Belgium Bans Transit of Arms to Israel
Earlier on Saturday, Belgium announced the issuance of a royal decree banning the stopover and transit of aircraft carrying military equipment destined for Israel, citing its obligations under international law.
Belgium’s Foreign Ministry said the decision aims to prevent any contribution to the worsening situation in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. A spokesperson said Belgium has also halted the export and transfer of weapons that could be used against Palestinians.
The move comes amid large-scale demonstrations across Belgium in solidarity with Palestinians, with some protests drawing tens of thousands of participants.
Belgian officials have previously criticized the European Union’s failure to take unified action against Israel’s war on Gaza, warning that the bloc’s credibility on human rights and international law is at stake.
Dozens supporting Palestine hunger strikers arrested at London prison
Eighty-six people have been arrested in the United Kingdom after gathering at a London prison in support of a Palestine Action-linked activist on hunger strike, who is being held there, police say.
London’s Metropolitan Police wrote on X late on Saturday that officers were dispatched to Prison Wormwood Scrubs, where protesters “refused to leave the grounds when ordered to do so”.
Inside Wormwood Scrubs is Umer Khalid, a 22-year-old pro-Palestine activist who stopped eating 16 days ago. He had been on hunger strike since November, briefly pausing in December due to severe ill health.
The group “allegedly blocked prison staff from entering and leaving, threatened police officers and a number managed to get inside a staff entrance area of a prison building”, the police said.
Videos of the incident verified by Al Jazeera show police officers shoving protesters to the ground and handcuffing them as shouts ring out in the background. Two groups of police also appeared to kettle protesters – a police tactic that involves officers surrounding and closing in on a group of demonstrators in an effort to contain them.
“Why are you assaulting me?” a woman can be heard asking at one point. Those arrested were detained under suspicion of aggravated trespass, the police said.
Ongoing hunger strikes
Khalid told Al Jazeera last week that he planned to escalate his hunger strike to exclude all fluids starting on Saturday, the day of the protest.
After speaking with him on Monday by phone, Khalid’s mother, Shabana Khalid, told Al Jazeera that a prison guard remains outside his cell in case he needs urgent medical attention. She added that he is also being monitored closely with hourly medical observations.
Aside from Umer Khalid, seven other protesters have been involved in rolling hunger strikes since November.
Khalid became the only one still refusing food after three members of the group ended their protests this month. They said one of their demands had been met after a UK-based subsidiary of the Israeli weapons company Elbit Systems was denied a UK government contract.
“Our prisoners’ hunger strike will be remembered as a landmark moment of pure defiance; an embarrassment for the British state,” the Prisoners for Palestine Group said.
Two of the prisoners who concluded their hunger strikes, Heba Muraisi and Kamran Ahmed, were on the brink of death after more than two months without food. Still, Muraisi told Al Jazeera in the days before the announcement that she felt “it’s important to fight for justice and for freedom”.
The group’s list of demands includes bail, the right to a fair trial and the de-proscription of Palestine Action as well as for Elbit sites to be closed in the UK. They’re also seeking an end to what they call censorship in prison, accusing authorities of withholding mail, calls, books and visitation rights.
Before starting to refuse liquids on Saturday, Umer Khalid told Al Jazeera: “The only thing that seems to have any impact, whether that is positive or negative, is drastic action.”
“The strike reflects the severity of this imprisonment,” he added. “Being in this prison is not living life. Our lives have been paused. The world spins, and we sit in a concrete room. This strike reflects the severity of my demands.”
