1 hour ago Qatar sees ‘window of opportunity’ for Gaza truce as dozens reported killed by Israel – Middle East crisis live

At least 34 people were killed across Gaza by Israeli strikes, health staff sayIran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that Iranians had given their “blood” during a 12-day war with Israel but “not honour”, AFP reports.“Iranians gave blood, not land; gave their loved ones, not honour; they withstood a thousand-ton rain of bombs, but did not surrender,” Abbas Araghchi said on his Instagram account, adding that Iran does not recognise the word “surrender”. Continue reading...

Events

3 h. ago Trump says he would ‘absolutely’ consider bombing Iran again – Middle East crisis live

US president tells White House briefing he would ‘without question’ attack the country if Tehran is enriching uranium to concerning levelsWe have more on the state funeral being held in Tehran for around 60 people, including its military commanders and nuclear scientists.The proceedings started at 8.00am local time (04.30 GMT) in the capital as government offices and many businesses were closed on Saturday for the occasion, AFP reports. Continue reading...

Events

17 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

25 h. ago ‘Gaza must be eliminated’: Israel’s airwaves are filled with pro

Here is a collection of 20 of the more outrageous statements by Israeli lawmakers or public figures since 7 October 2023 Continue reading...

Politics

25 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

44 h. ago Mamdani stood firm in his support for Gaza. The Democratic party could learn from him | Yousef Munayyer

Few issues highlight how out of touch Democratic leaders are than the issue of Palestine – Mamdani chose a different pathAs the ballots were counted on Wednesday in the Democratic primary election for mayor in New York City, a young candidate with little national name recognition, Zohran Mamdani, stood atop a slate of candidates including the runner-up, and favorite, Andrew Cuomo. There are several reasons why Mamdani was able to pull off this remarkable victory, putting him on track to compete favorably in the mayoral election in November, and many of them have implications for elections outside New York City.But one area where the contrast between the candidates could not be clearer was on the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Mamdani, for his part, stood with protesters, demanded the release of Mahmoud Khalil, and called out Israel’s war crimes. Mamdani even pledged he’d have the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, an indicted war criminal, arrested if he came to New York City wh...

Politics

44 h. ago Mamdani stood firm in his support of Gaza. The Democratic party could learn from him | Yousef Munayyer

Few issues highlight how out of touch Democratic leaders are than the issue of Palestine – Mamdani chose a different pathAs the ballots were counted on Wednesday in the Democratic primary election for mayor in New York City, a young candidate with little national name recognition, Zohran Mamdani, stood atop a slate of candidates including the runner-up, and favorite, Andrew Cuomo. There are several reasons why Mamdani was able to pull off this remarkable victory, putting him on track to compete favorably in the mayoral election in November, and many of them have implications for elections outside New York City.But one area where the contrast between the candidates could not be clearer was on the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Mamdani, for his part, stood with protesters, demanded the release of Mahmoud Khalil, and called out Israel’s war crimes. Mamdani even pledged he’d have the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, an indicted war criminal, arrested if he came to New York City wh...

Politics

50 h. ago A street in Gaza, a map of dreams, and the people desperate to live

Gaza City’s main high street has been destroyed but Palestinian memories of life before the ongoing Israeli assault survive. As those in Gaza face bombing, starvation and miserable living conditions, here’s how they try to hold both the past and the present in their mindsBefore it was bombed into a long grey line of rubble and dust cutting across Gaza City, Omar al-Mukhtar street was full of life – shoppers in the day, friends and families on evening outings after dark.Running from east to west through the city, this artery road is home to some of Gaza’s most significant landmarks. Continue reading...

Politics

2 d. ago ‘Like a trap’: NHS surgeon describes death of nephew, 16, at Gaza food point

Mohammad went missing after becoming separated from his uncles. His family later found his body mutilated beyond recognitionMohammad’s family spent four days searching for him after he became separated from his uncles at a food distribution point in northern Gaza.They clung to the chance that he had been arrested by the Israel Defense Forces, as the boy was not among the corpses recovered after troops opened fire. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago I’m a queer Palestinian. Stop using my identity as cover for the destruction of Gaza | Jad Salfiti

Rightwingers in Israel and the US claim they are defending LGBTQ+ rights while Gaza’s people are killed. Don’t dare do this in our namePride has never been apolitical, but in recent years, particularly after the Israeli occupation’s onslaught on the Gaza Strip after 7 October 2023, the coalition of queer rights in the west has felt increasingly fractured.In Berlin, the city I call home, Pride events have splintered along political lines as Palestine has been a recurring point of contention. According to organisers of Internationalist Queer Pride Berlin (IQP Berlin), a split between two major alternative Pride events followed an incident in which the initial organisers called police to the event after participants expressed solidarity by chanting “free Palestine”. Meanwhile, at Berlin’s official Pride parade, attenders have previously waved rainbow and Israeli flags as they marched through Berlin alongside an Israeli embassy float.Jad Salfiti is a British-Palestinian video producer a...

Politics

3 d. ago US to give $30m to Gaza Humanitarian Foundation despite violent and chaotic rollout of food distribution

Grant makes US a direct backer of aid organization that reportedly has collaboration with Israeli governmentThe Trump administration has authorised a $30m grant to the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, making the US a direct backer of an aid organisation that is closely linked to private security contractors and has been accused by critics of “politicising” the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza.According to a document seen by the Guardian, the state department has already disbursed $7m to GHF, a US- and Israeli-backed aid organisation that has been given preferential access to operate in Gaza because it says that it can deliver millions of meals to starving people without that food falling into the hands of Hamas. Continue reading...

Politics

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

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Events

4 d. ago EU may take action against Israel if conditions in Gaza do not improve

Bloc’s foreign affairs chief warns of a response unless action is taken to ‘stop the suffering’ in Gaza Strip The EU may take action to increase pressure on Israel unless there are “concrete” improvements for the inhabitants of Gaza, its foreign policy chief has said.After meeting the bloc’s foreign ministers in Brussels, Kaja Kallas said it was “very clear” that Israel had breached its human rights commitments in Gaza and the West Bank. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago EU cites ‘indications’ Israel is breaching human rights obligations over conduct in Gaza

Leaked document marks significant moment in relations with ally but stops short of calling for immediate sanctionsMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe EU has said “there are indications” that Israel is in breach of human rights obligations over its conduct in Gaza, but stopped short of calling for immediate sanctions.“There are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations under article 2 of the EU-Israel association agreement,” states a leaked document from the EU’s foreign policy service, seen by the Guardian. Continue reading...

Politics

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

8 d. ago Netanyahu is using Muslim women’s 'rights’ to justify his war. What hideous, hollow hypocrisy | Mona Eltahawy

As his troops slaughter civilians in Gaza, he claims to be standing up for Iranian women’s autonomy. He is far from the first warmonger to do soThe Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has invoked the Iranian regime’s heinous women’s rights record to justify his heinous war on Iran. This is the man whose genocide of Palestinians in Gaza killed more women and children in its first year than the equivalent period of any other conflict over the past two decades.“They’ve impoverished you, they’ve given you misery, they’ve given you death, they’ve given you terror, they shoot down your women, leaving this brave, unbelievable woman, Mahsa Amini, to bleed on the sidewalk for not covering her hair,” he told Iranians in an interview with Iran International.Mona Eltahawy writes the Feminist Giant newsletter. She is the author of The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls and Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual RevolutionDo you have an opinion on the issues rais...

Events

9 d. ago Europe must stand without the US – but the latest war in the Middle East shows it has no idea how | Nathalie Tocci

If Europe was not so in hock to Washington, it would sanction Israel over Gaza and condemn its unilateral attack on IranThe rupture in the transatlantic relationship has left European leaders struggling to know how to think, let alone act, with any autonomy. Europe most urgently needs a mind of its own on the Middle East.Tragically, EU governments were just beginning to turn the page after a year and a half of complicity with the Israeli government’s war crimes in Gaza. Donald Trump’s obscene plans for a Gaza “riviera” and “humanitarian” initiatives that breach humanitarian principles were creating distance with the US, and European governments were starting to craft their own course.Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago Israeli forces kill 11 Palestinians awaiting food trucks, say Gaza officials

IDF ‘looking into’ incident in central Gaza, as over a hundred die in recent days near or along routes to distribution sitesMiddle East crisis – live updatesEleven Palestinians were killed early on Tuesday morning after Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd waiting for food trucks in central Gaza, civil defence officials in the devastated territory have said.More than a hundred Palestinians have died in recent days after being targeted by the Israeli military in Gaza as they gathered near food distribution centres or on routes along which trucks were expected to travel. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Israeli forces kill or injure 11 Palestinians awaiting food trucks, say Gaza officials

IDF ‘looking into’ incident in central Gaza, as over a hundred die in recent days near or along routes to distribution sitesMiddle East crisis – live updatesEleven Palestinians were killed or injured on Tuesday morning after Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd waiting for food trucks in central Gaza, civil defence officials in the devastated territory have said.More than a hundred Palestinians have died in recent days after being targeted by the Israeli military in Gaza as they gathered near food distribution centres or on routes along which trucks were expected to travel. Continue reading...

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