Qatar says no breakthrough has yet been made but Hamas has given ‘positive response’
The UN’s human rights office on Tuesday condemned a far-right Israeli minister for taunting a Palestinian prisoner in his cell and sharing the footage online, Reuters reports.
National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir published a video on Friday last week showing him confronting Marwan Barghouti, the most high-profile Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody.
Continue reading...Deal would include 60-day halt to violence and exchange of half of living Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners
Hamas officials say they have accepted a proposal for a Gaza ceasefire deal that would include the release of half of the approximately 20 remaining living Israeli hostages as part of a phased resolution to the war, as Gaza health officials said 62,000 Palestinians had died in the 22 months of war.
The proposed deal follows negotiations between Hamas and Egyptian and Qatari officials that have been taking place in Cairo in recent days, and comes after the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was confronted on Sunday by Israel’s biggest protests of the war, which called for a deal to secure the release of the hostages.
Continue reading...Israeli PM suggests demonstrators are toughening Hamas’s stance and delaying the release of hostages
Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised massive street protests against his handling of the Gaza war, and failure to secure the release of remaining Israeli hostages, suggesting demonstrators were giving comfort to Hamas’s position in negotiations.
The Israeli prime minister made his comments against the backdrop of the largest protests in almost two years of war, with estimates that upwards of 400,000 people joined marches across Israel on Sunday.
Continue reading...Negotiators in Cairo receive proposal calling for 60-day truce and hostage release in two batches, says Palestinian official
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, said on Monday it had decided to exclude six companies with connections to the West Bank and Gaza from its portfolio, following a review of its Israeli investments.
The $2tn wealth fund did not name the companies it had decided to exclude, but said these would be made public once the divestment was completed, Reuters reports.
Continue reading...Simcha Rothman – a supporter of plan to remove Palestinians from Gaza – was scheduled to appear at events in Sydney and Melbourne
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A far-right Israeli politician, who has described Palestinian children in Gaza as “enemies” and called for Israel’s total control of the West Bank, has been denied entry into Australia ahead of an upcoming “solidarity tour”.
Simcha Rothman, a member of the Knesset for the far-right party Religious Zionism, was scheduled to appear at two public events in Sydney and Melbourne in August and two private events billed as a “solidarity tour”.
Continue reading...‘It does not matter if they are children,’ said Aharon Haliva in recorded comments calling the death toll ‘necessary’
The Israeli general who headed military intelligence on 7 October 2023 has said 50 Palestinians must die for every person killed that day and “it does not matter now if they are children”, in recordings broadcast by Israel’s Channel 12 TV station.
Aharon Haliva said the toll in Gaza, which he put at more than 50,000 dead, was “necessary” as a “message to future generations” of Palestinians.
Continue reading...Israeli-Palestinian magazine says IDF ‘legitimisation cell’ set up to blunt global outrage over killing of media staff
A special unit in Israel’s military was tasked with identifying reporters it could smear as undercover Hamas fighters, to target them and to blunt international outrage over the killing of media workers, the Israeli-Palestinian outlet +972 Magazine reports.
The “legitimisation cell” was set up after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack to gather information that could bolster Israel’s image and shore up diplomatic and military support from key allies, the report said, citing three intelligence sources.
Continue reading...Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir posts video showing him confronting Marwan Barghouti, who has spent more than 20 years in Israeli custody
At least 16 Palestinian people, including five aid seekers, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn, Al Jazeera is reporting, citing medical sources.
Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Gaza:
Continue reading...Sharren Haskel accuses demonstrators of ‘marching with terrorist organisations’ but organisers reject her claims and say people are ‘outraged’
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An Israeli government minister has said the thousands of Australians who marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to protest against the killing in Gaza were “naive” and “useful idiots” for Hamas.
Sharren Haskel, Israel’s deputy foreign affairs minister, also claimed during Friday’s interview on ABC radio that there was not a “real famine” in Gaza.
Continue reading...Lifesaving goods for starved people in Gaza blocked by vague rules on anti-Israeli activity, say humanitarian bodies
More than 100 aid organisations working in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank have accused Israel of dangerously “weaponising aid” in its application of new rules for registering groups involved in delivering humanitarian assistance.
The letter represents the latest broadside from the international aid community against Israel after the EU, Britain and Japan on Tuesday called for urgent action to stop “famine” spreading in the Gaza Strip.
Continue reading...Hamas account claims quotes attributed to co-founder Hassan Yousef unlikely to be true given he’s been in jail since October 2023
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Anthony Albanese has warned media about Hamas propaganda, amid confusion regarding statements reportedly made by the terrorist group in relation to Australia’s pledge to recognise a Palestinian state.
Nine newspapers reported on Wednesday that the Hamas co-founder and senior official Hassan Yousef had welcomed the decision, praising Australia’s “political courage” and calling on other countries to follow its example.
Continue reading...In an open letter, writers denounced abrupt scrapping of a Harvard Educational Review issue dedicated to Palestine
More than 115 education scholars have condemned the cancellation of an entire issue of an academic journal dedicated to Palestine by a Harvard University publisher as “censorship”.
In an open letter published on Thursday, the scholars denounced the abrupt scrapping of a special issue of the Harvard Educational Review – which was first revealed by the Guardian in July – as an “attempt to silence the academic examination of the genocide, starvation and dehumanisation of Palestinian people by the state of Israel and its allies.”
Continue reading...City’s mayor has hardened her stance on Trump’s ‘authoritarian’ actions. Plus, Israel intensifies bombing of Gaza killing 89 Palestinians in 24 hours
Good morning.
The Washington DC national guard began deploying on the city’s streets on Tuesday night, as the city’s mayor toughened her response to Donald Trump taking control of the city’s police force.
What did Washington’s mayor say? Muriel Bowser, the Democratic mayor of Washington, hardened her stance after treading a more diplomatic line earlier in the day. During a live event on social media on Tuesday night, she described the arrival of federalized national guard members as an authoritarian push. Other critics have said the move seeks to distract attention from political problems such as the Jeffrey Epstein files.
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...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...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.
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