Thousands of Israelis protest in Tel Aviv to demand prisoner swap deal

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An aerial view shows thousands of people gathering in Hostages Square demand an end to the war in Gaza and the return of Israeli hostages, on July 12, 2025, in Tel Aviv, Israel. [Yair Palti – Anadolu Agency]

Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in central Tel Aviv on Saturday to demand a prisoner exchange agreement with Palestinians, Anadolu reports.

“No victory without return of hostages,” and “There are 50 kidnapped families in Gaza,” read banners waved by protesters, Israeli Channel 13 reported.

The protest came amid reports of a deadlock in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas delegations in Qatar.

“The negotiations have not collapsed, and the Israeli delegation continues talks in Doha despite Hamas intransigence,” the channel said, citing an unnamed political official.

A forum representing families of Israeli captives in Gaza called on the government to end the ongoing war on the Palestinian enclave.

“Missing the current momentum would be a serious failure; every day the war continues is an achievement for Hamas and a serious risk for our hostages and soldiers,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.

READ: Israel plans to build nearly 2,400 more settlement units in occupied West Bank

“All the polls and data show that an absolute majority of the nation of Israel wants an end to the war in Gaza and the return of hostages, and agrees that it is in Israel’s interest, including a decisive majority among coalition voters,” added the statement.

The families addressed a message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying, “History will remember what you chose: the hostages and fighters, or cheap political maneuvers.”

Hamas said Wednesday it has agreed to release 10 live Israeli captives as a sign of “flexibility” to reach a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap agreement, while Israel remains rigid on key points, including withdrawal from Gaza.

In contrast, Israel insists on a buffer zone 2 to 3 kilometers wide in the Rafah area, and 1 to 2 kilometers in other border areas.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since late October 2023, killing nearly 58,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and a spread of disease.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for 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 the enclave.

READ: Gaza war strategy to ‘crush’ Israeli soldiers as ultra-Orthodox Jews exempted: Reservist

Continue ReadingThousands of Israelis protest in Tel Aviv to demand prisoner swap deal

Israeli army issues evacuation warning for 2 Gaza areas housing hospital, UN facility

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Palestinian families begin fleeing again from shelters near the Al-Mawasi area as the Israeli army expands its ground offensive and tanks reach southwestern Khan Yunis, Gaza, marking their first displacement in nearly a year and a half, on July 10, 2025. [Hani Alshaer - Anadolu Agency]

Palestinian families begin fleeing again from shelters near the Al-Mawasi area as the Israeli army expands its ground offensive and tanks reach southwestern Khan Yunis, Gaza, marking their first displacement in nearly a year and a half, on July 10, 2025. [Hani Alshaer – Anadolu Agency]

The Israeli army warned Palestinians Friday to evacuate two areas west of Gaza City, inhabited by thousands of civilians, including displaced people, ahead of an attack, Anadolu reports.

In a statement, the Israeli army said: “To the residents of the Gaza City area in Blocks 783 and 784, evacuate the area immediately, as we will attack it with great force.”

The Israeli army attached a map showing the targeted areas, indicating the presence of vital civilian and service facilities.

The two areas, known as Blocks 783 and 784, include a hospital, offices of a Palestinian human rights organization, two universities, and a UN site, as well as densely populated Palestinian neighborhoods.

READ: UN reports 798 deaths near Gaza aid hubs in six weeks

According to an Anadolu reporter, the areas are located in the southern Rimal neighborhood and include thousands of families along with displaced people residing in schools and camps, as well as tents set up in streets and open lands, after fleeing from the eastern areas of Gaza City and northern Gaza due to the Israeli bombardment and previous evacuation orders.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, killing nearly 57,800 Palestinians so far, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and the spread of diseases.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants 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 the enclave.

READ: 27 former EU envoys call for suspension of agreement with Israel ahead of ministerial meeting

Continue ReadingIsraeli army issues evacuation warning for 2 Gaza areas housing hospital, UN facility

UNRWA warns Israel’s Gaza displacement plan would create ‘massive concentration camps’

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Palestinian families begin fleeing again from shelters near the Al-Mawasi area as the Israeli army expands its ground offensive and tanks reach southwestern Khan Yunis, Gaza, marking their first displacement in nearly a year and a half, on July 10, 2025. [Hani Alshaer - Anadolu Agency]

Palestinian families begin fleeing again from shelters near the Al-Mawasi area as the Israeli army expands its ground offensive and tanks reach southwestern Khan Yunis, Gaza, marking their first displacement in nearly a year and a half, on July 10, 2025. [Hani Alshaer – Anadolu Agency]

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) condemned on Friday Israel’s plan to forcibly displace Palestinians in Gaza towards the southern city of Rafah, warning that the move would create “massive concentration camps” and worsen the humanitarian crisis, Anadolu reports.

Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s director of communications, told Al Jazeera English that the agency “categorically refuses any forced displacement of any population.”

“If it happens, it will push further tens of thousands of people who have already been displaced many, many times during this current war but also over the generations, further south and from there into the unknown,” Touma said.

“What needs to happen right now is to focus on reaching a ceasefire and allowing UNRWA to bring in much-needed supplies,” she said.

Touma said UNRWA has “over 6,000 trucks in Egypt and Jordan full of medicines that are soon expiring, food that is also going off, we have hygiene supplies.”

READ: UN says first fuel delivery to Gaza in 130 days ‘isn’t sufficient’ for humanitarian operations

“All we are saying is lift the siege, get a ceasefire, allow UNRWA and other UN organizations to do our work,” she added.

Earlier, the UN raised alarm over continued mass displacement in the Gaza Strip and warned that more than 700,000 people have been uprooted since the end of the ceasefire in March.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he instructed the army to prepare a plan to relocate all Palestinians to what he called a “humanitarian city” on the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, killing nearly 57,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and a spread of disease.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants 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 the enclave.

READ: ‘They think they are untouchable’: Mahmoud Khalil seeks $20 million in damages

Continue ReadingUNRWA warns Israel’s Gaza displacement plan would create ‘massive concentration camps’

Southeast Asian bloc urges end to genocide of Palestinians by ’emboldened’ Israel

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Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad bin Hasan delivers opening remarks during the 32nd ASEAN Regional Forum in-conjunction with the 58th ASEAN Foreign Ministerial Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 11, 2025. [Syaiful Redzuan – Anadolu Agency]

Southeast Asian bloc on Friday urged an end to the genocide of Palestinians by an “emboldened” Israel, adding that they welcome all efforts for peace in the Middle East, Anadolu reports.

“The longest conflict of modern history, rooted in the unjust and illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territory, must be brought to an end,” Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said at the start of the 15th East Asia Summit of Foreign Ministers in Kuala Lumpur, speaking on behalf of the bloc.

“Eighty years of impunity have emboldened Israel to the extent of openly committing genocide, including through mass starvation that includes babies and children,” he stressed.

“This is unacceptable. It must not be allowed to continue. It must stop,” he added, according to an official transcript of his speech on the Malaysian Foreign Ministry website.

He noted that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) supports and welcomes all initiatives aimed at achieving peace, including those in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Malaysia is current chair of the bloc.

The Israeli army has killed nearly 57,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has devastated the enclave and led to food shortages and the spread of disease.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants 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 the enclave.

READ: UNRWA: Banning international media from Gaza aims to hide atrocities against Palestinians

Continue ReadingSoutheast Asian bloc urges end to genocide of Palestinians by ’emboldened’ Israel

UN says Israel must facilitate entry of essential supplies into Gaza

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Aid trucks sent by the United Nations under Israeli attacks enter the Zakim border crossing under the protection of Palestinians and reached the warehouses in the north of in Gaza City, Gaza, on June 25, 2025. [Saeed M. M. T. Jaras – Anadolu Agency]

The UN said Monday that Israel must facilitate access and entry of essential supplies into Gaza through available crossing points to address people’s “urgent needs,” Anadolu reports.

“Civilians must be respected, and they must be protected,” said spokesperson Stephane Dujarric during a daily press briefing, emphasizing the need for “full, safe, and sustained humanitarian access in accordance with humanitarian principles.”

He said the World Food Program (WFP) reports that one in five people in Gaza faces “catastrophic levels of hunger” due to heavy constraints on humanitarian operations.

“Given the heavy constraints on bringing in supplies and carrying out humanitarian operations across Gaza, people are going hungry,” Dujarric said, adding that tons of food have been prepared in the region and are ready to serve people in Gaza “if increased access is granted.” ​​​​​

He said that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “alarmed” over new evacuation orders issued by Israeli authorities in northern Gaza, “which have once again displaced tens of thousands of people.”

“People are being pushed into overcrowded areas where thousands of others are already staying. These spaces lack shelter. They lack water, they lack sewage systems, not to mention medical facilities,” Dujarric said.

– Fuel ban threatens critical services

Dujarric called on Israeli authorities to allow fuel entry into Gaza for life-saving operations, including hospitals, desalination plants, sanitation equipment, and telecommunications.

“If the ban on fuel continues, more of these critical services will shut down soon, and in some areas very soon,” he warned.

The spokesperson said fuel powers community kitchens, which are essential for feeding Gaza’s population, and allows cargo to move between locations.

Dujarric said Guterres also “condemns” continued civilian casualties from Israeli attacks and “welcomes” continued mediation efforts for a permanent ceasefire.

Despite international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has killed more than 56,500 Palestinians in a deadly onslaught in the Gaza Strip since October 2023.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants 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 the enclave.

Shocking Israeli report: Killing deemed acceptable as contractors paid $1,500 for each home demolished in Gaza

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Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect 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 obect 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.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.

Continue ReadingUN says Israel must facilitate entry of essential supplies into Gaza