15 h. ago Netanyahu denounces report that Israeli soldiers have orders to shoot at Palestinians seeking aid

Israeli leaders are denying claims that soldiers were ordered to shoot at Palestinians approaching aid sites in Gaza

Events

16 h. ago The Guardian view on annihilation in Gaza: the deaths mount, but the pressure has ebbed | Editorial

Israel’s attack on Iran overshadowed the ongoing carnage. Its allies are complicit in the horror; they must instead help to build a future for Palestinians“We cannot be asking civilians to go into a combat zone so that then they can be killed with the justification that they are in a combat zone.” It defies belief that the Unicef spokesperson, James Elder, should have needed to spell that out this week. And yet each day Palestinians continue to be killed while attempting to collect aid for their families from food hubs in Gaza, forced to make a lethal choice between risking being shot and letting their families slowly starve. More than 500 have died around the centres since the system was introduced – yet, with attention fixed on Israel’s attacks on Iran, there has been little to spare for recent deaths.The Israeli military has given shifting accounts of events. But soldiers told the newspaper Haaretz that commanders ordered troops to shoot at crowds that posed no threat. The Israel...

Events

18 h. ago IDF opens inquiry into possible war crimes after deaths near Gaza aid sites

Israel Defense Forces to examine growing evidence of shootings of Palestinians trying to obtain foodThe Israeli military has launched an investigation into possible war crimes following growing evidence that troops have deliberately fired at Palestinian civilians gathering to receive aid in Gaza.Hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks after being subjected to air attacks, shootings and bombardments by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) while waiting for food to be distributed or while making their way to distribution sites. Continue reading...

Events

24 h. ago 18 killed in Israeli strike targeting Gaza police distributing flour, officials say

Attack at market is latest in series by Israeli forces that have killed hundreds of civilians seeking aidMiddle East crisis – live updatesEighteen people have been killed in an Israeli strike targeting Palestinian police distributing flour in a market in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, medical officials have said.The reported strike, on Thursday afternoon, is the latest in a series of air attacks, shootings and bombardment by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that has killed hundreds of desperate civilians seeking aid in the devastated Palestinian territory. Continue reading...

Events

41 h. ago Israel closes the most direct route for aid to Palestinians in Gaza

Blockade will increase diplomatic pressure on Israel as Spain PM Pedro Sánchez describes situation as ‘genocide’Israel has closed crossings into northern Gaza, cutting the most direct route for aid to reach hundreds of thousands of people at risk of famine, as airstrikes and shelling killed dozens more people in the devastated Palestinian territory.The move to close the crossings on Thursday will increase diplomatic pressure on Israel as attention shifts from its brief conflict with Iran, back to the violence and grave humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago At least 40 more Palestinians killed seeking aid in Gaza, say medics and officials

Shootings by Israeli forces raise death toll of such incidents in Gaza in last two weeks to more than 500At least 40 Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza have died in new shootings by Israeli forces, local medics and officials said, raising the total killed in the last two weeks in such incidents in the devastated territory to more than 500.Though the fragile ceasefire declared between Israel and Iran has boosted hopes in Gaza that the 20-month-long war there might end soon, there were further Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday and reports of at least two incidents involving Israeli troops opening fire on civilians seeking humanitarian assistance. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Ben Jennings on the Palestinians killed while waiting for aid – cartoon

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Events

3 d. ago Business news live: FTSE 100 closes flat as oil prices drop despite Israel

Stock markets latest updates and business news on Monday

Politics

3 d. ago Israel 'kills at least 25 people waiting for aid' in Gaza as 'tanks and drones spark massacre'

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and drones opened fire toward hundreds of people waiting for aid trucks in central Gaza, killing at least 25 people, Palestinian witnesses and hospitals said

Events

4 d. ago The Strait of Hormuz is a vital route for oil. Closing it could backfire on Iran

The war between Israel and Iran has raised concerns that Iran could try to close the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important oil chokepoint

Events

5 d. ago Netanyahu says Israel is close to fulfilling goals of Iran campaign

Comments towards Tehran come after top US officials insisted they were not seeking a different government there

Politics

6 d. ago Eurostar's huge £1.7bn plan to link UK to two countries in just five hours

Following rising passenger numbers and impressive financial results, Eurostar is investing £1.7bn to launch a fleet of up to 50 trains that operate three new direct routes, including two from the UK

Economics

7 d. ago Unicef warns children could die of thirst in Gaza amid collapse of water systems

Fears grow of drought as well as hunger as medics report more killings by Israeli forces of Palestinians seeking aidMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe collapse of water systems in Gaza is threatening the territory with devastating drought as well as hunger, Unicef has warned, as medics reported that Israel had killed more desperate Palestinians seeking aid.On Friday at least 24 people waiting for aid were killed by Israeli fire in central Gaza, according to local health authorities, in addition to other deaths by airstrikes. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Israel, we’re begging you: please let aid organisations do our jobs in Gaza | James Elder

Four hundred distribution points have dwindled to four under this private and militarised ‘aid’ system. This is not how to avert a famineJames Elder is Unicef’s global spokespersonAbed Al Rahman, just a boy, carried the weight of his family’s hunger as he stepped into the streets of Gaza in search of bread. He had his father’s money, but when he saw the tide of people pushing towards a food distribution site in Rafah, hunger pulled him into their flow.Almost immediately, the site descended into chaos. Gunfire. Drones. Then in a flash, shrapnel from a tank shell ripped through his little body. When I met him at a hospital in Khan Younis – where painkillers, like food, are scarce – the 13-year-old was in agony. “I have shrapnel inside my body that they couldn’t remove,” he told me. “I am in real pain; since 6am I have been asking for a painkiller.” As he recounted the chaos, his father’s composure shattered, and tears rolled down his face. Was he going to lose his son simply because A...

Politics

7 d. ago Israel, please let aid organisations do our jobs in Gaza | James Elder

Four hundred distribution points have dwindled to four under this private and militarised ‘aid’ system. This is not how to avert a famineJames Elder is Unicef’s global spokespersonAbed Al Rahman, just a boy, carried the weight of his family’s hunger as he stepped into the streets of Gaza in search of bread. He had his father’s money, but when he saw the tide of people pushing towards a food distribution site in Rafah, hunger pulled him into their flow.Almost immediately, the site descended into chaos. Gunfire. Drones. Then in a flash, shrapnel from a tank shell ripped through his little body. When I met him at a hospital in Khan Younis – where painkillers, like food, are scarce – the 13-year-old was in agony. “I have shrapnel inside my body that they couldn’t remove,” he told me. “I am in real pain; since 6am I have been asking for a painkiller.” As he recounted the chaos, his father’s composure shattered, and tears rolled down his face. Was he going to lose his son simply because A...

Politics

9 d. ago ‘My son went to get flour. He came back in a coffin’: As the world focuses on Iran Palestinians are being shot dead seeking aid

While the world has its attention fixed on a regional war, desperate Palestinians are being killed by the dozen as they seek food at controversial American-run aid sites in Gaza, write Bel Trew and Richard Hall

Events

9 d. ago Israeli attacks kill dozens in Gaza in 24 hours as world focus shifts to Iran

‘Starving people being killed or injured while seeking life-saving assistance is completely unacceptable’ says World Food Programme

Events

1 week ago Israeli forces kill dozens of Palestinians waiting for UN food aid in Gaza, health officials say

At least 59 Palestinians killed as Israeli tanks accused of shelling crowd gathered at aid delivery site

Politics

1 week ago At least 51 Palestinians killed while waiting for aid trucks in Gaza, health officials say

At least 51 Palestinians were killed and over 200 wounded in the Gaza Strip while waiting for U.N. and commercial trucks to enter the territory with desperately needed food, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and a local hospital

Events

1 week ago The Guardian view on Gaza’s engineered famine: stop arming the slaughter – or lose the rule of law | Editorial

As Palestinians starve amid the rubble, western governments defend Israel, fund armed aid and dismantle the very rules they claim to upholdGaza’s cries have been drowned out by Israel’s strikes on Iran, and the diplomatic pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu over the suffering has ebbed. Yet as the industrialised world urges de-escalation in the Middle East, the devastation continues. On Tuesday morning, witnesses described Israeli forces firing towards a crowd waiting for trucks loaded with flour, leaving more than 50 dead. These are not stray bullets in wartime chaos, they are the outcome of a system that makes relief deadly.As Médecins Sans Frontières declared this week, what is unfolding in Gaza is “the calculated evisceration of the very systems that sustain life”. That includes homes, markets, water networks and hospitals – with healthcare continually under attack. Last week, a UN commission found that more than 90% of the Gaza Strip’s schools and universities have be...

Politics