By Middle East Correspondent
London, (The Muslim News): Two Palestinians were killed on Wednesday in fresh Israeli drone strike on the Gaza Strip, despite a ceasefire that has been in force since October 2025, according to Palestinian medical officials.
Mohammed Naim Jundiya was killed after an Israeli drone strike targeted him near the Municipal Park on Omar al-Mukhtar Street in central Gaza City.
Witnesses said Jundiya was walking along one of Gaza City’s main roads when the drone struck, damaging several nearby vehicles.
In a separate attack, another Palestinian was killed and two others were critically wounded after a drone targeted a gathering of civilians in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, north of Gaza City, the same medical source said.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israeli violations of the ceasefire had killed 1,053 Palestinians and wounded 3,406 others as of Tuesday.
The ministry added that more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 173,000 injured since the war began on October 8, 2023, while around 90 per cent of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has been destroyed.
Israeli opposition attacks Netanyahu over Iran claims
The developments came as two senior Israeli opposition figures accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of misleading the public over Iran’s nuclear programme.
According to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, former Israeli army chief and opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot said Netanyahu falsely claimed Iran already possessed nuclear weapons.
“Netanyahu said repugnant things. Iran had no nuclear bombs whatsoever. He is fabricating reality to frighten the Israeli public,” Eisenkot reportedly said during a conference in central Israel.
His remarks marked one of the strongest public criticisms yet from within Israel’s political establishment over the government’s messaging on Iran.
US secures Jerusalem embassy site for $1
Meanwhile, Israel and the United States signed a 99-year lease agreement allowing Washington to build a permanent US Embassy compound in Jerusalem on land that rights groups say once belonged to Palestinian families.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and US Ambassador Mike Huckabee signed the agreement alongside Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion.
Under the deal, the United States will lease the land for just $1.
“The lease agreement for the land is for 99 years and the United States will pay Israel the sum of $1,” Huckabee said.
The US moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018 after then-President Donald Trump recognised the city as Israel’s capital in December 2017, prompting widespread international criticism.
Israeli rights organisation Adalah has previously said the embassy site was confiscated under Israel’s 1950 Absentees’ Property Law.
The group says archival records show the land belonged to Palestinian families before 1948 and argues the confiscation breaches Article 46 of the Hague Regulations, which prohibits the seizure of private property.
The United Nations considers East Jerusalem occupied Palestinian territory and maintains that unilateral measures altering the city’s status have no legal validity under international law.
Most countries continue to keep their embassies in Tel Aviv in line with the longstanding international position on Jerusalem’s disputed status.
Israeli settlers raise flags inside Area A
Elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, illegal Israeli settlers raised Israeli flags near Palestinian homes inside Area A of Beit Imrin village, northwest of Nablus, in what local officials described as an attempt to establish a new settlement outpost.
Akram al-Faqih, head of the village council, said three settlers entered the northern edge of the village and mounted Israeli flags on electricity poles close to residents’ homes.
He warned that a pastoral settlement outpost had recently been established nearby and claimed settlers had repeatedly entered land close to Palestinian communities.
“This is an attempt to target the area and establish a new settlement outpost,” Faqih said.
He accused settlers of attacking homes and vehicles, stealing livestock, and attempting to force Palestinians away from the village outskirts.
According to the Israeli anti-settlement organisation Peace Now, around 500,000 Israeli settlers now live in the occupied West Bank, while a further 250,000 live in settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.
Earlier this week, Israel Hayom reported plans to establish control over around 100 locations inside Area A, which under the 1995 Oslo II agreement falls under full Palestinian civil and security control.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has also said his government has established 160 pastoral settlement outposts and approved more than 100 new settlements.
The international community regards Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory as illegal under international law, a position rejected by successive Israeli governments.
Israel expands military presence in southern Lebanon
In southern Lebanon, the Israeli army established new checkpoints between the so-called “yellow zone” and border areas while continuing its military occupation inside Lebanese territory, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.
The agency reported that Israeli forces also bulldozed roads linking Hamoul with Naqoura and Aita al-Shaab, felled trees and demolished several homes in the Beit Yahoun-Hadatha area and the town of Tiri.
The latest developments came just hours after Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz toured Israeli-held positions in southern Lebanon.
Israel has maintained control of parts of southern Lebanon for years and expanded its presence during its latest military campaign.
On June 26, Lebanon and Israel signed a US-brokered framework agreement providing for a phased Israeli withdrawal from parts of Lebanese territory.
However, the agreement contains no fixed timetable, instead linking withdrawals to the Lebanese army assuming security control and the disarmament of armed groups, particularly Hezbollah.
Netanyahu has since pledged to occupy what he described as a “security zone” in southern Lebanon.
According to Lebanese figures, Israel’s offensive since March 2, 2026, has killed 4,278 people, injured 12,196 and displaced more than one million others.
[Photo: Relatives of the three Palestinians, including 9-year-old Tariq Sabah and his uncle Omar Sabah, who were killed by Israeli attack on the tents of displaced Palestinians in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis despite the ceasefire, mourn during the funeral ceremony in front of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza, Palestine, on July 1, 2026.
Photojournalist: Abed Rahim Khatib/AA]
