Human Rights

The move adds pressure on the UK government, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, which has been slammed over its stance on the Gaza war.

Members of the United Kingdom’s Labour Party have voted to recognise that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, in a move that increases pressure on the UK government to adopt the same position.

Delegates at Labour’s party conference approved an emergency motion backing the findings of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry, which earlier this month concluded that Israel “has committed genocide”. The vote was strongly supported by trade unions.

The decision contrasts with Labour leader and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as well as senior ministers, who have argued that the question of genocide should be determined by international courts rather than politicians.

Israel is facing a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague in which it is accused of committing genocide.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy reaffirmed that stance following the conference vote.

“That means that it must be for the ICJ with their judges and judiciary, and for the ICC, to determine the issue of genocide in relation to the convention. It is not for politicians like me to do that,” he said, adding that he believed in “the rules-based order”.

Recently, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that US support for “everything that the Israeli government is doing” limits the EU’s leverage to change the situation on the ground in the Gaza Strip.

Subsequently, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, proposed sanctions to Israeli ministers and partial suspension of Israel trade deal. On Wednesday, the EU Commission’s review discovered – after 21 months of mass atrocities in Gaza and violent pogroms in the West Bank – that actions taken by the Israeli government in the Palestinian-occupied territories represent a ‘breach of essential elements relating to respect for human rights and democratic principles,’ which permits the EU to suspend the agreement unilaterally.

Recently, these sentiments were reinforced with the recognition of the state of Palestine by U.S. allies – the UK, Canada and Australia – and more recently by France. 

Observers of Brussels declared that the EU had become tough on genocide. In reality, it was a last-minute effort by the two EU leaders to fuse rising outrage against EU’s Gaza policies and charges they were complicit in Israel’s atrocities.

How Kallas emboldened Israel in Gaza

Addressing the annual EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) conference in Brussels, Kajas said that US backing of Israel undermines EU leverage to stop the “Gaza war.” Yet, the United States has supported Israel for more than half a century.

“We are struggling because 27 member states have different positions,” on the issue, Kallas explained. “Europe can only use full force when it acts together.” In this way, accessorial complicity is first deflected to Washington and then attributed to the absence of European unity, which Kallas has long called for, to confront Russia. In other words, the EU Gaza apology was a thinly-veiled effort for a plea to unity Kallas hoped to turn against Russia in Ukraine.

When asked about “double-standard” accusations towards the bloc on its Gaza policy, Kallas said it is not true that the EU is inactive on Gaza. Yet, previously she had opposed intervention in Gaza. In mid-July, Kallas and the foreign ministers of the EU member states chose not to take any action against Israel over alleged war crimes in the Gaza war and settler violence in the West Bank.

The then-proposed sanctions against Israel would have included suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement, suspending visa-free travel, and blocking imports from Israeli settlements. This decision emboldened the Netanyahu cabinet, which saw the EU’s decision not to impose sanctions on Israel as a diplomatic victory. It also led UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese to conclude that EU officials like Kallas were complicit in Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

The EU is Israel’s biggest trading partner, accounting for a third of Israel’s total trade in goods with the world in 2024, whereas Israel is only the EU’s 31^st largest trading partner. Consequently, the EU could easily have sanctioned Israeli trade right after the first genocidal atrocities in late 2023, yet it chose not to. Why?

How von der Leyen undermined EU’s credibility

Von der Leyen has a track-record of intimate relations with Israel. It was a source of controversy already before the Gaza catastrophe. On the 75^th anniversary of Israel’s independence, half a year before October 7, 2023, she referred to Israel as a “vibrant democracy” in the Middle East that made “the desert bloom.” These remarks were criticized as racist by the foreign ministry of the Palestinian Authority because they erased the history of Palestinians in what is today Israel.

After the Hamas offensive, von der Leyen was criticized by EU lawmakers and diplomats for supporting Israel and not calling for a ceasefire. A week after October 7, she rushed to visit Israel to express solidarity, even as the Netanyahu cabinet spoke openly on the coming destruction of Gaza, and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Then-EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell criticized her for the pro-Israeli stance which “had a high geopolitical cost for Europe.”

The visit and the rhetoric also sparked furor among 841 EU staff who signed a letter to von der Leyen criticizing her stance on the conflict. In their view, the commission was giving “a free hand to the acceleration and the legitimacy of a war crime in the Gaza Strip” and warned that the EU was “losing all credibility and the position as a fair, equitable and humanist broker.”

In reality, that credibility has eroded for years. By the early 2020s, more than 800 European financial institutions, including Europe’s most luminous financial giants, had financial relationships with over 50 businesses that were actively involved with Israeli settlements.

Why the belated moral outrage

Recently, the European Commission presented a proposal for tougher measures against Israel to the European Union, which featured suspending parts of the EU-Israel trade agreement and sanctioning Israeli far-right ministers and some West Bank settlers, along with Hamas leadership. These measures are very much in line with the EC chief’s previous warning. But why do they come only now – after 21 months of genocidal atrocities, the obliteration of Gaza and a quarter of a million killed or injured Palestinians?

A qualified majority vote among EU governments will still be required to pass the measures, with the support of at least 15 of the 27 EU members representing two-thirds of the EU population.

Moreover, von der Leyden’s Gaza criticism was carefully calculated to limit the scope of possible sanctions. “Man-made famine can never be a weapon of war,” she said. “For the sake of the children, for the sake of humanity – this must stop.”

Yet, Israel’s weaponized famines did not start few weeks ago. They date from the 2006 Palestine democratic election, which was won by Hamas in both Gaza and the West Bank. It led to Israel’s blockade, which was supported by the U.S. and the EU, and the Israeli-manufactured famine, designed to starve Gaza. The blockade paved the way to almost two decades of impoverishment, hunger, unemployment and thus to October 7, 2023. But it did not trigger condemnations by von der Leyden or the then-EU leaders.

Worse, the world witnessed the first starving victims in Gaza already in spring 2024. Yet, neither von Der Leyden nor other European leaders demanded the end to Israel’s actions at the time. And by the turn of 2023/24, still another famine way ensued, with similar silence in Brussels. It was only the third wave of famine in mid-2025 that changed their views. But why?

“What is happening in Gaza,” von der Leyden said, “has shaken the conscience of the world… These images are simply catastrophic.” That was the difference: not the realities of weaponized famines, which the world had witnessed for almost two decades in Gaza, but the images.

As those photos of starved bodies, particularly of children and babies, could no longer be halted or sidelined in international media, EU politicians, pushed by their constituencies, were compelled to act.

What European leaders chose not to do

It was when the European leaders were charged for accessorial complicity that von der Leyden and Kallas reacted. What the former proposed was “a package of measures” against Israel over its ongoing genocidal assault on Gaza. Or as she put it – and let’s italicize the key terms – “We will propose sanctions on the extremist ministers and on violent settlers. And we will also propose a partial suspension of the Association Agreement on trade-related matters.”

The EU would not use its full arsenal to change Israel’s conduct. It would only go after a few ministers of the Netanyahu cabinet, but not the cabinet itself, even though most of its members had been complicit to the Gaza catastrophe with some supporting even harsher measures, including “nuking” Gaza.

Similarly, the EU would only go after a few token settlers, not the illegal settlements that now house up to 750,000 Jewish settlers. Nor would the EU go after hardline Israeli politicians and civil administrators who have been preparing the incorporation of the West Bank into the pre-1967 Israel since their electoral triumph in late 2022.

The ties between Israel and the United States have expanded from hedging and strategic partnership into a virtual symbiosis. Since 1950, Israel has received more than $120 billion in U.S. aid, most of it in military aid; after October 7, this aid has soared up to $23 billion. But Washington is not Israel’s only ally. In the past half a decade, only three countries—the US (66% of Israel’s total arms imports), Germany (33%) and Italy (1%) —have supplied most of Israel’s arms.

Several other European countries have supplied vital military components, ammunition and services, including the UK, France and Spain. Meanwhile, small EU members like the tiny Finland are increasingly reliant on Israeli arms imports.

The elevated arms transfers reflect the contested European shift toward rearmament, at the expense of welfare and social services – despite the soaring challenges of aging demographics and climate change.

Genocide investigation against von der Leyen

Both Washington and Brussels are complicit to mass atrocities, due to their arms exports to Israel and financing through military aid, not to mention diplomatic and intelligence support. Article 3 of the Genocide Convention defines the crimes that can be punished under the convention, and these crimes include complicity.

In May 2024, the Geneva International Peace Research Institute (GIPRI), an NGO with UN consultative status, requested an investigation against the EC president, Ursula von der Leyen, for complicity in war crimes and genocide against Palestinian civilians. Her complicity was attributed to “violations of Articles 6, 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute by her positive actions (military, political, diplomatic support to Israel) and by her failure to take timely action on behalf of the European Commission to help prevent genocide as required by the 1948 Genocide Convention.”

According to Professor William Schabas, perhaps the leading scholar of genocide, ”von der Leyen is clearly reflecting a position taken by many EU-governments, which is one of very unconditional support of Israel, and they’re doing this flying in the face of public information suggesting that Israel is committing terrible crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.”

The issue with too many European leaders is no longer only the crime of complicity, but also the concerted effort to deny that Israel’s crimes and atrocities against Palestinians constitute genocide. Such denials should be seen as a form of “incitement” to hatred and violence, condemned by the Genocide Convention.

Legal efforts to go after genocide complicity entered a new stage recently, when a group of lawyers filed a criminal complaint against German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, key government officials and arms trade executives on Friday. A dozen high-ranking officials of the former and current German government and CEOs of arms manufacturers were accused of aiding and abetting Israel’s genocide in Gaza, by the European Legal Support Center (ELSC). “Given the undeniable, genocidal consequences of this support, we seek to hold them accountable,” said Nadija Samour, ELSC’s senior legal officer.

Recently, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez noted that “what we’re now witnessing in Gaza is perhaps one of the darkest episodes of international relations in the 21^st century.”

Tragically, the European leaders share full accessorial complicity in the decimation of Gaza and the genocide of its residents, plus the incorporation of the West Bank – that is, the massive moral collapse that is likely to cast a long, dark shadow over the 21^st century because what has happened in Gaza is likely to be replicated elsewhere, with even more lethal results.

Author’s note: Building on The Obliteration Doctrine, the original commentary was published by Antiwar.com on September 23, 2025.

Prime Minister of Malta Robert Abela spoke of the youngest victims of Israel’s war in Gaza who are given medical treatment in his country.

From ancient cities to beaches, Spain has something for everyone. Millions of tourists flock to its coastal towns and islands every year to enjoy the sand, sea, and culture. But what about the locals?

In the past decade, rents have almost doubled, but wages have stayed the same. Hundreds of thousands of properties have become holiday lets, and developers are snapping up real estate to cash in on the tourism boom. A housing crisis is in full swing, and homelessness is rising fast. Now, residents are fighting back. Armed with water pistols and lawyers, they are calling on governments to protect their interests. But will it be enough?

People & Power meets some of the people suffering the consequences of Spain’s tourism industry, and those fighting to stay in their homes.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) is “irreplaceable” and “indispensable” – not just for Gaza and the occupied West Bank but for the entire region.

That was the message several top diplomats stressed on Thursday at the UN General Assembly as they pleaded for political and financial support for the agency.

“UNRWA is a force for stability in the most unstable region of the world,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at a meeting held on the sidelines of the summit.

“UNRWA is vital to any prospects of peace and stability in the region. I urge you to do all you can to support its work.”

The agency’s role has been under the microscope since the outbreak of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.

As bombing campaigns and a ground invasion displaced thousands of Palestinians, UNRWA became one of the main distributors of aid in the territory.

But with the United States – once UNRWA’s largest donor – cutting off funding, the UN agency is now facing a major financial crisis with a budget deficit of $200m.

On Thursday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warned that “UNRWA is collapsing”.

“I do not have to make the case for UNRWA. The starving children of Gaza so painfully make that case,” Safadi said.

“The mothers who are watching their infants fade before their eyes make the case for UNRWA. The 600,000 or more students in Gaza, who have not gone to school for two years, make the case for UNRWA.”

The UN organisation provides healthcare, education, humanitarian aid and cash assistance to millions of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory and across the Middle East.

The agency was founded in 1949 to look after the needs of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who were ethnically cleansed from their towns during the establishment of the state of Israel a year earlier.

Since then, UNRWA has been providing services to displaced Palestinians and their descendants, who remain stateless refugees.

For years, successive Israeli governments have pushed to delegitimise UNRWA, accusing it of distributing anti-Semitic materials and having ties to armed groups.

But critics have argued that efforts to undermine UNRWA are designed to erase the plight of Palestinian refugees who seek to return to their homes in modern-day Israel.

In the wake of the Hamas-led attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, pressure on UNRWA increased.

Israel falsely claimed that a significant number of UNRWA employees participated in the attack, despite providing no credible evidence.

That led several countries to suspend funding for the agency. While many subsequently restored the aid to UNRWA, the US has not.

At Thursday’s meeting, which aimed to rally international support for UNRWA, Safadi explained that the agency had been facing a “political assassination campaign” long before October 2023.

He also paid tribute to the sacrifices of UNRWA staff members, hundreds of whom have been killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began.

“And yet, UNRWA persists. It perseveres,” the Jordanian diplomat said.

“UNRWA staff, who bury their kin, leave and try to give help to others in need in Gaza. That’s why we must save. That’s why we say UNRWA is indispensable. Its role is irreplaceable.”

For his part, Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira decried the push to discredit UNRWA.

“Legal restrictions on UNRWA operations and the closure of UNRWA offices and facilities in East Jerusalem are part of a troubling pattern of obstruction and violence carried out by the Israeli government,” he said.

“Equally concerning are attempts to delegitimise UNRWA through disinformation campaigns, defamation, legal harassment [and] initiatives aimed at replacing the agency with other humanitarian actors in Gaza with mechanisms that militarise aid distribution.”

In recent months, Israel has passed laws to ban the agency from the country and prohibit contact with it.

That, in turn, has hampered UNRWA’s operations in occupied East Jerusalem, which has been annexed by Israel.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced his country will provide 10 million euros ($11.66m) to the agency, bringing the sum that Madrid has donated to UNRWA since the start of the war to about 60 million euros ($70m).

“The needs are immense, and we need to stand by the agency and provide the financial support that it requires to operate,” Albares said.

He added that countries that do not like the UNRWA works should push for the establishment of a Palestinian state that would take on UNRWA’s tasks and take care of its own people.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said that, despite the dire situation on the ground in Gaza, the agency remains operational in the territory.

“We still have 12,000 staff,” he said. “They are still – on a daily basis and against all odds – providing health services, doing nutritional screening for the children, ensuring access to clean water, managing shelters, [and] providing – whenever it is possible – some psychosocial support to the children.”

At least 30 Palestinians, including children, have been killed in Israeli military strikes across central and southern Gaza since dawn.

One of Thursday’s strikes on central Gaza resulted in the deaths of at least 11 people, according to the territory’s civil defence spokesperson, who spoke to the AFP news agency.

“Eleven people were killed and many are missing or wounded after an Israeli air strike targeted a house … which was sheltering displaced people north of az-Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip,” spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said.

Emergency services confirmed several children were among the dead, and bodies were taken to a nearby hospital.

Israel has escalated its offensive against the devastated Palestinian territory in recent days, forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate their homes.

Many are fleeing Gaza City, as Israel intensifies its campaign to capture the Strip’s largest urban centre.

Those who are displaced face uncertainty about shelter locations and must pay inflated prices in new areas for temporary accommodation.

“We have arrived in this remote area with no tents, no facilities. We cannot get water supplies. Kids cannot find anything to eat because we are far from everyone else,” said Ahlam Aqel, a displaced woman from Gaza City.

Ahmed Salama, forcibly displaced from northern Gaza, also expressed concern about his future.

“We are going to central Gaza and we do not know where we are going to stay. The al-Mawasi evacuation zone is overcrowded with displaced people. There is no single space for anyone to move there.”

Gaza has been largely reduced to ruins, and last month a United Nations-backed organisation officially declared famine in parts of the territory.

“We lost our children, our homes and our places,” said Najia Abu Amsha, a Palestinian whose nephew was killed while waiting for aid, on Wednesday. “We became beggars and sick.”

Since October 2023, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 65,419 people and wounded 167,160, with thousands more believed to be trapped under rubble.

Italy and Spain intervene to ensure Gaza flotilla’s safety in the Mediterranean after drones drop ‘flashbang’ explosive devices.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said his country’s navy will join Italy in sending warships to protect the Global Sumud Flotilla, which has come under drone attack in international waters en route to deliver aid to Gaza.

Speaking to reporters in New York on Wednesday, where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Sanchez said international law must be respected and the citizens of 45 nations participating in the aid mission had every right to sail in the Mediterranean unharmed.

“The government of Spain demands that international law be complied with and that the right of its citizens to navigate the Mediterranean under safe conditions be respected,” he said.

“Tomorrow we will dispatch a naval vessel from Cartagena with all necessary resources in case it is necessary to assist the flotilla and carry out a rescue operation.”

On Wednesday night, activists described a wave of attacks by Israeli drones and other aircraft which targeted vessels in the small fleet in what flotilla organisers described as “an alarmingly dangerous escalation”.

Multiple boats were targeted by the low-flying drones, which dropped flashbang-type explosive devices and other “unidentified objects” on and near boats, passengers on board said. Deliberate radio jamming had also caused “widespread obstruction in communications” among the ships, they added.

As news of the drone attack emerged, the Italian navy said it would dispatch a frigate to assist in any rescue operations involving the flotilla after Defence Minister Guido Crosetto condemned the overnight attacks.

Two lawmakers from Italy’s left-wing opposition are participating in the flotilla, which is now reported to be made up of some 50 civilian boats that are loaded with aid supplies and are hoping to break Israel’s sea blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also weighed in, noting that “Italian citizens, along with members of parliament and MEPs”, are in the flotilla, which also includes human rights activists, lawyers, journalists, and Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.

“To ensure their safety, the foreign ministry had already notified Israeli authorities that any operation entrusted to Israeli forces must be conducted in compliance with international law and the principle of absolute caution,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Minister Tajani has asked the Italian Embassy in Tel Aviv to gather information and to reiterate its previous request to the Israeli government to guarantee the absolute protection of the personnel on board,” it said.

In a statement, the Global Sumud Flotilla said the repeated attempts by Israel to use such tactics to intimidate flotilla participants would not work, and it issued a call to UN member states attending the UNGA to place the attacks on the agenda for talks.

Thunberg, who is making her second attempt to break Israel’s maritime siege of Gaza, told the Reuters news agency on Monday that drones stalk the flotilla every night.

“This mission is about Gaza, it isn’t about us. And no risks that we could take could even come close to the risks the Palestinians are facing every day,” she said in a video call on board a ship.

At least 85 Palestinians killed across the territory, including 12 at a makeshift shelter, as global leaders demand end to the war at UNGA.

At least 12 Palestinians, among them seven women and two children, have been killed in a strike on a stadium sheltering displaced families in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, as Israel pressed ahead with its relentless attacks despite calls for a ceasefire from world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly.

The al-Ahli Stadium, which has been converted into a makeshift refuge for Palestinians fleeing the Israeli onslaught, became the site of another massacre on Wednesday.

“I only had what I had in my hand. I left with nothing,” Najwa, a displaced woman from Gaza City, told Al Jazeera. “We are frightened. Transportation is expensive. We can’t pay to bring our things.”

‘Inflicting terror’

Israel’s assault on Gaza intensified overnight, with at least 85 Palestinians killed across the territory on Wednesday – more than double the number of those killed yesterday.

As the UN warned that Israel’s military is “inflicting terror on the Palestinian population of Gaza City and forcing tens of thousands to flee”, Israeli military chief of staff Eyal Zamir claimed Palestinians were being pushed southward “for their safety”.

But UN investigators have rejected those claims. A commission of inquiry this week concluded that Israel’s actions are aimed at establishing permanent control over Gaza while ensuring a Jewish majority in the occupied West Bank and inside Israel.

Zamir added that “most of Gaza’s population has already left Gaza City” and that the army “will continue a systematic and thorough advance” into the enclave’s largest urban centre.

Since the war began on October 7, 2023, at least 65,419 Palestinians have been killed and 167,160 wounded, with thousands more believed to be buried beneath the rubble. Israel launched what campaigners say is a war of vengeance after 1,139 people were killed in Israel in a Hamas-led attack in October 2023. About 200 were taken captive by the Palestinian fighters, out of which more than 40 still remain in Gaza.

Condemnation at the United Nations

At the UN General Assembly in New York, Israel’s war on Gaza has dominated proceedings, drawing condemnation from leaders across the world.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian told world leaders: “If you have no sympathy for human pain, the name of human you cannot pertain. Those criminals who bully by murdering children are not worthy of the name ‘human being’, and they shall never prove to be trustworthy partners.”

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa also demanded an immediate ceasefire: “We stand firmly with the people of Gaza, its children and women and all peoples facing violations and aggression. We call for an immediate end to the war.”

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told Al Jazeera that quiet talks are taking place on ending the conflict, building on the “New York Declaration” roadmap endorsed by 142 states in July.

“Those of us who are closest to the Israeli position are beginning to understand that we cannot just continue with this endless, senseless war, and that includes the United States,” he said.

Meanwhile, US special envoy Steve Witkoff said Washington was “hopeful … even confident that in the coming days we’ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough” and confirmed that President Donald Trump’s 21-point peace plan had been circulated among world leaders.

But previous peace proposals have been derailed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Earlier this month, Netanyahu ordered the assassination of Hamas leaders gathering in Doha to discuss a peace proposal by Trump.

The Israeli leader unilaterally pulled out of the last ceasefire agreement on March 18 and launched fierce air strikes and imposed a total aid blockade, resulting in famine and starvation deaths. He faces an arrest warrant for war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court.

As Israel becomes increasingly isolated, protests have erupted in Tel Aviv. Hundreds gathered at Ben Gurion airport to denounce Netanyahu as he departed for the UN meeting.

Before leaving, the Israeli prime minister once again rejected international calls for a Palestinian state. “The shameful surrender of some leaders to Palestinian terrorism will not bind Israel in any way,” his office said.

According to UNHCR, more than seven million Syrians remain displaced inside the country.

The United Nations has said that one million Syrian refugees have returned to their country since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad last December, while warning that funding for humanitarian operations is falling.

“In just nine months, one million Syrians have returned to their country following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad government on 8 December 2024,” the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a statement on Tuesday.

The agency added that 1.8 million people displaced within Syria during its nearly 14 years of civil war had also returned to their areas of origin.

Nearly half of Syria’s pre-war population of 13 million was displaced by the conflict that began after the Assad regime’s crackdown on peaceful antigovernment protests as part of the Arab Spring protests in 2011.

Challenges for returnees

While describing the mass returns as “a sign of the great hope and high expectations Syrians have following the political transition in the country,” UNHCR said many of those heading back are struggling to rebuild their lives.

“Destroyed homes and infrastructure, weak and damaged basic services, a lack of job opportunities, and volatile security are challenging people’s determination to return and recover,” the agency said.

According to UNHCR, more than seven million Syrians remain displaced inside the country and more than 4.5 million are still abroad. It urged greater investment in stabilisation efforts and increased support for vulnerable families.

Call for humanitarian support

“The international community, private sector, and Syrians in the diaspora must come together and intensify their efforts to support recovery and ensure that the voluntary return of those displaced by conflict is sustainable and dignified and they are not forced to flee again,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

A recent UNHCR survey found that 80 percent of Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq want to return home one day, with 18 percent saying they hope to do so within the next year.

“They have endured a lot of suffering in the past 14 years and the most vulnerable among them still need protection and assistance,” Grandi said. “Sustained support to hosting countries like Jordan, Lebanon and Türkiye is equally critical to ensure returns are voluntary, safe and dignified.”

UNHCR warned that funds for humanitarian operations are dwindling. Inside Syria, only 24 percent of the required funding is available, while for the wider regional Syria response, just 30 percent of the requested funds have been provided.

“This is not the time to cut back support for the Syrian people and their push for a better Syria for them and the region,” the agency said.

US officials say the suspected shooter is dead from a ‘self-inflicted gunshot wound’

Three people have been wounded in a shooting at a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Dallas, Texas.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the incident on Wednesday in a statement on X, saying there were “multiple injuries and fatalities” and that the suspected shooter was dead from a “self-inflicted gunshot wound”.

“There was a shooting this morning at the Dallas ICE Field Office. Details are still emerging but we can confirm there were multiple injuries and fatalities,” Noem said.

“While we don’t know motive yet, we know that our ICE law enforcement is facing unprecedented violence against them. It must stop. Please pray for the victims and their families.”

Local ABC affiliate WFAA reported that the shooter was found dead on the roof of a nearby building.

Police responded to the federal facility in northwest Dallas at about 7:30am (12:30 GMT).

“Preliminary information is a possible sniper,” ICE acting Director Todd Lyons told CNN.

Local media reports said the victims were in critical condition. ICE has not yet released an official statement.

US Vice President JD Vance says in a post on X that the “obsessive attack on law enforcement, particularly ICE, must stop”.

“I’m praying for everyone hurt in this attack and for their families,” he added.

ICE, a federal agency under the Department of Homeland Security, is tasked with enforcing immigration laws, and conducting criminal investigations.

Its operations have been the subject of controversy and protests in recent years, particularly since the re-election of President Donald Trump and the subsequent crackdown on immigrants and refugees which is a cornerstone of his administration’s policies. .

Human Rights Watch have previously said ICE detention officers and private contractor guards treat detainees in a “degrading and dehumanizing manner”.

Al Jazeera has contacted ICE for comment.

Activists on board the Global Sumud Flotilla said they heard explosions and saw drone attacks late on Tuesday

Organisers of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a Gaza-bound flotilla with pro-Palestinian activists on board carrying aid, reported hearing explosions and seeing multiple drone attacks from their boats situated off Greece from late Tuesday to the early hours of Wednesday.

“Multiple drones, unidentified objects dropped, communications jammed and explosions heard from a number of boats,” the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a statement, without adding whether there were any casualties.

“We are witnessing these psychological operations firsthand, right now, but we will not be intimidated.”

Suited in a life jacket, Brazilian organiser Tiago Avila updated on his Instagram at midnight on Wednesday that a total of 10 attacks targeted multiple boats with sound bombs and explosive flares. They were also sprayed with suspected chemicals.

US activist Greg Stoker said his boat off the coast of Crete was also a target.

“Our boat was assailed by a quadcopter that dropped a little popper on deck. A couple of other boats experienced that as well. Our VHF [very high frequency] radio was hijacked by adversarial comms, and they started playing Abba,” he said on Instagram.

Israeli authorities have not publicly commented on the reports of drones, explosions or communications interference being used against the flotilla.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed in a post on X that the sailing boats were “pursuing a violent course of action”, which “highlights the insincerity of the flotilla members and their mission to serve Hamas, rather than the people in Gaza”.

The ministry asked that the flotilla hand the aid on board the boats over to Israel so it can be transferred to Gaza “in a coordinated and peaceful manner” via the nearby Ashkelon Marina, which the flotilla organisers rejected.

“If the flotilla continues to reject Israel’s peaceful proposal, Israel will take the necessary measures to prevent its entry into the combat zone and to stop any violation of a lawful naval blockade, while making every possible effort to ensure the safety of its passengers,” the Israeli statement read.

Avila called this “manipulation from the Zionist regime”.

“We can never believe an occupying force who is committing genocide that they will deliver aid – it’s not in their interests,” he said on his Instagram.

The flotilla, numbering 51 boats, set sail from the western part of the Mediterranean Sea earlier this month with the aim of breaking Israel’s blockade of Gaza and delivering aid to the territory. It had already been targeted in two suspected drone attacks in Tunisia, where its boat had been anchored, before resuming its voyage towards Gaza.

Environmental activist Greta Thunberg is among the high-profile participants.

International activists, including aid workers and campaigners, say they organised the flotilla as a peaceful action to draw global attention to Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.

Israel blocked two earlier attempts by activists to reach Gaza by sea in June and July.

Israeli forces killed at least 36 Palestinians on Tuesday as they pounded Gaza from the air and ground, as world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York demanded an end to the two-year war.

Residential buildings continue to be flattened as Israel presses ahead with its plan to seize the enclave’s largest city.

Satellite imagery analysed by Al Jazeera shows Israeli army vehicles tightening a stranglehold around Gaza City, surrounding it from several directions. Footage verified by Al Jazeera shows tanks pushing into the Nassr neighbourhood, barely a kilometre from al-Shifa Hospital.

This destruction forms part of a pattern that a UN commission says amounts to genocide.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Tuesday warned that Israel’s military actions are “inflicting terror on the Palestinian population of Gaza City and forcing tens of thousands to flee”.

The suffering of Palestinians has drawn the attention of the global leaders, who have used the UNGA platform to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.

Addressing the UNGA, US President Donald Trump said that the Gaza war should stop “immediately” but dismissed the recognition of a Palestinian state by several Western countries, calling it a “reward” for Hamas.

The US president met leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Turkiye, Indonesia and Pakistan on the sidelines of the UNGA. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the meeting was “very fruitful,” adding that a joint declaration from the meeting would be published.

‘Stuck under the rubble’

Israeli strikes have hit civilians across Gaza. One man was killed and others wounded in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, while another strike hit Palestinians queueing for water in Gaza City’s Daraj neighbourhood, sources told Al Jazeera.

Medical infrastructure is also being dismantled. Israeli shelling destroyed the main medical centre in Gaza City, injuring at least two medical workers, according to the Palestinian Medical Relief Society.

The charity said that troops prevented the evacuation of equipment and supplies, even as the facility served the wounded, cancer patients and blood donors. Other clinics in Tal al-Hawa and the Shati refugee camp have also been destroyed or besieged.

Hind Khoudary, reporting for Al Jazeera from az-Zawayda, described the devastation: “The situation continues to deteriorate, especially in the heart of Gaza City, where Israeli forces have been using artillery shelling and quadcopters to push more Palestinians to evacuate to the south and central areas.

“There have been endless appeals from Palestinian families saying their relatives are stuck under the rubble, but no one can reach them.”

No safe zones

Tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing Gaza City have ended up in the central and southern areas of the enclave, which are under constant bombardment. The Israeli-designated “safe zone” of al-Mawasi has itself been attacked repeatedly, with health officials warning that it lacks the basic necessities of life, including water, food [and] health services, while disease spreads through overcrowded camps.

Experts say the forced movement is itself part of the machinery of genocide: driving families into displacement under fire and stripping them of shelter, food and dignity.

At Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, doctors report that three Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli forces near the supposed safe zone further south. Three children died from malnutrition in southern Gaza, according to hospital sources.

In August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification declared that famine was under way in northern Gaza and would spread south. Gaza’s Ministry of Health warns that hospitals are now “entering an extremely dangerous phase” due to fuel shortages.

This collapse of health services and the deliberate obstruction of food and fuel deliveries has led to UN experts accusing Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war.

West Bank under attack

While global attention remains fixed on the destruction in Gaza, events in the occupied West Bank may carry even deeper implications for the future of the conflict.

Israel has threatened to accelerate annexation plans in the West Bank in the wake of recognition of Palestinian statehood by several Western countries, including France and the United Kingdom.

On the ground, violence has intensified. Armed settlers shot dead Saeed Murad al-Nasan in the village of al-Mughayyir, north of Ramallah, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

Israeli forces raided multiple towns around Nablus and ordered the indefinite closure of the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge, the only gateway for goods and people between the West Bank and Jordan.

The tightening of settlements, killings and closure of borders are not isolated incidents. Together, they form part of what a UN report on Tuesday described as a systematic effort to secure permanent Israeli control over Gaza and entrench a Jewish majority in the West Bank.

It comes after a UN commission concluded last week that Israel’s policies – forced displacement, denial of return, destruction of infrastructure and the deliberate use of starvation as a weapon – meet the legal definition of genocide.

United States President Donald Trump has told the United Nations General Assembly that Israel’s war on Gaza must stop immediately as he called the recent recognition of Palestinian statehood by several Western countries a “reward” for Hamas.

“We have to stop the war in Gaza immediately,” Trump told world leaders in New York on Tuesday, adding that he has been “deeply engaged” in trying to secure a ceasefire.

He reiterated his call for the captives held in Gaza to be returned home. “We have to get it done. We have to negotiate peace. We have to get the hostages back. We want all 20 back,” he said, referring to the 20 of the 48 remaining captives still believed to be alive.

Those who support peace should be united in demanding the release of the captives, he told the leaders gathered for the General Assembly.

“As if to encourage continued conflict, some of this body is seeking to unilaterally recognise the Palestinian state. The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists, for their atrocities,” he said.

In contrast, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at a meeting on Sunday at the UN aimed at reviving the two-state solution that statehood for Palestinians “is a right, not a reward”.

Gaza truce offers

Trump called for an end to the war in Gaza, but had little criticism for Israel, instead blaming breakdowns in negotiations on Hamas. He insisted that Hamas, the Palestinian group that governed Gaza, “has repeatedly rejected reasonable offers to make peace”.

On the other side of the talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continually been accused of stalling the ceasefire negotiations since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.

Israel targeted Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital, Doha, this month as the Palestinian leaders were meeting to discuss the latest truce proposal put forth by the US.

The Israeli prime minister broke the last ceasefire with Hamas in mid-March and imposed a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, triggering famine and starvation deaths.

Hamas said it is ready for a truce that will lead to the release of captives and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and a withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza, but Netanyahu has refused to commit to a full withdrawal. This month, Netanyahu decided to seize Gaza City, launching a ground invasion that has killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced thousands.

More than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its war. The US has been heavily criticised for continuing to arm Israel in a war that a UN commission described as amounting to genocide.

Trump also dedicated some of his speech to the General Assembly to Iran, describing Tehran as the “world’s number one sponsor of terror”. He promised Iran would “never possess a nuclear weapon”.

“Three months ago in Operation Midnight Hammer, seven American B-2 bombers dropped 30,000lb [13,600kg] each bombs on Iran’s key nuclear facilities, totally obliterating everything. No other country on Earth could have done what we did,” Trump said.

While the US president claimed the operation demolished Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity, a US defence assessment later suggested the strike only delayed Iran’s nuclear progress by several months.

‘Nobel Peace Prize’

The US president delivered his remarks minutes after Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had spoken, denouncing authoritarianism, environmental destruction and inequality, a contrast in tone to Trump’s focus on unilateral strength, nationalism and grievances.

Trump began his speech by taking aim at the teleprompter and a broken elevator he said he encountered at the UN headquarters before moving on to paint his administration as an economic success story.

At several points, Trump returned to his record on foreign policy, claiming to have brought an end to “seven different wars” and suggesting his achievements warranted the Nobel Peace Prize. “Everyone says I should get a Nobel Peace Prize for these achievements,” he said before adding that he did not care about awards, only “saving lives”.

Taking a dig at the UN, Trump said the world body was not coming close to living up to its potential. “I had to end wars instead of the United Nations,” he said.

As the Ukraine conflict rumbles on, Trump argued the war would “never have started if I was president”. He described his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a good one” but said Moscow’s invasion is “not making Russia look good”.

He criticised Europe for continuing to buy Russian oil and gas despite sanctions, calling the practice “embarrassing”, and he singled out China and India as “primary funders” of Russia’s war effort.

“Everyone thought Russia would win in three days, but it didn’t,” Trump said while urging European Union nations to impose tariffs on Moscow.

Attacks on immigration and the UN

As the UN grapples with what experts describe as one of the most volatile periods in its 80-year history, Trump used the platform to attack the institution itself, accusing the body of “funding an assault on Western countries and their borders”. He claimed the organisation was helping “illegal aliens” enter the US by providing food, shelter, transportation and “debit cards”.

The International Organization for Migration, a UN agency, does provide assistance through disbursement cards and transport programmes but in coordination with governments – not to facilitate irregular border crossings.

On Europe, Trump warned of what he called an “invasion” of migrants and took aim at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, falsely claiming the Muslim politician wants to impose Islamic law.

The US president characterised migration and renewable energy as the biggest threat to the “free world”. He said some countries are “going to hell” over their border policies, while calling climate change “the greatest con job”.

“In closing, I just want to repeat that immigration and the high cost of so-called green renewable energy is destroying a large part of the free world and a large part of our planet,” he said.

He also renewed attacks on climate policies and accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of aiding drug smuggling.

Later on Tuesday, Trump is scheduled to meet Guterres as well as leaders from Ukraine, Argentina, the EU, and a group of Middle Eastern and Asian states. He will host a reception for more than 100 world leaders before returning to Washington, DC.

Prominent Egyptian-British human rights activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah has been freed after spending most of the past 12 years in prison, his family said, a day after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi pardoned him and five other prisoners.

“I can’t even describe what I feel,” Abd El-Fattah’s mother, Laila Soueif, said from her house in Giza early on Tuesday as she stood next to her son, surrounded by jubilant family and friends.

“We’re happy, of course. But our greatest joy will come when there are no [political] prisoners in Egypt,” she said.

Considered to be among the most high-profile political prisoners in Egypt, Abd El-Fattah’s lengthy imprisonment and repeated hunger strikes had prompted international pleas for the Egyptian government to release him.

The former blogger had been detained before the Arab Spring uprising that toppled Egypt’s hardline leader, Hosni Mubarak, in 2011 and during the years of upheaval that followed.

But it was his criticism of government crackdowns on political dissidents after then-army chief el-Sisi gained power in Egypt in 2014 that landed him his lengthiest prison stints by far.

In 2014, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for protesting without permission. He was briefly released in 2019, but remained on parole, and was arrested again later that year and sentenced to another five-year term.

Friends, family and supporters shared photos on social media of the activist after his release, showing a smiling Abd El-Fattah embracing his mother and other relatives.

His sister, Mona Seif, celebrated her brother’s release on social media: “The world is full of nightmares, injustice, violence, and many things that break the heart.. but we can take a breath and give happiness a chance to fill our hearts.. and keep going.”

“Oh Lord, the same joy for the families of all the detainees,” she wrote in a separate post.

“Can you imagine if this happened, how much beauty and happiness would fill our world in a single moment?”

An exceptionally kind day 💛

Alaa is free pic.twitter.com/nmg4oROSTi

— Mona Seif (@Monasosh) September 22, 2025

Abd El-Fattah’s lengthy detention had become emblematic of the fraying of Egypt’s democracy.

“I strongly welcome the news that Alaa Abd El-Fattah has received a Presidential pardon,” United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said.

“I’m grateful to President Sisi for this decision. We look forward to Alaa being able to return to the UK, to be reunited with his family.”

Abd El-Fattah, who obtained UK citizenship through his mother in 2021, comes from a family of well-known activists and intellectuals who had launched several campaigns for his release.

His mother met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer earlier this year to lobby for her son’s release.

Intensifying her campaign in September 2024, when she was expecting her son’s release due to the time he spent in pre-trial detention, Soueif staged a lengthy hunger strike in the UK, ending it only after pleas from her family as her health significantly deteriorated.

Starmer had promised he would do everything he could to secure the release of Abd El-Fattah, who has also staged multiple hunger strikes in detention, most recently in early September, to protest against his imprisonment and in solidarity with his mother.

But his most dramatic hunger strike was in 2022, as Egypt hosted the annual United Nations climate summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The strike ended when Abd El-Fattah lost consciousness and was revived with fluids.

Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights, a state-funded body, also welcomed his release, saying it signalled a growing emphasis on swift justice for Egyptian authorities.

Mediterranean Sea – Everyone gathered on the top deck of a Global Sumud Flotilla vessel loaded with humanitarian supplies for Gaza and volunteers determined to deliver it.

Security protocols in case of an emergency were reviewed and put into action: life vests, head counts and designated muster points.

They were training for scenarios that could occur on any vessel – fire, someone falling overboard, collision.

But this training was different because there was another scenario.

The volunteers were instructed on how to raise their hands in the event that Israeli soldiers intercepted the vessel, boarded it and detained them. The focus is on acting in a nonviolent way, in accordance with their mission.

The flotilla was approaching the “yellow zone” after it departed from Sicily, Italy – the zone in international waters between Italy and Cyprus where Israeli attacks are possible – and it was time to practise how to act if an attack occurred.

‘Old propaganda strategy’

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently described the humanitarian flotilla, which is sailing to break the Israeli siege on the people of Gaza, as a “jihadi flotilla” and claimed it has ties to Hamas.

The so-called “Flotilla to Gaza” is openly backed by jihadi Hamas.

In Hamas’s own words: “We call for mobilizing all means to support the Global Steadfastness Flotilla heading to Gaza.”

This is not humanitarian. This is a jihadist initiative serving the terror group’s agenda. pic.twitter.com/vciWdnTswC

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) September 18, 2025

Earlier this month, as the flotilla set sail from Spain, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced that he wanted to declare the humanitarian activists “terrorists” and detain them accordingly.

Flotilla steering committee member Saif Abukeshek, speaking to journalists online on Saturday, said such allegations are “psychological warfare” and added: “The propaganda is an old strategy.”

In the training, a coordinator tells the gathered group: “We have to decide collectively whether we will react or whether someone should intervene if soldiers begin to beat one of us.”

The question was met with silence but could not be avoided. Holding a bullhorn, the coordinator took the initiative.

“If I am dragged or beaten, I don’t want any of you to react or tell the soldiers to stop. Please respect my decision.”

The bullhorn was passed around. One by one, the volunteers repeated the words. By the third volunteer, the phrase had been reduced to two words: “the same”. All the volunteers echoed it.

The strategy was conceived to prevent further violence. Any reaction – even asking Israeli soldiers to stop – could provoke them to more violence.

One volunteer summed it up: “If you react or speak up while being beaten, you will not only put your own safety at risk but also that of the others – and you will break the will of the group.”

Another told Al Jazeera: “We know why we are here and the risks we have taken.”

Mental and physical pressures

The delays and challenges the flotilla has faced have taken a toll on its organisers and volunteers alike.

Drone attacks while at port in Tunisia, technical difficulties faced by boats ill-suited to the high seas and the general difficulties inherent in organising an underfunded civilian initiative to sail to Gaza have put pressure on everyone.

Every person on board also has to do a night watch, scanning the skies all night for more drone attacks while their companions rest.

When asked what keeps them going, each of them cites the urge to act to help the people of Gaza, who are suffering bombardments, starvation and loss as Israel wages war on them.

They know they are sailing into risky waters because Israel has intercepted all past flotillas, even killing 10 people on board the Mavi Marmara a decade ago.

The boats had set out for Sicily from Tunisia on Tuesday with a reduced number of people on board after hard decisions were made.

There were more people wanting to be on a flotilla boat than there was capacity on the vessels, especially as some boats failed technical inspections – the organisers worrying about their ability to cope with the unpredictable nature of the Mediterranean.

Lists were read in Bizerte, Tunisia. Crews were reshuffled among the boats, and tears flowed as volunteers who had forged strong emotional ties said their goodbyes.

Their part on board the mission was over for now, but their support for the flotilla bound for Gaza would continue on land.

Some talked to the coordinators to try to get their spots back. Others waited with their colleagues on the boats, helping out until they had to return to a hotel to await their flights back home.

“Please put this [Palestinian] flag somewhere on the boat. It has been in my friend’s window for years,” said Marcin, a Polish volunteer living in Norway who was among those cut from the crew list.

Eventually, everyone boarded their assigned ships and met their crews. All hands were on deck to clean and prepare the vessels for the next leg of the journey to Italy. Some of the volunteers have sailing experience, and others with no previous sailing experience learned quickly to help out.

After a few days in Italy, the boats have set out again, sailing through the yellow zone, getting ever closer to the red zone, where the danger multiplies 100 nautical miles (185km) from the Gaza shore.

And the drills continue.

UK thanks Qatar for leading negotiations for the release of the pair after their arrest in February.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government has released a British couple held for almost eight months on undisclosed charges.

Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbara, 76, were released from prison on Friday after a court hearing and handed over to the United Kingdom‘s special representative to the country, Richard Lindsay. The move followed negotiations led by Qatar.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said on social media that the couple had been arrested in February for “violating” Afghan law, but did not say which legislation had been broken.

UK officials were quick to express relief and to thank the mediating country.

“I welcome the release of Peter and Barbara Reynolds from detention in Afghanistan, and I know this long-awaited news will come as a huge relief to them and their family,” said Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “I want to pay tribute to the vital role played by Qatar.”

In a statement on Friday afternoon, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said the couple had arrived in Qatar’s capital, Doha, and would depart for London later. It also expressed its appreciation for the “fruitful cooperation” between the Afghan and UK officials.

‘Looking forward to return’

United Nations human rights experts had called on the Taliban in July to free the pair, having warned of the “rapid deterioration” of their physical and mental health, and stating that they “risk irreparable harm or even death”.

Images of the couple standing together on Friday with the UK’s special representative to the country, Richard Lindsay, at Kabul airport before their departure to Doha were broadcast on British broadcaster Sky News.

“We’ve been treated very well. We’re looking forward to seeing our children,” said Barbara, adding: “We are looking forward to returning to Afghanistan if we can.”

The couple were married in Kabul in 1970 and have spent almost two decades living in Afghanistan’s central province of Bamiyan, running educational programmes. They also became Afghan citizens.

When the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021 they remained in the country against the advice of British officials.

The Reynolds’ family in the UK had made repeated calls for the couple’s release, saying they were being mistreated and held on undisclosed charges.

Hamish Falconer, the UK’s minister for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan, said in a statement that he was “relieved… their ordeal has come to an end,” noting that the government in London had “worked intensively since their detention and has supported the family throughout”.

The release comes after Washington’s special envoy on hostages, Adam Boehler, made a rare visit on Saturday to Kabul to discuss the possibility of a prisoner exchange.

At least one United States citizen, Mahmood Habibi, is held in Afghanistan.

Dozens of foreign nationals have been arrested since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 following the withdrawal of the US military.

At least 679 titles blacklisted, including texts on human rights, women’s rights and Western political thought.

Afghanistan‘s Taliban-run government plans to remove books written by women from university curricula.

A member of the committee reviewing textbooks confirmed the ban to BBC Afghan on Friday. The blacklisting is part of an educational decree that also prohibits education courses “deemed in conflict with Islamic Sharia”.

The committee member told BBC Afghanistan that “all books authored by women are not allowed to be taught.”

At least 679 titles were banned due to their “anti-Sharia and Taliban policies”, he added.

The books affected cover every field of study, including texts on constitutional law, Islamic political movements and the political system, as well as human rights, women’s studies and Western political thought.

A final list of banned books will be issued to universities at a later date.

A directive, which was seen by BBC Afghan, was signed by the Taliban’s deputy higher education minister, Ziaur Rahman Aryoubi, and the 50-page list of banned books was sent to Afghan universities at the end of last month.

Aryoubi said in a letter to the universities that the decisions had been taken by a panel of “religious scholars and experts” and that the banned books should be replaced with course materials that “do not conflict with Islam”.

The decree is the latest in a series of restrictions the Taliban has imposed since returning to power four years ago.

The Taliban has cracked down on many aspects of education, from firing hundreds of professors on the grounds that they “opposed” the group’s ideology to increasing mandatory religious coursework across all faculties.

Women have been particularly affected. They are no longer allowed to attend school past the sixth grade (age 12).

Universities have also been ordered to stop teaching 18 subjects, six of which are specifically about women, including gender and development. Another 201 courses were under review.

‘Misogynistic mindset’

Zakia Adeli, the former deputy minister of justice before the Taliban’s return in August 2021 and author of Political Terminology and International Relations, one of the banned books, told BBC Afghan that she was unsurprised by the move.

“Considering what the Taliban have done over the past four years, it was not far-fetched to expect them to impose changes on the curriculum,” said Adeli.

“Given the Taliban’s misogynistic mindset and policies, it is only natural that when women themselves are not allowed to study, their views, ideas and writings are also suppressed.”

Sources in the capital Kabul told the Independent Persian outlet that the ban on such a large number of textbooks would cripple the country’s higher education system, as universities will now have to dedicate significant resources to finding and acquiring replacements.

Alongside the female-authored books, a further 300 written by Iranian authors or issued by Iranian publishers are being targeted.

Sources, including one on the book review committee, said this was to “prevent the infiltration of Iranian content” into the country’s curriculum.

In recent years, the relationship between the two neighbouring countries has been strained, particularly over water rights. This tension has been further compounded by Iran’s ejection of more than 1.5 million Afghans who had been living in the country.

President Trump reiterated call to reclaim the huge airbase, but Taliban says US must engage without seeking military presence.

Afghanistan has rejected a call from President Donald Trump for the United States military to return to the country and reclaim the Bagram airbase.

A foreign ministry official declared on social media on Friday that Kabul is ready to engage, but maintained that the US will not be allowed to re-establish a military presence in the central Asian country.

Trump said on Thursday that his administration is pressing to “get back” the base at Bagram. The US president, who has long expressed hope of reclaiming the facility, noted that its position is strategically vital due to its proximity to China.

“We’re trying to get it back,” Trump announced. “We gave it to [the Taliban] for nothing,” he complained, adding that Bagram is “exactly one hour away from where China makes its nuclear missiles”.

However, Taliban officials have dismissed the idea.

“Afghanistan and the United States need to engage with one another … without the United States maintaining any military presence in any part of Afghanistan,” Zakir Jalal, a foreign ministry official, posted on social media.

Kabul is ready to pursue political and economic ties with Washington based on “mutual respect and shared interests,” he added.

Lying just north of Kabul, Bagram, which hosted a notorious prison, served as the centre of the US military’s operations during its two-decade occupation of Afghanistan.

Thousands of people were also imprisoned at the site for years without charge or trial by the United States during its so-called “war on terror”, and many of those were abused or tortured.

The Taliban retook the facility in 2021 following the US withdrawal and the collapse of the Afghan government.

Trump has repeatedly expressed regret that the base was abandoned, arguing that Washington should have maintained a small force, not because of Afghanistan but because of its location near China.

The latest remarks came as Trump confirmed for the first time that his administration has been in talks with Taliban officials.

Over the weekend, Adam Boehler, his special hostage envoy, and Zalmay Khalilzad, a former US envoy for Afghanistan, met Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul. Discussions reportedly centred on American citizens detained in Afghanistan.

US officials have been weighing the possibility of re-establishing a presence at Bagram since at least March, according to reports cited by the US media outlet CNN.

Trump and his advisers argue that the airfield could provide leverage, not only over security, but also allow access to Afghanistan’s valuable mineral resources.

The US does not officially recognise the Taliban government, which returned to power in 2021 after 20 years of conflict with American-led forces.

WASHINGTON — Use of solitary confinement in immigration detention is soaring under the Trump administration, according to a report published Wednesday by Physicians for Human Rights using federal data and records obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed at least 10,588 people in solitary confinement from April 2024 to May 2025, the report found. Contributors also included experts from Harvard University’s Peeler Immigration Lab and Harvard Law School.

The use of solitary confinement during the first four months of the current Trump administration increased each month, on average, at twice the rate found between 2018 and 2023, researchers found, and more than six times the rate during the last several months of 2024.

“Every month from February through May, which are the full calendar months of the new administration, the number of people placed in solitary in ICE [custody] increased by 6.5%,” said Dr. Katherine Peeler, medical advisor for Physicians for Human Rights, and assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. “That was really dismaying.”

Solitary confinement, in which detainees are held alone for at least 22 hours a day, is used in ICE detention facilities as a form of punishment or to protect certain at-risk immigrants.

In a statement Thursday, assistant Homeland Security secretary Tricia McLaughlin said ICE prioritizes the safety and security of people in its custody.

Detainees are placed into disciplinary segregation “only after they are found guilty by a disciplinary hearing panel,” she said.

Any detainee scheduled for removal, release, or transfer is also placed into administrative segregation for 24 hours, she added. According to ICE’s National Detention Standards, “such segregation may be ordered for security reasons or for the orderly operation of the facility.”

The United Nations has called solitary confinement longer than 15 consecutive days a form of torture.

ICE defines vulnerable detainees as those with serious medical or mental health conditions, disabilities, and those who are elderly, pregnant or nursing, at risk of harm due to sexual orientation or gender identity, or victims of abuse.

Among those categorized as vulnerable, the report states that solitary confinement lasted twice as long, on average, during the first three months of 2025 compared with the first fiscal quarter of 2022, when the agency started reporting those statistics.

This year, vulnerable detainees spent an average of 38 consecutive days in isolation, compared with 14 days in late 2021, according to the report.

The report notes that use of solitary confinement in immigration detention has risen “at an alarming rate” over the last decade, and that billions of dollars authorized earlier this year by Congress to expand detention will likely exacerbate the issue. It calls on the federal government to end the practice against immigrants who are detained for civil deportation proceedings, and for states and members of Congress to exercise oversight.

Nearly 59,000 immigrants were held in ICE custody as of Sept. 7, according to TRAC, a nonpartisan data research organization.

The researchers at Physicians for Human Rights analyzed individual cases in New England and found “systemic use of solitary confinement for arbitrary and retaliatory purposes,” such as requesting showers, sharing food or reporting sexual assault.

In California, detainees were placed in solitary confinement 2,546 times from September 2018 to September 2023, said Arevik Avedian, a lecturer and director of empirical research services at Harvard Law School.

Last year, ICE changed the way it reports that data. Instead of placements, in which the same person could be counted multiple times for different stints in solitary confinement, ICE now reports the number of individuals.

In California, ICE reported that 596 people were placed in solitary confinement from April 2024 to May 2025, she said.

During the period of 2018-2023, two California facilities ranked in the top five with the highest number of solitary confinement placements, she said — the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County, and the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego.

This year, the data reflect ICE’s investment in Republican-led states. According to the report, facilities with the most solitary confinement stints included Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, Montgomery Processing Center in Texas, Buffalo Service Processing Center in New York, South Texas ICE Processing Center, and Eloy Detention Center in Arizona tied with Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center.

A previous report by the same authors found that ICE had used solitary confinement more than 14,000 times between 2018 and 2023, including one Otay Mesa detainee who was held for 759 days.

Videos show the aftermath of Israeli strikes near two of Gaza’s last functioning hospitals. At least 15 Palestinians were killed outside al-Shifa, while several more died in a separate attack near al-Ahli.