Protesters turn out as woman appears in court over alleged support for Hamas
On October 9 2023, it is alleged she gave a speech at Soas University of London 'being reckless' as to whether a person would be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation.
Seven days later, she allegedly expressed support for Hamas by giving her opinion in a WhatsApp group chat.
On Friday, Cotte appeared at the Old Bailey and sat in the well of the court for a hearing before the trial judge, Richard Marks KC.
The judge set a further pre-trial hearing for October 24 and granted Cotte continued conditional bail.
The defendant faces a 10-day trial at the Old Bailey from February 23 next year.
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The Guardian
39 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘Our days are full of hardship': people in Gaza barely dare to hope for success in ceasefire talks
In Gaza City on Sunday morning, there was only one topic of conversation: the possibility of peace. In the half ruined town, as across the entire territory, few took their eyes off their phones, a television or better informed relatives or friends for more than a few minutes. Um Fadi Ma'rouf, from the now ruined town of Beit Lahia in the far north of Gaza, said she was encouraged by the positive response from Hamas to the most recent US-sponsored proposal of terms for a deal. 'I think this means it will happen. I really hope it goes through because this situation has exhausted us,' said the 50year-old, who has been forced to move nine times during the conflict. Israel has so far rejected Hamas's demands for changes to a 14-point draft agreement circulated last week but on Sunday despatched a negotiating team to Qatar for indirect talks. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is scheduled to meet Donald Trump, who is thought to hope to announce a ceasefire himself, in Washington on Monday evening local time. In Gaza City, the mood was tense and subdued. In the early morning, barefoot children with torn clothes and dirty faces walked the cracked streets carried pots in search of food or scavenged for rubbish that could be used as fuel. Later, many of those living in stifling tents headed to the coast in search of respite from soaring temperatures. 'From time to time, we hear airstrikes, but they are very far away and barely audible,' one Gaza City resident told the Guardian. 'We haven't seen any planes but a warship came very close to the shore but caused no trouble. It didn't open fire.' There have been two previous ceasefires in Gaza, one in November 2023, and a second this year which came into effect in January but collapsed in March when Israel reneged on a promise to move to a second phase which might have led to a definitive end to the conflict. A new Israeli offensive followed and an 11-week total blockade that led to almost the entire population facing the threat of famine. The near 21-month war was triggered by a Hamas raid into Israel in October 2023 in which militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostages. Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, of whom more than half are thought to be dead. The ensuing Israeli offensive has reduced much of Gaza to rubble, displaced almost the entire 2.3 million population multiple times and killed more than 57,000, mostly civilians. Ma'rouf said: 'During the last truce, I never expected the war to return. When it did, it was a tragic feeling – indescribable. I lost my sister in this war, along with around 20 other members of my extended family. My greatest fear is losing someone else from my family – one of my children, my siblings, or close relatives.' Nineteen-year-old Shahd Ashour, whose sister's fiance was killed just before the last ceasefire was announced, said she too was remaining cautious. 'My biggest fear now is that the news of the ceasefire turns out to be false – just rumours – and the war and killings continue. I still have hope, but only a little,' she said. Many children share such fears. Lama Al-Mubayyed, 12, told the Guardian she was scared of being 'torn apart, killed, paralysed or losing a limb'. 'I was so happy during the last ceasefire. We felt a bit safe. But when the war returned, I cried a lot because it meant going back to the suffering of tents, the summer heat, and repeated displacement,' Mubayyed said. Aid officials in Gaza said on Saturday that supplies of fuel, essential to run the generators that are the primary source of power in the territory, are now close to being exhausted. Without fresh deliveries, they said, humanitarian operations will collapse, the few remaining hospitals will be unable to function and communications will be cut off. 'We are hopeful about a ceasefire of course, but we need to know how much aid is going to get in and how fast, and who will be able to distribute it. There are a lot of questions that are unanswered,' one humanitarian official in Deir al-Balah said. In recent weeks the flow of aid into Gaza has varied, though it has been little more than a fraction of what is needed, UN officials said. Hundreds have died seeking food from looted trucks or a small number of distribution hubs. Prices for the limited basics available in the few markets vary wildly from day to day, though remain far too high for almost all in the territory to afford. On Sunday, a kilo of flour was selling for the equivalent of $10, a kilo of lentils for $12 and a kilo of rice or pasta for $14. 'The greatest hardship we're facing now – myself and everyone in Gaza – is finding food and water each day,' said Adel Sharaf, 18, who is from Beit Lahia but is now living in a tent after his home was destroyed. Many in Gaza are bracing themselves for bad news. Ahmad, from the al-Shujaiya neighbourhood that has been almost entirely destroyed in repeated Israeli military operations, said he was pessimistic 'because everyone was lying'. 'Every week they hear about a possible ceasefire, and then it falls apart. This is always what happens, just like in previous times,' the 35-year-old said. Abu Adham Abu Amro, 55, said he was afraid to hope because he had already lost 25 family members in the conflict. 'We pray to God that the ceasefire succeeds this time. Our days are full of hardship – struggling to access water and food, dealing with a shortage of resources, and the rise in prices,' Abu Amro, who is from Gaza City, said. 'Right now, I have no fears other than the possibility that the ceasefire won't happen this time.'
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Hamas orders Gaza clan leader to surrender, accuses him of treason
CAIRO, July 2 (Reuters) - The Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza on Wednesday ordered the leader of a well-armed Bedouin clan defying the group's control of the Palestinian enclave to surrender and face trial, accusing him of treason. A ministry statement said the decision was taken by what it called a "Revolutionary Court". Yasser Abu Shabab, who does not recognise the authority of Hamas and accuses the militants of hurting the interests of Gaza, had 10 days to surrender, it said. The court urged Palestinians to inform Hamas security officials about the whereabouts of Abu Shabab, who has so far remained beyond their reach in the Rafah area of southern Gaza held by Israeli troops. The Abu Shabab group described the Hamas court's order as a "sitcom that doesn't frighten us, nor does it frighten any free man who loves his homeland and its dignity", in a post on the Facebook page that usually carried the group's announcements. Hamas, which accuses Abu Shabab of looting U.N. aid trucks and alleges that he is backed by Israel, has sent some of its top fighters to kill him, two Hamas sources and two other sources familiar with the situation told Reuters last month. Abu Shabab's group told Reuters, opens new tab at the time that it was a popular force protecting humanitarian aid from looting by escorting aid trucks and denied getting support from Israel or contacts with the Israeli army. It accused Hamas of violence and muzzling dissent. Israel has said it has backed some of Gaza's clans against Hamas, but has not said which.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Israeli airstrikes kill 38 Palestinians in Gaza as truce negotiating team heads to Qatar
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 38 Palestinians in Gaza, hospital officials said on Sunday, as Israel was sending a ceasefire negotiating team to Qatar ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's White House visit for talks toward a deal. U.S. President Donald Trump, who will meet with Netanyahu on Monday, has floated a plan for an initial 60-day ceasefire that would include a partial release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for an increase in humanitarian supplies allowed into Gaza. The proposed truce calls for talks on ending the 21-month war altogether. Separately, an Israeli official said the security Cabinet late Saturday approved sending aid into northern Gaza, where civilians suffer from acute food shortages. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the decision with the media, declined to give more details. Northern Gaza has seen just a trickle of aid enter since Israel ended the latest ceasefire in March. The Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation 's closest aid distribution site is near the Netzarim corridor south of Gaza City that separates the territory's north and south. In Yemen, a spokesperson for the Iran-backed Houthi rebels announced in a prerecorded message that the group had launched ballistic missiles targeting Israel's Ben Gurion airport overnight. Israel's military said they were intercepted. Israel hits 130 targets across Gaza Israeli strikes hit two houses in Gaza City, killing 20 Palestinians and wounding 25 others, according to Mohammed Abu Selmia, director of Shifa Hospital, which serves the area. In southern Gaza, Israeli strikes killed 18 Palestinians in Muwasi, an area on the Mediterranean coast where thousands of displaced people live in tents, officials at Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Younis told The Associated Press. It said two families were among the dead. 'My brother, his wife, his four children, my cousin's son and his daughter. ... Eight people are gone,' said Saqer Abu Al-Kheir as people gathered on the sand for prayers and burials. Israel's military had no immediate comment on the individual strikes but said it struck 130 targets across Gaza in the past 24 hours. It claimed its strikes targeted Hamas command and control structures, storage facilities, weapons and launchers, and that they killed a number of militants in northern Gaza. Rift over ending the war Ahead of the indirect talks with Hamas in Qatar, Netanyahu's office asserted that the militant group was seeking 'unacceptable' changes to the ceasefire proposal. Hamas, which gave a 'positive' response late Friday to the latest U.S. proposal, has sought guarantees that the initial truce would lead to a total end to the war and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Previous negotiations have stalled over Hamas demands of guarantees that further negotiations would lead to the war's end, while Netanyahu has insisted Israel would resume fighting to ensure the group's destruction. The war began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza's Hamas government, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties. ___ Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel. ___
