IDF gunfire kills 30 Palestinians waiting for aid, Gaza defence ministry says, as US special envoy due to visit Israel

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East crisis.

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

Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that “at least 30” people were killed and 300 wounded.

The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of casualties in the incident north of Gaza City, as the United Nations said that pauses in Israel’s offensive against Hamas were not enough to help the population through a deepening hunger crisis.

The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, said that four days into Israel’s “tactical pauses”, people were still dying from hunger and malnutrition, alongside casualties among those seeking aid.

Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said his facility had received 35 bodies from the shooting, which reportedly struck about three kilometres (two miles) southwest of the Zikim crossing point for aid trucks entering Gaza.

Amid deadlocked talks on a ceasefire, US special envoy Steve Witkoff is scheduled to visit Israel on Thursday.

Witkoff has been involved in indirect ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas. The discussions broke down last week when Israel and the US recalled their delegations from Doha.

A US official told reporters that Witkoff “will meet with officials to discuss next steps in addressing the situation in Gaza.”

His visit comes as Canada followed France and the UK when it announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.

Updated at 03.09 EDT

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Syrian foreign minister says he wants Russia ‘by our side’Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani (left) and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov (right) in Moscow, Russia on Thursday 31 July 2025. Photograph: Shamil Zhumatov/AP

Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani said his country wants Russia “by our side” and called for “mutual respect” between the two nations following the overthrow of Syria’s previous Moscow-backed government last year, AFP reports.

“The current period is full of various challenges and threats, but it is also an opportunity to build a united and strong Syria. And, of course, we are interested in having Russia by our side on this path,” he told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during a visit to Moscow, according to a Russian translation of his comments.

ShareSweden calls on EU to suspend trade pact with IsraelSwedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson earlier this year. Photograph: dts News Agency Germany/REX/Shutterstock

Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, urged the European Union to suspend the trade component of the bloc’s association agreement with Israel.

In a post on social media, he said:

The situation in Gaza is utterly deplorable, and Israel is not fulfilling its most basic obligations and agreed-upon commitments regarding humanitarian aid.

Sweden therefore demands that the EU, as soon as possible, freezes the trade component of the association agreement. Economic pressure on Israel must increase. The Israeli government must allow unrestricted humanitarian aid in Gaza.

At the same time, pressure on Hamas must increase so that the hostages are released immediately and unconditionally.

Sweden welcomes the fact that more countries in the Middle East are demanding that Hamas be disarmed and not have a role in the future governance of Gaza.

You can follow developments in Europe over on our Europe Live with Jakub Krupa here.

AFP is reporting more on Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s speech (see earlier post).

In a speech to mark Army Day Aoun said Lebanon was at “a crucial stage that does not tolerate any sort of provocation from any side”.

“For the thousandth time, I assure you that my concern in having a (state) weapons monopoly comes from my concern to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty and borders, to liberate the occupied Lebanese territories and build a state that welcomes all its citizens”, he said, addressing Hezbollah’s supporters as an “essential pillar” of society.

Israeli media are reporting that US special envoy Steve Witkoff will visit US-Israeli-backed GHF aid sites in Gaza during his trip to Israel.

It comes as at least 30 people were killed waiting for aid in northern Gaza on Wednesday.

We have more from Lebanese President Joseph Aoun (see earlier post).

He said his country was determined to disarm Hezbollah, a day after the group’s chief said those demanding its disarmament were serving Israeli goals.

Beirut is demanding “the extension of the Lebanese state’s authority over all its territory, the removal of weapons from all armed groups including Hezbollah and their handover to the Lebanese army”, Aoun said in a speech to mark Army Day, AFP reports.

In The Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast Surgeon Nick Maynard describes the unfolding famine he witnessed during his volunteering in Gaza, while our chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison, analyses whether the UK’s proposed recognition of Palestine will alleviate the suffering there.

You can listen to this here:

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said on Thursday that Lebanese political parties need to seize the opportunity and hand over their weapons sooner rather than later, as Washington increases pressure on Hezbollah to give up its arms.

He added that the country would seek $1 billion annually for 10 years to support the army and security forces in Lebanon, Reuters reports.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. Photograph: ReutersShare

Iran on Thursday described as “malicious” fresh US sanctions targeting a shipping empire controlled by the son of a top political advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, AFP reports.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei called “the new US sanctions against Iran’s oil trade a malicious act aimed at undermining the economic development and welfare of the Iranian people”.

Here are some images coming to us over the wires.

Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen in Nuseirat. Photograph: Hatem Khaled/ReutersA Palestinian man displays the contents of humanitarian aid packages after they were airdropped into Zawaida, in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. Photograph: Abdel Kareem Hana/APIsraeli right-wing activists watch the northern Gaza Strip during a rally calling for the re-establishment of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, near the border in southern Israel on 30 July. Photograph: Ohad Zwigenberg/APShare

Updated at 03.15 EDT