Category Archives: Palestinian Territories

Biden attacks request by ICC prosecutor for Netanyahu arrest warrant

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US president sides with Israeli PM as he calls Karim Khan’s pursuit of warrants for Netanyahu along with Hamas leaders ‘outrageous’

Joe Biden has attacked as “outrageous” an application by the international criminal court for warrants seeking the arrest of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, along with senior members of Hamas, for actions carried out in Gaza.

The US president sided unambiguously with Israel after the ICC’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced he was pursuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister. Khan is also pursuing the arrests of three leading Hamas figures, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri – better known as Mohammed Deif – and Ismail Haniyeh over Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October last year.

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UK risks ‘descending into darkness’ of antisemitism, Michael Gove to say

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Safety of Jewish community ‘canary in mine’ for British political system, communities secretary will warn in speech

Michael Gove is to warn that Britain risks “descending into the darkness” if it fails to tackle growing antisemitism in the wake of the 7 October attacks.

In a major speech, the communities secretary will say the safety of the Jewish community in the UK is the “canary in the mine” for the health of the whole political system.

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Australian doctor trapped in Gaza hospital begs government to evacuate medical team

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Push to reopen borders essential to get aid in and humanitarian workers out ‘before we have another Zomi Frankcom’

An Australian doctor trapped inside one of Gaza’s few remaining functioning hospitals has urged the Australian government to do more to get him and his colleagues out and additional medical aid in.

Sydney-based Dr Modher Albeiruti is among 16 international doctors and medical workers who have been stranded inside the European hospital in Khan Younis since Israel took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing this month.

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ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Israeli PM and Hamas officials for war crimes

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Karim Khan applies for warrants relating to alleged crimes committed during 7 October attack and ensuing war in Gaza

The chief prosecutor of the international criminal court has said he is seeking arrest warrants for senior Hamas and Israeli officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant.

Karim Khan said his office had applied to the world court’s pre-trial chamber for arrest warrants for the military and political leaders on both sides for crimes committed during Hamas’s 7 October attack and the ensuing war in Gaza.

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UN humanitarian chief delivers ‘apocalyptic’ warning over Gaza aid

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Emergency relief coordinator says famine looming as Israel’s Rafah offensive blocks vital aid routes

The United Nations’ humanitarian chief has warned of “apocalyptic” consequences due to aid shortages in Gaza, where Israel’s military offensive in the southern city of Rafah has blocked desperately needed food.

“If fuel runs out, aid doesn’t get to the people where they need it. That famine, which we have talked about for so long, and which is looming, will not be looming any more. It will be present,” the UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths, told AFP on the sidelines of meetings with Qatari officials in Doha.

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Rescuers search for Raisi helicopter– as it happened

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This blog has now closed. Follow our live coverage of the search for Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter on our new blog here.

Here is a video of the Israeli war cabinet minister, Benny Gantz, threatening to resign if Benjamin Netanyahu fails to adopt an agreed plan for Gaza:

Here are some of the latest images coming out from the newswires:

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Israeli minister vows to quit war cabinet if PM fails to agree new Gaza plan

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Benny Gantz’s threat to withdraw his opposition party from coalition calls into question future of government

The Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has threatened to resign if Benjamin Netanyahu fails to adopt an agreed plan for Gaza, calling into question the future of the Israeli government.

During a press conference on Saturday, Gantz announced that if a plan for postwar governance of the territory is not consolidated and approved by 8 June, his opposition National Unity party will withdraw from the coalition government.

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Islamic Jihad leader killed in West Bank and 70 targets hit in Gaza, says Israel

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IDF says ‘senior terrorist operative’ Islam Khamayseh was killed in strike on the city of Jenin

Israel says its jets have struck 70 targets across Gaza in the past 24 hours, while an airstrike in Jenin killed a “significant” Islamic Jihad figure who operated as the head of logistics for the organisation’s brigade in the city.

The strike, carried out on Friday night by a fighter jet and a helicopter, killed Islam Khamayseh, a “senior terrorist operative in the Jenin camp” who was responsible for a series of attacks in the area, the IDF said.

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Israeli abuse of jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti ‘amounts to torture’

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With thousands now held without charge, lawyers say Israel is
signalling that no detainee is safe

Marwan Barghouti spends his days huddled in a cramped, dark, solitary cell, with no way to tend to his wounds, and a shoulder injury from being dragged with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Barghouti holds almost mythic status within Palestinian politics, seen as a figure whose potential to unify different factions has only grown during his 24 years in prison.

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Supplies arrive in Gaza via new pier but land routes essential, says US aid chief

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Samantha Power says barely 100 trucks of aid a day enter Gaza, far less than 600 needed to address threat of famine

Humanitarian assistance has begun to arrive in Gaza along a US-made pier, but the US aid chief said the new sea corridor could not be a substitute for land crossings, and warned that deliveries of food and fuel entering Gaza had slowed to “dangerously low levels”.

The White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, confirmed on Friday that truckloads of humanitarian aid, including food from the United Arab Emirates, sent by ship from Cyprus, had been unloaded on the Gaza coast and handed over to the control of the UN.

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Israel recovers bodies of three hostages taken by Hamas, including Shani Louk

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Bodies of Amit Buskila and Itzhak Gelerenter also recovered from Gaza as Israel says 129 hostages remain in captivity

The bodies of three hostages kidnapped by Hamas, including the German-Israeli Shani Louk, have been retrieved from Gaza by the Israeli military, it announced.

The other two hostages were identified as Amit Buskila, 28, and Itzhak Gelerenter, 56, according to the military spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, who said the three victims were taken to Gaza after being killed by Hamas at the Nova music festival.

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No genocide taking place in Gaza, Israel tells UN’s top court – as it happened

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Israel is appearing at international court of justice after South Africa asked it to urgently order end to assault on Rafah

Yemen’s Houthis said they downed a US MQ9 drone on Thursday evening over the south-eastern province of Maareb, the group’s military spokesperson said on Friday.

According to Reuters, the Iran-aligned group said they would release images and videos to support their claim and added that they had targeted the drone using a locally made surface to air missile.

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University of Melbourne and protesters fail to resolve deadlock as pro-Palestine camp ends at Monash

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Encampment at Arts West building continues as tensions simmer at other university campuses

Pro-Palestine protesters and University of Melbourne administrators remain in a deadlock despite a warning that police could be called to enter the campus at any time.

As tensions simmer between university administrations and student activists across the nation, those camped inside the Arts West building have defied the University of Melbourne’s demands and the threat of police intervention.

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US completes installation of floating pier to deliver aid to Gaza

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Aid agencies poised to receive supplies and distribute to territory where people face imminent starvation

The US military has said the installation of a floating pier for the delivery of humanitarian aid off Gaza has been completed, with officials ready to begin ferrying supplies into the territory, where much of the population faces imminent starvation owing to the continuing Israel-Hamas war.

Ordered two months ago by the president, Joe Biden, the US military transported the system overnight from the Israeli port of Ashdod, about 20 miles north of Gaza.

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Red Cross and Foreign Office to discuss plan to visit Palestinians in Israeli detention

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ICRC is denied access to prisoners in what is said to be breach of Geneva conventions but critics say UK plan may weaken rule of law

Red Cross officials are to hold talks with the UK over a Foreign Office plan to visit Palestinian detainees held by Israel. Critics say this bypasses a duty on Israel under the Geneva conventions to give the Red Cross access to detainees.

Israel has suspended the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from access to Palestinian detainees since the Hamas attack on 7 October, and says it will not rescind the policy until Hamas grants access to Israeli hostages.

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US completes floating pier to deliver aid to Gaza; five killed in Israeli friendly fire incident – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our coverage of the war here

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group says it has launched “more than 60” rockets at Israeli military positions in retaliation for overnight air strikes on the country’s east, AFP reports

Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily fire following the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, now in its eighth month.

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US interior department staffer is first Jewish Biden appointee to resign over war in Gaza

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Lily Greenberg Call, special assistant to chief of staff, accused the president of using Jewish people to justify US policy in the conflict

An interior department staffer on Wednesday became the first Jewish political appointee to publicly resign in protest of US support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

Lily Greenberg Call, a special assistant to the chief of staff in the interior department, accused Joe Biden of using Jewish people to justify US policy in the conflict.

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Israel war cabinet split looms as defence minister demands post-war Gaza plan

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Yoav Gallant, who Benjamin Netanyahu tried to fire in 2023, says he will not allow Israeli rule of Gaza

A long-festering split at the heart of Israel’s war cabinet has burst into the open with the defence minister, Yoav Gallant, challenging the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to come up with plans for the “day after” the war in Gaza, and saying he would not permit any solution where Israeli military or civil governance were in the territory.

Gallant’s comments, immediately backed by his fellow minister Benny Gantz, plunged Israel’s leadership into a highly public row, in the midst of the Gaza conflict, calling into question Gallant’s future in the Israeli government and Netanyahu’s fractious coalition.

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UN says it has no more food or tents for nearly 2m people in Gaza

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Aid warehouses in southern two-thirds of territory are now empty and resupply will be very difficult, according to officials

The UN has run out of tents and food to distribute to almost 2 million people in Gaza, the majority displaced from their homes and dependent on aid to stave off looming famine.

UN officials told the Guardian on Wednesday afternoon that their warehouses were now completely empty south of the river dividing the northern third of the Gaza from the south, with no likelihood of resupply as long as the main entry points into the territory remain closed after Israeli offensives launched in recent days.

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Israel-Gaza war: Israeli defence chief rejects military regime in Gaza and calls on Netanyahu to decide on postwar governance – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For the latest on the Israel-Gaza war, you can read our full coverage here.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has said it faces “significant disruptions” to its humanitarian operations due to Israel’s recent ground operations in Rafah.

In a statement, the organisation said “the closure of the Rafah crossing and a blockade on entry of humanitarian workers and aid, including fuel, [is] critically hindering our ability to deliver essential services and aid to those in desperate need.”

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