🔥 Gaza Under Siege as UK Prepares to Recognise Palestinian State
As Israel widens its assault on Gaza, leaving hundreds of thousands trapped and aid groups sounding alarms, Keir Starmer readies a historic recognition of Palestine - timed to follow Trump’s UK visit
International alarm is growing over the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians still sheltering in Gaza City amid Israel’s heavy bombardment and widening ground assault. It comes as Israeli military said it would open another evacuation route on Wednesday for people fleeing, The New York Times reported. Before the expanded offensive was announced on Tuesday, the military ordered people in Gaza City to go to what it described as a humanitarian zone in the south. The Israeli military said that more than 350,000 people had fled the northern city as of Tuesday evening, cramming onto the enclave’s coastal road, but roughly half a million were believed to still be there. The start of the long-planned ground offensive drew fierce condemnation from allies of Israel and aid agencies, who said it would worsen an already dire humanitarian situation and derail any diplomatic resolution to the nearly two-year war. Israel’s government has said seizing Gaza City is necessary to prevent Hamas from regrouping and planning future attacks like the assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that ignited the war. Heavy airstrikes continued to pound Gaza, with Israel’s military saying on Wednesday morning that more than 150 strikes had been launched over the previous 48 hours. Salah al-Din Road, which runs roughly north to south through the enclave, links Gaza City to the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, a journey that can take up to seven hours by foot. Israel’s military designated it an evacuation corridor earlier in the war, but a report from Human Rights Watch last year found that it was “rarely, if ever, safe” and had come under Israeli fire. The assault on Gaza City was announced on the same day that a U.N. commission investigating the war said Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians, which Israel has denied.
The Israeli military kills at least 48 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip since dawn, including 37 in Gaza City where a major offensive continues despite threats of sanctions against Israel. Four more Palestinians have died from acute malnutrition over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths from Israel’s forced starvation policy to 435, including 147 children.Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud reports the Israeli army continues to apply “extreme pressure” to force hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the north into overcrowded central and southern Gaza. Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has described Gaza as a potential real estate “bonanza”, adding he’s actively engaged in talks with the US on how to divide it up - Al Jazeera
The situation in Gaza City is "nothing short of cataclysmic", a UN official has told the BBC, as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that overwhelmed hospitals were on the brink of collapse because it was being prevented from delivering lifesaving supplies.
Keir Starmer will reportedly recognise a Palestinian state over the weekend after Donald Trump concludes his state visit to the UK. The prime minister has previously said he plans to recognise Palestinian statehood before the UN general assembly in New York this month if Israel does not meet a series of conditions to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. High-level meetings at the UN summit involving world leaders begin on 23 September. According to the Times, Starmer has held off on formally announcing the UK will recognise a Palestinian state until after Trump leaves for fear it could dominate a Thursday news conference the two men plan to hold at Chequers. The prime minister has found himself at odds with the US administration over the move, which is opposed to giving official recognition to the state. However, other nations including France, Australia and Canada have said they plan to take the same step at the UN gathering - Guardian
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Ukrainian troops continue to hold defensive positions in the embattled city of Kostyantynivka, a critical stronghold in the Donetsk region, despite ongoing Russian bombardments and drone attacks. As Russian forces advance, the city -- once home to 60,000 people -- has seen its population dwindle to just over 6,000, according to Ukrainian authorities. Hundreds have fled in recent weeks, driven out by escalating air strikes and deteriorating humanitarian conditions. Current Time correspondent Andriy Kuzakov recently embedded with a Ukrainian patrol unit navigating the war-torn streets of the city. The soldiers, operating under constant threat of drone strikes, now carry shotguns in the city to defend against deadly Russian unmanned aerial vehicles. Kostyantynivka's elevated position makes it a key military location in the area. "We must hold this city. There are no options to hand it over," a Ukrainian soldier with the call sign Wolf said. "If Russian forces gain the high ground, they will have a strategic advantage." Russian aerial assaults have turned the once peaceful city into one of the war's most active battlegrounds. Despite the danger, some civilians are reluctant to leave the area. Aid organizations have helped deliver humanitarian assistance and encouraged residents to evacuate, but traveling in the city during daylight hours poses extreme risk - RFE/RL
Russian forces carried out an airstrike on the city of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast on Sept. 18, killing five civilians, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported. At approximately 10 a.m. local time, a FAB-250 high-explosive aerial bomb equipped with a universal planning and correction module was dropped on a residential area of the city. The victims included two women, aged 62 and 65, and three men, aged 65, 67, and 74. All were reportedly on the street at the time of the strike - Kyiv Independent
Disney’s ABC said Wednesday it has pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air “indefinitely” following the late-night host’s comments Monday about the motivations of the man who authorities say fatally shot conservative activist Charlie Kirk. During his monologue Monday night, Kimmel criticized Republicans for how they responded to Kirk’s killing. “The MAGA gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said. Tyler Robinson is accused of fatally shooting Kirk during an event at Utah Valley University. Kirk was a co-founder of the prominent conservative activist organization Turning Point USA and a high-profile ally of President Donald Trump. Trump lauded the news about Kimmel’s suspension, posting on Truth Social, in part: “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done.” ABC's move comes just hours after Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr threatened to “take action” against Disney and ABC over Kimmel's remarks. In an interview with conservative commentator Benny Johnson, Carr described Kimmel’s remarks as “the sickest conduct possible,” adding that the FCC could move to revoke ABC affiliate licenses as a punishment. In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, Carr repeatedly referred to Trump’s election and said, “There’s more work to go." The "legacy media," he said, "threw everything" at Trump. “We at the FCC are going to enforce the public interest obligation,” Carr said. “If there’s broadcasters out there that don’t like it, they can turn their license in to the FCC.” FCC member Anna Gomez, a Biden appointee and the lone Democrat on the panel, sharply criticized Carr on X, saying, “This Administration is increasingly using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression.” Following Carr's comments to Johnson, Nexstar Media Group Inc. announced that the company’s ABC affiliates will pre-empt “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for the foreseeable future, beginning with Wednesday night’s show - NBC News
Jimmy Fallon pulled the plug on his appearance at Fast Company’s Innovation Festival in New York City on Thursday following the news that ABC suspended "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Wednesday night. He was scheduled to join the “Staying On Brand” panel, but is "no longer able to attend," according to a memo sent to Adweek. The panel reportedly went forward with marketing executive Bozoma Saint John and Fast Company Senior Staff Editor Jeff Beer as scheduled. Kimmel has not spoken publicly about the shocking news, but his Hollywood peers took to social media to protest the decision as well as critique President Donald Trump's administration for what they say is trampling on the First Amendment.
Now, ABC is set to air a Charlie Kirk memorial special on Friday in Kimmel's usual time slot - TMZ
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has been barred from attending Donald Trump’s press conference near London this week after a clash between the broadcaster’s Americas editor, John Lyons, and the president in Washington DC over his business dealings. The broadcaster said its London bureau was informed by Downing Street that its accreditation to attend the press conference had been withdrawn for “logistical reasons”. Trump was due to have lunch with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, at the latter’s country retreat of Chequers on Thursday before the joint press conference. “The ABC’s London bureau is still accredited to attend Chequers, however, Downing Street media has said it no longer has a spot at the joint press conference due to logistical reasons,” an ABC spokesperson told the Guardian.
“It’s not ‘really’ censorship, they say. There are still other critical journalists, shows, outlets, so it can’t be as bad as you say. That’s what we were told as Putin cracked down more every day, every year. Don’t make excuses for abuse of power. Don’t comply in advance” - Russian dissident and former world chess champion Gary Kasparov
Countries globally are beginning to eschew partnerships with Washington — or acting in clear defiance of the White House — suggesting that US President Donald Trump’s aggressive foreign policy approach is not paying off as he hoped. Trump “risks sidelining himself” as a result of his reluctance to pressure Russia and Israel over their military offensives, The Wall Street Journal warned, adding that the two countries were increasingly willing to oppose the White House openly. Elsewhere, Denmark recently opted for European air defense systems over American ones in its biggest ever single investment in security, while Australia and Japan have begun deepening military ties in the face of apparently flagging US support - Semafor
China’s declaration of a nature reserve in the South China Sea is the latest twist in its yearslong push to establish control over the strategically important waters and sea lane. The National Forestry and Grassland Administration said last week that the reserve would protect the coral reef ecosystem at Huangyan Island, better known internationally as Scarborough Shoal. But outside experts believe the announcement was driven more by geopolitics than environmental protection. The outcropping — a triangular chain of reef and rock with a fish-rich lagoon in the middle — is a hotly disputed territory that is also claimed by the Philippines and Taiwan. China has effectively controlled Scarborough Shoal since a faceoff with the Philippines in 2012, though Philippine ships still try to approach it to stake the country’s claim. Confrontations have spiked in recent years. In August, two Chinese ships collided while trying to intercept a Philippine ship near the shoal. Before announcing the reserve, China earlier had declared the waters around the shoal as its territory and then published geographic coordinates defining what are known as the territory’s baselines. “It falls into a pattern of China trying to establish administrative justifications for things it’s already done with military force,” Greg Poling, an expert on the South China Sea at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said of the reserve. Scholars of environmental and marine science say that Chinese harvesting of giant clams, which was banned last year, has caused extensive damage to Scarborough Shoal. The shells have become popular and valuable in the last few decades as a replacement for elephant ivory, which has been increasingly banned. Chinese ships dragged their propellers through the reefs to dig up the clams until 2016. Then they switched to firing high-pressure water at the reefs. The damage is less visible but equally harmful, said Ray Powell, founder and director of SeaLight, a group at Stanford University that tracks maritime “gray-zone” activity. China is “attempting to strengthen its claim while diverting scrutiny from the environmental devastation its own fleets inflicted — like an arsonist who torches a property and then appoints himself fire marshal amid the ashes,” Powell said - Washington Post
The journals……
