Funeral for slain Turkish American Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi draws hundreds

Family members and political leaders gather in Turkish Aegean coastal city of Didim to mourn activist slain by IDF

Hundreds of people waving Turkish and Palestinian flags gathered on Saturday for the funeral of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a Turkish American activist killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Cevdet Yılmaz, Turkey’s vice-president; Hakan Fidan, the foreign minister; Numan Kurtulmuş, the parliament speaker; and Özgür Özel, the main opposition leader from the Republican People’s party (CHP) were among mourners at the ceremony in the Turkish Aegean coastal city of Didim.

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Israel-Gaza war: UN worker killed in West Bank during Israeli operation – as it happened

This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Israel-Gaza war coverage here

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) disaster risk management teams, in cooperation with the Palestine Ministry of Social Development, distributed food parcels to 11,000 families in Gaza and North Gaza governates, the humanitarian organisation shared on X.

“This effort aims to alleviate the ongoing suffering of citizens due to the worsening humanitarian situation in the northern part of the [Gaza] Strip, caused by the shortage of food supplies as the Israeli occupation continues to block the entry of humanitarian aid,” the PRCS wrote on Friday.

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Israel’s prime target: the hunt for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar

Motivated pursuers using advanced technology and brute force have yet to pin down their cautious quarry. Would his death or capture stop the war?

A group of Israel hostages were huddled in a tunnel in Gaza a few days after they had been dragged from their homes on 7 October, when the man who had plotted their abduction appeared out of the subterranean gloom.

His hair and beard were grey and his dark-ringed eyes stared out from under thick black brows. It was a face familiar to them from a thousand broadcasts and newspaper stories: Yahya Sinwar. The Hamas leader in Gaza was the most feared man in Israel, even before he ordered the October raid in which 1,200 people – two-thirds of them civilians – were killed and 250 taken hostage.

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Israel seeking to close down Unrwa, says agency’s chief after school bombing

Philippe Lazzarini says closure would have ‘devastating consequences’ and calls for investigation into deadly strike

A campaign is under way to drive the UN relief agency for Palestinians, Unrwa, out of existence, its commissioner general has said, days after 18 people were killed when Israeli jets bombed an Unrwa school in Gaza.

Philippe Lazzarini said in an interview that the Israeli government was seeking to close down the agency, having failed to persuade western donors to stop funding it on the grounds of allegations about links between Unrwa staff and Hamas.

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Israeli forces mischaracterised events leading to fatal shooting of US activist, says Washington Post

Protests in West Bank village had subsided half an hour before IDF shot Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, says report

Israeli security forces mischaracterised the events that led up to the fatal shooting of a Turkish-American protester in the West Bank, according to an investigation by the Washington Post.

The Israel Defense Forces claimed that their soldiers were targeting the leader of a violent protest when they shot Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old member of the International Solidarity Movement who had come from her native Washington state to Israel to protest against settlements in the West Bank.

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Head of Israeli spy agency Unit 8200 resigns over 7 October failings

Yossi Sariel takes responsibility for military surveillance unit’s role in intelligence failures before Hamas-led assault

The commander of Israel’s military surveillance agency, Unit 8200, has announced his resignation, publicly accepting responsibility for failings that contributed to the deadly 7 October attacks.

Yossi Sariel said on Tuesday that he had informed his superiors of his intention to step down after the completion of an initial investigation into Unit 8200’s role in failures surrounding the Hamas-led assault last year.

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Aid not reaching Gaza, say relief groups as ‘more than a million go without food’

Medical supplies, toothbrushes and shampoo also remain stuck in backlog of lorries unable to enter from Egypt

Relief groups have said more than 1 million people in Gaza will not have enough food this month, while trucks loaded with fresh vegetables or meat spoil waiting to cross Israeli checkpoints, and thousands of aid packages of food, medical supplies and even toothbrushes and shampoo remain stuck in a backlog of lorries unable to enter from Egypt.

“We estimate that over a million Gazans will go without food in September,” said Sam Rose, a senior deputy director of UN’s relief agency for Palestinians (Unrwa), in Gaza. “Over half the medicines in our health centres are running low, as is chlorine for water purification and other basic supplies.”

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Israel-Gaza war: killing of Unrwa workers by Israeli strike ‘appalling’, says UK foreign minister – as it happened

This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Israel-Gaza war coverage here

Syrian media is reporting that in addition to killing two people in a drone strike on a vehicle inside Syria, Israeli forces have also shelled the Syrian town of Al-Rafid in the south-east of the country, close to territory controlled by Israel.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said that Israeli attacks have killed at least 34 people and injured 96 over the past 24 hours in the territory.

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Hundreds gather on a Seattle beach to remember US activist killed by Israeli military

Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi was killed while protesting against West Bank settlements, though a witness says she posed no threat

For her 26th birthday in July, human rights activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi gathered friends for a bonfire at one of her favorite places, a sandy beach in Seattle where green-and-white ferries cruise across the dark, flat water and ospreys fish overhead.

On Wednesday night, hundreds of people gathered on the same beach in grief, love and anger to mourn her. Eygi was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers last Friday in the occupied West Bank, where she had gone to protest and bear witness to Palestinian suffering.

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Six UN aid workers among 18 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school

Unrwa says attack on school sheltering refugees in Nuseirat led to highest death toll among its staff in a single incident

Israel has bombed a UN school sheltering displaced people in central Gaza, killing at least 18 people, including the shelter manager and five other Unrwa staff.

The al-Jaouni school in Nuseirat is home to about 12,000 displaced people, mostly women and children, the UN said. It has been hit five times since the start of the war in Gaza.

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Europe watches Harris-Trump debate for clues on direction US may take

Diplomats most struck by Republican’s refusal to say whether he wanted Ukraine to defeat Vladimir Putin

The TV debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was as keenly watched by European diplomats and politicians as by US voters, eager to see who may be next in the White House and – crucially – the direction that a vital ally may next take.

One diplomat said they empathised when Harris adopted a series of poses that ranged from pity, bemusement and genuine curiosity about what craziness would emerge from Trump’s mouth next as she listened to his conspiracy-laden theories. However, the diplomat said they still did not underestimate Trump and the hold he had over one part of a divided America, adding: “Never write him off.”

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Khan Younis safe zone: Israel launches deadly strike on al-Mawasi, Gaza officials say

At least 19 people killed as missiles hit overcrowded area in attack that Israel says targeted a Hamas command centre

Israeli airstrikes on al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone” in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 19 people and injured a further 60, according to witnesses and medical officials in the blockaded Palestinian territory.

At least four missiles hit the overcrowded supposed “safe zone” on the coast in the early hours of Tuesday, causing dozens of tents to catch fire and leaving craters as deep as 9 metres, the civil emergency service said. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in Mawasi, where conditions are dire, after being ordered to move there by the Israeli military.

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Israel-Gaza war: killing of Turkish-American activist in West Bank ‘unprovoked and unjustified’, says Blinken – as it happened

US secretary of state says Israeli forces need to make ‘fundamental changes’ to operations in occupied West Bank after Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi was shot dead during protest

We’re pausing our blog here. We will return to the live coverage if there are any major updates to bring you.

For now, you can read out full coverage of the search and rescue efforts after the deadly strike on the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone here:

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Sunak and Braverman wrong to lambast Met over Palestine demos, report says

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary report gives police largely clean bill of health on impartiality after accusations of bias

The former prime minister Rishi Sunak and his home secretary Suella Braverman have been criticised in an official report for wrongly lambasting the Metropolitan police’s handling of pro-Palestinian protests.

The report from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services gives police a largely clean bill of health about its impartiality.

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Australia backs UK decision to curb arms sales to Israel

Exclusive: Foreign minister Penny Wong says she ‘welcomes’ the British move and Palestinian civilians ‘cannot pay the price’ of defeating Hamas

Australia is coordinating with the UK and other allies to “pressure” Israel to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and to stop the erosion of longstanding norms protecting aid workers.

The Australian government has also explicitly backed the UK’s decision to curb arms exports to Israel, putting it at odds with the US, which is reported to have privately warned Britain against the move.

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Funeral procession held for US-Turkish peace activist killed in West Bank

Palestinian Authority holds ceremony for Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi who was allegedly shot by Israeli troops during protest

The Palestinian Authority has held a funeral procession for an American-Turkish activist who a witness says was shot and killed by Israeli forces last week during a demonstration against settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Dozens of mourners – including several leading officials of the western-backed authority – attended the procession in Nablus for Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old from Seattle who also held Turkish citizenship.

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Russia’s shadow oil fleet and Gaza ceasefire plan to top US-UK talks in London

Antony Blinken to meet David Lammy in precursor to Joe Biden’s talks with Keir Starmer in Washington

Moscow’s use of a shadow fleet transporting western-sanctioned oil, Ukraine’s call to fire to fire UK-supplied missiles into Russia, and the value of publishing a new version of the US ceasefire plan for Gaza will top US-UK talks in London being attended by Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state.

His meeting this week with the British foreign secretary, David Lammy, will make him the most senior US official to visit the UK since Labour’s general election victory in July. It is also a precursor to talks in Washington between Joe Biden and Keir Starmer at the end of the week.

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Middle East crisis: Israeli strikes on Syria kill at least 25 people, war monitor says – as it happened

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the dead include civilians as well as soldiers and ‘Syrians working with pro-Iran groups’

The UN human rights chief has said that ending the war in Gaza is a priority and asked countries to act on what he called Israel’s “blatant disregard” for international law in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“States must not – cannot – accept blatant disregard for international law, including binding decisions of the (UN) security council and orders of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), neither in this nor any other situation,” the UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, said in a speech at the opening of the UN human rights council in Geneva.

The court considers that the violations by Israel of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force and of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination have a direct impact on the legality of the continued presence of Israel, as an occupying power, in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the occupied Palestinian territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful.

Forcible evictions, extensive house demolitions and restrictions on residence and movement.

The transfer by Israel of settlers to the West Bank and East Jerusalem and maintenance of their presence.

Its failure to prevent or to punish attacks by settlers.

Restricting the access of the Palestinian population to water.

Israel’s use of the natural resources in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The extension of Israel’s law to the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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Israeli strikes in Syria kill at least 25, war monitor says

State media says more than 40 injured as military research centre for arms production hit, according to sources

Israeli jets have launched a substantial strike on targets in Syria, killing at least 25 people, according to an opposition war monitor that said it was one of the most violent such attacks in years.

The main target appeared to be a military research centre in Masyaf associated with Syria’s chemical and ballistic missiles programme, but explosions were also heard in Damascus, Homs and Tartus. Syrian state media had put the death toll at 16 with 40 wounded.

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Jordanian driver kills Israeli workers at border with West Bank

Triple shooting on mostly quiet border with Jordan may be indicative of Gaza war spreading violence across region

Three Israeli workers have been killed at a border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan when a Jordanian truck driver opened fire on them, in a fresh sign that the nearly year-old Gaza conflict is spreading violence across the region.

On the same day, an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza killed a senior aid official and two women and two children from his family.

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