Author: ALJAZEERA

Israel has illegally claimed 23.7sq km (9.15sq miles) of West Bank land as its own so far this year, Peace Now says.Israeli authorities have green-lighted the largest West Bank land seizure in more than three decades as the rate of land grabs in the occupied Palestinian territory peaks, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog says. The planned seizure, approved by Israel’s government late last month but only publicised on Wednesday, targets 12.7sq km (4.9sq miles) of land in the Jordan Valley, the Peace Now NGO said. The move raises the total amount of West Bank land that Israel has declared its own…

The vote comes as many of Saied’s political opponents and media critics are in jail or facing prosecution.Tunisian President Kais Saied has called a presidential election for October 6, setting himself up for possible re-election as many of his political opponents are behind bars. Announcing the date in an official decree on Monday, Saied did not confirm whether he would seek re-election but is widely expected to stand for another five-year term. The former constitutional law professor was elected to office in 2019 as an anti-establishment stalwart promising to root out corruption. He took full control of the country in…

Israeli police say suspect has been killed and they are investigating the incident as a possible ‘terror attack’.At least two people have been wounded, one severely, in a stabbing attack in a shopping centre in northern Israel, according to police. The attack took place on the second floor of the Hutzot Karmiel Mall in the northern Israeli city of Karmiel on Wednesday. Israel’s national ambulance service said medics were treating two men in their 20s, one in a very serious condition and the other fully conscious. Video footage from the scene shared on social media, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad…

Wafaa Elwan’s five-year-old son cannot sleep in the Gaza tent city where she and her seven children shelter, but it is not the guns of war that cause his nightmares. “My son can’t sleep through the night because he can’t stop scratching his body,” the anxious mother said. The boy has white and red blotches over his feet and legs, and more under his shirt. He is one of many in Gaza suffering from skin infections, ranging from scabies to chicken pox, lice, impetigo and other debilitating rashes. More than 150,000 people in the Palestinian territory have contracted skin diseases…

As voters in the United Kingdom go to the polls to choose their next government, the rising cost of living is among the top issues of concern. Household budgets have been strained over the past few years by high inflation driven by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. While inflation has finally returned to the central bank’s target of 2 percent after hitting double-digit highs in 2022 and 2023, people are still paying much more for essentials, including food, than they were just a few years ago. With public discontent over living standards running high,…

The 12 officials say the cover provided to Israel has ‘ensured’ the US’s ‘complicity’ in the war on Gaza.A group of former United States government officials have claimed that Washington’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza puts national security at risk. The 12 officials, who resigned over the last nine months protesting against the US policy, said in a letter released late on Tuesday that President Joe Biden’s support for Israel means that Washington has “undeniable complicity” in the killing and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza. They labelled the White House policy on the war in the enclave “a failure…

Redesigned bills pay tribute to Japanese capitalism, women’s equality and scientific innovation.Japan has issued its first new banknotes in two decades, with the redesigned bills featuring 3D holograms intended to thwart counterfeiters. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday said the redesigned 10,000 yen, 5,000 yen and 1,000 yen bills paid tribute to Japanese capitalism, women’s equality and scientific innovation. “I hope the people will like the new bills, and they will help energise the Japanese economy,” Kishida told reporters at the Bank of Japan. The bills feature holograms of historical figures whose orientation changes depending on the angle they…

South Africa has taken Israel to the International Court of Justice, accusing it of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza – and 12 other countries have backed the case. “Genocide” is a legal term that has been increasingly used to describe what Israel is doing in Gaza as it kills more people, a figure nearing 40,000. What other terms have been used to describe what’s happening in Gaza? Genocide, killing a people Genocide is the “deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group”. It…

Experts warn about ‘the largest cohort of paediatric amputees in history’.Amputees in Gaza are at risk of fatal complications because of a lack of proper medical treatment, according to Doctors Without Borders (known by its French acronym MSF). The majority of the amputations being performed would have be preventable under normal circumstances. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 86,969 people have been injured in Israel’s war on the enclave, with at least 12,000 estimated to be children, many suffering irreversible injuries. The United Nations childrens Fund (UNICEF) says that between October and January, at least 1,000…

For my colleague Mariam*, every morning is a prayer. After leaving her children at school in a suburb near Nablus, she hopes that nothing will hinder her way back to them when her work day ends. “We live in an open-air prison, wherever we are, we never feel safe. We have no sense of freedom. We can’t go from one place to another without having this fear … the checkpoints, the soldiers. Even if you don’t see them on the way, you are always afraid that a settler will attack. I am always afraid for the safety of my family,…