PARIS: Over a hundred top figures from the world of entertainment signed an open letter Saturday in support of UN Palestinian human rights expert Francesca Albanese, who faces calls to resign over comments about the war in Gaza.&nbsp;France and Germany have called for Albanese to step down over remarks last weekend in which she referred to a &quot;common enemy of humanity&quot; after criticizing &quot;most of the world&quot; and the media for enabling Israel&#39;s &quot;genocide&quot; in Gaza.&nbsp;Critics and Israel have accused the UN Special Rapporteur of referring to Israel as a &quot;common enemy&quot;, while Albanese has denounced this as a &quot;manipulation&quot; and &quot;completely false&quot;.&nbsp;In a letter organised by the Artists for Palestine group and shared with AFP, over 100 cultural figures backed her, including actors Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem, Nobel-winning author Annie Ernaux and British musician Annie Lennox.&nbsp;The signatories &quot;offer our full support to Francesca Albanese, a defender of human rights and therefore also of the Palestinian people&#39;s right to exist,&quot; the letter says.&nbsp;&quot;There are infinitely more of us, in every corner of the Earth, who want force no longer to be the law. Who knows what the word &#39;law&#39; truly means,&quot; it concludes.&nbsp;Published in French on the website of Artists for Palestine, it also reproduces the full remarks by Albanese who was speaking via videoconference at a forum last Saturday organised by the Al Jazeera TV network.&nbsp;Other celebrities to offer support for her include actresses Rosa Salazar and Asia Argento, Oscar-nominated film directors Yorgos Lanthimos and Kaouther Ben Hania, Latin music star Residente, and photographer Nan Goldin.&nbsp;A group of French MPs sent a letter to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Tuesday denouncing Albanese&#39;s remarks as &quot;antisemitic&quot;.&nbsp;Barrot called for her to step down a day later, saying that France &quot;unreservedly condemns the outrageous and reprehensible remarks&quot;.&nbsp;German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Thursday said her position was &quot;untenable&quot;.&nbsp;&#39;Shame of our time&#39;Albanese is one of the most outspoken critics of Israel&#39;s more-than-two-year bombardment of Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of over 70,000 people and the destruction of most of the territory&#39;s infrastructure. She has called it &quot;the shame of our time&quot; and says she always asks prime ministers, presidents and foreign ministers the same question: &quot;How do you sleep? When will you act?&quot; The Italian-born legal expert, who began her unpaid role in 2022, was targeted with sanctions by the Trump administration in July last year over what it called her &quot;biased and malicious&quot; work.&nbsp;&nbsp;UN special rapporteurs like Albanese are independent experts who are appointed by the UN rights council, but do not speak on behalf of the United Nations.&nbsp;UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres distanced himself from Albanese on Thursday when his spokesman said &quot;we don&rsquo;t agree with much of what she says.&quot; &quot;We wouldn&rsquo;t use the language that she&rsquo;s using in describing the situation,&quot; his spokesman Stephane Dujarric added.&nbsp;The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas&#39;s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people. On that day, militants abducted 251 people into Gaza.

United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese looks on at the end of a press conference on the human rights situation in Gaza in Geneva on September 15, 2025. (Photo: AFP/File)

Europe

In a letter organised by the Artists for Palestine group and shared with AFP, over a 100 cultural figures back her, including actors Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem, Nobel-winning author Annie Ernaux and British musician Annie Lennox.

Top entertainment figures back under-fire UN Palestinians expert 

DUBAI: The UAE&#39;s president has accepted an invitation to join US President Donald Trump&#39;s &quot;Board of Peace&quot;, the foreign ministry said Tuesday, the body meant to oversee post-war reconstruction in Gaza.&nbsp;The positive response comes amid controversy over the body, with Washington asking various leaders to sit on the Trump-chaired board on which a permanent seat costs $1.0 billion.&nbsp;Although originally meant to oversee Gaza&#39;s rebuilding, its charter does not seem to limit its role to the Strip, and appears to want to rival the United Nations.&nbsp;&quot;Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, has accepted the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/us-president-trump-invites-pakistan-pm-to-join-gaza-peace-board" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">invitation</a>&nbsp;from the United States to join the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-announces-board-of-peace-formed-for-gaza" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Board of Peace</a>,&quot; the ministry said in a statement.&nbsp;The board&#39;s charter, seen by AFP, says that member countries will serve no longer than three years, subject to renewal by the chairman.&nbsp;However, the three-year restriction does not apply if they &quot;contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the Charter&#39;s entry into force&quot;.&nbsp;Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed said &quot;the UAE&#39;s decision reflects the importance of fully implementing President Donald J Trump&#39;s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, which is critical for the realization of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people&quot;.&nbsp;The oil-rich UAE is a top US ally in the region and one of the few Arab nations with official ties to Israel after signing the Abraham Accords during Trump&#39;s first term in 2020. But the UAE has continued to provide aid to the Gaza Strip, including with air drops when Israel limited land entry during the war.&nbsp;The UAE also has a state minister, Reem Al Hashimy, sitting on a subcommittee of the board.&nbsp;The board is a key phase two element of a US-backed peace plan to end the war in Gaza, which came into force on October 10 last year.

Middle East

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed accepted Trump's invitation to join the "Board of Peace" for Gaza reconstruction. Permanent membership requires $1 billion contribution. 

UAE president accepts US invitation to join 'Board of Peace'

GAZA CITY: The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Israel returned the bodies of 15 Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday under the US-brokered ceasefire exchange deal.&nbsp;&quot;The Ministry of Health announces the receipt of 15 bodies of martyrs released today by the Israeli occupation via the International Committee of the Red Cross, bringing the total number of bodies received to 345,&quot; the ministry said in a statement.&nbsp;A medical source at Gaza&#39;s Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis confirmed it had received 15 bodies via the Red Cross.&nbsp;Under the ceasefire deal, which came into effect on October 10, Israel was required to turn over the bodies of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli returned.&nbsp;The 15 bodies returned on Wednesday were in exchange for the remains of Dror Or, one of the last three deceased hostages held in the Palestinian territory, whose body was handed over to Israel on Tuesday by militants, via the ICRC.&nbsp;Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement that the handover &quot;reflects Hamas&#39;s steadfast commitment to fully complete the exchange process and its ongoing efforts to finalize it despite significant difficulties.&quot;&nbsp;The last two hostages&#39; bodies still in Gaza are those of Israeli Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak.&nbsp;At the start of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, militants were holding 20 living hostages and 28 bodies of deceased captives.&nbsp;Hamas has since released all the living hostages and returned the remains of 26 dead hostages.&nbsp;In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in its custody and returned the bodies of hundreds of dead Palestinians

Israel returned 15 Palestinian bodies to Gaza under a US-brokered ceasefire deal, exchanging them for the remains of Israeli hostage Dror Or, Hamas says it remains committed to completing the process, with two hostage bodies still in Gaza.

Israel returns 15 Palestinian bodies to Gaza under US-brokered ceasefire deal

GAZA CITY: The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza confirmed Saturday it had received the bodies of 15 Palestinians the day before under the US-brokered ceasefire exchange deal.&nbsp;&quot;The Ministry of Health announces the receipt of 15 bodies of martyrs who were released yesterday, Friday, by the Israeli occupation through the Red Cross. This brings the total number of bodies received to 330&quot; as part of the deal, the ministry said, adding it had so far identified 97.&nbsp;They were returned in exchange for the remains of 73-year-old Israeli hostage Meny Godard, which Hamas returned via the Red Cross on Thursday.

Gaza’s health ministry confirmed receiving 15 Palestinian bodies under a US-brokered ceasefire exchange, raising the total returned to 330.

Gaza ministry confirms received bodies of 15 Palestinians under truce deal

JERUSALEM: Israel warned Sunday that its military would step up its attacks against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, a day after the Lebanese Health Ministry reported four people killed in an Israeli airstrike. Despite a November 2024 cease-fire with the Lebanese militant group, Israel maintains troops in five areas in southern Lebanon and has continued regular strikes. &ldquo;Hezbollah is playing with fire, and the president of Lebanon is dragging his feet,&rdquo; Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. &ldquo;The Lebanese government&rsquo;s commitment to disarm Hezbollah and remove it from southern Lebanon must be implemented. Maximum enforcement will continue and even intensify &mdash; we will not allow any threat to the residents of the north.&rdquo; Thousands of Israelis living near the northern border with Lebanon were forced to evacuate their homes for months after Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel following the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October 2023. That set off a more than yearlong conflict that culminated in two months of open war before last year&rsquo;s cease-fire was agreed upon. The Iran-backed militant group, which opposes Israel, has been badly weakened by the war but remains armed and financially resilient. In September 2024, Israel killed the group&rsquo;s longtime chief, Hassan Nasrallah, along with many other senior leaders over the course of the war. Since the cease-fire, the United States has increased pressure on Lebanese authorities to disarm the group, a plan opposed by Hezbollah and its allies. Latest strikeIsrael never stopped carrying out airstrikes on Lebanon despite the truce &mdash; usually saying it was targeting Hezbollah positions &mdash; and has stepped up attacks in recent days. On Thursday, Israeli ground troops carried out a deadly raid into southern Lebanon, prompting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to order the army to confront such incursions. Aoun had called for talks with Israel in mid-October after U.S. President Donald Trump helped broker a cease-fire in Gaza. But Aoun later accused Israel of responding to his offer by intensifying its airstrikes, the latest of which killed four people in the Nabatiyeh district on Saturday, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The official Lebanese National News Agency reported that the Israeli army hit a car &ldquo;with a guided missile.&rdquo; The Israeli military confirmed the strike, saying it killed a member of Hezbollah&rsquo;s Radwan Force in southern Lebanon. &ldquo;The terrorist was involved in transferring weapons and in efforts to reestablish Hezbollah&rsquo;s terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon,&rdquo; the military said, adding that three other members of the group were also killed. &ldquo;The terrorists&rsquo; activities constituted a threat to the State of Israel and its civilians and a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.&rdquo;

A Lebanese soldier sits on top of a military vehicle outside the municipality building of the southern Lebanese border village of Blida in the aftermath of an Israeli army raid on the village, on October 30, 2025.

Israel warned Sunday that its military would step up its attacks against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, a day after the Lebanese Health Ministry reported four people killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Israel warns of intensifying attacks against Hezbollah in south Lebanon

TEL AVIV: Israel said the remains of another hostage that Hamas handed over the day before were identified as Eliyahu Margalit, as the Palestinian death toll surpassed 68,000 people amid searching beneath the rubble.&nbsp;Israel&rsquo;s Prime Minister&rsquo;s Office said Saturday that Margalit&#39;s body was identified after testing by the National Center for Forensic Medicine, and his family has been notified. The 76-year-old was abducted on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, from the horse stables where he worked in Kibbutz Nir Oz.&nbsp;Margalit is the 10th returned hostage body since the ceasefire went into effect over a week ago. Hamas handed over an 11th body this week, but it wasn&rsquo;t that of a hostage. The effort to find the remains followed a warning from US President Donald Trump that he would green-light Israel to resume the war if Hamas doesn&rsquo;t live up to its end of the deal and return all hostages&rsquo; bodies, totalling 28.&nbsp;In a statement Saturday, the hostage forum, which supports the families of those abducted, said Margalit&#39;s return brings a measure of solace to his family, but that they won&rsquo;t rest until the remaining 18 hostages come home. The forum says it will continue holding weekly rallies until all remains are returned.&nbsp;The handover of hostages&#39; remains, called for under the ceasefire agreement, has been among the key sticking points along with aid deliveries, the opening of border crossings into Gaza, and hopes for reconstruction in a process backed by much of the international community to help end two years of devastating war in Gaza.&nbsp;Hamas has said it is committed to the terms of the ceasefire deal, including the handover of bodies. However, the retrieval of bodies is hampered by the scope of the devastation and the presence of dangerous, unexploded ordnance. The group has also told mediators that some bodies are in areas controlled by Israeli troops.&nbsp;As part of the ceasefire agreement, Israel on Saturday also returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza. Gaza&#39;s Health Ministry said the International Committee of the Red Cross handed over the bodies to Nasser Hospital, bringing the total number of bodies Israel had returned to 135.&nbsp;Also, on Saturday, the ministry of health said that more than 68,000 Palestinians have been killed in the two-year-long war.&nbsp;Nine Palestinians killed by Israeli fireMeanwhile, Hamas is accusing Israel of continuing its attacks and violating the ceasefire.&nbsp;On Friday, the Civil Defense, a first responders&rsquo; agency operating under the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, said nine people were killed, including women and children, when their vehicle was hit by Israeli fire in Gaza City. The Civil Defense said the car crossed into an Israeli-controlled area in eastern Gaza.&nbsp;As part of the first phase of the ceasefire, Israel still maintains control of about half of Gaza.&nbsp;The Civil Defense said that Israel could have warned the people in a manner that wasn&#39;t lethal. The group recovered the bodies on Saturday with coordination from the UN, it said.&nbsp;Demands for aidHamas is also urging mediators to increase the flow of aid into Gaza, expedite the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, and start reconstruction of the battered territory.&nbsp;The flow of aid remains constrained due to the continued closure of crossings and restrictions on aid groups.&nbsp;United Nations data on Friday showed 339 trucks have been offloaded for distribution in Gaza since the ceasefire began a week ago. Under the agreement, some 600 humanitarian aid trucks would be allowed to enter each day.&nbsp;Gaza&rsquo;s more than 2 million people are hoping the ceasefire will bring relief from the humanitarian disaster caused by Israel&rsquo;s offensive. Throughout the war, Israel restricted aid entry to Gaza, sometimes halting it altogether.&nbsp;Famine was declared in Gaza City, and the UN says it has verified more than 400 people who died of malnutrition-related causes, including more than 100 children.&nbsp;Israel&rsquo;s campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government in the territory. Its figures are seen as a reliable estimate of wartime deaths by UN agencies and many independent experts.

Gaza as Israel and Hamas exchange bodies under a fragile ceasefire. Nine more Palestinians died from Israeli fire, while aid deliveries and reconstruction efforts remain severely restricted.

Palestinian death toll exceeds 68,000 amid ceasefire violations

Reuters

US President Donald Trump told CNN on Wednesday that he would consider allowing Israeli forces to resume fighting in Gaza if Hamas fails to uphold its end of the ceasefire deal.&nbsp;&quot;Israel will return to those streets as soon as I say the word. If Israel could go in and knock the crap of them, they&rsquo;d do that,&quot; Trump was quoted as saying to CNN in a brief telephone call when asked what would happen if Hamas refused to disarm.

Americas

US President Trump told CNN that Israel could resume military action in Gaza if Hamas violates the ceasefire deal.

Trump warns Israel may resume Gaza war if Hamas defies ceasefire

JERUSALEM: Israel plans to destroy what remains of Hamas&#39;s network of tunnels under Gaza, working with US approval after its hostages are freed, it said Sunday.&nbsp;Defence Minister Israel Katz said the operation would be conducted under an &quot;international mechanism&quot; led by the United States, sponsor of the three-day-old Gaza ceasefire.&nbsp;&quot;Israel&#39;s great challenge after the hostage release phase will be the destruction of all Hamas terrorist tunnels in Gaza,&quot; Katz said in a statement.&nbsp;&quot;I have ordered the army to prepare to carry out this mission.&quot;&nbsp;Katz said the remainder would be destroyed under the framework of Hamas&#39;s disarming and demilitarisation, foreseen in the next stages of the US-backed ceasefire plan.&nbsp;Hamas has agreed to the first stage of the plan, which led to a ceasefire on Friday and on Monday should see the release of 48 Israeli hostages, living and dead.&nbsp;In exchange, Israel is expected to release 250 &quot;national security prisoners&quot;, including several blamed for deadly attacks, and 1,700 Gazans detained by the military.&nbsp;But Hamas has resisted calls to disarm, and on Sunday senior official Hossam Badran told AFP the second phase of the US plan &quot;contains many complexities and difficulties&quot;.

Israel plans to destroy what remains of Hamas's network of tunnels under Gaza, Hamas has agreed to the first stage of the plan, which led to a ceasefire on Friday.

Israel vows to destroy Gaza tunnels once hostages free

DOHA: Qatar said it was set to hold talks with Hamas negotiators, Egypt and Turkey on Tuesday to discuss US President Donald Trump&#39;s Gaza plan, adding that Hamas would study it &quot;responsibly.&quot; Trump unveiled a plan in Washington calling for a ceasefire, release of hostages by Hamas within 72 hours, disarmament of the group and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, followed by a post-war transitional authority headed by the president himself.&nbsp;Qatar and Egypt handed the proposal to Hamas on Monday, and &lsquo;the Hamas&rsquo; negotiating delegation promised to study it responsibly,&quot; foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a press conference.&nbsp;&quot;There will also be another meeting today, also attended by the Turkish side, with the negotiating delegation.&quot;&nbsp;The head of Egyptian intelligence and his Turkish counterpart were in Doha he said, to take part in negotiations.&nbsp;&quot;It is still too early to speak about responses, but we are truly optimistic that this plan, as we said, is a comprehensive one,&quot; Ansari added.&nbsp;Following the announcement on Monday, Qatari authorities said they were ready to press for a truce in the Palestinian territory following an Israeli apology for its unprecedented strike targeting Hamas leaders in Doha earlier this month.&nbsp;Ansari added that the US had given security assurances to Qatar and Israel had promised not to attack it again.&nbsp;&quot;The security assurances and the commitments that were offered in the call on Monday by President Trump and the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu were very clear and were under the guarantee of the US president that Qatar will never be attacked,&quot; Ansari said.&nbsp;&quot;We are content with the security assurances that we have received,&quot; he said, adding there had also been &quot;a commitment by Israel not to attack Qatar again in its capacity or otherwise.&quot;&nbsp;Qatar, along with Egypt and the United States, had led efforts to broker a comprehensive ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Qatar will host talks Tuesday with Hamas, Egypt, and Turkey on President Trump’s Gaza plan, which calls for ceasefire, hostage releases, Hamas disarmament, and Israeli withdrawal. Doha voiced optimism after receiving US security assurances and Israeli commitments.

Qatar to hold Gaza plan talks with Hamas, Turkey on Tuesday

GENEVA: European soccer body Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is moving toward a vote to suspend its member federation Israel over the war in Gaza, people familiar with the proposal told The Associated Press on Thursday. &nbsp;A majority of UEFA&rsquo;s 20-member executive committee is expected to support any vote in favor of suspending Israeli teams from international play, two sources told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.&nbsp;The move comes two weeks before the Israel men&rsquo;s team is due to resume its 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign with away games against Norway and Italy.&nbsp;It is unclear whether world soccer body FIFA will support excluding Israel given the close relations between FIFA&rsquo;s leader, Gianni Infantino, and President Donald Trump.&nbsp;The Trump administration&rsquo;s support to secure the World Cup, and process visas for players, officials and potentially hundreds of thousands of visiting fans, is seen as key to FIFA delivering a successful tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico next year.&nbsp;FIFA&rsquo;s ruling council is scheduled to meet in Zurich next week. The 37-member council includes eight from UEFA.&nbsp;Calls to exclude Israel from soccer and other sports have increased in recent weeks amid an outcry over the humanitarian toll of its military campaign in Gaza.Last week Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S&aacute;nchez said Israel should be banned from international sports events just like Russia, which was sidelined after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.&nbsp;UEFA and its president Aleksander Ceferin signaled a tougher view on Israel last month when banners saying &ldquo;Stop Killing Children. Stop Killing Civilians&rdquo; were placed on the field in front of the Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham teams ahead of the Super Cup game in Udine, Italy.&nbsp;Israel&rsquo;s sports and culture minister, Miki Zohar, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of Israel&rsquo;s soccer federation, Moshe Zuares, have been working &ldquo;intensively behind the scenes&rdquo; to block efforts to oust Israel from UEFA, Zohar&#39;s office said Thursday.&nbsp;&ldquo;The right step now is to act responsibly with the professionals and not to make statements, and this is how all the parties involved in the efforts are acting. We will address this later.&rdquo;&nbsp;Critics of Israel&#39;s response since the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas provoked the war have consistently pointed to Russia being suspended by FIFA and UEFA within days of the full military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.&nbsp;Last week, Israel was accused of committing genocide in Gaza by an inquiry commission commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council.&nbsp;The Russia ban also was driven by a swath of UEFA member federations refusing to play scheduled games against Russian opponents, including Poland which had been due to go to Moscow for a 2022 World Cup qualifying playoff.&nbsp;FIFA and UEFA later argued when winning at a Russian appeal against the ban that they could not risk chaos in their own competitions, including the World Cup.&nbsp;The Norwegian soccer federation also pledged to give its profits from ticket sales for the October 11, game in Oslo to humanitarian work in Gaza by Doctors Without Borders.&nbsp;Both Italy&rsquo;s Gabriele Gravina and Lise Klaveness of Norway are elected members of the UEFA executive committee which could vote on suspending Israel. Zuares, the Israeli soccer federation president, is also on the panel.&nbsp;

Football

UEFA is set to vote on suspending Israel from international soccer over the Gaza war, amid growing European calls. The move comes before Israel’s World Cup qualifiers against Norway and Italy scheduled next month.

Articles tagged with "GAZA"