MIDDLE EAST

On Wednesday, at least 17 people in a packed Gaza market were killed by Israeli warplanes in a deadly raid which ended a four-hour humanitarian ceasefire, as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon  labeled an Israel strike on a school in Gaza that killed 16 as “unjustifiable”. A crowded market in the neighborhood of Shejaiya was fired upon by Israeli warplanes. …

British band Massive Attack dedicated Tuesday’s performance in the Lebanese city of Byblos, their only concert in the Middle East, to the children in Gaza, and openly condemned Israel’s “massacre” of Palestinians. The band played in the city, only a few hundred kilometers to the north of Gaza, as music-lovers swayed all night holding up Palestinian flags. In an interview …

The Swiss Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said that it was in talks to hold an international conference that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had wanted to discuss the protection of civilians in Gaza. “Switzerland has begun consultations with state parties to the Geneva Conventions, following an official Palestinian request that a conference be held by the end of the year”, the …

On Wednesday, advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) called out the Syrian air force for intensifying its air strikes on Aleppo despite a UN resolution for all parties involved to stop indiscriminate attacks. The rights group also criticized the UN Security Council for their inaction on the violence in Syria. In a statement issued before a UN hearing, HRW said, …

The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, on Tuesday said that a potential truce deal with Israel must incorporate an end to Israeli “aggression” and lift the blockade of Gaza, as the Palestinian death toll from 22 days of Israeli strikes rose to 1,210. “We don’t accept any condition of ceasefire. There is no ceasefire without the stop of the …

US Secretary of State John Kerry’s failed bids to bring peace in Gaza coupled with the waning influence of the United States in global affairs seem to be hampering a ceasefire bid in Gaza, but the US still remains the single global power capable of mediating a peace deal right now. According to analysts, an unfortunate power vacuum in the …

Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday accused Israel of “genocide” and called on the Muslim world to arm Palestinians battling “the Zionist regime”. In a speech that marked the festival of Eid al-Fitr, Iran’s supreme leader said that Israel was behaving like a “rabid dog” and a “wild wolf” in acts which are causing a humanitarian crisis …

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said that he would be “glad” to return the Profile of Courage award given to him in 2004 by the American Jewish Congress, Turkey’s embassy in the US said on Tuesday, amid growing controversy over Erdogan’s remarks on Israel. It is not clear when and how the award will be returned. The …

Syrian rebels on continued their advance in the province of Hama and tried to destroy the regime’s military airport in the region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. “The rebels are now nine kilometers (six miles) away from Hama military airport, which they want to put out of action”, the monitor’s director Rami Abdel Rahman said. Yusef …

Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and UN Special Rapporteur said that Israel has carried out a “systematic and continued effort to change the ethnic composition of East Jerusalem”. 82-year-old Falk said that in the past few years, Israel has made it difficult for Palestinians to live in Jerusalem and has encouraged the construction of new …