Gaza: Aid begins trickling in as Palestinians starve
26/07/2025
Ziad Rahbani, the voice a wounded Lebanon, dies at 69
Middle East
26/07/2025
Starvation crisis deepens in Gaza: are aidrops really the solution?
Middle East
26/07/2025
Gaza aid airdrops spark criticism, as starvation deepens in the Strip
Middle East
26/07/2025
Gaza: Protesters across the world demand aid access to the Strip
Middle East
26/07/2025
Gaza: Israel says air drops of aid will resume soon over the Strip
Middle East
25/07/2025
Gaza: 25% children are malnourished, says MSF
Middle East
25/07/2025
Gaza on the brink of mass starvation
Middle East
25/07/2025
US quits Gaza ceasefire talks, accuses Hamas of lacking 'good faith'
Middle East
25/07/2025
Macron defies Israeli and US opposition to French plan to recognize Palestine at the United Nations
France
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France 24
11 minutes ago
- France 24
'Ours forever': would-be Israeli settlers march on Gaza
Waving Israeli flags alongside the orange banners of Gush Katif -- a bloc of settlements dismantled in 2005 -- the marchers went from the town of Sderot to the Asaf Siboni observation point, overlooking the ruins of Beit Hanun. Israel's withdrawal from Gaza 20 years ago ended 38 years of military presence. About 8,000 settlers were evacuated and 21 communities demolished. But a vocal fringe never gave up the dream of return -- and now, amid war with Hamas and with hardliners in government, some believe the time is ripe. Veterans of Gush Katif have been joined by a new generation of would-be settlers ready to move in if the army gets out of their way. "As a movement, 1,000 families -- you see them today marching -- we are ready to move now, as things stand, and to live in tents," said 79-year-old Daniella Weiss, a former mayor of the West Bank settlement of Kedumim. "We are ready with our children to move into the Gaza area right away, because we believe this is the way to bring quiet, peace, to put an end to Hamas," she told AFP. "It's only when we hold on to the soil, to the grains of sand, that the army will raise a white flag," she said. Far-right groups joined the protest, marching toward the border chanting: "Gaza, ours forever!" Loudspeakers blared: "The way to defeat Hamas is to take back our land." 'God and the government' Much of Gaza has been ruined by the Israeli offensive launched in response to the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 dead and more than 250 taken hostage. More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. International NGOs have accused Israel of forcibly displacing civilians and committing war crimes -- with some alleging genocide, a charge Israel fiercely rejects. The official policy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is that the Gaza operation was launched to destroy Hamas and rescue Israeli hostages -- not to restore settlements. But the would-be settlers say they have been in talks with hardline members of the ruling coalition and believe there may be a political opening, despite the fact that reoccupation is deemed illegal under international law. They were further buoyed this week when Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, in a speech at the Gush Katif museum, declared: "It's closer than ever. It's a realistic work plan. "We didn't sacrifice all this to transfer Gaza from one Arab to another Arab. Gaza is an inseparable part of the land of Israel. "I don't want to go back to Gush Katif -- it's too small. It needs to be much bigger. Gaza today allows us to think a little bigger." The marchers heard him. "I have faith in God and in the government," said Sharon Emouna, 58, who came from her settlement in the occupied West Bank to support the Gaza return movement. "I'm just here in support, to say that the land of Israel is promised to the Jewish people and it's our right to settle there," she said. And if any Palestinians want to remain in Gaza, Emouna added, they would benefit from living alongside the settlers. On Wednesday, however, it was Israeli soldiers who blocked the final short walk to Gaza, across a parched landscape of low brush scorched by the summer sun. A continuous stream of families approached the border, close enough to glimpse the apocalyptic silhouette of smashed Palestinian homes left by the fighting -- and, perhaps, what they hope will become home again.
France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Palestinian activist Owdeh Hathaleen killed by Israeli settler in West Bank, witness says
The confrontation took place near Umm al-Khair, a Palestinian village of approximately 200 residents that has been under increasing pressure for several months from Israeli settlers who set up a settlement just a few metres away. Prior to the incident, the residents had already been enduring repeated acts of harassment and incursions into the village. On the afternoon of Monday, July 28, tensions escalated significantly following the advance of a bulldozer towards a pipeline in the village. An Israeli settler fired multiple shots into the village. Shortly after, the Israeli army intervened, arresting several Palestinians, along with one Israeli. The village is in the Masafer Yatta region, subject of the Oscar-winning documentary 'No Other Land', to which Owdeh Hathaleen had contributed. ' The event started the day before' Mattan Berner-Kadish, an Israeli-American pro-Palestinian activist and friend of Owdeh Hathaleen, was present during the attack on Monday, July 28, that resulted in Owdeh Hathaleen's death. He says the incident started peacefully on Sunday before escalating into a confrontation on Monday. "The event started the day before [Editor's note: Sunday, July 27], when the machine, the bulldozer, pulled up for the first time and the settlers and the head of this settlement security told us that it was going to be used exclusively on the land they occupy, in an olive grove that we had planted. When the bulldozer was dropped off and parked, it was on the main road, and it had already damaged part of that road. The Palestinians had offered that the next day in the morning – the day that the event happened – they would take extra wheels that they have sitting around – as many of these villages do – and put them underneath so that it would roll over the wheels as opposed to on the road and not damage it. And then, on Monday, there were more discussions because the settlers plan to build the road where the village's water and electricity lines currently run. There were talks between the settlement's security chief and the villagers. Things didn't really seem like they were going to be too dramatic. Then, all of a sudden, my friend Ahmed says: 'Come, come, come !' Because the bulldozer had started driving and it had crushed the sewage line that is the border between private Palestinian land and the [Israeli] State land, and then started driving into Palestinian land, destroying all trees and destroying the sewage pipe. So me and Ahmed tried to get in front of it. A few other people tried to get in front too. We were filming. The driver didn't stop, and he swung the piece in the front that he was using to dig and he hit my friend Ahmed in the shoulder and the neck. He fell over.' 'A nurse and two activists showed up. One of them was trained as a paramedic, and I was translating and helping him. And then he asked me to go get him water. While that was happening, I heard like a 'boom' that I thought was a sound grenade. I ran over to go get him water, and I saw Owdeh on the floor bleeding with a bullet wound.' 'So then I ran over to Levy, the settler. I asked him, I was begging him: 'Please don't shoot anyone else. Please calm down.' I said: 'You just killed somebody!' And he said: 'I'm glad I did it and I'm happy about it.' After that, we just tried to keep things a little calmer. We were able to bring ambulances. I tried to get in the ambulance with Owdeh. They didn't let me in.' Owdeh Hathaleen's relatives announced his death hours later. Berner-Kadish has been visiting the West Bank for many years. The 29-year-old Israeli-American met Hathaleen in 2021, and they quickly became close friends. He shared insights into how the father of three young children was perceived within the Palestinian community: 'He was a truly wonderful, sweet man, a teacher who was loved by children, by people. He was both the conduit between the activists in the village and just a man who held a tremendous amount of respect, and really, truly believed in a different future, in peace, in a possible different reality, and truly believed that his kids could live a better life than he did.' Settler Yinon Levi accused "The settlers [...] tried to shoot me, but the bullet hit my cousin Owdeh," wrote Alaa Hathaleen, the victim's cousin, on Instagram, sharing a video of the attack moments after it happened. The armed man visible in the same video was quickly identified by local residents as Yinon Levi, a known settler in the region. International media and Israeli NGOs have extensively documented his profile. He has also been under American and European sanctions for several years, specifically for harassment, intimidation, and violence against Palestinian communities. According to the Israeli NGO Peace Now, Yinon Levi, who works in earthmoving, arrived in the village with the bulldozer the day before the attack. A few years ago, he established the "Havat Meitarim" outpost. From there, according to a February 2024 US State Department report, "he regularly led groups of settlers [...] that assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, threatened them with additional violence if they did not leave their homes, burned their fields, and destroyed their property". In the attack video, he is seen firing twice. His second shot goes into the air, but his first bullet travels horizontally along the ground, at human height. The footage does not show what was struck by this second bullet. Israeli police arrested Yinon Levi after the attack. He was released on July 30 and placed under house arrest by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, as reported by the Israeli media outlet The Times of Israel. Levi must stay at an Israeli farm under the supervision of his wife and sister-in-law until Friday, August 1. Police are seeking to charge Levi with "reckless manslaughter and unlawful use of a firearm'. Israeli military repression follows attack Soon after the attack, numerous videos emerged on social media, posted by relatives and activists. They document the actions of the Israeli army in the wake of the assault. Berner-Kadish told our team: 'The army and settlers kind of pushed all the activists and Palestinians back into a tiny part of the village. They arrested a few Palestinians and a few activists, including one who was a nurse and was trying to save Owdeh's life. And then Levi, the settler who killed Owdeh, actually pointed out to the army who he wanted arrested among the Palestinians.' 'They showed up and pulled everyone into their house and told us that we weren't allowed to film. The five Palestinians have not been released, and neither have the two activists, the American and the Italian. Neither of them has been released.' A video shows Israeli police advancing into the village early on Tuesday, July 29, prohibiting residents from leaving their homes and threatening to confiscate their phones. One of the Israeli police officers can be heard saying in Hebrew, "No one films. [...] For now, no one can continue filming from here. Is that clear? Otherwise, I will take all your phones." On Tuesday, July 29, the day after the attack, Israeli soldiers entered a tent where Owdeh Hathaleen's relatives had gathered to mourn. According to Alaa Hathaleen, they forced journalists, including foreign reporters, to leave the tent and arrested two activists. A March 2025 report from the UN Human Rights Office on Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territory highlights that "the line between settler and State violence has blurred to a vanishing point, including through the strengthened role of 'settlement defence squads', and the increased enlisting of settlers for reserve duty in 'regional defence battalions' Palestinian village under constant pressure Berner-Kadish said: 'This village has had many attacks. There's been a lot of house demolitions and just kind of settler harassment in general. This village is on the fence with the settlement. On one side of the village is the settlement. On the other side of the village is the chicken farm of the settlement. And they very much intend and plan to take all the land and remove the Palestinians from it.' According to the NGO Peace Now, the village of Umm al-Khair has recently seen Israeli settlers increasingly encroaching on their homes. The NGO reported that in February, settlers "organised a large planting event and planted trees right next to residents' homes". They then set up a caravan just 40 metres from the village houses. Following Owdeh Hathaleen's death, Berner-Kadish stated that the Israeli army launched a pre-dawn raid on Wednesday, July 30, targeting the Palestinian villages of Umm al-Khair and Tuba. He said the army "arrested nine Palestinians". In total, according to Alaa Hathaleen, 14 Palestinians from Umm al-Khair village have been arrested since the killing. The situation in the occupied West Bank is poised to worsen following the Israeli Parliament's majority vote on July 23, in favour of a motion calling for its annexation. This comes as a UN report, covering November 1, 2023, to October 31, 2024, reveals a monthly average of 118 incidents of settler violence and a total of 612 Palestinians killed in the West Bank. Israeli settlements in the territory remain illegal under international law.
Euronews
3 hours ago
- Euronews
European dockworkers demand halt to arms shipments to Israel
European dockworkers are calling on EU governments to halt arms shipments and withdraw diplomatic support for Israel. They stress that international treaties state that weapons should not be exported to war zones where human rights are violated. 'Over the past two years, we've seen an increase in the movement of weapons through civilian ports,' says Josè Nivoi, a key figure in the Genoese dockworkers' movement. 'We've filed a number of legal complaints. An excuse they often use is that they frame it as a private transaction rather than a state-to-state arms transfer — as if they were trading bananas.' For years Nivoi has collected evidence about arms cargo loads in the port as a union manager. Dockworkers accuse authorities of deliberately keeping silent about controversial shipments. 'In Italy, Law no. 185 of 1990 in principle prohibits the transit and shipment of weapons to countries at war. We are calling for civilian ports not to be used to move arms.' In 2024, Italy announced that it had suspended shipments of military equipment to Israel, while honouring contracts signed before 7 October 2023. This translates into over €6 million in weapons, ammunition, maintenance and spare parts. Facts and figures on Israel's weapons' imports Israel imports almost 70% of its arsenal from the US, the world's largest arms exporter. Germany is Israel's second supplier. Since 7 October 2023, it has exported 485 million euros worth of weapons. Italy ranks third, supplying less than 1%. The UN Arms Trade Treaty and the European Common Position state that human rights violations and war crimes should prevent such sales. The EU Council Common Position is legally binding but it lacks enforcement. Member states can interpret it differently. Following the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands have halted or restricted exports. There's little scrutiny over Hamas' weapons, mostly from Iran, which has not signed the UN arms trade treaty. Why does Israel receive military support from EU countries? The EU recently found that Israel is breaching its human rights obligations in Gaza. So why does Israel still receive military support from European countries? Giorgio Beretta, one of the most authoritative Italian analysts on the arms trade and a long-standing voice of the Italian Peace and Disarmament Network, explains that treaties are voluntary and then each country must commit to them. 'The regulations are sound. The problem lies in their enforcement, because there is always a wide margin of discretion,' says Giorgio Beretta of the Permanent Observatory on Small Arms, OPAL. Beretta says the information provided to national governments, which are responsible for ensuring weapons are not used to commit human rights violations, is often too vague. 'A general category might be indicated, such as 'aircraft' or 'naval vessels', but there's a big difference between aircraft used for ground attacks and aircraft used for rescue. By the time a parliament reviews exports, the weapons have often already been delivered.' In May, the EU announced a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement after finding Israel in breach of the trade deal's human rights clause, citing violations in Gaza and the West Bank. By July, the EU had postponed any actions, let alone any sanctions, including a possible arms embargo — yet again exposing its deep-rooted divisions over Israel.
