Category Archives: Palestinian Territories

Israel spokesperson accuses BBC’s Mishal Husain of pro-Palestinian bias

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Broadcaster defends Radio 4 presenter’s ‘legitimate’ questions to David Mencer, who claimed she was parroting ‘terrorist organisations’

The BBC has defended Mishal Husain, a presenter on its Radio 4 Today programme, after she was accused by an Israeli government spokesperson live on air of “blindly repeating what terrorist organisations … feed you”.

In a tetchy interview on Monday’s programme, David Mencer, said Husain warranted the “pro-Palestinian reporter of the year award”.

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Israel prepares for likely retaliatory attack by Iran as tensions mount

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US says it has prepared for significant attacks by Iran or proxies as Tehran stresses right to respond to assassinations

Iran has insisted on its right to an “appropriate and deterrent response” against Israel as the White House said it had prepared for what could be significant attacks by Iran or its proxies as soon as this week.

The comments come as the US announced it had ordered the deployment of the USS Georgia, a nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine, to the Middle East, amid mounting concern over the determination by Iran and its proxies to retaliate for Israel’s assassination of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. Iran’s acting foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, made the comments to his Chinese counterpart on Monday, according to state media.

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Middle East crisis: US accelerates military deployment to region amid reports Iran may attack within days – as it happened

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US defence secretary Lloyd Austin orders USS Abraham Lincoln strike group to quicken transit to Middle East and deploys guided missile submarine, says Pentagon

A hospital in southern Gaza has received the bodies of 13 people, including a child, who were killed in Israeli strikes on Khan Younis, the Associated Press reports.

The strikes came as Israel has ordered mass evacuations from Gaza’s second-largest city in recent days, claiming Palestinian militants are firing rockets from the area. Khan Younis suffered heavy destruction earlier this year during a major Israeli air and ground offensive.

An AP journalist counted the bodies at the nearby Nasser hospital and saw funeral prayers being held Monday morning.

The dead include a medic who was killed along with two others in a strike on his house, according to the hospital records.

This footage from Gaza City shows the moment an Israeli airstrike hit a house in the suburb of Sheikh Radwan on Sunday. One person was killed and several others were wounded, according to Palestinian medics. According to Reuters, the cameraman who filmed the video said the Israeli army had notified people of a possible strike in the area.

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Thousands flee Khan Younis after Israel warns of new offensive

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Displaced residents uncertain where to flee to as IDF prepares to fight Hamas in city in southern Gaza Strip

Thousands of people have fled the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis after the Israeli military warned of a new operation to flush out Hamas militants that it says have regrouped there.

In al-Jala, a neighbourhood in the south of the city that the Israel Defense Forces had previously designated a humanitarian zone, residents on Sunday packed their belongings, uncertain where to seek refuge. Israel said rockets had been fired from the area.

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DJs join Ravers for Palestine boycott of top Berlin techno club Berghain

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Faultlines in Germany’s response to Gaza war exposed by artists pulling out of gigs at renowned venue

People write guides on how to get into Berghain and even make films about its doorman. But the legendary nightclub is now facing a boycott by some DJs over its stance on the war in Gaza.

A group calling itself Ravers for Palestine first announced a boycott of the Berlin venue, along with several other clubs, in January, saying that remaining silent on Israel’s attacks in Gaza made it complicit.

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Israel-Gaza war: dozens reported dead after Israeli strike on Gaza school – as it happened

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The death toll from an Israeli air strike on a Gaza City school has risen to 80, Palestinian health authorities said.

The Israeli military acknowledged the strike on the Tabeen school on Saturday morning, claiming it hit a Hamas command centre within the school. Hamas denied having a base at the school.

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Israel strikes on Gaza school site kill at least 80, Palestinian officials say

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Compound where about 6,000 displaced people were sheltering hit as many prepared for dawn prayers

At least 80 people have been killed in Israeli missile strikes on a school compound in Gaza City, according to the territory’s civil defence service, the latest in a string of attacks on schools that the Israeli army says are targeting militants using them as bases.

The bombing of Tabeen school, where about 6,000 displaced people were sheltering, was hit when many people were preparing for dawn prayers on Saturday, and reportedly caused a fire. Video from the scene showed horrific loss of life, with body parts, rubble and destroyed furniture scattered across blood-soaked mattresses.

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US, Qatar and Egypt call on Israel and Hamas to resume urgent ceasefire talks

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Joint statement says framework agreement is ‘on the table’ and there are no excuses ‘from any party for further delay’

The leaders of the US, Egypt and Qatar have called on Israel and Hamas to resume urgent negotiations to finalise a ceasefire and hostage release deal, saying there were no excuses “from any party for further delay”.

The three countries, which have been trying to mediate a deal, said in a joint statement the talks could take place in either Doha or Cairo on 15 August, adding that it was “time to bring immediate relief both to the longsuffering people of Gaza as well as the longsuffering hostages and their families”.

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Uncommitted voters respond to Harris-Walz ticket with hope and reservations

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Harris expresses openness to discussing Israel-Gaza stance with movement leaders, who are torn over Walz as VP pick

Leaders of the “uncommitted” campaign spoke with Kamala Harris and her newly announced running mate, the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, before a rally in Detroit on Wednesday to discuss their calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel.

Harris “shared her sympathies and expressed an openness to a meeting with the Uncommitted leaders to discuss an arms embargo”, the organization said in a statement.

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Middle East crisis: US warns Israel and Iran that conflict must not escalate – as it happened

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Antony Blinken says US has been ‘engaged in intense diplomacy’ as the region braces for attacks from Iran and its allies

It has just gone 2pm in Jerusalem. If you’re just joining us, here are the day’s developments:

The United States has communicated to Iran and Israel that conflict in the Middle East must not escalate, secretary of state Antony Blinken said. The Middle East is bracing for a possible new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies after last week’s killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Israeli military has issued new evacuation orders for an area in northern Gaza that was heavily bombed at the start of the war some 10 months ago. The IDF said it would respond to a Hamas rocket attack from the Beit Hanoun area the day before and urged residents to relocate to Gaza City, large areas of which have been destroyed.

More than 39,677 Palestinians have been killed and 91,645 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said in a statement on Wednesday.

Protesters have disrupted an Israeli supreme court hearing about a shadowy military facility where Israel has held Palestinian detainees throughout the war in Gaza. The protesters yelled “Shame!” as the attorney for a number of Israeli human rights groups argued that the Sde Teiman facility should be closed permanently over repeated allegations of detainee abuse. An Associated Press investigation into the facility, as well as others by rights groups, found detainees endured abysmal conditions there.

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Hamas names Yahya Sinwar, architect of 7 October attack, as new leader

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Announcement comes after former Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh killed in bombing attack last week

Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as the new head of its political bureau, elevating the hardline militant to the group’s top post after the assassination in Tehran of its previous political leader.

Sinwar’s appointment was announced in a brief statement by Hamas on Tuesday that was aired on pro-Hamas Iranian state media channels.

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Putin reportedly calls for Iran to limit damage in any retaliation against Israel

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Leaders expect a military response over Hamas assassination but fears grow of escalation into regional war

Vladimir Putin has reportedly told Iran to avoid civilian casualties in any retaliatory attack on Israel for the assassination of the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, an underlining of the constraints it faces as it frames its response.

It is a call for restraint that is likely to be echoed by many foreign ministers from the 57 countries inside the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at a meeting in Jeddah on Wednesday as tensions in the Middle East grow.

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Middle East crisis: UN peacekeepers have never been more crucial on Israeli-Lebanese border, says forces chief – as it happened

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Jean-Pierre Lacroix says peacekeeping force is ‘only liaison channel between Israeli and Lebanese sides’

A United Nations expert on Tuesday condemned Israel’s killing last week of Al Jazeera journalist Ismail Al-Ghoul and cameraman Ramy El Rify in Gaza and urged that the deaths be prosecuted as a war crime.

The two men died in a 31 July airstrike by the Israeli military, which said Al-Ghoul was a Hamas operative who took part in the October attack against Israel.

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Iran says it has duty to punish Israel over killing of Hamas leader in Tehran

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Crisis meeting of Arab states this week may set agenda for retaliation as countries urge Iran to show restraint

Iran has called in foreign ambassadors based in Tehran to warn of the country’s moral duty to punish Israel for what it sees as its “adventurism” and law-breaking in assassinating Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, a week ago in the Iranian capital.

Iran has also secured an emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday where it will try to press Arab states to back its right to take reprisal actions against Israel.

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Nine Unrwa staff members ‘may have been involved’ in 7 October attack

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UN fires employees from Palestinian refugee agency following internal investigation into their role in the Hamas-led attack on Israel

The UN has fired nine staff members from its agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, after an internal investigation found they may have been involved in the Hamas-led 7 October attack against Israel.

The UN secretary general’s office announced the move in a brief statement on Monday. It did not elaborate on the Unrwa staffers’ possible role in the attack. It said the nine included seven staffers who were fired previously over the claims.

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Palestinian prisoners describe systemic abuse in Israel’s jails

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Guardian interviews back up report by rights group B’Tselem, which says jails should now be labelled ‘torture camps’

Violence, extreme hunger, humiliation and other abuse of Palestinian prisoners has been normalised across Israel’s jail system, according to Guardian interviews with released prisoners, with mistreatment now so systemic that rights group B’Tselem says it must be considered a policy of “institutionalised abuse”.

Former detainees described abuse ranging from severe beatings and sexual violence to starvation rations, refusal of medical care, and deprivation of basic needs including water, daylight, electricity and sanitation, including soap and sanitary pads for women.

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US and UK expected to be drawn in as Iran prepares retaliation against Israel

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Response from Tehran, which blames Israel for killing of Hamas leader, could risk wider regional conflict

As Israel braces for what appears to be a likely Iranian retaliation, it is almost certain western and regional powers will be drawn in. Overnight, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, briefed his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin, discussing according to Israel’s readout “a series of scenarios” and corresponding “defensive and offensive capabilities” should Tehran attack.

Gallant held a similar discussion with the UK defence secretary, John Healey, on Friday, giving the new Labour minister “an operational situation assessment”, Israel said. A day later Britain indicated it was moving military assets into Cyprus to prepare for a possible evacuation of UK nationals from Lebanon. The need for heightened readiness in the Middle East will not be lost on the RAF and its Typhoon pilots stationed at the Akrotiri airbase, either.

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Joe Biden to meet national security team as fears grow of retaliatory Iranian attack on Israel

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US is attempting to ‘turn the temperature down’ after assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders last week escalate tensions

Joe Biden is set to meet his national security team on Monday to discuss “developments in the Middle East”, the White House has said, as the US deploys extra fighter jets and warships to the region amid growing fears of an Iranian attack on Israel.

Regional tensions have increased after the assassination last week of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukur, a senior military commander from the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Both groups are backed by Iran, which has sworn revenge.

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Gaza: airstrikes on schools and a hospital kill 30 amid ‘heated’ US-Israeli talks

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Two schools and a hospital complex struck as Palestinian stabs two Israelis to death in a city near Tel Aviv

Israeli airstrikes hit two schools and a hospital complex in Gaza on Sunday, killing at least 30 people, amid reports of heated disagreements between US and Israeli leaders about a possible ceasefire deal.

Inside Israel, a Palestinian stabbed two people to death in a city near Tel Aviv, adding to tensions as the country braces for Iran’s response to the assassinations of key allies this week.

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