Rallies planned in London, Dublin before pro-Palestinian rapper’s trial

Supporters of Irish rap group Kneecap are to protest in London and Dublin as one of its members faces trial for allegedly supporting a proscribed organisation.

Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, is accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag during a gig last November. He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Wednesday.

The Metropolitan Police said it has imposed conditions on where protests can take place outside the court, citing the need to “prevent serious disruption”.

At a pre-trial hearing in June, demonstrators outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court waved Palestinian flags and chanted “Free Palestine”.

In a statement, the Irish rap trio called the police restrictions a “calculated political decision” aimed at portraying support for the group as “somehow troublesome”. The group urged supporters “to go out of your way to be compliant with all instructions issued, irrespective of how pitiful”.

Kneecap has claimed the charge against Mo Chara is politically motivated, saying it is an attempt to silence the group because of its vocal support for Palestine.

Pro-Palestinian Irish rapper faces wait as UK court weighs ‘terror’ charge dismissal

A member of Irish rap trio Kneecap faces a month-long wait to find out whether a “terrorism’ charge against him will be thrown out.

Liam Og O hAnnaidh, known on stage as Mo Chara, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London today for a three-hour hearing, where his lawyers argued the case should be dismissed on procedural grounds.

Kneecap have called the charge “politically motivated”, saying it is an attempt to silence the group because of its outspoken support for Palestine. Outside the courthouse, hundreds of supporters greeted O hAnnaidh with Irish and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Mo Chara”.

Prosecutors allege the 27-year-old displayed a flag in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation in the UK, during a concert at the O2 Forum in north London last November.

Defence barrister Brenda Campbell KC told the court that police informed O hAnnaidh of the charge on May 21 without permission from the Attorney General, which she said was required within a six-month window.

Prosecutor Michael Bisgrove countered that such approval was only necessary by the time of the first court appearance. Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring adjourned the case until September 26.

About 60,000 reserve orders issued, 20,000 extended: Israeli army

The Israeli military says it has issued 60,000 new reserve orders this morning as part of preparations for the occupation of Gaza City.

“In addition, 20,000 reservists who have already been called up will receive a notice extending their current orders,” its statement said on Telegram.

“The decision regarding the reserves was made after in-depth discussions on the extent of manpower required for the continuation of combat and was approved by the Minister of Defense after all implications were presented to him,” it added.

The army also issued an update on the ongoing operations, saying its soldiers have resumed assaults in the Jabalia area in northern Gaza and on the outskirts of Gaza City in the past few days.

Our team on the ground says hundreds of residential buildings have been destroyed in the area, turning the territory into “wasteland”.

“We have testimonies from people that Israel is destroying tower blocks there, ensuring that these areas will turn into lifeless wasteland that will be uninhabitable,” Al  Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah.

Israeli opposition leader slams government after 60,000 reservists called up

Yair Lapid has criticised the government’s decision to call up 60,000 reservists for Israel’s planned assault on Gaza City.

“60,000 reserve orders were issued this morning to realise the delusion of conquering Gaza,” the opposition leader wrote on X.

No comment from Israel on ceasefire proposal as plans ramp up to take Gaza City

While there are reports that Hamas has responded positively to the latest ceasefire proposal in Gaza, involving a 60-day truce, Israel has not given a concrete answer on where it stands.

You have politicians within Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition who say the premier has no mandate for such a deal.

Netanyahu’s only comment on the matter was that he was following the reports that Hamas had agreed to the framework on the table, and that they were under “atomic” pressure.

It’s worth mentioning that the Israelis have signalled, in no way, shape or form, a willingness to end their war in Gaza, which is what this ceasefire would entail – a 60-day pause in the fighting with a concrete framework to end the war.

That’s something the Israelis have not signalled any interest in. In fact they’re talking about expanding the military action in Gaza with the takeover of Gaza City and occupation of northern Gaza.

Potential ceasefire will not stop Israeli plans for full occupation, ethnic cleansing in Gaza

Luciano Zaccara, a research professor at Qatar University, has told Al Jazeera that Israel’s current strategy in Gaza reflects longstanding plans for full occupation and the removal of Palestinians from the territory.

“This is in line with what Israel has been discussing for a long time – that there will not be a Palestinian state in Gaza, and that they want to blockade as much as possible,” he said.

Zaccara noted that while ceasefire talks are ongoing, Israel’s wider objectives remain unchanged. “This plan has been on the table for a long time. It looks like there’s no change in that, even though there are now discussions about a ceasefire.

“Settlements have already begun to be implemented as part of a wider plan, not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank.” According to Zaccara, these plans have the total support of the Israeli government.

A ceasefire, he added, could prove “very temporary”, serving only as a step towards the full occupation of the land.

Arab leaders must go to Washington to stop Gaza genocide

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman has confirmed that Hamas has responded positively to the latest ceasefire proposal and Israel has yet to give its reply.

It includes a 60-day truce and the exchange of some Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners. Qatar, along with Egypt and the US, has been mediating between Israel and Hamas.

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara, argues that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is stalling on the ceasefire to continue military operations in Gaza.

Arab leaders must go to Washington to help end the ongoing genocide and shift US policy, he said.

Kneecap Trial: This Is INCREASING Support For Palestine

Rivkah went to Westminster Magistrates Court to speak to people protesting outside the trial of Kneecap member, Mo Chara.

Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov: Israel’s campaign in Gaza is genocidal

Omer Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, said that Israel’s war on Gaza passed the threshold of genocidal intent by May 2024. “My view has become that the war goals that Israel declared -which were to destroy Hamas and to free the hostages, by the spring of 2024, turned out not to be the actual war goals,” he told Middle East Eye.

Bartov cites evidence, including statements by Israeli leaders, as well as the “pattern of operations that indicated both intent and the implementation of that intent”. He also believes that Israel’s destruction of homes, educational buildings, hospitals, museums and places of worship fits the definition, since these are “the places that could make for the existence of a group: for its health, for its education, for its collective memory”.

The course of events after May 2024 has also reinforced Bartov’s opinion that genocide was occurring, including the forcible removal of the population of northern Gaza to the south and starving whoever is left, as part of the controversial General’s Plan.

Bernie Sanders DESTROYS CNN's Dana Bash on Hamas

Katie Halper and Aaron Maté go over the worst moments of the Sunday morning news shows that they watch so you don’t have to.

‘Beaten for 30 days straight’: Palestinians detail abuse in Israeli prisons

Palestinians detainees from Gaza continue to be subjected to extreme torture and ill-treatment in Israeli prisons, according to a new report by the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs’ and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.

Based on testimonies obtained by lawyers during visits with detainees from late July to mid-August, the report found that “the interrogation period stands out as one of the clearest reflections of the level of torture and grave violations” against detainees from Gaza.

One detainee, referred to by the initials YA in the report, said Israeli interrogators would strap him to a chair then throw him to the ground with his hands and feet bound.

“I was beaten daily for 30 days straight. I currently suffer from torn chest muscles and severe pain due to prolonged shackling of my arms behind my back,” the detainee said.

Another prisoner, referred to as YD, described similar treatment.

“The beating was so violent that my handcuffs came off twice. I was struck violently on the head, and my hair was pulled out. Now I suffer from rib fractures and I can’t sleep. The torture also caused a tear in my left ear, vision impairment, and kidney pain.”

Palestinian journalist detained by Israeli forces in occupied West Bank: Report

Israeli special forces have detained Palestinian journalist Muath Amarneh while he was travelling between Bethlehem and Hebron in the occupied West Bank and have taken him to an unknown location, Wafa reports, citing a security source.

Wafa said that Amarneh was shot with a rubber-coated metal bullet by Israeli forces in 2019 while he was covering confrontations in the town of Surif, northwest of Hebron, despite wearing a clearly marked press vest.

That attack left him blind in one eye, with shrapnel lodged in his skull.

Israeli forces also detained Amarneh in October 2023 and held him for nine months, Wafa said.

UK condemns Israeli settlement expansion in West Bank: Lammy

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has slammed Israel’s plans to build thousands of new illegal settlement units in the E1 area of the occupied West Bank.

“If implemented, it would divide a Palestinian state in two, mark a flagrant breach of international law and critically undermine the two-state solution. The Israeli government must reverse this decision,” Lammy wrote on X.

Rights advocates have urged the UK to do more than simply condemn Israeli policies, however, calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government to impose an arms embargo against Israel amid abuses against Palestinians.

"Condemn" _verb Pretend you care about an issue to deflect from your complicity and responsibility in creating said issue.

West Bank churches warn Israel using taxes to seize land and property

St George’s monastery was built more than 1,500 years ago. Armed Israeli settlers have attempted to set fire to this holy site on at least five different occasions in the last month alone.

Israeli settlers have also set up illegal outposts around the church’s historic lands.

People say it is part of a larger plan to forcibly expel Palestinian Christians from the area and obliterate the historic and Christian identity in Palestine.

The latest attack came in the form of Israeli authorities imposing taxes on church-owned properties.

‘We need a ceasefire now’: UNRWA workers describe dire situation in Gaza

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has described the conditions its staff are working under in Gaza as dire, renewing its call for an immediate ceasefire.

“We are working under catastrophic conditions,” said Dr Hind, a UNRWA physician in Gaza.

“The large-scale presence of UNRWA staff and facilities across Gaza allows us to reach as many people as possible with urgent humanitarian assistance. But this shouldn’t be such a harrowing experience for our colleagues. We need a ceasefire now,” UNRWA said in a post on X.

Another health worker said staff often walked “hundreds of metres under the scorching sun” just to reach their posts before working to deliver care “to our people in dire need of help”.

UNRWA also highlighted the desperate situation in the occupied West Bank, where many staff have been displaced or lost their homes yet continue providing education, healthcare, food, waste management and “hope to vulnerable Palestinians”.

Footage shows Israeli bomb striking neighbourhood in Gaza City

Footage on social media has captured an Israeli bomb striking a built-up neighbourhood in Gaza City.

The video, posted to Instagram and verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking unit, shows an enormous explosion caused by the bombing, as the Israeli military continues its ferocious bombardment of the neighbourhoods of Zeitoun and Sabra.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNkxQcRMpyY

Israel has begun first stages of its planned assault on Gaza City: Israeli military spokesperson

Israel has entered the first stages of its planned assault on Gaza City after a clash with Hamas and already has a hold on the outskirts of the city, Israeli military spokesman Effie Defrin has told reporters.

An Israeli attack in Jabalia

_{Palestinians rush for cover as a rocket fired by an Israeli warplane targets a building in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip.}

Death toll in Gaza rises

Medical sources in Gaza are reporting that 76 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza today.

Medical sources have also told Al Jazeera that 15 aid seekers were killed in the Israeli attack in northern Gaza that we have been reporting on, while 105 others were injured.

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that five Palestinians have been killed and several others wounded in an Israeli air attack targeting civilians in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City.

Israel ‘spreading baseless claims to evade responsibility’ for Gaza famine

Israeli rights group Gisha has debunked a series of Israeli government talking points that seek to minimise and evade responsibility for the starvation crisis unfolding in Gaza.

Here’s a quick look at the group’s main points:

‘This isn’t just hunger. This is starvation’: WFP

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that malnutrition is rising across Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing blockade on aid, with Palestinian children and mothers especially at risk.

“Malnutrition is a silent killer,” the agency said, noting that it causes “lifelong developmental damage” and weakens immune systems, “making common illnesses deadly”.

The WFP said it is providing nutritional supplements but cannot keep pace with the demands.

“We need safe access to deliver” assistance, it said. “Every day matters.”

This isn't just hunger. This is starvation.

Malnutrition in #Gaza is rising fast - with more children and mothers showing severe signs.

Malnutrition is a silent killer:
🔴 Weakens immune systems, making common illnesses deadly
🔴 Causes stunting & lifelong developmental damage… pic.twitter.com/nEmqSsJX7M

— World Food Programme (@WFP) August 20, 2025

Child malnutrition in Gaza tripled in under six months: UNRWA

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says nearly one in every three Palestinian children in Gaza City is now malnourished – six times higher than the rate before Israel broke the ceasefire.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini also said that child malnutrition has tripled across the Gaza Strip in less than six months.

“This is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made, preventable starvation,” Lazzarini wrote in a post on X.

“The Agency’s warehouses in Egypt & Jordan have aid that could fill 6,000 trucks— including three months worth of food. Again & again, I appeal to let life-saving aid in through @UNRWA + other humanitarian organisations,” he wrote.

“If not, more children will continue to die.”

🚨Alarming new data from @UNRWA clinics in #Gaza:

Since March, nearly 100,000 children under the age of 5 screened by @UNRWA

➡️ In less than 6 months, child malnutrition tripled across the Gaza Strip.

➡️ In Gaza City, nearly 1 in every 3 children is now malnourished—X 6…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) August 20, 2025

Abdullah, suffering from malnutrition was evacuated to Turkiye, but it was too late

The fluorescent lights of Adana City Training and Research Hospital cast harsh shadows across Hamed Abu Zerka’s gaunt face as he stands beside his six-month-old daughter’s hospital bed. The 34-year-old’s weathered hands tremble as he adjusts Habiba’s blanket.

Abdullah, his four-and-a-half-year-old son, died on Tuesday morning in this same room, his small body finally succumbing to the malnutrition that had been slowly consuming him for months as Israel laid siege to Gaza.

The family became emblems of the Israel-imposed famine on Gaza’s 2.1 million people when a video of Abdullah went viral weeks ago, the clearly malnourished child screaming in hunger, asking for food, as his mother wept helplessly. Their story captured international attention and prompted the medical evacuation that brought them to Turkiye, which seemed like salvation – but came too late for Abdullah.

Basma Abu Zerka, 30, sits in the corner holding a small bundle of her son’s clothes. She speaks little, crying silently. “We lost our child. We’re living through tremendous pain,” Hamed says, his voice raw.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/20/abdullah-left-gaza-for-treatment-in-turkiye-but-it-was-too-late