Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Starmer calls Gaza City takeover plan wrong and urges Israel to reconsider

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UK prime minister says occupation approved by Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet will only bring more bloodshed

Keir Starmer has urged Benjamin Netanyahu to reconsider his plans to take over Gaza City and said the move would only bring more bloodshed.

The British prime minister said Israel’s decision to escalate a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians over the past 22 months while pushing the territory into famine was wrong and would do nothing to secure the release of Israeli hostages.

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Israel-Gaza war live: security cabinet approves Gaza City take over; opposition leader calls decision ‘a disaster’

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Yair Lapid says far-right ministers dragged Benjamin Netanyahu into ‘exactly what Hamas wanted’ after security cabinet approves take over plan

The UK’s ambassador to Israel has said extending the war in Gaza would only lead to more deaths and that occupying Gaza would be a “huge mistake”.

Simon Walters was quoted by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper as saying on Thursday:

The IDF has achieved all that it can achieve in Gaza, and extending the war any further will simply lead to more deaths. Deaths of soldiers, deaths of Palestinians, deaths of hostages.

If you want to defeat Hamas, you cannot achieve that through military force. You need to use politics and diplomacy and you need to give the people of Gaza an alternative to Hamas.

We are working with friends, allies in Europe and in the Middle East to generate a real plan for what happens after the fighting stops, after the war.

It needs to be a description of what the governments will be for Gaza. That has to be governance by Palestinians who are not members of Hamas with a role for the Palestinian Authority.

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Netanyahu announces plan to take over Gaza City, marking another escalation in devastating war

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Plan will likely displace tens of thousands of Palestinians already suffering from famine and comes after PM said he wanted to take control of entire territory

Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said, marking another escalation in the 22-month offensive that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed most of Gaza and pushed the territory into famine.

Ahead of the security cabinet meeting, which began Thursday and ran through the night, Netanyahu had said Israel planned to retake control over the entire territory and eventually hand it off to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas.

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‘Palestinian Pelé’ killed in Israeli attack in southern Gaza

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Palestine Football Association says Suleiman al-Obeid, 41, died during attack on people waiting for humanitarian aid

A footballer known as the “Palestinian Pelé” has been killed in an Israeli attack in southern Gaza, according to the Palestine Football Association (PFA).

Suleiman al-Obeid was killed on Wednesday when Israeli forces attacked civilians waiting for humanitarian aid, the PFA said.

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Netanyahu aims to fully control Gaza despite warnings of mass death and resistance from military

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Israeli PM needs security cabinet to approve plan amid opposition from aid agencies and families of hostages

Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza in defiance of warnings that such a move would lead to countless more Palestinian deaths, further mass displacement and endanger Israeli hostages still held in the territory.

Before a security cabinet meeting to discuss Gaza’s future, the Israeli prime minister insisted that Israel does not want to ultimately govern the territory and would hand over that responsibility to friendly Arab nations.

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Israel’s security cabinet expected to meet to sign off plans for expanded Gaza operation – Middle East crisis live

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On Wednesday the Israeli military put parts of Gaza City and Khan Younis under new enforced displacement orders

Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, urged UK prime minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday to call Donald Trump to encourage him to use his influence to block Israel’s plans for a “full occupation” of Gaza.

In a statement, Davey said:

[Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu’s latest proposals for the occupation of all of Gaza are utterly horrifying.

If realised, they will only wreak yet more destruction on Gazans – while gravely endangering the lives of the hostages still held in Hamas’ captivity.

Breaking – Palestine Red Crescent: The Israeli occupation forces have targeted the 8th floor of the PRCS headquarters in Khan Younis with an artillery shell.

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Assault on Sudan’s Zamzam refugee camp may have killed more than 1,500 civilians

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Guardian investigation finds number killed in April attack by Rapid Support Forces far greater than current estimates

More than 1,500 civilians may have been massacred during an attack on Sudan’s largest displacement camp in April, in what would be the second-biggest war crime of the country’s catastrophic conflict.

A Guardian investigation into the 72-hour attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on North Darfur’s Zamzam camp, the country’s largest for people displaced by the war, found repeated testimony of mass executions and large-scale abductions. Hundreds of civilians remain unaccounted for.

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Four rare Barbary lion cubs born at Czech zoo

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Lion that once roamed northern Africa has been extinct in the wild since 1960s

Four Barbary lion cubs were born recently in a Czech zoo, a vital contribution for the small surviving population of a rare lion that is extinct in the wild.

The three females and one male were seen playing in their outdoor enclosure at Dvůr Králové safari park on Wednesday under the watchful eye of their parents, Khalila and Bart.

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Israel issues forced displacement orders amid fears of full occupation in Gaza

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Israeli military leaders reportedly oppose Netanyahu’s plans as the country faces growing diplomatic isolation

The Israeli military has put parts of Gaza City and Khan Younis under new enforced displacement orders amid fears that the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is preparing to order the full occupation of the Palestinian territory later this week.

Israel’s security cabinet is expected to meet on Thursday evening and sign off on plans for an expanded operation despite reported serious misgivings from senior military officers.

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‘Healthocide’: experts warn of rise in targeting of health services in conflict

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Principle of medical neutrality threatened as doctors and hospitals deliberately attacked, particularly in Gaza

Targeting medics and hospitals in acts of war should be called “healthocide”, academics have urged, amid an increase in such attacks in recent years.

Health services are increasingly deliberately under attack and medics are facing violence and abuse in conflict zones around the world – in particular in Gaza, but also in Lebanon, Ukraine, Sudan, Syria and El Salvador.

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Son of British woman held in Iran speaks to her for first time in 213 days

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Joe Bennett says Lindsay Foreman sounded in good spirits despite her and husband being charged with espionage

The son of a British woman being held in Iran on espionage charges has said speaking to her on the phone for the first time in 213 days felt like “five birthdays and 10 Christmases at once”.

Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both 52, were arrested on 3 January in Kerman, southern Iran, while travelling through the country from Armenia to Pakistan on a round-the-world motorbike trip.

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Israeli cabinet meeting postponed as tensions rise over Netanyahu’s occupation plan

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Officials say prime minister planning offensive to fully occupy Gaza, but resistance reveals splits in government

An Israeli security cabinet meeting, which had been expected to discuss Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for the “full occupation” of Gaza, has been postponed amid mounting tensions over whether the plan is feasible.

Amid a stalling of ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, Israeli officials had briefed local and international media that the prime minister was considering an expansive offensive, aimed at taking full control of the Palestinian territory after 22 months of war against the militant group Hamas.

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100 Gaza children hope to be evacuated to UK for urgent medical care

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Charities urge government to move quickly after it announced scheme to help critically ill and injured children

More than 100 critically ill and injured children in Gaza hope to come to the UK as soon as possible after the government announced a scheme to provide those in severe need with NHS care.

The government announced on Sunday that it would evacuate children from Gaza to the UK for treatment under a scheme to be announced within weeks.

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Speaker Mike Johnson visits occupied West Bank to support Israeli settlers

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Palestinian foreign ministry condemns Republican visit for ‘undermining efforts to stop the war and cycle of violence’

Mike Johnson became the highest ranked US official to visit the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Republican House speaker drawing measures of praise and condemnation for his trip in support of Israeli settlements amid a worsening starvation crisis in Gaza.

The excursion followed Johnson’s arrival in Israel on Sunday on an unannounced visit with other Republican lawmakers, and his meeting with Israeli defense minister Israel Katz and foreign minister Gideon Saar.

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British couple held in Iran moved to separate prisons heightening welfare concerns

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Lindsay and Craig Foreman were detained seven months ago on espionage charges while on global motorbike trip

A British couple detained in Iran for seven months on espionage charges have been moved to separate prisons in and near Tehran, heightening fears for their welfare, their son said on Monday.

Lindsay and Craig Foreman, both 52 and who previously split their time between south-east England and Spain, were seized in Kerman, in central Iran, in early January while on a round-the-world motorbike trip.

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Scores dead as boat carrying more than 150 people capsizes off Yemen

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Shipwreck in Gulf of Aden leaves only 32 survivors so far, with the rest missing and presumed dead, says UN agency

A boat has capsized off Yemen’s coast leaving 76 people dead and 74 others missing, the UN’s migration agency said.

Yemeni security officials said 76 bodies had been recovered and 32 people rescued from the shipwreck in the Gulf of Aden in what a senior official from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) described as “one of the deadliest” shipwrecks off Yemen this year. The UN migration agency said 157 people were onboard.

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UK to evacuate ill and injured children from Gaza to receive NHS care

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Government to announce taxpayer-funded initiative after three children were brought to UK under private scheme

The UK government will evacuate seriously ill and injured children from Gaza to the UK for NHS treatment under a scheme to be announced within weeks.

Ministers will enable children in severe need to receive taxpayer-funded care. Three children were brought to the UK this year through a private scheme by the charity Project Pure Hope.

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Hamas releases second video of Israeli hostage and says it will not disarm until Palestinian state established

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Family of Evyatar David condemn video as protesters in Tel Aviv call for a deal to be made to return hostages

Hamas has reaffirmed that it will not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established, as the group released its second video in two days of an Israeli hostage.

Responding to one of the key Israeli demands to end the war in Gaza, Hamas – which has dominated the territory since 2007 – said it could not yield its right to “armed resistance” unless an “independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital” is established.

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Gaza hospitals say 18 killed by Israeli fire as aid site shootings continue to rise

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UN says 859 have died near GHF sites since May while hospitals report growing number of hunger-related deaths

Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli fire killed more than a dozen people on Saturday, eight of them while trying to get food, as malnutrition-related deaths continue to rise in the territory.

The bloodshed comes a day after Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, visited an aid distribution site run by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

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Gaza hospitals say 18 killed by Israeli fire as aid site shootings continue to rise

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UN says 859 have died near GHF sites since May while hospitals report growing number of hunger-related deaths

Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli fire killed more than a dozen people on Saturday, eight of them while trying to get food, as malnutrition-related deaths continue to rise in the territory.

The bloodshed comes a day after Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, visited an aid distribution site run by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

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