Category Archives: Palestinian Territories

SNP to push for another Commons vote on ceasefire in Gaza

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Move presents fresh challenge to speaker and Labour party after last week’s chaotic scenes in parliament

The Scottish National party will push for another vote on a Gaza ceasefire this week, creating a fresh challenge for the speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, and the Labour party after last Wednesday’s chaotic scenes in the Commons.

Hoyle faced calls to quit after his decision to break with precedent and allow Labour to table a vote during an SNP debate calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, which prompted a walkout by Conservative and Scottish Nationalist MPs.

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Israel should have a voice at Eurovision, says president amid row over lyrics

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Isaac Herzog said ‘haters try to drive us off every stage’ as lyrics to October Rain scrutinised by organisers

Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, wants to ensure the country competes in the Eurovision song contest after the event’s organisers said they were examining whether the lyrics sung by the Israeli contestant were too political.

“I think it’s important for Israel to appear in Eurovision, and this is also a statement because there are haters who try to drive us off every stage,” Herzog said on Sunday, the Times of Israel reported. “Being smart is not just being right,” he added.

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Middle East crisis live: US, Israel, Egypt and Qatar agree ‘basic contours’ of hostage deal ahead of Hamas talks – as it happened

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US national security adviser says outline in place for proposal for temporary ceasefire in Gaza

Al Jazeera reports that six bodies have been recovered after Israeli bombing near the southern city of Khan Younis. The outlet writes:

The bodies of six people have been recovered from the al-Satr area east of Khan Younis after overnight Israeli bombardment, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

This follows reports of intense Israeli artillery shelling in and around the southern city, with attack drones.

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UN’s Palestinian aid agency ‘at breaking point’ after $450m budget shortfall

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UNRWA chief says humanitarian work in Gaza compromised after donors froze funds over alleged Hamas links

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has been forced to “stretch every dollar” and juggle its finances in order to continue vital work in Gaza after 18 donor countries suspended funding over allegations of links to Hamas.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is facing a shortfall of $450m from a budget of $880m as it confronts the biggest humanitarian crisis seen in the organisation’s 75-year history.

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Ceasefire talks raise Gaza hopes but 1.5m trapped in Rafah fear the worst

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Closed-door negotiations in Paris and UN efforts in New York yield conflicting reports of progress, but city of Rafah remains in Israel’s firing line

A closed-door meeting of spy chiefs, military officials and diplomats has briefly renewed hopes of a potential ceasefire deal amid fierce debates at the United Nations, but observers have warned that time is running out to make progress and prevent a looming Israeli offensive on Gaza’s southernmost city.

The secretive talks at an unknown location in Paris involved David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, conducting separate meetings with Egyptian spy chief Abbas Kamel, head of the CIA William Burns and Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.

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Middle East crisis: Mossad chief in Paris for hostage talks; food protests in Jabalia refugee camp – as it happened

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Pressure has mounted on Netanyahu government to negotiate a ceasefire and secure the release of those kidnapped on 7 October

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has defended the right to lobby UK MPs “in large numbers”, amid reports the group wanted so many protesters to turn up that parliament would “have to lock the doors”.

According to the Press Association (PA), the group said the issue of MPs’ security was “serious” but should not be used to “shield MPs from democratic accountability”.

This week over 80,000 people emailed their MPs ahead of the ceasefire debate. More than 3,000 came from across the UK to lobby their MPs in person, in one of the largest physical lobbies of parliament in history.

Shamefully, most were denied entry, ending up queueing for over four hours in the rain as extraordinary measures were introduced to limit the number who could meet their MPs face to face.

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UNRWA suspends aid to northern Gaza amid ‘collapse of civil order’

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Desperation of people searching for food in southern areas is making journeys north unsafe, says UN

The UN agency in charge of Palestinian affairs said it has been forced to pause aid deliveries to northern Gaza – where it is not “possible to conduct proper humanitarian operations” – amid increasing reports of famine among people in the area.

The UN began warning of “pockets of famine” in Gaza last month, with needs particularly acute in the north. Conditions have steadily worsened since, causing a spike in hungry people making fraught attempts to claim aid from passing trucks.

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Blinken calls new Israeli settlements inconsistent with international law

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Secretary of state’s characterization of West Bank settlements signals return to longstanding US policy reversed by Trump

Israel’s expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank was inconsistent with international law, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Friday, signaling a return to longstanding US policy on the issue, which had been reversed by the previous administration of Donald Trump.

The Trump administration in 2019 in effect backed Israel’s right to build West Bank settlements by abandoning a long-held US position that they were “inconsistent with international law”.

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New hopes of Gaza ceasefire as Israeli negotiators head to Paris

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Pressure mounts on Israel and Hamas to make a deal before threatened Rafah offensive

An Israeli negotiating team arrived in Paris on Friday for talks about a potential ceasefire in Gaza in the latest sign of tentative progress towards an agreement that could end the five-month-old war.

The Israeli delegation, which includes the heads of its internal and external intelligence services, will meet the director of the CIA, Qatar’s prime minister and Egypt’s most senior intelligence official for talks over the weekend in what appears to be the most serious push for weeks to halt the fighting.

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Israel wants administrators ‘without Hamas or PA links’ to run Gaza

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Israeli officials say they plan to trial scheme when ‘the right people’ come forward

Israeli officials have said they want to use local administrators without links to either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority to run Gaza, and will set up small scale trials of the scheme as soon as “the right people step up to the plate”.

The controversial plan, which would see Israel retaining security control throughout Gaza, comes amid a deepening breakdown in public order in the devastated territory as convoys of aid are repeatedly looted and local communities form self-defence groups, some armed, to protect against thieves or help find food.

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Claims of Israeli sexual assault of Palestinian women are credible, UN panel says

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Experts report evidence of rape, sexual humiliation and threats of rape against girls and women

UN experts say they have seen “credible allegations” that Palestinian women and girls have been subjected to sexual assaults, including rape, while in Israeli detention, and are calling for a full investigation.

The panel of experts said there was evidence of a least two cases of rape, alongside other cases of sexual humiliation and threats of rape. Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said the true extent of sexual violence could be significantly higher.

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US intelligence casts doubt on Israeli claims of UNRWA-Hamas links, report says

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Intel report says some accusations that aid workers participated in Hamas attacks credible but could not be independently verified

A US intelligence assessment of Israel’s claims that UN aid agency staff members participated in the Hamas attack on 7 October said some of the accusations were credible, though could not be independently verified, while also casting doubt on claims of wider links to militant groups.

The assault precipitated a full-scale invasion by Israel of Gaza that has killed upwards of 30,000 Palestinians. Earlier this year, Israel accused 12 employees of the United Nations Reliefs and Works Agency (UNRWA) of participating in the 7 October attacks alongside Hamas. It also said 10% of all UNRWA workers were affiliated with Hamas.

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Israeli Eurovision song under ‘scrutiny’ for alleged Hamas attack reference

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Organisers considering if lyrics breach non-political rules a week after giving Israel all-clear to participate

The organisers of the Eurovision song contest have said they are “scrutinising” the lyrics of Israel’s entry after it was claimed it makes reference to the Hamas attacks on 7 October.

The lyrics from Israel’s entry, October Rain, sung by Eden Golan, were leaked to the media. According to the Israel Hayom newspaper, lines in the song include, “There’s no air left to breathe”, and “They were all good children, each one of them”. The song also refers to “flowers”, which the newspaper reported is a military code for war fatalities.

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‘It was an execution’: family mourns boy shot dead by Israeli forces

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Nihal Abu Ayash, 16, was reportedly the 100th Palestinian child to be killed in the West Bank since Hamas’s 7 October attack

Nihal Abu Ayash was wearing his football kit and carrying his school bag when he was shot in the head and killed after Israeli forces opened fire in the West Bank town of Beit Ummar.

The first bullet reportedly hit the 16-year-old in the leg. He collapsed, and as he tried to stand up, he was shot for a second time in the head, according to the schoolboy’s family.

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Australian working in Rafah hospital says all staff are struggling: ‘We have victims caring for victims’

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Médecins Sans Frontières logistics expert calls for immediate ceasefire and fears ‘catastrophic’ Israeli ground offensive

An Australian logistics expert who is working at a hospital in Rafah has warned that “everyone here is struggling” while raising fears of a “catastrophic” Israeli ground offensive in the southern Gaza city.

Lindsay Croghan, who is on assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières, also said there must be an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” because a prolonged debate “equates to more deaths”.

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US asks world court not to call for Israeli pullout from Palestinian territories

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US calls for international court of justice to consider Israel’s security needs in hearings on legal status of occupied territories

The US has urged the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague not to issue a ruling calling for Israel’s immediate withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories, arguing that Israeli security had to be taken into account in any solution to the conflict.

“Any movement towards Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza requires consideration for Israel’s very real security needs,” Richard Visek, the state department’s acting legal adviser, told the ICJ judges.

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Israeli report finds evidence of ‘systematic’ rape and abuse during 7 October attack

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Research is based on interviews with officials and first responders, media reports and ‘confidential sources’

The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel has said it has found evidence of “systematic and intentional” rape and sexual abuse during the Hamas attack on 7 October that ignited the war in Gaza.

The report said the attacks were more widespread than earlier thought, taking place at a series of locations across southern Israel. “In some cases, rape was conducted in front of an audience, such as partners, family or friends, to increase the pain and humiliation for all present.”

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Prince William’s Gaza plea raises question of Foreign Office input

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Speculation that William’s ‘too many have been killed’ statement was encouraged to increase pressure on Israel

The timing of Prince William’s unprecedented intervention relating to the war in Gaza has raised questions about the involvement of the UK Foreign Office, and whether the royal statement was encouraged or even engineered to increase pressure on Israel.

On Tuesday, the Prince of Wales issued a statement saying “too many have been killed” in the conflict, and “I, like so many others, want to see an end to the fighting as soon as possible”.

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Gaza aid deliveries paused amid ‘incredible level of desperation’

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World Food Programme says territory is ‘hanging by a thread’ as food supplies run out and efforts to deliver aid are derailed

New fighting and a deepening breakdown in public order in northern Gaza have derailed a humanitarian effort to avert a famine in parts of the battered territory, with senior aid officials describing an “incredible level of desperation” as food supplies run out.

A UN attempt to deliver 10 convoys of food aid to northern Gaza over seven days was suspended earlier this week after trucks were looted by crowds, a driver was beaten and gunfire reported amid chaotic scenes.

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Stakes are high as SNP and Labour wrestle over Gaza ceasefire call

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With an election looming and voters increasingly horrified by events in Gaza, both parties are jostling to find the right position

A few days after the Hamas atrocities of 7 October, Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, attended a service of solidarity at a synagogue near Glasgow. He embraced the mother of Bernard Cowan, a Scot killed by Hamas at the kibbutz where he had settled. “Your grief is my grief,” he told her.

Later that day, the SNP leader spoke to journalists at Bute House in Edinburgh: he described movingly the plight of his in-laws, who had become trapped under Israeli bombardment while visiting relatives in Gaza. He became one of the first senior political voices in the UK to call for a ceasefire on both sides to allow humanitarian aid into the territory.

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