Category Archives: Palestinian Territories

McDonald’s takes over franchise that sparked global boycotts for giving meals to Israeli military

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US fast-food chain is buying Israel franchise from Alonyal Ltd, taking back ownership of 225 restaurants in the country

McDonald’s is buying its 30-year-old Israel franchise from Alonyal Ltd, taking back ownership of 225 restaurants in the country that employ more than 5,000 people, the companies said on Thursday.

The US fast-food chain has been subject to boycotts and protests since Alonyal announced shortly after the 7 October attack by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas that it would be donating free meals to Israeli military.

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UN body calls for Israel to be held accountable for possible war crimes

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Human rights council adopts resolution as Israel opens new routes into Gaza after Biden-Netanyahu phone call

The UN human rights council has adopted a resolution calling for Israel to be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip.

The resolution came as Israel finally succumbed to unprecedented US pressure and opened new food corridors into Gaza.

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Middle East crisis: World Central Kitchen says only ‘systemic change’ can stop military failures as IDF sacks officers over aid worker deaths – as it happened

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WCK says IDF deployed deadly force without regard to protocols in drone strikes in Gaza that killed seven aid workers. This live blog is closed

The United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday adopted a resolution calling for Israel to be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip.

Twenty-eight countries voted in favour, 13 abstained and six voted against the resolution.

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How Spain and Ireland became the EU’s sharpest critics of Israel

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Each time Madrid and Dublin speak out on the war in Gaza others are emboldened to join them, sources say

Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that the Israeli military’s killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza on Monday night was “a tragic incident” did precious little to allay the fears of Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez. Nor did his assertion that “this happens in wartime”.

Sánchez, who has been one of the most outspoken and persistent European critics of the way in which Israel has prosecuted its war in Gaza after the terrorist atrocities of 7 October, described the Israeli prime minister’s “supposed explanations” as “totally unacceptable and insufficient”. He added that Spain was waiting for a full and detailed account of the killings before deciding “what action we’ll take with regard to the government of Prime Minister Netanyahu”.

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Israel to reopen Erez crossing into Gaza after Biden sounds warning over protecting civilians

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Steps approved in Israel to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza include temporary reopening of crossing in the north

Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said his security cabinet has approved a series of steps to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, including the temporary reopening of a key crossing that was destroyed in the 7 October Hamas attack.

The announcement was made hours after a warning from US president Joe Biden that future US support for Israel would depend on it taking concrete action to protect civilians and aid workers.

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Joe Biden calls for ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza and says Israel must protect civilians to keep US support

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US president also said Israel must implement a series of specific steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering and the safety of aid workers

Joe Biden has called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, telling Benjamin Netanyahu that future US support for Israel will depend on it taking concrete action to protect civilians and aid workers.

As the two leaders held their first phone call since Israeli airstrikes killed seven employees of the international food charity World Central Kitchen (WCK), Biden issued the strongest US rebuke toward Israel since the start of the conflict.

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Fourth former UK supreme court judge signs letter over Israeli actions in Gaza

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Number of signatories warning Sunak over breach of international law in arming Israel rises to more than 750

A fourth former supreme court justice has put his name to a letter warning Rishi Sunak that the UK is breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel, as the number of legal experts signing the letter rose to more than 750.

Lord Carnwath joins Lady Hale, who was president of the UK’s highest court, and lords Sumption and Wilson, in urging ministers to act to prevent the “plausible risk” of genocide in Gaza.

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Tories investigating Alan Duncan’s comments on party’s pro-Israel ‘extremists’

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Former MP has said Conservative minister Tom Tugendhat and peer Eric Pickles should be sacked

The Conservative former minister Alan Duncan is being investigated by the party after he said pro-Israel “extremists” within the party, including some ministers and peers, should be expelled because they refuse to support international law.

Duncan, who served as a foreign minister and an aid minister before stepping down as an MP in 2019, named Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, and the peer and former cabinet minister Eric Pickles among those who should be kicked out.

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Manchester theatre restores cancelled Palestinian event after artists protest

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Home theatre apologises for upset caused by cancelling of Voices of Resilience

The organisers of a Palestinian literature event cancelled by a Manchester theatre last week, say they are “hugely grateful” the venue has agreed it can go ahead after a surge of support.

Home theatre apologised for the upset caused by cancelling Voices of Resilience, due to be held on 22 April, citing “recent publicity” and safety concerns for the organisers and those attending.

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Sadiq Khan says UK arms sales to Israel have ‘got to stop’

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London mayor’s comments come as other senior Labour figures call for government to take action after killing of aid workers

Sadiq Khan has become the most senior Labour politician to call for an immediate end of UK arms sales to Israel, with a number of other prominent party figures also saying the government should take action after the killing of seven aid workers in Gaza.

The London mayor said Rishi Sunak must halt arms sales, saying: “It’s got to stop.”

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Legal assessment of Israel’s actions in Gaza risks being subsumed in Tory row

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Conservative supporters of Israel want David Cameron to dial back criticism and accept defeat of Hamas is in UK’s interest

A legal assessment by the UK Foreign Office of whether Israel is in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza risks being subsumed in a Conservative row over the party’s loyalty to the country, and by rival judgments on the damage to British interests in the wider Middle East if the UK is not seen to distance itself from Israel’s methods.

Judging by the last Tory leadership contest, in which Liz Truss courted votes by promising to transfer the UK embassy to Jerusalem, there is a good chance Israel will feature in any leadership debate after a predicted general election defeat this year.

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Middle East crisis: Israel says investigation into its air strike that killed aid workers in Gaza to take weeks – as it happened

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Israel government says its report will be ‘transparent’ after seven people working for food charity killed in an Israeli air strike. This live blog is closed

Reuters has spoken with Israelis who have been displaced from their communities in the far north of the country, close to the UN-drawn blue line that has separated Israel from Lebanon since 2000.

Israel evacuated a number of communities, totalling about 60,000 people, almost immediately after the 7 October attack in southern Israel. There has been an almost constant exchange of fire between Israel’s military and Hezbollah and other anti-Israeli forces inside Lebanon.

What we saw in the south on 7 October was basically Hamas “stealing the thunder” from Hezbollah. If anything, Hezbollah is more of a border threat than Hamas was.

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Majority of voters in UK back banning arms sales to Israel, poll finds

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Exclusive: YouGov survey indicates loss of support among people in Britain for Israel’s war in Gaza

A majority of voters in Britain back a ban on arms sales to Israel, according to a YouGov poll.

One of the first up-to-date assessments of whether Israel is losing public support in key allied states, the research also suggests most people believe the Israeli government is violating human rights in Gaza.

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Israel accused of targeting aid convoy ‘car by car’ as pressure grows over Gaza tactics

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Founder of charity that lost seven people hits out at IDF as friendly governments decry drone attack

Israel is facing mounting international pressure to justify its conduct in the war in Gaza as the bodies of six foreign aid workers killed in a drone attack were repatriated to their families.

Seven members of World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed when a drone repeatedly hit their convoy of three cars, which were clearly identified as belonging to the charity, after it left an aid warehouse in the central town of Deir al-Balah on Monday night.

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Israel’s rules of engagement seem looser than ever – if they are followed at all

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The deaths of seven aid workers add credence to allegations by observers that commanders on the ground in Gaza may ‘do as they please’

The killing of seven foreign aid workers by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza has once again raised serious questions about the IDF’s opaque and highly permissive rules of engagement, whether those rules are enforced, and how willing it is to investigate breaches.

Put simply, rules of engagement define how and in what circumstances it is permissible to use force, including lethal violence, during operations, and at what potential risk to civilians.

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‘The machine did it coldly’: Israel used AI to identify 37,000 Hamas targets

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Israeli intelligence sources reveal use of ‘Lavender’ system in Gaza war and claim permission given to kill civilians in pursuit of low-ranking militants

The Israeli military’s bombing campaign in Gaza used a previously undisclosed AI-powered database that at one stage identified 37,000 potential targets based on their apparent links to Hamas, according to intelligence sources involved in the war.

In addition to talking about their use of the AI system, called Lavender, the intelligence sources claim that Israeli military officials permitted large numbers of Palestinian civilians to be killed, particularly during the early weeks and months of the conflict.

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Middle East crisis: UN human rights council to consider call for Israel arms embargo – as it happened

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If draft brought forward by Pakistan is adopted, it would mark the first time that the UN’s top rights body has taken a position on the war in Gaza

The UK should stop arming Israel, a former national security adviser has said, after seven international aid workers were killed in Gaza in an Israeli airstrike.

Lord Ricketts, who was also the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Sometimes in conflict, you get a moment where there’s such global outrage that it crystalises a sense that things can’t go on like this.”

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UK government under pressure from Tories to stop arming Israel

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Lib Dems also call for action to suspend arms exports to Israel after seven aid workers killed in Gaza

Ministers are under pressure from Tory MPs and peers to stop arming Israel after seven humanitarian workers were killed by an airstrike in Gaza.

Four Conservatives told the Guardian on Wednesday that the UK should stop exporting arms to Israel after its strike, which killed three British aid workers.

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Sunak calls for investigation as British aid workers killed in Israeli airstrike named

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PM demands ‘transparent investigation’ from Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as names emerge of three Britons killed in Gaza

Rishi Sunak has called for an urgent investigation into the deaths of three British aid workers working for the charity World Central Kitchen who were killed by an Israeli airstrike that hit an aid convoy in Gaza.

WSK confirmed that British victims John Chapman, 57, James “Jim” Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47, who were working for the charity’s security team, were among seven of its staff killed.

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Bernie Sanders to Benjamin Netanyahu: ‘Stop murdering innocent people’

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Vermont senator makes remarks after Israeli strike kills seven aid workers, amid war that has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians

The Vermont senator and former US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has a message for the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu: “Stop murdering innocent people.”

Sanders delivered his blunt message in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday, a day after seven aid workers were killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza.

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