Iran's revenge hits home that Israel risks a ‘forever war': The Independent reports from Tel Aviv
World affairs editor Sam Kiley spoke with residents bombed out of their homes, fearing for their future as the Middle East conflict between Iran and Israel rages on.
Resident Ravita Yemeni said: 'I think it's a stupid war. I think every war is stupid. I think that we're bullies, they're bullies. Everybody's crazy … We want to live in peace. The Iranians want to live in peace, and they [the world leaders] don't let us. All the dictators rule the world now, and they don't let us live in peace.'
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Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Videos of emaciated Israeli hostage Evyatar David released by Hamas
Why you can trust Sky News Two videos of an emaciated Israeli hostage, Evyatar David, have been released by Hamas, after US special envoy Steve Witkoff this week met with the families of the hostages. The now 24-year-old looks skeletal, with his shoulder blades protruding from his back, and says he has not eaten for three days. The distressing videos show him apparently digging his own grave. He worked in a restaurant, according to a video posted by Labour Friends of Israel, before he was abducted from the Nova music festival on 7 October 2023. Since then, he has been held in captivity in Gaza, and the videos suggest he is being kept in dark tunnels and surviving on scarce portions of lentils and beans. Gaza itself is suffering "man-made mass starvation" because of Israel's blockade on aid to the enclave, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has previously said. In the second video, released on Saturday, Mr David - according to the English subtitles - says: "I haven't eaten for three days." The captions continue as he speaks while in an underground tunnel: "There's no [sic] enough food. I barely get drinking water." The video shows him talking through what ate in July, which has been recorded on a handmade calendar hung up on the side of an underground Gaza tunnel. Speaking while under captivity and under duress, he adds: "They give me what they can get." At the end of the video, he is digging a hole. The subtitle reads: "This is the grave where I think I'm going to be buried in. Time is running out." He then appears to break down, crouching on the floor and leaning his head on his arm while still clinging to the shovel. In a statement, his family said: "We are forced to witness our beloved son and brother, Evyatar David, deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas's tunnels in Gaza - a living skeleton, buried alive. "Our son has only a few days left to live in his current condition." They added: "Israel and the international community must oppose Hamas's cruelty and ensure that our Evyatar immediately receives proper nutrition. "The intentional starvation, torture, and abuse of Evyatar for propaganda purposes violate even the lowest standards of humanitarian law and basic human decency." 'Famine' looms in Gaza On Friday, US special envoy Steve Witkoff visited a site where the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has been distributing food in Gaza. The controversial GHF scheme has been widely condemned, including by the UK government, after fatal shootings ever since it was set up earlier this year. According to the United Nations' human rights office, at least 859 people have been killed "in the vicinity" of GHF aid sites since late May. The Israel Defence Forces has repeatedly said it "categorically rejects the claims of intentional harm to civilians" and has blamed Hamas militants for fomenting chaos and endangering civilians. Meanwhile, the UN's Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IFSPC) this week said a "worst-case scenario of famine" was sinking in across the besieged enclave. It has also said more than 20,000 children have been treated for acute malnutrition since April. Families of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are concerned they are also starving, and blame Hamas. On Saturday, Gaza's health ministry said a further seven Palestinians had died of malnutrition-related causes in the past 24 hours, including a child.
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Hamas vows to never lay guns down unless demand is met as thugs share sick clip of hostage ‘forced to dig his own grave'
HAMAS says it will never lay guns down unless an independent Palestinian state is established and its capital is Jerusalem. It comes as the militant group - declared a terrorist organisation by the UK and the US - released a sick video showing an emaciated Israeli hostage in a tunnel. 1 The militant group said it was giving a statement "in response to media reports quoting US envoy Steve Witkoff, claiming [Hamas] has shown willingness to disarm". It said: "We reaffirm that resistance and its arms are a legitimate national and legal right as long as the occupation continues. "This right is recognised by international laws and norms, and it cannot be relinquished except through the full restoration of our national rights - first and foremost, the establishment of an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital." Last week, indirect talks between Hamas and Israel ended in deadlock, stalling efforts to secure a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and a deal for the release of hostages. Hamas has dominated Gaza since 2007, but has been militarily weakened by Israel in the war. .
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Israel closes 88% of cases of alleged war crimes or abuse without charges
Nearly nine out of 10 Israeli military investigations into allegations of war crimes or abuses by its soldiers since the start of the war in Gaza have been closed without finding fault or left without resolution, according to a conflict monitor. Unresolved investigations include the killing of at least 112 Palestinians queueing for flour in Gaza City in February 2024, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) said, and an airstrike that killed 45 in an inferno at a tented camp in Rafah in May 2024. Also unresolved is an inquiry into the killing of 31 Palestinians going to pick up food at a distribution point in Rafah on 1 June. They were killed after Israeli forces opened fire, witnesses said. Shortly after, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the reports were 'false' but the IDF told the Guardian that the incident was 'still under review'. Iain Overton and Lucas Tsantzouris, the team at AOAV, said the statistics suggested Israel was seeking to create a 'pattern of impunity' by failing to conclude or find no fault in the vast majority of cases involving 'the most severe or public accusations of wrongdoing by their forces'. The IDF said it 'conducts examination and investigation processes regarding exceptional incidents that occurred during operational activity, in which there is a suspicion of a violation of the law' in accordance with its obligations under Israeli and international law. It operates internal systems to conduct examinations and allegations of war crimes, including criminal investigations by the military advocate general's police department and fact-finding assessments (FFA) by a separate team in the general staff. The relatively short passage of time, in investigatory and legal terms, means other unresolved cases may also result in prosecutions, though the two researchers said IDF inquiries had become 'more opaque and slow-moving' as the number of civilian casualties in Gaza has mounted. AOAV said it had found reports of 52 cases in English-language media where the Israeli military said it had conducted or would conduct an investigation after allegations of civilian harm or wrongdoing by its forces in Gaza or the West Bank between October 2023 and the end of June 2025. They involve the deaths of 1,303 Palestinians and the wounding of 1,880. One case resulted in a prison sentence for an Israeli soldier. An IDF reservist received a seven-month jail term in February after he was convicted by a military court of the aggravated abuse of Palestinian security detainees. He had repeatedly attacked bound and blindfolded prisoners with his fists, a baton and his assault rifle at the Sde Teiman detention centre. Five other cases ended with violations found. In one, an IDF colonel and a major were sacked in April 2024 and three other commanders reprimanded a few days after seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen were killed in an airstrike. The IDF said it was a 'grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification', though the charity said the rapid investigation lacked credibility. The remaining 46 cases, representing 88% of the total, seven were closed without any finding of fault, AOAV said. A further 39 remain under review or with no outcome reported, including four deadly incidents over the course of last month when Palestinians were killed near or at various food distribution points on the Gaza Strip. According to the IDF: 'Any report … complaint or allegation that suggests misconduct by IDF forces undergoes an initial examination process, irrespective of its source.' In some instances the evidence is such that a criminal investigation by military police is ordered, while in others an initial investigation takes place. These are referred to the IDF general staff's FFA mechanism to determine 'whether there is a reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct'. Critics of the system, such as the Yesh Din human rights group, say FFA investigations can take years and have led to one known prosecution after 664 inquiries relating to previous IDF military operations in Gaza, in 2014, 2018-19 and 2021. In August 2024, the IDF said the FFA had collected information on 'hundreds of incidents' relating to the war in Gaza alone, while the military advocate general's office had launched 74 criminal investigations. Of these, 52 related to the deaths and mistreatment of detainees and 13 to the stealing of enemy ammunition, while a minority related to allegations of war crimes in combat situations. Three related to the 'destruction of civilian property without military necessity' and six concerning 'alleged illegal use of force'. The IDF statistics differ from the investigations tracked by AOAV because the research group used a different methodology. AOAV reviewed episodes where there were reports of an investigation being or having been conducted and also took in incidents on the West Bank as well as Gaza. The IDF said that 'dozens of military police investigations have been opened' and that 'most of these investigations are still ongoing'. The FFA mechanism, meanwhile, had 'completed its review in dozens of cases' and these had transferred to the military advocate general for possible criminal investigation.
