Category: 2. Middle East

As the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem issues a damning report titled “Our Genocide”, concluding that Tel-Aviv’s actions in Gaza constitute a deliberate campaign of annihilation, a group of Israeli public figures are calling for “crippling sanctions” on their own country. The group of 31 signatories, including artists, academics and former officials, have urged the international community to intervene as starvation and mass displacement ravage the…

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (Reuters) -On the pink walls of Nasser hospital’s child malnutrition ward, cartoon drawings show children running, smiling, and playing with flowers and balloons.

Beneath the pictures, a handful of Gazan mothers watch over their babies who lie still and largely silent, mostly too exhausted by severe hunger to cry.

The quiet is common in places treating the most acutely malnourished, doctors told Reuters, a sign of bodies shutting down.

“She is always lethargic,…

The Hamas negotiating delegation left the Qatari capital, Doha, on Tuesday, heading to Turkey to discuss the “latest developments” after the ceasefire talks with Israel had broken down, a Hamas official told AFP.

“A high-level leadership delegation from Hamas, headed by Mohammed Darwish, president of the movement’s leadership council, and including the negotiation team and its head, Khalil Al-Hayya, is departing Doha heading to Istanbul,” the source…

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa met on Tuesday with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy to discuss “practical steps towards recognising the State of Palestine,” expressing his appreciation for the UK’s position in this regard.

The meeting took place at the United Nations headquarters in New York on the sidelines of the UN High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the…

Iran rejected on Tuesday US President Donald Trump claims that Tehran had interfered in the ceasefire- prisoner swap talks between the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas and Israel.  

On Monday, Trump told reporters that the Iranians had “interfered” in the recent negotiations, which ended last week without any progress.

“I think they interfered in these negotiations, and they informed Hamas and gave them signals and orders, and that’s not good,”…

DAMASCUS (Reuters) -The United Nations is preparing to send a convoy of humanitarian aid to Syria’s southern province of Sweida, three aid officials told Reuters, after days of bloodshed left hundreds dead and displaced an estimated 175,000 people.

The preparations began after Syria’s foreign ministry granted U.N. aid agencies a green light to access Sweida directly, according to correspondence seen by Reuters, following three deliveries of U.N. aid to the province carried out by the Syrian…

Germany and several other European countries are blocking a proposal to impose sanctions on Israel over its role in worsening the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, according to diplomats.

EU member states’ permanent representatives convened in Brussels but failed to reach a consensus to initiate the formal decision-making process.

Diplomats said countries, including Germany, called for more time and further analysis of the situation on the ground.

Some…

Malta will recognize the state of Palestine during the UN General Assembly in September, the country’s Prime Minister Robert Abela announced, Anadolu reports.

“Our country’s position reflects our commitment to finding a solution in favor of lasting peace in the Middle East,” Abela said in a Facebook post on Tuesday evening.

Abela’s announcement came just hours after a similar declaration by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and days after France revealed…

By Charlotte Greenfield

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -When two human rights groups became the first major voices in Israel to accuse the state of committing genocide in Gaza, breaking a taboo in a country founded after the Holocaust, they were prepared for a backlash.

B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel released reports at a press conference in Jerusalem on Monday, saying Israel was carrying out “coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip”.

That marked…

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday welcomed British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s declaration that the United Kingdom intends to recognise the State of Palestine and supports a two-state solution.

In a statement, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “The Kingdom reiterates its call upon the international community and peace-loving countries to take serious steps toward implementing international resolutions that affirm the legitimate right of the Palestinian…