UN expert asks states to cut trade ties with Israel over ‘genocidal campaign’ in Gaza – Middle East crisis live

We are now closing this blog. Here is a summary of events today.

• Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories has called for sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel and for global corporations to be held accountable for “profiting from genocide” in Gaza.

• The Associated Press reports that Israeli airstrikes and shootings have killed 94 Palestinians in Gaza overnight, including 45 who were attempting to get humanitarian aid, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry on Thursday. Others were killed in strikes that hit tents in the Muwasi zone, where many displaced Palestinians are sheltering. There were also fatalities following a strike on a school in Gaza City, again sheltering displaced people,

• Iran on Thursday affirmed its commitment to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, as it accused Germany of “malice” over its criticism of Tehran’s decision to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.

• France’s foreign minister denounced spy charges reportedly being used to hold two French nationals in Iran for more than three years, saying the allegations are “unjustified and unfounded”. France said it would decide whether to reimpose sanctions against Iran depending on whether Tehran released the two French detainees.

• American contractors guarding aid distribution sites in Gaza are using live ammunition and stun grenades as Palestinians scramble for food, according to accounts and videos obtained by The Associated Press (AP).

• Tributes have been paid to one of Gaza’s most senior doctors who was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Dr Marwan al-Sultan, a renowned cardiologist and director of the Indonesian hospital in the Gaza Strip, is the 70th healthcare worker to be killed by Israeli attacks in the last 50 days, according to Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW), a Palestinian medical organisation.

• Hamas is seeking guarantees that a new US ceasefire proposal for Gaza would lead to the war’s end, sources said on Thursday, with sources telling Reuters a response from Hamas could come “by Friday”. Israeli officials said prospects for reaching a ceasefire deal and hostage deal appeared high.

• Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported an Israeli strike on a vehicle on Beirut’s southern entrance, as the Israeli army said it hit a “terrorist” working for Iran.

• The United States imposed new Iran-related sanctions on Thursday as well as sanctions targeting the Hezbollah network, the Treasury Department website showed

• The producer of a film about medics in Gaza that was dropped by the BBC has accused the corporation of attempting to gag him and others over its decision not to show the documentary.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported an Israeli strike on a vehicle on Beirut’s southern entrance, as the Israeli army said it hit a “terrorist” working for Iran.

According to the NNA, “an enemy drone targeted a car on the Khalde highway” south of Beirut, AFP reports.

The Israeli army said it “eliminated a terrorist responsible for smuggling weapons and advancing terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops, on behalf of the Iranian Quds Force”, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

The United States imposed new Iran-related sanctions on Thursday as well as sanctions targeting the Hezbollah network, the Treasury Department website showed, Reuters reports.

We have more details from Reuters on comments from Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi (see earlier post).

In a post on X he said:

Our cooperation with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) will be channeled through Iran’s Supreme National Security Council for obvious safety and security reasons.

President Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday enacted the legislation passed by parliament last week to suspend cooperation with the IAEA, a move the US called “unacceptable.”

Gaza film’s producer accuses BBC of trying to gag him over decision to drop it

Michael Savage

The producer of a film about medics in Gaza that was dropped by the BBC has accused the corporation of attempting to gag him and others over its decision not to show the documentary.

The programme, Gaza: Doctors under Attack, finally broadcast on Channel 4 on Wednesday night, recounts how hospitals in the territory have been overwhelmed, bombed and raided. Medics also recount being detained and make claims of being tortured. It had originally been due to run on the BBC.

Ben de Pear, the programme’s executive producer and a former Channel 4 News editor, has accused the BBC of attempting to stop him talking about its “painful journey” to the screen with the use of legal gagging clauses.

“I rejected and refused to sign the double gagging clause the BBC bosses tried multiple times to get me to sign,” he said. “Not only could we have been sued for saying the BBC refused to air the film (palpably and provably true) but also if any other company had said it, the BBC could sue us.

“Not only could we not tell the truth that was already stated, but neither could others. Reader, I didn’t sign it.”

You can read the full report here:

Here is footage, showing the aftermath of Israeli strikes on the Mustafa Hafez school, which was sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City.

 

Iran on Thursday affirmed its commitment to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, as it accused Germany of “malice” over its criticism of Tehran’s decision to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.

“Iran remains committed to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) and its Safeguards Agreement,” foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X.

“The explicit German support for the bombing of Iran has obliterated the notion that the German regime harbours anything but malice towards Iranians,” he added in response to a German foreign office post criticising the move.

The Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza on Thursday warned residents not to assist the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, saying deadly incidents near its food distribution sites endangered hungry Palestinians, Reuters reports.

“It is strictly forbidden to deal with, work for, or provide any form of assistance or cover to the American organization (GHF) or its local or foreign agents,” an interior ministry statement said.

“Legal action will be taken against anyone proven to be involved in cooperation with this organization, including the imposition of the maximum penalties stipulated in the applicable national laws,” it added, without giving further details.

The GHF did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The organisation has previously said Hamas fabricated accusations against it. In a post on social media platform X late on Wednesday it accused the militant group of: “a deliberate campaign to prevent aid from flowing to the people of Gaza outside of Hamas control.”

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of deliveries which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral.

AFP has a report on the aftermath of the recent strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in western Gaza City:

Young children wandered through the charred shell of what had been a school sheltering displaced Palestinians on Thursday, after a pre-dawn Israeli strike killed 12 people there according to the civil defence agency.

Bloodstains dotted the ground strewn with the remnants of daily life. Clothing, metal chairs, tins of food and part of an electric fan lay amongst the wreckage, AFP footage showed.

“This is not a life,” said Umm Yassin Abu Awda, a Gaza City resident who stood amongst mourners at the city’s Al-Shifa Hospital following the strike.

“Either you strike us with a nuclear bomb and end it all, or people’s conscience needs to finally wake up.”

Crowds of mourners gathered at Al-Shifa Hospital, where men and women wept over the bodies of the dead.

“We have no life left. Let them just annihilate us so we can finally rest,” said one woman who lost relatives in the strike and did not give her name.

She added:

There’s nothing left for us. My two daughters are gone – and now my niece, along with her six children and her husband, were burned to death.

France’s foreign minister denounced spy charges reportedly being used to hold two French nationals in Iran for more than three years, saying the allegations are “unjustified and unfounded.”

French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Thursday said France had not been formerly notified by Iranian authorities of the charges against French citizens Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, which reportedly include spying for Israel.

If confirmed, France would consider the charges “totally unjustified and unfounded,” Barrot said, calling for the couple’s “immediate, unconditional release.”

Kohler, 40, and her partner Paris, 72, were arrested in May 2022 and until last month were detained at Tehran’s Evin Prison, known for holding dual nationals and Westerners who are used by Iran as bargaining chips in diplomatic negotiations, AP reported.

A French diplomat was able to meet the pair earlier this week as their families demanded proof they were alive following recent Israeli strikes on the prison.

American contractors guarding aid distribution sites in Gaza are using live ammunition and stun grenades as Palestinians scramble for food, according to accounts and videos obtained by The Associated Press (AP).

Two US contractors, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity, said they were coming forward because they were disturbed by what they considered dangerous and irresponsible practices. They said the security staff hired were often unqualified, unvetted, heavily armed and seemed to have a licence to do whatever they wished.

They added that their colleagues regularly lobbed stun grenades and pepper spray in the direction of the Palestinians. One contractor said bullets were fired in all directions — in the air, into the ground and at times toward the Palestinians, recalling at least one instance where he thought someone had been hit.

The contractor said:

There are innocent people being hurt. Badly. Needlessly.

Videos provided by one of the contractors and taken at the sites show hundreds of Palestinians crowded between metal gates, jostling for aid amid the sound of bullets, stun grenades and the sting of pepper spray.

Other videos include conversations between English-speaking men discussing how to disperse crowds and encouraging each other after bursts of gunfire. The AP said it cannot independently verify the contractors’ stories.

A spokesperson for Safe Reach Solutions, the logistics company subcontracted by GHF, told the AP that there have been no serious injuries at any of their sites to date.

Julian Borger

The UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories has called for sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel and for global corporations to be held accountable for “profiting from genocide” in Gaza.

A report by Francesca Albanese to the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday points to the deep involvement of companies from around the world in supporting Israel during its 21-month onslaught in Gaza.

“While life in Gaza is being obliterated and the West Bank is under escalating assault, this report shows why Israel’s genocide continues: because it is lucrative for many,” the report says.

Special rapporteurs are independent human rights experts appointed to advise or report on specific situations. Albanese, an Italian legal scholar who has been the special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories since 2022, first referred to the Israeli offensive in Gaza as a genocide in January 2024.

The international court of justice (ICJ) is weighing the charge of genocide against Israel but Albanese has argued that the evidence of genocide is overwhelming and pointed out that the court issued preliminary measures last year recognising the possibility of genocide in Gaza, triggering universal responsibility to prevent it.