Israel / Palestine

BBC News has confirmed the identities of 10 members of the Infidels Motorcycle Club working in Gaza for UG Solutions - a private contractor providing security at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, where hundreds of civilians seeking food have been killed in scenes of chaos and gunfire. 

The UN Secretary-General has condemned an Israeli strike targeting Hamas leaders in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on Tuesday, while highlighting the “very positive role” played by the country in achieving a ceasefire in Gaza and securing the release of hostages. … President Donald Trump said in a social media post that bombing Qatar, a “sovereign nation and close ally” of the US, does not advance the goals of either Israel or the US.

The measures announced on Thursday target Al-Haq group, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, in relation to their support of the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, following other sanctions imposed by the US Government in June on renowned Palestinian non-governmental organization (NGO) Addameer. 

Israel's army Thursday claimed that it currently controls 40 percent of Gaza City, the besieged enclave's largest city. The news comes as Israel faces international condemnation and backlash for its decision to expand an ongoing offensive in the Palestinian territory. 

The United Arab Emirates has warned Israel that annexing the occupied West Bank would cross a "red line" and undermine the spirit of the Abraham Accords that normalised relations between the two countries. 

US officials have further restricted visitor visas for Palestinians, by denying them to almost all applicants who use a Palestinian passport, media reports say. The development comes days after 80 Palestinian officials were denied visas ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Amid reports of increased Israeli military operations across Gaza City on Friday, UN aid agencies repeated urgent warnings of ongoing famine and a likely rise in preventable disease, linked to the dire living conditions in the war-shattered enclave.

Israeli and U.S. officials met Wednesday in Washington to discuss post-war Gaza, even as Israel’s military called the evacuation of Gaza City “inevitable” ahead of a new offensive and no sign of a ceasefire was in sight.

The situation in Gaza is catastrophic, with the worst-case scenario of famine now officially declared and Israel using starvation as a method of war “in its starkest terms”, speakers warned the Security Council today, among them the head of Save the Children International, who implored, Gaza’s “children have reached their breaking point.  Where is yours?” 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, after Israel announced the first steps of an operation to take over Gaza City.