Category Archives: Israel

Israel attacked Palestinian water sources over 250 times in five years, data reveals

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Armed forces and settlers used bombs, dogs, poison and machinery to attack people and infrastructure at key sites

Israeli armed forces and settlers have attacked Palestinian water sources more than 250 times in the past five years, amounting to the most sustained assault on civilian water supplies in recent years, new research reveals.

Bombs, dogs, poison and heavy machinery were among the weapons used to attack Palestinians and their infrastructure at drinking water, irrigation and sanitation sites in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip on at least 90 occasions between January 2024 and mid-2025, according to the Pacific Institute, a California-based nonpartisan thinktank tracking water conflicts.

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UAE refuses to join Gaza stabilisation force without clear legal framework

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Decision reflects wider regional doubts about terms of US-drafted plan to disarm Hamas

Plans for a UN-mandated international stabilisation force charged with disarming Hamas inside Gaza face growing opposition after the United Arab Emirates said it would not participate because it did not yet see a clear legal framework for the force.

Israel has already ruled out Turkey joining the force, and King Abdullah of Jordan has said Jordanian troops will not join. Azerbaijan, once mooted as a contributor, did not attend a planning meeting in Turkey last week and said it would not contribute unless a full ceasefire was in place.

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Israeli soldiers speak out on killings of Gaza civilians

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IDF soldiers tell documentary of opening fire unprovoked and arbitrary designations of who was an enemy

Israeli soldiers have described a free-for-all in Gaza and a breakdown in norms and legal constraints, with civilians killed at the whim of individual officers, according to testimony in a TV documentary.

“If you want to shoot without restraint, you can,” Daniel, the commander of an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank unit, says in Breaking Ranks: Inside Israel’s War, due to be broadcast in the UK on ITV on Monday evening.

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Irish football chiefs pass vote seeking Uefa ban on Israel from European competition

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  • Republic of Ireland body alleges two statute violations

  • FAI approved a resolution to submit a formal motion

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has approved a resolution to submit a formal motion to Uefa urging it to ban Israel from European club and international competitions.

The governing body’s resolution – proposed by the Dublin club Bohemians – cited alleged violations by the Israel Football Association (IFA) of two provisions of Uefa statutes. They are its alleged failure to implement and enforce an effective anti-racism policy and the organisation of clubs in occupied Palestinian territories without the consent of the Palestinian FA.

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Israel’s underground jail, where Palestinians are held without charge and never see daylight

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Exclusive: Detainees at Rakefet include nurse deprived of natural light since January, and teenager held for nine months

Israel is holding dozens of Palestinians from Gaza isolated in an underground jail where they never see daylight, are deprived of adequate food and barred from receiving news of their families or the outside world.

The detainees have included at least two civilians held for months without charge or trial: a nurse detained in his scrubs, and a young food seller, according to lawyers from the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) who represent both men.

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Turkey issues genocide arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu

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Israeli PM, ministers and army chief accused of crimes against humanity ‘perpetrated systematically’ in Gaza

Turkey has issued arrest warrants for alleged genocide against the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and senior officials within his government.

Among 37 suspects listed were the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and the army chief Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, said a statement from the Istanbul prosecutor’s office, which did not publish the complete list.

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Israel carries out wave of airstrikes on southern Lebanon

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Three towns attacked despite truce with Hezbollah in what Israeli military says was effort to prevent group rearming

The Israeli military has carried out a wave of airstrikes in southern Lebanon in what it described as an attempt to prevent Hezbollah rearming.

Israeli warplanes struck the towns of Kfar Dounine, Tayr Debba and Zawtar al-Sharqiya on Thursday, about an hour after issuing evacuation warnings to residents. No deaths had been reported at the time of publishing.

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Torture in Israeli prisons rose sharply during war, says freed Palestinian author

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Nasser Abu Srour says prisons became like ‘another front’ in Gaza conflict and tells of struggle to adjust to life outside

A celebrated Palestinian author who was freed last month after more than 32 years in Israeli prisons has said the use of torture increased dramatically during his last two years of captivity as Israel came to treat its jails as another front in the Gaza war.

Nasser Abu Srour, whose prison memoir has been translated into seven languages and is tipped to win a major international literary prize this month, was among more than 150 Palestinians serving life sentences who were freed as part of the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire and then immediately exiled to Egypt, where most remain in limbo.

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UN resolution on international stabilisation force for Gaza could be ready within two weeks

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Resolution may be delayed without agreement over the force’s mandate and a timetable for Israeli withdrawal

A UN security council resolution mandating the introduction of an international stabilisation force into Gaza is likely to be ready within two weeks, but may be delayed if disputes cannot be resolved over the force’s mandate, including the question of US military leadership, its relationship with the Palestinian civil police force and a timetable for Israeli military withdrawal.

At a meeting in Istanbul of Muslim countries considering offering troops on Monday, the Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, said: “The countries will shape their decisions based on the mission and authority of the International Stabilization Force. I believe that if the mission conflicts with the principles and policies of the countries that will send troops, it will be difficult for these countries to send troops.”

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Israel top military lawyer arrested after she admitted leaking video of soldiers’ abuse

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Rightwing politicians and pundits have called the soldiers accused of attack on Palestinian detainee ‘heroes’ and military investigators traitors

Police in Israel have arrested and detained the military’s top legal officer after she admitted leaking footage of soldiers allegedly attacking a Palestinian detainee and then in effect lying about her actions to Israel’s high court.

The military advocate general, Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, said in a resignation letter last week that she had authorised publication of the video to defuse attacks on military investigators and prosecutors working on the case.

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Israel and Hamas hand over bodies as part of Gaza ceasefire deal

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Hamas hands remains of three soldiers to Israel and bodies of 45 Palestinians are returned to Gaza amid fragile ceasefire

Israel has announced that the remains of three soldiers killed by Hamas during its raid into Israel on 7 October 2023 have been handed over by the militant group.

The transfer is the latest since the precarious ceasefire in Gaza came into effect just over three weeks ago.

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Israel threatens to step up attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon

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Israel’s defence minister accuses Beirut of delaying efforts to disarm militant group a day after deadly Israeli airstrike

Israel has threatened to step up its attacks against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, a day after the Lebanese health ministry reported that four people had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Despite the November 2024 ceasefire, Israel maintains troops in five areas in southern Lebanon and has kept up regular strikes.

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Gaza risks sliding into deadly limbo of ‘no war, no peace’, top Qatari diplomat warns

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Majed al-Ansari calls for international force to be set up urgently to pave way for Israeli withdrawal

Gaza risks sliding towards a deadly limbo where a ceasefire is nominally in place but killing continues, a top Qatari diplomat has warned, calling for rapid progress in setting up the international security force and administration to pave the way for full Israeli withdrawal.

“We don’t want to reach a situation of no war, no peace,” said Majed al-Ansari, adviser to Qatar’s prime minister and spokesperson for the foreign ministry.

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Hamas hands over bodies of two Israeli hostages amid fragile Gaza truce

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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.

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Lebanese president orders army to confront Israeli incursions after deadly raid

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IDF says it was attacking Hezbollah infrastructure when it fired at a ‘suspect’ and the incident is under review

Israeli troops have killed a Lebanese municipal worker while carrying out a raid in the south of the country, prompting Lebanon’s president to order the army to confront future incursions.

Lebanese state media identified the slain man as Ibrahim Salameh, an employee of the Blida municipality, a village near the border with Israel. The Israeli military confirmed the raid and said it was attacking Hezbollah infrastructure when it fired at a “suspect”. It said the incident was under review.

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Greek police increase security after protests against Israeli cruise ship

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Measures are being taken at the harbours of Patras and Katakolo after demonstrations earlier this week

Greek authorities have stepped up security in two harbours in an attempt to keep protesters away from a cruise liner carrying Israeli tourists on an 11-day tour around the Mediterranean.

The measures taken at Patras and Katakolo in the Peloponnese followed demonstrations when the MS Crown Iris docked at Kalamata earlier this week. In July passengers on the same ship were prevented from disembarking and it was forced to divert to Cyprus after local people staged a protest in support of Palestine on the Cycladic isle of Syros.

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Returned body parts were of Gaza hostage recovered two years ago, Israel says

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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.

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Hamas returns remains of Israeli hostage after Red Cross’s help in search

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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.

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Radiohead’s Thom Yorke says he would ‘absolutely not’ play in Israel now

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Singer says he will not perform in Israel while Benjamin Netanyahu remains in power, eight years after Radiohead defied criticism to perform in Tel Aviv

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has said he would not now perform in Israel, eight years after the band defied pro-Palestinian activists to play a show in Tel Aviv.

“Absolutely not. I wouldn’t want to be 5,000 miles anywhere near the Netanyahu regime,” he told the Sunday Times magazine, referring to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

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Turkey likely to be excluded from Gaza stabilisation force after Israeli objection

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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.

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