CNN deals blow to campaign against Iran by broadcast from Tehran; Trump warns

Donald Trump has issued a fresh warning to Iran, asking Tehran to come to the negotiating table. But Iran has warned of severe consequences for US troops if Trump invades the Islamic Republic. Meanwhile, a stunning broadcast from inside Iran by CNN has raised serious questions about the Western claims on the death toll in recent protests inside Iran. Rifat Jawaid analyses these developments and also looks at the strong statement issued by Australian cricketing hero Jason Gillespie, who called out the double standard of his country’s media on the Bondi Beach attack.

Israeli Woman SHOCKED To Find Israel Claims She Died In Iran

In a shocking twist, an Israeli woman was watching TV when she found she was one of the people that Israel claimed to have 'died' in Iran. Peter Hager and Jen Perelman react to this comical display of propaganda by Israel.

Double blow for Netanyahu after Australia, Canada revoke citizens’ visas

In an expected development, two individuals from the territories controlled by Benjamin Netanyahu have had their visas revoked. After Canada detained an IDF man, and cancelled his visa, Australia too has caused a consternation of sorts by cancelling the visa of an Israeli influencer called Sammy Yahood under a newly passed law. Rifat Jawaid analyses these two extraordinary developments, the friendly countries of Netanyahu.

Israel hands over 15 bodies of Palestinians in last stage of captive swap

Israel has handed over the bodies of 15 Palestinians to the International Committee of the Red Cross in exchange for the final Israeli captive, whose remains were recovered by Israeli forces earlier this week, closing the chapter on this part of its more than two-year genocidal war on Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza, said Palestinian authorities are still trying to determine whether the bodies of the Palestinians will be released at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis or at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City later on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Israel laid to rest policeman Ran Gvili, who was killed during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel. Of the 251 captives taken by Hamas and other Palestinian groups that day, Gvili’s were the last remains held in the Palestinian territory. The return of all the captives from Gaza dragged on over the course of Israel’s war in a series of ceasefire and prisoner-swap deals as well as some mostly failed attempts to rescue them militarily.

The most recent set of captives-for-prisoners handovers was part of the ceasefire that took effect on October 10. While all the captives held in Gaza have been returned to Israel, thousands of Palestinians continue to languish in Israeli prisons, many without charges or trials.

A July 2024 report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights found that Israel was holding about 9,400 Palestinians as “security detainees”, often without giving them a reason for their detentions, in facilities where abuses such as torture and sexual assault were rife.

In November, the rights group Physicians for Human Rights-Israel released a report stating that of the Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, at least 94 have died during detention from causes such as torture, medical neglect, malnutrition and assault. The report said the true number is likely much higher.

Dozens of bodies of Palestinian prisoners that have been returned in previous exchanges have shown signs of torture, mutilation and execution.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Thursday that the Israeli army “has adopted for the first time the Gaza Health Ministry’s count of nearly 70,000 Palestinians killed during the war.” Israel has disputed the ministry’s death toll repeatedly. More than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the war began.


Also on Thursday, mourners buried the bodies of two Palestinians who, according to medics, were killed by Israeli gunfire in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis governorate outside the “yellow line”, or the 58 percent of Gaza still occupied by Israeli forces.

‘Even the dead were not spared’: Israel’s Gaza desecration compounds grief

Fatima Abdullah cannot erase the painful images from al-Batsh cemetery, which was excavated and desecrated this week by the Israeli military in the Tuffah neighbourhood east of Gaza City, as the army recovered the last captive’s body.

The cemetery contains the grave of her husband, who was killed during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, alongside thousands of other graves belonging to families across the devastated territory.

Fatima, a mother of three, has told Al Jazeera of the unbearable tension she felt knowing that the Israeli military’s search operations were focused on that cemetery. “We were all on edge… we knew the operation was at al-Batsh cemetery, and everyone was scared it would be their loved one’s grave next. I imagined the machinery approaching my husband’s grave, and I said, ‘No, God.’”

Fatima’s husband, Mohammad al-Shaarawi, was killed in an Israeli drone strike on December 11, 2024. The attack targeted him with a group of friends in Tuffah. At the time, Fatima and her children were displaced in southern Gaza.

“Even the dead were not spared,” Fatima says, describing a violation of the last remnants of their right to mourn and preserve dignity. “Corpses scattered, bones, bags thrown … they were bulldozing graves, dumping the remains as if they were nothing.”

During the search and recovery of captive Israeli policeman Ran Gvili, about 250 graves were examined in a short period using heavy military machinery and bulldozers. The operation led to the exhumation of both old and recent graves, the destruction of many tombstones, and a significant alteration of the cemetery’s landscape, according to aerial images of the site.

Israel’s history of desecrating cemeteries

The Israeli military has wantonly bombed, bulldozed and desecrated Palestinian graves in Gaza multiple times over the years, drawing condemnation from human rights organisations as a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor documented that the Israeli army has destroyed or severely damaged approximately 21 out of 60 cemeteries in Gaza, exhuming remains, mixing them or causing them to be lost, leaving thousands of Palestinian families with crushing uncertainty about the fate of their relatives’ bodies.

Among instances of Israeli destruction are:

• Beit Hanoon cemetery in northern Gaza
• Al-Faluja cemetery in Jabalia, northern Gaza
• Ali Ibn Marwan cemetery, Gaza City
• Sheikh Radwan cemetery, Gaza City
• Al Shuhadaa Eastern cemetery, Gaza City
• Tunisian cemetery, Gaza City
• Cemetery of Church of St Porphyrius, Gaza City
• Khan Younis cemetery in the Austrian neighbourhood

The Gaza War Cemetery, in Tuffah, housing fallen soldiers during World Wars I and II from the United Kingdom and several Commonwealth nations, has suffered significant damage from Israeli bombardment but is not yet completely destroyed, according to local assessments. Damage has also been reported to the Deir el-Balah War Cemetery.

Additionally, earlier this month, Euro-Med called for urgent international intervention “to halt the crimes of widespread destruction and land levelling being carried out by the Israeli army in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, until specialised teams and the necessary equipment are allowed to recover the bodies of victims, identify them, and ensure their dignified burial”.

Israel seeks ‘more exits than entries’ at Gaza’s Rafah as Egypt objects

As preparations accelerate for the partial Israeli reopening of Gaza’s Rafah border crossing, tentatively scheduled for Sunday, a simmering dispute has erupted between Egypt and Israel regarding which and how many Palestinians may leave and return.

Many are seeking urgent medical attention that cannot be found in a healthcare system decimated by Israel in its more than two-year genocidal war. Others want to reunite with family or pursue an education, all put on hold because of the war.

According to a report by Israel’s public broadcaster Kan on Wednesday, Israeli negotiators have presented a condition regarding the flow of travellers: that the number of Palestinians leaving Gaza and entering Egypt through the crossing must exceed the number of those permitted to enter.

The broadcaster reported that Egyptian officials rejected this asymmetric formula, insisting on an “equal ratio” of entries and exits. Cairo reportedly fears that Tel Aviv’s position is a calculated attempt to engineer emigration and permanently reduce Gaza’s population.

While North Sinai Governor Khaled Megawer affirmed to local media Egypt’s operational readiness “for all scenarios”, the technological mechanisms being imposed on the ground suggest a system designed to filter the population.


‘Remote’ screenings for exit, physical screenings for entry

While Kan reported on the dispute over numbers, the Israeli news site Ynet revealed the technical details of the proposed operation, which suggest a crossing that operates on a double standard.

According to the website and security sources, all travellers must be vetted by Israel’s Shin Bet security service 24 hours in advance. But the actual crossing process differs sharply by direction. A European Union monitoring mission is also expected to be on hand, but its role is unclear. Here is the reported plan:

• Leaving Gaza: For Palestinians exiting to Egypt, Ynet reported, there will be no physical Israeli presence inside the terminal. Instead, Israel will operate a “remote control” system. Facial recognition cameras will transmit live feeds to an Israeli command centre where officers will have the capability to remotely lock the electronic gates instantly if a “suspect” is identified.
• Entering Gaza: For Palestinians trying to return home, the process is far more invasive. Returnees will be funnelled into an Israeli military checkpoint established just past the border. There, they will be subjected to body searches, X-ray scanning and biometric verification by Israeli soldiers before crossing the “yellow line”, which marks the 58 percent of Gaza that Israeli forces still occupy, and leaving Israel’s self-proclaimed buffer zone.

‘Rafah 2’: A one-way ticket?

This structural disparity has raised alarm among observers. Major General Samir Farag, former head of the Egyptian army’s Morale Affairs Department, told Al Jazeera that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to bypass the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access concerning the Rafah crossing.

Farag said the Israeli proposal involves opening Rafah “in one direction” for exit only as part of a “displacement” agenda – a move he said Egypt has “categorically rejected”.

Ibrahim Al-Madhoun, director of the Palestinian Institution for Media, argued that this setup, often referred to as “Rafah 2”, is not a border crossing in the traditional sense but a “sorting platform managed with a mentality of forced displacement”.

“Israel is making exit relatively easier via remote monitoring while making entry a humiliating, physical ordeal at a military post,” Al-Madhoun told Al Jazeera. “They are engineering a system where people are encouraged to leave but are too terrified – or simply denied permission – to return.”

‘A tool for blackmail’

The proposed system marks a departure from the 2005 agreement, which designated Rafah as a Palestinian-Egyptian crossing under EU supervision, specifically to guarantee Palestinian sovereignty.

Security expert Osama Khaled warned that the implications of the new mechanism go beyond logistics. By inserting itself into the minutiae of the crossing, Israel would secure a permanent chokehold on this Gaza lifeline.

“This is comprehensive electronic surveillance designed to ensure a mandatory Israeli presence,” Khaled said. “It transforms the crossing from a sovereign gateway into a tool for political blackmail.”

The sharp focus on the Rafah crossing also has a darker side. According to comments by retired Israeli General Amir Avivi, who still advises the military, Israel has cleared land in Rafah to construct an enormous facility to entrench its military control and presence in Gaza for the long term.

Avivi on Tuesday described the project as a “big, organised camp” capable of holding hundreds of thousands of people. He said it would be equipped with “ID checks, including facial recognition”, to track every Palestinian entering and leaving.

Israel raids several occupied West Bank towns after killing Hebron youth

Israeli forces have detained dozens of people after storming several areas across the occupied West Bank, including the home of a Palestinian man who was shot and killed by Israeli forces in Bethlehem.

The latest raids early on Thursday come as Israeli settlers stormed Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus, a gravesite believed to be the burial place of Joseph, the father of Jesus, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

At about dawn, the Israeli army deployed several military vehicles and soldiers as they targeted the towns of Attil and Deir al-Ghusun north of Tulkarem, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, quoting residents from the area.

In ad-Dhahiriya village on the outskirts of Hebron on Wednesday, residents buried a Palestinian youth, who was killed the previous night in a raid by the Israeli security forces.

Meanwhile, some Israeli troops were deployed to Nablus to secure the Christian holy site, Joseph’s Tomb, after it was reportedly stormed by Israeli settlers. According to Al Jazeera Arabic, members of the Knesset and settler leaders were among those involved in the storming of the burial ground until early on Thursday.

In recent days, Israeli settlers were also accused of arson in three villages in Masafer Yatta.

And more https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/29/israel-raids-several-occupied-west-bank-towns-after-killing-hebron-youth

Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda with 1.4m followers reports TikTok ban

Award-winning Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda has said she has been permanently banned from TikTok, days after the social media platform was acquired by new investors in the United States.

Owda, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and contributor to Al Jazeera’s AJ+ from Gaza, shared a video on her Instagram and X accounts on Wednesday, telling her followers that her TikTok account had been banned.

“TikTok deleted my account. I had 1.4 million followers there, and I have been building that platform for four years,” Owda said in the video filmed from Gaza. “I expected that it will be restricted, like every time, not banned forever,” she added.

Al Jazeera sent a query to TikTok inquiring about Owda’s account.

Hours after Owda shared her video, an account that appeared to have the same username was still visible on TikTok in Australia – but not in the Middle East, when Al Jazeera checked in different geographies.

In her video on Wednesday, Owda pointed to recent remarks from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Adam Presser, the new CEO of TikTok’s US arm, as a possible explanation for the ban.

Note, I have NO TikTok accounts
anymore! Don't be scammed !! !!
Watch this.@AbubakerAbedW @AbujomaaGaza pic.twitter.com/DdYoQvIPLh

— Bisan owda (@bisan__bisan) January 28, 2026

Netanyahu met with pro-Israel influencers in New York in September last year, telling them that he hoped the “purchase” of TikTok goes through.

“We have to fight with the weapons that apply to the battlefield in which we engage, and the most important ones are social media,” Netanyahu, who is a war crimes suspect, said at the time.

“The most important purchase that is going on right now is … TikTok,” Netanyahu added. “TikTok, number one, number one, and I hope it goes through, because it can be consequential.”

TikTok announced last week that a deal to establish a separate version of the platform in the US had been completed, with the new entity controlled by investment firms, many of which are US companies, including several linked to President Donald Trump.

Owda also shared an undated video of Adam Presser, the new CEO of TikTok’s US arm. In the video, Presser speaks about changes made at TikTok, where he previously worked as head of operations in the US, saying “the use of the term Zionist as a proxy for a protected attribute” had been designated “as hate speech”.

TikTok is banning any criticism of ICE as well
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/26/tech/tiktok-ice-censorship-glitch-cec

Barcelona hosts tribute for Hind Rajab killed by Israel in Gaza

Two years after five-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab was killed by Israeli forces along with six family members despite following evacuation orders, her story is being remembered in Barcelona. A 55-metre canvas of her portrait has been unfurled not as a memorial, but as a call for accountability for all Palestinian children killed in Gaza. Tulay Kalyon Haznedarolu reports from Barcelona.

Ex-Israeli negotiator exposes Trump's 'racist' plan for Gaza

Former Israeli negotiator Daniel Levy breaks down Donald Trump's 'Board of Peace' and its dystopian plan for the future of Gaza - and possibly even the world, as it sets itself up as a rival to the UN. We talk about Tony Blair's role on the board, the other lesser known but equally troubling figures involved, and what Palestinians themselves make of all this.

South Africa orders expulsion of Israeli envoy, declared persona non grata



South Africa is expelling Israel’s envoy to the country, the foreign affairs ministry announced, accusing the Israeli official of engaging in “unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms” that challenge South African sovereignty.

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation said on Friday that it was giving Ariel Seidman, the charge d’affaires at the Israeli embassy, 72 hours to leave South Africa after declaring him persona non grata.

It accused Seidman of launching “insulting attacks” against South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on social media as well as “a deliberate failure” to inform the ministry “of purported visits by senior Israeli officials”.

“Such actions represent a gross abuse of diplomatic privilege and a fundamental breach of the Vienna Convention. They have systematically undermined the trust and protocols essential for bilateral relations,” the department said in a statement.

“We urge the Israeli Government to ensure its future diplomatic conduct demonstrates respect for the Republic and the established principles of international engagement.”

The announcement drew a rapid response from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which said it had declared senior South African diplomat, Shaun Edward Byneveldt, persona non grata and was giving him 72 hours to leave the country.

“Additional steps will be considered in due course,” the Israeli ministry said in a statement shared on social media.

Byneveldt is South Africa’s ambassador to the State of Palestine, working out of an office in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, according to a South African government website.

Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for South Africa’s foreign affairs ministry, said “Israel’s obstructionism forces a farcical arrangement where [Byneveldt] is accredited through the very state that occupies his host country”.

“This underscores Israel’s refusal to honour international consensus on Palestinian statehood,” Phiri wrote on X.

MSF says it will not hand over staff details to Israeli authorities

Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, has said it will not provide Israeli authorities with the personal details of its staff working in Gaza and across the occupied Palestinian territory, citing concerns for staff safety and a lack of assurances over how the information would be used.

The decision on Friday follows criticism of MSF’s statement last week that it was prepared to share the names of its staff under strict conditions – a position that sparked concern among aid workers and rights advocates.

The organisation has since said it was unable to secure the guarantees it sought from Israeli authorities and has now ruled out sharing any staff data “under the current circumstances”, citing risks to its workers’ safety.

Israel demanded last year that several international aid organisations hand over detailed information about their staff, funding and operations as part of what it described as new “security and transparency standards”.

The move has been widely criticised by humanitarian groups, who say it risks further endangering aid workers in a context where Israel’s military has already killed more than 1,700 health workers since the start of its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023, including at least 15 MSF employees.

Details emerge of US concentration camp plan for Gaza, with Ali Abunimah

Ali Abunimah, executive director, discusses new revelations about planned concentration camps in Gaza.

'Planned Community' in Rafah Would Force Palestinians Into Israeli Panopticon

Drop Site's Sharif Abdel Kouddous outlines the ways in which Israel is consolidating control over the Gaza strip. "It's been building military outposts...bringing in infrastructure and sewage and water lines to these outposts. It's expanded and built Israeli road networks connecting these outposts to bases in Israel, to settlements in Israel," Kouddous said.

He also discusses his recent article for Drop Site News, "Leaked Documents: 'Planned Community' in Rafah Would Force Palestinians Into Israeli Panopticon." To enter this residential zone, Palestinians will "have to pass through checkpoints. They'll be registered with biometric documentation...They're going to have to use something called 'Electronic Shekel wallets,' so all economic transactions will be monitored," he said.

In addition to the above surveillance, the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) also proposed a new schooling curriculum for Palestinians "aimed at promoting an Emirati-inspired reeducation program," Kouddous said in his article.

Israeli settler attacks displace families in occupied West Bank

Israeli settlers have forced a Palestinian family to leave the village of al-Auja, north of Jericho, in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

Wafa quoted local sources as saying the family was displaced from the Bedouin community of Shalal al-Auja about a week ago and sought refuge in al-Auja, but was forced to leave again due to repeated settler attacks.

The Al-Baidar human rights organisation said ongoing harassment by settlers has displaced dozens of families from the area.

Separately, Wafa reported that Israeli forces closed the Bab al-Zawiya area in Hebron to secure a settler incursion into a site settlers claim is archaeological, forcing shops to close and residents to leave the area.

Israeli forces arrest 13 Palestinians in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces arrested 13 Palestinians, including a girl, during raids across the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office (ASRA).

ASRA said on Saturday two people were arrested in the Jenin governorate after Israeli forces stormed the Jabal Abu Dhahir area of Jenin, including a girl.

Israeli settlers attack home south of Nablus

The Israeli military forced a Palestinian resident to carry out the demolition of an industrial facility south of Qalqilya in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

The report cited local sources on Saturday as saying Israeli forces compelled the demolition of a marble factory located east of the town.

The facility covered an area of about 300 square metres (3,230sq feet) and sustained material losses estimated at more than $26,000, under the claim that it had been built without a permit.

Separately, Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian home in the town of Qusra, south of Nablus. Settlers targeted a house in the Ras al-Ein area west of the town, before residents confronted them and forced them away. No injuries were reported.

The Ras al-Ein area has been subjected to repeated settler attacks in recent weeks, amid attempts to establish a settlement outpost in the area.

Two children wounded by Israeli forces in West Bank’s Jalazone camp

Israeli forces have stormed the Jalazone camp, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, and clashed with residents, reports the Wafa news agency. Israeli forces opened fire in the camp and wounded two children, aged 15 and 16.

During earlier raids today, Israeli forces rounded up 13 Palestinians, most in the town of Azzun in Qalqilya governorate.

Israeli forces arrest two children, fire tear gas in latest West Bank raids: Report

Israeli forces have carried out several more raids in the occupied West Bank, spanning the governorates of Nablus, Qalqilya, Jenin and Ramallah.

According to Wafa news agency, Israeli forces:

Israeli drone targets car in southern Lebanon town

An Israeli drone strike has targeted a car on the outskirts of the town of Rab el-Thalathin in southern Lebanon, the official National News Agency is reporting. The Israeli army claimed it targeted a Hezbollah member in the Markaba area.

No casualties were immediately reported. We will bring you more details as we have them.

Israel has been violating a November 2024 truce with Hezbollah on a near-daily basis, and continues to occupy parts of south Lebanon.

At least one person killed in Israeli drone attack on southern Lebanon

There has been one casualty as a result of an Israeli drone strike that we earlier reported, which targeted a car on the outskirts of the town of Rab el-Thalathine in southern Lebanon, according to the country’s Health Ministry.

The Israeli army earlier claimed it had targeted a Hezbollah member.

Thousands march in London to demand UK end support for Israel


_{People gather on Whitehall during the National March for Palestine in London}

UK rights campaigner Tatchell arrested at pro-Palestine protest

London police arrested prominent rights activist Peter Tatchell at a pro-Palestine march after he displayed a placard featuring the slogan “globalise the intifada”, his foundation said.

The 74-year-old branded it “an attack on free speech” in a statement the foundation sent to media outlets, which noted he had been taken to a south London police station.

“The police claimed the word intifada is unlawful. The word intifada is not a crime in law. The police are engaged in overreach by making it an arrestable offence,” the statement said. “This is part of a dangerous trend to increasingly restrict and criminalise peaceful protests.”

Tatchell had posted on X a photograph of himself on the protest route carrying a placard with several different slogans on them including “Globalise the intifada”.

#Palestine march London

"Globalise the intifada: Non-violent resistance. End Israel's occupation of Gaza & West Bank"

Palestinians have a right to resist Israeli terrorism

Jewish settlers are terrorising #WestBank villagers: beating them & burning their homes, cars & crops pic.twitter.com/NmHeHWnO2H

— Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell) January 31, 2026