Remains of Amiram Cooper and Sahar Baruch returned to Israel for burial after identification process, Israeli military said
Hamas handed over two bodies of deceased Israeli hostages on Thursday, a day after the tenuous Gaza ceasefire was shaken by deadly Israeli strikes across the strip.
The bodies of the hostages Amiram Cooper and Sahar Baruch were returned to Israel for burial after an identification process was completed, the Israeli military said late on Thursday.
Continue reading...Previous visa policy had forced the students ‘to choose between their education and their family’
Some Palestinian students taking up scholarships at UK universities will be allowed to bring their families with them from Gaza after the government announced it would consider case-by-case exemptions to its evacuation policy.
After lobbying by MPs and supporters, the UK government has said partners and children could be allowed to accompany students on government-backed Chevening scholarships or studying for longer research degrees, such as PhDs.
Continue reading...Dania Alafranji, 16, still waiting on visa from Home Office despite being offered school place in Berkshire 18 months ago
A teenager from Gaza who has been denied an opportunity to attend school in Britain and be reunited with her mother has said she is “stuck in hell”, despite other European countries making exceptions for students from the region.
Dania Alafranji, 16, was accepted on to the Nsouli Scholars Programme to attend Reddam House school in Berkshire more than 18 months ago, but has yet to receive a visa that would allow her to escape the war in Gaza, with her family saying that they feel helpless and have been “going in circles” trying to get her to Britain.
Continue reading...Netanyahu accuses Hamas of ‘clear violation’ of ceasefire as far-right ministers call for resumption of war
Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Hamas of a “clear violation” of the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire, saying the militant group had returned body parts of a hostage whose remains Israeli troops had recovered two years before.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, which took effect on 10 October, Hamas is required to return the remains of all Israeli hostages as soon as possible. In exchange, Israel has agreed to hand over 15 Palestinian bodies for each Israeli. Hamas has yet to return 13 bodies.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Red Cross acts as ‘neutral intermediary’ to recover hostages’ remains in areas under Israeli control
The International Committee of the Red Cross has accompanied members of Hamas inside areas of Gaza still under the control of the Israeli military to facilitate the search for the bodies of Israeli hostages, as the Palestinian militant group delivered the remains of another captive.
Under the US-brokered ceasefire, which took effect on 10 October, Hamas is required to return the remains of all Israeli hostages as soon as possible. In exchange, Israel has agreed to hand over 15 Palestinian bodies for each Israeli.
Continue reading...Doubts over whether Ankara will be part of 5,000-strong force to be deployed to prevent postwar power vacuum
Turkey will probably be excluded from the 5,000-strong stabilisation force that is to be set up inside Gaza after Israel made clear it did not want Turkish troops taking part.
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said it was a requirement that Israel is comfortable with the nationality of the multinational force, set up to prevent a security vacuum when the massive task of reconstruction in Gaza starts. Turkey has said it is willing to offer troops, but Israel has let it be known that it disapproves of Turkish troops taking part in the force.
Continue reading...Administration will manage basic services ‘in cooperation with Arab brothers and international institutions’, says joint statement
The main Palestinian factions have said they have agreed that an independent committee of technocrats would take over the running of Gaza after Hamas said it had received “clear guarantees” from mediators that “the war has effectively ended”.
A joint statement published on the Hamas website said the groups had agreed in a meeting in Cairo to hand “over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a temporary Palestinian committee composed of independent ‘technocrats’, which will manage the affairs of life and basic services in cooperation with Arab brothers and international institutions”.
Continue reading...Highly unusual court application alleges more than 10 individuals breached foreign enlistment laws
A human rights group has launched an attempt to mount a private prosecution alleging British citizens unlawfully went to fight for Israel.
An application to a magistrates court for a summons against a named individual was lodged on Monday.
Continue reading...US vice-president suggests votes were ‘stupid political stunt’ as Israeli PM orders a stop to any further work on bills
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has ordered a halt to the advancement of parliamentary bills linked to the annexation of the West Bank after the US vice-president, JD Vance, described a vote on two bills in the Knesset as an “insult”.
The bills applying Israeli law to the occupied West Bank, which would be tantamount to the annexation of land Palestinians want for a state, won preliminary approval from Israel’s parliament on Wednesday, barely a week after Donald Trump pushed through a deal aimed at ending a two-year Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: With most border crossings remaining closed and aid deliveries falling catastrophically short, will the International Court of Justice’s ruling force change for those left behind?
Good morning. In the end, the ruling was both simple and obvious: Israel is the occupying power in Gaza, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), and is therefore obligated to ensure the basic needs of the population are met.
That was the verdict in the latest international court of justice case between Israel and Palestine, which also examined Israel’s decision to bar the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) from operating in the occupied territories. The world’s top court found that Israel had failed to provide evidence for its claims that UNRWA lacked neutrality, or that a significant number of its employees were members of Hamas or other armed groups.
Energy | Ministers are considering dropping one of their central green pledges in an effort to keep energy bills down, sources have told the Guardian.
UK news | Keir Starmer’s grooming gangs inquiry has descended into fresh turmoil after the only remaining candidate to be its chair blamed “political opportunism” and “a lack of trust” for his withdrawal as an applicant.
Schools | One in 12 secondary pupils report being put into school isolation rooms at least once a week where they often spend in excess of eight hours, missing more than a full day of lessons, according to research.
Immigration and asylum | A man sent back to France under the “one in, one out” scheme has returned to the UK on a small boat, the Guardian has learned. The man is being held in a UK immigration detention centre and claims to be a victim of modern slavery.
Ukraine war | The US has sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia’s two largest oil companies, as the Trump administration increased pressure on the Kremlin to negotiate an end to its war against Ukraine.
Continue reading...UN’s top court also finds Israel failed to justify blocking Unrwa and other relief agencies
Israel must allow aid into Gaza, and its restrictions on doing so over the past two years have put it in breach of its obligations, the UN’s top court has found.
The stinging advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice in The Hague also found that Israel had a duty not to impede the supply of aid by UN organisations including the beleaguered UN Palestinian relief agency Unrwa, which has been in effect banned from the territory since January.
Continue reading...Defence secretary says UK will play ‘anchor role’ in US-led civil military coordination centre
British troops have been sent to Israel to help monitor the ceasefire in Gaza after a request from the US.
The defence secretary, John Healey, announced the deployment of a small number of planning officers, including a senior commander, at an event on Monday night. He said the UK would play an “anchor role”. Ten days ago the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the UK had “no plans” to send soldiers to Gaza.
Continue reading...Pause on move to freeze preferential trade pact comes amid scramble to shore up fragile ceasefire
The EU has been criticised for pausing sanctions against Israel’s government in response to Donald Trump’s peacemaking efforts in the Middle East, as the fragile ceasefire came under threat.
After meeting EU foreign ministers on Monday, the European foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, announced a pause on efforts to suspend preferential trade with Israel and sanctions against people responsible for fuelling the conflict on both sides.
Continue reading...Authorities urge UN to intervene ‘to protect unarmed civilian populations’ after attack on bus that killed 11
Gaza’s media office has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire with Hamas 47 times since the truce came into effect in early October, killing 38 Palestinians and wounding another 143.
“These violations have included crimes of direct gunfire against civilians, deliberate shelling and targeting, and the arrest of a number of civilians, reflecting the occupation’s continued policy of aggression despite the declared end of the war,” reads the statement.
Continue reading...Officials say reopening of gateway between Gaza and Egypt would depend on Hamas returning remains of dead hostages
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will stay closed “until further notice”, Israel has said, after the Palestinian embassy in Cairo said the territory’s sole gateway to the outside world would reopen on Monday.
The statement by Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said reopening Rafah would depend on how Hamas fulfils its ceasefire role of returning the remains of all 28 dead hostages. Israel’s foreign ministry earlier said the crossing would probably reopen on Sunday.
Continue reading...Decommissioning Hamas weapons seen as major stumbling block, with British diplomats advising on process
A European and US-backed UN security council motion to give a planned international stabilisation force robust powers to control security inside Gaza is being prepared, with the strong expectation that Egypt will lead it, diplomats have said.
The US is pressing for the force to have a UN mandate without being a fully fledged UN peacekeeping force and will operate with the kind of powers given to international troops operating in Haiti to combat armed gangs.
Continue reading...UN official says: ‘Whether meningitis … diarrhoea, respiratory illnesses, we’re talking about a mammoth amount of work’. This live blog is closed
We’ve got a bit more from the UN’s World Food Programme on the situation in Gaza.
WFP spokeswoman Abeer Etefa told a media briefing in Geneva that, from Saturday until Wednesday, around 230 trucks with 2,800 tonnes of food supplies crossed into Gaza.
Continue reading...UN urges opening of all crossings with aid deliveries at less than half of agreed frequency, as WHO issues disease alert
Aid remains critically scarce in Gaza one week into the ceasefire, humanitarian agencies have warned, as Israel delays the entry of food convoys into the territory. The Israeli government and Hamas continue to trade blame over violations of the truce.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday that it had brought about 560 tonnes of food a day on average into Gaza since the ceasefire began, but it was still below what was needed.
Continue reading...With no law, order or any alternative administration under the ceasefire, the group is using violence to deter rivals
Throughout Israel’s two-year war in Gaza, aid officials working in the territory avoided naming Hamas in conversations they suspected might be intercepted, instead referring to the militant Islamist group as the “de facto authority”.
This careful euphemism for Hamas, which violently seized power in 2007, captured an important truth. Though the group was a less obvious presence in the last months of the conflict, in the absence of any alternative, it remained the closest the increasingly devastated territory had to a ruler.
Continue reading...In response to pledge, company has claimed in a statement that its policies ‘prohibit discrimination of any kind’
Warner Bros Discovery has rebuked a pledge signed by more than 4,000 film industry figures to not work with Israeli film institutions “implicated in the genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people”, saying that such a pledge would likely violate its internal policies.
In a statement to Variety, a spokesperson said the company “is committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful environment for its employees, collaborators, and other stakeholders”.
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