
Israel economy grew 3.4% in Q1 as war against Hamas weighs
The Central Bureau of Statistics said in an initial estimate on Sunday that gross domestic product (ILGDPP=ECI), opens new tab grew by an annualised 3.4% in the January to March period from the fourth quarter, largely in line with a 3.5% consensus in a Reuters poll. On a per capita basis, GDP gained 2.2% in the first quarter.
The war in Gaza broke out after Hamas' cross-border attack on southern Israel in October 2023. A ceasefire that came into effect on January 19 this year ended in mid-March, although a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon since late November has held up.
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The Guardian
2 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Albanese says Israel's killing of civilians ‘cannot be defended or ignored' in strongest condemnation yet
Anthony Albanese has condemned Israel for 'the killing of civilians, including children' but stopped short of saying Australia would recognise a Palestinian state, as France has committed to doing. In the Australian government's strongest condemnation of Israel yet, the prime minister said the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu's government in denying access to aid 'cannot be defended or ignored'. 'The situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world's worst fears,' Albanese said in a statement. But Albanese made clear Australia was sticking with its stance on Israel and the Palestinian territories, saying the country was still committed to a two-state solution. French president Emmanuel Macron committed overnight to recognising a Palestinian state, becoming the first G7 state to do so. Australia recently joined 27 other countries in a major global statement condemning Israel for the 'drip feeding of aid' and the 'inhumane killing' of Palestinians. 'Tens of thousands of civilians are dead, children are starving. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe,' Albanese said in his statement on Friday. 'Israel's denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored.' He added: 'We call on Israel to comply immediately with its obligations under international law. This includes allowing the United Nations and NGOs to carry out their lifesaving work safely and without hindrance.' Global condemnation and outrage of Israel's actions in Gaza have sharply increased in recent weeks and days. International humanitarian organisations have pleaded for attention on starvation and malnutrition concerns for civilians still remaining in Gaza. At least 45 people have died of hunger in the last four days. The UN and aid groups blame Israel's blockade of almost all aid into the territory for the lack of food. Images of skeletal and starving children have been published on newspaper front pages worldwide. A breakdown in negotiations over a Gaza ceasefire appears to have partly contributed to new statements from Australia, the United Kingdom, France and other western nations on Friday (Aest). Albanese stressed that Australia 'condemns the terror and brutality of Hamas and we reiterate our call for the immediate release of the remaining hostages', and said 'every innocent life matters. Every Israeli. Every Palestinian'. 'We continue to support all international efforts to facilitate a ceasefire, recognising that an immediate and permanent ceasefire gives the best hope of bringing hostages home and easing the agony of their loved ones.' But the prime minister expressed major concern over the ongoing humanitarian situation in the besieged territory, and reiterated the government's support for a two-state solution, which he said was necessary for a 'just and lasting peace'. 'Any proposals for the permanent forced displacement of the Palestinian population must be abandoned,' he said. 'Australia is committed to a future where both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can live in peace and safety, within secure and internationally-recognised borders.' 'Until that day, every effort must be made here and now to safeguard innocent life and end the suffering and starvation of the people of Gaza.' Albanese's statement did not foreshadow further specific actions, and his office would not comment on what further actions Australia may take. The federal government in June placed financial sanctions and travel bans on two Israeli government ministers, but the government is coming under pressure from humanitarian groups and rank-and-file Labor party members to consider levelling sanctions. Labor MP Ed Husic said on Thursday that the federal government 'need to do more'. 'The government should be prepared to work with others to ramp up sanctions in a coordinated way, absolutely,' he told a press conference. 'We're hitting a 'grandkid moment'. The ones that follow us are going to ask us all – at this point, confronted with one of the biggest moral, humanitarian [issues], and frankly this is a matter of conscience as well – what we did, to speak up and press for action to stop this?'

The National
29 minutes ago
- The National
From the editor: Why you should subscribe to The National for just £20
Trust in journalists is low. Disinformation thrives on social media platforms. Reporters face major challenges in getting transparency from governments as officials misuse freedom of information rules. The rich and powerful use their wealth and status to block the publication of important stories. In the past year we've even seen journalists arrested here in the UK. One of The National's own senior reporters was threatened with arrest while covering an arms factory protest. We've faced a lot of hurdles from day one. We're Scotland's first and only pro-independence daily newspaper – so you'd expect that. But over the past 18 or so months, as we've used our platform to bring people informed reporting on Israel's genocide in Gaza and the UK Government's complicity in it, we've encountered all kinds of new problems. Pro-Israel groups claiming to be well-intended campaign organisations complain about our work to Ipso, creating piles of paper work for our team and using up our time. Our journalists face relentless online abuse. Other members of the media have attempted to alienate us in our own industry. But in the face of all this, we won't be silenced. Our team is passionate about holding those in power to account, and being part of a better future not just for Scotland – but for everyone. Our subscribers are a crucial part of helping us to do this. They support our work and allow our journalists to bring investigations to light, often ones which other media outlets would prefer not to touch. They're also part of a bigger community, working with us to shape our editorial output and sharing their feedback. We are so proud of how The National has grown since its inception in 2014 and we see a bright future for our award-winning team. Times are tough for everyone and the cost of living is no joke. But if you have £20 to spare, a subscription to The National provides more than just interesting news coverage – it helps us to show a better future, and a better media, is possible. Times may be bleak and scary right now, but we refuse to accept that they have to be. Subscribe now for just £20 for an entire year of The National


The Guardian
38 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘Hungry aid staff fainting' as starvation spreads in Gaza and truce hopes fade
The head of the main UN agency serving Palestinians has said his frontline staff are fainting from hunger, as the number of people dying of starvation in Gaza continued to rise and hopes for a ceasefire faded as negotiations collapsed. 'This deepening crisis is affecting everyone, including those trying to save lives in the war-torn enclave … when caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing,' Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), said on Thursday. At least 45 people have died of hunger in the last four days. The UN and aid groups blame Israel's blockade of almost all aid into the territory for the lack of food. Lazzarini said in a statement that a colleague in the territory had told him: 'People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses.' He said Unrwa had the equivalent of 6,000 loaded trucks of food and medical supplies waiting in Jordan and Egypt and urged Israel to allow 'humanitarian partners to bring unrestricted and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance to Gaza'. Reports of people fainting and dropping dead of hunger have emerged in recent days. Civil defence workers have released photographs of gaunt bodies with little more than skin covering their bones. Medical sources in Gaza said two more people had died of hunger on Thursday, both of whom had been ill and had not eaten for days. As international pressure mounted for a breakthrough to end nearly two years of devastating war, Emmanuel Macron announced France would recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly in September. 'True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognise the State of Palestine. I will make a formal announcement at the United Nations General Assembly in September,' the French president wrote on X and Instagram. Earlier, Israel and the US announced they were recalling their negotiators from Doha, where peace talks were being held. The US envoy, Steve Witkoff, accused Hamas of not acting in good faith. 'We have decided to bring our team home from Doha for consultations after the latest response from Hamas, which clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza,' he wrote on X. He said the US would consider 'alternative options' to recover the hostages and 'create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza' without elaborating on what those alternatives might be. Witkoff's announcement came after Hamas sent its response on the latest ceasefire proposal to mediators. It was an abrupt about-face to the optimism earlier in the day, when the Associated Press reported an Israeli official saying the Hamas proposal was workable. Witkoff had also been scheduled to meet the top Israeli adviser, Ron Dermer, and the Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani in Sardinia, which was regarded as a positive sign for the ceasefire talks. It was unclear if or when those meetings would still happen. Hamas's proposal included requests on the number of prisoners exchanged, the agencies to be allowed to distribute aid in Gaza and a permanent end to the war rather than a ceasefire, Israeli media reported. The group's demands came as global pressure mounted on Israel to stop fighting and a growing number of countries expressed horror at the scenes of starvation in the territory. A Palestinian official close to the talks told Reuters the Hamas response was 'flexible, positive and took into consideration the growing suffering in Gaza and the need to stop the starvation'. A Hamas source said the proposal included a fresh roadmap for a prisoner exchange, which it told Reuters was a top priority for the group. The Israeli Hostage Families Forum, representing the families of those held in Gaza, issued a statement of concern at the news that negotiators had been recalled and urged a ceasefire to be reached quickly. 'Each day that passes endangers the hostages' chances of recovery and risks losing the ability to locate the fallen or gain vital intelligence about them,' it said. The deal that was under consideration is expected to involve a 60-day ceasefire during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 others in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Talks would be held during the ceasefire period to reach a lasting truce and aid supplies to the besieged strip would be increased. It has only been since the end of the war between Iran and Israel last month that the serious prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza has emerged. As negotiations continued, Israeli attacks increased. At least 89 people were killed in the last 24 hours as Israeli airstrikes pounded central Gaza, health authorities said. Israel says the global media is exaggerating the scale of the hunger crisis, even though aid groups and pictures coming from Gaza show clear evidence of starvation and doctors who treat malnourished children say they are unable to get enough to eat themselves. Israel only lets a trickle of aid into Gaza, the vast majority of which is distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private US firm. GHF operates four food distribution points staffed by US mercenaries, a system which has been described as a death trap. More than 1,000 people seeking aid have been killed trying to access supplies in the nearly two months since GHF began operating in Gaza. Aid was formerly distributed through more than 400 distribution points under a UN-led system, but Israel has all but stopped UN aid into the territory since March. Israel accuses Hamas of stealing UN aid, a claim for which humanitarians say there is little evidence. Aid groups say GHF, which was meant to replace the UN, lacks the capacity to do so and that its militarised model violates key humanitarian principles. Restoring the UN aid system as a part of a ceasefire deal is a key Hamas demand. Israeli negotiators have softened their stance on the issue as pressure grows even within Israel to stop the starvation crisis, which the World Health Organization director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described on Wednesday as man-made. Thousands of Israeli demonstrators carrying bags of flour and pictures of Palestinian children who died of starvation protested in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, calling for an end to the Gaza blockade. Hamas is also calling for a ceasefire deal to include a permanent end to the Gaza war, something that Israel has refused. A ceasefire deal is unpopular among the more extreme members of Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet and Israel has sought to keep open the possibility of restarting the war after the ceasefire period.