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Palestinians carry the blankets and clothing collected from the rubble of their houses destroyed in Israeli attacks on November 18, 2025 in Khan Yunis, Gaza. [Abdallah F.s. Alattar – Anadolu Agency]
The UN humanitarian office on Wednesday warned that the situation in the Gaza Strip remains “extremely dire,” despite ongoing efforts by the UN and its partners to reach civilians across the territory where a ceasefire is in place after two years of Israeli war, Anadolu reports.
In a statement, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that “the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains extremely dire, despite ongoing efforts by the UN and its partners to reach people in need wherever they are.”
Saying that “humanitarians continue to carry out assessments and provide assistance to families affected by last week’s rainstorm,” OCHA reported that “over 18,600 households were impacted.”
Thousands of families “lost their shelters, had their belongings damaged, or were again displaced,” the agency said, adding that the number continues to rise as assessments are completed.
“With winter drawing near, partners working on shelter warn that the volume of items entering Gaza is not sufficient to meet people’s immense needs,” OCHA said, stressing that since Sept., fewer than 60,000 tents, 346,000 tarpaulins and 309,000 bedding items have entered Gaza, even as hundreds of thousands urgently require shelter support.
OCHA reiterated its call for “items that are currently restricted from entry into Gaza, including equipment to rehabilitate critical infrastructure,” to be allowed in.
It also re-emphasized “the need for NGOs to be permitted to bring assistance into Gaza, and for the opening of additional crossings” to ensure faster and more efficient aid delivery.
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Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspeding 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
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Displaced Palestinians try to survive in makeshift tents, set up on top of the rubble, in Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, Gaza on November 17, 2025. Khames Alrefi – Anadolu Agency]
The United States has informed mediating countries and states expected to contribute forces to an international security mission in Gaza that it will allow Israel to resume military operations if Hamas does not disarm, according to a report by the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom.
The newspaper said that Washington conveyed this position explicitly during UN Security Council deliberations on the future of the Gaza Strip. US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, reportedly reaffirmed the stance in internal discussions with American representatives involved in the resolution’s negotiations.
US officials have also relayed the same message to Israeli political leaders and military commanders, including during talks with the Israel Defence Forces at the Civil-Military Coordination Centre (CMCC) in Kiryat Gat, according to the report. Washington emphasised its commitment to the full disarmament of Hamas and the dismantling of its military infrastructure in Gaza.
Israeli political sources told the newspaper that the US set two immediate priorities following the Security Council’s adoption of the Gaza resolution: the establishment of an international force to operate inside the Gaza Strip, and preventing Hamas from controlling the entry and distribution of supplies into the besieged territory.
However, the formation of such a force faces significant obstacles. So far, no country has agreed to deploy troops that could become involved in direct confrontations with Hamas.
The US position comes amid ongoing negotiations over Gaza’s post-war governance and security arrangements and reflects Washington’s insistence that any political or humanitarian framework must ensure Hamas cannot regain military control.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspeding 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese makes a speech during the meeting titled “Palestine, International Law, and Europe’s Role at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium on November 18, 2025. [Dursun Aydemir – Anadolu Agency]
The UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories reiterated her criticism of the European Union and its member states over policies she said are aiding the destruction of Palestine, Anadolu reports.
In remarks to reporters Tuesday at the European Parliament in Brussels, Francesca Albanese said the EU and its members failed to fulfill their international obligations on Gaza and Palestine.
“It is a very grave situation that, particularly due to the objections of Germany and Italy, the suspension of the trade agreement (with Israel) has still not gone forward,’ she said.
Citing continued relations between the EU and Israel, including sending weapons as well as Israel’s association with the bloc’s Horizon Europe research program, Albanese said the issue is not that the EU is not doing enough, rather it is that the EU, through its member states and policies, is aiding the destruction of Palestine.
“In my view, the situation is so dire that it is beyond comment,” she said.
Asked about her comments regarding a two-state solution, she said there is no point in any political debate about two states unless the dire situation of the Palestinian people is addressed.
“There is an ethnic cleansing in the West Bank that is almost unprecedented in the last 80 years, and with extraordinary violence,” she said.
Albanese said that most of the violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank are citizens of European countries, while many European citizens have served in the Israeli army.
“How can we talk about two states when the population is disappearing, when much of the land on which the independent State of Palestine was to be established has been destroyed or is under occupation?” she said.
“We are facing a new genocide, and we are at risk of being complicit in it,” said Albanese, adding this complicity leads not only to the destruction of Palestine but also to the collapse of the EU’s fundamental values.
Albanese also said that US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza does not comply with international law, citing last year’s ruling by the International Court of Justice that Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful.
She also said that compensation must be paid for the violence against Palestinians and the return of displaced people must be guaranteed.
In response to a question regarding the disarming of the Palestinian group Hamas and removing it from power in Gaza, Albanese said the right to self-determination means that Palestinians choose whomever they want.
“Just as Israelis can elect a criminal, Palestinians can also vote for someone the international community does not like, or not. But that is not our concern. What concerns us is that Palestinians live freely and in peace — just like Israelis,” she added.
Albanese also reiterated the need to immediately suspend the military cooperation agreement between the EU and Israel.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspeding 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
More patients than promised in NHS England’s recovery plan are still waiting more than six weeks for an X-ray or scan. Photograph: Lankowsky/Alamy
Public accounts committee finds Labour’s progress ‘appears to have stalled’ despite billions of pounds in investment
The NHS has failed to cut waiting times as promised in its recovery plan despite billions of pounds in investment, the public accounts committee (PAC) has warned.
The influential parliamentary committee’s verdict raises serious doubts over whether Labour can fulfil its key pledge to voters to “fix the NHS” by ensuring that patients can once again get hospital care within 18 weeks by 2029.
In a scathing report, the cross-party PAC warns that improvements in providing faster tests and treatment have “stalled”. And it criticises Keir Starmer and the health secretary, Wes Streeting, for ordering a costly, unplanned reorganisation of the NHS in England. It said this could damage care and was reminiscent of the shambles surrounding the HS2 rail project.
Far more patients than promised still have to wait more than 18 weeks for non-urgent hospital care – sometimes for more than a year – and more than six weeks for an X-ray or scan, it found. “Progress in reducing waiting times appears to have stalled, with the total elective care waiting list standing at 7.4m clinical pathways,” the report says – about 220,000 fewer than when Labour took power in July 2024.
The PAC’s conclusions will alarm ministers, who are keenly aware that the public’s top priority is to see NHS waiting times fall, and that Reform UK has recently supplanted Labour as the party that voters see as having the best policies on healthcare.
Its gloomy verdict contrasts sharply with the upbeat picture of progress in the NHS during Labour’s 16 months in power that Streeting painted last week.
… Reform UK has recently supplanted Labour as the party that voters see as having the best policies on healthcare. …
??? It’s remarkable that the electorate is so poorly informed …
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.Nigel Farage attacks the NHSNigel Farage reminds you that he’s the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.
He thought he was being tough. And yes, I’m sure Labour strategists smirked. But millions of people across this country weren’t amused. They were horrified. Because this is not leadership. It is cruelty. Cheap, dangerous, divisive cruelty aimed at the people with the least power.
And when I called it out, Tapp threw more playground insults around and called me a communist. That’s McCarthyism. That bleak, paranoid era when smearing people replaced making arguments. That’s where Labour is now.
And of course, all of this bile comes as Westminster prepares for next week’s Budget. Another opportunity for Labour, Reform, and the Conservatives to talk about how they are standing up for ordinary people all while “asking” them to pay more and allowing the very wealthiest to get richer and richer. It’s grotesque.
I obviously disagree with them, but I get why so many people say they’re considering Reform. They can see a truth: the political establishment, of which Reform is part, has been ripping them off for years. Bills through the roof. Wages that don’t stretch. Young people locked out of housing. And into this frustration steps the far right, pointing the finger at migrants and asylum seekers. And instead of confronting that lie head-on, Labour has chosen to echo it.
This week, the Labour government decided, deliberately, to outbid Reform on cruelty. This is morally repugnant and complete political cowardice.
Keir Starmer refuses to be outcnuted by Nigel Farage’s chasing the racist bigot vote.Climate science denier Nigel Farage explains that it’s simple to blame asylum-seekers or Muslims for everything.
