Category Archives: Palestinian Territories

Food prices soar in Gaza after looting of almost 100 aid trucks worsens shortages

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WHO says hijacking by armed men has aggravated already severe scarcity of food, medicine and other aid

Food prices have soared in Gaza after the looting of nearly 100 aid trucks amid an already severe food crisis caused by more than a year of war between Israel and Hamas.

This weekend’s hijacking of 98 lorries of a 109-strong convoy by armed men – the biggest such attack to date – has aggravated food, medicine and other aid shortages, according to a World Health Organization spokesperson, Margaret Harris. “It’s getting harder and harder to get the aid in,” she said on Tuesday.

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Norway to ask ICJ for advisory opinion condemning Israel’s stance on Unrwa

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Draft resolution for UN general assembly seeks to protect the aid agency and allow it to keep functioning in Gaza

Norway is to seek an international court of justice (ICJ) advisory opinion condemning the Israeli government for ending cooperation with the UN Palestinian relief agency Unrwa.

The Israeli Knesset passed two bills last month banning Unrwa from Israeli territory and prohibiting Israeli state contact with the agency, moves that would prevent it from delivering aid to Gaza, after allegations by Israel that members of Unrwa staff in Gaza were involved in the 7 October attacks by Hamas. The UN launched an investigation into the Israeli claims and fired nine Unrwa staff as a result.

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‘Total oppression’: West Bank children being killed at unprecedented rate

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Huge rise in attacks by Israeli settlers and soldiers killed 171 children in year after 7 October

Mohammad was 12, a football-mad teenager who spent his days dreaming of a career on the pitch and his last minutes practising ball skills. Ghassan was 14, a quiet, generous teenager who ran errands for elderly relatives, with an adoring six-year-old brother who stuck to him like a shadow.

Both boys were shot dead this summer by Israeli soldiers, victims of an unprecedented surge in attacks on children in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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Gaza ministry says 20 killed in anti-‘gang’ operation after looting of aid convoy

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Hamas-run interior ministry says it carried out security operation after armed looters hijacked almost 100 trucks

Gaza’s Hamas-run interior ministry has said that at least 20 people have been killed in an operation targeting “gangs” accused of looting trucks bringing aid into the war-torn territory which is facing the threat of famine.

Gunmen attacked and looted about 100 trucks carrying desperately needed supplies over the weekend, the biggest such attack during 13 months of war in the territory and new evidence of the growing power of Gaza’s criminal gangs.

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Australian authors group give every federal politician five books to encourage nuance in Middle East debate

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Exclusive: Group of more than 90 including writers Tim Winton and Charlotte Wood have paid for every federal senator and MP to receive curated package

Some of Australia’s most prominent authors are among a group of more than 90 writers and literary supporters who have paid for every federal parliamentarian to receive a carefully curated package of books on the Middle East to expand their knowledge of the history of the conflict.

Each of the 227 MPs and senators is being given the same five books – nonfiction, fiction and reference works – as part of the campaign to encourage wider reading on the origins of the Middle East conflict among Australia’s political leaders.

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Middle East crisis live: Israeli strike kills Hezbollah lead spokesperson in Beirut

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This blog is now closed. Read today’s full report here

A Lebanese soldier has been killed, with three wounded after Israel attacked an army post in a Lebanese town.

The Lebanese Army posted on X that one of those injured was in a critical condition after the attack on Sunday.

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Israeli strike on Beirut kills Hezbollah media chief Mohammed Afif

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Attack came without warning on day dozens killed in airstrikes in Gaza and Israel struck other targets in Lebanon

Hezbollah’s chief spokesman has been killed by an Israeli airstrike on Beirut, as Israel intensifies its air offensive in Lebanon despite ongoing indirect negotiations for a ceasefire.

Mohammed Afif, who has been the public face of Hezbollah for months, was killed in a strike on offices of the Ba’ath party in Ras al-Nabaa, central Beirut. The attack in the busy residential area came without warning, and appeared to damage to neighbouring buildings.

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Rightwing settlers in Israel welcome ‘dream team’ of Trump and his hardline appointments

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Palestinian groups shocked by US president-elect’s favouring of outspoken supporters of far-right activists in the region

Rightwing settlers and extremist nationalist Zionists in Israel have described top officials in Donald Trump’s new administration as a “dream team” which will offer a “unique and special opportunity” to expand Israel’s hold on occupied territory and permanently end any prospect of a Palestinian state.

Palestinian groups and leftwing NGOs in Israel have been shocked by Trump’s appointment of outspoken supporters of the projects of far-right Israeli activists and say the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has been emboldened by Trump’s victory.

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Middle East crisis: Israeli troops reach deepest point in Lebanon since invasion began – as it happened

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

Another airstrike hit the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut around midday local time, according to AFP, after the area was hit earlier this morning.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported a raid by “enemy aircraft” in the neighbourhood of Chiyah.

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Middle East crisis: Hamas ‘ready’ for Gaza ceasefire, says senior official – as it happened

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Senior official Bassem Naim says militant group ‘ready for ceasefire’ and urges Donald Trump to ‘pressure’ 'Israel to ‘end the aggression’

Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, is reporting that two Palestinian people were killed in an Israeli artillery attack in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza. Three other Palestinians were killed in a separate Israeli airstrike near the general security junction in western Gaza City, according to Wafa. A renewed Israeli assault was launched on the northern part of the Gaza Strip last month, with the Israeli military claiming it was to stop Hamas fighters regrouping there. The blockage of aid and food deliveries and the targeting of civilian infrastructure, however, have led to accusations that Israel is committing the war crime of seeking to forcibly displace the remaining population. The entirety of northern Gaza has been under Israeli evacuation orders but it is unclear how many people remain.

We have some comments coming through from Ali Larijani, the senior advisor to Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. He has been speaking with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri and Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, in Beiurt.

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Elizabeth Warren denounces Biden administration over Gaza humanitarian situation

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Massachusetts senator now joins Bernie Sanders in endorsing joint resolution of disapproval against Joe Biden

Elizabeth Warren, a leading progressive voice in the US Senate, has denounced the Biden administration’s failure to punish Israel over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and endorsed a joint resolution of disapproval in Congress.

The amount of aid reaching the territory has dropped to the lowest level in 11 months, official Israeli figures show. The White House last month gave Israel an ultimatum of 30 days to improve conditions or risk losing military support. As the deadline expired on Tuesday, international aid groups said Israel had fallen far short.

But the US state department announced it would not take any punitive action, insisting that Israel was making limited progress and was not blocking aid and therefore not violating US law. Warren condemned the Biden administration’s decision to continue supplying arms to its ally.

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Israeli strikes intensify on three fronts as Lebanon talks reach critical stage

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IDF hits Gaza, Syria and Beirut suburbs, as analysts say raids could be aimed at forcing hand of Hezbollah in negotiations

Israel has intensified its air offensives on three fronts, launching dozens of new strikes in Lebanon, Gaza and Syria as negotiations for a ceasefire on its northern border reach a critical point.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said about 30 targets had been struck in the southern suburbs of Beirut in 48 hours and described continuing efforts to “dismantle and degrade” the military capabilities of the militant Islamist organisation.

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Middle East crisis: Israeli strike kills six in southern Lebanon, health ministry says – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. You can read all our coverage of the Israel-Gaza war here and all our coverage of Israel’s war on Lebanon here

Overnight the IDF announced that six soldiers had been killed in clashes with Hezbollah inside southern Lebanon.

The Times of Israel reports “it was one of the heaviest single-day losses in the operation that began in late September,” and that “according to an initial IDF probe, the soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with at least four Hezbollah operatives inside a building in a village in southern Lebanon.”

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Australia backs UN resolution recognising ‘permanent sovereignty’ of Palestinians in major departure

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Vote cast with 158 other countries to recognise ‘permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory’

Australia has backed in a United Nations resolution to recognise the “permanent sovereignty” of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, marking a major departure from its previous position.

At a UN committee vote on Thursday, Australia voted with 158 other countries, including the UK and New Zealand, on a resolution to recognise the “permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources”.

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Israel accused of crimes against humanity over forced displacement in Gaza

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Human Rights Watch says it has evidence that suggests ‘the war crime of forcible transfer’ of civilians

Israel is using evacuation orders to pursue the “deliberate and massive forced displacement” of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, according to a report by Human Rights Watch, which says the policy amounts to crimes against humanity.

The US-based group added it had collected evidence that suggested “the war crime of forcible transfer [of the civilian population]”, describing it as “a grave breach of the Geneva conventions and a crime under the Rome statute of the international criminal court”.

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Amsterdam police detain pro-Palestine protesters defying ban

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Dozens held under emergency measures imposed after violence that erupted around football match

Police have detained pro-Palestinian protesters rallying in central Amsterdam in defiance of a ban imposed after violence stemming from a football match between Ajax and Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Dozens of demonstrators, some with Palestinian flags, chanted “Amsterdam is saying no to genocide” and “Free Palestine”.

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US wants Gaza fighting pause, Blinken says, but will not limit arms transfers despite Israel missing aid deadline – as it happened

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The US wants real and extended pauses in fighting in Gaza so assistance can get to people who need it, US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told reporters on Wednesday.

More details to follow …

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Unrwa shutdown by Israel would add to Gaza suffering, says top official

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Sam Rose warns of severe consequences amid weakened US stance and points to ICJ demand to protect aid efforts

Israel’s plan to close the UN Palestinian relief agency, Unrwa, within three months is impossible and unrealistic without causing further untold suffering to the Palestinian people, its director of operations in Gaza has warned.

Just returned from Gaza, where he said he had seen levels of suffering unprecedented since the war started, Sam Rose warned that Unrwa could collapse, with severe implications for schools and hospitals not just in Gaza but in the West Bank if Israel went ahead with its plan.

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Trump picks Huckabee as Israel envoy and Fox News host as defense secretary

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Pete Hegseth tapped for key role and Kristi Noem for homeland security amid flurry of nominations

Donald Trump has chosen the former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee as the next US ambassador to Israel and a Fox News host to be his new defense secretary.

Huckabee has a track record of hardline, occasionally provocative, pro-Israel rhetoric and previously said Israel has a rightful claim to the West Bank, which he refers to by its Hebrew and biblical name of Judea and Samaria.

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Aid groups accuse Israel of ignoring US ultimatum on ‘apocalyptic’ Gaza crisis

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US may soon impose sanctions as organisations say Israel has failed to help relieve dire humanitarian situation

A coalition of international aid organisations have accused Israel of ignoring a US ultimatum that threatened sanctions if Israel did not implement a series of measures to counter the acute humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The 30-day ultimatum– due to expire on Tuesday or Wednesday – was delivered on 13 October, and almost none of its demands have been met, the humanitarian groups say.

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