Global News Podcast Israeli military offensive to occupy Gaza City is underway
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The Guardian
11 minutes ago
- The Guardian
UK among 26 countries to demand press given immediate access to Gaza
The UK is among more than 20 countries demanding that Israel immediately give international journalists access to Gaza to allow them to cover the 'unfolding humanitarian catastrophe' in the war zone. In a major escalation of pressure on Israel, 26 countries have signed a joint statement calling for it to end its block on press access and for protection for journalists operating in Gaza. The UK, Germany, Australia and Ukraine are among those to have signed the statement from the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC), an international advocacy group that the UK helped to create. 'In light of the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, we, the undersigned members of the Media Freedom Coalition, urge Israel to allow immediate independent foreign media access and afford protection for journalists operating in Gaza,' they say. 'Journalists and media workers play an essential role in putting the spotlight on the devastating reality of war. Access to conflict zones is vital to carrying out this role effectively. We oppose all attempts to restrict press freedom and block entry to journalists during conflicts.' The governments condemned the alleged targeting of journalists in Gaza, following analysis indicating at least 192 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon since the war began. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which compiled the data, said it was the deadliest period for journalists since it began gathering data in 1992. It is investigating 130 additional cases of alleged killings, arrests and injuries of journalists. The statement follows an outcry earlier this month when a targeted Israeli attack killed four Al Jazeera journalists, two freelancers and a seventh person, leading to UN condemnation. The MFC statement said: 'We also strongly condemn all violence directed against journalists and media workers, especially the extremely high number of fatalities, arrests and detentions. We call on the Israeli authorities and all other parties to make every effort to ensure that media workers in Gaza, Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem – local and foreign alike – can conduct their work freely and safely. 'Deliberate targeting of journalists is unacceptable. International humanitarian law offers protection to civilian journalists during armed conflict. We call for all attacks against media workers to be investigated and for those responsible to be prosecuted in compliance with national and international law.' It reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire, the unconditional release of the remaining Israeli hostages and the free flow of humanitarian aid. The statement follows pleas from news organisations and senior journalists, with recent claims that the freelance reporters working in Gaza were at risk of starvation as a result of the conditions in the strip. Last month, some of the world's biggest news outlets, including BBC News, Agence France-Presse, Associated Press and Reuters said they were 'desperately concerned' about journalists in Gaza, saying staff were 'increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families' amid widespread reports of mass starvation.
The Guardian
11 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Revealed: Israeli military's own data indicates civilian death rate of 83% in Gaza war
Figures from a classified Israeli military intelligence database indicate five out of six Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza have been civilians, an extreme rate of slaughter rarely matched in recent decades of warfare. As of May, 19 months into the war, Israeli intelligence officials listed 8,900 named fighters from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as dead or 'probably dead', a joint investigation by the Guardian, the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call has found. At that time 53,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks, according to health authorities in Gaza, a toll that included combatants and civilians. Fighters named in the Israeli military intelligence database accounted for just 17% of the total. That apparent ratio of civilians to combatants among the dead is extremely high for modern warfare, even compared with conflicts notorious for indiscriminate killing, including the Syrian and Sudanese civil wars. 'That proportion of civilians among those killed would be unusually high, particularly as it has been going on for such a long time,' said Therése Pettersson from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, which tracks civilian casualties worldwide. 'If you single out a particular city or battle in another conflict, you could find similar rates, but very rarely overall.' 8,900 Named fighters listed as dead or 'probably dead' in Israeli database as of May 2025 In global conflicts tracked by UCDP since 1989, civilians made up a greater proportion of the dead only in Srebenica – although not the Bosnian war overall – in the Rwandan genocide, and during the Russian siege of Mariupol in 2022, Pettersson said. Many genocide scholars, lawyers and human rights activists, including Israeli academics and campaign groups, say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, citing the mass killing of civilians and imposed starvation. The Israeli military did not dispute the existence of the database or dispute the data on Hamas and PIJ deaths when approached for comment by Local Call and +972 Magazine. When the Guardian asked for comment on the same data, a spokesperson said they had decided to 'rephrase' their response. A brief statement sent to the Guardian did not directly address questions about the military intelligence database. It said 'figures presented in the article are incorrect', without specifying which data the Israeli military disputed. It also said the numbers 'do not reflect the data available in the IDF's systems', without detailing which systems. A spokesperson did not immediately respond when asked why the military had given different responses to questions about a single set of data. The database names 47,653 Palestinians considered active in the military wings of Hamas and PIJ. It is based on apparent internal documents from the groups seized in Gaza, which have not been viewed or verified by the Guardian. Multiple intelligence sources familiar with the database said the military viewed it as the only authoritative tally of militant casualties. The military also considers the Gaza health ministry toll reliable, Local Call has reported, and the former head of military intelligence appeared to cite it recently, even though Israeli politicians regularly dismiss the numbers as propaganda. 52,928 Gaza health ministry's overall death toll as of 14 May 2025 Both databases may underestimate casualty numbers. The Gaza ministry of health lists only people whose bodies have been recovered, not the thousands buried under rubble. Israeli military intelligence are not aware of all militant deaths or all new recruits. But the databases are the ones used by Israeli officers for war planning. Israeli politicians and generals have variously put the number of militants killed as high as 20,000, or claimed a civilian-to-combatant ratio as low as 1:1. The higher totals cited by Israeli officials may include civilians with Hamas links, such as government administrators and police, even though international law prohibits targeting people not engaged in combat. They probably also include Palestinians with no Hamas connections. Israel's southern command allowed soldiers to report people killed in Gaza as militant casualties without identification or verification. 'People are promoted to the rank of terrorist after their death,' said one intelligence source who accompanied forces on the ground. 'If I had listened to the brigade, I would have come to the conclusion that we had killed 200% of Hamas operatives in the area.' Itzhak Brik, a retired general, said serving Israeli soldiers were aware that politicians exaggerated the Hamas toll. Brik advised the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the start of the war and is now among his most strident critics. 'There is absolutely no connection between the numbers that are announced and what is actually happening. It is just one big bluff,' he said. Brik commanded Israel's military colleges, and said he kept in touch with serving officers. He described meeting soldiers from a unit identifying Palestinians killed in Gaza, who told him 'most of them' were civilians. Even though much of Gaza has been reduced to ruins and tens of thousands of people killed, the classified database lists nearly 40,000 people considered by the army to be militants and still alive. Casualty estimates from Hamas and PIJ members also indicated Israeli officials were inflating the militant toll in public statements, said Muhammad Shehada, a Palestinian analyst. By December 2024 an estimated 6,500 people from the military and political wings of both groups had been killed, members told him. 'Israel expands the boundaries so they can define every single person in Gaza as Hamas,' he said. 'All of it is killing in the moment for tactical purposes that have nothing to do with extinguishing a threat.' The ratio of civilian casualties among the dead may have increased further since May, when Israel tried to replace UN and humanitarian organisations that had fed Palestinians throughout the war. Israeli forces have killed hundreds of people trying to get food from distribution centres in military exclusion zones. Now starving survivors, already forced into just 20% of the territory, have been ordered to leave the north as Israel prepares for another ground operation that is likely to have catastrophic consequences for civilians. The scale of the killing was partly owing to the nature of the conflict, said Mary Kaldor, professor emeritus at the LSE, director of the Conflict Research Programme and author of New Wars, an influential book about warfare in the post-cold-war era. International humanitarian law was developed to protect civilians in conventional wars, in which states deploy troops to face each other on the battlefield. This is still largely the model for Russia's war in Ukraine. In Gaza Israel is fighting Hamas militants in densely populated cities, and has set rules of engagement that allow its forces to kill large numbers of civilians in strikes on even low-ranking militants. 'In Gaza we are talking about a campaign of targeted assassinations, really, rather than battles, and they are carried out with no concern for civilians,' Kaldor said. The ratio of civilians among the dead in Gaza was more comparable to recent wars in Sudan, Yemen, Uganda and Syria, where much of the violence had been directed against civilians, she said. 'These are wars where the armed groups tend to avoid battle. They don't want to fight each other, they want to control territory and they do that by killing civilians,. 'Maybe that is the same with Israel, and this is a model of war [in Gaza] that is about dominating a population and controlling land. Maybe the objective always was forced displacement.' Israel's government says the war is one of self-defence after the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people. But political and military leaders regularly use genocidal rhetoric. The general who led military intelligence when the war began has said 50 Palestinians must die for every person killed that day, adding that 'it does not matter now if they are children'. Aharon Haliva, who stepped down in April 2024, said mass killing in Gaza was 'necessary' as a 'message to future generations' of Palestinians, in recordings broadcast on Israeli TV this month. Many Israeli soldiers have testified that all Palestinians are treated as targets in Gaza. One stationed in Rafah this year said his unit had created an 'imaginary line' in the sand and fired at anyone who crossed it, including twice at children and once at a woman. They shot to kill, not to warn, he said. 'Nobody aimed for their legs'. Neta Crawford, a professor of international relations at Oxford University and co-founder of the Costs of War project, said Israeli tactics marked a 'worrisome' abandonment of decades of practices developed to protect civilians. In the 1970s public revulsion about American massacres in Vietnam forced western militaries to shift how they fought. New policies were imperfectly implemented but reflected a focus on limiting harm to civilians that no longer appeared to be part of Israel's military calculus, she said. 'They say they're using the same kinds of procedures for civilian casualty estimation and mitigation as states like the United States. But if you look at these casualty rates, and their practices with the bombing and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, it is clear that they are not.'
Western Telegraph
30 minutes ago
- Western Telegraph
Netanyahu pushes forward with Gaza City operation despite opposition
The Israeli military began calling medical officials and international organisations in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday to encourage them to evacuate the area ahead of the expanded operation. It comes the day after the military announced the call-up of 60,000 reservists and the extension of 20,000 reservists currently serving to support the expanded operation. A satellite image showing the northern reaches of Gaza City and Jabaliya (Planet Labs PBC/AP) The Israeli prime minister is expected to give his final approval for the operation during a security cabinet meeting on Thursday night, according to an official. It comes as at least 36 Palestinians were killed in strikes in central and southern Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals, and people protested in Israel and Gaza. Although Israel has targeted and killed much of Hamas's senior leadership, parts are actively regrouping and carrying out attacks, including launching rockets towards Israel, the official said. Israeli troops are already operating in the city's Zeitoun neighbourhood and in Jabaliya, a refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, to prepare for the expanded operation which could begin within days. The developments came during heightened international condemnation of Israel's restrictions on food and medicine reaching Gaza and fears that many Palestinians will be forced to flee. Smoke rises after an Israeli strike in Khan Younis (Mariam Dagga/AP) United Nations chief Antonio Guterres repeated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Thursday, telling a news conference: 'I must reiterate that it is vital to reach immediately a ceasefire in Gaza, and the unconditional release of all hostages to avoid the massive death and destruction that a military operation against Gaza City would inevitably cause.' People protested against the expansion of the war in Israel and Gaza on Thursday. In Gaza City, hundreds of people gathered, waving flags and posters among destroyed buildings, rubble and tents for the displaced in a rare show of opposition to the war and forced migration. 'We have lost more than 10% of our residents, 85% of our buildings and infrastructure and much of our cultural and historic heritage,' said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network. 'All of Gaza is threatened with destruction.' In Israel, families of some of the 50 hostages still being held in Gaza gathered in Tel Aviv to condemn the expanded operation. Israel believes around 20 hostages are still alive. 'Forty-two hostages were kidnapped alive and murdered in captivity due to military pressure and delay in signing a deal,' said Dalia Cusnir, whose brother-in-law, Eitan Horn, is still being held captive. Mr Horn's brother Iair was released during the last ceasefire. The scene of Israeli military strikes in a tent camp for displaced people near Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) 'Enough to sacrifice the hostages. Enough to sacrifice the soldiers, both regular and reservists. Enough to sacrifice the evacuees. Enough to sacrifice the younger generation in the country,' said Bar Goddard, the daughter of Meni Goddard, whose body is being held by Hamas. Additional protests are planned for Thursday night in Tel Aviv. At least 36 people were killed on Thursday in Gaza and the death toll from strikes on Wednesday in northern Gaza rose by another 39, Shifa Hospital reported. Air strikes killed 19 people in central Gaza, including five who were attempting to get aid and eight sheltering at schools for displaced people, according to Al Awda Hospital. Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza said at least nine people were killed attempting to access aid and eight in an air strike near Khan Younis. In the central city of Deir-al Balah, air strikes destroyed at least 100 tents of people displaced by the fighting, according to Al Aqsa Hospital. Relatives and supporters of hostages held by Hamas call for the end of the war as they march near the Gaza border (Maya Levin/AP) Witnesses said smoke rose from the targeted area and fires spread quickly through the makeshift shelters. Civil defence teams rushed to the site, working to extinguish the flames. Families, many of them with children, were left sifting through the ashes of what little they had managed to bring with them during earlier evacuations. Mohammad Kahlout, displaced from northern Gaza, said: 'We came to the safe zone, which they call safe. (We were given) only five minutes to gather our belongings, and then they bombed the camp. 'We are civilians, not terrorists. What is our fault, and what is the fault of our children, to be displaced again? This is a camp for civilians, refugees. There is no resistance or anyone.' The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said on Thursday that the death toll from the Israel-Hamas war has reached 62,192. Two more people have died from starvation and malnutrition, taking the total to 271, including 112 children, the Health Ministry said. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The ministry does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants, but it said women and children make up around half of them. The UN and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties. Israel disputes its toll but has not provided its own.
