What Israel's new war means for Gaza
The Guardian's chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison, tells Nosheen Iqbal that the killings in Gaza have by no means stopped and that many aid experts believe the current food distribution system, based around an opaque organisation called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been doomed from the start.
The pair also discuss the so-called Popular Front, a Palestinian criminal group that Israel is arming in Gaza, and the impact that Israel's conflict with Iran will have on the situation in the strip.
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Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Israel to continue with Gaza City offensive despite talks to free Hamas hostages
Israel will resume negotiations with Hamas for the release of all hostages captured during the October 7 attack, Benjamin Netanyahu has said - but its military will continue its Gaza City offensive despite international outcry. The remarks from Israel's prime minister are the first since Hamas agreed to a temporary ceasefire proposal. Talks will also be with a view to ending the war, but Mr Netanyahu said it must be on "terms acceptable to Israel". In the meantime, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have begun calling medics and international organisations in northern Gaza to encourage them to evacuate to the south ahead of the expanded operation in Gaza City. Many of Israel's closest allies have urged the government to reconsider. Some Israelis fear it could doom the remaining 20 or so living hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the 7 October 2023 attack which ignited the war. Israel plans to call up 60,000 reservists and extend the service of 20,000 more. Speaking to soldiers near Israel's border with Gaza, Mr Netanyahu said he was still set on approving plans for defeating Hamas and capturing Gaza City. "At the same time I have issued instructions to begin immediate negotiations for the release of all our hostages and an end to the war on terms acceptable to Israel," he said. "These two things - defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages - go hand in hand," he added. The latest ceasefire proposal drawn up by Egypt and Qatar is almost identical to an earlier one that Israel accepted before the talks stalled last month. The proposal would include the release of some hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a pullback of Israeli forces and negotiations over a lasting ceasefire. 'Don't tell us where to build' Israeli strikes killed at least 36 Palestinians across Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals, including at a tent camp in Deir al-Balah. Meanwhile, Israel's ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, was summoned to the Foreign Office in response to a controversial West Bank settlement plan which has been given final approval. The project, known as the E1 settlement, would effectively cut off the occupied West Bank from East Jerusalem and divide the territory in two. The UK and 21 international partners have released a statement to condemn the decision "in the strongest terms" calling it "a flagrant breach of international law" and "critically undermining a two-state solution". Ms Hotovely gave Sky News her response to the meeting: "I said we wouldn't tell the British where to build in London. Don't tell us where to build in Jerusalem, our capital. We see E1 as part of Greater Jerusalem." 11:50 UK warns of 'horrifying starvation' The UK has also responded to comments from the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA that famine in Gaza is "deliberate" and being used as an "instrument of war". Minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, has called for a "comprehensive [peace] plan to end this misery and get to a long-term settlement". "Israel must immediately and permanently lift all barriers preventing aid reaching the people of Gaza to prevent the horrifying starvation in the Strip continuing," he added. Demand for Gaza media access The Media Freedom Coalition, which includes the UK and 50 other countries, has called on Israel to allow foreign media access into Gaza. In a joint statement, the coalition, which is a partnership of countries working to defend media freedom, urged Israel to "allow immediate independent foreign media access" and "afford protection for journalists operating in Gaza". They said this was in light of the "unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza".
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Israel launches ANOTHER explosive attack on Anthony Albanese: 'Something is wrong'
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Times
2 hours ago
- Times
US rejects Standard Chartered whistleblower sanction claims
The American government has rejected claims by two whistleblowers that it failed to properly investigate allegations of sanctions violations by Standard Chartered in a case that has drawn the personal attention of President Trump. The FTSE 100 bank reached a $667 million settlement with the United States in 2012 and paid $1.1 billion to the American and British authorities in 2019 to settle allegations that it breached sanctions on Iran and other countries. However, Julian Knight and Robert Marcellus have claimed they provided the US government with bank documents in 2012 and 2013 that showed other sanctions violations by Standard Chartered, which the lender denied. The pair have been pursuing civil litigation since 2012 and alleged last year that they had uncovered hidden data in the documents that suggested Standard Chartered had handled billions of dollars worth of previously undisclosed transactions with Iranian entities and individuals. The two men argued that the government had defrauded a US court when it had previously said it had comprehensively investigated their allegations. This claim was rejected and they appealed. In a filing on Thursday, the US Department of Justice said the appeal court should uphold the earlier judgment and that the fraud allegation against the government was 'entirely unfounded'. It is a boost for Standard Chartered, not least because the case has become entwined in American politics over claims that Letitia James, the New York state attorney-general and a prominent opponent of Trump, had failed to act on the allegations against the bank. Trump took to his Truth Social platform last week to post a link to an article on a far-right US website about the Standard Chartered allegations and James and called her a 'disgrace'. Two days later, Elise Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from New York state, called for an investigation into Standard Chartered and James, causing a sharp fall in the bank's share price that wiped about £2 billion off its valuation. A Standard Chartered spokesman said: 'We are pleased and unsurprised by the DOJ's filing, which continues to demonstrate what we've always known: the claims underlying this case are false.' Knight said the authorities 'appear to be entrenched in their misconduct'.
