Two killed and several injured in Israeli strike on Gaza's only Catholic church
The Catholic charity Caritas Jerusalem said the parish's 60-year-old caretaker and an 84-year-old woman receiving psycho-social support inside a Caritas tent in the church compound were killed in the attack.
The Israeli military said it is aware of the incident and is investigating.
Parish priest Fr Gabriel Romanelli, who was close to the late Pope Francis, was also injured.
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Scotsman
6 hours ago
- Scotsman
Susan isn't sitting on the fence over support for Palestinians- Vladimir McTavish
Susam Riddell at the Hot Water Comedy Club With only a week to go until the start of this year's Fringe, there is no such thing as bad publicity. Comedians will do anything for a few column inches at this time of year. However, nobody has ever planned to find themselves up in court on a terrorism charge. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... But that is what happened to a friend of mine, Glaswegian stand-up Susan Riddell on Monday. Last weekend, along with two others, she allegedly drove a van into the fence of arms manufacturer Leonardo in North Edinburgh, in protest against Israeli atrocities in Gaza. The company, formerly BAE Systems, has been alleged to be supplying weapons to the Israeli Defence Force. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Susan has been charged with malicious mischief and contravening the Road Traffic Act. However, as this could be interpreted as supporting Palestine Action, she is also charged under the UK Government's draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act. Photographs of the incident are on the BBC News website. The van has crashed into the perimeter fence of the Leonardo complex from the next door car park at Morrison's on Ferry Road. One panel of the fence has been slightly dislodged. We all remember the images of the bodged attack on Glasgow Airport from 2007. A car rammed into the front of the terminal building at high speed and burst into flames, engulfing the driver in fire, only for the guy to be dragged out of the inferno and given a sound kicking. That was a terrorist incident. Susan's incident took place next the Click & Collect pick-up point. I'd be willing to bet more damage has been done to that fence by careless drivers. This is not so much taking a sledgehammer to break a nut as taking a pneumatic drill to open a pistachio. Riddell has now had to cancel her Fringe show, due to her bail conditions preventing her from entering Edinburgh. Did the judge think she was planning on driving into another fence? In Edinburgh during the festival, where hour-long traffic jams are the norm? She may have had to cancel her 2025 Fringe, but Susan Riddell has one hell of a story to tell next year. That show has already written itself. Personally, I will drive through a fence to see it.
The Herald Scotland
21 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
France's highest court upholds some of Bashar Assad's legal protections
The decision is a blow to activists who had hoped the court would set aside the immunity, a decision that could have had far-reaching consequences for other leaders accused of atrocities. 'From our side as a victim, this is a huge mistake. This will support another dictatorship to keep doing this kind of crime, they know they will enjoy immunity,' said Mazen Darwish, president of the Syrian Centre for Media, which collected evidence of war crimes. 'It is a sad day for us,' Mr Darwish said. ⚖️[Press release] Scope of immunity of foreign officials and Heads of State👓Press release and rulings > — Cour de cassation (@Courdecassation) July 25, 2025 The president of the Cour de Cassation, Christophe Soulard, said in the ruling that 19 judges had declined to lift Assad's immunity, which could have paved the way for his trial in absentia in France over the use of chemical weapons in Ghouta in 2013. Human rights lawyers had said that it was high time to enable prosecution of leaders linked to atrocities while they are in power, not just when they leave. But international law forbids it. 'Under current international law, crimes against humanity and war crimes are not exceptions to the principle of jurisdictional immunity for sitting foreign heads of state,' Mr Soulard said. Assad, the former leader of Syria now in exile in Russia, retained no lawyers for these charges and has denied that he was behind the chemical attacks. 'The court's ruling is a missed opportunity for justice,' said Mariana Pena, a lawyer with the Open Society Justice Initiative, which helped bring the case to the court. But she said that the ruling 'leaves the door open to the prosecution of Assad'. The court also ruled on a case against a former Syrian government finance minister in Assad's government, allowing that he could be prosecuted. Adib Mayaleh's lawyers have argued that he had immunity under international law. For more than 50 years, Syria was ruled by Hafez Assad and then his son Bashar. During the Arab Spring, rebellion broke out against their tyrannical rule in 2011 across the country of 23 million people, igniting a brutal 13-year civil war that killed more than 500,000 people, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. Millions more fled to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Europe. The Assad dynasty manipulated sectarian tensions to stay in power, a legacy driving renewed violence in Syria against minority groups, despite promises that the country's new leaders will carve out a political future for Syria that includes and represents all of its communities. The International Criminal Court is not bound by head of state immunity and has issued arrests warrants for leaders accused of atrocities – like Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza, and Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines. The Syrian government denied in 2013 that it was behind the Ghouta attack, an accusation that the opposition rejected, because Assad's forces were the only side in the brutal civil war to possess sarin. The United States subsequently threatened military retaliation, but Washington settled for a deal with Moscow for Assad to give up his chemical weapons' stockpile. Assad survived in power more than a decade longer, aided militarily by Russia and Iranian-backed proxies. Activists and human rights group accuse him of using barrel bombs, torture and massacres to crush opponents. But then in late 2024, a surprise assault by rebels swept into Aleppo and then Damascus, driving Assad to flee to safety to Russia on December 8, 2024. New warrants after Friday's ruling in France could lay the groundwork for the former leader's trial in absentia or potential arrest, if he travels outside Russia. Any trial of Assad, whether in absentia or if he leaves Russia, would mean this evidence could then 'be brought to light', Ms Pena said, including an enormous trove of classified and secret evidence amassed by the judges during their investigations. Syrians often took great personal risk to gather evidence of war crimes. Mr Darwish said that in the aftermath of a chlorine gas attack in Douma, for example, teams collected witness testimonies, images of devastation and soil samples. Others then tracked down and interviewed defectors to build a 'chain of command' for the Syrian government's chemical weapons production and use. 'We link it directly to the president himself, Bashar al-Assad,' he said. Syrian authorities are now investigating nearly 300 people for crimes during several days of fighting on the coast earlier this year. T The interim authorities in Damascus have pledged to work with the United Nations on investigating further war crimes of the Assad government and the civil war.
The Independent
a day ago
- The Independent
International Criminal Court refers Hungary to its oversight body for failing to arrest Netanyahu
A panel of judges at the International Criminal Court reported Hungary to the court's oversight organization for failing to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visited Budapest in April, saying the move undercut the court's ability to bring suspects to justice. The Israeli leader received a red carpet welcome from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during a state visit, in defiance of an ICC arrest warrant. Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are accused of crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza. Israel is not a member of the court and staunchly rejects the charges. In a filing released late Thursday, the three-judge panel wrote that 'the obligation to cooperate was sufficiently clear to Hungary' and the failure to arrest Netanyahu 'severely undermines the Court's ability to carry out its mandate.' The ICC has no police force and relies on countries around the world to execute arrest warrants. The court's oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties has limited powers to sanction Hungary. It will consider the next steps during its annual meeting in December. The Hungarian leader, regarded by critics as an autocrat and the EU's most intransigent spoiler in the bloc's decision-making, has defended his decision to not arrest Netanyahu. During the visit, Orbán said his country's commitment to the ICC was ' half-hearted ' and began the process to withdraw Hungary from the court. Orbán signed the Rome Statute, the treaty which created the court, in 2001 during his first term as prime minister. The court dismissed arguments from Hungary that Parliament never incorporated the court's statute into Hungarian law, writing 'it was Hungary's responsibility to ensure that such legislation was in place.' The decision comes as Gaza's population of more than 2 million Palestinians is in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, now relying largely on the limited aid allowed into the territory. Netanyahu and Gallant are accused of using 'starvation as a method of warfare' by restricting humanitarian aid, and of intentionally targeting civilians in Israel's campaign against Hamas in Gaza. It's the third time in the past year that the court has investigated one of its member states for failing to arrest suspects. In February, judges asked Italy to explain why the country sent a Libyan man, suspected of torture and murder, home on an Italian military aircraft rather than handing him over to the court. In October, judges reported Mongolia to the court's oversight organization for failing to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin when he visited the Asian nation.
