Merchant ship sinks in Red Sea; Iranian foreign minister questions global silence

In a massive development, a merchant ship has sunk in the Red Sea after being attacked by rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons forcing the crew to abandon the vessel. Rifat Jawaid says the Houthis have not claimed responsibility for this attack yet. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi has questioned the international silence on the illegal military attacks on Tehran by Israel and the US. He was speaking at the ongoing BRICS summit in Brazil.

Israel's Genocide Goes on Trial… But Not in The Hague

Israel's genocide is being put on trial, but in one of the least likely places you might have imagined - but the consequences could be huge. The Caribbean, once upon a time of course it was the backdrop for colonial conquest and slave plantations, but they are now flipping the script on all of that and taking a stand in court against that more present day colonial project, that being the genocidal apartheid state of Israel.

As Western governments tie themselves in diplomatic knots defending the indefensible over Gaza, the West Bank and beyond, a wave of moral clarity has crashed in from a rather unexpected quarter. These small island nations, often ignored on matters of international justice, are now wielding all of their legal tools and anti-colonial credentials to stand up for Palestine. What began as whispers of protest beneath the palm trees have grown into a coordinated regional demand for accountability, with courtrooms in Barbados now doing what too many in the West dare not: calling Israel’s actions in Gaza by their true names—genocide, apartheid, and war crimes.

It’s another one of those moments where the world is reminded that true justice doesn’t always come from the biggest voices or the most powerful militaries—it often comes from those who remember all too clearly what injustice looks like because they’ve lived it, survived it, and built their nations from the ruins of it. Now, they are demanding the world pay attention to them as they take on Israel, so naturally Western media haven’t said a dickie bird about it have they?

Right, so in a quiet courtroom in Bridgetown, Barbados, a case is unfolding that could shake the foundations of international law and diplomatic convention, largely it has to be said, because they’re shaming much bigger and more powerful judiciaries for doing what they won’t. Nom, all of this is happening in a small Caribbean nation whose moral clarity and legal resolve are making those larger judiciaries look as weak and pathetic as they are. The Caribbean—often dismissed rather unfairly as something of a geopolitical backwater—is asserting itself as a principled force on the global stage, refusing to remain complicit in the atrocities being committed in Gaza.

Iran says it won’t allow IAEA boss to ‘set foot’ on its soil amidst spying charges

In a huge development, a top aide to the Speaker of the Iranian parliament has said that IAEA Chief Rafael Grossi will never be welcome in Iran amidst allegations that he passed sensitive information on Iranian nuclear scientists to Israel. Rifat Jawaid explains the significance of this statement made by Ebrahim Amir Rasouli in light of Iran starting a new chapter of nuclear ambiguity.

Israel says Houthis launched 2 more missiles overnight

Israel’s military says two missiles were launched from Yemen in the early hours of this morning, shortly after Israeli forces bombed three ports and a power plant in the Gulf state.

It said it attempted to intercept the projectiles and is investigating if the bids were successful. Israel’s emergency service said it has not received reports of impact or casualties.

This comes after the Houthis claimed to have fired a missile towards Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Sunday.

Houthis vow to continue Gaza support until Israeli attacks end

A senior Houthi official has reaffirmed the group’s commitment to Palestinians, saying operations to support Gaza will not stop until Israeli attacks on the enclave end and the siege is lifted.

On Sunday, the Yemeni group said it had fired a ballistic missile at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport. Later, the Israeli army targeted the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Isa and as-Salif along the Red Sea coast, as well as the Ras Kanatib power plant. It said it also struck a radar system on the Galaxy Leader ship, which was seized by the Houthis and remains docked in Hodeidah.



The Houthis, who control Sanaa as well as large parts of western and northern Yemen, have been carrying out missile and drone attacks against Israel since November 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Houthis target vessel in Red Sea

The Houthis say they have attacked the vessel Magic Seas and it is now at risk of sinking.

The group’s spokesperson Yahya Saree said the Houthis used two unmanned boats rigged with explosives, five ballistic and winged missiles, and three unmanned aerial drones to hit the ship, which is now in danger of sinking.

He said the ship belonged “to a company that violated the ban on entering the ports of occupied Palestine”, and warned other companies that their ships could similarly be “legitimate targets for our forces” if they do not stay clear of Israel.

Houthis claim sinking Magic Seas vessel after assault

Yemen’s Houthi military spokesperson says the cargo ship it targeted in an attack has now sunk in the Red Sea.

“By the grace and power of God, the ship Magic Seas completely sank in the depths of the sea after our armed forces targeted it in response to the company that owns the vessel’s repeated violations of the ban on entry into occupied Palestinian ports,” Yahya Saree said on social media.

“The latest of these violations was the entry of three of its ships into occupied Palestinian ports last week, despite warnings and appeals issued by our naval forces.”

New ship attack west of Yemen’s Hodeidah

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reports a new ship attack some 51 nautical miles (94km) west of Yemen’s Hodeidah port.

The ship was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades from a small boat, similar to the assault by the Houthis on Sunday. 

Ten injured in Israeli air raids on southern Lebanon on Sunday

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says at least 10 people were wounded in Israeli air raids in southern Lebanon on Sunday. According to the ministry, one attack on Rahhal Tower in Tyre wounded nine people, while another raid on Zrarieh, in Sidon, wounded a child, the National News Agency reported.

Israel has kept up its bombardment of Lebanon despite a November 27 US-brokered ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah.

US envoy praises Lebanon’s response to disarm Hezbollah

US envoy Thomas Barrack says he is “unbelievably satisfied” by the Lebanese authorities’ response to a request to disarm Hezbollah.

“I’m unbelievably satisfied with the response,” Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy to Syria, told a news conference after meeting President Joseph Aoun.

He warned that “the rest of the region is moving at Mach speed, and you will be left behind”, noting that “dialogue has started between Syria and Israel, just as the dialogue needs to be reinvented by Lebanon”.

Barrack’s remarks come a day after Hezbollah chief Basem Naim said the Lebanese group remains open to peace, but it will not disarm or back down from confronting Israel until it ends its air raids and withdraws from southern Lebanon.

French jurists appeal to judge to stop military shipment to Israel

Jurists for the Respect of International Law (JURDI) have appealed to an administrative judge to suspend the delivery of military cargo destined for Israel.

The group of French lawyers and jurists says it “filed an urgent request with the Administrative Court of Montreuil, France” to suspend the military cargo in transit through France’s Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport to Elbit Systems in Israel from Swedish company Swebor Stal Svenska AB.

“Elbit Systems, the main arms supplier to the Israeli army, plays a central role in the current war effort, including in the Gaza Strip,” the group said in a statement shared on X.

JURDI said it wanted to alert French authorities to “possible complicity” in international crimes, which it said were “incompatible with the values ​​of the French people”.

“Authorising the uncontrolled transit of armoured vehicles destined for Elbit Systems would be equivalent to facilitating, from French territory, the commission of international crimes already denounced by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.”

Iran’s Pezeshkian presses US for ‘peace’ but says there’s no trust

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian says he wants stability and believes US President Donald Trump has a choice as he “can lead the region towards peace and tranquility or, on the other hand, towards forever wars”.

“We see no problem in re-entering the negotiations,” Pezeshkian told US conservative media personality Tucker Carlson in a video interview conducted via a translator.

But he said Israel committed “atrocities” by attacking Iran and killing hundreds just days before Iran and the US were to hold a sixth round of negotiations mediated by Oman.

“How can we trust the US again? How will we know that in the middle of the talks, the Israeli regime will not be given permission to attack us again?”

Pezeshkian said another war would only further destabilise the Middle East, which will not be in the interest of the US, either.

Death toll rises in Israel’s war on Gaza

The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 105 bodies and 356 wounded people were brought to hospitals across Gaza over the past 24 hours.

Since Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas on March 18, at least 6,964 Palestinians have been killed and more than 24,576 wounded.

Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed at least 57,523 Palestinians and wounded 136,617, with thousands believed to be buried under the rubble.

GHF food aid resumes in Gaza

The controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says it’s distributing food again at its sites in the Strip after the US and Israeli-backed group suspended operations on Sunday, claiming two US contractors were hurt in an attack at one of its sites.

“All we know from yesterday was that operations were suspended at four of its sites. And now, all of a sudden, there is a statement that appears on their website [that services have resumed],” Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said.

Mahmoud said most people here in Gaza are “off the grid, without reliable internet access”. “Relying solely on updates posted on a website is ineffective when social media is far more accessible,” he added.

At least 750 Palestinians have been killed by attacks targeting the aid distribution sites since May 27.

Field hospitals in Gaza struggle to secure blood under Israeli siege

The director of field hospitals in Gaza, Marwan al-Hams, has spoken to Al Jazeera about the shortage of blood in the besieged enclave, and here is what he has said:

Doctors alarmed at rising meningitis cases in Gaza’s children

The World Health Organization and medical charity Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) warn that conditions in Gaza after 21 months of war have increased the risks of meningitis spreading.

“There’s been a rise in meningitis cases in children,” said Dr Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories. “We are very concerned.”

At Nasser Hospital in southern Khan Younis, Dr Ahmad al-Farra, head of the paediatrics and maternity department, reported nearly 40 cases of newly admitted viral and bacterial meningitis in the last week.

In Gaza City to the north, the paediatrics department at al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital has recorded hundreds of cases in recent weeks.

Hospitals still operating are overwhelmed with beds full and severe shortages of vital antibiotics. “There is no space in the hospitals,” said Dr Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, deputy medical coordinator for MSF in Gaza. “There is no space to isolate.”

Airborne and life-threatening bacterial meningitis can spread in overcrowded tents, according to the WHO. Viral meningitis, though less serious, often spreads through the fecal-oral route, meaning it can easily spread in shelters with poor sanitation.

Children among wounded after Israeli attack on al-Mawasi

The Civil Defence agency in Gaza says its crews transported several wounded Palestinians, mostly children and women, after Israeli warplanes targeted the tents of displaced people in the al-Mawasi area.

This is the area, located in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, that Israel calls a “humanitarian zone”, but has targeted numerous times with deadly effect for civilians.

Israeli forces demolishing homes in occupied West Bank

Israelis pin ceasefire hopes on US pressure on PM Netanyahu

People in Israel who are hoping for a ceasefire deal are counting on US President Donald Trump – rather than Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – to secure an agreement.

There is broad consensus in Israel that without Trump’s pressure, Netanyahu wouldn’t have gone in the direction of a ceasefire for 60 days.

In the meantime, there are people who don’t want any deal. They don’t want any kind of ceasefire because they see it as an unacceptable concession.

According to many observers, Netanyahu is doing two things: on the one hand, he’s buying time until the end of the month, when the Knesset goes into recess and none of his allies can take down the government.

But in Washington, what he will be looking for are political dividends that go beyond Gaza in terms of ease of going back to the war on Gaza, on Iran, on Lebanon, and normalising relations with neighbours in the region.