Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

UN rights expert report to call for Israel arms embargo over ‘acts of genocide’

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Special rapporteur will tell human rights council Israel’s actions ‘reveal an intent to physically destroy Palestinians as a group’

A UN human rights expert will deliver a report on Tuesday saying that Israel has carried out acts of genocide in Gaza and should be placed under an arms embargo.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, said in her report there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israel was carrying out three of the five acts defined as genocide: killing Palestinians, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, and “deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction” of the population in whole or in part.

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Israel-Gaza war: US says it will ‘find ways’ to warn Israel against Rafah attack despite cancellation of visit – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For more on the UN security council vote, you can read our full report:

Unrwa’s planning director has said “more people will die” in the north of the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel barring the agency from delivering aid there.

Sam Rose is quoted by Al Jazeera saying:

An independent authority warned last week of an imminent famine and people are already dying of starvation up in the north. And this is essentially a death sentence on many of those people. The situation is particularly harsh in northern Gaza, where we estimate about 250,000 people have been trapped. More people will die.

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The security council vote is a significant moment – but the US says its Gaza policy is unchanged

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Washington’s decision not to use its veto is an acknowledgement of its failure to lead the UN Gaza agenda

Diplomacy occasionally has the capacity to surprise, and when it does it often portends a deep shifting in the landscape.

Few as recently as the end of last week saw much chance that the UN security council would be able to put aside five months of division over Gaza and agree terms for an immediate ceasefire, yet on Monday that is precisely what happened, in no small part due to some British diplomatic persuasion and a significant American change of heart.

Guardian Newsroom: The unfolding crisis in the Middle East

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Medical crisis in Gaza hospitals at ‘unimaginable’ level, aid agencies say

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Visiting medical team reported untreated open wounds, shortage of supplies to pin fractures and lack of food jeopardising treatment

The medical situation in Gaza’s hospitals has reached an “unimaginable” state of crisis in which large open wounds are being left untreated and medical staff are facing chronic shortages of the most basic medical items, including surgical gauze and material to pin fractures.

The description of conditions was delivered by an emergency medical team organised by three aid groups that spent two weeks carrying out surgeries and other care at the European hospital near Khan Younis.

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Israel will no longer approve Unrwa food aid to northern Gaza, agency says

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Head of agency says military authorities told UN that convoys will no longer be approved amid ‘man-made famine’

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said on Sunday that Israel had definitively barred it from making aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest.

“Despite the tragedy unfolding under our watch, the Israeli Authorities informed the UN that they will no longer approve any @Unrwa food convoys to the north,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the agency, said on X.

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Medics trapped by Israeli gunfire at two Gaza hospitals, says Red Crescent

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Aid group says one of its staff was killed when tanks pushed back into areas around al-Amal and Nasser hospitals

Israeli forces have besieged two more hospitals in Gaza, pinning down medical teams under heavy gunfire, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

“All of our teams are in extreme danger at the moment and are completely immobilised,” the humanitarian organisation told Reuters on Sunday, adding one of its staff was killed when Israeli tanks pushed back suddenly into areas around al-Amal and Nasser hospitals in the southern city of Khan Younis.

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UN calls for humanitarian ceasefire amid urgent efforts to avoid Gaza famine

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António Guterres says Palestinian people ‘remain stuck in a non-stop nightmare’ as Israel stands accused of blocking aid

António Guterres, the UN secretary general, has again called for a humanitarian ceasefireduring a visit to Egypt’s border with Gaza amid urgent efforts to avert famine in the territory after more than five months of devastating war.

“Palestinians in Gaza – children, women, men – remain stuck in a non-stop nightmare,” Guterres said. “I carry the voices of the vast majority of the world who have seen enough.”

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls Israeli Gaza campaign an ‘unfolding genocide’

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The progressive congresswoman also called on the White House to suspend aid to the Israeli military in House speech

Progressive US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the Israeli military campaign in Gaza an “unfolding genocide” in a scathing speech that demanded the Joe Biden White House suspend aid to Israel’s armed forces.

“As we speak, in this moment, 1.1 million innocents in Gaza are at famine’s door,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a speech on the House floor on Friday.

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Middle East crisis live: UN chief calls for immediate ceasefire during Rafah visit – as it happened

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António Guterres, standing beside a queue of waiting aid trucks, warns against ground assault on border town

US fighter jets from the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier struck three underground storage facilities in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen late on Friday, according to a US official, reports the Associated Press (AP).

The official, who spoke to the news agency on condition of anonymity to discuss a military operation not yet made public, said the ship is in the Red Sea.

Strikes and explosions were seen and heard in Sana’a on Friday night, according to witnesses and videos, some circulating on social media. Footage showed explosions and smoke rising over the Houthi-controlled capital.

According to the AP, there was no official confirmation of the injured or the origin of the explosions. Yemeni TV station Al-Masirah, which is linked to the Houthis, reported strikes hitting the city.

In a statement late on Friday, US Central Command (Centcom) said its forces also destroyed four unmanned aerial vehicles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

Centcom also said Houthis fired four anti-ship ballistic missiles toward the Red Sea, but no injuries or damage were reported by US, coalition or commercial ships.

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Israel-Gaza war: US condemns ‘cynical’ Russia and China veto of ceasefire deal; Israel to go into Rafah ‘with or without US support’ – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For more on the US’s vetoed UN resolution, you can read our latest reporting:

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that “hundreds of worshipers” were “blocked” from reaching the al-Aqsa mosque compound by Israeli forces on Friday.

According to Wafa: “Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli forces significantly increased their military presence around checkpoints in Qalandia, north of Jerusalem, al-Zaytouna, east of Jerusalem, and Bethlehem to the south. The forces turned back hundreds of worshipers, citing a lack of necessary entry permits.”

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Mass grave of at least 65 people found in Libya, UN migration agency says

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International Organization for Migration believes those discovered ‘died in process of being smuggled through the desert’

A mass grave containing at least 65 bodies has been discovered in south-west Libya this week, the UN migration agency said on Friday.

A spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the mass grave was uncovered by Libyan security forces.

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What did US Gaza ceasefire resolution say and why did Russia and China veto it?

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Draft resolution put before UN represents important tonal – but not substantive – shift for White House

After months of vetoing other UN security council resolutions in an effort to defend Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, the US has in recent weeks gone on to the diplomatic front foot in New York, drafting and tabling its own resolution that was put to a vote on Friday before being vetoed by Russia and China.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the resolution would send “a strong signal”. But what was that signal precisely?

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Cameron urged to publish Foreign Office legal advice on Israel’s war in Gaza

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Labour presses foreign secretary as human rights groups seek judicial review of government’s refusal to ban arms exports

The shadow UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, has urged David Cameron to publish the Foreign Office formal legal advice on whether Israel is breaching international humanitarian law in Gaza.

Lammy’s move comes as two human rights groups have been given permission for an oral hearing to seek a judicial review of the government’s refusal to ban arms exports to Israel.

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Onions sell for 50 times usual price in Gaza as Palestinians scramble for food

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Reports of exorbitant cost of basic vegetables, as well as oil and flour, come amid warnings that Gaza is on the verge of famine

People living in Gaza are facing exorbitant food prices as more than 1 million residents of the Palestinian territory face famine.

Since Israel’s invasion in October, it has become common for Gaza’s displaced population to share pictures of their shopping baskets and document how high prices have risen amid food shortages.

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EU and US pile on pressure for Gaza ceasefire

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EU leaders call for ‘immediate humanitarian pause’ while US expected to bring UN resolution calling for truce without delay

EU leaders have overcome their differences to call for an “immediate humanitarian pause leading to a sustainable ceasefire” in Gaza, hours before the US is expected to bring a resolution to a vote at the UN calling for a truce and a hostage deal without delay in the face of a looming famine.

The EU declaration, at a Brussels summit late on Thursday, marked the first time European leaders had agreed a declaration on the Middle East since October. The US draft resolution to be put to a vote in the UN security council on Friday morning also reflects greater urgency in Washington’s position. It is the first time the Biden administration has put forward language calling for an “immediate ceasefire”, although it continues to link a truce with a hostage deal.

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UAE-backed bid for Telegraph group dealt fatal blow by new legislation

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Proposed law bans foreign states and government officials from holding direct stakes in UK newspapers

The UAE-backed bid for the Telegraph group appears to be dead in the water after the UK published proposed laws that ban foreign states or government officials from holding any direct stakes in newspaper assets.

Foreign states and government officials will be banned from holding any direct stakes in newspaper assets – effectively dealing a death blow to the £600m bid for the Telegraph group from RedBird IMI, a consortium backed by the United Arab Emirates.

The head of a foreign state.

A foreign government.

Authorities responsible for administering the affairs of an area within a foreign country.

Governing political parties.

Officers of governing political parties.

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The US finally backs a ceasefire, but the nuances in its UN resolution show the tightrope it walks

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Draft resolution loosens linkage between Gaza ceasefire and hostage release as US tries to claw back leadership on issue at UN

Washington’s draft UN security council resolution on Gaza marks a shift in the US position, but it is a nuanced shift, retaining the linkage between a ceasefire and hostage release while loosening that linkage and emphasising that an immediate end to hostilities is the priority.

The primary focus for now is the hostage negotiations underway in Qatar, which are moving into high gear again, with the CIA and Mossad chiefs, William Burns and David Barnea, expected to fly into Doha on Friday.

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US calls for immediate Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal in draft UN resolution

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Source says wording suggests significant movement in US position as pressure mounts on Israel to halt campaign

The US has drafted a new UN security council resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire” and hostage deal in Gaza, amid mounting pressure on Israel to halt its military campaign and allow the delivery of substantial amounts of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.

The CIA and Mossad spy chiefs, William Burns and David Barnea, were expected to arrive in Qatar on Friday in the hope of clinching an elusive truce-for-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas. Speaking in Egypt, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said difficult work remained to be done but added: “I continue to believe it’s possible.”

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Netanyahu addresses Senate Republicans days after Schumer calls for his ouster

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Israeli PM speaks via video link and answers questions after his request to talk to Democrats was turned down

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, virtually addressed Republican senators in Washington on Wednesday, days after the chamber’s majority leader, the Democrat Chuck Schumer, called him an impediment to peace in an unsparing floor speech.

The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, told reporters, shortly after leaving the Senate Republicans’ policy lunch, that Netanyahu joined the gathering via video link, delivered a presentation, and answered questions.

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Israeli diplomats pre-emptively attack findings of Unrwa inquiries

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UN refugee agency criticised by Israel, which claims Unrwa staff were implicated in 7 October Hamas attacks

Israeli diplomats have pre-emptively attacked the findings of two inquires into the role of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, Unrwa, in Gaza, on the day that one of the inquiries submitted its interim finding to the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres.

Unrwa has come under heavy criticism since Israel accused 12 of its Gaza staff of 13,000 of being implicated in the 7 October Hamas attack on southern Israel. The agency denies the charge and says no solid evidence has been presented to support it.

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