Latest deaths come as humanitarian workers and doctors in Gaza say they have been overwhelmed by almost daily ‘mass casualty incidents’
Here are some of the latest images coming through from Gaza:
On Tuesday, the European Union force patrolling the Red Sea told AFP that three people were killed and at least two injured - including a Russian electrician who lost a leg - in the attack on the Eternity C.
Continue reading...On Capitol Hill, Israeli PM says ‘demonization’ led to drop in support for Israel among US voters, especially Democrats
Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he’s vowed to combat an orchestrated social media campaign of “vilification and demonization” that he says is responsible for a drop in support for Israel among US voters, especially Democrats.
“I think there’s been a concerted effort to spread vilification and demonization against Israel on social media,” the Israeli prime minister told journalists on Capitol Hill after being asked to respond to opinion polls showing a move away from the historic trend of strong backing for Israel.
Continue reading...Military ordered to turn ruins of Rafah into ‘humanitarian city’ but experts call the plan an internment camp for all Palestinians in Gaza
Israel’s defence minister has laid out plans to force all Palestinians in Gaza into a camp on the ruins of Rafah, in a scheme that legal experts and academics described as a blueprint for crimes against humanity.
Israel Katz said he has ordered Israel’s military to prepare for establishing a camp, which he called a “humanitarian city”, on the ruins of the city of Rafah, Haaretz newspaper reported.
Continue reading...Joint attack on Iran puts Israeli PM in powerful position as he dangles prospect of Trump-brokered ceasefire deal
Donald Trump will host Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington DC on Monday as the US president seeks again to broker a peace deal in Gaza and the Israeli prime minister takes a victory lap through the Oval Office after a joint military campaign against Iran and a series of successful strikes against Tehran and its proxies in the Middle East.
Netanyahu and Trump have a complex personal relationship – and Trump openly vented frustration at him last month during efforts to negotiate a truce with Iran – but the two have appeared in lockstep since the US launched a bombing run against Iran’s nuclear programme, fulfilling a key goal for Israeli war planners.
Continue reading...Benjamin Netanyahu travels to Washington as momentum gathers in negotiations for a US-sponsored deal
Israeli warplanes launched a wave of strikes in Gaza on Sunday, killing at least 38 Palestinians, according to hospital officials, as talks over a ceasefire in the devastated territory reached a critical point.
Officials at Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said 18 people were killed by strikes in al-Mawasi, a nearby coastal area that is crowded with tented encampments of those displaced by fighting elsewhere.
Continue reading...Hopes that pause to the killing may be agreed were boosted despite 24 Palestinians being killed including 10 seeking aid
Israel has continued to launch waves of airstrikes in Gaza, hours after Hamas said it was ready to start talks “immediately” on a US-sponsored proposal for a 60-day ceasefire.
The announcement by the militant Islamist organisation increased hopes that a deal may be done within days to pause the killing in Gaza and possibly end the near 21-month conflict.
Continue reading...A weakened Hamas plus Israel’s war with Iran have given Netanyahu a boost, raising hopes of a pause in fighting
After nearly 21 months of bloody war, it now appears a question of when rather than if a new ceasefire brings a pause to the fighting that has devastated Gaza, destabilised the region and horrified onlookers across the world.
On Friday, Donald Trump said he expected Hamas to agree within 24 hours to a deal that Israel has already accepted. Analysts predict a formal announcement after Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, arrives in Washington on Monday on his third visit to the White House since Trump began his current term.
Continue reading...Group said to want stronger guarantees of permanent end to war as Netanyahu prepares to meet Trump in US
Hamas said it had responded on Friday in “a positive spirit” to a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire proposal and was prepared to enter into talks on implementing the deal which envisages a release of hostages and negotiations on ending the conflict.
US president Donald Trump earlier announced a “final proposal” for a 60-day ceasefire in the nearly 21-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, stating he anticipated a reply from the parties in coming hours.
Continue reading...Officials say about 90 people killed since Wednesday night as Israeli security cabinet prepares for meeting
Israel has escalated its offensive in Gaza before imminent talks about a ceasefire, with warships and artillery launching one of the deadliest and most intense bombardments in the devastated Palestinian territory for many months.
Medics and officials in Gaza reported that about 90 people were killed overnight and on Thursday, including many women and children. On Tuesday night and Wednesday the toll was higher, they said. Casualties included Marwan al-Sultan, a cardiologist and director of the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, who died in an airstrike that also killed his wife and five children.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Experts say use of heavy munition in Monday’s strike that killed dozens may constitute a war crime
The Israeli military used a 500lb (230kg) bomb – a powerful and indiscriminate weapon that generates a massive blast wave and scatters shrapnel over a wide area – when it attacked a target in a crowded beachfront cafe in Gaza on Monday, evidence seen by the Guardian has revealed.
Experts in international law said the use of such a munition despite the known presence of many unprotected civilians, including children, women and elderly people, was almost certainly unlawful and may constitute a war crime.
Continue reading...Miriam Margolyes, Alexei Sayle and Mike Leigh among signatories to letter criticising Jewish Chronicle ties
More than 400 stars and media figures including Miriam Margolyes, Alexei Sayle, Juliet Stevenson and Mike Leigh have signed a letter to BBC management calling for the removal of a board member, Robbie Gibb, over claims of conflict of interest regarding the Middle East.
The signatories also include 111 BBC journalists and Zawe Ashton, Khalid Abdalla, Shola Mos-Shogbamimu and the historian William Dalrymple, who express “concerns over opaque editorial decisions and censorship at the BBC on the reporting of Israel/Palestine”.
Continue reading...Women, children and elderly people among at least 24 killed by attack that turned beach spot into scene of carnage
Witnesses have described the bloody aftermath of an Israeli strike on a crowded seaside cafe in Gaza, which left at least 24 dead and many more injured.
Al-Baqa cafe, close to the harbour in Gaza City, was almost full in the early afternoon on Tuesday when it was hit by a missile, immediately transforming a scene of relative calm amid the biggest urban centre in Gaza into one of carnage.
Continue reading...Scores of Palestinians reported killed as senior Netanyahu adviser due to arrive in Washington for ceasefire talks
Israel ramped up its offensive in Gaza on Monday, with new displacement orders sending tens of thousands of people fleeing the north of the devastated territory and waves of airstrikes killing about 60 Palestinians, according to local officials and medical staff.
The violence in Gaza came as a senior adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, was due to arrive in Washington for talks on a new ceasefire, a day after Donald Trump called in a social media post for a deal to end the 20-month war and free 50 hostages held by Hamas.
Continue reading...Rights group loses challenge despite government accepting they could be used in breach of humanitarian law in Gaza
Britain’s decision to allow the export of F-35 fighter jet components to Israel, despite accepting they could be used in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza, was lawful, London’s high court has ruled.
The ruling on Monday, a huge relief for government ministers, brings to a close a 20-month battle to ban all UK arms sales to Israel, including the UK sale of F-35 parts to a global spares pool that Israel could access. The case was brought by Global Legal Action Network and the human rights group Al-Haq, in conjunction with Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Oxfam.
Continue reading...Israeli forces urge people to evacuate eastern areas before ‘military operations that will escalate and intensify’
Tens of thousands of Palestinians were fleeing eastern parts of Gaza City in the north of the territory on Sunday after Israel warned of a major offensive.
The messages on social media from the Israel Defense Forces warned of “military operations [that] will escalate, intensify, and extend westward to the city centre to destroy the capabilities of terrorist organisations” and directed those living in several crowded neighbourhoods to al-Mawasi, a coastal area much further south that is already overcrowded and has very limited facilities.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here
Emirates extended its cancellation of flights to and from Iran’s capital Tehran until July 5 due to the “regional situation“, it said in a statement on Saturday, Reuters reports.
The Dubai-based airline said it will recommence operations to Baghdad on 1 July and Basra on 2 July.
Continue reading...Israel Defense Forces to examine growing evidence of shootings of Palestinians trying to obtain food
The Israeli military has launched an investigation into possible war crimes following growing evidence that troops have deliberately fired at Palestinian civilians gathering to receive aid in Gaza.
Hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks after being subjected to air attacks, shootings and bombardments by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) while waiting for food to be distributed or while making their way to distribution sites.
Continue reading...Attack at market is latest in series by Israeli forces that have killed hundreds of civilians seeking aid
Eighteen people have been killed in an Israeli strike targeting Palestinian police distributing flour in a market in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, medical officials have said.
The reported strike, on Thursday afternoon, is the latest in a series of air attacks, shootings and bombardment by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that has killed hundreds of desperate civilians seeking aid in the devastated Palestinian territory.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Once sustained by agriculture and industry, Gaza’s economy has been dismantled, leaving nearly every resident dependent on aid and the hope of a future that feels increasingly out of reach
Good morning. While much of the world’s attention has been focused on Israel’s conflict with Iran, the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has worsened by the day. Since March, when Israel broke a ceasefire agreement and imposed a total blockade, very little food or medicine has been allowed in. Though the blockade was partially lifted on 19 May, only a trickle of desperately needed aid has made it through – and yesterday Israel closed the most direct route. Israeli forces have killed hundreds of Palestinians who are trying to access it, in what aid workers are now calling a “death trap”. Israel is fighting allegations of genocide in Gaza, where it has killed more than 55,000 people.
Truly to understand the scale of the catastrophe in Gaza, it’s necessary to place it in historical context. This isn’t just a crisis born in 2023: it’s the culmination of nearly two decades of siege.
Middle East crisis | Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has threatened to respond to any future US attack by striking American military bases in the Middle East.
Welfare | Keir Starmer has offered Labour MPs “massive concessions” on his controversial welfare bill in a move that has won over key rebels and is likely to have saved the prime minister from a damaging Commons defeat. The changes will reportedly cost the government several billion pounds over the next few years but will shore up the prime minister’s precarious authority.
UK weather | An amber heat health alert has been issued by the UK Health Security Agency for much of England because of predicted temperatures above 30C over the weekend.
UK news | Two police officers who were involved in the strip-search of a black teenager at her school have been found to have committed gross misconduct. The search was “disproportionate, inappropriate and unnecessary” and made the girl feel degraded and humiliated.
Health | Scientists have developed a test to identify women with an increased risk of miscarriage, which could pave the way for new treatments to prevent pregnancy loss.
Continue reading...Elected representatives of Board of Deputies were among signatories of open letter objecting to actions in Gaza Strip
Five elected representatives to the largest body representing British Jews have been suspended for two years after criticising the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza.
All 36 signatories to an open letter published in April have been found to have breached the Board of Deputies’ code of conduct after a two-month investigation.
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