[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?

[Saif]

Israel's Gaza aid model is 'distraction from atrocities', UNRWA chief says

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Wednesday Israel's model for providing aid to Gaza was wasteful and a "distraction from atrocities", criticising a chaotic distribution by a US-backed foundation this week. On Tuesday, thousands of Palestinians rushed an aid distribution s

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Israel's Gaza aid model is 'distraction from atrocities', UNRWA chief says

REUTERS
Published :
May 28, 2025 21:09
Updated :
May 28, 2025 21:09

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, speaks during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (not pictured), at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan May 27, 2025. Photo : KAZUHIRO NOGI/Pool via REUTERS/Files

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Wednesday Israel's model for providing aid to Gaza was wasteful and a "distraction from atrocities", criticising a chaotic distribution by a US-backed foundation this week.

On Tuesday, thousands of Palestinians rushed an aid distribution site set up in the Israeli-held southern Gaza city of Rafah operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), with desperation for food overcoming wariness about biometric and other checks Israel said it would employ.

"The model of aid distribution proposed by Israel does not align with core humanitarian principles," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told reporters at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo.

"We have seen yesterday the shocking images of hungry people pushing against fences, desperate for food. It was chaotic, undignified and unsafe," Lazzarini said.

"I believe it is a waste of resources and a distraction from atrocities," he added, referring to civilian deaths during Israel's air and ground war in the small coastal enclave.

Israel says its military operations target only Hamas-led militants and accuses them of using civilians for cover, which they deny.

As a trickle of aid has resumed, Israeli forces - now in control of wide areas of Gaza - have kept up their offensive, killing 3,901 Palestinians since a short ceasefire collapsed in mid-March, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The GHF, backed by Israel and its close ally, the United States, said it had distributed about 8,000 food boxes, equivalent to 462,000 meals, since Israel eased an 11-week-old blockade of the war-shattered Palestinian enclave last week.

The United Nations and other international aid groups have boycotted the foundation, which they say undermines the principle that humanitarian aid should be distributed independently of the parties to a conflict, based on need.

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce dismissed criticism of the aid program as "complaints about style".

Israel says one advantage of the new aid system is the opportunity to screen recipients at designated sites to exclude anyone found to be connected with Hamas. Israel, at war with Hamas since October 2023, accuses Hamas of stealing supplies and using them to entrench its position. Hamas denies this.​

 

[Saif]

Palestinians in Gaza 'deserve more than survival,' says UN envoy

Palestinians living in Gaza "deserve more than survival," the United Nations envoy for the Middle East told the Security Council on Wednesday, as Israel's war there enters its 600th day. Israel stepped up its military offensive in Gaza, ignited by an attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas...

en.prothomalo.com

Palestinians in Gaza 'deserve more than survival,' says UN envoy
AFP United Nations, United States
Published: 28 May 2025, 22: 39

Palestinians attempt to collect water at a camp for displaced people in Gaza City, on 20 May 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas AFP

Palestinians living in Gaza "deserve more than survival," the United Nations envoy for the Middle East told the Security Council on Wednesday, as Israel's war there enters its 600th day.

Israel stepped up its military offensive in Gaza, ignited by an attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on 7 October 2023, earlier this month, while mediators push for a ceasefire that remains elusive.

The issue of aid has come sharply into focus amid a hunger crisis after Israel imposed a full blockade on Gaza for over two months, before allowing supplies in at a trickle last week.

"Since the resumption of hostilities in Gaza, the already horrific existence of civilians has only sunk further into the abyss. This is manmade," Sigrid Kaag, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the Council.

"Death is their companion," she continued. "It's not life, it's not hope. The people of Gaza deserve more than survival. They deserve a future."

The aid that is now coming in "is comparable to a lifeboat after the ship has sunk," she said.

Kaag warned that there could be no "sustainable peace" in the Middle East without a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, adding that the West Bank also is on a "dangerous trajectory."

And she called for collective action to revive a two-state solution, saying that a high-level international conference in June presents a "critical opportunity."

"It must launch a concrete path towards ending the occupation and realizing the two-state solution," she said.

When speaking of people in Gaza, "the words empathy, solidarity and support have lost their meaning," Kaag said.

"We should not become accustomed to the number of people killed or injured. These are daughters, mothers, and young children whose lives have been shattered. All have a name, all had a future, all had dreams and aspirations."

'Why didn't I die?'

The UN Security Council also heard the harrowing testimony of an American surgeon on Wednesday, a few weeks after his return from Gaza.

"I am here because I have witnessed what is happening in Gaza with my own eyes, especially to children, and I cannot pretend not to have seen it. You too, cannot claim ignorance," said Dr Feroze Sidhwa.

The medical system in Gaza has not failed, he said. "It has been systematically dismantled through a sustained military campaign that has willfully violated international humanitarian law."

Children are "supposed to be protected," he said, but "in Gaza, those protections are simply gone."

"Most of my patients were pre-teen children, their bodies shattered by explosions and torn by flying metal. Many died. Those who lived often awoke to find their entire families gone," he said.

"According to the War Child Alliance, nearly half of Gaza's children are suicidal," he said.

"They ask, why didn't I die with my sister, my mother, my father? Not out of extremism, but out of unbearable grief. I wonder if any member of this Council has ever met a five-year-old child who no longer wants to live."
The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, blamed Hamas for the situation in Gaza.

"There is suffering in Gaza, but the blame is on the shoulders of Hamas ... so they will continue to be suffering until Hamas will understand that they will not stay in Gaza," he told reporters.​

 

[Saif]

Netanyahu says Israel accepts Witkoff's new Gaza truce proposal, media report

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel has accepted a new ceasefire proposal presented by US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Israeli media reported on Thursday. Palestinian militant group Hamas said earlier that it had rec

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Netanyahu says Israel accepts Witkoff's new Gaza truce proposal, media report

REUTERS
Published :
May 29, 2025 21:36
Updated :
May 29, 2025 21:37

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool/ Files

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel has accepted a new ceasefire proposal presented by US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Israeli media reported on Thursday.

Palestinian militant group Hamas said earlier that it had received the new proposal from mediators and was studying it.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza aid system under pressure as thousands seek food

After a slow and chaotic start to the new US-backed aid system in Gaza, thousands of Palestinians have been arriving at distribution points, seeking desperately needed food despite scenes of disorder and fears of violence. The two hubs run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private group

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Gaza aid system under pressure as thousands seek food

REUTERS
Published :
May 29, 2025 20:12
Updated :
May 29, 2025 20:12

Palestinians walk next to a donkey-drawn cart loaded with aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, near an area of Gaza known as the Netzarim corridor, May 29, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

After a slow and chaotic start to the new US-backed aid system in Gaza, thousands of Palestinians have been arriving at distribution points, seeking desperately needed food despite scenes of disorder and fears of violence.

The two hubs run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private group sponsored by the United States and endorsed by Israel, have been running since Tuesday, but the launch was marred by tumultuous scenes when thousands rushed the fences and forced private contractors providing security to retreat.

An Israeli military official told Reuters that the GHF was now operating four aid distribution sites, three in the Rafah area in the south and one in the Netzarim area in central Gaza.

GHF did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on whether it was now distributing aid in Netzarim.

The new system has been heavily criticised by the United Nations and other aid groups as an inadequate and flawed response to the humanitarian crisis left by Israel's 11-week blockade on aid entering Gaza.

Wessam Khader, a 25-year-old father of a three-year-old boy, said he had gone to a site near Rafah, despite widespread suspicions of the new system among Palestinians and warnings from militant group Hamas to stay away.

He said he had gone every day since Tuesday but only obtained a 3 kg (6.6 pounds) package containing flour, canned sardines, salt, noodles, biscuits and jam on the first day.

"I was driven by the hunger, for several weeks we had no flour, we had nothing in the tent," he told Reuters by telephone from Rafah. "My son wakes every day asking for something to eat and I can't give him."

When he arrived with his father and brother, there were thousands there already and no sign of the identification process that Israeli officials had said would be in place to screen out anyone considered to have links to Hamas.

"I didn't see anything, no one asked for me for anything, and if there was an electronic gate or screening I think it collapsed under the feet of the crowds," he said. The gates, the wire fences were all brought down and even plastic pipes, metal boards and fencing material was carried off.

"People were hungry and they took everything at the site," he said.

Earlier this week, GHP said it had anticipated such reactions from a "distressed population".

For Palestinians in northern Gaza, cut off from the distribution points in the south even that remains out of reach.

"We see videos about the aid, and people getting some, but they keep saying no trucks can enter north where we live," said Ghada Zaki, a 52-year-old mother of seven in Gaza City, told Reuters via chat app.

AIR STRIKES

Israel imposed the blockade at the beginning of March, saying supplies were being stolen by Hamas and used to entrench its control over Gaza. Hamas denies stealing aid and says it has protected aid trucks from looters.

Even as thousands made their way to the distribution site, Israeli jets continued to pound areas of Gaza, killing at least 45 people on Thursday, including 23 people in a strike that hit several houses in the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical workers said.

The Israeli military said it hit dozens of targets in Gaza overnight, including what it said were weapons storage dumps, sniper positions and tunnels.

Speculation around a possible ceasefire agreement grew after US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said the White House was preparing a draft document that could provide the basis for an agreement.

However, it was unclear what changes to previous proposals were being considered that might overcome the deep differences between Hamas and Israel that have stymied previous attempts to restore a ceasefire deal that broke down in March after only two months.

Israel has insisted that Hamas disarm completely and be dismantled as a military and governing force and that all of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza must come back before it will agree to end the war.

Hamas has rejected the demand to give up its weapons and says Israel must commit to ending the war for a deal to work.

Israel has come under increasing international pressure, with many European countries that have normally been reluctant to criticise Israel openly demanding an end to the war and a major humanitarian relief effort.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the devastating attack on communities in southern Israel on Oct 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

The campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins, forcing most of its population to move multiple times, Gaza health officials say.​

 

[Saif]

Israel announces creation of 22 settlements in West Bank

Israel announced on Thursday the creation of 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank

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Israel announces creation of 22 settlements in West Bank

AFP Jerusalem
Published: 29 May 2025, 14: 58

Israeli security forces take cover behind riot shields next to a destroyed car and burning tires during clashes with Palestinian demonstrators following a protest against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the village of Kfar Qaddum in the occupied West Bank near the Jewish settlement of Kedumim, on 23 September 2022. AFP

Israel announced on Thursday the creation of 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, risking further strain on relations with the international community already taxed by the war in Gaza.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are regularly condemned by the United Nations as illegal under international law, and are seen as one of the main obstacles to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

The decision to establish more, taken by the country's security cabinet, announced by far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, and Defence Minister Israel Katz, who is in charge of managing the communities.

"We have made a historic decision for the development of settlements: 22 new communities in Judea and Samaria, renewing settlement in the north of Samaria, and reinforcing the eastern axis of the State of Israel," Smotrich said on X, using the Israeli term for the West Bank, which it has occupied since 1967.

"Next step: sovereignty!" he added.

Katz said the initiative "changes the face of the region and shapes the future of settlement for years to come".

In a statement on Telegram, the right-wing Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the move a "once-in-a-generation decision", saying the initiative had been led by Smotrich and Katz.

"The decision also includes the establishment of four communities along the eastern border with Jordan, as part of strengthening Israel's eastern backbone, national security and strategic grip on the area," it said.

The party published a map showing the 22 sites spread across the territory.

'Heritage of our ancestors'

Two of the settlements, Homesh and Sa-Nur are particularly symbolic. Located in the north of the West Bank, they are actually re-settlements, having been evacuated in 2005 as part of Israel's disengagement from Gaza, promoted by then-prime minister Ariel Sharon.

Current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, formed in December 2022 with the support of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, is the most right-wing in Israel's history.

Human rights groups and anti-settlement NGOs say a slide towards at least de facto annexation of the occupied West Bank has gathered pace, particularly since the start of the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel.

"The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise: the annexation of the occupied territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal," the Peace Now group said in a statement, adding the move "will dramatically reshape the West Bank and further entrench the occupation".

In his announcement, Smotrich offered a preemptive defence of the move, saying: "We have not taken a foreign land, but the heritage of our ancestors."

Some European governments have moved to sanction individual settlers, as did the United States under former president Joe Biden, though those measures were lifted by current President Donald Trump.

Thursday's announcement comes ahead of an international conference to be led by France and Saudi Arabia at UN headquarters in New York next month, which is meant to resurrect the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Supporters of the blueprint, which was the basis of successive rounds of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, say the prospects for a viable, contiguous Palestinian state alongside Israel are being undermined by the proliferation of settlements.

The announcement also comes after US envoy Steve Witkoff said Wednesday he had "very good feelings" about the prospects for a Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, adding that he expected to send out a new proposal imminently.​

 

[Saif]

44 killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza

At least 44 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, rescuers said, a day after a World Food Programme warehouse in the centre of the territory was looted by desperate Palestinians.

www.newagebd.net

44 killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza
Food warehouse looted
Agence France-Presse . Gaza City 30 May, 2025, 01:23

At least 44 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, rescuers said, a day after a World Food Programme warehouse in the centre of the territory was looted by desperate Palestinians.

After a more than two-month blockade, aid has finally begun to trickle back into Gaza, but the humanitarian situation remains dire after 18 months of devastating war. Food security experts say starvation is looming for one in five people.

The Israeli military has also recently stepped up its offensive in the territory in what it says is a renewed push to destroy Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack triggered the war.

Gaza civil defence official Mohammad al-Mughayyir said ‘44 people have been killed in Israeli raids’, including 23 in a strike on home in Al-Bureij.

‘Two people were killed and several injured by Israeli forces’ gunfire this morning near the American aid centre in the Morag axis, southern Gaza Strip,’ he added.

The centre, run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is part of a new system for distributing aid that Israel says is meant to keep supplies out of the hands of Hamas, but which has drawn criticism from the United Nations and the European Union.

‘What is happening to us is degrading. The crowding is humiliating us,’ said Gazan Sobhi Areef, who visited a GHF centre on Thursday.

‘We go there and risk our lives just to get a bag of flour to feed our children.’

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reported deaths in Al-Bureij and near the aid centre.

Separately, it said in a statement that its forces had struck ‘dozens of terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip’ over the past day.

In a telephone call Thursday with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi said Israel’s ‘systematic starvation tactics have crossed all moral and legal boundaries’.

On Wednesday, thousands of desperate Palestinians stormed a World Food Programme warehouse in central Gaza, with Israel and the UN trading blame over the deepening hunger crisis.

AFP footage showed crowds of Palestinians breaking into the WFP facility in Deir al-Balah and taking bags of emergency food supplies as gunshots rang out.

‘Hordes of hungry people broke into WFP’s Al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza, in search of food supplies that were pre-positioned for distribution,’ the UN agency said in a statement.

The issue of aid has come sharply into focus amid starvation fears and intense criticism of the GHF, which has bypassed the longstanding UN-led system in the territory.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told the Security Council that aid was entering Gaza by truck — under limited authorisation by Israel at the Kerem Shalom crossing — and accused the UN of ‘trying to block’ GHF’s work through ‘threats, intimidation and retaliation against NGOs that choose to participate’.

The UN has said it is doing its utmost to facilitate distribution of the limited assistance allowed by Israel’s authorities

The world body said 47 people were wounded Tuesday when crowds of Palestinians rushed a GHF site. A Palestinian medical source reported at least one death.

GHF, however, alleged in a statement that there had been ‘several inaccuracies’ circulating about its operations, adding ‘there are many parties who wish to see GHF fail’.

But 60-year-old Abu Fawzi Faroukh, who visited a GHF centre Thursday, said the situation there was ‘so chaotic’.

‘The young men are the ones who have received aid first, yesterday and today, because they are young and can carry loads, but the old people and women cannot enter due to the crowding,’ he said.

Negotiations on a ceasefire, meanwhile, have continued, with US envoy Steve Witkoff expressing optimism and saying he expected to propose a plan soon.

But Gazans remained pessimistic.

‘Six hundred days have passed and nothing has changed. Death continues, and Israeli bombing does not stop,’ said Bassam Daloul, 40.

The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Out of 251 hostages seized during the attack, 57 remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Thursday that at least 3,986 people had been killed in the territory since Israel ended the ceasefire on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,249, mostly civilians.​

 

[Saif]

German minister says future arms deliveries to Israel depend on Gaza situation

Germany will decide whether or not to approve new weapons shipments to Israel based on an assessment of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said in an interview published on Friday. Wadephul questioned whether Israel's actions in its war with Palestinian militant g

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German minister says future arms deliveries to Israel depend on Gaza situation

REUTERS
Published :
May 30, 2025 21:45
Updated :
May 30, 2025 21:45

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul attends a press conference in Lisbon, Portugal, May 26, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Pedro Rocha/Files

Germany will decide whether or not to approve new weapons shipments to Israel based on an assessment of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said in an interview published on Friday.

Wadephul questioned whether Israel's actions in its war with Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza were in line with international law.

"We are examining this and, if necessary, we will authorise further arms deliveries based on this examination," he said in an interview with Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

The comments build on a shifting tone from Berlin and mounting international criticism of Israel in recent days as the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza after an Israeli aid blockade and mounting civilian deaths test German support.

Wadephul said it was important that Israel can defend itself given the threats it faces, including from Houthi militants, Hezbollah and Iran.

"For me, there is no question that we have a special responsibility to stand by Israel's side," he said, reiterating the principle of "Staatsraeson" which underpins German support for Israel in atonement for the Holocaust of World War Two.

"On the other hand, of course, this does not mean that a government can do whatever it wants," he said.

Three months into the war, South Africa filed a case to the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed the accusations as outrageous.

Israel's aid blockade of Gaza, which began after the breakdown of a ceasefire in early March, has also been contested at the World Court. Half a million people in the Gaza Strip face starvation, a global hunger monitor said in mid-May.

Netanyahu has dismissed charges that Israel was deliberately causing starvation in Gaza by imposing the 11-week blockade that was relaxed last week after mounting pressure from close allies.

On Tuesday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said airstrikes on Gaza were no longer justified by the need to fight Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 assault on Israel killed some 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and triggered the war.

More than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's air and ground campaign, according to Gaza health authorities.​

 

[Saif]

Gaza and the collapse of Western morality

Humans sit at the top of the food chain and kill animals for food. But even in killing, there are moral boundaries. Animals are not starved for weeks or subjected to unnecessary suffering before being killed. Yet in Gaza today, such basic mercy is not extended to people. Around two million human be

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Gaza and the collapse of Western morality

SYED MUHAMMED SHOWAIB
Published :
May 31, 2025 00:10
Updated :
May 31, 2025 00:10

Humans sit at the top of the food chain and kill animals for food. But even in killing, there are moral boundaries. Animals are not starved for weeks or subjected to unnecessary suffering before being killed. Yet in Gaza today, such basic mercy is not extended to people. Around two million human beings living there are enduring a level of cruelty that would be deemed unacceptable even in a slaughterhouse. For three months, Israel has systematically denied food, water and basic supplies to Gaza's civilian population, weaponising hunger in what constitutes a clear crime against humanity. The deprivation has been so extreme that on May 20, the UN warned that 14,000 infants could die within 48 hours if aid did not reach them. Even the US president Donald Trump, a staunch ally of Israel, was compelled to acknowledge the severity of the crisis. Under mounting international pressure, Israel finally allowed a small amount of food into Gaza which aid workers described as a drop in the ocean compared to the overwhelming need.

Beyond the deliberate starvation of civilians, since October 8, 2023, Israel has waged an unrelenting campaign of bombardment and military violence in Gaza. Israeli forces have killed civilians on a massive scale, with the official death toll exceeding 62,000 and thousands more remaining buried under rubble, presumed dead. This is beyond tragic. This is madness. No sane country, no professional army, kills innocent civilians as a matter of routine, shoots babies in the head and chest with sniper rifles, executes people waving white flags, or bombs hospitals with impunity. Yet in Gaza, these horrors occur daily.

The people there have nowhere to flee. Borders are sealed, the sea patrolled by warships, and even so-called safe zones are bombed. Schools have turned into overcrowded shelters where strangers share bare floors. Food is gone, clean water non-existent, and the constant roar of explosions never stops.

The language of Israel's own leadership makes the intention of their campaign abundantly clear. Just last week, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, "We are there to conquer, cleanse and remain. We are disassembling Gaza into piles of rubble." He even boasted, "We're doing something that no one's done in the world before. Yes, the Gazans will have to leave."

What is perhaps most tragic is that these atrocities are unfolding in full view of the world. Many Western countries continue to provide the weapons, funding and diplomatic backing that enable the violence. For instance, according to Israel's Defence Ministry, since October 8, 2023, the US has delivered more than 90,000 tons of military aid in Israel via 800 transport planes and 140 ships which include armoured vehicles, munitions and protective gear. European governments like Germany and France banned demonstrations in support of Palestinians, along with Palestinian flag and symbols. In this atmosphere, even appeals for Israel to adhere to basic humanitarian norms are often denounced as antisemitic.

This is a moral unravelling of the Western civilisation which has long claimed to champion human rights. A civilisation that watches the weaponisation of starvation and does nothing has forfeited any claim to ethical leadership and is inching closer to collapse. The only meaningful challenge to the moral failure of the West has come from the US university campuses, where students and faculty have protested to call out the ongoing genocide. But their resistance has come at a cost. For speaking out against Israeli atrocities, these institutions have faced punitive measures including withdrawal of federal funding, research contracts, grants, and even the right to enrol foreign students.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has taken a historic step by seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former IDF chief Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. In the wake of these developments, many around the world who once sympathised with the historical suffering of the Jewish people are now turning away in disillusionment. Attempts to dismiss criticism as antisemitism are losing their power. The façade is cracking, and a growing number now recognise the devastation of Gaza as a deliberate campaign to destroy a people.

Defenders of Israel often frame the onslaught in Gaza as a justified response to Hamas' October 7 assault which killed 1,200 Israelis. But this narrative deliberately ignores the context. The October 7 attack did not occur in isolation. It was the explosion of a pressure cooker sealed shut for decades. It followed 75 years of displacement, 56 years of military occupation and 17 years of a suffocating blockade on Gaza. Since 2007, two million Palestinians have been trapped in what Human Rights Watch called an "open-air prison." Their borders are guarded by snipers, their fishermen fired upon at sea, and even food imports are monitored with strict limits, down to calorie count. October 7 emerged from this despair. As historian Norman Finkelstein notes, the Hamas' attack on Israel is akin to a slave revolt against colonial masters.

Had Israel limited its response to targeting Hamas within the bounds of international law, the world might have viewed it as a harsh but legitimate military operation. But what is happening goes far beyond that. It is the wholesale slaughter of a captive population, most of whom had no part in the initial attack. When even infants are stripped of innocence and treated as legitimate targets, no justification can stand. No matter how loudly this campaign of extermination in Gaza is defended by voices in Western media and political circles, it perfectly fits the definition of genocide and ethnic cleansing under international law.

Perhaps one day this nightmare will end. When it does and the dust finally settles, the world will have to confront hard and uncomfortable truths. Accountability must extend to every journalist, politician, propagandist and online voice who enabled, excused, financed or shielded these atrocities. None should be allowed to escape the judgment of history. This reckoning will be essential, not merely as justice for the victims, but as the only way to reclaim collective humanity.

​

 

[Saif]

Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s calls war in Gaza a ‘genocide’

The independent board of Ben & Jerry's said the conflict in Gaza is a genocide, escalating a bitter feud between the ice cream maker and its longtime London-based corporate parent, Unilever. "Ben & Jerry's believes in human rights and advocates for peace, and we join with those around the world wh

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Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s calls war in Gaza a ‘genocide’

REUTERS
Published :
May 30, 2025 20:56
Updated :
May 30, 2025 20:56

The independent board of Ben & Jerry's said the conflict in Gaza is a genocide, escalating a bitter feud between the ice cream maker and its longtime London-based corporate parent, Unilever.

"Ben & Jerry's believes in human rights and advocates for peace, and we join with those around the world who denounce the genocide in Gaza," the board said in a statement viewed by Reuters. "We stand with all who raise their voices against genocide in Gaza - from petition-signers to street marchers to those risking arrest."

Unilever and Ben & Jerry's have been at odds since at least 2021 when the Chubby Hubby ice cream maker said it would stop selling in the Israel-occupied West Bank. Ben & Jerry's sued its owner last year over its alleged attempts to silence it on Gaza and criticise US President Donald Trump. Its statement on Gaza is unusual for a major US brand.

A Unilever spokesperson said that the comments reflect the views of the independent social mission board of Ben & Jerry's, and they do not speak for anyone other than themselves.

"We call for peace in the region and for relief for all those whose lives have been impacted," the spokesperson said.

Unilever asked a US judge to dismiss Ben & Jerry's lawsuit. The company is also in the process of separating out its ice cream business, including Vermont-based Ben & Jerry's, to an independent company this summer.

Ben & Jerry's has said its year 2000 merger agreement with Unilever gave its independent board "primary responsibility" to pursue the company's social mission. The crux of the dispute between Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever is how much leeway the board actually has.​

 

[Saif]

Israel’s settlement plan in occupied West Bank draws criticism

Katz said the initiative “changes the face of the region and shapes the future of settlement for years to come”.

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Israel’s settlement plan in occupied West Bank draws criticism
AFP Jerusalem
Published: 30 May 2025, 14: 09

A Palestinian demonstrator reacts to a sound grenade fired by Israeli forces during a protest against Jewish settlements and Israel's planned annexation of parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in the Palestinian town of Asira ash-Shamaliya, 17 July 2020. Reuters

Israel announced Thursday the creation of 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, drawing sharp condemnation from Britain, Jordan and others already at odds with the country over its Gaza war.

London called the move a “deliberate obstacle” to Palestinian statehood, while UN chief Antonio Guterres’ spokesman said it pushed efforts towards a two-state solution “in the wrong direction”.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are regularly condemned by the United Nations as illegal under international law and are seen as a major obstacle to lasting peace.

The decision, taken by Israel’s security cabinet, was announced by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, and Defence Minister Israel Katz, who oversees the communities.

“We have made a historic decision for the development of settlements: 22 new communities in Judea and Samaria, renewing settlement in the north of Samaria, and reinforcing the eastern axis of the State of Israel,” Smotrich said on X, using the Israeli terms for the southern and northern West Bank, which it has occupied since 1967.

“Next step: sovereignty!” he added.

Katz said the initiative “changes the face of the region and shapes the future of settlement for years to come”.

Not all of the 22 settlements are new. Some are existing outposts, while others are neighbourhoods of settlements that will become independent communities, according to the left-wing Israeli NGO Peace Now.

Hamas accused Israel of “accelerating steps to Judaize Palestinian land within a clear annexation project”.

“This is a blatant defiance of the international will and a grave violation of international law and United Nations resolutions,” Gaza’s Islamist rulers said.

Britain’s minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, said the plan imperils “the two-state solution” and does not protect Israel.

Jordan called the decision illegal and said it “undermines prospects for peace by entrenching the occupation”.

“We stand against any and all” expansion of the settlements, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, repeating calls for Israel to halt such activity, which he said blocks peace and economic development.

On Telegram, the right-wing Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the move a “once-in-a-generation decision” and said it “includes the establishment of four communities along the eastern border with Jordan, as part of strengthening Israel’s eastern backbone”.

A map posted by the party showed the 22 sites scattered across the territory.

‘Heritage of our ancestors’

Two of the settlements, Homesh and Sa-Nur, are particularly symbolic.

Located in the north of the West Bank, they are resettlements, having been evacuated in 2005 as part of Israel’s disengagement from Gaza, promoted by then prime minister Ariel Sharon.

Netanyahu’s government, formed in December 2022 with the support of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, is the most right-wing in Israel’s history.

Human rights groups and anti-settlement NGOs say a slide towards at least de facto annexation of the occupied West Bank has gathered pace, particularly since the start of the Gaza war triggered by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.

“The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise: the annexation of the occupied territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal,” Peace Now said in a statement.

In his announcement, Smotrich offered a pre-emptive defence of the move, saying: “We have not taken a foreign land, but the heritage of our ancestors.”

Some European governments have moved to sanction individual settlers, as did the United States under former president Joe Biden—though those measures were lifted under Donald Trump.

The announcement comes ahead of an international conference led by France and Saudi Arabia at the United Nations next month aimed at reviving the two-state solution.​

 

[Saif]

UN warns all of Gaza at risk of famine

The UN warned Friday that the entire population of Gaza was at risk of famine, as an Israeli far-right minister urged the use of ‘full force’ against Hamas.

www.newagebd.net

UN warns all of Gaza at risk of famine
Agence France-Presse . Jerusalem 31 May, 2025, 00:18

Children collect items as Palestinians check the site of an overnight Israeli strike, in Jabalia in the central Gaza Strip, on Friday, amid the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. | AFP photo

The UN warned Friday that the entire population of Gaza was at risk of famine, as an Israeli far-right minister urged the use of ‘full force’ against Hamas.

Negotiations to end nearly 20 months of war have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough, with Israel resuming operations in Gaza in March following a short-lived truce.

Israel recently intensified its offensive in what it says is a renewed push to destroy Hamas, drawing global condemnation over the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

Recent AFPTV footage has shown chaotic scenes as large crowds of Palestinians desperate for food rushed to a limited number of aid distribution centres to pick up supplies.

‘Gaza is the hungriest place on earth,’ Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, said on Friday.

‘It’s the only defined area — a country or defined territory within a country — where you have the entire population at risk of famine. One hundred per cent of the population at risk of famine.’

Laerke said 900 UN aid trucks had been authorised by Israel to enter so far, but only 600 had been offloaded on the Gaza side of the border, and an even smaller number had been picked up there due to security considerations.

Laerke described the ‘limited number of truckloads’ as ‘drip-feeding food’.

Adding to the international pressure, French president Emmanuel Macron said Friday that European countries should ‘harden the collective position’ against Israel if it did not respond appropriately to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Action was needed ‘in the next few hours and days’, he added.

The White House announced Thursday that Israel had ‘signed off’ on a new ceasefire proposal submitted to Hamas, but the Palestinian militant group said the deal failed to satisfy its demands, while stopping short of rejecting it outright.

Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, addressing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Telegram post Friday, said that ‘after Hamas rejected the deal proposal again — there are no more excuses’.

‘The confusion, the shuffling and the weakness must end,’ he added. ‘It is time to go in with full force, without blinking, to destroy, and kill Hamas to the last one.’

Gaza’s civil defence agency said that at least 22 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on Friday, including seven in a strike targeting a family home in Jabalia in the north.

Palestinians sobbed over the bodies of their loved ones at Gaza City’s Al Shifa Hospital following the strike, AFPTV footage showed.

‘These were civilians and were sleeping at their homes. The house was destroyed due to the indiscriminate bombardment,’ said neighbour Mahmud al-Ghaf, describing ‘children in pieces’.

‘Stop the war!’ said Mahmud Nasr, who lost relatives. ‘We do not want anything from you, just stop the war.’

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Jabalia strike, but said separately that the air force had ‘struck dozens of targets throughout the Gaza Strip’ over the past day.

The White House said on Thursday that president Donald Trump and US envoy Steve Witkoff had ‘submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed’.

Israel has not confirmed that it approved the new proposal.

Hamas sources said last week that the group had accepted a US-backed deal, but on Thursday political bureau member Bassem Naim said the new version meant ‘the continuation of killing and famine and does not meet any of our people’s demands, foremost among them halting the war’.Political party merchandise

‘Nonetheless, the movement’s leadership is studying the response to the proposal with full national responsibility,’ he added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt added that discussions were ‘continuing’ with the militants.

Naim on Friday reiterated that a review was on-going, while a source close to Hamas said one of the group’s main concerns was the lack of American guarantees that talks towards a permanent ceasefire would continue.

According to two sources close to the negotiations, the new proposal involves a 60-day truce, potentially extendable to 70 days, and the release of five living hostages and nine bodies in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during the first week, followed by a second exchange the next week.

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

As of Thursday, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 3,986 people had been killed in the territory since Israel resumed major operations on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,249, mostly civilians.

Hamas’s attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.​

 

[Saif]

New US-backed truce proposal does not meet demands: Hamas

The White House said Thursday Israel had ‘signed off’ on a new Gaza ceasefire proposal submitted to Hamas, but the Palestinian group said the deal failed to satisfy its demands.

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New US-backed truce proposal does not meet demands: Hamas
Agence France-Presse . Gaza City 31 May, 2025, 01:11

The White House said Thursday Israel had ‘signed off’ on a new Gaza ceasefire proposal submitted to Hamas, but the Palestinian group said the deal failed to satisfy its demands.

Negotiations to end more than 19 months of war have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough, with Israel resuming operations in Gaza in March after a brief truce.

The White House said president Donald Trump and US envoy Steve Witkoff had ‘submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed’.

‘Israel signed off on this proposal before it was sent to Hamas,’ press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, adding discussions were ‘continuing’ with the militants.

Israel has not confirmed that it approved the new proposal.

Hamas sources said last week the group had accepted a US-backed deal, but on Thursday political bureau member Bassem Naim said the new version meant ‘the continuation of killing and famine and does not meet any of our people’s demands, foremost among them halting the war’.Political party merchandise

‘Nonetheless, the movement’s leadership is studying the response to the proposal with full national responsibility,’ he added.

A source close to the group said the new version ‘is considered a retreat’ from the previous one, which ‘included an American commitment regarding permanent ceasefire negotiations’.

According to two sources close to the negotiations, the new proposal involves a 60-day truce, potentially extendable to 70 days, and the release of 10 living hostages and nine bodies in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during the first week.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire despite aid beginning to trickle back into the territory after a more than two-month Israeli blockade.

Food security experts say starvation is looming for one in five people.

Israel has also intensified its military offensive in what it says is a renewed push to destroy Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack triggered the war.

Gaza’s civil defence said 54 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Thursday, including 23 in a strike on a home in Al-Bureij, and two by Israeli gunfire near a US-backed aid centre in the Morag axis, in the south.

The centre, run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is part of a new aid distribution system designed to keep supplies from Hamas. It has drawn criticism from the United Nations and the European Union.

‘What is happening to us is degrading,’ said Gazan Sobhi Areef, who visited a GHF centre on Thursday.

‘We go there and risk our lives just to get a bag of flour to feed our children.’

Israel’s military said it was not aware of the shooting near the aid centre. In Al-Bureij, it said it struck a ‘Hamas cell’ and was reviewing reports of civilian deaths.

In a phone call with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi accused Israel of ‘systematic starvation tactics’ that had ‘crossed all moral and legal boundaries’.

The aid issue has come sharply into focus amid starvation fears and intense criticism of the GHF, which has bypassed the longstanding UN-led system in the territory.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said aid trucks were entering via the Kerem Shalom crossing, and accused the UN of ‘trying to block’ GHF’s work.

The United Nations said it was doing its utmost to distribute the limited aid allowed in.

Gazans who went to GHF’s newly opened distribution centre in the central Netzarim corridor Thursday described a chaotic scene.

‘Some people caused a big commotion and stormed the aid distribution point because people are very hungry,’ Mohammed Abdel Aal, 29, said.

‘I ran, like everyone else, trying to get an aid box.’

He left empty-handed after forces at the facility ‘fired bullets and grenades at us, which forced us to retreat’.

A 17-year-old from Al-Bureij, who gave his name as Yousef, offered a similar account, saying in spite of the gunfire, ‘hunger is stronger than fear’.

Asked to comment, GHF said its ‘personnel encountered a tense and potentially dangerous crowd that refused to disperse’.

To ‘ensure the safety of civilians and staff, non-lethal deterrents were deployed — including smoke and warning shots into the ground’, it said.

Medical facilities in Gaza, meanwhile, have come under increasing strain and repeated attack.

Al-Awda Hospital said Israeli troops were ‘carrying out a forced evacuation of patients and medical staff’, adding it was ‘the only hospital that was still operating in the northern Gaza Strip’.

The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Out of 251 hostages seized during the attack, 57 remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Thursday that at least 3,986 people had been killed in the territory since Israel ended the ceasefire on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,249, mostly civilians.

On Thursday, the military said an ‘employee of a contracting company that carries out engineering work’ was killed in northern Gaza.

Israel also intercepted a missile fired from Yemen Thursday in an attack claimed by the country’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels.​