war crimes

UNRWA slams Israeli ban on international journalists reporting on Gaza, calls to allow it to work

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UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini on April 30, 2024 [FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images]

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), on Saturday condemned Israel’s ongoing ban on international journalists entering Gaza, calling it an unprecedented act in modern conflict, Anadolu reports.

“This is unprecedented in any other conflict in modern history,” Lazzarini said in a statement.

“It is a ban on the truth. It is a ban on reporting the facts. It is the perfect recipe to fuel misinformation, deepening polarization and dehumanization.”

He stressed the importance of allowing independent reporting and supporting local journalists: “International journalists must independently report from Gaza and support their Palestinian colleagues who continue to do a heroic job at a heavy price.”

“Nearly 200 of them were reported killed since the war began,” said Lazzarini, stressing that “the ban on international media must be lifted.”

Separately, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Saturday reiterated its call for cooperation from the Israeli government over allegations made against the agency, stating that no credible evidence has been provided despite repeated requests.

“UNRWA has repeatedly requested cooperation and evidence from Israel regarding the serious allegations made against the Agency,” the agency said in an official statement.

READ: At least 65 Palestinians killed, 100 more injured as Israel continues attacks on Gaza on 2nd day of Eid

“After 20 months, UNRWA has not received any response, nor has the Government of Israel shared any sufficient evidence.”

The agency emphasized its continued commitment to its humanitarian mandate, stating: “UNRWA remains committed to its mandate and is ready to deliver humanitarian assistance at scale in Gaza, together with other UN agencies.”

Israel, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a genocidal offensive in Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 54,700 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Aid agencies have warned about the risk of famine among the enclave’s more than 2 million inhabitants.

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 crimes against civilians in the enclave.

READ: Israeli lawmaker shows off keys to locked UNRWA Headquarters in Jerusalem in Knesset session

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

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 ReadingUNRWA slams Israeli ban on international journalists reporting on Gaza, calls to allow it to work

More than 640,000 Palestinians forcibly displaced in Gaza since March: UN

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Residents are seen fleeing the area with their belongings on horse carts, on foot, or in vehicles, heading toward areas they believe to be safer as Palestinians begin to evacuate following warnings from the Israeli army for an immediate mandatory evacuation of Khan Yunis in preparation for a potential Israeli attacks in Khan Yunis, Gaza on June 03, 2025. [Abdallah F.s. Alattar – Anadolu Agency]

The UN on Thursday said Israeli military displacement orders have forced more than 640,000 Palestinians to flee in the Gaza Strip since March, warning that nearly one-third of the population is under repeated evacuation orders,  Anadolu reports.

Citing the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said, “Yesterday, Israeli authorities issued another displacement order.”

“This time covering 54 neighborhoods across three governors — North Gaza, Gaza and Deir el Bala. This is the second order issued for the same area representing one-third of the Gaza Strip,” he said.

Saying that “since the renewed escalation of hostilities in March, the Israeli military issued 35 displacement orders,” Dujarric indicated that the Israeli orders forced “more than 640,000 people to flee again.

“That’s almost every third Palestinian in Gaza,” he added.

Dujarric raised the alarm about the worsening humanitarian situation, citing Israeli restrictions on aid access.

READ: 3 Palestinian journalists killed in Israeli strike on Gaza hospital courtyard

“Yesterday, Israeli authorities continued to deny humanitarian movements that required coordination,” he said, adding that “out of the 16 attempted attempts to coordinate such movements, five were rejected, including trucking water, retrieval of nutrition supplies and relocating fuel stocks.”

Six additional missions were not completed “either because of impediments or because organizers had to cancel them,” while only five were successfully carried out.

He added that the limited missions allowed aid workers “to screen children for malnutrition, provide medical services and carry out assessments,” but noted that “none of them involve the delivery of supplies, which are so desperately needed.”

Warning that “supplies continue to dwindle,” Dujarric reported that half of Gaza’s community kitchens are now closed because of displacement or shortages, and emphasized that what is currently entering Gaza “is merely a trickle.”

The Israeli army resumed its assaults on the enclave on March 18 and has since killed 4,402 victims and injured nearly 13,490, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

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: Lives of 50,000 pregnant, nursing women at risk in Gaza

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

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
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 ReadingMore than 640,000 Palestinians forcibly displaced in Gaza since March: UN

‘I Call it Genocide Because IT IS Genocide’ Says UN Palestine Expert Francesca Albanese

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

Francesca Albanese, United Nations special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, speaks during a press conference at Buswells Hotel in Dublin, Ireland on March 20, 2025. (Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Images via Getty Images)

“To end it, we must first be willing to see it.”

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese pushed back Tuesday against Israel and its defenders, who for years have attempted to gaslight and malign the Italian legal scholar for tirelessly condemning what an increasing number of international experts—including many Israelis and diaspora Jews—agree is a genocide in Gaza.

“I call it genocide because IT IS a genocide,” Albanese wrote on the social media site X on Tuesday, amplifying a video she recorded last week in which she said that “Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.”

“It’s not an opinion, it’s a fact,” the 48-year-old Georgetown University scholar asserted. “Top international experts, including Israelis, agree upon that.”

Under Article II of the Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide is defined as killing, “causing serious bodily or mental harm” to a group of people, “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,” “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group,” or “forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

Israel is currently facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) brought by South Africa and supported by dozens of nations, either individually or via regional blocs. The ICJ has issued three provisional orders for Israel to take steps including avoiding genocidal acts and ending weaponized starvation in Gaza. Critics say Israel has violated all three orders.

The International Criminal Court has also issued warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister, for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza including extermination and forced starvation.

“In Gaza, Israel has killed nearly 60,000 people with bombs bullets, and drones, including 16,000 children,” Albanese said in the video. “It has flattened homes, schools, churches, hospitals, water networks, farms, even cemeteries. The death toll from hunger, disease, untreated wounds, an[d] deprivation could reach 300,000.”

“Prisoners, including medics and journalists, have been tortured. Many have been raped, using dogs and sticks; some have died in Israeli prisons,” she continued. “Forced displacement continues in the West Bank, and over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in 20 months, and 1 in 5 is a child.”

“Beware of those who use Hamas’ crimes or the fate of the hostages to justify this massacre,” she said. “Civilians are never legitimate targets. Israel has masked everything with legal words: ‘evacuations,’ ‘safe zones,’ ‘human shields’—it’s fiction.”

Israel and its leaders deny they are committing genocide and say those who make such allegations—including Jews—are antisemitic. Albanese has been a prominent target of such smears, in which the Biden and Trump administrations as well as members of U.S. Congress, both Democratic and Republican, have taken part while supporting tens of billions of dollars in U.S. armed aid for Israel.

Albanese has called the U.S. and other Western nations that support Israel an “axis of genocide.”

“And what about us? We are failing the test of our humanity.”

Gaza officials say Israeli bombs, bullets, and blockades have left at least 193,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and millions more forcibly displaced, sickened, or starved— sometimes to death. Israeli forces are currently carrying out a plan by Netanyahu’s far-right government to conquer, indefinitely occupy, ethnically cleanse, and possibly recolonize Gaza, which U.S. President Donald Trump said he wants to make into the “Riviera of the Middle East”—presumably devoid of Palestinians.

“And what about us?” asked Albanese in the video. “We are failing the test of our humanity. Too many media, governments, companies, universities, too many guilty consciences and dirty hands. This genocide bears our fingerprints. It’s under our eyes. Denying it today means being ignorant, or complicit. Stopping it is the only way to remain human.”

“Genocide is a process, not a single act,” Albanese added. “A collective act. A criminal venture. To end it, we must first be willing to see it.”

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

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 Reading‘I Call it Genocide Because IT IS Genocide’ Says UN Palestine Expert Francesca Albanese

The government knows it is enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-knows-it-enabling-israels-genocide-gaza

 Sherin Wafi (centre) and her daughter Mira (4) mourn during the funeral of her husband Hosam Wafi, who was killed by an Israeli strike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, June 2, 2025

Starmer should not need to wait for the High Court’s decision on F-35 parts in order to do the right thing, warns CLAUDIA WEBBE

…

According to the government’s “Strategic export controls: quarterly licensing statistics,” the UK sent more arms to Israel in the final three months of 2024, after the 8 per cent “ban,” than in all the preceding four years from 2020-23 combined. This escalation included the secret use of British military aircraft on at least seven occasions to deliver F-35 parts directly to Israel.

The government’s argument in court for the continued supply of F-35 parts to Israel has scraped through the bottom of even the toughest barrel. Its lawyers have argued that the “security” need to keep parts available around the world overrides Britain’s obligations, which are unequivocal under international law, to intervene to prevent genocide and war crimes and both that “no evidence has been seen that Israel is deliberately targeting civilian women or children” and that “there is also evidence of Israel making efforts to limit incidental harm to civilians,” despite Israel’s known heavy use of the heaviest US-made “dumb bombs” on densely populated civilian areas and the tent camps of refuges in supposed safe zones.

The government’s claim also flouts the clear evidence, provided by the United Nations as well as by every international, including Israeli human rights and humanitarian group, that Israel’s blockade is inflicting starvation on Gaza, putting huge numbers of civilians and especially children, at “imminent” risk of starving to death. According to Unicef in mid-May, “71,000 children and more than 17,000 mothers … need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition.”

In reality, the British government could inflict rapid degradation on the ability of Israel to kill Palestinian civilians in Gaza just by imposing a ban on parts for a single aircraft type, that would also send a clear message to other governments still prevaricating over their obligations to take every available action to end Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The effects of this action, both militarily and politically, would be massively amplified if Britain did its legal duty and imposed the complete arms embargo demanded by human rights groups and campaigners.

All of this is possible right now. The Starmer government should not need a court order before it does the self-evidently right thing, and it must not drag its feet while the court process grinds on and more civilians in Gaza are killed. Every socialist, every decent human being, must demand nothing less on the streets and directly to the British Parliament and of their MP.

Claudia Webbe was previously the member of Parliament for Leicester East (2019–24). You can follow her at www.facebook.com/claudiaforLE and x.com/claudiawebbe.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/government-knows-it-enabling-israels-genocide-gaza

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
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.
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
Continue ReadingThe government knows it is enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza

600 days of genocide

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/600-days-genocide

 Palestinians carry boxes containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organisation approved by Israel, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, May 27, 2025

THERE have been 600 days of bombing. 600 days of starvation. 600 days of crimes against humanity.

With these words, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded today that the British government end its complicity in Israel’s assault on Gaza as the genocide reached the sombre milestone of 600 days.

Mr Corbyn, independent MP for Islington North, asked: “How many more days of genocide until our government ends arms sales to Israel?

“The world could have stopped this,” he insisted. “Instead, our political leaders have allowed Israel to act with total impunity.

“The Israeli government continues to commit war crimes because it knows it can — and until our government ends its military co-operation, it will remain shamefully complicit.”

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/600-days-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.
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
Vote For Genocide Vote Labour.
Vote For Genocide Vote Labour.
Continue Reading600 days of genocide