Author: ALJAZEERA

Hezbollah chief Nasrallah says support for Gaza is ‘final’, as cross-border fighting displaces thousands of people.The head of powerful Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said that residents of northern Israel would not be able to return home for the start of the next school year if their government pressed on with its assault on the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with the Israeli military across Lebanon’s southern border in parallel with the Gaza assault that began on October 7. The Iran-aligned armed group has said it is launching rockets at Israel both to support its ally, the Palestinian group…

Ashley Uhl-Leavitt landed an opportunity most athletes can only dream of – a chance to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games. While this Florida-based marathon runner has run in some of the most iconic races in the world like the New York City Marathon, this is her first time to compete in the Olympic marathon. In less than 100 days, athletes and spectators alike will converge in Paris, France, for an event synonymous with bringing the world together regardless of the calibre of global geopolitical tensions throughout the history of the modern Olympiad. “Hundreds of thousands of people tried to…

Israeli forces have resumed ground and air attacks on northern Gaza’s densely populated Jabalia refugee camp, while in the southern part of the besieged enclave, tanks and troops pushed across a highway into Rafah, where some 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering. Israel previously said it had pulled its troops out of the mostly devastated north, where famine has taken hold of the area, after claiming it had defeated Hamas months ago. But on Monday, its forces and tanks re-entered northern Gaza and resumed shelling in Jabalia, where Hamas said its fighters were engaged in battles. Israel described its latest…

Cape Town, South Africa – “We cannot allow supporters of baby killers to talk to us,” a furious resident of Surrey Estate in Cape Town shouted as he heckled the speaker at the podium. The man was one of hundreds of residents of the mostly Muslim suburb who had gathered for a pre-election panel discussion early in May, where representatives from 10 political parties sought to lobby support. When Riad Davids, the representative for the Democratic Alliance (DA) – South Africa’s liberal, centrist main opposition party that is considered a steadfast supporter of Israel – took to the podium to…

Resolution does not give Palestine full UN membership, but recognises them as qualified to join and extends rights.The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognising it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council “reconsider the matter favourably”. The vote by the 193-member UNGA on Friday was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member – a move that would effectively recognise a Palestinian state – after the United States vetoed it in the UN Security Council last month. The…

Thousands of people have protested in the Swedish city of Malmo against Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, with Israel’s war on Gaza casting a shadow over the final of the glitzy contest. On Saturday, a large crowd of protesters gathered on the central square of the Swedish host city before marching towards the contest venue, waving Palestinian flags and shouting “Eurovision united by genocide” – a twist on the contest’s official slogan “united by music”. A protester told Al Jazeera that it was unfair that a country that is “committing genocide” was allowed to take part in the…

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has overwhelmingly voted to support a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognising it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council “reconsider the matter favourably”. Memberships can only be decided by the UN Security Council, and last month, the US vetoed a bid for full membership. The current resolution does not give Palestinians full membership, but recognises them as qualified to join, and it gives Palestine more participation and some rights within the UNGA. Here is a breakdown of how each country voted in the UNGA in New…

The Israeli military has ordered residents in more areas of eastern and central Rafah to evacuate as it expands its offensive in the southernmost corner of the Gaza Strip, again displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians. An estimated 150,000 Palestinians, many displaced multiple times, have now fled Rafah, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on Saturday. Israel put that figure at about 300,000. Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said: “Israeli authorities dropped leaflets and made phone calls for more evacuation orders. They are…

British-Israeli Nadav Popplewell was taken captive from Nirim kibbutz by Palestinian group Hamas on October 7.Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, has said British-Israeli captive Nadav Popplewell died of wounds sustained in an Israeli air strike a month ago. The group’s announcement on Saturday came just hours after the Palestinian group released an 11-second video showing Popplewell with a bruised eye. In the video republished on social media and cited by Israeli news outlets, a man is seen wearing a white T-shirt and he introduces himself as 51-year-old Nadav Popplewell from the Nirim kibbutz in southern Israel. Superimposed text in…

Israel issued new evacuation orders in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, forcing tens of thousands more people to move as it prepares to expand its military operation. With Saturday’s orders, Israeli forces have now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah, pushing into the edges of the heavily populated central area. The orders come in the face of international opposition and criticism. President Joe Biden has already said the United States will not provide offensive weapons to Israel due to its Rafah offensive. The United Nations and other agencies have warned for weeks that an Israeli assault on Rafah, which borders…