2 h. ago Pope urges news agencies to stand as bulwark against lies, manipulation and post

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the “ancient art of lying” and manipulation

Events

50 h. ago These numbers show how 2 years of war have devastated Palestinian lives in Gaza

Numbers alone cannot capture the toll the Israel-Hamas war has taken on the Gaza Strip

Events

54 h. ago Thousands in Gaza are missing 2 years into the war. Tormented families search for clues

Two years since the war in Gaza began, thousands of Palestinians there are looking for relatives who have gone missing in one of the most destructive conflicts of the past decades

Events

63 h. ago Horror words of Israeli troops in Gaza as they fight on even as ceasefire looms

Israel’s bombs piled into Gaza City, announced by deep booms and sending vast black and grey smoke clouds billowing over the enclave, heavy machine gun fire echoing through the ruins

Events

3 d. ago ‘My poems are part of my flesh’: Palestinian poet Batool Abu Akleen on life in Gaza

At just 20, the poet is one of the most vivid witnesses to the conflict. She talks about dreams of Oxford, the deaths of friends and how tragedy has shaped the person she has becomeBatool Abu Akleen was having lunch in the seaside apartment that has become the latest refuge for her family of seven, when a missile struck a nearby cafe. It was the last day of June, an ordinary Monday in Gaza City. “I was holding a falafel wrap and looking out of the window, and the window shook,” she says. Within an instant, dozens of men, women and children were dead, in an atrocity that was reported around the world. “It doesn’t feel real sometimes,” she adds, with the nonchalance of someone numbed by living with horror.But this impression is misleading. At just 20 years old, Abu Akleen is becoming one of Gaza’s most vivid and unstinting witnesses, whose debut poetry collection has already won accolades from the novelist Anne Michaels, the playw...

Politics

4 d. ago Inside decimated Gaza City: As world holds its breath for Israeli hostages, how every day is still life and death

As the Israeli armoured personnel carrier clatters across Gaza, the only glimpse I get of the decimated hellscape outside comes through two tiny video screens.

Events

4 d. ago ‘Dozens’ of airstrikes on Gaza despite Trump’s call for Israel to stop bombing immediately

Palestinian officials accuse Israel of continuing to strike and shell Gaza City and other areas of the Strip

Politics

6 d. ago Gaza death toll mounts as Hamas is still considering its response to Trump's peace proposal

Hamas is still considering its response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace proposal aimed at ending the nearly two-year war in Gaza

Politics

7 d. ago Israel says ‘last opportunity’ for Gaza City residents to leave

Defence minister issues warning, while Hamas reportedly considers seeking amendments to Trump plan The Israeli military has issued what it said was its final warning for Gaza City residents to flee as it intensified its bombardment and offensive on Wednesday, while Hamas was reportedly considering requesting amendments to Donald Trump’s ceasefire ultimatum.Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said the warning was the last opportunity for people to move to southern Gaza as the military encircled the city. Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Wednesday that Israeli forces had killed at least 46 people, including 36 in Gaza City. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Israeli minister says ‘last opportunity’ for Gaza City residents to flee – Middle East crisis live

Israeli offensive intensifies amid reports Hamas will seek amendments to Trump’s Gaza planHere are some images coming in via the newswires today:The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that the “intensification of military operations in Gaza City” has forced the humanitarian organisation to temporarily suspend operations at its Gaza City office and relocate its staff to ICRC offices in southern Gaza “to ensure staff safety and operational continuity”.The ICRC will continue to strive to provide support to civilians in Gaza City, whenever circumstances allow, from our offices in Deir al-Balah and Rafah, which remain fully operational. This includes providing medical donations to the few remaining health facilities in Gaza City and doing the utmost to facilitate the movements of first responders. In Rafah, the Red Cross Field hospital will continue to be a lifeline for the many wounded patients pouring in.The ICRC has been in Gaza City for decades. Following the latest...

Politics

8 d. ago Israel to close last remaining route from southern Gaza to the north as it continues offensive on Gaza City – Middle East crisis live

Hamas has said it will review the outline of Trump’s Gaza plan, as leaders across the Middle East voiced support for the proposalThe Australian government has said it is “deeply concerned” about the safety of its citizens on board a flotilla to Gaza, with expectations the boats could be intercepted by Israeli forces as early as Wednesday afternoon Australian time.The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has said they have been in contact with six Australians confirmed to be on flotilla consisting of more than 40 ships.I’m deeply concerned by the alleged drone attacks on the Global Sumud Flotilla and the risks to the safety of Australians and other passengers onboard.Australia calls on all parties to respect international law and international humanitarian law, and to refrain from any unlawful or violent act against the flotilla.I think people feel pretty calm. And because everybody is really, really concerned about what’s happening in Palestine every single day, it really kind of...

Politics

8 d. ago ‘Will my baby be born in a tent? Will it have food?’: what it’s like to be pregnant in Gaza

The World Health Organization has warned that more than 40% of pregnant women in the Gaza Strip are malnourished. Here, Nour Ziad al-Batsh, who is expecting her third child in March, describes her daily struggle to find food and healthcareThis pregnancy is not like my others. I have not been allowed to feel the joy I felt last time, to plan for the future and dream about where my child will go to school and how to decorate his room. In Gaza these days, I can only wonder whether I can find food to keep my baby healthy and how it will be to give birth in a tent.The natural joys I felt for the births of my daughter and son have been overwhelmed by depression, fear and anxiety because of this continuing genocide. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Israel presses on with Gaza assault as Trump again claims ceasefire is close

IDF launches 140 airstrikes in last 24 hours as tanks advance in Gaza City and death toll for same period is put at 77Israel has pressed on with its offensive in Gaza as Donald Trump claimed again to be on the brink of a breakthrough in negotiations for a ceasefire in the devastated territory.Witnesses and medics said Israeli tanks were advancing through central and western neighbourhoods of Gaza City towards crowded coastal areas where hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Israeli strikes kill at least 44 people as military continues Gaza City attack

Health officials say most deaths were in the strip’s largest city, where hundreds of thousands are trapped and starvingIsraeli strikes and shootings have killed at least 44 people in Gaza, according to health officials in the territory, with most of the killings in Gaza City.The Israeli military continues to press ahead with an attack on the strip’s largest city, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are trapped and starving, despite international pressure for a ceasefire. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago An American nurse in Gaza City films a hospital's collapse as Israeli forces surround it

The health care system in Gaza City is coming under fire and being pushed toward collapse as Israeli troops bear down

Politics

1 week ago Doctors Without Borders suspends work in Gaza City during ‘relentless’ Israeli attack

The charity said the deteriorating security situation had made it impossible to safely continue treating patients

Politics

1 week ago Recognising statehood is the minimum – now the EU must protect Palestine with money

As Europe’s socialist leaders, we call for a trade deal and aid package for Palestine – along with sanctions on Israel to halt the genocideApplause rang out through the UN general assembly this month after it endorsed the so-called New York declaration on the revival of the two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. Adopted by a large majority, 142 countries, this initiative from France and Saudi Arabia offers a rare glimmer of hope in one of the most devastating crises of our time.Separately, the conclusions of the UN commission of inquiry have echoed what human rights organisations and genocide experts have been warning for months: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. As the ground invasion of Gaza City intensifies, the international community has a legal and moral obligation to act. This includes the immediate imposition of sanctions on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to halt war crimes.Pedro Sánchez is the president of the Socialist International, secretary general of PS...

Politics

2 w. ago Escaping Gaza City, while reporting on its destruction – podcast

Malak A Tantesh on fleeing the Israeli ground offensive in Gaza and becoming a reporter in the most dangerous place on Earth for journalistsMalak A Tantesh is a journalist in Gaza. On 16 September, the day Israel began its full-scale ground offensive Gaza City, she was among those trying to flee the city. As she hurriedly packed up for her 11th displacement in the last 18 months, she recorded voice notes. “We all say that we don’t want to leave, but we deeply know that we have no other choice,” she says.She tells Lucy Hough what it has been like to be displaced so many times while trying to report on the events around her, all at just 20 years old. When Israel’s blockade of the strip led to hunger and famine, it became hard to work: “I was covering stories about hunger and famine, and I was myself hungry. I was feeling that I am about to collapse. We were eating one meal a day.” Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago A mother stranded in Gaza City says she and her daughters are 'waiting to die'

Noor Abu Hassira is one of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians staying in Gaza City as Israel presses on with an offensive to take it over

Events

2 w. ago ‘We are at our limit’: Gaza’s last hospitals overwhelmed as thousands flee south

‘Not enough of anything’, says surgeon, as Israel’s assault forces injured, sick and hungry people to leave Gaza CityThe few remaining hospitals and clinics in central and southern Gaza are being overwhelmed by a “tsunami” of injured and sick patients fleeing a new Israeli offensive in the north of the devastated territory, medics say.At both Nasser medical complex, in the southern city of Khan Younis, and field hospitals in al-Muwasi, the coastal “humanitarian zone” designated by Israel, staff are struggling to cope with large numbers of new arrivals forced out of Gaza City in the north of the devastated Palestinian territory. Continue reading...

Politics