Nearly nine months into the conflict in Gaza, the Hamas-run Health Ministry there reports nearly 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks, and more than 87,000 have been wounded.

On the Israeli side, the death toll is estimated to be about 1,100, with dozens of hostages still held captive. Sigrid Kaag, the United Nations Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, spoke about conditions in Gaza, at a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, fighting between the Israeli Defense Forces and Hezbollah have increased at the Lebanon-Israel border. Increased cross-border, tit-for-tat strikes by both sides have raised fears a wider regional conflict could ignite at any time.

To discuss:

• Andrew Parasiliti is the President and Chief Content Officer of Al-Monitor.
• Edmund Ghareeb is a Academic and Middle East Expert.
• John Ghazvinian is the Executive Director of the Middle East Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Richard Silverstein is a Journalist for the blog Tikun Olam.

For more:

Rocket barrages from Lebanon into northern Israel were intercepted, but the risk of fires harming residents remains

'There's no way that the residents of Kiryat Shmona will come back to their homes,' @P_Klochendler reports pic.twitter.com/zZH8X8oUiT

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) July 2, 2024

Fears of a wider war grow in the Middle East as Israel strikes Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. And cease-fire talks stall amid fierce battles in northern Gaza. @mattgutmanABC is on the ground in Israel with protestors calling for an end to the fighting. https://t.co/rDMqyrENNH pic.twitter.com/GXgpfbpzvE

— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) July 1, 2024