Category Archives: Israel

Politicians from 12 countries unite to press for arms ban on Israel

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Letter aims to bring public anger over 30,000 deaths of Palestinians in Gaza into heart of parliaments

More than 200 MPs from 12 countries have committed themselves to trying to persuade their governments to impose a ban on arms sales to Israel, arguing they will not be complicit in “Israel’s grave violation of international law” in its assault on Gaza.

The letter, organised by Progressive International, a network of socialist MPs and activists focused on international justice, is seen as the best practical measure possible to bring public anger over the 30,000 deaths of Palestinians in Gaza into the heart of parliaments, where calls for an immediate unconditional ceasefire have so far fallen on deaf ears or been rejected by national governments.

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Israel yet to provide evidence to back UNRWA 7 October attack claims – UN

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Allegations against 12 employees led major donors to suspend funding to UN Palestinian agency despite hunger crisis in Gaza

A month after Israeli allegations that a dozen United Nations staff were involved in the 7 October Hamas attack, UN investigators have yet to receive any evidence from Israel to support the claims, though they expect some material to be forthcoming “shortly”.

The allegations against the 12 employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) led 16 major donors to suspend contributions totalling $450m at a time when more than 2 million Gazans are facing famine. UNRWA says it is approaching “breaking point” and only has sufficient funds to continue functioning for the next month at most.

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Palestinian factions making progress on political unity, Russian minister says

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Sergei Lavrov says joint communique issued by groups including Hamas and Fatah after Moscow talks represents step forwards

Palestinian factions including Hamas and Fatah have made progress in establishing political unity after talks in Moscow, the Russian foreign minister has said.

Addressing a diplomatic conference in Turkey, Sergei Lavrov said Hamas had agreed in writing for the first time to respect the platform of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), though he said it remained to be seen whether this would turn into more than words on a piece of paper.

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Middle East crisis live: US calls Gaza aid convoy deaths ‘tremendously alarming’ as France says Israeli fire ‘unjustifiable’

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White House says US ‘urgently seeking’ information after more than 100 Palestinians killed when Israeli soldiers open fire near aid trucks

The families of people being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza are on the third day of their march from the site of the Nova music festival, which was attacked on 7 October, to Jerusalem. On this day they are expected to be joined by war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, and the marchers will be carrying. 134 stretchers, intended to symbolise the 134 hostages that Israel believes are still in captivity.

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning has said the country is “shocked” by the deaths in Gaza yesterday, and called again for an end to the fighting. They said:

China is shocked by this incident and strongly condemns it. We express our grief for the victims and our sympathies for the injured. China urges the relevant parties, especially Israel, to cease fire and end the fighting immediately, earnestly protect civilians’ safety, ensure that humanitarian aid can enter, and avoid an even more serious humanitarian disaster.

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112 dead in chaotic scenes as Israeli troops open fire near aid trucks, say Gaza officials

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Israeli military denies shooting into large crowds of hungry people and says most were killed in crush or run over trying to escape

More than a hundred Palestinians were killed in the early hours of Thursday morning, Gaza health officials said, when desperate crowds gathered around aid trucks and Israeli troops opened fire, in an incident that the US president, Joe Biden, warned was likely to complicate ceasefire talks.

There were starkly different accounts of how the victims died in the chaos that took place near Gaza City in the north of the strip.

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Media outlets call for protection of journalists working in Gaza

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More than 30 news organisations sign open letter demanding freedom to report conflict in safety

More than 30 news organisations have signed an open letter expressing solidarity with journalists working in Gaza and calling for their protection and freedom to report.

The letter, coordinated by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), was signed by global news agencies AFP, AP and Reuters, as well as other leading media outlets including the Guardian, the New York Times, BBC News and Israel’s Haaretz.

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Middle East crisis: Biden says killing of more than 100 Palestinians near aid trucks will complicate ceasefire talks – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For the latest on the Israel-Gaza war, read our most recent report:

CNN are reporting that concern is rising among Biden officials that Israel may launch an incursion into Lebanon.

In a politics piece published on its website on Thursday, CNN cite US administration and intelligence officials as being “concerned that Israel is planning a ground incursion into Lebanon that could be launched in the late spring or early summer if diplomatic efforts fail to push Hezbollah back from the northern border with Israel”.

While a final Israeli decision has yet to be made, the worry is acute enough inside the Biden administration that the prospect of an incursion has made its way into intelligence briefings for senior administration officials, according to one person who received a briefing and was told an operation could happen early summer.

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UK should impose sanctions on two far-right Israeli ministers, says Ed Davey

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Lib Dem leader fears war will spread to West Bank if those pushing for more settlements are not penalised

The UK should impose sanctions on two far-right Israeli ministers who have pushed for more settlements on Palestinian land, Ed Davey has argued, saying this is vital to stop the fighting in Gaza spreading to the West Bank.

The Liberal Democrat leader, who returned on Wednesday morning from a visit to Israel where he had spoken to charities, politicians and relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, said there was a risk of the prospect of a two-state solution collapsing.

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Humanitarian workers face deportation from Israel after freeze on visas

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Dozens of foreign staff have had to leave and new specialists can’t be brought in, says group representing aid agencies

Israel has stopped issuing visas for international staff of humanitarian organisations that work in occupied Palestinian territories, hampering efforts to get food and other vital supplies into Gaza.

Dozens of foreign aid workers, including heads of organisations, have had to leave Israel and the Palestinian territories, or are overstaying their visas and risking deportation so they can continue working, an alliance of aid groups has warned.

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One in five pregnant women in Gaza clinic are malnourished, doctors warn

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Women and children suffering acute malnutrition as territory faces ‘catastrophic conditions’, according to UN

One in five pregnant women treated at a central Gaza clinic are malnourished, doctors have warned, as fuel and medical supply shortages closed the last hospital operating in the north of the strip.

“Every day, we see women and children coming into our clinic suffering from acute malnutrition,” said Dr Maram, the lead physician for Project Hope.

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Middle East crisis: Hamas ‘showing flexibility’ in negotiations with Israel but ‘prepared to continue fighting’ – as it happened

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The two sides have been negotiating a deal that would reportedly see a six week pause in fighting and the release of hostages

Al Jazeera reports Gaza’s al-Awda hospital has had to suspend all surgical operations after its operating theatres were destroyed. Acting director Mohamed Salha told the news agency:

This means that all medical services related to obstetrics and gynaecology have stopped completely. We were the only hospital in northern Gaza for orthopaedic surgeries. There is no other alternative place in northern Gaza or Gaza City because the health ministry’s hospitals are out of service completely.

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Qatar and Egypt ‘will help form new Palestinian technocratic government’

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Palestinian ambassador to UK says Hamas will be consulted but would have no members in government

The formation of a new Palestinian technocratic government would be aided by both Qatar and Egypt and involves consultations with all Palestinian political factions – including Hamas, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, has said.

The move appears to be part of an attempt to show that a reformed interim Palestinian government that has roots in the entire Palestinian movement is ready to take over the governance of both Gaza and the West Bank soon after any ceasefire.

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Hamas and Israel pour cold water on Biden’s hopes of imminent ceasefire

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US president’s remarks that there could be truce by Monday are ‘premature’, says political head of Hamas in Gaza

Israeli and Hamas officials have downplayed hopes expressed by Joe Biden that a ceasefire in the war in Gaza is imminent, raising questions about whether a temporary truce can be implemented before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins in two weeks’ time.

Basem Naim, the head of Hamas’s political division in Gaza, said over WhatsApp on Tuesday that the Palestinian Islamist movement had not yet formally received a new proposal for a ceasefire since last week’s indirect talks in Paris mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar.

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What we know so far about the draft Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal

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Agreements on fighting, hostage and prisoner releases and aid in Gaza are part of terms the two sides could sign up to

The US president, Joe Biden, said he hoped a deal for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza and hostage release could be reached by next Monday, as negotiators for Israel and Hamas try to pin down the terms of a draft agreement.

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Middle East crisis: Biden comments on ceasefire are ‘premature’, says Hamas – as it happened

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Official tells media still ‘big gaps that need to be bridged’ after US president said ‘my hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire’

Israel says it has struck multiple targets inside Lebanon. In a message posted to its official Telegram channel, the IDF reported:

This morning approximately 35 launches were identified crossing from Lebanon into the area of Mount Meron in northern Israel. There were no injuries or damage to the IDF Aerial Control Unit in the area.

In response, IDF fighter jets struck a military site and Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Hanniyeh, Jibchit, Baisariyeh, and Mansouri. IDF artillery also struck in the area of Yaroun in order to remove a threat.

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Israel is deliberately starving Palestinians, UN rights expert says

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Exclusive: UN special rapporteur on the right to food Michael Fakhri says denial of food is war crime and constitutes ‘a situation of genocide’

Israel is intentionally starving Palestinians and should be held accountable for war crimes – and genocide, according to the UN’s leading expert on the right to food.

Hunger and severe malnutrition are widespread in the Gaza Strip, where about 2.2 million Palestinians are facing severe shortages resulting from Israel destroying food supplies and severely restricting the flow of food, medicines and other humanitarian supplies. Aid trucks and Palestinians waiting for humanitarian relief have come under Israeli fire.

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Joe Biden hopeful of Gaza ceasefire by Monday as details of proposal emerge

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US president appears upbeat as Hamas reportedly mulls 40-day halt in fighting with Palestinian prisoners swapped for Israeli hostages

Joe Biden has said he believes a new, temporary ceasefire in Gaza is possible by next Monday, as Hamas was reportedly considering a draft agreement for a 40-day pause in fighting and the exchange of dozens of Israeli hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, according to a Reuters source.

“My national security adviser tells me that we’re close. We’re close. We’re not done yet,” Biden told reporters during a visit to New York on Monday after taping an appearance on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers. “My hope is by next Monday, we’ll have a ceasefire.”

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Middle East crisis: Israeli government blocking ‘lifesaving aid’, Human Rights Watch says; Palestinian Authority PM resigns – as it happened

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Human rights body says Israel not following ICJ order on Gaza aid provision; Mohammad Shtayyeh submits resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas

The UN rights chief has decried disinformation and other attacks that aim to “undermine the legitimacy” and work of the UN and other institutions, describing them as “profoundly destructive”.

Speaking at the opening of the UN human rights council’s main annual session, Volker Turk criticised widespread “disinformation that targets UN humanitarian organisations, UN peacekeepers and my office”.

The UN has become a lightning rod for manipulative propaganda and a scapegoat for policy failures.

This is profoundly destructive of the common good, and it callously betrays the many people whose lives rely on it.

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SNP to push for another Commons vote on ceasefire in Gaza

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Move presents fresh challenge to speaker and Labour party after last week’s chaotic scenes in parliament

The Scottish National party will push for another vote on a Gaza ceasefire this week, creating a fresh challenge for the speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, and the Labour party after last Wednesday’s chaotic scenes in the Commons.

Hoyle faced calls to quit after his decision to break with precedent and allow Labour to table a vote during an SNP debate calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, which prompted a walkout by Conservative and Scottish Nationalist MPs.

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Israel should have a voice at Eurovision, says president amid row over lyrics

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Isaac Herzog said ‘haters try to drive us off every stage’ as lyrics to October Rain scrutinised by organisers

Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, wants to ensure the country competes in the Eurovision song contest after the event’s organisers said they were examining whether the lyrics sung by the Israeli contestant were too political.

“I think it’s important for Israel to appear in Eurovision, and this is also a statement because there are haters who try to drive us off every stage,” Herzog said on Sunday, the Times of Israel reported. “Being smart is not just being right,” he added.

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