Israel begins ground offensive in Gaza City, thousands of residents flee – National– globalnews.ca Source Link Excerpt:
The Israeli military began its ground offensive in Gaza City on Tuesday, slowly closing in on the Palestinian territory’s largest city, where block after block has already been destroyed in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Thousands of people streamed out in vehicles laden with their belongings, but hundreds of thousands more remain.
The operation marks yet another escalation in a conflict that has roiled the Middle East for nearly two years and likely pushes any ceasefire farther out of reach. The military wouldn’t offer a timeline for the offensive, which it says aims to “destroy Hamas’ military infrastructure,” but Israeli media suggested it could take months.
It began the same day that independent experts commissioned by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel fiercely rejected the allegation, calling the experts’ report “distorted and false.”
Israel committing ‘genocide’ in Gaza, UN commission of inquiry says – National– globalnews.ca Source Link Excerpt:
A team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council has concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, issuing a report Tuesday that calls on the international community to end the genocide and take steps to punish those responsible for it.
The deeply documented findings by the three-member team are the latest accusations of genocide against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as Israel carries on with its conflict in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of people. Israel rejected what it called a “distorted and false” report.
The Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, which was created four years ago, has repeatedly documented alleged human rights abuses and violations in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel led by Hamas, and other Palestinian areas.
While neither the commission nor the 47-member-country council that it works for within the U.N. system can take action against a country, the findings could be used by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court or the U.N.’s International Court of Justice.
Billionaire Bill Ackman convened stormy Israel ‘intervention’ with Charlie Kirk, sources say– thegrayzone.com Source Link Excerpt:
A month before Charlie Kirk’s killing, billionaire pro-Israel moneyman Bill Ackman arranged an intervention in the Hamptons during which sources say he and others “hammered” Kirk for the conservative leader’s growing criticism of Israeli influence in Washington. Kirk came away fretting about Israeli “blackmail,” sources say, as he contemplated a Catholic conversion.
On September 11, one day after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, billionaire pro-Israel moneyman Bill Ackman took to Twitter/X to trumpet his relationship with the late conservative operative. “I feel incredibly privileged to have spent a day and shared a meal with @charliekirk11 this summer. He was a giant of a man.”
The Grayzone has spoken to five people with intimate knowledge of Kirk’s meeting with Ackman, which was held in early August. According to one source, Kirk was left upset after the gathering turned into an “intervention” where he was “hammered” for his increasingly skeptical views on the US special relationship with Israel, and for platforming prominent conservative critics of Israel at his TPUSA events.
Britain Bans IDF Officers From Elite Military Academy Founded by Churchill– gellerreport.com Source Link Excerpt:
Why did they bother to fight the Nazis? How long before we see King Charles reciting the shahada?
This is what happens when a left-wing bankrupt nation sells out to barbarians.
According to news reports from September 14, 2025, the recent UK ban on Israeli nationals from enrolling at the Royal College of Defence Studies appears to be unprecedented.
This is the first time in the college’s history since its founding in 1927 that it has excluded students from a particular country.
The institution was established nearly a century ago following a recommendation from a committee led by Winston Churchill, then colonial secretary, with the vision of fostering “understanding between senior military officers, diplomats, civil servants and officials.”
Winston Churchill was a strong supporter of the Zionist movement and the creation of a Jewish National Home, which he believed would be a blessing to the world. He envisioned a Jewish state under British protection, becoming a reality through Jewish majority-rule and the reclamation of desert lands.
What it has come to!
An Israeli general is forced to invoke Churchill and remind Britain about British values, after the Royal College of Defense Studies decides to shamefully exclude Israeli participants. pic.twitter.com/jZSJ85QgZR
Netanyahu refuses to rule out further strikes on Hamas leaders abroad | World News– news.sky.com Source Link Excerpt:
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to rule out further strikes on Hamas leaders abroad.
“The principle that terrorists should not have immunity wherever they are, wherever they may be, was not established by me,” he claimed.
Mr Netanyahu was speaking during a news conference with US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who was visiting Jerusalem, a meeting which coincided with an emergency summit in Qatar of Arab and Islamic states convened in response to Israel’s attack last week on Hamas leaders in the Gulf state.
The strike killed six people – five members of Hamas and a local Qatari security force member.
Spanish government calls for sports ban on Israel, threatens to boycott Eurovision– www.france24.com Source Link Excerpt:
PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, September 16: We look at reactions from the Spanish press after the government calls for a sports and Eurovision boycott of Israel. Also, it’s been three years since Mahsa Amini died at the hands of Iran’s morality police – what has changed in the country? Plus: Armand Duplantis is celebrated for his new world record. Finally, in Britain, locals band together and save the world’s smallest theatre from demolition.
Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, UN commission of inquiry says– www.bbc.com Source Link Excerpt:
A United Nations commission of inquiry says Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
A new report says there are reasonable grounds to conclude that four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law have been carried out since the start of the war with Hamas in 2023: killing members of a group, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy the group, and preventing births.
It cites statements by Israeli leaders, and the pattern of conduct by Israeli forces, as evidence of genocidal intent.
Israel’s foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the report, denouncing it as “distorted and false”.
It accused the three experts on the commission of serving as “Hamas proxies” and relying “entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others” that had “already been thoroughly debunked”.
“In stark contrast to the lies in the report, Hamas is the party that attempted genocide in Israel – murdering 1,200 people, raping women, burning families alive, and openly declaring its goal of killing every Jew,” the ministry added.
Rubio vows continued US-Israel partnership amid ongoing Gaza war fallout– www.foxnews.com Source Link Excerpt:
JERUSALEM: Secretary of State Marco Rubio insists the U.S. relationship with Israel remains unchanged, despite the blowback over Israel’s strike targeting Hamas negotiators in Qatar last week.
“We’re going to continue to be strong allies and partners,” Rubio vowed in an exclusive and wide-ranging interview with Fox News in Jerusalem. “As the president said, he wasn’t happy with the way things went down. That doesn’t mean we’re going [to] stop being their partner and their ally.”
Rubio told Fox News he is now heading to Doha on Tuesday where he’ll urge Qatar to continue playing a “constructive role” in ending the war in Gaza and securing the release of hostages still being held by Hamas.
Trump tells Israel to be careful in its approach to ‘great ally’ Qatar– www.euronews.com Source Link Excerpt:
US President Donald Trump on Sunday said that Israel must be “very very careful” in its approach to Qatar, which he described as Washington’s major ally in the region.
Speaking at the Morristown Airport in New Jersey on Sunday local time, Trump said, “My message is that they have to be very, very careful. They have to do something about Hamas, but Qatar has been a great ally to the United States.”
The US president said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital Doha last week, describing it as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.
On Friday, Trump and US special envoy Steve Witkoff met for a dinner with Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.
Trump described the Qatari PM as a “wonderful person” and added that he has told him Qatar needs “better public relations”.
Rubio will head to Qatar, also a staunch Washington ally, on Tuesday, a US official said.
On Sunday, Qatari premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told a preparatory meeting that “the time has come for the international community to stop using double standards and to punish Israel for all the crimes it has committed”.
According to the draft statement, the nearly 60-country grouping in Doha will also emphasise “the concept of collective security… as well as the necessity of aligning together to face common challenges and threats”.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, was among those present, as were Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also attended.
Separately, the United Nations Human Rights Council said it would host an urgent debate on Tuesday on Israel’s air strike in Qatar.
Japan strongly criticizes Israeli strike on Hamas in Qatar– japantoday.com Source Link Excerpt:
The Japanese government on Wednesday strongly criticized Israel for its airstrike targeting leaders of Palestinian militant group Hamas in Qatar, saying its actions endangered stability in the Middle East.
“At a time when serious diplomatic efforts are underway by countries including Qatar to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza and secure the releases of hostages, Israel’s attack hinders those efforts, threatens Qatar’s sovereignty and security, and endangers regional stability,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said.
“Japan strongly condemns” Israel’s actions, the chief cabinet secretary said at a regular press conference in Tokyo.
Israel targeted top-level Hamas officials in Doha on Tuesday. Qatar has been a key diplomatic player in the Middle East and is mediating peace talks between Hamas and Israel.
The current conflict in the Palestinian region began after the militant group Hamas launched an attack in Israel and took hostages in October 2023, prompting massive Israeli retaliation. Many people in the Gaza Strip are facing starvation as the conflict continues.
Jerusalem bus shooting will exacerbate already high tensions between Israelis and Palestinians | World News– news.sky.com Source Link Excerpt:
A few hours after this attack, and Ramot Junction was getting back to normal.
The bodies had been removed, the wounded were being treated in hospital, and pools of blood had been scrubbed and washed away.
But the shockwaves will linger and reverberate. Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians are already very high, and this will only exacerbate that.
Put simply, there are those in the Israeli cabinet who believe that Israel should do everything it can to subordinate the Palestinians, including effectively annexing both Gaza and the West Bank.
Qatar condemns ‘criminal assault’ as Israel launches airstrikes against Hamas leaders in Doha – Middle East crisis live | Israel– www.theguardian.com Source Link Excerpt:
Dr Majed Al Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry, has issued a statement on X in response to the Israeli attack in Doha.
Here is the statement from the foreign ministry’s spokesperson in full:
The State of Qatar strongly condemns the cowardly Israeli attack that targeted residential buildings housing several members of the Political Bureau of Hamas in the Qatari capital, Doha.
This criminal assault constitutes a blatant violation of all international laws and norms, and poses a serious threat to the security and safety of Qataris and residents in Qatar.
The Ministry affirms that the security forces, civil defense, and relevant authorities immediately began addressing the incident and taking necessary measures to contain its repercussions and ensure the safety of the residents and surrounding areas.
While the State of Qatar strongly condemns this assault, it confirms that it will not tolerate this reckless Israeli behavior and the ongoing disruption of regional security, nor any act that targets its security and sovereignty.
Investigations are underway at the highest level, and further details will be announced as soon as they are available.
EU leader says she will seek sanctions against Israel over Gaza campaign – National– globalnews.ca Source Link Excerpt:
The European Commission president said Wednesday she would seek sanctions and a partial trade suspension against Israel over the conflict in Gaza, an announcement that marked a sharp turnaround for Ursula von der Leyen, a longtime supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The 27-nation EU is deeply divided in its approach to Israel and the Palestinians, and it’s unclear whether a majority will be found to endorse the sanctions and trade measures.
Von der Leyen added that the commission “will set up a Palestine donor group next month,” part of which will focus on Gaza’s future reconstruction. She said the events in Gaza and the suffering of children and families “has shaken the conscience of the world.”
The Gaza Health Ministry says 126 Palestinians, including 26 children, have died of causes related to malnutrition since international experts announced famine in Gaza City on Aug. 22. They are part of the total number of 404 people, including 141 children, who have died of causes related to malnutrition since the conflict began nearly two years ago.
Israel’s forex reserves hit new record– en.globes.co.il Source Link Excerpt:
Israel’s foreign exchange reserves at the end of August 2025 rose to $230.321 billion – a new record – an increase of $3.553 billion from their level at the end of July, the Bank of Israel reports. The level of the reserves relative to GDP at the end of July was 41%.
The increase was the result of a revaluation that increased the reserves by about $3.759 billion, partly offset by foreign exchange activities by the government totaling about $209 million.
Tens of thousands of protesters draw the Red Line for Gaza in Brussels– www.euronews.com Source Link Excerpt:
Tens of thousands of demonstrators wearing red gathered in Brussels on Sunday to protest against the Israeli government and to draw a symbolic red line against its war in Gaza. Protesters are also calling on EU member states to take a tougher stance and impose firm sanctions against Israel.
Local police estimated around 70,000 demonstrators took part in the second edition of Brussels’ ‘Red Line for Gaza’ march, but protest organisers estimate 110,000 people attended.
More than 200 human rights groups and aid agencies, including Oxfam, Doctors without Borders, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Save the Children, and more, participated and are drawing the red line.
The protest comes days after Belgium announced it would join the United Kingdom and France in recognising a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly later this month, and would impose sanctions against Israel, under certain conditions.
Attackers open fire on Jerusalem bus, killing multiple people in deadly attack– www.foxnews.com Source Link Excerpt:
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
At least six people were killed and more than a dozen were injured after a pair of attackers opened fire on a bus in Jerusalem Monday morning, paramedics said.
The shooting unfolded at a busy intersection in northern Jerusalem, on a road that leads to Jewish settlements located in east Jerusalem. Israeli media reported that the two attackers boarded a bus and opened fire. Paramedics said 14 other people were injured and five are in serious condition.
Police said two attackers were “neutralized” soon after the shooting began but have not released additional information about the attackers’ identities.
Hamas released a statement praising “resistance fighters” who carried out the attack, but the group did not explicitly claim credit for the shooting. Another terrorist organization, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, also praised the shooting but did not claim responsibility for it.
Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin withdrew his Israel-Gaza resolution from consideration after the members punted on a more extreme resolution.
So today, I introduced a resolution, resolution three, which was focused on finding common ground in our party on a very heartbreaking humanitarian issue, and it’s aligned with our party platform. This crisis in Gaza is urgent, and my resolution is focused on that humanitarian crisis, and makes it clear that it must be addressed as the emergency that it is.
Now I know that there are some who are interested in making changes today, but as we’ve seen, there’s divide in our party on this issue.
This is a moment that calls for shared dialogue. It calls for shared advocacy, and that’s why I’ve decided today, at this moment, listening to the testimony and listening to people in our party, to withdraw my amendment and resolution to allow us to move forward on a conversation on this as a party.
The DNC Chair just caved to the antisemites in the Democrat Party.
The bombardment has reportedly trapped hundreds of civilians under rubble and strained emergency services
More than 1,000 buildings have been destroyed in Gaza City’s Zaytoun and Sabra neighborhoods since Israeli forces began a new ground incursion this month, Al Jazeera has reported, citing Palestinian Civil Defence.
Israel has said the operation is necessary for national security, with the goal to eliminate Hamas infrastructure.
In a statement on Sunday, Civil Defence reported that continued shelling and blocked access routes have made it nearly impossible for emergency crews to reach hundreds of trapped civilians or respond to reports of missing persons. Hospitals in the area are reportedly overwhelmed.
ISRAEL has begun its full invasion of Gaza City as it aims to completely wipe out Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Wednesday.
IDF troops now control the outskirts of the besieged city, one of the terror group’s last strongholds, Israeli military spokesperson Brig Gen Effie Defrin said.
The US special envoy to Lebanon said on Monday that his team would hold talks with Israel on a long-term ceasefire after Beirut endorsed a Washington-backed plan for Hezbollah to disarm.
Following a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Beirut, Tom Barrack also said Washington would seek an economic proposal for post-war reconstruction in the country.
“I think the Lebanese government has done their part. They’ve taken the first step,” said Barrack. “Now what we need is for Israel to comply with that equal handshake.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed accusations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
“If we had wanted to commit genocide, it would have taken exactly one afternoon,” Netanyahu said, as quoted in Times of Israel.
The remark was part of a heated defense against claims that Israeli forces are deliberately starving the Gaza Strip into submission, an accusation Tel Aviv has dismissed as outright false.
Four Al Jazeera journalists including prominent reporter Anas al-Sharif have been killed in a targeted Israeli strike near Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital.
Sharif and another correspondent, Mohammed Qreiqeh, along with cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal were in a tent for journalists at the hospital’s main gate when it was struck, the broadcaster said.
Two other freelance journalists were killed: Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed al-Khaldi.
The “targeted assassination” on Sunday was “yet another blatant and premeditated attack on press freedom”, the news outlet said. The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was appalled by the attack.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it had targeted Sharif, alleging he had “served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas”.
