As the US so does the UK

British police raid Quaker meeting hall, arrest 6 over Gaza meeting

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/28/europe/quakers-arrests-london-intl-latam/index.html

The Quaker religious group has condemned British police for raiding one of their meeting halls and arresting six young people who met to discuss concerns about Gaza and climate change.

Paul Parker, recording clerk for Quakers in Britain, said 20 police, some armed with tasers, forced their way inside the Westminster Meeting House in central London just before 7:15pm (19:15 GMT) local time on Thursday.

After breaking open the door, police searched the hall – a place of worship for the Christian denomination – before arresting six women under strict antiprotest laws passed in 2023, which criminalise many forms of protest and allow police to halt actions deemed to be disruptive.

“This aggressive violation of our place of worship and the forceful removal of young people holding a protest group meeting clearly shows what happens when a society criminalises protest,” Parker said in a statement.

“Freedom of speech, assembly, and fair trials are an essential part of free public debate which underpins democracy,” Parker said.

Parker said the raid on the Westminster Meeting House marked the first arrest at a Quaker place of worship “in living memory”.

Columbia University interim president steps down as Gaza protest fallout continues

Columbia University’s interim president Katrina Armstrong will step aside and the co-chair of its board of trustees, Claire Shipman, will take over, the Reuters news agency reports.

The reason for Armstrong’s resignation from the role was not immediately known but the announcement on Friday comes as Columbia conceded to demands by the Trump administration that the university crack down on students involved in a pro-Palestine protest movement or face a $400m funding cut.

The university said that Armstrong will return to lead Columbia’s Irving Medical Center.

Columbia students involved in the protests against Israel’s war on Gaza and supporting Palestinian rights have since been given multiple-year suspensions and outright expulsions following an investigation by the University Judicial Board. Those who have since graduated will have their degrees revoked.

Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil, who was involved with the protests, was arrested by immigration authorities inside his apartment on university grounds in early March and is now fighting deportation from the US despite being a legal resident and married to an American citizen.

US military bombs Yemen more than 70 times on Friday

As we previously reported, the US military bombed numerous Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Friday, including the capital Sanaa, killing at least one person and injuring several more.

Houthi-affiliated media outlet Al Masirah TV now confirms that US fighter jets bombed the country a total of 72 times on Friday.

The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) – which now has authority from the White House to strike offensively in Yemen without pre-approval – confirmed its forces struck “Houthi positions”, without providing more details.

Satellite imagery shows new US airstrip near Yemen

US air strikes pounded Yemen overnight and reportedly killed at least one person as the US military acknowledged earlier bombing a major military site in the heart of Sanaa controlled by the Houthi rebels.

The full extent of the damage and possible casualties wasn’t immediately clear.

Satellite photos analysed by The Associated Press show a mysterious airstrip just off Yemen in a key maritime chokepoint now appears ready to accept flights and B-2 bombers within striking distance of the country.

The US military has also moved at least four long-range stealth B-2 bombers to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean – a base far outside of the range of the rebels that avoids using allies’ Middle East bases

Video footage refutes account by Israeli forces following settler attack on Palestinians

Video footage obtained by the AP news agency and backed up by testimonies from Palestinian witnesses refutes the official account by Israeli forces after Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian village in the south of the occupied West Bank on Friday.

Footage from one camera shows vehicles speeding up to the edge of the village of Jinba. A number of settlers pile out and run out of the frame as the screams of Palestinian women can be heard.

Many of the settlers are masked and at least three are carrying bats or sticks, with one armed with an assault rifle. One can be seen throwing a rock, and then bending to collect more.

Palestinian Oula Awad told AP the settlers approached her house between 8am and 9am as her son, Qusai, 17, and husband, Aziz, 63, were washing up to prepare for Ramadan prayers.

In security footage taken from a second camera, settlers are seen converging on the teenager. One settler begins hitting him with a stick as he tries to run away. Another settler smashes his head with a rock, sending him to the ground. Four settlers then kick and beat him before running away. Five Palestinians remain in hospital after the attack.

Following the incident, Israeli police said they arrested 22 Palestinians from the village on suspicion of stone-throwing and brought them in for further investigation.

They said Palestinians had attacked two settler shepherds nearby, slightly injuring them.

No Other Land co-director shares video of settler ‘pogrom’ against Palestinians

Yuval Abraham, the Israeli co-director of the Academy Award-winning documentary No Other Land, has highlighted another Israeli settler attack that badly injured a 17-year-old Palestinian boy in the Masafar Yatta area of the occupied West Bank.

Abraham had earlier won an apology from the Academy for its failure to name Hamdan Ballal in a statement following his Palestinian codirector’s beating by Israeli settlers during an attack on his home and subsequent arrest by Israeli forces.

In a post to social media, Abraham – who was critical of the academy when it failed to name Ballal – described the vicious attack on the teenager as a “pogrom”.

“Qusai, 17, isn’t an Oscar winner, so people won’t hear about it, but here’s the video of masked settlers beating him with metal rods as his mom screams in the background,” he said.

היום מתנחלים ביצעו פוגרום במסאפר יטא, ואז הציגו נרטיב מופרך שאומץ על-ידי (רוב) העיתונאים בארץ. צפו בסרטון: נערי גבעות רעולי פנים נותנים מכות רצח עם אלות לנער בן 17, קוסאי, כשאמא שלו, עלא, צועקת באימה ברקע. תפעילו סאונד. והנה הסיפור המלא >> pic.twitter.com/O78hbWlL1F

— Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham) March 28, 2025

Medics treating teenage girl, Palestinian man beaten by Israeli forces

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has said its medics are treating an 18-year-old girl and a 40-year-old Palestinian man who were beaten by Israeli forces in their home in the at-Taawon neighbourhood in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

Israeli forces have also arrested Palestinian man Mahmoud Awada after raiding his home in at-Taawon. It’s currently unclear if the two incidents are related.

Israeli forces have also stormed the Qalandiya refugee camp, north of occupied East Jerusalem.

Dozens of Israeli medical reservists refuse return to Gaza: Report

Dozens of reservists from the Israeli military’s Medical Corps have declared their refusal to return to combat in Gaza, according to Israel’s Kan public broadcaster.

Citing a letter on the subject seen by the news outlet, Kan said the reservists refused to return over ethical and legal concerns, as well as the extension of the conflict “beyond all reason”.

The letter, signed by medical professionals of various ranks – including doctors, paramedics, mental health officers and nurses – said the war is causing harm “to civilians on both sides, to Israel’s social fabric, and to the country’s long-term survival”.

The letter also noted that “the takeover of [Palestinian] territories and the call to settle them” stands in “violation of international law”.

Israel’s army is reportedly facing a growing problem of reservists refusing to show up for duty due to fatigue and growing anger at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government.

Increasing number of Israeli officers from ultranationalist groups: Report

Approximately 40 percent of officers in Israeli’s military belong to ultranationalist Jewish Orthodox minority groups, with many of them holding extreme beliefs or actively supporting Israeli settler groups, an Israeli military historian says.

Speaking to The New Yorker magazine, Professor Yoram Peri said that a growing number of graduates of the Israeli army’s infantry officer schools belong to the ultranationalist Jewish Orthodox minority group, with many of them yeshiva religious students and active supporters of the settlement movement.

Peri told the magazine that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has increasingly courted these minority groups to shore up his support while appointing loyalists to key positions within the military.

“A professionalised, secular army is not their goal. Neither is a secular democratic society,” Peri said.

Israel perpetrates attacks on civilian charity kitchens

Israel has destroyed dozens of community kitchens and aid distribution centres in a continuation of its “systematic starvation policy” during its war on Gaza.

The Gaza Media Office said the Israeli army since October 2023 has directly targeted 26 charity kitchens and 37 aid distribution centres across Gaza. “These food-kitchens were providing meals to displaced and starving civilians,” it said a statement.

The attacks reaffirm “to the world that it [Israel] deliberately pursues a systematic starvation policy as a tool of war and genocide against over 2.4 million Palestinians trapped under siege in Gaza”.

Israel shut down Gaza’s border crossings to all aid supplies on March 2, exacerbating a severe humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli forces ‘targeting, obstructing’ medical teams in Gaza: Physicians group

The Israeli branch of US NGO Physicians for Human Rights has said Israel is “responsible for targeting and obstructing medical teams in Gaza” and demanded accountability, a day after the body of a paramedic was recovered from Rafah.

The group said 14 paramedics and civil defence personnel were missing after heading to Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood amid an Israeli siege. “All were responding to the wounded when last seen,” the physicians’ group said on X. Only the body of one civil defence officer has been found so far.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society on Friday said four ambulance vehicles were found completely destroyed and buried in the sand and accused Israel of “deliberately obstructing search efforts to uncover the fate of our missing teams”.

Gaza death toll rises

At least 921 Palestinians have been killed and 2,054 others wounded in the latest wave of Israeli attacks across Gaza, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

The death toll since October 7, 2023, has risen to 50,277 killed and 114,095 injured.

According to the latest ministry update, 25 people were killed in the past 24 hours and 70 taken to hospital.

Witnesses report Palestinian rescuers ‘executed’ by Israeli forces

Other than the sounds of heavy artillery fire and constant buzz of attack drones, people here are also dealing with a heart-wrenching story of a missing rescue team who disappeared seven days ago.

The paramedics went to the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood in Gaza’s southern Rafah city to save Palestinians wounded during Israeli bombing and ground assaults.

Those who managed to escape reported executions of many people by Israeli troops. Over the past few days, in cooperation with the United Nations, the Palestine Red Crescent Society managed to get close to the area where the ambulances went missing.

What they found was the wreckage of the vehicles, largely buried under piles of sand. Testimonies from people who happened to be at the site said the rescue team was executed and buried by the Israeli military. There are no signs they’re still alive.

The Israeli army is not providing answers and deliberately prevented coordination among international organisations for a proper search for the 14 missing civil defence and Red Crescent workers.

Red Crescent ‘in state of shock’ after body, destroyed vehicles found in Rafah

We’ve been reporting on the Gaza rescue team that went missing a week ago in southern Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan district.

Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) members and international agency staff who finally made it to the scene said they found the body of the mission leader, Anwar Abdel Hamid al-Attar, “in dismembered pieces”.

Destroyed ambulances and fire engines were buried and “their features obliterated”.

“Our teams found torn safety equipment worn by the crew at the crime scene. This suggests the Israeli occupation forces directly targeted the crew during their incursion, then deliberately altered the area’s features and concealed the bodies of some civilians using bulldozers and heavy machinery,” the Red Crescent said in a statement.

Thirteen other medics and civil defence agency workers remain missing. “The PRCS expresses deep concern for the safety of its teams and holds Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for their fate,” the Red Crescent said.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu pledges further strikes against Lebanon

Netanyahu said in a statement on the social platform X that those who haven’t internalised the new situation in Lebanon were reminded of what he called “Israel’s resolve and determination”.

He said that the equation has changed. And what is that equation? It’s what the Israeli minister of defence described as Kiryat Shmona for Beirut. So any firing at any community in Israel would be met by striking the capital of Lebanon.

And remember, Israel’s understanding of the ceasefire reached in November 2024 with Hezbollah is that Hezbollah would have to disarm. Hezbollah would have to withdraw north of the Litani River, so about 40 kilometres (24.8 miles) north of the border with Israel. And that Israel would have a free hand to strike at Hezbollah targets, at Hezbollah personnel, at will. And it had the green light from the US administration to do that.

So Israel’s interpretation of that ceasefire means that it can continue to strike, and that is exactly what the Israeli ministers and prime minister are promising to do.

Israel undermines its own cause by continuing attacks on Lebanon

Sultan Barakat from Qatar’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University says Israel’s attack on Beirut was “totally” disproportionate after two rockets were fired from southern Lebanon yesterday but never hit any targets.

“They did the same in Gaza, they agree to a ceasefire and close to the end of stage one they start coming up with excuses trying to extend it, and that has led them to this very vague arrangement with the Lebanese and particularly the Americans,” Barakat told Al Jazeera.

The truce signed in November says nothing about disarming Hezbollah or marginalizing the Lebanese group politically, he added, and “these are issues that developed afterwards.

“The difficulty here is as long as Israel continues to disrespect the ceasefire … it undermines the legitimacy of the Lebanese government. They’re really undermining their own cause by continuing to undertake those attacks,” Barakat told Al Jazeera.

US says Lebanese government is responsible for ‘disarming Hezbollah’

As we previously reported, the Axios news outlet quoted US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus as saying the Lebanese government is “responsible for disarming Hezbollah and all other terrorists”.

In a press briefing held after Israel on Friday conducted its first strikes on Beirut since November, the US State Department has now reiterated this stance, the Reuters news agency reports, quoting an unnamed spokesperson.

“Israel is defending its people and interests by responding to rocket attacks from terrorists in Lebanon,” the spokesperson said.

“As part of the cessation of hostilities agreement, the government of Lebanon is responsible for disarming Hezbollah and we expect the Lebanese Armed Forces to disarm these terrorists to prevent further hostilities,” they added.

_{People gather at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on March 28, 2025}