The United Nations said on Thursday it had a detailed 60-day plan to rush aid into Gaza once a ceasefire is declared to start helping Palestinians in the war-ravaged territory. &quot;Our plan, detailed and tested, is in place,&quot; said Tom Fletcher, the UN head of humanitarian operations. &quot;Our supplies, 170,000 metric tons, food, medicine and other supplies, are in place. And our team, courageous and expert and determined, are in place,&quot; Fletcher told a press conference by video link from Saudi Arabia. Large swathes of the besieged Palestinian territory have been largely reduced to rubble by Israel&#39;s military offensive following Hamas&#39;s October 7, 2023, attack. Israel&#39;s blockade has seen life-saving aid to Gaza slashed, with the UN declaring a famine in parts of Gaza and hundreds of Palestinians dying of malnutrition. Fletcher said that the UN aimed to surge aid into Gaza so that hundreds of trucks enter the territory every day. &quot;Famine must be reverted in areas where it has taken hold and prevented in others,&quot; Fletcher said. Food, water, health care&nbsp;The plan calls for providing food to 2.1 million people &mdash; almost Gaza&#39;s entire population &mdash; and specific nutritional aid to 500,000 who are severely malnourished. The plan will give food to people and also support bakeries, collective kitchens, and provide cash for 200,000 people so they can choose what food they want to buy. The initiative will also seek to provide 1.4 million people with water and sanitation services. &quot;We&#39;ll help to restore the water grid,&quot; said Fletcher. &quot;We will repair sewage leaks and pumping stations. We will move solid waste away from residential spaces, and will provide hygiene supplies, soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, sanitary pads.&quot; The United Nations will work to restore Gaza&#39;s decimated health care system &mdash; crippled by Israel&#39;s military operations &mdash; by providing equipment and medicine, among other assistance. &quot;We&#39;ll help scale up emergency care, primary health, child health, sexual reproductive, maternal and neonatal health, non-communicable diseases, mental health and rehabilitation,&quot; said Fletcher. With most of the buildings in Gaza destroyed by Israel&#39;s offensive, the plan calls for bringing in thousands of tents per week. The United Nations also wants to get temporary schools set up for 700,000 children. But Fletcher said that for all this to succeed, there were a number of critical things that also needed to happen. They include sustained entry of at least 1.9 million liters of fuel every week and resumption of the flow of cooking gas. He said relief supplies need to come in through multiple corridors, and there need to be more scanners in place so aid convoys can move more swiftly, plus security guarantees to prevent looting. He said aid needs to come in unimpeded and there has to be money to pay for all of this. At the moment, only 28 percent of the $4 billion in a UN appeal for Gaza has been funded, said Fletcher. And the UN will need to go beyond the 170,000 tons of aid it now has pre-positioned in Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Cyprus, which is not enough for the first 60 days after the war ends. &quot;Let&#39;s be clear, this problem won&#39;t go away in two months,&quot; said Fletcher.

Middle East

UN head of humanitarian operations says for all this to succeed, a number of critical things need to happen; includes sustained entry of at least 1.9 million liters of fuel every week, resumption of flow of cooking gas.



UN unveils 60-day aid plan for Gaza once ceasefire starts

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said that Pakistanis detained by Israeli forces from the Global Samood flotilla, including former Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, will be repatriated &ldquo;very soon.&rdquo;&nbsp;According to a statement from the Prime Minister&rsquo;s Office, Sharif held a telephone conversation with Pakistan religio-political party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman to discuss the situation in the Middle East, the ceasefire efforts in Palestine, and developments in Kashmir.&nbsp;Sharif reiterated Pakistan&rsquo;s longstanding position on the Palestinian cause, emphasizing the urgent need for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to &ldquo;the ongoing massacre of Palestinians.&rdquo; He stressed that Pakistan has consistently defended the rights of &ldquo;its Palestinian brothers and sisters&rdquo; at every international forum and would continue to do so.&nbsp;The prime minister reaffirmed Islamabad&rsquo;s support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. He noted that eight Islamic countries were actively working toward securing a ceasefire, expressing optimism that these efforts would soon bear fruit.&nbsp;On the detention of activists, Sharif said the government was in close contact with friendly countries and international organizations to ensure the safe return of Pakistani citizens. Israel does not have diplomatic relations with Pakistan.&nbsp;Israeli naval forces intercepted the 45-vessel flotilla last week, detaining more than 450 activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg. The ships, which had departed Spain in late August, were carrying humanitarian aid in a bid to challenge Israel&rsquo;s blockade of Gaza. Detainees were taken to Ashdod port for deportation proceedings, prompting condemnation from Amnesty International and protests in several countries.&nbsp;Turkey, Spain, Colombia, and South Africa have joined Pakistan in demanding the activists&rsquo; immediate release.&nbsp;Sharif and Rehman also discussed the situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir, with the prime minister reiterating Pakistan&rsquo;s commitment to supporting peace and the rights of Kashmiris.

Foreign Affairs

Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif vowed swift repatriation of citizens detained in Israel’s interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla, reaffirmed support for Palestine and Kashmir, and stressed Islamabad’s commitment to a ceasefire and Palestinian statehood during talks with JI chief.

Pakistanis held in Gaza flotilla to return soon: PM Sharif

UNITED NATIONS:&nbsp;The United Nations insisted on Friday there was no safe place for Palestinians ordered to leave Gaza City,and that Israeli-designated zones in the southern Gaza Strip were &quot;places of death&quot;. Since launching its air assault on Gaza City in August ahead of its ground offensive there, the Israeli military has repeatedly told Palestinians to head south. &quot;The notion of a safe zone in the south is farcical,&quot; James Elder, a spokesman for the UN children&#39;s agency UNICEF, told journalists in Geneva. Speaking from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Elder pointed to how &quot;bombs are dropped from the sky with chilling predictability; schools, which had been designated as temporary shelters are regularly reduced to rubble, (and) tents... are regularly engulfed in fire from air attacks&quot;. The Israeli military has urged Palestinians to relocate to a &quot;humanitarian area&quot; in Al-Mawasi on the coast, where it says aid, medical care and humanitarian infrastructure will be provided. Israel first declared the area a safe zone early in the two-year war but has carried out repeated strikes on it since, saying it is targeting Hamas. Nutrition, shelter, sanitation Elder insisted that &quot;the issuance of a general or a blanket evacuation order to civilians does not mean that those who remain behind lose their protection as civilians&quot;. At the same time, he warned, the &quot;so-called safe zones ... are also places of death&quot;. Al-Mawasi, he pointed out, &quot;is now one of the most densely populated places on Earth. &quot;It&#39;s grotesquely overcrowded and has been stripped of the most basic essentials of survival.&quot; The UN had begun in late 2023 &quot;debunking this concept of a unilaterally-declared safe zone&quot;, Elder said. &quot;The law is very clear,&quot; he stressed. &quot;It is the responsibility of the occupying power -- Israel -- to ensure that a safe zone has all the essentials for survival: that is nutrition, shelter and sanitation. &quot;None of those are present in a level that is fitting of a population,&quot; Elder said, adding that the UN at the start had &quot;at least assumed that these places would not be bombed&quot;. But over the past 18 months, the Israeli-designated safe-zones had been hit &quot;dozens of time&quot;, and &quot;people in tents have suffered from airstrikes&quot;. Makeshift crutches Humanitarian agencies regularly warn that the amount of urgent supplies being allowed into the Gaza Strip are grossly insufficient to meet the immense needs of the population in the Israeli-besieged Palestinian territory. &quot;To cope with that situation, our colleagues, particularly in our hospital in Rafah, have decided to build our own materials,&quot; such as &quot;home-made, wooden crutches&quot;, said Christian Cardon, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross. The ICRC announced on Wednesday that had been &quot;forced&quot; to suspend its activities in Gaza City due to Israel&#39;s intensified military operations. &quot;There are no longer any international staff in Gaza City. We had between two and five expatriates before,&quot; Cardon told AFP, adding that the ICRC has 350 staff, including 50 international staff, throughout the Gaza Strip. The World Health Organization is calling for humanitarian corridors to allow access to hospitals, its representative in the Palestinian territories, Rik Peeperkorn, told reporters.

Palestinians, displaced from northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, take shelter, after evacuating southwards, following Israeli forces' orders to leave Gaza City, in the central Gaza Strip, October 3, 2025. (Reuters)

Asia

The UN denounced Israeli "safe zones" in southern Gaza as deadly and overcrowded, lacking essentials. Humanitarian groups face severe access restrictions amid intensified Israeli strikes and escalating civilian suffering.

UN says notion of a safe zone in southern Gaza 'farcical'

Reuters

TEL AVIV: The Israeli military intercepted the last boat in an aid flotilla attempting to reach blockaded Gaza on Friday, a day after stopping most of the vessels and detaining some 450 activists including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg. The organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla said the Marinette was intercepted some 42.5 nautical miles (79 km) from Gaza. Israeli army radio said the navy had taken control of the last ship in the flotilla, detained those aboard and that the vessel was being led to Ashdod port in Israel. In a statement, the Global Sumud Flotilla said Israeli naval forces had now &ldquo;illegally intercepted all 42 of our vessels, each carrying humanitarian aid, volunteers, and the determination to break Israel&rsquo;s illegal siege on Gaza.&rdquo;&nbsp;A camera broadcasting from the Marinette showed someone holding up a note saying &ldquo;We see a ship! It&rsquo;s a war ship,&rdquo; before a boat is seen approaching and soldiers boarding. A voice is heard telling the people on board not to move and to put their hands in the air.An Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the boat&rsquo;s status. The ministry said on Thursday the flotilla&rsquo;s one remaining vessel would be prevented from breaching the blockade if it tried to.&nbsp;The flotilla, which set sail in late August, marked the latest attempt by activists to challenge Israel&rsquo;s naval blockade of the enclave, almost two years into Israel&rsquo;s siege of Gaza which was sparked by militant group Hamas&rsquo; October 7 attacks.&nbsp;Israeli officials have repeatedly denounced the mission as a stunt. The foreign ministry had said the flotilla was previously warned that it was approaching an active combat zone and violating a &ldquo;lawful naval blockade,&rdquo; and asked organizers to change course. It had offered to transfer aid to Gaza.&nbsp;The Israeli foreign ministry on Friday said that four Italians had been deported. &ldquo;The rest are in the process of being deported. Israel is keen to end this procedure as quickly as possible,&rdquo; it said in a statement. All the flotilla participants were &ldquo;safe and in good health,&rdquo; it added.Pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets in cities across Europe as well as in Karachi, Buenos Aires and Mexico City on Thursday to protest the flotilla&rsquo;s interception.&nbsp;On Friday, tens of thousands of Italians demonstrated, as part of a day-long general strike called by unions in support of the flotilla.&nbsp;Israel has faced widespread global condemnation over the war in Gaza, and is defending itself against charges of genocide in the International Court of Justice.&nbsp;Israel says its actions have been in self-defense and has consistently denied genocide allegations. Israel&rsquo;s offensive has killed over 66,000 people, Palestinian health authorities say.&nbsp;&nbsp;Israel has accepted a new US proposal announced this week to end the war that demands Hamas surrender. US President Donald Trump, who said he would temporarily oversee governance of Gaza under the plan, has given Hamas a few days to respond, and warned Hamas that Israel would continue its siege of Gaza if the group refused.

Israeli forces intercepted the last Gaza aid flotilla boat, detaining activists including Greta Thunberg. Organizers condemned the blockade as illegal, while Israel defended it as lawful. Global protests erupted amid ongoing war, casualties, and US-backed ceasefire demands.

Israel intercepts last Gaza flotilla boat, begins deportations

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan continues to coordinate with allied nations to safeguard its nationals, reaffirming its commitment to their swift and safe return, the Foreign Office said Thursday, after Israel intercepted the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF).&nbsp;Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said Islamabad &ldquo;unequivocally condemned&rdquo; the interception, calling the flotilla a &ldquo;vital humanitarian mission embodying global solidarity and moral resolve.&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;The Israeli actions constitute a grave violation of international law,&rdquo; he added.&nbsp;Khan noted that on September 16, Pakistan had joined 15 other countries in issuing a joint statement expressing concern for the flotilla&rsquo;s security, stressing &ldquo;the safety and well-being of Pakistani citizens aboard the flotilla are of paramount importance.&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;As Pakistan does not recognize Israel, we are working closely with international partners in the region to secure their immediate release and ensure their safety,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;&lsquo;Barbarity must end&rsquo;&nbsp;Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also condemned what he described as a &ldquo;dastardly attack&rdquo; on the flotilla, which carried more than 450 humanitarian workers from 44 countries, including Pakistanis.&nbsp;&ldquo;We hope and pray for the safety of all those illegally apprehended by Israeli forces and call for their immediate release,&rdquo; Sharif said. &ldquo;Their crime was to carry aid for the hapless Palestinian people.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;This barbarity must end,&rdquo; the prime minister added.&nbsp;&ldquo;Peace must be given a chance and humanitarian aid must reach those in need.&rdquo;&nbsp;Global outrageThe Global Sumud Flotilla, the largest yet to challenge Israel&rsquo;s Gaza blockade, sailed with over 40 vessels carrying activists, lawmakers, and campaigners, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.&nbsp;Organizers said their mission was to &ldquo;end Israel&rsquo;s illegal siege and ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.&rdquo;&nbsp;Israeli naval forces intercepted the flotilla in a 12-hour Mediterranean operation, detaining hundreds of activists and transferring them to Ashdod port. Israel said the flotilla aimed to breach a &ldquo;legal maritime security blockade,&rdquo; while rights groups and governments worldwide denounced the move.&nbsp;Amnesty International called it &ldquo;an act of intimidation intended to punish and silence critics of Israel&rsquo;s genocide and its unlawful blockade on Gaza.&rdquo;&nbsp;Turkey described it as &ldquo;an act of terrorism,&rdquo; Spain demanded the release of 65 nationals aboard, and Colombia expelled Israel&rsquo;s diplomatic delegation while terminating a trade agreement. South Africa also urged the release of all detainees, including Mandla Mandela, the grandson of Nelson Mandela.

Islamabad condemns Israel’s interception of the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla, stressing its nationals’ safety as a top priority. The Foreign Office says it is working with allied nations to secure their release amid growing global condemnation of Israel.

Pakistan working with allied countries to secure nationals from flotilla: Foreign Office

JERUSALEM: Israel&#39;s far-right finance minister on Monday insisted the military maintain &quot;full operational freedom&quot; in Gaza, ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu&#39;s White House meeting with US President Donald Trump.&nbsp;Trump is expected to press Netanyahu to agree to his 21-point peace plan, proposed after nearly two years of conflict.&nbsp;In a lengthy post on X, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich outlined a series of &quot;red lines&quot;, saying Israel&#39;s security relied on &quot;actions, our hold on the land, and uncompromising enforcement that depends solely on the (Israeli military) and our defense establishment&quot;.&nbsp;He demanded the military &quot;remain permanently at the perimeter, including the Philadelphi Corridor, and will maintain full operational freedom throughout the entire Gaza Strip&quot;.&nbsp;The corridor, along the Gaza-Egypt border, is seen by Israel as crucial to preventing weapons smuggling into the Palestinian territory.&nbsp;The Trump plan, according to a diplomatic source, involves an Israeli withdrawal from the territory.&nbsp;Smotrich also rejected any role for the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) in the future of Gaza, which is among the most controversial aspects of Trump&#39;s plan.&nbsp;The PA governed Gaza until Hamas seized power in 2007. Netanyahu has also firmly rejected the idea of its involvement in Gaza&#39;s future.&nbsp;Smotrich demanded that there also be no Qatari involvement in the future of the Palestinian territory.&nbsp;&quot;The time has come to put an end to Qatar&#39;s hypocrisy and duplicity, which encourages and funds terrorism,&quot; he wrote.&nbsp;Israel recently struck US ally and key Gaza ceasefire mediator Qatar in a bid to target Hamas leaders, a move Trump opposed.&nbsp;Smotrich also demanded there be &quot;no mention, even implicitly, of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel&#39;s existence,&quot; echoing comments made by Netanyahu.&nbsp;Smotrich said he hoped to &quot;seize the historic opportunity of the Trump administration... to politically and practically establish the fact that Judea and Samaria are an inseparable part of the sovereign State of Israel,&quot; using the Israeli Biblical term for the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.&nbsp;Trump last week cautioned Netanyahu against annexing the West Bank, as sought by Israeli cabinet members.&nbsp;Netanyahu depends on Smotrich&#39;s Religious Zionism party to maintain his parliamentary majority.

Reports say Trump is expected to press Netanyahu to agree to his 21-point peace plan, proposed after nearly two years of conflict.

Ahead of Trump meeting, Israeli minister demands army keep 'operational freedom' in Gaza

On September 16, 2025, the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, issued its third report on the situation in Gaza since October 7, 2023.&nbsp;For the first time, the COI has recognized that genocide has been committed, and continues to be committed, against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It demands that Israel immediately implement a &ldquo;complete and permanent&rdquo; ceasefire in Gaza, and that it ensures unhindered access to humanitarian aid, including food, clean water, medical equipment and medicine in all of Gaza.&nbsp;What&rsquo;s in the report?The report is a legal analysis of Israel&rsquo;s conduct in Gaza. It thoroughly examines all the elements of the definition of the crime of genocide established by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide of 1948.&nbsp;The COI based its conclusions on its own investigations and relied on the jurisprudence of international criminal tribunals to examine the evidence gathered. The facts included in the report &ndash; a non-exhaustive list &ndash; are those that experts have considered relevant to the analysis of genocide.&nbsp;The report analyses events in the Gaza Strip between October 2023 and July 2025. This means it does not account for events that occurred before the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, or human rights violations in the West Bank during this period.&nbsp;The COI drew its finding of genocide by applying the criteria of &ldquo;reasonable grounds to conclude&rdquo;. This is the standard of proof used by most international commissions of inquiry on human rights. It differs from the criteria of &ldquo;beyond a reasonable doubt&rdquo; used in criminal tribunals &ndash; this is consistent with the complementary role played by international human rights commissions in judicial investigation processes.&nbsp;All this is to say that, according to international standards of proof, the report provides enough verified evidence to determine that Israel&rsquo;s conduct constitutes a crime of genocide.&nbsp;What is the evidence?By analyzing the elements of the definition of genocide, the COI concludes that Israeli forces have committed 4 of the 5 acts that constitute genocide committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as per the 1948 UN Convention. Namely, these are: &nbsp;- Killing members of the group &nbsp;- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group - Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part&nbsp;- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.&nbsp;According to the UN report, all these acts are being done with the intention to destroy, in whole or in part, the group of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.&nbsp;The report details specific, recorded acts that fit these definitions. These include attacks on civilians on evacuation routes, around 500 attacks on healthcare facilities, failure to use precision-guided &ldquo;smart&rdquo; weapons in densely populated residential areas, and deliberate attacks targeting medical personnel and aid workers.&nbsp;It describes the mistreatment and torture of more than 4,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody, as well as rape and other sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinian detainees. The report also highlights the systematic and intentional destruction of maternity facilities, an increase of 300% in miscarriages since October 7, 2023, as well as attacks on Gaza&rsquo;s largest fertility clinic, which destroyed around 4,000 embryos.&nbsp;The report also finds evidence of Israel intentionally destroying areas of agricultural land, destroying 110 cultural and religious sites, and damaging 70&nbsp;% of schools.&nbsp;More than 90% of Gaza&rsquo;s residents (about 1.9 million people) have been displaced, while Israel&rsquo;s &ldquo;total siege&rdquo; of Gaza has cut off supplies of water, food, electricity, fuel and other essential supplies, including humanitarian assistance. The report finds that Israel is using starvation as a method of warfare, and that it has weaponized access to basic supplies.&nbsp;Genocidal intentTo be considered genocide, all of these acts need to be committed with the special intention to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Based on the direct and circumstantial evidence available, the COI has drawn the following conclusion:&nbsp;&ldquo;The Israeli authorities intended to kill as many Palestinians as possible through its military operations in Gaza since 7 October 2023 and knew that the means and methods of warfare employed would cause mass deaths of Palestinians, including children.&rdquo;&nbsp;The direct evidence draws from statements made by Israeli authorities, which have repeatedly dehumanized Palestinians and &ldquo;explicitly called for vengeance, destruction and annihilation&rdquo;.Additionally, the report concludes that &ldquo;the only reasonable inference that can be drawn from the pattern of conduct of Israeli security forces in Gaza is evidence of genocidal intent.&rdquo;&nbsp;Will it make a difference?The report concludes that Israel has failed to prevent genocide, is still committing genocide, and has failed to punish genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It calls on all States to prevent genocide by ceasing the transfer of weapons to Israel, and to ensure that individuals and corporations do not contribute to it.&nbsp;It also compels States to promote domestic investigations and to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in gathering evidence of the crime and incitement of genocide.&nbsp;Lastly, the COI recommends that the Prosecutor of the ICC expand its investigations of the situation in Palestine, and that it include genocide in addition to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Before the COI report, other UN mechanisms had already determined that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Nevertheless, this report is groundbreaking in its level of detail. The evidence it offers is so overwhelming that it leaves little room for doubt, or for the argument that Israel is acting in self-defense.&nbsp;The report&rsquo;s long-term impact remains to be seen, though its findings may have spurred the recent push to recognize a Palestinian State in various European countries.

For the first time, the COI recognizes that genocide has been committed, and continues to be committed, against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Overwhelming evidence of genocide against Palestinians: Legal expert

There seems to be a mismatch between what a UN inquiry recently described as genocide in Gaza and New Zealand&rsquo;s announcement at the United Nations on Saturday that it will not yet join 157 other countries in recognizing a Palestinian state. The government decision, relayed by Foreign Minister Winston Peters at the UN General Assembly, was welcomed by Israel&rsquo;s ambassador to New Zealand, who claimed recognition of a Palestinian state legitimizes Hamas. On the other hand, former Labor prime minister Helen Clark said, &ldquo;New Zealand has placed itself very much on the wrong side of history&rdquo;. She said the government&rsquo;s position overall was &ldquo;confusing.&rdquo; In practice, the stance of the National-led coalition has certainly been ambiguous. It has called for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, reiterated its support for a two-state solution, and repeatedly said recognition of a Palestinian state is a question of &ldquo;when, not if.&rdquo; However, in January 2024, it also agreed to a small Defense Force deployment as part of a United States-led coalition against Houthi rebel attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, despite the US using its Security Council veto to prevent a ceasefire in Gaza. Equally striking was the government&rsquo;s relative silence on President Donald Trump&rsquo;s proposal in February this year to extinguish the prospect of a two-state solution by taking ownership of Gaza and effectively evicting two million Palestinian residents from the territory. It also had little to say about the US-Israeli venture to start the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in late May, a controversial move that sidelined the UN in aid distribution and has led to the killing of more than 1,000 Palestinians while seeking food. And then in June, along with the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Norway, the government imposed sanctions on two far-right Israeli government ministers, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar ben Gvir for &ldquo;inciting extremist violence&rdquo; against Palestinians. That decision was strongly criticized by the Trump administration, but it seemed to signal the New Zealand position (along with that of its close allies) was hardening. In August, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon declared Israel&rsquo;s military assault on Gaza City was &ldquo;utterly unacceptable,&rdquo; and said Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had &ldquo;lost the plot.&rdquo; None of which, we now know, was enough to convince the government to follow other liberal democracies such as Australia, Canada, the UK, France, and Portugal in recognizing Palestinian statehood. NZ&rsquo;s reputation on the lineThe political reasoning, according to Peters, is that while Hamas remains the de facto government of Gaza and &ldquo;with a war raging&rdquo;, there is no viable Palestinian state to recognize. According to the prime minister, this was a &ldquo;balanced&rdquo; decision and consistent with an independent foreign policy. But it can also be argued that the approach rests on some shaky assumptions. While Israel has not been able to destroy Hamas, nor has Hamas been able to stop Gaza from being reduced to piles of rubble. According to the Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich, such destruction has &ldquo;no precedent globally. And the world isn&rsquo;t stopping us.&rdquo; By presenting Hamas as an obstacle to the recognition process, the government also seems to be overlooking the governance role the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority in the West Bank could play in Gaza in a future Palestinian state. Netanyahu has consistently opposed any such role for the Palestinian Authority, a position New Zealand now seems to accept tacitly. Peters has described the situation in Gaza as &ldquo;simply intolerable&rdquo;. If that&rsquo;s the case, it has been allowed to happen without New Zealand&rsquo;s recognition of a Palestinian state. So, how does delaying recognition improve things? After all, Netanyahu has opposed the concept of a two-state solution since the mid-1990s. And his far-right coalition government has pledged to take full control of Gaza and annex the West Bank &mdash; in complete violation of international law and numerous UN resolutions. It is the belated realization by a number of democracies that Netanyahu will never accept a Palestinian state that has prompted the latest flurry of statehood recognition, before Israel&rsquo;s attempt to absorb the occupied territories is completed. Those countries that have now recognized a Palestinian state will have also weighed up the factors for and against doing so. However, they have clearly chosen to take a moral and legal stand &mdash; albeit a symbolic one &mdash; on the Palestinian right to political self-determination. By not joining them, there is a real risk New Zealand will be seen as aligning with those states &mdash; Israel and the US &mdash; that bear significant responsibility for prolonging the catastrophic conflict in Gaza. If this perception is widely shared, New Zealand&rsquo;s hard-won reputation as a state that firmly upholds an international rules-based order could be dealt a major blow.

According to the PM, this is a 'balanced' decision and consistent with an independent foreign policy, but it can also be argued that the approach rests on some shaky assumptions.



By not recognizing a Palestinian state, NZ puts its own hard-won reputation on the line

UNITED NATIONS: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Oman &mdash; all nations in the thick of the unrest that has pervaded the Middle East &mdash; confronted the crisis in the region at the annual UN gathering of world leaders, with Egypt&rsquo;s top diplomat warning that the Mideast &ldquo;is at a point of implosion.&rdquo; All four countries on Saturday decried Israel&rsquo;s ongoing pursuit of war in Gaza and the horrific impact on Palestinian civilians &ndash; and they bemoaned the failure of the United Nations and the broader international community to achieve a ceasefire and end the bloodshed. The four ministers spoke a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu &mdash; facing protesters, critics and growing global isolation over his Gaza policies &mdash; told the General Assembly his country &ldquo;must finish the job&rdquo; against Hamas for its October 7, 2023, surprise attack in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people. Hamas also took 250 hostages. Israeli forces recently launched an offensive to take control of Gaza City. Here&#39;s a country-by-country look at those four leaders&#39; takes from the U.N. podium on the overall Mideast situation and Gaza in particular. Egypt Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, whose country has been a key mediator in Gaza along with the United States and Qatar, sharply criticized the international community &ldquo;standing idly by as a spectator&rdquo; while international law is systematically violated in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East. Israel&rsquo;s &ldquo;wanton, unjust war waged against defenseless civilians for a sin they did not commit&rdquo; is &ldquo;transpiring without accountability, and it has affected one country after another,&rdquo; he said. Abdelatty recalled former president Anwar Sadat&rsquo;s historic visit to Israel in 1977, and Egypt becoming &ldquo;one of the first to anchor the pillar of peace in the region.&rdquo; But surveying the turmoiul in the Mideast today, he accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza &ndash; which it vehemently denies &ndash; and blocking the Palestinians&#39; fron establishing an independent state. Abdelatty said Israel can&rsquo;t be secure unless other countries in the region are secure, and &ldquo;the region cannot see stability without an independent state of Palestine.&rdquo; In the region, he pointed to civil war in Sudan, the need for elections in divided Libya, resolving Yemen&rsquo;s crisis between the internationally recognized government and Houthi rebels who control the capital and most of the north, and ending repeated Israeli violations of Lebanese and Syrian territory. Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia&rsquo;s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, whose country hosts Russia-Ukraine-U.S. peace talks, said the suffering of Palestinians and unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Gaza make it imperative for the international community to end the war in Gaza and achieve peace through a two-state solution. A two-state solution to the nearly 80-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict is &ldquo;the only path that would guarantee the security of all countries in the region,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The failure of the international community to take firm actions to end the Israeli aggression and violation will only cause further instability and insecurity regionally and globally&rdquo; and &ldquo;will have grave consequences and will escalate war crimes and acts of genocide.&rdquo; <figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/0549e94d-2407-498a-bd60-3e35d46a3023-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia Prince Faisal bin Farhan addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, at UN headquarters. (AP).jpg" alt="Minister for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia Prince Faisal bin Farhan addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, at UN headquarters. (AP)" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">Minister for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia Prince Faisal bin Farhan addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, at UN headquarters. (AP)</figcaption></figure> Farhan said Saudi Arabia, along with Norway and the European Union, launched an international coalition to implement the two-state solution, and it co-sponsored Monday&rsquo;s high-level meeting with France that saw at least 10 countries officially recognize the state of Palestine, bringing the total to near 160 recognitions. &ldquo;Such recognition is an important step towards achieving the two-state solution and bolstering the path towards a just and lasting peace,&rdquo; he said. Farhan condemned Israel&rsquo;s recent attack on Qatar. He also called for &ldquo;international measures&rdquo; to stop Israel&rsquo;s actions, &ldquo;and to deter it from such criminal behavior that threatens regional security and stability.&rdquo; Oman Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi, whose country has mediated U.S.-Iran talks, called on the international community &ldquo;to apply effective pressure to bring Israel to the negotiating table&rdquo; &mdash; and to adopt measures limiting its ability to continue its killings, destruction, occupation and policies &ldquo;of starvation and blockade against the Palestinian people.&rdquo; He condemned Israeli aggression against Iran, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon and called for sanctions against Israel in response to its violation of international law and &ldquo;unlawful encroachment&rdquo; on the sovereignty of states. <figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/a84161b8-7fe9-4683-9dd6-360e6e4e2edb-Oman Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, at UN headquarters. (AP).jpg" alt="Oman Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, at UN headquarters. (AP)" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">Oman Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, at UN headquarters. (AP)</figcaption></figure> &quot;We call for a global peaceful campaign to lift the blockade and undo the injustice imposed on the Palestinian people and to secure their freedom through the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state,&quot; al-Busaidi said. United Arab Emirates Calling it &ldquo;a pivotal moment&rdquo; in a world engulfed in turmoil and conflict, the United Arab Emirates&rsquo; deputy foreign minister Lana Nusseibeh said there is no justification for Hamas taking hostages or for Israel targeting &ldquo;tens of thousands of civilians or besieging them or starving them and forcibly displacing them.&rdquo; Israel&rsquo;s &ldquo;unacceptable, expansionist ambitions including the threat of annexing the West Bank&rdquo; are also inexcusable, she said. Nusseibeh urged all countries to recognize the state of Palestine &ldquo;as an investment in a better future for the region.&rdquo; <figure class="fr-media"><img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/uploads/a4230280-a749-490e-99d5-33ee213df514-Minister for Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates Lana Nusseibeh addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, at UN headquarters. (AP).jpg" alt="Minister for Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates Lana Nusseibeh addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, at UN headquarters. (AP)" class="fr-fic fr-dib"><figcaption class="caption-cover-image text-sm text-gray-600 italic">Minister for Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates Lana Nusseibeh addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, at UN headquarters. (AP)</figcaption></figure> The UAE has tried to bridge divides elsewhere in the conflict-torn world, she said, pointing to its role in the exchange of thousands of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine, hosting peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and helping to de-escalate tensions in south Asia and beyond. &ldquo;Our aim is not simply to manage conflicts, but to resolve them sustainably,&rdquo; Nusseibeh told the assembly. &ldquo;The urgent need for this approach is clear around the world, whether in the Gaza Strip, Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen, Libya or the Sahel.&rdquo; Many crises have been exacerbated by extremist ideologies, hate speech and incitement, which is why the UAE is promoting an agenda of tolerance, peace and security, she said. The UAE is also the largest donor of aid to Gaza, she said.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates of Egypt addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, at UN headquarters. (AP)

Americas

At the UN, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Oman condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza, called for a ceasefire, supported a two-state solution, and urged international pressure to resolve Middle East conflicts peacefully.

Middle East nations face regional turmoil as Egypt warns of imminent collapse

GAZA CITY: Over 66,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza&rsquo;s Health Ministry said Sunday. The ministry said in its daily report the death toll has climbed to 66,005, with a further 168,162 wounded since Israel launched its siege of Gaza in October 2023.&nbsp;Among the dead were 79 who were brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours, it said. Israel&rsquo;s military continued its offense in Gaza as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington and planned to meet US President Donald Trump on Monday. Israel&rsquo;s offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced around 90% of the population and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts saying Gaza City is experiencing famine. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run administration, does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its toll, but has said women and children make up around half the dead. Its figures are seen as a reliable estimate by the U.N. and many independent experts.

Dr. Paul Ransom of the British humanitarian medical NGO UK-Med, assisted by local medical staff, treats patients at a field hospital in Muwasi, near Khan Younis. (AP)

Israel’s offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced around 90% of the population and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

Articles tagged with "War on Gaza"