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...

  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...

  Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has called on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to promptly review the situation regarding the recent Israeli aggression against Iran, urging the body to adopt measures offering Tehran essential political backing and related support. Speaking at the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the SCO held in China on Tuesday, Araghchi submitted several proposals by Iran aimed at enhancing the effectiveness and standing of the organization. He proposed “establishing a permanent mechanism to monitor, document, and coordinate responses to military aggression, acts of sabotage, state-sponsored terrorism, and violations of member states’ national sovereignty.” He also called for creating a “Center for Sanctions Studies and Countermeasures” tasked with developing operational strategies to combat unlawful unilateral sanctions, safeguard supply chains, protect banking systems, and secure trade exchanges among member states. The top Iranian di...

  The streets of Rafah have become a dystopian nightmare. On a recent day, at least 27 Palestinians were killed and over 180 wounded by Israeli gunfire near a U.S.-backed aid distribution site, marking the third such massacre in as many days. Witnesses described scenes of chaos: families scrambling for flour bags stained with blood, children collapsing from gunshot wounds, and the deafening roar of tank shells and drones overhead. The Israeli military claims it only fired “warning shots” at “suspects” who strayed from designated routes — but survivors say the shooting was indiscriminate and unrelenting. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the Israel-and-U.S.-backed group running the aid sites, insists its operations were “safe and without incident.” Yet the killings occurred just half a kilometer from their facility, in what the GHF later called a “closed military zone.” This contradiction highlights a grim reality: Israel’s new aid system funnels starving civilians into milita...