If historic waterway settings are the new must-have accessory for Olympic host cities, then Istanbul’s mayor wants the IOC to know his city has one.
If the key to getting the 2036 Summer Games is having hosted world championships in top-tier Olympic sports, then Qatar can point to its track record over the past decade.
Continue reading...Shootings take place in ‘two separate incidents’, according to armed wing of group, which did not identify victims
The armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas has said its militants shot and killed an Israeli hostage and wounded two others, both women, “in two separate incidents” in Gaza.
Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages during their 7 October attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war, 111 of whom are still being held in Gaza, although the Israeli military says 39 are dead.
Continue reading...Arms supply had been halted over role in Yemen war, but move is sign of hope kingdom can help resolve Gaza conflict
The United States has confirmed it will resume sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, as concerns over human rights in the kingdom’s Yemen war give way to US hopes for it to play a role in resolving the conflict in Gaza.
More than three years after imposing limits on human rights grounds over Saudi strikes in Yemen, the state department said it would return to weapons sales “in regular order, with appropriate congressional notification and consultation”.
Continue reading...Broadcaster defends Radio 4 presenter’s ‘legitimate’ questions to David Mencer, who claimed she was parroting ‘terrorist organisations’
The BBC has defended Mishal Husain, a presenter on its Radio 4 Today programme, after she was accused by an Israeli government spokesperson live on air of “blindly repeating what terrorist organisations … feed you”.
In a tetchy interview on Monday’s programme, David Mencer, said Husain warranted the “pro-Palestinian reporter of the year award”.
Continue reading...US says it has prepared for significant attacks by Iran or proxies as Tehran stresses right to respond to assassinations
Iran has insisted on its right to an “appropriate and deterrent response” against Israel as the White House said it had prepared for what could be significant attacks by Iran or its proxies as soon as this week.
The comments come as the US announced it had ordered the deployment of the USS Georgia, a nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine, to the Middle East, amid mounting concern over the determination by Iran and its proxies to retaliate for Israel’s assassination of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. Iran’s acting foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, made the comments to his Chinese counterpart on Monday, according to state media.
Continue reading...US defence secretary Lloyd Austin orders USS Abraham Lincoln strike group to quicken transit to Middle East and deploys guided missile submarine, says Pentagon
A hospital in southern Gaza has received the bodies of 13 people, including a child, who were killed in Israeli strikes on Khan Younis, the Associated Press reports.
The strikes came as Israel has ordered mass evacuations from Gaza’s second-largest city in recent days, claiming Palestinian militants are firing rockets from the area. Khan Younis suffered heavy destruction earlier this year during a major Israeli air and ground offensive.
An AP journalist counted the bodies at the nearby Nasser hospital and saw funeral prayers being held Monday morning.
The dead include a medic who was killed along with two others in a strike on his house, according to the hospital records.
This footage from Gaza City shows the moment an Israeli airstrike hit a house in the suburb of Sheikh Radwan on Sunday. One person was killed and several others were wounded, according to Palestinian medics. According to Reuters, the cameraman who filmed the video said the Israeli army had notified people of a possible strike in the area.
Continue reading...Secretary of defence also announces deployment of guided missile submarine, as Hamas appears to push back against resuming ceasefire negotiations
The US has ordered a strike group of fighter jets and navy warships to accelerate its deployment to the Middle East, as the region braces for possible attacks by Iran and its allies after the killing of senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah.
The US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, ordered the Abraham Lincoln strike group to accelerate its deployment to the region, while at the same time announcing the deployment of a guided missile submarine, after speaking with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant.
Continue reading...Displaced residents uncertain where to flee to as IDF prepares to fight Hamas in city in southern Gaza Strip
Thousands of people have fled the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis after the Israeli military warned of a new operation to flush out Hamas militants that it says have regrouped there.
In al-Jala, a neighbourhood in the south of the city that the Israel Defense Forces had previously designated a humanitarian zone, residents on Sunday packed their belongings, uncertain where to seek refuge. Israel said rockets had been fired from the area.
Continue reading...Amira Al Shammari says they have no other options as she describes horror of 21-year-old Dina’s death
A mother from a stateless Arab minority say she and her family have no choice but to try to cross the Channel again despite the death last month of her eldest daughter on a previous attempt.
Dina Al Shammari, 21, was travelling with her parents and three teenage siblings when she was crushed to death in an overcrowded dinghy off the coast of Calais on 28 July.
Continue reading...Thousands of Palestinian residents and displaced families leave as Israel steps up offensive in southern Gaza Strip
Continue reading...Faultlines in Germany’s response to Gaza war exposed by artists pulling out of gigs at renowned venue
People write guides on how to get into Berghain and even make films about its doorman. But the legendary nightclub is now facing a boycott by some DJs over its stance on the war in Gaza.
A group calling itself Ravers for Palestine first announced a boycott of the Berlin venue, along with several other clubs, in January, saying that remaining silent on Israel’s attacks in Gaza made it complicit.
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The death toll from an Israeli air strike on a Gaza City school has risen to 80, Palestinian health authorities said.
The Israeli military acknowledged the strike on the Tabeen school on Saturday morning, claiming it hit a Hamas command centre within the school. Hamas denied having a base at the school.
Continue reading...Compound where about 6,000 displaced people were sheltering hit as many prepared for dawn prayers
At least 80 people have been killed in Israeli missile strikes on a school compound in Gaza City, according to the territory’s civil defence service, the latest in a string of attacks on schools that the Israeli army says are targeting militants using them as bases.
The bombing of Tabeen school, where about 6,000 displaced people were sheltering, was hit when many people were preparing for dawn prayers on Saturday, and reportedly caused a fire. Video from the scene showed horrific loss of life, with body parts, rubble and destroyed furniture scattered across blood-soaked mattresses.
Continue reading...Australian foreign minister joins UK, Germany and France in condemning comments made by Bezalel Smotrich and repeats calls for ceasefire
Deliberately starving civilians is a war crime, foreign affairs minister Penny Wong has said, joining international condemnation of comments made by the Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.
On Wednesday, Smotrich suggested that deliberately starving people in Gaza might be “justified and moral”.
Continue reading...Opponents fear proposed bill could allow girls as young as nine to marry, erode women’s rights and give greater powers to clerics
A draft law in Iraq that would allow the marriage of girls as young as nine has provoked protests across the country, with women’s rights activists saying it would “legalise child rape”.
The Shia religious groups that dominate the political system in Iraq have been pushing to erode women’s rights in the country for more than a decade.
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Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, has said the bloc “joins Egypt, Qatar & the US in their call for concluding, without delay, the ceasefire & hostages release deal.”
“We reiterate our full support to their mediation to put an end to the unbearable cycle of suffering,” he said, adding that “the deal will also pave the way for regional de-escalation.”
Continue reading...Joint statement says framework agreement is ‘on the table’ and there are no excuses ‘from any party for further delay’
The leaders of the US, Egypt and Qatar have called on Israel and Hamas to resume urgent negotiations to finalise a ceasefire and hostage release deal, saying there were no excuses “from any party for further delay”.
The three countries, which have been trying to mediate a deal, said in a joint statement the talks could take place in either Doha or Cairo on 15 August, adding that it was “time to bring immediate relief both to the longsuffering people of Gaza as well as the longsuffering hostages and their families”.
Continue reading...Other Islamic countries are not openly backing military response by Tehran and more targeted action appears likely
Iran may be rethinking the scale and format of its planned reprisal against Israel after the assassination of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, but is not likely to be put off by the absence of explicit support from Muslim states for an Iranian military response, officials have suggested.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials have reportedly concluded that the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is determined to carry out an attack in the next few days in response to Israel’s killing of senior commander Fuad Shukr, but the degree to which it will coordinate with Iran is unclear.
Continue reading...Israeli airstrikes hit a cluster of houses in central Gaza’s Al-Bureij camp and nearby Al-Nuseirat camp
Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz today said Israel’s decision to revoke the status of Norwegian diplomats serving the occupied Palestinian territories, was due to Norway’s “anti-Israel conduct”.
Israel has revoked the accreditation of eight Norwegian diplomats working as representatives to the Palestinian Authority, drawing a sharp response from Norway’s foreign minister who called it “an extreme act”.
Continue reading...Harris expresses openness to discussing Israel-Gaza stance with movement leaders, who are torn over Walz as VP pick
Leaders of the “uncommitted” campaign spoke with Kamala Harris and her newly announced running mate, the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, before a rally in Detroit on Wednesday to discuss their calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel.
Harris “shared her sympathies and expressed an openness to a meeting with the Uncommitted leaders to discuss an arms embargo”, the organization said in a statement.
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