Hamas says it’s ready to cooperate with requests from the Red Cross to deliver food to Israeli hostages in Gaza. It comes as footage of an emaciated Israeli hostage released by Hamas sparked international outcry. Follow the latest below.
Sunday 3 August 2025 22:50, UK
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Thanks for following our live coverage of the war in Gaza.
We’ll be back tomorrow with all the latest updates, but until then, here’s a rundown of the key stories from the last 24 hours:
A senior member of Hamas’s political bureau says the wave of Western nations moving to recognise a Palestinian state is the “overall outcome” of the group’s October 7 terror attack on Israel.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Ghazi Hamad said the deadly attack, which saw Hamas and other militant groups kill over 1,200 people and take hostages back to Gaza, “forced the world to open its eyes to the Palestinian cause”.
He added: “Why are all these countries recognising Palestine now? Had any country dared to recognise the state of Palestine prior to October 7?”
France, the UK and Canada have all recently announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly next month.
The Israeli government has rejected the calls, describing them as tantamount to rewarding terrorism.
Plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr Waseem Saeed had told Sky News that the plans to bring injured Gaza children to the UK for treatment are a “mere drop in the ocean”.
Under the scheme, reportedly set to be announced within weeks, up to 300 children could arrive in the UK from Gaza.
Dr Saeed says he’s received updates from doctors at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza showing children with burn injuries left on the floor as “they’ve completely run out of beds”.
He says “every part” of the medical infrastructure in Gaza has been “dismantled and is deficient”.
“Until that’s addressed, while this is welcome, it’s not going to have a serious impact on the carnage that is occurring at the moment.”
Data shared exclusively with Sky News by Gaza’s health ministry allows us, for the first time, to show the date of every death since the war began.
Across almost two years of war, 17 days stand out as the deadliest – those when more than 450 people died.
Women and children made up a much higher share of deaths on these days than on others.
Looking further into the data, we found out why – a pattern of strikes on family homes.
Almost half of all people killed on these days (44%) died alongside a family member, compared with less than a third (30%) on other days.
Strikes on families reached their peak on 18 March, accounting for almost two-thirds of all deaths.
The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas, but most of those killed were women and children.
In order to understand how those strikes led to so many civilian casualties, Sky News analysed all 465 deaths recorded that day by Gaza’s health ministry.
Iran has joined Jordan and Saudi Arabia in its outrage after Israel’s far-right security minister violated a long-standing agreement by praying at one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East.
Itamar Ben-Gvir conducted a Jewish prayer at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem this morning, breaking a long-time arrangement between Israel and the Arab world.
Jews are forbidden from prayer at the east Jerusalem site under a “status quo” agreement made between Israel and Jordan in 1967.
Jordan condemned Ben-Gvir’s prayer as “an unacceptable provocation, and a reprehensible escalation”.
This evening, Iran’s foreign ministry says Ben-Gvir “desecrated” the holy site, claiming the far-right Israeli minister was seeking to “alter the Islamic and historical identity of Holy Jerusalem” and escalate tensions in Gaza.
The United Nations Security Council will hold a special discussion on the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza on Tuesday morning.
It follows a request by Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar, according to his office.
Sa’ar pushed for the discussion after videos of hostages Evyatar David and Rom Braslavski appearing emaciated were released by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
There are 50 hostages still believed to be in Gaza, of whom Israeli believes 27 are dead. Benjamin Netanyahu has said there are “doubts” about the fate of several more.
Efforts to bring Gazan children to the UK for urgent medical treatment are set to be accelerated under new government plans.
Under the scheme, reportedly set to be announced within weeks, more injured and sick children will be treated by specialists in the NHS “where that is the best option for their care”.
It has been suggested that up to 300 children could arrive in the UK from Gaza.
A parent or guardian will accompany each child, as well as siblings if necessary, and the Home Office will carry out biometric and security checks before travel, the Sunday Times has reported.
It is understood this will happen “in parallel” with an initiative by Project Pure Hope, a group set up to bring sick and injured Gazan children to the UK privately for treatment.
Tens of thousands of Sydney residents have marched across the city’s iconic Harbour Bridge to support Palestinians in Gaza and call for an end to the war.
Organisers hoped 50,000 people would attend, despite heavy rain. In the end, the bridge was so packed – and the weather so bad – that police and organisers called the march off mid-way.
Police said the crowd numbers in the Sydney Harbour Bridge march were “far greater” than expected, creating the risk of a crowd crush.
Hamas is ready to cooperate with any requests from the Red Cross to deliver food to Israeli hostages in Gaza, a member of its armed wing has told the Reuters news agency.
It comes after Benjamin Netanyahu accused the militant group of carrying out “systematic starvation” against Israeli captives after Hamas released a video of an emaciated hostage being held in a concrete tunnel (see 15.56 post).
Netanyahu said he had spoken with the regional head of the Red Cross and requested his involvement in providing food and medical care to hostages held in Gaza.
Hamas said any potential delivery of aid to hostages is dependent on Israel opening humanitarian corridors permanently and halting “all forms of air traffic” during the delivery of packages to hostages.
Israel’s military says 136 aid packaged were parachuted into Gaza by six different countries today.
It says the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, France, Germany and – for the first time – Belgium took part in drops today.
The images below show French military personnel preparing to take part in a mission.
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