Global Sumud Flotilla to set sail from Crete towards Gaza

The Global Sumud Flotilla has completed final preparations to set sail from the Greek island of Crete towards the Gaza Strip. The vessels will depart for international waters in a few hours. No stops are scheduled before reaching waters under the Israeli blockade within four days.

Another flotilla, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition & Thousand Madleens to Gaza Unite, is expected to depart from Italy this afternoon, forming a second group of ships attempting to break Israel’s devastating siege.

Update on the Global Sumud Flotilla

Just a reminder that the Global Sumud Flotilla is embarking on the final leg of its journey to bring aid to Gaza by breaking Israel’s naval blockade.

Gaza flotilla activists lauded by family members

Family members of activists sailing to Gaza as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla shared how they feel for their loved ones onboard as they attempt to break Israel’s siege. Hundreds of people on more than 50 vessels are days away from reaching Gaza.

There have been threats from Israel. Its forces have violently intercepted all flotillas trying to break its blockade and deliver vital aid to Gaza since 2010. But that has not deterred activists or their families as they try to help around two million Palestinians in Gaza facing Israel-imposed starvation and relentless destruction by air strikes.

San Marino recognises Palestinian state

San Marino’s foreign minister, Luca Beccari, said at the UNGA that his country “officially recognises the state of Palestine as a sovereign and independent state within secure, internationally recognised borders, in line with the resolution of the United Nations”.

“Having a state is the right of the Palestinian people,” he added.

With more than 80 percent of the international community now recognising the state of Palestine, diplomatic pressure has ramped up on Israel as it continues its war on Gaza, where more than 65,500 Palestinians have been killed and the enclave has been turned into rubble.

Iceland says Israel’s actions in Gaza are ‘inhumane’

Iceland’s foreign minister, Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir, has warned of “systematic ethnic cleansing” taking place in Gaza, calling Israel’s acts “cruel”, “inhumane” and “illegal”.

“We are witnessing now crimes against humanity and war crimes in broad daylight; what appears before us is systematic ethnic cleansing,” she said at the UN General Assembly.

“This needs to end. We need an immediate ceasefire, full humanitarian access, and the unconditional release of all hostages.” Gunnarsdottir added that “nothing” justifies the collective punishment, starvation and forced displacement of Palestinians.

Israel’s justification for Gaza hospital attack false, Reuters probe finds

Israel’s justification for bombing a Khan Younis hospital in southern Gaza, claiming it targeted a Hamas camera, is false, according to an investigation by Reuters news agency.

Israeli forces planned the August 25 attack on Nasser Hospital using drone footage that, a military official said, showed a Hamas camera that was the target of the strike.

But a Reuters review of visual evidence and interviews with witnesses established that the camera in question actually belonged to the news agency and had long been used by one of its own journalists.

Reuters is obviously Hamas.... Israel only lies, Fox news repeats it, correction is never seen.

Main events on September 27th

• At least 91 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since morning, including 48 in Gaza City.
• Hamas says it has not received Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan, even as the US president expressed optimism that a deal is close.
• A Palestinian journalist was killed when Israeli forces shelled his tent in central Gaza.
• About 50,000 protesters have taken to the streets of Berlin in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, demanding an end to the worsening humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
• The Global Sumud Flotilla has embarked on the final leg of its journey to break Israel’s naval blockade and deliver aid to people in war-battered Gaza.
• The Lebanese group Hezbollah has commemorated one year since Israel killed its then-chief Hassan Nasrallah.

SnapBack mechanism kicks in amidst fear of Iran withdrawing from NPT, IAEA

The SnapBack mechanism triggered by E3 countries namely the UK, France and Germany comes into effect on 28 September. This comes amidst reports that Iran is seriously considering withdrawing from the NPT. Rifat Jawaid asks if Iran would follow what North Korea did after 2002 when it faced cornered by the US on its nuclear programme.

“Arrest the War Criminal”: Thousands Protest Netanyahu in NYC as He Addresses U.N.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of New York on Friday in solidarity with Palestinians and to denounce Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he addressed the United Nations General Assembly. Crowds marched from Times Square toward the U.N., chanting slogans demanding Netanyahu’s arrest for war crimes and an end to U.S. support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Meanwhile, inside the U.N., the Israeli leader addressed a largely empty room as many countries’ delegations walked out in protest.

“Jews Don’t Get An Ethnostate”- Jewish Author TURNS ON Israel

Antizionist Jewish author, educator and Instagram star Sim Kern cuts through pro Israel propaganda you don’t even know you’re getting.

Israeli forces bulldoze Palestinian land, raid West Bank towns: Report

Israeli forces have carried out a series of overnight raids in the occupied West Bank. According to the Wafa news agency, they:

Ex-UN official sees ‘prospects’ in Trump’s peace plan but urges caution

Martin Griffiths, a former UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, has told Al Jazeera that he does see “prospects” in a recent plan US President Donald Trump to end the war in Gaza, including that Palestinians won’t be forced to leave the territory and those who do will be allowed to return, and a pathway to a two-state solution.

However, he expressed cautious optimism about the deal holding up, citing the previous agreement earlier this year, which broke down after Israel breached its ceasefire in March.

“There is a lot of criticism of that agreement, that draft so far, as you know, partly because it was very secret, for a couple of days, also because it has all the opportunities for spoilers,” Griffiths said.

“The pathway to peace is very tentatively described; there are no solid commitments just yet. Lots to do,” he added.

Israeli ministers oppose Gaza deal, insist on Hamas defeat and occupation of Gaza

Reports have circulated that US President Donald Trump’s 21-point plan to end the war on Gaza could include a possible path to a future Palestinian state.

Ministers in the Israeli cabinet from the far-right National Zionist and Jewish Power parties have come out in opposition to any deal. This comes before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Trump on Monday.

Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, is reporting that Yitzhak Wasserlauf, a minister in Netanyahu’s cabinet, said the PM has “no mandate for such a deal”, adding, “we must finish the job in Gaza”.

In a post on X, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said: “Mr Prime Minister, you have no mandate to end the war without a decisive defeat of Hamas.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he wanted to see Hamas defeated, the captives held in Gaza returned and that he would “never agree to a Palestinian state – even if it is difficult, even if it has a price, and even if it takes time”.

Italy’s top diplomat says Tony Blair could play ‘important role’ in post-ceasefire Gaza

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has said his government would look “favourably” upon the idea of former British PM Tony Blair working on a plan for a post-ceasefire Gaza, adding that “he’s a person who could play an important role”.

In an interview with Il Messaggero, one of Italy’s main newspapers, Tajani said: “Incidentally, when he was British Prime Minister, Blair had close relations with [former Italian PM Silvio] Berlusconi. He’s a person who could play an important role. In the meetings held, this plan was discussed, but let’s see how it ends up.”

His comments come after several reports that Blair could head a transitional Gaza administration. UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told The Guardian newspaper that Blair “has been one of the people adding proposals to this process”, but there are other processes.

On Trump’s 21-point proposal to end the war in Gaza, Tajani added: “We support every mediation initiative. The American proposal is welcome if accepted by Arab countries and if it provides for Hamas’s exclusion, the immediate release of hostages, and a path that can lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state. I seem to have heard a positive judgement from Arab countries. We’re working to build it.”

Trump promises ‘something special’ in ceasefire talks

In his latest social media post, President Trump has claimed that “all are on board for something special” in his efforts to negotiate peace in the Middle East.

“We have a real chance for greatness in the Middle East. All are on board for something special, first time ever. We will get it done!” Trump said.

In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly suggested an imminent ceasefire deal in Gaza but those claims have not materialised. Israeli attacks on Gaza, meanwhile, have only intensified.

On Thursday, he said that the US was “close to a deal” to end the war, and that it “could be today”.

On Friday he said that “intense negotiations” had been going on for four days and would continue until a deal was reached, adding that he had never seen such “goodwill and enthusiasm for getting a deal done”.

As we reported earlier, Hamas has said that ceasefire negotiations have been suspended since Israel’s attack on its negotiating team in Doha earlier this month. It said it had not received any new proposals from mediators, but was ready to consider any proposals by mediators “positively”.

Israel’s threat to annex West Bank ‘unacceptable’, UAE minister tells UNGA

United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Minister Lana Nusseibeh has told the UN General Assembly that Israeli threats to annex the West Bank are “unacceptable”.

“Nothing can justify targeting tens of thousands of civilians, besieging them, starving them, and forcibly displacing them,” she said. “Nothing can excuse the pursuit of unacceptable expansionist ambitions, including the threat of annexing the West Bank.”

She welcomed the recent wave of recognition of the Palestinian state and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of Israeli captives and Palestinian detainees, and the urgent delivery of aid into the territory.

Israel’s Knesset gives preliminary approval for bill mandating death penalty for ‘terror’ convictions

The Knesset’s National Security Committee has voted to advance a bill that would make the death penalty mandatory for convicted murderers whose crimes are deemed acts of “terror”, according to Israeli media reports.

According to the bill, the death sentence would apply to anyone “who is convicted of murder motivated by racism or hostility towards the public, and in circumstances where the act was committed with the aim of harming the State of Israel and the resurrection of the Jewish people in its land”.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has pushed the legislation, claims it will serve as an effective deterrent and show Hamas “there is a price tag for what they did,” according to The Times of Israel newspaper.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, reacting to the vote, accused Israel of seeking to legally entrench a crime it has carried out for decades through systematic abuse of Palestinian prisoners.

“Despite the clear stance of international law, which criminalises the death penalty, the occupation’s insistence on legislating this crime and giving it a ‘legitimate’ veneer again affirms” that Israel “acts as though it is above the law and beyond accountability”, said the group.

Israel’s actions in Gaza ‘will not be forgotten for maybe centuries’: Ex-Malaysia leader

Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has told Al Jazeera that Israel’s conduct in Gaza, which has prompted an investigation by the International Court of Justice for genocide, “will not be forgotten for maybe centuries”.

More than 65,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, almost all of the Palestinian territory’s population are displaced, and hundreds of thousands have sustained injuries, many life-altering.

“Gaza is terrible,” Mahathir said. “They killed pregnant mothers … babies just born, young people, boys and girls, men and women, the sick and the poor … How can this be forgotten?”

Berlin protesters call for German government to stop genocide in Gaza

Protesters at Saturday’s large pro-Palestinian demonstration in the German capital have told Al Jazeera that their country had an obligation to act to halt the genocide in Gaza.

“We Germans already have a history, so it shouldn’t happen again,” said one woman. “‘Never again’ is now, and that’s for everyone, right?”

One of the organisers of the protest, Michael Barenboim, said it was “time to make clear to the German government that complicity in genocide must be opposed”. “The German government has an obligation to prevent and punish genocide,” he said. “We want to insist that the German government gets held to these obligations.”

Israeli forces kill 24 Palestinians across Gaza since dawn

At least 24 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip since dawn, medical sources tell our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic. A source in al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza’s Jabalia said the death toll in an attack on two homes in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza has risen to 10.

Al-Shifa Hospital head raises alarm over Israeli tanks near facility

Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip, has told the AP that medical teams are worried about Israeli tanks approaching the vicinity of the hospital and not allowing access to it.

An estimated 159 patients are being treated there.

“The bombardment has not stopped for a single moment,” Abu Salmiya said.

Al-Shifa Hospital, one of Gaza’s largest hospitals, is working beyond its limits. Supplies are running low, staff are working around the clock under severe pressure, often without medical supplies or equipment, and there has been an influx of injured people arriving following Israel’s intensification of attacks.

Just yesterday, a family was displaced, and they were ordered to evacuate from Gaza City. On their difficult journey out of Gaza City, they were targeted and critically injured. They arrived here at al-Shifa Hospital and have been struggling to get treatment due to dwindling supplies.

The situation has gone from bad to worse here in light of Israel’s unprecedented intensification of its ground operation, accompanied by air strikes targeting different areas and locations across Gaza.

Palestinian man recounts deadly attack on family fleeing Gaza City

Al Jazeera has spoken to a Palestinian man whose daughter was killed in an Israeli attack as the family were trying to flee Gaza City.

Speaking from Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, where his children were being treated for their injuries, the man said his family had been leaving the city along al-Rashid Street, which the Israeli military had said was a safe passage, when they came under attack.

“We were taken by surprise as an Israeli artillery shell landed on my family,” said the man. “I am the father of six daughters and a son. One of my daughters was killed, two others and the boy were injured.”

He continued: “We run from death to death, killing to more killing.”

Al-Shifa Hospital to keep running as long as possible, says director

Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, says his team is committed to keeping the facility running as long as possible amid the escalating Israeli offensive.

“We are still providing medical services to the people of  Gaza City, despite the ongoing invasion, the tanks approaching the hospital, and the continuous shelling,” he said. “Our teams are committed to their duty.”

Al-Shifa, the largest medical facility still functioning in northern Gaza, has been attacked and raided several times by Israeli forces since the war began, with much of the building destroyed.

He said if the hospital, which is facing severe fuel shortages, went out of service, it would be a “catastrophe”. “Hundreds of thousands of displaced people remain here, and if this hospital stops working, thousands will die,” he said.

_{For doctors at Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, leaving is not an option, says hospital director Muhammad Abu Salmiya}