Survey shows 83% of Germans consider Israel’s Gaza attack unjust

The survey commissioned by Germany’s ZDF television asked 1,419 people in the country about their views on Israel’s war on Gaza. According to the survey, 83 percent of respondents said Israel’s attacks in Gaza were unjust, while only 10 percent considered them justified.

Respondents strongly criticised the high number of Palestinian civilians killed in Israel’s attacks in Gaza. At least 65,200 Palestinians have been killed and more than 166,000 wounded in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, according to authorities in Gaza.

Germany condemns Eurovision boycott threats over Gaza

Germany’s culture minister has slammed threats by several European countries to boycott next year’s Eurovision Song Contest if Israel takes part, as politicising the music event.

Spain said this week it would boycott the world’s largest live televised music competition in May if Israel participated. Ireland, Slovenia, Iceland and the Netherlands have made similar threats.

“Eurovision was founded to bring nations together through music. Excluding Israel today goes against this fundamental idea and turns a celebration of understanding between peoples into a tribunal,” said Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer in a statement.

“It’s precisely because Eurovision was born on the ruins of war that it should not become a scene of exclusion.”

The European Broadcasting Union, the organiser of Eurovision, is set to decide whether Israel will be allowed to take part in the 2026 edition at its general assembly in December.


_{Protesters hold a banner and Palestinian flags as they take part in a demonstration against Israel during the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 opening ceremony in Switzerland}

Israel is not even part of Europe, delusional.

Concert held in Germany in memory of children killed in Gaza

Musicians have performed a classical music concert in Berlin on the occasion of World Children’s Day aimed at drawing attention to the plight of children killed in Israel’s war on Gaza.

The Music for Humanity initiative, which organised the event, said the charity concert transformed the German capital into “a place of solidarity, humanity, and music”.

The concert featured professional and amateur musicians playing classical and traditional Arabic music, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Organisers called for an immediate ceasefire, the protection of children and civilians in Gaza, and a halt to German arms deliveries to Israel.

According to UNICEF, more than 50,000 children have been killed or wounded since war began in October 2023. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children are suffering from severe malnutrition in Gaza.

Family members of captives say ‘enough is enough'

There is no sign that the anti-government protests have any sort of sway on the Israeli government. In fact, members of Prime Minister Netanyahu ‘s right-wing coalition have slammed these demonstrations.

They said these protests are not only counterproductive, but they also serve Israel’s enemies. Family members of the captives in Gaza say the continued Israeli military action in Gaza and the expansion of it could be a death sentence for their loved ones.

Week after week we see these demonstrations, and we see them escalating. Some of these protests even reached Netanyahu’s home in West Jerusalem, trying to send the message that “enough is enough”.

Israeli opposition forms bloc to defeat PM Netanyahu

Opposition leader and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid, Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman, Yashar! with Gadi Eisenkot chairman, and Democrats chair Yair Golan have announced they formed the “change bloc”, according to Israeli media.

The leaders said they are turning their regular meetings into a permanent forum to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government in the next election, news reports said.

“The next meeting will be held immediately after Yom Kippur [October 1-2] with the leaders saying they expect Naftali Bennett and Benny Gantz to join future discussions,” The Jerusalem Post reported, referring to two other opposition politicians.

Israel imposes special permits for Palestinians in occupied West Bank

Israeli authorities have required Palestinians living in two villages to obtain special permits to enter and exit their communities.

The Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported that residents of the al-Khalayleh neighbourhood and the villages of Beit Iksa and Nabi Samuel, northwest of occupied East Jerusalem, will be barred from crossing the Israeli military checkpoint if they are found to be without permits.

The three communities, home to about 3,000 people, already suffer near-total isolation because of the separation wall, military checkpoints and gates surrounding them.

Residents are barred from expanding housing or bringing in essential supplies, while the nearby illegal Israeli settlements block their urban growth. The decision came as Israel accelerates settlement projects in occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has declared plans to annex 82 percent of the occupied West Bank.

Just another layer of control / apartheid. Israel already tracks everyone in the Westbank, can't cross checkpoints without ID etc.
https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/west-bank-movement-and-access-update-may-2025

Main events on September 20th

• Hamas’s Qassam Brigades has published a “farewell picture” of 48 captives still held in Gaza, hinting at potential risk to them due to Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza City.
• Four Israeli opposition leaders have formed an alliance called the “change bloc” to defeat Prime Minister Netanyahu in the next elections.
• The head of Gaza’s Health Ministry denounced Israel’s forced expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza City, adding that hundreds of thousands remain trapped there.
• Thousands of Israelis gathered at Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square for a rally to call on the government to secure a deal to release all those held in Gaza.
• Hamas has called for international action over Israel’s killing of medical personnel after the brother and sister-in-law of the director of al-Shifa Hospital were killed.
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world should not be intimidated by Israel in taking action against its war on Gaza.

Demonstrators in Austria call for sanctions against Israel

Thousands of people have gathered in Vienna, the Austrian capital, in a demonstration to condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza. Thousands of Palestinian supporters attended the protest, which was organised by more than 40 Austrian NGOs.

Demonstrators marched to the Austrian parliament holding Palestinian flags and chanting slogans such as “Stop the genocide,” “Free Palestine”, and “Boycott Israel”. They also carried banners bearing the names of children killed by Israel in Gaza.


_{Protesters in Vienna call for sanctions against Israel over its devastating war on Gaza}

Netanyahu’s desperate clarification video on Charlie Kirk backfires spectacularly

Benjamin Netanyahu issued at least two video statements since the assassination of Charlie Kirk clarifying that Israel wasn’t responsible for his death. But this has turned out to be a failed exercise as Trump supporters and those who knew Kirk well are questioning the motive behind Netanyahu’s statements. Rifat Jawaid asks if this is a case of there’s no smoke without fire!!

Sumud flotilla reacts to Israel 'terrorist' accusations

Israel's government has changed from calling the Gaza aid flotilla a "selfie yacht" to labelling the humanitarian convoy "a terrorist flotilla". Its members are undeterred. They see the accusations as a sign that Israel is "laying the groundwork for violence" against them - but add that fewer people are believing these claims.

'The UK is complicit in what's happening in Gaza': Humza Yousaf

Lewis Goodall speaks to Former First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf ahead of the expected announcement from Sir Keir Starmer that the UK will recognise Palestinian statehood this afternoon.

The prime minister said in July that the UK would shift its position unless Israel met several conditions, including agreeing to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and committing to a long-term peace process leading to a Palestinian state co-existing alongside Israel. 

Displaced Palestinians hounded by aerial surveillance, attacks

I’m at a major point connecting northern Gaza with the central and southern parts of the Strip. Once people arrive here, they stop and share with us much of the horror they’ve experienced on the road.

From the time they receive the phone call from Israeli forces inside their home, they’re threatened to leave immediately. They don’t get enough time to salvage any of their belongings.

So, they’re forced out of their homes. The moment they step outside it’s a totally different reality. It’s very dangerous, very risky – fraught with exposure to aerial surveillance.

Israel is deploying advanced technology in the air. These quadcopters are patrolling within neighbourhoods – they come close to windows and balconies, using loudspeakers with intimidating language to push them from their homes.

The moment they step outside, they feel like running because they’re being chased by these quadcopters, exposed to aerial surveillance and attacks.

Israeli military claims murder of Majed Abu Salmiya in Gaza City

We reported yesterday that an Israeli air attack targeted the Abu Salmiya family’s home in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. Our colleagues on the ground said the attack killed Majed Abu Salmiya, the brother of al-Shifa Hospital’s director, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, along with several of his children.

Now, the Israeli army confirmed the killing of Majed Abu Salmiya, claiming he was a sniper operating in Hamas’s military wing who was preparing to “carry out an imminent terror attack” against Israeli soldiers in Gaza City. Its report did not mention the deaths of children.

Al-Shifa Hospital chief rejects Israeli claim his slain brother was ‘Hamas sniper’

We have reported that the Israeli military confirmed its forces killed Majed Abu Salmiya on Saturday, describing him as “a Hamas sniper”.

Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, had been working in the emergency department on Saturday when his brother’s and sister-in-law’s bodies were brought in. He told the AFP news agency at the time that they were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City.

Today, he rejected the military’s accusation as “a lie, slander and an unacceptable justification for targeting civilians with direct missile strikes”.

“My brother is a 57-year-old man who suffers from several illnesses, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and he has severe vision impairment – and they claim he was a sniper? This is pure fabrication,” he told AFP, noting his brother’s family had been displaced several times since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.

‘We are hardly surviving and hardly able to help anyone’: Volunteer doctor in Gaza

A volunteer Australian doctor working in Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital has described the dire conditions she and her colleagues face treating severely injured patients amid critical shortages of supplies.

“We are hardly surviving and hardly able to help anyone,” said Dr Nada Abu Alrub.

“There’s no equipment. They’re down to the very basics, running out of working scissors,” she said. “There’s no soap in the theatre rooms to scrub in, no gloves – nothing at all.”

The Israeli military has repeatedly struck close to the hospital, killing at least 15 people outside al-Shifa just days ago.

“We’re treating patients on the floor, mass casualty after mass casualty,” she added.

Israeli army arrests 4 Palestinians in West Bank’s Bethlehem

At least four Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli soldiers during raids on their homes in the Bethlehem governorate in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

Citing security sources, the report identified the arrested men as Abdullah Barakat Abu Najma, Mustafa Suleiman Abayat, Muhammad Abu Fura, and Muhammad Ayman Kanaan.

In a separate report, Wafa said settlers stole a tent and agricultural equipment near al-Sakout in the northern Jordan Valley.

Israeli army arrests 24 Palestinians in West Bank

According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office (ASRA), at least 24 people were arrested by Israeli forces at dawn today. Here’s the breakdown:

Sole gateway between Jordan and occupied West Bank to remain closed to traffic: Israel

The Israeli-controlled King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge crossing’s passenger terminal – the sole gateway between the occupied West Bank and Jordan – will not be opened to traffic today in coordination with the Jordanian side, according to Israel’s Airports Authority.

Jordan’s AlMamlaka TV reported on Saturday that the kingdom would partially reopen the crossing today, allowing passengers to cross but not commercial traffic.

Israel shut the crossing on Friday, a day after a driver transporting humanitarian aid from Jordan for Gaza opened fire and killed two Israeli military personnel there.

Pro-Palestinian protesters hold march in Mexico City


_{Pro-Palestinian demonstrators take part in a rally in support of Gaza in Mexico City, Mexico}

Morocco holds huge pro-Palestinian demonstration in Tangier

Footage posted on social media shows huge crowds gathered in the Moroccan port city of Tangier to express solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The clip, posted to Instagram and verified by Al Jazeera, showed a large crowd marching through the street, waving Palestinian and Moroccan flags.

The protesters chanted slogans condemning the genocide in Gaza and expressing support for the Global Sumud Flotilla that is trying to break Israel’s blockade of the territory.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DO1hrHbDcS-

Top diplomat calls on more countries to recognise Palestinian state

Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin has thanked countries that have recognised a Palestinian state or are about to do so, calling on others to join them.

“A number of states are going to declare their recognition,” she said at a news conference in Ramallah. “It will be a very important message. Above all, it is a message of hope to the Palestinian people, a message of hope for a free, independent, sovereign state.”

She said the recognition of Palestinian statehood would mean that “Israel has no sovereignty on the territories of our state”.

She called on countries that were “hesitant” to recognise Palestinian statehood to join those that were about to, promising that the “voice of the Palestinian people will be loud and clear within the walls of the United Nations” at a meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York this week.

“The whole world stands united behind the Palestinian cause,” she said. “The Israeli occupation is the root of all evils within the region.”

Shahin has called on the international community to halt the genocidal violence faced by Palestinians in Gaza.

“‘Never again’ meant that never again the atrocities committed in World War II will be committed,” she said. “Never again is not a slogan. It applies to all people regardless of race, religion, ethnicity and colour, and it also applies to us in Palestine,” she said. “We will continue to say ‘never again’ and we will continue to call very loud for the halting of the brutal aggression we are … subjected to.”

She said it was critical to call out Israel’s actions in Gaza for what they were – a genocide.

“We need to continue saying it is a genocide and nothing else but a genocide,” she said. “Israel’s actions are a systematic assault on the very fabric of humanity, designed to erase the Palestinian people’s existence, culture and future.”