IsraelPalestine

France says arrest of Hicham Harb, 42 years after attack, made possible by upcoming recognition of Palestinian state.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has arrested a key suspect in a deadly 1982 attack on a Jewish restaurant in Paris in a move that comes amid France’s preparations to recognise a Palestinian state.

The terror attack on the Jo Goldenberg restaurant in the Jewish quarter of Le Marais on August 9, 1982, killed six and left 22 others injured.

France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement on Friday that Interpol had informed it of the arrest of Hicham Harb by Palestinian authorities under a 2015 international warrant.

President Emmanuel Macron said that the suspect had been arrested in the occupied West Bank and that his country was now working with the PA to ensure his “swift extradition” to France.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot posted on X that the arrest had been made possible by Macron’s decision to recognise an independent Palestinian state, “enabling us to request extradition”.

Macron is expected to make the landmark announcement at the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week, with about 10 other countries, including Australia, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Wanted man

Harb, whose real name is Mahmoud Khader Abed Adra, was one of France’s most-wanted men and had been the subject of an international arrest warrant for the past 10 years.

The 70-year-old is suspected of leading five other attackers in the gun assault on the restaurant, which was considered the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in France since the second world war.

The assault, blamed on the Palestinian Abu Nidal Organisation, began around midday when a grenade was tossed into the dining room by attackers who then entered the restaurant and opened fire with Polish-made machineguns.

Harb is suspected of having supervised the assault and also of being one of the gunmen who opened fire on diners and passersby.

He was formally indicted by French judges in July on charges of murder and attempted murder in connection with the attack. Harb and five other men in the case were referred to trial.

Another suspect, Abou Zayed, a 66-year-old Norwegian of Palestinian origin, has been in French custody since his 2020 extradition from Norway. He has denied the charges.

Bruno Gendrin and Romain Ruiz, lawyers for Zayed, see the arrest of his alleged accomplice as proof that “the investigation was not complete”.

“As usual, the anti-terrorism courts wanted to rush things, and we are now seeing the consequences,” they told the news agency AFP in a statement.

The Abu Nidal Organisation is categorised as a terror group by the US and Europe.

The United States has blocked yet another United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and for Israel to lift all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid.

Under the UN charter, the Security Council is responsible for maintaining international peace and security.

It’s made up of 15 members – 10 elected and five permanent, which have the power to veto resolutions.

This time, the 10 elected members plus the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China supported the resolution.

But Israel’s biggest ally – the US – refused, saying it did not condemn Hamas or recognise Israel’s right to defend itself.

Does it mean the UN Security Council is unable to carry out its mandate?

Presenter: Sami Zeidan

Guests:

William Lawrence – Professor of political science and international affairs at American University

Ardi Imseis – Associate professor of law at Queen’s University and a former UN legal officer

Xavier Abu Eid – Political scientist and former adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization

UN General Assembly votes 145-5, allowing President Mahmoud Abbas to address the UNGA next week by video after the US denied him a visa.

The United Nations General Assembly has voted to allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to address its annual gathering of world leaders next week by video link after the United States refused to grant him a visa to travel to New York in person.

“The State of Palestine may submit a prerecorded statement of its President, which will be played in the General Assembly Hall,” said the resolution, which passed on Friday with 145 votes in favour, five opposed, and six abstentions.

The move comes weeks after the Palestinian Authority urged Washington to reinstate Abbas’s visa so that he could travel to the United States to lead the Palestinian delegation and address the UNGA in person.

Abbas was among 80 Palestinian officials whose visas were revoked by the US State Department, citing national security concerns.

The General Assembly speeches are scheduled to begin on Tuesday after leaders gather on Monday for a summit — hosted by France and Saudi Arabia — that aims to build momentum towards a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

“Gaza is issue number one at the UN General Assembly,” Al Jazeera’s Diplomatic Editor James Bays reported from New York.

“All leaders come here and give their speeches. But on this occasion … Mahmoud Abbas has been denied a visa … which is very unusual.”

Bays said the overwhelming vote in favour of Abbas addressing the UNGA by video was a “snapshot of international opinion on Palestine and Gaza”, and that it showed “very few countries that are backing the side of Israel and the US”.

The Trump administration’s decision has received widespread criticism, with the UN asserting that it violates the Host Country Agreement, under which the US is obligated to permit heads of state and government to travel to New York for annual meetings and diplomatic business.

The US visa curbs come amid growing condemnation of Israel’s war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and a wave of Israeli settler and military violence in the occupied West Bank.

In response to Israel’s devastating attacks over the past nearly two years, an increasing number of countries, mainly in Europe, have announced intentions to back Palestinian statehood at the UN this September.

According to local health officials, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 65,141 people and wounded 165,925 since October 2023, with thousands more believed to be buried in the rubble.

Mass expulsion continues from Gaza’s largest urban centre as hundreds of thousands of trapped civilians endure incessant Israeli bombardment.

People run for lives from air strikes and explosive-laden ‘robots’, as lifelines collapse in Gaza’s biggest urban centre.

The Israeli army is pushing towards the centre of Gaza City from two directions, “sandwiching” residents and forcing them towards the coast in a bid to drive them out of the enclave’s biggest urban centre.

Israeli army spokesperson Nadav Shoshani told the Reuters news agency on Thursday that infantry, tanks and artillery were advancing on the inner city, backed by the air force, with the aim of applying pressure on the armed group Hamas.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said that the Israeli military was advancing from the northwest and the southeast, “sandwiching people in the middle” and pushing them to the west of the city, where the al-Rashid coastal road leading south is located.

“The attacks on overcrowded neighbourhoods are causing panic and fear, and pushing people literally to run for their lives. We’re seeing waves of people now doing just that,” he said, reporting from Nuseirat in central Gaza.

People in Gaza City told Al Jazeera about nonstop attacks, including “aerial strikes by drones and fighter jets” and detonations from remote-controlled “robots” – unmanned vehicles packed with explosives that the Israeli army has been deploying to blow up neighbourhoods as it advances inwards.

At least 40 people were killed in Gaza City on Thursday, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

Lifelines collapse

Amid the apocalyptic scenes, fleeing families faced the heartbreaking prospect of renewed displacement in a territory devoid of “safe zones”, only this time with the very real possibility that they might never again return home.

Still, many have stayed put. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics claimed that approximately 740,000 people – roughly 35 percent of Gaza’s 2.1 million population – were still in the north of the enclave as of Tuesday.

However, the bureau signalled that numbers could drop, with the continuous Israeli attacks driving more people out and basic services disappearing.

The UN humanitarian office (OCHA) warned on Thursday that Gaza City’s last lifelines were collapsing.

OCHA accused Israel of “systematically blocking” efforts to bring aid to people, citing the closure of the Zikim crossing to Gaza’s famine-stricken north and bans on certain food items.

‘Blatant disregard’

Outside Gaza City, at least 10 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in other parts of the enclave, according to medical sources.

The Israeli military reported that four of its soldiers were killed in the early hours of the morning in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Palestine denounced on social media Israel’s “blatant disregard” for international legal requirements to distinguish between combatants and civilians in its air attacks on Gaza.

The Israeli strikes on internally displaced persons, including as they try to leave Gaza city or seek shelter near hospitals, show the Israeli military’s blatant disregard for the fundamental principle of distinction. Israel has demanded that Palestinian civilians leave Gaza…

— UN Human Rights Palestine (@OHCHR_Palestine) September 18, 2025

As Israel expanded its offensive on Thursday, the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the lifting of restrictions on aid into Gaza, and the return of hostages held by Hamas.

The UK’s permanent representative to the UN, Barbara Woodward, said that “Israel’s reckless expansion of its military operation takes us further away from a deal which could bring the hostages home and end the suffering in Gaza.”

UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer got a pat on the back from US President Donald Trump when saying Hamas is a terrorist organisation that can have no place in Palestinian governance. Starmer added that the group is not interested in peace nor a ceasefire.

In April last year, I wrote that, given the genocide it is committing in Gaza, its violent occupation of the West Bank, numerous attacks on its neighbours, and apparent disregard for international and human rights law, it was time for the international community to declare Israel a rogue state. As if we hadn’t received enough confirmation of its rogue status since then, on September 9, Israel went ahead and carried out a strike on Qatar, a key mediator in negotiations between Hamas and Israel. This, while Gaza’s devastation deepens by the day.

The last remaining high rises in Gaza City are now being flattened, and hundreds of thousands of people who had already been displaced multiple times are being pushed towards the south of the enclave. Israel claims the south is a “humanitarian zone”, but we know well that there is nowhere in Gaza where Palestinians are safe.

So, in the midst of all this, it feels futile to celebrate the United Nations General Assembly vote where 142 member states backed “tangible, timebound, and irreversible steps” towards a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The same resolution, rejected by just 12 states including Israel and the United States, also called on Hamas to free all hostages, end its rule in Gaza, and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, in line with the objective of establishing a sovereign and independent Palestinian state.

Gaza is still smouldering, and Palestinian communities are being systematically erased in the occupied West Bank. So how does it make sense to talk about a Palestinian state? Who, or what, would such a state serve?

Before this vote, the vast majority of countries in the world had already recognised the State of Palestine. Those missing from this map of recognition were primarily states in the Global North.

Through the UN General Assembly vote, France, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Malta, Belgium, Canada, and Australia have now signalled their support for Palestinian statehood, aligning themselves with the global majority. But let us be clear: these countries have no claim to the moral high ground.

We should remember that they waited through two years of Israeli genocide, which has killed at least 65,000 Palestinians, before voting in favour of a Palestinian state. They were similarly oblivious to the Palestinian right to self-determination during the years of Israeli and Egyptian-imposed military siege in Gaza before October 7, 2023. They did nothing to quell the ever-expanding illegal settlement movement in the occupied West Bank or the sharp increase in settler violence. In fact, they have done nothing to support the Palestinian right to self-determination since 1948.

So, why should this time be any different?

In fact, it is not different at all. As a scholar of international law, Noura Erakat recently told Al Jazeera, “It is way too little, far too late.” And these declarations are only meant to distract from the fact that many of these countries have financially and militarily enabled Israel to carry out its genocide.

The proof is in the pudding: the Palestinian state that is on offer. And what is clear is that Palestinian rights are not a priority.

A few weeks before, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the United Kingdom would recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September 2025 unless Israel took “substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two-state solution.” There was no mention of Palestinians’ inalienable right to self-determination or of the legitimacy of the Palestinian national struggle. Rather, it was framed as a punishment for Israel. Does this mean that if Israel had stopped the genocide and paid lip service to the (already dead) two-state solution, Britain would have voted differently?

Canada’s promise of recognition came with a long list of caveats. Notably, on the Government of Canada’s website, in the items that make up its “policy on key issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, the first commitment is “support for Israel and its security”.

It adds that Israel has the “right under international law to take the necessary measures, in accordance with human rights and international humanitarian law, to protect the security of its citizens from attacks by terrorist groups.” But what if Israel is already in violation of international law – as it is right now? Will Canada still stand by Israel and its security?

After reaffirming its support for Israel, Canada then declares support for the Palestinians’ “right to self-determination” and “a sovereign, independent, viable, democratic, and territorially contiguous Palestinian state”. But this comes with strings attached, including demands for governance reforms in the Palestinian Authority, the demilitarisation of the Palestinian state, and elections in 2026, “in which Hamas can play no part”.

Australia’s promise of recognition was similarly predicated on the Palestinian Authority pursuing certain reforms, including the termination of prisoner payments, schooling reform, and demilitarisation. It also demanded that Hamas “end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons”.

The joint statement by Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese added: “There is much more work to do in building the Palestinian state. We will work with partners on a credible peace plan that establishes governance and security arrangements for Palestine and ensures the security of Israel.” But what of the security of Palestinians? Will Australia take any measures to protect them from Israel’s mass extermination? Or are Palestinians simply meant to work on building a state that Western powers can tolerate, while hoping that the Israeli government will eventually grow tired of its genocidal campaign?

The unbearable tragedy of it all is that we have already seen what happens when a peace process prioritises Israel’s right to security over Palestinians’ right to self-determination. It was called the Oslo Accords, where a genuine guarantee of a Palestinian state was never on the table.

In his essay The Morning After, Edward Said wrote of the vulgarity of the ceremonial way the Accords were signed at the White House and the diminutive manner in which Yasser Arafat offered thanks. Said rued that the Oslo Accords were not a path to statehood. Rather, they symbolised the “astonishing proportions of the Palestinian capitulation”.

It resulted in a Palestinian Authority — yes, the same Palestinian Authority that Western leaders have hedged their bets on — that had all the bells and whistles of a state. But the real state never arrived. With complete impunity, Israel continued its efforts to erase Palestinians. And the Palestinian Authority became an extension of the settler-colonial project, collaborating with Israeli forces to actively undermine the Palestinian national movement, all in the name of Israel’s security.

So, if Western leaders are sincere about “solving” the crisis, the only good solution is the one that places Palestinian rights on centre stage and involves some mechanism of political leverage and censure that is able to curb Israel’s rogue-like conduct. Without it, any recognition of Palestinian statehood is an empty performance, and the Israeli campaign of genocide and erasure is bound to continue with complete impunity.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Hamas official Ghazi Hamad was at the location Israel attacked in Qatar last week, describing it as ‘intense’.

A senior Hamas official has spoken for the first time since last week’s Israeli attack on the group’s leadership in the Qatari capital Doha, describing the moment of the attack and how the officials managed to barely escape.

“We were in a meeting, the negotiating delegation and some advisers. Less than an hour after we began reviewing the American proposal that we received from the Qatari mediators, we heard loud explosions,” Ghazi Hamad told Al Jazeera Arabic on Wednesday.

“We immediately left the scene, because we knew from the start that the explosions were Israeli shelling. We’ve lived in Gaza and experienced Israeli shelling before,” Hamad added.

Israel killed five Hamas members and a Qatari security official while trying to assassinate senior Hamas leaders. Those targeted were involved in negotiating a ceasefire and captives proposal put forward by United States President Donald Trump.

“The shelling was so intense, the situation was terrifying, and the rockets continued unabated. There were about 12 rockets in less than a minute, but by God’s decree … we survived this aggression.”

Hamas said its senior leaders survived the bombardment, which Trump said he was “very unhappy” about. On Monday, he reiterated his claim that Israel would refrain from launching further attacks on Qatar.

In response to the Israeli attack – its first on Qatar – leaders of Arab and Islamic nations convened in Doha for an emergency summit, denouncing what they called Israel’s “cowardly” strike.

However, the gathering concluded without pledges of tangible measures.

Hamad told Al Jazeera that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to change the Middle East needed an Arab response.

He also added that Hamas had a “bitter” experience during the ceasefire negotiations, and that the US did not have credibility as an honest broker.

“He [Trump] doesn’t scare us,” said Hamad, commenting on threats from Trump concerning the treatment of Israeli captives held in Gaza. Hamad added that the captives were treated “according to our values” and were only being put in danger as a result of Israel’s actions.

Israeli forces have killed more than 65,000 people since October 2023, including some 19,000 children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

On Tuesday, a United Nations inquiry announced that Israel’s war on Gaza is a genocide, a finding several major human rights groups have also reached, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

In 2023, South Africa brought a case before the International Court of Justice, arguing that Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip amounted to genocide. The proceedings are ongoing.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says there’s a “business plan” to turn Gaza into a “real estate bonanza.” Speaking at an urban renewal conference in Tel Aviv, the far-right minister said he is discussing with the Trump administration how to share the proceeds.

The Israeli army has subjected Gaza City to its most punishing attacks in two years of war, sending thousands of residents fleeing under bombs and bullets amid fears they might never return, with the United Nations chief calling the offensive “horrendous”.

“Gaza is burning,” Israeli Minister of Defence Israel Katz said on X, as columns of vans and donkey carts laden with furniture, and people on foot carrying the last of their worldly possessions, steamed down the coastal al-Rashid Street against a backdrop of black smoke rising from the destroyed city.

Many had pledged to stay in the early days of Israel’s takeover plan. But as the military accelerated the pace of its deadly bombing campaign, turning high-rises, homes and civilian infrastructure to rubble, those able to afford the journey are heading south, with no guarantees of a safe zone for shelter.

On Tuesday, the army killed at least 91 people in the city, with health authorities reporting that one of its bombs hit a vehicle carrying people about to escape on the coastal road.

At least 17 of the city’s residential buildings were destroyed, including Aybaki Mosque in the Tuffah neighbourhood to the east, which was targeted by an Israeli warplane.

As the bombs rained down, the Israeli army continued to destroy areas in the north, south and east of the city with explosive-laden robots.

Earlier this month, the rights group Euro-Med Monitor said the army had deployed 15 of these machines, each one capable of destroying up to 20 housing units.

Tanks push into the city

About 1 million Palestinians are known to have returned to Gaza City to live among the ruins after the initial phase of the two-year war, but reports on how many remain vary.

An Israeli army official estimated on Tuesday that approximately 350,000 had fled. But Gaza’s Government Media Office said 350,000 had been displaced to the centre and the west of the city, with 190,000 leaving it altogether.

Either way, those who left faced a bleak future in the south, where the already cramped al-Mawasi camp, filled with people forcibly displaced from the eastern parts of Rafah and Khan Younis, has itself been hit by Israeli strikes.

The Government Media Office noted a trend of reverse displacement, saying on Tuesday that 15,000 had returned to Gaza City after witnessing the dire conditions at al-Mawasi.

As people fled, the Israeli military released aerial footage showing a large number of tanks and other armoured vehicles pushing further into Gaza City.

The Israeli army admitted on Tuesday that it would take “several months” to control Gaza City.

“No matter how long it takes, we will operate in Gaza,” army spokesman Effie Defrin said, as fighting raged in the enclave’s largest urban hub.

At least 106 people were killed across Gaza since dawn on Tuesday, according to medical sources.

‘Specific intent’ to destroy Palestinians

Amid the brutal offensive, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday concluded that Israel’s war on Gaza is a genocide, a landmark moment after nearly two years of war that has killed at least 64,964 people.

Among its findings, it drew on the public statements of Israeli officials to show that Israel had the “dolus specialis” of genocide, or the “specific intent” to destroy Palestinians as a people.

Palestine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the report. “The situation in Gaza today portends a humanitarian catastrophe that cannot tolerate any leniency or delay,” it said on X.

International criticism of Israel is growing, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday calling the war morally, politically and legally intolerable.

France’s Foreign Ministry urged Israel to stop its “destructive campaign, which no longer has any military logic, and to resume negotiations as soon as possible”.

Irish President Michael D Higgins condemned “those who are practising genocide, and those who are supporting genocide with armaments”.

“We must look at their exclusion from the United Nations itself, and we should have no hesitation any longer in relation to ending trade with people who are inflicting this on our fellow human beings,” he said.

In September 2005, Israeli forces pulled out of the Gaza Strip, with the last troops leaving through the al-Karara (Kisufim) and Beit Hanoon (Erez) crossings.

The withdrawal was seen at the time as a historic turning point, raising hopes that nearly four decades of military occupation had come to an end.

But instead of relinquishing control, Israel repositioned itself on Gaza’s edges. It sealed off the territory by land, sea, and air, restricting movement through fence crossings, imposing limits on fishing waters, and keeping watch from above.

In this visual explainer, Al Jazeera breaks down factors that led to then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan, maps the 21 illegal settlements Israel dismantled across Gaza, and explores how their removal paved the way for deeper settlement expansion across the occupied West Bank.

What led up to disengagement?

The idea of the Gaza disengagement was primarily conceived and championed by Sharon.

A strong supporter of Israeli settlements, Sharon began considering a withdrawal from Gaza in the early 2000s, particularly after the outbreak of the second Intifada (2000-05).

The idea was motivated by the high cost of defending isolated settlements, the demographic challenges of ruling over a large Palestinian population, and the strategic goal of consolidating Israel’s hold on larger illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Despite facing intense opposition from within his Likud party and across the political spectrum, Sharon pushed forward the plan, framing it as a strategic move rather than a concession.

The proposal, formally known in Hebrew as the “Hitnatkut” (Disengagement), was announced in December 2003 and eventually approved by the Knesset in October 2004, paving the way for the dismantling of 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the northern West Bank in 2005.

Timeline of Gaza disengagement

• June 6, 2004 – The Israeli cabinet votes 14-7 in favour of PM Sharon’s disengagement plan, setting the stage for withdrawal from Gaza.
• February 16, 2005 – The Knesset passes the Disengagement Implementation Law, providing the legal framework for evacuations and compensation.
• August 15, 2005 – Israeli forces begin dismantling settlements and removing settlers from Gaza.
• August 22, 2005 – All 21 settlements in Gaza are emptied, removing about 8,000 settlers.
• August 23-24, 2005 – Attention shifts to the northern West Bank, where four settlements (al-Ghanim, Homesh, Kadim, Sanur) are dismantled.
• September 12, 2005 – Military jeeps and armoured bulldozers leave through the al-Karara and Beit Hanoon crossing points, ending 38 years of continuous Israeli military presence in the Strip.

Where were the 21 illegal settlements in Gaza?

Following the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel occupied Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula, it intensified settlement building.

Israeli settlements are Jewish-only communities built on Palestinian land. Settlements are illegal under international law because they involve transferring an occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territory, which violates the Fourth Geneva Convention.

The first settlement in Gaza after 1967 was Kfar Darom, set up as a combined military-agricultural outpost in 1970 and later converted into a civilian community. It became part of Gush Katif, the largest Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip, located in southern Gaza, where most settlements were concentrated, particularly in the Khan Younis and Rafah governorates.

Other settlements included Netzarim, just south of Gaza City, and several sites in northern Gaza. These settlements were heavily protected by the Israeli military and surrounded by buffer zones that restricted Palestinian movement.

Over the next three decades, a total of 21 settlements were built, housing some 8,000 settlers.

Although settlers made up just 0.6 percent of Gaza’s population, they controlled roughly 20 percent of its land, affecting about 1.3 million Palestinians living in the territory at the time.

During Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, it built several corridors named after the settlements they connected, including Netzarim and Morag, two of the territory’s largest and most prominent settlements.

Settlement expansion across the West Bank

Since Israel’s 2005 disengagement from Gaza, settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem has accelerated. Today, there are between 600,000 and 750,000 Israeli settlers living in at least 250 settlements and outposts.

Many of these settlements have expanded while new outposts were set up, often strategically located to control roads, high ground, and key resources, effectively blocking Palestinians from accessing their land and limiting their freedom of movement.

One of Israel’s latest settlement announcements came in August 2025, when Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich approved the construction of about 3,400 housing units in E1, between East Jerusalem and the illegal settlement of Maale Adumim.

E1 is strategically significant, as it forms one of the last geographic links between Bethlehem and Ramallah, and expansion there could undermine plans for a territorially contiguous Palestinian state.

Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili saw the aftermath of an Israeli attack on one of the tallest residential towers in Gaza City. The Israeli military has levelled at least 50 multi-storey buildings in recent weeks.

Israel has bombed and destroyed the tallest residential building in Gaza, the Al-Ghafri high-rise, as it launched a massive wave of strikes on Gaza City on Monday evening, forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to continue to flee the city.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, says Israel is using unconventional weapons to forcibly evict Palestinians from Gaza City, the largest urban centre in the enclave.

Israeli media source Channel 12 reported that “exceptionally intense air strikes” were concentrated in the city’s north and west, while the Palestinian Civil Defence said at least 50 multistorey buildings had been levelled in recent weeks as Israeli forces intensified attacks to seize the city.

Other neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble. In Zeitoun, more than 1,500 homes and buildings have been destroyed since early August, leaving entire blocks with nothing left standing.

For the third day in a row, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz has posted videos of the attacks. “The terror tower… crashes into the sea off Gaza. Sinking the centres of terror and incitement,” he wrote on X. Katz offered no evidence for his claim that the residential tower was being used by Hamas.

Israel has repeatedly attacked residential areas, schools and hospitals during its 23 months of genocidal war.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health said that 51 Palestinians, including six-year-old twins, were killed in Gaza City in the past 24 hours.

Three journalists were also killed in separate Israeli strikes: reporter Mohammed al-Kouifi in the Nassr neighbourhood, photographer and broadcast engineer Ayman Haniyeh, and journalist Iman al-Zamili. These killings take the number of journalists and media workers killed in Israel’s war on Gaza to nearly 280. Media watchdogs say this war is the deadliest conflict for journalists.

Since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 64,905 Palestinians and wounded 164,926, with thousands more still buried under rubble.

‘Striking every area’

Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan in August to seize Gaza City, which has led to relentless bombardment, forcing residents south towards al-Mawasi.

Many Palestinians say they do not believe they will ever be allowed to return, and fear the journey itself.

“For more than three days, they have been hitting every school and emptying Shati camp [near north Gaza’s coast], striking every area. You cannot even move,” one resident told Al Jazeera.

“That is why I decided to leave with my family – my daughters and my wife – and head to Khan Younis. I don’t even have a tent. I only took a few things; I couldn’t take anything from my home.”

Being pushed into al-Mawasi, the area Israel has designated a “safe zone”, offers no safety as Israel continues to attack the site. The Health Ministry has also said the area lacks the “basic necessities of life, including water, food [and] health services”, and warned of “dangerous” disease outbreaks.

It added that displaced people are subjected to “direct targeting and killing both inside the camps and when attempting to leave them”, in violation of international law.

Israel continues to block aid

Israeli forces shot dead at least five Palestinians waiting for food assistance near al-Mawasi, according to the Nasser Medical Complex.

Meanwhile, the famine is deepening in the Strip. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declared a famine in northern Gaza on August 22.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that out of the 17 humanitarian missions coordinated with Israel on Sunday, only four were permitted. A mission to deliver water tanks to the north was also denied entry.

Albanese, the UN special rapporteur, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that Israel must be held accountable.

“This is a genocide that could have never happened without the support and involvement of a number of actors,” she said, pointing to Israel’s allies and private sector partners.

Albanese urged governments to “put an end to Israeli impunity” and demand adherence to international law.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says Israel must face the same sporting sanctions as Russia did after the Ukraine war.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has urged international sporting bodies to ban Israel from competitions, saying its treatment should mirror Russia’s exclusion after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Speaking to his Socialist Party on Monday, Sanchez said Israel’s participation in global events was incompatible with its assault on Gaza.

“The sports organisations should consider whether it’s ethical for Israel to keep participating in international competitions. Why expel Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and not expel Israel after the invasion of Gaza?” he asked. “Until the barbarity ends, neither Russia nor Israel should be in any international competition.”

His remarks came a day after pro-Palestinian activists disrupted the closing stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race in Madrid, throwing barriers onto the course in protest at the participation of the Israeli team Israel-Premier Tech. Police clashed with demonstrators near the finish line, leaving 22 people injured and arresting two.

Last week, Spanish Sports Minister Pilar Alegria said Israeli teams should be banned from sport in the same way that Russian sides broadly were in 2022 after the country invaded Ukraine, highlighting a “double standard”.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar lashed out at Sanchez, calling him an “anti-Semite and a liar”, without elaborating on why the criticism of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza was anti-Semitic. Israel has been accused of weaponising anti-Semitism to target criticism of Israel’s policies against Palestinians.

Last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the International Criminal Court anti-Semitic after the Hague-based court issued an arrest warrant against the Israeli prime minister and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes.

Tensions between Madrid and Tel Aviv have sharpened in recent months, with Spain’s left-leaning coalition openly backing activists who staged demonstrations during several stages of the Vuelta against the Israeli team’s presence.

Weapons deal with Israel cancelled

Spain is also reportedly planning to scrap a major weapons deal with an Israeli defence manufacturer. According to official documents seen by AFP, Madrid cancelled a contract worth nearly 700 million euros ($824m) for rocket systems designed by Israeli firm Elbit Systems.

The deal, signed in October 2023, involved the purchase of Elbit’s PULS rocket launchers, known in Spain as SILAM. Its cancellation brings the total value of Israeli arms contracts annulled by Spain in recent months to nearly one billion euros ($1.2bn). A previous agreement in June, reportedly with defence company Rafael, was also halted.

Neither Elbit nor Rafael has formally commented, though the Israeli daily Haaretz, which also reported the cancellation, quoted a source as saying that no official notification of cancellation had yet been received. Neither government has confirmed the move publicly.

Al Jazeera, however, could not independently verify the reports.

Spanish media reported that Madrid is exploring ways to distance its defence industry from reliance on Israeli technology. La Vanguardia said officials are studying a plan with Spain’s main arms producers to replace the Israeli systems affected by the embargo.

Last week, Sanchez unveiled nine measures aimed at ramping up pressure on Israel, including banning docking and overflight rights for ships and planes carrying weapons to the country. The prime minister framed the steps as part of Spain’s responsibility to push for an end to what he described as Israel’s “barbarity” in Gaza.

Other steps include banning imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Sanchez pledging 10 million euros ($11.8m) in new funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and a total of 150 million euros ($176m) in humanitarian aid for Gaza by 2026.

US president says if reports that captives are being moved above ground to hinder Israeli assault are true, ‘all bets are off’.

United States President Donald Trump has warned Hamas against moving the Israeli captives in Gaza above ground to hinder Israel’s military campaign, renewing his call for their release.

Trump wrote in a social media post on Monday that he had read a news report indicating that Hamas would use the captives as “human shields” amid the relentless Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

“I hope the Leaders of Hamas know what they’re getting into if they do such a thing,” the US president said.

“This is a human atrocity, the likes of which few people have ever seen before. Don’t let this happen or, ALL ‘BETS’ ARE OFF. RELEASE ALL HOSTAGES NOW!”

Trump has regularly posted threats against Hamas. But with most of the group’s leaders already killed, and Israel having destroyed much of Gaza in a campaign that experts and rights groups say is a genocide, it is not clear how the US president can further punish Hamas.

In recent weeks, Israel has been carrying out a systematic campaign to level what remains of Gaza City, targeting residential towers and schools, and forcing a mass evacuation of the area. The United Nations’s special envoy said on Monday that the offensive is part of a broader campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Trump’s warning on Monday comes less than a week after Israel killed five Hamas members and a Qatari security official while trying to assassinate senior Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital, Doha. Those targeted were involved in negotiating a ceasefire and captives’ proposal put forward by the US president himself.

Hamas said its top officials survived the strikes, which Trump said he opposed. On Monday, Trump repeated his assertion that Israel would not be striking Qatar again.

Days before the Doha attack, Trump had issued what he called a “last warning” for Hamas.

On Monday, Trump again denied reports that he had advance knowledge of the Israeli attack. He suggested that he learned about it from the media – a claim that contradicts his previous assertion that he was notified about the strikes by the US military shortly before they were launched.

Asked how he found out about the strikes, the US president told reporters, “The same way you did.”

‘Human shields’

On Sunday, Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, reported that Hamas was moving Israeli captives to homes and tents to pressure Israel to halt its bombardment campaign in Gaza City.

The Israeli military has long used Palestinians as human shields, both in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, according to numerous media reports, witness testimonies and video footage.

Last year, Al Jazeera obtained footage of Israeli soldiers sending Palestinian prisoners into tunnels and buildings in Gaza to ensure they were not rigged with explosives.

Israeli authorities regularly justify their atrocities in Gaza by claiming that Hamas uses civilians as human shields.

Over the past days, the Israeli military has been stepping up its attacks on the city and across the territory with hundreds of strikes.

On Sunday, Israeli Minister of Defence Israel Katz shared footage of a high-rise building in Gaza being obliterated by an Israeli strike, with the caption: “The house of cards. The skyline of Gaza is changing.”

Leaders from across the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have gathered in Doha for an Arab-Islamic summit to forge a unified stance on Israel following its attack on a Hamas office in Qatar’s capital on September 9 that killed six people.

The emergency summit of the Arab League and OIC began on Monday, following a closed-door meeting of foreign ministers in Doha, where a draft resolution outlining concrete measures against Israel was prepared.

“It’s time for the international community to abandon dual standards and to hold Israel accountable for all the crimes it has committed,” Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said before the meeting, adding that the attack must be met with “fierce” and “firm” measures.

The Qatari leader also chided Israel’s continuous derailment of Gaza ceasefire talks, stating: “Israel must know that the continuous genocidal war against the Palestinian people, aiming at forcibly transferring them outside their homeland, cannot succeed, no matter what false justification is provided.”

Israel’s attack on Qatar was part of a broader wave of strikes extending beyond its borders, marking the sixth country Israel had targeted in 72 hours and the seventh since the start of this year.

Who are the 22 members of the Arab League?

Among the attendees are representatives from the Arab League, a group of 22 member nations stretching from North Africa to the Gulf and representing primarily Arab-majority states, with a combined population of nearly 500 million — about six percent of the world’s population.

Officially known as the League of Arab States, the Arab League was established in Cairo on March 22, 1945, by seven founding members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan (now Jordan), Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen. Its creation reflected the shared desire of Arab countries emerging from colonial rule to coordinate their political stances, promote regional solidarity and safeguard their sovereignty and independence.

Over the decades, membership grew to 22 states, stretching from North Africa to the Gulf. Egypt was suspended in 1979 after signing a peace treaty with Israel, but its membership was reinstated in 1989. Libya was suspended during the 2011 uprising but readmitted later that year. Syria was suspended in 2011 amid its civil war and reinstated in 2023.

The group accounts for about 3.25 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP), with several members ranked among the world’s leading oil producers.

Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, and Algeria are also part of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and hold some of the largest proven oil reserves. Collectively, Arab League members produce about a quarter of the world’s oil.

All Arab League members are also part of the 57-member OIC.

Who are the 57 members of the OIC?

The OIC, which was formed in 1969 in response to an arson attack on Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, brings together 57 countries with significant Muslim populations across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas.

In September 1969, Muslim leaders met in Rabat, Morocco, to establish a body that would safeguard Islamic holy sites, protect shared political and economic interests, and promote solidarity among Muslim-majority nations on the global stage.

Over time, its membership expanded from 30 to 57 states, reflecting its growing reach. Today, the OIC represents more than 2.1 billion people — about 26 percent of the world’s population and 8 percent of the world’s GDP.

In its early years, the OIC had loose membership rules. Its original charter allowed any Muslim state to join with the approval of two-thirds of existing members, which opened the door for countries without Muslim majorities but with significant Muslim populations. These include Gabon, the Maldives, Mauritania, Uganda, Mozambique, Cameroon, Togo, Benin, the Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau.

In the Americas, Guyana and Suriname joined despite having relatively small Muslim communities.

The 2008 charter revision made membership stricter. Now, a country must be a United Nations member (with Palestine as the exception), have a Muslim-majority population, abide by the charter and apply formally. Even then, admission requires consensus among all 57 members — a difficult task.

Albania is the only European state in the OIC.

The organisation has maintained a consistent and forceful stance against Israeli actions, particularly regarding occupation and military offensives in Palestine.

Over the past three years, the OIC has convened several emergency summits and ministerial meetings — most notably in Riyadh, Jeddah and Istanbul – to condemn Israeli attacks on Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and, more recently, strikes involving Iran and Qatar.

The group has repeatedly called for immediate ceasefires, protection of Palestinian civilians and international accountability for what it describes as “Israeli crimes”.

Qatar’s prime minister pledged to continue its efforts to stop Israel’s war on Gaza, ahead of an emergency international summit to discuss a joint response after the Israeli attack in the Qatari capital Doha.

Israeli attacks on civilians and infrastructure continue across Gaza as Qatar hosts Muslim, Arab world leaders.

In the aftermath of an Israeli attack on Qatar targeting the leadership of Hamas, American political scientist John Mearsheimer argues, “The Israelis are interested in making sure there are no negotiations that settle the conflict in Gaza.”

Mearsheimer tells host Steve Clemons that the United States and Israel “basically act as a tag team”, and despite a mild rebuke by President Donald Trump, “the US supports Israel unconditionally”.

He adds that Israel has three main strategic goals: expand territory, move the Palestinians out of all conquered territory, and ensure that all countries in the region are weak.

For almost two years, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gone out of his way to avoid agreeing to a Gaza ceasefire.

In November 2023, a deal saw the release of 110 captives taken during Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

But a week later, Netanyahu refused to extend the ceasefire, leaving the rest of the captives behind.

Since then, whenever a ceasefire has seemed to be within reach, Netanyahu has shifted the goalposts. In May 2024, Hamas accepted a proposed deal, but Israel denied agreeing and invaded Rafah instead. By September, Netanyahu had introduced a new condition: permanent Israeli control of the Philadelphi Corridor – the area between Egypt and Gaza – which both Cairo and Hamas rejected.

Later, after pushing the position that only a partial deal would be agreed to, Netanyahu changed the parameters and insisted that Israel would only agree to a deal that would see all the captives released – and not in return for an end to the war.

Even when allies advanced proposals, Netanyahu sidestepped them. Also in May 2024, then-US President Joe Biden announced that Israel had offered a ceasefire plan, but Netanyahu stayed silent, and no deal followed.

When a deal was agreed and implemented, Netanyahu ensured it broke down. In January 2025, under pressure from incoming US President Donald Trump, Netanyahu accepted a phased ceasefire deal that would continue until a final settlement to end the war was agreed. Yet by March, Israel unilaterally violated it, resuming bombardment and blockade.

And last week, as Hamas negotiators met in Doha to discuss a new US-backed proposal, Israel bombed them, effectively sabotaging the talks.

Plates spinning

The Israeli government would insist that deals haven’t been reached because the Palestinian group Hamas has not been an honest broker, and because it will attempt to rearm must be eradicated.

But after the attack in Doha, Einav Zangauker, the mother of Israeli captive Matan Zangauker, who has been held in Gaza for almost two years, was clear about who was to blame.

“Why does the prime minister [Netanyahu] insist on blowing up any deal that comes close to happening? Why?” she asked rhetorically.

Why indeed.

Netanyahu is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. One of the reasons for his success is his ability to keep multiple plates spinning – to juggle different priorities, even if they are sometimes contradictory, without resolving them fully.

Being able to juggle these priorities allows Netanyahu to push away decisions that could lead to him losing support from the public or from his political allies. And in a country like Israel, where parliamentary politics is based on who can keep the biggest coalition, that is vital.

Netanyahu is also facing domestic legal trouble – he is on trial for corruption – and staying in power is most likely his best bet at avoiding prison.

Coming back to the question of a Gaza ceasefire, Netanyahu has a fundamental problem: he is beholden to the messianic far right to prop up his government, and they have made it clear: an end to the war at this stage will see them walk away from the prime minister’s coalition, almost certainly causing it to collapse.

The far right – Israelis like National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – want to push Palestinians out of Gaza and bring in Israeli settlers to live in the land left empty by those ethnically cleansed.

Netanyahu might not be completely averse to that goal, but he also understands the difficulty in achieving it. Even Israel would be stretched militarily if it were to try to conquer and keep the whole of the Gaza Strip, and months or years of high-intensity conflict would cause more dissent from a military that is heavily reliant on calling up thousands of Israelis as reservists.

And, of course, such a brazen attempt at ethnic cleansing would further isolate Israel internationally.

What comes next?

Instead, Netanyahu keeps the plates spinning. He keeps Ben-Gvir and Smotrich on his side by never agreeing to end the war, strings along mediators by sending negotiation teams to discuss proposals he won’t accept, and never fully commits to the military fight that would be necessary to try to completely take Gaza.

He insists that Hamas cannot be allowed to rule Gaza and rejects the Palestinian Authority ruling the enclave, while also saying Israel doesn’t want to control it.

How long can Netanyahu keep this up? There were times when he struggled, and it almost came crashing down.

Trump did not want to take “no” for an answer in January, forcing Netanyahu to agree to a deal that had been on the table for more than six months. That led to Ben-Gvir resigning his government position and Smotrich threatening to resign his if the deal progressed and led to an end to the war.

As previously mentioned, it did not. And Ben-Gvir quickly came back. Trump says contradictory things about ending the war, only to never firmly tell Netanyahu to stop.

The next Israeli elections have to take place before October 2026. Perhaps Netanyahu will be able to present enough wins to the electorate – he can already argue that he has weakened Hamas, defeated Hezbollah, and bombed Iran’s nuclear sites – to get enough support that he is no longer reliant on Ben-Gvir and Smotrich and can end the war on his terms, whatever they may be.

Or perhaps the war continues, potentially with pauses, only for Israel to return to bombing Gaza when it feels the need to.

Alternatively, continuing the war with no end in sight could increase both foreign and domestic opposition, ramping up the pressure on Netanyahu until he is either forced to make a decision on ending the war or faces defeat at the ballot box in 2026.

The Palestinians of Gaza – of whom Israel has killed more than 64,800 – are the ultimate casualties of the dragging out of this war, as well as the Israeli captives still held in Gaza.

For now, they will keep suffering – as Netanyahu keeps his plates spinning.