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The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that “further disruption to health services is imminent in Gaza due to a severe lack of fuel”.
Posting on Thursday evening, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, wrote on X: “Only 90,000L of fuel entered Gaza yesterday. The health sector alone needs 80,000L daily, forcing the UN – incl WHO – and partners to make impossible choices.”
Continue reading...An expected low turnout reflects growing opposition to the Islamic Republic, critics say
Iranians vote today in the run-off round of a presidential election offering a choice between a veteran hardliner and a reformist who has backed pragmatic cooperation with the west – but against the backdrop of an expected low turnout that critics say reflects opposition to the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s two identities were on display in the final rallies of the campaign as the two presidential candidates offered contrasting visions of their country’s prospects, focused on whether sanctions have trapped Iran or are just a broken western lever that can no longer inflict damage to the economy.
Continue reading...Dangerous Atlantic ocean route is gaining popularity because of increased vigilance by authorities in the Mediterranean
Nearly 90 migrants bound for Europe died and dozens more are missing after their boat capsized off the coast of Mauritania earlier this week, the state news agency and a local official said on Thursday,
“The Mauritanian coast guard recovered the bodies of 89 people aboard a large traditional fishing boat that capsized on Monday July 1 on the coast of the Atlantic ocean” about four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the country’s south-west city of Ndiago, the state news agency said.
Continue reading...White House says proposal is in line with deal outlined by Joe Biden in late May, but work is still to be done
The White House has described the latest Hamas ceasefire proposal for Gaza as a “breakthrough” establishing a framework for a possible hostage deal, but warned that difficult negotiations remained over the implementation of the agreement.
A senior US official said the Biden administration received the latest Hamas offer “a couple of days ago” and had been studying it ahead of a 30-minute telephone call between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.
Continue reading...Barrage from Lebanon one of group’s largest yet, as Israel discusses Hamas proposals for possible Gaza ceasefire
Lebanon’s Hezbollah says it has fired 200 rockets into Israel in one of its largest barrages yet, as Benjamin Netanyahu told the US that Israel will send a delegation to resume stalled negotiations with Hamas on a possible hostage release deal.
Israel confirmed the Iran-backed militant group had fired “numerous projectiles and suspicious aerial targets” from Lebanon on Thursday towards the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and more than 15 drones into Israeli territory, many of which it said were intercepted. An Israeli military spokesperson said there were no casualties reported.
Continue reading...University is taking legal action to shut down pro-Palestine encampment on Edgbaston campus
The University of Birmingham is censoring students’ beliefs about Gaza by seeking to shut down a pro-Palestine encampment on its grounds, the high court has heard.
Birmingham is one of several universities taking legal action to try to evict student protesters, with a case brought by the University of Nottingham due to be heard before the same judge on Friday.
Continue reading...Mediators including Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying for months to secure a ceasefire and the release of 120 remaining hostages
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Thursday that the Palestinian death toll from nearly nine months of war has surged past 38,000.
The ministry said that in the last 24 hours, the bodies of 58 people had been brought to hospitals, bringing the overall death toll to 38,011.
Continue reading...Peace Now says approval of more than 12 sq km is biggest since peace process began in 1993
Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in more than three decades, according to a report released by an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, a move that will exacerbate the escalating tensions surrounding the conflict in Gaza.
Peace Now said authorities recently approved the appropriation of 12.7 sq km (nearly 5 sq miles) of land in the Jordan valley, indicating it was “the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords”, referring to the start of the peace process.
Continue reading...Call for investigation into security breach after parliament partly locked down as activists reveal banner declaring ‘war crimes … enabled here’
Some areas of Australia’s federal parliament were locked down as pro-Palestine protesters climbed on to the roof of the building in Canberra and unfurled a banner declaring “war crimes … enabled here”.
Thursday’s protest focused on the war in Gaza appeared to be coordinated with other actions highlighting the climate crisis and Indigenous rights.
Continue reading...Many have moved more than once, with estimated 1.9m Palestinians relocating since Israel’s invasion, says OCHA
About 90% of the population of the Gaza Strip have been displaced at least once since the war between Israel and Hamas began, according to the UN’s humanitarian agency.
Andrea De Domenico, head of the UN’s OCHA agency in the Palestinian territories, said on Wednesday that about 1.9 million people are thought to be displaced in Gaza.
Continue reading...Two died in detention facility and one in hospital, officials say, after protests over Mohamed Ould Ghazouani’s win
Three protesters have died in detention in Mauritania, the interior ministry has said, after mass arrests during protests in the opposition stronghold of Kaédi after the north-west African country’s presidential election outcome.
Officials said protests had turned violent in the southern town near the border with Senegal late on Monday, prompting security forces to confront demonstrators.
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Al Jazeera is reporting that “at least four people have been killed and 17 injured in Israeli bombardment in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighbourhood”.
More details soon …
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Eight Palestinians have been killed and dozens more wounded after Israeli forces again bombarded several areas of Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Reuters reports health officials in the territory have said.
Reuters have spoken via a chat app to a 55-year-old in Gaza, who told the news agency he had been displaced six times since 7 October by Israeli attacks and evacuation orders.
Continue reading...IDF bombards ruined city and orders mass evacuation after rocket barrage claimed by Islamic Jihad
Thousands of Palestinians were fleeing Khan Younis in southern Gaza after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) once again bombarded the largely ruined city and ordered a mass evacuation of residents.
Witnesses reported strikes on Tuesday in and around the city, which came after the militant group Islamic Jihad, which has fought alongside Hamas, claimed responsibility for a rare rocket barrage on Monday.
Continue reading...As the election nears, we scrutinise how each of the main contenders would deal with problems around the world
Conflicts and environmental disasters are stretching humanitarian resources, and a new UK government will have to decide what role it will play on the world stage in dealing with global problems, especially after budget cuts and closure of the Department for International Development by the Conservatives, and with priorities so focused on Ukraine. We’ve talked to the main parties and looked at their manifestos to see what their plans are.
Continue reading...Harrison Mann, military expert who quit over Gaza, says ruinous war in Lebanon would pull US into regional conflict
Israel risks going to war against Hezbollah to ensure Benjamin Netanyahu’s political survival, but it would be a miscalculation that could lead to mass civilian deaths in both Lebanon and Israel, a former US military intelligence analyst has warned.
Harrison Mann, a major in the Defence Intelligence Agency who left the military last month over US support for Israel’s war in Gaza, also told the Guardian that such a disastrous new war would pull the US into a regional conflict.
Continue reading...Al-Shifa’s Mohammed Abu Salmiya alleges Israel tortured him across seven months of detention without charge
The head of the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital has accused Israel of torturing him and other detainees, following his release after seven months in Israeli prisons and detention facilities.
Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, was among dozens of Palestinians freed and returned to Gaza on Monday, according to Israeli authorities.
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Palestinian news agency Wafa has spoken to a detainee released by Israel, who told the agency those from Gaza being held by Israeli forces suffer from tragic and unbearable conditions and circumstances.
He said he had been detained on 16 November, had been held in a tent with 30 inmates, and that Israeli prisoners were subject to various types of torture, abuse, and assaults.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Use of tourist visas not fit for purpose, advocates say, as Gaza man describes how coming to Australia on one has left him with ‘no rights’
The number of Palestinians applying onshore for protection in Australia has ballooned, prompting calls from refugee advocates for the creation of an “emergency uplift” visa rather than people fleeing conflict relying on tourist visas to escape.
Home affairs department statistics for May revealed 119 people from the “Palestinian Authority” had applied for onshore protection visas, up from 66 in April, 110 in March, 88 in February and 33 in January.
Continue reading...Claimants who were onboard BA149 claim airline and Thatcher’s government knew of risk before they landed in 1990
British Airways (BA) passengers and crew taken hostage in Kuwait and used as human shields during Saddam Hussein’s invasion are suing the airline and the UK government.
The claimants, who were subjected to torture, including mock executions, say they have evidence that BA and the government knew the invasion had taken place hours before the plane landed in Kuwait. They also claim that the flight was used to secretly transport a special ops team for immediate and covert deployment to the battlefield, “regardless of the risk this posed to the civilians onboard”.
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