Category Archives: Israel

Netanyahu defends arming Palestinian clans accused of ties with jihadist groups

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PM says it ‘saves lives of Israeli soldiers’, after accusations government is giving weapons to ‘criminals and felons’

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has admitted arming clans in Gaza that he says are opposed to Hamas, after allegations that members of these criminal gangs looted humanitarian aid and have ties to jihadist groups.

The admission came after Israeli media reports quoted defence sources as saying Netanyahu had authorised giving weapons to a clan reportedly led by a man known as Yasser Abu Shabab, a Rafah resident from a Bedouin family, known locally for his involvement in criminal activity. Israel allegedly provided Abu Shabab’s group, which calls itself the “Anti-Terror Service”, with Kalashnikov assault rifles, including weapons seized from Hamas.

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Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to reopen two distribution centres intended to supply aid – as it happened

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US-backed Israeli logistics group to reopen facilities today after closures following IDF warnings. This live blog is closed

Russian president Vladimir Putin is ready to “help resolve” the standoff between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear programme, the Kremlin said on Thursday.

“We have a close partnership with Tehran. And President Putin said that he was ready to use this partnership to help resolve the Iranian nuclear issue,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

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IDF recovers bodies of two Israeli-American hostages from 7 October attack

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Remains of Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai returned to Israel after overnight operation in southern Gaza

Israel has recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages who were killed and abducted in Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the remains of Judih Weinstein, 70, and Gad Haggai, 72, both of whom had Israeli and US citizenship, were returned to Israel by the army and the Shin Bet internal security agency after an overnight operation in southern Gaza.

Their deaths had been announced in December 2023. “My beautiful parents have been freed. We have certainty,” their daughter, Iris Haggai Liniado, wrote in a Facebook post. She thanked the Israeli military, the FBI and the Israeli and US governments and called for the release of all the remaining hostages.

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US vetoes resolution for unconditional Gaza ceasefire at UN security council

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Russia, China, France and the UK all voted in favour of ‘immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire’

The United States has vetoed a United Nations security council resolution calling for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza while the 14 remaining countries on the council voted in favour.

The vetoed resolution also called the situation in Gaza “catastrophic”, and demanded the “immediate and unconditional lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and its safe and unhindered distribution at scale, including by the UN and humanitarian partners”.

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Keir Starmer calls Israel’s recent actions in Gaza ‘appalling and intolerable’

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PM tells MPs he is considering imposing sanctions on Israeli government members but is resisting ban on arms sales

Keir Starmer has called Israel’s recent actions in Gaza “appalling, counterproductive and intolerable”, as the UK government comes under mounting pressure to take stronger action after the killings of dozens of civilians at food points in recent days.

The prime minister told MPs on Wednesday the UK was considering imposing sanctions on members of the Israeli government, but is so far resisting growing calls for a complete ban on arms sales and immediate recognition of Palestine.

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Gaza aid points close for day as Israel warns against travel to distribution centres – Israel-Gaza war live

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Gaza Humanitarian Foundation halts limited supply of food distribution after at least 27 killed by Israeli fire as they waited for food

The civil defence agency in Gaza said an Israeli strike on a tent housing displaced Palestinians near the southern city of Khan Younis on Wednesday killed at least 12 people. Earlier reports had put the death toll at 10 (see 7.47am BST).

“At least 12 people were killed, including several children and women, in a strike by an Israeli drone this morning on a tent for displaced persons” near Khan Younis, the agency’s spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told Agence France-Presse (AFP), adding that four more people had been killed in other strikes.

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Israel attacks Syrian targets after projectiles launched toward its territory

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Israel’s defence minister says he holds Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa responsible for the two projectile launches

Israel hit southern Syria with a series of strikes overnight from Tuesday into Wednesday, saying it had targeted weapons belonging to Syrian authorities after the launch of projectiles towards its territory

Israel launched the two attacks after reporting projectiles had been fired from Syria on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the two projectiles.

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Gaza food hub stops operations for second day as access routes remain ‘combat zones’

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Extended closure said to be for maintenance and follows deaths of at least 27 people killed by Israeli troops near distribution site

A US-backed group operating food distribution sites in Gaza has announced that its operations would be suspended for a second day on Thursday, due to “maintenance and repair work”, as the Israeli army warned that roads leading to distribution centres were considered “combat zones”.

After Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians, killing at least 27 and injuring hundreds, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) pressed Israel to improve civilian safety beyond the perimeter of its distribution sites.

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Gaza Humanitarian Foundation names US evangelical leader as new chair

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Johnnie Moore, also an adviser to Trump, named as US- and Israeli-backed initiative tries to recover from resignations

An evangelical leader and adviser to Donald Trump on interfaith issues has been appointed the new head of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) as the controversial US- and Israeli-backed initiative attempts to recover from top-level resignations during a tumultuous rollout last week.

Johnnie Moore, a member of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and founder of the boutique advisory firm Kairos Company, was appointed the new head of the GHF after Jake Wood, a former marine, resigned, saying that he could not guarantee the GHF’s independence from Israeli interests.

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Masked Israeli troops block media visit to West Bank site of Oscar-winning film

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Group of international reporters stopped on way to Masafer Yatta, which features in documentary No Other Land

Masked Israeli soldiers have blocked an international group of reporters from visiting Palestinian villages on the West Bank that have been under sustained attack by Jewish settlers, and which were the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary film.

The Academy Award won by No Other Land has not stopped the attacks on Masafer Yatta, a cluster of villages on the southern edge of the occupied territory, which has been the target of settler violence and house demolitions and forced displacement by the army for many years.

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Starmer defends not putting date on 3% defence spending target as UK to announce plans to build new submarines – politics live

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Prime minister to launch strategic defence review in Glasgow this morning

Here is the clip of Keir Starmer in his Today programme interview refusing to say when the government will raise defence spending to 3% of GDP.

In an interview with the Times published on Saturday John Healey, the defence secretary, said that he had “no doubt” that Britain would reach the 3% target by 2034 – ie, before the end of the next parliament. Yesterday he described this as an “ambition”.

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Greta Thunberg joins aid ship sailing to Gaza aimed at breaking Israel’s blockade

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Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham also on Freedom Flotilla voyage to deliver aid to devastated territory

The climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and 11 other activists have set sail for Gaza on a ship aimed at “breaking Israel’s siege” of the devastated territory, organisers have said.

The sailing boat Madleen – operated by the activist group Freedom Flotilla Coalition – departed from the port of Catania in Sicily, southern Italy, on Sunday.

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Dozens of Palestinians killed after Israeli forces open fire near aid delivery point, says Gaza civil defence agency – as it happened

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Israeli forces opened fire on people heading towards aid distribution site run by Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, say witnesses

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a newly created private logistics group backed by the US and endorsed by Israel, has given a response to reports that dozens of Palestinian people were killed when Israeli tanks opened fire near one of its aid distribution sites in Gaza earlier today.

“It is false and fabricated. All aid was distributed today without incident,” the GHF said, telling BBC News that there have been no injuries or fatalities.

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Hamas suggests changes in response to Gaza ceasefire proposal

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Israel and US envoy reject group’s proposal to free 10 living hostages and 18 bodies in exchange for release of Palestinian prisoners

Hamas said on Saturday that it had submitted its response containing some amendments to a proposal presented by Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to mediators, the most concrete sign of progress towards a ceasefire since March.

The Palestinian group said in a statement that under the deal, it will release 10 living hostages and 18 bodies in return for Israel’s release of Palestinian prisoners – a change to the US’s latest proposal that will make it more difficult for Israel to resume fighting if talks on a permanent ceasefire are not completed by the end of the truce.

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Gaza is ‘hungriest place on Earth’ with all its people at risk of famine, says UN

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Mission to deliver help is ‘one of most obstructed aid operations in recent history’, humanitarian agency says

Gaza is “the hungriest place on Earth”, according to the UN, which has warned that the Palestinian territory’s entire population is at risk of famine.

Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the territory was “the only defined area – a country or defined territory within a country – where you have the entire population at risk of famine. One hundred per cent of the population at risk of famine,” he said on Friday.

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Thom Yorke calls Netanyahu an ‘extremist’ in statement on Gaza

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Radiohead frontman makes lengthy statement after he had been criticised over perceived silence on the war, and for previously performing in Israel

After he was criticised for his silence on the subject, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has made a statement regarding the war in Gaza, saying Benjamin Netanyahu and his Israeli administration are “extremists” who “need to be stopped”.

He also criticised Hamas, saying the organisation “chooses too to hide behind the suffering of its people”.

I think Netanyahu and his crew of extremists are totally out of control and need to be stopped, and that the international community should put all the pressure it can on them to cease. Their excuse of self-defence has long since worn thin and has been replaced by a transparent desire to take control of Gaza and the West Bank permanently.

I believe this ultra-nationalist administration has hidden itself behind a terrified & grieving people and used them to deflect any criticism, using that fear and grief to further their ultra-nationalist agenda with terrible consequences, as we see now with the horrific blockade of aid to Gaza …

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Hamas says US ceasefire plan accepted by Israel does not meet demands to end war in Gaza

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Draft reportedly includes release of 28 hostages in first week, a 60-day ceasefire and aid for Gaza as soon as deal signed off

Israel has agreed to a US ceasefire proposal for Gaza, the White House has said, and Hamas said it was reviewing the plan although its terms did not meet the group’s demands.

As a US-backed system for distributing food in the shattered territory expanded, Israeli media reported that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had told the families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel had accepted a deal presented by US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

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Carbon footprint of Israel’s war on Gaza exceeds that of many entire countries

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Exclusive: Climate cost of war is more than than the combined 2023 emissions of Costa Rica and Estonia, study finds

The carbon footprint of the first 15 months of Israel’s war on Gaza will be greater than the annual planet-warming emissions of a hundred individual countries, exacerbating the global climate emergency on top of the huge civilian death toll, new research reveals.

A study shared exclusively with the Guardian found the long-term climate cost of destroying, clearing and rebuilding Gaza could top 31m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). This is more than the combined 2023 annual greenhouse gases emitted by Costa Rica and Estonia, yet there is no obligation for states to report military emissions to the UN climate body.

Over 99% of the almost 1.89m tCO2e estimated to have been generated between the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack and the temporary ceasefire in January 2025 is attributed to Israel’s aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza.

Almost 30% of greenhouse gases generated in that period came from the US sending 50,000 tonnes of weapons and other military supplies to Israel, mostly on cargo planes and ships from stockpiles in Europe. Another 20% is attributed to Israeli aircraft reconnaissance and bombing missions, tanks and fuel from other military vehicles, as well as CO2 generated by manufacturing and exploding the bombs and artillery.

Solar had generated as much as a quarter of Gaza’s electricity, representing one of the world’s highest shares, but most panels, and the territory’s only power plant, have been damaged or destroyed. Gaza’s limited access to electricity now mostly relies on diesel-guzzling generators that emitted just over 130,000 tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, or 7% of the total conflict emissions.

More than 40% of the total emissions were generated by the estimated 70,000 aid trucks Israel allowed into the Gaza Strip – which the UN has condemned as grossly insufficient to meet the basic humanitarian needs of 2.2m displaced and starving Palestinians.

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Pro-Palestine group targets Jewish-owned business in London

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Palestine Action says it carried out early hours attack in which windows were smashed and claims company has links to Israeli arms firm

A Jewish-owned business in north London has been daubed in red paint and its shop window smashed by pro-Palestinian campaigners in an incident police are treating as racially aggravated.

Three men were caught on CCTV in the early hours of Thursday attacking an investment group in Stamford Hill, an area with a large community of orthodox Jews.

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Israel confirms plans to create 22 new settlements in occupied West Bank

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Defence minister says move ‘prevents establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel’

Israel has said it will establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation, after a security cabinet vote held in secret last week.

Israel occupied the West Bank, capturing it from Jordan, in the six-day war of 1967. Since then, successive governments have tried to permanently cement Israeli control over the land, in part by declaring swathes as “state lands”, which prevents private Palestinian ownership.

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