4 h. ago ‘Bloodshed was supposed to stop’: no sign of normal life as Gaza’s killing and misery grind on

The term ceasefire ‘risks creating a dangerous illusion life is returning to normal’ for Palestinians squeezed into the remaining 42% of their land behind Israel’s ‘yellow line’ When Jumaa and Fadi Abu Assi went to look for firewood their parents thought they would be safe. They were just young boys, aged nine and 10 and, after all, a ceasefire had been declared in Gaza.Their mother, Hala Abu Assi, was making tea in the family’s tent in Khan Younis when she heard an explosion, a missile fired by an Israeli drone. She ran to the scene – but it was too late. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Mass wedding in Gaza celebrates new life after years of war and tragedy

Dressed in traditional Palestinian prints and a suit, Eman Hassan Lawwa and Hikmat Lawwa walked hand-in-hand past the crumbled buildings of southern Gaza in a line of couples dressed exactly the same as them

Events

5 d. ago It's not just Gaza. From the West Bank to Syria and Lebanon, Israel's onslaught continues | Nesrine Malik

Broken ceasefires, bombing, ground incursions and mounting deaths: Israeli imperialism is now expanding across the regionIt is clear now that the ceasefire in Gaza is only a “reducefire”. The onslaught continues. There are near-daily attacks on the territory. On a single day at the end of October, almost 100 Palestinians were killed. On 19 November, 32 were killed. On 23 November, 21. And on it goes. Since the ceasefire, more than 300 have been killed and almost 1,000 injured. Those numbers will rise. The real shift is that the ceasefire has reduced global attention and scrutiny. Meanwhile, Israel’s emerging blueprint becomes clearer: bloody domination not only in Gaza, but across Palestine and the wider region.A “dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal”, is how Amnesty International’s secretary general, Agnès Callamard, described this post-ceasefire period. Israeli authorities have reduced attacks and allowed some aid into Gaza, she said, but “the world must not...

Politics

8 d. ago Israel still committing genocide in Gaza, Amnesty International says

The NGO’s chief says last month’s ceasefire ‘risks creating a dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal’Amnesty International has said Israel is “still committing genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, despite the ceasefire agreed last month.The fragile, US-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect on 10 October, after two years of war. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘A scholarship made me dream of a life beyond Gaza — then the UK told me to leave my children behind’

Exclusive: Amany, a mother-of-three, was delighted when she was offered a scholarship to study an MSc at the University of Bristol earlier this year. But when the Foreign Office told her that she could not bring her husband or children, she was left with an ‘impossible choice’. She tells Maira Butt that the decision will ‘break’ her children’s hearts

Politics

3 w. ago Where is the Gaza ‘peace process’ really going? | Ahmad Ibsais

Israel turns the violence up and down at will, maintaining full dominion over Gaza and the West Bank, then calls each pause a generous ‘ceasefire’If you started attending one funeral a day beginning 1 January 2025, you would finish in the year 3887. That is how long it would take to mourn every life lost in Gaza. By then, your grandchildren’s great10 grandchildren would be dust, and still you would be burying Palestinian bodies from a “war” Israel insists was about self-defense. Even then, this number does not tell you about the thousands of ways these bodies were burned, torn, crushed and made anything but whole.And yet here we are, watching world leaders gather in Egypt for a “peace summit” last month where the only people absent were Palestinians. The banner read “Peace 2025”, while Palestine’s representatives were barred from the room.Ahmad Ibsais is a first generation Palestinian American, law student and poet who writes the newsletter State of Siege Continue reading...

Politics