Middle East Eye

Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, faced accusations of “double standards” after giving different answers to questions on whether the EU believes war crimes have been committed by Israel and Hamas in an Al Jazeera interview aired on Monday.

“Al-Shifa hospital is now not really a hospital.” In a recent report by Sky News, the World Health Organization has described Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital as a “death zone.” Journalist Dominic Waghorn sheds light on the critical situation inside the hospital, which has deteriorated to the point of being barely functional.

The West refuses to see Israel for what it is, partly because it’s a reminder of its own history.

An investigation into the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel found that an Israeli army helicopter, that arrived on the scene of the Nova music festival that was targeted, was potentially responsible for at least some of the deaths of Israelis, as the helicopter “hit festival goers” as well as Hamas operatives, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported on Saturday.

‘We are coming to Gaza. We are coming to Lebanon. We will come to Iran. We will come everywhere' Shay Golden, on Israel’s Channel 14, threatens Palestinians, stating that they can't imagine how many will be killed and slaughtered. He states that these killings will not be witnessed in all Arab history.

"There are no non-combatants in the Gaza Strip" The former head of Israeli intelligence, Rami Igra, told CNN there were no non-combatants in Gaza because Hamas won an election in 2006. Speaking to Anderson Cooper, Igra claimed that most of Gaza's population were part of Hamas, but Israel was treating them as regular civilians. More than 13,000 have been killed in Gaza since the start of Israel's assault on the strip, at least 5,500 of them children.

On October 1999, the world-renowned anti-Apartheid leader, Nelson Mandela, embarked on a historic journey to the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, leaving an indelible mark on the shared struggle for justice between Palestine and South Africa.

“What the [Israeli] settlers are doing amounts to outright ethnic cleansing.” The former French Ambassador to Israel and the United States, Gerard Araud, denounced the actions of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, describing them as “outright ethnic cleansing”, and called for a “firm” reaction from the European community. Araud said the settlers “are taking advantage of the current tragedy to harass the Palestinians, even more than they usually do,” making the concept of a two-state solution “almost impossible.”

Hundreds of people gathered outside Downing Street in London on Saturday afternoon for a vigil mourning the lives of children and families killed in Gaza by Israeli Air Strikes.

“It’s an exodus under our watch, a river of people being forced to flee their home.” The UNRWA Commissioner General, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a press conference on Thursday that the world is witnessing “the largest displacement of Palestinians since 1948”, describing the scale of destruction and loss in Gaza as “staggering.” Lazzarini alluded to the Palestinian Nakba or catastrophe, referring to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist forces to make way for the creation of Israel in 1948, saying that some Palestinians “were forced to relive the unlivable trauma from the past, mostly unhealed.”

Speaking on Sky News, journalist Rachel Shabi, said Israel's self-defense cannot come at expense of another people and their rights.

During an interview on ITV, Medical Aid for Palestinians CEO Melanie Ward recounted an incident involving a team member who urgently raced to al Shifa Hospital to rescue his niece amidst the encirclement by the Israeli military

BBC Verify Investigates Israeli Military’s claims regarding al-Shifa Hospital, stating it ‘has yet to produce evidence of the tunnels.’

Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, CEO of Oxfam Great Britain, on BBC Question Time, described the situation in Gaza as "collective punishment". He condemned the actions of both Hamas and Israel, emphasising the severe impact on civilians. "What Hamas did on the 7th of October was horrendous, but what's been happening since then is also horrendous," he said. Highlighting the plight of his colleagues in Gaza, Sriskandarajah revealed: "These brave individuals should be providing relief services, but they're running for their lives." He expressed frustration over the inability to contact or protect them due to the lack of electricity and communication. Sriskandarajah also criticised the use of food as a weapon of war and the lack of political will to call for a ceasefire, stating: "It feels grossly unfair that over 10,000 people, many children, are dying and our political leaders lack the moral courage to intervene."

Dr Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Egypt's Health Minister, discussed the health crisis in Gaza in an interview with CNN. He stated that Egypt is prepared to receive patients from Gaza, with 37 hospitals equipped with over 11,000 beds and 1,700 ICU units.

Hundreds of people gathered outside Downing Street in London on Saturday afternoon for a vigil mourning the lives of children and families killed in Gaza by Israeli Air Strikes. A list of just some of the names of children killed in Gaza was read out, so far the death toll of Palestinians killed in Israel's war on Gaza over the past six weeks has surpassed 12,000, the vast majority of whom are women and children. Mourners at the vigil in London, many of whom were families with children, brought with them baby bottles, toys, candles and flowers to represent what remains behind from the children who were killed in Gaza.

"Let the world hear the screams of the orphans." A Palestinian doctor recorded a message from the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, saying that the hospital is overrun with wounded, and can only provide first aid. Wounded survivors from an Israeli strike on the UNRWA-run al-Fakhoora School in northern Gaza came to the Kamal Adwan Hospital after the Indonesian hospital became out of service.

A MEE reporter in Gaza documented the aftermath of the relentless Israeli bombardment on al-Jalaa Street and Sheikh Radwan in Gaza. The heavy artillery and air strikes resulted in the destruction of shops, supermarkets, houses, and telephone towers

In this video, Noah Schnapp can be seen laughing with his friends whilst wearing and passing around stickers that say ‘Zionism is sexy;’ and ‘Hamas is ISIS’. This has caused major backlash online with people accusing him of glorifying Israel’s bombing of civilians and hospitals in Gaza.

“The protest today is about Rushanara Ali not representing what the community wants.” A protest was held on Thursday evening outside the Tower Hamlets Labour Party office in East London, calling for Labour Member of Parliament Rushanara Ali to resign after she abstained from a vote supporting a ceasefire in Gaza, with protesters accusing her of prioritsing her career over human rights. Protestors chanted “Rushanara Ali, shame on you!” and “Ceasefire now!”

“I wish they'll rape you alive”. This is what pro-Israel protesters said to a pro-Palestine activist on Tuesday in Washington, DC. The pro-Israel protesters rejected calls for a ceasefire and an end to the US-backed bombardment of the besieged Gaza enclave

In 1929, disputes between Jews and Palestinians over access to the Western Wall in Jerusalem escalated into violence and the Palestinian riots, or al-Buraq uprising, began. For Palestinians, 1929 was one of the first significant actions against the expanding Zionist movement. For Jews, the Hebron massacre, where 68 Jews were killed by rioters, was one of the bloodiest attacks they suffered under British Mandatory Palestine. During this time, a total of 133 Jews and 116 Palestinians were killed, marking a decisive moment in the history of Israel-Palestine. In this episode of MEE’s history explainer series Turning Point, we take a look at the context in which the riots took place and how the events of 1929 not only strengthened the Zionist movement but shaped the warfare ethos of the future State of Israel, paving the way for the calamitous events of the 1948 Nakba - the “Catastrophe”. Israel, Palestine, Gaza, Hebron, Jews, Muslims, British Mandate, Turning Point, History, Historical explainer, Jerusalem, Western Wall, Palestinian Riots, Hebron Massacre, Nakba, 1948

“This is not self-defence. This is raw, ugly vengeance and the world has a responsibility to stop it.” Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadimsays Israel’s claims that Hamas has a command node under al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza are “ridiculous”. Speaking to CNN about Israel’s attacks on hospitals in the besieged strip, Safadi said if any other country had committed the same attacks as Israel, it would have faced sanctions.

“15,000 people have now been killed in Gaza. One in every 200 people in Gaza have now been killed. If you were to adjust for the population in Ukraine, that would be 300,000 Ukrainian civilians.” British newspaper columnist Owen Jones debated Piers Morgan on his show on Wednesday, calling out Morgan for describing Russia’s actions in Ukraine as a genocide while refusing to label Israel’s attacks on Gaza as such.