Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Some 680,000 children in Gaza are living in displacement sites overrun by rats, mice, and insects, with families reporting they are too afraid to let their children sleep at night for fear of being bitten; an incident that has already occurred this year, according to Save the Children. According to the organization, an analysis of United Nations data shows that figure places roughly two in three of all children in Gaza inside the more than 1,600 displacement sites where rodents or pests have been openly sighted,&nbsp; Children, particularly infants under five and those weakened by malnutrition, are most vulnerable to the diseases spreading through these camps, according to the foundation. Skin infections and rashes have been reported in nearly two-thirds of assessed sites, lice in over 65% of sites, and bedbugs in more than half of sites, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Rodents are chewing through tents and contaminating food supplies, with few safe storage options available. Cases are expected to worsen as temperatures continue to rise. Waste buildup across rubble-strewn sites has driven the spread of scabies, pneumonia and diarrhea, &ldquo;illnesses that hit young and malnourished children hardest,&rdquo; the organization said.&nbsp; Gaza&#39;s healthcare, water and sanitation systems have been decimated by more than two years of war, turning overcrowded camps into breeding grounds for disease. An Israeli military blockade on aid and commercial goods has left families without access to pesticides, the non-profit reported. When such items do appear in local markets, the prices are unaffordable for most. Families have been reduced to attempting to catch rats with sticks and basic adhesive traps. Shurouq, a multimedia manager for Save the Children in Gaza, described raw sewage running through streets in the rain and being pumped into the sea.&nbsp; &quot;I struggle to find water and people have no choice but to fish and swim in the sea so they are putting themselves at risk,&quot; she said. Save the Children called on Israel to lift the siege immediately, open all border crossings and restore aid flows.&nbsp; &ldquo;Israel, as the occupying power, bears a legal obligation to ensure the humanitarian needs of the occupied population are met,&rdquo; it said, adding that the current ceasefire plan had failed on its humanitarian provisions.

Displaced Palestinians sit with their empty containers amid the rubble of buildings destroyed by the Israeli military, as they wait to collect food from a charity kitchen in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 1, 2026. (AFP)

Middle East

680,000 children in Gaza live in displacement sites infested with rodents and insects, with nowhere to go and no means to protect themselves as temperatures climb.

Two in three Gaza children are rotting in plague-ridden camps

GENEVA: War-torn Gaza is heavily contaminated by unexploded ordnance, which frequently kill and maim people and could threaten recovery efforts far into the future, the UN said Friday. Unexploded ordnance, ranging from undetonated bombs or grenades to simple bullets, has become a common sight in the Gaza Strip since the start of Israel&#39;s war on Gaza. The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) said it had data suggesting that since the start of the conflict, more than 1,000 people had been killed in Gaza due to &quot;indirect conflict&quot;, from the remnants of war. Julius Van der Walt, UNMAS chief in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, stressed that that number was certainly a severe under-estimate. Half of the known casualties were children, he told reporters in Geneva. Speaking alongside him at a press conference on mine action work worldwide, Narmina Strishenets of Save the Children UK, also highlighted the heavy toll on youngsters. A report by the organization published last year found that in 2024, the use of explosive weapons in Gaza left an average of 475 children each month with potentially lifelong disabilities, including amputations. Today, Strishenets said, Gaza has &quot;the largest cohort of child amputees&quot; in the world. &#39;High density&#39; Van der Walt said UNMAS had so far been unable to conduct an extensive survey of the full scope of the problem, but &quot;the evidence already suggests a high density of explosive ordnance contamination across the Gaza Strip&quot;. So far, UNMAS had identified &quot;more than 1,000 items of explosive ordnance&quot;, during missions conducted over the past 2.5 years. Compared to Gaza&#39;s small geographic size, that means there is about one piece of explosive ordnance &quot;every 600 meters&quot;, he pointed out. And those are only the items that have been found. &quot;We have barely scratched the surface in understanding what is the level of contamination,&quot; he acknowledged. Adding to the danger was Gaza&#39;s very high population density. Prior to the war, Gaza was one already of the most densely-populated places on Earth, with around 6,000 people per square kilometer, Van der Walt said, pointing out that the war had effectively halved the space available, and doubled the density. &quot;Explosive weapons are being used all across the territories, including in densely-populated refugee camps,&quot; he said, pointing to a recent case where explosive ordnance was found inside a tent where people had been living for several weeks. At the same time, &quot;humanitarian convoys risk detonation as they travel throughout the Gaza Strip, and early recovery efforts are essentially stalled before they can even begin&quot;, he said. $541 million Van der Walt pointed to an assessment that, in a best-case scenario, it will cost around $541 million to address the explosive ordnance threat, if all necessary permissions are granted and the equipment required is accessible. He warned that the contamination, including within mountains of debris, was so vast and so varied, that it was &quot;very close to impossible to ... do a full assessment&quot;, and that ordnance would likely remain a problem for decades to come. He pointed to the World War II bombs that continue to be discovered during construction projects in Britain. &quot;We can anticipate something along those lines&quot; in Gaza, he said.

People inspect a destroyed civilian vehicle after it was targeted by an Israeli airstrike that reportedly killed three people on Salah al-Din Street, south of Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on April 23, 2026. (AFP)

UN warns unexploded ordnance across Gaza is killing and injuring civilians, including children, and could delay recovery for decades, with contamination widespread and cleanup estimated to cost hundreds of millions.

Unexploded bombs littering Gaza threaten recovery for decades, UN warns

KHAN YUNIS: As springtime temperatures rise in Gaza, a surge in rats, fleas and other pests has compounded the misery of hundreds of thousands of displaced people still living in tents after more than two years of war. With meager shelter and almost no sanitation, Palestinians told AFP the vermin are invading their makeshift homes, biting children and contaminating food, in what aid agencies warned was a growing public health threat. &quot;My children have been bitten. One of my sons was even bitten on the nose,&quot; said Muhammad al-Raqab, a displaced Palestinian man living in a tent near the southern city of Khan Yunis. &quot;I am unable to sleep through the night because I must constantly watch over the children,&quot; the 32-year-old construction worker, originally from Bani Shueila, told AFP. With shelters erected directly on soft sand by the Mediterranean Sea, rodents can easily burrow under tent walls and wreck havoc inside, where people have established makeshift pantries and kitchens. &quot;The rodents have eaten through my tent,&quot; Raqab said. Nearly all of Gaza&#39;s population was displaced by Israeli evacuation orders and airstrikes during the war on Gaza. According to the UN, 1.7 million of Gaza&#39;s 2.2 million inhabitants still live in displacement camps, unable to return home or to areas that remain under Israeli military control despite a ceasefire that began in October 2025. In these camps, &quot;living conditions are characterized by vermin and parasite infestations&quot;, the UN&#39;s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Action (OCHA) said after field visits in March. Hani al-Flait, head of pediatrics at Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, told AFP his team encounters skin infections such as scabies daily. &#39;Flooded with sewage&#39;&nbsp; &quot;The severity of these skin infections has been exacerbated by the fact that these children and their families are living in harsh conditions that lack basic public sanitation, as well as a complete absence of safe water,&quot; he told AFP. Sabreen Abu Taybeh, whose son has been suffering from a rash, blamed the conditions in the camp. &quot;We are living in tents and schools flooded with sewage,&quot; she told AFP, showing the rash covering her son&#39;s upper body. &quot;I have taken him to doctors and hospitals, but they are not helping with anything. As you see, the rash remains.&quot; &quot;The summer season has brought us rodents and fleas,&quot; Ghalia Abu Selmi told AFP after discovering mice had gnawed through clothes she had prepared for her daughter&#39;s upcoming wedding. &quot;Fleas have caused skin allergies not only for children but for adults as well,&quot; she said, sorting through garments riddled with holes inside the tent she now calls home in Khan Yunis. The 53-year-old said her family has been displaced 20 times since October 2023 and has yet to return to their home in the town of Abasan al-Kabira near the Israeli border. Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to control all access points into Gaza, with tight inspections and frequent rejections of aid deliveries, according to NGOs and the UN.&nbsp;This has caused shortages in everything from medicine and fuel, to clothing and food. Airstrikes and firefights between Israel&#39;s military and what it claims&nbsp;are Hamas fighters still occur near-daily. According to the territory&#39;s health ministry, at&nbsp;least 777 people have been killed by Israel&#39;s military since the start of the ceasefire.

Garbage litters the ground next to makeshift shelters housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza City on April 20, 2026. (AFP)

Rats and fleas are spreading across Gaza’s displacement camps as temperatures are rising, with displaced families reporting bites and infections amid continuing aid shortages and sanitation breakdowns.

Rats, fleas plague Gaza's displaced as temperatures rise

Gaza City, Palestine: Gaza&#39;s civil defense rescue service said on Saturday that Israeli airstrikes in the Palestinian territory had killed seven Palestinians overnight, despite the fragile ceasefire in place since October last year. Mahmoud Bassal, spokesman for the group said an Israeli drone had fired two missiles close to a police post in the Al-Bureij refugee camp. In addition to the seven dead, he said, several more people were wounded, four of them critically. The al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza said it had received six bodies and seven wounded, &quot;including four in a critical condition because of direct impacts to the face, torso and other parts of the body&quot;. The nearby al-Awda hospital said it had received one fatality and two wounded. Reached for comment by AFP, the Israeli military said it was working to verify the information. Israel and Hamas regularly accuse each other of violating the ceasefire that came into effect on Oct. 10, after two years of war. At least 738 Palestinians have been killed since the truce began, according to Gaza&#39;s Health Ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations. The Israeli army has reported five soldiers killed since the start of the truce. Under the restrictions imposed on the media in Gaza and the difficulties of accessing the field -- the international press is still barred by the Israeli authorities from entering -- AFP is not in a position to independently verify the information provided by the different parties.

The al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza said it had received six bodies and seven wounded, 'including four in a critical condition because of direct impacts to the face, torso and other parts of the body'.

Gaza civil defense says Israeli strikes kill seven Palestinians

JERUSALEM: Israel said on Friday it had blocked Spain from participating in the work of a US-led center established to help stabilize post-war Gaza following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in Kiryat Gat was set up after the ceasefire took effect on October 10, with the goal of monitoring the truce and facilitating the flow of humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory. As part of the CMCC, military personnel and diplomats from several other countries including France, Britain and the United Arab Emirates are also present and participate in meetings on security and humanitarian issues in Gaza, devastated by more than two years of Israeli siege. Representatives of Spain were also participating in the work of CMCC until now. But on Friday, Israel&#39;s foreign ministry announced it was preventing Spain from attending CMCC meetings. &quot;The Sanchez government&#39;s anti-Israel bias is so egregious that it has lost all capability to serve as a constructive actor in implementing President Trump&#39;s peace plan in the CMCC,&quot; Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a statement. &quot;Spain will not be permitted to participate in the CMCC in Kiryat Gat.&quot; Relations between Israel and Spain have deteriorated significantly since Madrid recognized a Palestinian state in 2024. Both countries have withdrawn their ambassadors. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel&#39;s war on Gaza. He had also opposed the US-Israeli military strikes on Iran that began on February 28. Sarr has previously accused the Spanish government of &quot;standing with tyrants&quot; by opposing the US-Israeli attacks on Iran. He also accused Spain of being &quot;complicit in inciting genocide against Jews and war crimes&quot; after it recognized a Palestinian state. Spain only established diplomatic ties with Israel in 1986 following the death of dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975. Under Franco, Spain avoided recognizing Israel and maintained closer diplomatic ties with Arab states.

Flames rise after a strike on the vehicle of Palestinian journalist Mohammed Washeha in southern Gaza City on April 8, 2026. (AFP)

Israel bars Spain from a US-led Gaza coordination center, citing Madrid’s pro-Palestinian stance, as tensions rise after Spain recognized Palestinian statehood and criticized Israel’s war on Gaza.

Israel blocks Spain from US-led center monitoring Gaza truce

ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump praised Pakistan&rsquo;s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir during a speech in Washington on Thursday. Speaking at the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/pm-sharif-to-land-in-us-for-board-of-peace-inaugural-session" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">inaugural meeting</a> of the Board of Peace at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, the US President described Field Marshal Munir as &ldquo;a tough man, a good fighter, serious fighter,&rdquo; adding, &ldquo;I like good fighters actually.&rdquo; Trump said he intervened during a military confrontation between Pakistan and India, which he said could have cost &ldquo;25 million lives.&rdquo; He described the conflict as &ldquo;intense&rdquo;, stating that the &ldquo;war was raging [and] planes were being shot down.&rdquo; &ldquo;Prime Minister Sharif, I like this man, of Pakistan. There was some fighting going on when I got to know him and your Field Marshal, great general, great Field Marshal, great guy,&rdquo; Trump said. He recalled PM Sharif telling White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles that Trump had &ldquo;saved 25 million lives when he stopped the war between India and Pakistan.&rdquo; The US President said that 11 jets were shot down during the fighting. He also praised PM Sharif and the Field Marshal for their cooperation in preventing a larger conflict in the region. &ldquo;I think we will always be able to settle up with them. It&rsquo;s a lot of progress that&rsquo;s made even in the relationship. They are all great men, and I was very proud of it,&rdquo; Trump said. Separately, during a meeting with Pakistan&#39;s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio appreciated Pakistan&#39;s &quot;ongoing support&quot; for President Trump&#39;s peace plan. &quot;In our meeting, we discussed the importance of our strategic relationship on critical minerals development and counterterrorism,&quot; Rubio said in a post on X.<div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 719px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2024614315018310132&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=b20dfaf377288055659d21dac844e09f45427c2a&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" data-tweet-id="2024614315018310132"></iframe></div></div>US, others pledge billions Trump also reflected on his first year in office, saying he had &ldquo;settled eight wars and I think a ninth to come,&rdquo; and called the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/head-of-gaza-technocrat-committee-in-washington-for-board-of-peace-meeting" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Board of Peace</a> &ldquo;one of the most important and consequential things I think that I&rsquo;ll be involved in.&rdquo; While the US pledged $10 billion, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, the UAE, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Kuwait have pledged more than $7 billion to relief efforts. &ldquo;We work together to ensure the brighter future of Gaza, the Middle East and the entire world,&rdquo; Trump said. He added that &ldquo;there is nothing more important than peace&rdquo; and that going to war is &ldquo;a hundred times&rdquo; more expensive than peace. Troops pledgedIndonesia, the world&#39;s largest Muslim-majority country, will take a deputy commander role in a nascent International Stabilization Force in Gaza and Morocco will contribute troops, the unit&#39;s American chief said Thursday, reported AFP. &quot;I have offered and Indonesia has accepted the position of deputy commander for the ISF,&quot; Major General Jasper Jeffers announced at the Board of Peace meeting attended, among other world leaders, by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. Indonesia has said it is ready to send up to 8,000 troops to Gaza if the force is confirmed. The force aims to have 20,000 soldiers and a new police force. Jeffers confirmed that Morocco had also agreed to send troops, marking the first commitment by an Arab country, along with Albania, Kazakhstan, and Kosovo.

Foreign Affairs

Speaking at the inaugural meeting of Board of Peace at the Donald Trump Institute of Peace, the US President described Field Marshal Munir as “a tough man, a good fighter, serious fighter,” adding, “I like good fighters actually.”

Board of Peace: Trump praises Pakistan’s PM, calls Field Marshal 'tough fighter'

WASHINGTON: A US immigration judge has blocked the deportation of a Palestinian graduate student who helped organize protests at Columbia University against Israel&#39;s war in Gaza, according to US media reports. Mohsen Mahdawi was arrested by immigration agents last year as he was attending an interview to become a US citizen. Mahdawi had been involved in a wave of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/uk-police-to-get-new-powers-after-latest-propalestinian-protest" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">demonstrations</a>&nbsp;that gripped several major US university campuses since Israel launched a massive military siege of the Gaza Strip. A Palestinian born in the occupied-West Bank, Mahdawi has been a legal US permanent resident since 2015 and graduated from the prestigious New York university in May. He has been free from federal custody since April. In an order made public on Tuesday, Judge Nina Froes said that President Donald Trump&#39;s administration did not provide sufficient evidence that Mahdawi could be legally removed from the United States, multiple media outlets reported. Froes reportedly questioned the authenticity of a copy of a document purportedly signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that said Mahdawi&#39;s activism &quot;could undermine the Middle East peace process by reinforcing antisemitic sentiment,&quot; according to the New York Times. Rubio has argued that federal law grants him the authority to summarily revoke visas and deport migrants who pose threats to US foreign policy. The Trump administration can still appeal the decision, which marked a setback in the Republican president&#39;s efforts to crack down on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/greta-thunberg-arrested-at-propalestinian-protest-in-london" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">pro-Palestinian</a>&nbsp;campus activists. The administration has also attempted to deport Mahmoud Khalil, another student activist who co-founded a Palestinian student group at Columbia, alongside Mahdawi. &quot;I am grateful to the court for honoring the rule of law and holding the line against the government&#39;s attempts to trample on due process,&quot; Mahdawi said in a statement released by his attorneys and published Tuesday by several media outlets. &quot;This decision is an important step towards upholding what fear tried to destroy: the right to speak for peace and justice.&quot;

Columbia University campus (Columbia University) 

Americas

Mahdawi had been involved in a wave of demonstrations that gripped several major US university campuses since Israel launched a massive military siege of the Gaza Strip.

US judge blocks deportation of Columbia University Palestinian activist

PARIS: French authorities have issued warrants for two Franco-Israeli nationals for &quot;complicity in genocide&quot; over allegations that they tried to stop humanitarian aid from entering conflict-stricken Gaza, a legal source said on Monday. According to a lawyer for the NGOs that made a legal complaint last year, it is the first time that a country has considered the blocking of aid as possible &quot;complicity in genocide.&quot; The warrants were issued in July last year for Nili Kupfer-Naouri of the Israel is Forever group and Rachel Touitou of the Tsav 9 group, the source close to the investigation told AFP following a French media report. The warrants call for the two to appear before an investigating magistrate but not for their detention. The pair are accused of seeking to block aid trucks entering Gaza between January and November 2024 and in May last year at the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom frontier posts. Olivier Pardo, a lawyer for Kupfer-Naouri, said the &quot;pacifist&quot; actions sought to condemn the &quot;hijacking&quot; of humanitarian aid by Hamas and other groups that launched the October 7, 2023, attacks that set off the Gaza war. &quot;If peacefully demonstrating with an Israeli flag against a terrorist organization seizing humanitarian aid, diverting it, and reselling it at exorbitant prices to Gazans is a crime &mdash; then there is no need to look down on the mullahs, France is Iran!&rdquo; said Touitou, 34, on her social media account. In an interview with The News website, Kupfer-Naouri, 50, called the French investigation &quot;anti-semitic madness.&quot; Pardo said Kupfer-Naouri was in Israel but was ready to speak to French investigators there. The two activists are also suspected of &quot;public provocation for genocide&quot; by calling for aid to be prevented from reaching Gaza, the source said. Another source close to the investigation said warrants could be issued for about 10 other people. The complaints were made last year by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and the rights groups Al-Haq and Al-Mezan. Clemence Bectarte, a lawyer for the groups, said it was the first investigation of its kind in genocide law. Other legal complaints have also been made in France for &quot;war crimes&quot; over the deaths of Franco-Palestinian children in Gaza in an Israeli bombing raid and against two Franco-Israeli soldiers who took part in operations in the territory. Another complaint is over the Hamas attack that set off the war.

Other legal complaints have also been made in France for 'war crimes' over the deaths of Franco-Palestinian children in Gaza in an Israeli bombing raid and against two Franco-Israeli soldiers who took part in operations in the territory.

France investigates two Franco-Israelis for 'complicity in genocide'

ISLAMABAD: Israel continued committing acts amounting to genocide against Palestinians in Gaza even after a ceasefire, operating with impunity within what Amnesty International described as a system of apartheid constituting crimes against humanity, the rights group said Thursday following the International Criminal Court&rsquo;s Assembly of States Parties.&nbsp;Amnesty published a legal analysis showing that Israeli authorities deliberately inflicted conditions of life designed to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians, without signaling any change in intent since the ceasefire was announced on October 9.&nbsp;&ldquo;It is against this backdrop of apartheid and unlawful occupation that Israel deliberately unleashed mass starvation, unprecedented bloodshed, apocalyptic levels of destruction, massive forced displacement and placed a deliberate stranglehold on humanitarian aid, all illustrations of the ongoing crime of genocide,&rdquo; Amnesty Secretary General Agn&egrave;s Callamard said.&nbsp;The organization reported that at least 370 people, including 140 children, were killed in Israeli attacks after the ceasefire. Overall, more than 70,000 Palestinians were killed and over 200,000 injured during the conflict, many sustaining life-changing injuries.&nbsp;Amnesty said Israel deliberately restricted critical aid, including medical supplies and infrastructure repair equipment, while civilians were subjected to repeated waves of forced displacement.&nbsp;Israeli officials ignored three binding International Court of Justice decisions and failed to investigate or prosecute those responsible for acts of genocide or hold accountable officials who made genocidal statements.&nbsp;&ldquo;The international community&#39;s willful inaction towards holding Israel accountable for its crimes under international law and the failure to press it into adhering to UN recommendations have entrenched Israel&#39;s unlawful occupation and apartheid and directly enabled Israel&#39;s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,&rdquo; Callamard added.&nbsp;In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli military operations, including aerial attacks, killed at least 995 Palestinians, including 219 children, displaced tens of thousands, and caused extensive damage to homes, infrastructure, and agricultural land.&nbsp;Amnesty noted that state-backed settler attacks escalated over the last two years. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented over 1,600 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage since January 2025, disproportionately affecting Palestinian herding communities in Area C.&nbsp;&ldquo;Despite international condemnations and some restrictive measures adopted by third states against individual settlers and settler organizations, settler violence continued to increase due to Israeli government backing and virtually total impunity,&rdquo; Amnesty said.&nbsp;The UN Committee Against Torture described Israel&#39;s treatment of detainees as &ldquo;a de facto state policy of organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment, which had gravely intensified since October 7, 2023.&rdquo;&nbsp;Amnesty said Israeli forces were responsible for arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, and systematic torture of Palestinian detainees with impunity.&nbsp;The organization criticized recent peace initiatives, including the Trump peace plan, as &ldquo;fatally flawed&rdquo; for proposing solutions that sideline international law while implicitly rewarding Israel&rsquo;s unlawful occupation, illegal settlements, and system of apartheid.&nbsp;Amnesty warned that the current ceasefire further entrenched Israel&#39;s apartheid and unlawful occupation. The imposition of a security perimeter in Gaza risked permanent occupation, deprivation of fertile land, and territorial fragmentation underpinning apartheid.&nbsp;The group called for a justice roadmap to end Israel&rsquo;s genocide, apartheid, and occupation, while also addressing crimes under international law by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.&nbsp;The ICC had issued arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.&nbsp;&ldquo;There is no greater litmus test for this than in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. States must demonstrate their commitment to international justice by supporting institutions such as the ICC and protecting their ability to pursue accountability,&rdquo; Callamard said.&nbsp;Amnesty concluded that decades of international crimes could not be swept under the carpet with deals that ignore accountability. &ldquo;Truth, justice and reparations are the bedrocks of lasting peace,&rdquo; Callamard said.

Europe

Amnesty reported Israel continued committing genocide in Gaza post-ceasefire, restricting aid, displacing civilians, and ignoring accountability, calling for international justice, ICC cooperation, and an end to apartheid.

Amnesty condemns Israel’s Gaza genocide, calls for international accountability

ISLAMABAD: Europe&#39;s biggest cultural event is in the spotlight. Five countries have pulled out of the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 over a question the organizers can&#39;t answer: Why was Russia banned for invading Ukraine, but Israel is still in despite UN findings of genocide in Gaza? The European Broadcasting Union&#39;s response to Russia&#39;s invasion was immediate. The organization announced in February 2022 that &quot;no Russian act will participate&quot; in that year&#39;s contest, according to its official statement. The executive board&#39;s decision cited concern that Russian inclusion &quot;would bring the competition into disrepute&quot; given the &quot;unprecedented crisis in Ukraine.&quot; Fast forward to 2025, and the contrast is stark. Despite the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluding in its June 2025 report that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, Israel&#39;s broadcaster KAN competed in 2025 -- and is confirmed for 2026, according to EBU records. The International Court of Justice ruled in January 2024 that it was &quot;plausible&quot; that Israel&#39;s actions violate the Genocide Convention. UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese concluded in her October 2025 report &quot;Gaza Genocide: a collective crime&quot; that there were &quot;reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the following acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza has been met.&quot; The walkout Five national broadcasters have withdrawn from Eurovision 2026 -- to be held in Vienna in May -- an unprecedented move in the contest&#39;s seven-decade history. Ireland&#39;s RTE said it would not participate if Israel competed, calling it &quot;unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis,&quot; according to its official statement. The Netherlands&#39; AVROTROS announced its withdrawal, with Managing Director Taco Zimmerman stating: &quot;Culture connects, but not at all costs. Universal values such as humanity and the free press have been seriously violated and are not negotiable for us.&quot; Slovenia&#39;s RTVSLO declared that its participation would be &quot;incompatible with the values&quot; of peace and equality, with board President Natalija Gorscak stating: &quot;Slovenia will not be there. Also on behalf of the [20,000] children who died in Gaza.&quot; The state broadcaster stated that the contest had become &quot;hostage to the political interests of the Israeli government.&rdquo; Spain and Iceland also withdrew, citing similar concerns about double standards and the impossibility of maintaining Eurovision as a neutral cultural event. The sponsorship question The broadcasters&#39; concerns about political interference extend beyond participation policy. Since 2020, cosmetics company Moroccanoil has served as a &quot;Presenting Partner&quot; and official sponsor of Eurovision, providing professional hairstylists for artists during the contest. According to the company&#39;s own terms and conditions on its official website, Moroccanoil is &quot;owned and operated by Moroccanoil Israel, Ltd or its affiliates or subsidiaries.&quot; A CNN investigation cited by Moroccan news outlet Hespress English reported that Moroccanoil manufactures 80% of its products at a facility in Israel, producing 150,000 bottles daily at a plant &quot;two hours north of Jerusalem.&quot; The sponsorship arrangement continued through 2025 and into 2026, even as withdrawing broadcasters criticized Israel&#39;s use of the contest for political purposes.&nbsp; Conversely, no comparable major sponsorship from Russian companies existed during Russia&#39;s participation, according to available EBU partnership records. &#39;Unprecedentedly complex&#39; At its general assembly, the EBU acknowledged that the contest &quot;is not immune to the pressures of global politics,&quot; according to its official statement. The organization expressed support for KAN&#39;s independence, noting the &quot;pressure it is repeatedly experiencing from the Israeli government,&quot; and announced plans to engage in dialogue with member broadcasters. But no such process was initiated for Russia; neither was any support expressed for the Russian public broadcaster&#39;s concerns about government pressure. What Eurovision says it stands for The contest&#39;s reach is broad. It reached 166 million viewers in 2025, achieving a 48% share of viewing, according to EBU data. Eurovision&#39;s website states: &quot;The Eurovision Song Contest&#39;s values are of universality and inclusivity and our proud tradition of celebrating diversity through music.&quot; When Russia was excluded, the EBU stated it was &quot;dedicated to protecting the values of a cultural competition which promotes international exchange and understanding, brings audiences together, celebrates diversity through music and unites Europe on one stage.&quot; The withdrawing broadcasters invoked those same values, arguing that permitting Israel&#39;s participation while Gaza faces what UN experts characterize as genocidal conditions violates the principles the EBU cited when excluding Russia. The question now facing Eurovision is whether its stated values are universal or applied&nbsp;selectively?

Russia's Ukraine invasion brought a quick Eurovision ban, but despite UN genocide findings in Gaza, Israel remains. 

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