Middle East

Gaza starvation: Why Israel's supporters are misrepresenting Unicef study Peter Oborne on Thu, 08/13/2026 - 17:18 Data showing lower malnutrition levels in the enclave should be cheered - but these findings do not erase the crimes of the past A Palestinian mother cradles her 18-month-old son, displaying signs of malnutrition, in Gaza’s al-Shati refugee camp, on 24 July 2025 (Omar al-Qattaa/AFP) On Israel has consistently denied that it has used starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.  These denials date back to Israel’s submission to the International Court of Justice in response to South Africa’s genocide case at the Hague in January 2024. Its lawyers asserted that “Israel has publicly stated repeatedly that there is no limit on the amount of food, water, shelter or medical supplies that can be brought into Gaza”. From the start, these protestations have been challenged by human rights organisations.  Amnesty International reported that “at no point” between October 2023 and early July 2024 did Israeli authorities allow “adequate aid and other essential life-saving supplies” to be provided. After Israel imposed a total blockade spanning March to mid-May 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it generated “one of the world’s worst hunger crises”, with 57 children reportedly dying of malnutrition - and noted that “this number is likely an underestimate”. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); When the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November 2024, the allegations included “the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”. Israel is naturally entitled to challenge these allegations, and its supporters have regularly done so. Last week, they launched a fresh campaign in the wake of the publication of a Unicef survey addressing malnutrition in Gaza, foc

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Israel's 'pilot zones' turn Lebanese sovereignty on its head Belen Fernandez on Sun, 08/09/2026 - 16:51 Under the guise of restoring state authority, Washington's plan demands Hezbollah's disarmament while allowing military occupation and territorial conquest to continue Lebanese soldiers patrol Zawtar al-Gharbiya on 28 July 2026, as residents return to inspect their homes a week after the army deployed to the southern village under the US-sponsored 'pilot zones' agreement (Joseph Eid/AFP) On Imagine, for a moment, that Country A is conducting an illegal occupation of Country B and regularly slaughtering its inhabitants despite an alleged ceasefire agreement. By any modicum of logic, a resolution to the situation would first require Country A to stop occupying and slaughtering people in Country B, right? Wrong - at least if Country A happens to be Israel, which has never felt compelled to abide by international legal or moral standards. Israeli impunity is most egregiously on display in the Gaza Strip, where Israel's genocidal war has killed at least 73,375 Palestinians - or one out of every 33 people - in less than three years. Now, Lebanon has also been cast in a Country B role with the help of the so-called "Trilateral Framework" signed in June between the Lebanese government, Israel, and Israel's genocidal sponsors in the United States. As per the fanciful hallucinations of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the agreement "establishes a clear and structured process to restore Lebanon's sovereignty, disarm Hezbollah and dismantle its terrorist infrastructure, and enable Israel to return to its borders once that threat to its citizens is removed". (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Never mind that Israel has harboured predatory designs on Lebanese territory since forever; it was hardly an accident, after all, that the Israeli military perpetrated a brutal 22-year occupation of south Lebanon that only ende

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