„On the day he was killed, he was restless in the afternoon and wanted to go outside. I told his sisters how much I wished I could take him out, but there are no places left for children to play.“
„He spent his whole life indoors. Even his cousins had been killed in Israeli air strikes, so he had no one to play with.“
Hamadi says the Basma family, who lived just across a lane from them in a neighborhood called the Nuns‘ Quarter, was killed in an airstrike in March — the parents along with all four of their children. The impact collapsed the house on top of them and two of the children — ages around 8 and 11 — are still under the rubble, she says.
„Now when I look at the neighborhood they are the only ones I can think about,“ she says.
She says in a quiet area full of older people, the family‘s four children brought life to the neighborhood. „They were the ones who made all the noise and activity,“ she says.
Hammadi says she used to drink coffee with the mother, who was in her late 30s. She would talk about waiting for her children to grow up.
„They were wonderful people,“ she says. „Now there‘s no one left from the family.“
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, two female IDF troops—a combat soldier and an intelligence officer—died by suicide this week. Israeli Military Police said they are investigating both deaths, which bring the number of active duty IDF troops who have killed themselves this year to at least 16. Haaretz said that at least nine former IDF soldiers have also committed suicide after completing their military service in 2026.
The latest deaths underscore what military officials, mental health professionals, and veterans have increasingly described as one of the most severe psychological crises the Israeli military has faced in decades.
(July 18, 2026)
(On 15 July 2026, ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan addressed the United Nations Security Council on the Situation in Darfur, Sudan, virtually from The Hague. Below is a transcript of her remarks.)
Mr President, thank you for the opportunity to brief the Security Council today.
Please allow me to also express my thanks to his Excellency the Permanent Representative of Sudan to the United Nations for his attendance. Mr. President, Excellencies, last week I was in Eastern Chad, hearing directly from just a small fraction of the Darfuris affected by the harrowing cycles of suffering that continue to be inflicted upon them.
In refugee camps in Goz Beida and in Farchana, I sat with Darfuri women, men and children to hear their experiences, and to address how the process of justice can help stem the ongoing violations suffered by their communities. Those I met with included displaced Darfuris from the camps of Adre, Arkoum, Aboutengue, Metche, Alacha, Kerfi, Goz Amir, and Zabout, who travelled, despite their own difficult circumstances, to meet with me and my team.
These conversations were deeply impactful, and I must admit, difficult. The victims I spoke with continue to bear the consequences of being driven from their homes. Living in conditions of acute hardship, they struggle each day to provide food, water and education for their children, while longing to return in safety and dignity to their homeland.
There is real despair in those camps. A clearly and repeatedly-stated belief that they have been forgotten by much of the world. That their lives are not given equal value, that the depth of their suffering has not been met with a meaningful response.
And the specific, individual experiences of pain they shared with us reflected the collective agony of the people of Darfur, including:
– Those who saw their parents die, who saw their mothers raped in front of their very eyes;
– People who were sacrificed as if they were livestock;
– Men huddled into prisons and burnt or buried alive;
– Women who spoke of being raped repeatedly and;
– Children directly attacked, raped, and traumatized by what they have seen.
(………………)
I call on all States in this Council, all members of the United Nations, and all partners for accountability, to heed the voices of the victims that I have shared with you today, and to join us at this crucial moment for the people of Darfur.
(May 28, 2026)
“I’m hearing from advocates and families on the ground reports of ICE pepper spraying and beating detainees inside Delaney Hall. I have seen the horrific conditions and spoken to those inside about the disgusting food, lack of medical care, and violent and unsanitary conditions as recently as this week. With demoted former USCBP Commander Greg Bovino’s announcement that he is coming to Newark today and his threats online to tear gas our community, I have even more concern that he will only escalate the chaos at Delaney,” said McIver. “More ICE violence has never made a situation safer. The only solution to stop the abuse at Delaney Hall and quell this terror nationwide is to shut down the facility and abolish ICE. We will keep standing up to this administration’s terror campaign and we will keep fighting for justice.”
On Monday, McIver made her fourth visit to Delaney Hall. The chaos created by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) during McIver’s first visit to Delaney Hall, led to the Trump administration bringing baseless charges against her for conducting oversight. Her second visit came on the heels of the death of Jean Wilson Brutus in ICE custody. Her third visit was following the release of the S.O.S. letter signed by 300 detainees.
(May 22, 2026)
NEWARK — Roughly 300 people detained at migrant jail Delaney Hall began a hunger and labor strike to bring attention to what they call the detrimental conditions and treatment they say they face behind bars.
For two hours near a tent outside the Doremus Avenue detention center Friday morning, people shared their stories of loved ones who are detained inside. Gabriela Soto translated calls from prisoners, including one from her husband, Martin, who has been held there since February.
(…)
Shortly after their calls with advocates, guards cut access to phones and tablets inside.
(May 12, 2026)
We feel vulnerable and, in a way, kidnapped —detained without justification— not to mention that we are being tortured physically and psychologically due to the poor food resources provided in these detention centers. We see with deep helplessness and frustration that our due process, rights, and defense have been violated, disregarding benefits granted under the 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendments of the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. Families are being destroyed and separated, where there are children, nieces, and minors who are suffering a very strong psychological impact because they do not understand the situation, and in some cases they have witnessed the arrests of their relatives, who have been struck by tragedy and the economic burden, since in most cases we are heads of household.
(February 2026)
Through this letter, I would like to describe the situation that thousands of immigrants are currently living through:
First, we’d like to apologize for the way we entered the United States, but we were experiencing safety circumstances that endangered our lives and the lives of some members of our family.
Upon entering, we surrendered ourselves to border authorities who processed us. Some of us were given parole or a court date to continue our cases in accordance with the due process afforded to us by the Constitution and laws of the United States. We also attended periodic check-ins, obtained work permits and social security numbers, filed taxes, and were working legally and contributing to the economy. Therefore, we did not pose a threat to the country or the communities where we resided.
We know that ICE agents have orders to arrest immigrants. In our cases, we had already been processed and were complying with legal requirements. There was no judge‘s order for our detention or arrest, since we received a procedural benefit upon our entry, but the ICE officers did not take this into account, nor the fact that we had an immigration court date. They arrested us at scheduled appointments and at USCIS offices.
(February 12, 2026)
Kathy O’Leary of Pax Christi, an international Catholic peace organization, said she was blown away by the letter’s careful, measured phrasing, as well as the apology it led with.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she told The Jersey Vindicator. “I can’t imagine being in that situation and having the presence of mind to write a letter like that.”
(…)
The message also comes more than a month after the still-unexplained demise of Jean Wilson Brutus, a 41-year-old Haitian man who died at Delaney Hall, and months of complaints and criticism from immigration advocates, local officials, and federal lawmakers about the facility’s treacherous living conditions.
In a special appeal, FM Rodríguez addressed U.S. citizens, particularly their youth, invoking their human values and pacifist sentiments. He urged them to seek the truth and resist manipulation by what he described as an “elitist, corrupted and powerful clique in Miami.” According to the Cuban diplomat, this faction does not represent the U.S. people nor the majority of Cubans residing in the United States, many of whom reportedly oppose the “barbarity of war and the blockade.”
Zuhur Tarwa stood in shock as Israeli army markers appeared across her vineyard, declaring it confiscated.
The 68-year-old Palestinian had spent years tending the land with her two daughters in the fertile Baqa’a Valley, east of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
Their 200 grapevines once filled the plot with broad green leaves, promising a strong harvest.
Before that could happen, the confiscation order arrived – followed soon after by bulldozers.
“They razed the entire land, uprooting the grapevines and other crops,” Tarwa told Middle East Eye.
Nayef Samaro left work in Nablus to run errands for his wife, who was hours away from delivering their first son by caesarean section.
The 26-year-old soon-to-be father was excited, despite the Israeli army raiding his city.
But before the birth, an Israeli soldier shot Nayef in the head, leaving him to bleed out in the street.
He never saw his son.
Watch our report here:
(April 20, 2026)
Thirteen-year-old Mona describes how she survived a double airstrike that killed her mother, sister and brother, destroyed her family home, and left her with life-changing injuries. “We were sitting on the sixth floor when they struck the seventh – my uncle’s apartment. My uncle’s wife was screaming, “My children! My children are gone!” As I rushed to help her, they fired the second shell. That’s when my mother and my siblings were killed and my leg was amputated”, says Mona.
“The shell hit them directly. Their bodies weren’t whole – they were in pieces”, says Mona. Mona’s mother and sister are among more than 38,000 women and girls killed in Gaza between October 2023 and December 2025, representing on average at least 47 women and girls killed every day.
In the immediate aftermath, Mona’s father was forced to tell her what had happened to the rest of her family. “At that moment, I felt nothing – I went completely numb”, says Mona.
Emotional scenes from the funeral of journalist Amal Khalil in her hometown of Bissariyeh
Huge crowds of mourners gathered in Baisariyeh, southern Lebanon, today for the funeral of Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike yesterday.
“To the Iranian leaders, who will soon be in negotiations with my representatives: I would greatly appreciate the release of these women. I am sure that they will respect the fact that you did so. Please do them no harm! Would be a great start to our negotiations!!!” he said on Truth Social with a screenshot of photos of eight women.
One of the pictured women has previously been identified by Fox News and others as Bita Hemmati, a female protester tied to the January 2026 uprising in Tehran. It’s unclear who the other women are, but Trump has criticized the Iranian regime for the imprisonment and execution of protestors.
In this regard, I would like to express gratitude to all those, particularly the lay and religious women, who care for individuals traumatized by violence. It is an enormous task that goes unseen day by day, and as Sister Carine reminded us, it is also dangerous. The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, yet a lifetime is often not enough to rebuild. They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to be found. Those who rob your land of its resources generally invest much of the profit in weapons, thus perpetuating an endless cycle of destabilization and death. It is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God’s creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience. We must make a decisive change of course — a true conversion — that will lead us in the opposite direction, onto a sustainable path rich in human fraternity. The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters! They are the descendants of Abraham, as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. Let us look into each other’s eyes: we are this immense people! Peace is not something we must invent: it is something we must embrace by accepting our neighbor as our brother and as our sister. We do not choose our brothers and sisters: we simply must accept one another! We are one family, inhabiting the same home: this wonderful planet that ancient cultures have cared for across millennia.
Pope Leo warned that the world is being ravaged by “tyrants,” in forceful comments made after US President Donald Trump attacked the pontiff for his stance on the war with Iran.
Leo has emerged as strong critic of the conflict and his speech again preached a message of peace and rebuked leaders using religious language to justify war.
“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters,” Leo said in a speech during a visit to Cameroon’s largest city, Bamenda, on Thursday.
St Peter‘s Square
Sunday, 29 March 2026
Dear brothers and sisters, (..)
As Jesus walks the Way of the Cross, we place ourselves behind him, following in his footsteps. As we walk with him, we contemplate his passion for the sake of humanity, his broken heart, and his life as a gift of love.
We turn our gaze to Jesus, who reveals himself as King of Peace, even as war looms around him. He remains steadfast in meekness, while others are stirring up violence. He offers himself to embrace humanity, even as others raise swords and clubs. He is the light of the world, though darkness is about to engulf the earth. He came to bring life, even as plans unfold to condemn him to death.
MIAMI, FL — March 20, 2026 — On Friday morning, 140 people from across the United States will depart Miami for Havana as part of the international Nuestra América Convoy, delivering humanitarian aid to Cuba and protesting U.S. policies that are deliberately creating an economic crisis on the island.
WHAT: Press availability before departure
WHEN: Friday, March 20, 2026 — 10:00 AM
WHERE: Miami International Airport, Terminal G departures, across from Dunkin’ Donuts
SPEAKERS:
– Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK Co-founder
– Brenda Lopez, Global Health Partners
– Danny Valdes, founder, Cuban Americans for Cuba
Organiser David Adler drew parallels between the convoy and the Gaza aid flotilla, which he took part in last year. “From the global movement that helped end apartheid in South Africa to the flotillas that sailed to challenge the siege of Gaza, international solidarity has repeatedly emerged to confront injustice,” he said. “This convoy to Cuba continues that tradition, delivering critical supplies to the Cuban people and a simple message: you are not alone.”
There is no time to waste, as the Trump administration ramps up its assault on the island and its campaign to isolate its people.
So join us in Havana, and support our efforts to secure critical aid for homes, hospitals, schools, and families in need.
Together, we can break the siege, save lives, and stand up for the cause of Cuban self-determination.
It was a devastating scene repeated in other parts of Lebanon, including the south, were a distraught mother on Friday reportedly buried five sons killed by Israeli bombing, and in the Ghobeiry neighborhood of central Beirut earlier this week, when an Israeli airstrike destroyed the home of the Hamdan family, reportedly killing father Ahmad Hamdan, his three daughters, and two grandchildren. As of Tuesday, Hamdan’s wife was missing beneath the rubble of their bombed-out home.
A Lebanese father mourned the death of his four daughters, mother, father, brother-in-law and nephew, after they were killed in an Israeli attack. Israel has killed at least 770 people in Lebanon since last Monday.
In the nearby village of Irkey, Mohammad Taqi buried his four daughters, aged six to 13, who were killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday along with five relatives.
„The Israeli enemy says every day that it is targeting infrastructure,“ he told AFP at the funeral, his head wrapped in a white bandage and his face covered in wounds.
„Is this the infrastructure? Have you seen it?“ he asked, gesturing to his daughters‘ bodies.
„I‘ve lost four daughters. I don‘t have any others. Zainab, Zahra, Malika and Yasmina,“ he said, adding that he had also lost his parents, brother, nephew and brother-in-law in the same strike.
(February 13, 2026)
Two Mexican ships carrying urgent humanitarian aid arrived in Cuba’s capital Havana on Thursday as the United Nations warns the island is facing humanitarian collapse due to the Trump administration’s oil blockade. Infant mortality is also on the rise in Cuba as the United States tightens its decades-old economic embargo on the island as part of Trump’s efforts to overthrow the Cuban government. We’ll have more on Cuba later in the broadcast with Cuba’s Ambassador to the U.N. Ernesto Soberón Guzmán.
The Suffragettes, despite being force-fed and labelled as terrorists, are today celebrated as heroes and freedom fighters. The Long Kesh prisoners, despite the smears they faced, are now seen as a vital part of the peace achieved under the Good Friday Agreement. The Guantánamo Bay prisoners, despite their inhumane treatment and public consent for torture, remained untried and were largely released without conviction.
Just as they were all vindicated, history will too vindicate the Palestine Action prisoners who sought to stop the slaughter of innocent people, against the wishes and interests of the British government.
(…)
Signatories:
Shadi Zayed Saleh Odeh, Palestine
Mahmoud Radwan, Palestine
Othman Bilal, Palestine
Mahmoud Sidqi Suleiman Radwan, Palestine
Loay Odeh, Palestine
Tommy McKearney, Ireland
Laurence McKeown, Ireland
Tom McFeely, Ireland
John Nixon, Ireland
Mansoor Adayfi (GTMO441), Guantanamo
Lakhdar Boumediene, Guantanamo
Samir Naji Moqbel, Guantanamo
Moath Al-Alwi, Guantanamo
Khalid Qassim, Guantanamo
Ahmed Rabbani, Guantanamo
Sharqawi Al-Hajj, Guantanamo
Saeed Sarim, Guantanamo
Mahmoud Al Mujahid, Guantanamo
Hussein Al-Marfadi, Guantanamo
Osama Abu Kabir, Guantanamo
Abdul Halim Siddiqui, Guantanamo
Ahmed Adnan Ahjam, Guantanamo
Abdel Malik Al Rahabi, Guantanamo
Ahmed Elrashidi, Guantanamo
This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF Communication Manager Tess Ingram – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today‘s press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva
(,,,)
„I have spent many months in Gaza over the past two years, and I see and hear the generational impacts of the conflict on mothers and their infants almost every day; in hospitals, nutrition clinics and family tents. It is less visible than blood or injury, but it is ubiquitous. It is everywhere.
„I have lost count of the number of parents like Fatma who have sobbed while telling me what happened to them, wrecked by how powerless they are to protect their children in the face of indiscriminate destruction and deprivation. Generations of families, including those born into the ceasefire, have been forever altered by what was inflicted upon them.
Mothers who’ve been left starving in Gaza are now giving birth to underweight or premature babies who die in intensive care units or struggle to survive as they endure acute malnutrition, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.
Speaking from the shattered enclave, UNICEF Communication Manager Tess Ingram said that at least 165 children are reported to have died “painful, preventable deaths” related to malnutrition during the war between Hamas fighters and Israel.
A lesser-known scourge is acute hunger among pregnant and breastfeeding women and “the devastating domino effect” of this lack of a healthy diet on thousands of newborns.
“In Gaza’s hospitals I have met several newborns who weighed less than one kilogramme, their tiny chests heaving with the effort of staying alive,” Ms. Ingram said.
Thousands of children have been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition in Gaza since an October ceasefire that was supposed to enable a major increase in humanitarian aid, the U.N. children‘s agency said on Tuesday.
UNICEF, the biggest provider of malnutrition treatment in Gaza, said that 9,300 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition in October, when the first phase of an agreement to end the two-year Israel-Hamas war came into effect.
For five administrations, survivors of Jeffrey Epstein have been left in the dark, waiting for answers and accountability. After three decades, it’s finally time to bring the secrets out of the shadows. We are demanding the release of ALL the Epstein files.
The time is now! Call your member of congress and tell them to VOTE YES on the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Reps. Ro Khanna, Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jeffrey Epstein survivors are holding a news conference ahead of a House vote on a bill that would compel the Justice Department to release all the documents related to the convicted sex offender.
(video)
(October 7, 2025)
The attackers killed more than 1,250 Israelis and foreign nationals. More than 250 others were abducted and taken to Gaza as hostages, including women, children and the elderly.
Survivors and witnesses have described rape, sexualized torture and other forms of cruel and inhumane treatment carried out during the assault.
“The Hamas attack was done not to release any territories or to do any good for the Palestinian people. It was a heinous attack to try to break the morale of the Israeli people,” Mr. Cohen said.
Following the shock of the attack, he, his wife Viki and son Yotam, have joined other hostages and families to urge international leaders to press both Hamas and the Israeli Government to agree a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
(…)
Israelis and Palestinians have the same yearning to live normal lives, which is not in line with the extremist views of some members of the Israeli Government or of Hamas, he said.
“We want to have a normal life together, and the only way is to do a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. So, in the future, we can say Israel and Palestine; and this is the two-State solution. [There is] No other way,” Mr. Cohen added.
During those two brutal years of bombing and near-total destruction, everyone in Gaza was focused on one thing: Staying alive. We were fighting for every minute, trying not to break down, starve, or get killed. Life became an endless loop of terror and waiting for the next strike. No one had the luxury to dream about tomorrow or even to mourn the people we’d lost. If there was any kind of shelter, and that was a big if, the goal was simply to move from one shattered refuge to another, holding on by a thread. That constant awareness that death could come at any moment turned every day into an act of survival.
Then, when the explosions finally eased, a quieter kind of pain crept in: All the grief we had buried to get through the chaos….
Erika Kirk’s remarks at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service Sept. 21, 2025, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.