The French President once again promised to recognise Palestinian statehood
France faces sharp criticism from Israel and the US after announcing plans to recognise Palestinian statehood, in a bold move to revive peace efforts.
In the occupied West Bank, Palestinians are skeptical however... They'd rather see concrete international sanctions against Israel and its operations in Gaza...
more soon
In a statement on Wednesday, 111 organisations, including Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Refugees International, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Save the Children and Oxfam, said mass starvation was spreading even as tons of food, clean water and medical supplies sit untouched just outside Gaza, where aid groups are blocked from accessing them.
France also warned of a growing "risk of famine" caused by "the blockade imposed by Israel".
The head of the World Health Organisation also weighed in, saying that a "large proportion of the population of Gaza is starving".
"I don't know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it's man-made," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
The humanitarian organisations said in a joint statement that warehouses with tonnes of supplies were sitting untouched, while people were "trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak, waiting for assistance and ceasefires".
Health crisis, on the verge of famine
Israel cut off all supplies to Gaza from the start of March, reopening it with new restrictions in May. It says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants.
It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war, but the suffering of Gaza's 2.2 million people only increases.
"I asked them for dietary supplements, but they told me they only gave them to children under five," Oum Oussama, a resident of Gaza City, told RFI's correspondent in Gaza, from the Al Shifa hospital. "What will he eat? My son only has one kidney. The water we drink is contaminated. I have nothing left to give him to eat. Now he's skin and bones."
The emergency manager of the hospital, Moatez Harara, sees the arrival of fragile, sick people, deprived of treatment due to the disastrous living conditions, daily. And he says they are the first to die.
"They are unable to eat properly," he told RFI. "They eat whatever they can find, which makes their condition worse. Hunger makes the body adapt and transform proteins into sugars to survive. The world must stop this. We must reopen the crossings and let food in. Otherwise, the sick and hungry will continue to arrive, and the hospitals will no longer be able to respond; they will collapse."
Dying children
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, 16 children died of starvation in July alone.
More and more Palestinians die daily from starvation, the Gaza health ministry said, the total number of people who have starved to death is now up to 111. Most of them died in recent weeks as the wave of hunger crashes on the Palestinian enclave.
The United Nations and aid groups trying to deliver food to Gaza say Israel, which controls everything that comes in and out, is choking delivery.
Israeli troops are also reported to have shot hundreds of Palestinians dead close to aid collection points since May.
"We have a minimum set of requirements to be able to operate inside Gaza," Ross Smith, the director of emergencies at the UN World Food Programme (WFP), told Reuters.
"One of the most important things I want to emphasise is that we need to have no armed actors near our distribution points, near our convoys," he added.
In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) added its voice to the appeal, accusing Israel of "starving Gazan journalists into silence", after AFP reporters in Gaza said they were all affected by the lack of food.
Israel hit back on Wednesday at growing international criticism that it was behind chronic food shortages in Gaza, instead accusing Hamas of deliberately creating a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.
Israel has also accused the United Nations of failing to act in a timely fashion, saying 700 truckloads of aid are idling inside Gaza.
"It is time for them to pick it up and stop blaming Israel for the bottlenecks which are occurring," Israeli government spokesman David Mercer said on Wednesday.
Faltering peace talks
The war between Israel and Hamas has been raging since 7 October 2023, when the militant branch of Hamas killed at least 1,100 Israelis, mostly soldiers, and took 251 hostages from southern Israel in the deadliest attack in Israel's history.
Israel has since killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, decimated Hamas as a military force, reduced most of the territory to ruins and forced nearly the entire population to flee their homes multiple times.
The United States said on Wednesday its top Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, was heading to Europe for talks on a possible Gaza ceasefire and an aid corridor, raising hopes of a breakthrough after more than two weeks of negotiations.
But the deadly Israeli strikes continue across the territory.
Talks on a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are being mediated by Qatar and Egypt with Washington's backing. They could include the release of more of the 50 Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza.
Since the collapse of a ceasefire in March, the successive rounds of negotiations have achieved no breakthrough however.
(with newswires)
The reading of the ruling began at 3pm local time in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), this Wednesday.
The United Nations' highest court underlined "the urgent and existential threat posed by climate change" as it started to read out an opinion on the legal obligations of states to take action.
That's why he world's highest court declared that states have a legal obligation to tackle climate change and that failing to do so was a "wrongful act" that could open the door to reparations.
The non-binding opinion by the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, is likely to determine the course of future climate action across the world.
"Greenhouse gas emissions are unequivocally caused by human activities which are not territorially limited," judge Yuji Iwasawa said.
Ahead of the ruling, supporters of climate action gathered outside the ICJ, chanting: "What do we want? Climate justice! When do we want it? Now!" Although it is non-binding, the deliberation of the 15 judges of the ICJ in The Hague will nevertheless carry legal and political weight and future climate cases would be unable to ignore it, legal experts say.
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The world's top court on Wednesday began delivering a much-anticipated ruling laying out what legal obligations countries have to prevent climate change and whether polluters should pay up for the consequences.
It is the biggest case ever heard at the International Court of Justice and experts say the judges' opinion could reshape climate justice, with major impacts on laws around the world. In opening remarks, ICJ president Yuji Iwasawa said the consequences of climate change "are severe and far-reaching: they affect both natural ecosystems and human populations".
"These consequences underscore the urgent and existential threat posed by climate change," he said.
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The push for a court opinion was spearheaded by the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu amid growing frustration at sluggish progress in UN climate negotiations.
Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu's climate change minister, said the ICJ ruling could be a "game-changer" in the fight against global warming.
"We've been going through this for 30 years... It'll shift the narrative, which is what we need to have," Regenvanu told AFP.
The United Nations has tasked the 15 judges at the ICJ, a UN court that adjudicates disputes between nations, to answer two fundamental questions.
-First: what must states do under international law to protect the environment from greenhouse gas emissions "for present and future generations"?
-Second: what are the consequences for states whose emissions have caused environmental harm, especially to vulnerable low-lying island states? ICJ advisory opinions are not binding upon states and critics say that top polluters will simply ignore what comes out of the court.
But others note the moral and legal clout enjoyed by the world's highest court and hope the opinion will make a tangible difference to national climate change policies and ongoing legal battles.
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Andrew Raine, deputy director of the UN Environment Programme's law division, said the ICJ should "clarify how international law applies to the climate crisis."
"And that has ripple effects across national courts, legislative processes, and public debates," he told AFP.
To help answer the two questions, ICJ judges have pored over tens of thousands of pages of submissions from countries and organisations around the world.
Analysts say Wednesday's ruling is the most consequential of a string of recent rulings on climate change in international law as courts become a battleground for climate action.
Outside the court in the Hague, about a hundred demonstrators waved flags and posters bearing slogans like "No more delay, climate justice today". Those bringing the cases are often from climate-vulnerable communities and countries, alarmed by the pace of progress toward curbing planet-warming pollution from fossil fuels.
The Paris Agreement struck through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has rallied a global response to the crisis, but not at the speed necessary to protect the world from dangerous overheating. - 'Disappear beneath the waves' - In December, the iconic Peace Palace in the Hague hosted the court's biggest-ever hearings, with more than 100 nations and groups giving oral statements. In what was billed a "David Vs Goliath" battle, the debate pitted major wealthy economies against the smaller, less developed states most at the mercy of a warming planet.
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Major polluters, including the US and India, warned the ICJ not to deliver a fresh legal blueprint for climate change, arguing the existing UNFCCC sufficed. The US, which has since withdrawn from the Paris accord, said the UNFCCC contained legal provisions on climate change and urged the court to uphold this regime.
But smaller states said this framework was inadequate to mitigate climate change's devastating effects and that the ICJ's opinion should be broader. These states also urged the ICJ to impose reparations on historic polluters.
"The cardinal principle is crystal clear. Responsible states are required to make full reparation for the injury they have caused," said Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh representing Vanuatu. These states demanded a commitment and timeline to phasing out fossil fuels, monetary compensation when appropriate, and an acknowledgement of past wrongs.
Representatives from island states, many wearing traditional dress as they addressed the court for the first time in their country's history, made passionate pleas to the robed judges.
"Despite producing less than 0.01 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, on the current trajectory of GHG emissions, Tuvalu will disappear completely beneath the waves that have been lapping our shores for millennia," said Eselealofa Apinelu from Tuvalu.
Vishal Prasad, director of a campaign by Pacific Island students that pushed the issue before the court, said climate change will become "catastrophic as the years go by, if we do not course-correct."
"The urgency of the matter, the seriousness of why we're here, and how important this is, is not lost upon all Pacific Islanders, all small island countries," he told AFP "That's why we're looking to the ICJ."
PUT YOUR SOUL ON YOUR HAND AND WALK is a haunting testament to the resilience of daily life under siege in Gaza.
Captured through a filmmaker's video calls with Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona, these calls act as a powerful digital lifeline to the realities of war, resistance and survival.
In UK and Irish cinemas from 22 August. Book tickets at www.soulonyourhand.film
Darran McLaughlin has launched a crowdfunding campaign to purchase Bristol's bookhaus.
The owners have decided to retire, and the courageous manager is raising funds to buy it and carry on the radical bookshop's legacy!
Bookhaus is a popular, award-nominated independent bookshop in Wapping Wharf in the heart of Bristol. Darran has managed it since before they opened the doors in August 2021. The current owners, Kevin and Jayne Ramage and he knew each other from being involved in political activism together.
The bookshop reflects the radical, independent spirit of Bristol.
Now, that the owners of bookhaus have decided it is time to retire, they would like the bookshop's manager to continue the legacy created together.
Darran is a working class, black man, who grew up in a single parent household on a council estate, so he is not able to ask family for money, and banks aren't keen to fund independent bookshops.
This is why he's created this crowdfunder, in the hope that customers and fans will contribute towards keeping bookhaus as Bristol's Radical Home.
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More and how to donate here:
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/bookhaus---bristols-radical-home
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A photo from the opening day, in August 2021, historian and author David Olusoga:
Sorry... there is just to much to flag, even for a news journalist...
🚨 This morning we turned the street outside Labour Party Headquarters in London into Jabaliya camp in Gaza.
Listen to Ahmed Masoud talking about what the Israeli army did to his neighbourhood and family. A genocide is happening, but the Labour government is supplying weapons, intelligence and diplomatic cover to the perpetrator. Protesting this is not terrorism.
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I interviewed Ahmed in Bristol a few years ago, before 7 October 2023. You can read our exchange here:
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I also wrote about his work here:
The rise in far-right activity in towns like Epping is part of a broader trend across parts of the UK where economic pressures, migration debates, and culture-war rhetoric have fuelled nationalist and xenophobic mobilisation.
The fact that Hope Not Hate identifies Epping as a longstanding site of far-right organising shows how deeply embedded some of these networks are.
Analysis
This unrest reflects escalating tension across England: asylum policies, economic stress, and immigration debates are fuelling both protest and far-right mobilisation.
The violence at Epping echoes last year’s disturbances, where far-right misinformation triggered nationwide unrest after the tragic cases in Southport.
On The Guardian's Today in Focus podcast this Wednesday, Nick Lowles, the chief executive of the anti-racism organisation Hope Not Hate, described how these recent demonstrations have drawn nationalist activists from around the country but said that, despite that fact, local anger should not be ignored. Lowles believes that listening to residents and offering them a better future is the best way to counter the racist and violent narratives increasingly entering the mainstream.
How many died?
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, since the 1990s, estimates suggest over 5 million people have died due to conflict-related causes — the deadliest war since WWII. Most deaths were from preventable disease, hunger, and displacement caused by fighting.
Since 2022, the resurgence of violence in eastern DRC (North Kivu, Ituri, etc.) has displaced more than 7 million people, many living in horrific conditions. Hundreds of thousands are exposed to mass rape, exploitation, and disease.
In Sudan, since the war began in April 2023, over 15,000 people are estimated to have been killed, though the real number is likely far higher due to restricted access. Over 10 million people have been displaced — the largest displacement crisis in the world right now. Starvation is being used as a weapon.
And still — almost no visibility. Few headlines. Fewer influencers.
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My latest on the conflict in the DRC, for RFI:
Since February, the front in eastern DRC has stabilised, but violence has intensified between the M23 and a myriad of pro-Kinshasa militias waging guerrilla warfare in eastern Congo, a region bordering Rwanda that is rich in minerals and has been plagued by conflict for more than 30 years.
Representatives of both sides signed a declaration of principles laying out the new timeline on Saturday (19 July), at the ceremony that followed months of Qatar's mediation, after talks began in April.
Negotiations for the final peace agreement are set to restart no later than 8 August, according to the declaration, which would give the parties ten days to finalise a deal if they stick to their new 18 August deadline for signing.
"We are confident and we are hopeful," Massad Boulos, Trump's senior adviser for Africa, told Reuters after Saturday's ceremony in Doha, adding that Tshisekedi and Kagame "have both committed to resolving this."
Jacquemain Shabani, Congolese Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the Interior, Security, Decentralisation and Customary Affairs, followed the discussions in Doha on behalf of the government. He told RFI that the details of the deal still need to be spelled out and outlined in the peace agreement, which will be signed once again in Doha on 18 August.
"We will have to wait a few more days to see the signing of this final document, which will define and determine the conditions under which, notably, the various prisoners on both sides can be released," he added.
He also insisted on the need for political dialogue between Kinshasa and the M23.
The United States has also hosted separate talks between the governments of Congo and Rwanda, and has exerted pressure to finalise a durable peace deal in Congo. President Donald Trump has made clear he hopes that would spur Western investment into a country rich in tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, lithium and other minerals.
According to Fred Bauma, executive director of the Congolese Institute for Research on Governance, Politics, and Violence, Ebuteli, "this is a statement of principle that is not yet the Peace Agreement, but it opens the way to negotiations to reach a peace agreement that we hope will be reached soon."
Bauma said that the ambition of this peace agreement is precisely to bring about an end to the conflict in eastern DRC and the withdrawal of the M23 from the occupied areas.
"I think that what is different compared to the various previous initiatives is the leading role of international actors like the United States and Qatar, who are bringing all their weight to bear to ensure that the peace agreement can succeed," the expert added.
Sources in both delegations have however expressed frustration with the pace of negotiations in Doha and the lack of progress on confidence-building measures, including the release of M23 members held by Congo and the re-opening of banks in rebel-held territory.
The declaration of principles does not resolve those issues, instead committing the parties to "creating the necessary conditions" to eventually do so.
It also does not address bigger questions concerning the possible Rwandan and M23 withdrawals from eastern DRC. It only says DRC and M23 agree state authority should be restored "on all national territories" as part of an eventual peace agreement but does not give details.
"We saw immediately, the day after the signing of this agreement in principle, that a new controversy arose over the interpretation of what territorial integrity or the restoration of state authority is," Bauma told RFI.
He thinks that, on both sides, It won't be easy to implement this agreement, and that it would take a lot of pressure.
"I think the facilitators, Qatar and the United States, and also all the other countries that have influence in the region, must ensure that we avoid a further escalation because that would mean a return to and perhaps the failure of these negotiations, which will not promote the immediate return of peace to the region."
According to Martin Ziakwau, Catholic University of Congo, "the issue isn't the signing of the declaration of principles. The real issue is the subject of direct discussions between the government and the M23."
"The most important thing is not to reach the end of a military saga, but to create the conditions for lasting peace," he told RFI.
