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Forums - Politics - Israel-Hamas war, Gaza genocide

SvennoJ on 20 May 2025

Qatari PM says Israeli aggression derailing peace efforts, no progress in ceasefire talks

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has said unrelenting Israeli attacks on Gaza are eroding renewed hopes for peace that followed the release of American Israeli captive Edan Alexander last week.

“We thought that moment would open a door to end this tragedy, but the response was a more violent wave of strikes,” Sheikh Mohammed said at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. “This irresponsible, aggressive behaviour undermines any potential chance for peace.”

He also provided an update on recent ceasefire negotiations in the Qatari capital, which he says have so far not led anywhere.

“There is a fundamental gap between the two parties,” Sheikh Mohammed said. “One party is looking for a partial deal that might … lead to a comprehensive deal, and the other party is looking just for a one-off deal … and to end the war and to get all the hostages out.”

“We couldn’t bridge this fundamental gap,” he added.


Israel thinking about recalling negotiating team: Report

Israel’s government is considering pulling its negotiating team out of Qatar after a week of talks there, according to local news organisation Channel 12.

The report comes as Qatar’s prime minister says negotiations in the country “didn’t lead us anywhere”, with mediators unable to bridge a “fundamental gap” between Israel and Hamas.

Israel seemed reluctant to send negotiations in the first place, but did so after the US privately negotiated the release of Edan Alexander, an American Israeli soldier who had been held captive in the Gaza Strip.



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SvennoJ on 20 May 2025

World Central Kitchen slams US-Israeli plan for Gaza aid

Chef Jose Andres, the founder of the World Central Kitchen (WCK), says Israel’s plans to set up aid distribution hubs in Israeli-controlled areas in southern Gaza will take weeks to get off the ground and “will leave Palestinians hungry”.

Andres’s comment came in response to a report that the Israeli government plans to let aid into Gaza through the existing UN system for about a week, and then let the US-Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation take over the distribution of supplies.

“The new Humanitarian foundation members should be ashamed of themselves,” Andres said in a post on X. “We already have a system in place to feed all Palestinians with the help of Palestinians….creating jobs and systems in the process…!”

As we’ve been reporting, the UN says it won’t work with the GHF because their distribution plan is not impartial, neutral or independent.

Bombs ‘only thing entering Gaza right now’, says UNRWA

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, says “the Gaza Strip is likely facing its worst humanitarian crisis since October 2023.”

“Intensified Israeli bombardments from air, land, and sea have resulted in hundreds of casualties and mass displacement,” UNRWA said in a post on X.

“For 11 weeks, Israeli authorities have deliberately blocked all supplies to Gaza. The only thing entering Gaza right now are bombs. Nowhere is safe.”



SvennoJ on 20 May 2025

Smotrich accuses France, UK, Canada of ‘moral hypocrisy, anti-Semitism’

Israel’s far-right finance minister has lashed out at the leaders of France, the UK, and Canada after they threatened to take action over Israel’s violations of international law.

“Israel will not bow its head before this moral hypocrisy, antisemitism, and one-sidedness,” Smotrich said in a post on X, accusing the three countries of “morally aligning themselves with a terrorist organisation”.

In particular, Smotrich took issue with the three countries saying they are “committed to recognising a Palestinian state”.

“They have gone so far as to seek to reward terrorism by granting it a state,” Smotrich said in a post on X.

“Israel will never agree to the establishment of a terrorist state in its midst that would endanger its existence and threaten the future of the Jewish people and their one and only state,” he added.

Just more projection, Israel was born out of terrorism. The Likud party has its roots in terrorism and it goes all the way back to the 1920s.


France says Israel’s limited easing of Gaza aid blockade ‘totally insufficient’

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has said “immediate and massive aid is needed” in Gaza, a day after his country signed on to a joint statement with other European countries threatening further action if Israel does not lift its blockade fully.

In an interview with France’s Inter Radio, Barrot said Israel’s partial lifting of the blockade on Monday was “totally insufficient”.

“Indiscriminate violence and the blocking of humanitarian aid by the Israeli government” have turned the besieged territory into “a death trap”, he added.

Barrot also said his government supports a review of the European Union-Israel trade deal, over concerns about Israel meeting its human rights commitments.

His comments come as EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss the trade deal in Brussels today, following a request from the Dutch foreign minister.



SvennoJ on 20 May 2025

EU-Israel trade agreement to come under scrutiny during EU meeting in Brussels

EU ministers are meeting here in Brussels amid growing discontent in Europe [with the war on Gaza].

The Netherlands is going to lead a push to review the EU-Israel Association Agreement. It’s going to be backed by many other countries, including France, Ireland…

But Germany, which is a financial and political heavyweight, has dismissed the push to put into action any sanctions or a review of that trade agreement, saying it has to be given time. Many other countries are sceptical of the push for sanctions or to review the bloc’s trade relationship with Israel.

If they decide today to go forward with this review, it’s going to be a significant diplomatic development.


I doubt anything will come of that, member states will have to put up their own sanctions since Germany or Hungary can easily block this. Netanyahu has Orban in his back pocket and already got Hungary to withdraw from the ICC. Hungary is never going to agree to change the EU-Israel association agreement.

"These agreements, like the EU-Canada CETA, require unanimous approval in the Council and ratification by all Member States' parliaments. This process can be lengthy and complex, as it requires agreement from all 27 Member States, and even a single nation can block the ratification."

Just more show while the member states can easily impose their own sanctions and stop weapon shipments.

"The EU Council adopts sanctions through Council decisions, which must be agreed upon unanimously by member states."
"Some types of sanctions, such as arms embargoes and travel bans, are often implemented individually by member states through their national legislation."

It would be great if the EU could sanction Israel, yet the unanimous vote requirement makes it impossible with Orban certainly voting against.


EU’s top diplomat: Israel’s aid plans for Gaza ‘not enough’

The EU’s foreign policy chief has called for unrestricted aid to flow in Gaza, describing the volumes Israel planned to allow in as “a drop in the ocean”.

Speaking to Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra in Brussels, Kaja Kallas said European ministers gathered in Brussels were set to have a “very hard discussion on Gaza and what is happening there”.

Specifically, the ministers would be discussing a Dutch proposal to review the Association Agreement between the EU and Israel, particularly Article 2, which states that both parties must respect human rights.

“I can’t predict the outcome of this discussion,” she said. “But I think what is important, where we all have similar views, is that humanitarian aid should reach Gaza as soon as possible.”

She said Israel’s decision to allow a limited amount of aid into Gaza, following a months-long blockade, was “welcomed, but it’s not enough”.

“There are thousands of trucks behind the borders waiting,” she said. “It is European money that has funded this humanitarian aid, and it has to reach the people, because the situation is extremely grave.”



SvennoJ on 20 May 2025

Witness video shows Israeli air strike on Khan Younis

A witness video captured an Israeli air strike hitting west Khan Younis in Gaza as people flee tents amid gunfire.

As we’ve been reporting, Israel has warned of an “unprecedented attack” and ordered evacuations, with Netanyahu promising to take control of all of Gaza, despite global pressure and famine fears.



What was the target? Bombing a field?

One woman, one girl killed in Israeli attacks every hour, UN says

The UN agency for women says more than 28,000 women and girls have been killed in Gaza since Israel’s war began in October of 2023.

“That is one woman and one girl on average killed every hour in attacks by Israeli forces,” UN Women said in a statement. “Among those killed, thousands were mothers, leaving behind devastated children, families, and communities.”

The group reiterated its call for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all Israeli captives and the “immediate restoration of unhindered humanitarian access”.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza says Israel’s war has killed at least 53,475 people and wounded 121,398 others. Thousands more are believed to be dead under the rubble across the enclave.


Israeli bombardment killed at least 126 Palestinians and injured dozens more in Gaza on Monday


Israeli soldier killed in Gaza

The Israeli military says the 22-year-old was killed in fighting in northern Gaza on Monday and it is investigating the cause of death.

According to figures published by the military, at least 857 soldiers have been killed since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023.

Death toll from overnight Israeli attacks rises to 60

Palestinian officials tell the AP that Israeli attacks overnight and into this morning killed at least 60 people across the Gaza Strip.

As we’ve been reporting, there have been several attacks with high death tolls since the early hours of this morning.

  • Attacks in northern Gaza on a family home and a school-turned-shelter, killing at least 22 people, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
  • A strike in the central city of Deir el-Balah that killed 13 people, and another in the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp killed 15, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
  • Two strikes in the southern city of Khan Younis killed 10 people, according to Nasser Hospital.


More killed in Khan Younis as Israel continues attacks

Our team on the ground reports that at least five Palestinians have been killed in Khan Younis refugee camp. Three of them, who were killed by Israeli army drone fire, were children.

Khan Younis refugee camp is situated west of the city of Khan Younis, about 2km (1.2 miles) from the Mediterranean coast.



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SvennoJ on 20 May 2025

Today’s death toll in the Gaza Strip rises again

Medical sources say Israeli attacks have killed at least 73 people in the territory since the early hours of this morning.

Homes and shelters housing displaced people are among the sites that have been hit.


Palestinians inspect the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli attack, in Gaza City


Footage shows Gaza City school in flames

Earlier today, we brought you reports of Israel’s attack on Gaza City’s Musa bin Nusair School, which killed at least 12 people.

Footage of the aftermath of the attack posted on Instagram, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency, shows the school completely engulfed in flames, with victims’ cries heard in the background.

“People are burning,” says a man documenting the scene.

This footage has been deemed too graphic for inclusion on this live page.

Kuwait condemns Israeli targeting of Sheikh Hamad Hospital in Gaza

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned Israel’s targeting of the Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics in Gaza City on Monday as a “flagrant violation of international law, international humanitarian law, and humanitarian norms”.

In a statement on X, the ministry warned against Israel’s escalation in Gaza and its “continued perpetration of systematic crimes against the defenceless Palestinian people without deterrence or accountability”.

It called on the international community and the UN Security Council to assume their responsibilities in protecting Palestinians, their institutions and ensuring the “immediate delivery of aid and humanitarian relief supplies to them, while respecting their right to a safe and dignified life”.

On Monday, artillery shelling struck the hospital, which has been out of service for days due to intense Israeli attacks that have damaged the facility.


Palestinian paracyclist among those killed in Gaza

A Palestinian paracyclist who lost his leg to an Israeli missile 11 years ago has been killed in an air raid on southern Gaza, his team says.

Ahmed  al-Dali, a 33-year-old father of four, was a member of a paracycling team known as the Gaza Sunbirds. He was killed in an Israeli air attack on Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Monday night, the team said in a statement.

Al-Dali had worked as a bike mechanic prior to the outbreak of war in 2023, the team said.

“Ahmed survived the missile that took his leg in 2014, but… a second missile took his life,” said his cousin Alaa al-Dali, the cycling team’s cofounder and captain. “He was a great person filled with positivity and a love for sport.”

Al-Dali lost his leg in an Israeli bombing in 2014, when he was pronounced dead and taken to a morgue before his family discovered he had survived. He also played para-football and joined the Sunbirds alongside other amputee athletes three years ago.

“Ahmed’s courage on the bike was matched only by his devotion to his children and his community,” Karim Ali, the cofounder and team manager of the Sunbirds, said in a statement, calling on international sporting bodies, disability‑rights organisations and humanitarian agencies to take urgent action to protect civilians in Gaza.


Ahmed al-Dali (centre) was killed in an Israeli attack on Gaza on Monday


Gaza’s death toll rises

Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 87 people and wounded 290 during the past 24-hour reporting period, according to the latest daily update by the Health Ministry in the besieged and bombarded territory.

The casualties bring the total number of people confirmed killed in Gaza during the war to 53,573 with 121,688 wounded, the ministry said.

Many victims are still missing under the rubble where rescuers cannot reach them, it added.



SvennoJ on 20 May 2025

UN says about 100 trucks approved to enter Gaza today

The UN humanitarian office’s spokesman Jens Laerke made the announcement at a news briefing in Geneva, calling it a major jump from the nine trucks cleared for entry yesterday.

He said the incoming trucks contain baby food and nutritious products for children. “The next step is to collect them, and then they will be distributed through the existing system, the one that has proven itself,” he added.

We will update you if and when the aid trucks are allowed into the Strip, as Israel has previously promised to let aid in, without following through.

No relief yet for Gaza’s hunger crisis

Israel has repeatedly denied there is a hunger crisis in Gaza. That’s despite the overwhelming evidence – images that come out of the devastated areas of children queueing in front of community kitchens to get food – and alarming reports issued by UN agencies.

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, stated that over 92 percent of Gaza’s houses have been destroyed or damaged by the Israeli military, and they have repeatedly stated that Gaza is experiencing a full-blown famine.

Here on the ground, what we can see and have heard is that despite the Israeli decision to allow aid into Gaza, nothing has been transferred. They say Gaza needs approximately 500 humanitarian aid trucks and 50 fuel trucks to get in on a daily basis to alleviate the current crisis.

Israel is preparing to transfer the responsibility of the aid distribution process to the newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is expected to start operating by the end of this month through distribution hubs in the southern part of Gaza.

It means that people who are in desperate need will be forced to travel a long distance and encounter different security challenges to reach the aid distribution centres – an approach that’s been widely rejected by humanitarian organisations and countries in the region.


UN official warns 14,000 babies could die in next 48 hours without aid

Tom Fletcher, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, has warned 14,000 babies are at risk of dying in the next 48 hours if aid doesn’t reach them – a figure he called “utterly chilling”.

“We need to flood the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid,” he said in an interview with the BBC. “I want to save as many of these 14,000 babies as we can in the next 48 hours.”



SvennoJ on 20 May 2025

‘Women, children look like they haven’t eaten in weeks’

Claire Manera, emergency coordinator of medical aid group Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, says conditions in Gaza are “like nothing [she’s] ever seen”, with people flooding into clinics malnourished and displaced.

Israel’s nearly three-month aid blockade, which the government has said it is just starting to ease, has caused enormous harm to women and children in particular, says Manera.

“I see women and children who look like they haven’t eaten for weeks,” she told Al Jazeera from central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah. “We know that they’re suffering because they can’t find a safe place to sleep at night and the hospital facilities that are open are becoming fewer and fewer because they’re being targeted.”

Manera said her team has yet to see any aid on the ground from a first batch of nine trucks cleared for entry yesterday. “And nine trucks is nothing compared to the need here,” she added. “We need access to our own aid and we need to be able to use this impartially for the population.”


Starving Palestinians resort to eating animal feed, flour mixed with sand

The urgent calls to get humanitarian aid into Gaza are being made against a backdrop of acute suffering among Palestinians.

According to the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), more than 93 percent of children in Gaza – about 930,000 – are at risk of famine due to the ongoing war and blockade.

Since early March, at least 57 children are reported to have died from malnutrition.

If Israel’s blockade of the Strip continues, it says, nearly 71,000 children under the age of five are expected to suffer acute malnutrition during the next 11 months.

Families in Gaza are resorting to eating animal feed, expired flour and flour mixed with sand, while children suffer from hunger-induced illnesses such as diarrhoea and extreme fatigue.


UNRWA chief says he fears Gaza could reach a point where it becomes unlivable

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency, warns that Israel’s expanding operations could eventually create conditions where Palestinians are not able to live in Gaza.

“What I see for the time being is a continuation of the destruction, of the deaths and killing of the Palestinians in Gaza. And my fear is that we might reach a point where Gaza might not be a land any more for Palestinians to live in,” he said in a media interview.

Top Israeli officials have said as much in public comments as to their plans and goals for the enclave.


‘No sign yet’ of aid entering Gaza today

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reports that there are still no signs of aid trucks entering Gaza today, after the United Nations said Israel had cleared 100 trucks to go in.

Even this number of trucks would be “a drop in the ocean of needs,” said Abu Azzoum from central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah.

It's already 6PM in Gaza...



SvennoJ on 20 May 2025

UK ‘horrified’ by Israeli escalation, to outline response today: Starmer

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he and his French and Canadian counterparts are “horrified” by Israel’s escalation in Gaza, a day after the three countries released a joint statement threatening to issue sanctions against Israel.

“We repeat our demand for a ceasefire as the only way to free the hostages, we repeat our opposition to settlements in the West Bank, and we repeat our demand to massively scale up humanitarian assistance into Gaza,” Starmer told parliament.

The prime minister added that Foreign Secretary David Lammy would later today outline Britain’s “response in detail”.

“We must coordinate our response because this war has gone on for far too long,” he said.


UK sanctions Israeli settler groups, activists

The UK has announced sanctions on a number of individuals and groups in the occupied West Bank who it said have been linked with acts of violence against Palestinians.

Among those targeted is Zohar Sabah, who the government says is involved in threatening, perpetrating, permitting and supporting acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians.

In November, the US also sanctioned Sabah for engaging in “acts of violence” in the West Bank.

The UK has also sanctioned Daniella Weiss, an outspoken activist, for the creation of more illegal settlements.


‘The world is judging,’ British foreign secretary says

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has announced a pause in trade deal negotiations with Israel and summoned Israel’s ambassador over its expansion of its military assault on Gaza.

Lammy said Israel’s conduct in its war on Gaza and the government’s support for illegal settlements is “damaging our relationship with your government”.

“I have seen for myself the consequences of settler violence, the fear of its victims, the impunity of its perpetrators. Today we are demonstrating again that we will continue to act against those that are carrying out heinous abuses of human rights,” Lammy told parliament as he announced sanctions on three people and four entities in the occupied West Bank.

The foreign secretary urged Netanyahu to return to a ceasefire to ease the suffering of people in the conflict. “The world is judging. History will judge them [Israel],” Lammy added.

“Blocking aid, expanding the war, dismissing the concerns of your friends and partners – this is indefensible, and it must stop,” he said, reiterating that the two-state solution remains the “only framework for a just and lasting peace”.



SvennoJ on 20 May 2025

UK pauses free trade agreement negotiations with Israel

Earlier we reported that the British foreign secretary had announced the formal pause of free trade agreement negotiations with Israel over its war on Gaza.

“While the UK government remains committed to the existing trade agreement in force, it is not possible to advance discussions on a new, upgraded FTA with a Netanyahu government that is pursuing egregious policies in the West Bank and Gaza,” a government press release read.

The pause comes as Lammy announced sanctions on settler organisations and activists, a day after Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the French and Canadian leaders threatened sanctions on Israel due to its actions in Gaza.

Moreover, British Minister for the Middle East Hamish Falconer has also summoned Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely over the expansion of military operations in Gaza.

Just a pause on negotiations to extend the trade agreement for now.

Gaza aid blockade ‘cruel and indefensible’, says UK minister

The British parliamentary undersecretary of state for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, says the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, has been summoned due to the Netanyahu government’s “opposition to the wholly disproportionate escalation of military activity in Gaza” and the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Falconer said he will emphasise to Hotovely that the 11-week blockade on aid to Gaza has been “cruel and indefensible”.

“Israel must abide by its obligations under international humanitarian law and ensure full, rapid, safe and unhindered provision of humanitarian assistance to the population in Gaza. The limited amount of aid entering is simply not enough,” Falconer said.

“We must get an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages, and a path to a two-state solution is the only way to ensure the long-term peace and security of both Palestinians and Israelis,” he added.


Israel slams UK moves over its war on Palestine

Israel has denounced the British government decision to pause free trade agreement negotiations and impose sanctions on illegal settlers over violence against Palestinians Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

“Even prior to today’s announcement, the free trade agreement negotiations were not being advanced at all by the current UK government,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry called the UK sanctions “unjustified and regrettable.”

“The British Mandate ended exactly 77 years ago,” it said.