Israel | Pakistan

The United Nations on Wednesday said decades-long discrimination and segregation of Palestinians by Israel in the West Bank were intensifying, and called on the country to end its “apartheid system”. In a new report, slammed by Israel, the UN rights office said “systematic discrimination” against Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territories had “drastically deteriorated” in recent years. “There is a systematic asphyxiation of the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement. “Whether accessing water, school, rushing to hospital, visiting family or friends, or harvesting olives — every aspect of life for Palestinians in the West Bank is controlled and curtailed by Israel’s discriminatory laws, policies and practices,” he added. “This is a particularly severe form of racial discrimination and segregation that resembles the kind of apartheid system we have seen before.” A number of independent experts affiliated with the UN have described the situation in ...

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, expects to be barred from operating in Gaza once it misses Wednesday’s deadline to comply with new registration rules for relief agencies that Israel claims are meant to prevent Hamas from exploiting international aid. The organisation, which provided care to nearly half a million people during a two-year Gaza Strip war, says deregistration would cut off life-saving medical assistance for hundreds of thousands in the Palestinian enclave. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, said MSF had refused to provide Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry with a list of its employees as required. The Diaspora Affairs Ministry claims individuals affiliated with MSF have links to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. MSF rejects the accusations as unsubstantiated. When asked, MSF did not state if it had provided names. In May, aid agency Oxfam said the requirement to share staff details raised protection concerns, following attacks on ...

Several countries, including Pakistan, at the United Nations have questioned whether Israel’s move to recognise Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland is aimed at forcibly relocating Palestinians from Gaza or to establish military bases. Pakistan has stated that Israel’s “unlawful recognition” is “deeply troubling” against the backdrop of previous references to it being a “destination for the deportation of Palestinian people, especially from Gaza”. The remarks were made by Pakistan’s Deputy UN Ambassador Muhammad Usman Iqbal Jadoon during a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) briefing on Israel’s recognition of Somaliland. Israel became the first country to recognise Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state on Friday. In his remarks, Jadoon said, “Against the backdrop of Israel’s previous references to ‘Somaliland’ of the Federal Republic of Somalia as a destination for the deportation of Palestinian people, especially from Gaza, its unlawful recognition of ‘Somaliland’ region is deeply troublin...

Hamas’s armed wing confirmed on Monday the death of its spokesperson, Abu Obeida, months after Israel announced he had been killed in an air strike in Gaza. The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades released a video statement on its Telegram channel, saying: “We pause in reverence before … the masked man loved by millions … the great martyred commander and spokesperson of the Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida.” Israel previously announced it had killed Abu Obeida in a strike on Gaza on August 30. During the war, Abu Obeida, whose real name was Hudhayfa Samir al-Kahlout, emerged as a central figure eagerly awaited by Palestinians in Gaza, as well as by Arab and international media, for official statements from Hamas’s military wing, particularly those related to prisoner-exchange operations. Born on February 11, 1985 and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, Abu Obeida joined Hamas at an early age before becoming a member of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. He later became the group’s sole spokesman, delivering...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan, along with a coalition of Muslim-majority countries and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), yesterday strongly condemned Israel’s unilateral recognition of the “Somaliland” region of the Federal Republic of Somalia, describing it as a serious violation of international law with.

Pakistan has joined 20 other nations and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in rejecting Israel‘s recognition of self-declared Republic of Somaliland, with a joint statement saying that Tel Aviv’s measure reflected its “full and blatant disregard for international law”. The statement also registered the countries’ rejection of any “potential link between such measure and any attempts to forcibly expel the Palestinian people out of their land”. The joint statement has been issued by the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Comoros, Djibouti, Gambia, Iran, Iraq Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Nigeria, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Turkiye, Yemen and the OIC. Israel became the first country to formally recognise Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state on Friday, with Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, saying his state will join the Abraham Accords. Somaliland has enjoyed effective autonomy — and relative peace and stability — since 1991, w...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Saturday strongly condemned any attempts to undermine the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Somalia, and rejected, in this regard, the announcement made by Israel recognizing the independence of the so-called Somaliland region of the Federal Republic of Somalia.

Pakistan on Saturday rejected Israel‘s recognition of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, terming it an attempt to undermine Somalia’s sovereignty. Israel became the first country to formally recognise Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state on Friday, with Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, saying his state will join the Abraham Accords. The decision could reshape regional dynamics and test Somalia’s longstanding opposition to secession. “Pakistan strongly condemns any attempts to undermine the sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Somalia, and rejects, in this regard, the announcement made by Israel recognising the independence of the so-called Somaliland region of the Federal Republic of Somalia,” the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement. “Such illegal and provocative actions constitute a flagrant violation of international law and not only threaten the peace and stability of the brotherly country of Somalia, but also that of the entire region,” it added. Isl...

Israel became the first country to formally recognise the self-declared Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state on Friday — a decision that could reshape regional dynamics and test Somalia’s longstanding opposition to secession. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would seek immediate cooperation with Somaliland in agriculture, health, technology and the economy. In a statement, he congratulated Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, praised his leadership and invited him to visit Israel. Netanyahu said the declaration “is in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, signed at the initiative of president Trump”. The 2020 accords were brokered by Trump’s first administration and included Israel formalising diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, with other countries joining later. Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and Somaliland’s president signed a joint declaration of mutual recognition, the Israeli statement said. Abdullahi said in a state...

JERUSALEM: Israel’s security cabinet approved the establishment of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, a move the country’s far-right finance minister said on Sunday was aimed at preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state. The latest approvals come days after the United Nations said the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank — all of which are illegal under the international law — had reached its highest level since at least 2017. The Israeli government’s decision brings the total number of settlements illegally approved over the past three years to 69, according to a statement from the office of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. “The proposal by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defence Minister Israel Katz to declare and formalise 19 new settlements in Judea and Samaria has been approved by the cabinet,” the statement said, without specifying when the decision was taken. Decision brings the total number of settlements illegally approved over the past three years t...

Reporters Without Borders said on Tuesday that Israel was responsible for nearly half of all journalists killed this year worldwide, with 29 Palestinian reporters slain by its forces in Gaza. In its annual report, the Paris-based media freedom group said the total number of journalists killed reached 67 globally this year, slightly up from the 66 killed in 2024. Israeli forces accounted for 43 per cent of the total, making them “the worst enemy of journalists”, RSF said in its report, which documented deaths over 12 months from December 2024. The most deadly single attack was a so-called “double-tap” strike on a hospital in south Gaza on August 25, which killed five journalists, including two contributors to international news agencies Reuters and the Associated Press. In total, since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in October 2023, nearly 220 journalists have died, making Israel the biggest killer of journalists worldwide for three years running, RSF data shows. Foreign reporters are still un...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the second phase of a US plan to end Tel Aviv’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza was close, but cautioned several key issues still needed to be resolved, including whether a multinational security force would be deployed. Netanyahu, speaking to reporters alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Jerusalem, said that he would hold important discussions with US President Donald Trump at the end of the month on how to ensure the plan’s second phase was achieved. The prime minister’s office in November said that Trump had invited Netanyahu to the White House “in the near future”, although a date for the visit has not yet been made public. Netanyahu said that he would discuss with Trump how to bring an end to Hamas rule in Gaza. Israel and Hamas entered a ceasefire two months ago, but Israel has continued its bombardment of Gaza, killing Palestinians, as the death toll in the besieged enclave reached over 72,300 as of November 19, 2o25. Gaza’s ...

The nearly two-month-old ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will not be complete until Israeli troops withdraw from the Palestinian territory under a peace plan backed by Washington and the United Nations, mediator Qatar’s prime minister said on Saturday. “Now we are at the critical moment … A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces, [and] there is stability back in Gaza,” Qatari premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the Doha Forum, an annual diplomatic conference in the Gulf state’s capital. Qatar, alongside the United States and Egypt, helped secure the long-elusive truce in Gaza, which came into effect on October 10 and has mostly halted two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas. Under a second phase of the deal, which has yet to begin, Israel is to withdraw from its positions in the territory, an interim authority is to take over governance, and an international stabilisation force (ISF) is to be deployed. Arab and Muslim nations have been hesita...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the country’s president on Sunday for a pardon in his long-running corruption trial, arguing that criminal proceedings were hindering his ability to govern and a pardon would be good for Israel. Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, denies the bribery, fraud, and breach of trust charges. His lawyers said in a letter to the president’s office that the prime minister still believes the legal proceedings would result in a complete acquittal. “My lawyers sent a request for pardon to the president of the country today. I expect that anyone who wishes for the good of the country [will] support this step,” Netanyahu said in a brief video statement released by his political party, the Likud. Neither the prime minister, who has been on trial for five years, nor his lawyers made any admission of guilt. Opposition leader Yair Lapid said Netanyahu should not be pardoned without admitting guilt, expressing remorse, and immediately retiring from political l...

Israel claimed to have killed Hezbollah’s top military official in an airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut on Sunday, despite a US-brokered truce a year ago. The strike, the first on the outskirts of the Lebanese capital in months, targeted Hezbollah’s acting chief of staff, Ali Tabtabai, the military claimed in a statement. There was no immediate confirmation of his killing from Hezbollah, although senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qmati confirmed a central figure from the group had been targeted. Speaking near the bombed-out building in the Haret Hreik suburb, he said Israel’s strike crossed a “red line”. Qmati said Hezbollah’s leadership would decide on whether and how the group would respond. Five dead in strike The United States imposed sanctions on Tabtabai in 2016, identifying him as a key Hezbollah leader and offering a reward of up to $5 million for information on him. The Israeli military statement claimed Tabtabai “commanded most of Hezbollah’s units and worked hard to restore them to readiness...

• Bombardment in Central Gaza, Rimal claims 21 lives • Drone attack on Lebanon leaves one dead, five hurt • Canadian PM, UAE president back comprehensive Palestinian peace plan • Hamas says ‘escalating violations’ place a responsibility on mediators and US CAIRO: Israel continued its deadly assault blatantly violating ceasefire agreements on two fronts with airstrikes on Saturday that killed at least 21 people in Gaza and one in southern Lebanon, despite assurances from Palestinian resistance groups that they remain fully committed to the accord. Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 21 people and wounded several others, local health authorities said, posing a further test to the six-week-old ceasefire. Witnesses and medics said the initial attack struck a car in the densely populated Rimal neighbourhood, setting it ablaze. It was not immediately clear whether the five dead were passengers in the vehicle or included passersby. Dozens of people rushed to extinguish the fire and rescue the victim...

The F-35 fighter jets the United States plans to sell Saudi Arabia will be less advanced than those operated by Israel, in line with a US law that guarantees Israel’s military edge in the region, US officials and defence experts said on Wednesday. US President Donald Trump announced the sale this week, but officials said the Saudi aircraft will lack the superior features of Israel’s fleet, which include advanced weapons systems and electronic warfare equipment. Israel enjoys unique permissions to modify its F-35s, including the ability to integrate its own weapons systems and add radar-jamming capabilities and other upgrades that do not require US approval. Still, the Israeli Air Force opposed the planned sale, warning in a position paper to political leaders that it would undermine Israel’s air superiority in the region, The Times of Israel reported on Tuesday. Even if Saudi Arabia gets the jets, it is unlikely to receive the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM), next-generation air-to-air missiles...

United States President Donald Trump has been talking up the prospects of Saudi Arabia agreeing to normalise ties with Israel, but it is unlikely to happen when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits the White House this month. The establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia after decades of enmity could shake up the political and security landscape in the Middle East, potentially strengthening US influence in the region. Trump said last month he hoped Saudi Arabia would “very soon” join other Muslim countries that signed the 2020 Abraham Accords normalising ties with Israel. But Riyadh has signalled to Washington through diplomatic channels that its position has not changed: it will sign up only if there is agreement on a roadmap to Palestinian statehood, two Gulf sources told Reuters. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman speaks with US President Donald Trump on the day of the Saudi-US Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 13. — Reuters/File The intention is to a...

• Hamas returns Israeli prisoner’s body; gets 15 Palestinians’ bodies in return • US coordinates Gaza aid flow but Israel maintains oversight, officials say JERUSALEM: Israeli forces continued to wage deadly assaults across the Palestinian territories and southern Lebanon on Saturday, in a series of air and artillery attacks that violated ceasefire agreements on both fronts. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli troops shot dead two 16-year-old boys, adding to the mounting number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces. The Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah identified the victims as Mohammed Abdullah Moham­med Ateem and Muhammad Rashad Fadl Qasim, both from the village of Judeira. The ministry said Israeli forces were withholding the boys’ bodies. The Israeli military acknowledged the killings, referring to the teenagers as individuals it had “eliminated” — a term frequently employed by Israeli authorities to obscure civilian deaths and dehumanise Palestinians. At the same time, in the besieged St...

The information ministry on Friday denied “unverified or politically charged claims” by an Indian news channel about Pakistan preparing to dispatch 20,000 troops to Gaza and the country removing the clause from its passports that makes it invalid for travel to Israel. Indian news outlet Republic TV had made the allegations, specifying the number of soldiers Pakistan was planning to send to Gaza “under the supervision of Western countries and Israel.” The channel, according to a statement by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, had also “ridiculously claimed that Pakistan had also removed the ‘Not valid for Israel’ clause from the passport.” In a statement on X, the information ministry referred to a press release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mofa), reiterating that “Pakistan’s stance on Israel remains unchanged, that is, Islamabad does not recognise Israel, and no military cooperation or engagement exists or is under discussion”. Moreover, the ministry clarified that the passport clause remain...