MSF charity calls situation ‘beyond urgent’ as thousands seeking refuge from war rely on contaminated water
The “worst cholera outbreak in years” has killed at least 40 people in the last week in Sudan, according to the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières.
Overwhelmed medical centres are resorting to treating patients on mattresses on the floor, MSF said, as the country’s two-year civil war aids the spread of the disease.
Continue reading...Human Rights Watch also finds that Iran abused survivors of June attack, which killed 80 people
Israeli airstrikes on Tehran’s Evin prison in June killed scores of detainees, visitors and staff in what Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called an “apparent war crime”. Iranian authorities have since subjected survivors to abuse, enforced disappearances and inhumane detention conditions, the rights group said.
HRW’s investigation, based on satellite imagery, videos and witness accounts, found the 23 June Israeli airstrikes destroyed visitation halls, prison wards, the central kitchen, the medical clinic and administrative offices. No evident military targets were identified in the facility, which held more than 1,500 prisoners at the time, many of whom had been jailed for peaceful activism.
Continue reading...Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for the occupied territories, calls for practical actions and warns against distracting ‘attention from where it should be: the genocide’
The United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied territories has warned that moves to recognise a Palestinian state should not distract member states from stopping mass death and starvation in Gaza.
“Of course it’s important to recognize the state of Palestine,” Francesca Albanese told the Guardian after several more countries responded to the mounting starvation in Gaza by announcing plans to recognize an independent Palestine. “It’s incoherent that they’ve not done it already.”
Continue reading...Green party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick accused government MPs of lacking a ‘spine’ during a debate on whether to recognise a Palestinian state
As more of its allies make moves to recognise Palestinian statehood, the issue is dominating New Zealand’s politics, with a prominent MP ejected from parliament on Tuesday and the prime minister describing his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu as having “lost the plot”.
Speaking to local media on Wednesday, Christopher Luxon said what was happening in Gaza was “utterly, utterly appalling”.
Continue reading...Fatal infections more likely due to malnutrition, injuries and lack of medical facilities under Israel’s blockade
Gaza is facing a new threat as diseases resistant to antibiotics spread across the devastated territory, research has revealed.
Medical supplies are desperately scarce and tens of thousands of people have been injured in the 22-month war, while many others have been weakened by malnutrition, so the high levels of drug-resistant bacteria will mean longer and more serious illnesses, a more rapid transmission of infectious diseases and more deaths, experts said.
Continue reading...At least 15 people queueing for food among the deaths, and five people reported to have died from starvation
Israel has stepped up bombing Gaza, killing at least 89 Palestinians in 24 hours, including at least 15 people queueing for food, despite global outcry over the deaths of six journalists in the territory the previous day.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City had intensified in the three days after Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved plans to expand the war in the territory.
Continue reading...Seven children reach shore as dozens of people intercepted on risky route, which authorities say is now used more often
About 100 people, including several children, risked their lives by trying to swim from Morocco into Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta early on Saturday morning, as the territory’s authorities warned that its overwhelmed reception system was close to collapse.
Recent weeks have seen a rise in the number of people trying to reach Ceuta, with more than 50 children swimming across from Morocco on 26 July alone.
Continue reading...Members of press and influencers covering devastation are being silenced despite protection under international law
Israel is running two Gaza campaigns: one for military control of the strip; another for narrative control of how the world understands what happens there.
In theory, Palestinian journalists and social media influencers documenting starvation, mass killing and other Israeli war crimes in Gaza are protected civilians under international law.
Continue reading...CJP says the period since 7 October 2023 has been the most deadly for journalists since it began gathering data in 1992
Journalists have been prominent among casualties since the war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s incursion into Israel in October 2023.
Some were working for well-known international media, others were employed by local news organisations. Several were high-profile veterans, but many were newcomers to the profession.
Continue reading...B’Tselem publishes film showing killing of Awdah Hathaleen after suspect released by court over ‘weakened’ evidence
Awdah Hathaleen, the prominent Palestinian activist who was killed late last month by an extremist Jewish settler in the West Bank, filmed the moment he was shot, newly released video footage reveals.
Hathaleen, who worked on the filming of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which examined settler violence against the Palestinian community of Masafer Yatta, was killed by Yinon Levi, a settler who was already under sanctions in the UK and EU for violent acts against Palestinians.
Continue reading...UN condemns killing of Anas al-Sharif and colleagues, calling it a ‘grave breach of international humanitarian law’
Anas al-Sharif among five journalists killed in Israeli airstrike
Reporters Without Borders has condemned the “acknowledged murder by the Israeli army” of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif in Gaza, who the armed forces admitted they had targeted, along with several of his colleagues.
The press freedom campaign group told news agency AFP it “strongly and angrily condemns the acknowledged murder by the Israeli army” of al-Sharif and other journalists.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: A Guardian investigation uncovers chilling evidence that civilians in Gaza appear to have been targeted by coordinated gunfire during food distributions
Good morning. In May 2025, Israel dismantled the United Nations-led humanitarian aid distribution system in Gaza. In its place came a distribution scheme run by the secretive Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) that came under immediate scrutiny for its “militarised model” and close ties to Israeli authorities, which rights groups warned “undermines the core humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence”.
In the months since, humanitarians’ worst fears about the aid sites have been realised. International observers have expressed concern as daily reports emerged of civilians being shot, shelled or crushed while attempting to access aid. Almost 1,400 Palestinians have reportedly been killed while seeking food, primarily near GHF distribution sites.
Israel-Gaza war | Benjamin Netanyahu has defended his plan to take control of Gaza City, even as senior UN officials warned the move risked unleashing “another calamity” on the territory. On Sunday, Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera journalist, was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Israel admitted a deliberate attack on the journalist.
Ukraine | Europe’s leaders have raised the pressure on Donald Trump to involve Ukraine in a planned summit with Vladimir Putin, as Germany warned the White House against any deal hatched “over the heads of Europeans and Ukrainians”.
Housing | Lower-income householders, minority ethnic people and those with young children are more likely to live in homes at risk from dangerous overheating, research has found.
UK news | Half of the people arrested during the protest in relation to Palestine Action in London on Saturday were aged 60 or above, according to police figures. A total of 532 people were arrested at the largest demonstration relating to the group – all but 10 under section 13 of the Terrorism Act for displaying supportive placards or signs.
Crime | Foreign criminals from 15 more countries face deportation before they have a chance to appeal, in an expansion of the UK government’s “deport first, appeal later” scheme.
Continue reading...Israel admits deliberate attack on the journalist, known for frontline coverage, in a strike on a tent outside al-Shifa hospital
A prominent Al Jazeera journalist who had previously been threatened by Israel has been killed along with four colleagues in an Israeli airstrike.
Anas al-Sharif, who was one of Al Jazeera’s most recognisable faces in Gaza, was killed while inside a tent for journalists outside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Sunday night. His funeral was held on Monday morning.
Continue reading...Israeli PM says taking over city is ‘best way’ to end war, despite condemnation from within Israel and around world
Benjamin Netanyahu has defended his plan to take control of Gaza City in the face of widespread international outrage, even as senior UN officials warned that the move risked unleashing “another calamity” on a territory already experiencing “starvation, pure and simple”.
In a rare press conference with foreign journalists in Jerusalem, the Israeli prime minister said the plan, signed off last week by the security cabinet to criticism both at home and abroad, was “the best way to end the war and the best way to end it speedily.”
Continue reading...Sir Ephraim Mirvis joins relatives of hostages in calling for their release before any recognition of a Palestinian state
The chief rabbi has criticised Labour’s pledge to recognise a Palestinian state at a “national march for the hostages” in central London organised by a number of Jewish groups.
Family members of Israeli hostages taken on 7 October also joined the march on Downing Street to urge the release of those being held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Continue reading...Organisers say more than 100,000 people joined demonstration demanding end to military campaign
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday night to oppose Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to escalate the Gaza war.
A day earlier, the Israeli prime minister’s office said the security cabinet had decided to seize Gaza City, expanding military operations in the devastated Palestinian territory despite widespread public opposition and warnings from the military the move could endanger the hostages.
Continue reading...Trump-brokered peace treaty predicted to suffocate geopolitical influence of Washington’s rivals in region
Iran expressed concern about foreign interference on Saturday, fearing it had been carved out of a declaration brokered by Donald Trump between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The two countries have come closer to ending 35 years of enmity by signing a peace treaty in Washington and agreeing to a US private consortium taking control of a strategic corridor on Iran’s border.
The corridor passing through southern Armenia will link Azerbaijan with its exclave Nakhchivan, a longstanding demand of Baku. The US will operate the corridor under Armenian sovereignty on a 99-year land lease, changing the balance of power in the region. Some Iranian commentators claimed the deal amounts to “Iran’s geopolitical suffocation in the region”.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
Iran’s judiciary said Saturday it was investigating the cases of 20 people arrested over their suspected links with Israel following the 12-day war between the two arch-foes.
“These cases were immediately filed under the supervision of the esteemed investigators and are being investigated,” Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir told reporters in Tehran, adding that further information would be shared as it became available.
Continue reading...Vice-president says, unlike Britain, White House has no plans to recognise the Palestinian state
The US and UK have “disagreements” on Gaza including over whether to recognise a Palestinian state, JD Vance has suggested as he arrived in England for his summer holiday.
The US vice-president was speaking before a bilateral meeting with David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, at his 17th-century grace-and-favour country house, Chevening.
Continue reading...Decision will place huge financial burden on Israel and could lead to massive increase in Palestinian civilian deaths
One of Israel’s most celebrated images is David Rubinger’s photograph of a trio of paratroopers at the newly captured Western Wall in 1967, an event that would mark the beginning of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
You see it when arriving at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. It has been used to illustrate the Israel Defense Forces’ “values” page, and appears endlessly in the Hebrew media and on pro-Israel sites.
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