Palestine

Israeli restrictions push Gaza medical supplies to critical shortage: Doctors Without Borders

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A Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) doctor takes care of patients at Nasser Hospital as patients face difficulties accessing care due to inadequate health services in Khan Yunis, Gaza on January 15, 2026. [Abed Rahim Khatib – Anadolu Agency]

Restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities on the entry of medical supplies into Gaza have led to critical shortages, severely impacting health care services, according to a statement released on Friday by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Anadolu reports.

Dr. Randa Abu El-Khair Masoud, a medical adviser with MSF, said the organization has been unable to bring any medical supplies into Gaza since Jan. 1, despite significant humanitarian needs in the enclave.

“Every day, in our hospitals and clinics, we see the impacts of the restrictions on the entry of medical supplies into Gaza, Palestine. The needs in Gaza are massive, yet not enough aid is entering because Israeli authorities are blocking it,” Masoud said.

She warned that nearly 50% of essential medications for non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, thyroid disorders, and respiratory illnesses, are at critically low levels.

Due to the shortages, MSF has stopped admitting new patients to its non-communicable diseases programs, limiting treatment to existing patients only.

READ: Palestinian man with special needs killed by Israeli occupation fire in Gaza

“This shortage in proper care will inevitably lead to preventable deaths among patients suffering from chronic diseases,” she said.

The organization is also facing a lack of basic medical supplies such as gauze and compresses, affecting wound care services, particularly for postoperative patients and burn victims.

During a previous blockade between August and Sept. 2025, MSF teams were forced to use non-sterile gauze sterilized in batches, a measure considered a last resort due to infection risks.

“Now, we are close to this point again,” she warned.

Medical equipment shortages are further straining health care services. Masoud said no new equipment or spare parts have entered Gaza this year, leading to frequent malfunctions.

“Our teams are working hard to continue providing care, but they are under immense strain,” she said, stressing that emergency measures cannot substitute for consistent access to medical supplies.

READ: PLO calls on UNRWA to reverse dismissal of Gaza health workers

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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.
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.
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/
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/
Palestinians barred from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque due to restrictions imposed by Israeli forces citing Iran’s retaliatory attacks perform Friday prayers on the streets surrounding the mosque in Jerusalem on April 03, 2026. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]
Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says "Wish someone would lock him up".
Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.

Continue ReadingIsraeli restrictions push Gaza medical supplies to critical shortage: Doctors Without Borders

The politics of death in “Israel’s” prisons

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Palestinians stage a protest against Knesset’s approval of the law that imposes death penalty on Palestinian prisoners in Gaza, Palestine on April 01, 2026. [Abdalhkem Abu Riash – Anadolu Agency]

by Sayid Marcos Tenorio  soupalestina

The approval by the Knesset of a law instituting the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners marks a historic rupture in Israeli penal policy—and a dangerous escalation in the institutionalization of state violence.

For the first time in decades, the Zionist state has formalized execution as a regular instrument of punishment, establishing death, including by hanging, as a standard sentence for Palestinians accused of attacks classified as “terrorism.”

The law, approved by 62 votes to 48, stipulates that executions must be carried out within 90 days of conviction, with severe restrictions on the right to defense, no requirement for judicial unanimity, and virtually no possibility of appeal or clemency.

In practice, this is a legal mechanism designed to target Palestinians exclusively. These cases are tried in military courts, while Jewish settlers—even those involved in acts of violence—and Israeli citizens remain under civil jurisdiction, where such punishment is rarely, if ever, applied.

The racial selectivity of the measure has been widely recognized by experts and international bodies. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has already classified it as a violation of international law and warned of its discriminatory character.

But this law did not emerge in a vacuum. It is the culmination of a broader process of hardening Israeli prison policies, particularly under the direct influence of Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Ben Gvir, a fascist politician and a central figure of Israel’s far right, has built his political trajectory by openly advocating extreme punitive measures against Palestinians. In recent years, he has pushed the government toward increasingly harsh policies, including severe restrictions on prison conditions and even the direct execution of detainees.

His role goes beyond rhetoric. He was one of the main architects of the death penalty law and used his political leverage to pressure Prime Minister and war crimes suspect Benjamin Netanyahu into advancing it.

This dynamic reveals a pattern of political coercion within the Israeli government itself. Dependent on a fragile coalition and under pressure from internal crises and legal accusations, Netanyahu has repeatedly yielded to far-right demands. The result is a continuous escalation of repression, in which Palestinian prisoners have become direct targets.

Today, around 10,000 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, including women and hundreds of children.

Reports by human rights organizations indicate a dramatic deterioration in detention conditions, including documented cases of torture, medical neglect, prolonged solitary confinement, and severe restrictions on family visits. Since October 2023, dozens of prisoners have died in Israeli custody, many as a result of abuse or medical neglect.

READ: Israeli law to execute Palestinian prisoners reflects far-right dominance: Israeli daily

In this context, the introduction of the death penalty does not merely represent a new punitive measure—it fundamentally redefines the role of the prison system. Prison ceases to function as a mechanism of containment and becomes a potential space of elimination.

This marks a qualitative shift—from repression to a politics of death.

The Israeli government attempts to justify this escalation in the name of security. However, the evidence tells a different story. Decades of mass incarceration, blockades, and military offensives have failed to eliminate Palestinian resistance.

On the contrary, the persistence of struggle—both inside and outside prisons—reveals the limits of a model based solely on force.

Rather than neutralizing resistance, prisons have become spaces of political organization and consciousness-building. Hunger strikes, internal mobilizations, and the central role of prisoners in political negotiations demonstrate that incarceration has failed to fulfill its intended function.

Faced with this failure, the death penalty emerges as an attempt to reconfigure the repressive system. When imprisonment is no longer sufficient, death becomes the next option.

But this logic carries a fundamental contradiction.

History shows that regimes which rely on extreme violence as a central instrument of governance tend to accelerate their own decline. Repression may impose temporary silence, but it does not eliminate the structural causes of conflict. On the contrary, it often intensifies them.

In the Palestinian case, this reality is unavoidable. Resistance is not a circumstantial phenomenon, but a historical response to a system of occupation and denial of rights. As long as these conditions persist, no policy of punishment—no matter how brutal—will be capable of producing stability.

The death penalty law, therefore, is not a sign of strength.

It is a symptom of crisis—the unfolding collapse of the Zionist regime, already visible across multiple dimensions.

By transforming the prison system into a space of execution, the Zionist “state” not only violates international law. It exposes, unmistakably, the limits of a model that can no longer sustain its own legitimacy.

The politics of death does not resolve the conflict.

It only reveals that the system producing it has run out of alternatives for survival.

OPINION: The collapse of the myth of Israel’s invincibility

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

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

Related: Palestinian teenager was starved in prison before death, judge rules

Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight 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.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight 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.
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/
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/
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.
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.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.

Continue ReadingThe politics of death in “Israel’s” prisons

Green Party calls for suspension of Israel’s UK ambassador

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Co-Deputy Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales Mothin Ali. File used under OGL3
Co-Deputy Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales Mothin Ali. File used under OGL3

The Green Party is demanding the government suspends the Israeli ambassador after Israel’s parliament approved the death penalty for Palestinians convicted for attacks deemed to be “acts of terrorism”.

Deputy Leader of the Green Party, Mothin Ali, said:

“These military courts are conducted without proper legal representation or juries. This is unconscionable – the government must immediately suspend Israel’s UK ambassador.

“Introducing the death penalty into Israel’s civil legal system, in a way that rights groups say will de facto only apply to Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, will result in Palestinians being killed without a fair trial.

“Palestinian citizens of Israel already lack certain rights granted to Israeli citizens, and their second-class status was made explicit with the passing of the 2018 Jewish Nation-State Law.

“It’s time for the Labour government to stand for truth: Israel is an apartheid state which is conducting a genocide in Gaza. Just like apartheid South Africa, it must be treated as a pariah state until the genocide is stopped, apartheid is ended, and Palestinians are granted the same rights as Israelis.

Ali repeated a call for the government to ban the sale of all weapons and weapon components to Israel:

“The government must make clear that it will not continue to sell any military weapons or weapons components to Israel. The Green Party calls for Britain to impose sanctions on Israel, as most of the world community did to South Africa, when it was also operating an apartheid state.”

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/
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/
Continue ReadingGreen Party calls for suspension of Israel’s UK ambassador

Nineham and Jamal found guilty in ‘dark day’ for civil liberties

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/nineham-and-jamal-found-guilty-dark-day-civil-liberties

People taking part in a national march for Palestine on Whitehall in central London, January 18, 2025

TWO pro-Palestine campaigners being found guilty of breaching protest conditions yesterday is “a huge setback for civil liberties,” supporters said.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) director Ben Jamal and Stop the War vice-chair Chris Nineham made clear they will be appealing the verdicts as they criticised the “absurdity” of the case.

Jeremy Corbyn called the verdicts “a dark day for civil liberties in this country.”

District judge Daniel Sternberg found both Mr Jamal and Mr Nineham guilty of failing to comply with conditions imposed on the January 18 2025 Whitehall protest.

Mr Jamal was in addition found guilty of inciting others to fail to comply following the trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

A key part of the defence was that the conditions imposed on the protest, which prevented a march to the BBC, were unlawful.

Defence barrister, Mark Summers KC, submitted a detailed legal argument outlining this case, including that the Court of Appeal had already ruled in a previous case that imposing conditions on the basis of “more than minor” disruption was unlawful.

But Mr Sternberg told the court he was not obliged to give any reasons for his decision, instead handing it down in a 54-page written judgment, with a short summary for the media.

He gave both men conditional discharges of 18 and 12 months respectively and ordered them each to pay £7,500 in costs.

Speaking outside the court, Mr Nineham said: “We think this is an extraordinary and shocking decision and a huge setback for civil liberties in this country.

“It is clearly part of an ongoing criminalisation of the Palestine movement in which people protesting against a genocide are being targeted by a British Establishment that is colluding with it.

“It is an attempt to send a chilling message across society that people shouldn’t risk protesting. It is an attempt that will not stop us.”

Mr Jamal said: “We will be appealing. We will be appealing because of concerns about how this trial has been conducted.

“The judge did not see fit to deliver his judgment in open court.

“I have always been of the view that in a court, justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/nineham-and-jamal-found-guilty-dark-day-civil-liberties

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/
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/

Continue ReadingNineham and Jamal found guilty in ‘dark day’ for civil liberties

Morning Star Editorial: Solidarity on trial – how the state is redefining the right to protest

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/solidarity-trial-how-state-redefining-right-protest

FW Pomeroy’s Statue of Justice stands atop the Central Criminal Court building, Old Bailey, London

THE conviction of Palestine Solidarity and Stop the War leaders Ben Jamal and Chris Nineham is a perfect example of the way in which Establishment values underpin the functioning of the state, its coercive apparatus — the police, and the Metropolitan Police in particular — and, as clearly demonstrated today, the judicial system.

Last year’s January 18 protest was one in a series of Palestine solidarity demonstrations in response to the Gaza genocide. By and large they passed without public order incidents and the police, no doubt conscious of the huge public support for the issue, proved careful and courteous in dealing with both organisers and participants.

In this particular case, however, a different mood developed. The police and intelligence organisations know full well — through long experience and with excellent sources of information — that the solidarity movement is in the business of shifting public opinion, not causing disorder.

The charitable will put the police conduct on the day down to incompetence and confusion. The less charitable to conscious design.

Let the legal representatives of the defendants and their organisations speak to the judicial bias exhibited by the court and let us go beyond the surface appearances of bourgeois justice to see how these parts of the system work together.

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/solidarity-trial-how-state-redefining-right-protest

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/
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/

Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Solidarity on trial – how the state is redefining the right to protest