Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Aid trucks enter Gaza but UN chief says people need ‘much, much more’

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After visit to Rafah crossing, António Guterres says regular supply of food, water, medicine and fuel needed

The Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza has finally opened to allow in a trickle of aid for the first time in two weeks, after intense negotiations involving the US, Israel, Egypt and the UN.

The shipment of 20 trucks bringing medical supplies, however, offered very limited relief to Gaza’s 2.3 million population, under fire and with barely anything to eat or drink.

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‘I’m doing all I can’: the young Israeli determined to free his captured girlfriend from Gaza

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Noam Alon, whose partner Inbar Haiman was abducted by Hamas in the October 7 attack in Israel, is calling on international leaders to make the safe return of hostages their priority

Two weeks on, Noam Alon still isn’t ready to watch the video that shows his girlfriend, Inbar Haiman, being dragged towards Gaza as a hostage.

“My parents prefer that I don’t see it,” says the 24-year-old art student. “They’ve described every bit of it to me – and they haven’t made it any better or worse than it really is – but I still haven’t watched it. I don’t want it scarred in my mind. I’m trying to keep my mind as positive as I can and to do everything I can to bring her back.”

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Israeli ground assault on Gaza looms as Hamas releases first hostages

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Joe Biden and family voice joy at release of Natalie and Judith Raanan, as Israeli forces pound Gaza Strip, where millions are pinning hopes on aid delivery via Egypt border crossing

The US has said it will keep working to free all Americans seized by Hamas, against the backdrop of an expected ground assault on Gaza, as the first released hostages were reunited with family and Israeli forces pounded Gaza, where millions of people are still awaiting promised aid deliveries.

Late on Friday, after speaking of his joy at the US hostage release, President Joe Biden appeared to agree with a reporter’s suggestion that Israel should delay any ground invasion of the enclave in order to get more hostages out. About 200 remain in captivity, with 10 Americans still unaccounted for.

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The Gaza diplomacy of Biden, Sunak and co seems to be heading for failure

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The US president was empathetic, sharp and subtle, but there are signs that his closest Arab allies are losing patience

Two weeks of non-stop western shuttle diplomacy appear to have reached the brink of failure since, as it stands, the west can only point to 20 aid trucks crossing into Gaza as the visible fruit of its labour. At the same time, Israel’s neighbours are taking to the streets and acts of terrorism are returning to the capitals of Europe.

With more than 4,000 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis already dead, the only certainty is that Gaza’s depleted healthcare system will collapse if Israel launches a lengthy land invasion to wipe out Hamas.

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US mother and daughter released from Hamas captivity after Qatar brokers deal

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Hostages Judith Raanan and daughter Natalie, 17, taken via Egypt to Israeli army base to be reunited with family

A mother and daughter from Chicago who were seized during the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October and held hostage in Gaza have been released after Qatar brokered negotiations with the militant group.

Natalie Raanan, 17, and her mother, Judith, 59, were transferred through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, where they were met by Israeli security forces, the office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement late on Friday.

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‘Day of rage’ erupts across West Bank after Israeli forces attack refugee camp

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Palestinian Islamic Jihad supporters marched through Nur Shams chanting ‘revenge’ and protested against violence on children

Tensions flared in the West Bank on Friday as angry and sometimes armed confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli forces took place across the occupied territory after a deadly raid by Israeli troops.

The Palestinian health ministry said 13 people including five children were killed on Thursday in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem. Israeli media said Israeli troops used a drone before engaging in a prolonged gun battle with armed groups in the camp that left civilians and several militants dead.

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Gaza crossing still closed despite pressure from UN and US leaders

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Rafah crossing still closed to aid as Hamas releases two hostages while Israeli airstrikes on territory continue

The humanitarian lifeline into Gaza remained closed on Friday despite a personal visit by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, and an agreement to open it brokered by Joe Biden, as Israel continued to pummel the enclave with airstrikes.

The failure to lift the total Israeli blockade further endangered Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people, with the UN forced in many cases to reduce the water ration to one litre a person a day for all uses, compared with the minimum international standard of 15 litres.

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Arabs in Israel face reprisals over online solidarity with Gaza

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Citizens who post on social media in support of Palestinians under bombardment threatened with arrest or sacking

Israeli Arabs or Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem have been targeted with arrest, sacking and dismissal over social media posts expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Israeli Arabs, many of whom identify as Palestinian citizens of Israel, have expressed solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid Israel’s aerial bombing campaign that has so far killed more than 4,000 people in the impoverished territory, the majority civilians, according to the health ministry in the Strip.

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Sunak reiterates support for two-state solution in meeting with Abbas

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PM met Palestinian Authority leader in Egypt as part of tour of the region to try to prevent the conflict escalating

Rishi Sunak has held talks in Cairo with the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, where the two men condemned Hamas and the prime minister reiterated the UK’s support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The leaders agreed on the need for all parties to take steps to protect civilians, and civilian infrastructure, and minimise the loss of innocent lives,” a spokesperson for Sunak said.

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Jewish and Arab Australians channel hopes and fears into help amid Israel-Hamas war

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Some put efforts into humanitarian work while others believe political pressure can limit loss of life

As Arab and Jewish communities in Australia watch Israel prepare to embark on a ground offensive in Gaza they are both fearful and determined to help in any way they can.

For some, the response is humanitarian, supporting volunteer efforts in the Middle East or helping to organise and fund repatriation flights.

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Biden ‘didn’t hear the full question’ on whether Israel should delay Gaza ground assault, White House says – as it happened

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White House says US president was only commenting on whether he wanted to see more hostages released. This blog is now closed

Biden says, “We’re pursuing every avenue to bring hostages home”. He says there is no higher priority.

“We’re facing an inflection point in history,” Biden says as he opens his speech. What we do today will determine outcomes for decades to come, he says.

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‘I was helpless’: Nepali survivors of Hamas attack in Israel haunted by trauma

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Ten Nepali students died at kibbutz, leaving families for whom they were breadwinners bereft

Dhanbahadur Chaudhari now dreams of rivers of blood. Although he returned home to Nepal this week, flashes of the scenes he left behind in Israel won’t leave him alone, and for days he has barely been able to sleep.

Chaudhari, 25, was among almost 50 students from Nepal who were staying on a kibbutz in Alumim, the border area between Israel and Gaza, when it came under attack from Hamas militants on 7 October. Since the current conflict broke out that day, at least 4,200 people have died in Israel and Palestine.

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Israel security officials signal readiness for ground offensive into Gaza

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Senior official vows assault will ‘eliminate Hamas from the roots … everything should go away’

Israel security officials have signalled their readiness to embark on a ground offensive into Gaza that they say will be far more comprehensive and ferocious than any previous conflict with Hamas.

Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, visited troops on the Gaza border on Thursday, telling them: “You see Gaza now from a distance, you will soon see it from inside. The command will come.”

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Labour peer Alf Dubs calls for refugee plan for Palestinians

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Former refugee says scheme could help people with family connections to Britain and those in need of medical aid

Alf Dubs, the veteran Labour peer and former child refugee, has called for the creation of a resettlement scheme for Palestinians with family connections to Britain and those in need of medical aid.

The peer, who came to Britain from Austria as a child fleeing the Nazis, also spoke of his concerns about rising antisemitism and Islamophobia against the backdrop of the crisis in Israel and Gaza.

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Instagram apologises for adding ‘terrorist’ to some Palestinian user profiles

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Parent company Meta says bug caused ‘inappropriate’ auto-translations and was now fixed while employee says it pushed ‘a lot of people over the edge’

Meta has apologised after inserting the word “terrorist” into the profile bios of some Palestinian Instagram users, in what the company says was a bug in auto-translation.

The issue, which was first reported by 404media, affected users with the word “Palestinian” written in English on their profile, the Palestinian flag emoji and the word “alhamdulillah” written in Arabic. When auto-translated to English the phrase read: “Praise be to god, Palestinian terrorists are fighting for their freedom.”

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Joe Biden’s warning to Israel is a nod to US failures in the ‘war on terror’

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The US response to 9/11 was dogged by a threat posed by an ill-defined enemy, which led to human rights abuses associated with Guantánamo

When Joe Biden, the US president, spoke to Israelis during his brief visit this week, he said he and “many Americans” understood “their shock, pain and rage”.

Then he added a warning. “Justice must be done. But I caution this – while you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.”

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Hundreds arrested as US Jews protest against Israel’s Gaza assault

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Protesters in Washington demand ceasefire, marking rift in community as Anti-Defamation League condemns demonstration

Leftwing Jewish activists campaigned against Israel’s bombardment and blockade of Gaza this week in Washington, culminating in protests that have seen hundreds arrested for civil disobedience outside the White House and Congress.

But groups like the Anti-Defamation League have dismissed the actions as unrepresentative of fellow Jews, signalling a growing rift in the community as the war in the Middle East continues to claim thousands of lives.

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Israeli military discussing alternatives to full Gaza invasion with US, says Biden

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US officials warn that a ground assault could bring conflict with Hezbollah and risk a two-front war

Joe Biden has said that the US and Israeli militaries are discussing alternatives to the full invasion of Gaza widely expected since the Hamas attack on 7 October.

On the flight back to Washington after a day of talks in Israel, Biden was asked about the prospect of a large-scale ground assault by the 300,000-strong Israeli force arrayed along the border.

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Iran’s Mahsa Amini awarded EU’s Sakharov human rights prize

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Top MEP says Iranian woman’s death in police custody last year ‘triggered a movement that is making history’

Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who died in police custody in Iran last year, sparking worldwide protests against the country’s conservative Islamic theocracy, has been awarded the EU’s top human rights prize.

The award, named for the Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honour individuals or groups who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. Sakharov, a Nobel peace prize laureate, died in 1989.

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