Egypt, Russia stress need to sustain Gaza ceasefire agreement

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Palestinians trying to maintain daily life in partially destroyed buildings as heavy rainfall cause tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the eastern Zaitoun neighborhood to flood in Gaza City, Gaza on December 12, 2025. [Saeed M. M. T. Jaras – Anadolu Agency]

The top diplomats of Egypt and Russia stressed Friday the importance of implementing the Gaza ceasefire agreement and ensuring its sustainability amid continued Israeli violations, Anadolu Agency reports.

Addressing a joint press conference held in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Egypt is exerting intensive efforts to stabilize the ceasefire and ensure the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, emphasizing the need to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2803, as well as the need to reopen the Rafah crossing in both directions.

He also highlighted the depth of Egyptian-Russian relations across various fields, noting that he discussed with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, the strategic partnership between Cairo and Moscow and ways to increase bilateral trade.

They also discussed the situation in Sudan and efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region, according to Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News channel.

READ: WHO chief says over 10,600 patients evacuated from Gaza, warns many still waiting

Lavrov, for his part, said the trade exchange with Egypt has increased by more than 12% recently, affirming that the two countries share common views on many international issues.

Lavrov added that diplomatic efforts must continue to ensure the sustainability of the Gaza ceasefire, stressing the need to work toward a two-state solution and calm the situation in the West Bank, according to Al-Qahera News.

He also praised Egypt’s role and its mediation between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, in addition to what he described as Cairo’s “balanced” position on the Ukraine crisis, saying a settlement is possible “once the root causes are removed.”

Lavrov is visiting Egypt to participate in the second ministerial meeting of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum on Friday and Saturday, with the participation of more than 50 African countries, and heads of regional organizations.

READ: Israelis enter Gaza, raise flag, call for settlement’s restoration

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Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
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.
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.
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.
Continue ReadingEgypt, Russia stress need to sustain Gaza ceasefire agreement

European countries concerned about new US sanctions on ICC judges

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European Union flags are seen waving outside the EU Commission Building in Brussels, Belgium. [Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency]

Several European countries voiced concern Friday about new US sanctions imposed on two judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), reaffirming their support for the Court’s independence and ability to carry out its judicial mandate without political pressure, Anadolu reports.

The Finnish Foreign Ministry said on US social media platform X that it “deeply regrets” the US decision to sanction the judges, stressing that the court must be able to function freely.

In a statement, the French Foreign Ministry said Paris had taken note of the new sanctions targeting, as it urged Washington to withdraw all measures taken against the Court.

“France condemns all forms of threats and coercive measures against the ICC, its staff and civil society organizations supporting the court,” it said, warning that the sanctions amount to an attack on the institution and the 125 states party to the Rome Statute.

Belgium expressed concern about the decision, with Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot saying the sanctions “further undermine judicial independence and efforts to fight impunity.”

READ: ICC rejects Israel’s appeal as arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant remain in force

“Belgium strongly regrets the new additional sanctions of the US against two judges of the @IntlCrimCourt,” Prevot wrote on X, adding that Brussels would continue to support the Court in carrying out its mandate independently and impartially.

Denmark echoed similar concerns, with the Foreign Affairs Ministry saying Copenhagen “deeply regrets” the US decision and reaffirmed its unwavering support for the ICC as an independent and impartial judicial institution.

Other European countries, including Spain, the Netherlands and Norway, have also voiced concern about the sanctions and reiterated their support for the Court’s independence.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions Thursday against ICC judges Gocha Lordkipanidze of Georgia and Erdenebalsuren Damdin of Mongolia, accusing them of being “directly engaged” in “the illegitimate targeting of Israel.”

In response, the ICC said it “strongly rejects” the sanctions and labelled the move a “flagrant attack” against the independence of an impartial judicial institution.

The latest measures follow previous US sanctions imposed on ICC officials involved in authorizing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant — warrants accusing both officials of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has killed more than 70,600 victims, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,100 people in attacks in Gaza since October 2023, which have continued despite a truce being signed in October.

READ: US sanctions 2 International Criminal Court judges over rejecting Israel’s appeal of war crimes arrest warrants

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UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
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.
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.
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.

Continue ReadingEuropean countries concerned about new US sanctions on ICC judges

Illegal Israeli settlers attack Palestinian vehicles in central West Bank

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A view of damage after Israeli settlers set fire to a warehouse of car parts between the towns of Huwara and Udala, south of Nablus in the West Bank, burning many of the vehicles stored inside on November 21, 2025. [Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency]

Illegal Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles Saturday in the village of attacked Palestinian vehicles in the central occupied West Bank, Anadolu reports.

A group of illegal settlers blocked the path of Palestinian vehicles in the village and attacked them while Israeli forces were present, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The agency said the attack did not result in any injuries.

Separately, the Israeli army closed the four entrances to the city of Jericho in the eastern West Bank, preventing passage and causing severe traffic gridlock and the accumulation of hundreds of vehicles, eyewitnesses told Anadolu without clarifying the reason for the closure.

They added that some of the dirt roads drivers tried to use had illegal settlers present on them, forcing many people to turn back.

READ: Israeli forces injure 3 Palestinians, detain 4 in occupied West Bank

A total of 916 permanent and temporary Israeli checkpoints cut through cities and towns across the occupied West Bank, including more than 243 iron gates erected after the start of the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in Oct. 2023, which continued for two years.

Many Palestinians in various areas of the West Bank are forced to use multiple means of transportation between cities and villages, amid Israel’s closure of dozens of gates it has installed across the West Bank.

Israeli forces and illegal settlers have killed at least 1,097 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, injured nearly 11,000, and detained around 21,000 since October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.

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: Israel carries out ethnic cleansing in West Bank, displacing 44,000 Palestinians

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Vote Labour for Genocide.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
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.
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.
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.

Continue ReadingIllegal Israeli settlers attack Palestinian vehicles in central West Bank

Dems Demand Answers as Trump Photo Disappears From DOJ Online Epstein Files

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Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

US Attorney General Pam Bondi testifies before a Senate committee on June 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“What else is being covered up?”

Congressional Democrats on Saturday pressed US Attorney General Pam Bondi for answers regarding the apparent removal of a photo showing President Donald Trump surrounded by young female models from Friday’s Department of Justice release of files related to the late convicted child sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

Amid the heavily redacted documents in Friday’s DOJ release was a photo of a desk with an open drawer containing multiple photos of Trump, including one of him with Epstein and convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell and another of him with the models.

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However, the photo—labeled EFTA00000468 in the DOJ’s Epstein Library—was no longer on the site as of Saturday morning.

“This photo, file 468, from the Epstein files that includes Donald Trump, has apparently now been removed from the DOJ release,” Democrats on the House Oversight Committee noted in a Bluesky post. “AG Bondi, is this true? What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public.”

This photo, file 468, from the Epstein files that includes Donald Trump has apparently now been removed from the DOJ release.AG Bondi, is this true? What else is being covered up? We need transparency for the American public.

Oversight Dems (@oversightdemocrats.house.gov) 2025-12-20T17:30:49.868Z

Numerous critics have accused the Trump administration of a cover-up due to the DOJ’s failure to meet a Friday deadline to release all Epstein-related documents and heavy redactions—including documents of 100 pages or more that are completely blacked out—to many of the files.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche responded to the criticism by claiming that “the only redactions being applied to the documents are those required by law—full stop.”

“Consistent with the statute and applicable laws, we are not redacting the names of individuals or politicians unless they are a victim,” he added.

Earlier this year, officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation reportedly redacted Trump’s name from its file on Epstein, who was the president’s longtime former friend and who died in 2019 in a New York City jail cell under mysterious circumstances officially called suicide while facing federal child sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.

Trump has not been accused of any crimes in connection with Epstein.

House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) said during a Friday CNN interview that the DOJ only released about 10% of the full Epstein files.

The DOJ is breaking the law by not releasing the full Epstein files. This is not transparency. This is just more coverup by Donald Trump and Pam Bondi. They need to release all the files, NOW.

Congressman Robert Garcia (@robertgarcia.house.gov) 2025-12-20T01:05:46.680Z

“The DOJ has had months and hundreds of agents to put these files together, and yet entire documents are redacted—from the first word to the last,” Garcia said on X. “What are they hiding? The American public deserves transparency. Release all the files now!”

In a joint statement Friday, Garcia and House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said, “We are now examining all legal options in the face of this violation of federal law.”

“The survivors of this nightmare deserve justice, the co-conspirators must be held accountable, and the American people deserve complete transparency from DOJ,” they added.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)—who along with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law by Trump last month and required the release of all Epstein materials by December 19—said in a video published after Friday’s document dump that he and Massie “are exploring all options” to hold administration officials accountable.

“It can be the impeachment of people at Justice, inherent contempt, or referring for prosecution those who are obstructing justice,” he added.

Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue ReadingDems Demand Answers as Trump Photo Disappears From DOJ Online Epstein Files

Keir Starmer’s Government Is Leaving the Hunger Strikers to Die

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Keir Starmer’s Government Is Leaving the Hunger Strikers to Die

A protester holds a picture of Teuta ‘T’ Hoxha during a demonstration outside the Department of Health in solidarity with pro-Palestine activists who are on hunger strike in prison, 17 December 2025, London, England. Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire

A shameful end to 2025.

With parliament’s Christmas hiatus beckoning, there’s one shameful chapter left wide open: the six hunger-striking prisoners, who become more likely to sustain irreversible physical damage or die with every hour of government inaction. 

At least two of the detainees, held in connection to Palestine Action activism, have now surpassed day 48 of refusing food. Day 46 was the point at which one of the 23 participants in the Irish republican hunger strike of 1981 died as part of the struggle against Britain’s colonial occupation of Ireland. 

But Starmer and his cabinet seem to have nothing to say. 

When challenged by Jeremy Corbyn to commit to meeting representatives of the hunger strikers in the Commons on Wednesday, the prime minister replied that he is following the ‘rules and procedures’ in place. 

These ‘rules and procedures’ seem unlikely to safeguard the lives of those who remain on hunger strike: Amu Gibb (Amy Gardiner-Gibson), Qesser Zuhrah, Heba Muraisi, Teuta ‘T’ Hoxha, Kamran Ahmed and Lewie Chiaramello.

Zuhrah, Muraisi, Hoxha and Ahmed are part of the ‘Filton 24’, held in connection with a break-in at an Elbit Systems weapons factory, while Gibb and Chiaramello are held in connection with damage to aircraft at RAF Brize Norton, where planes were splashed with red paint. 

Zuhrah, who has refused food since 2 November, saw her health deteriorate severely this week, experiencing severe chest pain, the inability to stand and repeated loss of consciousness. She was taken to hospital on Wednesday from HMP Bronzefield after hours of protest outside the privately-run prison. 

Campaign group Prisoners For Palestine (PFP) said they had repeatedly attempted to call an ambulance for Zuhrah over a period of 19 hours, but were informed by 999 call handlers that the emergency vehicle would just be turned away by the prison.  

Doctor ‘Strangled’ by Police Officer Until She Passed Out at Hunger Strike Protest

Dr Olivia Brandon being dragged by her hood at a protest for the hunger strikers outside HMP Bronzefield on Wednesday 17 December. Image: X/@revoltinghippie

She spent the night in A&E.

A police officer at a protest for the Palestine Action hunger strikers strangled a doctor until she passed out by dragging her by the back of her hoodie, the doctor has told Novara Media.

Dr Olivia Brandon was among several medical professionals who gathered with other supporters outside HMP Bronzefield on Wednesday 17 December to demand the prison allow in an ambulance to treat a hunger striker suffering from severe chest pains.

The alleged attack came after police arrested two protesters, including psychiatric doctor Dr Ayo Moiett, who protesters say was targeted both because he is black and because he played a pivotal role in forcing the prison to eventually let the ambulance come.  

Brandon, who works in the A&E department at a London hospital, said she and other protesters sat in the road to prevent police vans from leaving with the detainees – after which officers “started assaulting everyone” as they cleared the road.

She felt an officer grab her hoodie from behind and then drag her along the road.

“I was wearing a tight jumper under my hoodie and because of the force the officer was using, this was strangling me. I remember retching and being in a lot of pain,” she said.

In video footage of the incident, Brandon can be heard choking as she raises a hand to her throat.  

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.
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.
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.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Continue ReadingKeir Starmer’s Government Is Leaving the Hunger Strikers to Die