Category Archives: Israel-Gaza war

‘Shameful’: UK, Australia and Canada criticise Israel over Gaza aid convoy killings decision

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Joint statement issued after IDF said it will not pursue criminal investigations into April 2024 strike that killed seven humanitarian workers

Britain, Australia and Canada have called the decision of the Israeli military authorities not to open a criminal investigation into the April 2024 airstrikes that hit a convoy of aid vehicles in Gaza “shameful”. The strikes killed seven humanitarian workers from the US-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) organisation.

WCK staff from the three countries were among the casualties of the attack, which prompted global outrage.

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Israel admits its soldiers fired at car in which Hind Rajab was killed

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Military orders criminal investigation into deaths of five-year-old and six family members in Gaza in 2024

The Israeli military admitted on Wednesday its troops had opened fire on a car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab and six family members in Gaza in 2024, saying it had ordered a criminal investigation into the killing.

The killing of Hind and her family was one of the most high profile of a series of incidents involving civilian casualties during the first months of the Gaza conflict which prompted international outrage.

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Netanyahu and Kushner talks make no breakthrough on stalled Gaza deal

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Israeli PM again insists troops will not withdraw from strip until Hamas first disarms, but calls meeting constructive

Benjamin Netanyahu has told Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner there can be no progress on the stalled Gaza ceasefire deal or an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal strip until Hamas first disarms.

An Israeli official said there had been no breakthrough in ‌the meeting between the pair, saying Netanyahu had made it clear the IDF would not withdraw and would continue to carry out operations in Gaza.

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Netanyahu and Kushner talks make no breakthrough on stalled Gaza deal

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Israeli PM again insists troops will not withdraw from strip until Hamas first disarms, but calls meeting constructive

Benjamin Netanyahu has told Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner there can be no progress on the stalled Gaza ceasefire deal or an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal strip until Hamas first disarms.

An Israeli official said there had been no breakthrough in ‌the meeting between the pair, saying Netanyahu had made it clear the IDF would not withdraw and would continue to carry out operations in Gaza.

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Hamas calls for Trump’s Board of Peace to ‘compel’ Israel over Gaza peace plan – Middle East crisis live

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Jared Kushner set to meet Netanyahu following talks with Hamas

Welcome to our live coverage of the latest in the continuing conflicts in the Middle East.

Donald Trump’s envoys met with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators in Cairo on Sunday, a diplomatic source said, aiming to advance the US president’s Gaza peace plan, even as Israel pressed on with airstrikes ⁠in the territory.

Israel resumed its airstrikes on Gaza in the past few days ‌after scaling back the attacks earlier this month. One of those wounded in the Khan Younis strike died from their wounds, medics at Nasser hospital said later. A separate airstrike, which the Israeli military said targeted another militant, hit an apartment in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, wounding several people, medics said.

A senior Israeli official said on Sunday that Israel was concerned about Washington’s demand to end targeted assassinations of Hamas militants in Gaza as the group rebuilds its forces, Reuters reported. Trump’s peace ⁠plan calls for the immediate cessation of military operations in Gaza and foresees Hamas disarming as Israeli troops withdraw from the territory and Gaza is rebuilt.

Several regional powers including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Sunday condemned Israel’s rejection of the peace road map, saying the country is obstructing peace efforts.

The top US military commander in the Middle East visited the USS Lincoln in the Arabian Sea amid reports of mental health and supply issues onboard. Adm Brad Cooper praised the leadership of the long-deployed aircraft carrier.

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Jared Kushner meets with Hamas ahead of talks with Netanyahu on Gaza

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Trump’s son-in-law and envoy held rare meeting with Hamas chief in Egypt in push for progress on ceasefire

Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy, Jared Kushner, held a rare meeting with Hamas’s political chief on Sunday in Egypt, in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet on Monday with Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure after rejecting the new 15-point, US-backed road map.

The talks aim to salvage the plan for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory shattered by war.

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Netanyahu rejects US-led 15-point Gaza peace plan in rare public break with Trump

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Israeli PM says IDF will not withdraw until Hamas is disarmed and rebukes US pressure to end wars without his country’s buy-in

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has rejected a US-backed 15-point peace plan for Gaza in a rare public break with Donald Trump.

In a statement on Sunday, Netanyahu said that he was confronting a “wave of rumours about Israeli weakness and Israeli withdrawals on all fronts” and rebuked US pressure to end wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran without Israel’s buy-in.

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Trump says ‘complete disarmament’ of Hamas agreed in Gaza but Israel yet to accept

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US president hails breakthrough but Israeli far-right minister says ‘only solution’ is ‘encouraging emigration and destroying Hamas’

Donald Trump has declared a breakthrough in negotiations over the disarmament of Hamas in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, issues that have so far stalled the implementation of last October’s ceasefire, but Israel has yet to respond officially to the plan and government officials have voiced scepticism over the deal.

Announcing the agreement in a social media post on Thursday night, Trump said it involved the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza and was “a monumental step toward ending the fighting”.

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Home Office blocking evacuation of dozens of women and children from Gaza

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Refugee family reunions in limbo, despite Foreign Office saying it is ready get people out of war-torn territory

The Home Office is blocking the evacuation of dozens of women and children from Gaza, despite the Foreign Office saying it is ready to get people out of the war-torn region.

Last September, the Home Office announced it was suspending refugee family reunion applications and that new, more restrictive rules would be announced in the spring. So far there has been no announcement and the process remains suspended.

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Israeli siblings who fear breaking law in Gaza under IDF owed protection by Australia, tribunal finds

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Exclusive: Tribunal accepts three siblings could face ‘persecution’ for refusing military conscription due to their political opinion on war

Three Israeli citizens facing conscription into the Israel Defense Forces have been granted the right to reapply for protection visas in Australia, after a government tribunal found they held a genuine fear they would be forced to break international humanitarian law in Gaza.

The Administrative Review Tribunal found the punishment the young adults could face from the state of Israel – including imprisonment as conscientious objectors – would amount to persecution.

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Mamdani says he can’t arrest Netanyahu as mayor and urges US to enforce ICC warrant

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Mamdani admits he lacks power to arrest Israeli prime minister after saying he’s ‘not welcome’ in New York City

Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, doubled down on his support for the international criminal court (ICC) on Wednesday and called on federal authorities to execute the court’s warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest should he visit the city in the fall.

“I call on the federal government to join the international criminal court and to execute both this warrant as well as any warrant the international criminal court holds,” Mamdani told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.

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Israeli ministers announce plans for new illegal settlements in Gaza and West Bank

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Defence minister seeks three ‘Nahal’ outposts in Gaza as top commander says Israel now controls 65% of the strip, violating Trump ceasefire deal

Israel’s defence and finance ministers announced plans for three illegal settlements in Gaza and more than $400m (£300m) in funding to expand construction in the occupied West Bank, as Israel’s military commander for the region celebrated violent outposts as his “security partners”.

With national elections scheduled for 27 October, Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition is racing to expand control of land in occupied Palestine and drive out Palestinians before its mandate expires.

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Trump’s Board of Peace drops full Gaza recovery plan in favour of tiny pilot scheme

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Revised plan aims to ‘keep something going’ amid fears Netanyahu may gamble on new all-out offensive before Israeli elections

The Gaza recovery plan being pursued by Donald Trump’s Board of Peace (BoP) has shrunk dramatically from an ambitious blueprint for the reconstruction of the whole territory to a small pilot project in the south of the strip.

Even the envisaged pilot scheme – involving a temporary camp for a tiny fraction of Gaza’s 2 million displaced people, with a Palestinian administration, police and a small international security force – is not expected to take shape before the end of the year.

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Arrest of American who has given $1m in aid to Palestine prompts fears of ‘growing repression from Trump’

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Extradition request for James ‘Fergie’ Chambers sparks concerns that US government is conflating humanitarian aid with terrorism

The arrest in Ibiza and US justice department extradition request for a wealthy American donor to lefwing causes in connection with alleged material support for Hamas is sending ripples through leftwing circles in Spain and being closely monitored in the US for potential “chilling effects” on support for Palestine.

Spanish authorities detained James “Fergie” Chambers Friday and are now holding him without bail in Madrid. A hearing is scheduled on whether he can be released on bail for Thursday.

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UNSW academic subjected to Nazi salutes in class, antisemitism commission hears

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Royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion hears lived experiences of Jewish students and academics

An academic at UNSW was subjected to Nazi salutes by students in his business class, the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion has heard.

The fourth block of hearings, taking place in Melbourne this week, is examining the lived experiences of Jewish students and academics, including the response of universities to combat hate.

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EU accused of dragging its feet over ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements

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Foreign ministers will discuss options on Monday but decision on imports is not expected for months

The EU has been accused of dragging its feet over upholding international law, on the eve of a long-awaited debate about banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday will discuss a possible ban on imports from the settlements, against an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where a UN inquiry found Israel to be committing a genocide, and surging state-backed violence in the occupied West Bank, which has killed at least 235 children.

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Pianist Jayson Gillham ‘very disappointed’ after losing Melbourne Symphony Orchestra discrimination case

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The federal court on Friday threw out the concert pianist’s case against the MSO, finding he was not unfairly dismissed due to Gaza war comments

The concert pianist at the centre of a high-profile unfair dismissal case has revealed his deep disappointment with his courtroom defeat.

Federal court justice Graeme Hill on Friday threw out Jayson Lloyd Gillham’s case against the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, finding he was not unfairly dismissed.

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Burnham’s apology over Gaza marks ‘reset moment’ as Labour seeks to win back progressive voters

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It remains unclear how much of substance will change – and whether it will be enough to rebuild electoral coalition

On the final day of Labour’s party conference in 2023, when the public was still reeling from the brutal Hamas attack on Israel just days before, Keir Starmer took to the airwaves for the traditional broadcast round – but gave one interview that would have particularly damaging fallout.

Sitting down with LBC’s Nick Ferrari, the then opposition leader asserted Israel’s right to defend itself, a stance that was in line with the broad political consensus at the time. But then he also appeared to suggest it had “the right” to withhold power and water from Palestinian civilians.

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Andy Burnham apologises for Labour’s stance on Gaza and says it ‘didn’t get it right’

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Exclusive: PM-in-waiting says party must ‘do better’ in approach to Middle East and he will put more pressure on Israel

Andy Burnham has apologised for Labour’s initial response to Israel’s military action in Gaza, saying the party “didn’t get it right” and needs to “do better” under his leadership signalling a significant shift in the UK’s approach to the Middle East.

The prime minister-in-waiting told the Guardian he would put more pressure on the Israeli government, including through further sanctions on individuals and entities, as well as a potential ban on the trade of goods with illegal settlements.

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Israeli command system identified 850,000 targets in Gaza and Lebanon wars, says supplier

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Elbit Systems supplied Tzayad digital army programme to map people, vehicles and other objects in real time

Israel identified about 1,000 potential targets a day during the first two years of the wars in Gaza and Lebanon with its command and control system, according to a presentation by the country’s largest arms supplier, Elbit Systems.

A total of 850,000 targets were detected in real time by the Israeli Tzayad digital army programme across all the military’s theatres of war between 7 October and the end of 2025, the company said at a military conference in London.

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