Category Archives: Israel

Protests expected as 51 Israeli arms makers among exhibitors at London trade fair

Posted on by

Campaign Against Arms Trade says UK government has hit ‘peak complicity in genocide’ in allowing the firms to exhibit

Fifty-one Israeli arms makers and the US defence giant behind the F-35 fighters used to bomb Gaza are among the 1,600 exhibitors at the biennial DSEI trade show that begins in London’s Docklands on Tuesday.

Their presence will be the focus for hundreds planning to demonstrate outside the four-day arms fair, at which the defence secretary, John Healey, is expected to speak alongside senior British military officials.

Continue reading...

Trump issues ‘last warning’ to Hamas to accept Gaza ceasefire deal

Posted on by

President says ‘the Israelis have accepted my terms’ and urges release of hostages to secure peace agreement

Donald Trump on Sunday issued what he called his “last warning” to Hamas, urging the Palestinian militant group to accept a deal to release hostages from Gaza.

“The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”

Continue reading...

Israel’s top court says government is not giving Palestinian prisoners enough food

Posted on by

Justices rule state is legally obliged to ensure ‘basic level of existence’ and orders authorities to improve nutrition

Israel’s supreme court has ruled that the government has failed to provide Palestinian security prisoners with adequate food for basic subsistence and ordered authorities to improve their nutrition.

Sunday’s decision was a rare case in which the country’s highest court ruled against the government’s conduct during the nearly two-year war.

Continue reading...

Keir Starmer has ‘legal duty to stop Gaza genocide’, says Greta Thunberg

Posted on by

Exclusive: Activist spoke while onboard aid flotilla aiming to deliver food, baby formula and medical supplies to territory

Keir Starmer must obey his “legal duty to act to prevent a genocide”, Greta Thunberg has told the Guardian while travelling onboard an aid flotilla heading for Gaza.

The Swedish activist said there was a “huge absence of those whose legal responsibility it is to step up” under international law, and called out the UK prime minister before a potential meeting this week with Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog.

Continue reading...

More than 7,000 under-fives in Gaza put in malnutrition recovery in two-week period

Posted on by

Unicef expects August malnutrition cases to top 15,000, as famine declared in Gaza City spreads south

More than 7,000 children under the age of five were put on recovery programmes for acute malnutrition at clinics run by Unicef in Gaza in just two weeks last month, figures reveal.

The overall total for August is being compiled by Unicef but is expected to exceed 15,000 new patients, more than seven times the total in February.

Continue reading...

More than 7,000 under-fives in Gaza put in malnutrition recovery in two-week period

Posted on by

Unicef expects August malnutrition cases to top 15,000, as famine declared in Gaza City spreads south

More than 7,000 children under the age of five were put on recovery programmes for acute malnutrition at clinics run by Unicef in Gaza in just two weeks last month, figures reveal.

The overall total for August is being compiled by Unicef but is expected to exceed 15,000 new patients, more than seven times the total in February.

Continue reading...

‘Standing up for Palestinians’: why Greta Thunberg wears a Bohemian FC shirt

Posted on by

The Swede has has not necessarily become a fan of Irish football, as she sports a club jersey made with help from Fontaines DC

The humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza is a serious mission with an incongruous detail: Greta Thunberg sporting a jersey of the Dublin football club Bohemians.

The Swedish activist wore the pale blue shirt during an earlier flotilla in June and again this week as vessels prepared to leave Barcelona.

Continue reading...

Starmer must not meet Israeli president during UK visit, say Labour MPs

Posted on by

Exclusive: Isaac Herzog to visit London for expected talks with ministers, with UK on brink of recognising Palestinian statehood

The president of Israel will travel to London next week for a controversially timed trip amid outcry from Labour MPs who have urged Keir Starmer not to meet with the visiting delegation.

The arrival of Isaac Herzog is fraught with complication for ministers, with the UK government on the brink of recognising the state of Palestine at the UN general assembly.

Continue reading...

Palestine recognition: the principle the EU has been stuck on for decades

Posted on by

Europe’s ability to help bring peace to the Middle East has long come under question, with Spain’s PM this week saying it had failed on Gaza

In 1980 when Leonid Brezhnev ruled the Soviet Union and Donald Trump was a property developer, the nine leaders of the then European Community made their first major foray into joint diplomacy. The cause: the Middle East, including a Palestinian state.

“The time has come to promote the recognition and implementation of two principles universally accepted by the international community: the right to existence and to security of all states in the region, including Israel … [and] recognition of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” stated the Venice declaration calling for Palestinian self-determination.

Continue reading...

Scotland bans arms companies that supply IDF from receiving financial aid

Posted on by

Devolved government says contractors seeking support must prove products will not be used by Israeli military

The Scottish government has banned arms companies which supply the IDF from getting grants and investment support, and will freeze support for trade with Israel.

John Swinney, the first minister, said on Wednesday any defence contractors who wanted financial help in Scotland would have to prove their products would not be used by the Israel Defense Forces.

Continue reading...

Israeli drones dropped grenades near peacekeepers in south Lebanon, UN says

Posted on by

Unifil condemns ‘serious attack’ on Tuesday morning as it was clearing a road and adds that no one was hurt

Israeli drones dropped four grenades near UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon, the agency’s force said on Wednesday, in what it described as “one of the most serious attacks” on its personnel since a November ceasefire.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Unifil, said the Tuesday morning attack came as it was clearing a road to a UN position close to the Israeli border, adding that no one was hurt.

Continue reading...

Five children in Gaza among those killed by Israeli strike while fetching water

Posted on by

Latest attack comes as Israel’s military urges people to leave Gaza City with 60,000 more reservists to be called up

At least nine people, including five children, have been killed in an Israeli strike while fetching water in al-Mawasi, an area of southern Gaza which Israel has designated as a safe zone, health officials said.

A doctor from al-Nasser hospital shared a picture of the children’s bodies in the hospital, as well as a picture of water jugs left in a pool of blood at the site of the attack on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Belgium to recognise Palestinian state at UN and sanction Israel – as it happened

Posted on by

Foreign minister says move is not aimed at Israeli people but ‘ensuring their government respects international and humanitarian law’. This live blog is closed

At least 63,633 Palestinian people have been killed and 160,914 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

At least 76 Palestinian people, including 12 aid seekers, were killed in the last 24 hours alone, the ministry said.

Continue reading...

Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world’s top scholars on the crime say

Posted on by

International Association of Genocide Scholars resolution backed by 86% of members who voted

An overwhelming majority of members of the world’s leading genocide scholars’ association have backed a resolution stating that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of the crime.

Eighty-six per cent of those who voted in the 500-member International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) supported the motion. The resolution states that “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in article II of the United Nations convention for the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide (1948).”

Continue reading...

Israeli airstrikes and gunfire have killed 30 around Gaza City, local officials say

Posted on by

Toll includes 13 people trying to get food near distribution point, as Israeli cabinet to discuss next stages of offensive

Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed at least 30 people in and around Gaza City, local health authorities said, as a 20-boat humanitarian aid flotilla carrying activists including Greta Thunberg set sail from Barcelona for the stricken territory.

Authorities said the toll from Israeli tank and gunfire included 13 people who died trying to get food near a distribution site in the Gaza Strip, two in a house in Gaza City and 15, including five children, in a strike on a residential building on Saturday.

With Reuters and Agence France-Presse

Continue reading...

Israeli airstrike kills Houthi prime minister in Yemen, rebels say

Posted on by

Ahmed al-Rahawi killed alongside several ministers gathered for prerecorded speech by rebel group’s leader

An Israeli airstrike killed the prime minister of the Houthi rebel-controlled government in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, the Houthis have said.

Ahmed al-Rahawi was killed in a strike in Sana’a on Thursday along with a number of ministers, the rebels said in a statement on Saturday. Other ministers and officials were wounded, the statement added without providing further details.

Continue reading...

UN human rights staff urge leadership to declare Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide

Posted on by

Internal letter also calls on UN member states to suspend arms sales, saying ‘criticising Israel is not enough’

Hundreds of employees of the United Nations’ leading human rights agency have backed an internal letter telling its leadership to declare Israel’s offensive in Gaza a genocide and to call on UN member states to suspend arms sales to Israel.

The 1,100-word letter, signed by about a quarter of the 2,000 staff of the Geneva- and New York-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), says the Israeli offensive in Gaza meets the legal threshold of genocide and that this means “arms sales, transfers and related logistical or financial support to Israeli authorities” constitutes a clear breach of international law by all those involved.

Continue reading...

UN to end Lebanon peacekeeping mission next year after Israeli and US pressure

Posted on by

Unifil mandate extended but troops patrolling Lebanon-Israel border to be withdrawn in December 2026

The UN security council has voted to extend the body’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for a further 16 months, but ordered it finished at the end of 2026 under Israeli and US pressure.

UNSC members voted unanimously on Thursday to extend the mandate for the UN interim force in Lebanon (Unifil) ahead of its expiration on Sunday, prompting relief from Lebanese officials who rely on it. The approved resolution said Unifil would begin an “orderly and safe withdrawal” of its 10,800 peacekeepers from Lebanon in December 2026.

Continue reading...

IDF declares famine-hit Gaza City a combat zone, ending ‘tactical pauses’ that allowed limited food delivery – Middle East crisis live

Posted on by

Around one million Palestinian people expected to be displaced in shattered city where famine has been declared

A spokesperson for the Israeli military said earlier this week that the evacuation of Gaza City is “inevitable”. Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will launch its Gaza City assault while simultaneously pursuing a ceasefire, though talks have stalled.

The Israeli prime minister has claimed the assault is the best way to weaken Hamas and return hostages, but many hostage families disagree and fear it will endanger hostages lives.

In accordance with the situational assessment & directives of the political echelon, starting today at 10:00, the local tactical pause in military activity will not apply to the area of Gaza City, which constitutes a dangerous combat zone.

The IDF continues supporting humanitarian efforts while conducting operations to protect Israel.

Continue reading...

US soldiers could be liable for war crimes in Gaza. Will they be prosecuted?

Posted on by

Human Rights Watch says US military personnel could face criminal prosecution for assisting Israel’s war in Gaza

Human rights groups and activists who protest against continued US support for Israel have focused primarily on the flow of US weapons, warning that continuing to send weapons to a state which has been documented using them in probable war crimes makes the US complicit.

However, this week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) highlighted another facet of US military support for Israel: military cooperation and intelligence sharing.

Continue reading...