Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Israeli forces kill at least 60 Palestinians seeking food in Gaza, health officials say

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Dozens more wounded as crowds approached food distribution centres run by Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

Israeli forces killed at least 60 Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday, most of them as they were seeking food from a US-Israeli distribution scheme, according to local health authorities.

Medical officials said at least 25 people were killed and dozens wounded as they approached a food distribution centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), near Netzarim in central Gaza.

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US orders non-essential embassy staff out of Iraq amid growing Middle East tensions

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State department move comes amid increasing concerns about nuclear talks between US and Iran that appear to be deadlocked

The United States has ordered the departure of “non-essential” diplomatic staff and their families from embassies in the Middle East amid growing diplomatic tensions in the region.

The US diplomatic draw-down came as Iran threatened to target US military bases in the region if conflict breaks out, while Donald Trump said he was “less confident” about reaching a nuclear deal.

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UK sanctions two far-right Israeli ministers for inciting West Bank violence

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Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich face travel bans and asset freezes as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway also impose measures

The UK has been joined by Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway in placing sanctions on two Israeli government ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, largely for inciting violence against Palestinians in their campaign to gain control of new settlements in the West Bank.

Ben-Gvir, the security minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, and Smotrich, the finance minister, will face travel bans and have any assets in the five countries frozen. It was stressed that they were being sanctioned in their personal capacity, placing no restrictions on the ministries they lead. Netanyahu has promised to retaliate.

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‘We did nothing wrong’: Greta Thunberg accuses Israel of kidnapping yacht crew

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Swedish activist says ‘12 peaceful volunteers’ did not break laws during attempt to bring symbolic aid shipment to Gaza

Hours after being deported from Israel, Greta Thunberg accused the country of kidnapping her and her fellow activists in international waters, adding that she had refused to sign a document stating that she had entered Israel illegally.

Speaking to reporters at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, the Swedish campaigner stressed that she and others on a Gaza-bound ship intercepted by Israel on Monday had simply been attempting to bring much-needed aid to the war-torn territory.

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Israeli troops kill 17, say Gaza officials, as UN experts decry ‘obliteration’ of education

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Palestinians reportedly killed while trying to reach food sites, while Israel accused of war crime in targeting schools

Israeli troops killed at least 17 Palestinians trying to reach food distribution sites on Tuesday, health authorities in Gaza said, as UN experts accused Israel’s military of committing war crimes including the “obliteration” of Gaza’s education system.

More than 130 people have been shot dead over the past two weeks in a series of brutally repetitive attacks on desperate crowds trying to access food handouts. Hundreds of others have been injured.

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Iran says it will release Israeli nuclear secrets as pressure grows to reimpose sanctions

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Tehran threat comes as European powers press for vote that could lead to reimposition of UN sanctions

Iran has said it will soon start releasing information from a hoard of Israeli nuclear secrets it claims to have obtained, as European countries push for a vote this week on reimposing UN sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear programme.

The unverified claims by Iranian intelligence of a massive leak of Israeli secrets may be designed to turn the focus away from what Iran argues is its own excessively monitored civil nuclear programme.

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Israeli forces take control of Gaza aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg

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Crew of activists making symbolic attempt to deliver aid expected to be held in port until deportation hearings

A boat seized by Israel’s military as it tried to break the blockade on Gaza was towed into an Israeli port after sunset on Monday, with the crew of activists including Greta Thunberg expected to be held there in advance of deportation hearings.

The Madleen was attempting to bring a symbolic shipment of aid to Gaza, which faces a looming famine after more than 11 weeks of total siege and ongoing severe restrictions on food entering the territory.

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Gaza aid ship Madleen heading to Israel, says Israeli foreign ministry, after activists report army boarded vessel – live

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Freedom Flotilla Coalition says ship’s communications were jammed after Israeli defence minister threatened to ‘take all necessary measures’ to prevent the humanitarian ship from reaching Gaza

Israel’s foreign ministry has said that the Madleen is “safely making its way to the shores of Israel.”

In a post on X, the ministry says “The passengers are expected to return to their home countries.”

While Greta and others attempted to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity — and which included less than a single truckload of aid — more than 1,200 aid trucks have entered Gaza from Israel within the past two weeks, and in addition, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed close to 11 million meals directly to civilians in Gaza.

There are ways to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip — they do not involve Instagram selfies.”

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IDF ordered to stop Gaza-bound aid ship carrying Greta Thunberg

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Alarm briefly sounds on vessel Madleen amid interception fears after Israeli defence minister tells military to ‘take all necessary measures’ to block humanitarian ship

The Israeli defence minister has threatened to “take all necessary measures” to prevent a humanitarian ship carrying climate campaigner Greta Thunberg from reaching Gaza.

The Madleen says it is attempting to reach the shores of the territory to bring in a symbolic amount of aid and raise international awareness of the continuing humanitarian crisis.

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At least four killed by Israeli fire near Gaza food point, officials say

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Shooting happened about a kilometre from distribution site in Rafah run by Gaza Humanitarian Foundation

At least four people have been killed and others injured by Israeli fire about a kilometre from a food distribution point in Gaza, Palestinian health officials and witnesses said, the latest casualties of a new system to provide supplies that critics say is unethical, chaotic and dangerous.

Palestinian witnesses said Israeli forces had opened fire on Sunday morning as people went to receive supplies from a site in Rafah run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli and US-backed group.

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Iran extends ban on dog-walking for ‘public order, safety and health’

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Many cities said to have imposed prohibition in recent days that echoes 2019 police directive in Tehran

Iranian authorities have expanded a ban on walking dogs in public to many cities nationwide, citing public health, social order and safety concerns, domestic media have reported.

The ban, which echoes a 2019 police directive that barred walking dogs in Tehran, was expanded to Ilam city in the west on Sunday, according to reports.

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Body of Thai hostage retrieved from Gaza, says Israeli defence minister

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Nattapong Pinta had been seized in the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attack and killed, according to Israeli military

The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage, Nattapong Pinta, who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023, according to defence minister, Israel Katz. .

Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian militant group called the Mujahideen Brigades, and was retrieved from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.

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Iran blasts Trump for ‘racist mentality’ and hostility to Muslims over travel ban

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Tehran condemns Donald Trump’s order barring 12 countries’ citizens from entering US as violation of ‘fundamental principles of international law’

Tehran has denounced the US travel ban on Iranians and citizens of 11 other mostly Middle Eastern and African countries, saying Washington’s decision was a sign of a “racist mentality”.

Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday reviving sweeping restrictions that echo the US president’s first-term travel ban, justified on national security grounds after a firebomb attack at a pro-Israel rally in Colorado.

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Conference to recognise Palestinian state to weaken scope of its ambition, diplomats say

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UK, France and other western states will not recognise Palestine at New York meeting, instead focusing on agreeing steps towards it

A planned conference in New York this month that supporters of Palestine had hoped would push western governments to recognise a Palestinian state has weakened its ambition and will instead hope to agree on steps towards recognition, diplomats have said.

The change to the aims of the conference, due to be held between 17 and 20 June, marks a retreat from an earlier vision that it would mark a joint declaration of recognition of Palestine as a state by a large group of countries, including permanent UN security council members France and the UK.

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Netanyahu defends arming Palestinian clans accused of ties with jihadist groups

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PM says it ‘saves lives of Israeli soldiers’, after accusations government is giving weapons to ‘criminals and felons’

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has admitted arming clans in Gaza that he says are opposed to Hamas, after allegations that members of these criminal gangs looted humanitarian aid and have ties to jihadist groups.

The admission came after Israeli media reports quoted defence sources as saying Netanyahu had authorised giving weapons to a clan reportedly led by a man known as Yasser Abu Shabab, a Rafah resident from a Bedouin family, known locally for his involvement in criminal activity. Israel allegedly provided Abu Shabab’s group, which calls itself the “Anti-Terror Service”, with Kalashnikov assault rifles, including weapons seized from Hamas.

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Israel accused of arming Palestinian gang who allegedly looted aid in Gaza

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Gang ‘of about 100 armed men’ operate in eastern Rafah with tacit approval of IDF in apparent attempt to counter Hamas

Israel’s government has been accused of arming a Palestinian criminal gang whose members have allegedly looted humanitarian aid, in an apparent attempt to counter Hamas in Gaza.

Satellite images and videos verified by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz showed on Thursday that a new Palestinian militia has expanded its presence in southern Gaza, and is operating inside an area under the direct control of the Israel Defense Forces.

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Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to reopen two distribution centres intended to supply aid – as it happened

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US-backed Israeli logistics group to reopen facilities today after closures following IDF warnings. This live blog is closed

Russian president Vladimir Putin is ready to “help resolve” the standoff between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear programme, the Kremlin said on Thursday.

“We have a close partnership with Tehran. And President Putin said that he was ready to use this partnership to help resolve the Iranian nuclear issue,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

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IDF recovers bodies of two Israeli-American hostages from 7 October attack

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Remains of Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai returned to Israel after overnight operation in southern Gaza

Israel has recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages who were killed and abducted in Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the remains of Judih Weinstein, 70, and Gad Haggai, 72, both of whom had Israeli and US citizenship, were returned to Israel by the army and the Shin Bet internal security agency after an overnight operation in southern Gaza.

Their deaths had been announced in December 2023. “My beautiful parents have been freed. We have certainty,” their daughter, Iris Haggai Liniado, wrote in a Facebook post. She thanked the Israeli military, the FBI and the Israeli and US governments and called for the release of all the remaining hostages.

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US vetoes resolution for unconditional Gaza ceasefire at UN security council

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Russia, China, France and the UK all voted in favour of ‘immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire’

The United States has vetoed a United Nations security council resolution calling for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza while the 14 remaining countries on the council voted in favour.

The vetoed resolution also called the situation in Gaza “catastrophic”, and demanded the “immediate and unconditional lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and its safe and unhindered distribution at scale, including by the UN and humanitarian partners”.

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Keir Starmer calls Israel’s recent actions in Gaza ‘appalling and intolerable’

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PM tells MPs he is considering imposing sanctions on Israeli government members but is resisting ban on arms sales

Keir Starmer has called Israel’s recent actions in Gaza “appalling, counterproductive and intolerable”, as the UK government comes under mounting pressure to take stronger action after the killings of dozens of civilians at food points in recent days.

The prime minister told MPs on Wednesday the UK was considering imposing sanctions on members of the Israeli government, but is so far resisting growing calls for a complete ban on arms sales and immediate recognition of Palestine.

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