Author: Jawaad Kamali

British-Palestinian families have urged the government to create a visa scheme for stranded relatives in Gaza. A letter, sent to Foreign Secretary David Cameron on behalf of 80 families, calls for a scheme similar to the Ukraine Family Scheme visa. A petition on Parliament’s website calling for a new visa scheme also has more than 22,700 signatures. The government said it was “working around the clock” to get those “who want to leave” out of Gaza. More than 270 British nationals and their dependants have left Gaza so far, it added in a statement to the BBC. British nationals currently need to…

Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, hit back at critics of the government’s proposed war time budget on Monday, ahead of a vote that has already created a rift between centrist and far right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, Reuters reports. On Sunday, centrist Minister, Benny Gantz, demanded that Netanyahu remove all political payouts from the new budget, saying they will harm the war effort. Those include so-called “coalition funds” intended for settlements in the Occupied West Bank and for the ultra-Orthodox Jewish education system. Smotrich said the funds going there, about 4.9 billion shekels ($1.3 billion) according to the proposal…

Three Israeli hostages mistakenly killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza were shot dead while holding a white cloth, an Israeli military official says. The official said the case was “against our rules of engagement” and an investigation was happening at the “highest level”. The hostages – Yotam Haim, 28, Samer Talalka, 22, and Alon Shamriz, 26 – were killed in Shejaiya on Friday. Israeli troops have been facing stiff resistance in the area near Gaza City. The case has added pressure on Israeli authorities to reach a deal for the release of the more than 120 captives who remain in…

Frankfurt (3/12 – 12) The relatively rapid cohesion of disparate nations, historically competitive or even at war with one another, into the European Union came about in part because of the ongoing threat from the Soviet Union. The specter of a tank invasion from Warsaw Pact nations, today forgotten, was such a reality that the German government kept a major portion of its gold bullion across the Atlantic. The USSR, an ally in World War II after being double-crossed by Hitler – remember the “Non-Aggression Pact signed in Moscow by von Ribbentrop and Molotov – was soon appraised as a…

The head of Hamas’s Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, on Friday denounced Israel’s targeting of three hospitals in the Gaza Strip, namely the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, the Al-Quds Medical Complex and the Indonesian Hospital, Anadolu Agency reports. In a statement, Haniyeh denounced the organised targeting of hospitals, the latest of which was today’s targeting of the wounded at the entrance to Al-Shifa Hospital. The Health Ministry in Gaza announced, earlier Friday, that 13 Palestinians were killed and 26 others injured in an Israeli bombing that targeted ambulances in front of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex. Haniyeh called on Egypt to “fully open the Rafah…

UK government official have been urging the police to ban pro-Palestine protests due to be held on 11 November, a day marked as Armistice Day, with the home secretary declaring they give “offence to millions of decent British people”. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had written to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley declaring that the protests present “a clear and present risk” to war memories, which may be “desecrated”. While Suella Braverman, who has previously said carrying a Palestinian flag “may not be legitimate”, said it was “entirely unacceptable to desecrate Armistice Day with a hate march through London”.…

The course of the events taking place in Palestine and on its people is the antitheses of law and freedom. Each and every ‘inalienable’ human right is being violated in Palestine on an hourly basis, minute by minute. They are indeed a plethora of horrific events ravaging Palestine. Perhaps the most tragic, however, is genocide, which is underway right now in Gaza. Genocide is unfolding under the watch of everyone on this planet, with world leaders unwilling to demand an end to it, as well as demonstrating a weak commitment to international law and a rules based international order by…

German club Mainz has cancelled Anwar El Ghazi’s contract after he posted a message on social media condemning the killing of Palestinians in Gaza. The former Everton and Aston Villa forward was suspended by the Bundesliga club on 17 October, two days after he uploaded the post. He has since deleted it and written a number of posts to clarify his position, saying: “I want to make clear that I’m standing for peace above everything. My thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of all the innocent victims, and those who are still missing.” In a social media…

The US regional strategy lays in shambles, as its allies face pressure and its foes seek to take advantage. On October 7, the Palestinian armed resistance group Hamas launched an attack that took Israel by surprise. Its fighters overran Israeli military installations and settlements, which led to the death of some 1,400 Israelis. Israel responded by launching another war on Gaza, imposing a complete blockade and relentlessly bombing civilian buildings and infrastructure. More than 6,500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli bombardment, including more than 2,000 children. The Hamas attack has not only changed the path of the Palestine-Israel conflict,…

A refugee camp bombed, twice; a communications blackout; an exit, for a few – our Gaza coverage this week. A refugee camp bombed, twice | A communications blackout | Gaza’s mothers, Gaza’s journalists | An exit, for a few. Our coverage of Gaza this week: ‘Help us to stay alive’ 133 babies hadn’t yet reached the age of one, killed before they could walk or talk. 16-year-old Mahmoud wanted to be a journalist, just like his father, veteran Al Jazeera correspondent Wael Dahdouh. Among the oldest killed are those who were Nakba survivors. Produced by our team at AJ Labs,…