The Times of Israel is liveblogging Monday’s events as they happen.
Zamir said proposing IDF tighten grip on Gaza as alternative to ‘humanitarian city’
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has drawn up plans for the military to further intensify operations against Hamas, according to a Channel 12 news report that quotes sources familiar with the proposal describing it as “the plan for taking over Gaza.”
The report says the plan is an alternative to the controversial “humanitarian city” in Rafah pushed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which Zamir opposes, and would be acted on if hostage talks collapse or in the case of a truce if no deal is reached to end the war following the 60-day ceasefire.
The proposal reportedly calls for the IDF to capture and hold much more territory in the Gaza Strip than it currently holds, with the military gradually taking more ground each day to show Hamas what it’s losing.
A separate report by the Israel Hayom daily stresses the plan would see the military encircle most parts of Gaza, not take over the entire enclave.
The newspaper also reports that Netanyahu has prevented Zamir from presenting the proposal to the security cabinet and blocked a smaller group of ministers whom the IDF chief briefed from deliberating it.
UN agency: Israeli evacuation order in central Gaza ‘devastating’ to aid efforts
An Israeli military order for residents and displaced people in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah area to move south dealt “another devastating blow” to humanitarian efforts in the war-ravaged territory, the UN’s OCHA aid agency says.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs “warns that today’s mass displacement order issued by the Israeli military has dealt yet another devastating blow to the already fragile lifelines keeping people alive across the Gaza Strip,” it says in a statement.
On Sunday morning, the Israeli military ordered those in the central Gaza area to leave immediately due to imminent operations, with whole families seen lugging their few belongings and heading south.
OCHA says UN staff are “remaining” in the territory and their coordinates have been shared with “relevant parties.”
“These locations — as with all civilian sites — must be protected, regardless of displacement orders,” OCHA says, warning that any damage to health clinics, water infrastructure, and aid warehouses in the area “will have life-threatening consequences.”
Between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area when the evacuation order was issued, according to OCHA’s initial estimates.
Amid scrutiny, IDF releases video showing troops holding fire as Gazans collect aid nearby
Amid daily reports of deadly Israeli fire near aid distribution sites in the Gaza Strip, the IDF publishes a video showing troops standing meters from Palestinians collecting food this afternoon while commanders instruct soldiers not to open fire.
“Do not open fire, nobody opens fire,” officers are heard shouting in the video published by Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson.
The video shows Palestinians collecting aid from a truck and clapping and cheering, apparently at the Israeli troops.
“Not a single shot was fired. The order was clear: do not open fire. And the Palestinians’ reaction? It wasn’t fear… it was hope. Civilians began welcoming and cheering our soldiers,” Adraee says.
“Those who have lived under Hamas’ lies know that our soldiers and our presence are a source of hope. No starvation, no deliberate killing, no targeting of those waiting for aid on purpose,” he says.
“There is Hamas propaganda with hollow media mouthpieces promoting lies to try to salvage what remains of defeated Hamas,” Adraee adds.
#خاص هكذا سقطت جميع أكاذيب حماس
في مشهد يهزّ القلب من ظهر اليوم،
جنود جيش الدفاع يقفون بثبات…
وعلى بُعد أمتار – اعداد من سكان غزة يتسلمون المساعدات الإنسانية التي دخلت قطاع غزة.لم تُطلق رصاصة.
القرار كان واضحًا: لا تطلقوا النار
اما ردة فعل الفلسطينيين؟ لم تكن خوفًا… بل… pic.twitter.com/HQQPK7t0Tw— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) July 20, 2025
The release of the video comes after dozens of Palestinians near aid distribution sites in Gaza were reportedly shot dead on Sunday, including an incident in the north of the enclave in which Hamas health authorities reported nearly 80 people were killed.
Responding to reports that some witnesses said Israeli troops shot at the crowd, the IDF acknowledged firing “warning shots to remove an immediate threat posed to the troops” in northern Gaza, but denied the steep death toll, insisting that the “reported number of casualties does not align with the existing information.”
Iran announces nuclear talks with European powers in Istanbul on Friday
Iran, Britain, France and Germany will hold nuclear talks in Istanbul on Friday, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson says early on Monday, following warnings by the three European countries that failure to resume negotiations will lead to international sanctions being reimposed on Iran.
“The meeting between Iran, Britain, France and Germany will take place at the deputy foreign minister level,” Esmaeil Baghaei is quoted by Iranian state media as saying.
The talks scheduled for Friday come after foreign ministers of the E3 nations, as those European countries are known, as well as the European Union’s foreign policy chief, held their first call on Thursday with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi since Israel and the US attacked Iranian nuclear facilities a month ago.
The three European countries, along with China and Russia, are the remaining parties to a 2015 nuclear deal reached with Iran — from which the United States withdrew in 2018 — that lifted sanctions on the Middle Eastern country in return for restrictions on its nuclear program.
The E3 have said they would restore UN sanctions on Tehran via the “snapback mechanism” by the end of August if nuclear talks that were ongoing between Iran and the US before the Israel-Iran air war do not resume or fail to produce concrete results.
“If EU/E3 want to have a role, they should act responsibly, and put aside the worn-out policies of threat and pressure, including the ‘snap-back’ for which they lack absolutely [any] moral and legal ground,” Araqchi said earlier in the week.
The snapback mechanism can be used to restore UN sanctions before the UN Security Council resolution enshrining the deal expires on October 18.