Category Archives: Israel-Gaza war

Meta allows ads crowdfunding for IDF drones, consumer watchdog finds

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Paid ads hosted on Facebook, Instagram and Threads seem to violate Meta’s stated policies yet remain active

Meta is hosting ads on Facebook, Instagram and Threads from pro-Israel entities that are raising money for military equipment including drones and tactical gear for Israeli Defense Force battalions, seemingly a violation of the company’s stated advertising policies, new research shows.

“We are the sniper team of Unit Shaked, stationed in Gaza, and we urgently need shooting tripods to complete our mission in Jabalia,” one ad on Facebook read, first published on 11 June and still active on 17 July.

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Israel launches air and ground offensive on Deir al-Balah in central Gaza

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Military targets key humanitarian hub that was relatively unscathed by war after ordering Palestinians to leave

Israel has launched substantial air raids and a ground operation in Gaza, targeting Deir al-Balah, the main hub for humanitarian efforts in the devastated Palestinian territory, amid urgent warnings of widening starvation in the coastal strip.

The latest assault comes a day after the highest death toll in 21 months inflicted by the Israeli military on desperate Palestinians seeking food aid, with at least 85 killed on Sunday in what has become an almost daily slaughter.

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Senior Labour MP urges UK to recognise Palestinian state ahead of UN conference

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Emily Thornberry says recognition is vital step towards peace and without long-term solution war in Gaza will continue

A senior Labour MP has said it is time for the UK to recognise a Palestinian state as some western countries are due to press ahead with their own recognition plans at an international conference this month.

Emily Thornberry, who heads the influential House of Commons foreign affairs select committee, said that without a ceasefire and a long-term political solution Israel’s war on Gaza – which has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians since 7 October 2023 – will continue.

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At least 32 Palestinians killed in Gaza as IDF fires on crowds seeking food

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Witnesses say scenes near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid hubs in the south of the territory resembled a massacre

At least 32 people were killed and more than 100 injured on Saturday morning when Israeli troops opened fire on crowds of Palestinians seeking food from two aid distribution hubs in southern Gaza, according to witnesses and hospital officials.

People on the scene described it as “a massacre”, and claimed Israel Defense Forces fired “indiscriminately” at the groups of Palestinians – reported to be mostly young men – who were making their way towards the hubs run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

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Christian leaders make rare visit to shelled church in Gaza

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Israel grants access after ‘stray’ tank round kills three people and wounds Catholic priest

Israel has granted two senior Christian leaders rare access to Gaza after an Israeli strike on the Palestinian territory’s only Roman Catholic church killed three people.

Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Catholic Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, and his Greek Orthodox counterpart, Theophilos III, led a delegation on Friday to the Holy Family Church, whose shelling the day before triggered international condemnation.

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EU accused of ‘cruel and unlawful betrayal’ of Palestinians over failure to confront Israel

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Stinging rebuke from Amnesty International follows EU ministers declining to endorse any sanctions over Gaza war

The EU has been accused of a “cruel and unlawful betrayal” of Palestinians and European values after failing to take action to impose sanctions on Israel over the war in Gaza.

The stinging rebuke from Amnesty International, echoed by other human rights organisations, came after EU ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday declined to endorse any measures to sanction Israel over the brutal war in Gaza and endemic violence in the West Bank.

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UN’s Albanese hails 30-nation meeting aimed at ending Israeli occupation of Palestine

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The Hague Group aims to agree political, economic and legal actions in ‘existential hour’ for Israel and Palestine

The UN rapporteur hit with sanctions by the US last week has vowed not to be silenced as she hailed a 30-nation conference aimed at ending Israel’s occupation of Palestine as “the most significant political development in the past 20 months”.

Francesca Albanese will say the two-day gathering in Bogotá, Colombia, starting on Tuesday and including China, Spain and Qatar, comes at “an existential hour” for Israel and the Palestinian people.

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Israeli government and military clash over proposed camp for Palestinians

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Military opposed to Gaza ‘humanitarian city’ plan, which a former Israeli PM has likened to a concentration camp

A feud has broken between the Israeli government and the military over the cost and impact of a planned camp for Palestinians in southern Gaza, as politicians criticised the former prime minister Ehud Olmert for warning that the project would create a “concentration camp” if it goes ahead.

The “humanitarian city” project has become a sticking point in ceasefire talks with Hamas. Israel wants to keep troops stationed across significant parts of Gaza, including the ruins of Rafah city in the south, where the defence minister, Israel Katz, says the camp will be built.

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‘Humanitarian city’ would be concentration camp for Palestinians, says former Israeli PM

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Ehud Olmert says forcing people into camp would be ethnic cleansing, and anger at Israel over Gaza war is not all down to antisemitism

The “humanitarian city” Israel’s defence minister has proposed building on the ruins of Rafah would be a concentration camp, and forcing Palestinians inside would be ethnic cleansing, Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Olmert has told the Guardian.

Israel was already committing war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, Olmert said, and construction of the camp would mark an escalation.

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Macron not expected at UN summit on two-state solution for Palestine and Israel

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Absence of French president makes it less likely there will be announcement of recognition of a Palestinian state

A UN summit on a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel – postponed by the Israel-Iran war – has been rescheduled for 28 and 29 July, but it is not expected that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, will attend, making it less likely that it will trigger a series of high-profile announcements on recognition of a Palestinian state.

Macron, who last week told UK parliamentarians a two-state solution was “the only way to build peace and stability for all in the whole region”, has been trying to build momentum for recognition of a state of Palestine by a wide group of countries, but the lack of movement in ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is making such decisions more complex.

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Depleted Hamas focuses on desperate new aim: capturing an Israeli soldier

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Militant group has become adept at exploiting successful attacks – and now needs all the leverage it can get for talks

As Hamas intensifies its insurgent campaign against Israeli forces in Gaza, it is focusing on a new aim: capturing an Israeli soldier.

Last week, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sergeant was killed in Khan Younis in southern Gaza in an attempted abduction. Hamas militants also tried to take away the remains of 25-year-old Abraham Azulay but abandoned the effort when attacked by other Israeli forces.

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EU risks breaking international law over Israel gas deal, say campaigners

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Europe accused of ‘trampling over Palestinian rights’ with deal linked to imports from pipeline running parallel to Gaza coast

The EU is “trampling over Palestinian rights” and risks breaching international law, over an energy deal signed with Israel to bring more gas to Europe, a campaign group has said.

A report by Global Witness shared exclusively with the Guardian concludes that the EU could be “complicit in breaches of international law” over a 2022 energy deal linked to gas imports from a pipeline said to traverse Palestinian waters. The NGO has called on the EU to cancel all gas imports linked to the East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) pipeline and terminate the 2022 deal, which was also signed with Egypt.

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Sydney family of detained Palestinian woman plead with home affairs minister over visa cancellation

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‘We need our auntie back, we need her freedom,’ says cousin of Maha Almassri, who was moved to Villawood detention centre after pre-dawn raid

The family of a Palestinian grandmother detained in Sydney by immigration authorities after a pre-dawn raid have pleaded with the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, for answers about her visa cancellation and “real representation” to secure her freedom.

Maha Almassri, 61, was on Thursday morning awoken by border force officers at her son’s home in western Sydney. She had fled Gaza in February 2024 and entered Australia on a visitor visa shortly afterwards. She was granted a bridging visa in June 2024 after applying for a protection visa.

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Nearly 60 Labour MPs call for UK to immediately recognise Palestinian state

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Exclusive: MPs say in letter Gaza is being ethnically cleansed as Israeli defence minister plans ‘forcible transfer’

Nearly 60 Labour MPs have demanded the UK immediately recognises Palestine as a state, after Israel’s defence minister announced plans to force all residents of Gaza into a camp on the ruins of Rafah.

The MPs, who include centrist and leftwing backbenchers, sent a letter to David Lammy on Thursday warning they believed Gaza was being ethnically cleansed.

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Netanyahu flies home without a Gaza peace deal but still keeps Trump onside

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Israeli PM manages to avoid breach with US president through high-profile assurances he is seeking end to war

Benjamin Netanyahu arrived back in Israel on Friday without a ceasefire in the Gaza war despite heady predictions from US and Israeli officials that this week could provide a breakthrough in negotiations. But he did not come home completely empty-handed.

The Israeli PM’s visit was his third since Donald Trump’s inauguration, with several high-profile meetings at the White House, a nomination for Trump to receive the Nobel peace prize, and suggestions from Trump and the special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, that peace could be achieved in a week.

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Palestinian woman, 61, who fled Gaza detained by authorities after pre-dawn raid in Sydney

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Maha Almassri told she had failed a visa character check and taken to Bankstown police station, then Villawood detention centre, cousin says

A Palestinian woman who arrived in Australia from Gaza has been detained by immigration authorities after a pre-dawn raid in Sydney.

Maha Almassri, 61, was woken by about 15 Australian Border Force officers at her son’s home in western Sydney at about 5.30am on Thursday, her cousin Mohammed Almassri told Guardian Australia.

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Bob Vylan frontman warns ‘you’ll get me in trouble’ after further IDF chants

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Crowd at sold-out London gig told ‘every other chant is fine’ amid police investigation into Glastonbury performance

The frontman of Bob Vylan warned his fans to stop chanting against the Israeli military during the duo’s first UK gig since the band’s Glastonbury festival performance.

Pascal Robinson-Foster, who goes by the name Bobby Vylan, told fans at a sold-out surprise gig in London on Wednesday night they could get him in “trouble” after police launched an investigation into the group over comments he made at Glastonbury.

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US issues sanctions against Francesca Albanese, UN official investigating abuses in Gaza

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Trump administration targets special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, in latest action against critics of Israel’s war

The Trump administration announced on Wednesday it was issuing sanctions against an independent official tasked with investigating human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, the latest effort by the United States to punish critics of Israel’s 21-month war in Gaza.

The state department’s decision to sanction Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, comes after a recent US pressure campaign to force the international body to remove her from her post failed.

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Seven crew rescued from cargo ship that sank in Red Sea after Houthi attack

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Search goes on for 14 people missing from Eternity C after assault in which at least four were killed

Seven crew members of a cargo ship that sank in the Red Sea after an attack by Houthi forces have been rescued but at least four were killed and 14 others are still missing.

The seven seafarers from the cargo ship Eternity C spent more than 24 hours in the water before being rescued, according to security firms involved in the operation. Rescuers are still searching for missing crew members.

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Gaza aid workers overwhelmed by ‘mass casualty incidents’ at food distribution sites

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Doctors say hundreds of people have been wounded by Israeli gunfire while trying to reach convoys

Medical officials, humanitarian workers and doctors in Gaza say they have been overwhelmed by almost daily “mass casualty incidents” as they struggle to deal with those wounded by Israeli fire on Palestinians seeking aid.

Doctors say many of the people they are treating describe being shot as they try to reach distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a secretive US- and Israel-backed organisation that began handing out food in late May.

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