Closing summary
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has declared Gaza City “a dangerous combat zone” as the military prepares for an assault on the shattered remains of Gaza’s largest city. In a post on X, the IDF wrote: “In accordance with the situational assessment & directives of the political echelon, starting today at 10:00, the local tactical pause in military activity will not apply to the area of Gaza City, which constitutes a dangerous combat zone.”
The US is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority ahead of the United Nations general assembly meeting in September, the US state department said in a statement on Friday. The restrictions mean that Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas would likely not be able to travel to New York to deliver an address to the annual gathering, as he typically does, Reuters reports. Israel’s foreign minister has hailed the US decision as a “bold step” on Friday.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military said earlier this week that the evacuation of Gaza City is “inevitable”. Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will launch its Gaza City assault while simultaneously pursuing a ceasefire, though talks have stalled.
Israel has recovered the body of hostage Ilan Weiss from the Gaza Strip, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has confirmed. The body of a second person, whose identity has not yet been cleared for publication, was also retrieved, the statement added.
At least 63,025 Palestinian people have been killed and 159,490 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Friday. At least 59 Palestinian people, including 23 aid seekers, were killed in the last 24 hours alone, the ministry said.
Israel targeted the Houthi group’s chief of staff, defence minister and other senior figures in airstrikes on Sanaa in Yemen on Thursday, and was still verifying the outcome, an Israeli military official said on Friday. Yemeni government sources told Reuters that Asaad al-Sharqabi, who oversaw the group’s defence ministry, was killed in the strikes.
Gaza City is being gripped by famine caused by Israel’s restrictions on aid and the assault will only deepen the widespread suffering of the civilian population there and could forcibly displace an estimated one million Palestinian people. A joint statement from a number of UN organisations including Unicef and the World Food Programme said “it would have further devastating consequences for civilians where famine conditions already exist”.
Israel rejected the findings of the report, saying they were based on “Hamas lies laundered through organisations with vested interests”, and denied the existence of a famine in Gaza.
Mohammed Abu Afash, the director of the medical charity, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, has told Al Jazeera that the southern part of the territory is extremely dangerous for civilians as the Israeli military is targeting areas it claims are safe zones. Afash told Al Jazeera that the army is targeting people who are waiting for food and residents sheltering in their homes, and that southern Gaza cannot accommodate the volume of people who will be displaced from Gaza City by Israel’s assault.
More than 500 staff at the UN have urged its human rights chief, Volker Türk, to describe Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide being committed against the Palestinian people. In a letter to Türk, staff reportedly claimed that the legal criteria for genocide – which, under international law, is defined as committing one or more acts with the intention to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group – has been met.
The UN security council has voted to extend the body’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for a further 16 months, but ordered it finished at the end of 2026 under Israeli and US pressure. UNSC members voted unanimously on Thursday to extend the mandate for the UN interim force in Lebanon (Unifil) ahead of its expiration on Sunday, prompting relief from Lebanese officials who rely on it.
A spokesman for Gaza’s only Catholic church said some 440 people who have taken shelter there had unanimously agreed to stay, despite word that the IDF has declared Gaza City “a dangerous combat zone” and is preparing for an assault on the shattered remains of Gaza’s largest city.
Farid Jubran told The Associated Press on Friday that five clergy have also stayed in the church to assist those sheltering, which include women, children and older people.
Israel thanks US for 'bold step' of denying visas to Palestinian officials ahead of UN general assembly
Israel’s foreign minister has hailed the US decision to deny Palestinian officials visas for next month’s UN general assembly, where France is leading a push to recognise a Palestinian state, as a “bold step” on Friday.
“We thank [President Donald Trump] and the administration for this bold step and for standing by Israel once again,” Gideon Saar posted on his official X account.
“Thank you [secretary of state Marco Rubio] for holding the “PLO” [Palestine Liberation Organization] and PA [Palestinian Authority] accountable for rewarding terrorism, incitement and efforts to use legal warfare against Israel,” he added.
Updated
The day so far
The US is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority ahead of the United Nations general assembly meeting in September, the US state department said in a statement on Friday. The restrictions mean that Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas would likely not be able to travel to New York to deliver an address to the annual gathering, as he typically does, Reuters reports.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has declared Gaza City “a dangerous combat zone” as the military prepares for an assault on the shattered remains of Gaza’s largest city. In a post on X, the IDF wrote: “In accordance with the situational assessment & directives of the political echelon, starting today at 10:00, the local tactical pause in military activity will not apply to the area of Gaza City, which constitutes a dangerous combat zone.”
A spokesperson for the Israeli military said earlier this week that the evacuation of Gaza City is “inevitable”. Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will launch its Gaza City assault while simultaneously pursuing a ceasefire, though talks have stalled.
Israel has recovered the body of hostage Ilan Weiss from the Gaza Strip, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has confirmed. The body of a second person, whose identity has not yet been cleared for publication, was also retrieved, the statement added.
At least 63,025 Palestinian people have been killed and 159,490 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Friday. At least 59 Palestinian people, including 23 aid seekers, were killed in the last 24 hours alone, the ministry said.
Israel targeted the Houthi group’s chief of staff, defence minister and other senior figures in airstrikes on Sanaa in Yemen on Thursday, and was still verifying the outcome, an Israeli military official said on Friday. Yemeni government sources told Reuters that Asaad al-Sharqabi, who oversaw the group’s defence ministry, was killed in the strikes.
Gaza City is being gripped by famine caused by Israel’s restrictions on aid and the assault will only deepen the widespread suffering of the civilian population there and could forcibly displace an estimated one million Palestinian people. A joint statement from a number of UN organisations including Unicef and the World Food Programme said “it would have further devastating consequences for civilians where famine conditions already exist”.
The director of the UN World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, said it is “very evident” there isn’t enough food in Gaza, adding that starvation was clearly under way in the territory. Her comments were made to the Associated Press during a visit to Gaza earlier this week and echo the declaration last Friday of widespread famine in Gaza made by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
Israel rejected the findings of the report, saying they were based on “Hamas lies laundered through organisations with vested interests”, and denied the existence of a famine in Gaza.
Mohammed Abu Afash, the director of the medical charity, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, has told Al Jazeera that the southern part of the territory is extremely dangerous for civilians as the Israeli military is targeting areas it claims are safe zones. Afash told Al Jazeera that the army is targeting people who are waiting for food and residents sheltering in their homes, and that southern Gaza cannot accommodate the volume of people who will be displaced from Gaza City by Israel’s assault.
More than 500 staff at the UN have urged its human rights chief, Volker Türk, to describe Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide being committed against the Palestinian people. In a letter to Türk, staff reportedly claimed that the legal criteria for genocide – which, under international law, is defined as committing one or more acts with the intention to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group – has been met.
The Israeli military has expressed “its regret” after Lebanon’s army reported two of its soldiers were killed when an Israeli drone that crashed in the country’s south exploded. Lebanon’s army said its personnel were inspecting the drone that had fallen in the Naqura area on Thursday when it exploded, killing an officer and a soldier and wounding two others, according to a report from AFP.
The UN security council has voted to extend the body’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for a further 16 months, but ordered it finished at the end of 2026 under Israeli and US pressure. UNSC members voted unanimously on Thursday to extend the mandate for the UN interim force in Lebanon (Unifil) ahead of its expiration on Sunday, prompting relief from Lebanese officials who rely on it.
Iranian oil minister Mohsen Paknejad said on Friday a return of sanctions under the so-called “snapback” may create restrictions on oil exports but Tehran has learned to bypass them, Iran’s state media reported.
Britain, France and Germany on Thursday launched a 30-day process to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, a step likely to stoke tensions two months after Israel and the United States bombed Iran.
“We have faced restrictions on oil sales for years, and this has led to us gaining the necessary expertise in bypassing sanctions,” Paknejad told state media.
“Naturally snapback may create conditions requiring new measures but we are not tied down by these restrictions.”
The US denial of visas to Palestinian officials ahead of the UN general assembly meeting follow the imposition of sanctions on Palestinian Authority officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization in July.
In a statement, the state department said that “it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace.”
Officials with the Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, reject that they’ve undermined peace prospects, Reuters reports.
Under the 1947 UN ‘headquarters agreement’ the US is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York. But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, terrorism and foreign policy reasons.
The state department said that the Palestinian Authority’s mission to the UN would not be included in the restrictions. It did not elaborate.
An Israeli army position is set up along the fence separating the Gaza Strip from southern Israel, earlier today.
US denies visas to Palestinian officials ahead of UN general assembly
The US is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority ahead of the United Nations general assembly meeting in September, the US state department said in a statement on Friday.
The restrictions mean that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would likely not be able to travel to New York to deliver an address to the annual gathering, as he typically does, Reuters reports.
The move follows the imposition of US sanctions on Palestinian Authority officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization in July, even as other Western powers moved toward recognition of Palestinian statehood.
In its statement, the state department said that the Palestinian Authority’s mission to the UN would not be included in the restrictions. It did not elaborate.
Israel targets Houthi chief of staff and defence minister in Sanaa
Israel targeted the Houthi group’s chief of staff, defence minister and other senior figures in airstrikes on Sanaa in Yemen on Thursday, and was still verifying the outcome, an Israeli military official said on Friday.
Yemeni government sources told Reuters that Asaad al-Sharqabi, who oversaw the group’s defence ministry, was killed in the strikes.
They added that another Israeli raid targeted a military site frequented by the Houthis’ chief of staff, Muhammad Abd Al-Karim al-Ghamari.
The Houthi group did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The Israeli military said fighter jets struck a compound in the Sanaa area where senior Houthi figures had gathered, describing the attack as a “complex operation” made possible by intelligence-gathering and air superiority.
“We took advantage of an intelligence window of opportunity to carry out the strike and acted with precision and speed at the right moment,” a military official said in a statement.
Hundreds of employees of the United Nations’ leading human rights agency have backed an internal letter telling its leadership to declare Israel’s offensive in Gaza a genocide and to call on UN member states to suspend arms sales to Israel.
The 1,100-word letter, signed by about a quarter of the 2,000 staff of the Geneva- and New York-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), says the Israeli offensive in Gaza meets the legal threshold of genocide and that this means “arms sales, transfers and related logistical or financial support to Israeli authorities” constitutes a clear breach of international law by all those involved.
OHCHR employees told the Guardian they were frustrated with the failure of agency’s head, Volker Türk, to “move beyond condemning Israel”.
“The messaging has been the same for almost two years. Criticising Israel is not enough. He needs to be saying exactly what steps member states need to take to meet their obligations to prevent genocide and very firmly pointing out the legal consequences for leaders, officials and private businesses if they don’t,” said one staff member who signed the letter.
Another praised Türk’s criticism of Israel for grave breaches of international law and apparent war crimes but charged that the decision to avoid clearer public statements about genocide was “a political not a legal choice”.
The letter, seen by the Guardian, says that based on the “available evidence and authoritative assessments by the UN-appointed experts, as well as legal and [international humanitarian law] professionals, the legal threshold [for genocide] has been met. [We] therefore urge the Office to state the legal characterization publicly.”
UN to end Lebanon peacekeeping mission next year after Israeli and US pressure
William Christou is a Beirut-based journalist
The UN security council has voted to extend the body’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for a further 16 months, but ordered it finished at the end of 2026 under Israeli and US pressure.
UNSC members voted unanimously on Thursday to extend the mandate for the UN interim force in Lebanon (Unifil) ahead of its expiration on Sunday, prompting relief from Lebanese officials who rely on it. The approved resolution said Unifil would begin an “orderly and safe withdrawal” of its 10,800 peacekeepers from Lebanon in December 2026.
The planned withdrawal will end the more than 47-year-long peacekeeping mission. Initially created in 1978 to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from south Lebanon, Unifil’s soldiers patrol the shared border between Israel and Lebanon.
The force has been tasked with monitoring and reporting violations of the November ceasefire between Hezbollah and Lebanon, so the Lebanese army can enforce the terms of the agreement.
You can read the full story here:
Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Gaza City:
Death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza reaches 63,025, says health ministry
At least 63,025 Palestinian people have been killed and 159,490 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Friday.
At least 59 Palestinian people, including 23 aid seekers, were killed in the last 24 hours alone, the ministry said.
In a post on Telegram, the health ministry wrote:
A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the streets, as ambulances and civil defense crews are unable to reach them until now.
Over the past 24 hours, hospitals in the Gaza Strip recorded five new deaths due to famine and malnutrition, including two children, the ministry said in a separate post.
This brings the total number of Palestinian people who have died from famine and malnutrition to 322, including 121 children. Figures from the health ministry are generally seen as reliable by the UN and other international organisations.
Updated
Mohammed Abu Qamar, 42, who is originally from the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza, is travelling to the south under threat from the expanded Israeli assault.
“We don’t want to leave our home. We’re exhausted, driven north and south with no relief,” he told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency by telephone, adding that his “heart is burning”.
“Death is closing in around us. We walk on the road, not knowing if we’ll reach safety or die halfway there.”
Mohammed Abu Afash, the director of the medical charity, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, has told Al Jazeera that the southern part of the territory is extremely dangerous for civilians as the Israeli military is targeting areas it claims are safe zones.
Afash told Al Jazeera that the army is targeting people who are waiting for food and residents sheltering in their homes, and that southern Gaza cannot accommodate the volume of people who will be displaced from Gaza City by Israel’s assault.
Updated
The Israeli military has expressed “its regret” after Lebanon’s army reported two of its soldiers were killed when an Israeli drone that crashed in the country’s south exploded.
Lebanon’s army said its personnel were inspecting the drone that had fallen in the Naqura area on Thursday when it exploded, killing an officer and a soldier and wounding two others, according to a report from AFP.
The Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee wrote on X that the military had on Thursday “attacked an engineering vehicle in the Naqura area in southern Lebanon that was preparing to rebuild Hezbollah military infrastructure in the area”.
He added that during the raid, “a technical malfunction occurred” which meant the munition failed to explode and fell to the ground, “with subsequent reports indicating several Lebanese army casualties.”
Adraee said an investigation was underway “to determine if the incident was caused by the explosion of Israeli weapons,” adding that the military “expresses its regret for the injury of Lebanese army soldiers”.
Pro-Palestinian campaigners are preparing to set sail for Gaza from Spain on Sunday in dozens of boats and have called on governments to pressure Israel into allowing their flotilla to pass through a naval blockade.
Greta Thunberg and is among hundreds of people from 44 counties due on the flotilla. In June, the Israeli navy boarded and seized a boat containing Thunberg that attempted to break the blockade.
It is the last day of recess for the British parliament and, as MPs prepare to head back to Westminster, a reminder that the UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer said in July that the country will formally recognise the state of Palestine this September unless Israel abides by a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution in the Middle East.
An official government statement issued on 29 July night said the UK would recognise Palestine at the UN general assembly unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire, makes it clear it will not annex the West Bank, and “takes substantive steps” to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza including by allowing the UN to supply aid. This effectively requires Israel to revive the prospect of a two-state solution, an idea that Benjamin Netanyahu has long rejected.
Recognition is a symbolic step but one that would infuriate the Israeli government, which argues that it would encourage Hamas and reward terrorism. It is in effect a formal, political acknowledgment of Palestinian self-determination – without the need to engage in thorny practicalities such as the location of its borders or capital city. It also allows the establishment of full diplomatic relations.
Israel says it has recovered body of hostage Ilan Weiss and one other person
Israel has recovered the body of hostage Ilan Weiss from the Gaza Strip, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has confirmed.
The body of a second person, whose identity has not yet been cleared for publication, was also retrieved, the statement added.
In a tribute to Weiss, Israeli president Isaac Herzog wrote in a post on X:
692 days after he was brutally kidnapped with his wife Shiri and their daughter Noga, Ilan’s body was recovered in a joint IDF and Shin Bet operation. A moment of deep sorrow, but also of closure.
Ilan showed courage and noble spirit when he fought the terrorists on that dark day. In his death, he gave life. And ever since, his family has shown extraordinary strength in their struggle for his return.
I offer my heartfelt condolences and support to the Weiss family and the community of Kibbutz Be’eri upon the recovery of the body of hostage Ilan Weiss, of blessed memory.
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) August 29, 2025
692 days after he was brutally kidnapped with his wife Shiri and their daughter Noga, Ilan’s body was… pic.twitter.com/PK4uKm3hdB
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Gaza City is being gripped by famine caused by Israel’s restrictions on aid and the assault will only deepen the widespread suffering of the civilian population there and could forcibly displace an estimated one million Palestinian people.
A joint statement from a number of UN organisations including Unicef and the World Food Programme said “it would have further devastating consequences for civilians where famine conditions already exist”.
“Many people – especially sick and malnourished children, older people and people with disabilities – may be unable to evacuate,” it said.
Updated
A spokesperson for the Israeli military said earlier this week that the evacuation of Gaza City is “inevitable”. Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will launch its Gaza City assault while simultaneously pursuing a ceasefire, though talks have stalled.
The Israeli prime minister has claimed the assault is the best way to weaken Hamas and return hostages, but many hostage families disagree and fear it will endanger hostages lives.
About 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage in the Hamas-led 7 October attacks on southern Israel in 2023. Most hostages have been released during previous ceasefires. About 50 remain in Gaza, and Israeli officials believe about 20 are still alive.
Netanyahu has been accused of prolonging ceasefire negotiations – and blocking their progress – to ensure his own political survival by having the war continue. The Israeli leader is on trial in Israel for alleged corruption and is wanted by the international criminal court over allegations of war crimes in Gaza. He denies all the charges against him.
Updated
IDF declares famine-hit Gaza City a combat zone, ending ‘tactical pauses’ that allowed limited food delivery
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has declared Gaza City “a dangerous combat zone” as the military prepares for an assault on the shattered remains of Gaza’s largest city.
In a post on X, the IDF wrote:
In accordance with the situational assessment & directives of the political echelon, starting today at 10:00, the local tactical pause in military activity will not apply to the area of Gaza City, which constitutes a dangerous combat zone.
The IDF continues supporting humanitarian efforts while conducting operations to protect Israel.
Planes and tanks have reportedly been pounding parts of Gaza City over the past week and Israeli tanks and armored vehicles have been deployed to its outskirts.
Around one million Palestinian people, many of whom are too frail or old to keep moving, are expected to be displaced by Israel’s expanded assault in the area, where a UN-backed food body declared earlier this month that a famine was taking place.
Updated
UN staff call on rights chief to describe Israel's war on Gaza as a genocide
More than 500 staff at the UN have urged its human rights chief, Volker Türk, to describe Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide being committed against the Palestinian people.
In a letter to Türk, staff reportedly claimed that the legal criteria for genocide – which, under international law, is defined as committing one or more acts with the intention to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group – has been met.
In the letter, seen by the Reuters news agency and Al Jazeera, the UN staff said failure to describe Israel’s assault as a genocide “undermines” the UN’s credibility.
It was reportedly signed by the Staff Committee on behalf of more than 500 employees at the Geneva-based office of the high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR), and sent to Türk earlier this week.
“OHCHR has a strong legal and moral responsibility to denounce acts of genocide,” said the letter, which called on Türk to take a “clear and public position”.
“Failing to denounce an unfolding genocide undermines the credibility of the UN and the human rights system itself,” it added.
It cited the international body’s perceived moral failure for not doing more to stop the 1994 Rwanda genocide that killed more than 1 million people.
Turk has the full and unconditional support of the UN secretary general António Guterres, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said, adding: “Labelling of an event as a genocide is up to a competent legal authority.”
South Africa’s case against Israel at the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ) accusing the state of committing genocide is ongoing. Israel denies the charges.
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There has been a worsening in relations between Israel and the UK over recent months.
The UK government said in July it would recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel abides by a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution in the Middle East, enraging the Israeli government.
The UK has sanctioned far-right Israeli ministers and those who committed settler violence, and broken off trade negotiations with Israel over its military conduct in Gaza.
But Keir Starmer’s government has been accused inside of the UK of not doing enough to try to exert pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to stop his assault on Gaza, which has brought famine conditions to the territory and killed over 62,000 Palestinian people, many of whom are women and children, according to officials.
Despite Israel being accused of war crimes and of committing genocide in Gaza, the UK has still allowed arms sales to Israel and has run surveillance flights over Gaza with the help of a US contractor.
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UK blocks Israeli officials from its biggest defence show
Israel’s defence ministry has criticised the UK government for excluding its officials from a London arms fair next month, calling it an act of “discrimination”.
A UK government spokesperson said earlier that no Israeli government delegation would be invited to attend the Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEI) event, which will feature national delegations and private companies who showcase military equipment and weapons at London’s Excel centre.
The spokesperson said the Israeli government’s decision to further escalate its assault in Gaza was wrong, in comments seemingly in reference to Israel’s plan to launch a massive new assault on Gaza City within weeks.
“As a result, we can confirm that no Israeli government delegation will be invited to attend DSEI UK 2025,” the spokesperson said.
“There must be a diplomatic solution to end this war now, with an immediate ceasefire, the return of the hostages and a surge in humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza,” the spokesperson added.
Israel’s defence ministry said that as a result of the trade fair ban it would not run its national pavilion at the trade show as it has done previously. Israeli defence companies, such as Elbit Systems, Rafael, IAI and Uvision, will still be able to attend.
“These restrictions amount to a deliberate and regrettable act of discrimination against Israel’s representatives. Accordingly, the Israel Ministry of Defence will withdraw from the exhibition and will not establish a national pavilion,” Israel’s defence ministry said in a statement.
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The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said this morning that Europe wants to find diplomatic solutions to the Iranian nuclear programme question.
“We are entering a new phase with this 30 days that is now giving us also the opportunity to really find diplomatic ways to find a solution,” Kallas told journalists. “We have this 30 days to sort things out,” she added.
Iran has been enriching uranium to up to 60% fissile purity, a short step from the roughly 90% of bomb-grade, and had enough material enriched to that level, if refined further, for six nuclear weapons, before airstrikes by Israel (and then the US) were launched on Iranian nuclear sites in June, according to the UN nuclear watchdog.
The west says the advancement of Iran’s nuclear programme goes beyond civilian needs, while Tehran says it wants nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes.
Updated
UK, Germany and France say they have triggered UN sanctions on Iran
Patrick Wintour is diplomatic editor for the Guardian
The UK, France and Germany have formally notified the UN that they have triggered the restoration of sweeping UN sanctions against Iran, giving Tehran 30 days to make concessions on access to its nuclear sites or face deeper worldwide economic isolation.
UK officials said the decision had not been taken lightly and there had been intensive diplomacy to try to avert this step.
The officials emphasised there was still room for last-ditch diplomacy before the sanctions “snapback” comes into force in 30 days’ time. The annual high-level UN general assembly in September is likely to involve more intensive diplomacy over the situation with Iran.
They added that Iran had been in significant non-compliance with the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal since 2019, saying Tehran had been given ample opportunity to become compliant but had either been unwilling or unable to act.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) left Iran after Israel bombed its key nuclear sites, and has been unable to renegotiate a return to assess the state of those sites. Iran has allowed the IAEA inspectors to visit the Bushehr site, where refuelling is due to occur.
David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, told the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, of the decision by the three European countries in a call on Thursday morning.
You can read the full story here:
Israel rejected the findings of the report, saying they were based on “Hamas lies laundered through organisations with vested interests”, and denied the existence of a famine in Gaza.
We mentioned the findings of the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) in our opening post.
Here is a bit more detail about the report which said last week that more than half a million people across Gaza are facing “catastrophic” conditions characterised by “starvation, destitution and death”.
The IPC said an “entirely man-made” famine is happening in Gaza City, the territory’s largest, home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and could spread south to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis by the end of next month.
Only four famines have been declared by the IPC since it was established in 2004, most recently in Sudan last year. The IPC is a globally recognised organisation that classifies the severity of food insecurity and malnutrition.
“This famine is entirely man-made, it can be halted and reversed,” the report says. It continues:
The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed.
Any further delay – even by days – will result in a totally unacceptable escalation of famine-related mortality.
If a ceasefire is not implemented to allow humanitarian aid to reach everyone in the Gaza Strip, and if essential food supplies and basic health, nutrition and (sanitation and water) services are not restored immediately, avoidable deaths will increase exponentially.
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It is 'very evident' there is not enough food in Gaza, WFP director says
We are restarting our live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza. The director of the UN World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, said it is “very evident” there isn’t enough food in Gaza, adding that starvation was clearly under way in the territory.
Her comments were made to the Associated Press during a visit to Gaza earlier this week and echo the declaration last Friday of widespread famine in Gaza made by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
“I personally met mothers and children who were starving in Gaza,” McCain said. “It is real and it is happening now.”
McCain said she spoke with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and claimed he is “concerned” about the issue. In the past, Netanyahu has denied the existence of famine in Gaza and said the claims about starvation are a propaganda campaign launched by Hamas and spread by the media.
“We agreed that we must immediately redouble our efforts to get more humanitarian aid in. Access and security for our convoys is critical,” McCain said.
Netanyahu has presided over a government that has been starving Gaza by limiting the amount of aid coming into the territory. Charities say there are ongoing obstructions in being able to collect and distribute aid.
In March and April Gaza was under total siege, with no food entering. Israel justified what was widely seen as the collective punishment of the civilian population as a tactic to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages.
In mid-May Netanyahu said shipments would restart because of international pressure over a “starvation crisis”. But the amount of food and basic essentials let into the territory is still woefully inadequate and many Palestinian people have been killed while trying to collect aid.
Stay with us as we give you the latest updates on Gaza throughout the day.
