Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

US and UK to back Israel over ICJ ruling after blurring their Rafah red lines

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Having initially vowed to oppose any offensive, Washington and London are showing signs of having backed down

The US and the UK will reject the international court of justice order directing Israel to end its offensive on Rafah after slowly blurring their red lines that once stated that they could not support a military offensive in Rafah.

The line was first adapted by saying they could not support a major ground offensive without a credible plan to protect civilians, but since then the definition of what constitutes a major offensive has become more flexible.

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UN’s top court orders Israel to immediately halt Rafah offensive

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ICJ president says humanitarian situation in Gaza’s southernmost city is now classified as ‘disastrous’

The UN’s top court has ordered Israel to halt its assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah in a ruling that will ratchet up the pressure on the increasingly isolated country.

The president of the international court of justice, Nawaf Salam, said the humanitarian situation in Rafah had deteriorated further and was now classified as “disastrous”, meaning the ICJ’s previously issued provisional measures were insufficient.

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ICJ ruling underlines risks for Israel as its isolation grows

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Court order is a warning that Israel’s offensive in Gaza risks creating conditions that could be framed as potentially genocidal

The provisional measures issued by the international court of justice ordering an immediate halt to Israel’s military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah represent the starkest warning yet to Israel that its offensive risks creating conditions that could be framed as potentially genocidal.

The ruling, agreed by a majority of 13-2 judges, almost exclusively cited UN agencies and senior officials – including the UN’s secretary general – to paint a picture of the disastrous situation facing Palestinians in Gaza, half of whom are children.

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University of Toronto gives pro-Palestinian activists 24 hours to end encampment

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Canadian university gives protesters one day to close up protest camp on downtown campus or potentially face police action

The University of Toronto (UofT) has warned pro-Palestinian activists that they have 24 hours to accept a proposal to end a three-week protest camp on the schools’ downtown campus – or risk being treated as trespassers and potentially face police action.

In a statement Meric Gertler, the university president, cited harassment, discrimination and lack of inclusion as reasons the encampment needs to be removed.

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More than 200 EU staff sign letter expressing concerns over Gaza crisis

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Exclusive: Signatories cite union’s ‘continued apathy’ to plight of Palestinians and seek official call for ceasefire

More than 200 staff members of EU institutions and agencies have signed a letter expressing “growing concern” over the union’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, arguing that it runs contrary to its core values and aim of promoting peace.

The letter, signed by 211 people in their personal capacity as citizens and addressed to the EU’s top three officials, begins by condemning the 7 October attacks “in the strongest terms”.

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ICJ expected to make new ruling on Israel’s war in Gaza

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Court may order a halt to offensive, in what would be another sign of growing international isolation for Benjamin Netanyahu

The international court of justice is expected to issue a new ruling on Israel’s conduct of its war in Gaza at 3pm (1400 BST) on Friday, as the US expressed concern over Israel’s growing diplomatic isolation among countries that have traditionally supported it.

Amid speculation that the ICJ could order a halt to Israel’s offensive, a second top global court – the international criminal court – identified the three judges who will hear a request for arrest warrants against Hamas leaders, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and its defence minister, Yoav Gallant.

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Children and elderly people tortured at Syria military prison, Paris court told

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Three top officers close to Bashar al-Assad are on trial in absentia over the deaths of a student and his father

Witnesses have told a Paris court how children and elderly people considered enemies of the ruling Syrian regime were tortured in a notorious military prison, at the trial of three high-ranking officers close to the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad.

The three are being tried in absentia for crimes against humanity and war crimes in connection with the deaths of two French-Syrian dual nationals, Patrick Dabbagh, a 20-year-old student, and his father, 48.

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Ken Loach and Mike Leigh resign as patrons of London cinema over Israeli film festival screening

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Loach said it was ‘simply unacceptable’ that the cinema is hosting the Seret film festival

Ken Loach and Mike Leigh have resigned as patrons of the Phoenix cinema in London in protest over the venue hosting an Israeli state-sponsored film festival.

The cinema – one of the UK’s oldest – is holding a private screening of Supernova: The Music Festival Massacre, as part of the international Seret film festival on Thursday night.

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Israel-Gaza war: All EU donors have now resumed support for Unrwa, says foreign affairs chief – as it happened

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Josep Borrell describes the aid agency as ‘an indispensable lifeline in Gaza and the region’. This live blog is closed

A two-day Israeli raid on the occupied West Bank city of Jenin killed at least 12 Palestinians, health authorities and an Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent said on Thursday.

Israeli troops withdrew from the city early Thursday, the AFP correspondent said, after carrying out raids in the city’s refugee camp and exchanging fire with masked gunmen in a nearby neighbourhood in the city centre.

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Whistleblowers allege widespread abuses at Israeli detention camp

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Sources describe Palestinian inmates being beaten, kept shackled to hospital beds or made to stand for hours

Prisoners held at an Israeli detention camp in the Negev desert are being subjected to widespread physical and mental abuses, with at least one reported case of a man having his limb amputated as a result of injuries sustained from constant handcuffing, according to two whistleblowers who worked at the site.

The sources described harrowing treatment of detainees at the Israeli Sde Teiman camp, which holds Palestinians from Gaza and suspected Hamas militants, including inmates regularly being kept shackled to hospital beds, blindfolded and forced to wear nappies.

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Israeli hostages’ families release footage of female soldiers captured on 7 October

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Video showing capture of five women from military base released in effort to pressure government to agree ceasefire deal

An Israeli group representing the families of hostages held in Gaza has released footage showing the capture of five female Israeli soldiers from a military base during the 7 October Hamas attacks.

The three-minute video shows the women sitting on the ground, some bruised and bloodied, with their hands tied, after their capture from the Nahal Oz base in southern Israel.

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US ‘concerned’ by Israel’s isolation, Biden national security adviser says

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Jake Sullivan appears critical of decision by Spain, Ireland and Norway to formally recognise Palestinian state next week

The US is concerned about Israel’s growing diplomatic isolation among countries that have traditionally supported it, Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Wednesday.

Sullivan’s remarks, at a White House briefing, followed the announcement by Ireland, Spain and Norway that they will next week formally recognise a Palestinian state. They also came amid efforts by the Biden administration and Congress to coordinate a response to a decision by the international criminal court (ICC) to seek an arrest warrant for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over Israeli actions in Gaza.

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US worried Netanyahu may torpedo normalisation deal with Saudi Arabia

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Israel indicates agreement involving defence pact with US is not possible if Palestinian state is a condition

The US is worried that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, may be willing to torpedo a potential normalisation deal with Saudi Arabia if it entails ending the war in Gaza and committing to working towards a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told the Senate’s foreign relations committee on Tuesday: “There’s an opportunity for Israel to become integrated in the region, to get the fundamental security it needs and wants, to have the relationships it’s wanted since its founding. The Saudis have been clear that this would require calm in Gaza and a credible pathway to a Palestinian state,” he said, adding: “It may well be at this moment, Israel is not able or willing to proceed down this pathway.”

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Tens of thousands fill streets of Tehran for Iranian president’s funeral

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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leads prayers in capital city days after death of Ebrahim Raisi and seven others in helicopter crash

Tens of thousands of Iranians attended the Tehran funeral of the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, whose death in a helicopter crash on a fog-shrouded mountain on Sunday has opened up a potentially volatile moment in Iranian politics.

He died with seven others, including the foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who was hailed by Hamas on Wednesday as the minister for the resistance.

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Humanitarian operations ‘near collapse’ in Gaza, says World Food Programme

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UN says 1m people face catastrophic levels of hunger as food aid piles up on Egyptian side of border

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is set to worsen once again as deliveries of aid and fuel to the Palestinian territory slow to a trickle in the wake of Israel’s two-week-old ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah.

The UN has suspended food distribution in Rafah owing to a lack of supplies and insecurity, the world body said late on Tuesday, and delivery operations from the new US-funded floating pier have also been halted after desperate people seized most of the shipment offloaded on to trucks on Saturday, an incident in which one person was killed.

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Israel-Gaza war: Palestinian state should be realised through negotiations, White House says, as Norway, Ireland and Spain say they will recognise it – as it happened

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Joe Biden does not believe unilateral recognition is the right path; Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre said ‘there cannot be peace in the Middle East if there is no recognition’

Irish prime minister Simon Harris said on Wednesday that he expected other countries to join Ireland, Spain and Norway in recognising a Palestinian state in the coming weeks.

“Today, Ireland, Norway, and Spain are announcing that we recognise the state of Palestine,” Harris said at a press conference, reports Reuters.

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Attacks on health workers in conflict zones at highest level ever – report

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More than 2,500 attacks in 2023, including medics killed and clinics bombed, in war zones such as Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine

Attacks on health workers, hospitals and clinics in conflict zones jumped 25% last year to their highest level on record, a new report has found.

While the increase was largely driven by new wars in Gaza and Sudan, continuing conflicts such as Ukraine and Myanmar also saw such attacks continue “at a relentless pace”, the Safeguarding Health in Conflict coalition said.

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Ireland, Spain and Norway to recognise Palestinian state

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Irish PM declares ‘unequivocal support’ for two-state solution, as Israel recalls ambassadors from Dublin, Madrid and Oslo

Ireland, Spain and Norway have announced they will formally recognise a Palestinian state on 28 May, triggering an immediate response from Israel, which said it would retaliate by recalling its ambassadors from Dublin, Madrid and Oslo, and withholding vital funds from the Palestinian Authority.

The three European governments made the long-awaited announcements in coordinated moves on Wednesday morning that they said were intended to support a two-state solution and foster peace in the Middle East.

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Blinken willing to work with Congress on potential sanctions against ICC

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Republicans seek help from secretary of state after prosecutor Karim Khan requests arrest warrant for Israeli PM Netanyahu

The Biden administration is willing to work with Congress to potentially impose sanctions against international criminal court officials over the prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders over the Gaza war, Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, said on Tuesday.

At a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing, Republican Lindsey Graham told Blinken he wanted to see renewed US sanctions on the court in response to the move announced by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan on Monday.

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