One of the consequences of Israel’s 12-day conflict with Iran was a drop-off in attention paid to the war in Gaza, where a terrible humanitarian situation deteriorated even further. This is a timeline of what happened

In the weeks leading up to Israel’s war with Iran, which it launched on 13 June, there had been little let-up in its offensive in Gaza. A tenuous ceasefire had broken down in March, and a wave of airstrikes followed, as well as an 11-week blockade on all aid. Though some humanitarian assistance was allowed in from late May, military action intensified at the same time.

Growing numbers of desperate Palestinians were being killed as they sought scarce food either from looted aid convoys or from distribution hubs set up by the new, secretive Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a group backed by Israel and the US as an alternative to the existing, much more comprehensive UN-led system. Rolling IDF “evacuation orders” covered much of the territory.

He is the master of ripped-from-the-headlines drama, a writer who skewers the billionaire class. As Mountainhead takes him into new territory, he talks about his nuanced view of the world’s richest man – and why a bonnet drama may be next

When he gets to his London office on the morning this piece is published, Jesse Armstrong will read it in print, or not at all. Though the building has wifi, he doesn’t use it. “If you’re a procrastinator, which most writers are, it’s just a killer.” Online rabbit holes swallow whole days. “In the end, it’s better to be left with the inadequacies of your thoughts.” He gives himself a mock pep talk. “‘It’s just you and me now, brain.’”

Today, the showrunner of Succession and co-creator of Peep Show is back at home, in walking distance of his workspace. He could be any London dad: 54, salt-and-pepper beard, summer striped T-shirt. But staying offline could feel like a statement too, given Armstrong is also the writer-director of Mountainhead, a film about tech bros. Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Open AI’s Sam Altman, guru financiers Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen: all these and more are mixed up in the movie’s characters, sharing a comic hang in a ski mansion. Outside, an AI launched by one of the group has sparked global chaos. Inside, there is snippy friction about the intra-billionaire pecking order.

Spain are expected to win the tournament for the first time but England have a Golden Boot contender in Alessia Russo

It feels as if Spain and a revitalised Germany have the wind in their sails to meet in Basel, even if Aitana Bonmatí’s illness is a real worry for the world champions. Spain will win out on the night. England know the ropes and cannot be ruled out but their path to glory looks complicated. Nick Ames

From streaming services to food-delivery apps, the modern world conspires to keep us home and alone. But I went out looking for a human connection

I am lucky enough to have some wonderful friends. But recently many of them have moved away because they can’t afford, or simply can’t be bothered, to live in a huge city like London any more. And when you’re in your 30s, meaningfully connecting with new people is no mean feat.

I’m not alone in feeling a little lonely: in 2023, the World Health Organization said that social isolation was becoming a “global public health concern”. From the decline of the office to the rise of single-occupancy flats, our social lives are being leached away from us. Meanwhile, streaming services and food-delivery apps discourage us from going out, their ads extolling the safety and convenience of staying home and not seeing or talking to another human. It’s almost as if they want to keep us single and friendless, with nothing to spend our money on but a disappointing chicken burger with a side of Deadpool & Wolverine.

Disney is reincarnating the ITV classic, and updating it for the era of Married at First Sight. It sounds almost nothing like the original – what would Cilla Black think?

Good news: Blind Date is returning to our screens. Weird news: it won’t be on television, you probably won’t watch it and it may not technically count as Blind Date. But let’s concentrate on the good news first.

On Monday, Disney+ announced three new unscripted TV shows. One is a sort of Made in Chelsea spin-off about parenthood, another sounds like The Kardashians except it has Wayne and Coleen Rooney in it, and the third is the return of Blind Date, which Disney calls the “ultimate dating series”.

Asset manager Aberdeen’s surprise cut to funding research into inequality has left those that used its grants for good works reeling

The axe fell with shocking suddenness. On Thursday Aberdeen Group plc terminated its Financial Fairness Trust without notice and sacked the CEO, Mubin Haq, the chair and all the trustees, leaving eight staff dangling. The company tells me it plans to move in a different direction. That dreaded phrase marks the end of 16 remarkable years, during which the trust sponsored some of the most influential research into inequality and its financial causes.

Aberdeen is a wealth management and investment company. I admired its willingness to fund research not in its own immediate interest, but for the sake of social improvement, as a sign that decent capitalism was possible. Now that’s over. The mood has changed. Wildfires started by President Trump are engulfing global companies as his administration attempts to bar asset and retirement plan managers from considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in investment decisions and targets private sector diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives with executive orders. Companies doing good are at risk. I ask Aberdeen if that’s why it has shut down the trust. It denies it strongly, saying it is just a “natural evolution”.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

Switch to four-point Pip eligibility rule may never happen at all as Stephen Timms says government will ‘remove clause five from the bill’

Compass, the leftwing group urging Labour to be more pluralistic, has put out a statement condemning the UC and Pip bill. Its director, Neal Lawson, said:

If your own friends are telling you to put the brakes on, then something has clearly gone wrong. Despite the government’s line, this legislation does not advance Labour values. It is fundamentally at odds with them, and with the views of the mainstream of the party and civil society.”

MPs from across the House, and especially the Labour side, must back Rachael Maskell’s reasoned amendment. This bill’s creation of a three-tiered social security system would condemn thousands to poverty and could lose Labour the next election.

A bill of this magnitude should have been co-produced with disabled people and our organisations from the very start.

Now, ministers scramble to promise ‘consultation’ as one small part of the process. That is too little, too late. Co-production is not a rushed tick-box exercise tagged onto legislation already steaming through Parliament. It means disabled people shaping the system at every step – not just commenting on the detail of changes already baked in.

Unnamed three from Countess of Chester hospital held on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter, police say

Three bosses at the hospital where Lucy Letby worked have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter, police have said.

The three, who have not been named, were arrested on Monday as part of the investigation into the actions of leaders at the Countess of Chester hospital (CoCH).

Police acted oppressively by making arrest without inquiries as to what Despine Green was alleged to have said, judge says

Police acted in an “oppressive and unconstitutional manner” by arresting and detaining a protester for antisemitic chanting without making any inquiries as to what they allegedly said, a judge has found.

Despine Green, who was 22 at the time, was handcuffed, photographed, fingerprinted, had a DNA swab taken from the inside of their cheek and an officer mentioned that a strip search might be necessary.

June temperature records have been broken in Portugal and Spain, as French schools close amid heat

Outdoor working has been banned during the hottest parts of the day in more than half of Italy’s regions as an extreme heatwave that has smashed June temperature records in Spain and Portugal continues to grip large swathes of Europe.

The extreme temperatures are believed to have claimed at least three lives, including a small boy who is thought to have died from heatstroke while in a car in Catalonia’s Tarragona province on Tuesday afternoon.