, according to the statement.

The visit builds upon the growing collaboration between Nepal and Israel.

Just days prior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel hosted a high-level 14-member delegation from Nepal, from July 12-18, 2025, in conjunction with Muni Expo 2025, the flagship annual event of the Federation of Local Governments of Israel.

The event will conclude on July 24.

At least 32 Palestinians seeking food have been killed by Israeli gunfire near two aid distribution points close to Khan Younis and Rafah in southern Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, BBC reported.

Dozens were also injured near the two sites run by the controversial US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), it said.

The GHF said there were no incidents "at or near" their sites, but that there had been "Israel Defense Forces (IDF) activity" hours before their sites were due to open, according to BBC.

One eyewitness told the Reuters news agency that the Israeli gunfire seemed "targeted to kill".

Syrian government officials and leaders in the Druze religious minority announced a renewed ceasefire Wednesday after days of clashes that have threatened to unravel the country’s postwar political transition and drawn military intervention by powerful neighbor Israel, Associated Press reported.

Convoys of government forces began withdrawing from the city of Sweida, but it was not immediately clear if the agreement, announced by Syria’s Interior Ministry and in a video message by a Druze religious leader, would hold. A previous ceasefire announced Tuesday quickly fell apart, and a prominent Druze leader, Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, disavowed the new agreement.

Israeli strikes continued after the ceasefire announcement, according to Associated Press.

Malnutrition rates among children in the Gaza Strip have doubled since Israel sharply restricted the entry of food in March, the U.N. said Tuesday. New Israeli strikes killed more than 90 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children, according to health officials, Associated Press reported.

Hunger has been rising among Gaza’s more than 2 million Palestinians since Israel broke a ceasefire in March to resume the war and banned all food and other supplies from entering Gaza, saying it aimed to pressure Hamas to release hostages. It slightly eased the blockade in late May, allowing in a trickle of aid.

UNRWA, the main U.N. agency caring for Palestinians in Gaza, said it had screened nearly 16,000 children under age 5 at its clinics in June and found 10.2% of them were acutely malnourished. By comparison, in March, 5.5% of the nearly 15,000 children it screened were malnourished, according to Associated Press.

A 14-member high-level Nepali delegation is on an official visit to Israel from July 12-18 to participate in Muni Expo 2025, the flagship annual event of the Federation of Local Governments of Israel. The event will be held from July 15-17.

This is the first time such a delegation- comprising senior officials responsible for policy and planning from Nepal’s Ministry of Urban Development, the National Planning Commission, as well as mayors from various municipalities, will participate in a focused program on municipal innovation and urban resilience, reads a statement issued by the Embassy of Israel.

Muni Expo, Israel’s largest and most significant event of its kind, brings together mayors, municipal leaders and policy makers from around the globe. This year’s theme, “Local Compass,” will explore key issues such as crisis response, local-national coordination, and combating anti-semitism.

Delegates will interact with over 150 Israeli and international companies and startups, gain insights into innovative and groundbreaking municipal projects, and build global partnerships.

In addition to attending the Muni Expo, the Nepali delegation will visit several key sites and institutions including Jerusalem, Tel Aviv- Jaffa, Yad Vashem- The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Shafdan Wastewater Treatment Facility, Municipal Innovation Center, and the Police Station in Sderot, according to the statement.

These visits aim to provide first-hand exposure to Israel’s advanced urban management technologies and innovative infrastructure solutions.

The delegation will also visit the Nova festival site on October 7, 2023 where the Hamas terrorist group carried out a brutal attack killing hundreds of innocent people. Hamas terrorists also murdered 10 Nepali nationals on the same day in Kibbutz Alumim. Hamas and other terror groups still hold 50 hostages, among them Bipin Joshi, said the press release.

The visit marks a significant step in growing cooperation between Nepal and Israel in the fields of sustainable urban development, capacity building, and knowledge exchange at the municipal and national levels.

The Embassy of Israel believes that there will be continued collaborations in a wide range of sectors, bringing mutual benefits to both the countries.