An elderly lady with her electric fire on at home in Liverpool
Government urged to tackle high electricity prices and boost insulation in next week’s Budget as elderly, low-income families and homeless people struggle to stay warm
CAMPAIGNERS and trade union leaders urged the government today to tackle high electricity prices and boost insulation in next week’s Budget.
The Energy Crisis Commission, which brings together representatives from Energy UK, the Confederation of British Industry, Citizens Advice and National Energy Action (NEA), highlighted the continuing struggles of households, especially the elderly, low-income families and homeless people, as temperatures drop.
The call came as an emergency severe weather plan was activated for the first time this winter in London, warning of pressure across the health and social care sectors.
While welcoming the government’s commitment to clean energy, the commission said the transition will stall unless ministers take meaningful steps to lower bills.
It warned that Britain remains critically exposed to further energy market volatility and price spikes due to its heavy reliance on gas.
The group urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to use the Budget to set out how the government will reduce the gap between electricity and gas prices, in order to support the energy transition.
It said ministers should also review how policy costs, which fund renewable energy projects and social schemes, are charged.
These are currently added to household bills, but the commission suggested moving them into general taxation or spreading them more evenly across energy types to ease costs for consumers.
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Police officers detain protesters during the “Lift the Ban” demonstration organized by the civil action and campaign group Defend Our Juries ahead of a judicial review into the decision to designate the Palestine Action group as a terrorist organization at Tavistock Square in London, United Kingdom, on November 22, 2025. [Raşid Necati Aslım – Anadolu Agency]
At least 90 protesters were arrested at a London demonstration in support of the banned activist group, Palestine Action, police said Saturday, Anadolu reports.
The arrests as of 1800GMT are in relation to the protest organized by Defend Our Juries in support of the “proscribed terrorist organisation Palestine Action,” Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
It added that the protest concluded and those involved have left the area.
Protesters gathered in Tavistock Square, where demonstrators carried Palestinian flags and signs while chanting pro-Palestine slogans.
Some of the banners read: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
The Defend Our Juries group wrote on the US social media platform X that police instantly started arresting protestors for silently holding signs that it said opposed genocide and the Palestine Action ban.
“Today’s protest is happening in Tavistock Square, London — known as the peace gardens with anti-war memorials. Lift the ban,” it added.
Palestine Action was banned in July under the UK’s Terrorism Act, a decision that has led to the arrests of hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters for holding signs or showing support for the group.
The new protests come ahead of and during the judicial review set to be heard from Nov. 25 to 27, which may see Palestine Action’s proscription as a terror organization overturned.
Since October 2023, the Israeli army has killed nearly 70,000 victims in Gaza, primarily women and children, injured more than 170,800, and reduced the enclave to rubble. The onslaught came to a halt under a ceasefire deal that took effect Oct. 10.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November 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 Gaza.
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.
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A view of the destruction after an Israeli attack hits Al-Khodary family house in Gaza City, Gaza on November 22, 2025. [Saeed M. M. T. Jaras – Anadolu Agency]
The Israeli army has carried out 497 violations of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip since it took effect, killing 342 victims and wounding 875, the Gaza Government Media Office said Saturday, Anadolu reports.
It accused Israel of systematically undermining the agreement through lethal attacks and repeated incursions.
The office said 27 violations were recorded Saturday, resulting in 24 deaths and 87 injuries. It called the pattern a “flagrant breach” of international humanitarian law and the humanitarian protocol attached to the ceasefire deal.
The Israeli violations since Oct. 10 include 142 shootings targeting civilians, homes and displacement tents; 21 ground incursions beyond the “yellow line”; 228 air, artillery and ground strikes; and 100 demolitions of civilian homes and structures, which it said amounts to “collective punishment” and an effort to widen destruction.
The office said 35 Palestinians have also been detained in raids and incursions, as it accused Israel of trying to “create a bloody new reality that threatens security and stability in the Gaza Strip.”
The Gaza Civil Defense said earlier that at least 22 Palestinians were killed Saturday in Israeli airstrikes that hit homes and a vehicle in several areas of Gaza, in a new violation of the ceasefire.
Israel continues to occupy more than 50% of Gaza under the ceasefire agreement, with the “yellow line” separating areas under army deployment from those inhabited by Palestinians.
The Israeli army recently re-escalated attacks east of the yellow line, destroying vast areas and rendering nearby zones highly hazardous to civilians.
Since October 2023, the Israeli army has killed nearly 70,000 victims in Gaza, primarily women and children, injured more than 170,800, and reduced the enclave to rubble. The onslaught came to a halt under a US President Donald Trump ceasefire deal.
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.
Hundreds of people protest against Israel’s attacks on Gaza, accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire, during a demonstration in Stockholm, Sweden, on November 22, 2025. [Atila Altuntaş – Anadolu Agency]
Hundreds of people staged a rally Saturday in the Swedish capital to protest Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, saying Israel is violating the ceasefire agreement, Anadolu reports.
Demonstrators gathered in Odenplan Square in central Stockholm to denounce continued Israeli attacks and the blocking of humanitarian aid into the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Chanting pro-Palestine slogans, participants carried signs reading “Stand up for Palestine” and “Say no to genocide.”
Protesters also urged the Swedish government to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel.
Dror Feiler, a Jewish activist attending the rally, told Anadolu that although there is talk of a ceasefire in Palestine, the situation on the ground shows otherwise.
“Palestinians are being killed every day in Gaza, while ethnic cleansing continues in the occupied West Bank,” he said.
Feiler added that Israeli security forces in the West Bank not only fail to stop settler attacks on Palestinians but are also complicit.
“Our governments continue to buy and sell weapons. They continue to support Israel politically and diplomatically … that’s unacceptable,” he said.
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.
Megiddo prison in Israel [Twitter]
The Palestinian Prisoners Society warned Sunday that the life of Ahmad Saadat, secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), is at serious risk after he was subjected to a severe beating in Israeli prisons.
Abdullah al-Zaghari, the head of the society, told Anadolu that Saadat, 72, was “severely beaten” during his transfer from Megiddo prison in northern Israel to Gilboa prison in the south, without providing further details about the incident or its exact date.
“Saadat’s health condition is difficult, and the Israeli assaults pose a threat to his life,” he said.
Zaghari added that the attack on Saadat comes “as part of the ongoing targeting of leaders of the prisoners’ movement under the instructions of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.”
“Israeli policies pose a threat to Saadat’s life and the lives of all leaders of the prisoners’ movement, who are subjected to brutal assaults despite the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.”
Zaghari called for “providing protection for the detainees, who are living under extremely harsh and oppressive conditions.”
Saadat has been imprisoned in Israel since 2006, serving a 30-year sentence in connection with the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi in 2001.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs warned that detainees held at Israel’s Ofer military prison, west of Ramallah, are facing “harsh and humiliating” detention conditions.
The commission said one of the detainees, Ahmed Hareesh, from the town of Beitunia, west of Ramallah, suffers from severe stomach pain suspected to be caused by bacteria.
“Yet, he only receives painkillers, while the doctor takes hours to arrive and sometimes does not come at all,” the commission said, quoting his lawyer, who visited three detainees and heard their testimonies about the conditions they endure.
The lawyer quoted Hareesh as describing mass raids on prison cells, assaults on detainees, and handcuffing them for hours.
She also relayed the testimony of detainee Najy Sharif Awadallah, 24, from Beitunia, who said conditions are “extremely harsh, with continuous beatings, daily searches and raids, scarce food, a lack of hygiene, and sleep deprivation by removing the mattresses at six in the morning.”
Another detainee, Ezz al-Din Khaddour, 20, from the town of Biddu northwest of Jerusalem, said he suffers from a foot injury for which he was receiving treatment before his arrest, but has not received any medical care for 70 days despite needing medication and follow-up, according to the statement.
The commission added that these testimonies “reflect the deteriorating humanitarian situation inside Ofer camp, amid repeated calls by rights groups for urgent intervention and an end to the ongoing violations against detainees.
The Israeli army has detained more than 20,000 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.
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.
An elderly lady with her electric fire on at home in Liverpool
