Category Archives: Israel

New details on killing of paramedics in Gaza appear to contradict IDF’s account

Posted on by

Haaretz report comes as supreme court gives Israeli PM more time to respond to affidavit from fired Shin Bet chief

New developments have come to light in the killing of 15 Palestinian medics and rescue workers by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip last month, with evidence reportedly contradicting the Israel Defense Forces’ claim that soldiers did not fire indiscriminately at the medical workers.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Wednesday that its analysis of the IDF’s own materials collected as part of an internal investigation into the incident contradicted the army’s claim that soldiers did not shoot indiscriminately at Palestinian ambulances and a fire engine in the early hours of 23 March.

Continue reading...

US writers at growing risk of crackdown on free speech, says PEN America

Posted on by

China again biggest jailer of writers in 2024, followed by Iran – with Israel in fifth place, says organisation’s annual report

Writers in the US are at growing risk amid a worldwide crackdown on free speech that has begun to spread to countries previously renowned for unfettered expression and openness, according to a leading writers’ advocacy group.

PEN America said it was concerned about an emerging threat from the Trump administration as it published its annual Freedom to Write index report, which showed that the number of writers jailed worldwide had jumped for the sixth year running to 375 in 2024, compared with 339 the year before.

Continue reading...

Spain scraps €6.6m arms order from Israeli company after outcry

Posted on by

Coalition allies of Pedro Sánchez said the purchase of millions of bullets jeopardised country’s efforts to hold Israel to account over war in Gaza

Spain has scrapped a €6.6m (£5.7m) order for millions of bullets from an Israeli company after the junior partners in its coalition government denounced it as a “flagrant breach” of the alliance agreement that jeopardised the country’s sustained efforts to hold Israel accountable for its actions in Gaza.

The country’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has been one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s conduct during the war in Gaza, questioning whether it is following international humanitarian law and calling the number of Palestinian deaths “truly unbearable”.

Continue reading...

Eleven killed in Gaza school shelter as Israel continues bombing campaign

Posted on by

Wave of airstrikes claim at least 25 lives while Arab negotiators make new ceasefire proposal

At least 25 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza, including 11 in the bombing of a school turned shelter, the strip’s civil defence agency said, as Israel’s war against Hamas in the besieged Palestinian territory grinds on despite a new ceasefire proposal from Arab mediators.

Intense Israeli bombings hit several areas of Gaza on Wednesday, killing 11 in a school sheltering displaced people in al-Tuffah, a neighbourhood of Gaza City. The strike ignited a huge fire that claimed most of the casualties, said a civil defence spokesperson, Mahmoud Bassal.

Continue reading...

Sharon Osbourne urges US to revoke Kneecap rappers’ visas after Israel criticism

Posted on by

Irish language group uses Coachella gig to denounce Gaza attacks, saying ‘Palestinians have nowhere to go’

Sharon Osbourne has urged US authorities to revoke work visas for Kneecap after the Irish language rap group used a performance at Coachella to denounce Israeli attacks on Gaza.

The TV presenter accused the band of hate speech and supporting terrorist organisations and said it should not be allowed to perform in the US. “I urge you to join me in advocating for the revocation of Kneecap’s work visa,” she exhorted followers on X on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Humanitarian agencies reject IDF claim Gaza medic killings caused by ‘professional failures’

Posted on by

UN, Palestinian Red Crescent and civil defence service condemn lack of accountability after Israeli investigation

The UN’s humanitarian agency, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and Gaza’s civil defence service have rejected the findings of an Israeli military investigation that concluded the killings of 15 Palestinian medics and rescue workers in Rafah last month were caused by “professional failures”.

Eight PRCS paramedics, six members of the civil defence rescue agency and one employee of Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, were carrying out two rescue missions when they were shot and killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza in the early hours of 23 March.

Continue reading...

Despair in Gaza as Israeli aid blockade creates crisis ‘unmatched in severity’

Posted on by

Palestinians pushed into new misery as supplies of food, fuel and medicine run out in seven-week siege

Gaza has been pushed to new depths of despair, civilians, medics and humanitarian workers say, by the unprecedented seven-week-long Israeli military blockade that has cut off all aid to the strip.

The siege has left the Palestinian territory facing conditions unmatched in severity since the beginning of the war as residents grapple with sweeping new evacuation orders, the renewed bombing of civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, and the exhaustion of food, fuel for generators and medical supplies.

Continue reading...

Israeli minister met David Lammy on ‘private’ visit to UK, Foreign Office says

Posted on by

Activist groups make request for arrest warrant to be issued for Gideon Sa’ar after unannounced trip to London

The UK Foreign Office has confirmed that the foreign secretary, David Lammy, met his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Sa’ar, while Sa’ar was on an unannounced visit to London.

The Foreign Office described Sa’ar’s visit as “private”, though it said Lammy had discussed a full range of Middle East issues with the Israeli foreign minister. News of Sa’ar’s presence in the UK – at a time when Israel is intensifying its offensive in Gaza, having ended a ceasefire last month – has triggered outrage among critics of Israel, and a formal request from activists for an arrest warrant to be issued against him on charges of alleged complicity in war crimes.

Continue reading...

Members of leading British Jewish body condemn Israel’s latest actions in Gaza

Posted on by

Signatories from Board of Deputies say in open letter that ‘Israel’s soul is being ripped out’ and they ‘cannot turn a blind eye’ to loss of life

Members of the Board of Deputies, the largest body representing British Jews, have said they can no longer “turn a blind eye or remain silent” over the war in Gaza.

In a significant break with the board’s customary support for the Israeli government, the 36 signatories to an open letter published in the FT say “Israel’s soul is being ripped out”.

Continue reading...

Lawyers for Australian student who lost eye during IDF raid in West Bank doubt Israel will investigate

Posted on by

Foreign minister Penny Wong has demanded full review into wounding of Ranem Abu-Izneid in November but legal team claim there have been ‘no updates’

Lawyers for an Australian dentistry student who lost her eye after being struck by shrapnel in the occupied West Bank say they doubt Israel is investigating the matter despite the foreign minister, Penny Wong, demanding a comprehensive probe.

Palestinian-Australian student Ranem Abu-Izneid, 20, was sheltering with her friend on 15 November 2024 at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, when she says a bullet fired by Israeli forces penetrated the window. She later lost her right eye.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Labour MPs push for Foreign Office to recognise Palestinian statehood

Posted on by

Emily Thornberry calls for UK to join France, as Emmanuel Macron says June UN conference must be decisive moment

The Foreign Office is under pressure from Labour MPs to recognise a Palestinian state if Emmanuel Macron, the French president, presses ahead with plans to recognise Palestine at an international conference set for June.

France is co-chairing the conference at the UN in New York alongside Saudi Arabia, and Macron has said the conference must be a decisive moment.

Continue reading...

Erdoğan lambasts Israel for undermining stability in Syria

Posted on by

Turkey’s president lashes out shortly after talks with Netanyahu’s government aimed at defusing tensions

The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has lambasted Israel for undermining stability in neighbouring Syria during a diplomatic forum, days after the two countries held talks aimed at defusing an escalating conflict between them on Syrian soil.

“Turkey will not allow Syria to be dragged into a new vortex of instability,” Erdoğan told attendees at the Antalya diplomacy forum on the southern Turkish coast, accusing Israel of “trying to undermine the 8 December revolution”, in reference to the insurgency that toppled the former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad after decades in power.

Continue reading...

IDF unit involved in Gaza paramedics’ killing was under command of brigade led by notorious Israeli general

Posted on by

Golani troops were under command of reservist Armoured 14th Brigade, part of division led by Brig Gen Yehuda Vach

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) unit involved in the killings of 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers in the Gaza Strip last month was under the command of a brigade led by a notorious Israeli general previously accused by some of his own troops of having “contempt for human life”.

The IDF has confirmed that troops from Golani, one of the army’s five infantry brigades, opened fire on two convoys of ambulances in Rafah on 23 March and dug a mass grave to cover the bodies of those killed until the corpses could be retrieved by a UN team six days later. It has disputed allegations from two witnesses who exhumed the bodies and newly released postmortem results that found several of those killed had close-range gunshot wounds to the head and chest and were discovered with their hands or legs tied.

Continue reading...

Israeli military organises tourist tours of newly occupied Syrian territory

Posted on by

Twice-daily hiking trips for civilians in Golan buffer zone recently seized by Israel sold out almost immediately

Israel’s military is organising hiking tours for civilians in newly occupied Syrian territory during the Passover holiday, local media has reported.

The twice-daily tours in the contested Golan Heights will run for a week beginning this Sunday. Tickets sold out almost immediately.

Continue reading...

France could recognise Palestinian state ‘in June’, says Emmanuel Macron – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed, you can read more of our Middle East coverage here

Turkish and Israeli officials began talks on Wednesday aimed at preventing unwanted incidents in Syria, where militaries of the two regional powers are active, Turkish ministry sources said on Thursday.

According to Reuters, the sources said the technical talks, in Azerbaijan, marked the beginning of efforts to set up a channel to avoid potential clashes or misunderstandings over military operations in the region.

Continue reading...

Hamas calls on UK government to remove it from list of banned terrorist groups

Posted on by

The Palestinian Islamist organisation, which launched deadly 7 October attacks on Israel, says it is a ‘resistance movement’ and no threat to Britain

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has submitted a legal filing saying it should be removed from the UK government’s list of proscribed terrorist groups.

Hamas, which carried out the 7 October 2023 attacks on southern Israel, in which more than 1,200 people, mainly civilians, were killed and a further 250 taken hostage, is arguing that it is not a terrorist group but “a Palestinian Islamic liberation and resistance movement whose goal is to liberate Palestine and confront the Zionist project”.

Continue reading...

Dozens reported dead in Gaza after Israeli strike on residential block – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed, you can read more of our Middle East coverage here

The Gaza health ministry said on Wednesday that at least 1,482 Palestinians have been killed since Israel resumed intense strikes on the Gaza Strip on 18 March, taking the overall death toll since the start of the war to 50,846.

Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) tally based on Israeli official figures.

Continue reading...

Gaza City strike kills at least 23 as Israel reportedly plans to seize Rafah

Posted on by

Search for survivors continues at residential building, amid reports Israeli military preparing to seize entire city in south

At least 23 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit a residential building in northern Gaza, as reports emerged that the Israeli military is preparing to seize the entire city of Rafah as part of a newly announced security corridor.

Medics at al-Ahli hospital said that the bombing on Wednesday of a four-storey building in the Gaza City suburb of Shijaiyah had killed at least eight women and children, as rescue workers continued to search for survivors into the evening. The Israeli military said the strike targeted a senior Hamas militant.

Continue reading...

Gaza medic deaths just the latest in Israel’s long history of changing its story over civilian killings

Posted on by

After 15 Palestinian medics and civil defence workers were killed by Israeli forces late last month, Israel began a familiar pattern of denial

The Israel Defense Forces’ changing account of its killing of 15 Palestinian medics and civil defence workers is part of a long familiar pattern in high profile cases involving the killing of civilians.

Often, at first, the IDF denies involvement. Sometimes – in the context of Gaza – it suggests one of Hamas’s own rockets fell short, causing the casualties.

Continue reading...

Netanyahu discusses Gaza and tariffs with Trump at White House meeting

Posted on by

President says the pair had a ‘great discussion’ while prime minister says Israel will eliminate trade deficit with US

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met with Donald Trump on Monday for the second time since the US president’s return to office, marking the first effort by a foreign leader to negotiate a deal after Trump announced sweeping tariffs last week.

Speaking alongside Trump in the Oval Office, Netanyahu said Israel would eliminate the trade deficit with the US. “We intend to do it very quickly,” he told reporters, adding that he believed Israel could “serve as a model for many countries who ought to do the same”.

Continue reading...