8 h. ago US senior officials warn Israeli political factions not to disrupt Gaza ceasefire

Marco Rubio says bill passed by rightwing MPs to establish Israeli ‘sovereignty’ over occupied territories ‘threatens’ peace dealThe parade of senior US officials traveling to the Middle East in recent weeks is a clear warning from the White House to Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli political factions to not disrupt the recent Gaza ceasefire – including by an annexation of the West Bank – or face a serious rift in relations with the US.As the shaky ceasefire came into effect last week, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner quickly rushed to the region for consultations. Now they have been followed by secretary of state Marco Rubio and vice-president JD Vance as Trump deploys his top allies to tamp down on internal strife within Israel’s fractious Knesset. Continue reading...

Events

10 h. ago Trump threatens to cut all support for Israel in extraordinary escalation after JD Vance 'personal insult'

President Donald Trump revealed a red line that will force his administration to yank its support for Israel as it attempts to hold a fragile ceasefire with Hamas: annexation of the West Bank.

Politics

10 h. ago What does the Israeli proposal to annex the West Bank involve after JD Vance hits out at ‘stupid political stunt’

Over 250 settlements, considered illegal, are spread across the West Bank, with nearly a million settlers

Politics

10 h. ago Vance says Knesset votes on annexing West Bank are an ‘insult’ as Netanyahu halts progress

US vice-president suggests votes were ‘stupid political stunt’ as Israeli PM halts further work on billsMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has ordered a halt to the advancement of parliamentary bills linked to the annexation of the West Bank after the US vice-president, JD Vance, described a vote on two bills in the Knesset as an “insult”.The bills applying Israeli law to the occupied West Bank, which would be tantamount to the annexation of land Palestinians want for a state, won preliminary approval from Israel’s parliament on Wednesday, barely a week after Donald Trump pushed through a deal aimed at ending a two-year Israeli offensive in Gaza. Continue reading...

Politics

13 h. ago Vance lashes out at ‘very stupid’ Israeli vote to annex West Bank

Move by parliament prompts heated exchanges between US, Arab allies and Israeli far right

Politics

14 h. ago West Bank olives and Russian drone attacks: photos of the day – Thursday

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading...

Events

18 h. ago Annexing West Bank ‘would put Donald Trump’s Gaza plan at risk’, warns Marco Rubio

A bill applying Israeli law to the occupied West Bank won initial approval from Israel's parliament on Wednesday

Events

55 h. ago Israeli settlers beat Palestinian farmers on video as attacks mount during West Bank olive harvest

Video obtained by The Associated Press shows an Israeli settler beating Palestinian olive harvesters with clubs in an attack that Palestinian health officials say sent at least one woman to the hospital with serious injuries

Politics

58 h. ago ‘Never seen something so extreme’: Palestinian woman nearly clubbed to death by Jewish settler

Afaf Abu Alia, 55, known locally as Umm Saleh, was clubbed over the head on Sunday and has been taken to hospital where she is recovering

Events

3 d. ago The private beach on David and Victoria Beckham's £12m Costwolds estate that sparked planning row with neighbours

An investigation was launched into the celebrity couple by West Oxfordshire officers over the sprawling sand bank - after neighbours saw it on TV.

Economics

7 d. ago While the eyes of the world are on Gaza, Israeli settlers in the West Bank still behave with impunity | Ofer Cassif

As the harvest season begins, attacks on Palestinian farmers and their land are spiralling. The words of peace following the Gaza ceasefire ring hollowLast Monday, when the US president, Donald Trump, addressed the Knesset alongside the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, my compatriot lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a banner calling them to “Recognise Palestine”. We were brutally expelled by force from the parliament’s plenum, revealing the fragile state of the supposed “only democracy in the Middle East”. How can Trump and Netanyahu speak of peace in the Middle East without recognition of the people deprived for decades of their basic liberties and rights under vicious occupation?Nowhere is the deceit more clear than in the occupied West Bank. There, the words of peace are but a weak and distant voice, but the horrifying sounds of settler violence and terror still echo loudly. More than 30 occurrences of settler violence against Palestinians have been documented since the...

Politics

7 d. ago Irish court strikes down police decision to not investigate Airbnbs in Israeli settlements

The case was brought by Irish-Palestinian non-governmental organisation Sadaka

Events

8 d. ago Livingston MP Gregor Poynton backs The School Bank West Lothian’s annual Halloween Costume Appeal

The kind politician donated new costumes and ‘trick or treat’ bags at the charity’s Broxburn drop-off point.

Economics

9 d. ago Right to protest under ‘sustained attack’ across the west, report finds

Counter-terror laws being ‘weaponised’ against pro-Palestine groups in UK, US, France and Germany, says FIDHThe right to protest has come under sustained attack across the west, according to a report highlighting the growing criminalisation of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.The study by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) pays particular attention to the UK, the US, France and Germany, where it says governments have “weaponised” counter-terrorism legislation as well as the fight against antisemitism to suppress dissent and support for Palestinian rights in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago Right to protest is under sustained attack in the west, report finds

Counter-terror laws being ‘weaponised’ against pro-Palestine groups in UK, US, France and Germany, says FIDHThe right to protest has come under sustained attack in the west, according to a report highlighting the growing criminalisation of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.The study by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) pays particular attention to the UK, the US, France and Germany, where it says governments have “weaponised” counter-terrorism legislation as well as the fight against antisemitism to suppress dissent and support for Palestinian rights in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago The Guardian view on peace in Gaza: the relief is real, but Trump’s promise of a ‘golden age’ rings hollow | Editorial

Hostage and prisoner releases are bringing joy to families. But there is no guarantee that the ceasefire will end Palestinian sufferingThe reprieve brought by the end of fighting in Gaza is immense. In Israel, the release of the living hostages has led to widespread elation. In Gaza and the West Bank there are also celebrations, as up to 2,000 Palestinian detainees start to be released – though there is distress, too, due to uncertainty about who is being freed and where they will be sent. In northern Gaza, people can finally return to dig through rubble for the remains of an estimated 10,000 missing people.As recently as three weeks ago, the likelihood of a ceasefire appeared remote. But it has taken effect, and on Monday Donald Trump travelled from Jerusalem, where he was cheered in the Knesset, to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. There, he joined a high-powered peace summit of more than 20 world leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer. The plan for peace begun there is due to be c...

Politics

1 week ago ‘Locked up for 24 years’: joy and sorrow as Palestinian prisoners and detainees return home

Nearly 2,000 people, including about 1,700 seized from Gaza and held without charge, set free from Israeli jailsGaza ceasefire – live updatesThe police could not hold the crowds back. As soon as they saw the Palestinian prisoners through the windows of the bus, hundreds of people gathering in front of a theatre in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank rushed forward, chanting the names of loved ones they had not seen for years and in some cases, decades.The prisoners were gaunt, the sharp angles of their faces decorated by freshly scabbed-over wounds. Loved ones hoisted them up on their shoulders with ease. One prisoner, swaddled in a Palestinian keffiyeh and splaying his fingers into a V for victory, was dropped before his mother, whose feet he began to kiss. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago ‘Locked up for 24 years’: release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees sparks joy and sorrow

Nearly 2,000 people, including about 1,700 seized from Gaza and held without charge, set free from Israeli jailsGaza ceasefire – live updatesThe police could not hold the crowds back. As soon as they saw the Palestinian prisoners and detainees through the windows of the bus, hundreds of people gathering in front of a theatre in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank rushed forward, chanting the names of loved ones they had not seen for years or, in some cases, decades.Their faces were gaunt, the sharp angles decorated by freshly scabbed-over wounds. Loved ones hoisted them up on their shoulders with ease. One, swaddled in a Palestinian keffiyeh and splaying his fingers into a V for victory, was dropped before his mother, whose feet he began to kiss. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Who are the Palestinian prisoners and how are they being released in exchange for Israeli hostages?

Israel is preparing to exchange about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees for 48 hostages dead and alive still held in Gaza

Events

1 week ago More than 500,000 people return to Gaza City amid ceasefire, as Steve Witkoff addresses Tel Aviv crowd – live

Palestinians return to destruction as US special envoy visits Hostages Square in Israel with Jared Kushner and Ivanka TrumpMalak A Tantesh, a young reporter who has contributed to the Guardian’s coverage, has written about a harrowing two years in besieged Gaza. You can read her account here:The Trump plan calls for Israel to maintain an open-ended military presence inside Gaza, along its border with Israel. An international force, comprised largely of troops from Arab and Muslim countries, would be responsible for security inside Gaza. The US would lead a large internationally funded reconstruction effort, reports the Associated Press (AP). The plan envisions an eventual role for the Palestinian Authority – something Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long opposed. But it requires the authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, to undergo a sweeping reform programme that could take years. According to the AP, the Trump plan is even more vague about a future Pale...

Events