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Iran’s judiciary said Saturday it was investigating the cases of 20 people arrested over their suspected links with Israel following the 12-day war between the two arch-foes.
“These cases were immediately filed under the supervision of the esteemed investigators and are being investigated,” Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir told reporters in Tehran, adding that further information would be shared as it became available.
Continue reading...Australian and New Zealand leaders reject possible US trade retaliation over recognising Palestinian statehood and reaffirm plans to deepen security ties
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Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and his New Zealand counterpart, Christopher Luxon, have urged Israel to reconsider its plans to take over Gaza City and reaffirmed their intentions to deepen security ties, as they met in Queenstown on Saturday.
Following a pōwhiri (formal Māori welcome) at Te Wharehuanui – a private retreat built by the billionaire Xero founder, Rod Drury – Luxon said the world had become uncertain and fractious, and that New Zealand “has no greater friend than Australia”.
Continue reading...David Lammy is hosting the US vice-president at Chevening, his grace-and-favour residence in Kent, where they will discuss the Middle East
The SNP is calling for the recall of parliament so that MPs can approve sanctions against Benjamin Netanyahu in the light of his decision to extend the occupation of Gaza. In a statement Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, said:
A genocide is happening before our eyes in Gaza. Words of condemnation aren’t anywhere near enough - if we have any hope of stopping this genocide strong actions are desperately needed, now.
That means Keir Starmer needs to recall Westminster and take concrete steps to sanction the Israeli government.
Those sanctions must include ending all arms sales to the Israeli military, stopping all training, logistical and military support to the IDF, directly and personally sanctioning Netanyahu and his ministers and finally and immediately recognising the state of Palestine before it is brutally wiped off the map.
If the international community fails to act - we are consciously and complicitly standing idly by - allowing Benjamin Netanyahu to plan, implement and inflict an ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Decision will place huge financial burden on Israel and could lead to massive increase in Palestinian civilian deaths
One of Israel’s most celebrated images is David Rubinger’s photograph of a trio of paratroopers at the newly captured Western Wall in 1967, an event that would mark the beginning of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
You see it when arriving at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. It has been used to illustrate the Israel Defense Forces’ “values” page, and appears endlessly in the Hebrew media and on pro-Israel sites.
Continue reading...UK prime minister says occupation approved by Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet will only bring more bloodshed
Keir Starmer has urged Benjamin Netanyahu to reconsider his plans to take over Gaza City and said the move would only bring more bloodshed.
The British prime minister said Israel’s decision to escalate a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians over the past 22 months while pushing the territory into famine was wrong and would do nothing to secure the release of Israeli hostages.
Continue reading...Yair Lapid says far-right ministers dragged Benjamin Netanyahu into ‘exactly what Hamas wanted’ after security cabinet approves take over plan
The UK’s ambassador to Israel has said extending the war in Gaza would only lead to more deaths and that occupying Gaza would be a “huge mistake”.
Simon Walters was quoted by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper as saying on Thursday:
The IDF has achieved all that it can achieve in Gaza, and extending the war any further will simply lead to more deaths. Deaths of soldiers, deaths of Palestinians, deaths of hostages.
If you want to defeat Hamas, you cannot achieve that through military force. You need to use politics and diplomacy and you need to give the people of Gaza an alternative to Hamas.
We are working with friends, allies in Europe and in the Middle East to generate a real plan for what happens after the fighting stops, after the war.
It needs to be a description of what the governments will be for Gaza. That has to be governance by Palestinians who are not members of Hamas with a role for the Palestinian Authority.
Continue reading...Plan will likely displace tens of thousands of Palestinians already suffering from famine and comes after PM said he wanted to take control of entire territory
Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said, marking another escalation in the 22-month offensive that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed most of Gaza and pushed the territory into famine.
Ahead of the security cabinet meeting, which began Thursday and ran through the night, Netanyahu had said Israel planned to retake control over the entire territory and eventually hand it off to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas.
Continue reading...Palestine Football Association says Suleiman al-Obeid, 41, died during attack on people waiting for humanitarian aid
A footballer known as the “Palestinian Pelé” has been killed in an Israeli attack in southern Gaza, according to the Palestine Football Association (PFA).
Suleiman al-Obeid was killed on Wednesday when Israeli forces attacked civilians waiting for humanitarian aid, the PFA said.
Continue reading...Israeli PM needs security cabinet to approve plan amid opposition from aid agencies and families of hostages
Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza in defiance of warnings that such a move would lead to countless more Palestinian deaths, further mass displacement and endanger Israeli hostages still held in the territory.
Before a security cabinet meeting to discuss Gaza’s future, the Israeli prime minister insisted that Israel does not want to ultimately govern the territory and would hand over that responsibility to friendly Arab nations.
Continue reading...On Wednesday the Israeli military put parts of Gaza City and Khan Younis under new enforced displacement orders
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, urged UK prime minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday to call Donald Trump to encourage him to use his influence to block Israel’s plans for a “full occupation” of Gaza.
In a statement, Davey said:
[Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu’s latest proposals for the occupation of all of Gaza are utterly horrifying.
If realised, they will only wreak yet more destruction on Gazans – while gravely endangering the lives of the hostages still held in Hamas’ captivity.
Breaking – Palestine Red Crescent: The Israeli occupation forces have targeted the 8th floor of the PRCS headquarters in Khan Younis with an artillery shell.
Continue reading...Prime minister defends government’s handling of economy but will not give assurances over not raising income tax, employee NI or VAT
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, has urged Keir Starmer to call Donald Trump to encourage him to use his influence to block Israel’s plans for a “full occupation” of Gaza.
In a statement, Davey said:
[Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu’s latest proposals for the occupation of all of Gaza are utterly horrifying.
If realised, they will only wreak yet more destruction on Gazans - while gravely endangering the lives of the hostages still held in Hamas’ captivity.
I see NIESR is talking today about a £41.2bn hole in the UK public finances
Two things are newsworthy:
Continue reading...Officials say prime minister planning offensive to fully occupy Gaza, but resistance reveals splits in government
An Israeli security cabinet meeting, which had been expected to discuss Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for the “full occupation” of Gaza, has been postponed amid mounting tensions over whether the plan is feasible.
Amid a stalling of ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, Israeli officials had briefed local and international media that the prime minister was considering an expansive offensive, aimed at taking full control of the Palestinian territory after 22 months of war against the militant group Hamas.
Continue reading...Palestinian foreign ministry condemns Republican visit for ‘undermining efforts to stop the war and cycle of violence’
Mike Johnson became the highest ranked US official to visit the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Republican House speaker drawing measures of praise and condemnation for his trip in support of Israeli settlements amid a worsening starvation crisis in Gaza.
The excursion followed Johnson’s arrival in Israel on Sunday on an unannounced visit with other Republican lawmakers, and his meeting with Israeli defense minister Israel Katz and foreign minister Gideon Saar.
Continue reading...Family of Evyatar David condemn video as protesters in Tel Aviv call for a deal to be made to return hostages
Hamas has reaffirmed that it will not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established, as the group released its second video in two days of an Israeli hostage.
Responding to one of the key Israeli demands to end the war in Gaza, Hamas – which has dominated the territory since 2007 – said it could not yield its right to “armed resistance” unless an “independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital” is established.
Continue reading...UN says 859 have died near GHF sites since May while hospitals report growing number of hunger-related deaths
Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli fire killed more than a dozen people on Saturday, eight of them while trying to get food, as malnutrition-related deaths continue to rise in the territory.
The bloodshed comes a day after Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, visited an aid distribution site run by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Continue reading...UN says 859 have died near GHF sites since May while hospitals report growing number of hunger-related deaths
Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli fire killed more than a dozen people on Saturday, eight of them while trying to get food, as malnutrition-related deaths continue to rise in the territory.
The bloodshed comes a day after Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, visited an aid distribution site run by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Continue reading...UN says 859 have died near GHF sites since May while hospitals report growing number of hunger-related deaths
Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli fire killed more than a dozen people on Saturday, eight of them while trying to get food, as malnutrition-related deaths continue to rise in the territory.
The bloodshed comes a day after Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, visited an aid distribution site run by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Continue reading...UN says 859 have died near GHF sites since May while hospitals report growing number of hunger-related deaths
Hospitals in Gaza say Israeli fire killed more than a dozen people on Saturday, eight of them while trying to get food, as malnutrition-related deaths continue to rise in the territory.
The bloodshed comes a day after Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, visited an aid distribution site run by the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Continue reading...Conflict monitoring group Action on Armed Violence says Israel is seeking to create a ‘pattern of impunity’
Nearly nine out of 10 Israeli military investigations into allegations of war crimes or abuses by its soldiers since the start of the war in Gaza have been closed without finding fault or left without resolution, according to a conflict monitor.
Unresolved investigations include the killing of at least 112 Palestinians queueing for flour in Gaza City in February 2024, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) said, and an airstrike that killed 45 in an inferno at a tented camp in Rafah in May 2024.
Continue reading...Conflict monitoring group Action on Armed Violence says Israel is seeking to create a ‘pattern of impunity’
Nearly nine out of 10 Israeli military investigations into allegations of war crimes or abuses by its soldiers since the start of the war in Gaza have been closed without finding fault or left without resolution, according to a conflict monitor.
Unresolved investigations include the killing of at least 112 Palestinians queueing for flour in Gaza City in February 2024, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) said, and an airstrike that killed 45 in an inferno at a tented camp in Rafah in May 2024.
Continue reading...