Gaza civil defence says Israeli strikes kill at least 27
A Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that Gaza City was hit by several strikes overnight and in the early morning, killing eight people "including children and women" and wounding others.
An Israeli air strike hit a family home near Nuseirat refugee camp, south of Gaza City, resulting in ten people being killed and several injured, he said.
Another strike "hit a potable water distribution point... in an area for displaced people west of the Nuseirat camp", the spokesman added, reporting six deaths.
In the territory's south, three people were killed when Israeli jets hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the coastal Al-Mawasi area, according to the civil defence spokesman.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has recently intensified its operations across Gaza, more than 21 months into the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack.
The vast majority of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war, which has created dire humanitarian conditions in the territory.
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RTÉ News
2 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Occupied Territories Bill unlikely to fall despite Oireachtas meeting
When the Occupied Territories Bill has been debated in the Oireachtas recently, it's usually framed in the context of the Opposition parties putting pressure on the Government to go further and faster with its proposed legislation. The Bill should include a ban on services as well as goods, the Opposition argues, and the Dáil and Seanad should sit in August to get the legislation passed into law as quickly as possible. Yesterday it was very different. That is because delegates from the Ireland Israel Alliance were before the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, along with some representatives of Ireland's Jewish community. They wanted to give all political parties - Coalition and Opposition - a piece of their mind. There was a slight degree of apprehension as everyone took their seats in Committee room 2, and so Chairperson John Lahart took the opportunity to say at the outset that while there are "strongly held views" on the Bill, every participant should be treated with respect. He also urged those in the public gallery not to interrupt. The first to speak was Maurice Cohen, who is Chair of Jewish Representative Council of Ireland. He declared: "I speak as an Irish citizen, born and raised here in Dublin," adding that the "small, long established Irish Jewish community" in Ireland "is now increasingly fearful". Part of that fear he said was down to the Occupied Territories Bill. Mr Cohen declared: "While this Bill may not set out to target Jews or Jewish life, its message is unmistakably felt by us." He continued: "Let me clear: criticism of Israel is not antisemitism, but when criticism becomes a campaign... we must pause." "This Bill is not a plan for peace. It is not a policy. It is a performance of misguided effort." "It won't bring two states closer, but it might drive Jewish communities here in Ireland further into fear and isolation," he warned. Mr Cohen was followed by the former Fine Gael Minister Alan Shatter who was more combative in the language he used. He claimed the Bill is the "first initiative of any European government to enact legislation to intentionally boycott and discriminate against Jews since the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945." "This antisemitic symbolism is reinforced by the absence from the Bill of any prohibition on the importation of goods originating from any other occupied territory'", he said. That was a theme which was continually raised during the Committee's hearing - only Israel was being targeted by the planned legislation. The Oireachtas was not going after Hamas which had triggered the latest conflict by killing around 1,200 people and kidnapping 250 others on 7 October 2023. The Oireachtas was also not going after Iran which had financed Hamas in Gaza, and other entities like Hezbollah in Lebanon. That is why Yoni Wieder, Chief Rabbi at the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, suggested the Bill "demonises Israel". The original Occupied Territories Bill which was introduced by Independent Senator Frances Black in 2018 didn't contain that distinction. It only said:"Illegal settler means a member of the civilian population of an occupying power who was or is present within the relevant occupied territory and whose presence is being, or has been, facilitated directly or indirectly, by the occupying power." In his opening statement, Alan Shatter claimed the Government's revised legislation - the Prohibition on the Importation of Goods Bill - is "essentially a sectarian measure based on falsehoods, riddled with obscurity and anomalies". One of the guests appeared via video link from London - Natasha Hausdorff, Legal Director of the UK Lawyers For Israel. She too zoned in on this issue, arguing: "This version of the Bill now abandons all pretence of going after so-called occupied territories and targets Israel explicitly." Ms Hausdorff also predicted that it could trigger a departure of US companies from Ireland due to "longstanding US anti-boycott legislation" which would pose grave risks for such firms continuing to trade in Ireland." When the moment came for engagement between the Committee members and their invited guests, a time limit came into play. Each TD and Senator had a total of 4 minutes to ask questions and for the invited guest to reply. The Independent Senator Alice Mary Higgins pushed back against the anti-Israeli narrative which had been directed against Ireland in the opening statements. She told the Committee that the Taoiseach Micheál Martin had repeatedly clarified that this is "not a boycott of Israel". "It does not affect Israeli goods," she said. "It only affects the settlements." She asked if the guests accepted that the settlements built in the West Bank are "illegal settlements". "Do you believe that they are part of Israel?" she inquired. That was followed-up by Fine Gael TD for Dun Laoghaire Bary Ward who asked all the witnesses if they accept that "Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory are contrary to International Law." Deputy Ward asked for a yes or a no. Maurice Cohen said he would not be forced into single word answers. "I don't have a yes or a no because there isn't one," said Alan Shatter. He added he "does not accept" that the Israeli-occupied territories in the West Bank are illegally occupied land. Natasha Hausdorff said: "One cannot occupy what is one's sovereign territory." The exchanges were pointed, but not more than that. Later, Labour's Duncan Smith said all the witnesses had failed to recognise that the settlements in the Palestinian territories are illegal. "That's a fundamental point of divergence," he said, and contrary to international law. The only time that the tone of the debate frayed was after Mr Shatter claimed the Bill was a token gesture and akin to an episode of "Father Ted". The Fine Gael TD Brian Brennan recounted how he'd recently visited Cairo and met Palestinians from Gaza. He sat on the bed of a young man in the prime of his life who was dying, and held the hand "of a two year child that had bullet wounds". Responding to Mr Shatter's claim that the Occupied Territories Bill was nothing more than performance politics and a token gesture, Deputy Brennan said robustly: "How dare you come in here and make such statements!" Having referenced that he'd visited Israel, the West Bank and Gaza on countless occasions, Mr Shatter replied: "I don't think a single visit, deputy, to Egypt is the be-all and end-all to resolving the conflict. And this Bill certainly won't resolve the conflict.". Barrister Natasha Hausdorff went further and said the Bill was "succour to Hamas" and "antisemitic". That drew a something of a rebuke from the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Fianna Fáil TD John Lahart. He said a claim of antisemitism being levelled against TDs and Senators was hugely hurtful and slanderous. "It is the descent by the Israeli government and the Israeli Defense Forces into the darkest of places that certainly motivates - as far as I can see - all members of this Committee, from a humanitarian perspective." He added: "There isn't an antisemite in this room. There isn't an antisemite in the Dáil." Deputy Lahart said he believed Mr Shatter was "influential" and he urged him "to take that on board", including when dealing with those in the US establishment. Whatever about that request, Mr Shatter did not concede an inch of the Occupied Territories Bill. He maintained that Palestinian supporters of the Bill were being "fooled and misled" about it having any impact, and that resulted from the fact that "critical faculties are suspended" at Leinster House. In keeping with the Committee's broad approach, Sinn Féin's Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire sought to find some common position with the guests. The Cork South Central TD said the Jewish community in Ireland should feel welcome and a full part of Irish society. He added it is not right to put the responsibility of the actions of Israel's government on individual Jewish people. Deputy Ó Laoghaire then asked Alan Shatter if he accepted that Ireland is bound by international law and compelled to act. Mr Shatter said he studied international law but claimed that it has been "politicised and weaponised and distorted in political debate". The former Fine Gael minister maintained he believed that Ireland could play a real role to try and bring Israelis and Palestinians together. But that would require an even hand and, by extension, the Occupied Territories Bill would have to fall. The mood of the Committee suggested such a development was highly unlikely to happen.
The Journal
4 hours ago
- The Journal
West Bank seeing largest displacement of Palestinians since 1967, UN says
THE UNITED NATIONS has warned that mass displacement in the West Bank had hit levels not seen since the start of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territory nearly 60 years ago. The UN said an Israeli military operation launched in the north of the occupied territory in January had displaced tens of thousands of people, raising concerns about possible 'ethnic cleansing'. The military operation 'has been the longest since … the second Intifada', in the early 2000s, said Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. 'It is impacting several refugee camps in the area, and it is causing the largest population displacement of the Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967,' she told reporters in Geneva via video from Jordan, referring to the six-day Arab-Israeli war that led to Israel's occupation of the West Bank. The UN rights office meanwhile warned that mass forced displacement by an occupation force could amount to 'ethnic cleansing'. Since Israel's military launched its operation 'Iron Wall' in the north of the West Bank in January, rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said that 'about 30,000 Palestinians remain forcibly displaced'. Israeli security forces had during the same period issued demolition orders for about 1,400 homes in the northern West Bank, he said, describing the figures as 'alarming'. He pointed out that Israeli demolitions had displaced 2,907 Palestinians across the West Bank since October 2023. Another 2,400 Palestinians – nearly half of them children – had been displaced as a result of Israeli settler actions, he added, lamenting that the combined result was the 'emptying large parts of the West Bank of Palestinians'. 'Permanently displacing the civilian population within occupied territory amounts to unlawful transfer,' Kheetan said, stressing that depending on the circumstances this could be 'tantamount to ethnic cleansing' and could 'amount to a crime against humanity'. Kheetan said 757 attacks by Israeli settlers had been recorded in the West Bank during the first half of the year, a 13% increase on the same period in 2024. Advertisement The attacks injured 96 Palestinians in the occupied territory in June alone, he told reporters, stressing that this was the highest monthly injury toll of Palestinians from settler attacks, 'in over two decades'. Violence in the West Bank has surged since the October 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas triggered war in the Gaza Strip. Since then, at least 964 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, according to the UN. During that same period, 53 Israelis have been killed in reported attacks by Palestinians or in armed clashes – 35 of them in the West Bank and 18 in Israel. Gaza Meanwhile, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 18 people today, including two women who were shot near an aid distribution point in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. The ongoing conflict has created dire humanitarian conditions for Gaza's population of more than two million, displacing most residents at least once and triggering severe shortages of food and other essentials. The civil defence agency told AFP that its 'crews have transported at least 18 martyrs and dozens of wounded since dawn', most of them following Israeli air strikes on the northern Gaza Strip. One strike hit a tent in Gaza City housing displaced Palestinians, killing six people, according to the civil defence agency. In the southern area of Rafah, two women were killed by Israeli fire near an aid distribution point, the agency said, adding that 13 people were wounded in the incident. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties. The UN said that at least 875 have died trying to access aid in Gaza since late May – when Israel eased a two-month aid blockade – with most killed near sites run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. On the outskirts of Gaza City on Tuesday, AFP footage from Al-Shati refugee camp showed Palestinians searching for survivors through the rubble of a family home hit in a strike that the civil defence said killed five people. Jihad Omar, who was using his bare hands to dig through the concrete ruins, said he was looking for two children. Related Reads Fine Gael TD criticises Alan Shatter for comparing Occupied Territories Bill to Father Ted sketch Micheál Martin likens Israel's plans for 'humanitarian city' in Gaza to a 'concentration camp' 'Every day, we bury children, women and elderly people. Homes collapse on the heads of their residents,' the 48-year-old told AFP. 'Find a solution,' he said. 'Let us raise those (children) who remain. We barely have any left.' Meanwhile, Hamas announced the Israeli 'assassination' of a member of its political leadership, Muhammad Faraj al-Ghoul, who once served as a minister in the group's Gaza government. Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military its forces had targeted 'several Hamas members in the Al-Shati area', without offering further details. It did not comment on the other strikes reported by the civil defence agency, but said in a statement that troops had 'dismantled a terrorist tunnel' in the Khan Younis area, in southern Gaza. Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Out of 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants that day, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's retaliatory offensive, now in its 22nd month, has killed at least 58,479 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The UN considers the ministry's figures reliable. © AFP 2025
RTÉ News
6 hours ago
- RTÉ News
ISIF diviested all Israeli bonds in past weeks, Dáil told
The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) has divested itself of all Israeli bonds in the past number of weeks, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has told the Dáil. He said the board of ISIF was independent of Government when it came to investment decisions. He was replying to the Sinn Féin Spokesperson on Finance Pearse Doherty, who said it was shocking and disgraceful that ISIF had held Israeli bonds "when genocide was taking place last year". The Donegal TD said Israel did not hide what its bonds were on sale for - supporting its war in Gaza - and both ISIF and the Government knew that, he added. He asserted that Mr Donohoe could not wash his hands of responsibility given he was the Minister for Finance and ISIF reported to his department. Mr Doherty accused the Government of being complicit in Israeli genocide, a charge Minister Donohoe flatly rejected. ISIF is managed and controlled by the National Treasury Management Agency and describes itself as "a sovereign development fund with a unique mandate to invest on a commercial basis to support economic activity and employment in Ireland".
