Category Archives: Palestinian Territories

Pastor says Welby would not meet him if he spoke at Palestine rally with Corbyn

Posted on by

Archbishop said he could not meet Bethlehem Lutheran Munther Isaac if he shared platform with former Labour leader, Isaac says

The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, cancelled plans to meet the Bethlehem-based Lutheran pastor Munther Isaac, saying he could not meet him if he shared a platform with the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at a pro-Palestinian rally, the pastor has said.

Isaac, the pastor of the Christmas Evangelical Lutheran church in Bethlehem, who has been highly critical of Israel in Gaza, saw his Christmas sermon go viral when he said if Jesus Christ was born today it would have been under the rubble.

Continue reading...

Wednesday briefing: Everyone claims to back a ceasefire in Gaza. But what are they really saying?

Posted on by

In today’s newsletter: As Israel’s position weakens on the international stage, differences in language between different ceasefire calls tell a complicated story

• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition

Good morning. The daily details of the horror being visited on civilians in Gaza can make any conversation about the language of ceasefire proposals being put forward in foreign capitals seem absurd.

A massive majority at the UN general assembly backed a ceasefire in December; so did the pope. A few days later, both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer backed a “sustainable” ceasefire. Twenty-six of 27 EU states again called for a ceasefire on Monday. Benjamin Netanyahu has not yet been persuaded by any of them.

Health | Patients whose health is failing will be granted the right to obtain an urgent second opinion about their care, as “Martha’s rule” is initially adopted in 100 English hospitals from April at the start of a national rollout. The initiative follows a campaign by Merope Mills, a senior editor at the Guardian, and her husband, Paul Laity, after their 13-year-old daughter Martha died of sepsis at King’s College hospital in London in 2021.

UK news | Detectives hunting for Abdul Ezedi, the man wanted over a chemical assault that injured a vulnerable woman and her two young daughters, have recovered a body in the Thames that they believe is Ezedi, Scotland Yard has said. “We have been in contact with his family to pass on the news,” said Cmdr Jon Savell.

WikiLeaks | Julian Assange faces the risk of a “flagrant denial of justice” if tried in the US, the high court has heard. Lawyers for Assange are seeking permission to appeal against the WikiLeaks founder’s extradition, and say he could face a “grossly disproportionate” sentence of up to 175 years if convicted in the US.

PPE contracts | Michael Gove failed to register hospitality he enjoyed with a Conservative donor whose company he had recommended for multimillion-pound personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts during the Covid pandemic. When asked by the Guardian about not registering VIP hospitality at a football match he received from David Meller, a spokesperson for Gove apologised for the “oversight”.

Pakistan | Imran Khan’s political rivals have announced details of a coalition agreement, naming Shehbaz Sharif as their joint candidate for prime minister amid continuing concerns about the legitimacy of the recent elections. Candidates aligned with Khan won the most seats in the parliamentary elections but not enough to form a government.

Continue reading...

Keir Starmer seeks to head off another Labour rebellion over Gaza ceasefire

Posted on by

Crucial vote on party’s new call for ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ goes before MPs on Wednesday as thousands of protesters expected in Westminster

Keir Starmer’s attempt to head off a damaging rebellion over Gaza was hanging by a thread last night, despite bowing to pressure by finally calling for an immediate ceasefire in the region.

Labour explicitly backed an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” for the first time since fighting broke out in October, in a bid to ward off another party split in what is likely to be a tense Commons vote on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

Key allies seek to rein in Israel without letting Hamas off the hook

Posted on by

Diplomatic search for ceasefire in Gaza gathers pace as threatened ground offensive in Rafah draws near

In New York at the UN, in Brussels at the EU, in The Hague, in Cairo, in Rio and even at Westminster, a set of subtle and interrelated diplomatic dances are under way.

Israel’s foremost supporters are attempting to apply the squeeze on their ally while avoiding making undiluted calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza they fear would leave a battered Hamas in charge, its leadership at large.

Continue reading...

Palestinian minister accuses Israel of ‘colonialism and apartheid’ at ICJ

Posted on by

Riyad al-Maliki presents Palestinian case at start of week of hearings called by UN general assembly vote

The Palestinian foreign minister, Riyad al-Maliki, has accused Israel of “colonialism and apartheid” at a world court hearing on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands since 1967.

“For over a century, the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination has been denied and violated,” Maliki told a bench of judges at the international court of justice (ICJ), the UN’s highest court, in The Hague. “Palestine was not a land without people. It was not, as Israeli leaders have described it, a wasteland. There was life on this land.”

Continue reading...

Israel says it will launch Rafah assault if hostages not freed by Ramadan

Posted on by

Minister says fighting will reach southern border city if remaining hostages not released in next few weeks

A member of Israel’s war cabinet has said the country will launch its threatened ground offensive against Rafah, the last place of relative safety in Gaza, if Hamas does not release its remaining Israeli hostages by the beginning of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan in just under three weeks.

“The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know – if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere, including the Rafah area,” Benny Gantz, a retired Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff, told a conference of American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem on Sunday.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: EU launches maritime security operation as cargo ship damaged in Red Sea after missiles fired from Yemen – as it happened

Posted on by

Defensive maritime security operation launched in Red Sea and Gulf as crew evacuated from Belize-flagged ship and UK maritime body reports another attack

The Times of Israel is reporting that Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz will deliver a reprimand to Brazil’s ambassador to Israel at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial today. It follows a speech by Brazil’s president which Israel has described as “shameful”.

Speaking in Ethiopia at the weekend, Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had said “what is happening in the Gaza Strip and to the Palestinian people hasn’t been seen in any other moment in history. Actually, it did when Hitler decided to kill the Jews. What’s happening in the Gaza Strip isn’t a war, it’s a genocide. It’s not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It’s a war between a highly prepared army and women and children.”

Continue reading...

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib tells fellow Democrats: reject Biden in primary

Posted on by

Michigan representative tells state voters to pick ‘uncommitted’ option over White House support for Israel’s strikes on Gaza

The progressive US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has called on her fellow Michigan Democrats to vote “uncommitted” in the state’s presidential primary election – at the expense of the party’s incumbent, Joe Biden – in late February.

Appearing in a video posted to X on Saturday by Listen to Michigan, a political campaign to encourage the state’s voters to vote “uncommitted” in the 27 February primary, Tlaib justified her stark display of displeasure with Biden by alluding to Israel’s military strikes on Gaza, which local authorities say have killed nearly 29,000 Palestinians since last October.

Continue reading...

Palestinian factions to meet in Moscow as west rejects Hamas role in ruling Gaza after war

Posted on by

Palestinian Authority ‘ready to engage’, says prime minister ahead of talks on formation of new Gaza government

Western powers have rejected suggestions that Hamas as an entity can be allowed a role in governing Gaza at the end of the war, saying only that they recognise that Palestinian militancy will still exist.

Speculation that a weakened Hamas might be willing to form a partnership with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, and govern Gaza and the West Bank jointly, have been revived by a Russian invitation for Palestinian factions to meet in Moscow on 26 February.

Guardian Newsroom: the unfolding crisis in the Middle East On Wednesday 20 March, 7-8.15pm GMT, join Devika Bhat, Peter Beaumont and Ghaith Abdul-Ahad as they discuss the developing crisis in the Middle East. Book tickets at theguardian.live

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: Nasser hospital in Gaza ‘not functional’, says WHO chief; US likely to veto UN vote calling for ceasefire – as it happened

Posted on by

Hospital in Khan Younis no longer functional due to Israeli forces’ ‘week-long siege’; US ambassador to UN says text could jeopardise negotiations

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said his government would vote on a “declaratory decision” regarding Israel’s opposition to any unilateral imposition of Palestinian statehood, Reuters reports.

Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting that the move comes after “recent talk in the international community about an attempt to unilaterally impose on Israel a Palestinian state”.

Continue reading...

Egypt preparing safe areas for Gaza refugees, foreign minister says

Posted on by

Move comes as ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas make little progress, according to key Qatar negotiator

Egypt is preparing safe areas for Gaza refugees, Cairo has said, as the key Qatar negotiator in the ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas admitted they have made no progress in recent days.

Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, said at a security conference in Munich on Saturday that while his country would deal with civilians humanely, the displacement of Palestinians remained unacceptable.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis live: ‘Extraordinary’ chance for Israel to be integrated into Middle East, says Blinken – as it happened

Posted on by

US secretary of state tells Munich security conference that almost all Arab countries want to normalise ties

A climate of fear pervades a hospital in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, where patients and doctors are reeling from last month’s deadly raid by Israeli agents disguised as medics, reports news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP).

AFP say that at the rehabilitation ward at Jenin’s Ibn Sina hospital, two patients recalled hearing the screams of a nurse as Israeli forces reached the third floor.

Continue reading...

Patients with chronic illnesses in Gaza failing to get treatment, doctors warn

Posted on by

The lack of medicine, food and water means thousands of people with asthma, kidney disease or diabetes are unable to treat or control their conditions

Four months of conflict in Gaza is jeopardising the health of thousands of people with chronic illnesses such as kidney disease, diabetes and asthma, doctors have warned.

The chronically ill are the hidden casualties of the war, as access to water, food and medicine is severely restricted, said Guillemette Thomas, the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical coordinator for Palestine.

Continue reading...

Egypt building walled enclosure in Sinai for Rafah refugees, photos suggest

Posted on by

Monitoring group releases evidence of work that appears intended to house Palestinians in event of Israeli assault on city

Egypt has begun building an enclosed area ringed with high concrete walls along its border with Gaza that appears intended to house Palestinians fleeing a threatened Israeli assault on the southern city of Rafah.

Photos and videos released by the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights (SFHR), a monitoring group, show workers using heavy machinery erecting concrete barriers and security towers around a strip of land on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.

Continue reading...

Palestinian ambassador to UK says eight relatives killed in Israeli strikes in Rafah

Posted on by

Husam Zomlot says family members who died while sheltering in city include seven-year-old twins and 15-month-old

The Palestinian ambassador to the UK has said eight of his relatives who were sheltering in the southern Gaza town of Rafah have been killed in an Israeli strike.

Husam Zomlot identified a girl in a distressing photo that has been widely shared online as his wife’s seven-year-old cousin Sidra Hassouna. In the image that has been posted on social media, Sidra’s body can be seen dangling from the ruins of a building after attacks on Rafah on Monday.

Sharing a blurred version of the image, alongside pictures of his other relatives, Zomlot posted on X on Wednesday: “This is seven-year-old Sidra, the cousin of my wife. The impact of the Israeli missile was so powerful it flung her out, leaving her mutilated body dangling from the ruins of the destroyed building in Rafah 48 hours ago.”

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: Palestinian exodus into Egypt ‘must be avoided’, warns UN chief – as it happened

Posted on by

High commissioner for refugees says people crossing the border would be the ‘nail in the coffin’ for any peace process

The hunger crisis in Gaza has reached “unprecedented levels, as people run out of even animal feed to eat” said development charity ActionAid on Friday.

“An unprecedented and totally avoidable hunger crisis” has led to “every single person in the territory now experiencing extreme levels of hunger”, it said, warning that “as grim as the picture is, things will get substantially worse” if Israel proceeds with its plans for a full military operation in Rafah.

As grim as the picture is, things will get substantially worse if Israel proceeds with its plans for a full military operation in Rafah, which is the main centre of aid distribution for the entire strip. Aid operations will grind to a complete halt, denying a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of people.

The consequences are unimaginable. Governments around the world must do everything in their power to prevent a further onslaught in Rafah and push for a permanent and immediate ceasefire. It’s the only way to stop the indiscriminate killing of civilians, allow aid to enter Gaza and be distributed safely at scale to prevent famine and deadly disease outbreaks.”

Continue reading...

Pressure builds on Israel to ditch Rafah offensive as ministers gather in Munich

Posted on by

US secretary of state and foreign ministers from UK, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan join Israel at security conference

Western leaders are hoping a round of meetings at a security conference in Munich will put overwhelming pressure on Israel not to press ahead with a ground offensive in Rafah.

Almost all the key figures, save the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, will be present in Munich on Friday, including foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan. The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, and foreign minister, Israel Katz, will also attend along with three freed hostages, Raz Ben Ami, Adi Shoham and Aviva Siegel. Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, is flying in too.

Continue reading...

Israeli troops launch raid on Nasser hospital in southern Gaza

Posted on by

Staff say one person killed and eight injured in attack as UN aid chief warns Rafah offensive could cause refugee exodus into Egypt

Israeli forces have raided the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip that is still functioning, amid warnings from the UN aid chief that a threatened ground offensive in Rafah, the area’s last remaining place of relative safety, could trigger an exodus of refugees fleeing into Egypt.

Nasser hospital, in the central town of Khan Younis, was hit directly by tank fire overnight, staff at the medical complex said on Thursday, in an attack that killed one person and injured eight more. Dr Khaled al-Serr, a surgeon at the hospital, said in an Instagram post that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ground troops stormed the premises about an hour later and began forcing patients, medical personnel and displaced civilians sheltering at the hospital to flee.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis: MSF says ‘medical staff have had to flee’ Gaza’s Nasser hospital following Israeli military intervention – as it happened

Posted on by

Médecins Sans Frontières says staff forced to evacuate, ‘leaving patients behind’ after special forces entered the hospital

Israeli forces have stormed Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, according to Al Jazeera journalist Hani Mahmoud who is reporting from Rafah in southern Gaza.

In a breaking news update to the publication, Mahmoud said Israeli forces had given those in Nasser hospital until 7am (Gaza time) to evacuate and as of Thursday morning there is “a presence of Israeli soldiers inside the facility”. “At the same time, there is heavy tank and machine gun fire,” he added.

Dozens have been wounded in attacks, some victims injured more than once. This is the largest health facility in southern Gaza. It is completely out of service now. The entire medical staff was rounded up, their hands tied behind their backs.

Military checkpoints were set up and Palestinians were told to come in groups of five – doctors, nurses, those with injuries. A large number of young people were detained.”

Continue reading...

Thursday briefing: Inside Israel’s plans for Rafah – and the threat to refugees there

Posted on by

In today’s newsletter: As attacks intensify on what once the safest place for civilians in Gaza, what does it mean for the hundreds of thousands of civilians in the area?

• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition

Good morning. Yesterday, the UN’s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, issued a dire warning about the consequences of an Israeli ground assault on Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. “The scenario we have long dreaded is unravelling at alarming speed,” he said. Palestinian civilians trapped there, he added, are “staring death in the face”.

For more than a week, Israel has intensified its aerial attack on Rafah, saying that it is the last refuge of Hamas militants who have been driven out of the rest of Gaza. But hundreds of thousands of refugees have also fled to the area – and Israel is yet to set out a plan to keep them safe if it proceeds with a ground operation.

US news | At least one person was killed and 22 others injured, including eight children, in a shooting during a Super Bowl victory parade for the Kansas City Chiefs on Wednesday. Hundreds of people who gathered to celebrate the Chiefs’ victory on Sunday over the San Francisco 49ers ran for shelter from the gunfire.

Antisemitism | The scale of the surge in antisemitism in the UK since Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October has been revealed, in data showing a 589% increase in the number of incidents compared with the same period in 2022.

Labour | Keir Starmer is facing a fresh test of his authority as MPs prepare to vote on a second parliamentary motion calling for an “immediate” ceasefire in Gaza next week. The party’s abstention on a similar vote in November triggered a huge split in the party and 10 frontbench resignations.

Security | The head of the US House intelligence committee, Mike Turner, has called for the Biden administration to declassify information on what he called a “serious national security threat”, later reported to involve Russian plans to deploy nuclear weapons in space. The New York Times said US allies had been briefed on the intelligence, which was not deemed to represent an urgent threat.

Food | Bowls of pink-tinged rice are about to feature on sustainable food menus, according to researchers who created rice grains with beef and cow fat cells grown in them. It is hoped the rice, created using stem cells, will be a more affordable source of protein than traditional beef, with a smaller carbon footprint.

Continue reading...