UK retailer Lush closes shops, factory in solidarity with Gaza

UK retail firm Lush has closed shops across the country, as well as its website and factory for one day in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

In a statement, Lush said one thing it can currently send into Gaza is “our love and a strong message that we stand in solidarity”.

“This will take the form of halting business-as-usual by shutting our UK shops, website and factories for one day on Wednesday 3rd September 2025, with our shop windows displaying the message STOP STARVING GAZA – WE ARE CLOSED IN SOLIDARITY,” the statement said.

The cosmetic brand noted that it hoped the UK government would hear the message its closure sends, with more government action needed to bring an immediate stop to the death and destruction, including an end to arms sales from the UK.

“Whilst Lush is losing a day of takings, this also means that the UK Government is losing a day of tax contributions from Lush and our customers,” the statement added. On its website, Lush, which was initially founded in the UK but trades in at least 50 countries, shared a message, showing, “Stop Starving Gaza, we are closed in solidarity.”

Netherlands’ Utrecht University announces boycott of Israeli institutions

The Netherlands’s prestigious Utrecht University has announced a boycott of Israeli institutions due to the Israeli government’s genocidal policies against Palestinians.

The decision was announced by the university’s rector, Wilco Hazeleger.

“The situation in the world, and in Gaza in particular, requires us to act with a moral compass. There is great human suffering,” Hazeleger said, adding that while the academy requires openness and dialogue, Israeli state authorities have crossed a line with their genocidal policies.

“We have effectively stopped or suspended all institutional collaborations with Israeli parties and will not start any new collaborations; a boycott is in place until further notice,” he said.

Protests against Israel’s participation at La Vuelta cycling event

Protests against Israel’s participation in Spain’s La Vuelta cycling race are growing, with the Israel-Premier Tech team targeted along the route.

In the latest rally, thousands of protesters in Belagua, Navarra, waved Palestinian flags, carried banners reading “No to genocide”, and attempted to block riders from the Israeli team. Police intervened and security was tightened.

The event will pass through Bilbao in the Basque Country tomorrow, where more protests are expected.

Spain’s Youth and Children’s Minister Sira Rego urged race director Javier Guillen to expel the Israeli team and allow the protests to occur.

“The real violence is not on the streets of our cities or on the banners of our young people; instead, it is in the daily tragedies being suffered by the Palestinian population under occupation and siege,” she said in a post on social media.

The three-week race, held from August 23 to September 14, has been marked by almost daily anti-Israel demonstrations since it entered Spain from Italy and France on August 27.

Gaza-bound aid flotilla seeks European protection amid Israeli threats

The Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla demanded protection from the Spanish government and Europe amid the Israeli threats.

“Israel is threatening the Global Sumud Flotilla, ships carrying medicines and food to Gaza on a humanitarian mission. We demand that the Government and Europe act to ensure their protection in compliance with international law,” the Flotilla wrote on X.

It announced that the Pakistani delegation joined the Malaysian flotilla Sumud Nusantara, which is also joining the Global Sumud Flotilla to break Israel’s blockade.

Every child under 5 at risk of acute malnutrition in Gaza: UNICEF

That amounts to more than 320,000 Palestinian children in Gaza, the UN agency for child rights (UNICEF) has warned.

“With famine at risk of spreading, children urgently need a mass influx of humanitarian aid – including specialized nutrition products,” the group said on X.

The world’s leading hunger monitor confirmed last month that Palestinians in and around Gaza City were experiencing famine, with the problem expected to reach central and southern Gaza by the end of September.

Palestinian children are particularly vulnerable as Israel continues to block food, water and other humanitarian supplies from entering the enclave.

Every child in Gaza under the age of five - over 320,000 children - is at risk of acute malnutrition.

UNICEF is on the ground, distributing life-saving nutrition supplies — including ready‑to‑use therapeutic food (RUTF), an energy-dense, micronutrient paste for the treatment of… pic.twitter.com/C2AiXqOkmv

— UNICEF (@UNICEF) September 3, 2025

Gaza faces worsening humanitarian disaster: NGO

Shaina Low, an adviser with the Norwegian Refugee Council, spoke to Al Jazeera about the ongoing Israeli-made hunger crisis in Gaza.

Here is a summary of what she said:

Israel ‘systematically maiming Palestinian children’ with US support: CAIR

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned the US government for its unwavering support for Israel amid new data showing the widespread harm Palestinian children have experienced across Gaza.

As we reported earlier, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities reported today that about 40,500 Palestinian children suffered “new war-related injuries” since the war began in October 2023. More than half of the children have been disabled.

“The horrifying new UN data makes painfully clear what we have seen on a daily basis: the Israeli government is systematically maiming and murdering Palestinian children with the backing of our government and members of Congress,” CAIR said in a statement.

“Under the Biden administration and now the Trump administration, our government has not only failed to stop these atrocities, it has actively enabled them through massive weapons shipments and consistent diplomatic cover. Our government is responsible, pure and simple.”

The advocacy group called on “all Americans of conscience” to press Washington to change course. “History will not forget the children whose lives were destroyed – nor those who stood by and allowed it to happen.”

Kallas admits Europe is Trump's bitch

US influence constrains EU efforts to reshape Gaza dynamics: Envoy

Addressing the annual EU Institute for Security Studies conference in Brussels, the bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas highlighted the EU’s economic and diplomatic power but touched on areas where it cannot use its influence.

“An example where we are not using our geopolitical power, because we are not united, is Gaza,” she said.

Asked about “double-standard” accusations towards the EU’s Gaza policy, Kallas said it’s not true it’s inactive on the catastrophe in Gaza because of Israel’s war.

“We are really trying to change the situation on the ground and second is that we are the biggest supporters,” she said, referring to the EU’s humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

However, she said the US’s position limits the EU’s options to change course, although the bloc is “trying to do what we can”.

“If America is supporting everything that the Israeli government is doing, then the leverage they have is there. The leverage we have is in another place,” she noted.

Biggest supporters of what aid? Useless air drops? 

Hind Rajab film gets 23-minute ovation at Venice Film Festival

The Voice of Hind Rajab, a docudrama about events from January 2024, left much of the audience and many journalists sobbing as it screened for the first time.

Franco-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania and her cast, all dressed in black, were also in tears as they soaked in applause, cheers and shouts of “Free Palestine!” at the 1,032-seat main festival cinema.

Her film tells the story of five-year-old Rajab who was fleeing the Israeli military in Gaza City with six relatives last year when their car came under fire.

The sole survivor, her desperate calls with the Red Crescent rescue service were recorded and caused international outrage.

“We see that the narrative all around world is that those dying in Gaza are collateral damage in the media,” Ben Hania told journalists before the premiere.

“And I think this is so dehumanising and that’s why cinema, art and every kind of expression is very important to give those people a voice and face.”

Corbyn to lead ‘Gaza tribunal’ into UK role in Israel’s war

Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour Party leader, is set to host a two-day event examining the UK’s role in Israel’s war on Gaza, casting the “tribunal” as an attempt to bring about justice for the Palestinian people.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, is among those expected to contribute, as well as medics who have volunteered in Gaza, such as British surgeon Victoria Rose, aid workers, experts and survivors.

Organisers said Labour MP Richard Burgon and journalists who have reported on the ground and from afar will also participate, including investigative reporter Matt Kennard, who has been tracking the UK’s surveillance flights over Gaza.

“The public deserves to know the full scale of their government’s complicity in genocide. That is why we are holding The Gaza Tribunal. We will uncover the truth,” the website of the initiative says.

Scotland announces end to public funding for firms arming Israel

Speaking to members of the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, First Minister John Swinney said the government will stop providing public money to companies providing weapons to Israel.

“We will pause new awards of public money to arms companies whose products or services are provided to countries where there is plausible evidence of genocide being committed by that country. That will include Israel,” he said.

“Any defence company seeking support from the Scottish government will have to demonstrate that its products are not involved militarily with Israel.”

Swinney called on the British government to review its “duty in international law to respond when there is a serious risk of genocide” and withdraw from the UK-Israel Free Trade Agreement.

UK police arrest Palestine Action supporter for planning protest

UK police have arrested a Palestine Action supporter for allegedly taking part in a Zoom video meeting to plan a protest.

Orwell's 1984 is here...

Six more people prosecuted in UK for supporting Palestine Action

The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced six people are being prosecuted for organising protests and online meetings in support of Palestine Action, an activist group proscribed as a “terror” organisation in July.

CPS said the prosecutions relate to gatherings held in London, Manchester, and Cardiff between July 12 and August 9, as well as another rally scheduled for September 6 in London. They also relate to more than a dozen meetings held on Zoom in July and August.

The British government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 has drawn widespread criticism, with rights groups saying it infringes on freedom of speech and the right to protest while aiming to stifle demonstrations against Israel’s war on Gaza.

Membership in or support for the group is now a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Hundreds of people have been arrested across the UK since the ban was enacted.

_{Police arrest an 89-year-old protester at a rally in support of Palestine Action in London on August 9}

Israelis don’t feel effect of bans and boycotts ‘in their pockets yet’

Some Israelis, especially in academia, the business community, and other elites, are “really afraid” about boycotts against Israel, says Akiva Eldar, an Israeli political analyst.

“When you show an Israeli passport, you have to apologise and to say, well, I regret my government’s policy. I know that we are committing war crimes,” Eldar told Al Jazeera, speaking from Tel Aviv.

People don’t feel comfortable travelling, and academics are complaining that funds are not coming in, he added.

Still, at least one-third of Israelis support Netanyahu’s policies. “They actually even buy the narrative – that it’s not about Gaza, it’s not about occupation, it’s anti-Semitism,” said the analyst.

Furthermore, the Israeli stock market has never been so good and the shekel, the Israeli currency, is better than most currencies in the world, he added.

“Israelis don’t feel it in their pocket yet. Once it will hit their bank account … once they will not be able to travel”, maybe then bans, boycotts and sanctions will be effective, said Eldar.

World must ‘act to end complicity’ amid Gaza genocide: BDS

Omar Barghouti, cofounder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, says there are many steps people around the world can take to try to hold Israel accountable for its rights abuses against Palestinians.

“The most important thing is to act within your sphere of relative influence to end complicity, to do no harm,” Barghouti told Al Jazeera. “That’s the most profound, ethical obligation – especially when faced with such unspeakable crimes like the genocide in Gaza.”

Launched in 2005, the BDS movement aims to pressure Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territory, ensure equal rights for Palestinian citizens of the country, and respect the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

While consumer boycotts are part of the movement, “it is not enough to act alone”, Barghouti said. “To be effective BDS has to be done collectively – en masse.”

He added: “Israel has shown itself to be a rogue state in front of the whole world and this has [led] many to enact sanctions [and] to enact support for boycotts and divestment. Divesting from companies that are complicit is also a very important part of BDS.”

Israeli army says ‘intensifying combat operations’

Eyal Zamir, the Israeli military’s chief of staff, was in Gaza today as Israel continued its deadly bombardment of the enclave.

According to a readout of the visit, Zamir said the army is “intensifying combat operations” in the Strip after it began mobilising reservists earlier this week. Zamir’s comments come amid reports of a purported rift between the army chief and Netanyahu over the plan to seize Gaza City.

Last month, Zamir warned that Netanyahu’s push to fully reoccupy Gaza would plunge the country into a “black hole”, Israeli news outlets reported.

Famine remains ‘very scary’ reality in Gaza City

It’s misleading now to see some of the headlines talking about products and items being allowed into the Gaza Strip.

A brief walk on the streets shows there is a complete absence of protein sources, an absence of fresh produce. It took us half a day, just a couple of days ago, to find 1kg [2.2lb] of tomatoes, and what we found was very old, not fresh, and very, very expensive.

A pickup truck filled with Nutella jars – this is not addressing the spread of famine.

On the ground, we’re seeing more people going hungry. People are still rationing supplies. Families and mothers are eating one meal a day to provide for their children.

And inside the hospitals, the number of people suffering from acute malnutrition because of the enforced starvation is on the rise.

Israel’s far-right minister unveils West Bank annexation plan

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has unveiled a plan for Israel to annex nearly all of the occupied West Bank, urging Prime Minister  Netanyahu to endorse it.

Smotrich, who also oversees a Defence Ministry body that approves settlement construction, presented the plan at a news conference in West Jerusalem. A map he displayed showed Israel taking almost the entire West Bank, leaving out only six major Palestinian cities, including Ramallah and Nablus.

Smotrich said he wanted “maximum territory and minimum [Palestinian] population” to be brought under Israeli sovereignty, urging Netanyahu to go along with it.

“The goal of the sovereignty is to remove, once and for all, a Palestinian state from the agenda,” said Smotrich, who himself lives in an illegal settlement in the occupied territory.

GCC condemns Israel’s ‘dangerous’ West Bank annexation push

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has condemned Israel’s far-right finance minister for calling for the annexation of nearly all of the occupied West Bank.

As we’ve been reporting, Bezalel Smotrich urged Benjamin Netanyahu earlier to annex most of the Palestinian territory, leaving out only six major cities, including Ramallah and Nablus.

GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi said Smotrich’s “inflammatory calls confirm the occupation’s continuous and systematic approach of destabilising security and stability in the region”.

The move also reflects Israel’s “insistence on undermining peace opportunities and its blatant defiance of international conventions, as well as its continued violation of all laws and norms”, Albudaiwi said in a statement.

He “called on the international community to take immediate and deterrent measures to stop these inflammatory calls and dangerous practices by the Israeli occupation forces”.

Israel rejects Hamas ceasefire statement

Netanyahu’s office has rejected Hamas’s statement announcing its readiness to reach a ceasefire deal saying, “The war can end immediately” on the conditions set by the Israeli cabinet, which includes the release of all Israeli captives and the Palestinian group’s disarmament.

A statement also reiterated Israel’s demands for “the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli security control of the Gaza Strip, and the establishment of an alternative civil government”.

Israeli news outlets also reported Defence Minister Israel Katz rejected Hamas’s statement by warning the group it only has “two options”.

“Soon it will understand that it must choose between two options: Accepting Israel’s conditions to end the war, first and foremost the release of all hostages and disarmament, or Gaza City will become the twin of Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” Haaretz reported the defence minister as saying.

“The [Israeli army] is preparing in full force,” Katz added.

The Liberal playbook of deceit about arming Israel

The Liberal government is arming Israel—and they can’t stop lying about it. We break down their 4-step playbook for deceiving the public about how Canada continues to send Israel weapons.

Israel accused of altering textbooks to erase Palestinian identity

For students in occupied East Jerusalem, the new school year has brought changes that go far beyond new teachers and classrooms. Israeli officials have heightened calls for sweeping edits to the curriculum, a move critics say threatens Palestinian identity. Yunus Demiroglu reports.

Miss Rachel's Plea To Congress To Help Gaza's Starving Babies

A powerful resolution from the International Association of Genocide Scholars has declared Israel's actions in Gaza as meeting the legal definition of genocide. Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland discuss the significance of this statement from a body of top international scholars and tie it to the growing public pressure on elected officials, exemplified by a poignant video from beloved children's entertainer Ms. Rachel, who is advocating for aid to be sent to Gaza's starving children.

Main events on September 3rd

• At least 73 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn. Among the dead are 43 people in Gaza City alone, hospital sources say.
• Hamas says it agreed to the formation of an independent national administration made up of technocrats to run the Gaza Strip, and it is ready for a comprehensive truce agreement with Israel.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office rejected Hamas’s statement saying “the war can end immediately” on the conditions set by the Israeli cabinet, which includes the release of all Israeli captives and the Palestinian group’s disarmament.
• A statement also reiterated Israel’s demands for “the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip” and Israeli security control.
• US President Donald Trump says “things will change rapidly” if the Palestinian group releases all the Israeli captives held in Gaza “immediately”.
• The UAE warned Israel it would view any annexation of the occupied West Bank as a red line that would severely undermine the spirit of the Abraham Accords.

The REAL Reason Oct 7th Happened EXPOSED

Ryan and Emily discuss Pam Bailey's new book.

The ‘GREAT’ Plot to Monetise Gaza Genocide

With details of President Donald Trump’s post-genocide vision for Gaza leaked, we begin this episode of Palestine This Week by examining the grotesquely named "GREAT Trust"—the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust.

A $100 billion scheme devised by figures like Tony Blair and Jared Kushner, the plan proposes to lease over 30 per cent of Gaza’s public land to foreign investors under a multi-decade custodianship—effectively gentrifying a devastated territory while its people are still under siege.

Topics also discussed in this episode include the International Association of Genocide Scholars’ resolution confirming that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide under the UN Convention—backed by 86 per cent of voting members—and an interview with Professor William Schabas, who calls South Africa’s ICJ case “arguably the strongest genocide case ever presented.”

We also examine the US denial of visas to Palestinian Authority officials, the UK, France and Germany’s decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran, and Turkey’s announcement ending all economic ties with Israel. All these developments are unpacked in light of the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

“Gaza Famine Is REAL!” – U.S. State Department Group

A US-funded hunger monitor, FEWS NET, has confirmed alongside the UN-backed IPC that famine is currently taking place in Gaza, with northern Gaza facing the most severe conditions. The reports attribute the crisis directly to Israeli policies blocking aid and restricting food, with findings based on stringent surveys and data, including child malnutrition measurements.

As guest host Misty Winston and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss, U.S. officials and Israeli leaders nevertheless continue to deny responsibility, often dismissing Gaza Health Ministry data as unreliable, even though it historically matched Israeli assessments. They wonder if the Trump administration will pressure FEWS NET to retract its findings, repeating what was done under Biden, while the famine deepens and millions face displacement.