Israel / Palestine

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.

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, has expressed horror at the escalating pattern of Israeli Defence Force (IDF) strikes on schools in Gaza, which have killed at least 163 internally displaced Palestinians, including children and women, in the past month.

UN internal investigation has concluded that nine of 19 Palestinian staffers accused by Israel “may have been involved” in the October 7 terror attacks in southern Israel, while insufficient or no evidence was found regarding 10 others. … All of the 19 were employed by UNRWA, the U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees.

Reports of alleged torture and sexual violence in Israel’s Sde Teiman prison represent “the tip of the iceberg”, UN independent human rights experts warned on Monday, calling for swift action to end impunity surrounding reports of violations against Palestinian detainees.