‘Netanyahu did not commit genocide by himself’: UN expert

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, has warned against pinning all of the blame for what is happening in Gaza on the Israeli prime minister alone.

“The problem will not be resolved by scapegoating him, ignoring the rest,” Albanese wrote in a post on social media.

She stressed Israel’s policies of genocide, occupation and annexation, and apartheid all must be halted.

Now that the wind is changing and everyone starts to oppose the Gaza meat-grinding:

Netanyahu did not commit the genocide by himself. The problem will not be resolved by scapegoating him, ignoring the rest.

1. End genocide.
2. End occupation/annexation.
3. End apartheid.

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) May 31, 2025

If countries won't do it, apparently regions can

Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region cuts ties with Israel

Michele de Pascale, the president of the region, has announced the decision to break off institutional relations with Israel, according to Italian media.

Emilia-Romagna has been running numerous cooperation projects with Israeli entities for years, the il Fatto Quotidiano reported.

According to the newspaper, de Pascale said Emilia-Romagna’s decision was taken “in the face of the very serious violence under way in the Gaza Strip, which continues to severely affect the civilian population, as demonstrated by the dramatic events of recent days in Rafah, and in consideration of the proceedings initiated by the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity“.

Israeli, Palestinian activists meet pope in Vatican to promote peace

Prominent peace activists Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah have met Pope Leo XIV in Vatican City to promote peace as Israel’s war on Gaza rages.

“Peace takes shape from the ground up, beginning with places, communities and local institutions, and by listening to what they have to tell us,” said the pontiff, who called for peace in Gaza shortly after his election earlier this month.

Inon is an Israeli entrepreneur who lost his parents during the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. He has since founded a peace coalition and tried to promote dialogue and understanding.

Abu Sarah is a Palestinian activist from occupied East Jerusalem, whose brother was killed in an Israeli prison after he was arrested during the first Intifada.

Today, His Holiness @Pontifex met 🇮🇱 and 🇵🇸 peace entrepreneurs @maozinon and @AzizAbuSarah for an official visit at the Vatican. This historic welcome for I&P peace leaders reaffirms Vatican support first expressed at Arena di Pace 2024, which helped shape G7 policy last year. pic.twitter.com/YGXNjqQeh5

— ALLMEP (@ALLMEP) May 31, 2025

US envoy Witkoff slams Hamas response as ‘unacceptable’

Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy for the Middle East, has said Hamas’s response to the Gaza ceasefire proposal “is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward”. “Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week,” Witkoff said in a post on X.

“That is the only way we can close a 60-day ceasefire deal in the coming days in which half of the living hostages and half of those who are deceased will come home to their families, and in which we can have at the proximity talks substantive negotiations in good-faith to try to reach a permanent ceasefire.”

As we reported earlier, Hamas said it submitted a response to the proposal that would see 10 living Israeli captives held in Gaza freed and 18 bodies returned in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners.

The Palestinian group stressed its response was within a framework that would ensure a permanent ceasefire, a full and comprehensive withdrawal of the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip, and the free flow of humanitarian aid.

Reuters is quoting a Hamas official as saying the group had responded in a positive way to the Gaza ceasefire proposal presented by Witkoff but is seeking some amendments. The official did not provide details on the amendments being sought by Hamas, the news agency reported.

Separately, Axios reported that Israeli officials said Hamas demanded several changes to the US envoy’s proposal. “Hamas effectively rejects Witkoff’s proposal,” an Israeli official was quoted as saying in a post on X by Axios’s Barak Ravid.

Not the only way, you can stop sending Israel more bombs and impose sanctions.

Netanyahu slams Hamas response to ceasefire proposal, echoing Witkoff

“While Israel has agreed to the updated Witkoff outline for the release of our hostages, Hamas continues to adhere to its refusal. As Witkoff said, Hamas’ response is unacceptable and sets the situation back. Israel will continue its action for the return of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”

Note updated. 

Still the same games as Biden and Blinken were playing:

Hamas official says Witkoff plan offered ‘no guarantees’ for end to war

We’ve been speaking with Hamas official Basem Naim. Here’s some of what he said:

More from Hamas’s Basem Naim

Despite Steve Witkoff’s proposal falling short of Hamas’s demands, the Palestinian group “responded positively and in a very responsible manner”, Naim says.

“We have said, ‘OK – based on the dire situation on the ground, the needs of our people, we have to find a way to find common ground with his proposal’. This is exactly what we have done,” the Hamas official told Al Jazeera.

Naim said Hamas wanted to go into ceasefire negotiations with two proposals on the table, to see how things could move forward.

“The main goal for us is how to secure our people a 60-day temporary ceasefire and enough inflow of humanitarian aid, and at the end of these negotiations, to guarantee a permanent ceasefire or an end to this war.”

Hamas statement includes three ‘unequivocal’ demands

Hamas says it has submitted its response to a proposed ceasefire deal to the US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. Hamas has issued a statement saying, "This proposal aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and ensuring the flow of aid to our people in the Gaza Strip. As part of this agreement, ten living Israeli prisoners held by the resistance will be released, in addition to the return of eighteen bodies in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners."

Prolonging war helps Netanyahu ‘maintain grip on power’

As we’ve been reporting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated that Israel will continue its military assault on Gaza until it secures the release of Israeli captives and destroys Hamas.

But experts – including senior officials within Israel, and other observers, have noted the Israeli prime minister has failed to achieve either of those goals – and he’s unlikely to do so.

Instead, many argue Netanyahu is seeking to prolong the Israeli bombardment of Gaza as a way to maintain his grip on power.

The Israeli leader has faced growing public anger within Israel for failing to secure the captives’ release, with many families urging him to agree to a deal that would see them freed in exchange for a permanent end to the war.

“The prolongation of the war has served a dual purpose for the prime minster: to maintain his grip on power, considering his uncertain political prospects in a future election, and to provide a public distraction and delay to the pending corruption cases against him,” political analyst Thair Abu Ras wrote last month in a policy brief for the Arab Center Washington DC.

“Reshaping the Gaza Strip both geographically and demographically,” Abu Ras added, also “serves Netanyahu’s survival interests as well as his ideological priorities and, crucially, those of his coalition partners.”

10 Police Officers Raided My Home After I Exposed Israel's Lies About October 7th- Asa Winstanley

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to Asa Winstanley, Associate Editor at The Electronic Intifada and a veteran journalist who has covered Palestine and the Israel lobby for over two decades.

He discusses the UK’s attempts to silence his journalism covering the Gaza genocide, the police raid on his home to seize his devices and his ultimate victory in his legal case, the symbiotic relationship between pro-Israel think tanks and the British government, the lack of coverage from the mainstream media on crackdowns against him and other pro-Palestinian journalists, the media’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, social media censorship, whether the genocide marks the beginning of the end of Israel, and much more.

Israel’s BIGGEST MISTAKE Happening Right Now!

Israel has said it will establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation, after a security cabinet vote held in secret last week.

Israel occupied the West Bank, capturing it from Jordan, in the six-day war of 1967. Since then, successive governments have tried to permanently cement Israeli control over the land, in part by declaring swathes as “state lands”, which prevents private Palestinian ownership. These settlements have repeatedly been declared illegal under international law by the United Nations.

The Houthis Just MASSIVELY Expanded Their Air Blockade on Israel!

Following the Israeli raid on Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Houthis, take their aerial blockade of Israel to an all new level! Right, so the Ansar Allah movement, better known as the Houthis have moved from shutting down commercial airspace over Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, to shutting down airspace across more airports further afield, to apparently now having sought to shut down shipping headed to the port of Haifa.

In the aftermath of the US pulling out of the Red Sea and leaving the Houthis behind as Israel’s problem, the Houthis have found a way to once again escalate and widen that aerial blockade over Israel still further and the reaction to it shows it is clearly working.

On one hand no longer is the plan to simply block Israeli airspace, but the flight paths now used by Israel to attack Yemen are now in the target bank. Alongside that however, the shutdown of commercial aircraft flights to and from Israel have widened amid further missile strikes by the Houthis on Israel’s airspace with some airlines now saying it will be months before they resume flights.

In light of the Israeli raid desecrating the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Houthis have rinsed other Muslim states for saying nothing and have taken further steps against Israeli airspace as a result of that and just to round things out a bit more there’s the latest news in the Houthi’s increasing capabilities towards taking down Israeli fighter craft now as well.

Israel are still without an answer to Ansar Allah and they are not backing down at all anytime soon. 

‘Deeply disgusted’: Paris Holocaust memorial, synagogues vandalised

France’s Holocaust memorial, three Paris synagogues, and a restaurant have been vandalised with paint.

An investigation has been opened into “damage committed on religious grounds”, the Paris public prosecutor’s office said, as the Israeli embassy denounced the attack. No arrests have been made.

“I am deeply disgusted by these heinous acts targeting the Jewish community,” French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau posted on X.

Retailleau last week called for “visible and dissuasive” security measures at Jewish-linked sites amid concerns about possible anti-Semitic acts.

Several European nations have reported a spike in “anti-Muslim hatred” and “anti-Semitism” since the start of the Gaza war.

_{Thousands of people march in silence through Paris to protest racism and anti-Semitism}

PSG fans hold ‘Stop genocide in Gaza’ banner at Champions League final

Paris Saint-Germain supporters displayed the banner during the Champions League final.

They raised it shortly after Achraf Hakimi gave their team a 1-0 lead against his former side Inter Milan in the 12th minute.

PSG fans are known for their stance against the war in Gaza, previously displaying a giant banner saying “Free Palestine” in November during the Champions League match against Atletico Madrid.


_{Fans hold a giant banner reading ‘Stop genocide in Gaza’ in French during the UEFA Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan}

Egypt says using ‘all our strength’ to end Gaza war

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty says his country is exerting maximum pressure to end the Israeli onslaught against the Gaza Strip.

“We are pressing with all our strength to end the war on Gaza, and we hope to reach an agreement to stop the bloodshed in Gaza as soon as possible,” Abdelatty said in a news conference in Cairo.

He stressed the “urgent need for unrestricted and full access of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip”. “It is unacceptable to use hunger as a weapon against the Palestinians in Gaza,” said Abdelatty.

Are you really? Egypt is also on the US' payroll, not making any efforts to open their side of the border with Gaza.
The red-line of Israel taking the Philadelphi corridor has come and gone long ago.

Saudi Arabia and Israel: From ‘normalisation’ to confrontation

Earlier, we reported on the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain, alongside the secretary-general of the Arab League, being blocked by Israel from visiting the occupied West Bank to hold talks on the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Had the visit gone ahead, the delegation’s head, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, would have become the first Saudi foreign minister to visit the West Bank.

Firas Maksad, managing director for the Middle East and North Africa at Eurasia Group, said Israel’s rejection of the visit indicated “how far Saudi and Israel have moved from normalisation to diplomatic confrontation”.

The planned visit “underscores just how much the Saudi position has shifted away from creating a credible pathway towards a Palestinian state through conditional normalisation with Israel, to one that aims to create such a path via an international coalition in support of Palestinian aspirations”, Maksad said.

There won't be much confrontation, Saudi-Arabia just signed a $600 billion deal with Trump and relies on US military protection.

https://www.state.gov/u-s-security-cooperation-with-saudi-arabia/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/05/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-secures-historic-600-billion-investment-commitment-in-saudi-arabia/

However normalisation with Israel is getting further off the table.

Main events on May 31st

• Hamas said it filed its response to a US-backed proposal for a Gaza truce deal, refuting Israeli claims it rejected it, but saying it still seeks “a guarantee” of a permanent ceasefire.
• Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy for the Middle East, said Hamas’s response “is totally unacceptable and only takes us backward”.
• Hamas official Basem Naim says Witkoff’s proposal does not guarantee a 60-day temporary ceasefire or increased deliveries of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
• Israel’s military ordered “all residents” of southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, Bani Suheila, and Abasan to evacuate immediately after rockets were fired.
• Foreign ministers of Arab countries who planned to visit the occupied West Bank to discuss a state of Palestine condemned Israel’s decision to block their trip.
• The Israeli army said it killed Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Sinwar in a May 13 attack, confirming Prime Minister Netanyahu’s announcement this week.

Witkoff statement shows US ‘solidly’ behind Israel: Ex-US diplomat

Former US diplomat Robert Hunter says Witkoff made his statement on the US ceasefire proposal as quickly as he did, in part, in order to demonstrate “the Trump administration is solidly in support of the Israeli position”.

“I think Trump is getting a little frustrated because he’s trying to announce a huge success for himself and the negotiating positions of the two sides – Israel and Hamas – are still very far apart,” Hunter told Al Jazeera from Washington, DC.

Still, Hunter noted that Trump has made clear he’s in Israel’s corner by “in effect giving a greenlight to Israel to do whatever it wants militarily, including with American weaponry”.

The US president also has been “giving Israel free play in Gaza”, Hunter added, because he is hoping to reach a nuclear deal with Iran – something the Israeli government is opposed to.

A coalition of conscience needed to stop genocide in Gaza

Eight decades after the Holocaust, another genocide is unfolding – this time with Palestinian children as both victims and witnesses of ethnic cleansing. Each of these children carries a harrowing story the world needs to hear. One day, we may read their accounts in memoirs – if they survive long enough to write them.

But the international community must not wait that long. It must confront the suffering of these children now. That is why we gave children in Gaza a platform to ask the world a searing question: “Why are you silent?”

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/5/30/a-coalition-of-conscience-must-rise-to-stop-israels-genocidal-war-on-gaza

Reporter makes explosive revelation on Netanyahu’s support for Hamas rule in Gaza

Hamas has presented their amended version of the ceasefire deal, which Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, has called unacceptable. But, as Rifat Jawaid explains, the real revelation in this slugfest is Benjamin Netanyahu’s tacit support for Hamas rule in Gaza.

TLDW: Hamas agreed to step down to be replaced by a Palestinian unity government. 

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/16/nx-s1-5077757/gaza-war-hamas-leader-basem-naim-doha-interview

"We are not willing to come back to govern the Gaza Strip," Naim says, though he doesn't say for how long. "What we are calling for is a Palestinian unity government, formed from technocrats who are not affiliated to any faction but supported from all factions … to run the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,"

In the changed ceasefire proposal Israel stripped out that clause... (And note the date, Hamas has been willing to give up governance for nearly a year now)

Walking Tour in Gaza Palestine

Join us on a powerful and educational walking tour through Gaza, Palestine, as we explore the geography, history, and current realities of life in this deeply affected region. This video includes a carefully researched script and voiceover narration, offering insight into Gaza’s past, its cultural resilience, and the human impact of ongoing conflict.

UK Journalist DETAINED, RAIDED And THREATENED On Israel’s Orders

Journalist Richard Medhurst cites a collusion between the UK and Israel in the targeting of himself and other activists.

‘Gaza has won, and Gaza will win’: Arab MK’s speech at anti-war rally draws outrage

https://www.timesofisrael.com/gaza-has-won-and-gaza-will-win-arab-mks-speech-at-anti-war-rally-draws-outrage/

Ayman Odeh, the leader of the predominantly Arab Hadash-Ta’al Knesset party, said at an anti-war rally in Haifa on Saturday that “Gaza has won, and Gaza will win,” drawing condemnation from the right wing.

“Israel has become a pariah state across the world, among all nations and in the West. After more than 600 days [of war], a majority among both peoples says: ‘If only those days had never happened,'” Odeh told the crowd. “It’s a historic loss to the right-wing ideology that was crushed in Gaza. Gaza won, and Gaza will win.”

The [Benjamin] Netanyahu government has normalized the war, and we will normalize the opposition to it,” he continued. “This demonstration marks a turning point in the struggle to end the war, both in the number of participants and in the sharpened political messages.”

Odeh also addressed the weekly anti-government protesters calling for a hostage-ceasefire deal. “Kudos to the demonstrators on Kaplan Street (where weekly rallies are typically held in Tel Aviv),” he said. “But you must recognize the core issue. The [judicial overhaul] stems from the occupation. There is no democracy with occupation.” Turning back to the crowd, Odeh said: “You are the overwhelming majority in the world, you are on the right side of history and the future. The Israeli government is calling for genocide, and when we say these are crimes against humanity, it gets outraged. We will say it to their face: this is genocide, this is ethnic cleansing.”

MK Ahmad Tibi, who leads the Ta’al party, which is part of a joint slate with Hadash, also gave a speech at the same rally in which he read aloud the names of the nine children of the al-Najjar family who Gazan authorities said were killed in an Israeli airstrike last week.

“Every hour, a child is killed in Gaza,” he said. “We’re here to say: stop bombing children, stop the war crimes. “This Knesset is a Kahanist Knesset,” Tibi said, referring to disciples of the late racist rabbi Meir Kahane. “[Itamar Ben Gvir’s] Otzma Yehudit [party] has five or six Kahanists, but the Likud has more Kahanists.” He also likened the rhetoric of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, about the need to conquer Gaza and expel its residents, to Nazi Germany.

Responding to Odeh’s speech, Likud MK Tally Gotliv called him on X a “terror supporter” whose speech “assisted the Gazan enemy.”

Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer condemned Odeh, writing on X: “It isn’t being left-wing or right-wing — it’s being pro-Israel or pro-Hamas. Whoever sides with the enemy cannot serve in the Knesset.”

Energy Minister Eli Cohen wrote on X that Odeh is “a fifth column” and that his “[parliamentary] immunity must be revoked and [he should] be sent to jail or to Gaza.”

...

Odeh doubled down and hit back at his critics, writing on X: “There is, and cannot be, victory over corpses of thousands of dead children, crushed families, starving civilians and total devastation. The right conducted this war out of blind vengeance, and was defeated. It’s a defeat for Netanyahu, Ben Gvir, and anyone who thought an entire people could be defeated through starvation, bombardment and siege.

“Because annihilation is not victory. Life is victory. Only those who see Gazans as ‘terrorists from birth,’ like the government de facto does, can twist my words in this way. Yes, Gaza will win. Life will win.”

Hamas official insists group didn’t reject Witkoff’s offer, slams ‘complete bias’ toward Israel

Hamas changes to hostage deal proposal include demand for 7-year ceasefire, Israeli official says

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/hamas-changes-to-hostage-deal-proposal-include-demand-for-7-year-ceasefire-israeli-official-says/

Hamas has requested a ceasefire lasting up to seven years in its response to the latest hostage and ceasefire proposal from US special envoy Steve Witkoff, an Israeli official confirms to The Times of Israel.

The terror group’s response includes several edits to the framework, among them the demand for a years-long truce, a full IDF withdrawal from all territory captured since March, the cancellation of the new aid distribution model in Gaza, and a return to the previous aid mechanism, Ynet reported earlier.

A source directly involved in the negotiations told The Times of Israel earlier that Hamas demanded changes that would make it harder for Israel to resume its military campaign if talks on a permanent ceasefire are not completed by the end of the 60-day truce.

Netanyahu ‘not interested in ending war on Gaza'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has released a statement saying that Israel had agreed to the proposal presented by the US envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. The statement pointed the finger at Hamas, saying that they are refusing it, even though the Palestinian group said that this is something they were willing to work with.

But Hamas also wanted some conditions that, perhaps, could lead to negotiations for an end to the war. It’s been one of their terms since the beginning of these talks, since the ceasefire deal collapsed back in March when Israel resumed its bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

It’s important to note that from the beginning of these discussions, the Israeli prime minister had been clear that he’s not interested in an end of the war, that he had tough red lines for what it would take for the Israeli assault on Gaza to end.

That included a complete demilitarisation of Hamas and the release of the hostages. It also included Trump’s plan for removing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, something that has been denounced and condemned and is widely considered as ethnic cleansing.

So the Israelis, from the beginning, were not interested in negotiating an end to the war, and the Israeli prime minister is pointing the finger at Hamas for why these talks are not going in the right direction.

_{Israelis protest for captive deal, ceasefire in West Jerusalem}

Ceasefire unlikely in coming days as Witkoff slams Hamas’s response

Steve Witkoff’s statement puts out a huge question now, which is: where does this go next?

Certainly, US President Donald Trump, speaking on Friday, suggested that he thought Hamas was on the verge of accepting the proposals that have been put forward, saying they were hoping to find a way out of what he described as this mess. And, of course, in the past, Trump said, if there wasn’t a ceasefire deal and the release of captives pretty quickly, then there would be hell to pay.

But many people will point to the fact that when Netanyahu visited the White House, Trump effectively gave him the green light to do whatever he wanted to do in Gaza.

It seems that the phrase “permanent ceasefire” may have been a huge obstacle. Hamas wanted that included in any agreement, but the Israelis not so much.

But also, we know that there has been international criticism of the US, suggesting that rather than acting as an honest broker, it tends to favour what the Israelis want.

We had the US say that they were prepared to walk away from the Russia-Ukraine talks. They were prepared to walk away from doing a deal with Iran on its nuclear programme. The question is now, are the US about to walk away from here?

Trump wants to be seen as a peacemaker. So that may be the small sliver of hope here. But what is clear is that there are not going to be any talks in the near future, and certainly no ceasefire in the coming days.

What is Hamas’s response to Witkoff’s proposal?

The Palestinian group says the proposal the group discussed with Witkoff was different from the one finally presented to it.

Earlier, we spoke to Basem Naim, the head of Hamas’s political and international relations. Here’s what he said: