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Israel accused of bombing Kamal Adwan Hospital ICU risking patients, medics

News Agency nabakhabar — Sun, 22 Dec 2024 16:23:42 +0000

The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, encircled by Israeli drones and tanks, has pleaded with the international community to intervene to protect the northern Gaza hospital as Israel ordered patients as well as hospital staff to evacuate.

The hospital remains one of the few still operational in the area, where only a handful of doctors remain to treat patients amid a severe shortage or complete depletion of essential medical supplies.

“We are now facing direct bombing of the intensive care unit again,” Dr Hussam Abu Safia said in a video statement on Saturday night, calling on the international community to protect the hospital and its 66 remaining patients as well as medical staff.

“The nursery, maternity, and all departments of the hospital are being targeted by the occupation forces with all types of weapons, including sniper fire, tank shells, and quadcopters,” he added.

“For more than an hour now, shells are raining down on us from every corner, mile, and direction.”

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from nearby Deir el-Balah, said, “What we are seeing now is a deliberate attack on the health facility.”

“The Israeli military has ordered evacuations from the hospital, but they have also created an intimidating environment that makes people feel it’s unsafe to leave.”

Mahmoud added that contact with those besieged at the hospital had been lost overnight.

Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed wounded Palestinians taking shelter in the hospital’s corridors, away from the windows, after Israeli forces opened fire on the facility. Despite that, Mahmoud said, “many injuries” were reported as bullets penetrated the walls, also damaging equipment.

Al Jazeera Arabic correspondents in Gaza also said they lost touch with journalists inside the hospital amid the ongoing assault. According to the channel, al-Awda Hospital located in the Jabalia refugee camp also came under attack.

The relentless Israeli attacks on medical facilities, including Kamal Adwan, drew a response from World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who called it “deeply worrisome”. He urged for an “immediate ceasefire” in the area that has been under siege for more than 70 days.

More than 14 months of nonstop Israeli attacks have devastated the enclave and displaced almost the entire 2.4 million of its population. More than 45,000 people, mostly children and women, have been killed in the offensive that has caused global condemnation.

Israel justifies its deadly attacks as a response to Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, in which nearly 1,100 people were killed and some 250 were taken captive.

Abu Safia said Israeli forces use the pretext that the hospital is a combat zone to justify attacks on the hospital.

“We hold the world responsible for what is occurring and for our repeated appeals,” he said, adding that “there seems to be no response” to the pleas from the international community.

34 Palestinians killed in a day

Gaza health officials said Israel killed 34 Palestinians, including 19 since Sunday dawn, in the past 24 hours.

Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud said Gaza has evolved into “a killing box with attacks around the clock” as four children were among five killed in the Israeli attack on Jabalia on Sunday.

At least eight people, including four children, were killed in yet another attack on a school repurposed as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the war. The Israeli military confirmed Saturday’s attack on the school, saying it targeted a Hamas “command and control centre”.

A woman inspects the damage at the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the Musa bin Nusayr School in the Al-Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City on Sunday. [Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP]

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation deteriorated in Gaza, particularly in northern areas, which has been under military siege for weeks.

In a statement on X, the World Food Programme said since the siege began in October, it has filed 101 requests with the Israeli authorities to allow delivery of food aid to northern Gaza, including to Beit Hanoon, Beit Lahiya and Jabalia, but that only three of them had been granted.

Israel has faced accusations of genocide over its blocking of aid and basic necessities to the Gaza Strip. In the latest report, Human Rights Watch said earlier this week that since October last year, Israeli authorities have “deliberately obstructed Palestinians’ access to the adequate amount of water required for survival in the Gaza Strip”.

“Over one million children, the whole population of Gaza is impacted by this war,” Rachel Cummings, Save the Children’s humanitarian director in Gaza, told Al Jazeera.

“We are seeing children deeply affected by this onslaught, but the medium and longer-term impact is terrifying,” she said. “We provide immediate alleviation of suffering, but we know that what we do is a drop in the ocean.”

The continuing attacks come even as Palestinian groups say a ceasefire deal is “closer than ever”.

In a rare joint statement, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said a ceasefire in Gaza and a captive release deal was possible provided Israel does not impose new conditions in negotiations.

On October 7 last year, Palestinian fighters took about 250 captives, of whom 96 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

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Israel to expand settlements in occupied Golan Heights amid condemnation

News Agency nabakhabar — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:14:55 +0000

The Israeli government has unanimously approved a plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to enhance illegal Israeli settlement building in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, with a budget exceeding 40 million shekels ($11.13 million).

In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday that the government unanimously approved the plan to “encourage demographic growth in Golan settlements and Katzrin, with a total cost exceeding 40 million shekels.”

Katzrin, or Qasrin, is a Syrian village occupied by Israel that was part of Syria’s Quneitra province in the Golan Heights.

Netanyahu’s office explained that the plan was approved “in light of the war and the new front with Syria, and out of a desire to double the population of the Golan.”

Currently, approximately 50,000 people live in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, half of whom are Israeli settlers, while the other half consists of Druze, Alawites, and others, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.

There are 33 Jewish settlements in the occupied Golan, incorporated into what is called the Golan Regional Council.

Condemnations

Saudi Arabia condemned an Israeli decision on Sunday to expand settlement building in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry reiterated the kingdom’s condemnation of Israel’s ongoing actions “to sabotage Syria’s opportunities for security and stability.”

It called on the international community to condemn the Israeli violations and emphasized the necessity “of respecting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“The Golan is an occupied Arab Syrian land,” the ministry stressed.

Earlier, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned Israel’s violation of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement by entering the Israel-Syria zone and continuing advance into Syrian territory.

In a statement, the ministry said, “ln this sensitive period, when there is a possibility of achieving the peace and stability that the Syrian people have been longing for for many years, Israel is once again displaying its occupying mentality. We resolutely reiterate our support for Syria’s sovereignty, political unity and territorial integrity.”

Taking advantage of Assad’s fall

Bashar al Assad, who ruled Syria with an iron fist for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on December 8 after anti-regime groups seized control of Damascus. The takeover came after Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) fighters captured key cities across the country in a swift offensive that lasted less than two weeks.

Taking advantage of Assad’s fall, Israel has intensified its air strikes against military sites across Syria, in blatant violation of the country’s sovereignty.

Israel also declared the collapse of a 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria and deployed its forces within the demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights, in a move widely condemned by the United Nations and several Arab nations.

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Benjamin Netanyahu appears in court for first time in anti-corruption trial

News Agency nabakhabar — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 18:48:28 +0000

Over four years after it began, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the witness stand on Tuesday for the first time to give testimony in his long-running corruption trial.

Netanyahu, 75, has been widely accused of using Israel’s various regional wars as a way of either avoiding giving evidence in the trial or even ending it completely.

Last month he reportedly asked Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, to help him get out of testifying, arguing that it would be a security risk for him to be in a known location for an extended period.

Israel’s longest-serving leader and its defining politician, who now heads a government dependent on key members of the country’s far-right settler movement, is the first sitting Israeli prime minister to be charged with a crime.

Charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, Netanyahu will testify three times a week, the court said, despite Israel’s war on Gaza, the fragile ceasefire in Lebanon and its incursions into Syria.

The Palestinian death toll in besieged Gaza rose to 44,758 on Tuesday, as Israel shows no sign of stopping the bloodshed.

Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 in three cases involving gifts from millionaire friends and for allegedly seeking regulatory favours for media tycoons in return for favourable coverage. He denies any wrongdoing.

The prime minister arrived at Tel Aviv District Court at around 10am local time on Tuesday morning, wearing a dark blue suit and white shirt, with an Israeli flag pin on one label and a yellow ribbon symbolising the hostages held in Gaza on the other.

“I have been waiting for eight years for this moment to tell the truth,” Netanyahu told the three judges hearing the case in an underground courtroom, according to Reuters. “But I am also a prime minister… I am leading the country through a seven-front war. And I think the two can be done in parallel.”

Before Netanyahu took the stand, his lawyer Amit Hadad told judges that there were fundamental flaws in the case against his client, and that prosecutors “weren’t investigating a crime, they were going after a person.”

Outside the courtroom, a few dozen protesters had gathered, some of them supporters and others – including family members of the roughly 100 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza – calling for Netanyahu to stop obstructing a deal to bring those hostages home.

Alon Pinkas, a prominent Israeli diplomat, told Middle East Eye Netanyahu’s appearance in court was “significant but not critical since his testimony will take months”.

Cigars, champagne and jewellery

Of the various allegations levelled at Netanyahu, the most eye-catching involve the receipt of nearly $200,000 worth of gifts from a billionaire Hollywood film producer.

Arnon Milchan, an Israeli businessman, film producer and former spy, took the stand last June to describe how he routinely delivered tens of thousands of dollars worth of champagne, cigars and other gifts requested by Netanyahu.

According to the court indictment, Milchan, whose production credits include hits such as Pretty Woman and 12 Years a Slave, gave Netanyahu and his wife boxes of cigars, jewellery and crates of champagne over a period of several years.

On the eve of his testimony, Netanyahu was typically bullish in his defence, describing his investigation as a witch hunt and claiming that for “eight years I’ve been waiting for this day. Eight years I have waited to present the truth.”

“The real threat to democracy in Israel is not posed by the public’s elected representatives, but by some among the law enforcement authorities who refuse to accept the voters’ choice and are trying to carry out a coup with rabid political investigations that are unacceptable in any democracy,” he added in a statement.

Netanyahu’s son, Yair, has compared those investigating his father to Nazi Germany’s Gestapo and East Germany’s Stasi.

Before Israel’s war on Gaza began in the wake of the 7 October Hamas-led attacks, Netanyahu’s legal troubles bitterly divided Israelis and shook the country’s politics through five rounds of elections.

His government’s bid last year to curb powers of the judiciary further polarised Israelis, but the shock of the Hamas-led attacks and the ensuing war swept Netanyahu’s trial off the public agenda as the country united.

In recent weeks, though, members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have clashed with Israel’s judiciary and the International Criminal Court (ICC) has heaped further legal jeopardy onto Netanyahu by issuing arrest warrants for him and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant.

Both men are charged by the ICC with alleged war crimes. Nevertheless, an Israeli security source told MEE they expected Netanyahu to remain in power in the short to medium term.

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Live blog: Fresh deadly Israeli strikes hit ‘safe zone’ in central Gaza

News Agency nabakhabar — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 10:57:03 +0000

Israel’s war on Gaza, now spanning 242 days, has killed over 36,550 Palestinians — with a staggering 71% of them being women, children and infants — leaving another 82,959 wounded, as officials tally toll of colossal human suffering.

Tuesday, June 4, 2024

0945 GMT –– Palestinian death toll from relentless Israeli attacks on Gaza since last October has reached 36,550, the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave said.

At least 82,959 people have also been injured in the onslaught, the ministry added in a statement.

“Israeli forces killed 71 people, and injured 182 others in seven ‘massacres’ against families in the last 24 hours,” the ministry said.

“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.

In Deir al Balah city in central Gaza, at least eight Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a car and a people’s gathering near a shelter.

A medical source at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said eight Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike in the vicinity of the Palestine Technical College, which serves as a displaced people’s shelter.

The struck area is crowded with people as the Israeli army has designated it as a safe zone, eyewitnesses added.

More updates 👇

0916 GMT — Firefighters continue to battle fires in northern Israel caused by rockets fired from Lebanon

Israeli firefighting teams continued to battle against the fires that broke out as a result of rockets fired from southern Lebanon.

According to the Times of Israel news website, the Fire and Rescue Services said its teams brought under control by morning most of the fires which were sparked by rockets and drones launched from Lebanon.

The fires led to the closure of several major roads in the Galilee area, it added.

The Israeli Army Radio reported a fresh fire in the Biriya Forest near Safad in northern Israel, with two firefighting teams dispatched to the scene to put it out.

It added that the fire erupted as a result of falling shrapnel after rockets were intercepted.

0833 GMT –– UN rights chief urges end to killings in occupied West Bank

The UN human rights chief has urged for an end to killings in the West Bank by Israeli forces.

“As if the tragic events in Israel and then Gaza over the past eight months were not enough, the people of the occupied West Bank are also being subjected to day after day of unprecedented bloodshed. It is unfathomable that so many lives have been taken in such a wanton fashion,” Volker Turk said in a statement.

“The killing, destruction and widespread human rights violations are unacceptable and must cease immediately,” Turk said.

He stressed that any allegation of unlawful killings must be “thoroughly and independently” investigated and those responsible held to account.

0640 GMT –– Israeli army kills 2 Palestinians near Tulkarem city, holds their bodies

Two Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army near the Tulkarem city in the northern West Bank.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa identified the two as Abdel-Fattah Salahaddin and Ahmed Rajab, both from the Tulkarem refugee camp.

It added that the Israeli army held their bodies.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli forces opened fire on a Palestinian car near an Israeli military checkpoint in western Tulkarem.

The Israeli army prevented the ambulance teams from reaching the site of the shooting, the witnesses added.

The coordination committee of the Palestinian groups in Tulkarem announced a day of mourning over the killing of the two Palestinians.

0017 GMT –– US seeks UN backing for proposed Gaza truce, hostage deal

The US has said it wants the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution backing the proposal outlined by President Joe Biden to end Israel’s war in Gaza.

It circulated a one-page draft text to the 15-member council. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the US, France, Britain, China or Russia to pass.

The draft “stresses the importance of the parties adhering to the terms of the deal once agreed, with the aim of bringing about a permanent cessation of hostilities.”

“Numerous leaders and governments, including in the region, have endorsed this plan and we call on the Security Council to join them in calling for implementation of this deal without delay and without further conditions,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement.

2325 GMT –– Israel bombing kills four, including one child in Bureij camp

Israeli missile strike on a residence in the Bureij camp has resulted in the killing of four Palestinians while multiple people have been wounded, WAFA news agency reports.

According to WAFA correspondent, Israeli warplanes targeted the Al Maghari and Al Ahlam residential towers. They also shelled two more towers in the camp.

Israeli tanks opened heavy fire at citizens’ homes in the vicinity of the University College of Applied Sciences in the Tel Al Hawa neighbourhood, southwest of Gaza City, and the Al Sabra area, according to news reports.

2200 GMT –– Police arrest pro-Palestine demonstrators inside San Francisco building housing Israeli Consulate

San Francisco police have detained a group of pro-Palestine demonstrators who entered the lobby of the building housing the Israeli consulate after they refused to leave, authorities said.

An unspecified number of people were “detained for potential arrest,” police said in a statement on Monday. “Officers have been making multiple warnings to the individuals to disperse and exit the private property on their own.”

About 50 people were inside the building on the ground floor. Police led protesters out of the building one-by-one and loaded them into police vehicles, their hands bound by zip ties.

Protesters, who were voicing opposition to Israel’s incursion into Gaza, had said they planned to stay until forcibly removed, the San Francisco Chronicle reported from the scene.

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‘No one will hold Israel accountable’ as it targets medics in south Lebanon

News Agency nabakhabar — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 11:13:57 +0000

Israel is possibly committing war crimes by expanding its war on medics from Gaza to south Lebanon, say rights groups.

Most evenings in al-Habbariyeh, a small town in southern Lebanon’s verdant hills, the young volunteers of the Lebanese Emergency and Relief Corps center liked to get together to play cards or share an argileh (hookah).

On March 26, a clear, brisk night, Abdullah Sharif Atwi, Abdulrahman al-Shaar, Ahmad al-Shaar, Baraa Abu Qais, Hussein al-Shaar, Muhammad al-Farouq Atwi and Muhammad Ragheed Hammoud were in the second-floor hangout.

The Israeli drones hovered overhead, they had been going all day and now their sound was fading almost into the background.

The group was in high spirits, taking videos of themselves and joking about.

About half an hour after midnight, just into March 27, Israel hit the centre with an air strike, levelling the two-storey building.

“People from the village ran down to see what happened,” Ali Noureddine, a journalist and activist from al-Habbariyeh, told Al Jazeera. “It’s a small village,” he said. “We’re all one family.”

The seven young men had been killed and four others badly injured.

Most of the 18-to-25-year-olds had been students.

Hunted health workers

Israel killed a total of 17 people in three different towns just that day, 10 of them medical workers.

The attack made March 27 the deadliest day for medical workers in south Lebanon.

An attack on a cafe in Ras al-Naqoura killed a medical worker from Amal’s Al-Risala Scouts and three others, including one Amal member.

The third attack that day was in Tayr Harfa which killed two paramedics from Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Association along with four Hezbollah fighters.

The Israeli army spokesperson said the al-Habbariyeh attack successfully targeted a “significant terrorist” in al-Jamaa al-Islamiya.

“They didn’t say who the ‘terrorist’ was,” Mahyaddine Qarhani, director of the Lebanese Emergency and Relief Corps’ Ambulance Association, told Al Jazeera.

Investigations by human rights organisations found no evidence of military activity or fighters on-site.

Human Rights Watch called for the al-Habbariyeh attack to be investigated as a war crime as leading rights groups currently investigate other Israeli attacks on medical workers.

Hezbollah and Israel have been trading attacks across the border since October 8, the day after Israel launched its war on Gaza in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack on Israel in which 1,139 people were killed and about 240 others taken captive.

More than 92,600 people have been displaced from southern Lebanon by the relentless Israeli attacks, according to the International Organization for Migration.

The people still in the south are vulnerable, like the elderly and lower-income people who rely on the medical services the Lebanese Emergency and Relief Corps provides.

Flares fired from northern Israel over the southern Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab, on October 28, 2023 [Fadel Senna/AFP]

Like many services in the country, Lebanon’s healthcare is mostly privatised as the Ministry of Public Health relies on private groups and NGOs to fill the gaps.

The medical situation in Lebanon was already deeply affected by a five-year-old economic crisis, with 80 percent of the population below the poverty line.

Now, the south is also contending with war and with its few medical workers and facilities being targeted by Israel.

Data on the attacks on south Lebanon are hard to find, with locals saying many incidents go unreported.

Al Jazeera collected data from monitoring groups indicating at least 18 Israeli attacks on medical personnel and facilities, resulting in the deaths of 20 health workers, as of May 31.

They include members of Lebanon’s civil defence and health workers for the medical branches of Hezbollah, the Amal Movement and al-Jamaa al-Islamiya.

Each group has an armed wing engaging with the Israeli military but their healthcare workers are protected by international humanitarian law.

This protection as medical workers lapses only if they participate in military activities.

There has been no evidence that this was the case in any of the attacks on medical workers, multiple sources, including representatives of leading human rights and monitoring agencies, told Al Jazeera.

None of the attacks showed “evidence of any association with the armed wing of these groups”, Ameneh Mehvar, a Middle East specialist at ACLED, told Al Jazeera.

Possible war crimes

The attacks on medical workers in southern Lebanon have gone largely unreported, although they are contributing to significantly degrading the quality of life for the people left there.

Medical personnel cannot be targeted “even if they’re close to military targets”, Shane Darcy, a professor at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, told Al Jazeera.

“Even if there is a Hezbollah [fighter] present, the principle of proportionality means [Israel’s military] has to weigh the impact on civilian proportionality,” a source at a renowned human rights organisation told Al Jazeera, speaking on background.

There is no exact formula for proportionality, Darcy said, but targeting or killing civilians deliberately is a crime.

“There’s a lot of danger [for medical workers],” Dr Wahida Ghalayni, who works at the Ministry of Public Health, told Al Jazeera. “These are direct attacks [on them].”

The pattern of Israel’s lack of accountability and continued attacks leave Lebanon’s medical workers feeling Israel is directly targeting them.

A day before the al-Habbariyeh attack, on March 26, an Israeli air raid hit Tayr Harfa’s civil defence centre, injuring four health workers.

Israeli soldiers simulating an invasion of Lebanon in May 2024 [Handout via Israeli military]

Then two Hezbollah paramedics “were killed in a second strike on the same location during the same day”, according to data collected by ACLED.

“This is nothing new,” Rabieh Issa, civil defence commissioner for Al-Risala Scouts, told Al Jazeera.

“We don’t normally deploy until 15 minutes after the first hit because they hit again and again. So, for our own security, we wait a bit.”

But it is not only warplanes that the hunted medical personnel need to look out for.

On March 21, Israeli warplanes struck Yarine during fighting with Hezbollah, according to ACLED.

Israel said they were targeting Hezbollah’s military infrastructure but that does not explain why ambulances that rushed in after the attack came under “heavy machinegun fire” from the Israelis.

And there are many more incidents.

On March 4, a medical centre in the Al-Ouwayni neighbourhood of Odaisseh was hit by an Israeli air raid, killing three Hezbollah-affiliated health workers. On February 22, four people from Lebanon’s civil defence were killed in air attacks on Blida. On January 11, two medics were killed in the southern town of Hanin when Israeli jets struck the Islamic Health Society building.

Israel claims it is attacking “Hezbollah cells”. But in many of its attacks on medical workers or facilities, no fighters were killed.

In April, media outlet +972mag reported on Lavender, an artificial intelligence (AI)-supported system Israel uses to select targets for assassination and calculate “acceptable civilian loss” for each killing.

For a low-level Hamas operative, the Israeli army determined that 15-20 civilian deaths are permissible, while “the army on several occasions authorised the killing of more than 100 civilians in the assassination of a single commander”.

“I’d find it hard for any international humanitarian lawyer to say that’s an acceptable application of proportionality,” Darcy said. “Those are possible war crimes.”

Gaps in the south

Back in al-Habbariyeh, the Israeli attack has left a big hole in the community.

“We’re a small village … all grieving,” Noureddine, who used to visit friends at the centre, said.

“Israel hits whoever they want. I don’t know if tomorrow someone else will die or not.”

But the decimated team has also left a big gap in the community’s medical care.

The Emergency and Relief Corps suspended operations in al-Habbariyeh after the attack, fearing that moving operations would simply attract attacks on civilians in other neighbourhoods.

“We can’t work in that area anymore,” Qarhani said. “Nobody knows why they hit the centre but it’s completely destroyed.”

The outskirts of al-Habbariyeh have been hit as recently as a month ago.

“Israel is still hitting us and if we make a new centre they’ll come and bomb it again,” Noureddine said. “They’re hitting civilians and we don’t have people whose lives we can simply sacrifice.”

“The Americans give Israelis weapons and hit us with them and no one will hold them accountable or will even look at what they’re doing,” Noureddine said.

“No one is held accountable for Israel’s attacks.”

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The art project aiming to keep Australia’s Indigenous people out of jail

News Agency nabakhabar — Wed, 29 May 2024 06:32:03 +0000

More Indigenous people are behind bars in Australia than ever before, making them the world’s most imprisoned people. Despite making up 3.8 percent of the national population, Indigenous Australians make up 33 percent of the prison population and are 17 times more likely to be jailed than non-Indigenous people.

In Australia’s southeastern state of Victoria, a group of artists is working to break the cycle.

The Torch is a community-led organisation that works with Indigenous inmates to teach artistic skills and reconnect prisoners with their cultural heritage. Inmates also generate income selling their work in galleries and to private collectors nationwide, with the money being saved in a trust, ready for their release.

The results have been startling – inmates engaged with the programme have a return-to-prison (recidivism) rate of 17 percent for First Nations prisoners compared with the national average of more than 70 percent, according to The Torch.

“Before I went to prison, I was in domestic violence and I was on the verge of being homeless,” Stacey Edwards, a former inmate, told Al Jazeera. “My Torch fund helped me put a deposit on a house and now I’ve got a routine and a structure. I’m OK with who I am and my place in the world.”

What experts call the “hyper-incarceration” of Indigenous people in Australia is a legacy of colonisation and its racism, as well as successive governments’ focus on law and order. In particular, the trauma of the Stolen Generations – the forced removal of Indigenous children from their families – continues to reverberate.

In the state of Victoria, where the Torch programme operates, about half of all Indigenous people have been directly affected by the assimilation policies, which only ended in the 1970’s.

Protests have continued to raise awareness of the mass incarceration and deaths in custody of Indigenous Australians [Ali MC/AL Jazeera]

Edwards, of the Taungurung and Boonwurrung nations, is one of them, telling Al Jazeera that the legacy of trauma underscored her descent into drug use and eventually, jail.

Stacey, now 43, grew up in a poorer neighbourhood. She told Al Jazeera her grandfather had been forcibly taken away and placed in white-run institutions, a separation that scarred her mother’s life.

“My mum’s ability to parent was impacted, she had her own addiction problems too,” she said. As a child, Stacey also felt the intergenerational trauma.

“I didn’t have the emotional tools to self-regulate and get myself together,” she said. “I think that’s all pain, all the challenges and struggles and the hurt and pain being passed down over generations.”

Colonial legacy

Indigenous women – many of them mothers – are the fastest growing group of prisoners in Australia, largely due to domestic violence and experiences of homelessness.

But the economic benefit of the Torch – which ensures inmates have a source of funds on their release – helps break that cycle.

Indigenous Australians come from more than 500 nations in what is now known as Australia, which was colonised by the British in 1788.

Genocidal practices, historical discrimination and ongoing racism have fuelled inequality across all social indicators, including homelessness, unemployment and poverty, which are also factors that underscore imprisonment.

Kent Morris, of the Barkindji nation, was one of the founding organisers of the Torch in 2011. He told Al Jazeera that the economic model was crucial to the programme’s success and that one of the big questions, when it began, was how artists could earn income from their work while stuck inside prison.

“How can the skills and talents of a mob in prison who are creating art and exploring culture – how can that translate into some economic support, so they’re not facing the same circumstances that leads them back to prison? This is what the programme was built around,” he said.

In Australia, inmates can earn some income while participating in prison programmes and training, but since the Torch model allows them to sell their work in galleries outside of the prison walls, it is unique.

In 2023, more than 1 million Australian dollars ($665,785) was returned to 494 participants through the sale and licensing of their artwork, with the earnings either saved or used to assist inmates’ families, such as ensuring their children go to school.

Roey, a former prisoner and from the Warumungu and Yawuru Nations, told Al Jazeera that the Torch programme meant he could continue to support his children despite being jailed.

“To be able to support my kids whilst being in prison was probably one of my biggest achievements,” he said. “Supporting my kids and being able to practise my culture in that process and feeling good about myself.”

‘Perfect storm’

Along with the economic benefit, the Torch programme also reconnects artists with their Indigenous culture, language and heritage, a link that was often broken due to colonisation.

Sean Miller, of the Gamileroi nation, told Al Jazeera that the Torch helped him find a sense of identity.

“I really wanted to learn more about my culture,” he said. “It’s something that’s built into you; you strive to find out where you come from, what your people are about, what our culture, and our language is. Because of colonisation that was taken from us. To be able to have the opportunity to learn all that, I’m so proud of that.”

Miller has exhibited his works nationally and is one of seven former inmates now working on the Torch programme. In 2018, he returned to prison to deliver the programme to other inmates.

“It gave the brothers and sisters inside prison a little bit more comfort to know that I was an ex-prisoner,” he told Al Jazeera. “They can relate to me and they can also see that they too can be successful with their art as well.”

Sean Miller, of the Gamileroi nation, was once on the Torch programme and now goes back into jail to work with other inmates [Ali MC/Al Jazeera]

Ash Thomas said that without the Torch programme, he would be dead [Ali MC/Al Jazeera]

Despite the success of the Torch, the programme only operates in the state of Victoria and has not yet been rolled out elsewhere. It is not funded by the federal government in Canberra and relies largely on philanthropy and state government grants.

Experts say recent government decisions at the federal and state levels – such as the Queensland Labor government suspending human rights protections to lock up Indigenous children in adult jails – are exacerbating the incarceration crisis.

“The key causes of the mass and unprecedented imprisonment of First Nations people is state policy and practice,” Thalia Anthony, a criminologist with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), told Al Jazeera. “The statistics do not show higher levels of crime. Expanded police powers and tougher bail, sentencing and parole laws that have contributed to the growth. When you combine these policy drivers with the systemic racism in the penal system, it is a perfect storm for the hyper-incarceration of First Peoples.”

In 1991, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody tabled a report in parliament that showed unequivocally that the high rate of Indigenous deaths in prison correlated with the high numbers of Indigenous prisoners.

The report made 339 recommendations with a key focus on reducing the incarceration of Indigenous peoples. However, many of the recommendations were never implemented and the number of Indigenous prisoners has risen exponentially in the years since. Recent data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that between 1994 and 2021, the number of Indigenous people in jail increased by 10,241, from 2,798 to 13,039 inmates.

Over that period, more than 550 Indigenous people have died in prison. In 2022-2023, 21 Indigenous inmates died in custody, the highest since records began.

Policy change needed

Josh Kerr – a former Torch participant – was one of them. He died in Victoria’s Port Phillip Prison.

A coronial inquest heard that the 32-year-old, of the Yorta Yorta and Gunnaikurnai nations, reportedly called out “I’m dying” and remained unresponsive for 17 minutes before medical assistance was provided, despite being seen on CCTV by prison staff.

Kerr’s artwork produced as part of the Torch programme was shown at the entrance to the court.

“At the recent inquest into Joshua Kerr’s death in custody, we honoured Joshua by including his Torch portfolio into the coronial brief and displaying his artwork outside the courtroom,” Ali Besiroglu, the principal lawyer for the case, told Al Jazeera. “Joshua’s mother, Aunty Donnis Kerr, believed this was crucial to showcase his profound talent, deep cultural connection, and to humanise his memory beyond the forensic documents which commonly consume the coronial brief.”

In response to questions submitted by Al Jazeera, Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney acknowledged the severity and pervasiveness of the problem.

“More than 30 years on from the Royal Commission, deaths in custody continue to have a devastating impact on First Nations families and communities,” Burney said in an email. “We know that the key to addressing this national shame is reducing the rate at which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people enter the criminal justice system.”

Donnis Kerr (right), the mother of Josh Kerr, a former Torch participant who died in custody, speaking at a protest in 2023 [Ali MC/Al Jazeera]

In this month’s budget, the Australian government announced justice reinvestment strategies, which aim to address the underlying cause of criminal behaviour before it occurs, along with prison-to-employment programmes.

“These projects are designed to address the factors that increase First Nations people’s risk of contact with the criminal justice system,” Burney said. “Importantly, these justice reinvestment projects are community-led in each individual community.”

While it is Australia’s state governments that largely control legislation over the justice and prison systems, UTS criminologist Anthony says policymakers across the country need to change the way they look at law and order issues, and see prison as the last resort.

“Any option other than prison would be better than prison,” she said. “Prison is traumatising. It cuts people off from family, homes, jobs and support. The Torch is a great example of building peoples’ skills in prison and providing support upon release.”

Kent Morris agrees and hopes that the Australian government will instead provide leadership and funding to roll out programmes like The Torch on a national scale.

“So much of our community are behind bars. And we know how much potential our community has,” he told Al Jazeera. “We need to free them from the criminal legal system.”

Editor’s note: Details regarding crimes and lengths of sentences have been omitted at the request of interviewees. Such details can affect parole, job prospects and relationships.

The post The art project aiming to keep Australia’s Indigenous people out of jail appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Live blog: Dignity of humanity ‘destroyed’ in Gaza — Turkish minister

News Agency nabakhabar — Tue, 28 May 2024 18:00:14 +0000

Israel has killed at least 36,096 Palestinians — including babies, children, and women — and wounded 81,136 in its 235-day war on Gaza, while some 10,000+ people are feared buried under the debris of bombed homes.

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

1405 GMT –– The Turkish health minister has said the dignity of humanity “is being destroyed” in Gaza amid ongoing attacks not only on civilians but also on health facilities.

“In Gaza, the dignity of humanity is being destroyed in front of all of our eyes, stomp by stomp,” Fahrettin Koca said in a World Health Assembly (WHA) session in Geneva.

“It has been seen that countries that claim to be developed are very backward in human values. They preferred to keep silent while children and babies were slaughtered with the most primitive methods,” he said, adding: “The so-called advanced democracies turned a deaf ear to the voices of societies.”

“We are all prisoners of this black and dark history,” he said.

More updates 👇

1358 GMT –– Palestine calls new Israeli strikes on Rafah a massacre

The Palestinian president’s spokesperson, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, has described new Israeli strikes on Rafah as a massacre and called for the implementation of a World Court decision ordering Israel to halt its offensive on the city.

Israel has kept up its offensive despite a ruling by the top UN court on Friday ordering it to stop, saying the court’s ruling grants it some scope for military action in Rafah.

1353 GMT –– Finland expresses sorrow about Israeli strikes in Rafah

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen has expressed sorrow about recent Israeli air strikes in Rafah that killed dozens of civilians.

“Devastated by news from Rafah on Israeli strikes killing dozens of civilians, including small children,” she wrote on X.

“Finland has consistently urged Israel to refrain from attacking Rafah, especially considering the high numbers of displaced people there. The orders of the ICJ and international humanitarian law must be respected by all parties.”

1344 GMT –– Israel holds 26 Palestinian women without trial or charge: NGO

Israel is holding 26 Palestinian women without trial or charge, a local nongovernmental organisation has said.

Three journalists, a lawyer and several students are among the detainees, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a statement.

“Some 26 women are held administratively without trial or charge from among 80 women in Israe li custody at Damon prison” near Haifa in northern Israel, it added.

1300 GMT –– Hamas urges UNSC to take ‘immediate measures’ to halt Israeli assault

Hamas has called on the UN Security Council to take “immediate” measures to halt Israel’s ongoing offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza.

In a statement, the Palestinian group urged the council “to fulfil its legal and moral responsibilities towards Israel’s disregard for the decision of the International Court of Justice.”

1243 GMT –– WHO chief deplores Israel’s Sunday attack on Rafah camp for displaced people

The World Health Organization (WHO) chief has deplored Israel’s Sunday attack on a camp for displaced people in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, causing the deaths of dozens.

“WHO deplores the air strike on Sunday night in Rafah that reportedly killed 45 displaced people sheltering in tents,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.

“As violence in Rafah continues escalating, almost a million displaced people are once again in search of safety that doesn’t exist in Gaza,” he said.

1231 GMT –– Dozens killed in Israeli strikes on tent area west of Rafah: officials

At least 21 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in new Israeli strikes on an area of tents housing displaced people West of Rafah, health authorities in the enclave have said.

The new Israeli strikes targeted tents of displaced families in the designated humanitarian area in Mawasi in western Rafah, according to medics and residents.

1212 GMT –– South Africa condemns Israel’s ‘deplorable’ Rafah strike

South Africa has condemned as “deplorable” an Israeli strike on Gaza’s southern city of Rafah that killed dozens in a displaced persons camp.

“The South African Government joins the international community in condemning the deplorable and brutal attacks on innocent civilians after Israeli forces bombed a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians,” the foreign ministry said.

It noted that the strike came two days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to end its military offensive in Rafah.

1200 GMT –– Medical evacuations under ‘abrupt halt’ in Gaza: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that medical evacuations in Gaza are under “abrupt halt” while 10,000 people need to be referred out.

“There’s been an abrupt halt to all medical evacuations,” WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said at a UN press briefing.

“We have around 10,000 people who need to be evacuated. And since the increase in the violence in the area and Rafah, and the limitation on the services, we now have an extra 1,000 critically ill and injured patients who’ve been unable to leave Gaza to receive the much-needed medical treatment elsewhere,” Harris stressed. She noted that no evacuation has been done since May 7.

1154 GMT –– Just one hospital now operational in Gaza’s Rafah: ministry

Only one hospital remains operational in Rafah in southern Gaza, while all other hospitals have ceased operations amid an Israeli offensive in the city, the Health Ministry has said.

In a statement, the ministry said that Israeli attacks had forced four hospitals in Rafah – Abu Yusef al-Najjar Hospital, Abu al-Walid Central Clinic, Rafah Field Hospital 2, and Kuwait Specialist Hospital – out of service.

“The Tel al-Sultan Maternity Hospital is still struggling to provide services to patients,” it added.

1114 GMT –– Israeli killing of Egyptian soldier shows how real Gaza war spillover threat is: Fidan

Israel’s killing of an Egyptian soldier in the Rafah border crossing has shown how real the risk of a spillover of the Gaza conflict is, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said in a live presser.

Speaking in a news conference alongside his Cambodian counterpart Sok Chenda Sophea, who is in the Turkish capital Ankara on an official visit, Fidan also criticised the US and other Western nations for their support to Israel.

“It would not be possible for this genocide to continue without the support of some countries, especially the US, for Israel,” he said.

1127 GMT –– Spain, Norway and Ireland formally recognise State of Palestine

Spain, Norway and Ireland have formally recognised the State of Palestine, defying Israel which had condemned the move.

The three European countries believe their initiative has a strong symbolic impact that is likely to encourage others to recognise a Palestinian state.

As Oslo’s formal recognition went into effect, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide hailed the move as “a special day for Norway-Palestine relations.”

“Norway has been one of the most fervent defenders of a Palestinian state for more than 30 years,” he added.

Shortly afterwards, Spain followed suit, with government spokeswoman Pilar Alegria confirming the cabinet had formally recognised Palestinian statehood, qualifying it as “a historic day.”

Later, the Irish government, too, announced its official recognition of a Palestinian state.

1044 GMT –– Health ministry in Gaza says war death toll at 36,096

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said that at least 36,096 people have been killed in the territory during more than seven months of Israel’s war on the besieged enclave.

The toll includes at least 46 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 81,136 people have been wounded in Gaza since the Tel Aviv launched a brutal war after Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7.

1030 GMT –– Israeli strikes in Rafah have had horrific, unacceptable consequences: Australia

In a broadside at Tel Aviv over its latest bombardment in Gaza, Australia has called on Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah.

“Israel’s strikes have had horrific and unacceptable consequences,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement, referring to the latest Israeli attacks in Rafah which killed 45 on Sunday.

These events “underscore that we must see a humanitarian ceasefire now so that civilians can be protected,” she added.

0950 GMT –– UK foreign secretary calls for urgent action following ‘deeply distressing’ Israeli airstrikes on Rafah

In the wake of the devastating Israeli airstrikes on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza during the past weekend, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron expressed deep concern and called for immediate and decisive action.

“Deeply distressing scenes following the airstrikes in Rafah this weekend,” Cameron said on X.

Cameron emphasised the necessity of a thorough investigation by the Israeli forces, urging it to be “swift, comprehensive & transparent.”

0941 GMT –– Reporters Without Borders files 3rd complaint with ICC about Israeli war crimes against journalists

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) filed its third complaint with the International Criminal Court about Israeli war crimes against journalists, according to a statement.

The complaint was filed on May 24, the Paris-based RSF said in a statement.

This complaint is “asking the prosecutor to investigate crimes against at least nine Palestinian reporters between 15 December and 20 May, as well as, more broadly, the more than 100 journalists that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have killed since 7 October (2023) in Gaza,” the non-profit said.

The RSF added that it filed two previous complaints on October 31 and December 22, 2023, and the third one detailing “eight new cases of Palestinian journalists killed between 20 December and 20 May, as well as the case of a journalist who was injured.”

0908 GMT –– Israel advances in Philadelphi Corridor, moves closer to blocking Gaza from Egypt

The Israeli army began expanding its incursion into Rafah, southern Gaza, seizing more of the border area with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor.

The move means that the Israeli army is moving closer to isolating the besieged enclave from contact with Egypt and eventually the entire world.

The current Israeli incursion into Rafah makes it only 3 kilometres (1.8 miles) away from the Rafah coast and puts over two-thirds of the Philadelphi Corridor area under Israel’s control.

The Philadelphi Corridor –– 14-kilometer (8.69-mile) in length –– is a demilitarised buffer zone running along the Gaza-Egypt border, as stipulated by the treaty following the signing of the 1978 Camp David Accords between then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

0901 GMT –– Israel again bombs Rafah as UNSC to discuss camp attack

Israel has again bombarded Gaza’s far-southern Rafah area despite a global storm of outrage over Sunday’s strike that set ablaze a crowded tent city, killing at least 45 people.

The strike, which Gaza medics said also left hundreds of civilians with shrapnel and burn wounds, drew condemnation from world leaders and was set to be discussed at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council from 1915 GMT.

The sight of the charred carnage, blackened corpses and children being rushed to hospitals led UN chief Antonio Guterres to declare that “there is no safe place in Gaza. This horror must stop.”

0842 GMT –– Israeli tanks reach Rafah city centre, witnesses say

Several Israeli tanks reached the centre of Rafah, witnesses told Reuters news agency, three weeks into a ground offensive in the southern Gaza city that has has drawn intense scrutiny from neighbouring Egypt and from the United States.

The tanks were spotted near al-Awda mosque, a central Rafah landmark, the witnesses said.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on their account, saying it would issue a statement about the Rafah offensive later.

0809 GMT –– Israeli forces press Rafah offensive despite global outcry

Israel pounded Rafah with air strikes and tank fire, pressing its offensive in Gaza’s southern city.

At least 16 Palestinians were killed in strikes overnight, officials in the enclave said. Israeli tanks pushed towards western neighbourhoods in one of the worst nights of bombardment reported by residents.

Reacting to Sunday night’s strike and fire in a camp where thousands of families displaced from assaults elsewhere in Gaza had sought shelter, global leaders urged the implementation of a World Court order to halt Israel’s assault.

0746 GMT –– China expresses ‘grave concern’ over Israel’s military assaults in Rafah

China expressed “grave concern” over Israel’s military attacks in Rafah, where an Israeli strike killed dozens in a displaced persons camp.

China “expresses its grave concern over the ongoing Israeli military operations in Rafah”, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

Beijing urged “all parties to protect civilians and civilian facilities”. It also said it “strongly urges Israel to listen to the appeals of the international community and to stop its attacks on Rafah”.

0739 GMT –– UNRWA says around 1 million people have fled Rafah in past 3 weeks

Around one million people have fled the Gazan city of Rafah in the past three weeks, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said.

The small city on the southern edge of Gaza had been sheltering more than a million Palestinians who fled Israeli assaults on other parts of the enclave.

UNRWA said Palestinians’ flight from Rafah “happened with nowhere safe to go and amidst bombardments, lack of food and water, piles of waste and unsuitable living conditions.”

0652 GMT — Recognising Palestinian statehood ‘essential for reaching peace’: Sanchez

Recognising Palestinian statehood is an “essential” step for achieving peace in the Middle East, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said, with his government poised to formally take the step alongside Ireland and Norway.

“Recognition of the state of Palestine… is an essential requirement if we are all to achieve peace,” he said.

0319 GMT –– German foreign minister booed over govt’s approach to Gaza conflict

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was booed and jeered by pro-Palestinian protesters at a weekend event in the capital Berlin over the government’s support for Israel.

Footage shared on social media showed several people interfering with a presentation by Baerbock at the Democracy Festival held on Sunday to mark the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the country’s constitution.

Some attendees shouted angrily and waved banners, disrupting her speech. They accused the German government of bias and demanded that it immediately halt arms shipments to Israel.

Reports in the German media also said that a woman among the protesters who claimed to be Jewish shouted: “There is no freedom of thought in Germany after Israel’s attacks on Gaza!”

The protesters were later escorted out of the venue by security personnel.

0255 GMT –– Greece’s main opposition party pushes for recognition of Palestinian state

Greece’s main opposition SYRIZA party said it is pressing the government to recognise the State of Palestine.

“We must take a history lesson from the friendship between the Greek people and the Palestinian people, starting with (former Greek Prime Minister) Andreas Papandreou and (former Palestinian President) Yasser Arafat, and today bring it back to the forefront of our foreign policy.

“Because if not now, (then) when? What is the best time to finally recognise the Palestinian state, to follow the example of Spain, Ireland and Norway?” said the party’s leader, Stefanos Kasselakis, speaking to the radio station Sto Kokkino.

0205 GMT –– Israel’s attack on Rafah was ‘intentional’: US Congresswoman

Israel’s bombing over the weekend of a camp for displaced people in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza was “intentional,” the only Palestinian American member of the US Congress said.

“This was intentional. You don’t accidentally kill massive amounts of children and their families over and over again and get to say, ‘It was a mistake’,” Rashida Tlaib said on X.

“Genocidal maniac Netanyahu told us he wants to ethically cleanse Palestinians. When are you going to believe him @POTUS?” she added, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

0148 GMT –– Several Palestinians injured from assaults by Israeli army, settlers in West Bank

Several Palestinians were injured due to assaults by Israeli forces and illegal Jeswish settlers in the occupied West Bank.

Two Palestinians –– a father and his son –– were injured near the town of Yatta in Hebron governate as illegal Israeli settlers stopped and assaulted them with sharp objects, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Both suffered moderate injuries and were transferred to a hospital in Hebron.

0127 GMT –– An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon kills 2 people near a hospital, officials say

An Israeli strike targeting a motorcycle in southern Lebanon hit next to a hospital entrance, killing the motorcycle driver and a hospital security guard and wounding several civilians nearby, local health officials said.

It was not immediately clear who the driver was or why he was targeted in the strike in the town of Bint Jbeil.

The Israeli army did not give a statement on the strike but said it had targeted other areas of southern Lebanon in response to what they call “terrorist launches.”

0117 GMT –– Hezbollah targets Israeli army position in northern Israel

The Lebanese Hezbollah group said it carried out an aerial attack against an Israeli army position in northern Israel.

In a statement, the group said it targeted newly established bunkers of Artillery Battalion 411 east of Nahariya with explosive-laden drones and achieved precise hits, inflicting casualties.

The Times of Israel news website meanwhile reported that the Israeli army intercepted one drone while a second one hit an area in western Galilee, both of which were launched by Hezbollah.

0052 GMT –– Japan urges Israel to comply with world court’s order to halt Rafah offensive

Japan urged Israel to obey an order by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to halt its military offensives in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.

The provisional measures “are legally binding on the parties to disputes and to be observed in good faith,” Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko told her Israeli counterpart Israel Katz in a phone call.

Kamikawa also linked the release of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza to a ceasefire in the besieged Palestinian enclave, according to a statement by Japan’s Foreign Ministry.

0023 GMT –– EU discussing sanctioning Israel if it refuses to comply with world court’s ruling: minister

The European Union is discussing sanctioning Israel if it refuses to comply with a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering it to immediately halt its military campaign in the city of Rafah, local media reported, citing Ireland’s foreign minister.

During a meeting of the European Political Community, EU foreign ministers for the first time discussed the prospect of sanctions against Israel if it continued to disregard the court’s order, said Michael Martin, according to public broadcaster RTE.

“Certainly, if compliance isn’t forthcoming, then we have to consider all options,” he said, adding that Ireland would support such an approach.

2126 GMT — UNSC to hold emergency meeting after Israel’s massacre in Rafah

The UN Security Council has convened an emergency meeting after what Israel said was a “precision strike” on a displaced persons camp in the southern Gaza city of Rafah that killed at least 45 people, wounded 250, some of them burned alive and others slashed into pieces.

The closed-door meeting was requested by Algeria, which is currently a non-permanent member of the council, diplomats said.

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Iranian border guards clash with drug traffickers in Saravan

News Agency nabakhabar — Tue, 28 May 2024 15:53:31 +0000

Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran said in a statement that the border guards clashed with drug traffickers in Saravan on the border with Pakistan, seizing huge shipment of illicit drugs.

“Border guards of Sistan and Baluchistan province had been informed about the due arrival of a heavy shipment of narcotics from the border area,” the Iranian Law Enforcement Command (Police) said in statement on Tuesday.

The statement also said that the drug traffickers opened fire at border guards who were confronted by the Iranian border guards.

The statement further said that the drug traffickers had to escape to the other side of the border after the Iranian police confronted them, leaving behind their shipment of drugs.

“During this operation, as many as 408 kilograms of drugs including 158 kg of opium and 250 kg of hashish were seized,” from the traffickers,” the command’s statement further read.

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Uvalde families sue Meta and Call of Duty maker on second anniversary of school attack

News Agency nabakhabar — Sat, 25 May 2024 19:20:37 +0000

Families in Uvalde took more legal action Friday on the second anniversary of the Robb Elementary School attack, suing Meta Platforms, which owns Instagram, and the maker of the video game Call of Duty over claims the companies bear responsibility for products used by the teenage gunman.

They also filed another lawsuit against Daniel Defense, which manufactured the AR-style rifle used in the May 24, 2022, shooting — and has already been sued.

It added to mounting lawsuits over the attack and came as the small Texas city gathered to mourn the anniversary of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. The gunman killed 19 students and two teachers. Officers finally confronted and shot him after waiting more than an hour to enter the fourth-grade classroom.

“There is a direct line between the conduct of these companies and the Uvalde shooting,” said Josh Koskoff, an attorney for the families. “This three-headed monster knowingly exposed him to the weapon, conditioned him to see it as a tool to solve his problems and trained him to use it.”

Some of the same families on Wednesday filed a $500 million lawsuit against Texas state police officials and officers who were part of the botched law enforcement response that day. More than 370 federal, state and local officers responded but waited more than an hour to confront the shooter inside the classroom as students and teaches lay dead, dying or wounded.

Friday’s lawsuits are not the first to accuse technology companies of having a role in radicalizing or influencing mass shooters. Families of victims in a May 2022 attack on a Buffalo, New York, supermarket sued social media companies, including Meta and Instagram, over content on their platforms.

The lawsuit against Georgia-based gun-maker Daniel Defense was filed in Texas by the same group of 19 families who sued on Wednesday. The lawsuit against Meta and Activision Blizzard — the maker of Call of Duty — were filed in California with additional families of victims from the attack.

Activision called the Uvalde shooting “horrendous and heartbreaking in every way, and we express our deepest sympathies to the families and communities who remain impacted by this senseless act of violence. Millions of people around the world enjoy video games without turning to horrific acts.”

A video game industry trade group also pushed back on blaming games for violence, arguing research has found no link.

“We are saddened and outraged by senseless acts of violence. At the same time, we discourage baseless accusations linking these tragedies to video gameplay, which detract from efforts to focus on the root issues in question and safeguard against future tragedies,” the Entertainment Software Association said.

The amount of damages sought in the new lawsuits was not immediately clear.

According to the lawsuits, the Uvalde shooter had played versions of Call of Duty since he was 15, including one that allowed him to effectively practice with the version of the rifle he used at the school. The families also accused Instagram of doing little to enforce its rules that ban marketing firearms and harmful content to children.

The Uvalde shooter opened an online account with Daniel Defense before his 18th birthday and purchased the rifle as soon as he could, according to the lawsuit.

“Simultaneously, on Instagram, the shooter was being courted through explicit, aggressive marketing. In addition to hundreds of images depicting and venerating the thrill of combat, Daniel Defense used Instagram to extol the illegal, murderous use of its weapons,” the families’ attorneys said in a statement.

Daniel Defense and Meta each did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment.

In a congressional hearing in 2022, Daniel Defense CEO Marty Daniels called the Uvalde shooting and others like it “pure evil” and “deeply disturbing.”

A separate lawsuit filed by different plaintiffs in December 2022 against local and state police, the city, and other school and law enforcement, seeks at least $27 billion and class-action status for survivors. At least two other lawsuits have been filed against Daniel Defense.

In Uvalde, community members planned a vigil to remember those killed. Other events included a bell ringing and butterfly release at a local church.

“As we mark this solemn day, may we pray for those we lost, their loved ones, and all those who were wounded,” President Joe Biden said in a letter to the community. ___

This story has been updated to say that the gunman killed 19 students and two teachers.

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Live blog: Scores in Gaza barred from Hajj amid Israel’s invasion of Rafah

News Agency nabakhabar — Wed, 22 May 2024 18:20:52 +0000

Israel’s war on Gaza, now in its 229th day, has killed at least 35,709 Palestinians — majority of them babies, children and women — and wounded over 79,990, while some 10,000+ Palestinians are estimated to be buried beneath the ruins of bombed homes.

1455 GMT –– Thousands of Palestinians have been barred from performing the Hajj pilgrimage due to Israel’s occupation of the Rafah crossing, Palestine’s Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs has said.

“Preventing thousands of Gazans from performing the Hajj is a clear violation of freedom of worship and international humanitarian law,” it added in a statement.

“This is a new war crime added to the series of crimes committed by the (Israeli) occupation against our people and places of worship,” the ministry said.

More updates 👇

1454 GMT –– Spanish politicians call on Madrid to withdraw envoy to Israel

In the parliamentary debate in which Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that Spain would recognise Palestinian statehood next week, left-wing politicians demanded more concrete measures against the Israeli government, including the withdrawal of the ambassador to Tel Aviv.

Inigo Errejon, spokesperson for the government’s junior coalition partner Sumar, said it’s “great news” that Spain will recognise Palestine, adding that it cannot be celebrated too much because it comes amid a “genocide.”

“For us, this is a starting point,” said the speaker for Sumar, calling on Sanchez to support South Africa’s case in the International Court of Justice; the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s arrest warrants for war crimes surrounding Gaza; to open similar proceedings within Spain; a full weapons trade embargo; and to cut ties with the Israeli government.

1437 GMT –– Malta to recognise Palestine as state ‘when the time is right’

Malta has said it will recognise Palestine as a state “when the time is right,” media reports said.

“Malta has recently affirmed its readiness to recognise Palestine, when such recognition can make a positive contribution, and when the circumstances are right,” a government spokesperson told the Time of Malta.

“In this regard, the government is monitoring developments in the Middle East, to determine the optimal time frames for this important development as soon as possible.”

1417 GMT –– Israel to stop sending Palestinian tax revenue to occupied West Bank

Israel’s far-right finance minister has said he would stop transferring tax revenues earmarked for the Palestinian Authority, a move that threatens to handicap the government’s already-waning ability to pay salaries to its thousands of employees.

Bezalel Smotrich said he was taking the move in retaliation, hours after Norway said it would recognise Palestinian statehood.

Under interim peace accords in the 1990s, Israel collects tax revenues on behalf of the Palestinians and transfers them to the PA, which uses them in part to pay wages.

1344 GMT –– More than 100 MPs, lords urge UK to support ICC following arrest warrants request

More than 100 lawmakers and lords in the UK have urged the government to condemn any threats to undermine the independence of the International Criminal Court (ICC) after the prosecutor applied for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.

“We urge you to condemn any threats and attempts to undermine the independence and impartiality of the International Criminal Court in its investigations into crimes in Gaza,” the MPs and lords from 11 parties said in a letter.

“We believe that there is mounting evidence that Israel has committed clear and obvious violations of international law in Gaza and strongly believe that those responsible must be held to account,” it said.

1251 GMT –– Palestine recognition ‘important step towards two-state solution’: Jordan

Jordan has hailed a coordinated move by Ireland, Norway and Spain to recognise the State of Palestine as an “important and essential step towards Palestinian statehood”.

“We welcome the decisions taken by friendly European countries today to recognise a Palestinian state,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told a joint press conference with his Hungarian counterpart in Amman.

“We value this decision and consider it an important and essential step towards a two-state solution that embodies an independent, sovereign Palestinian state along the June 1967 borders.”

1238 GMT –– Gaza death toll tops 35,700 as Israel continues its brutal war

The Health Ministry in Gaza has said that at least 35,709 people have been killed during more than seven months of Israel’s brutal war on the enclave.

The toll includes 62 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 79,990 people have been wounded in Gaza since the war began on October 7.

1228 GMT –– Recognition of Palestinian state based on 1967 borders: Ireland

Ireland plans to recognise the Palestinian state based on its 1967 borders, Foreign Minister Micheal Martin has said.

“When we recognise a state, we don’t recognise the government of the day, we recognise the state in terms of a permanent population of people in terms of defined borders, and in this case, it’s the 1967 borders,” Martin told RTE radio.

That is “a defined territory involving Gaza, the West Bank and … a capital of both an Israeli state and a Palestinian state in Jerusalem,” he said, adding that formal recognition would take place on May 28.

1226 GMT –– No two-state solution without dialogue: Germany

A German Foreign Ministry spokesperson has stressed Berlin’s support for a two-state solution, responding to a reporter’s question on the decision by some European countries to recognise the state of Palestine.

“An independent Palestinian state remains a firm goal of German foreign policy,” the spokesperson told a regular news conference in Berlin, adding that a dialogue process was needed for that goal.

1159 GMT –– Ankara calls for united Turkic voice against Israel’s atrocities in Gaza

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has urged all Turkic nations to raise their voices and take concrete steps against Israeli atrocities in Gaza, criticising Western silence and inadequate international responses to the humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave.

“I call on all our brothers in the Turkic world to raise their voices more against the atrocities in Gaza and to take more concrete steps to end this oppression,” said Hakan Fidan during his speech at the first Meeting of Chairpersons of the National Defence Commissions of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States (TÜRKPA), referring to Israel’s ongoing onslaught on the enclave since Oct. 7, which has killed more than 35,600 Palestinians.

1130 GMT –– Saudi, Qatar and OIC praise recognition of Palestinian state

Saudi Arabia and Qatar have praised the decision by Ireland, Norway and Spain to recognise a Palestinian state and called on other countries to do the same.

The foreign ministry “expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s welcome of the positive decision taken by the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Spain and the Republic of Ireland to recognise the sisterly State of Palestine,” according to a statement posted on X.

“The kingdom appreciates this decision issued by friendly countries, which affirms the international consensus on the inherent right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and calls on the rest of the countries to quickly make the same decision.”

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, however, welcomed the announcement as an “important step in support of a two-state solution”, expressing hope that other countries would follow suit.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, based in the Saudi city of Jeddah, similarly welcomed the move as an “important historic step”.

1016 GMT –– Israel’s Ben-Gvir storms Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Jerusalem

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir forced his way into the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem.

The intrusion was the first by the extremist minister since Israel launched its deadly offensive on Gaza that killed more than 35,600 people following a Hamas attack last October 7.

The Jordan-run Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem did not provide any details about Ben-Gvir’s intrusion into the site. Wednesday’s raid was the fourth by Ben-Gvir since he became a national security minister in 2022.

0924 GMT –– Israeli army expands incursion in Rafah

The Israeli army expanded its incursion in Rafah city, southern Gaza, amid heavy Israeli bombardment on the city’s residential areas.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu news agency that the Israeli army also expanded its incursion in the Philadelphi Corridor area between Gaza and Egypt, as the Israeli forces reached the western part of the Yibna refugee camp in central Rafah.

The Philadelphia Corridor is a 14-kilometre (8.69-mile) long corridor which is guaranteed by the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty of 1979.

Under the new army’s advancement in Rafah, the Israeli forces seize control of over half of the Philadelphi Corridor area adjacent to the Egyptian borders.

0919 GMT –– Rejecting Israeli reports, Egypt reiterates commitment to protecting Palestinian rights

Egypt rejected Israeli media reports claiming Cairo-Tel Aviv coordination in the military operation in Rafah, saying commitments to international treaties do not prevent it from safeguarding its national security and rights of the Palestinian people.

“There is no truth to what is being circulated by Israeli media about any kind of joint coordination with Israel regarding its military operation in the Palestinian city of Rafah,” Egypt’s Al-Qahera news channel reported, quoting a high-level source.

“Egypt warned Israel of the consequences of escalation in Gaza and rejected any coordination with it regarding the Rafah crossing,” the source stressed, adding: “Israeli media deliberately disseminate false news to divert attention from the internal confusion it is experiencing.”

0825 GMT –– Two more Hezbollah fighters killed in border clashes with Israel

Two more Hezbollah fighters were killed in clashes with Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese group said.

The group identified the slain fighters as Mohamed Ali Butoam and Ali Hassan Soltan, without providing any details about the circumstances of their death.

The announcement came shortly after Lebanese media said that two people had been killed in an Israeli air strike in the town of Odaisseh early Wednesday.

On Monday, Hezbollah said that six fighters were killed in confrontations with the Israeli army, bringing its death toll to 310 since October 8, 2023, according to an Anadolu tally.

0700 GMT –– Norway, Ireland and Spain recognise Palestine as a state

Norway, Ireland and Spain have recognised a Palestinian state in a historic move that drew condemnation from Israel and jubilation from the Palestinians. Israel ordered back its ambassadors from Norway and Ireland.

It was a lightning cascade of announcements. First was Norway, whose Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said “there cannot be peace in the Middle East if there is no recognition.”

0348 GMT — Israeli forces raid Jenin, kill 8 Palestinians

The Israeli army raided the city of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank early Tuesday, triggering clashes with Palestinians that left eight dead.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that a large force stormed the city amid intense overflights of Israeli drones.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement that eight Palestinians were killed and 21 others were injured, including two in serious condition.

At least 510 Palestinians have been killed and around 5,000 others injured by the Israeli army in the occupied territory since October 7, according to the Health Ministry.

0245 GMT — Students launch pro-Palestinian encampment at top French university

Students at ENS Paris set up an encampment in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Some 40 students launched the encampment by pitching tents to protest Israel’s ongoing offensive on Gaza and ENS’s ties with Israeli institutions.

The encampment area was symbolically renamed in honour of Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed this year in Israel’s war on Gaza.

0119 GMT — Hamas accuses Israel of suppressing Gaza coverage by restricting Associated Press’s operations

Hamas accused Israel of attempting to hide the Israeli army’s crimes in Gaza from the international community by shutting down a live feed of the Associated Press (AP) news agency showing a view of the enclave.

Officials from the Israeli Communications Ministry seized a camera and broadcasting equipment from the AP office in Sderot in southern Israel. They accused the news agency of violating Israel’s foreign broadcaster law by providing images to the Doha-based Al Jazeera television network.

In a statement, Hamas characterised the Israeli authorities’ seizure of AP’s equipment as a “random and oppressive action against press freedom.”

It said this action is intended to “conceal Israel’s crimes and violations against the Palestinian people from the global public.”

2237 GMT — Ireland may recognise state of Palestine to chagrin of Israel

The Irish government is set to announce the recognition of a Palestinian state, a move strongly opposed by Israel, a source familiar with the matter has said.

European Union members Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Malta have indicated in recent weeks that they plan to make the recognition, possibly in a coordinated announcement, arguing a two-state solution is essential for lasting peace in the region.

The efforts come as a mounting death toll in Gaza from Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza prompts calls globally for a ceasefire and lasting solution for peace in the region.

2204 GMT — Norway says it is ‘obligated’ to arrest Netanyahu if ICC warrant confirmed

Norway has become the first European country to announce that it would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant if warrants issued by a panel of judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) are confirmed.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said if arrest warrants are issued against Netanyahu and Gallant on behalf of the Hague Tribunal, they will be obliged to arrest them if they arrive in Norway.

A Norwegian online newspaper said Eide confirmed that Netanyahu risks being extradited if he visits Norway.

Noting that a panel of judges at the ICC will consider whether the arrest warrants should be issued, Eide reiterated that a person who the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for will have to expect to be handed over to the court in accordance with Norway’s obligations.

“We expect that all state parties to the ICC will do the same,” he added.

2200 GMT — Trump foreign policy adviser urges sanctions on ICC officials

The United States should slap sanctions on International Criminal Court officials who seek an arrest warrant for hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a top foreign policy adviser to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said after meeting the Israeli leader.

Robert O’Brien, who served as Trump’s fourth and final national security adviser, made the comments in a West Jerusalem interview with Reuters news agency after meeting Netanyahu and other Israeli officials during a multi-day visit to the US ally.

“We can sanction the bank accounts, the travel. We can put visa restrictions on these corrupt prosecutors and judges. We can show some real mettle here,” O’Brien said.

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