Israel / Palestine

U.N. Security Council members expressed frustration Wednesday with the failure to conclude a cease-fire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, amid the killing of six Israeli hostages and the escalation of violence in the West Bank.

Amid further raids, airstrikes and settler attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, warned that the Israeli military’s actions risked further enflaming an “already explosive situation”.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) until 31 August 2025, stressing the importance of — and the need to achieve — a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

Some 60 media and rights organisations on Monday urged the European Union to suspend a co-operation accord with Israel and impose sanctions, accusing it of "massacring journalists" in Gaza. 

US President Joe Biden has “stressed the urgency” of reaching a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House has said. In a call on Wednesday, which was also joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, Mr Biden is said to have stated the importance of removing “any remaining obstacles” blocking an agreement with Hamas. … It came after the US secretary of state wrapped up a diplomatic tour of the Middle East, pushing for a deal that could end the war.

Israeli forces carried out airstrikes Thursday in the Gaza Strip and in southern Lebanon, while uncertainty remained about the latest push to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza as negotiators worked to resolve differences between Israel and the Hamas militant group.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has promised to go to the besieged Gaza Strip, saying he will stand by the Palestinian people even if it costs him his life. Speaking to Turkey’s Grand National Assembly on Thursday as the Palestinian death toll from the Israeli war on Gaza surpassed 40,000, Abbas decried the “silence of the international community” in the face of atrocities committed by Israel.

A senior Hamas official told the BBC that it will not participate in the indirect talks on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal due to resume in Doha on Thursday. The Palestinian armed group wanted a roadmap for implementing the agreement and would “not engage in negotiations for the sake of negotiations in order to provide cover for Israel to continue its war”, the official said.

Iran has dismissed calls from the UK and other Western countries to refrain from retaliation against Israel for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month.

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, called on Friday for the Israeli authorities to monitor senior officials whose public statements on the Gaza conflict may promote war crimes. OHCHR spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Türk “is shocked and appalled” by comments made by Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who suggested that letting two million Palestinians in Gaza starve to death could be “justified and moral” in order to free hostages.