UN agency says work in West Bank and Gaza will continue amid concerns over impact on delivery of aid
International staff working for the UN’s main agency serving Palestinians have been forced to leave after Israel’s ban on the agency came into effect.
As the UN flag was still flying above the headquarters building in Jerusalem, Palestinian staff were not present at the site over security concerns amid a planned “celebration” by Israeli rightwing groups outside the compound.
Continue reading...Palestinians in war-devastated Gaza and occupied West Bank expected to be hardest hit by ban on refugee agency
The main UN agency serving Palestinians in the occupied territories, including Gaza, looks likely to be shut down on Thursday as Israel defied widespread international support for the agency in a move Unrwa predicted would “sabotage Gaza’s recovery and political transition”.
Unrwa’s banning looks certain, as Israel’s high court of justice refused a last-minute request to intervene to suspend the law forbidding the agency from operating in Israel.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: After Donald Trump’s remarks, renewed alarm about what will follow the first phase of the ceasefire
Good morning. Donald Trump presented his proposal as one rooted in a concern for the safety of Palestinians: it was time to find many of the residents of Gaza somewhere else to live. “I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change,” he said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say: ‘You know, it’s over.’”
That was more than stream of consciousness: Trump doubled down on his comments on Monday. But the idea of “cleaning out” Gaza is not welcomed by the Palestinians who live there – or the countries that Trump has in mind as their new home. And if they were to be forced to leave after Gaza was devastated by the Israeli military, it would appear to be a clear case of ethnic cleansing.
Kumbh Mela festival | Dozens of people are feared to have died in crowd crushes at India’s Kumbh Mela festival, local officials have said, as vast crowds went to bathe at one of the holiest sites of the Hindu gathering. People were crushed in the early hours of Wednesday as tens of millions flocked to immerse themselves in the sacred confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.
UK economy | Rachel Reeves is unveiling plans to create “Europe’s Silicon Valley” between Oxford and Cambridge as she stakes the government’s success on kickstarting economic growth. The chancellor will announce a blueprint to improve infrastructure across the region in the hope of adding £78bn to the UK economy within a decade.
Extremism | Yvette Cooper will reject internal Home Office advice to widen the definition of extremism to include violent misogyny and conspiracy theorists, the Guardian understands. The home secretary is expected to reject a report saying that authorities should adopt an “ideologically agnostic” approach in favour of focusing on Islamist and far-right violence.
Tax | Roman Abramovich, the billionaire Russian oligarch, may owe British tax authorities as much as £1bn, according to analysis of documents that suggests his companies failed to pay tax on profits made through an elaborate offshore investment scheme.
Technology | US tech stocks tentatively recovered on Tuesday after the emergence of the Chinese DeepSeek app wiped $1tn (£800bn) in value from the leading US tech index. Nvidia recovered somewhat from Monday’s 17% drop, rising 9%.
Continue reading...US president insists leaders of both countries would agree to move that could be ‘temporary or long-term’
Donald Trump has repeated his suggestion that large numbers of Palestinians should leave Gaza for Egypt or Jordan, despite widespread opposition to the proposal from Palestinian leadership, the UN and US allies in the region.
Speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One on Monday night, the US president was asked about his comments over the weekend about “cleaning out” the Gaza Strip either “temporarily or long-term”. Trump reiterated he would “like to get [Palestinians from Gaza] living in an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence so much”.
Continue reading...US president has already caused trouble abroad and at home with incoherent ideas about Middle East politics
The suggestion by the US president, Donald Trump, that Gaza’s Palestinian population could be “cleaned out” and moved to Egypt and Jordan is an idea that has long been circulated by the Israeli right.
Over the decades since the Six Day war in 1967, when Israeli forces first captured the Gaza Strip, which had been under Egyptian military rule, Israeli officials and commentators have periodically pushed the notion that Palestinians in Gaza could be resettled in Egypt.
Continue reading...UN agency ordered to vacate HQ by Thursday – just as aid is being increased to Gaza after ceasefire
Israel has insisted it will not back down over its plan to close down the Gaza operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa), the UN relief agency for Palestinians, even though critics say the move will jeopardise urgent humanitarian aid efforts.
Israel has ordered the UN agency to vacate its headquarters in East Jerusalem by Thursday, after the Israeli Knesset passed a law on 28 October banning its operations in Israel and the Palestinian territories. It has not yet said how it will implement a related law ending all Israeli government cooperation with Unwra, which could come into force on the same day and strangle its operations in the West Bank and Gaza.
Continue reading...People begin long walk at dawn to what remains of their homes after 24-hour delay over release of Israeli hostage
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flooded back into northern Gaza on Monday after Israel opened military checkpoints that had divided the strip for more than a year, ending a forced exile from homes and loved ones that many feared could become permanent.
In the dawn light, crowds that had waited by the road overnight began the long walk back to their homes and business – or what remained of them – as soon as the crossing opened.
Continue reading...US president has suggested Palestinians should leave Gaza for neighbouring countries to ‘just clean out’ whole strip
Donald Trump’s proposal that large numbers of Palestinians should leave Gaza to “just clean out” the whole strip has been rejected by US allies in the region and attacked as dangerous, illegal and unworkable by lawyers and activists.
The US president said he would like hundreds of thousands of people to move to neighbouring countries, either “temporarily or could be long-term”. Destinations could include Jordan, which already hosts more than 2.7 million Palestinian refugees, and Egypt, he added.
Continue reading...Civilians and militants gather amid rubble to watch handover of four women held hostage for 15 months
For the crowds of militants and civilians gathered in a central Gaza square to witness the handover of four Israeli soldiers held hostage for 15 months, the atmosphere was one of triumph and jubilation.
Hundreds of people gathered on the piles of rubble in Palestine Square, Gaza City, among flags of Palestinian militant groups, to watch a painstaking hostage handover, while in Tel Aviv crowds of Israelis gathered in suspense.
Continue reading...Further shooting and explosions reported after 10 killed yesterday as Ayman Safadi tells Davos meeting of fears for territory
After months of negotiations, a ceasefire has paused the devastating war in Gaza, but it risks collapsing as a result of deep distrust between Israel and Hamas and the multi-phased nature of the deal, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Qatar, which mediated the talks along with the US and Egypt, has expressed hope the six-week truce and hostage-prisoner exchange will become permanent. However, that outcome is far from certain with the releases timetabled at a slower pace in comparison with a previous truce agreement.
Continue reading...Communication lines open 24 hours intended to avoid breakdown over reported violations and other issues
Qatari, US and Egyptian negotiators are running a communications hub in Cairo to protect the ceasefire in Gaza, as Donald Trump said he was not confident the break in fighting would hold.
Violations have already been reported. Medics in Gaza said on Monday that eight people had been hit by Israeli fire. The start of the ceasefire was also delayed when Hamas did not provide the names of hostages to be released.
Continue reading...Ceasefire celebrations replaced by shock and sorrow as people begin to assess the scale of devastation
After the first night in Gaza for more than a year without the sound of drones or bombing overhead following the successful implementation of a ceasefire, people in the besieged Palestinian territory have begun returning to destroyed homes and searching for missing loved ones.
The truce that took effect on Sunday with the release of the first three hostages held by Hamas in exchange for 90 Palestinians from Israeli jails was greeted with euphoria as a large influx of desperately needed aid supplies entered the strip.
Continue reading...Proof of group’s survival demonstrates stalemate that gave rise to ceasefire and is likely to fuel more conflict
Hours after the ceasefire was declared on Sunday, Hamas fighters were back on Gaza’s streets. Not many, it was true, and those who appeared were armed only with Kalashnikov rifles and some rudimentary body armour, but they were there.
In Khan Younis, a handful of pickup trucks with gunmen onboard drove through cheering crowds of young men. Dozens of uniformed fighters with Hamas headbands were visible when the three Israeli hostages were handed over in Gaza City. Elsewhere, there were reports that Hamas policemen, dressed in blue police uniform, deployed in some areas after months in hiding to avoid Israeli strikes.
Continue reading...Emily Damari, released with two other hostages after 471 days in captivity, overjoyed after being reunited with family
A British-Israeli hostage freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza on Sunday has said she has “returned to life” and is the “happiest person in the world” after being reunited with her family.
In her first comments since being freed, Emily Damari, 28, thanked her family and friends who campaigned for her release. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m the happiest in the world,” she said in Hebrew on Instagram.
Continue reading...Incoming president has promised retaliation against his opponents. Plus, billionaire wealth grew $2tn in 2024
Good morning.
The United States braces for a new era of disruption and division on Monday with Donald Trump scheduled to be sworn in as its 47th president, promising a blitz of executive orders and radical shake-up of the global order.
What did Trump promise yesterday? “We’re going to stop the invasion of our borders … We’re going to unlock the liquid gold that’s right under our feet … We’re going to bring back law and order to our cities … We’re going to get radical woke ideology the hell out of our military.”
How are some assessing the Biden administration? Joe Biden was a “remarkably consequential one-term president”, writes Katrina vanden Heuvel. Internationally, Biden “was assuming a world that no longer existed” – with calamitous results – but domestically, Biden “consolidated the break” with “failed market fundamentalism”.
What is the status of the three Israelis? On Sunday, three women held hostage by Hamas in tunnels beneath Gaza – Emily Damari, 28, Romi Gonen, 24 and Doron Steinbrecher, 31 – were released and reunited with their mothers. Videos showed them in apparently reasonable health.
Were there any obstacles? Yes, a three-hour delay to the start of the truce, during which Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded the Gaza Strip. The delay meant a further 13 people were killed, Palestinian health authorities said. At least two missiles hit a family travelling on a donkey cart as they tried to return home, Al Jazeera reported.
Continue reading...Emily Damari, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher return to Israel after 15 months in captivity
Three women held hostage by Hamas in tunnels beneath Gaza during 15 months of devastating conflict, including the joint British national Emily Damari, have been released and reunited with their mothers in the first act of a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the conflict.
Damari, 28, Romi Gonen, 24 and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were handed over to the International Committee for the Red Cross in Gaza on Sunday afternoon, ending a protracted ordeal that began with their violent abduction by Hamas on 7 October 2023.
Continue reading...Hundreds of thousands are now set to return to whatever remains of their houses or to claim bodies from the rubble
Aid agencies in Gaza are bracing for chaotic scenes this week as hundreds of thousands of people try to return to homes in the territory after the expected implementation of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Sunday.
Before the ceasefire, which is due to begin at 8.30am local time, Israel has continued to carry out attacks inside Gaza. The local health ministry claimed on Saturday that 23 Palestinians had been killed in the previous 24 hours, while the Israeli army said it had conducted strikes on 50 “terror targets” on Friday.
Continue reading...Agreement to surge aid to Gaza shows Israel has been controlling access, lawyers and humanitarian groups say
A provision to increase the aid entering Gaza under the ceasefire is welcome but insufficient, and shows Israel could have allowed more food, medicine and other supplies into the strip during the war, humanitarian and legal experts have said.
The deal agreed this week allows for 600 trucks a day of aid to enter Gaza, where nine out of 10 Palestinians are going hungry and experts warn that famine is imminent in areas. Israel faces accusations it is using starvation as a weapon of war.
Continue reading...Israeli prime minister’s demand before expected cabinet meeting threatens to derail peace negotiations
Benjamin Netanyahu has said his cabinet will not meet to vote on the ceasefire deal intended to pause the war in Gaza until “Hamas accepts all elements of the agreement”, in a move that threatens to derail months of work to end the brutal 15-month conflict.
The unexpected delay has sparked fears that last-minute disagreements between Israel and Hamas or hardline opposition could still scuttle the deal, although senior US officials insisted the hard-won ceasefire would go into effect on Sunday as planned.
Continue reading...Arab diplomats fear political vacuum and say PA should work in conjunction with UN relief agency Unrwa
Israel and the incoming Trump administration are being urged by Arab states to avoid a dangerous political vacuum in Gaza and allow the Palestinian Authority (PA), in conjunction with the UN Palestinian relief agency Unrwa, to oversee the territory’s recovery.
The future governance of Gaza is due to be discussed at the start of negotiations on the second stage of the deal 16 days after a ceasefire begins. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has refused to broach the subject since the war began, regarding any discussions on the “day after” as likely to open destabilising internal political divisions inside his coalition.
Continue reading...