Archiv: Middle East Eye (media)


16.11.2025 - 13:36 [ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) ]

A/80/4922 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese – Gaza Genocide: a collective crime

(October 20, 2025)

Summary

The ongoing genocide in Gaza is a collective crime, sustained by the complicity of influential Third States that have enabled longstanding systemic violations of international law by Israel. Framed by colonial narratives that dehumanize the Palestinians, this live-streamed atrocity has been facilitated through Third States’ direct support, material aid, diplomatic protection and, in some cases, active participation. It has exposed an unprecedented chasm between peoples and their governments, betraying the trust on which global peace and security rest. The world now stands on a knife-edge between the collapse of the international rule of law and hope for renewal. Renewal is only possible if complicity is confronted, responsibilities are met and justice is upheld.

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25. Certain non-Western States have turned to international courts to seek accountability and pressurize Israel to cease its actions. While only 13 States have supported South Africa before the ICJ, most Western States have persistently denied genocide. None have joined Nicaragua against Germany at the ICJ, or invoked domestic laws against complicit corporations or individuals. Only seven referred the situation to the ICC, many sought to undermine its arrest warrants, and at least 37 States were non-committal or critical, signalling intent to evade arrest obligations.

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. Military Ties: providing the means of destruction

32. While UN resolutions have called for arms embargoes on Israel since 1976, many States have continued supplying it with military support and arms transfers. Israel is disproportionately dependent on weapons imports, with the proportion of their total trade more than double the OECD average, and over four times greater than that of the United States. This international supply has continued, even as the evidence of genocide has mounted, with the United States, Germany and Italy among the largest suppliers. Only a few Western States, notably Spain and Slovenia, have cancelled contracts and imposed embargoes.

16.11.2025 - 13:16 [ Middle East Eye ]

Francesca Albanese: Why I‘m accusing 63 nations of complicity in the Gaza genocide

The UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has accused major European powers, including the UK, Italy and Germany, of complicity in the genocide in Gaza and warned that their government officials should face legal consequences.

In an interview with the Expert Witness podcast on 3 November, Albanese discussed the findings of her latest report, titled Gaza Genocide: A Collective Crime, where she cited evidence of the alleged responsibility of 63 states for enabling Israeli breaches of international law.

03.11.2025 - 23:20 [ Soumaya Ghannoushi / Middle East Eye ]

Money, mercenaries and mayhem: How Israel and UAE are investing in regional chaos

Israeli and Emirati online networks have worked in tandem to shape narratives around Sudan and Gaza, targeting Sudan’s army even as RSF massacres mounted in El Fasher.

On the defence-industrial side, firms are expanding inside the UAE, tightening a two-way flow of money, tech, and intelligence. Israeli defence firm Controp is opening a UAE subsidiary making it the latest emblem of this deepening security embrace.

All the while, Emirati rulers boast of their „development model“ as a „shining example for the region“: authoritarian, anti-political, drenched in consumerism and spectacle.

It is a façade of progress built on repression. A mirage of modernity concealing a machinery of tyranny.

31.10.2025 - 23:27 [ Middle East Eye ]

Exclusive: Inside the UAE‘s secret Sudan war operation at Somalia‘s Bosaso

“They’re frequent and the logistics are transferred immediately to another aircraft that is on standby and is destined for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan through the neighbouring countries,” said Abdullahi, a senior Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF) commander at Bosaso Airport, who spoke to Middle East Eye using a different name for security reasons.

According to flight tracking data, satellite imagery, multiple local sources, and US and regional diplomats, the origin of these planes and their cargo is clear: the United Arab Emirates.

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As MEE reported recently, Bosaso is connected to a ring of bases built and expanded by the UAE across the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea. The bases, on the islands of Mayun, Abd al-Kuri, Samhah; at the Somaliland port of Berbera and the Yemeni port of Mocha, are all on territory nominally controlled not by the UAE but its allies or clients.

24.10.2025 - 22:31 [ Middle East Eye ]

Trump pushes for Sudan truce in Washington and gets Sisi to lean on Burhan

Diplomats told Middle East Eye that representatives of Burhan’s government and its enemy, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), were both in Washington for indirect talks.

According to an Egyptian presidential source, US President Donald Trump has personally tasked Sisi to work on ending Sudan’s civil war.

15.10.2025 - 03:19 [ Middle East Eye ]

Exclusive: Hamas says Israel’s ‘indiscriminate’ destruction of Gaza behind delay in locating captives‘ bodies

“They made it clear during the negotiations that time and great efforts will be needed after the withdrawal of the occupying Israeli forces, to collect information about the bodies,” said the source.

“This was clear and accepted during the negotiations. The signed agreement included a very clear clause about this. Clause 5 e in the agreement stated: ‘Establishment of an information-sharing mechanism between the two sides through the mediators and the ICRC, to exchange information and intelligence on any remaining deceased hostages that were not retrieved within the 72 hours or remains of Gazans held by Israel. The mechanism shall ensure that the remains of all the hostages are fully and safely exhumed and released. Hamas shall exert maximum effort to ensure the fulfilment of these commitments as soon as possible’”.

12.10.2025 - 07:05 [ Middle East Eye ]

Video: Over 500,000 in London protest against genocide in Gaza

Over 500,000 protesters marched in London to mark two years of genocide in Gaza.

They told MEE why they are demonstrating, despite the latest ceasefire agreement.

02.10.2025 - 00:04 [ Middle East Eye ]

Live: Israel begins unlawful interception of Sumud Flotilla vessels

Meanwhile, Italy and Greece call on Israel….

24.09.2025 - 19:36 [ Middle East Eye / X ]

The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail almost a month ago, with more than 500 volunteers from around the world has now survived it‘s third attack by Israeli drones, this time in vicinity of the Greek island Crete. Participants say they‘re happy to still be heading toward Gaza

19.09.2025 - 18:31 [ Middle East Eye ]

How Israel is using robots, exploding vehicles and paratroopers to erase Gaza City

Operation Gideon’s Chariots II, as the new offensive is known, is a calculated campaign of territorial reconfiguration coordinated with the United States.

Ahead of the United Nations General Assembly summit that begins on Monday, Israel is preparing to bring the north fully under its control.

According to the Israeli officers, behind the scenes there is a belief that, if the Gaza City operation goes according to plan, Netanyahu plans to declare victory at the UN on 26 September.

01.09.2025 - 18:01 [ Middle East Eye ]

Abducted Gaza doctor suffering from ‚scabies and boils‘ in Israeli detention

(today)

Prominent doctor Hussam Abu Safiya and his nephew are being kept in appalling conditions in Israeli detention, his lawyer said after a rare visit.

Gheed Kassem said Abu Safiya and his nephew Hussam Zaher were „exposed to sunlight for only thirty minutes a month, while scabies and boils ravage their bodies, and they remain in the same clothes.“

„As for bathing, it lasts only two minutes, and they have each lost a third of their body weight. They are in dire need of dermatologists and medicines to treat the widespread skin diseases and infections,“ said Kassem.

29.08.2025 - 16:40 [ Middle East Eye ]

‚Earthquake-like‘: Israeli bombing rocks Gaza City as occupation threat looms

A resident of al-Saftawi neighbourhood, also in the north of the city, Matar and his wife were startled awake by what he described as a “frightening sound of movement“.

“We thought it was the sound of asbestos sheets being moved from place to place by a crane or a tuk-tuk. We couldn’t sleep out of fear.”

At around 4:45am, the couple realised the sound had come from a remotely controlled Israeli military robot.

The robots, which carry explosives, have been widely used by Israeli forces during the ongoing invasion of Gaza, often targeting civilian homes.

27.08.2025 - 17:18 [ Middle East Eye ]

Exclusive: US contractors in Gaza pursued MEE journalist before his killing

Days before, a source for one of Salama’s major investigations for MEE told him that they had been briefly detained at an aid distribution centre by US security contractors guarding the site.

There, the source said, they had been interrogated about the identity of the reporter behind the story. Salama worked on the story anonymously for security reasons.

“The source would not have been in contact with me unless they thought something was deeply wrong,” Salama told colleagues at the time.

When asked if he felt safe knowing he was being pursued for his work, Salama replied: “We journalists are never safe in Gaza.”

Middle East Eye asked Safe Reach Solutions and UG Solutions, the two US security firms working at the aid distribution sites, whether they were involved in the source’s interrogation.

MEE also asked if their employees were passing intelligence to Israel on the identity of Palestinian journalists such as Salama.

They had not replied by the time of publication.

06.08.2025 - 07:39 [ Middle East Eye ]

Gaza extermination: What is your last thought when you‘re starving to death?

(July 21, 2025)

I have an idea of what runs through a person’s mind as they are about to be killed in an air strike. Most people in Gaza do. We have had those thoughts so often that they are embedded in our nervous system; they will never fully leave, even decades after this genocide ends.

I also understand the type of thoughts that consume people dying due to the lack of medical care. I lived that moment with someone very close to me. I looked into their eyes as they took their final breaths. I could almost hear their thoughts.

But starvation is different. I picture someone lying on a bed, dying in total silence – a silence so powerful it can kill bones, muscles, flesh and blood. A silence stronger than the 125,000 tonnes of explosives that have been dropped on Gaza over the past 21 months. A silence that keeps borders sealed and food blocked from entry.

What do they feel, knowing that they have survived thousands of air strikes, artillery shells, field executions, epidemics and the collapse of the health system, only to die because they could not get the bare minimum calories a human needs to stay alive?

Do they feel betrayed by humanity?

23.06.2025 - 19:28 [ Middle East Eye ]

Iran launches missiles towards US bases in Qatar and Iraq

Iran said it launched a „devastating and powerful“ missile attack at the US‘s Al-Udeid base in Qatar on Saturday in retaliation for the US‘s strikes on their nuclear facilities over the weekend.

Eyewitnesses reported to Middle East Eye blasts across Doha.

Video footage shared with MEE showed missiles flying above the gleaming skyscrapers and marina of the Qatari capital. In another video air defence systems appeared to be engaging the missiles.

17.06.2025 - 23:51 [ Middle East Eye ]

The Iraq play book is back for Israel‘s attack on Iran. But it fools no one

Let us lay out the facts.

Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and allows international inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It is under constant surveillance and has faced crushing sanctions for even the possibility of nuclear capability.

Israel, on the other hand, is not a signatory to the NPT. It has never permitted IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities. And yet, it is widely believed to possess approximately 90 nuclear warheads.

It is also the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East, and has consistently behaved in opposition to international law with its lethal tactics targeting civilians.

At this very moment, Israel’s leaders are under investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide. This is not theory or speculation – it is unfolding in real time.

03.06.2025 - 17:58 [ Middle East Eye ]

War on Gaza: How Israel is replicating Nazi starvation tactics

In the weeks leading to Germany’s 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, Reich Minister of Food Richard Darre and his state secretary, Herbert Backe, developed the Hunger Plan, a strategy of deliberate starvation to exterminate Soviet civilians and Jews while feeding German troops.

It killed at least seven million people, not as collateral, but by design.

The Nazi regime’s food ration system reflected a racial hierarchy: 100 percent for Germans, 70 percent for Poles, 30 percent for Greeks and 20 percent for Jews.

In the Jewish ghettos, food was weaponised. Access to meat or bread was controlled. Shops were empty. Hunger was not a failure – it was policy.

“That we sentence 1.2 million Jews to die of hunger should be noted only marginally,” Hans Frank, the Nazi governor of occupied Poland, wrote in a diary entry.

15.05.2025 - 14:39 [ Middle East Eye ]

Jordan blocks access to Middle East Eye after investigation on Gaza aid drops

(today)

Jordanian authorities have blocked access to Middle East Eye‘s website, days after it published an investigation alleging that the Hashemite Kingdom had charged exorbitant fees while overseeing the delivery of international aid into Gaza.

15.05.2025 - 14:34 [ Middle East Eye ]

Exclusive: Jordan profited up to $400,000 per Gaza aid airdrop, sources say

(May 8, 2025)

Sources say the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization (JHCO), an official body overseeing humanitarian aid into Gaza, has coordinated with Israeli authorities to act as the sole conduit for aid passing through Jordan.

MEE spoke with sources from international aid organisations and people with direct knowledge of the JHCO’s operations.

One source said much of the aid attributed to the JHCO in fact originates from foreign governments and NGOs, both Jordanian and international, while direct contributions from the Jordanian state are negligible.

Jordanian authorities have demanded $2,200 for every aid truck entering Gaza, according to two NGO sources and two others familiar with the scheme.

The fee, aid organisations were told by the JHCO, is paid directly to the Jordanian Armed Forces.

In addition, Jordan has charged between $200,000 and $400,000 per airdrop over Gaza, the sources said.

27.04.2025 - 03:07 [ Middle East Eye ]

Opinion: All those who have stood by as Israel exterminates Gaza are guilty

Israel has seen that the world lacks any serious will to hold it accountable for violating international law and humanitarian principles. Had its allies taken a firm stand against its policy of collective punishment in Gaza, Israel would have been forced to retreat to some extent, fearing harm to its interests and international relationships. But this never happened.

Israel is therefore not the only party responsible for the starvation of Gaza. The culpability is shared among all those who continue to support Israel in any form, whether economically, politically or militarily.

19.03.2025 - 14:46 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israel’s Ramadan massacre obliterates any remaining western claims of moral leadership

Benjamin Netanyahu‘s horrific resumption of the war on Gaza shows that no US-backed ceasefire deal is worth the paper it is printed on

06.02.2025 - 21:33 [ Middle East Eye ]

If Trump tries to take over Gaza, Palestinians will die where they stand

We have all called out former US President Joe Biden’s role in acting as the quartermaster general for Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. And rightly so.

But Biden did more than enable a war to continue for 15 months. He laid the foundation for something much worse to follow. It was not just a case of impotence; it was malice aforethought.

That has now been put into words and policy by his successor, Donald Trump.

31.12.2024 - 14:32 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israel’s attacks on Syria threaten regional stability and will ultimately backfire

The military operation’s scale and focus raise pressing questions about Israel’s intentions and its long-term impact on Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Analysts have drawn comparisons to the chaos seen in Iraq after the US-led invasion and Libya’s fragmented post-Gaddafi reality.

Israel’s occupation of additional Syrian territories near the Golan Heights compounds this uncertainty.

26.11.2024 - 19:28 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israel‘s Netanyahu says he approves Lebanon ceasefire deal with Hezbollah

US and Arab officials told Middle East Eye that under the agreement, Israeli forces will withdraw from south Lebanon.

Hezbollah has agreed to end its armed presence along the border and move heavy weapons north of the Litani River, the sources said.

The Lebanese army is expected to deploy in south Lebanon, with at least 5,000 troops set to patrol the border area along with an existing UN peacekeeping force.

16.11.2024 - 12:12 [ Middle East Eye ]

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese calls David Lammy a ‚genocide denier‘

)November 14, 2024)

The United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories has accused British Foreign Secretary David Lammy of being a „genocide denier“ and said the UK has done „nothing“ to prevent atrocities in Gaza.

In an interview with Middle East Eye in London on Wednesday, Francesca Albanese took aim at Lammy in response to comments he made in late October denying that Israel is committing genocide.

„I hadn‘t realised that Mr Lammy was a lawyer,“ she said, referring to Lammy‘s legal background.

„As a politician, you might say that for political convenience,“ she suggested, adding that would still make someone „a genocide denier“.

05.11.2024 - 15:55 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israel’s Generals‘ Plan in north Gaza is ‚genocidal‘ and ‚perversion of law‘, say experts

Israeli media, analysts and military officials – as well as Palestinians in Gaza – say that the current campaign corresponds to the so-called „Generals‘ Plan“, also known as the Eiland Plan.
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„Imposing a siege, preventing all access to food, water, medicine and shelter, all with an intention to force a population to leave, is textbook ethnic cleansing and is a grave crime under international law. It is both a war crime and a crime against humanity,“ Balakrishnan Rajagopal, a law professor at MIT and UN special rapporteur on the right to housing, told MEE.

„Forcible displacement in northern Gaza under conditions of siege with an intent to eliminate their presence is genocidal, as it aims at the destruction of a people,“ he added. „Israel also bears responsibilities as a state for all of these grave breaches of international law.“

28.10.2024 - 06:04 [ Middle East Eye ]

Palestinian civilians forced out of Jabalia recall terror by Israeli army

Displaced residents of northern Gaza provide testimony on horrors along their ‚torturous journey‘ to the south as Israeli soldiers beat the wounded and quadcopters shot at everyone

24.10.2024 - 08:02 [ Middle East Eye ]

Half of Jabalia ethnically cleansed by Israeli army as schools burned and men kidnapped

Israeli troops are going school to school in Jabalia and nearby areas to forcibly remove unarmed, starved and besieged Palestinian civilians from their homes as the military campaign to ethnically cleanse north Gaza nears its third week, eyewitnesses have told Middle East Eye.

Under the cover of heavy air strikes and artillery shelling, large Israeli ground forces directly and systematically attack homes and buildings used as shelters by displaced families, forcing everyone out at gunpoint.

20.10.2024 - 10:55 [ Middle East Eye ]

War on Gaza: While eyes are on Rafah, Israel is cementing control of northern Gaza

(25 March 2024)

In 1971, Ariel Sharon, the Israeli army commander of the southern region who later became prime minister, prepared a plan to divide Gaza and North Sinai into five settlement areas that prevent geographic contiguity between Palestinians in the north, centre, and south.

Israel surrounds this area from the north with settlements and checkpoints and from the south with a settlement bloc in the northern Sinai desert.

Sharon named it the „Five Fingers Plan“, and the government headed by Golda Meir fully adopted it in 1972.

14.10.2024 - 07:51 [ Middle East Eye ]

Mass burials and unidentifiable bodies: Horror accounts of Israeli attacks in south Lebanon

Two weeks of Israel‘s bombardment of Lebanon has resulted in destruction, civilian casualties and fear that this time will be worse than 1982

31.08.2024 - 14:00 [ Middle East Eye ]

Why Israel‘s genocide in Gaza is a western war on the Palestinian people

Western countries and Israel share the same values of settler-colonialism, racism, white supremacy and genocide – all of which are imperial tools to protect their interests

31.08.2024 - 00:05 [ Middle East Eye ]

West Bank attacks: To western leaders, there are no red lines for Israel‘s slaughter

War in the West Bank was planned before Hamas‘s attack on 7 October last year, a senior Fatah member with close links to security circles told me.

It was postponed by the Gaza war, but also refined and honed by it.

When Israel saw just how much Palestinian blood the US and Europe were prepared to tolerate in Gaza – how much destruction, how many millions would be continually displaced, and for how long – Israel felt emboldened to visit the same hell on its real target: the occupied West Bank.

29.08.2024 - 18:14 [ Middle East Eye ]

Timeline: Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank since 7 October

Since declaring war on Gaza, Israeli forces have killed at least 582 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to an MEE tally