Monthly Archives: July 2025

Israeli army sends 2 more battalions to West Bank

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Israeli military vehicles patrol on street during a raid on Salam Neighborhood in Nablus, West Bank on May 29, 2025. [Nedal Eshtayah - Anadolu Agency]

Israeli military vehicles patrol on street during a raid on Salam Neighborhood in Nablus, West Bank on May 29, 2025. [Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency]

The Israeli army said Friday it reinforced its forces in the occupied West Bank with two additional military battalions, Anadolu reports.

“According to the situation assessment, a decision was made to reinforce two battalions in the Central Command sector,” the army said in a statement, according to the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

The “Central Command sector” refers to the West Bank, said the newspaper.

The Israeli army did not clarify the actual number of troops currently on the ground in the occupied West Bank, nor did it disclose the reasons behind the escalatory step of reinforcing forces with two battalions.

However, it noted: “Throughout the war, continuous situation assessments are being conducted, and accordingly, the necessary order of battle is determined for fulfilling operational missions in various sectors.”

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, at least 996 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

READ: UN warns Israeli strikes in West Bank escalate damage, hinder return of displaced Palestinians

Continue ReadingIsraeli army sends 2 more battalions to West Bank

UNRWA warns Israel’s Gaza displacement plan would create ‘massive concentration camps’

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Palestinian families begin fleeing again from shelters near the Al-Mawasi area as the Israeli army expands its ground offensive and tanks reach southwestern Khan Yunis, Gaza, marking their first displacement in nearly a year and a half, on July 10, 2025. [Hani Alshaer - Anadolu Agency]

Palestinian families begin fleeing again from shelters near the Al-Mawasi area as the Israeli army expands its ground offensive and tanks reach southwestern Khan Yunis, Gaza, marking their first displacement in nearly a year and a half, on July 10, 2025. [Hani Alshaer – Anadolu Agency]

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) condemned on Friday Israel’s plan to forcibly displace Palestinians in Gaza towards the southern city of Rafah, warning that the move would create “massive concentration camps” and worsen the humanitarian crisis, Anadolu reports.

Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s director of communications, told Al Jazeera English that the agency “categorically refuses any forced displacement of any population.”

“If it happens, it will push further tens of thousands of people who have already been displaced many, many times during this current war but also over the generations, further south and from there into the unknown,” Touma said.

“What needs to happen right now is to focus on reaching a ceasefire and allowing UNRWA to bring in much-needed supplies,” she said.

Touma said UNRWA has “over 6,000 trucks in Egypt and Jordan full of medicines that are soon expiring, food that is also going off, we have hygiene supplies.”

READ: UN says first fuel delivery to Gaza in 130 days ‘isn’t sufficient’ for humanitarian operations

“All we are saying is lift the siege, get a ceasefire, allow UNRWA and other UN organizations to do our work,” she added.

Earlier, the UN raised alarm over continued mass displacement in the Gaza Strip and warned that more than 700,000 people have been uprooted since the end of the ceasefire in March.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he instructed the army to prepare a plan to relocate all Palestinians to what he called a “humanitarian city” on the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, killing nearly 57,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and a spread of disease.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

READ: ‘They think they are untouchable’: Mahmoud Khalil seeks $20 million in damages

Continue ReadingUNRWA warns Israel’s Gaza displacement plan would create ‘massive concentration camps’

Southeast Asian bloc urges end to genocide of Palestinians by ’emboldened’ Israel

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad bin Hasan delivers opening remarks during the 32nd ASEAN Regional Forum in-conjunction with the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministerial Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 11, 2025. [Syaiful Redzuan – Anadolu Agency]

Southeast Asian bloc on Friday urged an end to the genocide of Palestinians by an “emboldened” Israel, adding that they welcome all efforts for peace in the Middle East, Anadolu reports.

“The longest conflict of modern history, rooted in the unjust and illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territory, must be brought to an end,” Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said at the start of the 15th East Asia Summit of Foreign Ministers in Kuala Lumpur, speaking on behalf of the bloc.

“Eighty years of impunity have emboldened Israel to the extent of openly committing genocide, including through mass starvation that includes babies and children,” he stressed.

“This is unacceptable. It must not be allowed to continue. It must stop,” he added, according to an official transcript of his speech on the Malaysian Foreign Ministry website.

He noted that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) supports and welcomes all initiatives aimed at achieving peace, including those in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Malaysia is current chair of the bloc.

The Israeli army has killed nearly 57,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has devastated the enclave and led to food shortages and the spread of disease.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.​​​​​​​

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

READ: UNRWA: Banning international media from Gaza aims to hide atrocities against Palestinians

Continue ReadingSoutheast Asian bloc urges end to genocide of Palestinians by ’emboldened’ Israel

Unite conference votes overwhelmingly to re-examine relationship with Labour and suspend Angela Rayner from Unite membership over Birmingham bins dispute

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Deputy Labour Party Leader Angela Rayner calls for police to kill and harass innocent people.
Deputy Labour Party Leader Angela Rayner calls for police to kill and harass innocent people.

https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2025/july/unite-conference-votes-overwhelmingly-to-re-examine-relationship-with-labour-and-suspend-angela-rayner-from-unite-membership-over-birmingham-bins-dispute

Unite has overwhelming voted to re-examine its relationship with Labour and deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has had her Unite membership suspended over her role in the Birmingham bin strike.

Labour Government condemned

The decision was taken following an emergency motion passed at the union’s policy conference in Brighton today that condemned Birmingham’s Labour council and the Labour government for attacking the bin workers.

Birmingham council leader John Cotton and fellow Unite Birmingham councillors have also had their Unite membership suspended for their roles in effectively firing and rehiring the workers, who are striking over pay cuts of up £8,000.

Rayner backed rogue council

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Unite is crystal clear it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette. Angela Rayner has had every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute but has instead backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers fighting huge pay cuts.

“The disgraceful actions of the government and a so-called Labour council, is essentially fire and rehire and makes a joke of the Employment Relations Act promises. 

“People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour government on and coming up with the answer not workers.”

Effective fire and rehire

The emergency condemned “Birmingham council for its threat to effectively fire and rehire, on pain of redundancy, the Unite Birmingham bin workers”. The Labour government is also condemned for its “support to the council and the commissioners, originally appointed by the Tories and maintained by Labour.”

It then commits the union if the redundancy process is forced through “Unite should discuss our relationship with Labour.”

Commissioners blocked deal

Birmingham’s government appointed commissioners, who, along with John Cotton, have never joined negotiations and have continually blocked deals to end the strike, answer directly to Angela Rayner. 

Ms Rayner, Cotton and other the other Labour councillors have been suspended for “bringing the union into disrepute”. This will be followed by an investigation into their behaviour with a “view to expelling them from the union.”

In April, the secretary of state for local authorities toured Birmingham waste depots using strike breaking labour and insisted the strikers should accept a deal that would have seen their wages slashed.

The motion was voted on by 800 Unite delegates who represent sectors across the economy from automotive to the NHS.

Unite is the largest affiliated union to the Labour Party.

https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2025/july/unite-conference-votes-overwhelmingly-to-re-examine-relationship-with-labour-and-suspend-angela-rayner-from-unite-membership-over-birmingham-bins-dispute

Angela Rayner wears her "benefits in kind" donation from multi-millionaire Lord Alli.
Angela Rayner wears her “benefits in kind” donation from multi-millionaire Lord Alli.
Continue ReadingUnite conference votes overwhelmingly to re-examine relationship with Labour and suspend Angela Rayner from Unite membership over Birmingham bins dispute

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva: With the world in crisis, many say end globalisation. I say that would be a mistake

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This article is recommended https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/10/world-crisis-end-globalisation-mistake-lula-da-silva

Leaders from the five nations gather for the Brics Summit 2025 in Rio de Janeiro, 6 July. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

The year 2025 should be a time of celebration, marking eight decades of the United Nations’ existence. But it risks going down in history as the year when the international order built since 1945 collapsed.

The cracks had long been visible. Since the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the intervention in Libya and the war in Ukraine, some permanent members of the security council have trivialised the illegal use of force. The failure to act vis-a-vis the genocide in Gaza represents a denial of the most basic values of humanity. The inability to overcome differences is fuelling a new escalation of violence in the Middle East, the latest chapter of which includes the attack on Iran.

The law of the strongest also threatens the multilateral trading system. Sweeping tariffs disrupt value chains and push the global economy into a spiral of high prices and stagnation. The World Trade Organization has been hollowed out, and no one remembers the Doha development round.

The 2008 financial collapse exposed the failure of neoliberal globalisation, but the world remained locked into the austerity playbook. The choice to bail out the ultra-wealthy and major corporations at the expense of ordinary citizens and small businesses has deepened inequality. In the past 10 years, the $33.9tn (£25tn) accumulated by the world’s richest 1% is equivalent to 22 times the resources needed to eradicate global poverty, according to a report by Oxfam.

The stranglehold on the state’s capacity for action has led to public distrust in institutions. Discontent has become fertile ground for extremist narratives that threaten democracy and promote hate as a political project.

…

There is an urgent need to recommit to diplomacy and rebuild the foundations of true multilateralism – one capable of answering the outcry of a humanity fearful for its future. Only then can we stop passively watching the rise of inequality, the senselessness of war and the destruction of our own planet.

  • Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the president of Brazil

This article is recommended https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/10/world-crisis-end-globalisation-mistake-lula-da-silva

Continue ReadingLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva: With the world in crisis, many say end globalisation. I say that would be a mistake