Breaking: Spain joins Italy in sending warship to support Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla
Israel seeks permanent control of Gaza, while ensuring Jewish majority in West Bank, Israel: UN inquiry commission
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Israel is seeking permanent control of the Gaza Strip while ensuring a Jewish majority in the occupied West Bank and inside Israel, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel said in a new report Tuesday, Anadolu reports.
The commission found Israeli policies since October 2023 show “clear and consistent” intent to “forcibly transfer Palestinians, expand Israeli Jewish civilian presence and annex the entirety of the West Bank,” blocking Palestinian self-determination.
It warned that these measures are part of a broader strategy to prevent any future Palestinian state.
“I am particularly appalled by the Israeli Finance Minister (Bezalel) Smotrich’s recently announced plan of annexing 82 percent of the occupied West Bank, and by the approval of a plan cementing the E1 settlement expansion, with Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu asserting that this will ensure there will be no Palestinian State,” said Navi Pillay, the commission chair.
“Israeli encroachment into the entirety of the West Bank and the dispossession and relocation of multiple Palestinian communities are now explicit goals, which Israeli officials proudly boast about,” she stressed, adding that these measures are “abhorrent and must be condemned widely.”
The report said Israeli military operations in Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams refugee camps since early 2025 destroyed buildings, displaced residents, and amounted to collective punishment. Some demolished structures were labeled “terrorist homes” by the army, but the commission found the actions were not militarily justified.
READ: Spain approves full arms embargo on Israel, warns Netanyahu over Gaza killings
In Gaza, the inquiry found that Israeli authorities “extensively and systematically” demolished civilian infrastructure in corridors and buffer zones, expanding control over 75% of the territory by July.
It said such actions have “substantially reduced the territory available for Palestinians, with significant implications for their ability to exercise their right to self-determination.”
The report also accused Israeli authorities of systematically reducing Gaza’s territory and resources, saying actions inflicted conditions of life calculated to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, “which is an underlying act of genocide.”
“Israel must immediately end and reverse its confiscation and use of Palestinian land in Gaza, including for the creation and expansion of the buffer zone and corridors. It must return all confiscated land to its Palestinian owners,” Pillay said.
“Israeli confiscation and control of land ostensibly carried out for security purposes have not achieved more security for anyone but have deepened the misery of the Palestinian people and deprived them of resources indispensable for their survival, including the capacity to produce food.”
The report also noted that inside Israel, successive governments have implemented laws and policies confining Palestinian localities and hindering integration. It said similarities with measures in the West Bank point to a broader policy “intended to secure a Jewish majority in all areas under Israeli control, reducing the possibility of geographical self-determination for the Palestinian people.”
The commission named Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, current Defense Minister Israel Katz, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Settlements and National Projects Orit Strock, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as bearing the greatest responsibility for international crimes linked to land and housing, with Netanyahu and Gallant also found responsible for incitement to genocide.
The report will be presented to the UN General Assembly’s 80th session on Oct. 28 in New York.
Last week, the commission concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza by committing “four of the five” genocidal acts defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention: killing members of a group, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy the group, and preventing births.
READ: Islamic Jihad official accuses Netanyahu of rejecting peace, says Gaza solution blocked
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Gaza aid flotilla rejects Israel’s demand to dock in Ashkelon, calls request part of blockade
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The Global Sumud Flotilla on Tuesday rejected Israel’s demand that its vessels dock in Ashkelon to transfer humanitarian aid to Gaza, describing the request as part of Tel Aviv’s long-standing blockade of the Palestinian enclave, Anadolu reports.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Monday warned that flotilla ships would not be allowed to enter what it called an “active combat zone” and accused the Palestinian resistance group Hamas of organizing the mission.
It said aid could instead be unloaded at Ashkelon Port in southern Israel and transferred to Gaza “quickly and in a coordinated manner.”
In a statement, flotilla organizers dismissed the Israeli proposal, stressing that it is not a neutral logistical request but a tactic to obstruct relief and delegitimize those who challenge the siege.
“Since May 2025, after lifting its so-called ‘total blockade,’ Israel has permitted an average of only 70 trucks per day into Gaza, while UN agencies estimate that 500 to 600 trucks are required daily to meet basic needs,” the statement said.
It cited Israel’s record of intercepting vessels, blocking convoys and restricting routes as evidence that the intent “is not to facilitate relief but to control, delay and deny it.”
READ: Drone activity monitored over Gaza-bound aid flotilla
The flotilla noted that rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned Israel’s restrictions as violations of international law and obstructions of impartial humanitarian assistance, Anadolu reports.
“Painting a peaceful humanitarian mission as a ‘breach of the law’ is a pretext for violence against civilians acting lawfully to deliver aid,” the statement continued, warning that such rhetoric “flouts international law” and places lives at risk.
The group urged governments, UN agencies and humanitarian organizations to ensure safe passage and protection for aid workers, uphold international humanitarian law by rejecting Israel’s siege, and act decisively to end what it described as “the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
It warned that “anything less risks entrenching a system of forced starvation, deprivation and collective punishment that is costing thousands of Palestinian lives.”
The flotilla includes vessels carrying humanitarian aid, international activists and parliamentarians seeking to break Israel’s blockade by directly reaching Gaza.
On Sept. 16, the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza announced that the flotilla’s ships would gather near the island nation of Malta to sail together across the Mediterranean toward Gaza’s shores, without specifying a date.
It is the largest effort of its kind, aiming to reach Gaza, where 2.4 million Palestinians live under an Israeli blockade that has lasted 18 years.
Israel has previously intercepted Gaza-bound ships, seizing the vessels and deporting those on board.
UN investigators recently concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, where more than 65,300 people have been killed since October 2023.
READ: Spain warns Israel against targeting Gaza-bound aid flotilla
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Most Germans view Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide: Survey
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A new survey released on Tuesday showed 62% of German voters believe Israeli actions in Gaza constitute genocide, putting increasing pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government to reassess its stance toward Israel, Anadolu reports.
The representative poll conducted by YouGov showed that the sentiment crosses political lines, with 60% of voters from Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc viewing Israel’s military campaign as genocide against Palestinians. Among voters of coalition partner Social Democratic Party (SPD), the figure was even higher at 71%.
While Chancellor Merz and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul have recently sharpened their criticism of Israel’s military offensive and blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza, they have so far avoided using the term “genocide,” referring instead to “disproportionate” use of force by the Israeli military.
According to the survey, two-thirds (67%) of Germans now hold a negative or somewhat negative opinion of Israel. Only about one in five respondents (19%) express a positive or somewhat positive view, indicating a significant decline in public perception of Israel in recent months.
READ: Spain warns Israel against targeting Gaza-bound aid flotilla
The representative survey also revealed a significant gap between German government policy and public opinion on Palestinian statehood. Despite the Merz government’s opposition to recognizing a Palestinian state, 44% of German voters supported such recognition, up from 41% in May 2025 and 40% in June 2024. Only 23% opposed recognition, while 33% remained undecided.
Germany found itself internationally isolated this week as its close allies France, the UK, and several other European partners, including Belgium, Portugal and Malta, announced their recognition of Palestinian statehood, while Berlin maintained its opposition to immediate recognition.
Last week, Chancellor Merz argued that while Berlin supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it believes Palestinian statehood recognition should be an outcome of diplomatic negotiations rather than a prerequisite to the peace process.
Merz has repeatedly emphasized Germany’s historical responsibility for Israel due to the country’s Nazi past, and also opposed proposed EU sanctions against the Netanyahu government designed to pressure Tel Aviv to end its brutal military campaign in Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 65,000 Palestinians since October 2023.
READ: Israel’s military escalation in Gaza will not lead to peace, Germany warns
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Italy’s Unions Lead General Strike for Gaza
Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
“Meloni should take a stand with the facts against those who have slaughtered 20,000 children, rather than limiting herself to saying ‘I do not agree,’” said one critic of Italy’s right-wing prime minister.
Italian labor unions led a massive 24-hour general strike on Monday to protest Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, with estimates of hundreds of thousands of demonstrators rallying in dozens of cities across Italy.
Protesters took to squares, streets, transport hubs, ports, university campuses, and other spaces in more than 75 cities and towns, rallying under the call to “Block Everything.” Places including schools, train stations, and retail stores were shut for the day.
“The strike is called in response to the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, the blockade of humanitarian aid by the Israeli army, and the threats directed against the… Global Sumud Flotilla, which has on board Italian workers and trade unionists committed to bringing food and basic necessities to the Palestinian population,” explained Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), a grassroots union confederation known for its militant stance on labor and political issues.
In Rome, tens of thousands of Palestine defenders rallied at the Termini rail station, Italy’s largest, with many of the demonstrators occupying the building.
While protest activities snarled traffic in some parts of the Italian capital, many Roman motorists showed solidarity with the demonstrators by honking their horns and raising their fists into the air.
Milan saw an estimated 50,000 people turn out to locations including the central rail station, where some protesters damaged property and clashed with police, who said 10 people were arrested and 60 officers were injured.
“If we don’t block what Israel is doing, if we don’t block trade, the distribution of weapons and everything else with Israel, we will not ever achieve anything,” protester Walter Montagnoli, who is the Base Unitary Confederation’s (CUB) national secretary, told The Associated Press at a march in Milan.
In Bologna—home to the world’s oldest continuously operating university—students occupied lecture halls and thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, including the Tangenziale, the ring highway around the city, where police attacked them with water cannons and tear gas.
Dockworkers and other demonstrators marched and blocked ports in cities including Genoa, Trieste, and Livorno.
Thousands of protesters also blocked the main train station in Naples.
In the Adriatic seaside resort of Termoli, hundreds of student-led Palestine defenders rallied in St. Anthony’s Square and, with Mayor Nicola Balice’s permission, draped a Palestinian flag from the façade of City Hall.
“Faced with such an important subject, the genocide in Palestine, we students… said this would be a nonpartisan demonstration because in the face of what is happening in the Gaza Strip—hospitals bombed, children killed every day—there can be no political ideology,” said one Termoli protester. “We must all be united.”
Some participants in Monday’s general strike pointed the finger at their own government.
“In the face of what is happening in Gaza you have to decide where you are,” Italian General Confederation of Labor leader Maurizio Landini told La Stampa. “If you don’t tell the Israeli government that you have to stop and don’t send them more weapons, but instead you keep sending them… you actually become complicit in what’s happening.”
While European nations including Ireland, Norway, Spain, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, France, Luxembourg, and Denmark have formally recognized Palestine or announced their intent to do so since October 2023, Italy has given no indication that it will follow suit. More than 150 of 193 United Nations member states have recognized Palestine.
Although increasingly critical of Israel’s 718-day genocidal assault—which has left at least 241,000 Palestinians dead, wounded, or missing in Gaza—right-wing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been accused of complicity in genocide for actions including presiding over arms sales to the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Meloni has rejected the ICC warrants and said Netanyahu would not be arrested if he enters Italy.
“Meloni should listen to the voice of those who are peacefully protesting and asking her to act, rather than curling up to Washington to protect her friend, the war criminal Netanyahu,” Giuseppe Conte, who leads the independent progressive Five Star Movement, said Monday on social media. “Meloni should take a stand with the facts against those who have slaughtered 20,000 children, rather than limiting herself to saying, ‘I do not agree.’ And she should stop running away from the debate in Parliament.”
Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).