Category Archives: Gaza

Board of Peace focus on Hamas risks return to war in Gaza, critics say

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US-backed board has put sole blame for stalled ceasefire on militant group despite Israel not fulfilling its obligations, analysts say

The top diplomat from the Board of Peace has blamed Hamas for the stalled ceasefire, but critics have said the US-backed board’s lack of even-handedness in implementing the truce risks a return to war.

The “high representative for Gaza”, Nickolay Mladenov, told the UN security council on Thursday that Hamas was the “principal obstacle” to the ceasefire’s continued implementation because “it refused to accept verified decommissioning, relinquish coercive control and allow a genuine civilian transition”.

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Albanese joins coalition of nations calling for an end to Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank

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Australia joins the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands and New Zealand in condemning illegal settlements

The Israeli government is undermining stability in the West Bank as settler violence reaches unprecedented levels, a coalition of western countries says, as its leaders call for an end to construction of Israeli settlements it says breach international law.

In a joint statement issued on Friday, Anthony Albanese and the leaders of the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands and New Zealand said:

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Flotilla video: Ben-Gvir’s template of televised abuse was honed on Palestinians

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Targeting of foreign activists drew global outrage from governments that have not acted on violence against Palestinian detainees

Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has made abuse of detained Palestinians something of a macabre calling card, celebrating cruelty publicly and often on video.

During his time in office, violence including rape, extreme hunger and humiliation have been normalised in Israeli jails. Rights groups say detention centres have become “torture camps” for Palestinians.

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Israel deports foreign Gaza-bound flotilla activists after global outcry

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Move comes amid condemnation of Itamar Ben-Gvir after video posted showing detained protesters being taunted

Israel has said it has deported all the foreign activists it seized from a Gaza-bound flotilla, after a global outcry over their treatment in custody that led the UK to join other countries in summoning Israeli diplomats for a formal dressing down.

More than 430 activists from countries around the world had been placed in detention in Israel after they were intercepted at sea on Monday while making the latest in a string of attempts to break the blockade of the Palestinian territory.

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Israeli security minister stirs diplomatic outrage with flotilla activist abuse video

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Far-right figure Itamar Ben-Gvir shares footage of himself taunting bound international detainees

Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has sparked a diplomatic crisis by publishing footage of Israeli security forces abusing international activists who were detained as they tried to sail to Gaza with aid.

Three activists were taken to hospital as result of Israeli violence, lawyers representing the group said. They were subsequently discharged. Dozens of others have suspected broken ribs, resulting in breathing problems.

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Israeli strikes kill six in southern Lebanon hours after extension of ceasefire

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Three paramedics at health centre among dead, while Hamas military chief Izz al-Din al-Haddad killed in Gaza strike

Israel carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon, killing at least six people, including three paramedics working at a health centre, just hours after its envoys had agreed with the Lebanese government to extend a ceasefire.

Israel also said it had killed the Hamas military chief, Izz al-Din al-Haddad, in a targeted strike in Gaza on Friday.

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Israeli nationalists chant ‘death to Arabs’ in violent Jerusalem Day march

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Far-right Jewish marchers call for Palestinian villages to ‘burn’ as they storm through Muslim quarter of Old City

Israeli nationalists chanted “death to the Arabs”, “may your villages burn” and “Gaza is a graveyard” in a state-sponsored march through Jerusalem to mark the anniversary of the city’s capture and annexation.

The annual assertion of Jewish control over Palestinian East Jerusalem has grown more extreme in recent years, and Thursday’s event culminated with the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, unfurling an Israeli flag in front of the al-Aqsa mosque, the holiest Islamic site in the city.

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Palestine Action activist says he ‘did the right thing’ over protest at arms firm site

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Exclusive: Jordan Devlin, who was acquitted at trial where four co-defendants were convicted, says he was saving lives

A Palestine Action activist who was acquitted over a protest at an Israeli arms manufacturer’s UK site has said he and his five co-defendants “did the right thing”.

Four of those who stood trial with Jordan Devlin were convicted of criminal damage in relation to the direct action protest at the Elbit Systems UK site near Bristol on 6 August 2024, but he said they had been acting to save Palestinian lives.

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Man gets life in prison for firebombing pro-Israel demonstrators in Colorado

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One person died and a dozen others were injured in the attack, during a June 2025 demonstration in Boulder

A man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty on Thursday to killing one person and injuring a dozen others in a 2025 firebombing attack on a demonstration in Boulder, Colorado, in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman looked down at a desk throughout the sentencing at the Boulder district court. He has meanwhile pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges for the attack last June.

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Spain demands release of Gaza flotilla activists ‘held illegally’ by Israel

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Israeli court extends detention of two men who were among 175 people intercepted near Crete on Thursday

Spain’s foreign ministry has demanded the immediate release of a Spanish national it said was being “held illegally” by Israel after the interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla, hours after an Israeli court moved to extend his detention by two days.

Saif Abu Keshek, who lives in Barcelona, and Thiago Ávila, from Brazil, appeared in court in Ashkelon on Sunday, days after Israeli forces intercepted at least 22 boats from a flotilla that was attempting to break Israel’s maritime blockade of the devastated Palestinian territory to deliver aid.

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Greta Thunberg, Sally Rooney and Brian Eno defy Palestine Action ban in letter to judges

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Exclusive: Scholars, writers and artists risk arrest with message of support for proscribed group before next week’s appeal hearing

Sally Rooney, Greta Thunberg and Brian Eno have written to the court of appeal in support of Palestine Action before next week’s hearing to determine the lawfulness of the ban on the direct action protest group.

The letter, composed of only seven words – “We oppose genocide, we support Palestine Action” – is signed by more than 130 people and is the first time that prominent scholars, writers and activists have come together to defy the ban.

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Rabbi who boasts of bulldozing Palestinian homes will light torch for Israel’s national day

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Human rights campaigners say honour for Avraham Zarbiv endorses ethnic cleansing and war crimes

An extremist rabbi known for razing civilian homes in Gaza will light a torch at Israel’s independence day celebration on Tuesday, a role human rights campaigners said marked the embrace of genocide as the official “spirit of the nation”.

Avraham Zarbiv is one of 14 people chosen for their “extraordinary contribution to society and the state”, alongside a scientist, a Michelin-starred chef, a leading doctor, members of the security forces and entrepreneurs.

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Thursday briefing: ​What difference will the ceasefire in the Middle East make, and will it hold?

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In today’s newsletter: The truce offers a reprieve after weeks of turmoil, ​b​ut unresolved disputes and competing interpretations ​of what was agreed, threaten to pull the region back toward crisis​ at a moment’s notice

Good morning. On Tuesday, just an hour before the deadline imposed by Donald Trump for Iran to reopen navigation in the strait of Hormuz or face a wave of “civilisation-ending” strikes, a two-week pause in hostilities was announced. After weeks of US and Israeli attacks on Tehran, and Iranian retaliation across the region, the news prompted relief among world leaders.

But unanswered questions are piling up. Israel’s assault on Lebanon continues, with Trump describing that conflict as a separate skirmish not included in the deal, despite Iran seeming to think otherwise. Overnight the US president has used social media to warn that “the ‘shootin’ starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before” unless Tehran complies with “the real agreement”.

Middle East | The fate of the two-week ceasefire in the Iran conflict looked in peril as both sides gave divergent versions of what had been agreed. Iran halted the passage of oil tankers because of an alleged Israeli ceasefire breach.

Middle East | Israel carried out its largest attack on Lebanon since its war with Hezbollah began, killing at least 254 people and wounding 837.

Middle East | The UK has a “job” to help reopen the strait of Hormuz, Keir Starmer said on arriving in the Middle East, as Iranian reports said the key shipping route was closed again just hours after the supposed US-Iran ceasefire.

Ukraine | The US has ignored compelling evidence that Russia has been helping Iran to target US bases in the Middle East because it misguidedly “trusts” Vladimir Putin, according to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Education | Many English universities are taking excessive financial risks with borrowing and expansion of student numbers, threatening not only their own survival but that of others in the sector, the thinktank Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) has warned.

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Israel vows to occupy swathes of southern Lebanon to expand buffer zone

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Defence minister outlines plans to destroy all homes and villages in area ‘in accordance with the model in Gaza’

Israel says it will occupy swathes of south Lebanon and destroy the homes along the border to prevent the return of about 600,000 residents, prompting concerns of long-term forced displacement.

The defence minister, Israel Katz, said that when fighting with Hezbollah ended, Israel would occupy the area under the Litani River, about 19 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border, as part of its so-called buffer zone inside southern Lebanon.

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Michigan student disciplined for protesting against war on Gaza reaches settlement with school

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Teenager alleged she faced racism from teacher who told her to ‘go back to her country’ for refusing to stand for pledge of allegiance

A Palestinian middle school student in Michigan who was publicly admonished for refusing to stand for the pledge of allegiance as part of a personal protest against the war on Gaza has settled with her school district following a lawsuit around her first amendment free speech rights.

The teenager, identified as DK in court documents, said she faced racism from a teacher at the West Middle school in Canton, Michigan, after she did not participate in the pledge. The teacher reportedly told DK to “go back to her country”, Fox 2 Detroit reported.

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Thursday briefing: Why ​most Israelis ​back the ​conflict​ with Iran, even as international support wanes

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In today’s newsletter: Th​is new war has exposed widening fractures between Israel and its allies, ​and the country finds itself increasingly out of step with global opinion

Good morning. Israel may be the only country in the world where there is overwhelming public support for the conflict in Iran. Despite its impact on everyday life in the country – at least 15 people have been killed and hundreds more injured by Iranian missiles since the war started in February, and school closures and missile warnings remain routine – polling puts support for the war at more than 90% among Jewish Israelis.

The contrast with the rest of the world is stark. Nearly a month into the fighting, polling shows that 60% of the US public oppose the war with Iran, and just one in four backed the initial strikes. In the Gulf, Europe and Asia, the conflict is widely unpopular, as severe economic consequences already begin to bite.

Middle East crisis | Iran dismissed a US ceasefire proposal on Wednesday and countered with a negotiation plan of its own as intermediaries sought to keep diplomatic channels between the warring countries open.

Media | Matt Brittin, Google’s former top executive in Europe, has been named the BBC’s next director general. Brittin will replace Tim Davie at a crucial time for the corporation.

UK politics | Political donations from British citizens living abroad are to be capped at £100,000 a year, in a move that is likely to limit further funding from Reform UK’s Thailand-based mega-donor, Christopher Harborne.

UK news | The former justice minister Crispin Blunt has been fined £1,200 for possessing illegal drugs after he told a court he entered the world of chemsex parties to help inform government policy.

Housing | People who lost their homes when a tower block in Dagenham burned down say they are being made to pay for the building’s fire safety works after the government demanded its money back.

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WHO warns of health crisis ‘unfolding in real time’ across Middle East

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Hostilities should halt and healthcare facilities must be treated as ‘safe havens’, WHO’s regional chief has said

A total stop to hostilities in the Middle East is needed to halt a “health crisis unfolding in real time”, the World Health Organization’s chief in the region has said.

Hospitals and other healthcare facilities must be treated as “safe havens”, urged Dr Hanan Balkhy, the WHO’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean.

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Leqaa Kordia, a pro-Palestinian activist, released after a year in ICE custody

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Kordia was taken at a check-in at an ICE office in New Jersey and was held despite court ruling thrice for her release

A New Jersey woman who had been arrested at a pro-Palestine protest and booked into a US immigration detention center in Texas last March has been released on bond, after a year in custody.

Leqaa Kordia, 33, originally from the West Bank, was arrested in April 2024 at a protest against Israel’s war on Gaza outside of Columbia University. Nearly a year later, she was taken into custody after reporting for a check-in at a Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in New Jersey.

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Australian soldiers’ bodies ‘very likely’ disturbed by Israeli bulldozing at Gaza cemetery, senator says

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David Pocock’s comments come as new photos show scale of damage and government official says its ‘quite possible’ bodies disturbed

The bodies of Australian soldiers buried in Gaza have “very likely” been disturbed, the independent senator David Pocock says, as new photos tendered to parliament show widespread damage of graves by Israeli bulldozers.

About 146 of the 263 graves of Australian soldiers buried in Gaza have been damaged, Senate estimates heard last week.

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Israeli-backed Palestinian militias step up operations against Hamas in Gaza

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Armed groups appear to have increased their firepower as they carry out raids deep in Hamas-controlled territory

Pro-Israel Palestinian militia have launched repeated raids, clandestine assassination and abduction operations deep inside parts of Gaza controlled by Hamas in recent months, with new operations launched recently despite the outbreak of conflict with Iran.

The militia, which are all based in eastern parts of Gaza that are under Israeli control after a ceasefire came into effect in October, have received significant logistic support from Israel since last year but appear to have increased their firepower, allowing new and more aggressive attacks in recent weeks.

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