Israeli foreign minister strongly criticises decision by President Erdoğan, accusing him of acting like a ‘dictator’
Turkey has halted all trade with Israel, citing the “worsening humanitarian tragedy” in the Palestinian territories, which prompted strong criticism from the Israeli foreign minister.
“Export and import transactions related to Israel have been stopped, covering all products,” Turkey’s trade ministry said late on Thursday.
Continue reading...PM backs action in case of disorder on campuses after claims that pro-Palestinian protests create hostile atmosphere
The prime minister has backed a police crackdown on any outbreak of disorder on university campuses after Jewish students said pro-Palestinian encampments were creating a “hostile and toxic atmosphere”.
In recent days, new encampments have been set up at the universities of Manchester, Sheffield, Bristol and Newcastle, among others, after violent scenes on US campuses resulted in mass arrests of students and staff.
Continue reading...UN agency says reconstruction will require effort on a scale unseen since second world war
The EU has offered Lebanon a financial package of €1bn (£855m / $1.07bn), European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in Beirut on Thursday.
The funds would be available from this year until 2027, von der Leyen told a joint news conference with Lebanon’s prime minister Najib Mikati and Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides.
This continued EU support will strengthen basic services such as education, social protection and health for the people in Lebanon. It will accompany urgent economic, financial and banking reforms. Furthermore, support will be provided to the Lebanese armed forces and other security forces with equipment and training for border management and to fight against smuggling.
Continue reading...Gustavo Petro tells May Day rally ‘if Palestine dies, humanity dies’, as Israeli foreign minister accuses president of antisemitism
Colombia’s president has announced that his government will sever diplomatic relations with Israel, in the latest escalation of a furious row between the countries over the war in Gaza.
Addressing a May Day rally in Bogotá on Wednesday, Gustavo Petro again described Israel’s siege of Gaza as “genocide”.
Continue reading...Los Angeles mayor calls late-night attack by counter-demonstrators ‘abhorrent’ as footage shows people wielding sticks
The University of California in Los Angeles was reeling on Wednesday following a late-night violent attack by counter-demonstrators on a pro-Palestinian protest encampment, as the state’s governor condemned a slow response from law enforcement to some of the worst violence seen since students across the US intensified their protests in support of Gaza.
As the Los Angeles mayor called the violence “abhorrent” and California’s governor said he was monitoring the situation, UCLA announced it was cancelling all classes on Wednesday “due to the distress caused by the violence that took place on Royce Quad late last night”.
Continue reading...Antony Blinken holds two-hour meeting with Netanyahu while Hamas considers ceasefire proposal
Israel’s leaders were under renewed pressure to allow more aid into Gaza on Wednesday after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told Benjamin Netanyahu to “accelerate and sustain improvements” seen during recent days in the amount of humanitarian assistance reaching the territory.
Humanitarian agencies say that though the number of lorries entering Gaza after being vetted by Israel has increased significantly, these still deliver only a fraction of what is needed.
Continue reading...Two convoys on the way to Gaza attacked by some Israeli settlers, reports Jordan’s state news agency
Reporting for Al Jazeera from Rafah, Tareq Abu Azzoum has said that Israel appears to have “ramped up airstrikes and land bombardment”. He writes for the news network:
Israeli artillery units have been relentlessly pounding the Nuseirat refugee camp – in the northern part of that densely populated area – where thousands of Palestinians are. They have also been taking a systematic approach to destroying residential buildings in al-Mughraqa.
Here in Rafah in the south, the situation is also dire. A number of houses were attacked, with two Palestinian children killed. The children arrived at the Kuwaiti hospital alive, but they succumbed to their wounds.
You have to hear this to believe this. The international criminal court in The Hague is contemplating issuing arrest warrants against senior Israeli government and military officials as war criminals.
This would be an outrage of historic proportions. International bodies like the ICC arose in the wake of the Holocaust committed against the Jewish people. They were set up to prevent such horrors, to prevent future genocides.
This ICC attempt is an attempt to paralyze Israel’s very ability to defend itself. The government and people of Israel reject outright this grave threat to our security, this grave threat to our very existence.
And I want to assure you, no ICC action will impact Israel’s ironclad determination to achieve the goals of our war with Hamas terrorists. We will destroy Hamas’ military and governing capabilities in Gaza. We will release all our hostages. And we will ensure that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again.
Continue reading...Riyadh seeks more modest agreement with Washington in absence of Gaza ceasefire and Netanyahu resistance to Palestinian state
The US and Saudi Arabia have drafted a set of agreements on security and technology-sharing which were intended to be linked to a broader Middle East settlement involving Israel and the Palestinians.
However, in the absence of a ceasefire in Gaza and in the face of adamant resistance from Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government to the creation of a Palestinian state – and its apparent determination to launch an offensive on Rafah – the Saudis are pushing for a more modest plan B, which excludes the Israelis.
Continue reading...Manahel al-Otaibi, who frequently promoted female empowerment on social media, was arrested under anti-terror laws
A young women’s rights activist in Saudi Arabia was secretly sentenced to 11 years in prison by an anti-terrorism court after being arrested for “her choice of clothing and support for women’s rights”.
Saudi officials confirmed in a statement to the United National high commissioner for Human Rights that Manahel al-Otaibi was sentenced on 9 January for what the Saudi government called “terrorist offences”.
Continue reading...British government doing everything it can to prevent assault on Rafah while civilians shelter there, says deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell
Al Jazeera is carrying a quote from Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan. It quotes him saying:
It’s clear from the Israeli paper that they are still insisting on two major issue: they don’t want a complete ceasefire and they are not talking – in a serious way – about the withdrawal from Gaza. In fact, they are still talking about their presence, which means they will continue to occupy Gaza. We have serious questions for the mediators. If there are positive answers, I think we can move forward.
Continue reading...Images on TV show police on campus in New York after students take over Hamilton Hall building amid continuing protests
New York City police entered Columbia University on Tuesday evening in a reported effort to disperse the students who took over an academic building – and are facing expulsion – earlier in the day and those who have been encamped on school property for two weeks as tensions surrounding the pro-Palestinian demonstration escalated.
TV images showed police entering the elite university in upper Manhattan, which has been the focal point of student protests that have spread to dozens of schools across the US.
Continue reading...Observation was made by medics contributing a new pain management manual for treating children in conflict zones
Children being treated in Gaza’s hospitals are “underplaying” pain because it “seems trivial” in the context of the wider conflict, doctors have said.
International medics met in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday to discuss plans for a new trauma pain management manual to support professionals treating children in Gaza and other conflict zones.
Continue reading...Republican governor says on social media ‘no encampments will be allowed’ as videos show police using pepper spray
Protesters who returned to the University of Texas at Austin on Monday were greeted by dozens of law enforcement officers, many in riot gear. At least 43 protesters were arrested as police and campus security used pepper spray and flash-bang charges on the crowd.
The Republican governor, Greg Abbott, on social media reposted video of troopers arriving on the 50,000-student campus. “No encampments will be allowed. Instead, arrests are being made,” Abbott posted.
Continue reading...State department says five units mostly from IDF but including at least one police unit responsible for gross violations in West Bank
The US has found five units of the Israeli security forces responsible for gross violations of human rights, over incidents in the West Bank before the current Gaza war, the state department has said.
The findings come at a time when Israel is facing potential accountability from the international criminal court and the state department for its conduct of the conflict in Gaza, in which more than 34,000 people have been killed.
Continue reading...G7 diplomats argue any move now in investigation launched in 2021 could disrupt current ceasefire talks
Diplomats from the G7 industrialised nations have urged officials at the international criminal court not to announce war crimes charges against Israel or Hamas officials, amid concerns that such a move could disrupt the chances of a breakthrough in ceasefire talks.
Israeli politicians including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have suggested that the ICC could press charges imminently after an investigation launched in 2021 that covers events starting in 2014. The inquiry has also been looking at Israel’s construction of settlements in occupied territory.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary also calls on Arab states to accept that Hamas leaders responsible for 7 October attack must leave the territory
David Cameron has urged Hamas to agree to a deal for a sustained 40-day ceasefire in Gaza and the release of potentially thousands of hostages and prisoners.
The foreign secretary also challenged Arab states to accept that the Hamas military leadership responsible for the attack on 7 October must leave Gaza.
Continue reading...US secretary of state says Hamas is the ‘only thing standing between people of Gaza and ceasefire’
The US secretary of state has said that “the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire” is Hamas, ahead of what are seen as last-chance talks to salvage a diplomatic solution before a threatened Israeli ground invasion in Rafah.
Speaking at a World Economic Forum meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday, Antony Blinken said: “Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel.
Continue reading...Pictures released by US central command come after satellite photos showed US navy ship offshore with floating platform being built alongside it
The US military has released pictures it says show that a pier to help bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip is now under construction.
The images show what appears to be a large metal construction with workers in military uniform dotted along the floating platforms.
Continue reading...Current proposed deal includes 40-day ceasefire and release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages, says David Cameron
Antony Blinken has told a meeting of regional leaders in Riyadh that the most effective way to alleviate humanitarian suffering in Gaza is to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Speaking in Saudi Arabia, the US secretary of state said that there had been “measurable progress” in delivering aid to Gaza, which Israel has beseiged for six months, but more is needed.
Continue reading...Regime’s effort to exploit US campus crackdown damaged by treatment of Toomaj Salehi
An Iranian court’s decision to pass the death sentence against Toomaj Salehi, a popular Iranian rapper and regime opponent, has led to international protests and damaged Iran’s fledgling efforts to exploit crackdowns on unrest in US university campuses over Gaza as an abuse of human rights.
Crowds gathered in the US, Europe and Canada on Sunday to support Salehi, while dozens of political prisoners in Iran’s Ghezel Hesar prison issued a statement condemning the death sentence, calling it “the culmination of gross human rights violations in Iran”. Salehi has also won the support of major US rappers, as well as human rights groups.
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