Israel / Palestine

The UN Secretary-General has welcomed a new agreement signed on Tuesday in Beijing by Hamas and Fatah, together with smaller Palestinian factions, aimed at ending years of political rivalry as the war in Gaza grinds on.

The UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday declared that Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory “is unlawful”, and that “all States are under an obligation not to recognize” the decades-long occupation.

Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups it coordinated committed hundreds of war crimes in the October 7 attack on southern Israel, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) NGO said in a new report released on Wednesday. Hamas rejected the findings, calling on the US-based rights group to withdraw the report and apologise. 

Antonio Guterres says recent developments in the occupied West Bank are ‘driving a stake through the heart’ of a two-state solution.

The Security Council today heard growing calls for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as speakers reiterated their concern about the ongoing war’s unspeakable toll on civilians and the dwindling prospect for a two-State solution for Israel and Palestine.

Israel's army has ordered all Palestinians to leave the urban area of Gaza City, where over half a million people used to live. At least 38,295 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, have already been killed in Israeli attacks, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. 

Famine has spread across the Gaza Strip, a panel of United Nations experts in Geneva said in a statement on Tuesday. … The panel called upon "the international community to prioritize the delivery of humanitarian aid by land by any means necessary, end Israel's siege, and establish a cease-fire."

Israel is studying "some ideas" that Hamas sent to Qatari mediators on Wednesday, and Israel confirmed it is evaluating Hamas’ response to a peace deal that would include releasing hostages and a cease-fire.

[…] In its current stand-by mode, EUBAM Rafah continues to advise and provide technical assistance on integrated border management to the Palestinian General Administration for Borders and Crossings based in Jericho and support projects on trade facilitation and processing of biometric passports. … EUPOL COPPS’s … current mandate focuses on support to the Palestinian Civil Police and wider justice institutions, … .

While the situation in Gaza remains catastrophic, ongoing Israeli settlement expansion and escalating violence in the occupied West Bank is ratcheting up tension across the whole region, the UN’s Middle East envoy said on Tuesday.