Albanese should demand reparations from Israel, say families of Australian soldiers whose graves were bulldozed

A third family says the Australian government must do more to hold Israel and the Israeli Defence Force to account, including demanding an apology

The families of dead Australian soldiers whose graves were bulldozed by the Israeli Defence Force in Gaza have called for reparations and urged the Albanese government to hold Israel accountable.

Earlier this month, the Guardian revealed that the IDF had bulldozed parts of the Gaza War Cemetery – the resting place of Australian, British and Canadian soldiers who served in the first and second world wars.

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Palestinian solidarity in Britain ‘being silenced and criminalised’

‘Index of repression’ includes smears, disinformation and harassment, according to advocacy group

Palestinian solidarity is being “silenced, criminalised and sanctioned”, according to an advocacy group that says it has recorded more than 900 examples of repression across Britain in the last six years.

People who have been targeted have suffered smears, disinformation, harassment, doxing (having private or identifying information published online), visa cancellations, financial blacklisting, loss of employment and arrest, according to the European Legal Support Center, which along with the research group Forensic Architecture has created the “index of repression”.

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US to offer passport services to citizens in illegal West Bank settlements

Israel welcomes move described by Palestinian Authority as undermining possibility of an independent state

The US will provide on-site consular services in two Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank for the first time, breaking with previous policy, in a move that has been criticised by Palestinian officials as “a clear violation of international law”.

In a post on X, the US embassy in Jerusalem said that as part of an initiative to mark the 250th anniversary of US independence, it would provide Americans with routine passport services in the West Bank settlement of Efrat on Friday “for one day only”.

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Israel responsible for two-thirds of record 129 press killings in 2025, says CPJ

Committee to Protect Journalists report says Israel also to blame for 81% of ‘intentionally targeted’ journalist killings

A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed in the course of their work in 2025, two-thirds of them by Israeli forces, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

It was the second consecutive year in which killings of members of the press reached unprecedented levels, and the second year running in which Israel was responsible for roughly two-thirds of the total, the New York-based independent organisation, which documents attacks on journalists worldwide, said in its annual report published on Wednesday.

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Disputes over Hamas disarmament stall Gaza peace plan progress

Hamas to almost certainly reject plan described in Israeli press, say experts, as no guarantee Israel will withdraw on surrender of weapons

Progress in the Gaza peace plan has stalled over disagreements on how Hamas should be disarmed, with Israel threatening to go back to full-scale war if the condition is not carried out quickly.

The second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire, which Washington declared had begun in January, was meant to involve Hamas disarming, Israeli forces withdrawing, and a Palestinian interim administration moving into Gaza backed by a Palestinian police force and an international stabilisation force (ISF).

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Israeli settlers kill 19-year-old Palestinian American, officials and witnesses say

Nasrallah Abu Siyam shot dead in occupied West Bank as UN human rights office accuses Israel of war crimes

Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank shot and killed a Palestinian American man during an attack on a village, the Palestinian health ministry and a witness have said.

Raed Abu Ali, a resident of Mukhmas, said a group of settlers came to the village on Wednesday afternoon where they attacked a farmer, prompting clashes after residents intervened.

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Gaza death toll in early part of war far higher than reported, says Lancet study

Research suggests more than 75,000 killed in the first 16 months of conflict, 25,000 more than announced at the time

More than 75,000 people were killed in the first 16 months of the two-year war in Gaza, at least 25,000 more than the death toll announced by local authorities at the time, according to a study published on Wednesday in the Lancet medical journal.

The research also found that reporting by the Gaza health ministry about the proportion of women, children and elderly people among those killed was accurate.

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Javier Bardem and Tilda Swinton among those to condemn Berlinale’s ‘silence’ on Gaza

At least 80 film-makers and stars sign open letter after German festival jury president Wim Wenders says they should keep out of politics

More than 80 current and former participants of the Berlinale, including Javier Bardem, Tilda Swinton and Adam McKay have signed an open letter condemning the festival’s “silence” on Gaza.

It comes after the film festival was swept up in what it called a “media storm” over the alleged sidelining of political discourse at the event.

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Medics in UK and US say they have been barred from Gaza after speaking out

Israel accused of denying doctors re-entry into territory after they gave first-hand testimony on conflict

Medics in the UK and US believe they have been denied re-entry to Gaza after speaking out on the conflict.

Following reports of rising refusal rates, medical workers and organisationswho have provided humanitarian aid in Gaza have described what they see as arbitrary denials.

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British Museum removes word ‘Palestine’ from some displays

Museum revises labelling on maps and panels, saying term used inaccurately and no longer historically neutral

The British Museum has removed the word “Palestine” from some of its displays, saying the term was used inaccurately and is no longer historically neutral.

Maps and information panels in the museum’s ancient Middle East galleries had referred to the eastern Mediterranean coast as Palestine, with some people described as being “of Palestinian descent”.

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At least 12 Palestinians killed and several hurt in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza

Israel says strikes were in response to Hamas violations of ceasefire as Hamas calls attacks ‘massacre’ of displaced people

At least 12 Palestinians were killed and several more injured across the Gaza Strip on Sunday as the Israeli military said it carried out airstrikes in response to ceasefire violations by Hamas.

The Gaza civil defence agency said five people were killed and several others hurt when an airstrike targeted a tent sheltering displaced people in the northern city of Jabaliya.

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Israeli settlers attack and rob Italian and Canadian volunteers in West Bank

Group beaten in early hours of morning in village where they volunteered to help protect Palestinians from settler violence

Italy and Canada have raised concerns about the treatment of their citizens who were beaten and robbed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Three Italians and a Canadian were attacked early on Sunday morning in the village of Ein al-Duyuk, near Jericho, where they had volunteered to help protect the Palestinian population from intensifying settler violence.

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Gaza death toll surpasses 70,000, says health ministry

Two Palestinian children reportedly killed on Saturday as Israel continues its strikes after latest ceasefire

The Palestinian death toll has surpassed 70,000 since the Israel-Gaza war began, Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday, while a hospital reported Israeli fire killed two Palestinian children in the territory’s south.

The toll has continued to rise after the latest ceasefire took effect on 10 October. Israel still carries out strikes in response to what it has called violations of the truce, and bodies from earlier in the war are being recovered from the rubble.

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Convincing evidence Israel backed aid convoy looters in Gaza, historian says

Account of visit to Gaza by French professor describes Israeli military attacks on security personnel protecting convoys

A historian who spent more than a month in Gaza at the turn of the year says he saw “utterly convincing” evidence that Israel supported looters who attacked aid convoys during the conflict.

Jean-Pierre Filiu, a professor of Middle East studies at France’s prestigious Sciences Po university, entered Gaza in December where he was hosted by an international humanitarian organisation in the southern coastal zone of al-Mawasi.

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Global ‘Free Marwan’ campaign calls for Palestinian political leader’s release

Locked away in prison for decades, Marwan Barghouti is a longstanding advocate for a two-state solution

A global campaign is being launched to secure the release of Marwan Barghouti, the Palestinian prisoner seen by many as the best hope of leading a future Palestinian state, as negotiations continue in the context of the current Gaza ceasefire.

The campaign, being led by Barghouti’s West Bank-based family with UK civil society support, is seeking to put the 66-year-old’s fate at the centre of the next stage of the ceasefire.

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Video shows Israeli forces shooting Palestinians dead moments after surrender

Far-right minister defends killing of two men who appeared to have given themselves up, saying ‘terrorists must die’

Video of an Israeli military raid in the West Bank shows soldiers summarily executing two Palestinians they had detained seconds earlier.

The shooting on Thursday evening, which was also witnessed by journalists close to the scene, is under justice ministry review, but has already been defended by Israel’s far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who declared that “terrorists must die”.

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Israel still committing genocide in Gaza, Amnesty International says

The NGO’s chief says last month’s ceasefire ‘risks creating a dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal’

Amnesty International has said Israel is “still committing genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, despite the ceasefire agreed last month.

The fragile, US-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect on 10 October, after two years of war.

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NHS doctor suspended over alleged antisemitic social media posts

Rahmeh Aladwan barred from practising for 15 months pending inquiry amid claims she ‘celebrated terrorist acts’

An NHS doctor accused of antisemitism has been suspended for 15 months pending an investigation, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) in the UK has ruled.

The General Medical Council (GMC) is investigating Dr Rahmeh Aladwan over posts and comments made across various social media platforms after several complaints, including from the Jewish Medical Association UK and the Campaign Against Antisemitism.

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Hundreds of Israeli soldiers raid Palestinian town in West Bank

Israeli military and security service say ‘broad counter-terrorism operation’ in Tubas to continue for several days

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers supported by armoured vehicles have conducted raids in the Palestinian town of Tubas near Nablus in the biggest such military deployment by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank since the ceasefire came into effect in Gaza last month.

Palestinian media reported that a curfew was imposed on Tuesday night on Tubas and some neighbouring communities, roads were closed by earthen barriers and families forced from their homes to allow Israeli forces to use the buildings.

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Rebuilding ‘human-made abyss’ in Gaza will cost at least $70bn, UN says

Report says Israel’s operations ‘significantly undermined every pillar of survival’ and reduced the economy by 87%

Israel’s war in Gaza has created a “human-made abyss”, and reconstruction is likely to cost more than $70bn (£53bn) over several decades, the United Nations has said.

The UN’s trade and development agency (Unctad) said in a report that Israel’s military operations had “significantly undermined every pillar of survival” and that the entire population of 2.3 million people faced “extreme, multidimensional impoverishment”.

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