Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Iranian mother jailed for 13 years after denouncing death of son shot at protest

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Mahsa Yazdani convicted of blasphemy and ‘insulting supreme leader’ as Iran regime targets families of those killed in protests

A mother in Iran, whose son was reportedly killed after being shot repeatedly at close range by security forces, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison by an Iranian court after she demanded justice for her child on social media.

Mahsa Yazdani, whose 20-year-old son Mohammad Javad Zahedi was killed at an anti-regime protest in September 2022, was convicted on charges of blasphemy, incitement, insulting the supreme leader, and spreading anti-regime propaganda, according to human rights groups and family members. They say she will serve the first five years with no chance of parole.

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Biden urges pause in Gaza fighting as Hamas says refugee camp death toll nearing 200

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US president says pause will allow time to rescue hostages, amid fresh Israeli airstrikes on enclave’s Jabalia refugee camp

Joe Biden has said there should be a “pause” in the fighting in Gaza to enable the release of hostages, as Hamas said nearly 200 people had been killed in two days of Israeli airstrikes on the enclave’s Jabalia refugee camp.

The US president was speaking at a campaign fundraiser in Minneapolis on Wednesday when a woman shouted: “Mr President, if you care about Jewish people, as a rabbi, I need you to call for a ceasefire.”

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Adelaide family of four among 20 Australians to flee Gaza via Egypt border

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Adelaide family who escaped besieged enclave through Rafah as part of multinational deal say crossing border was ‘nerve-wracking’ and took several attempts

An Adelaide family of four who had been trapped in Gaza for three weeks are among 20 Australians who have managed to escape the besieged enclave into Egypt.

Australia has confirmed 20 Australian nationals – and three other people who had registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) – crossed through the Rafah pass into Egypt as part of a multinational deal to allow foreign national civilians to leave Gaza.

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Palestinian Americans sue state department on behalf of relatives stuck in Gaza

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Americans were provided flights from Israel after the 7 October Hamas attacks, but those in besieged Gaza Strip cannot leave

American citizens trapped in the Gaza Strip and their families in the US are lawyering up after weeks of desperate and futile attempts to exit the war zone, which has been under heavy bombardment by Israel since Hamas’s attacks on 7 October.

Nearly a dozen lawsuits have been filed or are set to be filed against the US state department, according to the Arab American Civil Rights League.

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First UK nationals leave Gaza via Rafah crossing, says Foreign Office

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Relatives of the 200 British or dual nationals trying to leave describe scenes of chaos and desperation

The families of British citizens trapped in Gaza have said it is devastating that their loved ones have been turned away from the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, as the Foreign Office said the first UK nationals had made it through.

Hundreds of foreign passport holders and injured Palestinians requiring hospital treatment crossed into Egypt on Wednesday after more than three weeks of conflict in which thousands of people have been killed.

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UN official who denounced Gaza ‘genocide’ had been under review after Israel lobby complaint

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Exclusive: Craig Mokhiber, retiring UN official who criticised the body over its failure to protect civilians in Gaza, had been accused of bias in his social media

A senior UN official who sent a letter denouncing the organisation’s failure to protect civilians in Gaza had been subject to a review into allegedly biased social media posts after a pro-Israel lobby group complained.

Craig Mokhiber, director of the New York office of the UN high commissioner for human rights, wrote on 28 October to the UN high commissioner in Geneva, Volker Türk, accusing Israel of committing genocide and his employer of failing to stop it. “This will be my last communication to you,” he said. He has since stepped down.

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Fifteen Israeli soldiers killed as fighting intensifies in Gaza

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Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu vows to press on with ground offensive despite rising death toll

Fifteen Israeli soldiers were killed amid fierce fighting in Gaza in a series of incidents that have underlined the mounting challenges facing the Israel Defence Forces in their attempts to push further into built-up areas of Gaza.

The heaviest loss of life occurred when a “Namer” armoured personnel carrier was hit at about noon on Tuesday by an anti-tank guided missile, killing 11 soldiers and wounding several more.

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US should place ‘no limit’ on civilian casualties Israel inflicts, senator says

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However, Republican senator Lindsey Graham says, Israel should be ‘smart’ and try to limit casualties ‘the best they can’

The US should place “no limit” to civilian casualties Israel might inflict in Gaza in response to the Hamas terror attacks of 7 October, a senior Republican senator said.

Speaking to CNN, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was asked: “Is there a threshold for you, and do you think there should be one for the United States government, in which the US would say, ‘Let’s hold off for a second in terms of civilian casualties?’”

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Hamas says 195 killed in two days of strikes on Jabalia camp – as it happened

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Hamas says hundreds injured after refugee camp strikes; the US president responded to an anti-war protestor saying he supports a humanitarian ‘pause’

Iranian leaders have warned the world is closer to a regional war in the Middle East and that Israel has crossed red lines, which, in the words of President Ebrahim Raisi, “may force everyone to take action”.

But Iran is walking a tightrope, keen to avoid a direct confrontation and therefore blurring its red lines to avoid walking into a trap. Instead, it leans on proxy militias around the region from its “axis of resistance” to launch limited strikes aimed at Israel and US military bases in Iraq and Syria.

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Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt opens for limited evacuation

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Crossing open for first time in weeks to allow evacuation of foreign passport holders and injured Palestinians

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has opened for the first time in more than three weeks of brutal conflict to allow the evacuation of dozens of injured Palestinians requiring hospital treatment and hundreds of foreign passport holders.

Witnesses at the border on the Gaza side saw scores of people and cars hurrying to get through the gates towards the Egyptian side through the damaged terminal area, some carrying their belongings. Ambulances whisked away the wounded to Egyptian field hospitals, including one young boy with heavy bandaging around his stomach.

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Dozens killed after Israeli airstrikes on Gaza refugee camp

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Israeli military says it bombed Jabalia camp to target a key Hamas commander, Ibrahim Biari

Israeli airstrikes have destroyed apartment blocks and killed dozens of people at a refugee camp in northern Gaza on the 25th day of a conflict that the United Nations said has become a “graveyard” for children.

At least six airstrikes hit residential areas in the Jabalia refugee camp on Gaza City’s outskirts on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people and injuring about 150 people, Hamas officials said.

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What are Israel’s aims in launching Gaza ground invasion?

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Limited information suggests IDF seeking to encircle Gaza City – but urban warfare can confer significant advantages to defenders

Israel’s ground invasion of the northern Gaza Strip began on Friday evening, an urban warfare operation that is likely to be lengthy, fraught with danger for its military and Palestinian civilians and whose ultimate goals remain uncertain.

It began more than three weeks after Hamas’s surprising and brutal cross-border attack of 7 October, in which 1,400 Israelis were killed, and comes amid what the monitoring group Airwars says is an aerial bombardment that “far outpaces” the number of bombs dropped in “the deadliest months” of the US-led war against Islamic State.

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Dominic Cummings tells Covid inquiry foul-mouthed messages about colleague weren’t misogynistic – UK politics live

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Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser denies contributing to an atmosphere of misogyny at No 10, saying he was ‘much ruder about men’

Heather Hallett, the chair, intervenes at this point. She asks Cain if he is defending the 10-day gap. She says she finds that curious if he is.

Cain says locking down the country is a huge, huge undertaking. In government terms, that is government acting at speed. But it was “longer than you would hope”, he says.

Do I understand from what you said earlier that you would defend the 10-day gap between the decision taken that there had to be a national lockdown and actually implementing that decision? Because I find that curious.

As I said, I think it is longer than you would like, but I think it’s important just to emphasise the amount of things that had to be done and the amount of people we had to take with us to deliver a nationwide lockdown.

It’s a huge, huge undertaking and to be honest, from my understanding of government, that is government moving at a tremendous speed – which maybe says more about government than other things.

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Colombia recalls ambassador to Israel – as it happened

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This blog is now closed.

The United Nations has said “there is already clear evidence that war crimes may have been committed” by Hamas and the Israeli military since 7 October and that it is gathering evidence for potential prosecutions.

All parties involved in the conflict are governed by a body of law drawn from a system of conventions, treaties and war crimes tribunal rulings known as “international humanitarian law” or the “law of armed conflict”.

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Saudi Arabia confirmed as sole bidder for 2034 men’s football World Cup

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  • Fifa urged to pull plug if human rights commitments not met
  • Second World Cup in the Gulf in 12 years all but a formality

Saudi Arabia was confirmed on Tuesday as the sole bidder to host the 2034 men’s World Cup, raising concerns over Fifa’s ability to deliver on its human rights commitments.

After Australia decided against a bid, having been given a 25-day deadline by Fifa to express interest after the deadline was unexpectedly brought forward to 4pm GMT on Tuesday, the prospect of a second World Cup in the Gulf within 12 years is all but a formality. The lack of a competitive tender and the alacrity with which the process has been conducted, however, have prompted alarm among human rights groups. Amnesty International called on Fifa to pull the plug if human rights commitments were not fulfilled.

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Keir Starmer cautions Israel but refuses to back calls for ceasefire

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Labour leader criticises Israeli bombardment but says ceasefire is not ‘the correct position now’

Keir Starmer has urged Israel to obey international law but refused to back calls for a ceasefire, as he seeks to heal increasingly bitter divisions within his own party over the conflict in Gaza.

The Labour leader spelled out his position on the crisis in detail on Tuesday after days of criticism from many of his own members and MPs that he appeared oblivious to the suffering of Palestinians.

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‘From the river to the sea’: where does the slogan come from and what does it mean?

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Andy McDonald was suspended from the Labour party for using the phrase, which some say advocates the eradication of Israel

“We won’t rest until we have justice, until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea can live in peaceful liberty,” said Andy McDonald, a Labour MP, at a protest in London organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign at the weekend.

Three days later, McDonald was suspended from the party pending an investigation, leaving the former shadow cabinet minister sitting as an independent for now.

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Israel targets Hamas tunnels amid hopes more aid will reach civilians in Gaza

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IDF says it struck 300 targets this week and killed ‘numerous’ militants, including Hamas commander

Israeli tanks and infantry have targeted tunnel entrances and rocket launch positions in fresh clashes with Hamas around Gaza City and in the south of the enclave.

The fighting on Tuesday came amid renewed hope that significant quantities of aid would reach beleaguered Palestinian civilians in the south via the Rafah crossing with Egypt. A World Health Organization official in Geneva said on Tuesday that a “public health catastrophe” was imminent in Gaza.

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‘I saw my cousin’s body’: Britons in Gaza describe horror of bombardment

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Some of the 200 British or dual nationals in strip tell of life amid Israel’s attack and the communication blackout

When Musheir El-Farra climbs into bed in Gaza each night, he cannot get the sounds of people screaming out of his head.

Since last week, the British civil engineer has been plagued by memories of an Israeli bomb attack on a residential block in Khan Younis in which, he said, 16 of his relatives were killed.

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Entire population of Gaza becoming ‘dehumanised’ says UN commissioner

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Philippe Lazzarini, who leads main UN agency in Palestine, says lives of millions depend on ceasefire

The entire population of Gaza is becoming “dehumanised”, the commissioner general for the main UN agency in Palestine has told the UN security council, saying a ceasefire has become a matter of life and death for millions.

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general for the UNRWA was one of three speakers to starkly describe the scale of the damage being inflicted on Gaza, as UN agencies piled pressure on the Security Council to set aside its divisions and back some form of immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

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