350 Israeli authors call for end to Gaza war
The signatories include well-known writers such as David Grossman, Joshua Sobol and Zeruya Shalev.
"This war endangers the lives of IDF soldiers, of the hostages, and causes horrific suffering for helpless civilians in Gaza," the letter says.
"The acts being committed in Gaza and the occupied territories are not done in our name, but they will be on our account."
The signatories call for an immediate end to the military operation against the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, the return of the hostages abducted to the Gaza Strip and an international agreement on the future of the Gaza Strip.
The authors accuse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of continuing the war for personal reasons.
There have been several similar calls from within the ranks of the military demanding an end to the war and an agreement with Hamas on the release of the hostages.
The Gaza war was triggered by the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel led by Hamas and other extremist groups, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 Israelis were taken hostage and held in the Gaza Strip.
Since then, according to the health authority in the Gaza Strip, around 51,000 people have been killed, a large proportion of them women and minors. The information, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, cannot be independently verified. Israel has spoken of around 20,000 terrorists killed.
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UPI
an hour ago
- UPI
2 killed, priest among injured as Gaza catholic church 'shelled' by Israel
The Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City pictured just before Christmas 2020. Two people taking refuge from the war inside the church were killed and several injured Thursday when it was shelled, apparently by an Israeli tank. File Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo July 17 (UPI) -- Two people were killed Thursday and a priest was among several people injured, four of them seriously, in what appeared to be an Israeli attack on Gaza's only Catholic church where displaced Christian families were taking refuge from the fighting. Local priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli, who is from Argentina, was hurt in what the parish and the Vatican said was "an apparent strike by the Israeli army" on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City. His injuries are not thought to be serious. Pope Leo XIV issued a statement expressing shock and sorrow at the loss of life and injury caused by the "military" attack and reiterated his calls for an immediate cease-fire, while Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pointed the finger squarely at Israel, calling it "unacceptable." The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the diocese the church comes under, condemned the strike. "With deep sorrow, the Latin Patriarchate can now confirm that two persons were killed as a result of an apparent strike by the Israeli army that hit the Holy Family Compound this morning. We pray for the rest of their souls and for the end of this barbaric war. Nothing can justify the targeting of innocent civilians," it said. Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa told Vatican News that the church had been fired on by an Israeli tank. "What we know for sure is that a tank, the IDF says by mistake, but we are not sure about this, they hit the Church directly. Four people are seriously wounded, among these four, two are in very serious condition and their lives are in grave danger," he said. "There are also other injured but less problematic, among them also the Parish Priest, because they were all in the Church." The BBC said it had seen footage and photos showing damage to the roof and shattered windows. The Holy Family Church was temporarily housing an estimated 600 displaced people, mostly children, as well as 54 people with special needs, when it was struck. Many local Christian families had been there for 21 months since the conflict erupted in October 2023. Churches and other places of worship are traditionally places of refuge that are not targeted by combatants in military conflict; however, the Holy Family is located in the north of the Palestinian enclave in an area where the Israeli military ordered people to leave some time back. The Israel Defense Forces said it was aware of reports that the church had been damaged and people injured and that it was reviewing the circumstances surrounding the incident. The incident comes amid a rising toll of collateral deaths from Israeli military action, including six children killed in an airstrike on Sunday as they waited in line to get water, blamed by the IDF on a "technical error," and 15 Palestinians killed, including 10 children and two women, as they waited outside the clinic of a U.S.-health non-profit on Friday.
Atlantic
an hour ago
- Atlantic
Iran Has a Mass-Deportation Policy Too
Last month's war with Israel and the United States lasted only 12 days, but Iran is likely to feel its consequences for years. The country's intelligence services failed to prevent Israel from assassinating many top military officials, and now the Iranian regime is lashing out in all directions. It has handed down harsher sentences to political prisoners, harassed members of religious and ethnic minorities, and executed dozens of people. But one community has suffered perhaps more than any other: Afghan migrants in Iran, who number as many as 6 million by some estimates. In the past few months, Iran has deported hundreds of thousands of Afghans— The New York Times reports 1.4 million since January—sending them back across the 572-mile border the two countries share. This process began well before the Israeli bombing campaign. Back in March, Iranian authorities warned Afghans that many of their temporary residence papers would soon cease to be valid. But the war seems to have accelerated the campaign. Iran deported more than 100,000 Afghans within a few days last month. In June alone, at least 5,000 children were separated from their parents. The security forces have haphazardly picked up thousands of Afghans and even people suspected of being Afghans. Some are legal residents who were deported before they could produce their papers. In some cases, authorities have torn up residency papers. Every day, thousands are boarded onto buses bound for Afghanistan. Both the Taliban administration and the United Nations migration officials there have complained about the sheer number of migrants appearing at the border. Arash Azizi: Iran's stunning incompetence Deportation camps near Tehran are now filled with thousands of Afghans. Shargh, a Tehran daily, has published many harrowing reports on the deportation effort. With no time to change out of their slippers or work clothes, some Afghans scramble to get their relatives to bring them their papers before they are expelled from the country. An elderly woman told reporters that her husband, who is deaf, had lost his documents at one of the camps and is now being deported. Another woman lamented that her family had lived in Iran for 58 years and were now forced to leave the only country they knew. According to the latest instructions, only Afghans in certain migrant categories are allowed to stay. Temporary documents that once allowed others access to certain services are now void. Many Afghans have been deported before being able to collect the considerable security deposits held by their landlords (Iran's inflation is such that renters typically put down a large lump sum as a deposit in lieu of paying a monthly rent). Iran is justifying the mass deportations with the spurious claim that Afghans assisted Israeli operations in Iran. The authorities have paraded Afghan migrants on state television, airing their undoubtedly coerced confessions of guilt. In one clip, an Afghan migrant is shown confessing to the head of the judiciary that he filmed Iran's air-defense systems, presumably for Israel. The authorities claim that these Afghans were paid via cryptocurrencies. Such cynical ploys fool very few. Social media abounds with jokes about how the regime is so humiliated by Israel's battering, all it can muster is a desperate crackdown on Afghans. Iran has been home to millions of Afghans for decades. They are a long-standing part of Iranian society, commonly working in demanding jobs such as construction. The two countries share many cultural similarities and a lingua franca. Many Afghans even hail from regions, such as Herat, that were intermittently part of Iranian territory until the 19th century. Many more consider themselves part of the broader Iranian cultural sphere and grew up on Persian literature. Yet they've long been treated as an underclass. Until 2015, most Afghan children were not allowed to register in schools. The majority of Afghans has to regularly renew residence permits without any path to permanent status. Although Afghan women can be naturalized if they marry Iranians, this option is not open to Afghan men. In fact, even children born to such unions are denied status. And without status, Afghans have problems completing basic tasks, such as opening bank accounts or renting apartments. Anti-immigrant sentiments in Iran have only intensified since the Taliban's capture of Kabul in 2021 produced an influx of irregular migration. The Islamic Republic is thus using this moment of crisis and heightened nationalism to push a program likely to be popular. During last year's presidential election, candidates competed by offering anti-migrant programs. One even promised to build a wall on Iran's eastern border. The winning candidate, Masoud Pezeshkian, promised to block the borders to prevent further migration from Afghanistan. Nor is this a partisan issue. One of the very few causes that brings together many pro- and anti-regime Iranians is opposition to Afghan migration. One conspiracy theory that has currency in anti-regime circles holds that the Islamic Republic has brought in Afghans to engineer the country's demographics, making the society more conservative and recruiting Afghans to beef up the repressive forces. Little evidence supports this theory, but Tehran does have a history of politically using the Afghan refugees. It dispatched tens of thousands of Shiite Afghans to fight its sectarian wars in Syria and Iraq. Other anti-migrant voices invoke the familiar trope that immigrants are behind violent crimes, even though there is no evidence of Afghans in Iran committing a disproportionate share of such crimes. In late May, a young Iranian woman was killed by a taxi driver, her body left in the desert, and some Iranians tried to link the crime to Afghan migrants, even though the driver, who confessed, was Iranian. The deportations are especially hard on Afghan women because the Taliban happens to be running arguably the world's only regime more misogynistic than the Islamic Republic. Under the Taliban's rule, Afghan girls are barred from studying after sixth grade, and women cannot travel or appear alone in public. Before the Taliban sent them home, more than 100,000 women were studying in Afghan universities. Some fled to Iran in the hope of continuing their education. If Iran had a more rational immigration policy, it could use the talents of these women and others fleeing the Taliban. Many have Ph.D.s and other professional qualifications. Afghans born in Iran or those who have spent decades in the country should have been offered a path to permanent residency and naturalization. Instead, Iran's migration policy has long been chaotic and arbitrary, and the country tolerates a sometimes shocking degree of crude racism. Not only is there almost no path to legal citizenship, but No Afghans allowed signs are known to appear at shopping centers, and some Afghans have suffered racist assaults. Fereshteh Hosseini, an Afghan Iranian actor, appeared at the Karlovy Vary film festival last week. Donning a traditional Afghan hat, she took the opportunity to criticize Taliban rule and advocate against the mass deportation of Afghans from Iran. Hosseini is perhaps the best known Afghan Iranian in Iran, in part because she's married to a famous Iranian film star, but her status has not shielded her from racist abuse. In response to the viral clip of her speech at Karlovy Vary, a major conservative Iranian website attacked her, accusing her of ' treason.' There have always been Iranians who oppose the country's discriminatory policies and the society's casual racism toward Afghans. Almost 20 years ago, I volunteered in southern Tehran every weekend, teaching Afghan children who were then deprived of the right to education. The classes were organized by an Iranian NGO and taught by young activists like me. In recent years, Iranian sociologists, activists, and filmmakers have come to advocate for Afghan migrants. This work has made a difference. In 2015, the regime relented and allowed Afghan children to go to school. Some Iranians are raising their voices now. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has attacked the mass deportation of Afghan migrants as contradicting 'humanitarian principles' and Iran's 'international obligations.' A group that tracks executions has warned about an uptick in executions of Afghans in Iran. An op-ed in Shargh criticized the 'extremism' of the anti-migrant campaign and called for a more rational policy. The Iranian expulsions are part of a global trend. Much like the United States and Europe, countries such as Iran, Turkey, Lebanon, Pakistan, and South Africa have cracked down hard on migrants. The lot of Afghans is particularly bad. In Turkey, they've suffered from the broader anti-migrant backlash targeting Syrians. From September 2023 to January 2025, Pakistan sent more than 800,000 Afghan migrants home. Millions anxiously remain in Pakistan. Much like those still in Iran, they are caught between the draconian rule of the Taliban and a world ever less friendly to migration.
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
Pope Reacts to Strike at Gaza Church
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Pope Leo XIV mourned on Thursday after an attack that hit the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza, where two people were reported killed and several injured by an apparent Israeli strike. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the incident was "under review", that the forces try to avoid harm to civilians and civilian structures, including religious sites, and regret any damage. Newsweek contacted the IDF and the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem for further information. "His Holiness Pope Leo XIV was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack on the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza," a statement by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, read, adding: "His Holiness renews his call for an immediate ceasefire." The Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem said the parish pope was injured. Why It Matters The Holy Family Church, Gaza's only Catholic church, is the same parish that the late Pope Francis frequently contacted during his papacy. Video footage often showed him speaking to the church's children and parishioners via live link, offering prayers and encouragement during past escalations in Gaza. Parish Priest of the Holy Family church in Gaza City Fr. Gabriel Romanelli receives care after he was injured in an Israeli strike on the church, at the city's Arab Ahli, also known as Baptist,... Parish Priest of the Holy Family church in Gaza City Fr. Gabriel Romanelli receives care after he was injured in an Israeli strike on the church, at the city's Arab Ahli, also known as Baptist, hospital on July 17, 2025. More OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP What To Know The church hosted clergy and hundreds of sheltering Palestinians including children, amid the war in Gaza. Eyewitnesses reported that the church seemed to have been struck by Israeli tank fire, according to media reports. An 84-year-old woman and the parish's 60-year-old janitor were killed in the strike while the parish priest, Father Romanelli, was lightly injured, the Associated Press reported. Ongoing Israeli strikes near the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza—this one occurred during today's mass. The entire Catholic parish—hundreds of civilians—are sheltering inside the church. — Ihab Hassan (@IhabHassane) July 15, 2025 Dozens of Palestinians were killed Thursday in several Israeli strikes on Gaza. Israel's military campaign to eliminate Hamas and bring home Israeli hostages, launched after the group's deadly October 2023 attack on Israel, has devastated Gaza, leaving the enclave grappling with severe hunger and widespread deprivation. What People Are Saying Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem on Facebook: "The Holy Family Church in Gaza has been struck by a raid this morning. here are several injuries in the place including the Parish Priest Fr. Gabriel Romanelli. Currently there no fatalities confirmed. The Church sustained damage." Israel Defense Forces on X: "The IDF is aware of reports regarding damage caused to the Holy Family Church in Gaza City and casualties at the scene. The circumstances of the incident are under review. The IDF makes every feasible effort to mitigate harm to civilians and civilian structures, including religious sites, and regrets any damage caused to them." Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State: "His Holiness Pope Leo XIV was deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack on the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza, and he assures the parish priest, Father Gabriele Romanelli, and the whole parish community of his spiritual closeness. In commending the souls of the deceased to the loving mercy of Almighty God, the Holy Father prays for the consolation of those who grieve and for the recovery of the injured. His Holiness renews his call for an immediate ceasefire, and he expresses his profound hope for dialogue, reconciliation and enduring peace in the region." What Happens Next Mediators including the U.S., Egypt and Qatar are still pursuing efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Neither side appears ready to give way on core demands.
