Children and paramedics were among at least 80 civilians killed in the incident, Declassified can reveal.
Royal Air Force (RAF) refuelling planes supported US strikes on Yemen that the Pentagon assessed “more likely than not” resulted in 281 civilian casualties, it has emerged.
Britain’s involvement in the operation “may make them complicit in war crimes,” Human Rights Watch told Declassified.
…
Last year saw President Trump directly target the Houthis in Operation Rough Rider, which aimed to stop the group blockading Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea.
Britain – then led by Keir Starmer – provided aerial refuelling support during the two-month-long bombing campaign, with RAF Voyager tankers flying at least 25 missions from Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus.
…
It determined that 153 civilians were “likely” killed and a further 243 civilians injured in three particular air strikes during Operation Rough Rider, two of which Britain can be linked to.
The acknowledgement included one of the worst strikes for civilian harm ever recorded in Yemen, which experts say raises serious questions about Britain’s potential involvement.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/. New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is pursuing the same policy of active support of and denial of genocide by Israel.Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Protesters gathered outside the White House to demonstrate against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, DC, on February 11, 2026. [Celal Güneş – Anadolu Agency]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over war crimes committed in Gaza, is preparing to take the podium at the UN General Assembly in New York, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose people are facing genocide, is unable to travel to the city due to Washington’s visa restrictions, Anadolu reports.
As it did last year, the US administration has once more denied Abbas a visa, preventing him from attending the UN General Assembly in person. As a result, Abbas is expected to address the General Assembly by video conference again this year.
Under the 1947 UN Headquarters Agreement, the US is required to allow representatives of member and observer states to enter New York.
However, the US has denied visas to Abbas and his delegation for two consecutive years, violating its obligations under the UN Headquarters Agreement.
As it did during the era of Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat, Washington has used its status as the UN host country to exert political pressure, imposing severe restrictions on visas, transit permits and the size of Palestinian delegations.
In 1988, the US denied a visa to then-Palestinian leader Arafat when he sought to address the UN General Assembly.
While a leader accused by the ICC of “using starvation as a method of warfare and deliberately targeting civilians” is given a place at the UN podium, host country US is denying the same opportunity to the legitimate Palestinian leader whose people are being killed.
The US decision comes as violence by Israeli occupiers who have seized Palestinian land and by Israeli forces against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has escalated in recent months.
Israel, which has occupied the West Bank since 1967, has stepped up illegal land seizures of Palestinian land, while violence has intensified since October 2023.
Netanyahu, wanted by the ICC, to address UN General Assembly
The ICC issued arrest warrants on Nov. 21, 2024 for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip. The warrants, issued following an application by the ICC prosecutor’s office, constitute a binding obligation for more than 120 countries that are parties to the Rome Statute.
The US, which hosts UN headquarters, however, is not a party to the Rome Statute and is hosting in New York a suspect wanted by the international court.
Netanyahu is therefore set to address the UN General Assembly this year, as he did last year.
Protests expected during Netanyahu’s speech
Dozens of diplomats walked out of the UN General Assembly hall as Netanyahu took the podium during the September 2025 session, leaving much of the chamber empty during his speech.
Outside, demonstrators opposed to Israel’s attacks on Gaza gathered in Times Square to protest Netanyahu and Israel.
This year, diplomats from several countries are again expected to stage a diplomatic boycott by walking out of the chamber during Netanyahu’s speech, while mass protests are also expected across New York during the summit.
‘Double standard’
The contrasting treatment in New York has also raised questions about the Western world’s frequently invoked concept of a “rules-based international order.”
Western governments, including the US, have faced criticism for refusing to recognize ICC decisions involving Netayahu, despite having previously used mechanisms ranging from intelligence sharing to pressure on third countries to support efforts to enforce the ICC warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine war.
Civil society organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have repeatedly called for Netanyahu, who is subject to an ICC warrant, to be arrested.
Turkiye takes steps towards Interpol Red Notice against Netanyahu
Alongside the ICC proceedings, Turkiye has also sought to activate international mechanisms against those responsible for crimes in Gaza, taking concrete steps toward having an Interpol Red Notice issued for Netanyahu and other officials.
A Red Notice potentially exposes a wanted individual to arrest across Interpol’s 196 member countries, restricting Netanyahu’s freedom of movement and leaving him with only a limited number of routes where he has specific diplomatic assurances.
Western countries fail to enforce ICC warrant against Netanyahu
The ICC warrants, however, have not been enforced in practice, with critics attributing what they describe as double standards among Western countries that are parties to the Rome Statute.
During his trips to the US, Netanyahu has flown through the airspace of Rome Statute parties France, Italy and Greece despite the court’s warrant, with those countries failing to fulfill their obligations toward the ICC.
Netanyahu’s visit to Hungary in April 2025 also took place with a special guarantee from the government of then-Prime Minister Viktor Orban that he would not be arrested.
Netanyahu’s plane to land in New Jersey
Netanyahu’s aircraft is reportedly set to land at Newark Airport in New Jersey rather than at an airport in New York, for his trip to the US for the UN General Assembly.
Asked whether the ICC arrest warrant would be enforced if Netanyahu came to New York for the UN General Assembly meetings in September, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said: “Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end.”
The New York mayor also said: “I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague. He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court.”
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says he wishes someone would lock him up, small Orca speaks bluntly.
Chris Williamson outside the Birmingham Civil Justice Centre
WORKERS PARTY deputy leader Chris Williamson quit the party in protest at George Galloway’s decision to contest the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.
Mr Williamson, a former Labour MP, has come out in support of Green Party leader Zack Polanski, the main left challenger to Labour in the constituency.
“I have a huge amount of respect for George Galloway, but I believe we should get behind Zack Polanski on this occasion,” he wrote on social media.
“My firm view is that the left must collaborate to defeat the Labour Party, Reform UK, Conservatives and Lib Dems because these parties are all in the pocket of the neoliberal Zionist war machine.
“Zack is best placed to do that in this by-election.”
Mr Williamson’s defection is a blow to the Workers Party, since he was the most prominent politician in its ranks other than Mr Galloway himself.
Nigel Farage 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.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. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
Zita Holbourne addresses a previous TUC Congress at Manchester Central in 2018
ANDY BURNHAM’S government remains complicit in genocide, unions said as TUC passed an historic vote to back the Palestinian-led BDS campaign against Israel today.
Ministers announced new restrictions on trade and weapons exports with illegal settlers in Palestine earlier this month.
Campaigners hailed delegates in Brighton for voting to support the “Palestinian-led boycott, divest and sanctions (BDS) movement” and call on the government to impose “wide-ranging sanctions on Israel until it complies with international law.”
Moving the motion, Artists Union England’s Zita Holbourne said that the government’s recent acceptance of a 2024 International Court of Justice ruling urging Israel not to commit genocide in Gaza “is not enough.”
“Palestinian society, including unions, have reiterated the call for the international community to implement BDS against ongoing crimes of genocide, apartheid and occupation,” she said.
The motion also called on ministers to “commit to freedom of speech and end attempts to censor artists and art organisations expressing solidarity with Palestine” after it emerged on Tuesday that rapper Macklemore was removed from an Ed Sheeran concert for backing the war-torn territory.
Seconding, Unison delegate Margaret McKee said that unions will continue to call on Labour to fully suspend arms trade with Israel and the Britain-Israel trade partnership agreement until “human rights and international law are respected.”
“If the government doesn’t do this, you are still being complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people,” she said.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.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. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.Genocide denying [former] UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 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.
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband leaves 10 Downing Street following the first cabinet meeting of the new legislative session in London, United Kingdom, on September 08, 2026. [Raşid Necati Aslım – Anadolu Agency]
The British foreign secretary said the Israeli government is losing friends and allies because of its actions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which he said have mobilized people around the world, Anadolu reports.
The “Israeli government is losing friends. It’s not gaining allies; it’s lost allies. It’s losing allies all over,” Ed Miliband said Tuesday in an interview with UK-based podcast The Rest is Politics.
He noted that the recent sanctions announcement targeting illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank came after warnings that the two-state solution is being “destroyed by the facts on the ground.”
“All measures were to make a difference to that, the sanctions regime targeting the illegal occupation, not targeting or delegitimizing in any way the state of Israel,” he said.
“The status quo is not working,” noted Miliband, adding that Israel’s E1 settlement expansion project had long been seen as a “red line” for the international community “because it basically would split off East Jerusalem from West Bank (which) really makes Palestinian state unviable.”
He noted that the combination of the International Court of Justice’s 2024 ruling that Israel end its occupation, dismantle settlements and pay reparations; the length of the occupation of Palestinian territories; and the displacement of many Palestinians led the government to take that step.
“We can’t give up” in the face of “settler terrorism,” said Miliband, adding that he believes there is no stable Middle East without a two-state solution between Palestinians and Israelis.
“We have got to put a stop to settler terrorism, genuine terrorism, I used the term, ethnic cleansing by the settler terrorists, that’s what is happening,” he said.
Miliband said before his sanctions announcement he thought what would his mother say, who died in May.
“She would say, ‘Look at what is happening to Palestinians! Look at what is happening to these poor people; it’s wrong,” said the foreign secretary.
Miliband said he recently met a group of people, including a doctor who worked in Gaza, and said it is “absolutely unspeakable” and “appalling” what they were saying.
He also said Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid entry into Gaza “seems like an absolutely deliberate strategy.”
“The situation on the ground is terrible,” he said. “Nothing can justify what has unfolded in Gaza.”
“Since the so-called ceasefire, 1,200 Palestinians have been killed. That’s not much of a ceasefire,” he said.
Miliband underlined that the UK can not give up in the face of “settler terrorism.”
“We don’t know what’s going to happen in Israeli elections on Oct. 27, but we are trying to send a very clear message to the Israeli people to say, ‘look, the international community is not going to stand by as this occupation proceeds,’” he added.
Miliband announced a series of measures last week, including a ban on imports from illegal Israeli settlements, sanctions on companies and individuals facilitating settlement expansion, and additional sanctions on extremist Israeli occupiers accused of supporting or inciting violence against Palestinians.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Chris Williamson outside the Birmingham Civil Justice Centre
