
Hannah Thomas may lose eyesight amid police brutality at pro-Palestine protest
Thomas was among the pro-Palestine activists protesting SEC Plating's alleged role in providing electric components to the IDF, including some used for F‑35 fighter jets. New South Wales Police tried to intervene, which resulted in violent clashes between the police and protestors.
Hannah Thomas' lawyer, Peter O'Brien, revealed that she might permanently lose sight in her right eye after she sustained multiple facial injuries from the police. Thomas was charged with several counts, including resisting police and failing to comply with orders.
According to Al Jazeera, the former Greens candidate who is open about her pro-Palestine stance is scheduled for a local court hearing in Bankstown on August 12.
Despite suffering from serious health concerns due to her eye injury, Thomas took to Instagram to thank her followers for their support and reassured viewers that the peaceful pro-Gaza protests will continue despite the possible brutality from local police.
The ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza has resulted in the killing of more than 56,000 Palestinians and the injuring of at least 133,000, including children, the elderly, and women.
The Palestinian Health Ministry stated that "Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them."
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Al Bawaba
5 hours ago
- Al Bawaba
Massive outrage in Tel Aviv: Trump says Macron ‘Carries no weight'
Published July 25th, 2025 - 02:55 GMT ALBAWABA - Washington and Paris: Former U.S. President Donald Trump strongly disagreed with French President Emmanuel Macron's recent decision to recognize the State of Palestine, calling it "meaningless" and not having any political weight. Also Read Israel launches a new wave of airstrikes on southern Lebanon The world is angry about Israel's military activities in Gaza, which led to Macron's statement, which is a big change in policy from a major Western power. Reporters were told this by Trump at the White House: "What Macron says doesn't matter. We pulled out of the talks in Gaza because Hamas doesn't want peace. There needs to be a fight until Hamas is gone. Trump's words come after Macron's promise to officially recognize Palestine at the September UN General Assembly. Macron told Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, in a message that France would continue to work for world recognition of Palestine as a state and encourage other countries to do the same. France is the first country in the G7 to support Palestinian independence since 2024, when Spain, Norway, and Ireland did the same. Macron said that the move was necessary to protect the two-state solution and help with the growing humanitarian situation in Gaza. But Israeli and American leaders were very angry about it. Israeli officials called France's move a "diplomatic bomb" that could do a lot of damage to ties between the two countries. The move was also criticized by U.S. officials, who called it "reckless" and said it would likely give Hamas more power. — Sky News (@SkyNews) July 25, 2025 Macron's decision comes just a few days before France and Saudi Arabia co-host a UN peace meeting. The goal of the meeting is to get the political process moving again toward a calm and providing aid to people in Gaza. Macron is set to officially give the award at the UN General Assembly in New York at the beginning of September. Diplomats say that the French move could make countries that aren't sure about recognizing Palestine, like the UK, Germany, and Australia, change their minds. The political impact keeps getting worse. Human rights and pro-Palestinian groups praise France, but it could hurt its security and intelligence relationships with the U.S. and Israel this way. Israel is said to have threatened possible reprisal actions, such as cutting off cooperation and sharing of information with Paris in the area. Germany has said it won't follow France's lead in the near future. The UK, on the other hand, said it would still back a Palestinian state "eventually," but stressed that it would put emergency aid first. © 2000 - 2025 Al Bawaba (


Jordan Times
a day ago
- Jordan Times
WHO says Gaza facilities attacked as Israel expands operations
DEIR EL-BALAH, Palestinian Territories — The World Health Organization said Monday its facilities in Gaza had come under Israeli attack, echoing calls from Western countries for an immediate ceasefire as Israel expanded military operations to the central city of Deir el Balah. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Israeli military had entered the UN agency's staff residence, forced women and children to evacuate on foot, and handcuffed, stripped and interrogated male staff at gunpoint. Earlier, more than two dozen Western countries called for an immediate end to the war, saying suffering there had "reached new depths". After more than 21 months of fighting that have triggered catastrophic humanitarian conditions for Gaza's more than two million people, Israeli allies Britain, France, Australia, Canada and 21 other countries, plus the EU, said in a joint statement that the war "must end now". "The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths," the signatories added, urging a negotiated ceasefire, the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants and the free flow of much-needed aid. Tedros, who also condemned an attack on the WHO's main warehouse in Deir el-Balah, echoed that call: "A ceasefire is not just necessary, it is overdue," he said on X. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned the countries' statement, saying any international pressure should be on Hamas, while US ambassador Mike Huckabee called the joint letter "disgusting". Key mediator Egypt, however, endorsed the message. The Western plea came with Deir el-Balah under intense shelling on Monday, after Israel's military the day before had ordered residents to leave, warning of imminent action in an area where it had not previously operated. Between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area when the evacuation order was issued, according to initial estimates from the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA. Deir el-Balah resident Abdullah Abu Saleem, 48, told AFP on Monday that "during the night, we heard huge and powerful explosions shaking the area as if it were an earthquake". He said this was "due to artillery shelling in the south-central part of Deir el-Balah and the southeastern area". "We are extremely worried and fearful that the army is planning a ground operation," he added. 'Extremely critical' In their statement, the Western countries also denounced Israel's aid delivery model in Gaza, saying it was "dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity". The UN has recorded 875 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food since late May, when Israel began easing a more than two-month aid blockade. "We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food," the statement said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned through his spokesman the "accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions", noting "the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition". In Deir el-Balah, AFP images showed plumes of dark smoke billowing into the sky. The spokesman for Gaza's civil defence agency, Mahmud Bassal, told AFP it had "received calls from several families trapped in the Al-Baraka area of Deir el-Balah due to shelling by Israeli tanks". The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment. Since the start of the war, nearly all of Gaza's population has been displaced at least once by repeated Israeli evacuation orders. According to OCHA, the latest order means that 87.8 percent of the territory is now under evacuation orders or within Israeli militarised zones. Hamdi Abu Mughseeb, 50, told AFP that he and his family had fled northwards from their tent south of Deir el-Balah at dawn following a night of intense shelling. "There is no safe place anywhere in the Gaza Strip," he said. "I don't know where we can go." Mai Elawawda, communications officer in Gaza for the UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, said the situation was "extremely critical", describing shelling "all around our office." 'Shocked and alarmed' The families of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel said they were "shocked and alarmed" by reports of evacuation orders for parts of Deir el-Balah. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum demanded political and military authorities "clearly explain why the offensive in the Deir el-Balah area does not put the hostages at serious risk". Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas's attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Civil defence spokesman Bassal reported at least 15 people killed by Israeli forces across Gaza on Monday. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties. Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed 59,029 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Hamas's 2023 attack, which sparked the war, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.


Jordan Times
a day ago
- Jordan Times
France's top diplomat calls for foreign press access to Gaza
PARIS — French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Tuesday called on Israel to allow foreign press into the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza, as warnings of famine mount after 21 months of war. He spoke after the AFP news agency warned that the lives of Palestinian freelance journalists it was working with in Gaza were in danger and urged Israel to allow them and their families to leave the occupied coastal territory. "I ask that the free and independent press be allowed to access Gaza to show what is happening there and to bear witness," Barrot told France Inter radio in an interview from eastern Ukraine. Asked if France would help AFP stringers leave Gaza, Barrot said France was "addressing the issue" and hoped to be able to evacuate freelancers working with French journalists "in the coming weeks". On Monday, an association of journalists at AFP called the Societe des Journalistes (Society of Journalists) sounded the alarm, urging "immediate intervention" to help reporters working with the agency in Gaza. The SDJ cited the example of one such freelancer, a 30-year-old living with his family in Gaza City, who reported on Sunday that his older brother "fell because of hunger". "We have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had injuries and prisoners in our ranks, but none of us can remember seeing a colleague die of starvation," it said. AFP management responded in a statement posted on X and Instagram which said that it shared the anguish about the "dire situation" of colleagues in Gaza. "Since October 7, Israel has prohibited access to the Gaza Strip for all international journalists. "In this context, the work of our Palestinian freelancers is crucial to inform the world," it said. "But their lives are in danger, which is why we urge the Israeli authorities to allow their immediate evacuation along with their families." AFP evacuated its eight staff members and their families from Gaza between January and April 2024. Barrot called for an "immediate ceasefire" after Israel on Monday expanded military operations to the central city of Deir el-Balah. "There is no longer any justification for the Israeli army's military operations in Gaza," he said. "This is an offensive that will exacerbate an already catastrophic situation and cause new forced displacements of populations, which we condemn in the strongest terms."