Palestine today
Don’t say you didn't know
Ahmed Abdelaal, 7, who shows signs of malnutrition, poses for a photo at his family's tent at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Mawasi Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip, on Friday.Credit: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP
Goal of Israel’s renewed assault is ‘complete occupation’ of Gaza: Israeli ministers
The goal of Israel’s renewed onslaught is the “complete occupation of the Gaza Strip,” Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar said on Monday, Anadolu Agency reports. The Israeli minister claimed that the ongoing military assault will force the Palestinian group Hamas to release Israeli captives and go into exile outside Gaza.
Netanyahu’s office said early Monday that Israel’s Security Cabinet unanimously approved a plan to expand its ongoing military onslaught on Gaza and occupy territories inside the enclave.
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, for his part, said the Israeli army will not withdraw from Gaza. “We are finally going to occupy the Gaza Strip. We will stop being afraid of the word ‘occupation,’” Smotrich told Israeli Channel 13.
Israeli TV producer calls for 'Gaza holocaust, gas chambers'
A famous television producer in Israel has come under intense scrutiny following the uncovering of a series of inflammatory social media posts in which he called for a "Holocaust" against the people of Gaza. Elad Barashi, who has worked in the Israeli entertainment industry for several years, sparked outrage after posting on X: "Good morning, let there be a Shoa (Holocaust) in Gaza."
In another post, he wrote, "I can't understand the people here in the State of Israel who don't want to fill Gaza with gas showers... or train cars... and finish this story! Let there be a Holocaust in Gaza." "Who is the fool who says there are ‘innocents’ in Gaza? Who is the despicable scoundrel who wants to let them flee to Arab countries or Europe freely?" The timing of the remarks amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza due to Israel's intensification of its war and blockade on Gaza further fuelled the backlash.
Fuel in Gaza hospitals sufficient for only 3 days: Health ministry
Gaza’s Health Ministry warned on Sunday that fuel reserves in the enclave’s hospitals will only last for three more days, Anadolu Agency reported. “The Israeli occupation is preventing international and UN organizations from accessing fuel storage areas designated for hospitals under the pretext that these areas are located in ‘red zones’,” said the ministry in a statement.
It added that the limited fuel currently available “is only sufficient to sustain hospital operations for three days.”
Hospitals across the war-torn territory rely heavily on generators to power intensive care units, operating rooms, and other critical departments, due to the collapse of the local power grid under months of Israeli bombardment. “The obstruction of fuel supplies poses a direct threat to the functioning of hospitals,” the ministry emphasized, warning of the risk of a total shutdown of vital medical services.
Netanyahu backs ministers calling to starve Gaza as UN warns of war crimes
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come to the defence of extremist ministers in his government who called for a continued blockade on aid to Gaza, even as UN agencies report an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged enclave. During a late-night security cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu brushed off concerns raised by Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi, who had warned that starvation as a tactic of war could constitute a serious violation of international law. Far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Orit Strook had claimed that there was "no need to bring aid into Gaza" and that "they have enough", prompting Halevi to respond sharply: "You are putting all of us at risk. There is international law, and we are bound by it. We cannot starve the population."
In the same meeting, the cabinet approved an expansion of military operations in Gaza and gave preliminary backing to a future mechanism for distributing humanitarian aid via foreign companies - a move framed by officials as part of a pressure strategy on Hamas to release Israeli captives. But the UN has rejected this proposal outright. Speaking from Gaza City on Saturday, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesperson Olga Cherevko described the situation as "running on empty". She said that since March, when Israel sealed all entry points into Gaza for cargo, "food stocks have now mainly run out, water access has become impossible", and children were being deprived of their childhood as they rummaged through trash for scraps of food or fuel.
Israel to 'occupy Gaza' as cabinet approves expanded war
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said his country will "finally" occupy the Gaza Strip as Benjamin Netanyahu's government orders the war on the Palestinian enclave to be expanded. The far-right minister said Israel will not withdraw from Gaza even if Israeli captives will be freed in return, noting that their release is only possible if Hamas is "subdued".
"We are finally going to occupy the Gaza Strip. We will stop being afraid of the word ‘occupation,'" Smotrich told Channel 12 journalist Amit Segal during a news conference. Israel's plan to expand its assault in Gaza is different to previous operations, with a political source telling Ynet that Netanyahu told ministers: "We are moving from the method of raids to occupying the territories and remaining in them."
UK 'in discussion' with France and Saudi Arabia over Palestinian statehood
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said the UK government is involved in discussions with France and Saudi Arabia about recognising a Palestinian state ahead of a key United Nations conference on the issue in June. Speaking to the House of Lords’ international relations and defence committee on Wednesday, Lammy said it was “unacceptable” that the Palestinian people remained stateless, and said a two-state solution remained the only option.
He acknowledged for the first time that the UK was working with France and Saudi Arabia in the run-up to the UN conference in New York to “to ensure we keep two states alive”. French President Emmanuel Macron recently said that France, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, could recognise Palestine at the conference. Asked when the UK government was likely to follow the 148 UN member states who have already recognised Palestine, Lammy said no one had a veto over when that happened.
Spain to boost funding for UN investigation into war crimes in Gaza
Spain will contribute an additional €500,000 (over $560,000) to support UN investigations into human rights violations and possible war crimes committed in Gaza, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced Monday, Anadolu reports. “With the aim of ending these violations of international law and with the desire to ensure accountability, I announce that we will support the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in increasing its investigative efforts into human rights violations and war crimes that may have been committed in Gaza,” Albares told Spain’s Committee on Foreign Affairs.
He called the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza amid Israeli aid blockade “totally and absolutely unacceptable,” holding Tel Aviv responsible for “causing an unprecedented famine.” “The urgent entry of food is necessary to save the lives of innocent Palestinians,” he said. “The civilian population of Gaza deserves dignity and peace, and Spain demands it and will continue to demand it.”
Bill that would punish Americans boycotting Israel pulled from US Congress
The bipartisan bill that sought to impose $1m fines and jail time was attacked by Trump's allies as an attack on free speech. An anti-boycott, divestment and sanctions bill scheduled for a vote on Monday has been pulled from the US Congress after severe backlash from several “America First” Republican lawmakers and social media podcasters.
“I’m told we are no longer voting on this. It’s been pulled,”
Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X on Monday, in reference to the bill that particularly targets Israel. Congressman Thomas Massie, a libertarian Republican who is critical of Israel’s influence on Capitol Hill, also confirmed the bill "has been pulled from the schedule for this week”.
Late Pope Francis requested popemobile to serve as Gaza health clinic
As requested by the late Pope Francis before his passing, his vehicle, known as the 'popemobile', will be repurposed into a mobile clinic in Gaza. In one of his final gestures of compassion before his death, Pope Francis requested that his popemobile be repurposed as a mobile health clinic for children in Gaza. The initiative, announced this week, is intended to provide urgent medical support to the Palestinian enclave, where the healthcare system has been devastated by Israel, which has waged 19 months of devastating war, as well as blockading it.
The vehicle in question is the modified Jeep used by Pope Francis during his 2014 visit to the Holy Land. It is being outfitted with medical equipment by Caritas Jerusalem, a Catholic humanitarian organisation operating in the region. Once operational, the vehicle will offer diagnostic care, vaccinations, and emergency aid to children and families in areas of the Strip cut off from functioning hospitals.
As the International Court of Justice takes its next steps on investigating and prosecuting war crimes in Israel’s war on Gaza, the top expert on Palestine at the United Nations is pushing for even more international accountability. In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with The Intercept, U.N. special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese, called for top European Union officials — including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — to face charges of complicity in war crimes over their support for Israel during its 18-month assault on Gaza.
“The fact that the two highest figures of the EU continue business as usual engagements with Israel is beyond deplorable,” Albanese said. “I’m not someone who says, ‘History will judge them’ — they will have to be judged before then. And they will have to understand that immunity cannot equate with impunity.”
Israeli soldiers blow up building in Gaza and laugh about ‘gender reveal’
‘It’s a boy!’ Israeli soldiers have filmed themselves blowing up a building in Gaza while laughing that the blue smoke resembles a ‘gender reveal’.
P&I authors expose Israeli atrocities, but with what effect?
In his emotional victory speech after winning the 3 May election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese referred to Australian values such as kindness, and Foreign Minister Penny Wong described him as a man of compassion. As Albanese was speaking, Al Jazeera news reported that Israel’s blockade of Gaza had starved 57 Palestinians to death and was preventing a humanitarian aid convoy from entering Gaza. Kindness and compassion highlighted in the Labor Party celebrations could have included pleading for Israeli slaughter and famine to end. Nothing was said. In Australia’s dealings with Israel and Palestine, business as usual means nothing is likely to be said.
Israel’s claims that starving and killing Palestinian children is not only a means of defending their country, but also a defence of civilisation, should be condemned and ridiculed, never repeated by newsreaders and outlawed by all politicians. Challenging that way of thinking and acting has to address more than the current readership of Pearls and Irritations.
Palestinians, let alone humanity, can’t afford to have more of the same and should not experience another day when leading politicians and mainstream media behave as though Gaza never happened, as though Australia was not complicit, as though silence about Israeli depravity is the responsible way to respond. Never again.