Global Outlook

  Israeli forces have killed at least 16 Palestinians across Gaza and wounded dozens in the south of the enclave, local health officials said, as residents reported intensified military bombardment in the suburbs of Gaza City. The military is preparing to take Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban centre, despite international calls on Israel to reconsider this over fears that the operation would cause significant casualties and displace the roughly one million Palestinians sheltering there. In Gaza City, residents said families were fleeing their homes, with most heading towards the coast, as Israel forces bombarded the eastern suburbs of Shejaia, Zeitoun, and Sabra. The latest deaths took to 71 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run health ministry said. The UN considers these figures reliable. Israel officials describe Gaza City as the last stronghold of Hamas, which ignited the war with its deadly October 2023 attack on Israel. Th...

  A person was stabbed after the conclusion of a pro-Palestinian protest in central Brussels on Sunday night, European media and local police confirmed. It is unclear if the victim, who is currently in critical condition, or the attacker had any involvement in the pro-Palestinian demonstration, according to Euro News. The organizers of the march stated that “an unknown individual, unrelated to the event, entered the crowd and attacked protesters,” according to HLN. An eyewitness told De Standaard that two people were seen in an argument which escalated into a physical confrontation. The victim was reportedly first punched and then stabbed. “At least one injured person was taken to the hospital. We are awaiting updates,” the organizers added. “The organizers of the march regret this attack, which had nothing to do with the event itself. The march brought together several hundred people, who marched peacefully and in solidarity from Molenbeek to the Brussels Stock Exchange.” The Brus...

  Nearly two years after launching the surprise attack that sparked the war with Israel, Hamas finds itself up against a wall. Its fighting force has been pummeled by Israel, its charismatic  leadership has been all but assassinated  and its ceasefire negotiators face unprecedented pressure from Arab governments to give up its weapons and its rule. “Hamas is facing its worst crisis yet,” said Esmat Mansour, a West Bank-based Palestinian political commentator and former militant, who is in touch with figures close to Hamas. “Hamas faces pressures from all directions: from Israel, from the street, from the West and from Arab countries.” The most immediate pressure comes from Israel’s latest threat: to besiege Gaza City, after displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the city, and sending soldiers inside to fight in what Israel considers to be one of Hamas’ last major strongholds. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week ordered military planners to speed up ...

  Norway ’s Oil Fund — formally known as the Government Pension Fund Global — is the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. Valued at US$2 trillion as of Monday, the Oil Fund has announced it will be removing six more  Israeli  companies from its investment portfolio. This decision comes after an ethical review found the involvement of these six companies in operations in the West Bank and Gaza. The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund did not specifically mention the names of these companies but stated that their names and the reasons for their removal will be disclosed after the divestment process is completed. Several media reports on Monday suggested that the delisting could include the five largest banks in Israel, which are currently under review by the Oil Fund’s ethical watchdog. Meanwhile, the Oil Fund stated that it has sold shares in six other companies as part of last week’s decision to reduce its ownership in Israeli companies from 61 at the end of June...

  Israeli Prime Minister  Benjamin Netanyahu  has launched an extraordinary personal attack on Australian Prime Minister  Anthony Albanese , accusing him of “betraying” Israel. This marks the latest escalation in growing tensions between the two countries and their leaders. “History will remember Albanese for what he is: a weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews,” Netanyahu posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, as reported by  ABC Australia The comments came after Israel’s foreign minister revoked the visa of Australia’s representative to the Palestinian Authority. This action is widely seen as retaliation for Australia’s recent decision to recognize the State of Palestine. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid condemned the personal attack. “The thing that strengthens a leader in the democratic world today most is a confrontation with Netanyahu, the most politically toxic leader in the Western world,” he wrote in ...

  Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised massive street protests against his handling of the Gaza war, and failure to secure the release of remaining Israeli hostages, suggesting demonstrators were giving comfort to Hamas’s position in negotiations. The Israeli prime minister made his comments against the backdrop of the largest protests in almost two years of war, with estimates that upwards of 400,000 people joined marches across  Israel  on Sunday. “The people who are calling today for the war’s end without Hamas’s defeat are not only toughening Hamas’s stance and distancing our hostages’ release, they are also ensuring that the atrocities of October 7 will recur time and again, and that our sons and daughters will have to fight time and again in an endless war. “Therefore, in order to advance our hostages’ release and to ensure that  Gaza  no longer poses a threat to Israel, we have to finish the job and defeat Hamas,” said Netanyahu in a statement. The Palestini...

  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing back against international pressure for a Palestinian state, calling it an act of “suicide.” Despite strong criticism from the U.N. and others, Israel announced a large housing project for Jewish residents of the West Bank. And in an exclusive interview with  CBN News,  Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz shares his appreciation for Christians standing for Israel worldwide. Netanyahu offered a history lesson Thursday on why the two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians is a deadly mistake. Netanyahu noted that “Before World War II, the Western countries tried to appease Hitler.” He elaborated, “Well, today the West is telling Israel, ‘Just give the Palestinians a piece of Israel and they’ll make peace with you.’ No, they won’t. For the last century, they’ve been offered a state of their own. And they refused, because their goal is not to create a state for themselves, it’s to destroy the state of ours, the ...

  Riot police at Greece’s largest port cordoned off an area around an Israeli cruise ship that arrived early Thursday to prevent several hundred union-backed protesters from approaching the vessel. Protests have been held on Greek islands and at mainland ports along the route of the Crown Iris and several of them have led to clashes with police. Unions in Greece and other European Union countries have become increasingly outspoken in their condemnation of Israel over widespread destruction and severe food shortages in Gaza. At the port of Piraeus, near Athens, demonstrators held flares and waved Palestinian flags behind a cordon formed with riot police buses. Protest organizers, citing online posts from travelers, said off-duty Israeli soldiers were among the passengers. “They are unwanted here and have no business being here,” protest organizer Markos Bekris said. “The blood of innocent people is on their hands, and we should not welcome them.” Many European governments have becom...

  Israeli opposition chief Yair Lapid on Tuesday backed calls for a general strike in solidarity with hostages still held in Gaza. “Strike on Sunday,” Lapid posted on X, saying even supporters of the current government should take part and insisting it was not party political. Sunday is the first day of the working week in Israel. “Strike out of solidarity. Strike because the families have asked, and that’s reason enough. Strike because no one has a monopoly on emotion, on mutual responsibility, on Jewish values.” Lapid’s post followed a call on Sunday by around 20 parents of hostages still held by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip for a strike. On Monday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main representative group for relatives, backed the idea. The group has been pressing the leaders of Israel’s main trade union federation, Histadrut, to join in, but it decided against doing so. Instead, it said it would support “workers’ solidarity demonstrations”, the Forum sai...

  At least 38 Palestinians were killed overnight and into Wednesday   in the Gaza Strip   while seeking aid from United Nations convoys and sites run by an Israeli-backed American contractor, according to local health officials. The Israeli military said it had fired warning shots when crowds approached its forces. The latest deaths came as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to announced further military action — and possibly  plans for Israel to fully reoccupy Gaza . Experts say Israel’s ongoing military offensive and blockade are already pushing the territory of some 2 million Palestinians  into famine . Another escalation of the nearly 22-month war could put the lives of countless Palestinians and around 20 living Israeli hostages at risk, and would draw fierce opposition  both internationally  and within Israel. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition allies have long called for the war to be expanded, and for Israel to eventually take over Gaz...

  Israeli Prime Minister  Benjamin Netanyahu  is expected to push to “occupy all of the Gaza Strip” as  ceasefire talks  with Hamas founder and the hunger crisis in the besieged  Palestinian enclave spirals . A bid by Netanyahu   to occupy all of Gaza   would follow similar calls from members of his far-right government upon whom his fragile coalition relies, and could mark a significant shift in policy since Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005. Officials from Netanyahu’s office said in a statement shared with NBC News on Monday night that the Israeli leader had decided to “occupy   all of the  Gaza Strip , including areas where hostages may be held.” The statement was shared in Hebrew and the term used can be translated to mean both “occupy” and “conquer.” Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on the intended definition, but Israeli media, including  The Times of Israel , reported that...