Former prime minister in Washington DC on Wednesday for talks that reportedly also included Jared Kushner
The former British prime minister Tony Blair has attended a White House meeting with Donald Trump to discuss plans for postwar Gaza, the Guardian understands.
After stepping down as prime minister in 2007, Blair took on the role of Middle East envoy until 2015 and spent time in Jerusalem trying to formulate a plan for a two-state solution.
Continue reading...Latest deaths announced by Gaza health ministry bring starvation toll to 313, including 119 children
Ten Palestinians including two children have died from starvation in the last 24 hours, health authorities in Gaza said on Wednesday, as Pope Leo XIV demanded that Israel stop its “collective punishment” of the population in the besieged territory.
At least 313 people have died from hunger, including 119 children, since the war in Gaza began and Israel intensified its siege on the Palestinian territory. Last week a UN-backed monitoring body confirmed that Gaza was in the throes of famine and warned that without more aid, increasing numbers of people would lose access to food.
Continue reading...Explosive weapons designed to be used in battle are being used in urban areas, says Médecins Sans Frontières
Children under 15 years old made up almost a third of outpatients treated for wounds in field hospitals run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Gaza last year, statistics published in The Lancet reveal.
The figures were released by MSF in correspondence with the respected medical journal and come from six health facilities in Gaza supported by the international medical NGO. The facilities are predominantly in the south and centre of the devastated territory.
Continue reading...Netanyahu continues to prepare Gaza City offensive as mediators await response to ceasefire proposal
Tens of thousands of people took part in demonstrations across Israel on Tuesday, blocking highways on a “day of disruption” that aimed to push Benjamin Netanyahu into agreeing a deal to end the war and calling off plans to attack Gaza City.
Relatives of hostages led the biggest march and rally in Tel Aviv, while in Jerusalem hundreds of people gathered outside the prime minister’s office as the security cabinet met to discuss the war. There were dozens of other protests around the country, including on the main highway to the northern city of Haifa and inside Ben Gurion airport.
Continue reading...World’s largest wealth fund says it has excluded bulldozer maker and five Israeli banking groups on ethics grounds
The world’s largest wealth fund has excluded Caterpillar, the construction equipment manufacturer, over Israel’s use of its bulldozers to destroy Palestinian property in Gaza and the West Bank.
Norway’s $2tn (£1.5tn) fund said on Monday it had excluded Caterpillar and five Israeli banking groups on ethics grounds.
Continue reading...Double-tap strike suggests killing of civilians, rescue workers and journalists deliberate and not a mistake
Israel’s twin strike on the Nasser hospital in Gaza, which killed five journalists including staff working for the Associated Press, Reuters, NBC and Al Jazeera, is a potential violation of international law writ large.
The attack targeted a civilian building, specifically a hospital, in a reckless double-tap strike that killed civilians, with rescue workers and journalists among them. All categories that should be protected under international law.
Continue reading...Others refuse to leave as aircraft and tanks bomb outskirts of city where about half of Gaza’s 2m people now live
Israeli aircraft and tanks have pounded the eastern and northern outskirts of Gaza City, destroying buildings and homes, as Israeli leaders vowed to press on with an expanded large-scale offensive on the city.
Witnesses reported the sound of continuous explosions overnight from Saturday night into Sunday morning in the areas of Zeitoun and Shejaia. Meanwhile, tanks shelled houses and roads in the nearby Sabra neighbourhood and several buildings were blown up in the northern area of Jabaliya.
Continue reading...The IPC’s findings that a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza are starving should mark an urgent turning point in this war
The declaration on Friday of widespread famine in Gaza by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) should mark a turning point in the war. The IPC, which represents a fastidious survey of available data, is regarded as the international gold standard in nutritional crises.
Long-criticised by humanitarians in other emergencies for its overabundance of caution, the IPC’s declaration of Level 5 – “catastrophic” hunger – in Gaza is a significant moment. Famine, under the IPC’s exacting criteria, requires three critical thresholds to be passed: extreme food deprivation, acute malnutrition and starvation-related deaths, all of which are now visible in Gaza.
Continue reading...Former Labour leader says Francesca Albanese to take part in event seeking answers over UK’s ‘role in war crimes’
A UN special rapporteur will contribute to a two-day “tribunal” being held by Jeremy Corbyn into Britain’s “role in war crimes perpetrated in Gaza”, the former Labour leader has said.
Corbyn, who is campaigning for a new political entity with the working title Your Party, said the event would take place in early September. His private member’s bill for an official inquiry into UK involvement in the Israel-Gaza war was blocked by the government at its second reading in July.
Continue reading...Caspar Veldkamp resigns after cabinet reaches deadlock on adopting harsher measures over situation in Gaza
The Dutch foreign minister, Caspar Veldkamp, has resigned after a cabinet meeting failed to secure sanctions against Israel, weakening the Netherlands’ already fragile caretaker government.
Veldkamp’s colleagues from the centrist New Social Contract (NSC) party also walked out after the cabinet debate late on Friday reached an impasse over adopting harsher measures against Israel.
Continue reading...The IPC has raised its classification to Phase 5, the highest and worst level of its acute food insecurity scale
Mothers in Gaza have resorted to using legume water and herbs as alternative to infant milk amid Famine, charity warns
Dr. Ra’ed Al-Baba, who works at Al Awda Hospital run by ActionAid’s partner Al-Awda, said usage of alternatives to infant milk had “catastrophic” consequences.
There are mothers who resort to using legume water, herbs, and other alternatives to infant milk because of the severe shortage. These methods carry catastrophic risks, causing gastroenteritis, food poisoning, delayed growth, severe anaemia, and even the inability to move. We have seen cases of extreme dehydration from polluted water mixed with these substitutes. This is not survival, this is slow death.”
Continue reading...IPC says famine is ‘entirely man-made’ and immediate response is needed or avoidable deaths will soar
An “entirely man-made” famine is taking place in Gaza’s largest city and its surrounding area, UN-backed experts have declared, in an escalation of the devastated territory’s humanitarian crisis.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a globally recognised organisation that classifies the severity of food insecurity and malnutrition, found that three key thresholds for famine had been met.
Continue reading...Netanyahu tells soldiers he has approved takeover plan as aid groups advised to prepare for forced displacement
The International Red Cross and UN have warned of an impending catastrophe in the Gaza Strip if Israel launches an offensive to take over Gaza City, as the Israeli military told medical and aid groups in the Palestinian territory to prepare for imminent forced displacement.
At the same time a concerted campaign of international opposition to Israel’s defiance of ceasefire calls and its approval of a huge new illegal settlement construction in the occupied West Bank gathered pace, with the UK summoning Israel’s ambassador and joining 20 other countries in condemning the settlement plan as a “violation of international law”.
Continue reading...Netanyahu is latest to ‘approve’ plan that has had daily announcements and that Israel knows will have serious consequences
Has Israel begun its expanded offensive in Gaza City, or is it hype?
After several weeks of threats of a new large-scale offensive, strongly opposed by most of the international community, Israeli officials have made announcements daily saying the plan to occupy Gaza City has been “approved”; it has been approved by the Israel Defense Forces, by the security cabinet, by the defence minister.
Continue reading...Troops already holding outskirts of territory’s capital, military says, while Israel approves huge new illegal settlement splitting West Bank
Iran launched its first military exercise since the end of its 12-day war with Israel, state television reported Thursday, with navy vessels launching missiles at targets at sea in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean.
While such drills are routine in the Islamic Republic, the “Sustainable Power 1404” exercise comes as authorities in Iran are trying to project strength in the wake of a war that saw Israel destroy air defense systems and bomb nuclear facilities and other sites.
Continue reading...Move follows months of pressure from MPs, academics and campaigners, with dozens of other students still stranded
Nine students in Gaza with full scholarships to study at British universities have been told the UK government is working to facilitate their evacuation.
The students – who have all been awarded Chevening scholarships, funded by the Foreign Office in recognition of their potential as future leaders – welcomed the development on Wednesday, but dozens more Palestinians in Gaza with university places are still awaiting news.
Continue reading...Court in Thuringia rejected woman’s request to enter concentration camp memorial while wearing the scarf
A German court has ruled that a Nazi concentration camp memorial has the right to refuse entry to those wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh scarf.
The higher administrative court in the eastern state of Thuringia on Wednesday rejected a request from a woman to be allowed entry to the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial while wearing a keffiyeh.
Continue reading...French president responds to Israeli PM’s ‘erroneous’ allegations in relation to decision to recognise state of Palestine
Emmanuel Macron has hit out at Benjamin Netanyahu for his “abject” and “erroneous” remarks after Israel’s prime minister claimed that antisemitism had “surged” in France after the country’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September.
In a statement released late on Tuesday, the office of the French president pushed back against Netanyahu’s claim. “The analysis suggesting that France’s decision to recognise the state of Palestine in September is behind the rise in antisemitic violence in France is erroneous, abject, and will not go unanswered,” it said. “The current period calls for seriousness and responsibility, not generalisation and manipulation.”
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Israel is “killing all prospects” for peace in the Middle East, Jordan’s foreign minister has said amid escalating international outrage over Israel’s plans for a new large-scale offensive in Gaza City and plans to massively expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Ayman Safadi made his remarks during a visit to Moscow on the same day that the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, approved a plan to conquer Gaza City, an urban area home to hundreds of thousands of people in the north of the Palestinian territory.
Continue reading...Construction would be ‘flagrant breach of international law’ and undermine two-state solution, foreign secretary says
Israel has announced it is expanding its military operations in Gaza City, as the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, condemned its approval of a huge new illegal settlement in the West Bank as a “flagrant breach of international law.”
The Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Effie Defrin said the IDF had begun the second phase of Operation Gideon’s Chariots in Gaza, which it launched in May.
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