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The Guardian
37 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Anas al-Sharif and Gaza's journalists: Israel is wiping out the witnesses
Anas al-Sharif knew that far from offering protection amid the slaughter in Gaza, his press credentials further endangered him. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) warned last month of acute danger to the 28-year-old's life as the Israel Defense Forces stepped up online attacks on him. These were not merely smears, but a death threat in response to his coverage, the Al Jazeera reporter said. And now he is dead, one of five media workers killed in an airstrike on Sunday. The CPJ says that more than 180 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in almost two years of war – more than the number who have died globally in the previous three years. This does not merely reflect Gaza's vast death toll – 61,599, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry and many more if independent experts are correct. Nor does it merely reflect the courage shown by reporters, photographers, camera operators and others in a war zone. The CPJ says 26 of the reporters were targeted. Israeli officials have bragged of killing Mr Sharif, whom they have claimed was the head of a Hamas terrorist cell, planning rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. Mr Sharif and Al Jazeera had already denied this. It would surely be hard for such a prominent figure to combine reporting with command of such a unit. The documents offered up by Israel as evidence end two years before the war began, and were reportedly screen grabs of electronic spreadsheets, not independently verified. Israeli officials have repeatedly offered wildly misleading and rapidly shifting accounts of events, including the killing of paramedics in Gaza this spring. In 2023, an IDF general reportedly told American officials within hours that one of its soldiers had probably shot dead the acclaimed Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the occupied West Bank – but Israeli officials insisted publicly that Palestinian militants were to blame. No justification has even been attempted for the deaths of Mr Sharif's colleagues. Mr Sharif's 90-year-old father was killed in an airstrike on their home in late 2023, after Israeli military officials called the journalist telling him to stop reporting and leave Gaza. Israeli claims that he was a Hamas fighter resurfaced last month after his emotional reporting on starvation went viral. He was killed as outrage mounted over Gaza's famine and shortly after Israel announced its plan to launch a ground offensive in Gaza City, which would only deepen the catastrophe and is reportedly opposed by many in the military too. The deaths of the Al Jazeera team in the city ensure few are left to bear witness to what unfolds. International correspondents are unable to enter Gaza except on escorted military trips during which they cannot speak to Palestinians. Sheltered by the US, Israel's government appears unmoved as international public opinion turns against it and even staunch allies blench at the horrors of Gaza. The Al Jazeera killings have been widely and rightly condemned. The Reporters sans Frontières group has also urged the international criminal court to investigate the treatment of media workers. 'If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice,' Mr Sharif wrote in a posthumously published statement. Deliberately targeting journalists is a war crime: an assault not only on the person, but on truth itself. Yet it cannot disguise Israel's other atrocities. Rather, it adds to the charge sheet against its leaders. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
What conditions has Australia put on recognition of a Palestinian state – and what will happen if they are not met?
The Australian government has pledged to recognise a Palestinian state. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says the decision is 'predicated' on commitments from the Palestinian Authority's (PA) Mahmoud Abbas, who has said his group will undergo critical governance reforms, and that a future state will have no room for members of the terrorist group Hamas. But Albanese's government won't say what would happen if those commitments are missed. Here are the key questions about the recognition discussion. Albanese says Abbas has made pledges including: A demilitarised Palestine. Recognising Israel's right to exist in peace and security. The Palestinian Authority holding elections and undertaking governance reforms, including education system reforms to not promote further violence. No role for Hamas. Shahram Akbarzadeh, a professor of Middle East politics at Deakin University, says the PA commitments raise 'lots of challenges'. He describes the PA as 'rife with corruption and nepotism' but says there is no other body which could begin processes towards Palestinian statehood. It is vital then, Akbarzadeh says, that western nations – likely led by the EU, UN and ideally the US – help lead democratic and governance reforms in the PA. 'All of this requires and calls for sustained international engagement and investment – funds and expertise,' he says. 'If the international community wants to see a viable new state emerge, there needs to be support for it. You can't just issue a declaration and walk out the door.' Sussan Ley, the opposition leader, claims Albanese is skating over the issue. 'He actually refuses to say what will happen if the conditions that he sets out for recognition are not met,' she told the Sydney radio station 2GB. Akbarzadeh says barring Hamas from a future governing role is 'widely accepted' by Arab leaders, but the 'practicalities' are difficult. 'That's going to be a much harder proposition than disarming Hamas … it will involve a lengthy process of checks and balances,' Akbarzadeh says. He questions whether the ban would extend to people in Gaza who were forced to affiliate with members of Hamas, as the ruling party in the territory. 'Affiliation with Hamas during that time doesn't mean necessarily they're all terrorists. Everyone in Gaza had some sort of affiliation with Hamas, as a necessity of life. It adds another layer of complication,' he says. Amal Naser, of the Palestine Action Group, told Channel Nine: 'I don't think it's very plausible' Hamas could be blocked from a future Palestinian state. 'But the key issue here is that western states can't be determining who is in governance in Palestine, but they do have an obligation to prevent and punish this genocide,' she said. Albanese told Channel Nine the international community could stop Hamas members from running for elections – but did not say exactly how. 'You can [stop Hamas] if you have the Arab states in the Middle East all speaking as one as well as the Palestinian Authority as well as the international community.' Albanese has repeatedly said recognition is a chance to 'isolate Hamas' and promote more moderate voices. Albanese and the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, shrugged off repeated questions on Monday and Tuesday about commitments not being met. Albanese has refused multiple times to say whether Australia could revoke Palestinian recognition. Government sources indicate Labor is focused on making the reforms work, rather than considering alternatives. Wong told the ABC on Monday that Australia and the international community would 'hold the Palestinian Authority to its commitments'. Ley says a future Coalition government would revoke Palestinian recognition, raising questions about how such a diplomatic backflip could be executed three or six years into the future of a newly established Palestine. The Coalition has claimed Palestinian recognition is a reward for Hamas. Wong says there is 'much more work to do in building a Palestinian state'. Australia will contribute to building the capacity of the PA and providing humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. Asked on the ABC whether Australia would help in rebuilding Gaza after Israel's military bombardment, Albanese said Australia would 'play our part' – but noted Australia was 'not big players in the Middle East'. More than 146 countries have already recognised Palestine. In recent weeks, France, Canada and the UK have pledged to recognise. The Canadian leader Mark Carney's pledge was also predicated on the PA's commitment to reforms and elections, including no role for Hamas and a demilitarised Palestine. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, in pledging recognition, noted Abbas's condemnation of Hamas, and the PA's calls for Hamas to be disarmed and excluded from future governance of Palestine. Macron also spoke of the PA's commitment to reforms and elections. The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, pledged to recognise Palestine unless Israel's government took 'substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza', including a ceasefire and peace plan. Wong says practical steps, such as an Australian embassy presence or conferring full embassy status to the Palestinian delegation to Australia, would be tied to the PA's commitments. But no firm timeline or details have been confirmed. The government is facing pressure from inside and outside its ranks to go further in responding to Israel's military campaign. Labor Friends of Palestine, an internal pressure group, has urged the government to impose sanctions on more members of Netanyahu's government, put more aid and mobile hospitals into Gaza, and set up a humanitarian visa pathway for Palestinians. Other Palestinian Australian groups have urged the cutting of diplomatic ties with Israel – a step Albanese rejected as 'completely counterproductive'.
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘It's a horrible picture': Gaza faces new threat from antibiotic-resistant disease
Gaza is facing a new threat as diseases resistant to antibiotics spread across the devastated territory, research has revealed. Medical supplies are desperately scarce and tens of thousands of people have been injured in the 22-month war, while many others have been weakened by malnutrition, so the high levels of drug-resistant bacteria will mean longer and more serious illnesses, a more rapid transmission of infectious diseases and more deaths, experts said. The findings published on Tuesday, in a peer-reviewed research comment in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, are the first since the conflict began in October 2023 to suggest a prevalence of multi-drug-resistant bacteria in Gaza. 'This will mean longer and more serious illnesses and a high risk of transmission to others. It means an increased risk of death from really common infections. It means more amputations. It's a horrible picture,' said Krystel Moussally, epidemiology adviser to Médecins Sans Frontières and a co-author of studies on drug-resistant bacteria in Gaza and other conflict zones in the Middle East, who was not involved in the research. The study is based on more 1,300 samples from at al-Ahli hospital, where one of the few microbiology laboratories that is still functional in Gaza is based. Two-thirds of the samples, taken from patients over a 10-month period last year, showed the presence of multi-drug-resistant bacteria. Bilal Irfan, one of the authors of the study, described the results as 'particularly alarming'. 'We don't even know the true scale because of the destruction of almost all the laboratories and the killing of a lot of the medical staff, so to even get a small insight into what is happening in Gaza is extremely important,' said Irfan, a bioethicist who conducts research at Harvard's Brigham and Women's hospital and the University of Michigan. Gaza has suffered for decades from high levels of multi-drug-resistant bacteria as a consequence of repeated conflicts and an Israeli blockade since 2007, when Hamas seized control. But the current context was unprecedented, experts said. Not only has Gaza's healthcare system been decimated but sanitation systems have been destroyed, the disposal of garbage and solid waste has almost stopped and hunger is widespread among the 2.3 million population, making many more vulnerable to infection. On Tuesday, the World Health Organization said Israel should let it stock medical supplies to deal with a 'catastrophic' health situation in Gaza. 'We want to stock up, and we all hear about more humanitarian supplies are allowed in – well it's not happening yet, or it's happening at a way too low a pace,' said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories. Speaking from Jerusalem, Peeperkorn said Gaza had run out of more than half of medicines and the WHO was able to bring in fewer supplies than it wanted 'due to the cumbersome procedures' and products 'still denied' entry – a topic of constant negotiation with the Israeli authorities. Peeperkorn said only 50% of hospitals and 38% of primary health care centres were functioning, and even then only partly. Bed occupancy has reached 240% capacity in the Al-Shifa hospital and 300% at Al-Ahli hospital, both in northern Gaza. 'The overall health situation remains catastrophic,' he said. 'Hunger and malnutrition continue to ravage Gaza'. Israeli Ministry of Defence officials said more than 45,000 tonnes of medical equipment had been transferred to Gaza since the beginning of the war and 13 fully equipped field hospitals established by international aid organisations. 'Israel will continue to allow the entry of medical equipment and medicines into the Gaza Strip in accordance with international law and in coordination with the international community, while taking all possible measures to prevent the terrorist organisation Hamas from seizing the aid and exploiting it for terrorist and military purposes,' the officials said. At least 89 Palestinians, 31 seeking aid, have been killed and 513 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 24 hours, according to the territory's health ministry. Israel's offensive in Gaza has now killed a total of 61,599 Palestinians and injured 154,088 since 7 October 2023. According to health officials in Gaza, at least 60,000 people have been killed during Israel's current military campaign, launched after the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023 which killed nearly 1,200 people. The actual death toll is likely to be significantly higher, as the figure only includes Palestinians killed by bombs or bullets whose bodies have been recovered, leaving out thousands trapped under the rubble or killed by starvation and other indirect victims of the campaign. According to the data – which includes the deaths of militants – women, children, and elderly people account for approximately 55% of the recorded deaths. Three-quarters of the samples studied by Irfan and the other authors of the new study were taken from casualties suffering traumatic wounds inflicted by Israeli airstrikes or similar attacks. In the Lancet, the authors said the threat from drug-resistant bacteria would escalate unless there was an end to the Israeli offensive and the 'deliberate targeting of hospitals, laboratories and water desalination plants'. Moussally said that the problem had been made worse by massive contamination of water sources and 'no proper immunisation programmes' during the war. The conflict was triggered by a surprise attack by Hamas into Israel in which militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted about 250 hostages, of whom 50 remain in Gaza. Only 20 are believed to still be alive.
